thedrifter
01-11-05, 12:29 PM
Patriotic comics characters help fight WWII
http://images7.fotki.com/v142/photos/1/133612/1713394/2599_6904_9-vi.jpg
Comic Book Characters Go To War
When World War II erupted in Europe in 1939, a wary America watched from the sidelines. But after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in late 1941, the United States went to war. So did the comics.
Many comic strip characters joined the armed forces. Others waged war on the home front by battling saboteurs and war profiteers, conducting paper and scrap metal drives, and touting the purchase of war bonds.
Some cartoonists preferred a more direct contribution to the war effort and enlisted. The military services, aware that comic strips were important for morale, sometimes put cartoonists into positions that allowed them to continue producing their strips. In other cases, strips were taken over by assistants or discontinued until after the war.
http://images8.fotki.com/v148/photos/1/133612/1713394/Cb126-vi.jpg
Terry and the Pirates" was one of the first comics to enter the war. "Terry, the kid who was now 19 or 20, had never been in the United States," says Robert C. Harvey, author of "Children of the Yellow Kid" (University of Washington Press, $29.95) and other books and articles on comics history. "He had lived in the backwoods of China, wandering around with vagabond writer Pat Ryan, getting into one scrape after another and encountering characters like the Dragon Lady and Burma," Harvey says. "After Japan invaded China in 1937, [cartoonist] Milton Caniff had had his characters encountering military units in China referred to as 'the invaders' -- readers knew it was the Japanese."
http://images7.fotki.com/v143/photos/1/133612/1713394/image_183956-vi.jpg
Dragon Lady and Burma
After America entered the war, Caniff had Ryan go into naval intelligence as a lieutenant, and Terry Lee flew with the Army Air Forces. "It became an adventure strip about American servicemen in the Air Corps in the China-Burma-India theater," Harvey says.
Joe Palooka didn't wait for Pearl Harbor. Ham Fisher had his prizefighting champ enlist in the Army in November 1940. Palooka refused a commission and remained a buck private until he left the Army in 1946.
continued..........
http://images7.fotki.com/v142/photos/1/133612/1713394/2599_6904_9-vi.jpg
Comic Book Characters Go To War
When World War II erupted in Europe in 1939, a wary America watched from the sidelines. But after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in late 1941, the United States went to war. So did the comics.
Many comic strip characters joined the armed forces. Others waged war on the home front by battling saboteurs and war profiteers, conducting paper and scrap metal drives, and touting the purchase of war bonds.
Some cartoonists preferred a more direct contribution to the war effort and enlisted. The military services, aware that comic strips were important for morale, sometimes put cartoonists into positions that allowed them to continue producing their strips. In other cases, strips were taken over by assistants or discontinued until after the war.
http://images8.fotki.com/v148/photos/1/133612/1713394/Cb126-vi.jpg
Terry and the Pirates" was one of the first comics to enter the war. "Terry, the kid who was now 19 or 20, had never been in the United States," says Robert C. Harvey, author of "Children of the Yellow Kid" (University of Washington Press, $29.95) and other books and articles on comics history. "He had lived in the backwoods of China, wandering around with vagabond writer Pat Ryan, getting into one scrape after another and encountering characters like the Dragon Lady and Burma," Harvey says. "After Japan invaded China in 1937, [cartoonist] Milton Caniff had had his characters encountering military units in China referred to as 'the invaders' -- readers knew it was the Japanese."
http://images7.fotki.com/v143/photos/1/133612/1713394/image_183956-vi.jpg
Dragon Lady and Burma
After America entered the war, Caniff had Ryan go into naval intelligence as a lieutenant, and Terry Lee flew with the Army Air Forces. "It became an adventure strip about American servicemen in the Air Corps in the China-Burma-India theater," Harvey says.
Joe Palooka didn't wait for Pearl Harbor. Ham Fisher had his prizefighting champ enlist in the Army in November 1940. Palooka refused a commission and remained a buck private until he left the Army in 1946.
continued..........