The Fox and The Feline Part 2: Team-Up Tuesdays

Yesterday we considered the Fox and the Cat during their brief careers that (in a sense) spanned from World War II until their notoriety in the mid 1960's. The Fox had a love interest and an arch-enemy that would continue to exert their influence on is life during his reappearances in the 1980's from Blue Ribbon Comics #7 and 7. In fact, it was due to the villain formerly known as the Gasser who sought revenge on his humiliating defeat that brought the delicate dancer Delilah Monaco into the fray, as he used the gal as bait to tempt his feral foe into a return battle. Having trained under a local Sensei, Gasser adopted a new alias and modus operandi as Martial Law, using nunchucks and fisticuffs as a henchman of the mysterious Dragon Head (a disguise for the Brain Emperor, the persistent alien adversary of the Mighty Crusaders) who himself had a thing for the fair female in our cast of characters

While Martial Law was limber and daring in his moves, he resorted to cheap gimmicks... as he during his previous career... to try and bring his enemy to his knees. He's quickly upstages by his co-thug, the Eraser, who shows him true villiany.And later entered a self-imposed retirement.

Delilah soon turned her aversion for the Fox into full-on contempt, as she felt that he was dragging all these strange characters and drama into her live (in reality, its her boyfriend Paul Patton and his seeming obsession with having her accept his Fox alter ego!). Even after Fox himself found himself under the tutelage of the same Sensei to help him "find himself". he ended up pushing her farther away. At which point, Delilah left to train and return to herself the costumed crime fighter as the She-Fox. And in her two outings in Mighty Crusaders #12 and 13 (the Fox's back-up), she showed him up using her acrobatic skills and witty banter in front of the media and malcontents alike. In fact, the Fox contemplated retirement, much to the lady's glee.It didn't quite stick, he returned decades later!

Elsewhere (and when). the Cat's greatest adversary Judomaster had quite the supporting cast for a silver age creation, which he met after his narrow escape from Imperial Japanese soldiers on an isolated island. This survivor, the soldier known as Sgt. Rip Jagger, found himself under the training (and torment) of Bushiri. Bushiri is the leader of a resistance movement on this atoll that use ancient fighting techniques to battle the forces of evil from their native homeland. While Jagger initially earned the contempt Bushiri, this turned to admiration when his Sensei saw the good in the caucasian lad, thus presenting him with his trademark duds.

This was, in part, due to Jagger's timely save of the Sensei's granddaughter Suzikawa. She wins his heart as his Suzi and his primary love interest who, unlike Delilah, adores both the man inside and outside the costume worn by the Master of Judo. Even when it was discovered that she fed information to the Japanese to save her brother (who was actually an assassin named Acrobat sent to get rid of her boyfriend) she showed loyalty toward her true love! We hope they ended up together.

Two fighters with an attitude, two females with an affection, and two teachers with affirmation. While those orbiting the Fox's orbit only lasted for a handful of stories, Judomaster's circle of comrades lasted for eleven issues of his title until his issue #89. Then they faded away with the protagonists of their obscure yet quaint tales. More is the shame.

Sideline Sundays: Sidekicks Assemble!

When last we considered the colorful crusaders of World War II, the Shield and Judomaster, we briefly touched on their junior sidekicks. Dusty and Tiger had motivated the two senior members of their duets to continue their careers despite some adversities that came along the way. How did these two lads themselves become embroiled in costumed conflicts, and what became of them decades later? Let's briefly review their histories:

As happened surprisingly often in the golden age of comics, a young boy loses his parents due to tragic circumstances, arranged by a criminal, and inevitably run into a superhero! This occurred in Pep Comics #11. And the hero in question was the first patriotic clad hero in comics.

Sweet! Shield quickly stitched up a handy-dandy new costume for his little buddy. In an odd twist, he felt it necessary to saddle the kid with a cape which the Shield himself never bothered to wear. Anyway, in yet another coinkydink, Dusty already had full Olympic-level training in judo and acrobatics. Apparently the physical education program in schools back then was exceptional! Oh, and fear not, the gaudy yellow on red-and-blue suit was quickly swapped out for something more aesthetically pleasing.

Dusty quickly made friends with the Wizard's own sidekick, Roy the Super-Boy (yep that was is name!). Now the Boy Detective could swap notes with a fellow lad taken under the wing of a major hero, in Roy's case the Wizard. They had an eleven issue run in Special/Hangman/Black Hood Comics #1-11. And met the Hangman along the way, at least on covers.

When the Shield's lengthy run of appearances petered out in December 1945, so had Dusty's. He next appeared in Mighty Crusaders #4, in the oft quoted (here) tale "Too Many Super-Heroes", which reintroduced several heroes. Dusty was brought back to the future by Zambini's powers for some unspecified reason (Jerry Siegel's wacky plotting, perhaps).Then...

Bye bye, old chum. The perpetual-pup was zapped back to his own time where, according to the Original Shield #2, he "mysteriously disappeared". The operating theory around here is that he was kidnapped by a master criminal named the Keeper, a foe of Thunder Bunny, who had a propensity to keep just upright nuisances of gangland in suspended animation for decades. Dusty reappeared in Archie's Weird Mysteries #14 in April 2001, unaffected by the ravages of time alongside other World War II mystery men turned Mighty Crusaders who (aside for the Shield) inexplicably retained their youthful vigor. Until anexplanation is provided, we'll take it.

Tiger's first appearance was a bit more...unorthodox. While himself an orphan, he resided in a Japanese internment camp...in Wyoming! Even more bizarre, he was the secret servant of the sword wielding assassin know as the Cat who himself was attempting to cause a revolt within the camp. Cat lived right under the noses of the soldiers, and rather than lock him in solitary confinement the military brass send their star agent, Judomaster, to challenge his Oriental opponent in a definitive duel.

Despite some initial reservation of Judomaster's valor and worthiness, Tiger is soon swayed to the Allied side during these turbulent war years. And as seen in the last panel (originally on a later page), Tiger stowed away on board the plane of Rip Jagger (Judomaster), and ends up donning his costumed! The cat is out of the bag (well actually he was thrown off a cliff, but we digress). What next will become of this curious cub?

In the aforementioned adversity that had struck Rip, a blindness keeping him temporarily disoriented, the General devised as scheme whereby Tiger would assume Judomaster's role as a secret agent with the judo skill set. This motivated Rip to resume his alias, and the two decided to join forces in the last panel  that would give the Japs a one-two-punch.

Judomaster's team of Bushiri, Suzikawa and Tiger continued to assist him on several cases, including the last recorded in Judomaster #89.  The kid quickly earned his street cred using his mind as well as his physical attributes. While his training was extensive he had something more, something intrinsic in his nature that could be harnessed...perhaps..to train others. In fact, he did just that decades later with surprising results...

That lass that a much older Tiger is training is wealthy Senatorial daughter Eve Eden, wishing to train herself with the necessary skills to save her brother from another dimension. She would become Nightshade, and whether or not Tiger later became aware of her own dual identity, he would no doubt have been pleased with the good she accomplished thanks in-part to his own mentoring of her. As would his own mentor.

Two adventurous boys added to the long list of superhero sidekicks, using their wits and abilities, each only standing on the sidelines for a short time before jumping into their own legends.

Colorful Crusaders of World War II

The Shield was introduced in Pep Comics #1 in 1940, while his counterpart was introduced in 1965 yet existing fictionally in the 1940's. One was G-Man Joe Higgins, an aspiring scientist seeking to avenge the death of his father and discovering a process that gave him super-strength and an invulnerable costume. The other was G.I Rip Jagger, an aspiring ninja seeking to avenge his comrades whom he saw die and discovering a secret society of ninjas on a Pacific Island, gaining super-human skills and a special costume. While looking like walking posters for America and Japan, their costumes gained their color scheme due to a special chemical process (in the Shield's case) and the style-sense of the ninja society (in the Judomaster's case). Both picked up kids sidekicks, Dusty and Tiger.

Due to sabotage on the part of an adversary,  Shield lost his powers for the duration of the war yet continued to fight against evil agents from overseas, while Judomaster himself had to struggle to overcome a handicap of his own imposed on him by a foe, blindness. Both persisted in their heroic careers, thanks to proddings from the boys' own courage.

They faced rogues galleries which challenged their physical dexterity.  The Hun, the Strangler and the Fang plagued Shield; while the Smiling Skull, the Acrobat, and Mountain Storm. None matched the heroes in battle!

 

Each also had other assisting them. For Judomaster, it was Sensei, Bushiri, and his beloved Suzikawa. For the Shield, it was the Wizard, Steel Sterling, Hangman, Black Hood, Captain Flag, Sgt Boyle and Shield's wife Ellie.

Both of our red-haired heroes found themselves lost in time during the 40's, arriving in the 1980's to find individuals clad like them. Both obviously had different reactions given how they were reintroduced into the modern age. Each man stands as a paragon of power in comics.