After Richard Stanton’s daughter was kidnapped, the shock giving his wife a fatal heart attack, he quit the theater to find her. Disguising himself as a “harmless old woman,” he later came to be known as “Madam Fatal.” Eight years later, he found the gangster who kidnapped his daughter, John Carver. Carver had kidnapped Stanton’s daughter out of revenge because Stanton married Carver’s first love. Stanton brought the fiend to justice, but failed to find his daughter, causing him to continue the fight against crime. He was assisted by his parrot, Hamlet, who would recite Shakespeare. He later formed the “Sure Fire Detective Agency” with Tubby White and Scrappy Nelson. His foes included the Tiger Woman and the Black Witch. He once (sort of) worked with the Jester. Madam Fatal had no powers, but wielded a cane as a weapon, and was a skilled actor and master of disguise. Notes: Although the DC Comics’ heroine, Ma Hunkel, debuted in All-American Comics #3 (June 1939), she did not appear as the cross-dressing hero, the Red Tornado, until All-American Comics #20 (Nov. 1940) making Madam Fatal comics’ first cross-dressing character. The spelling of the character’s name has sometimes been given as Madam Fatal, Madam Fatale, Madame Fatal, and Madame Fatale.
Description After Richard Stanton’s daughter was kidnapped, the shock giving his wife a fatal heart attack, he quit the theater to find her. Disguising himself as a “harmless old woman,” he later came to be known as “Madam Fatal.” Eight years later, he found the gangster who kidnapped his daughter, John Carver. Carver had kidnapped Stanton’s daughter out of revenge because Stanton married Carver’s first love. Stanton brought the fiend to justice, but failed to find his daughter, causing him to continue the fight against crime. He was assisted by his parrot, Hamlet, who would recite Shakespeare. He later formed the “Sure Fire Detective Agency” with Tubby White and Scrappy Nelson. His foes included the Tiger Woman and the Black Witch. He once (sort of) worked with the Jester. Madam Fatal had no powers, but wielded a cane as a weapon, and was a skilled actor and master of disguise. Notes: Although the DC Comics’ heroine, Ma Hunkel, debuted in All-American Comics #3 (June 1939), she did not appear as the cross-dressing hero, the Red Tornado, until All-American Comics #20 (Nov. 1940) making Madam Fatal comics’ first cross-dressing character. The spelling of the character’s name has sometimes been given as Madam Fatal, Madam Fatale, Madame Fatal, and Madame Fatale.
