Happy Birthday, America! Weird-Ass Style!

It's Independence Day! It's also a Wednesday. Hey! You got your national holiday in my weekly feature. No, you got your feature in my holiday.

Hm... Two great tastes that taste great together.

All American Comics was published by All American Publications (which was eventually purchased by DC). It ran from the late 1930s to the late 1940s. The Green Lantern first appeared in All American as did several other superheroes who are still around today. I'm not going to talk about any of those.

I'm going to talk about my favorite old-school hero, Gary Concord, The Ultra Man!. Check out this cover from issue #8:



I love the way he appears to be accidentally vanquishing his foes. Look at his face. He has no idea what's going on. He's like a golden-age Inspector Clouseau. And what's that stuff in the background? Are they in a giant Dr. Seuss playset? Maybe it's where Zanzibar Buck Buck McFate lives.

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Here's another one where Gary seems to have stumbled into two-fisted justice. He's hugging that guy into submission. The dude in the lower left-hand corner is so impressed by the way Gary befriended his compatriot while, um, shooting the other one that all he can do is turn the beam of his own weapon into a salute to The Ultra Man! See? Nobody doesn't like Gary Concord.

The next two covers speak for themselves but I would like to point out the words at the bottom of each issue:

"America's Greatest Adventure and Humor Strips -- For All American Boys and Girls"

Man, they sure have a wacked-out view of the average American child. Or maybe their vision is all too accurate: "Remember to read All-American every month, kids. And then steal for me! STEAL and KILL!!!"

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