Let your mind take you back to the groovy days of the Summer Of Love, when nehru jackets and love beads were the fashion statement that said "I have no taste whatsoever" and some comic books were struggling to stay relevant while others were just struggling. Case in point: TIGER GIRL.


No relation to "Tiger Boy" from "Unearthly Spectaculars", 1968's TIGER GIRL is a Gold Key attempt to cash in on the superhero craze of the mid 1960s. Since the superhero craze had peaked two years previously, we can probably guess how successful Tiger Girl was for Gold Key. One whole issue, that's how successful it was. But hey, it's a comic about a blonde in a cat-girl fetish outfit who fights crime with a circus tiger! Surely this is a concept that dozens, maybe HUNDREDS of peculiarly-obsessed comic book readers had been waiting for. Fun, depressing fact: TIGER GIRL was scripted by Superman creator Jerry Siegel.


Alerting criminals with her "Spidey Signal" - no, wait, her "Tiger Trademark", sorry - Tiger Girl battles any wild-animal themed crminal that dares to show his hairy man maleness in her city. She also explains her every action in long-winded thought and dialog balloons.


As a "sizzle-tempered cutie", Tiger Girl's crimefighting activities frequenly involve her with the secret spy organization W.A.A.V, which is battling the evil secret spy organization I.N.F.A.M.Y. Because the James Bond/U.N.C.L.E. spy craze was ALSO two years ago, and Gold Key has a lot of catching up to do! Luckily W.A.A.V. is staffed by handsome adonises who feel women should be cooking them breakfast.


In her secret identity as Lily Taylor, "shapely aerialist" at the circus, Tiger Girl hangs out with the dwarf clown and the lovesick strongman whose physical prowess only masks deep-rooted feelings of insecurity. I KNEW it!


As "Wolf Hound" interrupts a national news broadcast to challenge Tiger Girl, all the strongman can think to do is comment on "every inch" of Wolf Hound's "throbbing" "superb physique". I'm beginning to get the feeling there are other reasons Titan The Great can't seal the deal with Tiger Girl.


You can't have your Batman ripoffs without some kind of inane "riddle" that our hero must solve via free-association, right? Right, old chum!


We're at the point now where the dialog enters the self-referential phase and begins to comment upon its own, well, gratuitiousness. Because even by the wordy standards of American super-hero comics, this comic book is way too wordy.


I would say that any death in which a body is found crushed in a public park wearing a mask, a bathing suit, and giant mittens... that's automatically going to be described as "kinky".


The overwrought dialog reaches some kind of peak as Tiger Girl and Ed Savage compare psychological analyses and Ed Savage muses on how dull his life would be without Tiger Girl occasionally insulting him - though Ed likes to call it "verbal claws-message". I get the feeling Ed really gets off on being humiliated by masked women, and this whole crimefighting thing is just a dodge.
Alternate headlines: TIGER PIG TO GUINEA-CENTER FOR SCIENCE GIRL. SCIENCE GIRL TO TIGER-PIG FOR GUINEA CENTER. TIGER CENTER TO SCIENCE-PIG FOR GUINEA GIRL.


Fun fact: Wolf Hound has nostrils that can detect fraud.


When you crack some guy's skull with a regular blackjack, you're a violent thug. But when you paint your face and concoct some kind of "bladder" which cleverly TURNS INTO a blackjack, suddenly you're a hilarious clown-themed crimefighter. Laughing Boy here echoes Siegel's late 40s character "Funnyman", except that Funnyman defeated crime with laughing gas and fun, instead of skull-crushing assault.


This panel brought to you by the National Television Council. Television... watch some today!


And so, with the aid of Ed Savage and clown assault, Tiger Girl defeats Wolf Hound and the world is once again safe from the menace of dog-themed guys who interrupt TV news shows. I'd tell you to be sure and catch the next exciting, over-written issue of Tiger Girl, except... there aren't any more issues of Tiger Girl. Those Gold Key lovers of the wildest ultra-action jamborees in all of comicsdom must face the cold, cruel world without the aid of Tiger Girl, and Ed Savage must look elsewhere to be dominated by women in masks.

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