[paw broon]

This comic is my 2nd exposure to Red Rube. As I enjoy body transfer heroes, this was enjoyable, if somewhat simplistic. I need to dig up his origin. How did he get the power and the magic phrase?
And the villain's recited formula? Shades of Johnny Quick.

Link to the book: Roly-Poly Comics 01

[crashryan]

Red Rube first shows up in Archie's Zip Comics #39. He even gets the cover. His powers come from his dead ancestors. There's a heavy Captain Marvel influence on the story, all the way up to gagging the hero's boy identity so he can't say the magic words. There's no explanation for why the magic words would be "Hey Rube" other than that the kid's family name is Rueben (their spelling). As you know, the words were "used traditionally as a rallying cry among circus or carnival folk in a fight with townspeople" (Merriam-Webster). I didn't realize that (quoting Wikipedia here) "During World War II, 'Hey Rube!' was the open-microphone radio call issued by Combat Air Directors on American aircraft carriers to alert US Navy fighters to prepare to defend a task force from enemy air-attack."

[Robb_K]

Red Rube first shows up in Archie's Zip Comics #39. He even gets the cover. His powers come from his dead ancestors. There's a heavy Captain Marvel influence on the story, all the way up to gagging the hero's boy identity so he can't say the magic words. There's no explanation for why the magic words would be "Hey Rube" other than that the kid's family name is Rueben (their spelling). As you know, the words were "used traditionally as a rallying cry among circus or carnival folk in a fight with townspeople" (Merriam-Webster). I didn't realize that (quoting Wikipedia here) "During World War II, 'Hey Rube!' was the open-microphone radio call issued by Combat Air Directors on American aircraft carriers to alert US Navy fighters to prepare to defend a task force from enemy air-attack."

I get the idea that MLJ's creators weren't very inventive.  Most of their series' lead characters that I can remember, seem to have been clones of previously existing stars of DC, Fawcett, or other publishers more successful series.

"Rube" is a mild derogatory term for a farmer, country hick or bumpkin, used by the self-termed, sophisticated city slickers.  As a term for unsophisticated, uneducated country folk, it was also used for rookies (first year players) in sports, coming from lower levels of their sport to a significantly higher league, because they didn't know "the lay of the land" (how things go in their new situation), while all the veterans knew all about it.

I guess that well-travelled circus folk thought they were "worldly", and thus, sophisticated, and all folk from small country towns were automatically hicks (who knew little about the outside World.  I suppose "Hey Rube" could be used as a code term that The US Navy thought The Japanese and Germans wouldn't understand.

[The Australian Panther]

Even as a well-read Australian, I have been aware of the term.
Looking at the examples of usage, it seems clear that the cry, 'Hey! Rube!' is a warning and a call to battle against perceived outsiders who are causing a problem or attacking.
This would have been something that happened frequently with circuses, who travel around like Gypsies and whose personnel would usually be perceived as outsiders themselves.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hey+Rube!

hey, Rube!
A rallying cry for assistance when trouble breaks out. The phrase began in the days of touring carnivals and circuses. A carnival or circus performer or stagehand who found himself in an argument or altercation with patrons or other outsiders yelled, “hey, Rube,” the signal for his colleagues to run and help him out. An item in the Chicago Tribune in 1882 explained that “a canvasman watching a tent is just like a man watching his home. He'll fight in a minute if the outsider cuts the canvas [to sneak in], and if a crowd comes to quarrel—he will yell, ‘Hey, Rube!' That's the circus rallying cry, and look out for war when you hear it.” “Rube” might have been the name of an actual person summoned for assistance, although another possibility is that “rube” referred, as it still does, to country bumpkins; that is, to members of rural carnival and circus audiences who were likely to start trouble.