Canada's Golden Age Heroine, Nelvana

Canada Post's Nelvana stamp

Nelvana of the Northern Lights is unique not only for being a truly Canadian character -- created in Canada and set here, as well -- but also for being one of the world's earliest costumed heroines, predating DC's Wonder Woman by three months.

She enjoys an uninterrupted run through 31 issues of Triumph Comics (originally Triumph-Adventure Comics) from 1941 though 1946, all published in black and white, as well as her only full-colour story in Super Duper Comics #3 (May 1947).

Nelvana is an Inuit demi-goddess, daughter of Koliak, King of the Northern Lights, and an unnamed mortal woman. In the tradition of godly heroes, she comes to earth to protect the peoples of the north. She also takes a turn as a secret agent in later stories.

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Canada Post features Nelvana in its Canadian Super-Heroes stamp series (October 1995), and she appears on a handful of modern book and magazine covers, primarily for retrospectives on Canadian comic books.

The following story is Nelvana first appearance, from Triumph-Adventure Comics #1 (August 1941). Although some of the pages are the fiche, the effect is harder to notice in black and white.

Marvel Comics' Snowbird,
as drawn by John Byrne

While not seen in any modern stories, Nelvana does seem to influence the back story of Marvel Comics' own Canadian demi-goddess, Snowbird. In Alpha Flight #7 (February 1984), writer/artist John Byrne reveals that Snowbird is the daughter of Nelvanna and granddaughter of Hodiak (note the slightly different spelling of both compared with the Golden Age characters).

The original Nelvana is long overdue for a comeback, given her status as Canada's third super-hero creation. With modern publishers striving for more diversity in their characters, bringing back an Inuit demi-goddess seems like a no-brainer.

The Sun Girl'll Come Up Tomorrow (I Hope)

The Golden Age of comic books is filled with half or almost fully forgotten characters. But growing numbers of them have made a return, in one form or another, in modern comic book stories.  So I can't help but wonder who might be next to make a comeback.

The original Agents of Atlas limited series (Marvel Comics) really spurred my current fascination with the Golden Age. I'd always had some interest in the era, but opportunities to read the stories were few and far between. So much has changed since then. More and more of those classic stories are available now, and I grab up everything I can, especially from Marvel's predecessors, Timely and Atlas.


Sun Girl gets the Dangerous
Divas treatment (art by
Rhiannon Owens)

Namora rules as my all-time favourite Golden Ager, but I'm also fascinated by another Timely heroine, Sun Girl -- maybe because we know so little about her. (I mentioned her briefly in "In Case You Missed Them..." in July.)

According to a modern retelling by Roy Thomas, Sun Girl is really Mary Mitchell, lovestruck gal friday to the original Human Torch (she becomes Sun Girl to work with him when his regular partner is away). In the original stories, however, she's first introduced as a famous soloadventurer who turns out to have a long history that might even predate the Torch's existence. And in her final Golden Age appearance, she's worshipped as a sun goddess (and she goes along with the ceremony willingly). Is she immortal?

Panels from Sun Girl's only in-continuity appearance since 1950
(The Sage of the Original Human Torch #3, June 1990)

As mentioned in my previous post, Sun Girl's only other modern appearances aren't part of mainstream Marvel continuity (with the possible exception of Agents of Atlas #3, December 2009, in which she may appear in a photo on Jimmy Woo's desk).

Jimmy Woo picks his team in 1958 -- is that Sun Girl tucked in
the upper right corner? (Agents of Atlas #3, December 2006)

She makes at least one appearance in the all-ages title Marvel Adventures Super Heroes. In addition to issue #21 (see the previous post), in which she comes and goes with the sun, she may make a one-panel appearance in issue #15, watching television with She-Hulk and a group of Golden Age heroines (Patsy "Hellcat" Walker, Namora and the Blonde Phantom).

Is that Sun Girl in the middle?
(Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #15, November 2009)

In The Age of the Sentry #5 (March 2009), we see Sun Girl the 52nd as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the 31st century. This version is actually Esme Esmeralda, not the original (whom she thinks of in passing). If this story has any bearing on mainstream continuity, does it support the theory that the "original" is one of a long line of Sun Girls?

Sun Girl's legacy continues in (one version of) the 31st century
(The Age of the Sentry #5, March 2009)

Sun Girl is long overdue for a mainstream comeback, if only so we can find out who or what she really is. (I have my own theory, but I doubt it will ever be more than fan fiction.)

CHECKLIST

The Age of the Sentry #5 (March 2009)
Agents of Atlas #3 (December 2006) possible cameo
Captain America Comics #69 (Nov 1948)
Frankie Comics #11 (October 1948) cameo
Human Torch #32 (September 1948)
Human Torch #33 (November 1948)
Human Torch #34 (January 1949)
Human Torch #35 (March 1949)
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #15 (November 2009) possible cameo
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #21 (May 2010)
Marvel Mystery Comics #88 (October 1948)
Marvel Mystery Comics #89 (December 1948)
Marvel Mystery Comics #90 (February 1949)
Marvel Mystery Comics #91 (April 1949)
Marvel Tales #97 (September 1950)
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Golden Age (2004) profile page
The Saga of the Original Human Torch #3 (June 1983)
The Saga of the Original Human Torch #4 (July 1983) editorial page
Sub-Mariner Comics #29 (December 1948)
Sun Girl #1 (August 1948)
Sun Girl #2 (October 1948)
Sun Girl #3 (December 1948)

Character Profile: The Original Black Widow

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Long before Natasha Romanoff made her debut as the Black Widow in Marvel Comics' Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964), there was another costumed character with that code name running around the pre-Marvel Universe during the Golden Age of comics. Marvel Comics' predecessor, Atlas Comics, introduced the original Black Widow (real name Claire Voyant) in Mystic Comics #4 (August 1940), in a seven-page story scripted by George Kaplan and drawn by Harry Sahle.

The Black Widow debuts
(Mystic Comics #4)

Her origin story and mission are not typical super-hero fare. As the story opens, Claire Voyant is a psychic medium (go figure!) who unwillingly places a curse on her clients while under Satan's influence. She is subsequently murdered one of those she cursed and falls into Satan's clutches. In a true "devil's bargain," Claire agrees to become Satan's agent of vengeance on earth and claims her murderer's soul on her first outing. (Can you say "set up"?)

Unfortunately, the Black Widow makes only four more appearances during the Golden Age. Despite her dark motivations, she seems to be evolving into a more well rounded character -- breaking protocol to use her powers to help an innocent -- just before vanishing into comic book limbo.

Limbo cracks open in Marvels #1 (January 1994), in which we get a glimpse of the Black Widow parachuting into Berlin with a host of other costumed characters near the end of World War II, and in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 (Febuary 2005), in which we see her fighting machine-gun toting gangsters alonside fellow Golden Agers The Angel, The Falcon and The Challenger in a one-panel flashback.

Chris Weston's Black Widow
character study (The Twelve #0)

Skip ahead to 2008 and the debut of J. Michael Strazynski's The Twelve. The Black Widow is one of (you guessed it) 12 heroes not seen since World War II. Turns out they were captured by Nazis during the siege of Berlin (see Marvels #1) and placed in suspended animation. Finally revived in "2008" (darn that floating timeline), they have to come to terms with the modern world and accept the loss of everything -- and everyone -- they knew in their old lives.

The Black Widow, however, can't shake her origins (somewhat modified now but still resulting in a deal with the devil) and seems to fall under Satan's control again. I say seems because, as of the 8th issue of the 12-issue series, we've yet to actually see her do any killing, despite the growing body count and heavy implications.

The Twelve has been on hiatus since issue #8 (December 2008) due to scheduling issues with Strazynski but is finally slated to resume in 2012. The scripts have all been turned in, and artist Chris Weston is no doubt hard at work bringing the stories to life.

The Black Widow and friends take the war to Hitler (Marvels #1)

CHECKLIST

• All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #2 (2006)
• All-Select Comics #1 (Fall 1943)
• Avataars: Covenant of the Shield #2 (Oct 2000)
• King-Size Spider-Man Summer Special #1 (Oct 2008)
• Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 (Feb 2005)
• Marvel Mystery Handbook: 70th Anniversary Special (Nov 2009)
• Marvels #1 (Jan 1994)
• Mystic Comics #4 (Aug 1940), #5 (Mar 1941) and #7 (Dec 1941)
• The Twelve #0-8 (Feb-Dec 2008)
• The Twelve: Spearhead #1 (May 2010)
• USA Comics #5 (Summer 1942)

NOTE: The Black Widow sort of appears in Avengers/Invaders #9-12 (2009) -- Ms. Marvel temporarily assumes her costumed identity when circumstances force the two teams to time travel back to 1943.

Character Spotlight: Namora

Marvel Mystery Comics #82

(May 1947)

My first character spotlight falls on the Atlantean princess Namora (kissin' cousin of Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner).

Arguably one of the best golden age revivals of recent years is Jeff Parker's original Agents of Atlas (2006), which features six largely forgotten characters from the late 1940s (Timely Comics) and early 1950s (Atlas Comics). And the best of those returning characters is Namora (don't bother debating that point with me).

Namora debuts in the Sub-Mariner story in Marvel Mystery Comics #82 ("The Coming of Namora," May 1947). In true super-hero fashion, her origin story involves the death of her father and vengeance against the criminal responsible. Despite a few salty tears (more so for being shed under water), she is just as tough and brave as the Sub-Mariner.

If a tear falls in the ocean,
does anyone see it?

Notably, she is not identified as Namor's cousin but simply as a member of the royal court -- one he doesn't know. Only later will their familial relationship be established, going so far as to make them childhood playmates. Namor doesn't recognize her right away in Marvel Mystery Comics #82 because they haven't seen each other in many years.

The story is also the only time she uses her real name -- Aquaria Nautica Neptunia -- during the Golden Age. She chooses to call herself Namora (an Atlantean word meaning "avenging daughter") when the Sub-Mariner agrees to work with her to track down her father's killer.


Namora #1 (Aug 1948)

Over time, we learn that Namora, like her cousin, is a human/Atlantean hybrid. As a result, she has enhanced strength and stamina, distinctive ankle wings (sometimes interpreted as fins) and the power of flight. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and allies but prone to violent outbursts. Her passionate nature is evident in both love and war. Her known suitors, past and present, include Talan (her only known husband), Sergei Kravinoff, Hercules, Namor and Jimmy Woo.

Following her initial appearance in Marvel Mystery Comics #82, she becomes a steady presence in Sub-Mariner Comics, generally appearing in at least one story per issue. She also guest stars in many Sub-Mariner stories in Blonde Phantom Comics, Captain America Comics, Human Torch, Men's Adventures, Young Men and more issues of Marvel Mystery Comics and headlines her own short-lived series in 1948.


Namora as fish out of water
in "Doomed in the Desert"
(Namora #2, Oct. 1948)

While her first chronological appearance is published in May 1947, the Sub-Mariner story in Human Torch #29 ("The Pirates of the China Sea," Winter 1947) suggests an earlier time frame. Namora is already Namor's partner in the flashback sequence, which occurs "almost two years" before the framing story, placing the start of her partnership with Namor as early as 1945. (Yes, I'm a continuity freak. Don't hold it against me.)

Namora figures prominently in one of the longest running myths about the Golden Age. The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide includes, as it has for many years, a notation claiming that Namora, Golden Girl and Sun Girl share a crossover adventure in Marvel Mystery Comics #88. I have a copy of the issue in question, and no such story is included. But wouldn't it be nice if someone produced that "missing" story?

The Avengers Initiative
(1959 vintage)

Namora's final Golden Age appearance consists of a single panel in Sub-Mariner Comics #42 ("Invasion!!", Oct 1955). She will not be seen again until 1972, in Sub-Mariner #50 ("Who Am I?", June 1972), and only then as an ice-entombed corpse. The circumstances of her death are revealed in the following issue, in a brief flashback sequence. For the next 34 years, she is relegated to flashbacks, alternative realities and retroactive continuity (retcons) -- until she makes a big comeback with the Agents of Atlas. (Like any Golden Age character worth their salt, she wasn't dead after all, merely in suspended animation.)

Five years into her revival, Namora is firmly ensconced in modern Marvel continuity. She crosses paths (and locked horns) with Avengers, X-Men and Thunderbolts and always holds her own. She joins the Renegades in supporting the Hulk went he goes to war against the world. And a recent retcon in New Avengers reveals her involvement with the previously unknown Avengers Initiative, a group of post-war Nazi hunters whose first mission has implications in the present.

While not appearing in a current ongoing series, she and the other Agents of Atlas do appear in the first four issues of Fear Itself: The Home Front.

What does the future hold for Namora? Given her growing connections to the heavy hitters of the Marvel Universe, the possibilities seem endless.

GOLDEN AGE CHECKLIST

_ Blonde Phantom Comics #14 (Summer 1947) - "The Brain Strikes Back!"
_ Blonde Phantom Comics #15 (Fall 1947) - "Death Deals in Stamps!"
_ Blonde Phantom Comics #17 (Spring 1948) - "Deep Sea Swindle!"
_ Blonde Phantom Comics #18 (Jul 1948) - "Terror of the Tattler!"
_ Blonde Phantom Comics #19 (Sep 1948) - "The Playboy Killer"
_ Blonde Phantom Comics #20 (Nov 1948) - "Science Says No"
_ Captain America Comics #68 (Sep 1948) - "My Son is a Thief"
_ Captain America Comics #70 (Jan 1949) - "Scavengers of the Desert"
_ Human Torch #28 (Fall 1947) - "Case of the Bends"
_ Human Torch #29 (Winter 1947) - "The Pirates of the China Sea"
_ Human Torch #30 (May 1948) - "The Beast of the Bowery Barge"
_ Human Torch #31 (Jul 1948) - "Troubadour of Terror"
_ Human Torch #32 (Sep 1948) - "The Roulette of Destiny"
_ Human Torch #37 (Jun 1954) - "The Rapture of the Depths"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #82 (May 1947) - "The Coming of Namora!"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #84 (Oct 1947) - "Case of the Vanishing Venuses"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #85 (Feb 1948) - "Blackbeard...Scourge of the Seas!"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #86 (Jun 1948) - "The Case of the Disappearing Watchman!"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #87 (Aug 1948) - "The Lost Atoll"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #88 (Oct 1948) - "Black Oil of Doom"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #90 (Feb 1949) - "War-Cry of the Jungle"
_ Marvel Mystery Comics #91 (Apr 1949) - "Terror at Sea" 
_ Men's Adventures #27 (May 1954) - "The Ship That Vanished"
_ Men's Adventures #28 (Jul 1954) - "Killer Whales"
_ Namora #1 (Aug 1948) - "The Lost City of Yucatan!" / "The Kingdom Beneath the Sea" / "Shadow Over Shanghai!"
_ Namora #2 (Oct 1948) - "Terror in Turkey!" / "Doomed in the Desert!" / "Dressed to Kill!"
_ Namora #3 (Dec 1948) - "The Mystery of the Sleeping Ship" / "The Last of the Vikings" / "Terror Rides the Waves"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #23 (Summer 1947) - "Trophies of Terror"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #24 (Winter 1947) - "Viking's Vengeance" / "The Harbor of Madmen!"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #25 (Spring 1948) - "Firebrand, the Scourge of the Pacific" / "Murder Through the Mind"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #26 (Jun 1948) - "Murder Motor Mart" / "Terror in the Lost Colony"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #27 (Aug 1948) - "The Case of the Frantic Fisherman" / "Monument to Murder"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #28 (Oct 1948) - "A Case of King's Ransom" / "Kids! Kids! Kids!" / "Crime Makes the Writer"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #29 (Dec 1948) - "The Mystery of the Pirate's Cove" / "The Deadly Game of Captain Black" / "The Professor and the Mermaid"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #30 (Feb 1939) - "Doom from the Sun" / "Slaves Under the Sea"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #34 (Jun 1954) - "Betty Dean's Rivalry with Namora"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #35 (Aug 1954) - "Invasion!"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #36 (Oct 1954) - "The Hidden World!" / "War of the Poles"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #37 (Dec 1954) - "Wham!"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #38 (Feb 1955) - "The Sub-Mariner Strikes!"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #39 (Apr 1955) - "The Sub-Mariner Gets a Lesson in Humility from Namora!"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #40 (Jun 1955) - "The Sub-Mariner Meets a New Enemy….Fire!" / "The Sub-Mariner and the Icebergs"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #41 (Aug 1955) - "The Big Freeze!"
_ Sub-Mariner Comics #42 (Oct 1955) - "Invasion!!"
_ Young Men #27 (Apr 1954) - "The Treasure of Captain Derelict"

GOLDEN AGE COVERS

Namora #2 (Oct 1948)	Namora #3 (Dec 1948)	Sub-Mariner Comics #24 (Winter 1947)
Sub-Mariner Comics #25 (Spring 1948)	Sub-Mariner Comics #26 (June 1948)	Sub-Mariner Comics #27 (Aug 1948)
Sub-Mariner Comics #28 (Oct 1948)	Sub-Mariner Comics #29 (Dec 1948)	Sub-Mariner Comics #34 (June 1954)