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The future world of Catwoman: Lonely City features a new, far more mature role for a hero who is arguably the Justice Society’s most ridiculous hero.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Catwoman: Lonely City #1, on sale now from DC Comics.
The first issue Cliff Chiang’s DC Black Label series Catwoman: Lonely City explores a version of Gotham City that exists without Batman. Fresh out of prison, an aging Selina Kyle struggles to adjust to a Gotham patrolled by super soldiers in bat masks and governed by a reformed Harvey Dent. She seeks out old friends like Killer Croc and the Penguin, as well as one of the goofiest members of the Justice Society: Ma Hunkel, the original Red Tornado.
Selina finds Ma working at a rough and tumble bar called The Stock Pot, a favorite hangout for Gotham’s criminal class. It seems that Ma Hunkel has been in charge of the place for quite a while. She’s turned the bar into a safe haven for characters struggling to fit into the new crime-free Gotham City. Selina describes it as “home,” and Ma is the first person who has seemed genuinely happy to see Catwoman since she’s been out of prison. While Hunkel has always been known for her amiable and caring personality, this version of the character is remarkably more mature than past iterations of the powerful woman have been.
Ma Hunkel first appeared in 1939’s All-American Comics #3 (by Sheldon Mayer), but she didn’t become a hero until issue #20. When hoodlums kidnap her daughter, she becomes inspired by her son’s love of the Green Lantern and decides to become a hero herself. She puts on some bright red pajamas and places a cooking pot over her head to become the Red Tornado. In her ridiculous costume that is reminiscent of Marvel’s Forbush Man, she became one of DC’s first female crime fighters. In Gardner Fox and Everett E. Hibbard’s All-Star Comics #3, which is the first appearance of the Justice Society, Ma Hunkel almost joins the team of heroes, but she rips her pants on the way up to their inaugural meeting and leaves in embarrassment. But her awkward introduction to the Justice Society doesn’t keep her from being an occasional member who often serves as comic relief. As entertaining as she is, her ridiculous outfit and goofy personality make it difficult to take her seriously as a crimefighter.
In 2004’s JSA #55 (by Geof Johns, Leonard Kirk, Keith Champagne and Wade Von Grawbadger) Ma Hunkel resurfaces as a more serious character. It is revealed that the former Red Tornado has been living in hiding under the Witness Protection Program after she testified against a family of prominent New York gangsters. Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman and Wildcat visit Ma Hunkel on Christmas Eve to inform her that the last member of the criminal organization has died, and it is now safe for her to come out of hiding. They invite her to become the caretaker of the Justice Society’s museum. Overjoyed at the good news, Ma accepts the new position and steps into a new, more mature role in the DC universe.
Ma Hunkel’s time as the JSA’s caretaker develops her into a more well-rounded, three-dimensional character. Cliff Chiang’s version of the hero has much more in common with this kind, but reserved woman than the flamboyant and funny iteration of Red Tornado.
It’s hard to imagine Chiang’s version of Hunkel stepping away from her bar to fight crime with a pot over her head. She’s as tough and caring as ever, but there’s no room for funny business in this woman’s no-nonsense lifestyle.
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