Number 2204: The Claw; the missing Dick!

Dick Hopkins is one of 2000 soldiers — a whole troop-train full — falling prey to the “World’s Worst Villian” [sic]. Said villian, errrr, I mean villain,* is the Claw, another in a long line of sinister, murderous “Orientals” falling into the genre called the Yellow Peril, a whole bunch of racist pulp literature, movies, et al, popular for far too long. The most (in)famous example would be Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu.

At 25 feet tall the Claw stands out, yet is allowed to roam the American landscape with what looks like hundreds of henchmen, without being caught by the American military. In these stories it is usually a lone white man, in this case Dick Hopkin’s brother, Bill, who defeats the Claw and his army, if only until the next issue.

Signed by artist/co-editor Bob Wood, and originally published in Daredevil Comics #2 (1941).

*Weird also misspelled “wierd.”

Posted in: Pappy Comics