UNDERCOVER GIRL "Dinner Date with Death"

Starr Flagg occasionally got the cover spot in ManHunt...

Art by Odgen Whitney

...in this case, illustrating a prose tale she starred in.

Text pages like this were a requirement for comics to receive a highly-valued 2nd Class mailing license providing lower mailing rates and reserved only for periodicals.

Some comics did letters pages, some did fact-based features, others did these short stories.

This never-reprinted tale from Magazine Enterprises' ManHunt #2 (1947) was scripted by Gardner Fox, no stranger to heroines, since he also penned Moon Girl and Cave Girl tales during the Golden Age.

While Flagg usually operated alone, she's assisted by FBI agent Jim Fallon, who had his own strip in ManHunt, making this the only crossover between characters from different strips.

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UNDERCOVER GIRL "Jeopardy in Jade"

When you're Starr Flagg: Undercover Girl, danger lurks everywhere...

...and no one is to be trusted, as shown in her third appearance, where she goes, without backup, into tropical danger.

Illustrated by Odgen Whitney, this story from Magazine Enterprise's ManHunt #3 (1947) is typical as the very self-sufficient Starr handles the situation without being bailed out by a male associate.

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UNDERCOVER GIRL "Puzzle of the Picture"

Spies have always been popular in fiction.
Girls have always been popular in fiction.

So, it stands to reason that girl spies would be popular in fiction, right?

With the notable exception of Modesty Blaise, female secret agents have not been able to hold the spotlight, despite several attempts to crack the glass ceiling of spydom including Senorita Rio and Miss Espionage, both of whom we've presented in this blog!

In comics, the 1950s Undercover Girl series from Magazine Enterprises was probably the best of the femme-spy genre.
Featuring art by luminaries like Odgen Whitney, Bob Powell, Gil Kane, and Dick Ayers, the series detailed the exploits of government agent Starr Flagg against spies, saboteurs, and criminals.
Starr could shoot and fight as well as any male agent, but could also play helpless and innocent to throw the baddies off-guard...until she could kick serious butt!

Beginning with the tale presented here from the first issue of the anthology title ManHunt, Starr Flagg's adventures were a regular feature during the book's run.

In fact, she was popular enough to receive a three-issue run of her own title (with reprinted stories, but new covers).

But, when Magazine Enterprises folded, UnderCover Girl disappeared from the newsstands.

She wasn't even in the recent Project SuperPowers series by Alex Ross, which revived almost every non-DC or Marvel character from comics of the 1940s-50s!
We hope you enjoyed her debut story from Magazine Enterprise's ManHunt #1 (1947) as illustrated by Odgen Whitney.

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