Monday, May 10, 2021

Asian Avengers MARGO THE MAGICIAN

In the Golden Age of Comics, there was only one super-powered Asian/Eurasian heroine...
...and this is her only appearance...ever!
Note the last caption says "Read the next issue of Margo the Magician to find out!"
Sadly, there was never any issue of Margo the Magician!
This "origin" appeared in Quality's Uncle Sam Quarterly #2 (1941).
Margo was created by the Eisner/Iger Studio with no record as to who wrote or drew this story.
("Bill Bydem" was a pseudonym!)
The Margo strip was just as good as 99.9% of the other magician-superbeing stories, and she was one of extremely-few female magic-wielders in comics at the time!
Was it her ethnicity that kept her from being continued?
We'll never know.
Unlike almost every other Golden Age character, she has never been revived/rebooted, and this tale has never been reprinted!
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3 comments:

  1. Wait, did I miss something? I saw no mention of her ethnicity in the story. However, since the character appears to be in Public Domain, Asian heritage(her Mom maybe?) could be included into a new adventure.

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    1. 1) Logo utilized stereotyped "Oriental" lettering.
      I've never seen an Occidental comic character's logo utilizing that style.
      2) Margo's stage garb based on typical Chinese garb.
      3) Margo, her brother, and father, are all colored in with the light-orange coloring utilized for "good" Asians' skin tone (as opposed to the bright yellow usually used for Japanese during this period) along with the usual black hair with blue highlights associated with all Asians during this period.
      So, I concluded Margo and her brother are likely Eurasian, if not Asian.
      Dad's most likely an American of Asian descent.
      As you pointed out, we never see her mother, who was likely an American of European descent.

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    2. Sounds good to me. I'm writing an essay on Non Caucasian superheroes in the "Golden Age" of comics, I'll mention Margo in it.

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