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Miss Fury
Miss FuryMiss Fury

Miss Fury

49 appearances · Golden Age · 1942–2025 · 1 key issues
Who is Miss Fury?

Marla Drake, a socialite of the 1940s, donned a striking black cat-skin costume and became Miss Fury, one of the first female superheroes created by a woman — cartoonist Tarpé Mills. Dynamite Entertainment later revived the character for modern audiences.

Few characters carry the trailblazing weight of Miss Fury, who burst onto the Golden Age scene in 1942 courtesy of the brilliant Tarpé Mills — one of the first women to create and draw a major superhero comic strip, a fact that makes this character historically electrifying. Debuting in Miss Fury #2, she's a figure whose legacy has stretched an astonishing eight decades, proving that real icons don't fade. Her adventures place her in rarefied company: the same pages as The Shadow, The Green Hornet, and Bruce Wayne himself, a rogues' gallery of Golden Age royalty that speaks to just how central Miss Fury is to that era's mythology. With a key issue to her name, appearances in noir-drenched titles, and a publishing life running all the way to 2025, she's a collector's treasure and a genuine piece of comics history well worth seeking out.

★ First appearance
Miss Fury #1
Dec 1942

Trivia

  • When Marla Drake appeared in a bikini, the backlash was swift and severe — 37 newspapers dropped the strip outright, making Miss Fury one of the rare Golden Age properties to be actively censored for its imagery.pdsh.fandom.com
  • Dynamite's modern revival of Miss Fury was made possible by the character's public domain status, which gave the publisher free rein to bring her back without licensing hurdles.pdsh.fandom.com
  • Miss Fury wasn't always Miss Fury — the strip launched under the title The Black Fury before the name was changed early in its run.pdsh.fandom.com

Top series

Covers through the years — 1942–2020

Miss Fury #1 1942
Miss Fury #1
Mad #30 1956
Mad #30
The Comics Before 1945 #[nn] 2004
The Comics Before 1945 #[nn]
The Twelve #1 2008
The Twelve #1
Noir #3 2014
Noir #3
Die!namite #2 2020
Die!namite #2

Appearances

The Saint (1947)
#6
Mad (1952)
#30
The Menomonee Falls Gazette (1971)
Nemo: The Classic Comics Library (1983)
#2
Miss Fury Special Limited Edition (1991)
#1
The Comics Before 1945 (2004)
The Comics: The Complete Collection (2008)
The Comics Journal (1977)
The Twelve (2008)
#1
Girl Comics (2010)
#2
Miss Fury Sensational Sundays (2011)
Masks (2012)
#5
The Shadow Now (2013)
#1
Noir (2013)
Masks 2 (2015)
Swords of Sorrow, Miss Fury & Lady Rawhide (2015)
Swords of Sorrow the Complete Saga (2016)
Miss Fury: The Minor Key (2016)
Batman / Shadow (2017)
#3
Gwandanaland Comics (2016)
Die!namite (2020)
#2
Die!namite Lives! (2021)
#1
Miss Fury: Joy Division Risqué Edition (2022)
Terror & Fury: Rise of the Night (2025)
#1
Green Hornet / Miss Fury (2025)
The Golden Age (2024)
#6
Vint Age Press Presents… Leading Ladies (2025)