Super-Vixens: Madame Masque

They say clothes make the person, and if it truly does, that would go a long way in explaining why I thought one-time Tony Stark fiance Whitney Frost was so darn sexy! I mean, as Madame Masque, she kept her identity under a golden mask (to cover up a scarred face) all the time, so you would think there wasn’t much to go on, attractive-wise, but as for the rest of her body, man, could that woman accessorize! Whitney always wore the sexiest and most fashionable outfits, which always made her look cute and fun despite her metallic features, and there was even this memorable scene (for me) where they showed her getting up in the middle of the night wearing a sexy negligee! That golden mask never looked better!

   Unfortunately for Tony and Whitney, it all came to a head in the awesome IRON MAN issues #115-116 where Whitney betrays Tony to save her dying father, the villainous Count Nefaria. It really bummed me out to see her leave the strip, because I think that John Romita Jr.’s pencils in these two issues have her looking the best she’s ever looked in any of her appearances!

I was so intrigued by the mystery of Whitney’s hidden face that for years I tried in vain to dig up her “origin”, but back in the days before the internet, it really was hard to find information about comics, and the more obscure they were, the more impossible! Your only real chance to find backgrounds on older strips were the Marvel Origin Books like "Origins", "Son Of Origins" "The Super Hero Women" and "Bring On The Bad Guys" But these series were pretty selective and only covered (more or less) the basics. So if you didn’t know someone who already knew her origin or had the key issues, you were outta luck. And back then, there wasn’t a whole lotta people interested in Madame Masque.

  Turns out there’s kind of this long and convoluted history to Madame Masque. Although her “first appearance” was in Iron Man #17 as an associate of Midas, she first FIRST appeared (in the “flesh”, i.e.: no golden mask) as Whitney Frost in Tales of Suspense, then was revealed as the Big M, the daughter of Avengers and X-Men baddie Count Nefaria. Then she finally appeared in the Midas back story as Madame Masque before turning up (in disguise) as secretary Krissy Longfellow, and FINALLY revealing herself as the Madame Masque we know and love...

 This was all overwhelming to me, as the first time I laid eyes on her, all she was to me was a gun-totin’ hottie with a killer bod who just happened to have a golden mask for a face. And since those issues had both Tony Stark AND Jasper Sitwell fighting over her, it seemed a lot of people agreed! This, in my opinion, is THE definitive version of Whitney, from her first reappearance in Iron Man #103 to her tearful departure in at the end of Iron Man #116.

When she eventually returned in IRON MAN #139, I have to admit I was pretty disappointed with her depiction; she’d clearly been delegated to a second story villainess, and emotionally she’d gone to that crazy place all Tony’s ex-fiances tend to go (see: Marianne Rodgers), and all her subsequent stories just haven’t “done it” for me, either. Sigh.

Oh, and I grew up pronouncing Whitney's name as Madame mas- KAYE (you know, like risque...)

Took me a while before I realized it was more or less just a variation of the word "Mask"... D'oh!

Madame Masque

First Appearance : Iron Man #17

by Archie Goodwin and George Tuska

Favorite Artists:

George Tuska

John Romita Jr.

Super-Vixens: Marianne Rodgers

I once read this joke book full of rude but hilarious sayings, and one line that I distinctly remember said, “Cute, but psycho…things balance out!” And if there was any Marvel character that deserved this title, it’s the scrumptious but flaky Marianne Rodgers, fledging precognitive and one time fiance to Tony Stark.

Marianne was introduced in Iron Man #40, a gorgeous looking girl who harbored a secret power- the ability to see into the future! This was all good and Marianne & Tony found themselves about to tie the knot… until Marianne saw a premonition that she’d be responsible for Tony Stark’s death. She absolutely has her panties in a bunch worrying about this, and proceeds to become an emotional wreck because of it.

Enter The Super-Adaptoid. Iron Man has a fierce battle with the old Avengers foe, battling him to the extent of his energies. Tony does manage to defeat the Super-Adaptoid, but barely has enough reserve energy to crawl home. It is a life-or-death situation, because if he doesn’t recharge his suit, in time, his heart will fail as well.

Suddenly Marianne shows up, and he asks her to help him recharge his armor… She doesn’t want to be responsible for his death, so she does what comes naturally, mainly getting her ass out of there as fast as she can, leaving Tony dying on the ground.

I’m sure every reader was like me, going “WTF?!”, but Tony was able to recharge himself in time, and rewarded the readers by dumping Marianne’s butt out the door.

In later issues, poor Marianne’s situation only got worse, and she was sadly later committed! Too bad, she sure was a purty little filly!

Marianne Rodgers

First Appearance: Iron Man #40 by George Tuska