Today in Comics History, September 12, 1942: Mickey Spillane writes tough-as-nails, gritty crime drama in which the crooks are caught because they paid their electric bill

from "Hot Stamp Mob!" in All-Winners Comics #6 (Marvel/Timely/USA Comic Magazine Corp., Fall 1942), script by Mickey Spillane (yes, that one!), pencils by Harry Fisk (?), inks by Edd Ashe (?)

Today in Comics History, February 1: Well, time to start up the Select Committee to Investigate the February 1 Attack on the Government

Today, it's February First and Fiery Forces the Fuman Forch...I mean, the Human Torch (original flavor) and his atomic fireball pal Toro have discovered some dastardly plan (but don't they always)!


from "No One Can Stop the Hypnotist*" in Young Men (1953 series) #27 (Marvel/Atlas, April 1954), script by Joe Gill, pencils and inks by Carl Burgos
(*Yeah, and they said nobody beats the Wiz, but they've been out of business for years.)

Torch 'n Toro rush to their favorite pal cop Chief Wilson (seriously, Jim Hammond, stop doin' that: ACWAB.) and find out something sinister is about to happen on February 1, thanks to a mysterious figure known only as (dun dun dun) "The Hypnotist!" Oh no, he's gonna make us all think we're chickens!


The Hypnotist is extending his tendrils everywhere? (Wait, shouldn't he be called "The Jellyfish" if that's true?) He's even enlisting the help of evil Mexican luchadores in India! The Torches uncover the secret plot (by, uh, hearing it yelled around the world) to topple all the world's governments on February 1, even the really heavy ones like Britain's House of Lords and the All-Lead Palace of King Pb of Pbistan!


Luckily, the Flambé Foursome Duo halt the Hypnotist, who's a vampire or an alien sludge monster or somethin', we don't know, gotta wrap the story up in the next three panels. The Torch sums it up by asserting that they've stopped "the greatest evil the world has ever known." ?!?? Jim, you killed Hitler.


THUS PERISH ALL TYRANTS!

Today in Comics History, March 15: Y'know, if I were named Julius Caesar in modern days, I'd just go into my panic room all day on March 15

from "Murders from the Past" in Marvel Mystery Comics #85 (Marvel/Timely, February 1948), pencils by Mike Sekowsky (?)

Let's Kill Hitler: Torch Song Trilogy III: In 3-D

Panels from Torch #7 (June 2010); plot by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Mike Carey; script by Mike Carey, pencils by Patrick Berkenkotter and Anthony Tan; colors by Carlos Lopez; letters by Todd Klein

Let's Kill Hitler: Torch Song Trilogy II: You're Fired

And just in case you never got a hold of a copy of What If? #4…



Panels from The Saga of the Original Human Torch #3 (June 1990), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Alfred Alcala, colors by Nel Yomtov, letters by Timothy Harkins
Wait, what did you say? "Hitler's consciousness had been transferred at the moment of his body's death into a brain cloned by Arnim Zola?" (which later became the Hate-Monger?) Well, that changes the verdict, guys!


To be continued…?

Let's Kill Hitler: Torch Song Trilogy I: A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight

Panels from What If? (1977 series) #4 (August 1977), script by Roy Thomas, breakdowns by Frank Robbins, finishes by Frank Springer, colors by George Roussos, letters by Joe Rosen
Accepted into Marvel Earth-616 canon (even though it's an issue of What If?), this story is