Superheroes, Idealism, and the Case for/against War

Sometimes history moves faster than a speeding bullet.

Superman appeared on the cover of Action Comics #1 in April 1938. The character caught on with readers: a new kind of pulp hero, dressed in bright colors and blessed with superhuman powers, dedicated to making the world a better place. Within months, he had his own comic title; a year later, competitors were horning in on the action with other superheroes: Batman, Captain Marvel, Flash, and many others now forgotten.

Meanwhile Hitler began to rapidly expand Germany’s borders to the south and east, annexing Austria in March 1938 and the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia a few months later. German troops partitioned the remainder with Hungary in March 1939, and in September Hitler invaded Poland as part of a secret agreement with Russia’s Stalin, triggering the start of World War II.

While Great Britain and France were the first to declare war, Germany was the first to act, successfully occupying Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and two-thirds of France in the spring of 1940. This left Britain isolated and under aerial bombardment, as detailed at the Churchill Museum.

How would America’s new breed of costumed idealists respond to this aggression? Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, weighed in shortly before Germany’s series of spring 1940 offensives with a story imagining their hero bringing a swift end to the conflict. Interestingly, they published this story in Look magazine rather than an ordinary comic book—certainly a detail worthy of conversation.

Other comics creators weren’t so sure about the wisdom of getting involved in “Europe’s troubles.” In the late spring of the same year Don Shelby gave a principled argument for isolationism in a science-fiction story featuring Gary Concord: the Ultra-Man.

In short, the debate between Isolationists and Interventionists wound up being carried out not only on the editorial pages of America’s newspapers, but in the comic-books sold at those same newsstands. Perhaps the most forceful instance was the cover of the first issue of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s new hero, Captain America, who’s shown punching Hitler’s lights out.

Reading:

• Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, “How Superman Would Win the War,” Look magazine, Feb 27, 1940. (Focus on the comic.)
• Don Shelby (aka Jon L. Blummer), “Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man,” All-Star Comics #1, Summer 1940. (Focus on the first two interior pages of the comic-book story, and the last panel on the final page.)
• Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, “Case No. 1. Meet Captain America,” Captain America #1, March 1941. (Focus on the cover as well as the first two pages of the comic-book story.)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. How do these comics characterize America’s purpose in the world? If possible, call attention to a continuity rather than to a disagreement.
2. How do these comics imagine the role of the superhero in society/history? Call our attention to a continuity or to a disagreement.