Tomahawk And The Revolution, Part 2

The story is entitled "Adventure in New York"

Tomahawk And The Bicentennial

In looking for reprints of Tomahawk Comics, which I thought would be a good resource to compliment the John Adams' HBO series, I went to Forbidden Planet on Broadway and 13th Street. No such thing, but one of the clerks told me that a store called the Time Machine on 14th Street and 8th Avenue (Roger''s Time Machine
207 W 14th St Second Floor, (212) 691-0380) might have old copies at a reasonable price. Well, what a find that store was. As one reviewer writes, "It's not a place to bring a date," not because it's seedy, but it's a bit on the worn side. Lots of comics in bins, all conditions, all prices. The owner, I think named Roger, was very menschy and when I told him I wasn't a collector, but a teacher, he steered me to a couple of amazingly inexpensive comics that fit the bill. One was a Superman Bicentennial Issue (large format) that had several Tomahawk, American Revolution themed stories. I scanned the first story and cropped it to fit the Google Video player and added some music from the Patriot (forgive me Mel Gibson haters). Here's part one:
from treasurycomics

Limited Collectors' Edition C47 - 1976
The most awesomest back cover ever--a history of the US presidents! I learned who the presidents were from this cover more than any history class. ...Oh, I guess I should mention the front cover and the insides, shouldn't I?
The front cover re-uses a classic Superman cover by Jack Burnley. That original appears in the new book Superman Cover to Cover as an example one of the finest Superman comic covers.
This book is a bit of a cheat--great front cover, but the insides are all reprints of DC's Tomahawk series. (and not even those cool Tomahawk issues by Frank Thorne with the Kubert/Adams' covers! *Yawn*)
Sorry, I don't mean malign the fine efforts of the writers and artists who crafted all those years of Tomahawk comics. Its just that, if you're gonna call the book Superman Salutes the Bicentennial, it's gotta be Superman doing the saluting.

Abraham Lincoln In Superman, A Nation Divided

In looking for Presidential materials I found that Abraham Lincoln plays a major role in one of the DC Elseworlds' titles, "Superman, A Nation Divided." Here's a segment where Superman, a Union soldier saves Lincoln's life
About this title:

Young Atticus Kent learns of his powers and abilities, and helps the Union Army win the war, saves the life of Abraham Lincoln and goes on to bigger and better things.

About Elseworlds:

Elseworlds is the publication imprint for a group of comic books produced by DC Comics that take place outside the company's canon. According to its tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places - some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow." Unlike its Marvel Comics counterpart What If...?, which bases its stories on a single point of divergence from the regular continuity, most Elseworlds stories instead take place in entirely self-contained continuities whose only connection to the canon DC continuity are the presence of familiar DC characters.

soundtrack: Ken Burns Civil War - Abraham Lincoln's Funeral March - Taps - The President's Grave.

Lincoln's Birthday

There's hardly any Lincoln content on youtube. Here's a cartoon strip that mentions Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. It's part of the great collection from Bentley Boyd that was originally done for the . The online archives are here. The book collections are well worth the price. I've gotten several. Here's the link to amazon. I used Joan Baez as the soundtrack. Remember her! The last slide is the signature of Lincoln on the proclamation.

Comics In The Classroom

brian lehrer on wnyc had a show about comics in the classroom a few weeks ago. I used part of the interview and combined it from some of the comic images from the linked site at Columbia. Here's part of an article about the topic from beth fertig that was written in 2004

Comic books are a rite of passage for most kids. But one local educator also thinks they have potential "superpowers" for learning. The Comic Book Project is an after school program that's trying to improve literacy by teaching kids to make their own comics. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.
Some kids love comic books. Others are inspired by them. Those are the kids who have joined the Comic Book Club at Martin Luther King High School in Manhattan. Sixteen-year old Angel Terry is pretty typical.
JURY: I like to draw a lot and this place has a lot of funny people that like to draw, too.
Angel – or Jury as her friends call her – has notebooks filled with her own comic strips. Her friends pour through them, looking to find themselves.
SAYURI: She draws us as characters. For some reason she gave my character bangs.
That's 10th grader Lauren Garcia. She calls herself Sayuri, after the title character in her favorite novel "Memoirs of a Geisha." These kids love anything Japanese – largely because of the Japanese comics, or manga. They adore the luscious graphics and wide-eyed characters that morph into unworldly beings. Jury's comics have the same fluid look. But her stories are definitely hinged in her world.
JURY: This is one of them.
Her latest comic is about a slumber party with her friends.
JURY: That's me on my little backwards phone. See, that's Sayuri. That's Imani. She’s getting mad at us because we're ordering Chinese food and it's like one in the morning.
Most of the students, like Jury, came here to draw. But the Comic Book Project is also about encouraging them to write, says founder Michael Bitz.
BITZ: It's something they want to do because it's their media.

Bitz is a research associate at Teachers College at Columbia University. A few years ago he was studying the role of the arts in education.

BITZ: The arts content and the academic content had to be clearly tied together. And there’s no where else in the area of literacy where words and art are so naturally wedded as in a comic book.

Bitz started his first comic book club at a Queens elementary school in 2001. Since then his project has been adopted by 45 schools, with funding from the After School Corporation and community based organizations. Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland, among other cities, have adopted the program.

Graphic Novels: Pearl Harbor

I came across a few of these titles at the Strand and bought them at a good discount.
The publisher provided free downloads of selected passages. I used the selection from Day of Infamy: Attack on Pearl Harbor to make the video above. Music: Victory At Sea If the experts would spend less money on wasteful and boring staff development and put these kinds of materials in teachers' hands kids might be interested.
From The Osprey Graphic Novels Web Site:

Osprey Graphic History present compelling true stories of war in a gripping comic strip narrative, written and developed by renowned comic book writers and illustrators, which will appeal to children and adults alike.

The stories are supported by a wealth of historical detail, including further reading on the causes and consequences of the events, the key players, a glossary of important terms and where to find out more.

Fast-paced action, historical accuracy, exciting art and comprehensive supporting materials complete these stories of momentous events in history.
The Osprey Graphic History series is a responsible, graphic treatment of great battles and campaigns in history that provides an accurate reflection of the dramatic events our ancestors lived through, in an exciting comic-strip format.

There is widespread concern about the decline in childhood reading, particularly amongst boys. By presenting historical events in a comic-book we hope that this will stimulate interest both in history and reading more about the great events that have shaped our world.

Additional material includes an Overview and Aftermath, a Who's Who, Glossary and Further Reading, all to provide further opportunities to study the battles represented in more detail.

The series is suitable for all ages, from eight upwards. Wars are terrible and devastating events that cause suffering for soldiers and civilians alike. These books present this responsibly, without glorification, but seek to explain the consequences and causes of violence in an educational way whilst honouring the courage and bravery of those who were often reluctant warriors.

The Bloodiest: Day Battle of Antietam
The Empire Falls: Battle of Midway
Surprise Attack! : Battle of Shiloh
Gamble for Victory: Battle of Gettysburg
Island of Terror: Battle of Iwo Jima
Day of Infamy: Attack on Pearl Harbor
Ironclads at War: The Monitor vs the Merrimac
Fight to the Death: Battle of Guadalcanal
The War is On!: Battle of First Bull Run
Deadly Inferno: Battle of the Wilderness
The Tide Turns: D-Day Invasion
Hitler's Last Gamble: Battle of the Bulge

On-Line History Comic Gold Mine

This is an incredible site, an archive of historical comics done for The Hampton News in Virginia There are some missing links and images vary in resolution. They sell some of the collections as books. Well worth it. Here's a link to my .mac account where I created a pdf of the comics related to WW2
It's only 1.9MB

World War II and Comic Books: Sgt. Rock

Here's another I'm reminded of and what's good about Sgt Rock is that they are still being published and older issues have been reprinted in book form. Again the converted slide show I did as a manual read doesn't convert too well here. About Sgt Rock from wikipedia:
"During World War II, Sgt. Rock fought in the infantry branch of the U.S. Army in the European Theatre and eventually rose to authority within his unit, Easy Company. The unit was made up of a disparate collection of individuals who managed to participate in every major action in the European war. Rock's dogtag number was 409966, which had been, it was claimed, Robert Kanigher's own military serial number.
Robert Kanigher mused in letters columns in the 1970s and 1980s that Rock probably belonged to "The Big Red One" (First US Infantry Division) given his appearance on battlefields in North Africa, Italy and Northwest Europe. The backstory for Rock was fleshed out in different comics over the years; generally he is considered to have come from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he worked in a steel mill. Enlisting after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he went to North Africa as a private but promotion came quickly as his superiors were killed, to assistant squad leader, squad leader, and then platoon sergeant. His unit is only ever given as "Easy Company", but no regiment or division is named nor is unit insignia ever shown. Rock also usually wears the chevrons and rockers of a Master Sergeant on his uniform and also applied, oversize, to the front of his helmet."
Kaniger was the main writer, but the artist is the famed Joe Kubert, a Brooklyn boy who lived on Schenck Ave in Brownsville.
Here's a link to an April 2006 blogpost where there is more on Sgt Rock and also a downloadable, better resolution slide show

Racial Propaganda In Fighting WW2

I found an incredibly comprehensive site on our homeland Japanese in WW2. I used some of the comic book examples along with some of the explanatory text and combined it with a particularly prejudiced WW2 song from authentic history
"The purpose of this section of The Authentic History Center is to educate about the power of imagery in the stereotyping of race. By understanding how it happened, we can recognize it happening now. Once aware, we can make a conscious effort to avoid the messy thinking stereotyping promotes that leads to fear, prejudice, hate, and discrimination. The purpose is not to blame, but to increase people's sensitivy to these stereotypes by decreasing ignorance. Promoting racial tolerance is a goal because intolerance is destructive and not acceptable in a free, civilized society. Ultimately, however, we must all learn to value the racial and cultural diversity of our histories, our nations, and the world in which we live in order to be truly civilized"
Two recordings most notable for their themes of revenge and anger appeared on sides A and B of a December 1941 Bluebird release by Carson Robison. This performer had earned a living and reputation as a cowboy and hillbilly artist throughout the 1920s and 1930s, spending many of those years working with Vernon Dalhart. His most prolific years were before 1930, but with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Robison found a temporary niche as a novelty song artist. Robison's version of "Remember Pearl Harbor," while emphasizing the sneak attack, manages to call the Japanese "rats," "vultures," and "yellow scum" (no longer deserving of being considered our "little brown brothers"). Twice he advocates killing all Japanese, managing in the last verse to invoke both religion and the patriotic duty of all Americans to help support the war effort by buying more war bonds. On the B side is a rather amazing anti-Japanese recording, "We're Gonna Have To Slap The Dirty Little Jap (And Uncle Sam's The Guy Who Can Do It)," written by Bob Miller. This song, as well as the previous, refer to the Japanese as "yellow." While this is undoubtedly a reference to the "cowardly" act of a sneak attack, it also seems clear that use of the word is part of the common race caricature of Japanese seen throughout the war. Even the sheet music is yellow. The Carson Robison version of this song did not include the third verse. That verse was recorded in a version by Lucky Millinder on February 18, 1942

We're Gonna Have To Slap The Dirty Little Jap (and Uncle Sam's The Guy Who Can Do It)"
Performed by Lucky Millinder, Written by Bob Miller, Recorded February 18, 1942
We're gonna have to slap the dirty little Jap
And Uncle Sam's the guy who can do it
We'll skin the streak of yellow from this sneaky little fellow
And he'll think a cyclone hit him when he's thru it
We'll take the double crosser to the old woodshed
We'll start on his bottom and go to his head
When we get thru with him he'll wish that he was dead
We gotta slap the dirty little Jap
We're gonna have to slap the dirty little Jap
And Uncle Sam's the guy who can do it
The Japs and all their hooey will be changed into chop suey
And the rising sun will set when we get thru it
Their alibi for fighting is to save their face
For ancestors waiting in celestial space
We'll kick their precious face down to the other place
We gotta slap the dirty little Jap
We're gonna have to slap the dirty little Jap
And Uncle Sam's the guy who can do it
We'll murder Hirohito, massacre that slob Benito
Hang'em with that Shickle gruber when we're thru it
We'll search the highest mountain for the tallest tree
To build us a hanging post for the evil three
We'll call in all our neighbors, let'em know their free
We gotta slap the dirty little Jap

World War II and Comic Books

Here's another school literature/connection to WW2 that I'm reminded of. Captain America got his start fighting Nazi's in the 40's. It was a creation of Joe Simon and 76 Suffolk Street's Jack Kirby (I lived there for my first 4 years). Later the Captain was co-opted by The Right."King" Kirby also had his earlier Newsboy Legion right here in NYC. If anyone is interested in comic book collecting you can contact my old friend's son Josh Nathanson at comiclink.com.
Again, because this was created as a self controlled slide show the conversion to automatic is too fast. Use my advice about this on the Always Remember post of yesterday. The text is also too small because of the size limitations of google video on blogs