Number 1484: Swastika over New York!

The Boy Commandos spent the World War II years kicking Axis butt, and in the postwar era they spent at least part of their time kicking surviving Nazi butt. Nazis were a great subject for comics — and fiction in general — in those years directly after the war. In real life many top Nazis had escaped justice after the Allied victory, and there were always those persistent rumors that Hitler was still alive.

“Swastika Over New York” is from Boy Commandos #29 (1948). Art is by Curt Swan and Steve Brodie, according to the Grand Comics Database...which also makes a guess the story is by France Herron.

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Here is another postwar Boy Commando story, this time about Hitler. Click on the thumbnail.

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Number 1359: Boyoboy! The Boy Commandos

We’re in day three of our “Boyoboy! Week,” where we’re celebrating those kid-gang comic book heroes of the past. Today, the Boy Commandos, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby after they slipped the tether at Timely Comics, then moved to DC. The Boy Commandos were created as a wartime group but lasted until 1949. While they were popular they had their own title, and appeared also in Detective Comics and World’s Finest Comics.

Even during their wartime days the stories occasionally slipped into fantasy and science fiction, and so it is with “The Triumph of William Tell” from Boy Commandos #30 (1948). The Grand Comics Database credits the penciling to John Severin and the inking to George Klein? (Question mark means they’re not sure.)

I’ve featured Boy Commandos a half dozen other times on this blog, but in this posting from 2010 I explain how I lost my near-mint copy of the first issue at the San Diego Comicon. It’s a sad story, and a cautionary tale at that. You may need a hanky when reading it.

Click on the picture to go there:

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