Space Hero Saturdays SPACEHAWK "Scraches of Doom" & "Moon Justice"

Our final Spacehawk post for the foreseeable future involves two text stories written and illustrated by Basil Wolverton!

You may remember there was a previous two-parter that he neither scripted nor rendered!
Whether he was unhappy with the result, or was simply irritated that the publisher let someone else handle the character, he produced these two rarely-seen tales...

...from Target Comics #10 (above) and Target Comics #15 (below)

And so ends SpaceHawk's adventures as a Saturday Space Hero!
Be here next Saturday as another character gets his (or her) chance to be a Space Hero!

Space Hero Saturdays SPACEHAWK "and the Uncanny Underwater Tank!"

As we saw last time, SpaceHawk was reassigned by Uncle Sam himself to protect Earth......specifically, the United States of America, from harm...as you can tell from the strip's new sub-head!

Here's where the problem begins!

It's clear the underwater tank's crew are unfamiliar with rocket ships!

But the SpaceHawk strip was set in the future, where the entire solar system (including Earth) utilized advanced technology!
The previous story offered no indication that SpaceHawk was in the 1940s instead of his own time, but this tale from Novelty's Target Comics V2N3 (1941), showing an American fleet of battleships with smoke-spewing engines, and crewmen of an underwater tank who don't know about rockets, is a pretty clear indication our Space Hero is now in the "present day" (1940)!
BTW, the fact the underwater tank exists isn't proof the series is still in the future!
Pop culture (including comics, pulps, movies, and radio shows) showed both the Allies and Axis using advanced weaponry during WWII (as shown HERE and HERE)! 
In review the remaining SpaceHawk tales, we see our hero remains Earthbound for the remainder of the run, thus, he's no longer a "Space Hero"!.
So it is with a heavy heart that we'll be discontinuing his adventures after one final appearance two weeks from now!

But why are we waiting?

Be here in two weeks to see!

X

Space Hero Saturdays TARGET COMICS "SpaceHawk Answers Uncle Sam's Call!"

Pretty appropriate for the 4th of July weekend, eh?
...as the realities of pre-Pearl Harbor America interrupt Spacehawk's fictional far-future exploits!
The story's about to take a sharp turn for SpaceHawk as things get multiversal, kiddies!
Oddly, the 1861 image, showing the Civil War, doesn't show a cavalryman wearing either Union blue or Confederate gray...but green, which wasn't an official uniform color during that period in American history!

In 1940, with World War II underway, most Americans accepted it was only a matter of time until we were drawn into the war.

As the government began to scale up military preparations, the entertainment media started turning their characters towards dealing with the potential threats from across both oceans!
Comic book and pulp heroes began encountering thinly-disguised surrogates for German, Japanese, and Italian spies and soldiers.
In perhaps the best-known of these stories, Superman invaded Germany and Russia, grabbing Hitler and Stalin, and brought them to trial!
(And this was in 1940!)
As for this tale from Novelty Press' Target Comics V2N1 [13] (1941), though the writer is unknown, it may be editor David Adams.
Illustrator Ben Thompson likely was assigned the cover and short feature because he wasn't the artist on any of the series, but made an effort to deliberately match the various styles of the other artists on their respective characters.
SpaceHawk didn't begin his assignment immediately, as he was finishing up a two-part story on Neptune, as we showed HERE!
With the next issue, though, he jumped into the fray!
But, due to racial stereotypes common to World War II entertainment media, we can't show it to you on this blog!
You'll have to go HERE to see it!

 

Remember Pearl Harbor

Almost eight decades ago today...

The sneak attack that changed the course of history, told by one of the greatest graphic novelists of all!

Part 1

Conclusion

Plus, a tale published before December 7, 1941 that predicted the attack!
Friday Fun Will Return Next Week!

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Days of Darkness

"A Day Which Will Live in Infamy..."

75 years ago today...

The sneak attack that changed the course of history, told by one of the greatest graphic novelists of all!

Part 1

Conclusion

Plus, a tale published before December 7, 1941 that predicted the attack!

Celebrate Flag Day with Flag-Draped SuperHeroes!

Here's some Patriotic Super-Heroes...who wear the Red, White and Blue and Stars and Stripes!

Captain V

The Conqueror

Captain Courageous

Super-American

American Crusader

American Eagle

V-Man

U.S. Jones

The Flag

and, of course...

 Uncle Sam, himself!

Happy 4th of July with the Living Legend of World War II!

Art by John Romita Sr from the 1976 Marvel Bicentennial Calendar!

A classic image featuring Captain America in front of the Declaration of Independence!
(Courtesy Rip Jagger's Dojo)

Art by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia from Captain America's Bicentennial Battles

 Captain America and Uncle Sam!

Remember Pearl Harbor!

70 years ago today...

...a sneak attack on our naval base in Hawaii forced America's entry into World War II.

But around six months before that, a comic book story was created, based on that very concept!

Cover art by Reed Crandall

The December 1941 issue of National Comics, featuring Uncle Sam himself as a superhero, predicted it!

Remember that comic books were cover-dated 2-4 months before the actual on-sale date, and that the actual production time for a comic is anywhere between 1-3 months!

So this comic was on sale in September or October of 1941, and the story was written by Will Eisner and drawn by Lou Fine sometime between May and August of that same year!

Eerie, eh?

Note: they didn't get some of the details quite right...

Guam is hit at the same time as Pearl Harbor.

This one is weirdly close to reality!

Guam was attacked and conquered the very next day, Dec 8th!

Uncle Sam himself addresses Congress, warning them these attacks are just a trick to leave the continental US unguarded!

Uncle Sam was right!

A German invasion fleet heads for New England!

Plus, the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Guam were part of a coordinated plan by Japan and Germany!

In reality, Germany had no such trans-Atlantic fleet available.

Hell, they couldn't even invade England, only 35 miles away at it's closest point to Axis-occupied France!

And the Germans were less than happy to discover they now had to deal with America, along with England and Russia!

However they did honor their pact with Japan and declared war on the USA.

For the complete comic tale, check out our "brother" RetroBlog™, War: Past, Present & Future™, on Friday!

In the meantime, you can see another pre-WWII comic that predicted the then-upcoming entry of the US HERE!

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Design of the Week--Don't Threaten Americans!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...with the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks coming up, what better way to show the American Spirit is unbowed than with a kool kollectible showing a classic image of a defiant Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves ready to defend the American Way of Life against any and all who try to destroy it?
T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, mugs and other nifty stuff can be found HERE.

Uncle Sam sez: We Took Care of Bin Laden! Who's Next?

Check out the collectibles including mugs and t-shirts celebrating the happy event HERE!

Don't Mess with the US Memorabilia

Keeping on the cutting edge of current events, Atomic Kommie Comics™ presents a trio of designs showing Somali Pirates (and anyone else)...
DON'T MESS WITH UNCLE SAM!
Pirates? Bring 'Em On!
Pirates Asked for It!
Threaten Americans? DON'T!

Design of the Week--"Threaten Americans? DON'T!"

We've decided to introduce a new feature to our line of collectibles...Design of the Week!
Each Thursday, we'll post a design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...
Somali pirates?
North Korean dictators?
Iranian mullahs?
Mess with America, will ya?
We are slow to anger, but once aroused, we are unstoppable!
Threaten one of us, and you threaten ALL of us!
Show that, despite our differences, Americans stand united against any external threats!

Pirates of Somalia--DEFEATED

Keeping on the cutting edge of current events, Atomic Kommie Comics™ presents a trio of designs on collectibles commemorating the defeat of the Somalian pirates who learned...
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE U.S!

Pirates? Bring 'Em On!

Pirates Asked for It!

Threaten Americans? DON'T!