No writer is listed for Purple Tigress, but the Grand Comics Database credits A.C. Hollingsworth with the artwork. From Jo-Jo Comics #7A (1947).*
*Go to Pappy’s Number 2273 to read why Jo-Jo had two issue #7's.
Wednesday, May 08, 2019
Number 2335: Purple Tigress and the Flasher
No writer is listed for Purple Tigress, but the Grand Comics Database credits A.C. Hollingsworth with the artwork. From Jo-Jo Comics #7A (1947).*
*Go to Pappy’s Number 2273 to read why Jo-Jo had two issue #7's.
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This story is amongst those from the Golden Age whose style brings the later underground comics to my mind.
The design of the costume of the Purple Tigress might have benefitted from having a picture of the purple tiger moth at hand; the moth looks rather more interesting that the costume.
I don't see much internal logic in Anita keeping company with three buffoons. I could imagine female readers imagining that they could do better than the buffoons with whom they kept company, but had some secret reason for suffering fools. Perhaps male readers liked to imagine that the real girls whom they desired realized that they had no reason to consider seriously the boys or men around them. Or maybe Anita's beaux were simply in lieu of comic-relief side-kicks. (The Flash, after all, had three of those.)
I guess that the Flasher died in that bicycle crash, or were simply beaten to death by the Purple Tigress, as the introduction declared that only one would survive, and Anita Morgan made it to the final panel.
Page 4 panel 2 has to be the most awkward looking costume change in the history of comic book heroes. By the time she got her head untangled from her gown it's no wonder the Flasher was able to make his getaway.
The Flasher, now there's an interesting choice of sobriquets. I doubt that name would've passed the comics code had it been in place at the time.
For a guy whose name suggests quickness(among other things)he was certainly an incredibly slow bicyclist. Despite the fact that he's got a commanding lead and is heading downhill when Purple Tigress commandeers a baby buggy from nowhere and then heads UPHILL, he still manages to get caught. Pretty impressive buggy riding when you also factor in the inability to actually steer the thing.
What a wacky dynamic! I know the disguise of being a spoiled or cowardly person was big in this age of comics, but having to constantly hang out with 3 arguing dips? That has to be really trying! And, wow, Clark Kent stuff aside, are these guys dense not seeing through that disguise!
The unknown artist loved leaping figures, they are all over the place in this one. It's actually really dynamic, which I appreciate.
The contemporary performance of Faust that was most likely in the creator's mind was the Metropolitan Opera's 1940 one, recorded and played on NBC radio. It starred Helen Jepson as Marguerite, Richard Crooks as Faust, and Ezio Pinza as Mephistopheles. (They were a soprano, a tenor, and a bass, respectively.) The blonde on the stage looks a bit like Jepson.
http://www.opera-guide.ch/opera.php?id=137 identifies the line "Il m'aime! quel trouble en mon coeur!" is from Act III, Scene XIII. Marguerite is singing at her window. Hearing her, Faust knows she has fallen for him and goes into her room. Mephistopheles remained in the garden, gloating over his success.
Brian, the artist is A.C. (for Alvin Carl) Hollingsworth, who went on to acclaim as a fine artist. He was also one of the rare African-American comic book artists of that era.
Wow, Darci, you do know your stuff. The best thing about being schooled on your knowledge of subjects arcane to me, is that you don't make me take any tests. I'd flunk 'em. (I never did test well.)
Pappy,
You may know lots about comics, but you are no lepidopterist! The picture you misidentified as a purple tiger moth is one of a tiger swallowtail butterfly with purple flowers around it. See images for purple tiger moth https://www.google.com/search?q=purple+tiger+moth&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6o7nYy57iAhW7GTQIHf30BBAQ_AUIDigB&biw=1686&bih=942#imgrc=
Then check the picture of the tiger swallowtail butterfly https://www.google.com/search?q=tiger+swallowtail+butterfly&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0s82KzZ7iAhV9HDQIHUPLA00Q_AUIDigB&biw=1686&bih=942
Butterfly antennae are thin with club-shaped tips, compared with the feathery or comb-like antennae of moths.
Don Yost
Don, and of course now I cannot find the place on the Internet that featured that photo, identifying it as a purple tiger moth.
My excuse is that of course I am not a lepidopterist. I would not know a purple tiger moth if it landed on me. Tell you what I'll do, to attempt to at least mitigate some of my bum information, I will be deleting that photo. Those of you readers who have read this blog for a long time know that I believe it is the miracle of the online experience. One can just delete one's mistakes!
Thanks for the note anyway. I appreciate the correction, really!
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