Battling Blondes: Round 2 - Femme Fatales

Last time on Battling Blondes, we ended in a tie between our contestants, The Web and The Thunderbolt. Once more we're using a four point grading system: 1.) Story Drama, 2.) Imaginative Use of Abilities, 3.)  Adversary, 4.) Intangibles that Worked. For Round 2, we introduce two femme fatales!

We now present Mighty Comics #45 amd Peter Cannon...Thunderbolt #51:

We've previously been introduced to Web's true arch-enemy, his mother-in-law! Mama Hardy truly is the epitome of ruthlessness as she is doggedly determined to ruin the career of Professor John Raymond, M.D.! Yet she is not the only ancient evil brunette menacing mankind...there is also Princess Evila!!! Revived after centuries if immobility thanks to the machinations of Thunderbolt's recurring nemesis, the Hooded One, she now uses her own indomitable will to create a tide of criminal activity to styme Peter Cannon. Who is stronger, the mommy or the mummy?

When faced one-on-one with these potent practioners of evil, our boys realize they are in BIGGGG trouble: The unearthly gaze of these haunting paralyzing pupils! GET OUT OF MY HEAD you beautiful, bemuse-ed, bellicose butchers. Un-trust... ing. Un-know... ing, Un-love... ed? Uh...huh?!?

Best to have a brief interlude in the story at this point to helps the Dudes reassess how they became THE BATTLING BLONDES to begin with!

Deep thinking young men confronted by other young men with potential yet bent toward a different path leading to a conflict between the two pairs forevermore.


Now back to the battle of wills with the horrible hags. Can these chicks get under a guy's skin or what? Looks like the bachelor has it all over married man in vanquishing his egotistical estrogenic enemy decisively!

Battling Blondes Rating

1.) Story Drama: Web's story is plain goofy as par for the course. Still, Thunderbolt's tale isn't a masterpiece of storytelling either. However, thanks in no small part to story length of T-Bolt's 20 pages to Web's 3 (he was hamstrung between features, this issue) plus a couple challenges faced by the former, this one goes to Pete.

2.) Imaginative Use of Abilities: Thunderbolt's reverse polarity of pulsating psyche to turn his foe into an elderly hag and out of the picture. And Web's...ummm...groveling at the feat of his own hag-in-law? No contest. Pete wins this hands down!

3.)Adversary: As far as raw power Princess Evila seems to have the upper hand, swaying the criminal community and reviving her once legendary infamy. However, she was a one-hit wonder while Rose's Mama Hardy would return for further bouts and held her own against costumed foes (see Madman). Yet at the end of T-Bolt's tale, Tabu reflects on the restoration formula and that Evila spelled backwards is Alive! Would she return one day? A big question mark in the last panel seems to indicate this.Until we see this story, John's foe helps him claim this category.

4.) Intangibles that Worked: A picture is worth a thousand words. Peter Cannon definitely has it where it counts in the multi-faceted skill set of all non-powered action heroes.

Johnny will eventually take on crocodiles of his own, although he'll do so aided by his pals he Mighty Crusader and the crocs in question are Crusaders! For THIS story, Pete takes this as well!


This round concludes with Thunderbolt winning 3 to 1! We may eventually have to jump ahead past the silver age of comics to give Web a fair chance, though there might be a surprise or two in store before we get that far in our epic Battling Blondes! Next up is Round 3: Cover Boys!