In Britian during that time the primary 'Comics' where things like The Beano, The Dandy, Buster, Topper and Beezer which tend to be full of jokes and 1-2 page slapstick situations aimed at younger children and therefore difficult to compare with icons such as Superman or Captain America.
In an advertisement in the UK you would most likely see the 'Old Empircal Favourites' which had been a feature of WW1 and before, such as John Bull or Britannia.
A very popular comic about the war, which didn't emerge until the 50's was Commando, however this was much more about 'Regular' Soldiers and no talk of super powers!
Canada had Johnny Canuck! He appeared originally in the 1800's but was later used as propaganda much the same as Capitan America during WWII. He was a lumberjack with a beard, so pretty much looked like the rest of Canadians. Nowadays his image is heavily used by the Vancouver Canucks NHL team. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Canuck
Greece wasn't a major power, but it had the 'Tsolias' (Τσολιάς), who became an iconic figure to boost morale after the victory over Italy in 1940. The character is wearing a traditional greek uniform like this one.
The Tsolias character would appear in cartoons during WWII, as shown here, here, here and here.
Yes! Soviet poet Tvardovsky wrote a serialized poem about Vasili Tyorkin, not a superhero by any means, but a real Soviet hero: an ordinary, but brave and resourceful soldier.
Episodes were printed in frontline newspapers as soon as they were written, and are still mandatory reading in middle school.
There was a British newspaper comic strip titled "Jane" written/drawn by Norman Pett. This was a "pin-up" comic strip that featured a young woman who would lose her clothing under various humorous circumstances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_(comic_strip)
Quoted from the Wiki:
The "Jane" strip became very popular during the Second World War and was considered morale-boosting, inspiring a similar American version, Milton "Terry and the Pirates" Caniff's comic strip "Male Call." Until 1943, Jane rarely stripped to more than her undergarments, but then she made a fully nude appearance when getting out of a bath and clumsily falling [out of a window] into the middle of a crowd of British soldiers.
Edit: Wikipedia was quoted, but I actually know about "Jane" from "The Penguin Book of Comics: A Slight History" by George Perry, which covers the history of British comics and comic strips. The Penguin book shows the famous "Jane" strip from 1943 mentioned above. The Penguin book also covers the comic magazines like Beano and Topper.
Time for some Canadian history! (We like...never do that here)
In December of 1940 the Canadian trade deficit with the US was growing at an alarming rate and British gold shipments were becoming limited. To combat this the Canadian government passed the War Exchange Conservation Act which targeted nations outside of the Sterling Block to heavily restricted importing goods that weren't considered essential. You know what isn't essential? Comic books. Or so they keep telling me, anyways.
Now, Canadians loved comic books, and rightfully so. Heck ol' Supes himself was drawn by a Canuck and Metropolis was based upon Toronto. There was no way we were going without comics to plaster on our igloo walls, so rose the "Canadian whites": Comics by Canadians for Canadians.
We had Canada Jack who valiantly fought fifth-columnists within Canada. He only left the country once...to fight Nazis in South America.
Our hero abroad was Johny Canuck, an Air Force captain who was also a secret agent... because reasons.
We can't forget our favourite heroine, one of the earliest female super heroes and likely the first ever Inuit superhero. I speak, as you all know, of Nelvana of The Northern Lights!. She kicked Nazi ass so much she had to create a new secret identity... as a secret agent... because... secret!
I know you are all sitting there and wondering when I was going to talk about the first and most famous Canadian WW2 super hero of them all. The one who we still hear talked about daily. Well, here it is: The fantastic, the unstoppable, the one and only IRON MAN! The hero from the depths of the ocean who rose from mourning the death of his race to fight the Nazis! Oh, and then like 22 years later some other unrelated Iron Man guy came along, but nobody cares about that.
This was the Canadian Golden Age of Comics.
While UK children's commics like the Beano and The Dandy didn't run to hero figures, they certainly ran to making fun of the Axis leaders.
According to my late father, the favourite was "Musso the Wop - he's a-bigga da flop" - the exploits and failures of Benito Mussolini. There was also something called "Addie and Hermy, the nasty Nazis" about which he could remember very little, which featured Hitler and Goering as two idiots.
I managed to find an example on-line http://www.shanklygates.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=56780
Any German ones? Or at least the Axis?
I remember reading old Commando comics when I was a kid. The Germans mostly express themselves by one of the http://www.elkamaal.com/
