The Golden Age comic book character Lady Luck is the creation of comics legendWill Eisnerand artistChuck Mazoujian. Mazouzian made his comics debut with the cover ofMarvel Mystery Comics #2, and by the next year was working on Lady Luck for Will Eisner'sThe Spiritnewspaper sections.
The character has a typical and somewhat Batman-like origin story: Brenda Banks is a young socialite heiress and the daughter of a wealthy mine owner. Frustrated with the idle complacency of her peers, she trains in martial arts and becomes a costumed detective, an "elusive enemy of crime". This issue of Smash Comics with the first comic book Lady Luck cover comes up for sale surprisingly rarely.
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But long before that, Lady Luck made her first comic book cover appearance onSmash Comics #43, with cover art byReed Crandalljust an issue after her comic book debut in #42. The character would not appear on a comic book cover until taking over the re-named title entirely over six years later, which makes this early cover an interesting little bit of the character's history.
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Smash Comics #43 featuring Lady Luck
(Quality, 1943)
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When theSmash Comicstitle becameLady Luckwith the December 1949 cover-dated issue, the brief new series featured new covers byGill Fox, and new Lady Luck stories by Nordling andFred Schwab.