In 1943, America was at war with Nazi Germany to save the free world.
This issue of True Comics from December 1943 (“TRUTH is stranger and a thousand time more thrilling than FICTION”) features a six-page story about our friend and neighbor Venezuela (see below).
The same issue also features “The Story of Scapegoats in History: They Got the Blame”.
“The scapegoat trick is as old as history itself. The Nazis used it to seize power in Germany. To weaken from within their enemies in Europe, they tried to divide and conquer the United States! To know the trick is to be on guard against it. That is the purpose of this story—to expose the scapegoat trick and how it works.”
The U.S. appears to be intent on toppling the government of Venezuela, possibly committing war crimes in an illegal war. The pretext is a war on drugs. Whether or not there is an actual invasion on the ground—a real possibility—the point seems to be control of Venezuela’s substantial oil reserves.
In case you don’t know much about Venezuela, and aren’t moved to do the research, six pages of a comic book is a pretty painless way of learning about our neighbor. Truth is stranger and more thrilling than government fiction.
“We know that the dreams of adults often contain images of forbidden acts in which one of the participants belongs to a group of people considered socially inferior by the dreamer. In this way the forbidden act itself can break through the psychic censorship. Through such psychological mechanisms comic books give children a feeling of justification for violence, and sadism, frequently in fantasy and sometimes in acts. They supply a rationalization for these impulses. A large part of the violence and sadism in comics is practiced by individuals or on individuals who are depicted as inferior, sub-human beings. In this way children can indulge in fantasies of violence as something permissible.” Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent
It may seem that colleges now under attack have nothing to do with or learn from the history of comic books in America. They do.
Comic books have been a major cultural force for decades. In the 1950s, between a million and a million-and-a-half copies were being sold each month in America, mostly to young people.
Then in 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published a book, Seduction of the Innocent. His treatment of young people and his observation of juvenile delinquency in America convinced him that the culprit was comic books.
His book and his analysis were a national sensation, reaching Congress and a series of damning hearings. The comic book industry, seeing its sales fall, established a self-policing Comics Code, assuring that horror, violence and weirdness were eliminated.
Senate Hearing (1954)
We know that comic books came back from this as a major multimedia cultural force. A force so overwhelming that it has generated not one but two huge media universes—the DC Universe (DCU) and the Marvel Universe. Generations of extraordinary crowd-pleasing creativity has been let loose, not to mention billions of dollars.
Colleges take heart. It would be better if colleges weren’t asked to compromise their freedom and independence, just as it would have been better for the comic book industry. The colleges may choose to self-police, just as the comic book publishers did. But there is a tomorrow where your greater, freer, more independent days are ahead. It worked for comic books. It can work for you.
I could not resist looking back at how colleges were being handled in the comic books of that era. The good news is that college was not a place of horror, violence and weirdness. Campus was apparently a place of love and romance. No nightmares there.
The story begins with archaeologist Richard Grey leading an expedition in Outer Mongolia. His wife had just given birth to a son, Richard Grey Jr.
The expedition came under attack. She hid her baby. All were killed, except for the infant.
Condors adopted the baby and taught him to fly. This led to his becoming the superhero Black Condor.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Tom Wright was faced with a dilemma. An appropriations bill was about to be voted on. Tom Wright knew the bill was graft, but did he want to cross his own party? He decides to vote against the bill.
The party had to get Tom Wright out of the way. They arranged to have him killed by running his car off the road. As Tom Wright lay dying, Black Condor swooped in to try to save him. Black Condor was astonished to see that he and Tom Wright looked exactly alike. Richard Grey Jr./Black Condor adopted the identity of U.S. Senator Tom Wright, committed to doing good, both as a Senator and as a flying superhero.
Most of us don’t know the names of every current U.S. Senator, so Senator Tom Wright sounds plausible, even if the rest of the story doesn’t.
Tom Wright was not a U.S. Senator. He is the creation of Crack Comics from 1940 to 1943. However, the idea of one of our Senators having a secret superhero identity is too tantalizing not to share.
Following are some of the pages that tell the story.
Would a political party run a dissident Senator off the road? While we are at it, which of our current Senators do you think might have a secret superhero identity?
The Rangers batle the Super-Brain and his desperado soldiers–insidious destroyers of American freedom and democracy.
“A mysterious mental force is behind the attack on our democracy…only young mind can resist its powers!”
In October 1941, America had not yet entered World War II and the fight against insanity and fascism. That didn’t stop comic book publishers from entering the fray.
The Rangers of Freedom were a team of America’s most valiant young people who took on the lunatic enemies of democracy.
Above is the cover of the first issue. Following are some of the panels showing the fanatics and the formation of the Rangers of Freedom.
Where are today’s Rangers of Freedom? We need them now!
Lunatics swarm over America!Radicals seize the chance to attack democracy.Only young minds can resist its powers!
“At first it was only a few jagged lines weaving a strange pattern on a television screen. Then it became a murderous power! Finally, it was an influence of ultimate evil, forging its own weapon of withering doom…The mind of the devil incarnate…The Cosmic Brain.” Amazing Adventures, May 1951
If you wonder how The Cosmic Brain was defeated, see the final page below.
T-Man (Treasury agent) Pete Trask traveled the world to fight bad guys (anti-Americans and Communists) from 1951 to 1956. The comic books chronicle “authentic cases based on the files of the U.S. Treasury Department”.
Below are the pages of an exciting story, Death Trap in Iran, from the January1952 issue of T-Man. T-Man is in Iran to protect the oil fields from Iranian bad guys:
“With Britain and Russia scrambling for control of Iran’s oil fields…anything could happen, and I thought I was ready! But even with my crazy experiences, I’d never figured on finding myself…Trouble’s Double!”
This is part of my ongoing mission to understand and explain world events in terms of comic books from the 1930s to the 1960s.
As the impact and spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve, Diamond Comic Distributors is aware that Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) will be impacted to varying degrees throughout the world. With that in mind, Diamond Comic Distributors has made the difficult decision to postpone the event to a date later in the Summer.
“The severity and timing of the impact of the COVID-19 virus can’t be predicted with any certainty, but the safety of our retailer partners and comic book fans is too important to risk. As always, we appreciate your enthusiasm for and support of the comic industry’s best event and look forward to celebrating with you later in the Summer,” said Diamond Founder and CEO, Steve Geppi.
Free Comic Book Day 2020 offers a selection of 47 titles available absolutely free at participating local comic shops across the United States and around the world. The 47 titles represent a broad range of taste, from superheroes, to sci-fi, to action-adventure, slice-of-life, manga, and so much more! The Free Comic Book Day selection is designed to appeal to every type of reader out there.
Comic books will save us! They saved the entertainment industry by providing the source material for many multi-billion dollar franchises. While they will not cure COVID-19, they will inspire you by demonstrating how far imagination can take us in realizing new lives in a new world.
Once upon a time, children got a lot of important information about subjects like history and science from comic books. It was easier and more fun than actually reading.
Here is a comic book from 1957 called Life Stories of American Presidents. Each president up to that time (it ends with Eisenhower) gets at least a page, and some of the more significant presidents such as Lincoln get as many as eight pages.
Now you or anybody else who might need a quick education on American presidents, but who prefer pictures to words, can view this comic book online. It is found at Comic Book Plus, an amazing site that offers online viewing of vintage comic books and other related literature. Best of all, the comic books are in the public domain, so you can download this one and many others.
We don’t know whether Trump was a fan of comic books as a kid, though he is the right age. So maybe this is the way to school him on subjects such as the history of the presidency.
He might learn that Lincoln was a Republican:
He might learn that there used to be another most corrupt president:
He might learn that there used to be another worst president:
He might learn that other presidents may have accomplished more than him during their presidency:
So much to learn when you know so little. That’s why comic books might help.
It is painful to be reducing the future of America to a simplistic metaphor—or to a comic book concept. But here goes.
For Trump, reality is Trump. Trump Earth. Trump World. Trump Universe. Nothing else exists.
For everybody else, reality is everything else. Not-Trump Earth. Not-Trump World. Not-Trump Universe.
It is really that simple. A little practically complicated because Trump is president. But conceptually, just that simple.
The battle has already started and is likely to get worse before it gets better. For examples, see the various series in the comic book world, such as Crisis on Infinite Earths. Not pretty, with lots of collateral damage. The good news is that in the long run, the good guys and good gals win. We hope.
Bob Schwartz 