Liberty Scouts Comics #2

History

Published under Centaur's operating name Comic Corporation of America out of 215 Fourth Avenue, New York, the issue appeared on a bimonthly schedule in June 1941. Cover art and several interior stories are credited to Paul Gustavson, though research by historian Craig Delich and corroborated by Paul's son Terry Gustafson established that the Man of War interior art was actually drawn by Paul's brother Nils Gustavson, not Paul — a long-standing attribution error only corrected decades later. The Fire-Man origin story in this issue is the lone entry in that feature not signed by regular series artist Martin Filchock, with Jerry Bails' Who's Who suggesting writer Charles Verral may have scripted it; the Bob Lubbers byline also appears on at least one feature in the book. The title ran only two issues before a legal complaint from the Boy Scouts of America forced a name change to Liberty Guards Comics with issue #3.

Trivia · 9 facts

• Debut issue in all but numbering: despite being labeled #2, no issue #1 of Liberty Scouts Comics exists — this is the title's first published number.
• First appearance and origin of Man of War (real name unknown in original stories; 'Clay Carter' is a later attribution, possibly coined by Malibu Comics), a super-powered being accidentally created by the Roman god Mars to serve the Axis but who instead fights for freedom after materializing in Dayton, Ohio.
• First appearance and origin of Vapo-Man (Bradford Cole), a hero who can expand or dissolve his body into vapor, also debuting here.
• First appearance and origin of Fire-Man (Jim), another Centaur superhero; this is the only Fire-Man story not drawn by regular artist Martin Filchock.
• First appearance and origin of the Liberty Scouts themselves (Smokey, Skipper, and Strut Henry), three siblings who operate as patriotic teen heroes, with their father P. Henry and President Franklin Roosevelt also introduced.
• Cover and main interior art credited to Paul Gustavson (a Nazi U-boat war cover); the Man of War interior art was later re-attributed to his brother Nils Gustavson by researcher Craig Delich, with confirmation from Paul's son Terry Gustafson.
• The title was forced to rename itself Liberty Guards Comics by the Boy Scouts of America, which objected to the 'Liberty Scouts' branding — the change was acknowledged in-story in issue #3.
• Man of War's debut story was reprinted in the undated Liberty Guards Comics giveaway (circa 1942, Chicago Mail Order Co.) and again in AC Comics' Men of Mystery Comics #112 (2019); Man of War himself was revived for Malibu's The Protectors in 1992 and appeared in Dynamite Entertainment's Project Superpowers universe, all characters having lapsed into the public domain.
• The issue was included in the Fantagraphics anthology Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War (2017), recognizing its place in WWII-era comics history.

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