Jill Trent, Science Sleuth

In trying to class Jill into the superhero types of the 1940s the closet you can get is "bored socialite turned to adventurer."

Except that unlike those other rich girls, it would seem that Jill made all that money herself. She's also hard to class as bored. She always seems to be inventing something or saving her girlfriend fellow sleuth from kidnappers. She's all brains with no powers or masks, but she never fails to face the bad guys down with a cool head and some random object she just built. (MacGyver would approve; real science, I am not so sure.)

Her to-be-hostage-in-less-than-eight-pages pal is Daisy. Despite her awful luck of always getting grabbed, she's no pushover. You might have a knife to her throat now, but she will be kicking you in the head later. Hard. In fact, Jill and Daisy both have a habit of beating the living daylights out of the bad guys that mess with them.

Jill Trent got started in Fighting Yank #6. I've never come access a copy, and it hasn't been reprinted.  I haven't heard anything about this one, but I doubt it is an origin story. She just doesn't seem the origin story type.

Her earliest appearance that has made it to the net is Fighting Yank #9 (August 1944), "Case of the Sanitary Murders." All the art is by Al Camy. I have no idea who wrote any of them. 

Fighting Yank # 9 page 39 //40 //41 //42 //43//44 //45 //46

After two issues in Fight Yank Jill Trent moved to Wonder comics, running in #8 to #20. You can go here and read Jill's story from Wonder Comics #13. 

"Her Name Was Zero"

There were many spies during world War II. They were daring, quick individuals, and generally good looking. At least, that's what golden age comics taught me.

None was as mysterious as the woman known as Madam Zero. Little of her story is know of her since she only appeared in four issues of Fight Comics in the early 1950s.

Although these issues are available online, a solid collection of all her stories has been complied in Madam Zero Secret Files Collection. The introduction is fitting, making this collection well worth your time.

Below you will find Madame Zero's introduction from Fight Comics #82. Written by George Dennison (also the pen name on #83), art by "Charles Sultan" (who maybe Matt Baker, but I can't can't decide).

Read By scrolling here. Read page by page below.

                                   001 //002 // 003 // 004

    Back up Links: 01 // 02 // 03// 04

Miss Victory Returns

It might not be July anymore, but that's no reason not to wear red, white, and blue.

At least that's true if you're a superhero. Follwing up July 4th's post, here is Miss Victory with two more stories.

First up, strannik01 has posted a story from Captain Aero #9 . Check it out, if only to see the sheer glee on Miss V's face as she beats up the bad guys. While you're there you can admire the gaping plot holes this story has.

Now from Captain Aero #15...

Read smaller scans in the post on scans_daily or read it in HQ page by page below.

09 // 10// 11 // 12 // 13 //14 // 15

Believe it to not, Nazi Gorillas are more common in comics than you might think. I may even have to do a post on them.

More Links...

Miss Victory - Public Domain Super Heroes

UPDATES

I was asked on another site about it, so I'll address it here too. Original scans of Veri Best Sure Fire Comics #1 are available via digitalcomicmuseum. I had the scans of the reprints, so I used those. You can go see it in all its original glory. She also appeared in Holyoke One-Shot #5 in a reprint from Captain Fearless #2.

I've updated the Betty Bates, Lady at Law page. You can now read the story again!

Miss Victory Steps In!

Washington D.C., August 1941...

Taking her cue from the August 1941 explosion of superheroines, Miss Victory dons some patriotic tights in hope of cleaning up Washington D.C. She has the clout of being called the first patriotic superheroine.

She has superhuman strength and some invulnerability. She can survive explosions, break down most anything in her way. To the best of my knowledge it is never addressed how she came by these powers, but hey, if you can punch though bricks, why put on a cape and punch bad guys too?

She is a creation of an unknown author at Helnit (who would soon be Holyoke Publishing Co [Wiki] ). Her staring artist and regular artist was Charles Quinlan of Cat-Man fame. Her debut comic, Captain Fearless #1, only lasted two issues. She was moved along with the rest of the characters form the tittle to Captain Aero (Dec. 1941) where she stayed until its end at #26 (Aug. 1946).

Now, introducing Joan Wayne, stenographer...

To read the whole Captain Fearless #1 go to digitalcomicmuseum.com, but you can check out Miss Victory's #1 right here. (These scans are great. I didn't edit at all!)

01 // 02// 03 // 04 // 05

I don't normally do reprints here, but for the 4th, I'm making the exception. Here is another Miss Victory story, a reprint of her story in Veri Best Sure Fire Comics #1 (1945, only lasted one issue) from Femforce #119.

01 // 02 // 03 //04 //05 //06 // 07

You just have to love the glee on her face here. Also not the costume change, but that will become clearer in the next post later this month.

Miss Victory Links...

Don Markstein's Toonopeida: Miss Victory

Comic Book DB - Charles Quinlan

The major of the links I crossed were for the "reimagined" hero by AC Comics.

Also I've fixed up the Captain Battle page. The whole story has been reposted. I'll be fixing some of the other broken links later this month.

Fox's Phantom Lady

Thought jinx!
After losing her spot in Quality's Police Comics, Phantom Lady went to Fox. Here Sandra Knight got a redesign to how she as known today by the hands of Matt Baker and Ruth Roche.

Fox's Phantom Lady #13 (Aug. 1947) story #1

Page 01 //02 //03//04 //05//06//07//08//09//10//11

“Dixie Dugan”

"A man is never too young to become a cartoonist. John Striebel, who draws the widely popular “Dixie Dugan” cartoon strip, won national prominence at the age of fourteen when he was recognized as the youngest front-page cartoonist in the country." -- Modern Mechanix: Dixie Dugan’s Fathers

Much has been said about Dixie Dugan, so I will not rehash it here. For More information on this multi-media comic strip girls see the links at the bottom.

Image via The blog of Joakim Gunnarsson

I've collected several “Dixie Dugan” strips, including some pages from Big Shot Comics. Check out this post to read them.

Dixie Dugan Links...

Toonopedia

Lambiek: John Henry Striebel

Dixie Dugan

Betty Bates, Lady at Law

Staring in Hit Comics #4, Betty Bates finds danger everywhere she turns. Sometimes she jumps into trouble, sometimes it grabs her and runs. Either way "Betty Bates, Lady at Law" was one of the better back-up in Hit Comics, outlasting it's cover stars: Neon the Unknown, The Red Bee, Kid Eternity, and Hercules.

Betty Bates, Lady at Law (later called Attorney at Law, then just Betty Bates) has no side kick or repeating cast for most of her run. As Hit Comics began to cut some of its length, only becoming five or six stories and issue, Betty picks up Larry. Larry is a Police reporter who clearly has a crush on Betty, the new District Attorney.

Larry is often used as comic relief, but never falls to being the consent funny man or the annoying side kick. He backs Betty up in her out of office adventures, but he never has to save her. The strip is not degraded by the additions of a side kick like many other strips have been.

Betty was created by the name she is usually credited to, "Stanley Charlot." Stanley Charlot, a pen named used only on Hit Comics, is credited to Bob Powell by The Grand Comics Database (Hit Comics) and Lambiek Comiclopedia (Comic creator: Bob Powell). Some Hit Comic readers give credit to Al Bryant, who later did all the art for the strip. Artists Nick Cardy also worked on the title before Al Bryant came in, but is never credited with writing it. Alice Kirkpatrick is credited with the art on some of the last issues.

Betty Bates sometimes has alight, funny story, and sometimes a darker of crime. Below you will find a light one.

From Hit Comics #12 "One Hamburger with Trouble!" Art by Al Bryant

Click here to read and be sure to come back for more Betty Bates!

Patty O'Day and English Eddie

Here is a quick spy story, featuring reoccurring character the suave "English Eddie" (or is it Lord Mike?).

From Wonderworld Comics #4 "The case of English Eddie" by Adolphe Barreaux

Page 01 // Page 02 // Page 03 // Page 04 // Page 05 // Page 06

Patty O'Day

Newsreel reporter Patty O'Day with her camera man/ever loyal bodyguard, Ham, investigates and adventures her way into her stories. Patty first showed up in Wonderworld #3, written and drawn by Adolphe Barreaux.

Patty is fairly athletic, and something of a of an actor. She has been know to dress up in disguise to get information.

(Image to the left from Wonderworld Comics #8 "Action in Switzerland," drawn by Clarie S. Moe.)

Read some Patty O'day here!
Wonderworld #30
page 01 // page 02 // page 03 // page 04 // page 05 // page 06 // page 07 // page 08

Find out more...
Comic creator: Adolphe Barreaux
Comic creator: Claire S. Moe - signing her work "Vic Todd" (See the story above) and Orville Wells.
See the tags for more Patty Comics!

Señorita Rio

Señorita Rio, Rita Farrar or Consuela Maria Ascencion De Las Vegas, was an American secret agent. She disguised herself as a Brazilian entertainer, taking advantage of her Latin background to go in to place other agents could blend in. She was often assigned to root out fascists Central and South America during World War II.

Senorita Rio appeared in #19-71 (1942 to 1951). The only exception is #69 when the comic dropped from 52 pages to 36. She has a lot of big name artist throughout her run: Nick Cardy, Lily Renee, Jack Kamen, and Bob Lubbers. Most notable due to the amount of time she spend on it is Lily Renee, see her interview with TCJ below.

Further info after the comics!
Fight Comics #19 (June 1942) "Swastika Web" [First appearance] Art by Nice Cardy Read it here OR take it page by page - Page 01//  02 // 03  // 04//  05 // 06 // 07 // 08

Fight Comics #47 (Dec. 1946) "Horror's Hacienda" Story by "Morgan Hawkins" (often used pen name, unknown owner); Art by Lily Renee Read it here or see it on comics19-at flicker. (Note that the pages are backwards.) And checkout the rest of Fight Comics #47 on a Highlight Reel.

Oddball Comics has a recap of “The Santo Bello Assignment” from Knockout Adventures #1

Links
Rio Rita (Toonpeida)
Rio Rita Profile (FemForce)
The Comics Journal - Lily Renée - An interview with the interesting woman who did so much of the art for the strip.

"Daffy and Deke."

Staring in Smash Comics #41 (March 1943), Gill Fox began a humor strip called "Daffy and Deke." Daffy Dill is a lady wrestler, moved from a small town to find Deke Parsons. Deke is her crooked wrestling manager. He fled to the big city to escape people he owed money. You can check out their first story below.



























































After Gil Fox left to fight in World War II, Bart Tumey took over duties for the title. He continued on the comic till Smash Comics #85 in 1949, the last issue. The writer is listed as Tumey by Comic Book DB for a number of issues after he starts his run, but it is a good bet that he continued to do them the rest of the run too. (Not proven, do not quote me.)

As of Smash Comics #43, the comic was renamed to just be "Daffy." The strip underwent more changes in the coming years. Daffy stayed tall and strong, but slimed down and began to reflect the times more in dress and looks.

In Daffy size jokes are a consent, and many of the plots over the years are about losing weight.

If you're still looking for more Daffy check out Smash Comics - Daffy and Deke on Flicker for the story from #42

Jill Trent, Science Sleuth in Wonder Comics #13

Wonder Comics #13 (August 1947)
Art by Al Camy

Edit: Trying it on Flicker his time. Blogger's cut tags are too hard.

Wonder Comics #13 Jill Trent's Story

X of the Underground

Agent X was a female member of the European underground resistance movement. She worked undercover across the nations to perform acts of sabotage, create a network of people (mostly women) to help subvert the Naiz effort, and free people from Nazi tyranny.

X was created by Vernon Henkel (The Space Legion, Marvel titles during the early 1950s, mostly stuck to art after the 1940s). She had a short run in Military Comics, only appearing in six issues.

Military Comics #8 (March 1942): Introducing X
Military Comics #9 (April 1942): The Berlin Express
Military Comics #10 (June 1942): A Brother's Betrayal
Military Comics #11 (August !942): The Cholera Serum
Military Comics #12 (October 1942): The Gestapo's Costume Ball
Military Comics #13 (November 1942): "There Are More than One Way To Skin A Cat"

You can read #8, #10, and #11 online here.


Check out Military Comics 12 here.

Military Comics #7 (February 1942) Text story!

I will figure out a good way to do these pages yet.

Women Outlaws #3 (Nov 1948) Highlight Reel

A Fox Features Syndicate's Women Outlaws was created to take advantage of the popularity of comics featuring bad girls. The book earned a spot in Seduction of the Innocent.

Checkout the full story of "Cowboy Maggie Queen of the Barbary Coast" with run downs and clips from the other stories. Read more...

After eight issues the title continues as My Love Memories #9 (then to Hunted, into Western Outlaws, into two other changes). For more check it out on the Grand Comic-Book Database.

Blackhawk - Zinda Blake and The Blonde

"Zinda is an ace flyer, able to easily handle any type of aircraft. She is a fine markswoman, skilled in the use of a variety of weapons, and has superior abilities in hand-to-hand combat." -- Comic Book DB - Lady Blackhawk (01 - Zinda Blake)

For the first, offical appearance of Lady Blackhawk see Blackhawk #133 (1959) on Scans_daily! [This link it dead! I'm sorry =(]]

Zinda shows up next in Blackhawk #140 where she is named an Honorary Member. *This link is also gone, but for a replacement see this blog)

Now, to quote Wiki: "Military Comics #20 (July, 1943) featured a story about a woman who attempts to become the first woman member of the Blackhawks, who looks, sounds and behaves much like Zinda Blake, although she does not divulge her name, and never calls herself Lady Blackhawk. In the story, she flies to Blackhawk Island, declares herself part of the team, and helps the Blackhawks on a mission behind German lines. Ultimately, she rescues Blackhawk himself. Some say that this is Zinda Blake's true first appearance, but this has never been official."

Read Military Comics #20 The Blonde Bomber

Info links
Who's Who: Lady Blackhawk (Zinda Blake)
Cosmic Teams Profile that cover more of her history to today.
Zinda Blake on Wikipedia
Comic Book DB - Lady Blackhawk (01 - Zinda Blake)