InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I say, Judge yourself."

Matt (angelophile) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-06-30 18:23:00

Entry tags:

char: madam fatal/richard stanton, creator: art pinajian, era: golden age, publisher: dc comics, publisher: quality comics, series: crossdressing week, status: public domain, title: crack comics, title: jsa

Cross-dressing Week: Madam Fatal
As suggested here, let's declare it official Cross-dressing Week! And where better place to start than with Golden Age "heroine" Madam Fatal?

Introduced in the appropriately named Crack Comics #1 in 1940, elderly matron Madam Fatal (think Aunt May, but with... added extras) is really retired actor Richard Stanton. When his daughter is kidnapped, he sets about making a new life for himself as an old woman. His foes now underestimate his speed and strength allowing him to fight crime™. No one knows of his secret but his pet bird, a parrot named Hamlet.

I'm providing the entirety of Madam Fatal's origin story as, according to the website I downloaded this from (www.goldenagecomics.co.uk) Crack Comics #1 has been verified as being public domain.

Although, I suspect the continuing cross-dressing had more to do with the enjoyment of being able to do stuff like this:

Rarely has a sound effect been more appropriate either.

So Madam Fatal went on to star in another 22 issues of Crack Comics, building up an army of villainous rivals including DOCTOR PROWL!

And THE JESTER! (Here's that sound effect again.)

Building slash opportunities along the way.

Apparently, Madam Fatal has only ever been mentioned once as part of the DCU, in 1999's JSA #1 at the funeral of Wes Dodds by Wildcat.

Poor Madam Fatal. Dress up as a woman a few times to fight crime and they just make you into a gay joke.

So, anyone got Captain America Comics #2 with the cross-dressing Steve Rogers?

(Post a new comment)

	merseybeatler 2009-06-30 01:31 pm UTC (link)
	...Did he ever find his daughter? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	angelophile 2009-06-30 01:39 pm UTC (link)
	I believe so. The site has a bunch of issues of Crack Comics for download and the story continues, so if you're interested to read the rest... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-07-01 08:50 pm UTC (link)
	I certainly am - the more bizarre Golden Age stuff, the better! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	domino_blue 2009-06-30 01:52 pm UTC (link)
	Now I want to make a Shadowrun charcter after Madame Fatal, this was awesome. (Reply to this)

fungo_squiggly
2009-06-30 02:35 pm UTC (link)

I'm always rather torn when it comes to Madame Fatal.

I mean, dressing up as a little old lady to fight crime? That is most definitely badass. But wouldn't actually being a little old lady who fights crime be even more badass?

So I sort of like to ignore the crossdressing angle, and imagine Madame Fatale as a septuagenarian who tosses around thugs a third of her age and crushes crime with her bare hands thanks entirely to what she's learned from the morning exercises on the radio.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	ex_stig213 2009-06-30 08:24 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, I kind of got the impression that the "I'm Really A Man" thing was an afterthought put in at the end - to prevent the insinuation that old grandmothers really were that dangerous, perhaps? The whole thing puts me in mind of Goscinny & Morris' Lucky Luke: Ma Dalton, a similarly vicious liddle ole lady. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	thanekos 2009-06-30 09:38 pm UTC (link)
	and it's not like " former actor seeking the whereabouts of kidnapped child " is a gender-specific character motivation, anyway. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

dr_hermes
2009-07-01 03:13 am UTC (link)

Madame Fatal was likely inspired by two popular movies, THE UNHOLY THREE (where Lon Chaney Sr was a criminal disguising himself as a woman) and even more by DEVIL DOLL with Lionel Barrymore in drag as an old woman while he avenged himself with murderous shrunken people under his command. DEVIL DOLL was almost certainy the source for the successful hero Doll Man.

The slightly scandalous aspect of a man in disguise as a woman was fairly shocking back then. I'd guess that it was the main thrust of the Madam Fatal strip from the start, and the creators had Barrymore in mind.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

psychop_rex
2009-07-01 08:57 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, I can't help but think of 'Devil Doll' while reading Madam Fatal - which means, unfortunately, that I inevitably hear her dialogue in that godsawful high-pitched bleat that Barrymore used as an old lady. I've yet to hear a single old lady sound like that - most old ladies I've encountered have a slightly deeper, huskier range that would actually be quite easy for a man to imitate - but oh no, not Barrymore; he had to give us his imitation of Mickey Mouse's grandmother.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-07-04 03:01 am UTC (link)
	True, true. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-07-01 01:40 pm UTC (link)
	Angela Lansbury will return as Jessica Fletcher in "Murder, she Ninja'd" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-07-11 06:56 pm UTC (link)
	I would pay a surprising amount of money to watch that film. (Reply to this) (Parent)