“Hit and Muss” (October 21, 1941)
by Vaughn Richard Shoemaker (1902-1991)
22 x 24 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

The name on the boat is important.

In 1937, cartoonist Sir David Alexander Cecil Low (1891–1963) had produced an occasional strip about “Hit and Muss” (Hitler and Mussolini), but after Germany made official complaints he substituted a composite dictator, “Muzzler.” Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels told British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax that British political cartoons, particularly those of Low’s, were damaging Anglo-German relations.

I am not sure if depicting the three Axis leaders together was common before the Tripartite Agreement (September 1940), so if this cartoon came this late, it might be in homage to Low from a fellow cartoonist (Shoemaker to Low: you were right…).

It is reasonable that this pre-dates the entry of the US into the war in December, 1941, as these three “fishing” for world domination (as a commentary) would be stronger during the time that they were saying (in public) that Eurasia was their only target.