As I blogged about last year, I’m not a fan of Valkyrie’s debut in Avengers #83. Though of course Valkyrie turns out to be a disguise the Enchantress adopted to trick a quartet of female heroes into doing her dirty work.
What bugged me was that in contrast to Marvel’s stories about civil rights, Roy clearly didn’t think women have anything to protest or march about. As I put it in the earlier post “there’s nobody trying to oppress or attack women; instead the villain is an evil faux feminist, the Valkyrie, who turns the women Avengers against the men as part of a scheme.” While Marvel also used fake black activists in several stories, they never had anyone suggest that discredited the whole movement.
It turns out Thomas wasn’t satisfied with the story either. He says on his website that “I wanted a sort of female Thor, but of course at first I just made her a disguise of the Enchantress.” He decided to create a real female Thor, a mortal woman empowered with Asgardian might (seven years later, in “What If?” he created a literal female Thor by having Jane Foster, not Don Blake, find Mjolnir).
But that’s getting way ahead of our story. Which is “They Shoot Hulks, Don’t They?” by Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe (who provides the cover). The title is a riff on the dark 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? which deals with a 1930s dance contest. The Hulk story doesn’t have any connection with the film I can see; I’m guessing Thomas just liked the sound of the title.
The Don Blake figure here is upper-class young woman Samantha Parrington, daughter of socialites Reginald and Malicia Parrington. Samantha’s a feminist and while we don’t get much detail on her views, she’s presented as a positive, idealistic character. Her parents, by contrast, don’t approve of her politics. Of course, they don’t approve much of any political stance unless it gets them a favorable mention in the society columns. Then they learn the Hulk has returned to the Big Apple, as this Trimpe page shows.
Now there’s a cause that would impress their friends and the media — a fund-raising party for the poor, oppressed Hulk! Undeterred by the obvious drawbacks, the Parringtons head to the Statue of Liberty. Sam isn’t enthused—
(Points for referencing Norman Mailer who was indeed an odious sexist) Still, she goes along with her posturing parents and proves she can handle herself in a tight spot.
The Hulk is bemused by the Parrington’s pitch but agrees to go with them — Sam, after all, seems nice. The Parringtons get their shindig in another enjoyable Trimpe page.
The Enchantress, however, is still pouty that the Executioner dumped her for another blonde sorceress (eventually identified as Queen Casiolena in Defenders #4). She decides it will teach all men a lesson if a mere woman beats up the Hulk. Seeing Sam is angry that her parents are throwing more money at the Hulk than at women’s liberation—
— well, how can Amora resist?
Despite Thomas saying he saw Val/Sam as a female Thor/Don Blake — well, that’s not the vibe I get from this next scene.
Let’s see … a mage gives an ordinary human a magical word which triggers a bolt of lightning and a transformation into a superhuman? Whether consciously or not, I think Roy was riffing on the Golden Age Captain Marvel. I can almost imagine him studying Sam’s magic word — “Okay, V for the courage of the Vikings, A for the power of the Aesir, L for the cunning of Loki, H for Heimdall’s dedication to duty, A for … oh hell, forget it.”
The clash of titans begins and Valkyrie puts up a creditable fight.
Valkyrie then tosses Hulk off the Empire State Building. He survived; Amora’s spell wore off and Sam returned to normal. Unlike Mary Bromfield or Billy Batson (or Don Blake for that matter) she had only the vaguest memory of what had happened and a word, some kind of magic word …
While Sam comes off well, the story still goes with the stereotype that feminists are irrationally angry and take it out on innocent men. Still, I could easily see Sam becoming Valkyrie again. It might have been fun. Only neither Thomas nor anyone else came up with a Valkyrie Returns story. Until Defenders #4 by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema in which the Enchantress transforms the insane Barbara Norris into a third incarnation of the Valkyrie.
Thomas says on his website he doesn’t see why Englehart had to create a new identify for Val. I think it was a good decision. Sam-as-Valkyrie would have been one more mortal juggling a superhero identity. Englehart’s Valkyrie, being a permanent transformation, had no backstory, no life, no roots, something she constantly grappled with (Steve Gerber’s later stories took the view that in some fashion she was Barbara, but Gerber did not get Val at all). It fit with the oddball non-team vibe of the Defenders a lot better.
All covers except Hulk are by John Buscema.
