June Tarpé Mills was born February 25, 1912 and is best known for creating one of the first female superheroes, Miss Fury. While Miss Fury wasn't the first, she was the first created by a woman. Miss Fury, a comic strip, made her debut on April 6, 1941, was Sunday only, and ran until December 1951 when health problems would significantly damage the quality of the comic strip. Mills continued to work mostly in commercial art as many Golden Age artists would. She did a story for Marvel Comics in one of their romance comics in 1971 and some cover art for Miss Fury comic reprints. Her career got started by modeling in order to make money to go to the Pratt Institute and in 1938 she entered the burgeoning world of comic books working on Daredevil Barry Finn and the Purple Zombie. Working under the pseudonym of Tarpé, because "it would've been a major let-down to the kids if they found out that the author of such virile and awesome characters was a gal", Mills also created the character of The Catman--no, not
this one--a former criminal who exacts revenge on his former gangster friends who left his wife to starve and die while he was sent up the river for 20 years. How exactly does he exact revenge? I don't want to ruin the surprise.
The Catman made his debut in Amazing Man #5 in 1939. He made a second appearance in Amazing Man #8 but it wasn't as clever as his debut adventure.
Oh! We're just jumping right into it? I don't even have my pants off yet.
Ha! They're all doing Bob Newhart telephone routines.
"Hello, Marge...It's George..."
Why does Barton look like one of the men above? It's very confusing.
Word of advice: If anyone ever tells you that they are "tickled t'death" to see you, they are, in fact, not "tickled t'death" to see you.
"Coming out party? Who's gay?"
I'm sure they are just throwing Bart money so he'll go away (we'll learn why soon) but what they are offering to give him is clearly vastly less than what they've made over the last 20 years.
Bart went to jail for 20 years, taking the blame for what these goons did. In that time, despite making millions, they just let Bart's wife starve and die. Mobsters are usually bad guys but they are honorable bad guys. These guys just plain suck.
Is that a little gadget that will blow every blasted one of us to eternity in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
"How is that a pleasant thought, Bart? Now I'm gonna be thinkin' about death all the time."
What? Now we're going to be spending all this time with an old lady and her cat? Well, I don't exactly hate it...
It probably took a year to train this cat to attack people. You would think it would come naturally to them--being God's perfect killing machine and all--but it's hard turning cats into your one-man army of the night.
I love this cat.
Yes tiddy
Well, at least these guys aren't turning tail at the prospect of the sudden demise of their buddy. "Come on, guys, you can't run out on me now!" "Sorry, but it's almost midnight. My wife don't like it when I'm out late."
They're gonna use a gun and chain-whip-thing(?) against whatever might Chuck? Seems poorly thought out.
All the men look alike in this comic.
Hmm. Do you think this old woman has something to do with all this death?
I once knew an old woman who went around muttering "naughty pussy". She didn't have any money though.
"Chuck had a bum ticker. His heart was weak. Our hearts are strong. Plus, all the cigars and booze probably didn't help."
Where did they get their flag of the municipality of Bonita, Brazil pillowcases?
Seems kind of cheap to shove all the plot points into the newspaper headline.
Must be a slow news day if a criminal realtor's death makes the front page (a "wuxtry" no less) of The New
Yo̵̱͋̆͠r̷̡̤͋͌̇̓k̶̡̺̞͚̙̀̌͜ͅ ̴̧̟͗͌͊̎̄͛͒͘͘T̸̪̘͛͌̿̾̊́͊̽͝ḭ̷͕͌̓̈́̈͌̍͆͘m̴̼̽͗̿̌̇̈ę̷͚͈̳͇͓͔̙͛̈̽́͆͋̂͝s̷̟̲̲̼̺̺̩̞͇̔̂̚̚
Rude. This sweet old
man woman needs help getting back to
his her room. What are you doing right now that requires your immediate attention?
Why did they color these narration boxes red? It's terrible.
We don't get to see the cat scratch anyone this time? What a gyp.
She how POISON is underlined? That's a clue.
"I'll just jump overboard. You're not getting me who-I-think-is-Barton-Stone!"
At least he gets to die on a nice cruise. Like how many other dozens of people?
Pop culture would really have you believe that you can just ask if someone died and you get the full details. "Oh, someone died?" "Yes, ma'am. Mr. Hammond of room 403 was found dead in the lounge of a heart attack. He was 52-years-old, and his social security number is 239-..."
"The world will never miss"? Blackie got a front page headline in a major metropolitan newspaper!
All the blood in the world won't get you your wife back, Bart. But, you do look happier so what do I know?
Gotta love that cat!
Tarpé Mills died December 12, 1988 at her home in Brooklyn. A graphic novel based on a Miss Fury side character, "Albino Joe: The Man With the Tiger Eye" was unfinished at the time of her death. Nearly forgotten, Mills was inducted into the Eisner Comic Hall of Fame in 2019.
 |
Portion of a Miss Fury comic strip. The risque illustrations drawn by
Mills elicited some controversy and even some cancelations from
newspapers. |
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Blondie
Blondie should know by now that Dagwood's appetite will never be satiated. Never.
Funky Winkerbean
First, if Tom Batiuk wants to do comic books then he should just do comic books. Second, someone should tell him that the Comics Code hasn't been used since 2011, or the Cosmic Code in this case.
Mary Worth
Is Mary still smiling because Ian and Toby haven't started their rutting ritual yet or because they have?
How many times has Mary read Outlander? More than three times? Is she re-reading the series to build up to its latest release?
The Born Loser
Where's that table of snacks from
yesterday? Why is Brutus recording the game? To rewatch the plays? All that will be on ESPN and I'm pretty sure YouTube may have some of that as well.
I see they locked Wilberforce up so he won't disturb them during the game. They'll let him back out for the
Puppy Bowl. Brutus has a banana split on the line.
