Remember that episode of Mad Men where Peggy tries out that electric weight loss belt and it turns out to be a vibrator? Well that was based on real products, one of which ran ads in Marvel and ACG comic books throughout 1950-1951, usually showing a woman “pleasuring” herself seductively. I guess “weight loss”, “can’t […]
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Remember when the Phantom Lady’s costume was adjusted to bare more skin? Well, at some point, Quality Comics stopped publishing Phantom Lady stories and somehow Fox Feature Syndicate believed they had the rights to the character. Give her a blue costume redesign, show even more skin, and why not give her a “black flashlight” that […]
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Timely (Marvel) Comics seems to be dipping deeper into salaciousness as we see more curvy women in skin-tight costumes throughout 1947. In Human Torch #27 (May 1947), the Asbestos Lady appears – Victoria Murdock is a brilliant criminal scientist who uses asbestos to help commit crimes.
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In Comic Cavalcade #12 (September 1945), Dalma the Amazon gets jealous of Wonder Woman’s adventures and decides to remove her bracelets and leave Paradise Island. In a wacky mix-up, she mugs a girl, steals her clothing and then fails to put it on properly, resulting in a scandal where she walks down the street in […]
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Wonder Woman encounters a different version of Atlantis than the one introduced in Aquaman stories in Wonder Woman #8 (February 1944). In this version, Atlantis is rules by giant woman who have no respect for men, treating them as second-class citizens. As if to punctuate that, Steve Trevor is kidnapped and forced to wear butt-cheek […]
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There are obvious lewd and bawdy places a character like Plastic Man could go, but this was the raciest panel I’ve seen so far from Police Comics #28 (January 1944). Why are his hands like that? Why are her hips like that?
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Frank Borth took over the art for the Phantom Lady stories in Police Comics #17 (January 1943). Apparently he was not satisfied with her already-scanty costume (basically a one-piece bathing suit and a cape) and removed the back and added a split to her navel. Despite there being more female costumed adventurers, most of them […]
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Miss Fury newspaper strip reprints were collected into a comic book by Timely Comics (the company that became known as Marvel Comics) in December 1942. At first black and white, full color stories started in Issue #2. The character was known as Black Fury in the context of the stories, and I imagine her skin-tight […]
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I have yet to see an in-depth, well-rounded and firm journalistic exploration of the costume choices of the Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt. Decades before Wonder Woman was allowed to run around in basically high-cut panties, the Atom did it in brown ones. I’m trying to imagine the conversations between writer and illustrator to craft […]
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Is that an anti-aircraft gun or are you just happy to see me? The Sub-Mariner gets suggestive on the cover of Marvel Mystery Comics #14 (October 1940)! By this point in American comics, I’m definitely noticing a trend of showing superheroes battling Nazis or thinly-veiled Nazi-like forces. Superman, Sub-Mariner and Captain Marvel / Shazam all […]
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