Many think that Captain America is the first patriotic superhero ever created. I would be one of those people. However, MLJ, the company that would later become Archie Comics, actually beat Jack Kirby and Joe Simon to the punch by a couple of months with the premier of The Shield.
Created by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick, the Shield was FBI Agent Joe Higgins. As a youngster, his father and he worked on a chemical formula for super-strength. Nazi saboteurs interested in the formula caused an explosion, killing Joe’s father. But the accident imbued Joe with not only impressive strength, but bullet-proof skin and the ability to run and leap mightily.
With war with Germany looming, Higgins is recruited by J. Edgar Hoover to conduct clandestine missions against enemy agents seeking to harm the interests of the United States and it’s allies. To maintain his secret identity, Joe dons a red, white, and blue costume and becomes the Shield! Battling a series of dastardly foes, some with super-abilities such himself, as the adventures of the Shield progresses, he begins to take one not just spies but battleships, war planes, and much more.
Eerily, in one story, the Shield defends Pearl Harbor from an enemy Navy a good 6 months before the Japanese Navy’s attack on December 7th! If only FDR had read this issue, would history have played out much differently with this bold prediction.
For 1940s comics, the stories were pretty good. At the time, artists got paid by the page and writers got paid by the word. So pre-1960s comics were very, very wordy. Sometimes to the point of be sensationalized. Regardless, the scripts, while quite antiquated and a little racist towards those of Asian descent, weren’t the worst structured stories I have read from this era. Plus, the way Shorten was able to identify where enemy forces were going to attack a pre-war America was quite prophetic.
The art- that’s a different story. I understand that due to the paid per page standards of the comic book industry at the time, artwork was often rushed and quite sloppy. But Novick’s superhero looks like he stuck arms, legs, and a tiny head to a giant shield. There’s an almost turtle-like effect going on and it’s quite silly looking.
For its historic significance, this was an very interesting read. The Shield got started in the pages of Pep Comics. He would reign as the featured character for a few years until a certain redheaded teenager named Archie Andrews would replace the Shield as the cover star in 1944! While the Shield would have a couple of revivals, the character never again achieved the level of stardom he had at the beginning of World War II. As a result, the Shield has become a sort of forgotten character in American pop culture. Thankfully, books like this, published by Overstreet (the same folks who also do the comic book price guide) will keep the impact and memory of the Shield alive for years to come.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
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