The Black Widow Called "Spider Lady"

The Black Widow is called "Spider Lady" in one panel of DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW # 99.

That could be coincidental, but I thought the character might have been at least partly inspired by the serial THE BLACK WIDOW, which starred Carol Forman, who also played "The Spider Lady" in the serial SUPERMAN.




A

Poison Ivy Meets The Spider Lady

BATMAN #181 introduced the character of "Poison Ivy", who claimed to be World greatest criminal mastermind.

 But in order to prove herself number one, she had to beat World Public Enemy 1, World Public Enemy #2, and World Public Enemy #3.

 

 

 

 Poison Ivy accomplishes this by writing the others "poison pen" letters, daring them to show up at the mansion of millionaire Bruce Wayne at a specific time on a certain date. The other girls all arrive early in order to get a jump on each other and begin fighting under the mistaken impression that the others are the authors of the letters they have received.

 

Batman arrives and starts rounding up all their henchmen, after which the three villainesses try to escape. Poison Ivy offers a crown to whichever of them can prove herself the greatest, after which they all try to grab it and are paralyzed by an electric shock.

 

 

 

 

But Batman also catches Poison Ivy, and the tale ends with her in a cell, insisting that Batman will never be able to escape her fatal charms.

 

 

 

 

 

Poison Ivy would return next issue, but several years would go by before she would meet Batman again, possibly because creator Robert Kanigher simply didn't write more stories for BATMAN in this period.

 

 

 

 

World Public Enemy #2 appears to be very similar to some characters we've talked about here before.

 

 

 

Carol Forman had played "The Black Widow"

 

 

 

 

and "The Spider Lady" in the serials,

 

but while the BLACK WIDOW serial was run on television in this period, the SUPERMAN serial was not. It was withheld from circulation for years, to eventually be released to home video.

 

 

It's not clear whether the character of the "Silken Spider" was influenced by the characters played by Carole Forman in the serials, but they're all close enough that you could consider them to all be the same character. Incidentally, Poison Ivy was originally similar to the Spider Lady, being the leader of a gang of henchmen who take orders from her. Later on, DC comics seems to have lost track of what the character was supposed to be like. It was only the beginning of a long process of devolution that would eventually see the character become green and hideous instead of beautiful.

 BATMAN #181:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_Vol_1_181

DC Comics Poison Ivy Chronology:
http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=poisonivy2

Robert Kanigher:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kanigher

A

A Keen Brunette Named Katy Keene

Katy Keen- I think she's Keen!

Katy Keene

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    

Katy Keene
Archie character
Katy Keene Special #2 (1984), art by John S. Lucas.
First appearance	Wilbur Comics #5 (Summer 1945)
Created by	Bill Woggon
Information
Occupation	Model, actress, singer

Katy Keene, a character created by Bill Woggon, has appeared in several comic book series published by Archie Comics since 1945. She is a model/actress/singer known as America's Queen of Pin-Ups and Fashions.
Her comics were interactive in that readers were encouraged to submit original drawings of outfits and accessories for her and her friends to wear, as well as designs for automobiles, homes, interiors, rocket ships, trailers and boats. These designs were used in the comics with credit given to published submissions. Many issues featured paper dolls of Katy in various costumes.^[1] The character was ranked 57th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[2]

 Publication history

Katy Keene was introduced in Wilbur Comics #5 in the summer of 1945, and appeared in subsequent issues of Wilbur and various anthology comic series in the 1940s including Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica and Ginger, eventually receiving her own title in 1949 which ran for 12 years. Specials such as Katy Keene Pin Up Parade and Katy Keene Fashion Book Magazine, Annuals and specials including Katy Keene Spectacular (1956), "Glamour" (1957) and Charm (1958), continued through the 1950s, but the character was not seen for about 20 years after the early 1960s.
In the book From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines by Trina Robbins Katy Keene is called a Bettie Page look-alike. "... but the resemblance ended there. Katy Keene was no bimbo and she had a good job (she was a movie star.)" ^[3]

 1980s revival

In 1979, with Archie's permission, Katy fan Craig Leavitt published the Katy Keene Fan Magazine, which ran 18 issues until 1983. Having been a lifelong fan of the character, John S. Lucas's art was instrumental in the revival, as his work was featured in the magazine along with other artists' and fans' work. Several "Katy-Kons" (conventions) were held in Santa Barbara, California, and then later in conjunction with the San Diego Comic-Con celebrating Woggon and Katy.
Archie Comics decided to revive the character themselves in 1983, giving the character her own title by using reprint art of Woggon's as well as new art by Don Sherwood, Vince Colletta, Hy Eisman and Dan DeCarlo.
After seeing Lucas's art in the Katy Keene Fan Magazine and receiving letters from fans encouraging them to do so, Archie contacted Lucas, asking him to do the art for the revived Katy Keene Fan Club, which included pens, lapel buttons, membership cards, notepads, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. Not long afterward, Archie brought Lucas on as regular Katy artist. During the 1980s, '90s and 2000s, Lucas carried on the Katy tradition with his comics, his annual Katy Keene Christmas Cards and Paper Dolls and paper doll books from Hobby House Press.
In the early 1990s, Katy once again went into retirement, except for a 1994 appearance in The Punisher Meets Archie.

 2005 reintroduction

Archie re-reintroduced Katy, now a high school student and aspiring model, in its 2005 Free Comic Book Day issue. She then appeared in Archie & Friends Comics #101–#110. These ten stories were then compiled in a trade paperback, Katy Keene Model Behavior, in 2008.

 Supporting cast

Katy has a redheaded, bespectacled younger sister. In the original Woggon 1950s series, Katy's sister was a mischievous child around seven years old and known only as "Sis, the Candy Kid". In the 1980s, she was drawn as a tween or a young teen and received the name Melissa, but was still almost always called "Sis". In the short-lived 2000s series, her given name was Mackenzie. No explanation for the name change was given, although it may be due to the 1980s name's obscurity. Regardless, her real name is almost never mentioned and to both readers and characters, she is always called "Sis".
Originally, the 1950s Katy was 21 years old and Sis was about seven years old. In subsequent series, Katy is roughly the same age, but Sis was reimagined as being around 15 and has been so ever since. By this point, Katy had already been discovered in college. After going to work as an aspiring Broadway star, she became very successful in her modeling and acting career, so she became her sister's legal guardian.
Katy has had many recurring boyfriends over the years, the most famous of which are the redheaded and muscular boxer K.O. Kelly and his rich blond rival Randy Van Ronson. They were not often seen regularly in the 1980s when Katy dated the Latino airline pilot and talented dancer Ramon Ramirez and the Arnold Schwarzenegger parody Arnold Horsenlegger. However, K.O. and Randy became her main love interests again in the 2000s.
Katy's rival in her career and love life is the wealthy and snobby blonde Gloria Grandbilt and her best friend is the superstitious redhead Lucki Lorelei. Both Gloria and Lucki are also successful models, with the level-headed brunette Katy rounding out the trio.

 Notes

1. ^ "Evanier, Mark. "News From Me," POV Online (March 7, 2003)". Povonline.com. http://www.povonline.com/2003/News030103.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
2. ^ Frankenhoff, Brent (2011). Comics Buyer's Guide Presents: 100 Sexiest Women in Comics. Krause Publications. p. 40. ISBN 1-4402-2988-0.
3. ^ Robbins, Trina. (1999) From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines. Chapter 1. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

 References

• Katy Keene at Toonopedia
• "Katy Keene, an American Diva," Scoop (November 29, 2003)
• "We're Keene on Katy," Scoop
• Foley, Maureen. "Humble Man vs. the Diva: The Story of Cartoonist Bill Woggon," Cherry Meltdown
• Foley, Maureen. "Katy Keene and Bill Woggon, Straight Up," Cherry Meltdown
• Robbins, Trina.(1999) From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women's Comics from Teens to Zines. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
• Spurgeon, Tom. "Obituary: Bill Woggon 1911-2003," The Comics Journal #252 (May 2003)

 External links

• Official website
• Archie Universe

I haven't read as many Katy Keen comics as some of the other ones, but I've got a thing for keen brunettes, so I decided to do a blog about her. Of course, I've got a thing for keen blondes and keen redheads, too.  I'll be getting around to them eventually.


This cover shows Katie Keen, Sis, and Gloria Granbilt, who all appear regularly in these comics.

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of science fiction stories in comics in this period.

 

 

 

 

Katy Keen Comic Book Price Guide Cover

 

 

Katie Keen Paper Doll

 

 

 

Sis Paper Doll

 

 

Readers could send in for this paper doll.

 

 

Katie Keen Christmas by Ramona Fradon

 

Another mermaid picture.

 

 

 

Lucki Lorelei in a Halloween costume.

 

 

 

 

Finally, we have another Spider Lady we somehow missed before. Gloria Granbilt is named after Gloria Vanderbilt, and in these comics is Katy Keen's rival, which is why she gets to be a Spider Lady.

 

 

Here is a Katie Keene story reblogged from http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katy Keen:
http://www.toonopedia.com/katykeen.htm

Katy Keen:
http://kb-outofthisworld.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-cute-girlie-stuff-katy-keene-paper.html

Katy Keen:
http://www.cherrymeltdown.com/galleries/katy/index.html

Katy Keen Send-Away Doll:
http://marlendy.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/katy-keene-send-away-paper-doll-2/

Carol Forman Filmography

Carol Forman was best known for playing "The Black Widow" and "The Spider Lady", so not suprisingly her second-to-last movie had her reprising this character as "Dangerous Dora". But her last movie had her being a newspaper woman, which makes it sound as if the Spider Lady was impersonating Lois Lane again.

Filmography

 

Show Actress (24 titles)

1961Ada
Newspaper Woman (uncredited)

1960Surfside 6 (TV series)
Mrs. Jordan

– Deadly Male(1960)… Mrs. Jordan

1953By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Dangerous Dora (uncredited)

1952Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom
Laska

1951Oh! Susanna
Blonde (uncredited)

1950-1951The Cisco Kid (TV series)
Pat Lacy / Pat Parker / Pat Tracy

– Pancho Held Hostage (1951)… Pat Tracy

– Confession for Money(1951)… Pat Lacy

– Lynching Story(1950)… Pat Parker

 

 

1949Brothers in the Saddle
Flora Trigby

1949Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc.
Nila

 

 

1948The Feathered Serpent
Sonia Cabot

1948The Mozart Story
Catherine Cavallieri (new scenes)

 

 

1948Superman
Spider Lady

 

1948Docks of New Orleans
Nita Aguirre

1947Brick Bradford
Queen Khana

 

 

1947The Black Widow
Sombra, The Black Widow

1947Under the Tonto Rim
Juanita

1947Honeymoon
Nurse (uncredited)

1947Desperate
Mrs. Henry Roberts (uncredited)

1947Wife Tames Wolf (short)

1947Code of the West
Saloon girl Milly

1946San Quentin
Ruthie

1946The Falcon's Adventure
Helen Ray

1946Nocturne
Receptionist (uncredited)

1946Follow That Blonde (short)

1946From This Day Forward
Counselor in Unemployment Office (uncredited)

 

Archive Footage (2 titles)

1966Golden Hands of Kurigal (TV movie)
Nila

1966Sombra, the Spider Woman (TV movie)
Mme. Sombra

 

 

 

Carol Forman:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0286329/

Carol Forman And The Spider Lady

Carol Foreman is best known for her roles as "The Black Widow" and "The Spider Lady" in the serials THE BLACK WIDOW and SUPERMAN.

Carol Forman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  

Carol Forman
Born	(1918-06-19)June 19, 1918 Epps, Alabama
Died	July 9, 1997(1997-07-09) (aged 79) Burbank, California
Occupation	Television actress

Carol Foreman (19 June 1918, Epps, Alabama – 9 July 1997, Burbank, California) was an American actress best known for playing exotic villains in action serials, particularly The Spider Lady in the 1948 Superman Serial.

 External links

• Carol Forman at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Foreman, Carol
Alternative names
Short description	American actor
Date of birth	19 June 1918
Place of birth	Epps, Alabama
Date of death	9 July 1997
Place of death	Burbank, California

SUPERMAN and the sequal ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN were the most successful serials ever made. But they were out of circulation for years, because the arrangement that they had with DC comics had been only for a limited time, after which they were withdrawn. A great deal of misinformation circulated about these serials during the period that they were unavailable for viewing.

Some accounts had it that Carol Forman had given a poor performance and flubbed a number of lines. Today these serials are back in circulation, and modern viewers are able to decide for themselves how well Carol Forman did in the part of "The Spider Lady".

 

 

This version makes it look like The Spider Lady is Superman's costar.

 

 

A scene from the serial.

 

 

  
                                                       THE SPIDER LADY


Some elements of the first Superman serial were taken from the Superman radio show, which had a story involving kryptonite and a villlianess called "The Scarlet Widow". But this character was described as "gaunt and ungly" ( something that was all too typical on a program that tended to depict female characters unfavorably ), while The Spider Lady was beautiful.*

The fact is that The Spider Lady is about the same character as the Black Widow that Carol Forman had played in the previous serial,

                             who resembled "The Dragon Lady" in "Terry and the Pirates".

 

 

There were also similarities to the "Spider Woman" of the 1944 Sherlock Holmes movie, particularly the way the character on the poster was depicted in the center of a web.

 

 

 

Although Sherlock Holmes won the first time around, he was somehow missing from the sequal.

 

 

Which made it look as if the Spider Woman was still running around loose after all.

 

 

 

 

 

THE SPIDER LADY STRIKES BACK

 

 

It was only natural that after the tremendous success of the character in other mediums, Superman would conquer television. But when they made the television show, they passed up all the people who had starred in the serials in favor of new actors. Of the principals, only Noel Neill would return to the role she had played in the serials, and that only after Phyllis Coates left the series.

Carol Forman and Lyle Talbot ( Luthor in the second serial ) were still active on television during this same period, but were never used on the Superman show. I suspect it was due to some sort of prejudice on the part of the production people, who based the new television version on the old radio show rather than the serials.

However, even though Carol Forman didn't turn up again on the television show, they did reuse her "Black Widow" costume in one episode, "The Riddle Of The Chinese Jade", in which it was worn by Gloria Saunders.

 

 

Who also played "The Dragon Lady" on the "Terry and the Pirates" show.

 

 

Which made it look as if the Spider Lady had snuck back into "The Adventures Of Superman" after all.

 

 

BLACKHAWK

 

In 1952, Kirk Alyn and Carol Forman made another serial for Sam Katzman, BLACKHAWK. Once again Carol Forman played about the same character as the Black Widow.

 

 

 

While Kirk Alyn played another comic book hero, who could be compared to Superman.

 

 

 

This was to be the last serial that either Carol Forman or Kirk Alyn made. The age of the serial was coming to an end.

 

 

BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON

 

In one of her last roles, Carol Forman had a cameo appearance in this Doris Day musical as "Dangerous Dora", the villianess in a little boy's fantasy, who once more was about the same character as she had been playing in the serials.

 

 

THE BLACK WIDOW IN MARVEL COMICS

 

"The Black Widow" that appeared in Marvel comics in 1964 was originally about the same character that Carol Forman had played in the 1947 serial, which had been run on television prior to the comic book character's first appearance.

 

 

Later, the Marvel character became a superhero and changed her costume, which decreased the similarities between the serial charachter and the comic book character.

 

 

IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S SUPERMAN

 

"The Scarlet Widow" character was revived eventually for a revival of the play IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S SUPERMAN. Or so they said.

 

  

 

The Scarlet Widow they had is a young woman ( Julie Johnson ) who is described as "voluptuous" and is named "Sombra". This is actually the name of the "Black Widow" played by Carol Forman in the old serial.  

 

 

 

 

 

An appreciation of Carol Forman from another site:

Reblogged from http://www.stevehodel.com/evidenceroom/?p=1396 :

Kelvin Hodel- Tim Holt Anecdote
My younger brother, Kelvin “Kelly” Hodel was born in October, 1942, just eleven-months after the birth of my twin John and I. He would be Dorothy and George’s, fourth, and final son. Kelly from an early age “loved the girls” and believe me—the girls LOVED him. A 1949 Franklin House Kelvin anecdote is appropriate:
In 1948 -1949 our father rented out many of the rooms at the Franklin House to creative types, generally, artists and actors. During that time, one of the “roomers” was a beautiful actress named, Carol Forman. (Photo below) At the time she was living with us she was dating film star, Tim Holt, who naturally, came and went on a regular basis.
Brother Kelly, then age-6 or 7 had a terrible crush on Carol, and whenever Tim showed up to take her on a date, Kelly would object, informing Holt in no uncertain terms, “she’s my girlfriend.” Finally, Holt could take it no longer and took Kelly into the center courtyard, mano-a-mano and came up with the following suggestion:
“Look Kelly. You’re too young to be with Carol now. I will date her only until you get old enough and then you and Carol can get married, and I will get on my horse and ride off. Fair enough?”
Kelly agreed, Holt & Hodel shook hands, and the battle for Carol’s heart was ended.


And now for a little appreciation of my own:


I imagine all the little boys were crazy about Carol Forman at the time. And I can remember that when I was a boy I kissed a picture of her myself  that was in the book DAYS OF THRILLS AND ADVENTURE by Alan Barbour.

 

What red-blooded American boy wouldn't go for Carol Forman?

 

Especially since she wasn't really a villian, it was only in fun.

 

*There was also a comic book character called "The Spider Widow",  a beautiful girl who only disguised herself as an ugly old woman. The Spider Widow's first appearance in comics was in 1942, while radio's Scarlet Widow didn't appear until 1945.

 

THE BLACK WIDOW:
http://filesofjerryblake.netfirms.com/html/the_black_widow.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Widow_(serial)


BRICK BRADFORD:
http://matineeclassics.com/movies/1947/brick_bradford/details/


http://ripjaggerdojo.blogspot.com/2011/03/brick-bradford.html


BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVER MOON:
http://movielab.tv/movieplayer.php?name=By the Light of the Silvery Moon&year=1953


Carol Forman:
http://www.allmovie.com/artist/carol-forman-p24306


Carol Forman:
http://filesofjerryblake.netfirms.com/html/carol_forman.html


Carol Forman and Tim Holt:
http://www.stevehodel.com/evidenceroom/?p=1396


Carol Forman Obituary:
http://articles.latimes.com/1997/jul/18/news/mn-13970


Sam Katzman:
http://www.westernclippings.com/sr/serialreport_2009_08.shtml


The Scarlet Widow ( Radio Version ):
http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Scarlet_Widow

Revival Version:
http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=40611&p=14


SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SPIDER WOMAN:
http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2010/01/art-of-sherlock-holmes-spider-woman.html

http://www.basilrathbone.net/films/shspiderwoman/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spider_Woman


Superman Serial Review:
http://www.the-back-row.com/index.php/2011/11/10/the-back-row-s-weekly-serial-review-superman


Superman Serial Review:
http://matineeatthebijou.blogspot.com/2010/06/celluloid-superman-serials.html


Superman and Blackhawk Serial Review:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/04/serialized-friday-chapter-three-look-up-in-the-sky/


Terry And The Pirates ( TV Version ):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_and_the_Pirates_(TV_series)