PATRIOTIC THEMED SUPERHEROES AND SUPERHEROINES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post at Balladeer’s Blog looks at some patriotic themed heroes and heroines here in the U.S.

THE SHIELD

Company: MLJ

Secret Identity: Dr. Joe Higgins, a chemist. 

Origin: On his deathbed Joe’s father Tom revealed to him the secret of a chemical formula he had been working on. That formula could convey superpowers on a normal human being. As Joe grew older he got his PhD in chemistry, finished his father’s formula and used it on himself, gaining superpowers. He devised a special costume and fought the forces of evil as the Shield, a super-powered operative of the FBI.

First Appearance: Pep Comics #1 (January 1940). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1945.

Powers: The chemical formula that the Shield rubbed onto his skin followed by bombardment with flouroscopic rays endowed him with super-strength plus invulnerability. The Shield also wore an indestructible costume which encased his torso like a shield.

Comment: The Shield was America’s first star-spangled superhero, beating Captain America into print by more than a year. He eventually had a youthful sidekick called Dusty and a private detective sweetheart named Betty Warren. Only J. Edgar Hoover knew the Shield’s secret identity.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Company: Timely/ Marvel

Secret Identity: Steve Rogers

Origin: Rejected 4F Steve Rogers was so desperate to serve against the Axis Powers in World War Two that when he was deemed unfit for service he volunteered for a high-risk experimental procedure to create American super-soldiers. The process granted him superpowers but the scientist who knew the secret was killed by a Nazi agent before more super-soldiers could be made. Steve Rogers was issued a costume and shield and sent into action as Captain America.

First Appearance: Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941)

Powers: Captain America possessed greater than normal strength and reflexes faster than athletes. He was more agile than acrobats and had incredible stamina. In addition, Captain America was issued a shield that decades later was retconned to have been made from some of the first adamantium to ever land on Earth in a meteor.

Comment: In the 1960s, Marvel Comics reintroduced Captain America into their new continuity by saying that he had been in suspended animation in the waters of the North Atlantic.   

THE FIGHTING YANK

Company: Nedor

Secret Identity: Bruce Carter III

Origin: Bruce Carter III is the spitting image of his ancestor, Bruce Carter I, a soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War. Unjustly accused of neglecting his duty Carter’s ghost has been wandering since then hoping to restore the family honor. He believes fighting in the expanding World War will provide that opportunity for his look-alike descendant, so he leads Bruce III to the attic of the old family home and reveals to him a cloak which bestows super-powers on the wearer.

First Appearance: Startling Comics # 10 (September 1941). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1949.  

Powers: Wearing the cloak revealed to him by his ghostly ancestor gives the Fighting Yank superhuman strength, a degree of invulnerability, and the power to run over 60 miles per hour.

Comment: For my review of the first sixteen Fighting Yank stories click HERE.

U.S.A.

Company: Quality Comics

Secret Identity: Never revealed

Origin: In 1777 an unidentified little girl watched Betsy Ross sew the first American flag. Betsy gave the awestruck girl a few threads from that flag and the girl put them in a locket she wore around her neck. She died from pneumonia after running home in the rain but in 1941 her grave was discovered in an old cemetery in Philadelphia. The locket was opened and the girl’s ghost emerged as an adult, powered by the flag threads, and assumed corporeal form. As U.S.A. she fought foes who threatened America.  

First Appearance: Feature Comics #42 (March 1941) Her final Golden Age appearance came in September with her 7th adventure. 

Powers: In her U.S.A. form this superheroine had only the strength of a mortal woman but her cape, designed after the American flag, was bulletproof and gave her the power to fly. The flag-cape also served as a warning system about dangers to the United States. In addition, her “Torch of Liberty” could shoot flames, concussive force beams and disintegrator rays as well as project light.

Comment: In her first few adventures U.S.A. flew by just holding the flag but soon took to wearing it as a cape. Her greatest weakness was if an opponent literally “hid behind an American flag”, which left her powerless against them. Similarly if a villain used weaponry done up to resemble an American flag she could be harmed by them.

YANKEE GIRL

Company: Chesler 

Secret Identity: Lauren Mason

Origin: Lauren Mason’s wealthy family line included practioners of the mystic arts, but the only spell-casting Lauren herself ever employed was a magic conjuration employing the words “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” (I guess her delivery made all the difference.) Chanting those three words transformed her, Shazam-style, into the super-powered Yankee Girl. 

First Appearance: Either Red Seal Comics #17 (July 1946) or Dynamic Comics #23 (November 1947). There is still some dispute.

Powers: Yankee Girl had super-strength, the power of flight and possessed a large degree of invulnerability.

Comment: Lauren Mason had a fiancé, Corey Habot M.D.

MISS AMERICA

Company: Timely/ Marvel

Secret Identity: Madeline Joyce

Origin: Sixteen year old Madeline Joyce was the ward of railroad magnate James Bennett. He showed her one of the outside projects that he financed, an electrical research center set up in what had formerly been a lighthouse. That night, during a violent thunderstorm, the fascinated Madeline snuck back to the laboratory to more closely examine the equipment.

At one point a lightning bolt struck the lab and Madeline, destroying the equipment but granting her superpowers. Adopting the nom de guerre Miss America, she donned a costume and went into action.

First Appearance:  Marvel Mystery Comics #49 (November 1943) Her final Golden Age appearance came in 1948.

Powers: Miss America possessed Superman/ Wonder Woman levels of strength. She could also fly and had x-ray vision. In addition she had a large degree of invulnerability.

Comment: For a time in the 1970s, Miss America was, according to Marvel Comics canon, the mother of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The Whizzer was their father. That has since been retconned.

UNCLE SAM

Company: Quality Comics 

Secret Identity: Ezra Smith

Origin: During the Revolutionary War, a dying American soldier named Sam (last name unknown) felt such a fervent desire to continuing fighting for the new country that he assumed supernatural status. Over the decades he incarnated as Uncle Sam whenever the United States needed him.

In 1940 he appeared to young Buddy Smith, whose father Ezra was just killed for opposing a Fascist organization called the Purple Shirts. Uncle Sam defeated that group and became Buddy’s substitute father, pretending to be his late father Ezra to legal authorities.

First Appearance: National Comics #1 (July 1940) His final Golden Age appearance came in 1944.

Powers: This hero had Superman-level strength and invulnerability. He could fly in a sense by making enormous Hulk-sized leaps. He had a mystic ability to know where he would be needed. Due to his supernatural nature, Uncle Sam could not be photographed or filmed.

Comment: When he was no longer needed in a given time period, this hero faded away, to once again incarnate during the next period of crisis for the country.

PAT PATRIOT

Company: Lev Gleason 

Secret Identity: Patricia Patrios

Origin: Factory worker and Greek-American Patricia Patrios was on her way home one night after rehearsal in a patriotic musical when she encountered Nazi conspirators plotting sabotage. Pat was still dressed in her “Female Uncle Sam” outfit from the dress rehearsal but dove in and thwarted the Nazi plans. The media got her name wrong and identified her as Pat Patriot instead of Pat Patrios. Against all reason this gave our heroine a “secret identity” to hide behind as she continued her superheroics as Pat Patriot, America’s Joan of Arc.

First Appearance: Daredevil Comics #2 (August 1941)

Powers: Pat Patriot was in the peak of human condition and excelled at unarmed combat. She would sometimes use guns in her crusade against the Axis Powers.

Comment: Most of Pat’s adventures took place stateside but her final story was set in Burma where she took on the occupying Japanese forces.

MISS LIBERTY

Company: DC 

Secret Identity: Bess Lynn

Origin: Revolutionary War Nurse Bess Lynn decided she could further help the American Rebel cause in Massachusetts and its department of Maine by employing her other skills in the costumed identity of Miss Liberty. Bess was a blonde but wore a black wig in her costumed form.

First Appearance: Tomahawk #81 (August 1962)

Powers: Miss Liberty had secretly trained herself to be the equal of any man in armed or unarmed combat. She was a dead shot with her pistols and often used lit powder horns as makeshift grenades to hurl at Redcoats, their Native American allies and Hessians.

Comment: This heroine was also very skilled with a sword and had mastered trick riding on her horses.

THE PATRIOT

Company: Timely/ Marvel

Secret Identity: Jeffrey Mace

Origin: Jeffrey Mace, a ghost writer for a newspaper syndicate in Washington DC, was inspired by the proliferation of costumed superheroes to dress up as well and take on criminals plus Axis agents in the nation’s capital.

First Appearance: Human Torch Comics #3 (March 1941) His final Golden Age appearance came in 1943.

Powers: The Patriot was very athletic, was as agile as an Olympic gymnast and excelled at unarmed combat. He wore a helmet which protected his head from injuries.

Comment: The Patriot was one of the Golden Age superheroes conjured up by a godlike Rick Jones to battle the Kree soldiers of Ronan the Accuser during the Kree-Skrull War in 1972.

SPIRIT OF ’76

Company: Harvey 

Secret Identity: Gary Blakely, West Point Cadet

Origin: Gary Blakely, scion of an American family which had distinguished themselves on the battlefield in every conflict from the Revolutionary War onward, was a Cadet at West Point. By chance he uncovered a Fifth Column plot by Nazi agents to blow up the academy. He adopted the costumed identity of the Spirit of ’76, foiled the Axis plot and resolved to continue fighting evil afterward.

First Appearance: Pocket Comics #1 (August 1941)

Powers: The Spirit of ’76 was in peak human condition, was exceptionally agile and was very skilled at both armed and unarmed combat. His costume was bulletproof and he wielded his saber expertly in battle.

Comment: This hero lasted until 1948, so he faced Communist villains instead of Nazi villains after World War Two was over. 

MISS PATRIOT

Company: Timely/ Marvel 

Secret Identity: Mary Morgan

Origin: Dr. Groitzig, a Nazi scientist covertly operating out of abandoned Horror Lighthouse with an Italian agent of Mussolini, was kidnapping Americans at random and using them as human guinea pigs in experiments to provide the Axis Nations with superpowered operatives.

First Appearance: As Mary Morgan – Human Torch #4 (April 1941). As Miss Patriot – Marvel Mystery Comics #50 (December 1943)

Powers: Miss Patriot was skilled at unarmed combat and had gained x-ray vision, telescopic vision and super-hearing from Dr. Groitzig’s experiment on her.

Comment: Yes, Mary Morgan’s boyfriend was fellow reporter Jeff Mace, the secret identity of the Patriot, whom she partnered up with as Miss Patriot.

THE FLAG

Company: Ace Periodicals

Secret Identity: Jim Courtney

Origin: An unnamed baby was left on the doorstep of crippled World War One veteran John Courtney in 1920. Courtney, a flag-maker, was intrigued by the American Flag birthmark on the infant’s chest. He named the boy Jim and raised him as his son, teaching him his flag-making trade.

On Jim’s 21st birthday he was visited by the ghosts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who told him he was a super-powered being and that his powers were ready to be used now that he was an adult. Jim donned a costume and fought the forces of evil as the Flag.

First Appearance: Our Flag Comics #2 (October 1941). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1942.

Powers: The Flag possessed the strength of 100 men, was invulnerable to even heavy artillery and could both fly and run at super-speed. When this hero ran and flew at super-speed he left an American flag-like trail in his wake.

Comment: The Flag’s girlfriend was Sally Blair, the managing editor of the newspaper called The Daily Clarion. The American Flag birthmark on Jim Courtney’s chest would glow when his superhero identity was needed.

MISS AMERICA (yes, again)

Company: Quality Comics 

Secret Identity: Joan Dale

Origin: One afternoon, Daily Star reporter Joan Dale passed the time before a meeting with her editor by visiting the Statue of Liberty. Joan was awestruck by the statue and it later appeared to her in a dream, bestowing mystical powers upon her. She used those powers to fight the country’s enemies as Miss America.

First Appearance: Military Comics #1 (August 1941) Her final Golden Age appearance came in 1942.

Powers: Miss America had powers as all-encompassing yet vague as DC’s character the Spectre, and used them just as mercilessly. She could turn villains into birds or trees, make matter disappear, fly, shoot energy blasts from her hands and increase her own physical strength. She also possessed telekinesis and was able to affect matter at the molecular level.

Comment: Joan Dale soon grew tired of the way her boss at the Daily Star treated her and quit to become an FBI Agent like her new beau Tim Healy.