On these shenanigans with women pre-bronze age

[nevermore999]

here and here

I agree with Maddy and bluefall for the most part.

Don't attack me, hear me out.

Wonder Woman and Black Canary and Lois Lane from the Golden Age are wicked awesome. And I've never read much old Marvel (or Marvel period...but guys, I recently bought a lot of Incredible Herc back issues AND I read Marvel Adventures and Books a Million I'm

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[skjam]

That DC editorial directive makes the Showcase Presents: Strange Adventures volume I reviewed a while back make more sense in retrospect. I had kind of wondered why there were so few women in the stories, and mostly in cameo roles. There was only one story that prominently featured a woman...

"The Invisible Astronaut" had the title character return to Earth to discover that he's somehow vibrating slightly out of synch with the rest of the universe. This makes him invisible and inaudible to normal humans, and unable to touch most physical objects without violently repelling them. The astronaut decides to consult a famous physicist living nearby, who just happens to be a woman.

"Yay! A competent, intelligent woman who will help solve the problem!" I thought. Um, no. The astronaut is unable to figure out how to bypass the communication barrier, and before the physicist is able to grasp why weird things are happening in her lab, she is informed that her sickly niece has taken a turn for the worse.

A (male) doctor is summoned, and determines that the niece needs an immediate operation, but a storm has come up, so they won't be able to get her to the hospital in time. Fortunately, the physicist is *also* a qualified surgical assistant (which is not quite as unlikely as her being a fully trained nurse, but still pretty impressive as a throwaway), and they can start right there.

Then the storm blows down a power line, throwing the house into darkness. The astronaut discovers that the electrical current running through the wires negates his repulsion effect, and is able to hold the broken ends together long enough for the operation to be completed. And the usually lethal dose of electricity is also just enough to cure the astronaut's condition. Um, yay?

So the physicist ends up giving the astronaut comfort (a blanket) and sustenance (coffee) while he explains the plot to her.