User blog:Nausiated/Just About Done 1943

So I'm just about done going through all the comics I could find for 1943. The downside is, some are hard to come by, even hunting for them on the internet. Which I suppose it will take more active hunt (by means of finding Marvel Masterwork reprints of the issues I couldn't do summaries for this time around).

To be honest, I'm getting a little bored with going through all these comics from the 40s. They tend to get repetitive after a while and I can't wait to sink my teeth into something with a little more substance. I am jonsing to get into some of the more modern stuff.. But I resist the urge and become steadfast. Because, for characters like Captain America I'm compiling all his appearances and to get a full picture I want to go through everything by publication order. However, with the revival of a lot of golden age characters I have had to cheat and read some stuff that has been published in the last few years (or at least skim through it) to fill in information. Just check out my updates for the Vision profile.

That said... Here are some interesting anecdotes I found while digging around in the year 1943:

A lot less stories where the main enemy was a member of the Imperial Japanese army. At least out of the 51 comics I went through over the past month and a half. Which strikes me as odd since 1942 saw such a surge in stories where the Japanese were the bad guys. I figured with the attacks on Pearl Harbor happening and the Untied States entering the war near the end of 1941, American outrage would have influenced storytelling a little more than they did. Although a number of stories did feature Japanese internment camps as part of the plots (predominantly featured in, and ). However it was downplayed in these stories and it was implied that those imprisoned within these camps where all Japanese spies, when in reality the United States interned every American citizen of Japanese origin during this time. I wonder if it could be the fact that Timely creators such as Stan Lee drifted away from the down right racist undertones of the depiction of Japanese soldiers was more of a reflection of a impetus not to judge every Japanese person as a spy? It would make sense given Marvel Comics later championing against racism. However, I should point out that characters such as Yoko and Saber Tooth were still walking stereotypes. It seemed that the worst of these depictions happened in Sub-Mariner stories more often than anywhere else.

Speaking of race, another interesting addition to the multiculturalism in these comics is the budding of Middle Eastern characters being depicted in these comics. A lot of these characters are depicted in your typical "Arabian Knights" sort of stereotype. However, it's interesting to note that unlike with say the Japanese, or African-Americans who were depicted as the root of all evil or good natured fools, the Arab world was viewed as one of awe and mysticism. The strange customs were something of a mystique for the story tellers and readers.

On the other hand, the depiction of other ethnic were greatly downplayed. 1943 saw the disappearance of Slow Motion Jones who has not been seen since his recent appearances in and depicted without the minstrel show stereotypes. Also interesting to point out is the departure of Whitewash Jones' gigantic red lips.. At lest within the pages of Young Allies stories, the covers still had some awfully racist depictions of the character. He still talked in really bad Ebonics and wore the ridiculous outfit, but it seemed that the writers were downplaying his character. In fact, reading some stories from 1944 ol' Whitewash had almost disappeared into the background in some stories.

1943 also saw some departures of some staple characters of the Timely era, namely the Vision, Jimmy Jupiter, and the Secret Stamp. The Vision resurfaced in the 90's in Invaders Volume 2 and has resurfaced as part of the 40s revival appearing in the Avengers/Invaders, and The Torch limited series and being featured in Invaders NOW!. Jimmy Jupiter is weird, because his character was so offbeat, I hardly expected him to crop up and be part of the Marvel Universe ever, but there he was making a reappearance in the recent volume of Captain America recently. The only character who hadn't made a comeback yet (that I'm aware of) is the Secret Stamp... but who knows, Marvel seems to be reviving a lot of these old characters (likely to maintain the copyrights) so I would not be surprised if he pops up again, even though he was kind of a stupid character. Another character who made her bow out was the original Black Widow who cropped up in after being absent from any comics for a while -- the story probably in some archive and they slapped her into a story just to fill space.

There were a lot of strange one off characters like the second Marvel Boy, whose origins are almost the same as the first Marvel Boy. Also some failed war characters such as Captain Daring and his Sky-Sharks.

Then there were the comedy strips and comics. Krazy Comics, Terry Tune Comics.. And comedy strips like Jeep Jones... You'll notice that I didn't bother updating these.. Because .. well they just aren't funny, or entertaining to read. I guess they were funny in the 1940s, but boy are they boring as hell today. Frankly, I don't see myself reading them. You'll also have to excuse me if when I tend to avoid the "girl" and "romance" comics when I get to their era of publication.. Although I *might* consider doing some of the major ones like Millie the Model and Patsy Walker... But only because I'm devoted... Maybe I should get one of the nerdy girls in the Burlesque troupe I perform with to read them and write articles for me.. That might be a better idea.. But I digress...

1943 also saw the appearance of some new characters to the Timely brand. Namely female super heroes -- meow -- which speaking of meow, one of them was Miss Fury a character whose series Miss Fury was just reprints of a Bell Syndicates Sunday morning newspaper strip called the Black Fury. Timely snagged the publishing rights in comic book format and pushed out the strip on a semi-quarterly basis. Interestingly enough, character kind of did a fade away in the late 40s, and had a brief revival in reprints in the 1970s as graphic novel reprints. I don't believe Timely/Marvel retained the rights to the character. However its interesting to note that Malibu Comics picked up the character the early 1990s and did stories. As we all know Malibu was acquired by Marvel Comics later in that decade. She recently had a brief cameo in the Twelve limited series as one of the heroes participating in the Battle of Berlin.. Which makes me wonder if Marvel holds the rights to the character now or not or if the estate of June Mills owns the character... Ho hum a story for another day.

The other character to first appear in 1943 is of course Miss America, whom has become a staple of 1940s Marvel continuity. It's interesting to note that her character (at least her powers) are pretty much a direct rip-off of Superman right down to the x-ray vision. I'm surprised Timely didn't have the same problem with DC Comics that Fawcett Comics had with Captain Marvel. I guess because Miss America was a girl she was "different" enough to avoid the trademark police.

Another interesting thing is (and I'm sure I mentioned it before, but I still find it interesting) is how Russia and China are depicted as allies and "good friends" with the United States in these old comics. Granted they all worked together during World War II, but its just interesting to see that so called camaraderie when in the next decade with the start of the Cold War, how Russia and China quickly became enemies of America, and there are still tensions even to this day, yet Japan and Germany are considered allies of the United States today. How the times change things.

Final musing on the topic: characters that have the same names as more popular characters: Such as the Blue Diamond, Mole-Man, Mongoose, Black Mamba, Beetle and not to mention three distinct characters calling themselves the Vulture (I guess it was in vogue that year).

I'm going to take a bit of a hiatus (I've got some videos for my website www.micro-shock.com to finish before the end of the month) before crunching into 1944. So until then, I dunno, read comics or something :P