Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Joe Doolin, Lily Renée, Matt Baker
Rio Fights Against a Rigged Election in Fight Comics #50, at Auction
Lily Renée’s Señorita Rio saga in Fight Comics #50 draws on post-WWII geopolitical history and the U.S. State Department’s release of its Blue Book on Argentina.
Article Summary
- Fight Comics #50 sends Señorita Rio into El Greco to stop Nazi agents from rigging an election and holding a president captive.
- Lily Renée’s Rio story in Fight Comics #50 extends her postwar battles against German conspirators in South America.
- The issue echoes the 1946 Blue Book on Argentina, with Juan Esteban serving as a clear stand-in for Juan Perón.
- Fight Comics #50 also stands out for a Matt Baker Tiger Girl story and a striking Joe Doolin cover.
The election in the South American Republic of El Greco has all the outward appearances of democracy, but its voters have very little choice. Nazi conspirators have imprisoned the sitting president and are using intimidation ahead of the upcoming election to put their own candidate in power. That’s the problem facing Señorita Rio in Fight Comics #50, a June 1947 cover-dated issue with a Rio adventure drawn by Lily Renée. As we saw in her adventure inFight Comics#41, Rio is still fighting German conspirators in the aftermath of World War II, and this story turns a continuing concern about Nazi influence in South America into a battle over who gets to count the votes.
Señorita Rio’s Fight for Free and Fair Elections
An appeal from the American consul brings Rio into a country where Nazi Herr Obler and his associates are backing Juan Esteban while the current President Garcia remains a prisoner. Obler and associates also hold sway over the country’s army, who make it clear to the country that Esteban is the candidate to vote for. Eventually, Rio disrupts the counting operation behind the coerced vote, and Garcia is freed. In the end, it’s made clear that a free and fair election will now be held.
Recent events in post-WWII Argentina help put this plot in context. In February 1946, the U.S. State Department released its Blue Book on Argentina, alleging Nazi complicity and conspiracy to seize power in Argentina. A February 9 diplomatic telegram arranging the Blue Book’s public release in time to make its contents public before the February 24 Argentine election, and the substance of its contents reached American newspaper readers through Associated Press by February 12. Here, then, the story’s Juan Esteban is a vague stand-in for history’s Juan Perón.
Of course, the comic book story takes a number of liberties with the history that generally inspired it. In a March 7, 1946 telegram, American diplomat John Cabot accepted that Perón had won through the voters’ choice, noting that although “violence and oppression before elections prevented them from being wholly clean, there is no reason to doubt that Perón has been chosen by will of Argentine people”, and urged the U.S. government to respect the result. This is complex history, to put it mildly. Assuming the work was done on conventional timelines, this Fight Comics #50 story was likely created around six months after the election was decided.
The CGC census lists 37 Universal certifications, with two at 9.4 and none higher. In addition to this wild historical Rio adventure, there’s also Tiger Girl by Matt Baker and a spectacular Joe Doolin cover. For collectors of top census Golden Age, Matt Baker, and some incredible historical inspirations, there’s a Fight Comics #50 (Fiction House, 1947) CGC NM 9.4 with off-white pages up for auction at the September 24-26, 2026 <a href="https://comicvibe.com/caligula-is-one-of-the-most-disturbing-comic-books-that-delivers-a-fascinating-storyline-with-gruesome-terror/" title="Caligula is One of the Most Disturbing <a href="https://comicvibe.com/ut-tyler-professor-says-comic-books-could-be-the-key-to-closing-reading-gaps/" title="UT Tyler professor says comic books could be the key to closing reading gaps”>Comic Books that Delivers a Fascinating Storyline with Gruesome Terror”>Comic Books Signature Auction #7469.
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