It’s October folks!

The days are getting shorter, the leaves are changing, and the weather is getting cooler.

Normally, most forms of entertainment start churning out the horror and scary stuff around this time, and in the near future we won’t be so different. However, I thought it might be nice to give the sun one last hurrah and talk about a bright and colorful superhero from days of yore.

She’s also a lady so here’s another chance to showcase a hero that didn’t get a whole lot of attention back then.

This is Sun Girl.

Origin and Career

Sun Girl made her first appearance in her self titled series Sun Girl #1 in August of 1948.

While the writer of the comic is uncredited, the art was done by a man named Ken Bald.

Ken Bald was actually one of the more prolific and successful artists of the Golden Age and did a lot of work as a staff artist at Timely Comics where he drew many of Timely’s most popular heroes. He is also known for his comic strip work, such as a strip based off of the 1970’s tv show Dark Shadows.

A couple things of note. First, hooray we actually managed to tie in some horror into an October post! Second, if the name Dark Shadows isn’t familiar to younger readers all you need to know is that they tried making a modern movie based off it starring Johnny Depp.

It wasn’t well received.

Anyway, in an age where comic book super heroines were surprisingly independent and capable Sun Girl…was not. Her civilian name was Mary Mitchell and she started life as the secretary and love interest of the original Human Torch. When the Human Torch’s original sidekick Toro takes a leave of absence she insisted that she becomes Torch’s sidekick despite having no superpowers. The Torch is not pleased and responds with stereotypical 1940’s male talk.

But…she knows judo so that fixes everything I guess? Also, she had a “sun beam” gun that shot bright flashes of light. Honestly, there were better superheroines out there at this time.

Her lack of powers and crazy weapons didn’t stop her from having something of a career. After her three issue solo series she appeared in the Human Torch series for three issues,

and she guest starred in Captain America and Submariner books.

Thankfully, during her short career she wasn’t entirely useless. She would often bring a more human and compassionate side to her superhero work and was able to make an impact on the Human Torch’s career. Perhaps her biggest achievement was helping the Torch prove a wrongfully accused man innocent.

So what happened?

Toro came back from his leave of absence and Mary went back to being the Human Torch’s secretary. Then the comic book industry went kaput and Timely Comics re branded to eventually become Marvel Comics and the Human Torch became a character who didn’t need a secretary.

However, Sun Girl didn’t just fade away into obscurity and become a tiny little footnote in comic book history. She had enough fans and people who remembered her to bring her into the modern era. The first appearance of the new and improved Sun Girl was in Superior Spider Man Team Up #1 in June of 2013.

Right off the bat the new Sun Girl has a more independent and interesting origin. She’s an engineer named Selah Burke who developed a suit that gives her the ability to fly and two light blasting pistols. Also, she’s the daughter of Edward Lanksey, an out of work college professor who became a super villain.

Her next appearance would be as part of the Marvel Comics team called the New Warriors in 2014.

Sun Girl is an interesting comic book super heroine, but not for the reasons you might expect. She didn’t have any extraordinary powers, she didn’t have a very long career, and she didn’t have the impact on popular culture that many of her other female colleagues had. With that being said, she was smart, courageous, always willing to do the right thing, and has one of the most comprehensive and fulfilling post Golden Age careers of any female superhero.