The issue debut in August, 1971. That means she predates Marvel’s Storm by four years and DC’s BumbleBee by five years and Vixen by entire decade.
Secretly Las Vegas cabaret singer Marian Michaels, the flying femme’s origin and crime-fighting motivations were never revealed. Butterfly wore a somewhat-skimpy winged costume (note: there are no color pics of the character) with an anti-gravity device/mini-jet for propulsion, and high-intensity strobe lights to blind her foes. Whether she created the costume and equipment herself or was given them is another mystery. She’s also a trained hand-to-hand combatant. This premiere story was written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Jack Abel and Mike Esposito. (DWKA note: This is pretty impressive art team. Andru/Esposito were the principal art team on The Amazing Spider-Man in the 60s and defined the Silver Age Wonder Woman working on over 100 issues.)
DC Women Kicking Ass - Meet Butterfly: the first black female superhero
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