Wednesday 15 June 2011

Bash Helmet. The gay superhero who's out ... to save the world. His History in Briefs: The 1940s Part II

After his successful launch in Tales to Excite number 27, the following issues showed Bash Helmet getting to grips with the seedy underbelly of organised crime and grappling with gangsters.

The new hero proved a massive hit and copies of these comics were found under beds and in public toilets across the United States.

Reacting to the events taking place at Pearl Harbour in December, an editorial decision was taken to tell tales of Bash fighting the Nazis. As America's involvement in the war grew, so did the popularity of Bash Helmet - and so did the number of gay men enlisting into the army. Ever keen to swell its ranks and realising that this was a large section of men it hadn’t touched on before, the military used Bash in a recruitment campaign to encourage more gay men to join in the War Effort.

Soon there were whole squadrons comprised of homosexuals desperate to get their hands on a German Panzer. Some of Bash’s phrases from the comics were adopted as slogans by the squaddies, including,        

“Watch your backs, Hunnies!”

and

“We’re out ... to save the World!” 
The most popular enemy of Bash during the war-era comics was Diva Braun (right), a brutal lesbian Nazi from Titz in Germany who specialised in SS & M.

She and Bash had a number of confrontations over the years until her eventual demise at the hands of Hitler himself when she attempted to overthrow the Führer, kill all the males and rename the country ‘Hermany’.

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