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!)

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Once a Hero
The Pilot Episode
Only Available on VHS
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Fourth of July Special SUPER GREEN BERET "Dawn of American Freedom!"

For July, We're Doing Things a Little Differently, Starting Here...

...with this whimsical, yet accurate, tale of the American Revolution...starring a 1960s Green Beret!

Tod Holton is an old hand at time travel, having already journeyed to World War II, where he almost captured Adolf Hitler!

This never-reprinted story by writer Otto Binder (who kept the story historically-accurate) and artist Carl Pfeufer appeared in Lightning Comics' Green Beret #2 (1967).

Next Week...
It's a surprise, kiddo!

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Tales of the Green Berets

by Robin Moore and Joe Kubert

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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!

Russkie-Smashers CAPTAIN ATOM II "Crisis"

Remember the Good Ol' Days...

...when we would negotiate with other countries, and they were the ones who were untrustworthy?

I miss those days...

Written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this is a short-but-sweet tale from Charlton's Space Adventures #40 (1961) about beating the Russkies at their own game of deceit and deception by utilizing something...or rather someone...they don't expect!

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Action Hero Archives

Captain Atom

Volume 1

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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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Take That, Adolf!

Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War!

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