Continuing our Marvel superhero series we have the pairing few would have expected to see: Miss America takes Namora over her knee! These two are probably unfamiliar to most readers, so let's introduce them.
Miss America was one of the innumerable patriotic-themed heroes who put on their longjohns for World War II, and more specifically, a female version of Captain America. There was a concerted effort among the comics companies during this period to create new superheroines, possibly because it was thought they would appeal to both girls and boys - for somewhat different reasons, of course. The first issue, the cover of which is reproduced below, turned out to be the last as well, at least in the standard comics format. With its second issue, Miss America switched to magazine format, and teen humor rather than super-heroics became its main focus. The reason was that superheroes as a group faded away very quickly after the war, and before long, the popular character Patsy Walker had completely taken over the book (below right). (By the way, you can see Patsy's rival Hedy Wolfe get spanked here and here, and (as Hellcat) Patsy herself get a steel rod across her behind!).
Cover of Miss America #1 (1944, no month given). Art by Ken Bald or Pauline Loth (we believe it's Loth). Characters © Marvel Comics Group Inc.
Miss America v1 #51 (April 1953), cover artist unknown. Characters © Marvel Comics Group Inc. Posted by the Web-Ed on 05/13/2011.
Namora was as obviously a female version of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner as Miss America was of Captain America. Significantly, none of these superheroines ever really took off: after hanging around with Namor in his book, Namora (billed as "The Sea Beauty") lasted only three issues in her own (see below). It wasn't simply bad (postwar) timing; superheroines based on superheroes are never as popular as their male counterparts (Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, Batgirl, etc. - even the oh-so-spankable Supergirl couldn't cut it in a solo book)
Cover of Namora #2 (October 1948), art by Ken Bald. Characters © Marvel Comics Group Inc.
Cover of Sub-Mariner #26 (June 1948), art by Syd Shores. Characters © Marvel Comics Group Inc.
