The Blond Bomber
Imagine a blonde, 1940s version of Lois Lane who was not only what we would now call a photojournalist, but who could also pack a mean punch in order to subdue bad guys, and you have the formidable, if confusing, Honey Blake AKA The Blond Bomber. Honey worked for Acme Newsreels Incorporated and worked as lenswoman, making wartime news films for display in cinemas in the days when movie theatres frequently ran newsreels. Aided by her male sidekick Jimmy Slapso (also a photographer who seemed to double as Honey’s bodyguard) , the Blond Bomber was sent on dangerous assignments all over the world and frequently tangled with sinister Nazis, treacherous spies and baddies of various hues. Apart from being an accomplished camerawoman, we are also told that Honey was a qualified chemist, which definitely takes her out of airhead territory, even if this pharmaceutical skill was rarely on display in her 37 or so adventures. Honey’s distinctive characteristic however, was her skill in fisticuffs (no jiu-jitsu for the Blond Bomber) and our red-clad heroine never seemed happier than when she was knocking some villain or other into the middle of next week, like on the page featured above.
Honey was nothing if not eccentric and unpredictable (in her later Speed Comics stories she even started going back in time), but she had a goofy charm which probably explains her relatively lengthy run across a variety of titles.
The Blond Bomber appeared principally in the Green Hornet titles and in a few issues of All-New Comics and Speed Comics. Gratifyingly, Honey was also that Golden Age rarity: a female character created and illustrated by a woman, the talented Barbara Hall.
The page featured is from the Blond Bomber story, Sabotage On Parade, which appeared in Green Hornet Comics #10 (December 1942).
Sources: the comics blog paultobin.net, pdsh and comicbookplus for the page.
