Halloween Heroines FANTOMAH "Mystery Woman of the Jungle"

Jungle Heroine or Spirit of Vengeance?

Can you tell which one she is, dear reader?

I certainly can't!

As rendered by the...unique...Fletcher Hanks, Fantomah was the first comic book superheroine (as in heroine with super-powers instead of a costumed "normal" woman), predating Wonder Woman by a year!

This particular story, from Fiction House's Jungle Comics #2 (1940), was her premiere appearance, and reads like a drug-induced nightmare!

Hanks handled the character from her premiere in #2 to #15, with the stories becoming even more surreal every issue!

When new creatives took over with #16, the character was immediately "toned-down", eliminating the skull-face look, and limiting her almost-limitless powers.

As of #27, she was rebooted as "Daughter of the Pharaohs", queen of a lost civilization made up of descendants of an ancient Egyptian expedition stranded in central Africa centuries earlier.

Her series ended in #51 (1944).

Trivia: Despite being popular enough to run for several years in Jungle Comics, Fantomah never made the cover!

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Halloween Heroine MOTHER HUBBARD "vs the Eyeless Ogres"

We conclude this chapter in the history of comic book heroines...

...with the final tale of the witch who looks like a traditional fairy tale sorceress; Mother Hubbard!

Most magician-heroines in comics are beautiful women in tights (Scarlet Witch, Zatanna, Clea, etc.). but Mother Hubbard was the personification of a classic fairy tale witch.

Art for this tale in Chesler's Scoop Comics #3 (1942) was by Bill Madden.
Regrettably, the writer is unknown.
It was her final first-run appearance, but Mother's adventures have been reprinted in both the Golden and Atomic Ages.

Be here next week, when we present another tale of classic creepy comic grrrl power!

Halloween Heroine MOTHER HUBBARD "vs Soul-Stealing Gnomes"

The mystical heroine who looks like the traditional stereotype of a witch returns...

...this time, taking on a mob of mischievous mystical menaces!

For whatever reason, after taking on Nazis in her first appearance, Mother Hubbard confined her war on evil to gnomes, trolls and the like.
Most magician-heroines in comics are beautiful women in tights (Scarlet Witch, Zatanna, Clea, etc.). but Mother Hubbard was the personification of a classic fairy tale witch.

Art for this appearance in Chesler's Scoop Comics #2 (1942) was by Bill Madden, but the writer is unknown.

Be here next week, when we present another tale of classic (yet creepy) comic grrrl power!

Halloween Heroine MOTHER HUBBARD "vs The Leader"

It's almost Halloween, so here's a witch...

...who battled Nazi spies in this unusual Golden Age series from Chesler Syndicate.

Most magician-heroines in comics are beautiful women in tights (Scarlet Witch, Zatanna, Clea, etc.). but Mother Hubbard was the personification of a stereotypical fairy tale witch.

Oddly, though this is her first appearance, the Nazis know who she is and what she's capable of!

No actual origin (or explanation of how she survived to the present and turned from evil to good) was ever presented during her three-story run.

Art for her premiere appearance in Chesler's Scoop Comics #1 (1941) was by Bill Madden, but the writer is unknown.

Be here next week, when we present another tale of classic comic ghoulish grrrl power!

NIGHTGLIDER "She Glides in Beauty Like the Night..." Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Revived from suspended animation after 15,000 years, the warrior named NightGlider discovers Earth of the 1990s is not like the civilization she left behind!

Her language is unknown to the present-day inhabitants of Chicago, which is built over the ancient lost city of Garza where her stasis chamber lay.
And the confusing primitive (to her) transportation technology inadvertently injures her when she impacts a helicopter's rotors and falls forty stories to the ground!
She's transported, unconscious, but alive, to a nearby hospital, where...

To Be Continued at...

HERO HISTORIES

on Monday!

Created by Jack Kirby, plotted by Roy Thomas, scripted by Gerry Conway and Illustrated by Don Heck, this never-reprinted tale from Topps Comics' one-shot NightGlider (1993) was an integral part of the projected "KirbyVerse" featuring concepts and characters created by Jack (King) Kirby, one of the major creative forces in comics from the birth of the Golden Age in 1940 to the then-present of 1993!.
Glida/NightGlider, with her fellow genetically-enhanced soldiers Bombast and Captain Glory, would battle the evil forces that had also survived the disaster that doomed the Ninth Men 15,000 years earlier and keep them from dominating the humans of the present (aka "Tenth Men") in the Secret City Saga mini-series!

After the end of that series, the group were to continue fighting the good fight in a new mini-series, Victory! along with other, already-existing characters created by Kirby like Silver Star and Captain Victory and the Galaxy Rangers, but it was cancelled after the first issue, with the remaining four parts unpublished to this day!

NIGHTGLIDER "She Glides in Beauty Like the Night..." Part 1

Placed in suspended animation over 15,000 years ago...

...she is one of a trio of genetically-enhanced soldiers who will save us from the planet-wide destruction that is coming...soon!

To Be Continued...

TOMORROW!

Created by Jack Kirby, plotted by Roy Thomas, scripted by Gerry Conway and Illustrated by Don Heck, this never-reprinted tale from Topps Comics one-shot NightGlider (1993) was an integral part of the "Secret City Saga".
You can read the previous parts HERE, HERE, and HERE!