Who's This? The reason superheroes didn't win World War II singlehandedly.
The facts: Roy Thomas's explanation as to why superheroes didn't win the war with their powers, the Dragon King is a Japanese scientist/sorcerer who creates a magical field that prevents them from entering Nazi-occupied Europe and Imperial Japan. Once that explanation is given (in All-Star Squadron #4, Dec 1981), Roy only uses him once more, in an issue of Young All-Stars. He would later appear in JSA Classified (#8-9) and...
How you could have heard of him: ...I'm going out on a limb here to say Star and S.T.R.I.P.E.S. (starring Stargirl) was popular enough that readers remember the Dragon King as the background and foreground threat throughout that series.
Example story: All-Star Squadron #4 (December 1981) "Day of the Dragon King!" by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway
The Dragon King's one big pre-Who's Who story takes place the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The All-Star Squadron flies to Hawaii, witnesses the devastation, and decide to follow a rather bloodthirsty Liberty Belle's plan to immediately find the Japanese fleet and sink it, even before Congress declares war.
It's only issue 4, but as the 80s are a little more "realistic" than the actual Golden Age, Roy Thomas wants to address the elephant in the room: With powerhouses like Superman, Green Lantern and the Spectre on America's side, why didn't the Allies win World War II 5 minutes after it began? Right away, something is afoot, because even with their super senses, the heroes can't find the fleet. They head to Wake Island to at least help the troops there. But midway between their position and Wake, we finally get a glimpse of our villain. It's page 16 and the Japanese soldiers know it!
What follows is two more pages of exposition (it's his only power). But look, he's kind of Earth-2's Doctor Doom, melding science, magic and shouting to defeat the heroes. He's put the Holy Grail in a dynamo and it's projecting a mystical field over the Pacific theater, just as Hitler putting his hands on the Spear of Destiny to achieve the same thing in Europe. The fascist tyrants are getting their hands dirty on this one:
But what does it do?! Well, any super-powered character entering the field starts fighting for the Axis!
Human mystery men and gadget-using heroes (including Robotman) are fine, and some, like Superman, the Spectre and Wonder Woman, are strong-willed enough to resist for a few minutes, knowing they will sucumb, but the Dragon King's plan really hinges on these three turning. He doesn't just want to neutralize America's heroes, he wants them to fight on his side permanently. In the end, Hawkman taunts them all into following him out of the Axis zone and they're freed from the Grail's influence (wow, Jesus, why are you on the Axis' side?). Good thing the field can't be extended further out, right?
A fist-shaking threat, and the Dragon King is hardly ever seen at all. There's a quick mention of the (historically real) Black Dragon Society "from whose loins" the Dragon King sprang, which angers him and perhaps points to subplots Roy thought he'd explore with the character. As far as I know, it never happened.
Had Roy developed him more, maybe he'd have become more than a device, which is all he is. Shows up, explains why superheroes can't win the war, exist stage left. Done. Once you've established that the All-Star Squadron will fight threats on the homefront (as per FDR's request), it becomes harder to use villains that are more likely to direct things from home (in his case, Japan) than ever set foot on American shores. So that was pretty much an empty threat.
Who's Next? A sleepy Legionnaire.
Comments