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Calculus Affair: inspired by US superheroine comic strip?

mct16
Member
#1 · Posted: 8 Jul 2018 19:16
I recently came across an old American comic strip called "Miss Fury" which was created and drawn by Tarpe Mills. It is said to be the first strip about a female superhero created and drawn by a woman cartoonist. It first appeared in 1941 and beat "Wonder Woman" to publication by about eight months.

A search of the internet came up with a couple of Sunday pages which were published in about April 1949. In the first of these strips, ex-Nazi General Bruno receives a letter confirming that a leading scientist called Mendel has managed to get across the Iron Curtain. Bruno then recalls events in January 1945 when Mendel had summoned the German military top brass for a meeting. Originally Mendel had refused to co-operate with the military but with Germany facing defeat he was now willing to work with them. To that end, he showed them a small-scale replica of the Kremlin in Moscow.

The text from the scan of the second strip is obscure but it appears that he then destroys the small-scale replica of the Kremlin using a machine that sends off destructive sound waves!

A peace-loving scientist crossing Europe during the Cold War, who has created a destructive sound machine! Leading military officers being shown the destruction of the replica of an enemy city using the machine! Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

It would be interesting to know if these strips were ever seen by Herge either as originals imported into Europe or translated into French. It seems that they were translated for the French-Canadian market as "La Panthère noire" ("The Black Panther" - long before the current Marvel superhero).
Shivam302001
Member
#2 · Posted: 8 Jul 2018 20:30
The similarities are indeed striking. Hergé may or may not have been inspired by it, but I will definitely try to learn more about this comic. Thanks.
atan1403
Member
#3 · Posted: 15 Jul 2018 14:15
In "Calculus Affair" you can see the book "German research in world war II" by Colonel Leslie Earl Simon which was indeed published in the USA 1947.

Maybe the "Miss Fury"-author has read the chapter about the "parabolically-focused sound weapon" ?

The same was also used in the JEAN VALHARDI comic adventure "Le rayon super-gamma" from 1953.

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