justice for all includes talking tigers

(This a revised and musically annotated version of something I posted in my journal a while ago.)

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I've mentioned before that I have an insane fondness for the old Otto Binder/C.C. Beck Captain Marvel Adventures stories, especially the ones from the 1945-1953 period. Even though Superman got there first with the whole godlike superbeing gimmick, Captain Marvel is purest distillation of the notion of the superhero as a childhood power fantasy. The old CMA stories have an air of innocence and whimsy about them that still feel fresh to me half a century after they were first published. After Fawcett quit publishing the series, Binder tried to work his mojo on Superman, but unlike a lot of my comics blogging pals, I find those stories kind of, well, boring and stupid, weighed down by a fixation on Kyrptonian trivia and what has become known as "superdickery".

I was checking out CMA #90 (November 1948) the other day. The big draw for me was a story featuring Mr. Atom, the homicidal robotic zeitgeist of the Atomic Age, but the issue also contains another unexpected delight -- Captain Marvel versus the Klan. (That's my name for the story. The actual title is "Mr. Tawny's New Home".)

Marvel's talking tiger buddy (What? You mean you don't have one?), Mr. Tawny, is looking for a new place to live and not having much luck in his search. Marvel tries to set him up with a club of big game hunters and adventurers, but things go sour when the club members start breaking out their rifles and taking shots at poor Mr. Tawny. "Wisdom of Solomon", my pink Swedish behind. At least it went better than the time Captain Marvel tried to pair up a lesbian separatist with a member of the Promisekeepers.

The Big Red Cheese isn't one to admit defeat easily, though, and he eventually finds a nice little subdivision willing to rent a cute little bungalow to a pants-wearing, talking beast of the jungle.

Unfortunately for Tawny, his new next door neighbor just happens to be the chairman of the previously mentioned hunting club, and begins a petition drive to chase Tawny out of the neighborhood using the tried and true "think of the children" fear tactic. Tawny considers packing up and leaving, but Captain Marvel, old school liberal that he is, won't stand for such defeatism:

(Very noble of you, Captain, but how do you explain this?)

With Tawny refusing to budge, the hunter and his cronies take the tried and true blue American method of dealing with unwanted elements in society. They form a vigilante hate group, complete with bonfires, blunt weapons, and robes with pointy hoods (which happen to be an interesting shade of violet):

("Tarnation, Cletus, the principle of separating whites and coloreds also applies to laundry!")

The good Captain makes short work of the intolerant dumbasses...

...but not before they show their credentials by setting fire not just to Tawny's house, but the a large number of other residences as well. While the Captain sees to extinguishing the fires, Tawny puts his feline speed and agility to good use by rescuing a child from a burning house, proving to the easily swayed townsfolk that he is indeed worthy to live among them.

(Ever notice that in a lot of "message" movies about equality and tolerance, the burden of proof falls on the back of those being discriminated against? "I was wrong about you ------s. You make damn good fighters, and even better Americans!" Yeah, it's great that these people had to risk life and limb to "earn" your approval of their constitutional rights, you ignorant fuck. A similarly twisted logic is at play today in the gay marriage debate, and the absurd notion that civil rights should be subject to referendum.)

Tawney's heroism (coupled with, I assume, a dose of "human guilt" on the part of townsfolk) earns him the title of honorary mayor:

Captain Marvel and Tawny seem pleased with that, although I can't shake the nagging feeling that when Tawny stops by the local diner for a cup of coffee and the morning paper, the rest of the patrons will suddenly turn quiet and awkwardly gaze down at their half eaten plates of bacon and eggs until he leaves.

(Once a cynic, always a cynic.)

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The Klan versus the Tiger Man? Smart money's on the latter, especially if he brings Bear Cat with him to the dust up.

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Steel Pulse - Ku Klux Klan (from Handsworth Revolution, 1978)

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Rufus Thomas Jr. - Tiger Man (King of the Jungle) (from The Sun Records Collection, 1994)