Kitten Magee is a British comic character, appearing in strips published by Fleetway Publications. The character debuted in the preview issue of the science fiction anthology Wildcat, included in titles dated 15 October 1988. The character's eponymous strip was one of the four linked ongoing serials in Wildcat, and was continued in Eagle after Wildcat was cancelled. A militant feminist and former leader of the World Campaign Against Male Domination, Kitten Magee joins the Wildcat mission to help humanity find a new home after donating a $20m inheritance towards the ship's construction. She is subsequently placed in charge of the exploration shuttle Wildcat 3 with her handpicked all-female team - Doc Barnes, Casandra Cardeti and Bonnie Fox - and her hated, sycophantic robot Crud.
Creation
Charged by Fleetway Publications with creating a new science fiction anthology comic as a counterpart to 2000 AD in 1988, group editor Barrie Tomlinson took a day off and worked from home, creating the linking story for Wildcat and its main protagonists, including Kitten Magee. Tomlinson would later note "it was slightly revolutionary to have an entire female cast in a boys' comic". After coming up with the basic premise of "Kitten Magee", Tomlinson handed his early outline over to his son James, who had written for Battle and Eagle under the pseudonym James Nicholas to avoid accusations of nepotism.
James Tomlinson devised the all-female supporting cast for the script, including the characters of Casandra Cardeti, Bonnie Fox and Doc Barnes. The format of Wildcat allowed him considerable scope for planning the storyline, and he greatly enjoyed the interaction of the characters - comparing the challenge of writing complex interactions among explorers as an area that interested him as a fan of Doctor Who. He would later suggest Magee could be seen as a forerunner to strong female heroines such as the title characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess, and in 2019 stated "I would like to imagine that Kitten, Crud, Bonnie, Doc and are still out there somewhere doing their bit for Girl Power, exploring strange, dangerous worlds and kicking aliens where it hurts!".
The strip was drawn by the experienced José Ortiz, who had recently been freed up by the ending of "Kid Cops" in Eagle". "Kitten Magee" would be among Ortiz's last work for the British comics industry.
Publishing history
Kitten Magee first appeared in the Wildcat Preview, a free insert given away with other Fleetway boys' comics dated 15 or 29 October 1988, drawn by Ian Kennedy, before continuing in the fortnightly Wildcat itself in five-page episodes by Nicholas Tomlinson and Ortiz. However, at the time the British comics market was contracting and Wildcat was cancelled and merged with Eagle after only 12 issues. Some unused material was published in two Wildcat specials issued in 1989 while the strips were continued on rotation in Eagle; the ongoing storyline of "Kitten Magee" was tied up in a four-issue run in April, before returning for a longer stint from June to October the same year, with Alan Burrows taking over as artist from August.
"Kitten Magee" and the other stories from Wildcat were among the properties purchased from Fleetway owners Egmont Publishing in 2016. In 2018 Rebellion announced plans to reprint the contents of Wildcat in collected editions under their Treasury of British Comics imprint. Despite being planned for 2020, a collected edition of "Kitten Magee" failed to appear. only "Turbo Jones" and "Loner" have been released, with "Kitten Magee" still uncollected.
Plot summary
In 2488, scientist Turbo Jones addresses the Supreme Earth Council as his research has indicated Earth will be destroyed by a meteor storm. His concerns are dismissed, so he plans to build the spaceship Wildcat to evacuate some of Earth's population, holding open interviews for potential crew members. One of those selected is Kitten Magee, formerly leader of the feminist World Campaign Against Male Domination, and an expert in both unarmed and armed combat - particularly using laser wrist-bands. She pledges her fortune of $20m, which she claims to have inherited from her father. She ensures her robotic assistant Crud gets her supply of life dust on board. The Wildcat is completed three years later and moves off to find a world suitable for colonisation shortly before Earth is destroyed ahead of Jones' prediction.