Number 2086: That girl is poison!

This is number two of our theme week, featuring comic book females of the forties.

We ended July with a story of a male poisoner, William Campbell, and now a tale of a female poisoner, Marquise De Brinvilliers, who allegedly poisoned her family members during the time of Louis XIV of France. As in the story, told in Real Crime Comics Vol. 5 No. 5 (1950), De Brinvilliers was arrested by a cop posing as a priest.

What isn’t shown is that the Marquise was tortured, beheaded and burned at the stake. There was also the major scandal of the Affair of the Poisons, touched off after her arrest, which led to the execution of 36 people. It is not covered in the comic book version. (You can read about it here). Our version is drawn by John Prentice. Prentice’s strong illustrative style shows even with the blobby printing of the comic book. A few years later, after the death of “Rip Kirby” artist, Alex Raymond, Prentice was given the job of continuing the comic strip. Prentice died in 1999.

I am also pleased by the poster-like effect of the cover by Prentice, which is either a re-drawing or a blow-up of a panel from the story.

Posted in: Pappy Comics