Post Your Anti-Communist Comics! 8 8

[Sqeggs]

I think we've discussed this one before, but I can't remember whether we decided if the guy with the mustache was supposed to be Stalin.  I'm thinking he looks enough like Stalin and the time period (before Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941) is right, so it's probably him. 

Wouldn't mind finding a better copy, although it's a pretty tough book. 

[eccomic]

VERY RARE CATECHETICAL GUILD TRACT 64 page adorable digest and Anti-Communism tract , Asian Setting. Man in barbed wire prison cover 1952 from my collection

Rife with Anti Communist sentiment

The Catechetical Guild published such notorious Anti-Communist comics as BLOOD IS THE HARVEST, IF THE DEVIL WOULD TALK and IS THIS TOMORROW

Edited October 16, 2018 by eccomic

[Sqeggs]

Very cool.  First copy that I've seen. 

[sfcityduck]

On 10/11/2018 at 4:49 PM, Sqeggs said:

I think we've discussed this one before, but I can't remember whether we decided if the guy with the mustache was supposed to be Stalin.  I'm thinking he looks enough like Stalin and the time period (before Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941) is right, so it's probably him. 

Wouldn't mind finding a better copy, although it's a pretty tough book. 

Italy entered the war on the German side in June 1940.  Italy and Germany were fighting the Brits in North Africa and invading Yugoslavia.  As the Nazi doesn't look like Hitler, I don't know why the other guy would be Stalin.  The Russians weren't allied with the Germans.  I think he's supposed to be Italian.

[Sqeggs]

8 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

On 10/11/2018 at 7:49 PM, Sqeggs said:

I think we've discussed this one before, but I can't remember whether we decided if the guy with the mustache was supposed to be Stalin.  I'm thinking he looks enough like Stalin and the time period (before Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941) is right, so it's probably him. 

Wouldn't mind finding a better copy, although it's a pretty tough book. 

Italy entered the war on the German side in June 1940.  Italy and Germany were fighting the Brits in North Africa and invading Yugoslavia.  As the Nazi doesn't look like Hitler, I don't know why the other guy would be Stalin.  The Russians weren't allied with the Germans.  I think he's supposed to be Italian.

He does more or less look like Stalin.  At this point, the Soviets and the Germans were de facto allies after signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939.  There was strong feeling against the Soviets after they invaded Finland in Nov. 1939.

Stalin was on the original cover to Young Allies 1 (along with Hitler), indicating that until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 (which caused that cover to be redrawn), Hitler and Stalin were viewed in U.S. pop culture as being in cahoots. 

All that said, it's a fair point that if the guy who looks like Stalin was meant to be Stalin, why doesn't the Nazi look like Hitler?  Then we'd have a cover comparable to the original version of YA 1.  This one may go in the "We'll probably never know for sure" file. 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Sqeggs
Fixed typo

[sfcityduck]

I think it is also telling that the German has Nazi symbols on his uniform (the artist clearly didn't know what the uniforms looked like) but the other guy has no hammer and sickle on his uniform.  The Italians really didn't have any sort of symbol, so the lack of symbol is consistent with him being an Italian.  

[Sqeggs]

Just fooling around on Google for a couple of minutes, I found this image which shows Stalin in a somewhat similar uniform.  

Edited October 17, 2018 by Sqeggs
Typo

[Sqeggs]

I can't seem to find an image for the original cover to YA 1 with Stalin on it.  I know it ran as a house ad in at least one other Timely book. 

[sfcityduck]

17 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

I can't seem to find an image for the original cover to YA 1 with Stalin on it.  I know it ran as a house ad in at least one other Timely book. 

It shows Stalin with a hammer and sickle symbol, which is what I'd expect:

It makes no sense to me that you'd have Stalin on a cover with an anonymous Nazi.  I'm convinced those are supposed to be a German and Italian, not Stalin.

Edited October 18, 2018 by sfcityduck

[Sqeggs]

Yeah, you may well be right.  The only thing favoring Stalin is that the figure was drawn to resemble him. 

[sfcityduck]

46 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

Yeah, you may well be right.  The only thing favoring Stalin is that the figure was drawn to resemble him. 

I think of it as the stereotypical Italian mustache.  It's an equal resemblance to Mario and Luigi from Super Mario or Chef Boyardee (Italian immigrant Ettoree Boiardi)

[Sqeggs]

I also posted this one in the fewer than 10 copies thread.  Only two copies on the census.  Is this book actually that scarce or is it that few copies have been slabbed because interest in the book isn't very high?

[eccomic]

French Canadian Versions

[eccomic]

Very rare Canadian Anti-Communist comic from 1946

[path4play]

On 10/18/2018 at 1:54 PM, Sqeggs said:

Yeah, you may well be right.  The only thing favoring Stalin is that the figure was drawn to resemble him. 

Tossing Bulgaria into the May 1941 Startling Comics #7 ring (red belt, red stripe hat).  They ended their neutrality in 1 March 1941 to ally with axis, so may have been in news at time.

https://ww2-weapons.com/bulgarian-armed-forces/

While the Bulgarian government was reluctant to get involved in the war, the threat of a German invasion, as well as the promise of Greek territories, led Bulgaria to sign the Tripartite Pact on 1 March 1941 and join the Axis bloc. With the Soviet Union in a non-aggression pact with Germany, there was little popular [local] opposition to the decision.

Tsar Boris III  was mustached. 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2018 by path4play

[Sqeggs]

18 hours ago, path4play said:

Tossing Bulgaria into the May 1941 Startling Comics #7 ring (red belt, red stripe hat).  They ended their neutrality in 1 March 1941 to ally with axis, so may have been in news at time.

https://ww2-weapons.com/bulgarian-armed-forces/

While the Bulgarian government was reluctant to get involved in the war, the threat of a German invasion, as well as the promise of Greek territories, led Bulgaria to sign the Tripartite Pact on 1 March 1941 and join the Axis bloc. With the Soviet Union in a non-aggression pact with Germany, there was little popular [local] opposition to the decision.

Tsar Boris III  was mustached. 

You never know what image a cover artist might swipe.  The King of Bulgaria may have been a bit of an obscure reference for the average comic fan to recognize, though. 

[Sqeggs]

Won this pro-Commie book last night.  Couldn't find any info on it.  The way these things go, it was probably a warehouse find and a ton of copies will start showing up for sale.

Made me wonder how many left-wing comics were published in the 1940s and 1950s.  The focus of this thread, of course, has been on comics from the other end of the political spectrum.  

[buttock]

16 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

Won this pro-Commie book last night.  Couldn't find any info on it.  The way these things go, it was probably a warehouse find and a ton of copies will start showing up for sale.

Made me wonder how many left-wing comics were published in the 1940s and 1950s.  The focus of this thread, of course, has been on comics from the other end of the political spectrum.  

Commie!

[Sqeggs]

2 minutes ago, buttock said:

Commie!

I've finally been exposed! 

[Sqeggs]

I had this regraded by CGC.  Was a C*BCS 9.8.