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Post Your Anti-Communist Comics!
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Started by shrunkenhead,

638 posts in this topic

robthebearwalker-migration

robthebearwalker-migration

Posted
Posted

I know this post started back in 2005, I was wondering if anyone could help me with some information on Communist villains. I am writing a 25 page paper for my history class at UTSA and need some comics to look at. I want to explore the idea that comic book writers used communist as the “Other” in their books, replacing aliens or other types of bad guys. My scope is to look at the time of the Cold War (1945-1988). I need comic book villains that showed up more than once or fallowed a theme.

 

For example Marvel’s Crimson Dynamo is a the Russian version of Iron Man. He is bigger and seems stronger when Iron Man first tries to defeat him, but in the end Iron Man finds a way to stop him. I need to find character that seem to be overwhelmingly stronger, smarter, or just something, that it makes the American super hero seem almost impossible to overthrow him. Also some of the comics on the post would be awesome for part of my paper on how comics were used to influence young readers. Since most of these comics are hard to find, does anyone know where I can find a scan copy of it for my research?

 

Thanks,

 

Robert

 

I did come across this site that list a lot of super villains that were communist.

http://www.comicbookreligion.com/?Religion=Communist

 

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robthebearwalker-migration

robthebearwalker-migration

Posted
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Also if anyone could give me a review of America Menaced, Plot to Steal the World and Red Iceberg comics since they seem very hard to find. I am looking for what might be in the comic. What kind of message do they tell the reader? Any kind of info would be helpful.

 

I did find a copy of Two Faces online if anyone wants to read it.

 

http://www.ep.tc/problems/27/index.html

 

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buttock

buttock

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Posted

Check out Marvel Family 77, there's another in the 70s (maybe 75?) that also had a commie on the cover. Thor seemed to fight the Commies early on (Journey into Mystery in the 80s & 90s). Captain America 76-78, Submariner 33-3842, Human Torch 35-38 are others. I think Plastic Man & Doll Man strayed into anti-commie themes toward the end of their runs as well.

 

One issue you may run into is that, at the time Communism was becoming recognized as a threat to the public (1950s), the super hero was fading away.

 

It would help to know if you're limiting this to the super-hero genre as well. If not, there are hundreds of war books from the 1950s that would fit the bill.

 

The titles you listed (and most of the other catechetical guild titles) are probably not going to be what you're looking for as they are more geared toward a "realistic" (at least in the authors minds) view of communism, more propaganda than fiction.

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RedFury

RedFury

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Posted
Check out Marvel Family 77, there's another in the 70s (maybe 75?) that also had a commie on the cover. Thor seemed to fight the Commies early on (Journey into Mystery in the 80s & 90s). Captain America 76-78, Submariner 33-3842, Human Torch 35-38 are others. I think Plastic Man & Doll Man strayed into anti-commie themes toward the end of their runs as well.

 

One issue you may run into is that, at the time Communism was becoming recognized as a threat to the public (1950s), the super hero was fading away.

 

It would help to know if you're limiting this to the super-hero genre as well. If not, there are hundreds of war books from the 1950s that would fit the bill.

 

The titles you listed (and most of the other catechetical guild titles) are probably not going to be what you're looking for as they are more geared toward a "realistic" (at least in the authors minds) view of communism, more propaganda than fiction.

 

The Captain America, Sub-mariner, and Human Torch stories are available in the Atlas Age Heroes Masterworks books (10 issues or so are reprinted in each) and are in print now and available online for about $40 or so.

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Weird Paper

Weird Paper

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I do not only have to look at superhero comics. I was hoping to write a few pages on the anti communist comics to. So any information would be very helpful. Thanks for what u gave me so far.

 

Saw this way after the fact, but you could check out the reprint book of Simon & Kirby's Fighting American. I seem to recall a number of commies in those stories. Go Roadrunners!

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RedFury

RedFury

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Did anyone pick up the Stalin book in the Heritage auction. The caption said it was a Gerber 7.

 

I was watching it, but when it crossed $1,200 I bailed. It's uncommon, but not nearly as hard-to-find as Blood Is the Harvest or America Menaced. Census shows 19 copies slabbed. I've got two, a 9.4 and a 9.0 copy.

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rjpb

rjpb

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Posted
Did anyone pick up the Stalin book in the Heritage auction. The caption said it was a Gerber 7.

 

I was watching it, but when it crossed $1,200 I bailed. It's uncommon, but not nearly as hard-to-find as Blood Is the Harvest or America Menaced. Census shows 19 copies slabbed. I've got two, a 9.4 and a 9.0 copy.

 

I always wondered if a small stash of uncirculated copies was found a while back - as it often seems to show up in high grade.

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esquirecomics

esquirecomics

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Picked this hardcover book up recently from a seller in Canada.

 

Herauts.jpg

 

In it are bound copies of:

 

Herauts #9 (1950)

A Quand Notre Tour (1947)(French version of Is This Tomorrow)

Cardinal Mindszenty (1949)

 

All in French of course. Examples of the two books I have are below.

 

AQuandNotreTour.jpg

Cardinalfrench.jpg

 

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AtlasFan

AtlasFan

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Posted (edited)

I am doing a little research based on a discussion in (of all places) the Timely-Atlas Yahoo Group of Communist themes in DC comics during the 50's and early 60's. Red Chinese/Russian and Korean adversaries were common in Atlas/Marvel, Quality, Standard, etc war books...but are as rare as hen's teeth in DC books.

 

This is made really apparent when DC takes over the BLACKHAWKS series from Quality. In the Quality run, most of the team's adversaries are Reds..very shortly after DC takes over, all the Communist villains disappear and the team turns mainly into monster-fighters.

 

Could anyone here opine as to why DC was so soft on using the Reds as villians?

many thanks,

Bill

 

PS: I posted a similar thread in the War Comics thread over at SILVER, looking for any DC Stories with the Reds as the bad guys.

Edited by AtlasFan
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DarkKnightReturns

DarkKnightReturns

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Posted
Did anyone pick up the Stalin book in the Heritage auction. The caption said it was a Gerber 7.

 

I was watching it, but when it crossed $1,200 I bailed. It's uncommon, but not nearly as hard-to-find as Blood Is the Harvest or America Menaced. Census shows 19 copies slabbed. I've got two, a 9.4 and a 9.0 copy.

 

I've never seen a copy of America Menaced, mind posting a pic :)

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