Sidekick Gals 14

Perhaps terming Diane Twinkle of the Twinkle Twins a “sidekick gal” is a little unfair because Diane is every bit the equal of her twin brother Dan in their belief-suspending adventures. Together this boy and girl team support the crusading and aptly-named Elijah Truth, editor of Weston’s local newspaper to not just report on crimes but also to bring the perpetrators to justice. Although the twins are described as “typical high school youngsters” in the splash panels, their exploits mark them out from yer average teenage students. Not only do these two intrepid 16-year olds crack cases and leave the law lumbering behind, they also show a high degree of two-fisted skills, the precocious Dan in particular displaying the abilities of a heavyweight boxer to take on the bad guys, while the indomitable Diane appears to be as versed in jiu-jitsu as she is in street fighting. The two continually get themselves into hair-raising, and usually potentially lethal, scrapes often spending much of their adventures as bound captives, James Bond-style, while the villains plan their demise. However the Twinkle Twins are master and mistress of turning the tables and they invariably win through, handing over bemused captured gangsters and spies to the cops, who never fail to ask how a couple of adolescents are able to defeat armed criminals so easily. How indeed?

Part of the answer lies in the fact the twins debuted and enjoyed their heyday in Champ Comics, a title that majored in fisticuffs as opposed to super powers as the default method by which its heroes and heroines subdued the bad guys. But Dan and Diane’s adventures in Champ also took place in wartime and it is likely the intrepid pair were viewed as wholesome (if somewhat violent) role models for the younger generation. After an eight issue run in Champ Comics, that commenced with #18 (May 1942) and ended with #25 (April 1943), the twins transferred to Green Hornet Comics, debuting in Green Hornet Comics #13 (July 1943). Unfortunately Dan and Diane never quite repeated the gung-ho energy of their early adventures in the new title. The stories became much shorter, more slapstick, Diane became older and more sexualised and Elijah Truth vanished from the scene altogether, to be replaced by a dumb-but-tough friend named “Mike the Muscle” who was able to rescue and protect the twins in their exploits but also seemed to remove much of the peril their youth and inexperience had previously placed them in, thus depriving the twins of some agency in their own stories. By the end of their run, the fact the pair were High School students, their previous USP, was barely mentioned at all. The last outing for Dan and Diane was in Green Hornet Comics #18 (May 1944).

It was a shame the series rather petered out into goofball lightheartedness because at the outset the Twinkle Twins, and particularly Diane, were courageous, tough, intelligent and resourceful and able to look after themselves on the mean streets. They were a little like the Famous Five, but with street smarts and fighting skills. A rather obscure Golden Age series now, it is well worth checking the stories out on comicbookplus - they are great fun.