Golden Age Miss America (Joan Dale) Appreciation (2019)

[MajorHoy]

First appearance: Military Comics #1 (August 1941), published by Quality Comics.

By the way, Military Comics #1 was also the issue that introduced Blackhawk.

Joan had a feature in Military Comics that lasted for seven issues, her final Golden Age appearance was cover-dated February 1942.
It wouldn't be until 1943 that Timely Comics (the predecessor of today's Marvel Comics) would introduce their own "Miss America":

from Marvel Mystery Comics #49 (November 1943)

However, the Quality Comics character didn't appear until about 20 years after the first Miss America pageant/competition.

[Starter Set]

Joan Dale eh?

Well, Joan of Arc was already taken.

[MajorHoy]

When DC decided to make use the Quality Comics version of Miss America in the early 1980s, it was in a Roy Thomas-written story in All-Star Squadron.

All-Star Squadron #31 (March 1984)

But her appearance was very brief, and the outcome not too hopeful:


More on what happened to Joan and the others was revealed in the next issue:

[scary harpy]

When DC decided to make use the Quality Comics version of Miss America in the early 1980s, it was in a Roy Thomas-written story in All-Star Squadron.

All-Star Squadron #31 (March 1984)

But her appearance was very brief, and the outcome not too hopeful:

More on what happened to Joan and the others was revealed in the next issue:

I always thought this was a huge waste of potential.

The All-Stars had over a dozen powerless mystery men...but here are 5 heroes with powers (and some of them pretty neat also) so they kill them off within a few pages.

[MajorHoy]

I always thought this was a huge waste of potential.

The All-Stars had over a dozen powerless mystery men...but here are 5 heroes with powers (and some of them pretty neat also) so they kill them off within a few pages.

Well, at the time it may have made sense / had symmetry with DC's previous history of the Freedom Fighters.

The characters (seemingly) killed off were lesser-known Quality Comics characters that DC had not made use of yet (the exception being DC's Hourman). And their deaths occurred on "Earth-X", which was introduced about ten years earlier in Justice League of America #107-108 in a story where all but the original six members of the Freedom Fighters were said to have died in the fight against the Nazis.

[MajorHoy]

Continuing Miss America's "return" to comic books, from All-Star Squadron #32 (April 1984):


But it turns out that won't be the end of her story . . .

[MajorHoy]

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC (at least Roy Thomas) decided to bring back Miss America.

from Young All-Stars #12 (May 1988)

[MajorHoy]

Now for the rest of her first appearance
in Military Comics #1 (August 1941):

[MajorHoy]

from Military Comics #2 (September 1941):