13 COVERS, STRIPS AND MORE: The pioneering cartoonist was born 112 years ago, on Feb. 25, 1912…
The late June Tarpe Mills — born 112 years ago, on Feb. 25, 1912 — was the first woman to create a female action hero, the sensational, sexy, envelope-pushing Miss Fury.
Under the name Tarpe Mills, the cartoonist produced about 11 years’ worth of strips, from 1941 to 1952, and the character has lived on in other incarnations since. (She was originally called the Black Fury, by the way.)
It’s tough to find a run of Miss Fury strips online — at least by legal means — so I’ve scanned various sources and come up with 13 IMAGES, including strips, features and book covers. They are of admittedly varying reproduction quality.
Not included are the covers from Timely Comics’ 1940s 8-issue run that collected Miss Fury strips; those were drawn by Alex Schomburg and, evidently, others. Which of course gives me an idea for next year — spotlighting various interpretations of Tarpe Mills’ catsuit-clad heroine and her alter ego, Marla Drake.
But this year, it’s all June Tarpe Mills.
Dig it:
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MORE
— Dig the FIRST 13 SUPERMAN NEWSPAPER STRIPS: An 85th Anniversary Celebration. Click here.
— Dig the FIRST 13 BATMAN NEWSPAPER STRIPS: An 80th Anniversary Celebration. Click here.
February 26, 2024
She had quite the effect on Stan Lee.
He gave her a story to draw years later on Our Love Story #14.
Wasn’t there something about a bathtub panel in one of her strips that was scandalous at the time?