RED MARY

Real Name: Mary (last name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Human (post-World War II era) (North Korean)

Occupation: Military spy

Group Membership: Korean People's Army

Affiliations: General Wu

Enemies: Battleship Burke, Major Chung, Combat Kelly, Cookie Novak, Salty Smith

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile in Korea

First Appearance: Combat Kelly I#21 (April, 1954)

Powers/Abilities: Red Mary was a skilled combatant, demonstrating skill with automatic weapons.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 121 lbs.)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black

History:
(Combat Kelly I#21 (fb) - BTS) - Red Mary discovered that officer Major Chung had been assigned to deliver a MIG to South Korea with dynamite but had actually filled it with sand because he intended to fly the jet himself and defect. When Major Chung realized he was discovered, he quickly accused Mary of being a spy and ordered her execution, which was approved by General Wu.

(Combat Kelly I#21) - Just as Mary was about to be executed, the soldiers Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak happened upon the scene and decided to rescue her. Mary aided them in the effort, winning their trust by killing North Korean soldiers. She claimed to be a spy on their side and that she could guide them to an important secret. She led the duo to Major Chung, who was preparing to take off in the MIG to make his defection and was burying the dynamite nearby.

    Mary turned Major Chung, Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak over to General Wu and they were sent to prison but ultimately broke free and apparently killed General Wu.

(Navy Action I#3) - Red Mary went undercover in Seoul, posing as a South Korean woman. Spotting the two sailors Battleship Burke and Salty Smith, Mary had two fellow Communist agents pretend to be assaulting her. The sailors intervened, thinking they were saving Mary, but once their guard was down, she knocked them out from behind. Red Mary and her fellow operatives brought Burke and Smith aboard a motorboat and transported them to where they had a small fleet of warships disguised as junks. Mary demanded Burke and Smith use their knowledge of where the American mines were laid so that the junks could safely pass through and assault Seoul. Rather than comply, the duo rushed Mary and threw her overboard one of the junks. Mary had one of the other junks fire its cannons at the fleeing junk, destroying it. Recapturing Burke and Smith, she again demanded they guide their fleet through the mines. Unknown to Mary, there were no mines around Seoul. Instead, Burke guided them towards the destroyer he and Smith served aboard. Using his lighter, Burke attracted the destroyer's attention and they destroyed all of Mary's junks. Burke and Smith survived the junks' destruction and brought Red Mary aboard the destroyer as their prisoner.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer (possibly Hank Chapman) and Dave Berg.

    These might be two different ladies called "Red Mary" but heck, why not treat them as the same person?

    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:
Red Mary should not be confused with:

• BLOODY MARY - one of Typhoid Mary's alternate personalities--Marvel Comics Presents I#150
• BLOODY MARY - leader of the Bacchae--Fantastic Four III#7
• CHU SAN - Spy Fighters foe--Spy Fighters I#11
• COMRADE CHINA - Combat Casey foe--Combat Casey I#14
• HAN RIVER HELEN - Iron Mike McGraw foe--Marines in Battle I#1
• KAESONG KATIE - Combat Casey foe--Combat Casey I#10
• KIMA - Doug Grant foe--Spy Cases I#15
• KOREA KATIE - Combat Kelly foe--Combat Kelly I#13
• LEE-SIK - Iron Mike McGraw foe--Marines in Battle I#1
• LING - Combat Kelly foe--Combat Kelly I#28
• MANCHURIA MARY - Battle Brady foe--Battle Brady I#11
• MUKTONG MOLLIE - Combat Kelly foe--Combat Kelly I#19
• NITA - Combat Casey foe--Combat Casey I#15
• GENERAL OLGA - Buzz Brand foe--Battle Action I#11
• PANTHER LADY - Combat Casey foe--Combat Casey I#8
• THE PEARL OF PYONGYANG - Battle Brady foe--Battle Action I#8
• PUSAN POLLY - Combat Kelly foe--Combat Kelly I#24
• RED POPPY - Combat Casey foe--Combat Casey I#17
• THE SNAKE LADY OF SINYONG - Combat Casey foe foe--Combat Casey I#18
• SWEET LOTUS - Doug Grant foe--Spy Cases I#14
• THE WASP - Battle Brady foe--Battle I#25
• YALU RIVER ROSIE - Combat Kelly foe--Combat Kelly I#7
• other "Red" or "Mary" characters, groups, items, races or events, or any other beautiful Asian Communist women

Major Chung

Major Chung was a North Korean officer assigned to fill a MIG with dynamite so that when it was sent to officials in South Korea, it would explode. Instead, he filled the MIG with sand and intended to defect, giving the new MIG to the United Nations as a show of good intent. Red Mary learned of Chung's attempted defection but he sentenced her to death to silence her. Unluckily for Chung, Mary was rescued by Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak, who took pity on her. Kelly and Cookie helped stop Chung from taking off in his MIG whereupon Mary had Kelly, Cookie and Chung sent to prison. Fortunately, Kelly had hidden one of the pieces of dynamite inside his jacket and used it to liberate himself, Cookie and Chung. Chung saw the MIG had been refilled with dynamite so he sent it on a collision course with General Wu's base, possibly killing him. Chung piloted Kelly and Cookie back to their lines aboard another plane.

--Combat Kelly I#21/3

General Wu

General Wu was Major Chung's superior and assigned him to load a MIG with dynamite so that when it was sent to South Korea it could be detonated and kill United Nations officials. When Red Mary learned Chung intended to defect, Chung quickly denounced Mary as the traitor so that General Wu would order her execution. Mary escaped the execution thanks to Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak then turned them and Chung over to General Wu. When the three prisoners escaped their cell, Chung reclaimed the MIG and used it to bomb General Wu's base. Wu was possibly slain when the base was destroyed.

--Combat Kelly I#21/3

images: (without ads)
Combat Kelly I#21, page 2, panel 7 (Red Mary, main)
Combat Kelly I#21, page 2, panel 4 (Red Mary, face)
Combat Kelly I#21, page 4, panel 4 (Chung)
Combat Kelly I#21, page 5, panel 3 (Wu)

Appearances:
Combat Kelly I#21 (April, 1954) - unidentified writer, Dave Berg (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Navy Action I#3 (December, 1954) - unidentified writer, Mac L. Pakula (artist), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 07/31/2025
Last updated: 07/31/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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