Long before Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow bad-assed her way through America’s No. 1 movie, Golden Age comic-book heroines displayed just as much – if not more – fire and competence.
(Which seems to be a reoccurring theme of this blog, now that I think of it … )
The Black Angel was a particularly notable example of the trend, as she more than held her own amid the blood-and-thunder of Hillman Publications’ Air Fighters Comics, home to Airboy, The Heap, Sky Wolf and other two-fisted sentinels of the skyways.
Created by artist John Cassone and an unknown writer, the Black Angel’s true identity was Sylvia Manners, an (extremely) mild-mannered socialite who flew as well as any male aviator and seldom let an enemy survive beyond a single tale.
The following story features Nazi bat-men for an extra dose of awesomeness.
“The Bats Of Berlin” originally appeared in Air Fighters Comics vol. 1, #6 (Hillman Publications, March 1943). The art is by John Cassone.
