Saturday, July 02, 2005
Comic Art
What else would you do on a July 4 weekend than patriotic superheroes. There have been a bunch. This is a fairly random sampling, based on what I could find. The very first patriotic hero was called "The Shield". And believe it or not "Uncle Sam" himself got into the action!
Most of these heroes were limited to WWII. And almost all of them sold resonably well when the war was on. Only a couple such heroes survived after the war. Most notable Captain America -- who we've seen before and we'll look at at the end. A lot of them abviously influence Cap heavily -- after all his primary weapon is a shield.
These guys were often nearly indistinguishable from one another. Consider these two -- the "Fighting American" and "Mr. US" Note that FA has a teen sidekick (all good surperheroes did in those days, but note the strong similarity to Cap's sidekick -- Bucky.
Speaking of teenagers, DC Comics has dome one of the more interesting takes on these old timers. The "Star-Spangled Kid" (above left) was a big part of the WWII "Justice Society Of America." They still publish a JSA book, featuring some of the most popular of the originals, but then featuring similar heroes often the children or grandchildren on the originals, having taken up the family mantle if you will. At right is the Kid's latest incarnation - granddaughter of the original.
And of course, what would any post about patriotic suerheroes be without the greatest of any generation -- CAPTAIN AMERICA!
