Nazi-Punchers DAREDEVIL COMICS "Pat Patriot: America's Joan of Arc"

Here's the Introduction to One of the More Unique Patriotic Golden Age Heroines...

Read the story and see if you can guess what makes her different from the other Golden Age heroines!

Brave, patriotic, can handle herself in a fight!

"What's so different about her?"

Her name!

"Patricia Patrios", the name chosen by writers Charles Biro & Bob Wood to conveniently "lead" into the Pat Patriot nom-du-guerre, was not the typical WASPy name most comic characters used!

It's never mentioned in the stories, but she appears to be a 1st or 2nd generation American of Greek or Greek/insert ethnicity ancestry.

The art on this tale from Lev Gleason's DareDevil Comics #2 (1941) is confusing in that it has elements of both Frank Borth and Reed Crandall's styles.so it's impossible to say who did what!
Pat Patriot kicked Nazi and neo-Nazi asses from #2 to #11, after which almost all the features besides DareDevil himself were replaced!

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Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics

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Russkie-Smashers THE FLAME "BattleFront: Main Street"

Though He Was a Revival of This Golden Age Character...

...the 1950s reincarnation took only the character's nom-du-guerre, not the original's secret identity, nor his incredibly-lethal weaponry.

(This new version was Comics Code-approved!)

He was also saddled with a wife who had no idea about what he did in his spare time!

Like Samson, Wonder Boy, Black Cobra, and several other Golden Age characters who were licensed to Ajax-Farrell by the Iger Comics Studio (who wrote and illustrated the original 1940s stories), The Flame was revamped from his previous version to be more kid-friendly/less violent due to the backlash the entire comics business was experiencing from the sordid "Seduction of the Innocent" mania gripping the country by those who blamed comic books on the then-current juvenile crime wave sweeping the nation!
Like the other super-characters, The Flame's revival flamed out after only three issues of crime and Russkie-crushing!

Nazi-Punchers / Twice-Told Tale FIREBIRD / BLACKOUT "Secret of the Valkyrie!"

He's a Colorful Nazi-Puncher...

...facing a Nazi woman warrior in a story that's both his first..and final...but not only...story!

Confused?

Keep reading!

"In all his checkered career..."

What "checkered career"?

This tale from Spotlight's Tailspin Comics #1 (1944) was FireBird's only appearance!

But it wasn't this story's first publication!

It's a "twice-told tale", which originally was the final appearance of an ongoing strip about a hero named BlackOut! in Holyoke's Cat-Man Comics #24 (1942).

Berlin-based American newspaper reporter Jack Wayne was arrested on Dec. 9, 1941, when the US declared war against Germany.
Tortured and blinded by the Gestapo, Jack was rescued by the German Resistance and brought to a doctor secretly aiding freedom-fighters, who provided him with a pair of experimental glasses which enabled him to see!
Though not an aviator, the multi-talented ex-reporter operated throughout Germany in Cat-Man Comics #10 through #24, proving equal to any challenge presented!

You'll note the last page of FireBird dropped the original final caption about the character's next appearance.
(Ironic since there weren't any BlackOut tales after this one!)
Plus, the story's splash page was considerably-modified to reflect the character's new phoenix-like name and motif by Spotlight Publications' art director LB Cole, who was noted for his use of color against solid black backgrounds!

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Take That, Adolf!

Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War!

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Russkie-Smashing with AI! JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY / WHERE MONSTERS DWELL "Ruler of Earth!"

Despite the ominous-sounding title (and word balloon)...

...the Artificial Intelligence in this tale is benevolent...until Russkies enter the picture!
(Yeah, Russkies ruin everything!)

So, let's travel to the "future" year of 1990...as seen from 1962...

Appearing as the cover-featured story in one of the final pre-Mighty Thor issues of Atlas' Journey into Mystery (#82 in 1962), this story by plotter/editor Stan Lee, writer Larry Leiber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers is a clear Cold War/anti-Communist parable!

But, when the tale was reprinted at the end of the Cold War in Marvel's Where Monsters Dwell #25 (1973)...

...editor Roy Thomas had the hammer and sickle and red star insignias removed from the Russkies' hats...

...and replaced with an "H", which was explained with the change in the dialogue balloon above!
HYDRA???
Why not AIM...who were always more tech-oriented?
So, presumably, there are at least two worlds in the Marvel Multiverse where ROE presides, to this day, over a peaceful Earth!
Bonus for putting up with this all this fanboy mishigas...the lovingly-detailed original art for the spash page by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers!

BTW, did you note how warm, cuddly, and almost teddy-bear-like the cover's ROE is, compared to the version in the story itself?

Nazi-Punchers PAT PARKER: WAR NURSE ""Disease from the Depths"

Few non-superpowered World War II heroines had as active a career as...

 ...who went through three different incarnations during the conflict!

Introduced in Harvey's Speed Comics #13, British nurse Patricia Parker kicked the butts of spies, saboteurs, and medical black marketers in plainclothes for two issues before donning her costume and identity at the end of this never-reprinted story from Speed #15 (1942).

She was as proficient at Nazi-clobbering in costume as without one.

You'll note Pat didn't need a guy to assist her.

But, as of Speed Comics #23, she teamed up with several women from other countries (China, Russia, and America) to form the Girl Commandos, a distaff version of the multi-national Blackhawks...

...and dropped the "War Nurse" identity for the remainder of her run!
Note: If the art seems a tad un-detailed, even for a Golden Age comic, that's because the book wasn't normal sized (7.75" x 10.5"), but the smaller digest magazine-size (4" x 6.75")!
We just ran it at the same size as regular comics on this blog for your viewing ease!

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Russkie-Smashers PLASTIC MAN "Red Wreckers of Rangistan!"

With One of the Most Alliterative Titles I've Ever Seen in Comics...

...this never-reprinted Russkie-Smashing tale is one of the weirdest Plastic Man stories you'll ever see...and that's saying something!

Written by Joe Millard and illustrated by Paul Gustavson, this feature from Quality's Plastic Man #41 (1953) was part of an editorial change from the goofy Golden Age to an era which saw the character become "grim and gritty" battling Communists, aliens, and monsters of various types from dinosaurs and giant ants to zombies!

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Plastic Man 80-Page Giant

Featuring classic tales from each of his eras (Golden Age/Silver Age/Bronze Age)

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