YEAR 1943: THE VALKYRIE

The original Valkyrie only made a handful of appearances in Hillman Comics' AIRBOY feature, debuting as an enemy to the titular pilot-hero in AIR FIGHTERS v.#2, no.#2. 

In that debut she leads an all-female squadron of fighter-pilots on behalf of the Nazi cause during WWII, and proves instrumental in capturing Airboy and delivering him to a Nazi commander.  However, some of Valkyrie's fellow pilots try to liberate Airboy, so the commander orders them whipped for their disloyalty. Displaying the sort of ideological flip-flop characteristic of Golden Age comics, the German lady pilot instantly decides to betray her country and to help Airboy escape, if he helps liberate her friends.  It's such an extreme about-face that I can't help but wonder if there was something else going on between Valkyrie and her all-girl squad-- something with an affinity to those famous lesbian pilots of pop-fiction, "Pussy Galore and her Abro-Cats."

Pussycats aside, Valkyrie quickly transfers her affections to young Airboy within that same story, sealing their bargain with a big smooch-- and in her subsequent appearances during the WWII years, she remained in a loose romantic relationship with the hero. Her last two Golden Age apperances following the war recast her as a Communist agent who had no continuity-ties with the original version.

The character was revived in the 1980s by Eclipse as support-cast for their new AIRBOY comic, and even received her own mini-series.  Given that her outfit and demeanor were pretty bitchin', this was definitely one of the best revivals of a forgotten forties character thus far seen in the comics medium.

YEAR 1943: MISS AMERICA (II)

Since Quality Comics' "Miss America" character died on the vine, their competitor Timely felt comfortable utilizing the name for a new character, who would enjoy a more noteworthy career.  Starting in MARVEL MYSTERY #49, Madeline Joyce received super-powers as the result of a lightning strike, and immediately took up crimefighting as "Miss America."  Aside from the one constant ability of flight, Miss America's powers varied wildly, ranging from super-strength to X-ray vision.  Some versions had her running around wearing glasses in her superhero identity, a clear reverse-riff on Clark Kent's schtick of doffing glasses to become Superman.


This online reprint of a "Miss America" story suggests that in her 1940s incarnation she was just a middling-to-fair superheroine. Without getting into her later incarnations at Marvel, the original character's greatest distinction may have been her charter membership in Timely's short-lived superhero team, the "All-Winners Squad."

YEAR 1943: THE CHEETAH

Continuing somewhat in the feline themes seen in years 1940 and 1942, I give 1943 over to the Cheetah, often framed as Wonder Woman's most recognizeable antagonist, almost the "Joker" to WW's "Batman." 

Some fans have wondered if Cheetah received so much attention in later retcons of the Amazon's feature because Cheetah was prominent in the 1970s SUPER FRIENDS cartoon.  However, Giganta was in that cartoon as well, and hasn't seemed to make as much of an impression.  It's at least interesting that within the sphere of the Golden Age Marston-Peter WONDER WOMAN comics, Cheetah is the only major foe who wears a "supervillain costume" as such.  As best I remember, most Wonder Woman foes are either attired in mundane clothes (Paula Von Gunther) or in garments appropriate to some exotic locale (Clea, Zara).

In addition Cheetah's backstory possesses an elemental simplicity that's a bit more appealing than, say, a gorilla being turned into a spiteful human.  Given the emblematic name "Priscilla Rich" as a way of showing her as a "poor little rich girl," Marston's script portrays the villainess as a woman tormented by an inferiority complex, resulting in a split personality and the separate persona of the Cheetah.  Though she was never anywhere near the equal of the heroine in terms of sheer power, her bestial savagery made her a tough opponent in a battle, and to some extent the polar opposite of the sophisticated Diana's core value of self-restraint.  The Golden Age battles of the two antagonists were necessarily restrained by the market of the times, though many later versions of the Cheetah have been more ferociously impressive.