The American Eagle is a

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

from the

Golden Age of Comics The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known chara ...

. He first appeared in ''America's Best Comics'' #2 (Sept 1942), published by

Nedor Comics Standard Comics was a comic book imprint (trade name), imprint of United States, American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a Thrilling Publications, variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and pape ...

, an imprint of

Standard Comics Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in t ...

. American Eagle was revived by two other comics publishers: first

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

, and then by

America's Best Comics America's Best Comics (ABC) is a comic book publishing brand. It was set up by Alan Moore in 1999 as an imprint of WildStorm, an idea proposed to Moore by WildStorm founder Jim Lee when it was still under Image Comics. History ''America's Best ...

, by writer

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

as part of his ''

Tom Strong ''Tom Strong'' is a comic book created by writer Alan Moore and artist Chris Sprouse, initially published bi-monthly by America's Best Comics, an imprint of DC Comics' Wildstorm division. Tom Strong, the title character, is a "science hero", wi ...

'' comics and its spin-off ''

Terra Obscura ''Terra Obscura'' is a 2003 comic book miniseries spin-off from Alan Moore's ''Tom Strong'' series. The stories are written by Peter Hogan, and drawn by Yanick Paquette and Karl Story with additional flashback sequences drawn by Eric Theriault. ...

''.

Nedor Comics

American Eagle was the secret identity of scientist Tom Standish. While performing experiments for the US government, he was accidentally exposed to a mysterious black ray infused with the blood of an eagle. The ray gave him the powers of the

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

— flight, strength and (of course) patriotism. Standish used his powers to fight the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and other enemies during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was accompanied by his young companion Bud Pierce who, as "Eaglet", had powers similar to the American Eagle. His enemies include Dr. Amoto and the Red Mask. In one story, "The Machine That Raised the Dead", the Nazis use a machine to bring historical figures back to life, including

Blackbeard Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English Piracy, pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's Thirteen Colonies, North American colon ...

, a Neanderthal and a Viking.

Nedor Comics bibliography

The American Eagle appeared in: * ''America's Best Comics'' #2, 6-7, 10-12, 14 (Sept 1942 - June 1945) * ''Exciting Comics'' #22-27, 29-38, 40-47, 49-50 (Oct 1942 - Aug 1946) * '' The Fighting Yank'' #18 (Nov 1946)

AC Comics

AC Comics has reused the Golden Age American Eagle in their revival of the Nedor Comics superheroes. He has appeared in issues of ''The

Fighting Yank The Fighting Yank is the name of several superheroes, first appearing in ''Startling Comics'' #10 (Sept 1941). Fall 1941 was a boom period for patriotic superheroes as the country prepared to enter World War II; during this period, comic book p ...

'', set during the 1950s.

America's Best Comics/DC

The Golden Age version of the American Eagle was also revived by

for his ''

'' comics, published by America's Best Comics. Moore used the Nedor Comics characters to populate Terra Obscura, the alternate universe version of Tom Strong's Earth. In Moore's story, the heroes had been placed in suspended animation in 1969, and were revived 30 years later by Tom Strong. The American Eagle made a brief appearance in ''Tom Strong'' #12 (June 2001). The American Eagle is featured briefly in the ''Terra Obscura'' spin-off series. Issue #4 reveals that the American Eagle and Eaglet had been looking for the missing Captain Future, and had traced him to the lair of Dr. X. In the struggle that followed the American Eagle and Eaglet were both killed; their bodies were discovered three years later by the Scarab and the Liberator.

References

External links

American Eagle (1942)
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 4, 2012.

2009-10-25) {{GoldenAge Golden Age superheroes Characters created by Richard E. Hughes Comics characters introduced in 1942 Comics characters with superhuman strength America's Best Comics superheroes Fictional World War II veterans Nedor Comics superheroes United States-themed superheroes