Superheroes Went to War

Once America entered the war, the heroes enlisted too:

• Superman tore apart Axis tanks and submarines on covers
• Wonder Woman battled German and Japanese villains issue after issue
• Batman and Robin urged readers to buy war bonds
• Even Donald Duck starred in propaganda — his Oscar-winning short cast him as a miserable munitions worker in a nightmarish Nazi state

Comics were everywhere. On military bases they outsold magazines like Life and Reader's Digest by as much as ten to one, and the army shipped them to troops by the crate. Cheap, portable, and patriotic, they were a quiet recruitment tool.