The Axis powers as depicted in United States super-hero comic books, 1938--1945: A study of the evolution of attitudes toward the enemy nations and their populations in American comic books during World War II

The attitudes of U.S. citizens toward the Axis nations and peoples---Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan---evolved over the period from the late 1930s through the end of World War II in 1945, at least partly under the influence of government propaganda and the media. This evolution was reflected in the super-hero comic books written and drawn for young and impressionable readers. This study examines how the depictions of the Axis in those comics metamorphosed over time, and places both comics and depictions in a cultural and historical context, divided into three periods. (1) before Pearl Harbor; (2) Pearl Harbor to VJ Day; and (3) VJ Day to the present. It makes use both of vintage comic books themselves and of literature on the subject, and includes illustrative samples of art and text.