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| They drop the "O'Leary" pretty early on, because we don't want the Irish! |
Key Comics (Consolidated Magazines Inc, early 1944 through
1946) seemed obsessed with justifying its title. Not only did it boast the
adventures of its eponymous hero, The Key, but also contained features titled
Key Corn, Keylines, Tommy’s Time Key, its Musical Key Series of famous operas, and,
if I’m not pushing my luck, EsKEY & Mo and Mascot MonKEYshines.
One of Key’s heroes who defied that theme was Gale Leary/O'Leary,
a.k.a. The Will O’ The Wisp, a woman who clutched a willow branch for justice! Few
other characters in comics could ever be described as wielding “the avenging
swish” of justice but, then again, none of them are Gale!
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| Well here's a gruesome panel! |
Keeping in line with the traditionally grim origins of
golden age comic book superheroes, Gale’s tale of tragedy begins in the cradle.
Disgraced politico “Boss” Bob Evans and his underling Red Brandois break into
the home of District Attorney Greg Leary in the middle of the night, intent on
avenging themselves against the DA for his recent conviction of the corrupt
public figure on fraud and money-laundering. Leary's wife Martha is murdered in the middle of
hollering for help (what is it with comic books and their mothers named
Martha?), but Greg is kept alive long enough to be tied between two chairs and
to have Boss Evans put his considerable weight down upon the D.A.’s legs,
shattering them into uselessness.
What about baby Gale, however? Well, Boss Evans isn’t all
bad. Instead of hucking her out a window or engaging her in direct fisticuffs,
he chooses to keep the kid from caterwauling into the night by breaking a
branch off a nearby willow tree and leaving it for her to play with. This is a
great idea – babies love branches!
Fast-forward eighteen years, and the surviving Learys (Learies?)
are still stewing about Martha’s untimely getting-shot-in-the-back. I can see
why they’re bitter; She should’ve led a long, fruitful life and then been shot in the back.
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| What can he say? He hates snitches but loves kids! |
Even more than her father, Gale harbors deep and abiding …
and weird … drive for justice. “Sometimes, “ she explains to her
wheelchair-bound father, “When I hold that willow branch they gave me that
night, I feel endowed with more than just courage … I feel as though nothing …
no-one could stop me! Just like – Like a Will O’The Wisp!”
It’s no bat crashing through a window, but Gale and her souvenir
willow branch make for an effective if very focused outlet of vigilante
justice. Relying on her uncanny resemblance to her mother and the unlikely bet
that an incarcerated Red would recognize the same willow branch that his
partner provided the baby almost two decades earlier, Gale terrifies her mother’s
killer into a heart attack. Problem solved!
In the next issue, Gale catches up with Boss Evans (living
under the very clever pseudonym of “Snave”) and terrifies him into a hasty
suicide. She seems so sweet, and such a lovely girl, and yet she keeps driving
men to an early grave. I wonder if it’s her perfume…
(The plot of the
second issue is hard to follow, only because a key player is a character called
– and please do forgive me, I’m only the messenger -- “Mr.Faggot,” which sounds
like he comes from the all-slur version of Clue. It’s distracting that, every
few panels, someone shouts “This’ll take care of you, Faggot!” or “I’ve caught
you red-handed, Faggot!” What is this, Continuity Comics?)
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| And who are these two supposed to be? |
With the men who murdered her mother and crippled her father
dispatched, you’d think Gale might have hung up her bough. Nope, in fact, with
the gruesome past finally put to bed, Gale does what anyone might do when
entering a new stage of their life – she gets a makeover!
Now boasting long, flowing blonde hair, Gale’s memorial
willow branch also picks up incontrovertible magic powers – it’s not just about
spooking a crook any more. She glows, she’s impervious to bullets, can fire
bolts from her hands and either the second round artist on the title screwed up
or she can grow to twice her normal size. Gale even gets a whole new dad! Once a
dynamic district attorney confined to a wheelchair, her “ailing father” is
promptly transformed to a pudgy guy in a lumberjack shirt. It’s as if the
handoff between creators (original series artist, creator of The Green Turtle and
one of the few artists of Asian descent working in American comics Chu F.Hing, and
second issue-onward’s Gerald Altman) only ever discussed the character while
sharing a bus ride on a short hop. “She’s got a branch, it’s magical, she was a
baby, dad sucks, this is my stop, see ya!”
By her final appearance, she doesn’t even fight crime or so
anything except get roofied by a hermit. It’s an inglorious end to a character
who brought inglorious ends to others before fizzling out unceremoniously …
like a will o’the wisp
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2 comments:
Always a pleasure to read your work.
"Martha" was the 30th most popular woman's name in the 1940s, according to a site I found so it's probably incontrovertible. (It's equal, in terms of men's names, to "Douglas.") In perusing the names above it, most of them don't seem 'motherly.' I mean: a mom named "Carolyn"? I can't even.
Alternatively, by this time Martha Kent was around and who knows maybe Superman was a big hit because of the name? Who can understand these confusing customers in an era before Twitter polls?
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