Once upon a time in America, Adolph Hitler was the epitome of evil. He was the loathsome skunk who forced two of my uncles to go to war to protect the civil order of the Western world itself. Once upon a time we all hated him. And we have the comic books to prove it. Arguably the most infamous is the cover above for the debut of the Daredevil series from Lev Gleason which has the one-off title of Daredevil Battles Hitler! Signing as "Woodro" the infamous cover above was created by Charles Biro.
In this absolute riot of a comic book Daredevil battles Hitler and his minions on many fronts, and he is helped by other Lev Gleason heroes of all kinds in this comic dated July 1941. (For the record, I love comic images which showcase heroes coming out of the very pages of book or even bursting through the cover.)
Daredevil joins forces with Silver Streak to combat the malevolent dictator. This splash page showcases Hitler as a giant crushing regular folks under his boot and crashing buildings to the ground. Charles Biro produces both story and art for this initial chapter.
One the biggest "stars" for the company was actually the villain the Claw, who is a maniacal giant with fangs. He seems like an ideal choice to help the little dictator but as the title suggests there's little honor among malevolent maniacs. The villains team-up but then fall-out as Daredevil does his best to wind the day. Writer Biro was joined by the great artist Jack Cole for weird outing.
The action switches to the jungle where Daredevil joins up with Lance Hale, a Tarzan inspired hero. The duo drive the Nazis out of this little corner of deepest darkest Africa. It's assumed Biro wrote this one, bt the artist's name is lost to time.
I love this double-page spread which advertises the various heroes Lev Gleason publishes. Not all of them get featured in this comic.
Next Daredevil takes to the skies as he teams up with Cloud Curtis to battle Herman Goering's dangerous fighter planes. It takes more than a dash of derring-do to subdue the enemy. Sadly, again the artist for this story is unknown. As we learned yesterday, they produced them fast at Lev Gleason.
In perhaps the strangest of the adventures Daredevil is in conflict with Grand Admiral Von Roeder who is attacking shipping. The Pirate Prince appears from the mists of time to assist in putting down this threat and then he and his sailing ship disappear just as mysteriously. Harry Anderson supplies the artwork for this Biro story.
The comic takes a turn by leaving off with these focuses instead on Adolph Hitler himself and muses upon how his vile man came to power. The story is both written and drawn by Bob Davis.
Hitler's notorious biography is tracked in a two-page prose offering which details many of how he came to prominence and ultimately a threat to the world.
We then get some potent pages showing how Hitler and his forces moved beyond their borders and became an immediate menace to all of Europe and beyond. The story has the Roman god of war Mars join Hitler in his predations.
The story "Man of Hate" was reprinted in 2001 in All-Hitler Comics from Bill Black's AC Comics.
This is a wild comic book, published before the beginning of the war and so it could be argued was needlessly provocative. Those arguments are largely hogwash. Recognizing the immensity of a menace, whether overseas or in one's own homeland, it's necessary to face up to the task of defeating evil.
I read this story in The Original Daredevil Archives from Dark Horse. If you can't wait and I haven't spoiled too much, you can read it here.
Rip Off
Like yourself I love this cover. Thank you for providing the link to this comic, it's a book I have always wanted to read. The Claw bears a striking resemblance to the Yellow Claw are they the same character?
ReplyDeleteThe Claw might have inspired some presentations of Yellow Claw but the latter owes much more to Fu Manchu.
DeleteIt’s interesting to consider how certain authors, such as Sax Rohmer and Dennis Wheatley, were once permanent fixtures in the bestseller lists, but are now virtually impossible to find, largely because of perceived racism in their novels.
DeleteYou've probably heard that the far-right AFD won an election last week in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt and now everyone seems to think the Nazis are on the verge of returning to power in Germany but this is highly unlikely in my opinion. Saxony-Anhalt is a small poor state in East Germany with an ageing and shrinking population - in other words it's exactly the kind of place you'd expect the AFD to win but they'll have a much tougher task winning larger, more prosperous states in western Germany.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear. I hope that such hatred has passed the boiling point in my own land, though there is much work to be done to right the ship and bring justice to the many who have been caught up in the madness. It's going to be a long hard march to get control again, but I honestly feel it's going to happen.
DeleteRef Colin’s comment above, the AfD is now also expected to win the north-eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with an estimated 38% of the vote (compared to 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt).
DeleteJeepers Mister Rip thanks for this. And please keep reminding the kids that the paper hanger was bad!
ReplyDeleteI hate Nazis in all their forms, even when they try and pass for "normal".
DeleteInteresting to note how many comics creators weren't willing to wait until the US to enter WW2 for their characters to make a stand. Were there any comics which pushed an isolationist stance?
ReplyDeleteAs much of the industry was powered by the enthusiasm of young Jewish men, I suspect the impetus in comics was perhaps less lethargic than in more "respected" venues.
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