As the 4th of July approaches, Balladeer’s Blog presents one last red, white and blue-themed superhero – Uncle Sam, from Quality Comics. For over 20 more Quality Comics heroes click HERE.
UNCLE SAM
Secret Identity: Ezra Smith (assumed name)
First Appearance: National Comics #1 (July 1940) His final Golden Age appearance came in 1944.
Origin: During the Revolutionary War, a dying American soldier named Sam (last name unknown) felt such a fervent desire to continue 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.
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.
NATIONAL COMICS #1 (July 1940)
Title: The Coming of Uncle Sam
Villains: The Purple Shirts
Synopsis: The origin of Uncle Sam, including his “adoption” of Buddy Smith, the scrappy kid in short pants depicted on the cover. Uncle Sam wages war on the Purple Shirts army, which is being financed by an unnamed – but obvious – foreign power.
Our hero invades the Purple Shirts’ secret stronghold at Box Valley in the southern Rocky Mountains. Uncle Sam clobbers the villains and rescues the U.S. President, whom they kidnapped earlier in a commando raid. Continue reading
The 4th of July is coming up soon so why not do another seasonal post? The format of my recent look at some 
MAY 15th, 1778 – George Rogers Clark and his troops seize the British base at Cahokia on the Mississippi River near what is now East Saint Louis, IL. This officially kicks off Clark’s campaign to take control of America’s northwest frontier (of the time) away from the British. The campaign was begun at the behest of Virginia’s Governor Patrick Henry. 
With the 4th of July holiday fast approaching, here’s another seasonal post from Balladeer’s Blog. Since too many documentaries and books on the Revolutionary War focus on what seems like the same handful of battles I like focusing on a lot of the overlooked military clashes. This is another go-round. 
In the past Balladeer’s Blog has given shout-outs to various alcohol products that I feel go great with the now-global Frontierado Holiday on the first Friday of every August. Since this is, after all, a lifestyle blog (I’M KIDDING!), here is a shoutout for a brand of rum for the 4th of July celebrations. 
PRIME CUT (1972) – Directed by Michael Ritchie. Prime Cut was released less than 4 months after The Godfather but it’s difficult to think of two more different gangster films. And I say that as a good thing. Prime Cut is not trying for the epic, operatic scope of The Godfather, it’s just a fairly solid street-level gangster flick with a few admittedly silly action sequences. 
The Windy City mob sent a tough-guy “negotiator” to try leaning on the Kansas rebel only to have that Jayhawk State gangster take things to the next level by having the tough-guy killed, then literally ground into hot dog meat. Adding insult to injury the Kansas boss sent the hot dogs/ bodily remains of the negotiator back to Chicago in the package they were supposed to use to send their tribute money.
AIR WAVE 
A FANTASTICAL EXCURSION INTO THE PLANETS (1839) – By an unknown author. An advanced alien life form makes contact with the novel’s anonymous narrator and takes him on a guided tour of other planets in our solar system. Among other things he encounters angelic creatures on Mercury, warlike males and females on Mars, enormous humanoids on Jupiter and a pack of Lovecraftian horrors on Saturn. For my full review click 
WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT? (1965) – TWO PETERS, ONE WOODY should probably have been the title of this blog post. Peter O’Toole, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen starred in this brazen (for its day) sex comedy set in Paris during the Swinging Sixties. 
The end result is still hailed for its pioneering depiction of promiscuity in a major studio release. The relaxing of cinematic standards permitted What’s New Pussycat? to be bolder and kinkier than any pre-1965 production could have been. Compared to films of the past 55 years, however, it often seems as mild and self-consciously “zany” as an episode of Three’s Company, which was daring for television of the 1970s but certainly not today. 
MCGURK (1979) 
LATITUDE ZERO (1969) – My review of the long unavailable Japanese monster/ sci fi movie 
AMERICA: PART OF THE DUNE SERIES – In the spirit of my blog post America: Part of the Alien Series. Click 
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