When Celia Solomon married Jack Lieber, the two Romanian-born Jewish immigrants had no idea that their son would become a comic book legend. In fact, when Stanley Martin Lieber was born on December 28, 1922, there were no such things as comic books. By the time he was 17, however, the Golden Age of Comics was well underway. Robbie Solomon, Stanley's uncle, and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman (one of Stanley's cousins was married to Goodman) presented him to Timely's editor, Joe Simon, who hired him as a writer (Timely would become Marvel Comics eventually).
In May of 1941, the young mans first comic book work was published; a two page text feature in Captain America Comics #3, using the pseudonym 'Stan Lee.' He would later explain that he intended to use his given name in the future when publishing more literary, non-comic book prose. It never happened. He would spend his entire adult life (except for a stint in the US Army during the war) writing and editing comic books.
While his Golden Age work is unremarkable (Timely was always a second rate producer, with a few noticeable exceptions), Stan would make his mark in the Silver Age of Comics in a very big way. The style of writing and producing comics that Lee perfected in the early 1960's has become an industry norm, and the number of successful superhero creations to his credit surpass those of any other single comic creator in the history of the medium. Consider only the characters Lee co-created with various artists that have recently been major motion picture's: Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men. As Stan would put it: 'Nuf said.'
The very first superhero created by Lee was the Destroyer, which debuted in Mystic Comics #6, August of 1941. Though there is no official credit for an artist co-creator, the art on the first story was provided by Jack Binder, with Alex Schomburg doing the cover. Perhaps the most striking feature of the hero is his arguably ugly costume, which is similar to a late 1990's Tampa Bay Buccaneer uniform with calf-rings. A hero whose intended purpose was to combat Nazism, months before the US was actually at war, here is how Lee described the character in a text feature for Mystic Comics #6:
The Destroyer tale presented below (From All-Winners #8, Spring 1942-43?) was probably not written by Stan Lee (who was in the Army at that time), and I've yet to determine the identity of the artist, but I couldn't resist adding this story to the collection.
Though, considering the delays between a comic script being drawn, and the comic itself hitting the newsstand, it is marginally 'possible' that Lee wrote this farce of a story (after all, he IS the fellow who brought us Paste Pot Pete). Regardless of which particular hands produced this tale, it is a prime example of the tactic of total humiliation and ridicule. Even Moe Howard's Hitler displayed more humanity than the caricatures below. Hitler, in Mein Kampf, had this to say about this particularly prevalent form of propaganda:
"For instance, it was absolutely wrong to make the enemy ridiculous (during WW1), as the Austrian and German comic papers did. It was absolutely wrong because actual contact with an enemy soldier was bound to arouse an entirely different conviction, and the results were devastating; for now the German soldier, under the direct impression of the enemies resistance, felt himself swindled by his propaganda service. His desire to fight, or even to stand firm, was not strengthened, but the opposite occurred. His courage flagged." Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf.
Just as a blind squirrel occasionally stumbles across a cache of cashews, this is one of those rare instances where Hitler had a point. The American soldiers didn't face the fools and cowardly fumblers they read about in the comics when they eventually battled there way across Nazi occupied Europe. Did this false expectation of enemy ability and character adversely effect morale, or was it a necessary propaganda tool to make it easier to get the soldiers out there to begin with? It can be argued both ways, perhaps.
Below: Satan down in Hades becomes impatient with the progress of Hitler's war, and with the urging of Madam Satan decides to replace the German dictator with a new 'boss,' Attila the Hun himself! Can The Destroyer stop this attempt to replace the comical Fuehrer with effective leadership? Read on!
Special thanks too
