General George S. Patton
once said that “Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is
the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the
victory.” Even though weapons are the
tools used to win wars, it is the men that win them. However cliché it may sound, people are
living weapons, who must be loaded with ammunition just like any other
weapon. So what kinds of bullets are put
in a person? Fifty caliber? Nine millimeter? Three hundred eighty caliber? As a matter of fact, and of common sense,
that is not what men are loaded with.
No, men are loaded with completely different varieties of ammunition,
such as justice, truth, and strength.
These are the things that make a man run through a war-torn field,
watching helplessly as his comrades fall dead around him, while he dodges the
incinerating destruction of artillery shells and realizes that he probably
won’t last the night. These are the
ideals that drive civilians to deny themselves any luxuries, any extra comforts,
such as gasoline and food from their own gardens, in order that through their
sacrifice nations might remain free from the tyranny of corrupt dictators. It is things like this have held American
soldiers and civilians through countless struggles. There is one example of a way to fill
Americans with this ammo, which was most prominent during the Second World
War. That method would be comic
books. Yes, comic books. This paper ammo inspired and encouraged a
generation of Americans, both warrior and citizen, during a time of sorrow and
war, securing a future in which wars that span entire continents are just a
memory of the past.
One of the first superheroes
to be found in a comic strip was the infamous Captain America, who was battling
his enemies across the pages of newspapers, even before the soldiers of the
United States were entered into World War II.
But once America was involved, Cap and many other heroes were actively
supplying moral support and delightfully accepted distractions. Characters such as Batman and Robin were shown
on comic book covers bringing new, American-made weapons to soldiers on the
front lines, while others like Bucky were inspiring younger men that had been
sent across the Atlantic not to give up.
In fact, one statistic, which was found in the PBS special presentation
titled Superheroes: A Never-ending Battle, states that one out of every
four magazines sent overseas was a comic book.
Assuming every American soldier possessed at least one magazine of some
kind each, that adds up to about four
million, twenty-five thousand comic books!
The real-life heroes of World War II could not get enough of the comics
about Captain America and his sidekick, Bucky “socking ol’ Adolph Hitler on the
jaw” or about Captain Marvel marching straight through barbed wire on a
battlefield, continuously being pounded by enemy fire without so much as a
bruise. Or perhaps they wanted to read
about Superman or the original edition of The Human Torch. All of these heroes continued to provide them
with a new perspective on what they were fighting for, throughout the brutality
of war. Comics helped inspire them, but
also distracted them from the fear that they felt on an almost daily
basis. No amount of justice, truth, or
strength could ever eliminate fear. The
fear of dying a cold lonely death in a mud hole in a faraway country, fear of leaving
a family behind in America without anyone to provide for them now that he
wouldn’t return, and fear of letting down America itself. Yes, they sacrificed much to secure freedom
for their country, but they were always afraid of what new terror the future
held next. It was comic books, among
other things, that helped inspire them and distract them from the grim truth of
the war, making everything look so easy with Captain America or Superman
helping to fight the war. Comics also
were a means of distributing patriotic propaganda in support of the war. One of the most noticeable examples is the
demonizing of Japanese and German soldiers, which depicted them as fanged
ghouls and monsters. For
the brave men fighting in Europe, this gave them a feeling of fighting an evil,
demonic variety of enemy. It gave them a
sense of fighting an unnatural foe, providing them an extra ounce of conviction
to push them on as they charged onto the battlefield to slay the monstrosities just
like Captain America had shown them. While
not all propaganda was as negative as this, the positive variation was generally
geared towards the citizen rather than at the soldier. Regardless, it is quite possible that,
without comics to encourage the American Soldiers and load them with ammo, the
world that is taken for granted today might have never existed.
The effects of paper ammo
were also felt by civilians back on the home front in America. For instance, the previously mentioned
character, Bucky, sidekick to Captain America, was a tool used to inspire the
youth of America, not only to join up, but also to help with the war effort in
America. Collecting scrap metal, donating used comic books to be recycled for the paper, and other
beneficial tasks were promoted to keep the young people of the land of the free
involved with the fighting that was occurring in Europe. A significant example of a young man that was
affected by the influence of comic books was Stanley Lieber. This man himself worked in the comic book
industry as an amateur writer, coming up with the dialogue that was scattered
throughout the exciting and explosive pages of panels that were turned out by
the comic book publishing company, Timely Comics. But when he felt the pull of patriotic
loyalty, he signed up for the U.S. army and was shipped out for Europe. Now this may seem like a random person to
mention, although it really isn’t. As it
were, Stanley Lieber is still very much alive and very famous, having made the
comic industry what it is today with the work he did after her returned to
America. However, he is not addressed by
his birth name anymore, having legally changed it to his writing pseudonym due
to the fame that he had acquired under it.
Nowadays he is known by millions of people across the globe as Stan Lee,
the father of comic books. It is very
ironic that even a comic book writer was influenced by his own work to join the
fight against the Axis powers. Another
area of influence that comics held on civilians of World War II America was propaganda. One of the issues that the most propaganda in
comics was about was buying war bonds.
Anyone who’s seen the modern production of Captain America: The First
Avenger has at least been exposed to this by seeing Steve Rogers stand upon
a stage and stutter through the lines of, “Series E Defense bonds. Each one you buy is a bullet in the barrel of
your best guy’s gun,” while girls sing on the platform behind him. But Captain America wasn’t the only one
marketing war bonds. Superman, Batman,
and Robin could be found in booths on the cover of Action Comics’ titles, where they would be selling
war bonds to crowds of people ready to support the war effort with what little
money they could spare, and sometimes even more than that. Who could do anything less when a superhero
was on the Allies’ side? But through
showing people, both young and old, that they could fight the evil Nazis by
recycling, buying war bonds, or even enlisting, comic books played an enormous part
in the civilian side of World War II, maybe even more than with the soldiers
themselves.
Even today comic books and their
more advanced evolutions are still affecting the world that was secured by the
unimaginably horrific conflicts of World War II. As anyone can see, the world has become
increasingly worse overall throughout history.
Thousands of marriages have been terminated due to selfishness. Politicians are using manipulative methods to
achieve the passing of ludicrous laws to play to the voters that will keep them
in office, thereby corrupting the government.
Abortion is at an all-time high.
The world is falling apart. And
while the only answer to these problems can be found in the truths of the
Bible, there are other things that help keep the darkness at bay. Comic books are one of these defenses against
evil. However, it is necessary to
mention that comic books have become less popular than their digital big
brothers that take the form of major motion pictures and TV shows. They still essentially have the same effect
though. They provide depictions of
bravery, love, and self-sacrifice. In
the Avengers, Iron Man is willing to sacrifice himself to save Manhattan
from a nuclear missile. Bruce Banner in The
Incredible Hulk gives up trying to live a normal life and living in
Calcutta to prevent anyone from ever being hurt by the unstoppable rage of the “the
other guy.” In addition to these, in Thor:
The Dark World Thor takes on the might of Malekith to protect his world and
the woman he loves from the Aither’s darkness.
They inspire people all over the world with their acts of heroism. Children see role models that show them the
values of not just taking a stand against evil, but actively fighting it. Heroes like Batman and Iron Man reveal the
fact that it is not powers that make a hero.
It is their honor, their sense of right and wrong, and their willingness
to put aside their own wants for the protection of something greater. And while none of the heroes are perfect, and
no attempt is made to make them so, they can still bring to life epic battles
between good and evil, light and dark, heroes and villains.
World War II was an enormous
conflict. And while it was fought with
weapons, it was fought and supported by men and women and even children of
America. They were men that had been
loaded with the ammunition of justice, truth, and strength, which could be
found in comic books, among other places.
They were women and children that were under orders from Captain America
to do everything they could to sustain the men that were fighting to maintain
their freedom and that of the rest of the world. And even though the war ended, the
inspiration provided by the pages upon pages of action-filled panels has lived
on to encourage countless generations of both the 21st Century, and
whatever is beyond that. Comic books
were paper ammo and they were ten cents a pop.
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