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Post by electricmastro on Feb 26, 2020 13:13:38 GMT -5
There was also the Magician From Mars, who first appeared in Amazing-Man Comics #7 (1939), with her feature continuing for a few more issues of A-M. As her name suggests, she was half-Martian. Her powers included super-strength, immortality and super-intelligence.  A bit earlier, but perhaps not technically a comic book superheroine (since she appeared in a comic strip in Spicy Mystery Stories, a pulp) was "Olga Mesmer, the Girl with X-Ray Eyes", in 1937. I first came across her in Les Daniels's Wonder Woman book. A while back some of us had a discussion about her; here's some info I'd found that I included in a post:  Yeah, after a lot of research, it might be the Magician from Mars. I had made a list of what I think are the Golden Age comic book superheroines, and it went like this: 1939 - Crimson Rider, Magician from Mars 1940 - Alice of the Winged People, Black Widow (Timely Comics), Fantomah, Headless Horseman, Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, Lady Luck, Mighty Woman, Miss X, Red Tornado, Woman in Red 1941 - Black Cat, Black Widow (Holyoke Publishing), Blue Lady, Bulletgirl, Flame Girl, Girl Squadron, Hawkgirl, Kitten, Lady Fairplay, Lady Satan (Harry 'A' Chesler), Madame Strange, Margo the Magician, Miss America (Quality Comics), Miss Fury, Miss Victory, Mother Hubbard, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Owl Girl, Pat Patriot, Phantom Lady, Ranger Girl, Rocketgirl, Silver Scorpion, Spider Queen, Super Ann, USA the Spirit of Old Glory, Wildfire, Wonder Woman 1942 - Black Angel, Girl Commandos, Liberty Belle, Lightning Girl, Mary Marvel, Señorita Rio, Spider Widow, The Wing 1943 - Black Orchid (Harvey Comics), Lady Satan (Harvey Comics), Miss America (Timely Comics), Miss Patriot, Superwoman 1944 - Black Orchid (Consolidated Book Publishers), Black Venus, Catgirl, Diana the Huntress, Dotty Whirlwind (aka Dotty Virvelvind), Miss Espionage, Purple Tigress, Spider Woman, Veiled Avenger, Will O' The Wisp 1945 - Comandette, Freckles Marvel, Ghost Woman, Mysta of the Moon, Polka-Dot Pirate, Yankee Girl (Four Star Publications) 1946 - Blonde Phantom, The Flame, Futura, Golden Girl (Spark Publications), Lady Fantax, Magga the Magnificent, Miss Fear, Miss Masque, The Torch (aka la Antorcha) 1947 - Acromaid, Atoma, Black Canary, Electro Girl, Iron Lady, Marvel Maid, Moon Girl, Namora, Phantom Maid, Undercover Girl, Vampire, Varga, Yankee Girl (Harry 'A' Chesler) 1948 - The Cat (aka de Kat), Elektra, Gimmick Girl, Golden Girl (Timely Comics), Miss Devil (aka Miss Diavolo), Sun Girl, Val Venture, Venus 1949 - The Queen of Spades (aka la Dama di Picche), Supergirl 1950 - The Avenging Plainswoman (aka la Llanera Vengadora), Calamity Kate, Darna, The Silent Three, TNT Tina 1951 - Black Phantom, Corsair Queen, Doll Girl 1952 - Galaxy Gals 1953 - Sri Asih, Zina of Koroka 1954 - Princess Bintang (aka Putri Bintang), Tomboy |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 26, 2020 13:15:47 GMT -5
The Domino Lady first appeared in the pulps in 1936.....  Love the title. Not just Romantic Adventure; it's Saucy Romantic Adventure! A little more nudity and it could be Spicy! |
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Post by electricmastro on Feb 26, 2020 14:37:51 GMT -5
Well, I mentioned Golden Age, but one female hero that stuck out to me from before 1938 was Rose Psychic, Doctor Occult’s assistant: From More Fun #7 (January, 1936). Art by Joe Shuster:  |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Feb 26, 2020 19:13:31 GMT -5
There was also the Magician From Mars, who first appeared in Amazing-Man Comics #7 (1939), with her feature continuing for a few more issues of A-M. As her name suggests, she was half-Martian. Her powers included super-strength, immortality and super-intelligence. Yeah, nice. That might be it. "Magician" ties her to the Mandrake archetype which isn't exactly a superhero but, well, she looks way more like a superhero(ine) than, say, Zatanna. Nice work! |
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Post by electricmastro on Feb 26, 2020 21:09:58 GMT -5
There was also the Magician From Mars, who first appeared in Amazing-Man Comics #7 (1939), with her feature continuing for a few more issues of A-M. As her name suggests, she was half-Martian. Her powers included super-strength, immortality and super-intelligence. Yeah, nice. That might be it. "Magician" ties her to the Mandrake archetype which isn't exactly a superhero but, well, she looks way more like a superhero(ine) than, say, Zatanna. Nice work! Well, she calls herself “magician,” but she really didn’t do anything that particularly linked herself to the Leon Mandrake sort of magician other than an association with the supernatural, which really doesn’t specify much of anything as Superman’s powers could arguably be called magic just as often. From Amazing-Man Comics #7 (November 1939, Centaur Comics). Art by John Giunta:        |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 27, 2020 13:50:10 GMT -5
The Domino Lady first appeared in the pulps in 1936..... Love the title. Not just Romantic Adventure; it's Saucy Romantic Adventure! A little more nudity and it could be Spicy!
Have you read any of the original stories? I find them amusing because, although they're not technically all that good, they were clearly written to be as close to soft core erotica as they could get in mass media at the time.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 27, 2020 17:58:16 GMT -5
The Domino Lady first appeared in the pulps in 1936..... Love the title. Not just Romantic Adventure; it's Saucy Romantic Adventure! A little more nudity and it could be Spicy!
Have you read any of the original stories? I find them amusing because, although they're not technically all that good, they were clearly written to be as close to soft core erotica as they could get in mass media at the time.
No, I have only seen the character in a few comic features, from the last few decades. Greg Hatcher, over at Atomic Junkshop, has done a column on them. I believe he mentioned a new adventure or anthology, from Ron Fortier's Airship 27. Can't recall if Greg was involved or just helping to get the word out. She had a good look, which was quickly copied in comics, with characters like the Blonde Phantom and Lady Luck. I have read a few examples from the Spicy line and the Sally Sleuth Spicy Detective stories; they couldn't be much worse than that stuff without being outright prose porn. |
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Post by electricmastro on Feb 27, 2020 18:34:10 GMT -5
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 27, 2020 19:14:57 GMT -5
Have you read any of the original stories? I find them amusing because, although they're not technically all that good, they were clearly written to be as close to soft core erotica as they could get in mass media at the time.
No, I have only seen the character in a few comic features, from the last few decades. Greg Hatcher, over at Atomic Junkshop, has done a column on them. I believe he mentioned a new adventure or anthology, from Ron Fortier's Airship 27. Can't recall if Greg was involved or just helping to get the word out. She had a good look, which was quickly copied in comics, with characters like the Blonde Phantom and Lady Luck. I have read a few examples from the Spicy line and the Sally Sleuth Spicy Detective stories; they couldn't be much worse than that stuff without being outright prose porn. Greg had a story published in the eponymous Domino Lady, Vol. 1 short-story collection from 2015. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 28, 2020 5:46:38 GMT -5
No, I have only seen the character in a few comic features, from the last few decades. Greg Hatcher, over at Atomic Junkshop, has done a column on them. I believe he mentioned a new adventure or anthology, from Ron Fortier's Airship 27. Can't recall if Greg was involved or just helping to get the word out. She had a good look, which was quickly copied in comics, with characters like the Blonde Phantom and Lady Luck. I have read a few examples from the Spicy line and the Sally Sleuth Spicy Detective stories; they couldn't be much worse than that stuff without being outright prose porn. Greg had a story published in the eponymous Domino Lady, Vol. 1 short-story collection from 2015.
He did indeed; besides Amazon, you can find it at the Airship 27 online hanger. Otherwise, it's worthwhile poking around that site, as Greg also contributed stories to collections featuring other old pulp magazine heroes, like the Green Ghost, Black Bat and the Moon Man, and to the various 'Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective' books (his contributions are easily the best in those respective books). Just do a word search with his name. By the way, just to slightly correct codystarbuck's comment, Greg wrote about Domino Lady twice when he was still writing a regular column for the dearly-departed Comics Should be Good blog, first in 2011 and then in 2015, to promote the book Slam mentioned (unfortunately, those posts, now at the 'new & improved' CBR, are a hollow shelll of what they once were, as the images and comment threads are gone). |
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Post by MDG on Feb 28, 2020 9:33:02 GMT -5
I have read a few examples from the Spicy line and the Sally Sleuth Spicy Detective stories; they couldn't be much worse than that stuff without being outright prose porn. I've picked up a couple cheap Kindle collections of pulp stories and was surprised the amount of torture porn in some of the stories. Apparently there was a sizable audience looking for something "stronger" than they could get in movies or comics of the day. If you read "The Secret History of Marvel Comics", turns out Martin Goodman was a big supplier of this stuff. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 28, 2020 9:38:57 GMT -5
I have read a few examples from the Spicy line and the Sally Sleuth Spicy Detective stories; they couldn't be much worse than that stuff without being outright prose porn. I've picked up a couple cheap Kindle collections of pulp stories and was surprised the amount of torture porn in some of the stories. Apparently there was a sizable audience looking for something "stronger" than they could get in movies or comics of the day. If you read "The Secret History of Marvel Comics", turns out Martin Goodman was a big supplier of this stuff. Yeah, I have that book. Some pretty nasty illustrations. By the same token, I had read that Bill Ward had done some stuff beyond Torchy and Nanny Dickering and then saw a couple of samples that were horrifying. I guess it was done for some mob interests; but (SHUDDER), that was some sick stuff. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 28, 2020 10:30:16 GMT -5
I've picked up a couple cheap Kindle collections of pulp stories and was surprised the amount of torture porn in some of the stories. Apparently there was a sizable audience looking for something "stronger" than they could get in movies or comics of the day. If you read "The Secret History of Marvel Comics", turns out Martin Goodman was a big supplier of this stuff. Yeah, I have that book. Some pretty nasty illustrations. By the same token, I had read that Bill Ward had done some stuff beyond Torchy and Nanny Dickering and then saw a couple of samples that were horrifying. I guess it was done for some mob interests; but (SHUDDER), that was some sick stuff. You should probably avoid the bondage stuff that Joe Shuster did then. |
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Post by MDG on Feb 28, 2020 11:26:32 GMT -5
Yeah, I have that book. Some pretty nasty illustrations. By the same token, I had read that Bill Ward had done some stuff beyond Torchy and Nanny Dickering and then saw a couple of samples that were horrifying. I guess it was done for some mob interests; but (SHUDDER), that was some sick stuff. You should probably avoid the bondage stuff that Joe Shuster did then. Some of Ward's later stuff is way beyond what Shuster did. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 28, 2020 11:52:03 GMT -5
Have you read any of the original stories? I find them amusing because, although they're not technically all that good, they were clearly written to be as close to soft core erotica as they could get in mass media at the time.
No, I have only seen the character in a few comic features, from the last few decades. Greg Hatcher, over at Atomic Junkshop, has done a column on them. I believe he mentioned a new adventure or anthology, from Ron Fortier's Airship 27. Can't recall if Greg was involved or just helping to get the word out. She had a good look, which was quickly copied in comics, with characters like the Blonde Phantom and Lady Luck. I have read a few examples from the Spicy line and the Sally Sleuth Spicy Detective stories; they couldn't be much worse than that stuff without being outright prose porn. Wonder Woman in the Golden Age was no stranger to the "pretend to be captive to learn your plot" game. Sounds like she and Sally Sleuth were pretty similar.  |
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