The Golden Dames Project

[JGray]

The Golden Dames Project has a simple goal: find positive portrayals of women from the golden age of comics (public domain only, of course) and present them to the world in webcomic form. Once I've picked a character to spotlight we present a complete story (one entry from a single comic) page by page, updating on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also include commentary with each page on the characters, creators, book, publisher, and history of comics.

With a little encouragement from Yoc, I've decided to post my commentary here as well as on my site. We've posted six pages on Golden Dames so far (five of Betty Bates, Lady-at-Law and one of Futura). I'm going to post the commentary here one per day until I've caught up and then I'll post here as I post there.

Hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to discuss, ask questions, and point out where I'm wrong.

[JGray]

Commentary on Betty Bates, Lady-at-Law (from Hit Comics #5) page one.

Welcome to the Golden Dames Project. The goal of the project is simple: find great examples of empowered women from the golden age of comics that have lapsed into the public domain and share them so they can inspire a new generation of comic readers. There'll also be commentary on the characters, creators, books, and publishers to give readers a taste of comic history.

Let's begin with a five page story featuring Betty Bates, Lady at Law. Betty Bates was created by Stanley Charlot (a pen name of artist Bob Powell) and this story was illustrated by Nick Cardy. It debuted as the second story in Hit Comics #5, an anthology book put out in November 1940 by Quality Comics.

The Jerry Corona casefile, presented above, is actually Ms. Bates' second story. She debuted in Hit Comics #4 in October of 1940. A Betty Bates story would appear in every issue of Hit Comics until the book folded with issue #65 in 1950. That's 59 comics over a period of ten years. As far as I can tell, that's the longest consecutive run any comic book lawyer would have until Matt Murdock put up his shingle over at Marvel Comics as Daredevil in 1964.

Betty Bates was as tough as they come. She began stories as a defense attorney for hire but moved on to become a respected district attorney. Ms. Bates never hesitated to investigate cases herself, often with the help of her sidekick, an investigative journalist named Larry. Don't let her having a male sidekick fool you, though. Ms. Bates was an attorney of action. She let her fists or her gun do the talking when called for, and needed the protection of no man. The men in Betty Bates' life followed her lead, not the other way around.

[Yoc]

Today you'd expect Betty to be teamed up in cross-over stories with Quality's other long running female crime fighter Sally O'Neil.  I don't believe it ever happened but I haven't read all of their stories by any means.

[JGray]

Yoc: Sadly, that never happened. In all her appearances, Betty never stepped outside of her own unique world (which I assume was NYC).

Commentary on Betty Bates, Lady-at-Law (from Hit Comics #5) page two.

Tracking down information on who did what, specifically, in the golden age. Publishers weren't as forward thinking about credits as they are today. Often only one name is on the comic when multiple people worked on it. Even more confusing, creators often used different pen names depending on which company they were working for at the time. To add another layer of complexity atop that, publishers sometimes contracted out content creation to an entire studio such as the famous Eisner and Iger Studio. That isn't even taking into account how some creators, such as Bob Kane, got credit for work they didn't even do.

That being said, the man credited with creating Betty Bates and writing this particular story is Stanley Charlot. Charlot was the pen name used by Bob Powell, a rather prolific artist and writer who worked for Will Eisner at his studios. Working for Eisner, Powell's work appeared in books for multiple publishers and he is credited with work on stories featuring the Spirit of '76, Mr. Mystic and the first Blackhawk tale. During this time Powell became rather well known for his "good girl" art, including work on Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Like many artists, Bob Powell entered military service during World War II - specifically, the Air Force. After his discharge Powell formed his own studio and did work for a number of different publishers including a stint at Marvel Comics in the mid-60s. At Marvel, Powell worked on stories featuring Giant Man, the Human Torch, the Hulk, Daredevil and, believe it or not, the Beatles. Powell also provided art for the infamous Mars Attacks trading card line from Topps.

Bob Powell died in late 1967. At the time of his death he was the art director for Sick magazine, a contemporary of the more famous MAD magazine.

[Yoc]

Hi J,
I saw this and thought you might have an opinion -

In this week's Beauology 101 column, courtesy of Westfield Comics,
Beau Smith breaks down the art of writing women in comic books. He
talks about fictional women in a male dominated business. See if you
agree or discover just how simple Beau is in his complexity.

http://westfieldcomics.com/blog/interviews-and-columns/beauology-101-i-am-woman-hear-me-roar-and-write-it-correctly/

[JGray]

Yoc,

First, he's missing historical context and he's limiting himself to the idea that comics have always been "superhero comics for boys". We both know that isn't true.

For a long time the readership was pretty evenly split - 52 percent male, 48 percent female. It is only when the CCA rose and more or less destroyed every genre BUT superheroes that female readership dropped off.

And, certainly, we can find tons of examples of strong, empowered, and fairly well written females in the golden age (or, at least, women who were written as well as the men at the time). And even going past that we had career women like Millie the Model who, while somewhat stereotypical, were still the stars of their own books.

He is right, of course. Wonder Woman has been neutered multiple times throughout her career. After Marston stopped writing her, Diana went from a superhero who happened to be someone's girlfriend to a girlfriend who wished she didn't have to be a superhero. Then she was depowered for a while. But I think great strides were made with the character under Perez and Simone and Jimenez. The problem is they were strides that would speak more towards, I believe, female readers rather than male - and the comic book industry has been steadily alienating them for decades now.

I agree with Mr. Smith's basic premise. We need more women creators and characters, better written, and better illustrated. However, the premise that it is only in modern times that we're starting to get these empowered women is false. Mr. Smith needs to look to comic history so we can learn from what came before.

[Yoc]

Hi J,
I suspect Beau is strictly looking at the silverage and later and almost for sure ignoring anything but Marvel and DC.  For sure there have been some very interesting books outside of the big two.  But if you include DC they have done the odd good thing.  Did you get a chance to read 'Y: the last man'?  The star might have been male but he was the only one and the series was fun on many levels.  Some of the better characters in the popular Walking Dead comic are female as well. 

To be honest I lost interest in the hero books of the big two back in the early 90s so I haven't seen what has become of Wonder Woman.  When I was reading hero books in the 80s Beau was right about most Big 2 female characters being pigeon holed into the same roles most of the time though I do recall the whole Phoenix saga ending in 137 as impressive.  Jean Grey was fleshed out a lot before she was killed off. 

I have seen the DC animated adaptions which didn't feature WW much but did raise my eyebrows when they hinted at a relationship with Batman in the Justice League Unlimited series.

I think Beau was mostly complaining about the current state of DC/Marvel and pushing for better work from them.  I wonder if they still shy away from books built around female leads as being unsalable?  A good story and art will bring readers - female lead or not.  As a male I would be nervous about writing it though I bet it would be a challenge some writers out there would enjoy if the chance came up and they didn't have to worry about their futures should it fail.

[JGray]

Yoc, Marvel has made a lot of strides in recent years. I highly recommend checking out their new Ms. Marvel title about a teenage, Muslim, female superhero. It is on issue 2 right now and a great read. DC could be doing better. A lot better. Both companies could do better at hiring female talent. In fact, most of the companies could. The president of Image recently went on a huge rant on the state of the comic industry. Among the things he said was that all the companies could be doing a much better job attracting female readers.

But, as one critic of his speech pointed out, Image's record for hiring female artists and creators isn't any better than Marvel's or DC's. In fact, it may be worse.

Y, the Last Man was one of the great examples of how comics aren't just superhero books.

Commentary on Betty Bates, Lady-in-Law (from Hit Comics #5) page three.

Today you can buy a comic and quickly know who wrote it, who did pencils, inks, colors, lettering, editing, and quite a few other duties besides. Comic publishers weren't quite so diligent about giving credit where credit was due back in the golden age, however. Fifty-five Betty Bates stories were published between 1940 to 1950. Some of those stories aren't credited to anyone at all but those that are credited only to Stanley Charlot. Initially Stanley Charlot was the pen name of Bob Powell but we know for sure Mr. Powell didn't work on every story. In fact it isn't very likely he created the Betty Bates stories he did create by himself. There's enough evidence out there that I'm crediting the art in this Betty Bates story to Nick Cardy.

Born in 1920 as Nicholas Viscardi, Nick Cardy  entered the comic field working for Will Eisner's studio. Eisner's studio was a comic book "packager". Many publishers were interested in producing comic books but didn't want to invest in an art team for a venture that might fail. Eisner's studio created full comics, ready to print, for those publishers - which included the Quality Group, publisher of Hit Comics.

Cardy created the character Lady Luck which ran as a backup feature to Eisner's famous the Spirit. Like many comic artists of the time, Cardy joined the military to fight in World War II. In the army, Cardy worked as both an illustrator and a tank driver. He earned two purple hearts during his time in the army.

Nick Cardy is most famous for his work for DC comics during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. He drew 39 full issues of Aquaman and did covers for the remaining 17 issues. Cardy also penciled (and often inked) all 43 issues of the first volume of Teen Titans. That means Nick Cardy was responsible for defining the visual look of DCU characters Mera of Atlantis, Donna Troy, Bumblebee, and Lilith Clay.

Nick Cardy was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2005. He died of heart failure in November of 2013.

[Yoc]

Hi J,
Wow, that sure is a new twist on Ms Marvel!  Seems to me didn't they give the 'old' Ms Marvel a new name back in the stone age 90s?  Is Carol still in the Marvel universe?
It would take something exceptional to make me curious about today's heroes.  I think I will give the new Ms Marvel a look.  Thanks for the pointer.

-Yoc

[JGray]

Carol was Binary and then Warbird for a while. Then Ms. Marvel again. Currently she has taken the mantle of Captain Marvel. Which leaves Ms. Marvel open for this new character.

[Yoc]

Thanks for the update J.  I recall the strange look she had as Binary with that bizarre hair.  Speaking of Marvel women I wonder which will be featured next in a movie?  Electra bombed though I didn't mind it over all.  She Hulk might be a natural with hopefully the humour of the character's later appearances.  If an Ant-Man movie is almost on us will the Wasp be included.  I know the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are in the next Avengers.

BTW, feel free to share links to anything on DCM in your blog if wanted.  There is an incomplete Lady Luck collection in the archive section for instance.

-Yoc

[JGray]

Yoc: Who will be the first Marvel Cinema Universe, female solo movie character is a matter of debate. I'm hoping to see Carol up on the screen in the next few years. As for Janet... I don't know. I think it is an absolute shame that the Wasp is the only founding Avenger who hasn't gotten her own movie or even her own solo title in comics.

Commentary on Betty Bates, Lady-at-Law (from Hit Comics #5) page four.

This Betty Bates, Lady-at-Law story was printed in Hit Comics #5 (cover date: November, 1940), published by the Quality Comics Group.

Like most comic books of the day, Hit Comics was an anthology title. Each issue would feature between six and twelve comic stories, each showcasing a different character. A story could be as short as a single page or run as long as a dozen. Stories in Hit Comics were usually self-contained rather than serialized. Betty Bates had one adventure in issue #5 and another in issue #6 and still another in issue #7. A Betty Bates tale never ended with the words "to be continued". Instead, readers were told Ms. Bates would be solving another thrilling case in the next issue.

Hit Comics had a sixty-five issue run that lasted from June 1940 to June 1950. It started out as a monthly comic but quickly switched to bimonthly. During US involvement in World War II, perhaps due to paper rationing, Hit Comics switched to a quarterly schedule. Finally, after the war, Hit Comics returned to a bimonthly schedule which Quality kept until the final issue.

Since it was an anthology book, a number of characters were featured on the cover of Hit Comics over the years - none of them Betty Bates. The original cover star of Hit Comics was the Red Bee, a Lou Fine creation. Like Betty Bates, the Red Bee was a lawyer in his civilian life. However, when the law wasn't enough, the Red Bee he donned on a bright red and yellow costume, grabbed his stunner gun and fought crime with the help of his pet bee Michael. Michael lived in the Red Bee's belt.

Other characters that graced the cover of Hit Comics include Neon the Unknown, Hercules (not the Roman/Green demigod but a mortal using his name), Stormy Foster the Great Defender, Kid Eternity and riverboat man Jeb Rivers. Red Bee, Neon the Unknown and Kid Eternity have all been revived and used in the modern day by DC Comics.

Red Bee and Stormy Foster the Great Defender are notable because some stories were written by Toni Blum, one of the few known female writers in comics at the time. The Golden Dames Project will be spotlighting Ms. Blum's work down the road.

[Yoc]

Hi J,
Funny, I thought that Wasp was in her own mini-series but maybe not.  The old memory isn't the best anymore.  If Wasp is used I suspect it will only be as comedy relief.  She's treated like a member of Sex In The City cast in most of her appearances.  I never read the Ultimates or the whole Hank is a wife beater story line.  That's just too heavy for me.  Gimmie the fun loving Perez era or the cool Roy Thomas stories.

[JGray]

Yoc, I don't believe she has even gotten her own miniseries.

Commentary on Betty Bates, Lady-at-Law (from Hit Comics #5) page five.

Printed at the bottom of Hit Comics #5, page 1 are the following words:

HIT COMICS, November, 1940, No. 5. Published monthly by Comic Magazines, Inc., 1213 W. 3rd St. Cleveland, Ohio. Executive and Editorial offices, Gurley Building 322 Main St., Stamford, Conn. E. M. Arnold, General Manager.

"But J", you may be saying at this point, "you told us in your commentary on the first page of this story that Hit Comics was put out by Quality Comics not Comic Magazines, Inc. What's up with that?"

Here's the skinny.

Quality Comics was never actually a company. Instead, the Quality Comics Group refers to a variety of comic book publishing ventures owned by Everett M. "Busy" Arnold. Those ventures included Comic Magazines, Inc., E.M Arnold Publications, Smash Comics, and others. Starting with Crack Comics #5, the comic books published by Arnold's various companies started carrying the Quality Comics Group logo on the cover, giving them a unifying brand for public consumption.

The Quality Comics Group had a strong stable of characters who remain famous, even today. They include the Blackhawks, Kid Eternity, Doll Man, the Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, Uncle Sam, and most notably, Jack Cole's Plastic Man.

The Quality Comics Group lasted until the winter of 1956 when declining sales and assaults by moralists spurred on by the book, "Seduction of the Innocent" convinced Mr. Arnold that comic books were no longer a profitable business. Arnold sold many, if not all, of his books and characters to National Periodical Publications aka DC Comics. National continued to publish four Quality books: Blackhawk, G.I. Combat, Hearth Throbs and Robin Hood Tales. All but Robin Hood Tales lasted another 100 issues before the plug was pulled. Robin Hood Tales ran for only 6 more issues.

DC pulled out several Quality Comics characters as part of their annual Justice League/Justice Society team-up tradition in Justice League of America #107 & #108 in 1973. In the story the Quality characters were now a team called the Freedom Fighters and lived on an alternate Earth (officially designated Earth-X) where the Axis powers had won World War II. With the help of the JLA and JSA, however, the Freedom Fighters were given a chance to fix that problem.

After the game-changing Crisis on Infinite Earths series of the mid-80s DC comics underwent a radical change where all their characters lived on a single Earth instead of on multiple Earths. The Quality Comics characters were considered residents of this new Earth and the most famous of them, Plastic Man, eventually became a core member of the Justice League.

All this history leads to the question: does DC Comics own Betty Bates, Lady-At-Law? The story I published on this site along with all of Ms. Bates' appearances in Hit Comics are in the public domain. Due to the way intellectual property law worked before 1969 copyright notices needed to be renewed regularly and neither Mr. Arnold nor DC Comics properly renewed the notices on the Hit Comics series. DC Comics can certainly reprint these Betty Bates stories but so can anyone else.

As to the question of if DC owns Betty Bates, the character? On that issue I'm unsure. It is possible DC Comics themselves do not know. Without seeing the original contract it is impossible to know for sure which characters were sold to DC Comics by Mr. Arnold. Was it a list of specific characters? Or was it every character in every comic ever published by the Quality Comics Group? The truth is, I don't know.

But I'll tell you what. I would love to see Betty Bates show up as a crusading District Attorney in Gotham or Metropolis, giving those heroes a run for their money when it came to busting crime.

[Yoc]

Interestingly Jerry Iger, co-partner in the Eisner-Iger shop and makers of a lot of the content for Quality, claimed HE still owned the copyright on some of the Quality heroes like Phantom Lady in his 'Iger Comics Kingdom' book of 1988 (pg79).  In fact he claimed the copyright for anything 'he' created for any of his clients during the golden-age.  Not much stock was taken of this claim.