Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #43: Hauptmann Deutschland

This panel is the most popular one of this character on Google Images. No lie!

The late Marvel Comics writer Mark Gruenwald had a rare talent:  an encyclopedic knowledge of old comics.  Gruenwald was apparently the only man who could beat Mark Waid in a comic book trivia contest about the Justice League…which, of course, was published by DC, not the company Gruenwald actually worked on.

As a result of this, Gruenwald, during long runs on series like Captain America and Quasar, would much prefer to resurrect long forgotten characters for story lines rather than create new ones.  He even did the most mature Justice League story ever when he used the Marvel knock-offs versions to tell what many consider the first mature readers comic book storyline with the fantastic Squadron Supreme mini-series, a story showing the Squadron taking over their Earth as benevolent dictators, unmasking in public, and all the eventually horrible repercussions that came with that.  Not only does this story predate Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns, but Gruenwald told a story with mature themes without anything that would have gotten the book censored by the Comics Code.  That’s right, folks:  his mature story had no nudity, sex, or swearwords.

But he did create a few characters too, and into that mess came the unfortunate example of Hauptmann Deutschland.

Slightly Misplaced Comics Book Hero Case Files #15: Wundarr the Aquarian

Well, that outfit looks…comfortable.

Usually when I do these entries, I have at least a cursory knowledge of the character.  I’ve read a few of his or her adventures, either back in my regular collecting days, or in various reprints I’ve picked up since then.

Then there’s today’s entry, the supremely screwy Wundarr the Aquarian.