''Miss Fear'' (or simply, Fear) was a recurring character in Blackhawk comics (published by

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, ...

, later bought by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

) between 1946 and 1948. Her first appearance in ''Modern Comics'' #49 (May, 1946) told her origin as daughter of the slain leader of an obscure nation called Zorania. When Blackhawk and his men arrived to investigate the murder, they found Fear always a half-step ahead on her vendetta, ruthlessly avenging her father with a

Tommy gun The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy gun", "Chicago typewriter", or "trench broom") is a blowback-operated, selective-fire submachine gun, invented and developed by Brigadier General John T. Thompson, a United States Arm ...

. Further

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

appearances by Miss Fear included ''Blackhawk Comics'' issues 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, and 22 (December, 1948). In these stories she developed a distinctly romantic yet seemingly unrequited interest in Blackhawk, meanwhile involving and assisting the team in various cases and missions, usually in central Asia. Fear displayed an impressive array of skills including flying, horsemanship, martial arts, and wielding a bullwhip, as well as crack marksmanship. The conclusion of the final story, however, seemed to imply that she was resigned to disappointment in carrying a torch for Blackhawk. In 1998, Miss Fear returned in a somewhat different form in the four-issue miniseries ''Guns of the Dragon'', by

Timothy Truman Timothy Truman (born February 9, 1956) is an American writer, artist and musician. He is best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art, and in particular, for his work on '' Grimjack'' (with John Ostrander), ''Scout'', and the ...

, starring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash. Set in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, 1927, this story depicted her as a young, half-Chinese / half-Caucasian spy in service of the

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

. The plot also involved a recurring Blackhawk villain, the Thunderer, as well as a brief appearance by Chop-Chop, although his age at that point seems impossible to reconcile with his later career as Blackhawk's sidekick. The outcome of the adventure led Fear to reconsider her loyalty to the communists and suggested her future as a freelance freedom-fighter. However, her only subsequent appearance thus far has been in the form of a limited edition 1/6 scale

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), A ...

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

, produced by Dreams & Visions in 2003, licensed by

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

and

References

*Steranko, James. '' The Steranko History of Comics'', Vol. 2 (Supergraphics, 1972), p. 57. Comics characters introduced in 1946 DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics superheroes Quality Comics superheroes Fictional martial artists Female characters in comics {{DC-char-stub