Number 874


EC's only superhero(ine)


This is the last day of our EC theme week.

Maxwell C. "Charlie" Gaines started EC Comics after selling his All American Comics line to DC in 1945. They'd had a co-publishing arrangement for years, anyway, and Charlie Gaines' heroes, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, et al., were assimilated by DC. We go forward to 1947, the last issue of Animal Fables, #7, and the story of the "new" Wonder Woman, Moon Girl.

There were a lot of similarities between the characters, but Moon Girl was missing a couple of key elements that made Wonder Woman so memorable: Harry Peter's outrageous artwork, and Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston's bondage themes. Moon Girl was drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, who had worked for Gaines at All American. Moldoff later went on to do a variety of genres, including horror comics for Fawcett, but settled in for a steady gig as Bob Kane's ghost artist on Batman in 1953.

Moon Girl was short-lived. Her comic book morphed from #1, Moon Girl and the Prince, to #2-6, Moon Girl, to #7 and 8, Moon Girl Fights Crime, and finally A Moon...a Girl...Romance. She was the only super-powered character to appear in EC Comics (unless you count Freddy Firefly or "Comics" McCormick).From the looks of the history of EC after its founder died, it's clear that his son, Bill, who inherited EC, had other ideas about what would sell, and superheroes weren't in the mix.