Yank & Doodle is a pair of superheroes who first appeared in the

Prize Publications A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

title ''Prize Comics'' in August 1941. They were revived by

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptations ...

in the 2000s. Identical twins Rick and Dick Walters, being too young to enlist in the army 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 opposing ...

, are still able to fight spies and saboteurs in the United States as the costumed heroes Yank (Rick) and Doodle (Dick). The two of them are super-strong and invulnerable, as long as they're near each other; when apart, they have no superpowers.

Publication history

Fall 1941 was a boom period for patriotic superheroes as the country prepared to enter

; during this period, comic book publishers also launched

Miss Victory Miss Victory is an American superheroine who first appeared in ''Captain Fearless'' #1 (Aug. 1941), published by Frank Z. Temerson's Helnit Publishing Co. Ceasing to be published after 1946, she was revived and updated in 1984 as a central chara ...

, Miss America, the Star-Spangled Kid,

U.S. Jones Fox Feature Syndicate (also known as Fox Comics, Fox Publications, and Bruns Publications, Inc.) was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. ...

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 ...

, the Flag and

Captain Flag Captain Flag is a superhero created by MLJ Comics' writer Joe Blair and artist Lin Streeter. He first appeared in September 1941, in issue #16 of '' Blue Ribbon Comics''. He continued until the last issue, ''Blue Ribbon Comics'' #22 (March 1942). ...

, among others. Created by an unremembered writer and artist

Paul Norris Paul Leroy Norris (April 26, 1914 – November 5, 2007) was an American comic book artist best known as co-creator of the DC Comics superhero Aquaman, and for a 35-year run as artist of the newspaper comic strip '' Brick Bradford''. Biography ...

, Yank & Doodle first appeared in ''Prize Comics'' #13 (

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

d Aug. 1941) as two superheroes who were too young to enlist in the army, but were still able to make a difference in the war effort. Their costumes were identical, except that Yank's had a letter Y on the front, and Doodle's a letter D. Their names were derived from the patriotic song ''

Yankee Doodle "Yankee Doodle" is a traditional song and nursery rhyme, the early versions of which predate the Seven Years' War and American Revolution. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today. It is the state anthem of Connecticut. Its ...

''. A recurring enemy was the Limping Man. In issue #24 (Oct. 1942), the duo took part in a crossover of all the ''Prize Comics'' heroes, including the

Black Owl The Black Owl is the name of two fictional superhero characters. Both appeared in the Prize Publications title ''Prize Comics'' in the 1940s. Publication history In 1940, Prize Publications, which was already established as a producer of pulp ...

. ''Prize Comics'' shrank by eight pages starting with issue #34 (Sept. 1943), so the Yank and Doodle strip was merged with the Black Owl. The Owl turned out to be the kids' father Walt, and they began adventuring together. When dad was sidelined in issue #64 (June 1947), the boys once again had the spotlight to themselves. With issue #69 (April, 1948), ''Prize Comics'' became ''Prize Comics Western'', and everything that didn't fit the new

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

format — including The Black Owl and Yank & Doodle — was discarded. The three characters have since fallen into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

. In issue #6 of ''

Project Superpowers ''Project Superpowers'' is a comic book limited series published by Dynamite Entertainment beginning January 2008. It was co-plotted by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, with scripts by Jim Krueger, covers by Alex Ross, and interior art by Doug Klaub ...

'', The Black Owl and Yank & Doodle were included in a two-page layout of

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

character sketches; in the one-shot ''Project Superpowers: Chapter Two Prelude'', it was stated that the three of them would appear in the second volume of this comic title, and that Yank & Doodle would be part of a team of kid sidekicks and young superheroes.

Fictional biography

At one point during their career, they teamed up with the

Green Lama The Green Lama is a fictional pulp magazine hero of the 1940s, created by American author Kendell Foster Crossen. He is commonly portrayed as a powerful Buddhist Lama, dressing in green robes with a red scarf and using his powerful skill set t ...

, the first

, and many other heroes to fight

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

. Later, their father Walt became the second Black Owl, having been made the successor of the first one; for the next three years, father and sons worked together as a team, with Yank & Doodle basically being the Owl's sidekicks. When a bullet wound convinced Walt to retire from active crime-fighting, he became an adviser to the boys, who were once again fighting as a duo.

References

External links

* * *
The Black Owl
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on August 10, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Yank and Doodle Characters created by Paul Norris Comics characters introduced in 1941 Comics characters with superhuman strength Crestwood Publications characters Twin characters in comics Dynamite Entertainment characters Golden Age superheroes United States-themed superheroes