FemForce Special #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFemforce Special #1 (Fall 1984) holds a dual claim in comics history: it marks the first assembled appearance of the Femforce team — Miss Victory, She-Cat, Blue Bulleteer, and Rio Rita — and, according to AC Comics, stands as the first book-length 'good girl art' superhero feature ever produced in the medium. By giving an all-female superteam their own dedicated book for the first time, the Special cracked open a creative and commercial space that the subsequent ongoing Femforce series would occupy continuously for decades, eventually surpassing 200 issues and becoming the longest-running all-women superhero team comic in American publishing history. The issue also demonstrated that a one-shot built around public-domain and original Golden Age-inspired heroines could anchor an entire independent line, a proof-of-concept that directly shaped AC Comics' identity for the next forty years.
In "Target: U.S.A.! (Chapter One)," Blue Bulleteer finds herself trapped in a high-stakes ambush during a Van Zant fundraiser, where Lady Luger and her saboteurs have launched a daring assault. With the fate of American soil hanging in the balance, she must use her wits and courage to thwart a secret Nazi plot to teleport soldiers into the country—before it's too late. Written by Bill Black and illustrated by Heike, with inks by Black and letters by Walter Paisley, this special issue features a cover by Mark Heike and Bill Black.
In "The Lust of Lady Luger! (Chapter Two)" from FemForce Special #1, Blue Bulleteer races to thwart Lady Luger and her saboteurs at a Van Zant fundraiser, only to be captured and thrust into a desperate mission: preventing a Nazi teleportation scheme from unleashing soldiers on American soil.
In "The Lunatic Fringe (Chapter Three)," Miss Victory tumbles from the sky after being caught in the wreckage of a Nazi spy balloon, only to awaken as a prisoner in the twisted grasp of the enigmatic Dr. Charles Roberge. Trapped in a hidden facility where science and madness blur, her fight for freedom begins in silence and shadows.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By late 1984, Bill Black's Americomics imprint — freshly renamed AC Comics — was navigating a glut in the direct-market independent comics boom that had driven multiple distributors and competing publishers out of business; switching to cheaper black-and-white production, Black saw an opening to test a concept he had long envisioned: an all-female superhero team. He re-edited material already on hand, wrote the 40-page story himself, and collaborated with penciler Mark Heike on both the story art and the color wraparound cover, publishing the book as a one-shot with no guarantee of a sequel. The Special's success — described by AC as the company's biggest hit since Black Diamond #1 — immediately triggered production of the full-color ongoing Femforce series, whose first issue reached comic shops in late Spring 1985.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Femforce as a team: Miss Victory (Joan Wayne), She-Cat (Jessica Hunt), Blue Bulleteer (Laura Wright), and Rio Rita (Rita Farrar) assemble for the first time in this one-shot, set during World War II.
- The central story, 'Target: U.S.A.!', pits the four heroines against Axis saboteurs — including the villainous Lady Luger and Fritz Von Voltzman — who aim to steal the Statue of Liberty and break American morale.
- Blue Bulleteer's appearance here is a key stepping-stone in her character history: the character is an AC adaptation of the public-domain Fox Feature Syndicate version of Phantom Lady (secret identity Laura Wright); she would later evolve into the sorceress Nightveil.
- She-Cat (Jessica Hunt) is based on the Harvey Comics version of Black Cat, herself a public-domain Golden Age heroine revived by Bill Black.
- Miss Victory is a revival of the original Golden Age heroine who first appeared in Captain Fearless #1 (Aug. 1941); the 1984 AC version gives Joan Wayne the added power of a super-strength serum called the V-47 formula.
- The book is written by series creator Bill Black and drawn by Black and Mark G. Heike; the wraparound cover is in color while all interiors are black and white, running 52 pages in standard comic book format.
- AC Comics describes the issue as the first book-length 'good girl art' superhero feature in comics history, structured in six movie-serial-style chapters.
- The Special was intended as a one-shot but its commercial success led directly to the launch of the ongoing color Femforce series (Femforce #1, Spring 1985), which went on to pass the 100-issue mark in 1997 — only the 229th comic series in history to do so at that time.
Cast · 37 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in FemForce Up Close #4 (1993), Blue Bulleteer #1 (1996)
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