Number 2070: The original patriotic hero

Pep Comics lays claim to the original dressed-like-a-flag costumed hero, the Shield. He was prewar, but the first in a line of guys who wore their patriotism as American heroes.

According to the caption in the splash panel, only one person knows that Joe Higgins is the Shield, and that is the head of the FBI himself, J. Edgar Hoover! The Shield is a G-Man, who works for the FBI. They must’ve had a superhero division in the FBI at one time. Plastic Man worked for them, too.

I showed the origin of the Shield back in 2009, and you can see it by clicking on the link below.

From Pep Comics #3 (1940). Art by Irv Novick.

An origin of the Shield was featured in Shield-Wizard Comics. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1073


IN the swim with Betty and Veronica

Were you startled by the new look Betty and Veronica?

Check out a 1947 interpretation of our pulchritudinous pair from an artist who signs the splash page I.N., and is in fact Irving Novick. Irv did Black Hood strips for MLJ. He later did extraordinary work at DC.

At the time Harry Shorten was the editor, and there's an in-joke about "Shorten's Beach." The writing was on the wall at MLJ as they made the transition to the Archie teenage comics they're still living on. Maybe Irv wasn't getting enough work after the postwar demise of the superheroes, and Shorten gave him the assignment.

It's a fascinating strip, if only for Novick's artistic interpretation. Did he do any more of these?

From Archie #27, 1947:








Betty got herself into a similar situation ten years later, in Archie Annual #9, 1957-58.

Number 1066


The "forgotten" attack on Pearl Harbor, 1940!


Pep Comics #4, 1940, tells the story of an attack on Pearl Harbor, almost two years before the attack by the Japanese, 70 years ago today.

The story is not that that surprising or even prophetic fiction. It was common knowledge at the time that Pearl Harbor, where the U.S. Pacific Fleet was stationed, was a likely enemy target. The Shield, America's first patriotic hero, kicks some butt. The fictitious Musconians are standing in for countries with which we were not yet at war.

Irving Novick drew the story, and Harry Shorten wrote it. The story features a crossover with the Wizard and Keith Kornell, the West Point cadet. As we learn at the end of the Shield's engagement with the Mosconian enemy, the Wizard and Kornell would be picking up the fight in the "current issue of Top-Notch Comics." I can figure out the ending of the saga without seeing it, but maybe the crossover worked in 1940 to separate some kids from their dimes.











The panel on page three showing a sailor identifying the Shield as "the guy what done a Steve Brodie!" threw me. Steve Brodie is the name of an inker for DC, whose work has shown up in four Boy Commandos stories on this blog. I did some research. The Steve Brodie referred to in the Pep Comics story was a daredevil who claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge (and lived) in 1885. He died in 1901. You can read about that Steve Brodie here.

Number 1050


Veteran's Day 11/11/11


Today is Veteran's Day in the U. S., honoring all who have served in the armed forces of the United States. That's a lot of veterans, and includes me.

For the occasion we've got a couple of special war stories, one story from Our Army At War #8, 1953, written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Irving Novick. It's in the form of the original art taken from the Heritage Auctions site. I also took the other story from Heritage, which harkens back to an earlier era of conflict. It's from the next-to-last issue of Tomahawk*, #139, 1972, written by Bob Haney and drawn by Fred Ray. Ray, who had drawn Tomahawk for years, was an expert on the Revolutionary War period, and looks like he could handle the Civil War period, also.

These stories are dedicated to my fellow veterans, and to those serving now. Thanks to all of you!


















*The cover logo says Son of Tomahawk.