HEROINES SHOWCASE #17 (SPRING 1979)

Not a comic book this Saturday but a small-press magazine about comic book heroines.

• Trina Robbins has an interesting article about three women comic book artists of the Thirties and Forties:  Lily Renee, Fran Hopper, and Tarpe Mills.  Renee and Hopper worked for Fiction House, a company that was noted for hiring "undesirables."  (Their best cartoonist happened to be Black.  Horrors!)  Mills, a former fashion model, syndicated her heroine Miss Fury and then published her in a comic book format.
• Debi Dunn's article, "In the Dark." covers Darkstar, a minor Marvel heroine (well, minor, but she did save the world once).  Darkstar is a patriotic Russian who seems to spend a lot of time in Los Angeles with The Champions; her superpower is the "dark force," a rather nebulous power that seems to be able to do anything.   Darkstar's origin, like her superpower, is never explained.  She's now believed to be back in Russia.  Not that many people care.
• Supergirl first appeared in Action Comics in 1959 and made 125 appearances in that comic book, departing exactly ten years later.  Supergirl's earthly identity was Linda Lee, one of the many double Ls in the Superman canon (Lex Luther, Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Limmy Lolson -- just kidding about that last one).  In her tenth adventure, Supergirl got her very own super-pet, Streaky the cat (take that, Krypto!); she eventually got a second super-pet, Comet the super-horse (Comet was a one-time centaur under a magical hex).  Scott Gibson gives an in-depth look at the super-blonde and her travails.
• Cat Yronwode chimes in on "The Lovely Charms of Leiku Wu, Mistress of the Master of Kung Fu."  A -- dare I say it? -- kick*ss article.
• Steve Johnson's column "The Golden Age Girls" looks at Sun Girl, a heroine who was the original Human Torch's girl Friday.
• Plus:  a letter column, club news, and some stunning artwork

A good time for all!

Enjoy.

http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=64907