He wasn’t the first patriotically themed superhero, MLJ’s Shield was. But the immediate and immense success of Marvel’s super-patriot, who debuted a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor, sparked a veritable fireworks display of flag-draped imitators.
America’s newsstands soon flashed red, white and blue with the antics of such flag fetishists as the Eagle, Captain Freedom, Captain Battle, Miss America, Miss Victory, Captain Fearless, the Star-Spangled Kid, the Patriot, Pat Patriot, the Fighting Yank and more.
A favorite of mine was MLJ’s second star-spangled superhero, Captain Flag, if only because his red-and-white vertically striped cape appealed to me when I first saw him during his brief 1960s revival.
His origin in Blue Ribbon Comics 16 (Sept. 1941) strained even the bounds of comic book credibility (ordinarily as flexible as Plastic Man).
After the ineffectual playboy Tom Townsend’s inventor-father was murdered before his eyes by the super villain Black Hand, an eagle crashed through the window and carried Tom off.
A non sequitur, I know, but let’s just press on.
Nurturing and inspiring Tom, the eagle turned him into a splendid physical specimen, then returned with him to fight crime as Captain Flag and Yank.
“Captain Flag’s evil-bashing career lasted all of seven issues, as Blue Ribbon Comics folded with 22 (March 1942),” noted comics historian Don Markstein. “He wasn't seen again until 1966, when Archie Comics (the company had re-named itself after its most popular character a couple of years after Blue Ribbon’s demise) brought back the majority of its old costumed crime fighters for a walk-on with The Mighty Crusaders. Cap got more prominent treatment than most, as he allied himself with The Web and The Fox to form a competing super-group called The Ultra-Men.
“But not all that prominent. Cap’s career with The Ultra-Men was even briefer than the one he'd had back in Blue Ribbon Comics. In fact, announcing its existence was all the team ever did.”
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| Obscure though he was, Captain Flag made it into a 1960s' board game |
Bob Doncaster said: Those brief appearances in Mighty Crusaders really what my appetite for characters I'd never seen. Little knowing a full meal was not forthcoming.
ReplyDeleteEdward Lee Love:
ReplyDeleteI think it helps to think of this era of comics and superheroes were almost akin to fairy tales more than myth — where animals may act and talk with near human intelligence as part of their narrative reality.