Friday Night Fights--Gladiator Style!!

You know what I don't do enough of around here for Friday Night Fights?? Golden Age comics, that's what!!

So let's check out how one particular fight directly lead to the U.S. Of A. winning WWII. Seriously!!

Alan Armstrong, Spy Smasher, has gone to Rome to stop the Nazis from finding Leonardo da Vinci's hidden plans for "the greatest weapon conceived by man."

Seriously. Spielberg, Lucas, it sounds like you owe some royalties to Spy Smasher. Jonathan Hickman, you get a pass, because I'm grooving on your stuff.

Anyhoo, Spy Smasher gets himself caught (oops), and is prepared to face a firing squad. But this is Mussolini's turf, and apparently Il Duce went to the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. school of enemy elimination:



Just great. And if you weren't sure who was behind this cock-eyed plan:

Ahh, the Axis of Stupid. First up is the lion:




Don't wince...that joke was new and original in 1942!! Golden Age!!

Someone needed some courage there...Next up--big Nazi goon!!




Good triumphs over the Axis again!!!

Anyway, Spy Smasher escapes (by hijacking a charging elephant--seriously!), finds the hidden plans in a skull in the catacombs, and hightails it home. Hurray!!!

And what, exactly, was Leonardo's greatest invention of all?!?!

Dude. That is either the biggest storytelling cop-out of all time, or the most brilliant plot twist ever. Maybe both at the same time.

And somebody please help me convince Spacebooger that what Spy Smasher found were Leonardo's plans for the atom bomb. Because that would be about the most awesome thing ever. And 150 gazillion times than The da Vinci Code...

The course of WWII was changed forever in Spy Smasher #8 (1942), writer unknown, art by Emil Gershwin.

Now, go and vote for this fight, and I will also reveal Leonardo's secret recipe for egg salad that Spy Smasher also recovered...