Barbara Hall

Classic comics era artist, chiefly known for The Girl Commandos and The Blonde Bomber

Born September 9, 1919, Died April 28, 2014

Girl Commandos

“I’ll t-take this overstuffed sausage - G-2 back in Africa will love to grill him! Get the mission members! Hurry!”

Whereas there were numerous comic book battling heroines supporting the Allied war effort in the Golden Age, titles featuring women on the front line were rare, to be fair, reflecting the restrictions on female soldiers directly engaging the enemy in the field that applied in the US and many other countries in World War II. An exception to this were the Girl Commandos, a multi-national task force of female warriors who operated mainly in China and the Pacific against the Japanese. Mei-ling, Tanya, leader Pat Parker (who also starred in her own stories in an unlikely combination of war nurse, aviator and spy), Ellen and Penny, clad in impractical, almost fantasy uniforms, took the fight to the enemy, skirts flowing and guns blazing. They were a kind of irregular force, often operating behind enemy lines and in espionage-type scenarios. Skilled in a variety of weapons and in unarmed combat, the Girl Commandos were merciless in their attacks on the Japanese enemy, who was invariably depicted as grotesquely fiendish and evil and the girls, often literally, usually took no prisoners.

Although the series was not particularly well drawn, and filled with racial stereotypes, the depiction of female combatants fighting victoriously against the Axis was certainly novel, and for all its rather lame plots, the Girl Commandos series certainly carried with it a certain feminist, if rather violent, vibe.

The indomitable female commandos enjoyed an eighteen issue run in Speed Comics in 1942 to 1946, appearing for the final time in Speed Comics #42 (March 1946), by which time the war had been over for several months and the need for inspiring fighting heroines was no more.

The page featured is from the Girl Commandos story, the The Battle for Burma, which appeared in Speed Comics #27 (July 1943).

Going hardcore with the Girl Commandos, undercover in Holland. Speed Comics # 38.

Art by Isabelle “Barbara” Hall