Issue(s): Cat #3
Cover Date: Apr 73
Title: "From far beneath the mirror of the moon"
Credits:
Linda Fite - Writer
Paty Cockrum - Penciler
Bill Everett - Inker

Review/plot:
Paty Cockrum is credited as Paty Greer on this issue. This is before she was married to Dave Cockrum in 1978. The Cat's civilian name, Greer Nelson, was a nod to Paty, who started as an assistant to Marie Severin.

Greer Nelson investigates a strange sonar signal she noticed while scuba-diving in Lake Michigan (!) while on a date with her the lawyer of Dr. Tumolo (who is still comatose). She finds what first appears to be a secret Navy base. She is captured...

...but then gets free when a loser pirate called the Kraken attacks the base.

She helps the sailors fight off the Kraken and then leaves. The sailors turn out to be cat-like aliens, and they fly off in their flying saucer, impressed with the females of Earth.

Greer and Everett's art starts off very nice, but in the second half of the book all the backgrounds disappear.

    

It's worth noting that unlike the Invisible Girl and the Scarlet Witch, this wave of female super-heroes (The Cat and Shanna the She-Devil) are a lot more physical in their powers/fighting styles.

This is the first issue to have letters, and the responses are generally positive, including letters from Frank Miller and Bob Henley. But the highlight is a letter from a guy who signs his name Cincinnatus:

Dear Stan,

CLAWS OF THE CAT #1 proved to me that Marvel is turning into a bunch of radicals. Sure, it was a good story, but it was burdened down by Communistic phrases put out by Women's Lib.

Women belong in the home, not on the picket line calling men "male chauvinist pig." This country is built on the family institution. A housewife is a major part of that institution.

Women's Lib is a Communist plot to overthrow the country by taking out the cornerstone of the family institution.

I remember when Marvel hated Communism, and ninety per cent of Marvel's villains were Communists. Now, you are supporting them with these leftist stories.

Yours with dignity,
Cincinnatus.

Marvel's response:

We kinda wish you'd signed your real name to this missive, Cincinnatus. After all, it's pretty hard to be dignified while hiding behind an alias.

In any event, Cin, whether you consider the Women's Liberation Movement to be Communist-inspired or not - THE CLAWS OF THE CAT isn't. It is an attempt to portray some of the real injustices and, if you'll pardon us for stealing your root word, indignities suffered by women in the context of a fast-paced action story. It is not propaganda, nor even entirely social-consciousness material. Its primary purpose is entertainment. If we can also educate, that's even better.

Finally, there was indeed a time when Marvel portrayed "ad communists" [sic - bad communists, maybe? all communists?] as villains, but with the passage of time and history often comes enlightenment. And while we believe that the American system, when it's functioning properly, is the best in the world... we'd be nothing less than paranoiac to portray everybody else in the world as villains.

And that's altogether 'nuff said!

Like Marvel's issues dealing with racism, it amazes me how such innocent and obvious seeming stuff was perceived as radical at the time it was published. It is possible that the civil rights movements have so dramatically changed the perception of modern readers that we can't go back and appreciate these things properly.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: A flashback shows that "several weeks" have passed since the end of last issue. Marvel Team-Up #8 could therefore take place between then and now. Dr. Tumolo appears in a portion of the flashback that takes place not long before the beginning of the main story, so i've tagged her as a character appearing.

References:

• The Kraken fought the Sub-Mariner and lost his ship to a real Kraken in Sub-Mariner #27.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

its great that you include letters from the period some times. It shows just how our modern perceptions can't evaluate these comics fairly.