and Hedy

After debuting in 1944 as a teenager by 1945 Patsy Walker had her own “Marvel” comic which ran until 1965. She also shared a comic with Hedy Wolfe between 1952 and 1967. Hedy was to Patsy as Chili was to Millie the Model or Betty was to Veronica for that matter….friend/rival/enemy…whatever the story (usually written by Stan Lee) called for.

I couldn’t resist buying this old comic (the one pictured below) recently. I was once given a stack of these years ago…only to discover all the paper dolls had been cut out !! Anyway what I found interesting about this June 1960 issue is the UK price of 9d. It looks like it is a sticker over the USA price but it isn’t….the UK price has been specifically printed on the cover. It is another example of how (pre) Marvel comics printed batches of comics in the States specifically to be shipped over to the UK.

The inside front cover has even lost the usual small print.

When in the regular comics it looked something like this.

The ageless Patsy has been an Avenger and a Defender, survived hell and often pops up as Hellcat in the Marvel universe. Hedy Wolfe still lives in Centerville. I don’t know if they continue to be friennemies but both are Marvel Divas.

PS: Were Patsy’s early adventures written by Stan or (as has recently been claimed) by her mother ? And did they happen inside the Marvel Universe or were they comics you could buy from a newsstand inside the Marvel Universe ?? My brain hurts.