1962

1962 was a year that was actually low on sexism so we like to celebrate those very rare occasions, as always please check out the Lady Comic Book History Podcast so here we go...

First up we have Carol Ferris who made her first appearance in S.O.S Green Lantern vol.1 issue #22 in October of 1959. There was a Golden Age version of her hero alter ego Star Sapphire but she was retconned and only appeared in 2 issues. Carol Ferris’ Star Sapphire appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #16 in October of 1962. Star Sapphire is a consistent adversary for Green Lantern and Carol is a consistent love interest for Hal Jordan. Star Sapphire is an entity unto itself much like the Phoenix force is in the sense that it takes hosts and is emboldened to no one person. However it does come from the Zamaron’s who are a part of the Star Sapphire Corps, who bestow upon Carol a violet power ring.

“For Hearts long lost, and full of fright for those alone in blackest night accept our ring and join our fight, love conquers all with violet light.”

Our next Star Sapphire was Dela Pharon making her debut appearance in Green Lantern vol.2 issue #41 in December of 1965. If we’re being technical Carol Ferris appears as Star Sapphire in the same issue. This is due to a dissent amongst the Zamaron’s over who would make a better queen and in turn a better Star Sapphire. The romantic and crime fighting lives of the men of the Green Lantern Corps and the women of the Violet Lantern Corps are very intertwined. Dela falls in love with a green lantern and enslaves him, mates with him and then kills him and encases their planet in violet crystal so that they will be together till the end of time. So...yeah that's a little mentally unstable but for once I don’t think it has sexist undertones.

Our next queen of the Zamarons is Remoni-Notra or the name she took on earth Deborah Camille Darnell. This Star Sapphire came to earth to steal Carol Ferris’ Star Sapphire gem and join the Secret Society of Super Villains. Deborah had an ongoing romance with Captain Comet but there is also a continuity where she also dated Hal Jordan after he and Carol broke up. And apparently all that relevant about her iteration of Star Sapphire is her love life *insert eye roll here*

The next relevant Star Sapphire is Nol-Anj who portrayed a more villainous version of the character who first appeared in Green Lantern vol 5 issue #21 in August of 2013. She starts her story locked in a prison guarded by the Green Lantern Corps, where she seduces her guard. When a violet lantern corps ring lands near her cell, her guard claims that the ring coming to her is a sign that their love is true so he releases her from her cell and lets her put on the ring resulting in his death. Nol says that the love the ring detected was not for him but for the Clann she belonged to.

The powers associated with Star Sapphire are flight, energy blasts and a certain amount of invulnerability. And this would not really be Lady Comic Book History if I didn’t go off on a feminist rant discussing the not so subtle ways sexism is depicted in comic books and other media. So here we go, The women serving as Star Sapphire have displayed a pathological fear of men, which was meant to be depicted as unrealistic and bizarre which is kind of hilarious because a fear of men is actually very realistic and justified. Also the writers felt the need to make the women that carried the mantle of Star Sapphire incapable of grasping the variations in physics between dimensions which is absolutely sexist because they’ve literally travelled through dimensions so common sense dictates they'd have a basic understanding of how it works, on top of that they constantly lose because they are overconfident where their level of confidence normally helps male heroes.

Next up we have Betty Ross who makes her debut in the Incredible Hulk issue #1 in May of 1962 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby she was a supporting character in most of the Hulk’s series on and off serving as his longest running love interest. Betty started as a strong willed, independent minded woman who only got stronger and more confrontational throughout her runs. In Hulk vol 2 issues #15 in September of 2009 she appears as Red She-Hulk allowing her to become a member of the Defenders in vol 4 issue #1 of the series in December of 2011. Making Betty Red She-Hulk was designed to give her more agency over her life, though she was always a strong character she was polite and allowed herself to get pushed around due to spending her formative years under her fathers strict supervision. Growing to 7 feet tall and towering with muscles allowed her to feel like she had control over herself but she could also retain her humanity and remain who she was before her transformation. Betty Ross might be our first real feminist hero, I do believe every other one we’ve discussed so far has fallen into problematic hands and with Betty Ross she started strong and independent and only got stronger.

Last but not least we have Jane Foster created by Stan Lee, LArry Lieber and Jack Kirby she first appeared in Journey into Mystery #84 in September of 1962. For many years Jane was a nurse, thor’s first mortal host, then a doctor. In 1978 and again in 2014 Foster is revealed as worthy of Thor's hammer during her time wielding Mjolnir she adopts the name Thor, the Goddess of Thunder and joins the Avengers, after she sacrifices herself she takes up the mantle of Valkyrie. Her original name was Jane Nelson, appearing as the love interest of Dr. Donald Blake who at the time was the secret identity of Thor this was the relationship dynamic until issue #136 in January of 1967 until the title was renamed Thor. When Mjolnir was passed to Jane in 2014 the writers were very thoughtful in their depiction, they did not want this to be the “girl” version of Thor, She was not made to be his counterpart, this is not Lady Thor. It's Thor, the Thor of the Marvel universe period. She was the only option they considered to wield Thor’s hammer after he falls out of worthiness, again the most amazing thing Marvel does is take God, takes superpowered characters and makes them human and accentuates those human flaws. We have 2 truly strong women in a row, Jane was Thor and she went from that to being Valkyrie really solidifying her place as a warrior.

1962 is the best year for women that we have discussed thus far, though DC is still in a rut of sexist bs at this point in time Marvel really starts to shape up.