Buckskin: America's Defender of Liberty, sometimes simply titled Buckskin, is a Superhero comic from The Golden Age of Comic Books, created by Bob Turner and published by Ace in Super-Mystery Comics V2 #1-6 and V3 #1-5, barring a hiatus in V2 #5.
Robert Blake is a school principal who desires to inspire his students to be more patriotic. To do so, he dons the mask of Buckskin and uses the survival training his Indian scout grandfather gave him to become a superhero. Enlisting his students, Buckskin battles the Nazi fifth column and their attempts to destroy the American war effort.
This comic contains examples of:
- Arch-Enemy: Nazi spymaster the Black Buzzard was supposed to be this to Buckskin, as the only antagonist who was solicited to return, but he never returned.
- Attack Animal: One of Buckskin's most valuable weapons is his pet eagle, Talon, who is so skilled at combat that he knows how to operate bombs.
- Captain Patriotic: Unusual example. While Buckskin is undoubtedly very patriotic, he uses a frontier theme for his heroics instead of a nationalism theme.
- Depraved Dwarf: The secondary antagonist of the first issue is Midge, a Nazi spy who is so short he can pass for a child.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The comic was titled Buckskin Blake: America's Defender of Liberty in the first issue.
- Fake Defector: The baddies of Super-Mystery Comics V3 #2 send a known spy from World War I to pretend to be patriotic so he can poison a military unit.
- Frame-Up:
- Super-Mystery Comics V2 #4 has an unusual example. A couple Gestapo agents kidnap the editor of a school newspaper, but keep using his name to spread Nazi propaganda in the editorials.
- Super-Mystery Comics V2 #6 has a more traditional example, where some Nazis frame a patriotic German immigrant for bombing a military base.
- The baddies of Super-Mystery Comics V3 #1 decide to retaliate against a factory's workers refusing to riot by dressing as workers and framing them for the damage they'll do themselves. Luckily, Buckskin arrives to save the day.
- In Super-Mystery Comics V3 #3, the Fire-Bug frames a rival rancher for his arsons by taking advantage of his Star-Crossed Lovers status with his target's daughter.
- The baddies of Super-Mystery Comics V3 #5 convince a madman that he's a banshee so that they can frame him for murder and claim his farm.
- Heel–Face Turn: John Hanley, from Super-Mystery Comics V3 #1, had a criminal past, but is now an honest factory worker. The baddies use this to try and make him start a riot in the factory.
- Hostage Situation: Super-Mystery Comics V2 #3 has Buckskin rescuing some children being held hostage by Nazi spies to make their dads commit sabotage.
- Impersonating an Officer: The Fire-Bug, Big Bad of Super-Mystery Comics V3 #3, killed an FBI agent and uses his identity to get closer to the places he's tasked to burn.
- Improbable Weapon User: Mr. Death, villain of Super-Mystery Comics V3 #4, has acid-laced soap as his weapon.
- Karma Houdini: The Black Buzzard parachutes out of the plane he's using to destroy a factory and is never seen again.
- Kid Sidekick: Buckskin has a bunch of them in a group of kids called the Liberty Club, who report fascist activities to him so he can stop them.
- Knows the Ropes: Buckskin's primary weapon is a lasso.
- Manipulative Bastard: Mr. Brockman, from Super-Mystery Comics V2 #3, pretends to be a schoolteacher and manipulates schoolchildren into spreading Nazi propaganda by offering them snazzy uniforms and the chance to play hooky.
- Protagonist Title
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The villain of Super-Mystery Comics V3 #4 is Mr. Death, a disfigured man out to kill the men who are responsible for his plight.
- Role Called
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: The saboteurs from Super-Mystery Comics V2 #2 imported wolves from Germany and coated them in luminescent materials to frighten anybody away from their lair.
- The Sociopath: Mr. Brockman, a spy who poses as a schoolteacher to indoctrinate kids into Nazism, and then kidnaps them to make their fathers sabotage defense factories. He, of course, intends to kill the kids anyways to keep them quiet.
- Starter Villain: Jarg Marsool, a Nazi spymaster who wants to destroy a plane factory and is blown up at the end of the issue.
- Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Teacher.
- Those Wacky Nazis: The main antagonists of almost every issue are Nazi saboteurs.
