PRELUDE: Mystic Comics #4, Story E

Featuring: Black Widow
Release: June 12, 1940
Cover: August 1940
10 cents
By: George Kapitan and Harry Sahle
7 pages

I’ll confess I have very little idea what I just read. Sometimes, that’s because the storytelling is wonky and I can’t parse what’s happening in the moment. Othertimes, I think I do follow what’s happening and that confuses me even more.

We’re about to meet the modern Black Widow. So I thought it would be worth looking at the original 1940s Black Widow. I may come to regret that decision.

On the other hand, Black Widow might be the very first female superhero. If so, it certainly makes this a notable–if very strange–story.

Toonpedia discusses the question in gory detail. Don Markstein notes Black Widow has two notable superheroesque predecessors. Fantomah used extraordinary powers to combat evil. The Woman in Red wore a flashy costume while battling evil. Black Widow was the first woman in comics to do both.

However, while undeniably super, was she a “hero”, given that her charge was to collect souls for her master Satan? I’ll leave that to you to decide.

Let’s get to the story, such as it is.

We’re at a seance. Check. Claire Voyant. I get it. I’m with it for one panel. I’m not sure what’s happening in the second panel. Maybe Satan is appearing?

Whatever happened, the customer is very upset by the third panel. She wanted a seance, not witchcraft. She apparently sees some clear distinctions, where I personally find the lines pretty fuzzy. By the fourth panel of this story, Claire is cursing the family who was just attending her seance. Perhaps because she’s possessed by Satan. Maybe? By the end of the second page, I think I’m starting to follow. But a lot happened really fast.

As best I can gather, the psychic promised to make the woman’s late husband appear. Instead, Satan appeared, upset the family, possessed the psychic, who cursed the family, which caused a car crash. That’s a dense 6 panels.

James Wagler’s mother and sister are killed in the crash. He swears revenge, being himself now under the influence of Satan.

See how it’s weird even when I’m starting to follow?

Page 3. Wagler gets his revenge and murders Claire. Then Satan appears and takes Claire to Hades.

In Hell, Satan transforms the dead Claire into the Black Widow.

She has “supreme power”. He takes her on a Dantean tour of Hades. This is where the comic is kinda cool.

She returns to Earth to kill the man who killed her whose family she killed. She leaves a widow’s mark upon his brow.

And so begin’s Black Widow’s story. She will hunt evildoers on Earth, and bring their souls to Satan.

Now, Wagler was hardly an evildoer. True, he murdered her. But it was Satan’s influence. And it was only because she killed his family, also under Satan’s influence. If she wants revenge, I think she should look toward this Satan character.

First female superhero? You tell me.

She’s not quite Wonder Woman, wearing bright colors and on a mission to bring peace to the world of man.

This story is also notable for being an early appearance of Satan. Various devil-like characters will appear in Marvel comics, including some (perhaps one, perhaps more than one) who go by the name Satan. There will be many such appearances that are hard to reconcile with each other. It’s quite likely this is Satan’s first appearance in a Marvel comic, Marvel still being less than a year old. I certainly know of no earlier ones.

Of course, 1940s comics made sure you got your money’s worth for your hard-earned 10 cents. Black Widow’s story is not the only one in this issue. Mystic Comics #4 also gives you the adventures of: Blue Blaze; Hercules; Thin Man; Flexo, the Rubber Man; the Invisible Man known as Dr. Gade; Devil-God; Merzah the Mystic; and, Dynamic Man.

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Rating: ????

This is the strangest Marvel comic I have ever read. I don’t even know how many stars to give it. Two? Five?

I read this story in  Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades. You can also find it in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Mystic Comics vol. 1. Or on Kindle.

Characters:

• Black Widow/Madame Claire Voyant
• Wagler’s mother
• Pat Wagler
• James Wagler
• Satan

Story notes:

• Story untitled within comic. Omnibus calls it “Black Genesis”.

Next: Tales of Suspense #52
Previous: Fantastic Four #26