Monday, February 17, 2025

Nazi-Punchers MILITARY COMICS "The Coming of...Blackhawk!"

Before He Became the Ultimate Russkie-Smasher...

...he was the premier Nazi-Puncher!
Now witness his first bombshell appearance in Quality's Military Comics #1 (1941)











Written by Will (The Spirit) Eisner & Bob Powell and illustrated by Chuck Cuidera, the initial appearance of Blackhawk and his crew is slightly-different from all later stories!
  • No trademark Grumman XF5F Skyrockets...which will premiere in the next issue! The planes we do see are rather...generic!
  • The uniforms are different. Blackhawk doesn't have his distinctive hawk-head insignia on his chest, and all the Blackhawk uniforms are almost solid black, rather than blue.
  • The Blackhawks themselves are not yet identified, and the only one who speaks has a British accent!
But all-in-all, a well thought-out first story, setting up the basis for the ongoing series!
We'll be rotating Blackhawk's Russkie-Smashing tales with his earlier Nazi-Punching adventures, so watch for them!

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Blackhawk

Monday, February 10, 2025

Russkie-Smashers JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "Invisible Woman!"

Sometimes, the Best "Man" for Russkie-Smashing is a WOman...
...as this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #43 (1957) aptly-demonstrates!
This story has a rather unique artistic pedigree
Pencils by Syd Shores, who is usually an inker, and inking by one of the (now) most famous pencilers of the era...Matt Baker!
Why did editor Stan Lee make these particular choices?
Did the artists themselves suggest it as a change of pace?
Did Lee want to test to see how they'd do in unfamiliar roles?
I'd note there's also speculation Baker re-penciled certain panels, particularly the ones focused on the female spy!
What's the truth?
We'll never know the answer!
Just enjoy the result!
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Monday, February 3, 2025

Nazi-Punchers SUPER-AMERICAN "Hordes of the Secret Dictator"

Those Who Stand up to Nazis are Not Just True Americans...
...They Are, Like This Man, Super-Americans!
Note that since this premiere appearance of this costumed crusader in Fiction House's Fight Comics #15 (1941) pre-dates America's entry into World War II, the obvious Nazis and their leader are not identified as such.
After December 7th, 1941, every comics publisher showed the swastika and identified Adolf and his buddies as Nazis!
With his rather unique back-story (being a super--powered American from the future come to help us in the present, kool costume and action-packed artwork by Don Zolerowich, you'd think the Super-American strip would last, at least, to the end of the war!
In fact, it ended after only four chapters, in mid-1942, just as the war effort got into high gear!
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The Fighting Comic Books of World War II
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Monday, January 27, 2025

Nazi/Russkie-Smashers BLACKHAWK "Hitler's Daughter"

With Don da Con and Muskrat's pseudo-Nazis seizing power...
...we're modifying our format to alternate between Russkie-Smashers and Nazi Smashers starting with this re-presentation!
World War II had ended only a decade earlier when this tale appeared in Quality's Blackhawk #97 (1958), and, if anybody did the math, Hitla (who appears to be in her mid-20s) would've been born around 1930-32...when Hitler wasn't married...but he was involved with Eva Braun...who was never pregnant!
Curiously, at that time in real life, Adolf's half-sister, Angela Raubal, and her 21 year-old daughter Geli, moved into Hitler's home.
Adolf's's relationship towards Geli, while initially kindly, eventually bordered on the obsessive, fueling rumors that they were romantically linked...which Hitler denied.
In late 1931, Geli was found dead at Hitler's flat in Munich.
Verdict: suicide.
Did writer Joe Millard know about this, and could he have used it as a cover story for the imposter daughter in this Dick Dillin-penciled and Chuck Cuidera-inked story?
We'll never know!

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Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Russkie-Smashers vs Traitor Politicians GREEN HORNET "Proof of Treason" Conclusion

Why does Mayoral candidate Wilkes Sherman hire a criminal to bomb the home of nuclear scientist Professor Baldwin?
When the police track down the bomber, an assassin kills him before he can talk.
The Green Hornet, who followed the police to the bomber, trails the murderer back to Sherman, and discovers the politician is actually a Commie spy!
In addition, he learns Professor Baldwin is a former Communist now working for the US, and the Russkies want him brought back behind the Iron Curtain!
When The Green Hornet enters the meeting, the assassin tries to shoot him, but the Hornet KOs the killer with his gas gun.
The Hornet then makes a deal to grab the professor and turn him over to Sherman for $5,000. (It was 1953, remember?)
As a free bonus to Sherman, he'll "get rid" of the unconscious murderer (whom he turns over to the police along with the murder weapon.)

Curiously, the Green Hornet radio show ended in 1952...but this issue of Dell's Four Color Comics (#496) was published in...wait for it...1953!
Note: The second-to-last page of the tale is black-and-white rather than four-color because it appeared on the inside back cover (Both the front and back inside covers were black and white to save money).
The final page of the story was the comic's back cover...in four-color, of course!
The radio episode the comic story is derived from aired 10/17/52 during the final season of the show.
It's available, digitally-remastered, on the Radio Spirits cd collection Green Hornet: Endpoint (which features the final episodes of the show, yet uses the cover of the Hornet's first comic book as it's cover), which you can order below.
And, you can listen to a un-restored version of the episode...

The Green Hornet and Kato didn't appear again in comics until early 1967, when the first issue of their Gold Key series, based on the tv show starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, was published.
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(which includes the radio episode this comic story is adapted from!)