Fictional Role Models, Part Six: ETTA CANDY

She's under 5' tall, overweight, and addicted to sugar. She's in college, lives in a sorority house, and has no super-powers. It's not exactly a recipe for a hero, is it? Yet in many ways, Etta Candy was one of the most heroic "sidekicks" in comics history.

Her best friend was Wonder Woman, and together they fought villains, Nazis, crooks and criminals in every size, shape and gender. As Wonder Woman's trusted companion, Etta could communicate with Wonder Woman via "mental radio", an Amazon invention that translated thoughts into a picture and sound on a mechanical viewscreen. It was a convenient way to call on each other for help. And although Etta often used it to get herself out of a jam, Wonder Woman was just as likely to call on Etta for help!

William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, introduced Etta Candy in issue 2 of Sensation Comics. Wonder Woman, disguised as nurse Diana Prince, had Etta as a patient. Later, when the Amazing Amazon needed help in her battle with Dr. Poison, she traveled to Holliday College in Washington, D. C., and tracked down Etta Candy.

Etta was very different than Diana remembered her. The college student had gained quite a bit of weight after her operation. (In this first appearance, Etta is rather tall -- the same height as the other Holliday girls. Over the course of the next year, she gradually loses height, most likely to appear smaller next to the resident Amazon, Wonder Woman).

Wonder Woman recruited Etta and her friends, saying, "...we need a hundred pretty girls, brave enough to capture dangerous men!" There was nothing Etta liked more than roughing up a bunch of dangerous men, so with her characteristic "Woo Woo!" she ran off to find more volunteers.

From this beginning, Wonder Woman and Etta become immediate friends, and the sidekick appeared in almost every adventure for nearly a decade. Etta was usually accompanied by "the Holliday Girls" -- a group of sorority sisters that rarely had names, and changed with every adventure. Sometimes there were a lot, sometimes just a few. Once in awhile a girl would be spotlighted (usually as a catalyst for an adventure) but they were primarily around as back-up for Etta, who was their trusted leader.

When we got glimpses of Etta at college, she was usually with her sorority sisters (who appeared to be interchangeable as the Holliday Girls). Etta was the leader of the Beeta Lamda sorority and took almost too much delight in controlling the other members. In Sensation Comics #4, she made them dress as babies, punishing those who didn't carry a baby bottle around campus.

Punishment played a large role in Etta's life, whether she was punishing bad guys with her pal, Wonder Woman, or disciplining her sorority sisters. In Wonder Woman #22, one of the girls was accused of jealousy, so she was forced to wear a cat costume and was beaten with a wooden paddle, while Etta looked on. The girl addressed Etta, saying "Please, Grand Mistress of Spanks and Slams, let me eat -- I'm very hungry!" She is told she must lap up her food like the 'jealous cat' she is.

Bondage, punishment and obedience played a large role in all of Marston's Wonder Woman stories, so behavior like this in Etta was encouraged by her famous friend. Perhaps that's why they got along so well together.

As close as they were, it was rare for Wonder Woman and Etta to have time for a leisurely chat. Occasionally we are treated to a conversation that isn't about danger, crooks, bondage, or needing help.

In Wonder Woman #1 (which debuted in the Summer of 1942 -- several months after her introduction in All Star Comics #8 and Sensation Comics #1) Diana Prince and Etta Candy take the train to visit Etta's father, Hard Candy, and brother, Mint Candy, on their ranch. During the trip, a porter brings Etta her suitcase, which is quite heavy. Diana guesses that it's filled with candy, and Etta offers her some.

After turning down the offer, the following dialogue is exchanged between the two friends.

Diana: You know, Etta, you ought to cut down on the candy. It will ruin your constitution.
Etta: Nuts, deary! My constitution has room for lots of amendments.
Diana: But Etta, if you get too fat you can't catch a man--
Etta: Who wants to? When you've got a man, there's nothing you can do with him -- but candy you can eat!
Diana: But don't you like to be admired?
Etta: Sure, men always say I'm beautiful -- if they didn't, I'd knock 'em for a loop!
Diana: Taking off weight will make you feel better and besides, it's unpatriotic to hoard even fat!
Etta: Okay, I'll take off ten pounds. If I like it, I'll take off 50 more. If I don't, well--

At that point, the train arrives and Mint Candy is there to meet her. No more mention is made of dieting until the end of the story. Etta tells Diana that she's lost 10 pounds and doesn't like it. "...gimme my candy!"

In all fairness, her weight rarely poses a problem, and is generally ignored after that conversation. What shines through is Etta's grit and determination, her courage and intelligence, and her willingness to enter any situation, regardless of danger, if asked to by Wonder Woman.

Etta disappeared after an appearance in Wonder Woman #44 (Nov/Dec 1950) and didn't surface again until October of 1960. After that she had a couple of sporadic appearances until Wonder Woman #127 (Aug 1965), which was her final pre-crisis adventure.

When George Perez rebooted the series in 1987, he brought back Etta Candy as a somewhat plump army lieutenant who had a secret crush on her boss, Steve Trevor. Gone was the outlandish short, round Holliday girl who was addicted to candy. In fact, this Etta dieted down to average weight and, under William Messner-Loebs, had a bout with anexoria. Although Etta was still thrust into danger on occasion, she was no longer Wonder Woman's right-hand companion, and had only a ghost of the pluck, courage and determination of that first Etta Candy -- a truly original character, the likes of whom we'll probably never see again.

Fictional Role Models, Part Five: SUPERGIRL

Back to comic books for our next entry. I loved reading comics as a kid and of all the superheroes, Supergirl was my favorite. She didn't have her own book back in the Silver Age. Supergirl stories were always a second feature in Action Comics and then in Adventure Comics. Her more famous cousin, Superman, overshadowed her as both an adult and a boy. Back in those days, unless you were Wonder Woman, you didn't get a lot of respect if you were a 'girl'.

One of the things I loved most about Supergirl was that she made mistakes. She wasn't perfect, like Superman. Her youth, enthusiasm, self-doubt, and newness to being a superhero led her astray at times. I responded to this because making mistakes is a way of life for most kids. That's how we learn. And here was this superhero with extraordinary powers and yet she didn't know everything and didn't always make the right choices. Sometimes she went a little boy crazy and that led her down the wrong path. Other times she didn't think through problems. Humans are less than perfect and these errors made the female Kryptonian of the DC Universe appear very, very human. In short, she was someone to whom I could relate.

In the late Silver Age, Supergirl attended Stanhope College in her disguise as Linda Danvers. She had robots of herself hidden in trees, had a series of boyfriends were ever so dreamy, and guarded the students of Stanhope with diligence even if it made her late to an exam. Pretty typical student behavior. I know I always kept my robot doppelgangers in trees. Much better than hiding them in the lake, where they would rust.

So why was she a role model? Besides those wonderful mistakes that showed me it was okay not to be perfect, she always fixed her errors with ingenuity and dedication. She was a college student and thinker who puzzled through various mysteries (who's making mischief at the college with fireworks and graffiti? Why is that alien robot so interested in me? How can I make my cousin forgive me for the goof-up that almost killed him?) and always found a solution.

She was also young and pretty and popular, something many little girls aspire to be. She was good to her friends, studied hard, got invited to dances, and balanced her two identities with skill. Supergirl was a little like Nancy Drew to me. Both were of similar ages, solved mysteries, and were popular with all the right people. I found both characters had much to admire. Of course, Supergirl could fly, had heat vision and x-ray vision, invulnerability, and superspeed, so that sort of gave her an edge in the "who I'd like to be when I grow up." She also got to wear a cape. Capes beat pumps any day.

Fictional Role Models, Part Four: MARY POPPINS

I'm going to stick to movies for the fourth in my series of fictional role models for young girls. Today's entry is the inimitable Mary Poppins. Unlike Dorothy, Mary was older, wiser, and very mysterious. Who was she? Where did she get her powers? Where did she come from when she swooped down from the sky with her umbrella?

I adored this film as a child and memorized all the songs (again, we had the album), accents and all. I was born able to do a variety of accents, dialects, and impersonations, so I loved singing in Julie Andrew's 'voice' whenever I sang the songs. To this day I can't sing them without the accent.

Mary Poppins was an authority figure who was kind, fun, adventuresome, yet with a hint of sternness that engendered respect. She didn't let the kids get away with too much nonsense or go wild. They had so much respect and love for their new nanny that they wanted to behave well. Then again, I dreamed of having someone teach me how to get my stuff to put itself away when I was ordered to clean my room. That's not even mentioning the ability to jump into chalk drawings, fly because of laughter, or transform medicine into something delicious. It's easy to see why Mary Poppins was a kid's dream. She was, after all, practically perfect in every way.

Julie Andrews' portrayal of Mary was wonderfully warm and likeable. Though always prim and proper, she helped the viewer see the woman beneath the rather strict exterior. This dichotomy is one of the things that made the character intriguing. Even without the magic, it would be difficult to resist Mary Poppins.

A side note: My mother went to school with Dick Van Dyke in Danville, Illinois, and knew him well. As a kid it was a thrill to know my Mommy knew a movie star – and not just any star, but one who was in one of the best movies ever. For me, that added to the magic of the film.

So what can Mary Poppins teach little girls? She was strong, independent, respected by everyone who knew her, adventuresome, fun, and magical. She showed me that a little kindness goes a long way, that there's adventure and fun in the simplest of tasks, and that no matter who else in your life is wonderful, your parents are never to be taken for granted. In the end, Mary Poppins left the Banks children as she had come. But the family was forever changed because of her brief visit in their lives. Mary Poppins is a powerful role model and easy to admire for little girls.

Fictional Role Models, Part Three: DOROTHY from THE WIZARD OF OZ

Continuing my series on fictional role models for little girls, it's time to look at movies. The Wizard of Oz is a time-tested classic because it has great characters, music, performances, sets, and a little dog, too. For me, as a child, Dorothy was the best thing in the movie. It used to bother me that she was so sad in the beginning and had the horrifying Miss Gulch trying to steal her dog. I couldn't think of a worse thing than someone destroying your dog (especially since I didn't know the word "destroy" when I was little and thought she'd said "de-straw", as in take the stuffing out of him. It was a confusing time).

For me, the most frightening sequence of the entire film was the twister. I thought Dorothy was uncommonly brave as she tried to find shelter. She didn't panic – even when the cellar door wouldn't open. Tornados scared me to death as a kid and I forever saw them in my mind's eye looking exactly like the one in the Wizard of Oz. I remember running home from school, imagining being chased by Dorothy's twister. No lollygagging or dawdling on those days – I made record time.

One of the things I loved about Dorothy was that she embodied all the qualities her friends were seeking. She was smart, loving, and courageous. She didn't need the Wizard to give her any gifts to improve herself. All she wanted was to go home to her family. I understood that message clearly as losing my family was far more frightening than even a tornado.

Judy Garland did an amazing job portraying Dorothy. Because Judy had that sad vulnerability, even at a young age, I believed her performance from sepia to color and back again. Her portrayal of Dorothy was the anchor on which the other characters clung, always the one they turned to, always the focus, whether in munchkin land, on the yellow brick road, the Emerald City or the Witch's Castle. As a child, Dorothy showed me what it was like to be a leader. She didn't have to bully anyone into following her. Everyone did so willingly. My eager little eyes adored seeing a film where a young girl was stronger and more level-headed than all of the adults around her.

I used to have the soundtrack album to The Wizard of Oz and I would sing along with it, do all the dialogue (it had snippets of scenes as well as songs), and imagine myself as Dorothy. There were two skips on the record – one for the line "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog, too!" It kept saying, "...and your little do—, and your little do—, and your little do—." The other was "You're more trouble than you're worth, one way or another." That one said, "You're more trouble than you're wor—, You're more trouble than you're wor—, You're more trouble than you're wor—." Naturally, when I talked along with the record, I always imitated the skips. To this day, those lines are stuck in my head, skips and all. But I digress.

The Wizard of Oz has made a strong impression on so many kids over the years. It's a part of our collective pop culture history and ties generations together in the shared experience of watching Dorothy long for a place over the rainbow until she understands there's no place like home. The film was made in 1939, long before most of us were born. Yet it endures, as fresh, imaginative, and meaningful today as it ever was. A big reason for that is the pivotal role young Dorothy plays. As a character, she's worth our admiration, which is why she's one of my fictional role models.

Fictional Role Models, Part Two: WONDER WOMAN

Yesterday I wrote about Nancy Drew, so today I'm moving to the first of the comic book heroes, Wonder Woman. Created by William Moulton Marston in 1941, Wonder Woman was an instant hit. Marston, a psychiatrist who also invented the lie detector, felt there was a need for a female superhero. Little girls deserved to have someone they could look up to, just like little boys. To Marston, one of the major differences between his character and her male counterparts was "love" – he wanted to create a character who had as much compassion as strength. This is one reason her mythology includes the reformation of villains, not just battles that must be won. He was also heavily into bondage and submission, themes that outraged some parents and put the comic in the crosshairs during a 1950s witch-hunt, but the kinky weirdness just adds to the fun when you read the books. Kids probably took it in stride, since comics often had people tied up and needing rescue.

Diana was in love with Steve Trevor, but spent almost no time being rescued by him. She did most of the rescuing (Steve was often taken prisoner) and if she did need help, Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls were often her first choice (more about Etta in another installment).

Her adventures were imaginative and sometimes bizarre. She traveled to other planets, like Venus and Saturn and even went inside of an atom. But her message remained the same: use your gifts, your strength, your mind, and your abilities to help those who cannot help themselves. Wonder Woman felt that her gender was often mistreated in "Man's World" and spent many adventures helping women. She also had quite a few female villains to contend with, several of whom she reformed. Baroness Paula Von Gunther, once an arch enemy, became her best friend. The message of redemption must have echoed loudly among her female readership.

Filled with wild adventures and strong feminist messages. Wonder Woman inspired generations of women. Gloria Steinam acknowledges the profound affect the character had on her life. In fact, it was Steinam who campaigned to have the character returned to her superhero image after an experimental period where Diana lost her powers, took up karate, wore a lot of white jumpsuits, and cried dramatically every chance she got.

Many people think of the 70's TV Show with Lynda Carter when they think of Wonder Woman. Even though that incarnation had some differences from the comic, some of the messages still got through. Diana fought the bad guys, was devoted to her adopted country, and spun in a circle to change her clothes. Not sure what message that last thing sent, but it was a neat trick.

I've spoken primarily of the Golden Age Wonder Woman comics because they're so much fun. If you'd like to see a sample, I am posting "reviews" which consist primarily of retelling the plot with scans from the comic and a lot of cheeky commentary. The reviews are posted on my new blog, Comic Books Revisited. The first story is from Wonder Woman #25 (see the cover to the left), published in 1947. It has three separate stories and the third one is my favorite. It's probably one of the most bondage-filled WW stories ever. I think there are only 3 panels where no one is tied up. It's a corker. I update it daily, so don't miss the fun.

My apologies if this write-up about Wonder Woman was a little too serious and little too long. She's one of my favorite characters and it's hard to shut me up when I get a chance to talk about her.

Fictional Role Models, Part One: NANCY DREW

This is the first in a series of entries about some of the wonderful fictional characters who serve as role models for young women. Sure, I could talk about real women who fill that role, but as someone who fell in love with fiction at an early age and who has continued that love affair throughout her life, there's a lot to be said for the enduring, wonderful characters whose exploits and self-assurance show girls everywhere that goals and dreams can be achieved.

At 18 years old, the titian-haired, brainy beauty named Nancy Drew wore pumps, drove a roadster, solved mysteries, outwitted evil, and did it all with such courage and aplomb she was impossible to resist. As a child, I adored Nancy Drew and wanted to grow up just like her. I voraciously read my collection of books, used to dream about finding a tree that grew Nancy Drew books (such a weird kid, was I) and saved my 25¢ allowance for weeks in order to buy a missing title.

Nancy Drew had almost everything. She had her own car, two loyal friends who'd drop everything to help her out, a father who was a famous lawyer, a dreamy boyfriend in college, and the respect of everyone who heard her name. The only thing she didn't have was a mother. Thank goodness housekeeper Hannah Gruen was there as a surrogate.

When I was young, the world was filled with strong role models for boys. Things were much more segregated then when it came to what was appropriate. Girls were supposed to care only about Barbie Dolls, cute boys at school, helping their mother with household chores, and dreaming of someday marrying and having children. I was lucky in that I had a mother who constantly repeated, "Joanna, you can do anything you put your mind to. You can be whatever you want when you grow up. If you choose it, you'll be able to do it." There's no substitute for a real role model, like Mom, but in fiction, Nancy Drew appeared to be the grown up version of the Joanna I wanted to be.

It wasn't just that she could solve mysteries. She was incredibly brave – always getting into things and going places that would frighten me to death, like slipping through trap doors in haunted houses, or facing up to bad men with plucky courage. There was never any violence in Nancy Drew. She did most of her work with her clever and cunning mind. But there was always the threat of harm just around the corner. And, man, those cliffhanger chapter endings got me every time!

She was also tolerant of people's differences. Her two best friends were Bess and George. Bess was always described as "pleasantly plump" and George was "a tomboy." George even had a guy's name (I thought that was weirdly cool when I was a kid, though I was happy my parents had given me a girl's name). Nancy cared about the people she helped, always volunteered her services at the drop of a hat, and was like a pit bull when chasing a mystery. She never quit until she'd solved it. Of course, had she quit it would've been a terrible book, but as a kid you don't think that way. You fret when she's in danger, worry that she won't find the answers, and wonder why someone would wear pumps on her feet (my only experience of a pump was the sump pump in the basement. Not practical for footwear).

Nancy Drew inspired generations of young girls into believing we were just as good as any boy when it came to all the sterling qualities she embodied. She's part of American mythology, an enduring character who still entertains today after more than 75 years.

Recently, some of her books have been reissued in their original form. I've been having a blast reading the re-issues – they're full of old-fashioned language, some unpleasant social situations (let's just say they're not "pc" – the 1930s were a different America), and filled to the brim with the adventures of Nancy Drew, Girl Sleuth.

Now, if only I could find that book-growing tree...

NaBloPoMo... Wha?

Today is the start of NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. It's based on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and the object is to Po to your Blo every day for the Mo of November. I'm not sure why everyone chooses November for this. It would make more sense for it to be a different month because for those who'd like to participate in both it's a bit much. Then again, writing for a living can be somewhat tortuous so perhaps the masochism angle works for people.

Having just finished writing a novel and not feeling completely masochistic today, I've decided to do the blog thing alone. So give me a bookmark, encourage me with comments, and I'll do my darnedest to keep to the program. And yes, that was a shameless and needy cry for attention; thank you for noticing.

I've never done NaNoWriMo. I'm a little afraid of it, I'll admit. As Ed said in his blog today, one of the tenets is that it's okay to write crap. I'd rather take a little more time and write non-crap.

Unlike Ed, I'm very competitive so I'm hoping that will keep me to the blogging schedule that I signed up for. It's not like we're all competing against each other. It's more like I'm competing against myself. Oddly enough, that's my favorite kind of competition. I like challenging myself, always have. When I was young, I worked in a fiberglass factory as a finisher. I used to try to break my own records of how many skids I could do in a night (I worked 3rd shift). It kept me engaged in the work. My boss must've loved me, right? Nope. She kept telling me to slow down because she was afraid the factory would run out of work and we'd all get laid off. Since I was only working there to save money for a trip to Europe, she knew I didn't have to worry about being laid off. Perhaps she thought I was a ringer sent in by management. Anyway, I slowed down and I hated it. No more personal challenges meant just doing the 'thrilling' work. If it weren't for the nightly poker game during breaks, I would've hated that job.

Anyway, here's hoping you'll join me this Mo as I Po to my Blo!