Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Rusty Ryan in "The Japanese Transformation Drug" (Quality; 1942)

I spent a great weekend in Maryland, attending the Baltimore Comic-Con. As I’ve been out of touch for a few days, here is a cool bonus story for you starring Rusty Ryan and the Boyville Brigadiers. “The Japanese Transformation Drug” is from Feature Comics #59 (Aug. 1942); originally published by Quality, and illustrated by Paul Gustavson. Rusty Ryan was originally an orphaned boy who lived on the streets until retired coastal guard "Cappy" Jenks took him in. Jenks ran Boyvlle, a charitable community for orphaned boys (inspired by Boys Town, a real-life charity founded by Father Flanagan, which achieved world-wide popularity after it became the subject of a 1938 film). After he grew older, and when America entered World War II, Rusty and his friends formed the Boyville Brigadiers, a band of patriotically clad warriors that fought spies on the home front, and eventually saw combat in the Pacific Theater. Rusty had no powers, but was a judo expert and all around skilled fighter/athlete. The group continued traveling around the islands and had adventures after the war. The Catacombs acknowledges "The Digital Comic Museum", as the source of this classic comic story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belongs to the original publisher and/or creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes. Enjoy!


4 comments:

Mestiere said...

Well, that was racist. I wonder if people really thought that Asians had fangs.

When you want to spy on the Japanese send some white guys in Captain America outfits. What could go wrong?

Chuck Wells said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chuck Wells said...

Judging the content of these classic comics stories based on modern perceptions is truly an epic fail, if you can't take the overt racism in historical context that is. It was just the times, and I'm not saying that understanding excuses the unflattering portrayal of ethnic characters, but thin-skinned reflections on past publications - as far as comic books go - serves little to no purpose (unless the "offended" is pushing a personal agenda).

Mestiere said...

I'm not offended at all. It was an observation.