Daring Mystery Comics #8

Daring Mystery Comics #8 (1941)
written by unknown
pencils by Ben Thompson
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon

Marvel has a lot of superheroes who are operating during World War II but that were created decades later. So it’s kind of hilarious that they have that really was around during the Golden Age… and that most people consider a retcon: Citizen V.

Citizen V goes HARD from the very first page: they are certainly not pulling punches here.

This has a cover date of January 1942 and the release date is probably October 1941, so America wasn’t even in the war. And yet the first page shows both our protagonist about to kill a Nazi…

…and THIS. Can you tell we are years before the Comics Code?

If you thought Destroyer was unique for being set in Germany, this one is set in France during the occupation (even if it stars a British soldier).

I know I keep repeating this, but once more: America wasn’t even in the war yet.

We’ve seen reference to the war in other comics before this one, of course, but this is directly showing events that were recent news back then.

Our protagonist is John Watkins, a British soldier left behind after Dunkirk.

Little known fact: almost drowning gives you a strange power.^{*
*citation needed}

He’s able to get back to England in a couple of panels. That was quick!

Either this guy got famous, or he was REALLY lucky to run into people who recognized him.

It may sound silly that he’s immediately given a high risk mission in enemy territory, but remember he just went back to England on a small fishing boat IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WAR and nobody noticed, so he must have SOME skills.

And that’s the basic idea behind Citizen V: he’s going to inspire occupied countries into getting their freedom back.
It’s a shame that the Morse code was removed from his symbol, it looks cool!

Definitely cooler than his uniform. Unless the people are supposed to be inspired by his thighs.

And the legend of V spreads very quickly, considering he hasn’t done anything yet.

And Citizen V spreads his legend by… hiding his identity with obvious disguises…

…and graffiti. Nice sentiments and all, but I’m getting seriously underwhelmed by this guy: the first page promised us strangled Nazis!!!

Well, to be fair, he’s not just being a nuisance: he’s actively helping the bombers.

The writer of the story is uncredited, but I get the feeling he didn’t know much about France.
One guy calls his mother “mamma”, which is Italian for “mom”, not French… a second guy is named Raoul, which isn’t exactly a French name.
But I did learn something: I never heard the term “boche” before, but turns out that it WAS a derogatory term used in France against Germans.
So hey, maybe the writer DID know stuff about France after all.

I’m also confused if we’re supposed to think Citizen V just cured Raoul of his blindness?

This results into some serious V craze.

“Donnerwetter” is the German word for thunderstorm, but it’s not as random as it sounds: as an exclamation it’s basically “Wow!” or “Good heavens!”. Neither of which would sound right when said by Hitler.

Citizen V debuted too soon. Had he waited for the spy movie craze, they would’ve made a whole series about this guy.

Then again, this only works because comic book Nazis are comically incompetent.
Not saying real Nazis were compentent, but there wasn’t much comedy there.

Citizen V even INFILTRATES HITLER’S CHANCELLORY…

…to get his autograph.

Thus beating Indiana Jones by 48 years.

And then Citizen V actually PUNCHES HITLER IN THE FACE, something that Captain America only did in the cover but not in the comic itself!!!

Okay, you’ve just punched Hitler in the face and you’re alone with him!

What do you do next?

A) punch him again
B) kick him
C) strangle him like in the first page
D) shave his moustache
E) run away

YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!

And so Citizen V rides into the sunset, having accomplished… uhm… what, exactly?

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Historical significance: I / V
The beginning of the most unlikely legacy hero ever.

Silver Age-ness: IV / V
Even by comic book standards, those are some laughably incompetent Nazis.

Does it stand the test of time? II / V
This is one of the most blatant examples of wasted potential. The teaser page and the beginning are AMAZING, as is the premise… except Citizen V completely squanders it.
They were SO close to pushing the envelope with this one!!!

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How close is this to the modern character? What modern character?
Citizen V has only a second appearance in the Golden Age: the extremely dignified Comedy Comics #9, cover dated April 1942.

This is the first appearance of his organization, the V Battalion.

They don’t strangle any Nazis, but at least they do destroy a couple of tanks…

…and trick some Nazis to BOMB THEMSELVES.

And that was it. Citizen V was even too obscure to be picked up by Roy Thomas for the Invaders!

So it’s only natural that when the Thunderbolts showed up in 1997 and a new Citizen V showed up, claiming to carry on the legacy of the original… I can’t be the only one who assumed there was no Golden Age hero with that name and Kurt Busiek was just making it up.

But in what is possibly still the best reveal in a superhero comic, the ending of Thunderbolts #1 showed us that “Citizen V” was actually Baron Zemo.

And we would soon learn that Citizen V was killed by the original Baron Zemo.
Kind of ironic: a Golden Age hero that most people assume is a retcon is killed by a villain who most people assume is from the Golden Age but is just a retcon.

But the Nazis didn’t completely steal the legacy. Thunderbolt supporting character Dallas Riordan was briefly a female Citizen V…

…and the original Citizen V’s real grandson, John Watkins III, is currently using the name.

Even the V Battalion got a couple of miniseries, as by the 21st century they’re a whole organization with S.H.I.E.L.D.-level technology.

Not a bad legacy for a guy who only managed TWO Golden Age stories, even if we had to get through a couple of Nazis first.

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What else was in Daring Mystery Comics #8?

Shockingly, Citizen V is the first story.
Followed by a bunch of second-stingers: the Fin, the Thunderer, Silver Scorpion and Blue Diamond.

There’s also “The li’l professor and Rudy the robot”, which feels like it belongs in a completely different comic book.

I cannot believe these two images are in the same book!!!

At least Captain Daring is on brand: we get TWO stories with Hitler!
Because if there’s one thing that people wanted to see in 1941 was more Adolph Hitler, I guess.

Although this is something else: it’s a story set in the future, where Captain Daring has to fight Unfrozen Hitler.

I wonder why Captain Daring never shows up in anything past the Golden Age. This is, in fact, his last appearance to date.

Which means the cliffhanger of the story… where Captain Daring has been brainwashed and the Nazis are about to conquer the future… has never been resolved.