Heroine Holidays WOW COMICS "Mary Marvel and the Case of the Criminal Kringles"

A Christmas present for our faithful fans...

...a superheroine Christmas tale with not one...not two...but three superhero guest stars!

(And it's the premiere of her own series as well!)

Mr Scarlet and Pinky was one of the ongoing features rotating cover appearances with other characters on Wow Comics when Mary Marvel was given her own feature in Wow as of #9 (1943) after her introduction in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 and 19 (1942).

But, as of this issue, Mary became either the solo cover star or featured star in every cover until the book shifted format to humor strips in #59 (1947)

Writer Otto Binder and illustrator Mark Swyaze were her co-creators in Captain Marvel Adventures, so it was only appropriate they handle her series intro and several stories after that.

Trivia: When the 1970s live-action Shazam! tv series proved to be a ratings success, the studio considered doing a Mary Marvel spin-off!

But, because DC Comics wanted too much money for Mary, it was decided to use a new character, Isis, in the "sister" series instead!

Ironically, DC then had to pay to license Isis for a comic book adaptation (after introducing her in an issue of Shazam! as shown HERE)!

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Shazam Family Giant
Make Mine Mary Marvel

CoronaVirus Comics NYOKA THE JUNGLE GIRL "Jungle Fever Fury! Chapter Three: Dance of Death!"

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

...when Nyoka tries to put an end to the awful death toll claimed by the most horrendous enemy of the Jungle People, swamp fever...her life hangs in the balance as she battles twin terrors...disease and ignorance!

(BTW, you haven't missed a chapter!

The second part of this post appeared on our "brother" RetroBlog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!)

Though the long-running comic was based on the two Republic Studios movie serials Jungle Girl and Perils of Nyoka, those were based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, Jungle Girl aka Land of Hidden Men...

...which took place in Cambodia and featured an Asian heroine!

All the studio took was the title and Burroughs' name.

The rest was totally-new!

The novel itself has never been adapted into live-action or animated form, or even a comic book, though there is an internet comic strip at the official Edgar Rice Burroughs website!

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Jungle Girl

and

Perils of Nyoka

The two movie serials the character appeared in!

CoronaVirus Comics NYOKA THE JUNGLE GIRL "Jungle Fever Fury! Chapter One: Burning Revenge!"

Since it was based on a movie serial character...

...the Nyoka comic book followed the multi-chapter cliffhanger format, which is rather convenient for our purposes!

Actually, the next chapter will appear on our "brother" RetroBlog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video over the weekend, with the final chapter returning here next week!

You'll note that the African natives, unlike most jungle comics of the era, aren't portrayed in overly-racist stereotypes.

Also: unlike most of the jungle heroines of the era, Nyoka isn't garbed in a tight animal skin, but safari jacket and shorts!

Despite that, her book lasted longer than most, first at Fawcett from 1945 until 1953, then at Charlton until 1957!

Their dialogue and imagery is no worse than most examples of American Indians from Westerns in the same era!

Sadly, none of the creatives from this never reprinted story from Fawcett's Nyoka the Jungle Girl #54 (1951) can be definitively-identified!

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Jungle Girl

and

Perils of Nyoka

The two movie serials the character appeared in!

MARY MARVEL "Modern Wizard of Oz"

The Marvel Family's Golden Age adventures tended towards gentle fantasy...

...like this tale from Fawcett's Wow Comics #48 (1946)

Ozz and his robots never re-appeared in any Marvel Family story.
Like most of the Mary Marvel stories of the 1940s, this one was scripted by noted sci-fi pulp author Otto Binder, and illustrated by his brother, Jack Binder.
Otto had a long career in comics, working primarily for Fawcett and DC, making him one of the very few to script tales of both the Captain Marvel and Superman families in the Golden Age!

His brother Jack initially worked at the Harry Chesler Studio, then opened his own firm.

Preferring to illustrate rather than administrate, he closed his shop after three years, then joined CC Beck's studio which supplied art for Fawcett Comics including the Marvel Family titles.

Heroine trivia: Otto co-created both Mary Marvel and Supergirl as well as DC's Merry: Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks, and Timely/Atlas/Marvel's Miss America!

Be here next week when we present another tale of classic comic grrl power!

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