Number 2237: Pat Patriot: Women can fight, too!

I have told this story before, but it seems time to dredge it up tell it again. In the early '70s I helped my wife with an essay for a class she was taking. Her paper was on patriotic comic book heroes of World War II. It was the era of anti-war protests, and while I was definitely anti-war, I was also a veteran and writing about WWII comic books was hard to resist (it still is). The teacher liked it so much he had her read to the class. When she got to the name Pat Patriot her classmates exploded in laughter.

I subsequently found out that Pat Patriot’s name was Patricia Patrios, and she was introduced in Daredevil Comics #2. Some character in the origin story misspelled her last name and she became Pat Patriot. It was a short-lived series, lasting only until Daredevil #11. But what I like about it is its portrayal of a female character who is without super powers, but who can fight. That was considered fanciful 80 years ago, but then as now some women kick butts as well as a man.

The Grand Comics Database has questions about who wrote and drew this story from Daredevil Comics #3 (1941), Pat’s second appearance. They guess it was written by Charles Biro and Bob Wood, and also guess at artists Frank Borth and Reed Crandall. I see a couple of panels I believe are by Crandall, but I would not be able to identify anything by Borth.

Number 520


America's Joan of Arc


Years ago Mrs. Pappy had a paper due for a class and came to me for help. At the time I was working for a bookstore, cataloging a major Golden Age comics collection. I've mentioned before that she doesn't like comics, but I told her I could give her some information on comics and she could write the paper. She was OK with it, as only someone with a paper due in 24 hours can be.

I told her to write about patriotic heroes of World War II, which were the comics I was then cataloging. I listed patriotic heroes for her: The Shield, Captain America, Captain Freedom, Minute Man...on and on until the last name, Pat Patriot. When she got up in front of the class and read the paper she got to the name Pat Patriot and the place dissolved into laughter. She got an A on the paper, maybe because she was so entertaining.

OK, so here's Pat Patriot, "America's Joan of Arc." This appearance is from Charles Biro and Bob Wood's Daredevil #11, June 1942. Pat has a villain worthy of his name, The Mallet. He's a torturer, and we get some juicy panels with some bondage and torture. The Grand Comics Database claims Lin Streeter is the artist, and for scripter they give Bob Wood the question mark treatment, as Bob Wood? which means they're guessing.