The Hero You Never Got to Know CAPTAIN JUSTICE "Once a Hero" Part 1

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a "high-concept" TV series about comic book characters entering the "real" world!
It was so kool that Stan Lee was scheduled to do a cameo appearance, and even wrote the intro for the comic book adaptation...

Well, that was the plan...

To Be Continued Tomorrow at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!

Adapted from Dusty Kaye's screenplay by J M DeMatteis and illustrated by Steve Leialoha, Marvel's Captain Justice #1 (1988) took the 90-minute pilot episode and converted it into a two-issue mini-series.

Though Leialoha tried to differentiate the two-dimensional comic world from the three-dimensional real world with simplified linework and almost no solid black areas in the backgrounds for the comic dimension, the technological limitations of printing at that time minimalized his effectiveness!
(For example, using a coarser Lichetenstein-style dot screen for the colors in the comic book world would've enhanced the visual difference tremendously!)

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Once a Hero
The Pilot Episode
Only Available on VHS
Paid Link

Nazi-Punchers SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS "Fighting Side-By-Side with Captain America and Bucky!" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

 Captain America and Bucky have discovered a Nazi plot involving movement of slave laborers to a French coastal site where large amounts of munitions are also being moved.
Why?
Freeing a group of captive American aviators who were about to be executed, Cap has an idea about how to discover the plan, but he wants backup...

 Now that was kool!

This wasn't the first time the Nazis tried this trick in the Marvel Comics Universe.

in Timely's Marvel Mystery Comics #16-17 (1941), Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner discovered another English Channel tunnel as well as a Japanese one under the Bering Strait!

After destroying the German tunnel single-handed, Namor then teams up with the Original Human Torch and Toro to destroy the Japanese tunnel.

In actual history, the idea of an invasion tunnel from mainland Europe to England dates back to 1804, when it was rumored Napoleon Bonaparte was digging one to bypass the British fleet!

1805 illustration showing proposed French invasion using a tunnel as well as barges and balloons.

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos

Epic Collection

Paid Link

Nazi-Punchers SGT FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS "Fighting Side-By-Side with Captain America and Bucky!" Part 1

It's Memorial Day Weekend...

...and since we wanted to show the actual (comic book) military in action, we thought we'd present them along with a pair of costumed heroes!

We hate to break into the classic Stan Lee-scripted, Jack Kirby-penciled, and Dick Ayers-inked action from Marvel's Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos #13 (1964), but you'll have to tune in tomorrow to see how the Howlers fit into this situation!

Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos

Epic Collection

Paid Link

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?