October 1941: Premonitions of Pearl Harbor

This Fiction House flirtation with superheroes was breezy and brief.

I presume the publisher had noticed the instantly terrific sales of the fascist-flattening title Captain America when it hit the newsstands in December 1940. Seven months later, Fiction House debuted both Super-American (in Fight Comics 15, cover-dated Oct. 1941) and the Rangers of Freedom (in Rangers of Freedom 1, ditto).

The latter title offered three teens — Biff Barkley, Tex Russell and Percy Cabot — who were recruited by the FBI to serve as the star-spangled Rangers of Freedom. 

The story, written by R. W. Colt and drawn by Joe Doolin, bothered to offer a rationale for why the FBI would need teenagers. The villainous Super-Brain is using his mental powers to attack American democracy, and only “young minds” can resist him.  Miss America herself pronounces the teens fit to fight the wave of sabotage and lunacy that has overwhelmed the nation.

“This is an interesting peek into the American psyche on the eve of the country’s entry into World War II,” observed online fan Ratty. “Just (five) months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the lead story has young ‘extraordinary examples of American youth’ volunteer to fight ‘Super-Brain,’ a super-villain schemer in the Fu Manchu mold, rather than Hitler directly. Indeed, issue 2 retcons the story to be set in the near future of 1948 with Hitler demoted to merely an ‘adventurer’ Super-Brain is using.”

That story shows Super-Brain ordering Hitler to invade the U.S. three years after the actual dictator’s death.

“Things quickly changed after the attack on Pearl Harbor,” Ratty noted. “By issue 5 the original titular ‘Rangers of Freedom’ team would be replaced by a less super-themed group of Army Rangers. 

“It's interesting to note that many of the other stories in issue 1 deal with fifth columnist saboteurs. If you can put yourself in the time, it gives an incredible sense of foreboding. America was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”