Real
Name: Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam
Real
Name: Uncle Sam
Identity/Class: Unknown
Occupation: Hero
Affiliations: Buddy, Black Condor,
Neon the Unknown,
Quicksilver, the
Ray, Red Bee, the
Spider
Silver Age, D.C. incarnation Freedom Fighters
Enemies: Ant Men, Big John Fales, Blackout, Boss Spring, Dr. Dirge, King Killer, Mad Poet, Malvolo, Prof. Nakajima , Purple Shirts, Herman Shiller, Nazis, enemies of America
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: U.S.A.
First Appearance: National Comics #1 (Quality, July 1940)
Powers/Abilities: Superhuman strength, able to leap huge distances. Cannot be photographed and has limited precognitive abilities.
History: Uncle Sam appears to be a living embodiment of the American ideal. When the father of young Buddy Smith is shot dead by fascist "Purple Shirts" for daring to get in their way, Buddy runs away heartbroken into the nearby desert. Mere moments pass before he can hear the refrain of someone whistling "Yankee Doodle" as they approach, and Uncle Sam appears. Hearing of Buddy's loss, Uncle Sam swiftly deals justice to the villains, and then takes Buddy under his wing.
Comments:
Created by Will Eisner.
Uncle Sam was National Comics lead feature from his debut in #1 until he made his final Golden Age apearance in #45. He also had his own title, Uncle Sam Quarterly, which ran eight issues between 1941 and 1943, and which notably carried one of the few Quality Comics crossover stories, when Uncle Sam teamed up with Black Condor, Neon the Unknown, Quicksilver, the Ray, Red Bee, and the Spider.
Like most of the Quality line, Uncle Sam would move to DC comics in the 1970's, and into the DC Universe proper as of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Thanks to Michael Clem for specific details of this - he notes: "I'm not exactly sure when DC bought the rights to the Quality Comics characters, but Uncle Sam and the other Freedom Fighters first appeared in Justice League of America # 107 & 108, in the early 70's. The Freedom Fighters comic book itself ran in the mid-70s. The Freedom Fighters group itself was a 70s creation that utilized the Quality Comics characters - Quality Comics never had a Freedom Fighters group." The D.C. version of Uncle Sam recently died in Infinite Crisis #1. Mike Murphy comments "As established in recent DC continuity, Sam becomes weakened, unstable, or altogether discoporates when the overall American character strays from righteousness (Vietnam, for example). The body disappeared and it has been inferred that he will incorporate once more at a later date, as he has done several times before... presumably when the country he represents is back on the proper path."
Image on left of this page comes from Steve Rogers' Golden Years Comic Book Library, used with permission.
Josh Geren notes that "The iconic Uncle Sam was used recently by artist Alex Ross in a two issue mini, titled "Uncle Sam"."
CLARIFICATIONS: None.
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.