| Madeline Joyce Miss America | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Marvel Mystery Comics #49 (November 1943) |
| Created by | Otto Binder (writer) Al Gabriele (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Madeline Joyce Frank |
| Species | Human mutant (latent) |
| Team affiliations | All-Winners Squad Liberty Legion V-Battalion Invaders |
| Abilities |
|
Miss America (Madeline Joyce Frank) is asuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created by writerOtto Binder and artistAl Gabriele, the characterfirst appeared inMarvel Mystery Comics #49 (November 1943) in theGolden Age of Comic Books.[1][2][3] Madeline Joyce is the first incarnation ofMiss America.[4][5] The character has also been a member of theInvaders,Liberty Legion, andAll-Winners Squad at various points in her history.[6][7]
As superheroes began to fade out of fashion in the post-World War II era, comic-book publishers scrambled to explore new types of stories, characters, and audiences. In an attempt to appeal to young female readers, comics companies began introducing more female superheroes, including Timely'sBlonde Phantom,Golden Girl,Namora,Sun Girl, andVenus, and its teen-humor starMillie the Model.Fox Comics' revival ofQuality Comics'Phantom Lady and DC'sBlack Canary.
Quality Comics had featured an unrelated character calledMiss America inMilitary Comics in 1941 and 1942. In November 1943,Timely Comics publishedMarvel Mystery Comics #49, featuring a new character by the name "Miss America."[8]
Following two appearances inMarvel Mystery, Timely's Miss America received her own book,Miss America Comics (nocover date) in early 1944.[9][10] Some sources listKen Bald as the cover and interior artist, thoughVincent Fago, Timely's interim editor for thedraftedStan Lee, recalled, "I hired a friend from the animation business, Pauline Loth, and she did the art for the firstMiss America book."[11] Fago has also stated, "I hired her at Timely when she leftFleischer's and came to New York. She did "Miss America" for us and created her costume."[12]
The series changed its format with its second issue to become the larger, magazine-sizedMiss America Magazine (renamedMiss America starting with issue #46, July 1952), though with the conventional comic book combination of glossy covers and newsprint interior. Initiating this format as vol. 1 #2 (Nov. 1944), the publication relegated its superhero to a secondary role and began focusing on teen-romance comics stories plus articles on such topics ascooking,fashion, andmakeup. This second issue—which featured a photo cover of an unknown model dressed in the Miss America costume—also introduced the long-running, teen-humor comics feature "Patsy Walker."
According toJess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, Miss America "fights ordinary criminals, Axis agents, Baron Shinto the Gouger, the murderous teen the Cherub, King Cobra, and the human electric eel the Shocker."[13]
Together with the single superhero comic,Miss America ran 126 issues in a complicated numbering that continued through vol. 7 #50 (March 1953), the 83rd issue. It then reverted to comic book format asMiss America vol. 1 #51–93 (April 1953 – Nov. 1958). The magazine format used photo covers of everyday teens. In 1951, starting with vol. 7 #42, the logo changed toPatsy Walker Starring in Miss America,[14] with covers now depictinghigh schooler, Patsy, boyfriendBuzz Baxter, and romantic-rival Hedy Wolfe, in cartoon art by, variously,Al Jaffee orMorris Weiss.
The character appeared in a posthumous flashback in the Marvel Comics publicationGiant-Size Avengers #1 (August 1974).[15]
Socially aware teenage heiress Madeline Joyce was born inWashington, D.C., and was the niece andward of radio mogul James Bennet, who was sponsoring Professor Lawson, a scientist claiming to have gotten superpowers through a device that had been struck by lightning. Joyce, secretly tampering with the contraption during a thunderstorm that night, herself gained the ability to fly and great strength after lightning similarly struck, knocking her unconscious (she originally had x-ray vision, as well as other powers, but after her few early appearances they wereretconned). The panicky scientist, seeing the apparently dead young woman, destroyed the device and then killed himself. Joyce survived to fight crime as the patriotically garbed Miss America, appearing regularly inMarvel Mystery Comics andAll Winners Comics.
In the latter, she was a member of Timely's superhero team theAll-Winners Squad, fighting alongsideCaptain America andBucky, theoriginal Human Torch andToro, theSub-Mariner, and theWhizzer in the group's two Golden Age adventures. In the second of these, she wore glasses, one of the few superheroes to require them. Miss America made her final Golden Age appearance inMarvel Mystery Comics #85 (Feb. 1948).
Joyce was later revealed to have married fellow Golden Age superhero Robert Frank (the Whizzer). Because the two had been exposed to radiation, their first child was the radioactive mutantNuklo. However, Joyce died of complications stemming from childbirth with her second, stillborn child due toradiation poisoning from her first offspring while atMount Wundagore,Transia.[16] It was also suggested during this time that Joyce and Frank were the parents of Avengers membersQuicksilver and theScarlet Witch, although this was ultimately refuted when it was revealed thatMagneto and his wife Magda were those twins' biological parents. Miss America was then retconned in 1976 as a member of theWorld War II super-team theLiberty Legion, set between the creation of theInvaders and the post-war All-Winners Squad. As a member of the Liberty Legion, she battled theRed Skull, and alongside the Liberty Legion and Invaders, she batted the Nazi super-teamSuper-Axis.[17]
Miss America returned from the dead for 24 hours in the 2006 miniseriesX-Statix Presents:Dead Girl,[18] where she was revealed to be spending an eternity inHell. However, in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z, select entries of characters featured in that miniseries, including that of theAncient One, state that the characters in hell were impostors.
Miss America's reanimated corpse later appears as a cyborg resident of the Core, a subterranean city populated by advanced robots.[19] The cyborg does battle with Miss America's former teammate, theHuman Torch, and attempts to lull him into a false sense of security. The Torch however, realizes that the cyborg is not really his old friend, merely a puppet using her body.[20]
Madeline Joyce acquired a range ofsuperpowers after her latent mutation was activated upon being exposed to an electrical discharge from an unknown experimental piece of equipment.[21] She possesses the "Strength of a Thousand Men," allowing her to lift weights far heavier than a normal human would be capable of lifting. Her superhuman durability makes her resistant to different forms of damage. She has the ability to levitate herself through psionic means. By using her levitation ability in connection with carefully planned leaps, Miss America could use her power to fly. She could attain any height at which she could still breathe (approximately 20,000 feet).Fatigue poisons accumulate much slower in Madeline Joyce's body than that of a normal human, giving her a heightened "vitality."
Deirdre Kaye ofScary Mommy called Madeline Joyce a "role model" and a "truly heroic" female character.[22] Mat Elfring ofGameSpot included Madeline Joyce in their "20 Most Patriotic Comic Book Characters" list.[23] Steven Schneider ofScreen Rant ranked Madeline Joyce 1st in their "First Female Comic Book Superheroes In History" list, writing, "The original Miss America was, in a lot of ways, the quintessential World War II superheroine: she fought alongside heroes like Captain America and Bucky, battled the Axis Powers and somehow wore a skirt while fighting crime."[24] Megan Nicole O'Brien ofComic Book Resources ranked Madeline Joyce 3rd in their "Marvel: 10 Best Golden Age Heroines" list.[25]
Madeline Joyce was the third female comic book heroine to get her own solo book, afterWonder Woman andSheena, Queen of the Jungle.[26]
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