The Crimson Crime-Fighter

Before CBS's disgusting attempt at bringing DC Comic's robotic superhero Red Tornado to the small screen, the 1940's introduced the original Red Tornado in the form of Ma Hunkel. Today's Z-Lister is another old school superhero lost in the ages, this the very first Red Tornado! Plus, Cyclone!

Created by Sheldon Mayer in 1939's "All-American Comics #3", Abigail Mathilda Hunkel (or "Ma Hunkel") was a hard-working mother in New York City who got sick and tired of the growing crime in her neighborhood, so for the sake of her child and others like her, Ma created the superhero persona of The Red Tornado. With long-johns, cleaning gloves, and a tin pot, Ma was thought to be a new masculine superhero using his (secretly her) unusual strength to serve some justice. Later on, Ma's daughter Amelia "Sisty" Hunkel and her neighbor Scribbly's brother Mortimer "Dinky" Jibbet became Red Tornado's sidekicks "The Cyclone Kids".

It was revealed decades that after the 1950's Ma and her family went into the witness protection program and she was told by fellow heroes she could come out of hiding because the last of her gang enemies had passed away. Ma then decides to join the superheroes she had grown old alongside at The Justice Society of America, but not as Red Tornado, rather as the team's caretaker. Cleaning, cooking, and acting as a motherly guide to female superheroes like Power Girl.

Sisty and Dinky grew up, got married, and had a daughter named Maxine Hunkel (Created by Mark Waid, Alex Ross, Geoff Johns, and Dale Eaglesham in "Justice Society of America #1" in 2006) who grew up idolizing superheroes and was kidnapped by evil scientist T.O. Marrow, she was infected with "nanobytes" which gave her growing wind powers. When she was nineteen, Maxine was welcomed into the Justice Society and quickly made her bubbly fan-girl personality clear to her fellow heroes. Stargirl helps Maxine create a superhero costume and she becomes Cyclone.

I really enjoy Ma Hunkel, I feel as if she is a unique concept for a superhero not taken advantage of by DC Comics, who severely lack a diversely updated cast of heroes. Whether she is a mother superhero, an overweight superhero, an elderly superhero, whatever she is make it happen. I did skip the part about The New 52's "Earth 2" teasing the existence of this character. This hinted version is slim, young and pretty, so you can understand my immediate distaste of this idea. Ma Hunkel was such a cool idea to keep in 2006, its a damn shame they didn't feel the need to make this character the Red Tornado of the main Earth and the robot Red Tornado of Earth 2. And Cyclone is cool too, the fan-girl gimmick is a bit overdone but I appreciate the character references to The Wizard of Oz. Hopefully the classic version of Ma Hunkel will reappear and give us a new type of superhero. You know, I think my Ma might be Ma Hunkel. I'd ask her, but she spends most of her nights in New York for some reason. Hey, wait a minute!

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