REA IRVIN'S SUPERWOMAN

Back in the 1940s, DC Comics was notoriously litigious regarding the golden goose that laid its ham and eggs – Superman. 

They had a copyright *and* a trademark and, gosh darn it, they were going to defend it against imitators, doppelgangers, and knockoffs! Their efforts to keep the newsstands clear of bullet-racing, building-leaping lookalikes took aim at Will Eisner’s Wonder Man at Fox Publications, Simon and Kirby’s Steel Sterling, Fawcett’s Master Man and, most famously, the original Captain Marvel.

But no ersatz Super-who earned DC’s ire quite as quickly as Rea Irvin’s Superwoman. This urbane newspaper comic strip ran just once, on June 27, 1943, in a handful of papers which were reporting its cancellation on the following day!

Irvin was a San Francisco-born artist who is most familiar for his formative contributions to The New Yorker magazine. The monocle-spouting dandy, Eustace Tilley – the New Yorker’s longtime mascot – was a product of Irvin’s elegant sense of design, as was the magazine’s iconic display typeface. 

He also boasted comic strip bona fides, with innumerable editorial cartoons and a short-lived newspaper strip – The Smythes – under his belt.

Detail from a pair of panels from The Smythes.

In 1943, Irvin turned his critical aesthetic eye on the world of superheroes, and decided that what it needed was a Superwoman!

In an elegantly-appointed manor, a drowsy-looking debutante in a white-and-green ensemble practices her “hurtling,” zipping above the couches and chaise longues like a dove. When trouble calls, she clasps hands with her nameless, eternally distracted companion, and zips off to save the day, whether the complaint is a crossword puzzle or — or —

Superwoman’s sole outing, by Rea Irvin.

Well, unfortunately, that’s as far as we get. DC was immediately on the horn to shut down operations at Superwoman HQ.

DC had pre-emptively trademarked the name “Superwoman” (via an ashcan with a Dr.Fate cover, in May 1942) seeing its obvious use as an extrapolation of Superman’s franchise. They had even introduced Lois Lane as Superwoman in Action Comics #60, which preceded Irvin’s Superwoman by just a smidge, with a cover date of May, 1943.

(left): National’s trademark-securing ashcan. (right): Lois Lane as the earliest Superwoman.

Here’s how Newsweek described the defunct strip:

Theoretically, a batch of Superwoman strips were created, but never published. It seems that the legal feint killed the sophisticated strip’s momentum, and thus Superwoman was no more.

One woman who was allowed to use the name “Superwoman” in 1943, however, was 6-foot 4-inch burlesque performer Lois De Fee. 

Dubbed “The World’s Tallest Teaser” and “The Eiffel Eyeful,” De Fee was a colorful character and a natural with the publicity stunt. Newspaper photo spreads would depict her working as both onstage talent and bouncer at her clubs, entertaining a scandalous and tragic (and alleged) romance with a horse jockey, and cleaning house in eating contests.

Superwoman in repose, and advertising which portrays the 6’4” De Fee as Superwoman.

One of these stunts involved a public wedding and short-lived marriage — the union was annulled within 24 hours — with prolific little person actor, Billy Curtis.

Known for roles in The Terror of Tiny Town, The Wizard of Oz and High Plains Drifter – what a combo, folks! – Curtis also played the role of Superpup, in the unbroadcast pilot episode of The Adventures of Superpup (1958). The series was floated as a way to continue the success of The Adventures of Superman following the death of George Reeves, but couldn’t gain traction.

Nonetheless, there’s a publicity stunt for the ages: SUPERWOMAN MARRIES SUPERPUP!

Mr. and Mrs. Lois and Billy Curtis, briefly, and Curtis as Superpup!

If Rea Irvin’s Superwoman lives in any form beyond this single appearance, her costume at least may have informed the design of Luma Lynai, a Superwoman from an alien world who appears as a romantic rival for Superman’s affections in Action Comics #289 (June 1962).

Luma Lynai in a latter appearance.