Super-Vixens: Platinum

When I used to read by friend’s old battered copies of DC’s strange and quirky super robot team METAL MEN, my eyes just naturally settled on the pretty silver maiden who obviously stood out as she was the smurfette to the otherwise all-male demographic!

 The Metal Men were a group of metal robots with varying densities and personalities befitting the metal they'd been made out of, but something about these characters always reminded me of another very human super-group called the INFERIOR FIVE, they were so zany!

  I can’t say I ever took a more than passing interest in the actual STORIES in those old comics, but the illustrations of Tina by Ross Andru (he later of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN fame) always gave me enough incentive to go ahead and read ‘em all, anyway! Delicate and doting on Doc Magnus, Tina always seemed the most "human" out of the group, frequently crying and worrying about the latest crisis that might threaten her beloved creator!

 At the time, I recall is being really puzzled as to why there were two robots made of Tin. I mean, there was Gold, Lead, Mercury, and Iron, then Tin and Tina. It was only years later that I found out Tina was actually Platinum, NOT Tin!

  Another thing I remember was that it seemed (to me, at least) like they were ALWAYS fighting this one villain called CHEMO, this humanoid-shaped container filled with a mixture of chemicals that gave him sentience… I’d pull out a different issue, and groan, “Ahg, not THIS villain again!” But my memory’s probably distorting the facts…

 Wait...I just checked that John Byrne Action Comics Superman story where he teams up with the Metal Men- and the villain is...CHEMO! I WAS right!

Platinum (Tina)

First appearance    Showcase #37 (March-April 1962)

Created by    Robert Kanigher

Ross Andru

Mike Esposito

Super-Vixens: Thorn

The year was 1978, and I was cruising at the local Mom n Pops sundries store reading comics, when I came upon the latest issue of SUPERMAN. Although my friend Jas was a collector of the man from Krypton (a result of worshipping the Chris Reeve movie, natch), the Superman comics really didn’t seem that interesting to me...

  That was until I spied  the latest issue on the stands that day! The issue was Superman #336, and on the cover, Supes was struggling against one of the sexiest vigilantes I’d ever seen- she was like Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson rolled into one (an assessment I probably made at the time due to my infatuation with Charlie's Angels), badass and scantily clad, to boot!

Suddenly, I decided that I really wanted to start buying Superman!

 Despite my change of heart towards Superman, my pockets only came up with about two nickels, a far cry from the 42¢ it would have taken for me to walk out of there with the comic! I wandered around the empty lots where I’d usually find a deposit bottle of two to return and make some change, but that day I came up dry! I was halfway ready to give up, when I dropped by my neighbor’s house. The fellow who lived a few doors down always had spare change in a big ashtray on his coffee table, and I begged him to spare me  a few coins to bring my finances up to scratch! After much hemming and hawing (his right) about why I needed this comic so badly, a reason I tried to dodge by saying “I Like Superman!”, he relented, and gave me the 32¢ I needed!

 I ran back down to the liquor store, and rather sheepishly paid for the comic, feeling quite sure that the gent ringing me up knew that it was only ‘cause of this sexy heroine on the cover that I was buying it! In any case, I got it, and read the story, learning all about this new heroine/villain called the Thorn, and her sweeter alter ego, Rose. New? Well, that’s what I THOUGHT! It wasn’t until years and years later that I’d discover Rose and the Thorn had been around for quite some time, appearing in the pages of LOIS LANE as the back story for many issues!  And going online, I’ve found that Rose and Thorn’s legacy is continuing on to this very day!

Although I’ve managed to check out a few of the earlier (and later) issues,and they’re sometimes written or drawn better, nothing will affect me quite like that first issue I read, written by and drawn by Dick Giordano, as THE version of Thorn that I’ve loved all these years.

Rose and Thorn

First appearance: Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #105 (Oct. 1970)

Created by: Bob Kanigher and Ross Andru