STERANKO, JAMES (JIM) 595
on the patriotic hero market. Like Timely’s new fl agship, the fi rst six issues featured its
Jerry Siegel-created title character both on the cover and in multiple stories. Despite
this heavy promotion, plus appearances in World’s Finest Comics and with the original
Seven Soldiers of Victory, the Star Spangled Kid and his adult sidekick Stripesy did
not take off. Th ey remained in the anthology for most of its run, but issue #7 saw
numerous changes. Th e military-themed characters Captain X and Armstrong of
the Army were dropped, while the superhero Tarantula remained for just another
year. Taking over the cover was the Newsboy Legion, a Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
kid gang who had a superhero-ish protector called the Guardian. Superheroes Robot-
man (another Siegel creation) and TNT, along with comedy feature Penniless Palmer,
rounded out the new lineup. TNT was dropped soon after patriotic superheroine
Liberty Belle replaced Tarantula, but after that Star Spangled’s contents remained stable
through late 1946.
In 1947 Batman’s sidekick Robin graduated to a solo spot in Star Spangled and took
the cover as well. Frontier hero Tomahawk, a white Revolutionary War hero friendly
with “Indians,” was added shortly after, with the nautical adventure strip Captain Com-
pass beginning a year later. Tomahawk replaced Robin on the cover in 1949 and began
appearing in World’s Finest Comics. He then became the only Star Spangled feature to
gain his own series which lasted until 1972. Th e Star Spangled Kid was edged out of
his own strip by his then-new Otto Binder-created sidekick, Merry, Th e Girl of 1000
Gimmicks, but her solo feature was short-lived. After a few fi llers, Manhunters Around
the World solidifi ed the adventure-oriented lineup, with Robin the only remaining
superhero, although Robotman found a home in Detective Comics. Th e Manhunters
feature would itself be edged out by the Ghost Breaker, Dr. Th irteen, who became the
series’ last cover feature. Th is occult strip was an attempt to capitalize on the trend
towards horror stories, but with much tamer fare than many of DC’s competitors. Th e
experiment was short-lived, and after July of 1952’s issue #130, the title switched to
Star Spangled War Stories and reset its numbering soon after, becoming the last of DC’s
Golden Age anthologies to be canceled or retitled due to shifting post-war tastes. All
of Star Spangled’s early superheroes, as well as Dr. Th irteen, would appear again in the
1970’s and 1980’s, with Liberty Belle becoming chairwoman of the All-Star Squadron
(featuring Robotman, Tarantula and later TNT’s sidekick Dan). Th e Star-Spangled
Kid joined the Justice Society and formed Infi nity, Inc., before his death. Additionally,
Jack Kirby brought back the Newsboy Legion and the Guardian in his Fourth World
saga. Before all of that, Robotman had even inspired a new hero with the same con-
cept in the Silver Age Doom Patrol. So while Star Spangled never produced a hero as
high-profi le as some other anthologies, its characters and their children and successors
continue to infl uence the DC universe.
Henry Andrews
STERANKO, JAMES (JIM) (1938–). Challenging the Comics Code Authority with
cinema-style action sequences and sexy, skin-tight outfi ts on females in his seminal
