Black Cat & Kitten, The Boy Wonder
Most prepubescent boys in the Golden Age were drafted into being the junior partner of a muscular mystery man, but Kit Witson totally lucked out when he got the curvaceous Black Cat as his mentor. In an origin story that copies a certain Boy Wonder a decade after his original premiere, Harvey Comics introduced this sidekick at the tail end of the Black Cat's run. The totally unrelated-Marvel character was in reality Linda Turner, a 40's movie star who did her own stunts, but secretly wore a skimpy black unitard as the heroine Black Cat that went on to fight Nazis, having an extended stint as a masked cowgirl, plus doing several team-ups with other various other heroes in the Harvey Comicsverse. The bright minds at Harvey figured it was a solid plan to have their still successful superhero finally get her own sidekick. Black Cat confronts her latest enemy, the flamboyant Fire Bug dressed in giant insect outfit. that sets fire to a circus where Kit was an acrobat whose parents are killed in the attack. Linda Turner pseudo-adopts him as she shares her life as Black Cat with him to punch out Fire Bug. Kit now takes on the tough macho name of Black Kitten to act as Black Cat's lickspittle in a tight black suit. In his first official mission Kitten has to help her take on a gigantic ghost pirate Crimson Raider out to get the rest of his missing treasure. The dynamic duo then captured the leader of a sabotage ring disguised as a present-day Salem witch, and then the gimmick-based villain known as The Scepter who wields a tricked-out cane loaded with various gadgets. The adventures of this slinky superheroine's sidekick only lasted for two issues as the next issue of the ongoing Black Cat comic was changed from an action-adventure title to a horror anthology which completely ditched its title character. This change in direction from generic superhero stories to full blown camp must have damaged Black Cat's image as she lost her own comic after hiring an intern who was just excited to hang out with a voluptuous vixen.
Comments
Post a Comment