I love this Golden Age comic book cover from Nedor’s Startling Comics #34 (July 1945), in which the Fighting Yank busts up a POW/fondue party in some random basement. Take that, Tojo, you cheese loving imperialist!

I’m no expert in World War II uniforms, but I’m not sure the armband with the Japanese flag was standard issue. But I guess you had to know which side he was fighting for, just in case the horrible teeth and sinister sub-human facial appearance wasn’t a tipoff.

I also like how Fighting Yank looks all serious and businesslike. He takes no pleasure in cold-cocking Japs, it’s just his job. (How he hasn’t been appropriated as a symbol of the Tea Party yet is beyond me.) Capt. Bomber Jacket, on the other hand, has the serene, blank expression of someone who is clearly under the influence of some sort of experimental narcotic.

(artwork by Alex Schomburg, by the way)