- Warriors of Mongolia! I have come to expose this man who calls himself Genghis Khan! I challenge him to battle!
Military Comics #7 is an issue of the series Military Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of February, 1942.
Synopsis for Blackhawk: "The Return Of Genghis Khan"
A vast horde of Mongol and Tartar horsemen sweeps westward out of Inner Mongolia, led by a claimant to the identity of Genghis Khan. In the face of this new emergency, Roosevelt and Churchill propose a temporary truce, to which Hitler agrees, while treacherously also sending an envoy, flying eastward into Asia, to form an alliance with this Golden Horde. The envoy, von Trope, proposes Hitler's terms, which while exceedingly generous, are not to the great Khan's liking. He orders von Trope to be tortured to death, alongside Blackhawk, who was captured earlier by the Horde. Just as they finish off the German and are about to start work on Blackhawk, his gang swoops in aboard a stolen German plane, and disperses the torturers with machine gun fire.
Eventually Blackhawk gets close enough to Genghis Khan to challenge him to single combat, in front of his troops, and expose him as a fake, after which, Khan's followers fling him off a cliff.
Appearing in Blackhawk: "The Return Of Genghis Khan"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Genghis Khan II (Dies)
- vast Golden Horde
- Adolf Hitler (Cameo)
- Von Trope (Dies)
Other Characters:
- Ancient Guardian of the Tomb of Genghis Khan (Dies)
- Winston Churchill (Cameo)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (Cameo) (voice only)
Locations:
Items:
- Legendary Sword of Genghis Khan
Vehicles:
- Blackhawk Grumman XF5F Skyrockets, (single-rudder version)
Synopsis for Blue Tracer: "The Iceberg of Death"
A Nazi U-boat disguised as an iceberg destroys a series of allied cargo ships, until it encounters the Blue Tracer, and is itself destroyed.
Appearing in Blue Tracer: "The Iceberg of Death"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Locations:
- North Atlantic Ocean
- Iceland
- England (destination)
Vehicles:
- series of Merchant Vessels (Destroyed)
- Blue Tracer
- U-boat disguised as an iceberg (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Loops and Banks: "Cannibal Island"
Loops and Banks are flying General "Old Sourpuss" and a young lady to Manila. Twelve hours into the flight, the starboard engine dies, so they emergency-land beside a small island. On the island's rocky beach they repair the engine, but the General and his lady friend Janet want to explore the island. They explore one end of it, and get captured by a Japanese gunman. Loops and Banks explore the other end, find an ancient temple, walk inside, fall thru a trap door, and land in a cellar between a coal bunker and an arsenal. It's a secret Japanese supply base!
Loops and Banks stop yelling at each other, and hide, in time to go unnoticed by the Japanese Gunman, and his two prisoners, and his friend the local tribal Chief, and his bodyguards, as they return to the bunker. The Japanese agent tells the General and Janet that he knows too much, so his friend Chief Kono Mambe will be killing them both off. Chief Mambe immediately gets very grabby with Janet's clothes. Loops and Banks observe all this from hiding, and they sneak up on two spearmen, put them out of the fight, and steal their clothes and spears, then blacken up their skins with coal. Then they isolate and capture the base's Japanese boss.
In the main hall of the re-purposed temple the Chief and his cannibals enact a savage ritual and prepare to butcher the General and Janet. Banks marches the Japanese agent in, human-shield style, with a knife to his back, and forces him to persuade the Chief to stop the ceremony, while Loops sneaks in from back-stage, and cuts Janet's ropes. The negotiations are breaking down when Loops uses a nearby brazier to ignite his wooden spear, then throws it into an open bin of gunpowder, producing a huge wall of flame. All five non-cannibals flee out of the temple and down the beach to the seaplane, but the Japanese agent is killed by cannibal archers. Reaching the plane, Loops arms himself with a submachinegun, and the battle turns around completely. Banks takes off, and they fly on to Manila. In a very embarassing moment for Banks, Janet turns out to be the old general's wife.
Appearing in Loops and Banks: "Cannibal Island"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- General "Old Sourpuss"
- Janet
Antagonists:
- Japanese Officer (Dies)
- Chief Kono Mambe
- his cannibals
Locations:
- Pacific Ocean
- Cannibal Island
- primitive temple / supply base (Destroyed)
- Cannibal Island
Vehicles:
- USN 2-engine flying boat
Synopsis for The Sniper: "The Death of Herr Brock"
Infamous Nazi civilian-killer Franz Brock is ordered to Norway, by Hitler himself, on a special mission. Aboard the troop ship from Hamburg to Norway, Brock is hunted down, and scalded to death in live steam, by the Sniper. The Sniper then causes a ship-killing explosion in the boiler room, and shoots away the troop ship's life boats, trapping the crew on board, as it sinks in the North Sea.
Appearing in The Sniper: "The Death of Herr Brock"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Franz Brock (Dies)
- Nazi Sailors (most or all die)
- Adolf Hitler (Cameo)
Locations:
- Czechoslovakia
- Wilhelmstrasse, Berlin, Germany
- North Sea
- Norway (destination)
Vehicles:
- German troop ship (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Shot and Shell: "Van Der Dopple's Rice Paddies"
Colonel Sam Shot and Slim Shell are forced down by bad weather over the Dutch East Indies. They are abducted and impersonated, by two German Agents, who have mistaken them for two British diplomats, whom none of them have ever seen. Shot and Shell fight their way free of about a dozen rice workers, and confront the agents at the home of a local planter, and subdue them in a fist fight. But before any explanations about who is really who can take place, the two real diplomats for whom they have been mistaken show up. Shot and Shell flee to their plane and fly away.
Appearing in Shot and Shell: "Van Der Dopple's Rice Paddies"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- two German Agents
Other Characters:
- Mynheer van der Dopple
- manservant
- rice plantation workers
- two British diplomats (one wears a monocle).
Locations:
Vehicles:
- Shot & Shell's red fighter plane
Synopsis for Yankee Eagle: "Spies In the Shipyard"
A gang of spies gets itself into a major shipyard by murdering yard workers and stealing their I.D.s. They set a cable around the support struts propping up one side of a large, almost-built cruiser, then winch the cable in, yanking out the props, and crashing the expensive warship onto its side, killing and injuring a lot of people. The gang runs away toward the river, and Jerry Noble spots them and gives chase. He catches one and punches him out, but the other nine get away in a speedboat. The Navy dispatches a torpedo boat after it, and but when they catch it, only one spy is aboard, and he's dead. While Jerry and his prisoner are being driven to Naval Intelligence HQ, the spy gang leader, Rudolph, crashes into them with a stolen laundry truck; the captured spy escapes on foot, but Jerry follows him. While observing the spy, Victor, Jerry spots a mouse, and instantly befriends it. He persuades the mouse to ride along in Victor's pocket, then return to this place, then lead Jerry to Victor. The mouse agrees. This leads him to the gang's next meet-up with Rudolph, which Jerry stealthily observes.
Less than an hour later, two airplanes take off from two airfields, one is piloted by Jerry Noble, the other is loaded to the bursting point with high explosives, and piloted by Rudolph. Noble intercepts Rudolph, but can only bring him down by crashing into his plane. The parachute drop to the ground is a wrestling match for much of the distance, until Jerry chokes Rudolph unconscious, then leaps free and activates his own chute. Rudolph is captured alive, and spills enough beans for the Feds to capture the rest of his gang.
Appearing in Yankee Eagle: "Spies In the Shipyard"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Senator Walter Q Noble
Antagonists:
- Rudolph
- shipyard spies, ten: Manfred, Victor, 8 others
Other Characters:
- Admiral
- Joe Dillon, shipyard worker (Dies)
- Miriam Dillon, housewife (Dies)
- nine more families (Dies)
Animals:
- Jerry's new mouse (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Ship Yard
- nearby tenement
- Naval Intelligence HQ
Vehicles:
- mostly-built U.S.N. Cruiser (toppled)
- PT 11, U.S.N. Torpedo Boat
- Spies' speedboat (Destroyed)
- Jerry's pursuit-style airplane (Destroyed)
- Rudolph's observation-style airplane (Destroyed)
Synopsis for Death Patrol: "The Patchwork Kid"
Appearing in Death Patrol: "The Patchwork Kid"
Featured Characters:
- The Death Patrol
- Del Van Dyne
- Chief Chuckalug
- Hank
- King Hotintot
- Boris
- The Patchwork Kid (aka Frere Jacques) (First appearance)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- French People
Locations:
- Occupied France
Vehicles:
- Death Patrol's unique customized warplanes
Synopsis for Miss America: "The Moth"
FBI Agent Tim Healy is having a hard time catching the notorious, silk-stealing "Moth", and is getting ribbed by his co-workers and taunted by the crook, so he makes a big point of leaving Miss Dale behind when he goes out to meet a suspect at the silk warehouse. Once alone, Joan motions magically and becomes Miss America, then transforms herself into the radiator cap on Healy's car. Healy drives to the warehouse, but the Moth arrives in an autogyro, and lands on the roof. His gang packs tommy guns, and they capture a bunch of cops, and steal their uniforms. When Healy arrives, the fake cops lead him to the warehouse skylight, then punch him off the edge of the roof.
Miss America rescues Tim by transforming two bales of silk into a big net and catching him in it, but he's knocked out from the fall. She can fly. The Moth and his gunmen shoot at her but she waves their bullets into butterflies. One of them drops a bale of silk on her, from many stories up, but she just shrugs it off, and turns the silk into lassos, which catch some of the thugs. One of them has a grenade; she transforms it into an alarm clock, and makes it ring loud enough to revive the knocked-out Tim Healy. Healy chases and catches the Moth, but gets kicked loose from him, and the Moth uses his incendiary cards to set fire to the warehouse on his way out. Except the cops are at the door, and in force, but his autogiro is still on the roof, so the Moth throws some more of his arson cards around, then runs upstairs. Miss American transforms a bale of silk into a firehose and fights the fire.
On the roof, the Moth has reached his VTOL airplane and taken off. On the ground, Miss America transforms her firehose into a fire hose, and sets the weird little aircraft ablaze; it crashes into the river.
Appearing in Miss America: "The Moth"
Featured Characters:
- Miss America (Final appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Tim Healy, FBI (Final appearance)
Antagonists:
- The Moth (First appearance) (Dies)
- his gang
Other Characters:
- seven or more uniformed cops
Locations:
- F.B.I Headquarters
- Silk Warehouse
Vehicles:
- Healy's big sedan
- Moth's VTOL airplane
Synopsis for Inferior Man: "The Green Terror"
The Quartermaster at the Fort Bang supply room, undersized bespectacled Courtney Fudd, is secretly the super hero Inferior Man. News reaches the camp that the Green Terror is in town, grown men burst out blubbering at this news, while Fudd quietly smirks. That evening Courtney's date with his girlfriend Hilda Plump is disrupted by radio news that the Green Terror is in that same part of town. Courtney slips away, feigning great cowardice, then climbs onto a roof and changes into his logo-emblazoned underwear plus dons a cape. He falls off the roof but survives, spots the Green Terror approaching, and zips between the panel borders finding cover. G.T. has just gotten done finishing off Superintendentman, the Flying Janitor, and now only Inferior Man remains to oppose him, and his big knife. Inferior Man pulls a hypodermic needle out of his belt buckle, and shoots up the Green Terror with "Sissy Serum", which has a startling effect on the fiend, very startling indeed, and one which makes it much easier for the regular cops to arrest him.
Inferior Man then breaks the Fourth Wall to caution any readers with weak hearts NOT to read next month's episode.
Appearing in Inferior Man: "The Green Terror"
Featured Characters:
- Inferior Man (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Hilda Plump, girlfriend
Antagonists:
- The Green Terror
Other Characters:
- U.S. Soldiers
- Superintendentman, the Flying Janitor (Mentioned only) (Dies)
Locations:
- Fort Bang
Items:
- Inferior Man's "Sissy Serum"
Synopsis for Secret War News: "Phantom Army of Vengeance"
May 20 to May 30, 1941: During the Nazi invasion of Greece, a battalion of British Colonial troops was isolated and stranded in the mountains of Crete, where it seemingly disappeared.
Two weeks later, ANZAC infantry raided a German-occupied town, and vanished again. The next night, another town on the far side of the island was raided, and the next night a German airfield was set afire, and then a Nazi arsenal was blown up. An ANZAC-hunting column of German troops marched into the woods and was wiped out in a series of ambushes. And those Colonial troops are still out there now.
Appearing in Secret War News: "Phantom Army of Vengeance"
Featured Characters:
- ANZAC Infantry Unit
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Cretan Peasants
Locations:
Vehicles:
- Hawker Hurricanes (Destroyed)
- Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers
- Junkers Ju 52 troop transports
Synopsis for Atlantic Patrol: "The USS Greer"
On 11 September 1941, the USS Greer was the first U.S. vessel to be fired on by Axis forces, in World War II. A U-boat shot a torpedo at it and missed, and the Greer dropped depth charges, but could not confirm a kill.
Appearing in Atlantic Patrol: "The USS Greer"
Characters:
Locations:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Published by Comic Magazines, Inc.
- Blackhawk: The Return Of Genghis Khan is reprinted in The Blackhawk Archives, Volume One.
- A solitary nomad fulfills a prophecy by pulling the legendary Sword of Genghis Khan free from Khan's tombstone, and cleaving it in twain; this character then would be a reincarnation of Genghis Khan. At this story's end, the villain has supposedly been exposed as a fraud, but at this story's beginning, the reader sees him actually slice thru the stone with a one-handed sweep of his blade.
- Four years after this, in 1946, Blackhawk will encounter another self-proclaimed Genghis Khan, nine feet tall, who will claim to have been in alchemically-induced suspended animation for 700 years. The truth of these matters may never be fully established.
- Contrary to this story, the Himalayas are nowhere near Inner Mongolia, leaving the reader with no new information on the true location of Genghis Khan's secret tomb. Genghis Khan's tombstone is written in modern English, which would be normal, in a world where almost everybody speaks English, only with different accents.
- In this story, Blackhawk gets head-konked unconscious with a horse's hoof, his first known cranial concussion. Being a Blackhawk is dangerous.
- The proper Grumman XF5F Skyrockets will be back in Military Comics #15. This issue continues the use of the single-rudder modified version.
- A solitary nomad fulfills a prophecy by pulling the legendary Sword of Genghis Khan free from Khan's tombstone, and cleaving it in twain; this character then would be a reincarnation of Genghis Khan. At this story's end, the villain has supposedly been exposed as a fraud, but at this story's beginning, the reader sees him actually slice thru the stone with a one-handed sweep of his blade.
- Blue Tracer destroys another Nazi submarine.
- Death Patrol
- Patchwork Kid joins up.
- Hank: "Say! This is the first time none of us was killed!" He's not kidding.
- First issue for Inferior Man by Al Jaffee, which ran for seven issues in this magazine, until Military Comics #13.
- Comic book stories from 1942 may depict some social prejudices that were once commonplace in American society. Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While not representing the DC Comics view of today's society, these stories are being indexed and summarized as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.
- Loops and Banks are junior officers in the United States Marine Air Corps.
- Last issue for Miss America. First and last issue for Maurice Kashuba art and story, on this feature, replacing Tom Hickey.
- Secret War News is presented as being current news. Many of this story's events are historically accurate.
- At the end of last issue's misadventure, Shot and Shell were on their way from India to Scotland, but this issue they find themselves in the Dutch East Indies. This keeps happening to them.
- The Sniper destroys a Nazi troop ship, with all hands.
- Also featured in this issue of Military Comics were:
- "Women of France" (text story)
Trivia
- Bob Powell signed his Loops and Banks feature as "Bud Earnest".
See Also
Recommended Reading
- World War II Recommended Reading
- Adventures in the Rifle Brigade (Volume 1)
- Adventures in the Rifle Brigade (Volume 2)
- All-American Men of War (Volume 1)
- All-Out War (Volume 1)
- Blackhawk (Volume 1)
- Blitzkrieg (Volume 1)
- Capt. Storm (Volume 1)
- Four-Star Battle Tales (Volume 1)
- G.I. Combat (Volume 1)
- Men of War (Volume 1)
- Military Comics (Volume 1)
- Our Army at War (Volume 1)
- Our Fighting Forces (Volume 1)
- Sgt. Rock (Volume 1)
- Sgt. Rock (Volume 2)
- Star-Spangled War Stories (Volume 1)
- Unknown Soldier (Volume 1)
- Weird War Tales (Volume 1)