Mono The Air Cobra

Canada had some unusual characters running in their wartime comic books like a reincarnated Inuit goddess in Nelvana, but an aviator vigilante was something not even covered by American publishers. Where heroic pilots like Skyboy and Captain Midnight were common, the distinctly named Mono the Air Cobra featured in Rocket Comics was written by Ted Ross and drawn by the rare female artist Shirley Fortune. The character was like a Green Hornet of the skies as he was a considered a bad guy by both the police and the underworld. When he wasn't busting up Japanese drug runners, Mr. Air Cobra was hated by his archenemy, Jet Condor, a gang leader who Mono has to enter the territory of when in downtown looking to repair his plane's wing. Mono of course blends right into any normal crowd while wearing a shirt with a giant letter "M" on it, but his incognito crumbles away when he runs into an unnamed Irish copper who gives him info on Condor that the big boss is behind bootlegged ammunition. Condor thinks his flunkies have brought him the corpse of the informant in a coffin, but instead it is Mono who Condor talks into working for him by flying some of his stolen ammo in exchange for the life of his police buddy. Mono goes along with the scheme at first, even though his fancy flying allows him to turn the tables and rescue the squealing cop. Jet Condor runs away to fight again another day leaving more of him and Mono to butt heads in future installments. The handle of "Air Cobra" doesn't really have any real serpentine theme to it, even though it is certainly more menacing than just plain "Mono" which would make most villains think the hero named himself after a sore throat.