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.
I kept trying to figure out what the twist was going to be. The giant bats were some biological weapon the Nazis devised. No, they’re some arcane horror that had been living peacefully in the petrified forest (didn’t realize England had petrified forests) roused from some age old slumber by the crashed bomber. Maybe the woods were cursed and the Nazis were transformed into giant bats, but still retain their sense of duty to their country. And so on.
Nazis in disguise with helicopters strapped to their backs was not an answer that entered my mind, but it works.
Nope … just dudes in a bat suit. There’s a reason why the comic-book Nazis lost the comic-book World War II …
Black Angel’s very first enemy, Baroness Blood, survived for two appearances.
I’ll have to find those stories.