Okay, so I'm taking a Flash break to check out Pep Comics #1, from 1940:
Yup, it's the original Shield, the Man with the Humongous Chest Insignia. What is his origin? Well, we're not going to waste any time drawing it, that's for dang sure!
Got all that?
Seriously, would your average child have read that? When I was a lad, I never read the caption boxes. Ever.
Anyway, Higgins is a government agent, so he gets orders from some FBI Chief muckety-muck:
Your first assignment is TO PULL MY FINGER!
Forgive me for asking, but I am a product of American public schools and I have no idea what "Stokian" is. Is or was that a thing? Because Google is telling me nuthin'...
AND I SAID PULL MY FINGER!
WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? THE PUBLIC IS CLAMORING FOR ACTION... AND CLAMORING FOR YOU TO PULL MY FINGER!
I don't know that I would want to be known as "The Dreaded Shield." I mean, does everyone dread him? Why is that? Is he a poor house guest?
Anyway, with an origin like that, I guess you can just have whatever super-powers that pop into your writer's head:
There's always a way in... for the Shield!
You can tell he's got low self-opinion by the way he refers to himself in the third person. Adam has been known to do that himself.
This is my favorite part: He takes down the spies, and then just stands there for what had to be a really long time:
I mean, I suppose if you're invulnerable, it's not a huge deal, but why make life harder than it needs to be? And I have to point out, this is taking place in a hotel, so I presume some folks were blown to smithereens when the bomb went off.
Oh, well. The Shield still gets his man, but not wishing to reveal his identity (kind of a weird priority for a man who refers to himself in the third person), he puts his business card into the hands of his foes. You know, because the best way to keep your identity a secret is to leave physical evidence of your identity in the hands of others.
Not the best strategy for keeping things on the down-low, but he didn't ask for my advice!
Hey, is that spy wearing fingernail polish? It sure looks like fingernail polish.
See you tomorrow!
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4 comments:
"Stokian" would seem to be pre-war code for "German, but we can't say it."
It's like Qurac in DC's comics for "unnamed middle eastern dictatorship."
Wow! I had never heard of the "Black Tom Explosion" before. It seems like the kind of thing that almost everyone should know about.
Well! If it isn't the Shield, and his Mighty Thighs of Justice.
Also that is one HUGH business card. Were business cards that big back then?
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