Showing posts with label Fiction House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiction House. Show all posts

Monday, June 1, 2026

Nazi-Punchers SEÑORITA RIO "Trapped in the Swastika Web"

We Start June Off with One of the Hottest Nazi-Punchers You'll Ever See...

"Señorita Rio" was the code-name given to popular Hispanic-American film actress Rita Farrar (real name: Consuela Maria Ascencion De Las Vegas), as she spied on against Axis agents in Central and South American countries during World War II.


She was proficient with weapons, and could handle herself in perilous situations, requiring rescue by male associates far less frequently than most heroines of the Golden Age of Comics.
Based on real-life actress and World War II pin-up queen Rita Hayworth, whom most people don't realize was Hispanic/Irish-American (Her real name was Margarita Carmen Cansino), Señorita Rio started as a backup feature in Fiction House's Fight Comics #19 in 1942, and took over the cover slot as of #37 for a year.
After that, she remained as a backup until #71 (1951), as the series ended with her retiring from espionage and returning full-time to her acting career.
The first few Señorita Rio stories, including this premiere tale, were illustrated by noted Golden and Silver Age artist Nick Cardy (using his full name Nick Viscardi), but the bulk of her tales were rendered by one of the few female comic book artists of the era, Lily Renee, who did spectacular work in every comics genre: sci-fi, adventure, superhero, war, western, horror, and romance!

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Fight Comics featuring Senorita Rio Volume 1
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Monday, February 3, 2025

Nazi-Punchers SUPER-AMERICAN "Hordes of the Secret Dictator"

Those Who Stand up to Nazis are Not Just True Americans...
...They Are, Like This Man, Super-Americans!
Note that since this premiere appearance of this costumed crusader in Fiction House's Fight Comics #15 (1941) pre-dates America's entry into World War II, the obvious Nazis and their leader are not identified as such.
After December 7th, 1941, every comics publisher showed the swastika and identified Adolf and his buddies as Nazis!
With his rather unique back-story (being a super--powered American from the future come to help us in the present, kool costume and action-packed artwork by Don Zolerowich, you'd think the Super-American strip would last, at least, to the end of the war!
In fact, it ended after only four chapters, in mid-1942, just as the war effort got into high gear!
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Take That, Adolf!
The Fighting Comic Books of World War II
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Monday, July 29, 2024

NoKo Crushers MADAM ZERO "Rockets of the Red Mist"

Perhaps Falwell was inspired by this forgotten  heroine's never-reprinted final tale from Fiction House's Fight Comics #84 (1952)!
Anonymous Commie-buster Madam Zero made only three appearances in her short-lived career!
A mistress of disguise, she always surprised the (also anonymous) secret agent who narrated these stories and who played the helpless "Steve Trevor" to her plain-clothes "Wonder Woman"!
Nothing is known about her real identity, motivations, or even which department she worked for!
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Monday, April 1, 2024

Russkie-Smashers MADAM ZERO

Real Name: Unknown
Agency/Organization Affiliation: Unknown

Effectiveness Against Commies: Unmatched!

Debuting in this never-reprinted tale from Fiction House's Fight Comics #82 (1952), Madam Zero fought only Commies (of varying ethnicities) for the entirety of her too-short career!
Note: the stories are told exclusively from George's point-of-view, and considering he runs into her in various locales at varying times by accident, it's obvious that...
1) She doesn't work for the same agency as him.
2) She may, in fact, be a totally-independent operative working outside legal constraints!
3) She's involved in situations and adventures he (and his organization) know nothing about!

Thursday, October 31, 2019

WEREWOLF HUNTER "Priestess of the Spider Death" / "Mistress of the Web"

It's a double-feature Halloween treat...
..with two versions of the same tale, true believers!
The original version of this terrifying tale is from Fiction House's Ranger Comics #15 (1944)!
But, when it was re-presented in Fiction House's Ghost Comics #3 (1952), not only was it partially-redrawn (beginning at page 3) to remove a page of story, it was re-written (from the splash panel onward) as well!
Fiction House did a lot of this sort of editing when reprinting material in the late 1940s since th earlier magazines, like Rangers Comics, were 60 pages, but the later books like Ghost Comics were only 36 pages!
Lily Renee illustrated the original version.
But, judging from the crudeness of the art modifications, she didn't work on the modified reprint!
BTW, we're part of the amazingly-kool CountDown to Halloween 2019 Blogathon!
Click HERE to see the other pround participants!
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Thursday, October 24, 2019

WEREWOLF HUNTER "Puppets of the Witch Queen"

After a round-robin of various artists...
...the series settles down with the woman who would become the strip's signature artist, Lily Renée!
As we mentioned last week, the new artist, Lily Renée escaped real-life horror!
In 1938, after the Germans annexed Austria, the then-teenage Lily Renée Willhelm was sent by her parents to England.
In 1940, she was reunited with her family (who escaped from Austria) in NYC, and finished high school.
Lily had an artistic flair, so she became both a clothing catalog model and illustrator.
In 1943, she answered an ad from pulp/comic publisher Fiction House for an illustrator.
With most of their regular contributors in the military, the editors immediately put the young artist to work on several existing strips including the sci-fi series Norge Benson and Lost World, the horror strip Werewolf Hunter, and wartime spy series Senorita Rio!
After the war, Lily married fellow artist Eric Peters and collaborated with him on St John's Abbott & Costello comic series in the late 1940s!
Trivia: in interviews, Lily stated she tried to steer the Werewolf Hunter strip away from lycanthropes since she claimed she couldn't draw them well!
BTW, we're part of the amazingly-kool CountDown to Halloween 2019 Blogathon!
Click HERE to see the other pround participants!
Please Support Hero Histories
Visit Amazon and Order...