Number 778

Americommando and the Little One

Americommando was a character in his third incarnation: He had been Tex Thomson from Action Comics #1 to #33; he was Mr. America until #54, and then none other than President Roosevelt sent him to commando school and he became Americommando.

Created and drawn by Bernard Baily, an artist working in comics since their earliest days, and also co-creator of Hourman and Spectre. His villain in these consecutive stories from 1943, Action Comics #57 and #58, is a grotesque character, half Japanese and half Prussian...and wow, you couldn't get much more villainous than that combination in those dark days of World War II. (As always, these racist caricatures can be painful to look at with modern sensibilities, and all I can say is they were created in a different time.)

Americommando didn't last out the war, losing his position in Action by #74 in 1944. Baily went on to be an editor, writer, artist and publisher, and eventually ended up back at DC Comics. He died at age 80 in 1996.