I've shown several stories over the past couple of years showing what "really" happened to Hitler. Because his body was recovered near his Berlin bunker by the Russians there was always a suspicion that Hitler had gotten away from the allies, and was still alive somewhere. If he was alive, he might be plotting a comeback. And so it goes. It was a perfect theme for postwar fiction, including comic books.
This particular tale, written by Horace Leonard ("H. L") Gold, was drawn by Curt Swan and inked by Jon Small. I don't know about your sense of fictional revenge, but the ending just doesn't seem either ironic nor punishment enough. Hitler was, after all, someone who enjoyed the sound of his own voice.
Gold did scripting for DC from 1942 to '44, went in the Army, and did some more comic scripting for a few years. He also wrote science fiction and fantasy prose, and is probably best known for founding and editing Galaxy Science Fiction, beginning in 1950 (the year this story was published). Here's a scan of the cover of Galaxy #1, which I picked up in a used bookstore a few years ago.
According to biographical information, Gold, who was born in 1914, suffered later in life from agoraphobia, and became reclusive. He died at age 81 in 1996.
From Strange Adventures #3 (1950):
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I'm debuting a new masthead next Friday, June 1, and here's a preview.
This is tangential, but I'd recommend Hitler: The Pathology of Evil by George Victor, for a highly plausible explanation of Hitler's psychology.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...he DID seem to get off rather easily on his crimes, considering...
ReplyDeleteApparently the skull the Russians held to be Hitler's was found to have been that of a woman's. So maybe there's mileage still in this story, although Adolf would hardly have looked as youthful and sprightly as he appears here.
ReplyDeleteThe aliens are so technically advanced that they don't:
ReplyDelete1) Recognize the Hitler dancing tape as allied propaganda (Why? Wasn't just being Hitler bad enough? Now he's a crazy dancer??) It was a splicing of a couple frame to make him look to be dancing.
2) They don't realize that the gap between V2 to "invasion force that can overcome our teleportation and gravity shield tech" is a long, long distance!
The Hitler is alive bit was one of Stalin's great bits of jerk-ery (aside from mass murder, that is.) He literary did it just to screw with the other allies, there was nothing real to gain.
I like that new masthead; hero barging in, wicked villain, tortured hot lady. Truly the definition of comics :)
Gumba, my feeling about aliens from another planet understanding or judging us is that as humans we don't do a good job judging or understanding ourselves. No one could hope to figure us out: politics, religion, not to mention how deadly we are to all species on the planet, and especially our own. Hell, just use a death ray and get rid of us!
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