Claws of the Cat #1 (1972)

Writer: Linda Fite
Pencils: Marie Severin & Wally Wood

In a concerted effort to gain new readers, early 70’s Marvel decided to go with a diversity movement and create new super heroes for African-Americans and women. The former got us all-around bad-ass and Marvel icon Luke Cage, while the latter got us… the Cat. Tied with Bug for shortest super hero name, Cat was sort of like a female Spider-Man. Yet instead of taking the easy route, they set out to make her a completely separate character. I’m sure any similarities to Catwoman were purely by chance.

At this point, the “Marvel Age of Comics” had run for almost ten years. Yet their two most significant female characters at that point (Invisible Girl and the Wasp) had the power to turn invisible and get really small. There were rumors that Marvel had also tried to create a third female character who had the power to become completely silent, but they thought that was just too unbelieveable (*hey-oh! I’ll be here all week!*). Whether there were truly some misogynistic feelings at Marvel; or if it was just coincidence; is debateable. Yet for whatever reason they hadn’t launched a solo title dedicated to a female character. After all, at that point, the track record for such a thing had exactly ONE success story– good ol’ Wonder Woman and her continued ability to get tied up and have missiles pointed at her.

There’s even some interesting stuff behind-the-scences. The credit box lets us know that this new heroine is being written and drawn by females (plus Wally Wood, who was not female)! Female comic book writers and female artists? Whoa, that’s like finding a black hockey player! We’ve got so much estrogen behind this mag, now, it’s almost guaranteed to make you ovulate!

So enter …the Cat. Or, more specifically “Beware! The Claws of the Cat”. Kinda’ silly and kinda’ like calling your book “Zap! The Repulsor Rays of Iron Man”, “Lo! The Hammer of Thor” or “Web of Spider-Man”. In a bit of divergence from the norm, this issue starts off in mid-action… Cat’s in the middle of an adventure which hasn’t been continued or tested out in one of the many Marvel anthology books! Thankfully, the editorial asterisks/footnotes are there in the second panel to let us know that we haven’t missed anything. Oh golly…if there’s a footnote explanation on the frickin’ SECOND PANEL, it ain’t a good sign.

Cat’s on a “mission of vengeance”, breaking into a laboratory high-rise in Chicago, the lair of Mal Donalbain and his flunkies. As the action unfolds, a series of flashbacks recounts how The Cat came to be. Greer Grant was a student at the University of Chicago, but put her career on hold to marry policeman Bill Nelson. Bill was something of a chauvanist and just wanted Greer to stay at home to cook n’ clean. Bill was then shot, off-duty, while trying to prevent a robbery. After reading some of Bill’s dialogue, you almost cheer for his death.

Greer couldn’t find any work, as everybody just wanted her to be a secretary. Sayyyy, do you sense a MESSAGE?!. So she went back to school and developed a close relationship with her physics professor, Dr. Tumolo. Tumoloo also a woman to help hammer the point home; was conducting experiments that would hopefully “make it possible for any woman to fulfill her physical and mental potential”! Greer eagerly agreed to be the experimentee. But Tumolo was being financed by Donalbain, who had plans of his own, as he forced Tumolo to experiment on a second woman, Shirlee Bryant.

Behind Tumolo’s back, Donalbain also used a mind control collar on Shirlee. He then dressed her in a similar Cat costume and declared her “the perfect woman”…as the flashback suddenly gets disturbingly kinky. Oh, and Donalbain’s master plan with all this is to open a series of health clubs, where he can brainwash and create an “Army of Amazons” to carry out his plans. As Donalbain commands Shirlee to jump around, climb walls and stuff, she tries to swing on her reteractable cat-claw, but misses her perch and falls to her death. Dr. Tumolo was witness to the whole thing and rightfully upet that her research was being abused. Donalbain then hunted down and blew up Tumolo’s office, leaving her in critical condition. Greer returned, just as Tumolo was dying, and vowed to avenge her mentor’s death.

Which brings us up to speed. Cat dukes it out with Donalbain’s men, including a peculiar lunk named Zabo (the sixth Marx Brother?). He’s a big, bald, super-strong dude who runs around in gold underwear and bracelets.

Eventually, Cat is able to put away all these clowns, as a fire accidentally breaks out. Donalbain has a severe phobia about being touched. Rather than fight Cat one-on-one, he freaks out and blows his head off. We never see his body, so the ol’ cliche of “he ain’t dead unless you see a body” could apply. The final panel has Cat wondering if she did the right thing with the powers Dr. Tumolo gave her, or if she abused them.

A superhero being created by a lab experiment is nothing new; especially for Marvel. So that works well. Where it gets weird is with Donalbain and his evil plan to create… Health Clubs. Sure, it’s overwhelmingly EVIL– not only will they have to pay membership dues, but they’ll be forced to commit crimes. Errr… Donalbain never really specifies that he’ll commit crimes or WHAT exactly he wanted to do with his “army of Amazons”. You can fill in the blanks and come up with some weird stuff. I mean, Donalbain did wear weird “director” pants and hung out with Zabo. I’ll go with “commit crimes” to keep it clean. But the point is that while Donalbain is a memorable villain, he’s one you wish you didn’t remember.

The Cat and her Claws didn’t last long. All of four issues, to be exact. It may not have helped that her powers weren’t anything unique– she’s just like a female Daredevil. Of course, Cat’s costume was discovered by Patsy Walker, who became a very promiment Defender as “Hellcat” for about 10 years. So in that regard, The Cat did have some legacy. Greer Grant-Nelson, herself, went on to become “Tigra the Were-Woman” and also had a pretty good stint as a West Coast Avenger. Note that both of those heroines were in TEAM books. Superhero comics have tried for years to make a prominent female hero and have her taken seriously in a solo book. The quest still continues, as it’s still a hard sell, today (2013 as of this writing).

Summary: Greer Nelson dons a catsuit and gets all catty, hoping to lead all women to to their full potentnial! Or, at least all six female comic book readers of 1972.
Cover Price:.20
Rating: .75