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Super-Heroes in Uniform |
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Written by Commander Benson
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Thursday, 15 November 2007 |
 In recognition of this past Sunday, Veterans’ Day, I wanted to dedicate this space toward the military and Silver-Age comics. DC and Marvel, as well as most of the also-ran comics companies of the era, had successful military-oriented titles. And any one of them would be ripe for discussing. No doubt I will at some future time. But for this occasion, I took a look at the non-war-based series, and the Silver-Age heroes who had done their time in uniform -- the “forgotten” veterans, as it were.
What was interesting -- especially considering many of the editors and writers of the day had done turns in the military themselves and often drew on their own experiences in creating the adventures of their four-coloured heroes -- was how short that list was, of super-heroes who had done time in uniform. Until 1973, in the real world, when an American male turned twenty, he could expect to receive a letter of “greetings” from his government, sending him off to do two years of military service. The draft had been revived in 1948, and the Universal Military Training and Service Act, passed in 1951, indefinitely extended it. Between the end of the Korean War and the beginning of
America
’s major involvement in the Viet Nam War, this was the only instance of
U.S.
conscription during an extended peacetime period. For young fellows around at the time, like I was, seeing male friends and family members drafted was routine, a rite of passage, like getting your driver’s licence or voting for the first time.
 The costumed characters of DC’s Silver-Age universe were deliberately created as modern-day heroic archetypes. Most of DC’s headliners were men of accomplishment, excelling in their chosen professions and contributing to society long before they became super-heroes. It would have been logical to assume that most of them had done their time in the military, as part of that heroic mould. Yet, taking a look at the Silver-Age roster of the Justice League of
America
, comprising DC’s most significant heroes of the day, I discovered a curious instance: there was only one male member of the JLA to have been established as having done regular service in the
U. S.
military -- the Green Lantern!
In the tale “Green Lantern’s Explosive Weekend”, from GL # 36 (Apr., 1965), Hal
Jordan
travels to a northern
California
dude ranch to pay a visit to its owners, Mr. and Mrs. Davis. As Mrs. Davis relates to a guest of the ranch, Hal “was our son Bill’s best friend in the Air Force! After Bill was killed in the Korean War, Hal paid us a visit and ever since then he’s been like a son to us!” So we know that long before finding Abin Sur’s wrecked spaceship, Hal
Jordan
was a military veteran, and by intimation, saw wartime service.
Going through the histories of the other males in the Justice League, I found no mention of them serving in uniform, though the practice of the time would have made them eligible for the draft not too much earlier in their lives. An awareness of the Selective Service policies in effect at that time explains why their lack of military service is plausible.
Obviously, the Martian Manhunter and Hawkman don’t factor in to it, since they were both aliens who did not arrive on Earth until well into their adulthood.
As for the Atom, the Batman, the Flash, and Superman, we can excuse their military participation by presuming that their civilian identities had received a Selective Service classification of 2-S --“registrant deferred because of activity in study”, better known as the college deferment. We know Bruce Wayne attended
Gotham
University
(Batman # 96 [Dec., 1955], et. al.) and that Ray Palmer went to
Ivy
University
(The Atom # 11 [Feb.-Mar., 1964]); and it was established that Barry Allen attended college, as well. (The Flash # 121 [Jun., 1961]).
 As for
Clark
Kent, during World War II, Superman # 25 (Nov.-Dec.,1943) brought the well-known sequence in which, while undergoing his military entrance exam, Kent accidentally used his x-ray vision and read the wrong eye-chart, causing the Army doctor to rule him unsuitable for military service due to poor eyesight. However, that explanation is generally considered to apply to only the Golden-Age Superman (later determined to be the Man of Steel of Earth-Two).
For the Silver-Age Clark
Kent
of Earth-One, more likely college deferment status kept him out of uniform, as well, since he attended
Metropolis
University
. (Superman # 125 [Nov., 1958], et al.)
I could not find a direct reference to indicate that Oliver Queen attended college, thus qualifying for 2-S status. But for the less-cynical of us who would not automatically conclude that his wealth alone would let him skip the draft, I would submit that there is enough evidence in his own series that Queen received a higher education (such as when he designs and constructs the Arrow-Sub in World’s Finest Comics # 130 [Dec., 1962]) to safely assume he received a college deferment, as well.
And Snapper Carr, the JLA’s honorary member, was too young to get his notice. Though he had graduated high school and had entered college by the end of the Silver Age, clearly he had not reached his twentieth birthday.
In an odd twist, Wonder Woman, the only Justice Leaguer who was completely exempt from the draft, because she was a woman, was the only one who was a career member of the
U.S.
military in civilian life. As Diana Prince, she was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army and was assigned to Military Intelligence in Wonder Woman # 99 (Jul., 1958). She served with the Army at least through issue # 178 (Sep., 1968). The next issue brings the landmark tale in which she renounces her super-powered identity and becomes a mortal woman. She ruminates, “For the first time in my life, I’m faced with practical problems -- like finding a place to live, and earning money for food . . . .” So, evidently, at some unspecified time between this issue and the last, she resigned her Army commission; food, money, and shelter would not pose a problem, otherwise.
No, the majority of DC’s costumed-hero military veterans came from the second-tier titles. According to Showcase # 6 (Jan.-Feb., 1957), Ace Morgan, of the Challengers of the Unknown, was a Korean-War ace more than three times over, having shot down nineteen enemy aircraft in that conflict. The Suicide Squad, which debuted in The Brave and the Bold # 25 (Aug.-Sep., 1959), was led by Colonel Rick Flagg, of the U. S. Air Force. And straggling in at the end of the Silver Age were King Savage and Mike Tempest of the Secret Six, who both saw service in the Korean War. (Secret Six # 4, [Oct.-Nov., 1968])
(Obviously, the Blackhawks were all veterans of World War II, but since their title began as a war-oriented series, I’m lumping them in with Sergeant Rock, the Haunted Tank, and DC’s other WWII-based characters.)
 Over at Marvel Comics, Stan Lee’s concept for his main characters was to run against the standard heroic image and give the readers heroes with flaws and human foibles. Therefore I wasn’t surprised to see very few military veterans among his headliners. Obviously, Captain America was a vet, but his very essence is so tied to his WWII exploits I tend to put him in the same category with Marvel’s other war-based series, such as Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, just as I do Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Once you take Cap and Fury out of the mix, there aren’t that many. Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Dr. Don Blake, Henry Pym, Dr. Strange . . . I found nothing to show that any of them had served time as actual members of the military. (Stark was a civilian contractor when he tripped that land mine in
Viet Nam
.) Most of them can be explained away with college deferments, except for Peter Parker. Parker clearly reached the age of twenty by 1966 or so, but his college status doesn’t explain why he never received his draft notice -- at least, not if the Marvel universe adhered to the real-world on that point. Before 1964, the 2-S classification indefinitely deferred any full-time college student progressing toward a degree. When
America
’s involvement in the Viet Nam War ramped up, the law regarding the 2-S classification changed. Now college seniors receiving their draft notice could postpone their induction for the rest of their academic year, while freshmen, sophomores, and juniors could delay their induction only until the end of their current semester.
Under this change, with the years 1966-8 being peak years for the draft, Parker should have found himself in Army khaki. Unless, upon receiving his notice, Pete filed for a hardship deferment on the basis that he was the only person available to support his elderly and sickly Aunt May. (Frankly, given the controversies over the draft in the mid- to late 60’s, I’m surprised that Stan never pursued a storyline like this.)
Still, there were some Marvel heroes who had done their time in uniform. The two most notable were Reed Richards and Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four. As related in “A Visit with the Fantastic Four”, from FF # 11 (Feb., 1963), during World War II, Reed had been a U.S. Army officer serving with the O.S.S. in France, while Ben flew combat missions in the South Pacific as a Marine Corps aviator. These were not throw-away details, either. Eventually, Marvel fans saw Major Richards of the O.S.S. play a small part in a Howling Commandos mission in “Midnight on
Massacre
Mountain
”, from Sgt. Fury # 3 (Sep., 1963). A few years later, Marine first lieutenant Ben Grimm was the focus of a Leatherneck Raiders adventure, as Captain Savage and his men fought their way into a Japanese prison camp to rescue the downed ace and future member of the Fantastic Four. This occurred in “Objective: Ben Grimm”, from Captain Savage # 7 (Oct., 1968).
 Unlike DC, which essentially re-started its continuity every twenty years or so, Marvel insisted on a sliding time scale to account for its heroes’ minimal ageing. As the slider moved to the right, it became increasingly difficult for Marvel to maintain the conceit that Reed and Ben were World War II veterans. It was still insisting so, though, as of Fantastic Four King-Size Annual # 11 (1976), in which the FF travels back to early 1942, to share an adventure with the Invaders. During a lull in the action, one of the paradoxes of their time-trip occurs to Reed.
“Ben, do you realize that while we’re here in
France
, our younger selves are back in the States, just now joining the service?” The Thing’s first instinct is to shrug off such ruminations, but he admits that it is “kind of a spooky feelin’.”
The last time that Marvel insisted definitively that Reed and Ben were old enough to have seen action during WWII was in Marvel Two-in-One # 77 (Jul., 1981), starring the Thing and the Man-Thing. In a tale with dual plotlines, an injured Ben, after crash-landing an experimental jet in the
Everglades
, fights to stay alive while recalling a wartime mission he undertook with Sergeant Fury and the Howlers.
The only other Silver-Age Marvel hero to serve with Uncle Sam was Professor Charles Xavier, who, as shown in his origin story related in The X-Men # 12 (Jul., 1965), saw combat as an Army infantryman during the Korean War. Marvel’s sliding time scale caused the same problem for this detail of Professor X’s history; however, it tended to sneak beneath the radar since subsequent stories didn’t mention it again, unlike the way Marvel reminded its readers of Reed and Ben’s wartime service.
In terms of military-veteran-to-super-hero ratio, Tower Comics had them all beaten. Since the super-heroes in the Tower universe were all Americans attached to a United Nations-based organisation, it wouldn’t be that unusual that many of them had a military background. T.H.U.N.D.E.R., or The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves, was responsible for protecting member nations from outside aggressors when the defences of those nations proved inadequate to the task. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. was multi-layered, with an espionage arm, a scientific branch, and elite squads of non-powered field agents. The heavy-hitters for T.H.U.N.D.E.R., though, were the members of its small force of super-powered agents.
 The ‘everyman” among the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. super-agents was Leonard Brown, who had been a middle-level administrator before being tapped to become the super-hero Dynamo. His physical condition was what got him the job. Brown had a plodding, mid-level administrator’s mind. While not dumb, he wasn’t brilliant, either. He had been pretty much the same way during his hitch in the U.S. Army. He mentioned his Army service in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents # 1 (Nov., 1965), and the implication in his tone suggested he had been a draftee.
In any event, Len Brown’s Army service paled next to that of fellow field agent, Guy Gilbert, who debuted in the same issue. Gilbert would not become the super-agent Lightning until a few issues later. At the time, he was the leader of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad, five experts in various skills comprising an elite strike force. Gilbert was more than qualified to head the team, after serving with distinction in the Army’s Special Forces and earning the Medal of Honor.
None of the remaining T.H.U.N.D.E.R. super-agents -- NoMan, Menthor, and the Raven -- were ever established as having done any time in the military. But the fellow who sent all of them on their missions sure did.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had Nick Fury, and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. had Sam Short. Short, almost exclusively called “the Chief”, was the director of T.H.U.N.D.E.R., and his career paralleled that of his Marvel counterpart. As revealed in “Hail to the Chief”, from T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents # 15 (Sep., 1967), the Chief had served as an Army paratrooper during World War II and by the time of the Korean War, he was a highly decorated general in charge of the multi-national peacekeeping divisions. It was from this post that he was tapped to become T.H.U.N.D.E.R.’s director.
Tower Comics had one more super-hero with military service to offer up. As a companion title to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Tower published U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent. As presented in the first issue (Jan., 1966), the United Nations Department of Experiment and Research Systems Established at Atlantis was an underwater facility engaged in top-secret scientific development. Because of the sensitive and classified nature of the experimentation (and because, despite being “top secret”, it seemed like every Communist agent in the
Pacific rim
knew about the place), it required the protection of an agent in a specially designed wet suit which bestowed the wearer with magnetic powers. Taking on this task was Lieutenant Davy Jones, on loan from the U.S. Navy.
* * * * *
On Veterans’ Day, we commemorate the real-life men and women in uniform, past and present, who stand lonely watches on dark nights, sacrificing a measure of their comfort and safety -- and all too often, their last full measure -- for no more reason than their nation has asked them to do so. Granted, the silver oak leaves I wore on my collar makes me less than objective about it, but as far as I’m concerned, while not all comic-book super-heroes are veterans, here in the real world, all veterans are super-heroes.
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