It’s not a World War II superhero without a teenage sidekick.
Judomaster #93
Charlton Comic Group (February, 1967)
“Meet The Tiger”
WRITER/ARTIST: Frank McLaughlin
EDITOR: Dick Giordano
Sarge Steel> Case File 111: “Case Of The Devil’s Wife”
no credits, but probably the same as the main story
Blinded and still believed to be a traitor as Judomaster, Rip is questioning his superhero and military careers, and even a visit in the hospital by Suzi and Bushiri doesn’t help. “Tiger” overhears Rip talking to himself about how it’s all over, and in his anger demands to take his place. General Hawkins does agree to let Bushiri train the boy in hopes that it will snap Rip out of his funk, and along with his returning eyesight, it works. Now having gone through the same training, the boy now joins the ranks of Bucky, Toro, Robin, and others in becoming a teen sidekick to a wartime hero as they go after a Japanese gun installation that is threatening the Allies sea travel.
What they got right: We get to see our hero struggle, but his overall heroic nature soon returns. I kid about the boy sidekick, and probably will again because it’s fun to do so, but Tiger makes a good partner in this story. And he didn’t have to blackmail the hero with his secret identity, Sparky/Spunky.
What they got wrong: I wonder how they’re going to explain the Japanese kid hanging around the military bases that are fighting the Japanese? There’s a reason that Japanese-Americans weren’t allowed to fight the Japanese (I’ll let you decide if they were good reasons, though the internment camps were not justified), though were allowed to fight the Nazis. Rip’s location is fighting the “Japs”, already balsy in a 1960s comic. Having a Japanese sidekick may have drawbacks, especially since right now Judomaster hasn’t been able to clear his name when it comes to faking his betrayal to get a warning to the US forces. We also need to give this kid a name before he falls into the same error as Bucky and Sparky in having their name/nickname be their superhero identity.
In the present, Sarge Steel is assigned to escort a US ambassador, but he’s intercepted by Santana Noir (because they haven’t completely forgot their origins), a spy for hire. Sarge somehow figures out who hired her and get him to send her after Sarge, but he tricks her to find the ambassador. Now can he get out alive with him?
So what happened to Sarge’s secretary? Was she killed off by the last femme fatale villain? This is a good opener, but we’ll see if it can stick the landing next issue.
What I think overall: I’m getting into this series. I just hope Rip gets his alter ego cleared in the eyes of the US military since they aren’t going for a Green Hornet scenario here.
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