Olga Mesmer is a fictional character whose stories where published in the Spicy Mystery Stories pulp-fiction magazine from August of 1937 until October of 1938. Olga Mesmer is considered the first superheroine in pulp fiction in the sense that while she lacks a secret identity or costume that one often associates with superheroes she has superpowers (X-Ray vision and super strength) which she used to fight crime, injustice, and to solve mysteries with her sidekick Rodney whom she saved from a killer (by killing Rodney's assailant). After an accident a blood transfusion from her granted Rodney a lesser version of her superpowers (X-Ray vision and strength stronger than the average man but less than her own). Her superpowers where attributed to an experiment her mad scientist father had performed on her mother without her mother knowing what he was doing. It was latter in 1938 revealed that while her father's experiment involving soluble x-rays had given her and her mother X-Ray vision her super strength had been inherited, her mother was a Venusian and the Venusians had such strength. The final story published in Spicy Mystery Stories involving Olga Mesmer had her finally restore her mother, Margot, to the throne of an underground Venusian colony and then depart for Venus where a marriage between Margot and the Venusian King was to reunite the colony with its home world. Olga Mesmer is now in the US Public Domain.
Legacy[]
Olga Mesmer is considered one of the precursors [1] to the character of Super-Man. While Olga Mesmer's alien origin was not revealed until after Action Comics #1 was published her power combination of Superhuman Strength and X-Ray Vision along with her investigative side (Golden Age Clark Kent being an investigative reporter who did investigation as Super-Man) are part of why she's considered such.
Superpowers[]
- Superhuman Strength
- X-Ray Vision
- Immortality [2]