In the late
50s,
Archie Comics asked
Joe Simon's studio to recreate/relaunch the good old
MLJ heroes, to catch some of the
DC Silver Age zeitgeist that was out there.
Which is where
this came from:
Note that he's not actually refereed to as
The Shield on the cover, and only so sparingly on the innards of the book:
This guy was completely divorced from the origin identity of the
original Shield. See, snoopy scientists are investigating some weird stories they'd heard about fellow scientist
Malcom Fleming...
Well, they threaten to have the boy taken away, and at the same time the
less-squeamish commies plan to kidnap
Roger for themselves. Stuff happens, there's a car crash in the mountains, and everyone dies
except Roger...who's found by a hillbilly couple:
Thank God her name is
Martha, in case he ever has to fight
Batman!!
So, Roger Fleming gets raised as
Lancelot Strong (!!), and just about at the point his powers emerge, he's
drafted!! And so, for two issues, we get the adventures of a super-powered
Gomer Pyle!!
As I said, weird stuff, man.
From The Double Life Of Private Strong #1 (1959), as reprinted in Blue Ribbon Comics #5 (1984)
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