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strannik01 (strannik01) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-08 12:02:00

Current location:	Argo Tea, Chicago
Current mood:	nostalgic
Entry tags:	char: super-american, creator: dan zolnerowich, era: golden age, publisher: fiction house, series: weird golden age patriotism, status: public domain

Weird Golden Age Patriotism - Super-American
MLJ's the Shield was the first patriotic superhero in American comics, but it wasn't until Captain America came around that the trend really took off. Every publisher rushed to jump on the bandwagon and get their own patriotic hero (or several) out on the shelves. Some were fairly mundane, but others... Others were just plain weird.

In this series, I will take a look at some of the odder, more unique examples of the trend. Members of the original scans_daily will probably remember some of them, but others will be brand new.

First, we have Super-American, originally published by Fiction House. The following story originally appeared in Fight Comics #15. Writer unknown, art by Dan Zolnerowich.

I was originally going to put up dial-up links, but then I noticed that I kept getting errors and reread the rules. So, if anyone out there has a dial-up connection (or has to deal with a wireless connection to a coffee shop), you can go to this folder.

(Post a new comment)

	thokstar 2009-08-08 06:17 pm UTC (link)
	He looks far into the future and sees an amazing race of future Americans. RACE DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!! (Given the setting, the comment is even worse.) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	arilou_skiff 2009-08-08 07:31 pm UTC (link)
	"Race" has kind of undergone a bit of a slide in recent times. Partially due to the "scientific" meaning becoming more narrowed, but also because it used to be much more general in use, something akin to "People" or "Community". (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

dr_hermes
2009-08-08 07:42 pm UTC (link)

Back then, you would often see articles with phrases like "The Italians are a funny race," or "The British react with the stoicism of their race." No one thought twice about it. At some point, the word became more narrowly applied. Nowadays, whenever some discusses differences between the races, there's usually a chorus pointing out that we are all one race, race is a false distinction, we should say ethnic background or sub-culture. The meaning of words changes.
'

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	arilou_skiff 2009-08-08 07:43 pm UTC (link)
	Even more than that, I've seen DENTISTS described as a "Race". (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-08-08 07:45 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, that's funny. I love the vagaries of language. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	silicone_soul 2009-08-08 08:49 pm UTC (link)
	Next thing you know you'll be saying they should have their own schools. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-09 04:14 am UTC (link)
	Those are anti-dentites! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lynxara 2009-08-08 07:19 pm UTC (link)
	I am really sad that someone else has already used the title "Fight Comics." That is just one of the best possible titles for a comic in which there will be fighting. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	strannik01 2009-08-08 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	The trademark for "Fight Comics" expired decades ago, so anybody can use it. It's just a question of who uses it first. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lynxara 2009-08-08 10:00 pm UTC (link)
	Clearly I need to get to work on a comic that's 22 pages of non-stop fightin'. Or possibly a webcomic: all fights, all the time, updated three times weekly. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-08-08 10:20 pm UTC (link)
	The first rule of FIGHT COMICS is that you do not talk about FIGHT COMICS. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lynxara 2009-08-08 10:28 pm UTC (link)
	That's so a banner ad for a webcomic. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	khamelea 2009-08-08 07:42 pm UTC (link)
	Those fiendish... huh... Europeans? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	strannik01 2009-08-08 09:00 pm UTC (link)
	This was published before United States entered World War II, so many publishers were vary of calling Nazis and Hitler by name. Timely and Lev Gleason broke the mold with Captain America Comics and Daredevil Battles Hitler, respectively, but most publishers preferred to play it safe (or, at the very least, vague). (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	khamelea 2009-08-08 09:04 pm UTC (link)
	That makes sense. I've seen the same reluctance in cinema (two Hitchcock films come to mind), I guess it's just that it looks odder with an entire invasion force (and a fictional "Supreme Leader") being portrayed. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-09 04:15 am UTC (link)
	Future people have very odd fashions. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-08-09 04:53 am UTC (link)
	What I always like were those shoulder crescents that seemed to serve no function but always looked cool. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lieut_kettch 2009-08-09 07:55 am UTC (link)
	Indeed. When you see the President of the US with no pants on, it usually means "Cigar in the hoo-ha" time. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lieut_kettch 2009-08-09 05:23 am UTC (link)
	Apparently, at some point in the future, pants will become obsolete. Also, if you did invent a working time machine, couldn't you use it for more practical things, like knowing the outcome of future battles? Or making sure Hitler never rose to power? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	khamelea 2009-08-09 05:56 am UTC (link)
	"Or making sure Hitler never rose to power?" Don't you mean "or making sure Tyrannus never rose to power?" (Reply to this) (Parent)

psychop_rex
2009-08-09 09:17 am UTC (link)

I've read this before, but it still seems mighty weird to me. I mean, the obvious elements such as Super-American's fashion sense aside, who are these guys he's fighting? They're not Nazis - they don't wear swastikas. In fact, what they DO wear looks mighty similar to the symbol on Dr. Occult's amulet to me.
Also, while this has that aura of Golden Age goofiness to it, the concept of Super-American, seen through modern eyes, is kinda... intriguingly creepy. I mean, here's a cheerfully gung-ho character sent from a future race of hyper-patriots to defend the nation and whip the tar out of those considered to be enemies of America. All fine and dandy, as long as WW2 is going on and everyone knows who the bad guys are - but what happens when it ends, and Super-American has to switch his views elsewhere? What happens when he has less obvious targets, and we enter the era of the Cold War? He'll probably go overseas and bash a few Russian heads, but what about the home front? Will he smash through the European quarters of major American cities looking for people who might be Commies? And what happens when we get to Vietnam? Picture that star-cloaked figure letting out merry quips while wading through a group of anti-war protesters, flattening them with wall-shattering punches that break bones and pulverize bodies, blood flowing in the streets... And what about the Civil Rights era? I didn't see any black people in the future...
Basically, picture a superhuman from another era, fueled by misguided patriotism of a sort birthed in another era, one alien to ours, a zealot who jumps into action to 'defend' America against whatever HE deems as a threat, regardless of the realities of the situation, a government enforcer who even the government is afraid of, but they can't stop him - NOTHING can stop him; he has no known weaknesses. I mean, this guy is like a twisted love-child of Superman and the Terminator. There are possibilities here.

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fredneil.livejournal.com
2009-08-09 05:02 pm UTC (link)

I suspect similar thought processes led to the 50s version of Captain America and the way that version was retconned in the 70s and 80s. Even the way Steve Rogers developed during that period is a response to those questions, though the answers weren't the same ones that you came up with.

In this case, he's from the future, so he'd have the advantage of historical perspective. He wouldn't look at civil rights protesters and think "they're trying to destroy America." He'd look at them and know history proved them right. (Of course, that's said from our historical perspective. At the time, it would depend on the personal beliefs of whoever was writing him.)

There aren't any women in the future, either. Very few in the present, too. Even in the crowd scenes, it's mostly men. Hmm, the future is comprised of buff men who don't wear pants and have no women around.

No, nothing odd about that. One other thing about future fashions, men don't wear hats any more. That prediction turned out to be true, but at the time? Even in the 20th century crowd scenes, all the men are wearing hats.

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psychop_rex
2009-08-09 08:25 pm UTC (link)

They may or may not have historical perspective - remember, this is in the far, far future, 'Jetsons' territory or later. 'Our history books tell us of trouble back then' MIGHT mean that they have accurate knowledge of WW2, or it might mean that their general picture of the 20th century is something like our picture of the 5th century BC - some things are known, but not a lot - and that their history books say something generalized along the lines of 'the mid-20th century was a time of turmoil and conflict, with mighty wars being fought'. For that matter, in the confused nature of time travel, that 'turmoil and conflict' may have been CAUSED by their sending the Super-American back in time - and for that matter, it may have ultimately proved the catalyst that led to the formation of their society.

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	dr_hermes 2009-08-09 11:12 pm UTC (link)
	Charlie Chan said in one book, "Man who buys lion to guard home may find he no longer owns home." That could be what would happen here. Super-American could have gone on to be a terrible threat to the country, and the scientist might quietly ask for a group from the future to come and escort him home. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-08-09 11:50 pm UTC (link)
	Assuming, of course, that they WANT to escort him home - if they're all so hyper-patriotic in the future, they might agree with what he's doing, and want him to keep up the good work. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

fredneil.livejournal.com
2009-08-10 01:06 am UTC (link)

What he was doing wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He could have spent the post-war period fighting for the American ideals of justice, equality, and tolerance that, in his timeline, American didn't start living up to until well after the 20th century. Or at least, he'd have tried to until someone said, "hey, why should we let someone from the future tell us what to do. How do we know he really is an American," and he just said "Screw it. I don't need this. I'm going home. I never liked having to wear pants anyway."

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	psychop_rex 2009-08-10 02:38 am UTC (link)
	Well, sure, he COULD - that's obviously what the writer intended - but I'm just sayin', if you WANTED an unstoppable misguided zealot, he'd be a natural for the job. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-08-10 03:58 am UTC (link)
	Wow, you could get a really interesting storyline from some of these ideas. I can see focus on a group of Super-American's followers starting to fight among themselves as some think he's going to far and some support him all the way. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

psychop_rex
2009-08-10 06:26 am UTC (link)

Exactly - kind of a reflection of changing social mores. I mean, you had this whole societal clash in the '60's because society was basically divided between the people who still believed that the government is automatically your friend, and the people who believed this to be a lie. If you brought a character into the middle of this who believed the first version, and was prepared to defend it with lethal force if necessary, he'd be incredibly divisive - some people would be going 'yeah! He's givin' th' young punks what for!', and the others would be going 'this is crazy; he's killing people, he's got to be stopped'. And there'd probably be some crossover between the two - people who admired the Super-American's patriotism but deplored his methods, and people who deplored both his methods and his convictions, but still held onto an image of him as this great WW2 hero. He's a character with some juice, he is, if the right writer took him on.

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strannik01
2009-08-09 11:57 pm UTC (link)

For that matter, in the confused nature of time travel, that 'turmoil and conflict' may have been CAUSED by their sending the Super-American back in time - and for that matter, it may have ultimately proved the catalyst that led to the formation of their society.

If the dates seen in the time traveling sequence are indication, the future is sometime in the 24th century. I don't think their knowledge would be that distorted. In fact, it's possible that they knew exactly what was going to happen from their history, so they staged the contact with the processor and instructed Super-American to do exactly what the history says he did - just to make sure the time line doesn't accidentally collapse on itself.

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psychop_rex
2009-08-10 12:56 am UTC (link)

Looking at that panel, it looks to me more like he comes from some point BEYOND the 24th century - he's zipping out from the metaphorical black clouds surrounding the area behind it. Anyway, that's a notoriously inaccurate means of representation - most comics/cartoons/whatever don't actually show the date that the time traveler is leaving as the dates flash buy - it's usually past decades that one sees, not present ones.
And it's possible that, as you say, the whole thing was staged so that Super-American WOULD do exactly what their history says he did - but WHAT does their history say? Does it say more or less what ours would, or does it describe a world where Super-American runs rampant, thereby ultimately causing their society's formation hundreds of years later?

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	strannik01 2009-08-10 04:02 am UTC (link)
	Does it say more or less what ours would, or does it describe a world where Super-American runs rampant, thereby ultimately causing their society's formation hundreds of years later? It works either way. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-08-10 06:32 am UTC (link)
	It DOES, doesn't it? That could be a plot point - just what IS in the history book of the future? Does it show the Super-American's victory, his defeat, or what? And is this book accurate, or is it the result of editorial tampering - and if it IS accurate, is it all fated to be, or can things be changed? (Reply to this) (Parent)