KAESONG KATIE
Real Name: Unrevealed (first name is possibly Katie)
Identity/Class: Human (post-World War II Era) (Chinese)
Occupation: Guerrilla, military agent, saboteur
Group Membership: People's Volunteer Army
Affiliations: Chu-Li, Commissar Susang, General Tungwa
Enemies: Combat Casey, Pach-Hoo, Percival P. Pennington
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile in Korea during the Korean War
First Appearance: Combat Casey I#10 (June, 1953)
Powers/Abilities: Kaesong Katie was a skilled guerrilla combatant and usually carried a pistol or automatic rifle. She had experience using explosives.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 104 lbs.)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black
History:
(Combat Casey I#10/2 (fb) - BTS) - Kaesong Katie led an all-female band
of guerrillas on strikes against American army bases in Korea. Lacking
in supplies, they would raid U.S. ammunition depots and stock
themselves up with weapons and explosives from the depot.
(Combat Casey I#10/2) - Katie's guerrillas ambushed Pvt. Percival "Penny" Pennington as he was guarding an ammunition depot, the 5th such depot Katie's forces had raided that week. Katie's subordinate Chu-Li wanted to shoot him but Katie slapped Chu-Li in the face, noting that the sound of her rifle would attract more soldiers. Another of Katie's guerrillas discovered a fashion magazine and showed it to Katie. Believing it might contain valuable intelligence, Katie studied the magazine while her subordinates collected explosives from the ammunition depot. Despite her Communist sympathies, she found herself drawn to the fashions depicted in the magazine. Defensively, she asserted the magazine was mere propaganda and refused to believe American women truly dressed in the manner depicted in the magazine, although "Penny" tried to persuade her otherwise. Katie had "Penny" tied to a tree while she and her guerrillas made their exit from the depot area, carrying off the explosives.
In the week that followed, Katie and her guerrillas used stolen explosives to blow up a bridge then raided another ammunition depot and a supply convoy. In an effort to stop them," Penny" collected all the feminine clothing he could from nurses and U.S.O. performers then drove around alone in his jeep to deliberately draw Katie's attention. When Katie saw the jeep, she and her women raided it and recognized "Penny" from their earlier encounter. Examining his cargo, they were startled to discover feminine clothing just like those Katie had seen before in the magazine. The women eagerly donned the clothing and returned with "Penny" to his base, having been seemingly won over from Communism to capitalism.
(Combat Casey I#11) - For her earlier failure, the military tied Kaesong Katie to the end of a cannon's barrel to blast her apart. She was discovered in this position by "Combat" Casey and "Penny," who had been sent to capture her. Casey and "Penny" killed her guards and set her free. Katie scooped up an automatic rifle and killed the last of the soldiers but then pointed the rifle at Casey and "Penny," taking them both prisoner. Katie delivered the two soldiers to her superior, General Tungwa, who forgave her "until your next failure!" While Casey and "Penny" were thrown into a pit, Katie gave General Tungwa the military papers she had stolen on her earlier assignment. However, Casey and "Penny" escaped the pit and killed General Tungwa then retrieved the papers. Katie tried to stop them but Casey pinned Katie to a wall with a pickaxe. Having recovered the papers, Casey and "Penny" no longer needed Katie as a prisoner so they left her with her people. She was sentenced to death via firing squad and was seemingly shot to death.
(Combat Casey I#14/4 (fb)) - Fortunately, Kaesong had foreseen her own execution and planted men loyal to her among the firing squad. They fired blank rounds at Katie and she pretended to be dead. She now sought to restore her reputation among her superiors.
(Combat Casey I#14/4) - With a loyal soldier, Katie set up an ambush for "Combat" Casey and "Penny" Pennington, setting up two dummies dressed as soldiers. When Casey and "Penny" attacked the dummies in the open, Katie sent her men to capture them alive, threatening death to her men if they killed their targets. Finally, Katie took matters into her own hands and dropped two heavy rocks on them from a nearby ridge. Katie told "Penny" and Casey how she survived the firing squad and sent "Penny" to Commissar Susang bearing a note describing her success. En route, "Penny" added Chinese insults to the note, which infuriated Susang. When he wrote back to Katie, "Penny" added more insults, which finally led Katie and Susang to send their forces into the field and exterminate each other. As Katie's forces were wiped out, Casey and "Penny" used the confusion to escape.
(Combat Casey I#12/4) - Kaesong Katie and a squad of heavily-armed Chinese soldiers ambushed "Combat" Casey and "Penny." Having seen "Penny" working on papers, Katie assumed they contained secret information. Tying up Casey and "Penny," she threatened to have them chopped up in a helicopter's blades unless they gave her the papers. The two men refused but when one of the blades hit "Penny"'s helmet, Katie found the papers inside it. Katie took the papers to decode them and left the two men tied up, assuming they would be slain by the wild mountain lions in that area. However, the lions were pets of Pach-Hoo, a friendly Korean woman who set Casey and "Penny" free then used her lions against Katie's forces. When the lions descended upon Katie's soldiers, it created such a panic that some of them shot at each other. Katie apparently fled for her life in the confusion, dropping the papers she had taken from "Penny." Unknown to Katie, "Penny"'s "secret papers" were nothing more than a crossword puzzle.
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer (likely Hank Chapman), Bill Benulis and Jack Abel.
Katie first appeared in one of "Penny"'s solo adventures, which were typically even more humorous than "Combat" Casey's. Since Katie appeared without her fellow guerrillas in her subsequent appearances, perhaps they really were corrupted by those decadent American fashions; Katie, though, seems to have been made of sterner stuff since she was back to serving the Communist cause in the following issue.
Since Katie's seeming death in Combat Casey I#11 isn't followed up until #14, it seems to me her appearance in #12 comes after that adventure.
All Asian femme fatales owe a great debt to Milton Caniff and his creation the Dragon Lady from the newspaper comic strip Terry and the Pirates.
Profile by Prime Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Kaesong Katie should not be confused with:
Chu-Li was one of Kaesong Katie's subordinates in her early activities as a guerrilla. When Katie and her forces raided an ammunition depot guarded by Percival "Penny" Pennington, it was Chu-Li who got the drop on him. She wanted to execute "Penny" but Kaesong Katie angrily slapped Chu-Li in the face and noted the noise of her rifle would alert more of the American soldiers. Chu-Li accompanied Katie's guerrillas in their various assaults on strategic U.S. targets until they made a raid upon"Penny" 's jeep and discovered he was holding a variety of American fashions. Chu-Li and the other guerrillas seemingly renounced Communism and embraced the capitalistic fashions of the United States.
--Combat Casey I#10/2
Commissar Susang was one of Kaesong Katie's superior officers. He ordered her to be executed by firing squad when she failed to capture "Combat" Casey and "Penny" Pennington but she faked her death and tried to regain her standing with the commissar by capturing the two soldiers again.
--Combat Casey I#11 (#14/4,
General Tungwa was one of Kaesong Katie's superior officers. He ordered Katie to be blown apart by a canon but when she took "Combat" Casey and Percival P. Pennington prisoner, he forgave her "until your next failure." General Tungwa and his staff examined secret U.S. military papers that Katie had captured but Casey and Pennington broke out of their prison and shot General Tungwa and his men to death then reclaimed the papers.
--Combat Casey I#11
images: (without ads)
Combat Casey I#12/4, page 1, panel 1 (Katie, main)
Combat Casey I#14/4, page 4, panel 3 (Katie, face)
Combat Casey I#10/2, page 1, panel 1 (Chu-Li)
Combat Casey I#14/4, page 5, panel 7 (Susang)
Combat Casey I#11, page 4, panel 2 (Tungwa)
Appearances:
Combat Casey I#10/2 (June, 1953) - unidentified writer, Bill Benulis (penciler), Jack Abel (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Casey I#11 (August, 1953) - Hank Chapman (writer), Robert Q. Sale (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Casey I#12/4 (October, 1953) - Hank Chapman (writer), Robert Q. Sale (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Casey I#14/4 (February, 1954) - Hank Chapman (writer), Robert Q. Sale (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
First posted: 08/06/2025
Last updated:
08/06/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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