This is day two of our theme week featuring comic book females of the forties and fifties. I have titled the theme, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ditzy." Today we feature the Bad, who is criminal Betty Blinker. Betty has red hair that is a visual reminder of her fiery personality and hot head. Betty is out for revenge against the gangster who killed her husband, Marty, also a Prohibition-era gang leader. She takes over her husband’s gang. They prosper under her managerial style, which is shoot your enemy before he shoots you. That is sometimes a smart way to do business, except it is bound to attract attention. And in Betty’s case, it did.
There is no explanation in the story for spelling liquor “licker.” Just another of the bad acts committed by the Blinker gang.
No artist or writer is credited by the Grand Comics Database. “Betty Blinker, the Red-Headed Rum-Runner” originally appeared in Fox’s
Crimes by Women #9 (1949).
15 issues of "Crimes by Women!" That's really interesting, I never heard of that and had no idea there would have been enough support in the late 40s for a book like that (but with crime comics selling big, you could see an expansion like that.)
ReplyDeleteThis is a fun crime story with a lot of action in it, but the artist, in his/her desire to make sure you knew she was red-headed, put way to much into the hair. It literally sticks out every panel Betty is in, and looks all the world like Muppet hair! I had no idea Marvel's inhuman Medusa was running rum!
Brian, I think a comic based on crimes committed by women is a natural. There were also several traditional crime magazines on the stands featuring crimes by females. How could we have women in prison movies if we didn't have women committing crimes?
ReplyDeleteAnd I like red hair. Even the shades that don't happen in nature. The bright red hair drew me to this story like a moth to a flame!