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Hedy Lamarr, Blackhawk and Military Comics #14, at Auction

The 1942 Blackhawk villain Tondeleyo in Military Comics #14 was inspired by a movie role played by Hedy Lamarr earlier that year.

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We've mentioned late-1940s era Marvel's borderline obsession with Hedy Lamarr a few times here. The actress/inventor had become such a big star by the mid-1940s that her name inspired the names of two different Marvel comic book characters. Hedy Wolfe was Patsy Walker's frenemy, first appearing in Patsy's debut in Miss America Magazine v1 #2, and eventually getting title credit in the long-running Patsy and Hedy series. But the character Hedy De Vine was more on point with her film actress namesake, as the character was a movie star herself. Hedy De Vine was a force of nature in her stories, portrayed as the prettiest and most sought-after starlet in Hollywood.

Vintage comic-book cover art for Military Comics #14 features a close-up of Tondeleyo, a mysterious woman with dark hair and a stern expression against a bright yellow background. Partial Blackhawk comic panels appear along the left edge.
Military Comics #14 (Quality, 1942)

It seems that Marvel was not the only publisher taken with Hedy; in Military Comics #14, Quality Comics based a villain on one of her movie roles. Hedy Lamarr played the character Tondelayo in the 1942 film White Cargo, a woman described as a seductress who arrives to throw a group of men into chaos, working her charms on each of them and eventually has them at each other's throats. The similarly named Tondeleyo does the same thing when she arrives to disrupt the Blackhawk team, preventing them from executing missions effectively. Blackhawk himself falls for her seductive charms in the process, and it nearly costs him everything.

Scanning through the story, it's clear that artist Reed Crandall referenced at least a couple of production stills from White Heat here, while The Jim Steranko History of Comics notes that "Woolfolk candidly admits he 'borrowed' the idea from the 1942 film starring Hedy Lamarr."

The distinctive cover of Military Comics #14 has always attracted collector attention and this CGC 9.0 copy is from the Pennsylvania Pedigree. This one is tougher to get than you'd think. There's only 13 Universal copies on the CGC census, with only three copies higher graded than the CGC 9.0 white pager up for auction in the July 9 – 11 Comic Books Signature Auction #7467 at Heritage Auctions.

CGC-graded Military Comics #14, a 1942 Quality Comics issue with a vivid yellow and orange cover featuring a Blackhawk-related female character and wartime action scenes. The slab label notes VF/NM 9.0 with white pages.
Military Comics #14 Pennsylvania Pedigree (Quality, 1942)
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Mark SeifertAbout Mark Seifert

Co-founder and Creative director of Bleeding Cool parent company Avatar Press since 1996. Bleeding Cool Managing Editor, tech and data wrangler, and has been with Bleeding Cool since its 2009 beginnings. Wrote extensively about the comic book industry for Wizard Magazine 1992-1996. At Avatar Press, has helped publish works by Alan Moore, George R.R. Martin, Garth Ennis, and others. Vintage paper collector, advisor to the Overstreet Price Guide Update 1991-1995.
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