The Green Turtle

Real-life History

The Green Turtle is the first Asian superhero, debuting in Blazing Comics 1 back in 1944. Now, some of you comic scholars out there might point to Ogun Bat, supposedly appearing as far back as 1930, as the first Oriental superhero, but that would be inaccurate. Ogun Bat was an Atlantean zombie. But the Green Turtle, though much of him is an enigma, was certainly meant to be depicted as a Chinese man.

The Green Turtle was created by Chu Hing, a Chinese immigrant to America who originally pitched the Green Turtle to Timely (the company that would later become Marvel) but was rejected. He then pitched the Green Turtle to a very small company named Rural Home Publishing and they ran the Green Turtle in the first five issues of Blazing Comics.

Here is where things get interesting and enter into the realm of conjecture and theory.

The Green Turtle was incredibly mysterious, even by the standards of his fellow mystery men. While it wasn’t too uncommon for characters in the golden age to burst onto the scene without an explanation as to their powers, abilities or origin (for instance, Quality’s Black Condor started using a “black ray gun” in his second appearance and Phantom Lady a “black light flashlight” in her first, but neither got an explanation as to where they got them (this presented me with a worldbuilding opportunity in the Eternal Universe, and I had it so that they got them both from Quality’s obscure scientist hero Wizard Wells) the Black Turtle reveled in being an enigma. He would tease telling his friends who he was and how he came to possess a rocket powered “turtle ship” and a headquarters called the Shell, but something would always happen to prevent him from actually telling them. There was a deliberate playfulness to the Green Turtle’s mystery. This wasn’t a case of the author throwing up his hands and going “Oh, he just has these gadgets, lets move on.” The Green Turtle being a mystery was part of who he was and reminds me of DC’s later character Black Orchid, a superheroine deliberately made without an origin. But there might have been another purpose behind the obscurity.

You see, the commonly accepted theory is that Chu Hing wanted the Green Turtle to be Chinese, but his editor said no, so Chu had to work craftily to imply the Green Turtle was Chinese without being explicit about it. Now, while this is widely accepted, its worth noting that Chu never stated his intentions for the character. There’s no letter from Chu saying “I depicted the Green Turtle like I did because I wanted him to stealthily be Chinese.” But if you look at the evidence, it becomes clear that this was Chu’s intention.

 

Clues to the Green Turtle’s Identity

 

1. The Green Turtle’s “Shell” base is located in China, which makes it, as far as I’m aware of, the only superhero base in China that isn’t some sort of military CCP installation (see DC’s Great 10).

 

2. The Green Turtle exclusively works in China to repel Japanese invaders. While it wasn’t uncommon for superheroes to have a story or two set in China in which they worked with Chinese resistance fighters, Chu’s Chinese characters were not the common caricatures of the time. They spoke fluently and were not slit-eyed, buck-toothed cartoon people. See the Blackhawk’s Chop Chop for a very unfortunate example. Chop Chop doesn’t even look like he’s from the same universe as the other Blackhawks let alone the same race.  The Green Turtle’s supporting characters were very well-developed for golden age characters, particularly Burma Boy, the Green Turtle’s teenaged side kick, given his nickname by the Green Turtle in honor of his father who died fighting on the Burma Road. That being said, Chu caricatured the Japanese as near subhumans. As a Chinese man, he likely felt very strongly about what the Japanese were doing to his country.

 

3. The Green Turtle’s face, baring one example I’ll discuss below, was always obscured. Either his back was turned to the audience, or his arm was in the way, or his face was in shadows. Chu likely did this because he got in trouble over at Timely drawing Captain America with Asian features.

 

4. While never demonstrating any explicit superpowers, the Green Turtle was, as with most golden age superheroes, a superb brawler and made use of rocket plane called the turtle plane and a secret Batcave-like lair called the Shell. He even had his own Alfred in the form of his servant Wun Too, who only appears in a single panel. However, he did have something that was rather odd. His shadow was in the shape of a giant turtle-creature. The Green Turtle’s shadow is never commented upon or acknowledged, and its likely not supposed to be taken as actually being in the reality of the comic. I think its meant to be a visual symbol, like how Spider-Man would sometimes have half his mask show up on his face to visually communicate that he was thinking about Spidey things while being in his Peter Parker persona. Half his mask didn’t actually pop onto his face. But the black turtle in the Green Turtle’s shadow would have been understood with more significance by Chu’s Chinese readership.

 

The ancient I Ching summarizes Chinese magic in this way:

 

In Change there is the Supreme Polarity.
Which generates the Two Modes. 

The Two Modes generate the Four Images.
And the Four Images generate the Eight Trigrams. 

 

The takeaway here is that the Four Images–the red bird of the South, the blue dragon of the East, the white tiger of the West, and a black tortoise of the North. This tortoise is often depicted with a snake surrounding it and is known as the black warrior.

The Four Images, like all mythological beings, have many different interpretations and variations. One such story stays that the black warrior was created by the legendary Taoist Xuan Wu. Xuan Wu used Taoist magic to become immortal by separating his mortality from his being. This mortality formed into a black tortoise and snake (they’re associated together because in ancient China, it was thought that turtles and snakes couldn’t mate with their own kind, but mated with each other). These powerful monsters went on a rampage until Xuan Wu tamed them and turned them into forces for good.

The take-away here is that a Chinese audience would see the Green Turtle’s weird shadow and go “Oh! The black warrior!” Turtles go with warriors in Chinese culture.

 

5. The Green Turtle is drawn with seemingly bright pink skin. Like, really bright, bright to the point that it doesn’t actually seem to be his skin but some sort of skin-tight covering. Some have interpreted his unique coloration to Chu lampooning his editor pushing for the Green Turtle to be white, as if Chu went “You don’t want him with yellow skin? Okay, how about cotton candy colored skin?” I think it’s actually a covering as I argue below.

 

6. Remember when I talked about how there was one and only one image showing the Green Turtle’s face clearly?

 

This image to me is Chu tipping his hand to aware readers.

You see the little guy next to him? That can only be Burma Boy, who in the comics is drawn with the same orange-yellow coloration of Chinese and Japanese characters, though he never wears this costume in the stories. That means the pink skin? It’s not skin. It’s a covering.

I think its very clear, even without explicit confirmation, that the Green Turtle was meant to be Chinese–the first Chinese superhero.

Eternal Universe History

The Green Turtle is not a native to the Eternal Universe. His natal universe is unknown, as is his name, his face, and his past, but what is known is his purpose–to defend the northern portion of the multiverse under the blessing of Heilong, the black king.

“Northern” being in this case a superdimensional, non-quantifiable descriptor for an infinite collection of universes.

In the cosmos of Tiendi, dragons rule. Tiendi itself is ruled over by the four dragons of water: Ao Run of western waters, Ao Shun of northern waters, Ao Guang of eastern waters, and Ao Qin of southern waters. Above these four are the dragons that do not rule Tiendi directly, but instead extend their influence out through the multiverse. The South is ruled by Chilong, the red king, the West by Bailong, the white king, the East by Qinglong, the blue king, and the North by Heilong, the black king. Above these four stands the Yellow Emperor, embodiment of necessity itself, directly ruling nothing, indirectly ruling everything.

Each direction in the multiverse is supported by a different axiom, a different principle upon which the worlds revolve. The East is supported by the Axis of knowledge. The heroes of eastern worlds are philosophers and scientists who seek to understand all that can be understood. Qinglong, who never smiles, sees himself as a sober academic and chronicler of the discoveries of his people. The West is supported by the Axis of frivolity. The heroes of western worlds are clowns, rouges, and cartoons who laugh their way through life. Bailong, who never stops smiling, sees himself as the impresario of the greatest show in the multiverse. The South is supported by the axiom of discovery. The heroes of southern worlds are adventurers who continually push against the unknown. As such, Chilong is an adventurer himself, and is usually absent from his throne, often flying through the worlds under his rule. The North is supported by the axiom of conflict. The heroes of northern worlds are protectors and defenders locked in never-ending battle against the forces of evil. As such, Heilong himself is a trainer and commander of warriors, soldiers, and superheroes. Heilong rarely leaves his throne and is always at work planning the mobilization of his agents. He sees his lands as a great chessboard–him against life-destroying, cosmic evil with the greatest warriors in the multiverse as his valued pieces.

His symbols include the color black, winter, midnight, winter, serpents, and turtles.

The Green Turtle is but one such warrior of Heilong. He has more–many, many more. He supports a colossal defender of children and a family of outcast warriors, to name but a few. Some of his agents know they are supported by his hand. Others he assists from the shadows.

In the Eternal Universe, the Green Turtle appeared during WW2 in China to assist the native resistance against Japan. He was assisted by a Chinese teenager nicknamed “Burma Boy” because his father fought and died on the Burma Road. He not only helped the resistance with his superhuman abilities and experimental rocket plane but through his keen strategic mind, but though he was beloved by the resistance, he refused to be their leader, and only ever referred to himself as their friend.

The Green Turtle would interact with several superheroes during the war. The Blackhawks examined his rocket plane and marveled at how its inner mechanisms made no sense to them, as if it was built to conform to the physical principles of another world. Uncle Sam was one of the few to see the beings that existed in his shadow–a turtle and a snake who were two beings combined as one and called the black warrior. The Green Turtle created the black warrior by expelling his mortality which formed into two warrior monsters. He was not the first to create a black warrior. The first to do so was the legendary Taoist Xuan Wu, one of the first champions of Heilong. The wizards Tor and Merlin learned from the Green Turtle that the two of them were watched over by Qinglong, and that he would welcome them into his corner of the multiverse should they ever decide to travel.

But as soon as the war was won, the Green Turtle vanished without a trace, gone to other worlds to assist in other conflicts. His partner Burma Boy joined the Blackhawks and used his nickname as his callsign. The Green Turtle has not been seen in the Eternal Universe sense, though he has been spotted in other universes carrying on the work of his patron Heilong.

Sentinels of the Multiverse Cards

Character Cards

The Green Turtle

Power: Turtle Plane Flyby

Deal 1 target 1 projectile damage. 1 player may draw a card.

Defeat: Mistaken Identity

–Destroy an ongoing

–Destroy an environment card

–1 player draws 2 cards

Sidekicks

Burma Boy

8 HP

At the beginning of the game, search your deck for this card and put it into play.

At the end of your turn, Burma Boy deals 1 target 1 projectile damage, and Burma Boy deals 1 target 1 melee damage.

Brave hearts call to brave hearts. I have often been joined in battle by heroes.

Equipment

Yazi Dagger

Equipment, Limited

Power: Deal 1 target 1 melee damage and 2 mystic damage

At the end of your turn, deal 1 target 1 mystic damage.

This belonged to one of the sons of Heilong. It has his viciousness. I don’t even have to draw it for it to start cutting.

Bixi Cape

Equipment, Limited

Power: Reduce damage deal to Green Turtle by 1.

You may use another power during your turn.

This was given to me by one of the sons of Heilong. It has some of his strength. He could support a mountain on his shell. 

Chaofeng Boots

Equipment, Limited

Power: Destroy an ongoing card. You may deal Green Turtle 2 irreducible mystic damage. If you do, the destroyed card has no text.

Caofeng was an adventurer who loved to travel. He could step into a trap and the trap would be too scared of him to activate. These boots carry a similar ward.

Bian Ring

Equipment, Limited

Damage dealt by Green Turtle cannot be reduced or redirected.

Power: Increase damage dealt by Green Turtle by 1 until the start of your next turn.

Bian was a spirit of justice, and gave me his ring to carry justice to distant lands–unrelenting justice that will not, cannot be turned away.

Jiaotu Mask

Equipment, Limited

Power: Prevent the next damage dealt to Green Turtle.

Jiaotu is today honored with his depiction on doorknobs, because Jiaotu was the dragon son of silence, privacy, and secrets.

Ongoings

Gui

Ongoing, Limited, Black Warrior

When Green Turtle is dealt damage, even if this damage is 0, deal the source of that damage 1 melee damage.

Power: Deal 1 target 2 melee damage.  Decrease damage dealt by that target by 1 until the start of your next turn.

Did you feel that? My shadow feels like a turtle shell, doesn’t it?

She

Ongoing, Limited, Black Warrior

When Green Turtle is dealt damage, even if this damage is 0, deal the source of that damage 1 toxic damage.

Power: Deal 1 target 2 toxic damage. Increase damage to that target by 1 until the start of your next turn.

Look closely before you strike me fool. There are fangs in my shadow!

Warrior Leadership

Ongoing, Limited

You may use another power during your turn.

Power: One other player may use a power.

Heilong is the spirit of all warriors, be they commanders or the rank-and-file.

Oneshots

Agent of Heilong

Either summon an equipment card or use a power on an equipment card.

To assist in my mission, my patron granted me tools enchanted with the powers of his sons.

Path of Xuan Wu

Either summon a Black Warrior card or activate a power on a Black Warrior card.

The Black Warrior formed when Xuan Wu expelled his mortality. His mortality congealed into living demons of darkness. I have followed his example.

Attack Run

Deal 2 projectile damage to all non-hero targets. You may choose not to deal this damage to any target.

I do not miss. Not at any range.

Backflash

Destroy an environment card. Deal 2 energy damage to all non-hero targets.

No. I do not need to land the turtle plane and plant dynamite. You will see what I mean.

Concentrated Fire

Deal 1 target 3 projectile damage. Prevent the next damage that would be dealt by that target.

It is not easy to respond against a hailstorm of lead.

 

 

Heroclix

Leadership: Give them no quarter!

Energy Shield/Deflection: Aerial Maneuvers

Combat Reflexes: And this is for me–for what you tried to do!

Precision Strike: Carefully, now–so I don’t hit the civilians too!

Running Shot: Two-thousand bullets a minute from my guns will rid Lwang-to of the Japanese!

Earthbound/Neutralized: Grounded

VS Battle Information

Unfortunately, there just aren’t that many good matchups for the Green Turtle. 5 issues does not give one a lot to work with. The best I can thing of is to pit him and his rocket plane against another aviator and his tricked out plane, someone like Airboy and “Birdie.”

Strength Feats: Typical of golden age heroes, the Green Turtle can send men flying with his punches and once, rather amusingly, accidentally KO’ed Burma Boy by knocking a Jap soldier into him.

Speed Feats: Is fast enough to evade multiple Jap machine gunners firing on him at once to the point that though they can’t hit him, they hit the Jap captain chasing after him. His rocket plane is, as the name suggests, a plane with several rockets attached to the back, making it extremely fast by 1940’s standards.

Skill Feats: Here is where the Green Turtle really shines. The Green Turtle doesn’t carry weapons (though he is sometimes drawn with a dagger, he never draws it) but is very skilled in using whatever is at hand as throwing weapons, sort of like Marvel’s Bullseye. He once defeated a Japanese officer by throwing an ash tray and a bottle at his head. He’s very skilled in piloting his rocket plane and is able to blow apart Japanese soldiers with his machine guns while missing Chinese civilians standing nearby and is capable of going into a dive and activating his rockets to cause a landslide.