VBT | Sidekick by Aurallee Wallace {Guest Post + Giveaway}

by Auralee Wallace

 
Welcome to my stop on the SIDEKICK VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR! If you’re a fan of superheroes, sidekicks and villains you’ll want to check out Auralee Wallace’s new release Sidekick. Today Auralee is sharing her love for female supervillains and giving readers a chance to snag a copy of her book!

 

“For the love of the Female Supervillain!” by Auralee Wallace

I love comic books. My debut novel, Sidekick, is a testament to that love. As part of my ongoing research, (I swear, I’m not just wasting time on the internet), I like read about retro comics. They give fabulous insight into historical perspectives on gender, race, socio-economic class etc., but I’m not going to comment on any of that. You can make your own judgements on whether these representations of women are flattering, denigrating, limiting or empowering. The purpose of this post is simply to provide a mini buffet of wicked appetizers. Long live the Evil Chicks! Enjoy.

 

Veda Kane

First Appeared in Police Comics #6 (January, 1942), Publisher: Quality Publishing, Created by Vernon Henkel

Now Veda Cane takes the Crazy-Hot Scale to a whole new level. I like me a femme fatale who can kill in cracked ways, and Veda does not disappoint. First and foremost, I should mention that she is an exotic Indian dancer (Do I sense some pre-post-colonial sexy time issues? Oh yes, I believe I do). As for her story, well, Veda marries this rich American dude, so, of course, she’s planning to kill him and his son for his fortune, but the question is how? I can see her tapping her fingertip on her green, scaly chin as I write this. Wait! She’s got it! Cobra poison on her lips! It’s perfect! After she gives her husband the kiss of death, she can slither on over to her drunken stepson and plant one on him too! Suddenly I feel like I’ve ended up on a MILF porn site. Scandalous.

 

Madame Doom

First appeared in Smash Comics #4 (1939), Quality Character, Created by Will Eisner

I’ll admit, for several days after my initial research, I tried to get my friends and family to address me as Madame Doom. Sadly, it didn’t take. But at any rate, while I’m not really into WWII spy stories, Madame Doom’s tale has a tragic love turn that I find difficult to resist. So she’s this spy, selling her services to the highest evil bidders, when one day, she meets Black X, the American secret agent who is fighting for justice and good…and all that boring stuff. Well, naturally they fall for one another, and each tries to convert the other to his/her side. Finally, Black X decides to leave the service to be with Madame Doom (so sweet, right?), but she takes this to mean he’s okay with her evil shenanigans and tries to get him on board with her latest assassination of some ambassadors (she plans to commit this crime with…wait for it…chemically-induced suicide bombers! Awesome.) Anyway, the stalwart Black X rejects Madame Doom, so she does the only thing she can. She blows herself up. It’s just like Romeo and Juliet but with explosions and stuff. Luckily, Madame Doom survives and is free to fight another evil day.

 

Ah Ku

First appeared in Top-Notch Comics #4 (1940), Publisher: MLJ, Created by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick

Now Ah Ku, well, she’s a bad lady. On the one hand, it’s easy to admire an independent woman who wants to be her own boss. On the other, for most, it’s a little harder to admire that woman when she aspires to be the boss of her own mafia ring. Ah Ku it seems has her finger in every pie. Human trafficking. Opium selling. Murder. Mayhem. But still, you got to give her props. It’s not easy running a mixed-race street gang in New York City’s Chinatown, but Ah Ku gets the job done – well, when she is not being thwarted by Bob Phantom…sigh, why are these men always thwarting the cool chicks?

 

Madame Satan

First Appeared in Pep Comics #16 (1941), Publisher: MLJ, Created by Abner Sundell and Harry Lucey

For just moment, I want you to put yourself in Tyra’s (soon-to-be Madame Satan) position. You’re young. You’re in love. You’re engaged. There’s only problem. Your fiancé’s parents don’t approve. So what do you do? Win them over with a gourmet dinner party? Invite your soon to be mother-in-law out for a manicure? Write a sweet letter professing your love for their baby? Or do you kill them both in cold blood? I know. I know. I would have gone with the last option too, but it doesn’t end so well for Tyra. Just before the parents die, they are able to tell their son what happened, and what does the sensitive little momma’s boy do? He goes and kills Tyra! Jeez. Doesn’t he get that she did it for them?!?! Don’t worry. It gets better. Tyra goes to Hell where she meets Satan. They hit it off. And bam! She lands herself a job – not just for life, but for an eternity – seducing men into Hell. Hot gig if you can get it.

 

The Ant Queen

First appeared in Slam-Bang Comics #6 (August, 1940), Publisher: Fawcett, Created by Manly Wade Wellman and Jack Binder

Ooh another creature-woman hybrid. Kinky. I’ve got to tell you, I kind of want to be the Ant Queen too. So here we have a little girl abandoned in the jungles of Africa (I was under the impression that Africa was kind of a big place. You think they’d be more specific, but whatever), and she needs someone to raise her. Who comes to the rescue? Giant red driver ants! At some point she returns to civilization but decides she doesn’t like people. (I hear you Ant Queen. I get that way too sometimes – especially at Walmart on a Saturday.) So, she returns to the ants with a helmet that has this antennae that allows her to control them telepathically. Well, you can guess what happens next. Let the village raiding begin!

Well, I hope you’ve had as much fun exploring this dastardly grouping as I have. You are welcome to check out my version of the female supervillain, The Sultana, in Sidekick. Oh! And I garnered all these fun facts from the website, Public Domain Superheroes…how I love Public Domain

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

 
Title: Sidekick
Author: Auralee Wallace
Genre: Fantasy/Superhero
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Date of Publication: 1 June 2014
ISBN: 9780857991591
ASIN: Will be available end of April
Number of pages: Approx 172
Word Count: 73,818
Cover Artist: Danielle Mait

Book Description:

Heroes meets Kick-Ass in this brilliant and hilarious debut about a girl who just wants to save the world…

Bremy St James, daughter of billionaire Atticus St James, has been cut off from the family fortune and is struggling to survive in a world that no longer holds its breath every time she buys a new outfit. To make matters worse, her twin sister is keeping secrets, loan sharks are circling, and the man of her dreams — a newspaper reporter — is on assignment to bring down everyone with the last name St James.

Things are certainly looking bleak for the down-and-out socialite until a good deed throws her into the path of the city’s top crime-fighter, Dark Ryder. Suddenly, Bremy has a new goal: apprentice to a superhero, and start her own crime-fighting career.

Ryder has no need for a sidekick, but it turns out the city needs Bremy’s help. Atticus St James is planning the crime of the century, and Bremy may be the only one able to get close enough to her father to stop him.

Now all she needs to do is figure out this superhero thing in less than a month, keep her identity secret from the man who could very well be The One, and save the city from total annihilation.

Well, no one ever said being a superhero would be easy…

Read my review of SIDEKICK

 
 

 

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