is for Miss America.
And I'll bet you thought I'd be singing..."Here she comes....Miss...America...". Well, rest easy...because I won't be doing that...nope...no way.
Anyway...
Created by Otto Binder and Al Gabriel, Miss America debuted in Marvel Mystery Comics #49 back in November of 1943 during the 'golden age' of comics, for the Timely comic line.
A precursor to Marvel Comics, Timely began noticing the market was diverging away from 'just males' to include girls, as well as the superhero trend began to wane. To keep up with that trend, Timely began to introduce more female leads such as The Blonde Phantom, Golden Girl, Sun Girl, and....Miss America.
Miss America was really Madeline Joyce who, after tampering with a scientific experiment, was struck by lightning and thought dead. Madeline survived to find she could now fly and had 'greater than normal' strength. Her "flight" was actually done by being able to levitate herself psionically. With well timed leaps, she could levitate herself and appear to fly on her own.
Her book ran for 129 issues and she appeared regularly in Marvel Mystery Comics as well as All Winners Comic. In 1976, she was 'retconned' (retro continuity) into being a member of The Liberty Legion (you do remember them, right?) before joining the All Winners Squad.
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| The All Winners Squad Miss America, Namor (the Sub Mariner), Captain America, the Human Torch, The Whizzer |
Her last big story arc hinted that she and Robert Frank (aka The Whizzer) were the parents of The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. This proved, later, to be false but I always thought it was a cool premise, given Quicksilver also had super speed.
She was so popular that they even named a pageant after her.
O.k..I made that up, but still...she was a fun character all the same.
Stop back tomorrow for one of Marvel's answers to D.C.'s Green Lantern....
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For a fitting Music Monday, I'll leave you with "American Woman" by The Guess Who.
