Number 2202: America’s future patriotic hero

Like Robert Webb, who drew Sheena, featured a couple of days ago, Dan Zolnerowich was a journeyman comic book artist who began his career with the Eisner and Iger studio. He sometimes signed his name Zolne. Also like Webb, I can’t find much information on him. Fiction House Comics stood out on the racks because of the covers Zolnerowich drew for them during the war years and beyond.

I have noticed online some paintings he did, reproducing some of his early covers, done as late as 1977. If anyone has information on him I would appreciate you sharing it.

Heritage Auctions showed all but the last page of Zolnerowich’s artwork for Super-American, which originally appeared in Fight Comics #17 (1942). My thanks to Heritage for posting these pages. My appropriation of them is shameless, but that’s just the kind of stuff I do and who I am. The last page I took from scans of the printed comic available at the Digital Comics Database.

Super-American appeared in only four issues of Fight Comics, numbers 15 through 18, then disappeared. Fiction House had never been totally comfortable with superheroes, not like their competition. They had many characters who appeared year-after-year, but most of them were like comic book versions of characters out of pulp magazines, which Fiction House also published. Super-American was brought from the future to help America fight their enemies. I have shown a couple more of his stories; check the links below.

As promised, two earlier Super-American stories, including his origin. Just click on the thumbnails.

Number 1954: Super-American takes the time to help

Super-American was a short-lived patriotic superhero feature for Fiction House’s Fight Comics. He lasted four issues, numbers 15 through 18, in 1941. In this origin story he volunteers to come back in time from a far-future America where the President of the United States wears tight underwear and hangs out with other men in underwear.

This is one of those headache-inducing (for me, anyway) stories about time travel. If Super-American had saved America from invasion by hordes of fifth columnists in 1941, then Allen Bruce, inventor, would not have had to call on him in the future through the Chronopticon, because it would have already been done. (I can feel the throbbing in my head already. Rather than risk a stroke I shall change the subject.)

Dan Zolnerowich, a really fine artist/illustrator working in comic books in those early days, did the story. And the story is outrageous: ruthless dictator takes over, forces Congress to change laws, which causes Super-American to proclaim, “This seems a trifle unconstitutional!” Well, yeah...and more than a trifle.

From Fight Comics #15 (1941):