Nazi-Punchers AIR FIGHTERS COMICS "Here Comes the Black Commander!"

Though Cover-Dated November, 1941...

Hillman's Air Fighters Comics #1 was on-sale during late summer, predating Pearl Harbor by several months, but featuring its' heroes battling Nazi aviators in Europe and German saboteurs/spies in the US!
This particular tale involves an American pilot flying with the RAF...

Though Air Fighter Comics kept going through 1945, then changed the name to Airboy Comics (after the book's most popular feature), The Black Commander didn't make it past this one appearance!
A pity, because this story, written by Kermit Jaediker and illustrated by Harry Anderson, has enough plotting set-ups and twists and turns for a live-action b-movie!
Good guy framed as bad guy!
Nazis create what will turn out to be their own worst enemy!
Good guy, now totally-unrecognizable to family and friends, wanted by friend and foe alike!

Note: the "Black Commander" is the aircraft, not the pilot!
Speaking of the airplane, does it look...familiar?
Another, very long-running Nazi-Puncher (and Russkie-Smasher) utilized that same experimental fighter as his very distinctive personal transportation...

Blackhawk began using the Grumman XF5F SkyRocket in Quality's Military Comics #2, cover-dated August, 1941, several months before Air Fighters Comics #1.
But, I believe the use of the unique airplane by both strips was simply a coincidence.
There's background info about the plane HERE, including the fact that it out-performed the British state-of-the-art Spitfire and another American prototype fighter, the XF4U Corsair (which did become an active-service aircraft!) in tests!

Nazi-Punchers VICTORY COMICS "The Coming of...The Conqueror!"

You Can't Get More Red-White-and-Blue Than This Guy...

...in his premiere appearance---but not origin story, from Hillman Publications' Victory Comics #1 (1941)!

It's apparent that The Conqueror has been operating for some time, as he's well-known by friend and foe alike!

Bill Everett, creator of Prince Namor: the Sub-Mariner, created, wrote and illustrated this premiere story which appeared months before America entered World War II!

As you saw in the splash panel, the war was well under way, and most Americans believed it was just a matter of time until we joined the fight!
Victory Comics featured super-heroes and spies battling the Axis (unofficially) in Europe and Asia as well as dealing with saboteurs and Bund-like organizations in the US.
Oddly, it ended with #4...before America actually entered the war!
Everett would do the cover for the next issue, but his work on the character (and Hillman Publishing) ended with that.
Others continued the strip, which ran for all four issues, along with an ongoing text feature which presented his origin!
Everett would later work on another Hillman character, The Heap, during the Bronze Age, when the character had fallen into the Public Domain and Skywald Comics published a new version of him!

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Nazi-Punchers GREEN HORNET "Society of the Swastika!"

Let's Cheer on the Hero Who Pretends to be a Villain...

...as he and his aide, Kato, match wits with racketeers and saboteurs, risking their lives so that criminals and enemy spies will feel the weight of the law by the sting of The Green Hornet!

We already showed The Green Hornet and Kato battling Russkie spies in America at the tail-end of their show's run in 1953 HERE and HERE.

But, this never-reprinted story from Harvey's Green Hornet Comics #18 (1944), at the peak of their popularity, shows they fought German and Japanese spies and saboteurs on the home front!
(And, in a couple of cases, behind enemy lines in Europe, as we'll show in the future!)
Illustrated by the co-creator of both Robin the Boy Wonder and The Joker, Jerry Robinson!
The tale's writer is unknown.

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The Green Hornet

A History of Radio, Motion Pictures, Comics and Television

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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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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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