Number 2017: Hitler with a handlebar

Before America formally declared war against the Axis powers, some comic publishers seemed wary of involving their heroes in direct action against the Nazis. The German-American Bund in the U.S. was pro-Nazi, and obviously didn’t care for their countrymen being caricatured in the comics. In this Super-American tale from Fight Comics #16, the Nazis are so thinly disguised they do not fool anyone, but at least the Bund* couldn’t say they went after Hitler directly. In this story, “Hitler” is a leader called Vultro who combs his hair to the other side, and a handlebar mustache instead of the familiar Charlie Chaplin nose-brush of the real-life Führer.

This episode, the second Super-American story,** is a sock-bam-pow fest from first panel to last. The action is drawn very well by Dan Zolnerowich, with an assist on the inks by Lee J. Ames, according to the Grand Comics Database.

From Fight Comics #16 (1941):

*One of the faux-Hitler henchmen in the story is inexplicably named Bund, a word meaning “alliance.”

**The origin story was shown last October in Pappy’s #1954.

Posted in: Pappy Comics