Commando Cubs

Commando Cubs

Real Name	Ace Browning/ Pokey Jones/Horace Cosgrove II/Whizzer Malarkey/Spud O'Shea
First Appearance	Thrilling Comics #36 (1944)
Original Publisher	Nedor
Created by	Richard Hughes and Bob Oksner

Golden Age Origin Edit

Commando Cubs were originally group of American kids who were originally sent to England as part of a study of "the effects of the old-world culture on kids of different backgrounds." But when the World War II reached the shores of the British Isles, the kids found themselves stranded.

In 1943, their guardian, a British professor who conducted the study, sent them to the countryside. There, they saw the British commandos training. Inspired by what they saw, the boys started training like commandos and bought themselves commando-style uniforms. And while they only meant it as a game, but, through a series of mix-ups, they found themselves dropped in the Nazi-occupied France. And although they made a few mistakes, they managed to stay alive and even score something of a victory. The experience was enough of a moral boost to inspire the boys to continue fighting the Nazis as Commando Cubs.

Commando Cubs were made up of Ace Browning, their outgoing leader, Spud O'Shea, his Irish-American second-in-command, Horace Cosgrove II, the resident smart kid, Whizzer Malarkey, the chubby smart-alec whose accent suggested working-class Brooklyn, and Pokey Jones, the token African-American kid (whose depiction was either cringe-worthy or surprisingly progressive depending on the artists and writers involved).