There were few explicitly LGBTQ comic book characters in 1940s comic books. But, as you’ll see, their sexuality was sometimes implied and later writers would sometimes retroactively out gay characters. Cross-dressing characters were common, however, though their clothing choices seemed most often explained by a need for a disguise rather than embracing a transgender identity. That said, the rationale for dressing as they did for as long as some characters did seemed inadequate to explain the longevity of their choices–see Madam Fatal below. The sexuality of villain Reggie Mocton seems the most explicitly queer and, as such, seemed to be intended by the author as a creepy alternative to “normal” boyhood as reflected by Dick Cole. All in all, these characters reflect the distinct uneasiness mainstream 1940s culture had with alternative gender expression and queer sexuality. The villainous He-She is probably the most horrific example of this.

Possible LGBTQ comic book characters will be listed in three categories: heroes, supporting characters, and villains. At the end of this article are some characters who might retroactively might be embraced as more positive LGBT images.

LGBTQ HEROES

The Black Mask

When he first appears in Silver Streak 18, the Black Mask is the presumably male masked captain of a pirate ship that sports a black and white skull and crossbones flag. Heroic swashbuckler, the Pirate Prince is enjoined to stop him, only to discover what no one else knows,.the Black Mask is actually a woman named Erika. Her beauty is is only marred by a prominent scar on her fight cheek. As the Black Mask, Erika appears male, wearing lack leggings, red boots, a bulky blue jacket and a black hood that covers her entire face. It soon emerges that the Black Mask only raids slave ships, a trade that the Pirate Prince also fights against. The two soon fall in love and share numerous adventures, to all the world seeming like two men totally in sync with each other. The two are on verge of marriage, as told in Daredevil 19, when the Black Mask learns she is actually a Queen. The Pirate Prince helps her clean up unruly elements of her new kingdom, then—suggesting he is only in her way—leaves to continue his seafaring adventures without her. Silver Streak 18, 21; Daredevil 13-19 GLEASON (1941-43).

The Cat-Man

Barton Stone took the rap for a white collar crime and then was denied his agreed upon recompense by his former business colleagues. Once out of prison, Stone disguises himself as an old woman with a cat with poisoned claws. Thereafter, Stone adopts the lifestyle of a cat-fancying private detective. Amazing Man Comics 5, 8 CENTAUR (1939).

Madam Fatal

When actor Richard Stanton’s daughter is kidnapped, he adopts the longterm guise of a non-threatening old woman to track her down. Her kidnapper dies before he can reveal her fate. Thereafter Stanton permanently adopts the guise of Madam Fatal, to fight crime. Stanton lives alone and is never portrayed in a relationship. Crack Comics 1-22 QUALITY (1940-42).

The Raven

A notorious pirate with a neatly trimmed mustache, it is revealed in A-1 6 that the Raven is actually a woman. The Raven tells the tale of her origins in the following issue and earns the heroic Cosair’s welcome. A-1 5-7 MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES (1946).

LGBT VILLAINS

The Blue Snow Man

By use of a “telescopic snow ray,” the Snow Man can create blizzards of blue snow in the heat of summer. The Snow Man appears to be a stocky—well—snowman (albeit colored blue) complete with hat and bulbous nose. The Snow Man (known as the Blue Snow Man as part of Villainy Incorporated) turns out to be a local female school teacher named Byrna Brilyant. She/he is opposed ny Wonder Woman. Sensation 59; Wonder Woman 28 (1946, 1948).

Countess Belladonna

AKA “Satan’s private needle woman,” Countess Belladonna is a grandmotherly figure who uses poison-tipped knitting needles to commit murder. She is first seen knitting names in a scarf at a flower show: names with the mark of death on them. After killing a 21-year old girl for her ruby, the Countess grins toothlessly: “Poor Brenda! She wanted to live forever, did she? Hmph—very sad!” Shockingly, the Countess turns out to be a man—the respected Judge Talmadge, Brenda’s stepfather—who’d been living a double life in more than one sense for years. She/he is opposed by the Blue Beetle. Mystery Men 28, 29 FOX (1941).

Dame Kackle

A gray-haired, gap-toothed Nazi sea captain who wears a yellow turban and dresses in men’s clothing. Opposed by the Defender. U.S.A. Comics 1 (1941).

Doctor Poison

A beautiful Japanese princess named Mara who specializes in deadly poisons. Mara disguises herself as the male Dr. Poison in her first battle with Wonder Woman, wearing something akin to a surgical gown and black eye mask. Princess Mara appears as herself in her second battle, but again dons her eerie male guise when she joins other Wonder Woman foes, who collectively are known as Villainy Inc. Sensation 2, 24; Wonder Woman 28 (1942-43, 1948).

The Dragon’s Daughters

“Twenty female fanatics, whose exploits challenge all Japanese women (and men) to greater efforts for the resplendent son of Heaven! So says Tokyo Rose. But to Yank airmen, the Dragon’s Daughters remain a mystery.” That is, until pilot Clipper Kirk discovers that the female aviators are actually all male samurai in drag! Only their leader, the shapely and beautiful Dragon, is a biological woman. Wings 57 (1945).

The Ghost Gun

Hooded, apparent villain who turns out to be Gerry Riggs, a woman attempting to insure her romance with a cowhand at her father’s ranch in unlikely fashion. The Ghost Gun wears a white hood over “his” red shirt, head and chest. The Ghost Gun’s white horse wears a red hood over its head. Opposed by Golden Arrow. Golden Arrow 1 FAWCETT (1942).

The Hag

A rather butch, female saboteur who has a loyal gang of thugs at her disposal. The Hag wears a flame-resistant trench coat, hat and gloves. The Human Torch gives her a short hair cut with a spiraling fireball before she disappears in an explosion, presumably dead.  Marvel Mystery 19 (1941).

He-She

He-She is physically male on his right side and physically female on her left. He-She can pretend to be either a man or a woman by standing to that side. As a man, He-She marries his landlady, fleeces her of her life savings and then kills her. As a woman, she is seductive and plays on men’s chivalry. As the narration explains: “This is the story of a thing—neither man nor woman. A person? Yes. With a soul? No! He, or she—call it what you will.” Defeated by the youthful Crimebuster, He-She faces the electric chair for his/her crimes at story’s end. Boy  9 (1943).

Hypnota the Great

Turbaned and goateed magician is actually a woman in disguise. Hypnota’s assistant and twin sister Serva is entirely under her control. A freak brain injury (Serva accidentally shoots her sister in the head), imbues the magician with a “blue electric ray of dominance.” Hypnota uses her power to create mental slaves that she sells to a militaristic Saturn! She is opposed in all of this by Wonder Woman. She later joins Villainy Incorporated. Wonder Woman 11, 28 (1944, 1948).

Madam Brawn

Tough-talking, cigar-smoking mistress of Madam Brawn’s Crime School for Delinquent Girls. As Madam Brawn explains to a new recruit: “So you’re fresh from prison, he? Well, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve got the toughest molls on spike heels!! Any one of ‘em can lick two men at one time!! Short and a bit squat, Madam Brawn wears bib overalls, a yellow and black polka dot shirt and dangly earrings. The only opponent to come back to face the famed Plastic Man twice, she also manages to get him stoned on marijuana! Madam Brawn is accidentally killed at the end of their second skirmish. Police 4-5 QUALITY (1941).

Mother Goose (I)

Mother Goose has the appearance of a kindly old woman but her broom is a disguised rifle and she pushes cigar-smoking midgets dressed as children in her over-sized carriage. Said midgets are actually circus acrobats turned to crime. Mother Goose herself is actually a man in a dress—George E. Ready, a millionaire who recently lost his fortune. Opposed by TNT.  Star Spangled 9 (1942).

Mother Goose (II)

This ugly, green-skinned figure sports robes, a conical witch’s hat, and a goatee! Mother Goose is known by all to be a man who conveys nursery rhyme clues to his next crime for the sheer sport of it. “Mother” Goose is assisted by King Cole, who covets expensive things. She/he is opposed by the Human Torch. Marvel Mystery 79 (1946).

Paris, the Machine Marvel

A precision-timed robot dressed in a tuxedo and top hat. While referred to as a “he”, Paris has a feminine-appearing face and his small mouth appears adorned with black lipstick. Ultimately Paris goes berserk during his battle with the Boy King and kills his villainous master. Clue Comics 9 HILLMAN (1944).

Queen Bee

AKA the “world’s deadliest and most heartless woman criminal,” the Queen Bee uses often outlandish methods—e.g., a giant robot Indian, criminal midgets disguised as Vikings—to achieve her ends. Originally an unselfish girl named Lissa Raven, it turns out that experiments on her conducted by her father, a brain specialist desiring to deaden the worry created by an overactive conscience, wiped away her conscience. Mr. America is ultimately able to reverse the effects and redeem the villainess. In her first appearance, Queen Bee dresses in a suit and wears a tie. She is described as muscular and beautiful, her long blonde hair softening the squareness of her jaw. When she returns in Action 46, she’s had something of a makeover, wearing a frilly blouse. Action 42, 46-49.

Reggie Mocton

A small misshapen youth with dark hair and dark glasses, Reggie grew up hating his athletic older brother and ultimately kills him. Through his studies of witchcraft and the occult arts, Reggie is able to devise a potion that, when consumed, allows him to mentally control whomever he gives it to. Reggie has placed his powerfully built “bodyguard, chauffeur, valet and friend” Alex under his control and forces upright cadet Dick Cole to commit treason. He is at his most dangerous riding a dinosaur he mentally dominates. Homosexually inclined, Reggie asks to feel Dick’s muscle, commenting admiringly that his arm is “like a rock!” Simba notes that he’s “queer duck” and later Reggie admits that it made him “squirm to see those wonder boys flexing their pretty muscles.” 4 Most 1 (1941).

The Ultra Humanite

A bald mad scientist who has lost the ability to walk, the Ultra-Humanite’s ultimate goal is world domination. When he appears dead at the end of Action Comics 19, Superman learns that the madman has actually had his henchmen transplant his brain into the “young, vital body” of Dolores Winters, a beautiful Hollywood actress. Superman initially refers to Ultra as “he” after his transplant, but soon begins to think of Ultra as a woman. Action 13, 17, 19-21 (1939-40).

LGBTQ Incidental Characters, Themes or Suggestive Moments

Carim Bombay

Foe of Captain Triumph, this Peter Lorre look-alike (“He looks Oriental—bulgy eyes, thick lips—” opines one thug). and former criminal associate of A. Spade during a time both of them spent in China. Caught in a bomb blast in Chungking, Bombay now has fainting spells and an impaired memory. He retains his talent for finding out “anything” he wishes to know. The two share a questionable affection (Spade refers to Bombay as “an old friend of mine! A very good old friend!” and a woozy Bombay coos, “Spade… Spade, it is good to find you…at last.”), but this doesn’t stop Bombay from fatally shooting Spade for the secret of explosive capsules and the opportunity to steal credit for Spade’s sabotage. He escapes at the end of their first encounter. Crack 31 QUALITY (1943).

The Cavalier (I)

Batman foe who dresses in antique garb, conveying something of a foppish character. The Cavalier was later retroactively posited to be gay in the 2000s. Detective 81, 89; Batman 22, 26 DC (1943-45).

The Cavalier (II)

Secretly Rance Raleigh, owner of a curio shop, the Cavalier adopts the costume of his namesake to do battle with criminals. He is alerted to danger whenever the portrait of his 17^th century ancestor, the Duc de Chantrey, frowns. Decades later, Alan Moore—a noted writer circa 2000, speculates that he was gay. Thrilling Comics 53-54; Fighting Yank 25 ABC (active 1946-48).

Charlotta Sandro

Widely considered “the most dangerous spy in Europe,” the short-haired Sandro proves to be simultaneously buxom, butch, and deadly. Her partner in espionage is Hercon, a Svengali-like hypnotist who commands men to do her bidding. Opposed by K-7, an American secret agent, Sandro’s efforts to obtain the thermite bomb lead to her explosive demise. Only her short haircut suggests she might have something of queer spirit. Miracle 2 HILLMAN (1940).

Devil Dog Dolan

Seasoned leatherneck Devil Dog Dolan accepts special assignments by his commanding officer Captain Lawton. In his only recorded mission, Dolan is sent to rescue the Captain’s adult son, a strapping if reckless Marine named Sam who has gotten himself in trouble. Dolan and Sam spend much of the ensuing adventure shirtless. After the successful rescue, Dolan ends up disciplining a smiling Sam by taking him over his knee and spanking him. The whole story has homoerotic elements without ever being explicitly gay. Champ Comics 24 HARVEY (1942).

The Gladiator

Antiquities collector Dan Kenneth doffs his shirt and pants to right wrongs in Roman gladiator garb, including an ancient centurion’s helmet. Nothing in the narrative suggests he’s gay, but he seems a likely candidate for a retroactive coming out, much like the two Cavaliers noted above. Fantastic Comics 23 FOX (active 1941).

Irving

The Marine general’s nephew is clearly effeminate and probably meant to be homosexual. The General asks Sniffer to take him under his wing. No Deadly Dozen in Daredevil 12 GLEASON (1942).

Rainbow Boy

Hydroman’s sometime partner, Rainbow Boy “can transform myself into a brilliant rainbow at will thereby overcoming antagonists by temporarily blinding them and causing their capture.” He can also streak across the sky in rainbow-colored arcs of light. Rainbow Boy sports a red helmet with holes for eyes with a rainbow-colored Mohawk atop it. He is secretly Jack Walton, one of the Wizard Kids, a group of highly intelligent youths with their own radio question-and answer radio science show. Jack discovered his rainbow powers while experimenting with light at his home laboratory. While nothing in the narrative suggests he’s gay, he’s included here as he embodies the queer symbol of the rainbow. In his own adventures Heroic 14-20, 25 (1942-44).

Mark Carlson-Ghost