The legacy of Jill Jerold, Marvel’s first black woman

Marvel has a proud history of creating iconic women of color, yet their first reoccurring black female character has been largely forgotten. Before Monica Rambeau, Storm, Misty Knight, and Shuri, there was Jill Jerold.

Co-created by Denny O’Neil, one of the most influential writers in the Bronze Age of Comics, Jill was a model who primarily served as a supporting character in Millie the Model, Marvel’s longest-running female-led title which ran from 1945 through 1973, although she also once found herself in a love triangle with the Human Torch and Hercules. As the first black woman to have a reoccurring role in a Marvel comic, Jill broke down barriers, and looked fashionable while she did it.

Black Characters in Timely and Atlas Comics

To truly appreciate how historic Jill Jerold was, it’s important to look at what things were like before her introduction. Marvel’s publishing predecessor Timely Comics seldomly included black characters in their stories, and when they did the results could be charitably described as offensive.

In 1941, Timely published a title called Young Allies, which featured the Human Torch’s sidekick Toro, Captain America’s sidekick Bucky, and a group of teenage freedom fighters. Whitewash Jones was a young African-American teen who fought alongside the Young Allies. Jones was depicted as a racist stereotype. He was drawn with exaggerated features, echoing minstrel shows. He was written as unintelligent, and was consistently the punchline of whatever scene he was in.

In 1954, Atlas Comics (a re-branded Timely, which would eventually become Marvel as it's known today) published Jungle Tales #1. The anthology title included a feature called Waku, Prince of the Bantu. Waku was the prince of a South African tribe, who inherited his leadership position after the death of his father. Waku’s ongoing feature included a primarily black cast of characters, something unheard of at that time. Due to the similarities in their origins and status quo, some comic scholars have speculated that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had Waku in mind when they created Black Panther. Jungle Tales would run seven issues, before being retitled Jann of the Jungle - a white heroine, of course - with the series' eighth issue.

Is Jill truly Marvel’s first ongoing woman of color?

It can be argued that Waku’s love interest Lalei is Marvel’s true first ongoing black woman. However, Jungle Tales was published by Atlas Comics, which had not yet become Marvel. In addition, Waku, Lalei, and the Bantu were never incorporated into the larger Marvel Universe, like other Atlas and Timely characters were. Many comic book scholars consider 1961 and Fantastic Four #1 to be the true start of the Marvel Universe, despite the continuation of some Timely and Atlas characters. For these reasons, Jill Jerold is considered Marvel’s first ongoing black female character. However, it’s still important to note Lalei’s role, and