Of all the patriots of the American Revolution, one stands head and shoulders above the rest – George Washington, commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States. Even during his times, Washington the man was a myth, a legend, and arguably the nation’s first pop culture celebrity, with his portrait in every home and declarations of “George Washington Slept Here” dotting the countryside.
Two hundred years after the American Revolution, the comic book emerged as one the dominant pop culture icons of the twentieth century, filled with stories of superheroes battling supervillains and preserving the basic ideals on which the United States was founded. Comic book insider Renée Witterstaetter inevitably noticed connections between the superheroes of the present and George Washington of the past, and as a result teamed with the Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City to bring the two together in a special exhibit entitled, Cloaked Crusader: George Washington in Comics and Pop Culture, which premiered on October 5, 2022.
“I’m very happy and grateful for this opportunity to work with them, and for them having the vision to present something very unique in this historic space, that ties the past to the present,” Witterstaetter told the online newsletter Scoop. “Fraunces Tavern Museum is an amazing cultural heritage site in New York City. It is the location of Washington’s farewell dinner with his officers after the Revolutionary War, you can in fact still visit the room where they dined on the second floor. This edifice has been a witness to much of our history, as the oldest tavern in New York City. You can still have a meal there on the first floor as well, or have a drink with history in the bar.”
History is likewise served within the Cloaked Crusader exhibit, one that combines the factual George Washington with pop culture mythology. The exhibit coincided with the one hundredth anniversary of the first monthly comic book – Comic Monthly – that contained reprints of previously published comic strips. While Washington’s existence within the world of comic books doesn’t extend that far back, he did make multiple appearances in biographical tomes like Classics Illustrated and The World Around Us: The Illustrated Story of American Presidents throughout the ensuing decades.
Washington’s first full-fledged appearance in a superhero comic book occurred in April 1947 with the publication of Blonde Phantom Comics #13. In a story written by Stan Lee entitled “Perils from the Past,” a present-day Redcoat attempts to steal jewels given to George Washington by one of his ancestors, with Washington appearing in flashback scenes.
Later that year, Superman traveled back in time to collect autographs from historical figures to boost the morale of an injured youth. Hit Comics, meanwhile, began publication in 1942 and featured Kid Eternity, who could transport any historical figure of the past to the present simply by saying the word “Eternity.” In issue 44, Kid Eternity summoned George Washington to help defeat a villain named the Shoe.
In 1974, it was the Fantastic Four of the present who traveled to the past in order to save George Washington, who had been kidnapped by Tories in an alternative timeline that could result in Britain winning the Revolutionary War.
With the 1976 Bicentennial of the United States fast approaching, additional superheroes began interacting with historical figures from colonial times as well. Legendary Marvel artist Jack Kirby created Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, in which Captain America is sent back in time and must fight his way forward to the present, beginning with the Revolutionary War and ending with the two world wars of the twentieth century. Spider-Man likewise had a Bicentennial adventure that featured cameos from Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, and Samuel Adams.
Over in the DC Comics Universe, Superman suffered amnesia after being knocked into the past by a supervillain named Karb-Brak, and his Clark Kent secret identity found himself working as a news reporter for Benjamin Franklin. Even non-superhero comic books paid tribute to George Washington and other founders of the country during America’s Bicentennial, including Archie and Jughead, Josie and the Pussycats, Dennis the Menace, Richie Rich, and Caspar the Friendly Ghost.
“When you think of most of the series in comic books, the fight of good over evil, the desire of villains for absolute power, you can see how someone like Washington can very easily be woven into the mix,” Renée Witterstaetter told Scoop. “So, if you think George Washington and our superheroes have nothing in common, you’d be wrong. They’ve been co-starring in stories for some time.”
The founding of the Unites States of America was a pivotal moment in history, not merely because it gave birth to a new nation but because that nation gave birth to a set of ideals that remain worth fighting for today, even if the country itself did not always live up to them. George Washington helped ignite the initial fire and served as the nation’s original Cloaked Crusader – and the Cloaked Crusader: George Washington in Comics and Pop Culture exhibit is a fitting testament to that fact.
Anthony Letizia
