Miss Fury

Miss Fury
Real Name	Marla Drake
First Appearance	Black Fury Newspaper Strip (Bell Syndicate, Sunday, April 6, 1941)
Original Publisher	Bell Syndicate
Created by	June Tarpe Mills

Golden Age Origin

From The Saint #06

Marla Drake was a wealthy socialite who discovered that another girl was wearing the same outfit to a party. Her housemaid Francine suggested to prevent embarrassment that Marla could wear an African panther skin that her uncle had left. The ceremonial outfit, meant to be worn by a witch doctor, amazingly fit her precisely.

However Marla never made it to the party. On the way, she instead ends up helping to recapture an escaped murderer. The press bestowed the name "Black Fury" on her though she later corrected them that she was "Miss Fury."

Having enjoyed her first case, Drake continued as a costumed crime fighter. Fighting enemies such as General Bruno Beitz, Baroness Elsa von Kampf, Doctor Diman, and Whiffy.

Miss Fury's vigilantism soon got the attention of Detective Carey who sought to find her true identity and if her alliances were with or against the law and later fell in love with Marla.

One ongoing plotline was Marla's adoption of Darron, the abandoned son of Erica Von Kampf and Gary Hale (Marla's former fiancé). Marla was unaware of the toddler's parentage but, she rescued him in Brazil from the brutal guardianship of Diman Saraf, who planned to use him in a deadly experiment. She was initially denied custody of the boy because she was a single woman, which broke her heart but, her courage and heroism in the rescue eventually won over the authorities. Marla was then, for the duration of the series, an unmarried woman with a child: a rather progressive scenario for a 1940s adventure strip (and because she had a job with a clothing designer, she enlisted the help of her friend Francine, who offered to be Darron's governess after losing her job in a war plant because of returning servicemen — a significant issue facing working women after the war).

Power and Abilities

Miss Fury was a skilled athlete, acrobat, climber, and fighter. She was also a smart amateur detective and very wealthy. Her panther suit was supposedly enchanted by a witch doctor and also had claws.

The female cast of the series often drew media attention from their skimpy outfits.

Public Domain Golden Age Appearances

• The Saint #6
• Miss Fury #1-8
• Black Fury/Miss Fury Comic Strip (1941-1952)

Notes

• Miss Fury has been identified as the first female superhero created and drawn by a woman cartoonist.
• Even though Christian groups attacked the strip, it was still a common sight for American servicemen to paint Miss Fury on the sides of their plains.

See Also

• International Hero
• Wikipedia
• Comic Vine
• Comic Book Database
• Free Universe
• Toonopedia
• Heroine Chic