Friday, May 20, 2022

NEAR MYTHS: "HOLLYWOOD ATTACKED" (SPEED COMICS #23, 1942)




I might have listed this hero-crossover under "curiosities," but there's a little mythic appeal to the idea of having all the Harvey heroes in SPEED COMICS come together in one story, even though Lev Gleason had executed the same idea the year before  with DAREDEVIL BATTLES HITLER

Just as the Lev Gleason story was technically a Daredevil tale in which all the other featured characters were guest stars, this story stars the Black Cat, whose spy-busting adventures mostly took place in and around Hollywood. The idea of both the Japanese army and navy invading Hollywood, and only Hollywood, is amusing by itself, as is the idea that the Cat and her fellow stars-- Captain Freedom, Shock Gibson, disguise-artist Ted Parish and the Girl Commandos-- thwart the invasion without any help from U.S. armed forces.




That said, the unbilled writer did put a little thought into his premise, as seen on this page, where one hero suggests that they play the Japanese army and navy off one another-- an idea I can't remember having seen in WWII comics before. There's also a little "girl power" involved as the Black Cat and the Girl Commandos team up.

One other tidbit: at one point, a Japanese soldier uses the term "shimatta," which has more than one meaning but seems in context to mean "shit!"


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