[boox909]

Unmasking Female Superheroes with Comic Book Historian Mike Madrid

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/fightin-femmes-unmasking-female-superheroes-with-comic-book-historian-mike-madrid/

[paw broon]

What an interesting article.  I used to get really fed up with Batman putting down Batwoman and I still enjoy the Batman and Detective comics from the mid to late 50's till the early 60's.  The Kathy Kane costume was great and probably because of the age I was then, I also liked Betty Kane.  But the first powerful, assertive female heroine was in t.v. not comics and that was Cathy Gale in The Avengers, followed, of course, by the mighty Emma Peel.  They had costumes of a sort but no S.I. of course. There's also a more recent addition to the range with the French hero(ine) Masque Rouge (Red Mask) who's a feisty female minor aristocrat in 17th century France.  She dons the mask to fight injustice and everyone assumes it's a man under the hood.  Very good, well done comics and no pussy footing around death, corruption and horrible folk.
I never really understood or enjoyed W.W. but as time wore on I discovered Phantom Lady, Lady Luck, Miss Fury, Veiled Avenger, Miss Victory - and wasn't she, and Miss America for that matter, pretty powerful? and lots of others. And Domino Lady in the pulps.
Lots of food for thought in this.

[CharlieRock]

I notice they never mentioned Ms. Victory in the interview but it was a great read. Thanks for the link. 

[Fortress Keeper]

Great article. Glad to see the Fox Phantom Lady get some love ...

[profh0011]

Great interview!  I sent the link to several of my friends.

I liked the description of BIRDS OF PREY as two women helping each other get past traumas in their lives.  Yeah, essentially, 2 characters who'd been needlessly ABUSED by terrible writing. For several years, BOP was one of my favorite series.

[paw broon]

B.o. P. was a must buy for a while but I tried to give it up when I got fed up with modern comics, again. I'm buying the new series and I'm enjoying it - up to 5 & 6, which I just didn't understand.  A pal loaned me the t.v. show and it was worth watching. 

[comicOD]

Wonder Woman was hot, even before Lynda Carter came along!

Who knew?

[Ed Love]

Doesn't surprise me they didn't mention Miss Victory, but I'd think not mentioning Mary Marvel is a big deal. She, not Supergirl, is the first attempt at creating a female version of a male hero that wasn't a sidekick, and she immediately became the headlining act of an anthology comic, dominating the cover spots as well as appearing in the Marvel Family book. Then you have characters like Woman in Red, who pre-dated Wonder Woman and wasn't just some debutante putting on a costume for kicks.

[paw broon]

You're right, of course re. Woman in Red and how could we neglect Mary Marvel.   
While she didn't have powers, other than Jiu-Jitsu, I was reading Silver Scorpion this morning , in the reprint, Marvel Mystery Comics. Betty Barstow is secretary to a private eye and isn't a socialite. I rather like the costume and this story has enough rough and tumble to be entertaining.  Or is it just the form fitting costume? Am I scraping the barrel here?
Now then, is there room for a selection of female supervillains?   Who was the first? Don't know enough about it to start it off, except to say that Satanik, by Magnus, from the early 60's Italian comic of the same name, is one of my favourites.  There's even been a film.

[CharlieRock]

Ultra-Humanite was Superman's first recurring villain. And it wasn't long before he had to shed his bald male body to disguise himself in a woman's body (an actress if I recall). Does that count as a female villain?

[Roygbiv666]

Ultra-Humanite was Superman's first recurring villain. And it wasn't long before he had to shed his bald male body to disguise himself in a woman's body (an actress if I recall). Does that count as a female villain?

Yup, see
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Delores_Winters_(New_Earth)
for more info.

[comicsnorth]

I'm pretty sure that Zatara fought a sort of costumed villainess called The Tigress in an early issue of Action Comics, most likely beforethe Ultra-humanite became female.

-comicsnorth

[Roygbiv666]

I'm pretty sure that Zatara fought a sort of costumed villainess called The Tigress in an early issue of Action Comics, most likely beforethe Ultra-humanite became female.

-comicsnorth

Yup, in issue #1 in a story titled "The Mystery of the Freight Train Robberies"

more info:

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Action_Comics_Vol_1_1

[profh0011]

Now here's something I wish I could afford... a "complete" PHANTOM LADY collection on DVD!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Phantom-Lady-Comics-DVD-Complete-Golden-Age-Collection-/140847216391?_trksid=p4340.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D2786931993543156331%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D230767692987%26


Bill Black had earlier done a more modest collection in B&W (which I've always suspected was thanks to my urging him to do a book focusing on just ONE character), but it's out of print now, and at the AC site he has his very LAST copy going for $100.00.  I'm guessing the DVD is color scans, and contains EVERYTHING from the 40's & 50's. in one place. Wow.

One more thing to look for when I finally find a new job...

[narfstar]

Save your money and download the archives of Phantom Lady here and make your own dvd

[profh0011]

GOOD idea!  Of course, if I had a job, the $10 would be worth the time it wouldn't take to do it myself...

[paw broon]

There's a Phantom Lady h/b offered in this month's Previews.  $48 or thereabouts.

[profh0011]

That's kinda what caught my attention at another board.  Apparently, DC is planning to do 2 PL books.  The 1st will have all the Quality Comics stuff, and the 2nd all the Fox and other later stuff.  I went around to see if Bill Black's collection was still available. He's got ONE copy left, and is selling it for an outrageous price.  Kinda reminds me of the old days when Jim Warren was still in business, and had all those "Captain Company" catalog pages in the backs of FAMOUS MONSTERS, etc.  When stock would run low, the prices would go up!

[bluskies]

I noticed there was no mention of my favorite female superhero, the original Black Cat, aka movie star Linda Turner.

[paw broon]

Oh yes, Black Cat is right up there on my list.
Here's a heroine you might not be as familiar with but a great favourite, Katie, Billy the Cat's partner:-
http://s90690880.onlinehome.us/jhiaxus/random/comics/beano/billythecat_1530_002.jpg
Complete story here - scroll down to near the bottom:-
http://www.allspark.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t72765-50.html
Also Zakimort, an Italian masked crimefighter who is a bit more ruthless than Black Cat or Katie.
http://curiosando708090.altervista.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/zakimort-n1.jpg

[josemas]

If I'm not mistaken it's a company called PS Artbooks, not DC, who is putting out that two volume collection of Phantom Lady. 

They are also putting out some collections of the Heap and precode horror comics (Harvey and ACG, IIRC). 

Roy Thomas is connected with some of the projects.

Best

Joe

[Yoc]

Well, not to toot my own horn too much but there's been a very good Phantom Lady Archive v1 - Quality Years collection on CB+ literally for years!

Go here and look down the list to P -
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1990

A second Fox Years collection has been under work for a long while and plans are to release it by the end of 2012.

-Yoc

[SuperScrounge]

Interesting to note that for an article with the term "Unmasking" in the title that over half (as near as I could tell) of the 31 women mentioned don't wear masks.

Mask - Lady Luck, Miss Masque, Red Tornado, Spider Widow, Miss Fury, Catwoman, Batwoman, Batgirl, Star Sapphire, Ms. Marvel, Huntress, Manhunter, Blonde Phantom.

No mask - Phantom Lady, Wonder Woman, Sheena, Supergirl, Elasti-Girl, Invisible Girl, Wasp, Power Girl, Black Widow, Vampirella, Storm, Lady Death, Ghost, Black Canary, Oracle, Promethea, Jenny Sparks, Venus

(Admittedly I'm not familiar with all those characters or every costume they may have worn.)

[narfstar]

Good point SS. There were a lot of male heroes without masks also. I can't help but think that with the females it was to allow the mostly male audience to see a pretty face.

[Captain Audio]

Apparently in three issues drawn by a young artist named Kutbert the Phantom Lady wore a full face mask. In some later incarnations the lady wore huge honking sunglasses that obscured her identity.

PS
The Ultra Humanite was similar to the original idea of the Superman as a villian, before they made him a hero.
Ultra Humanite's appearance led to changes in the Lex Luthor character, Lex having earlier on been a husky Irish gangster with a full head of flaming red hair.