SUPERMAN 22 (May-June 1943)--1st story, “Meet the Squiffles” by Jerry Siegel and Peter Riss:
So we need to talk about one of the most significant characters in the annals of Superman and that is Mr. Mxyztplk, later known as Mr. Mxyzptlk (and if you don’t see the difference then you don’t mind your p’s and t’s). Mxy has been around since SUPERMAN 30 (September 1944)–on sale July 5th, 1944. Or actually earlier than that.
I say that Mxy was introduced in the comic books in 1944, but really a similar such character pops up in SUPERMAN 22, which begins with this introduction--
Do you believe in leprechauns? Have you ever seen elves or goblins with your own eyes? Perhaps one is looking over your shoulder at the printed page this very moment. Turn quickly! If you’re fortunate you may catch a glimpse of him before he scampers from view!
The leader of the Squiffles, Ixnayalpay, makes a Faustian bargain with Adolf Hitler--Herr Schikelgruber--to aid der Fuhrer in defeating the American war industry.
Ixnayalpay--whose name translates as “Nix Pal” in Pig Latin--takes the form of an aircraft industry executive, while the other Squiffles harry and sabotage the efforts of the industry’s test pilots. When Clark Kent gets wind of this tale he investigates, which eventually leads Superman to England, to enlist the aid of the Gremlins against the Squiffles.
The story concludes in something of a stalemate as Superman and the Gremlins drive back the Squiffles but don’t end them. However, the leader of the Gremlins promises Superman that they will see to it that the Squiffles are not successful against the Allies. And when the story concludes, Ixnayalpay demands payment from Hitler--then the story takes a dark turn as the Squiffle enters Adolf’s body--“And so, Ixnayalpay merges with all the other demons who have taken possession of Adolf Hitler Schikelgruber, the mad tyrant who would rule the world.”
In this story, we see that the Man of Tomorrow can easily be defeated by magic and must rely on other magic forces to hold his own. So it makes sense to me, that if there were Gremlins and Squiffles involved in the Second World War, then that explains why the Man of Steel never directly tried to end the war on his own. At least, it’s a good fictional excuse.
The name “gremlin” had been known for a few generations in the Royal Air Force. The RAF had a superstition about mythical creatures that caused mechanical problems with airplanes, who they called gremlins. Being in the RAF, Roald Dahl popularized this idea in a story he wrote for COSMOPOLITAN which was published in a December 1942 issue. Dahl than revised that story and published it as a picture book from Random House in 1943. At the same time Walt Disney had bought the rights to the story and was developing it for animation, but never ultimately released such a cartoon. However, this story was adapted in WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES Nos. 33 (June ’43) - 41 (February ’44).
Gremlins would also show up in a number of Warner Brothers cartoons during the war.
Other than sounding similar to words like squiggle and squirrel, I don’t know where Jerry Siegel got the name “Squiffle” or if it has an origin like gremlin. Being the son of Lithuanian, Jewish parents, it’s possible there was some myth or story he knew from them. Both the Gremlins and the Squiffles act like Kobolds in German tales. These are impish creatures who play tricks on people--the most famous Kobold being Pumuckl.