John Walters possessed no super powers or fancy gimmicks to wage his war on the Nazis who threaten to overrun the world. Hailing from England, John Walters, in his guise of Citizen V (for victory), goes behind enemy lines to bring his fight directly to the Nazi hordes oppressing free people. Citizen V operates under the watchful eye of the Nazi secret police, thwarting their every move. Like a modern day Zorro, Citizen V leaves his trademark "V" sign behind him wherever he goes. Fighting valiantly for freedom, Citizen V's career, unfortunately, was a short one.
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There are very few “citizens” in comics (Holyoke did have a Citizen Smith), which prefer the more distinguished titles of “captain,” “doctor,” or “mister” for their heroes. “Citizen” may have been inspired by the film Citizen Kane which comic book artists especially loved. During the French Revolution “citizen” briefly replaced “mister,” which had residual aristocratic overtones. “Citizen” suggested freedom and equality, the very antithesis of Nazism. Citizen V was a very down-to-earth Golden Age hero-no androids, lost civilizations, millionaire playboy IDs, or secret formulas for him. He was an English officer (though his dialog didn’t sound much like it), who was sent into Nazi-occupied territory to harass the enemy. His model is the Scarlet Pimpernel, but where the Pimpernel fought the French Revolutionaries during the Terror, Citizen V fought for democracy against the Nazis.
V used special military equipment for certain jobs or made use of what was at hand, but he did not use any special gimmicks or even carry a gun. But he was still a soldier and a Timely hero, so he did kill when necessary. Like a good behind-the-lines fighter (and in the tradition of Robin Hood and the Scarlet Pimpernel), he fought to hurt the enemy and to make him look foolish.
John Waters (or Watkins) could almost be Timely Comics’ Zorro. The writers used the V motif, an important Allied symbol, to distinguish the character. Winston Churchill popularized the V for Victory symbol during the war. The Morse code for “V,” three dots and a dash, signaled the allied invasion of Normandy. He operated with the help of a V-Battalion made up of freedom fighters, whom he greeted with the V hand signal. The three dots and a dash were part of the strip’s logo. Pilots rescued by Citizen V flew their planes in a V-formation in his honor.
A new version of Citizen V, the granddaughter of the original, and his V-Battalion is integral to Marvel’s Thunderbolts comic.
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