Another gal that is probably on a whole lotta silver-age super-heroine fan favorites list, the Contessa Allegra De Fontaine, or simple “Val” to close friends.
My earliest memory of the Contessa was sometime in the late 70’s. During that time, me and my friends were major X-Men fans, but here’s a shocker - back then, the X-men weren’t as popular as they are now, and the books and toys tended to feature the more prominent Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. In fact, I had a lunch box featuring the “Marvel Super-Heroes” that seemed to feature everyone EXCEPT the X-Men, leading us to believe they were a strictly “second-tier” group.
Anyway, one day my friend Jas was out shopping with his mom, and in the department store book section of our neighborhood Liberty House, came across a glossy oversize item called the “Marvel Pin-Up Book”, featuring beautiful reproductions of great splash pages from past issues as well as new illustrations done up just for the book.
The X-Men’s pic was the Cockrum opening splash page from X-Men #107, but what was more interesting to us was that the bio that came with the pin-up listed Wolverine’s real name, “Logan”, which up til that point we never knew!
Anyway, as we excitely read that Pin-Up book from cover to cover, I came across the Pin-Up for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., featuring the all-time classic Steranko cover for Strange Tales #167. Now, I didn’t know anything about S.H.I.E.L.D. except what I knew from my beloved GODZILLA comics, (In fact, I recognized Godzilla’s main pursuant Dum Dum Dugan right off, and Nick Fury, of course) but I was instantly struck by the GORGEOUS and scantily clad agent to Nick Fury’s right…WOW! Who WAS that gal?
At the time, I wasn’t old enough to recognize Val as the “Emma Peel” archetype she was, but once I was old enough, I realized she was almost completely inspired by Diana Rigg, in looks, style, and even her name rings similar to “The Contessa Teresa De Vicenzo”! Heck, no wonder I was so taken back then! Because you know:
Diana Rigg=Hotness
Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
First appearance
Strange Tales Vol. 1, #159 (Aug 1967)
Created by Jim Steranko
