When Comics Go to War 3 3

[esquirecomics]

Even though the United States remained as isolationist as possible (disregarding such actions as the Lend-Lease Act), and didn't enter WWII until attacked by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, superheros went to battle against Axis forces quite a significant amount of time beforehand. Indeed, comic books in general were far more proactive on issues of combat than the politicians in Washington.

 

While recently awaiting the birth of my second child, I was reading through Lois Gresh's "The Science of Superheros" and the discussion of the Sub-Mariner got me thinking about this topic. This thread is not intended to collect the best war covers, which has been done elsewhere, but address and discuss the early initiative of comic publishers to take on some very controversial (though perhaps publicly supported) topics of going to war.

 

What was the first comic book to confront the Japanese? The Nazis? The Soviets? The Chinese? Were comic books prescient of the future, or just reflecting what was being discussed in the newspapers and on the radio, but policies not yet openly pursued by the government?

 

According to the OS Guide, the first war comic was aptly named "War Comics" and published by Dell in May 1940. I presume by war comic, OS is referring to the fact that this was the first book completely devoted to the topic of war since, as noted below, other books dealt with Axis battles earlier than this book.

 

 

The book contained various stories concerning both the Japanese and Germans.

 

However, superheros had already gone to war long before Pearl Harbor as well. The Sub-Mariner took on a Nazi submarine in Marvel Mystery #4 (Feb 1940). According to Les Daniels in "Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics: Marvel" (1991), this was the first shot of war fired by Timely/Marvel. Is this true?

 

In the "Look" Magazine issue of February 7, 1940, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster drew/wrote a 2 page story of "How Superman Would End the War", 22 months before Pearl Harbor. Superman brought not only Hitler before an International Criminal Court, but Joseph Stalin as well. A foreshadowing of what was to come no doubt!

 

Action Comics was clearly in a military mode by issue #11 (April 1939), as its cover reflects by including a unmarked destroyer smashing an unmarked submarine, even before the start of WWII. With the cover of issue #15 (August 1939), Superman is interacting with American military forces, and he is fighting a clearly marked German tank on the cover of issue #40 (Sept 1941)(although he is fighting soldiers wearing unmarked helmets that are German in design several months earlier on the cover of issue #35 (April 1941)). Finally, the swastika appears on the cover of issue #43 (appropriately Dec 1941).

 

Of course, by Spring 1941, most of the superhero world across the publishing community was fighting the Axis Powers. Captain America was fighting Hitler in his #1 in March 1941. The Sub-Mariner, who seemingly otherwise hated all surface dwellers, continued his fight against the Nazis on the sea in his own title in Spring 1941.

 

 

The fight against the Nazis was so important that two arch-enemies, the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch, set aside their differences to team up and fight against the Axis in Marvel Mystery #17 (March 1941).

 

Of course, perhaps what makes so much of the comic superheros battles' against the Nazis, in particular, so interesting is that their creators were predominently Jewish. No doubt this impacted a great many of them in their stories. Does anyone know when the first reference to concentration camps can be found in a comic book? Are there any contemporaneous stories?

 

BTW, there is apparently a great exhibit on "The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comics, 1938-1950" and their Jewish creators at The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The exhibit runs through August 2005, and I am told may travel afterwards.There is a really nice catalogue for sale of the exhibit as well.

 

Breman Museum Superhero Exhibit

 

Dell Publishing, in particular, was apparently into war propaganda, as exhibited by this 1941 (pre-Pearl Harbor) book.

 

 

This posting is by no means intended to offer the penultimate description of comics going to war, but I hope it will get the conversation going. I would be interested if anyone knows the answers to the questions marked above in bold.

 

Also, when did comic books first address/enter the Cold War? The Korean War? For some examples of Anti-Communism/Cold War comic books, check out that section on my website.

Examples of Anti-Communism/Cold War Comics

[tth2]

Very interesting post, Mark. I don't have the answers to any of your questions, but I too had been surprised when I realized that US superheroes had gone to war well before the US officially did. As you indicate, I too had always assumed the more proactive bent of the comic industry was the result of the strong Jewish presence in the industry (from creators on up to editors, publishers and management), who not surprisingly would've felt more strongly about these matters, and earlier, than the general American public.

[nearmint]

Nedor also enlisted early in the war effort. As early as July of 1940, Doc Strange can be seen on the cover of Thrilling Comics #6 stopping a torpedo fired from a non-descript ship off in the distance. A month later in Startling Comics #2, Captain Future stops two non-descript airmen from straifing a farm community.

 

Swastikas begin to appear on the cover of Thrilling Comics #10, and then again in #11 when Doc Strange fights the Nazis right in the trenches in an issue dated a full year before Pearl Harbor...

 

[Scrooge]

Mark,

 

it's funny the timing you have with this thread and you'll see this in a second.

 

First I think you should also investigate how early other media reacted to the mounting threat because that phenomenon has been documented more extensively. This should provide you with some date references as to when the national mood changed. I recommend you check out this review.

 

Without knowing too much, it does seem that the features mentioned in the first part of the review, i.e., the ones released before the war are either short features or associated with UA and Chaplin who played by different rules than the majors so a deeper look would be needed.

 

Also, your timing is perfect as on NPR's Day to Day, on the 5th, they talked about a new documentary AMC is running: Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust which specifically explores the depiction of the Holocaust in television and the movies. You can listen to the Day to Day feature here. And possibly you can still catch the re-run of the show on AMC (which I don't get so I can't see it. Were you to tape it, I'd love a copy). The Day to Day feature, IIRC, mentioned that actually the Jewish power-that-be in Hollywood didn't want to attract attention to their Jewish roots and therefore did not emphasize the horrors taking place in Europe. Plus I remember the mention that monetarily, since 10% of their worldwide take came from Germany, this was not a good business proposition. You can listen to Day to Day to confirm.

 

Relating this to the relative shyness of the moguls versus their counterparts in the comic industry, you have to take into account that the story originators were the artists and scripters who were not:

1) of the same generation as the publishers and also therefore

2) not as well established, read "integrated", in society and thus cared less about expressing their views as opposed to the moguls & comicbook publishers (again, hurry up and read Men of Tomorrow as this is addressed as well) that wanted everyone else to forget their roots. This is a time in America when anti-semitism was overt. We are still a few years away from Gentleman's Agreement which came out in 1947.

 

If people can contribute, this can become a very interesting thread.

[skybolt]

Very nice books Mark.

[Apotheosis]

Also, when did comic books first address/enter the Cold War?

 

The earliest I can think of is from Wings Comics #113 from winter of 1951. Probably something earlier, but I'm still new to GA so finding some of this takes me longer

 

 

Wings also hit on China in some of the issues after 113.

[adamstrange]

From CBM 23: Concentration camp on cover and interior. It's the earliest mention I'm aware of.

 

Edited April 9, 2005 by adamstrange

[PUNYHUMAN]

Amazing Man # 9, 1st Nazi war cover "Centaur" ties with Marvel Mystery # 4!!!

Amazing Man # 8 , may also be one of the earliest war covers also , can someone verify that??

[adamstrange]

Amazing Man # 9, 1st Nazi war cover "Centaur" ties with Marvel Mystery # 4!!!

Amazing Man # 8 , may also be one of the earliest war covers also , can someone verify that??

 

Capt America 1, March 1941

Amazing Man 22 May 1941

[PUNYHUMAN]

Amazing Man # 22 , one of my all time fave covers !!! Green Nazi Apes on a rampage!!!

[adamstrange]

Amazing Man # 22 , one of my all time fave covers !!! Green Nazi Apes on a rampage!!!

 

No complaints from me on that score!

[esquirecomics]

Mark,

 

it's funny the timing you have with this thread and you'll see this in a second.

 

First I think you should also investigate how early other media reacted to the mounting threat because that phenomenon has been documented more extensively. This should provide you with some date references as to when the national mood changed. I recommend you check out this review.

 

Scrooge, thanks for your contribution to the post. I am an avid NPR fan (hard not to be in Washington, D.C.) so I will definitely check the archives for the broadcast.

 

I am compelled, as I told Scrooge in our offline PM discussion, to post a PSA that is slightly off-topic (though in specific response to the comment above), but for a good reason.

 

The website offered above for the book review is from the organization Institute for Historical Review. For those not familiar with IHR, its leadership used to be associated with, as I recall, Willis Carto of The Liberty Lobby. If that doesn't offer a hint, let me tell you directly. IHR is a virulent anti-semitic organization with its primary purpose to deny/revise the facts of the Holocaust. The specific naming of IHR was well-thought out because those not familiar with its mission often fall victim to referring to it because it sounds so scholarly, as Scrooge found out. Additionally, IHR will often focus on current topics of debate to draw people in to its activities, or review legitimate books such as the one Scrooge referred to in his post. They have also published books, such as on the assassination of President Kennedy, that have nothing to do with their beliefs in order to raise funds to further propogate its despicable views.

 

A former client of mine, Mel Mermelstein, took on IHR back in the early 1980s in a very famous lawsuit over whether the Holocaust actually took place. IHR had offered a reward of $50,000 to anyone who could prove that Jews were exterminated at Auschwitz by gassing. Mel, whose family had been killed there and was a survivor himself, took them up on the challenge and, to no surprise, they refused to pay. He sued, and won. Leonard Nimoy portrayed Mel in a TV production of what transpired in 1991. If anyone is near Long Beach, CA, Mel runs an excellent museum on the Holocaust (or at least he did as of a few years ago).

 

In addition to representing Mel, I spent time fighting directly against these "people". When I first graduated from law school I assisted in research that ultimately led to the prosecution in MA of a man named Fred Leuchter, who was known as Dr. Death for his work on electric chairs (apparently he had a monoply on this business). He was also promoting Holocaust revisionist theories and claiming that no gassing had taken place except for delousing purposes. Due to the First Amendment, there is very little one can do in the US, unlike in Germany for example where it is illegal, to combat these people. However, it turned out that Leuchter was promoting himself as a engineer when he was not, and it was illegal in MA to work as an "engineer" without a license. A technicality to be sure, but Leuchter faced one year in jail and the plea arrangement was that he would forgo further involvement in Holocaust activities.

 

I also lectured on this topic ten years ago, particularly exposing the relationship between Holocaust revisionists and the JFK assassination. It is startling how much overlap there is, and by this I mean that those who are promoting revisionist policies have been using legitimate discussion on the JFK case to attract people to IHR. But, that is a topic for another post on another board.

 

Anyway, sorry to take up space on such a dark topic on an otherwise positive thread, but I couldn't let the IHR reference go without exposing their true beliefs.

 

We now return you to your original programming. Post away!

[Arty]

Amazing Man # 9, 1st Nazi war cover "Centaur" ties with Marvel Mystery # 4!!!

Amazing Man # 8 , may also be one of the earliest war covers also , can someone verify that??

 

Capt America 1, March 1941

Amazing Man 22 May 1941

 

 

O-ou.... waiting for Shield....he wil be mad

[adamstrange]

We don't want Shield mad at us so, courtesy GCD, we have Pep 2 from Feb 1940 showing the Shield dealing with a U-boat (you can see the words "U-Boat" if you look closely).

 

 

I'm too lazy to look it up but there are probably earlier stories involving super-heros in a war. There's an early story wherein Superman intervenes in a Latin American war.

[adamstrange]

There probably are comics from the 40s that deal with the Cold War. These might be a little harder to pin down as there could some room for interpretation on what would make a comic a cold war comic. I don't think it needs to involve soldiers in uniform. Here's an example of one from GCD that I would bet isn't the earliest but that falls into the "Cold" category of Cold War.

 

Edited April 9, 2005 by adamstrange

[esquirecomics]

Interestingly, Feb 1940 appears to possibly bear some sort of significance. Three of the top comic book companies all clearly were at war against the Germans by Feb 1940. Why this month I have no idea.

 

Does anyone have any evidence of a date earlier than Feb 1940?

 

How about superhero war against the Japanese?

[Forbush-Man]

Now, I know this is not one of the earlest war covers, but I don't think Mark will mind me posting it. Uncle Sam prepares to open up a "Tall-boy can of whoop-a$$" in Remember Pearl Harbor.

 

[adamstrange]

Now, I know this is not one of the earlest war covers, but I don't think Mark will mind me posting it. Uncle Sam prepares to open up a "Tall-boy can of whoop-a$$" in Remember Pearl Harbor.

 

 

That's such a great book, FM!

 

And it's true regardless of whether it's a first or not.

[esquirecomics]

I have a copy of this as well. Great book. There is one book that was issued around late Nov/early Dec 1941 that seemingly predicts Pearl Harbor. It has the Japanese attacking Hawaii. I couldn't remember the title so didn't mention it above, but I will find out again tomorrow unless someone remembers it before then.

[adamstrange]

Here's a list based on the posts in the thread plus some additions that I thought of. This is NOT definitive, but thought it might be a good way to keep track of what we discover. If you can think of another category to add or need to make a correction, then edit and post!

 

War Comic: "War Comics" #1 May 1940 (Dell)

Hitler on cover: "Captain America" #1 Mar 1941 (Timely)

Biography of Hitler (sequential art): "Real Life" #3 Jan 1942 (Nedor)

Superhero vs. Germany (cover): "Pep" #2 Feb 1940 (MLJ)

Superhero Defending US Against Invasion (cover): "Pep" #3 Mar 1940 (MLJ)

Hitler Goes to Heck (cover and sequential art): Great #3 Jan 1942 (Chesler)

Pearl Harbor Attack Prediction (sequential art): "National" #18, Dec 1941 (Quality)

Pearl Harbor Attack Description (sequential art): "Remember Pearl Harber" nn (Street and Smith)

Concentration Camp (cover and interior): "Real Life" #3 Jan 1942 (Nedor)

Superhero vs. Japan (cover): ??

Japanese Invasion of China (cover and sequential art): Real Life #4 Mar 1942 (Nedor)

Tojo on Cover:

Hirohito on Cover:

Cold War Cover:

Korean War Cover:

Edited April 10, 2005 by adamstrange