I was only vaguely familiar with Miss Fury when a good friend of mine (thanks John!) pointed out to me that there’s a Facebook community devoted to this Golden Age Heroine. That alone made me want to dig deeper. Sure enough, Miss Fury is a notable early action adventure heroine whose comics can be quite valuable.

Created by Tarpé Mills in 1941 and debuting as the female heroine 'Black Fury', Miss Fury originally appeared in newspaper strips and quickly gained a following. Why is she significant? To start, Miss Fury has dibs on being one of the earliest female super-heroes (predating Wonder Woman by about six months). Female heroes are hot these days, as we all know. Moreover, Miss Fury can also claim to be the first female-created super-hero.

After gaining popularity in newspaper strips, syndicated nationally starting in 1941, Miss Fury is also still around today.

Fury’s creator, Tarpé Mills, is even more interesting than the character she wrote about. Born June Tarpé Mills (1918-1988), she started her professional career as a fashion model before becoming a fashion illustrator and then finally turning her attention to comic books. Her first contribution to the comics’ medium was the story “The Coming of Cat-Man” printed in Amazing Man Comics #5 (September 1939).

Although she created other characters, such as the above mentioned 'Cat-Man', Mills is today still best known and remembered for having written and illustrated ‘Miss Fury' - without a doubt her greatest success.

Interestingly, June Tarpé’s heroine was physically based, as photos confirm, on the appearance of her creator. Who was Miss Fury? What motivated this female dynamo to fight evil?

Miss Fury was the alter ego of socialite Marla Drake. In the first issue of Miss Fury from 1941, we see her dress up in a skin tight black leopard costume that makes her resemble a Golden Age female version of Black Panther, she then take it upon herself (Vigilante/Batman-style) to right society’s wrongs. Which she does…in her very tight black leather body suit.

After starring in successful comic strips, Mills’ creation was republished in her own self-titled monthly magazine. The reprints of the original ‘Miss Fury’ serialized stories by Timely (Marvel before it was Marvel) were originally released quarterly as Miss Fury Comics from 1942-1946, with a lull of two years before the last issue (#8) was published in 1948.

The Timely collections are still the most valuable and collectible Miss Fury comics.

Miss Fury Comics #1 [Timely] (December 1942) – First published Miss Fury Comic (reprint of the newspaper stories)

Available for download in the public domain here, these comics are a pleasant surprise. These are quality stories with great art that stacks up quite well with other Golden Age offerings. However like many other Golden age books from the 1940s, these stories are also very much of their time. Women are called ‘toots’, Nazi spies are everywhere, people still listen to the radio and everyone drives Buick Roadmaster Sedans. Even so, the emphasis on glamour and close attention to fashion details in the stylish illustrations are just some of the tell-tale signs revealing Mills personality behind the adventures of this Golden Age female Zorro.

All of the eight original Timely Miss Fury comics are valuable, even if difficult to find in high grade. At the time of writing there are no copies of issue #1 listed on eBay. According to GoCollect.com, this comic is the most valuable issue in the run. The 33rd edition of Overstreet Guide from 2003 lists Miss Fury #1 in NM as worth $4, 600.00. Three years later a 9.8 CGC certified copy sold for $5,078.75 on Heritage. With only 28 of these on the census, this is a rare book and can fetch hundreds of dollars even in low grade, as a certified 3.5 sale on Heritage for $776.75 from November 2017 confirms.

Our Love Story #14 (December 1971) – Last Comic Illustrated by Mills

Even though she officially retired from comics in the 1950s, Mills came back for an encore twenty years later. These illustrations of a Gary Friedrich script, from the early seventies in Marvel’s Our Love Story #14, are the last original comic work that Mills did. A 2013 sale of a certified copy of this comic went for $276.00 back in 2013.

After Mills death, reprints of the Golden Age original comics became available before Miss Fury's adventures were continued with Marla Drake’s granddaughter taking over as the new Miss Fury. These modern comics were published for a brief time by Archival Press before Malibu Comics took over publishing duties in 1991. Miss Fury then had ongoing adventures in the pages of her own self-titled IDW comic until 2012. Currently stories featuring the modern Miss Fury are published by Dynamite Entertainment.