Black Cat (Harvey Comics)

Black Cat
Black Cat Comics #1 (1946)
Publication information
Publisher	Harvey Comics (1941 - 1951)
First appearance	Pocket Comics #1 (Aug. 1941)
Created by	Al Gabriele
In-story information
Alter ego	Linda Turner
Partnerships	Black Kitten (Kit Weston)
Abilities	Adept horse/motorcycle rider Skilled martial artist Great leaping Use of lasso and rope
Black Cat Comics
Series publication information
Publisher	Harvey Comics
Schedule	Bi-monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero, Horror
Publication date	June/July 1946 – Apr. 1963
Number of issues	65
Main character(s)	Black Cat
Creative team
Writer(s)	Bob Haney
Artist(s)	Al Gabriele, Pierce Rice, Arturo Caseneuve, Bob Powell, Jill Elgin, Joe Kubert
Penciller(s)	Lee Elias
Inker(s)	John Belfi

The Black Cat is a comic book adventure heroine published by Harvey Comics from 1941 to 1951. Harvey also published reprints of the character in both the mid-1950s and the early 1960s. The character's creation is claimed by the Harvey family to have originated with publisher Alfred Harvey, but there is no corroborating evidence for this. The Black Cat debuted in Pocket Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), an experimental digest-sized comic book published by Harvey., and was illustrated by artist Al Gabrielle. The character was ranked 41st in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.

After the demise of Pocket Comics, the Black Cat became one of the features in the anthology Speed Comics, lasting until that title's demise in 1947. By 1946, Black Cat had also gained her own title, which published her adventures until 1951 before changing its content to horror stories (the title was subsequently known as Black Cat Western Comics, Black Cat Mystery Comics, Black Cat Western Mystery, Black Cat Western Comics, and Black Cat Mystic, before reverting to Black Cat for the final three issues, #63-65).

Black Cat also appeared in a separate Harvey anthology, All-New Comics, in issues 6, 9, and 15. Writers on the Black Cat series are not positively known. Artists who worked on the feature after Al Gabriele include Pierce Rice, Arturo Caseneuve, Bob Powell, Jill Elgin and Joe Kubert. Lee Elias, occasionally inked by John Belfi, provided the art from 1946 until the feature's end in 1951.

Linda Turner is the daughter of silent film Western actor Tim Turner and a former Hollywood stunt woman. Linda has successfully made the transition from stunt woman to lead actress. During the filming of an unnamed picture, Linda suspects the film's director, Garboil (no first name given), of being a Nazi spy or at the very least an American Bund member. In order to follow him and gain corroborating evidence, she disguises herself in a backless blue blouse, red shorts, blue flared gloves, red buccaneer boots and a blue opera mask and calls herself The Black Cat.