The Rubin Museum in New York City is hosting an exhibit called Hero, Villain, Yeti: Tibet in Comics. The exhibit is "the most complete collection of comics related to Tibet ever assembled, with examples ranging from the 1940s to the present." It closes June 11.
One of the featured comics is The Green Lama, whose serialized adventures were published between 1940 and 1946. Green Lama stories also appeared in pulp detective magazines in the 1940s. CBS Radio hosted 22 episodes of a Green Lama broadcast drama in 1949.
"Green Lama" was the alter ego of millionaire/genius/playboy Jethro Dumont (seriously?) who spent ten years in Tibet studying to be a lama. He came home intending to teach Buddhism, but decided he would be more use as a crime fighter. By chanting om mani padme hum, Dumont transformed into the caped dharma crusader Green Lama, fighting crime with his trusty sidekick Tsarong.
I swear I'm not making this up. You can read more about Green Lama at Salon. And what's with "green" superheroes (e.g., Green Lantern, Green Arrow). I don't think they associated "green" with environmentalism in the 1940s.
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