by Michael Condon

1) The ultimate patriotic hero is Captain America. Unfortunately, I can't write any questions about him because the character belongs to Marvel. Which Kirby created Golden Age DC character could be viewed as Captain America's conceptual cousin?
a) Fighting American.
b) The Guardian.
c) The Shield.
d) The Golden Age Blue Beetle.

2) Why isn't Pat Dugan, Stripsey, an old man? He's been active since World War II for goodness sake.
a) A battle between the Justice Society of America and the shadowy Ian Karkull resulted in all of the people present having greatly enhanced life spans.
b) He was thrown through time to Ancient Egypt when a battle with the Nebula Man went awry. He was rescued by a joint delegation from the Justice Society and the Justice League fairly early in the Justice League's career. To avoid a time paradox, he was left to live in the Justice League's rather than his own present, so he skipped over the intervening years.
c) Shortly after the Justice Society disbanded in the 1950's, the heroes of Earth were called to prevent the universe's destruction by endlessly fighting the battle of Ragnarok. They were charged with the immortal Norse gods' power while fighting this battle and thus did not age during the course of it. They retained their youth after being rescued from the battle by the Justice League of America, and started aging naturally after that.
d) As the living embodiment of the American flag, Stripsey will stay young and vital for as long as America endures.

3) What happens when Liberty Belle hears the Liberty Bell ring?
a) She goes into a trance in which she mind melds with all Americans, giving her access to the collected memories and thoughts of the nation.
b) Her body is inhabited for an hour by the spirit of her ancestor, the Revolutionary War hero Miss Liberty. She gains the additional strength, speed and fighting prowess of her ancestor.
c) She can project a field that liberates people from mental control. Particularly useful when faced with heroes under the influence of the Spear of Destiny.
d) She experiences an adrenaline surge that increases her strength and speed to peak human levels.

4) Star Spangled Kid was a fine name for Sylvester Pemberton to adopt when he was a teenager, but what did he change it to when he hit his mid-twenties?
a) Starman.
b) Skyman.
c) Major Victory.
d) Like Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy who kept their juvenile sounding names until they were pushing thirty, the Star Spangled Kid never changed his name.

5) Who was the chairperson of the All-Star Squadron throughout most of World War II?
a) Hawkman.
b) Steel.
c) Hawkgirl.
d) Liberty Belle.

6) The Quality comics heroes, led by Uncle Sam, were revealed to be living on Earth X after DC acquired the rights to those heroes. In what way had Earth X developed differently from most of the other Earths known to comic book fans?
a) Facing no superpowered opposition, the heroes ended World War II in late 1942. The heroes then ushered in a period of global peace and prosperity. A Nazi scientist who was set free after 35 years in prison invented a dimensional portal and recruited villains from Earth 1 and Earth 2 to conquer Earth X. Having known peace for such a long time, all of the nations of Earth X's world had disarmed and the superheroes, although kept young through Uncle Sam's influence were too out of practice to offer effective resistance. Fortunately they were rescued by the combined forces of the Justice League and the Justice Society.
b) Facing no superpowered opposition, the heroes ended World War II in late 1942. They then set out to build a global utopia but wound up creating a fascist parody of 1950's America. After fighting the Justice League and the Justice Society, who were summoned when Plastic Man, the one Earth X hero who could not fit in with their society contacted the Justice League's satellite through an experimental transdimensional communicator during the JSA's annual visit to the JLA's world. The Earth X heroes battled the Invaders, but repented after Wonder Woman captured Uncle Sam in her lasso showing him how their plans had gone horribly wrong.
c) The Axis had won World War II and the Freedom Fighters were fighting an increasingly losing battle against the United States' Nazi overlords until they were rescued by the combined forces of the Justice League and the Justice Society.
d) The Soviet Union was the first country to develop atomic weapons and used them to conquer the world. The few remaining Earth X heroes, called the Freedom Force, waged a guerilla war against the world-wide Soviet dictatorship until the arrival of the Justice League and the Justice Society allowed them to overthrow that government.

7) Before becoming the patriotic masked hero the Americomando, the character was a pulp novel like adventurer named ____.
a) Slam Bradley.
b) Hop Harrigan.
c) Roy Raymond.
d). Tex Thomson.

8) The Boy Commandos were an international group of boys who fought the Germans during World war II. The American member of the team, Brooklyn, later turned up as an adult character. Which one?
a) Harry Stein, the director of Checkmate.
b) Sarge Steel.
c) Terrible Turpin of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit.
d) General Wade Eiling.

9) DC had a lot of comics dedicated to World War II, which of these comics dedicated to other U.S. wars existed?
a) Tomahawk, which dealt with the Revolutionary War.
b) The Liberty Legion, which dealt with the Civil War.
c) Enemy Aces, which dealt with World War I.
d) The Strange War of Charlie Perkins, which dealt with the Vietnam War.

10) Which Golden Age hero habitually whistled Yankee Doodle and left red white and blue feathers as his trademark?
a) Mr. America.
b) Steel.
c) The Atom.
d) Stripsey.

Answers

1) B. The concept I'm thinking of here is athletic men with no super powers who employ shields. Also, Guardian is the only one of the four listed who were published by DC in the Golden Age. Fighting American was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon in the 1950's for Crestwood Publications. It was licensed for a six issue series by DC in 1992. The shield first appeared in MLJ comics, the company that would later become Archie, in 1939, a year before captain America's debut. DC published The Shield in the 1990's under its Impact line.

2) B. A was the pre-Crisis explanation for why the Justice Society and many of their friends, such as Lois Lane, could remain active in the 1980's. C is similar to the plot of the Last Days of the Justice Society, except that the JSA left only after their modern counterparts were well established rather than in the 1950's.

3) D. Liberty Belle is the descendent of Miss Liberty, but does not gain powers from her ancestor. The Golden Age hero Captain Triumph was able to double his physical abilities when his body was possessed by his dead brother's spirit. A magic field set up by the Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail put most super-powered beings who entered the Axis controlled territory under Axis control.

4) B. Ted Knight invited him to take the Starman name, but Sylvester refused, having an intuition that Jack Knight would eventually have a use for it. Major Victory was the leader of the Force of July, a patriotic team gone wrong.

5) D. Hawkman was the first chairman, but Liberty Belle was chairperson the longest.

6) C

7) D. Tex Thomson first appeared in Action comics #1. He was a wealthy world traveler who solved mysteries. Slam Bradley was a private eye for first appeared in Detective Comics#1. Hop Harrigan was a teenage pilot who first appeared in All-American Comics #1. I'm not sure if he ever appeared in comic form. I've seen his stories appear as two pages of text in microfilms of some Golden Age comic books. In order to comply with a post office regulation, some portion of the comic book had to contain a story that wasn't in comic form. Roy Raymond, the Television Detective, first appeared in Detective Comics in 1949.

8) C.

9) A. The book dealt with the Revolutionary War for a significant portion of its run. The rest are my own inventions. Comics and features dealing with Hans von Hammer are called Enemy Ace. Besides, I wouldn't refer to a German pilot in a feature about American patriotic heroes

10) D.