A Look At Lady Luck
There is a lengthy catalog of Golden Age debutantes who secretly fought crime in their spare time. Purple Tigress, Miss Fury, Phantom Lady, Black Cat, Yankee Girl, Wildfire, Spider Widow, Miss Masque, and Black Angel were all super socialites, most of which didn't have any actual superpowers. One of the more well-known heroine heiresses was Lady Luck who despite her name didn't have luck-altering powers like some Marvel Comics characters. Beginning as a back-up feature in The Spirit section of various newspapers., it was dreamed up by Spirit creator Will Eisner and artist Chuck Mazoujian for part of Eisner's special 16-page segment that got its own insert with the Sunday papers which included the magical superhero Mr. Mystic who along with Lady Luck got their own 4-page story in each issue. Lady Luck started out in June of 1940 in The Spirit's first package and was in reality rich girl Brenda Banks that billed her secret identity as a "modern day Robin Hood", a turn of phrase also used by several other heroes at the time like Bulletman, Nightro, Quicksilver, and Red Torpedo, so not all that original a tagline for a comic book hero. Brenda Banks appeared to be another well-meaning blonde bombshell, but when evil reared its ugly head she would put on her green dress, gloves, cape, wide-brimmed hat, and designer pumps which are obviously the best accessories for a street-level crimefighter. Lady Luck started her career not wearing any kind of mask at all but later decided to be a trendsetter in the comic heroes' community as she was one of the first ones to wear a veil instead of a traditional domino mask. She didn't have any kind of special vigilante tools like a utility belt or even a single revolver and got by mostly be her perchance for "being lucky", as well as being a hot blonde in a leggy green outfit. Brenda's luck supposedly came from her being part-Irish, and she would use this as her main weapon of choice when it came to wrangling in blackmailers, kidnappers, spies, or any other villains she crossed paths with. Lady Luck at first globetrotted around getting involved in international intrigue, and during WWII she even had her own troop called the Lady Luck Patrol. After the war, Lady Luck became a more standard friendly neighborhood maid of mystery in her hometown much to the chagrin of the Police Chief Hardy Moore, who was one of several love interests our heroine would have along with a prince and a count. Our female Robin Hood went on to have a slew of different talents working on her comics including Dick French, Nick Cardy, and Klaus Nordling who each brought their own flavor to the series. Lady Luck also managed to get out of the newspaper racket and became a regular feature in Quality's Smash Comics, as well as getting her own solo series that ran for half of a year. Aside from a brief appearance in DC's Phantom Stranger in 2013, our veiled avenger hasn't enjoyed the same spotlight as other public domain protectors so maybe she'll get a hard gritty reboot in a crappy Frank Miller movie.
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