Dynamic Comics #23 – Comics Archeology

Dynamic Comics #23 (1947)
by Ralp Mayo
cover by Ken Battefield

This obscure book from Canadian publisher “Superior Publishers” will end up having a surprising legacy. It may look interchangable from any number of police-themed comics of the era…

…but it has superheroes in it. And the one who stood the test of time (in her own way) is the patriotically themed Yankee Girl.
Who, I remind you, is a character created by a Canadian publisher.

We begin with a young socialite witnessing a woman being assaulted by a creep.

A creep that our protagonist straight-up tackles!!!

This poor woman can’t catch a break. First the creep, then a little girl whose words will not cause any 21st century reader to snicker…

…then SUDDEN CAT ATTACK!!!

Her murder is reported by Plot Convenience Radio.

You probably expected the socialite to be Yankee Girl.
You most definitely didn’t expect her to transform with the magic words “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.

Unusually for Golden Age super-heroines, Yankee Girl has legitimate superpowers.
She can fly, she’s super strong, and she doesn’t burst out laughing yelling “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.

Naturally the creep who attacked the woman at beginning of the story is too convenient of a suspect, so Yankee Girl looks for the little girl. Who is already targeting a different wealthy woman with a cat obsession.

I don’t know, there’s something weird about that little girl.

Future stories will give Yankee Girl invulnerability, but she DEFINITELY doesn’t have it here.

If only Yankee Girl stayed down, she might be notable for being the superheroine with the shortest career ever.

But no, she gets back on her feet to save the second old woman from her own cat.

This scares off the little girl… who is just a very very short guy.

Well you were going around touching pussies without consent, what else did you expect?
(yeah I had to go there)

So what the heck happened? Turns out that the short guy injected the cats he touched with a serum that made them slightly more homicidal than regular cats.

And that’s already the end!

Historical significance: 6/10
Believe it or not but this does have a lasting impact on at least one series.

Silver Age-ness: yankee/doodle

Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
It’s honestly not that bad, especially for a 6 page story from an obscure publisher.
As typical for the Golden Age it’s VERY straightforward. I’ll grant it that the premise is pretty unique and you could, theoretically, solve the mystery yourself.
Obviously no characterization and possibly the silliest non-parody magic words ever, plus Yankee Girl doesn’t come off as the most capable superheroine.

Before moving on to Yankee Girl’s return, I have to point out the completely bonkers publication story of the completely unrelated FIRST Yankee Girl.

In 1941, airline hostess debuted on Punch Comics #1 in 1941 by Dynamic Publications.

In 1945 she moved to Four Star Publications, picking up the name Yankee Girl on Captain Flight Comics #8. Also she can hypnotize people and she’s blonde now.

As if that wasn’t crazy enough, in 1946 she returns to Dynamic Publications on Red Seal Comics #17… where she’s a non-powered brunette again, but while she ditches the superhero name she now has a superhero costume?
For minor characters, the Golden Age can be completely wild when it comes to publishing history.

How close is this to the modern character? dandy/10
But back to the 1947 Yankee Girl, she had exactly ONE Golden Age story. Six pages from a very minor Canadian publisher.
That practically screams “obscure character falling into the public domain”, which is exactly what happened: the 1947 version is indeed public domain.

She has another appearance in the even more obscure Danger #16 by I.W. Publishing in 1964.
She even makes it to the cover, which is by Ross Andru of all people.

The story itself is by her creator, Ralph Mayo.

The story begins with one of her “old acquaintance” almost killed by a cab…

…and then hitting on an older woman. If the first Yankee Girl taught me anything, it’s that old women are a primary target in her stories!

In fact, literally next panel:

Somehow knowing the guy is up to no good, she transforms with her “ancient magic words”.

She then pretends to be another woman. Please notice that she has no disguise whatsoever as Yankee Girl, so this is random civilian is a much better secret identity than her ACTUAL secret identity.

She seduces the widower by pretending to be a klutzy rich idiot…

…and giving him 50 thousand dollars. I guess she’s using her own money? The first story called her a socialite, so she must be independently rich.

This guy is not exactly subtle in how he murders his victims.

I still don’t think she’s invulnerable.

Turns out this guy is a hypnotist, which neatly explains all the otherwise clumsy deaths.

Yankee Girl is on the case.

Like I said this is a 1964 story, but there’s still enough Golden Age in her to not give a crap if bad guys are killed.

So we have a single obscure Golden Age story followed by an even more obscure Silver Age one, meaning Yankee Girl should have been a footnote.
But in 1990 someone took interest in a public domain superheroine with a slightly revealing costume.
Can you guess who?

That’s right, just like Miss Victory, AC Comics revived an obscure Golden Age superheroine for its all-female all-buxom superhero team FemForce.
They did keep her connection to the Golden Age though, placing her origin story in the UK during the Blitz.

During the bombing, she just happens to fall into the magic cauldron of Discount Merlin.
Sounds legit.

She does propose “Yanky Doodle Dandy” as her magic words, but settles on Karma Madre Tolon.
Notice that’s not even the magic word the magician told her: she says “madre” instead of “matre”.

Her costume is closer to the Silver Age story, just tweaked to be more revealing because FemForce.

The FemForce version is basically a dumber and more endowed version of Power Girl.
Yes, I do realize how absurd that is. It’s FemForce.

She’s reintroduced in 1990, but she’s mostly in the background and honestly interchangeable with the VAST cast of superheroines that are honestly just there as eye candy.
“AC Annual #2” from 1991 gives an in-universe explanation for why her new costume is not a constant wardrobe malfunction.

But of course a supervillain does cause a wardrobe malfunction, because FemForce, so she has to gives herself a super-wedgie to stay decent.

This is the canonical explanation for how costumes work in this universe.

There’s fanservice, there’s shameless fanservice, there’s blatant fanservice, and they all pale in comparison to the FemForce universe.

Which is a shame because beneath the fanservice there’s sometimes interesting ideas, like the fact that in a superhero universe having powers is not always enough to put food on the table, so Yankee Girl has to work as a model.

This is basically what would have happened to She-Hulk if she wasn’t a lawyer.

And if she had basically no talent.

Another interesting angle is from 1997’s “FemForce: Time Storm”.
She doesn’t think she fits in with the 90s, so she wants a guy with a time machine to send her back to the 40s.

Plus it’s an examination of how she feels about the whole superhero business, as a woman who’s never really needed to work before.

She also ended up with the project that put her into stasis because she had just been dumped.
I did say she’s not particularly bright.

Too bad the FemForce books don’t play much with the idea, limiting themselves to do FemForce stuff.

And that’s when they even remember she’s in the team. Despite being presumably one of the strongest members, nobody seems to think highly of her.

She even managed to get her own book in 2003.

It has a neat but silly premise: a few women go around committing crimes in a Yankee Girl costume, so that the real one will be blamed.
Despite the fact that the fake Yankee Girls are EASILY distinguishable because one is black, one is Asian and one is blonde.

The same issue also has Yankee Girl’s second story re-drawn in a more FemForce way.

It even has a character profile, revealing her age (she’s from 1926) and her measurements (40DD-22-36)

She also has a different special in 2012. I couldn’t find any scans of this one.

The FemForce book is miraculously still ongoing. I can’t tell if Yankee Girl still shows up since she doesn’t seem to make it to the cover often.
Still, it’s crazy to think she’s still relevant given her incredibly limited Golden Age presence.
At least FemForce tried to do something interesting with her whenever they remember she’s part of the cast.
Even though the mostly remember two things only about her are exactly what you think.

What else was in Dynamic Comics #23?

The book takes its name from the profoundly uninteresting Dynamic Man.
Don’t confuse him with Marvel’s Dynamic Man (the android who ended up in The Twelve).