Rhonda Harper (Red Wolf/Thomas Thunderhead ally circa 1973 A.D.)

harper-rhonda-rw-face RHONDA HARPER

Real Name: Rhonda Harper

Identity/Class: Human;
active circa 1973 A.D. (and likely at least extending back to 1955 A.D. if not a few years earlier, and who knows how long after)

Occupation: Employed by an anti-pollution board

Group Membership: Unidentified anti-pollution board

Affiliations: Eagle Plume, Lobo, Red Wolf (Thomas Thunderhead), unidentified photographer friend;
indirectly Red Wolf (Johnny Wakely)

Enemies: Unidentified gangsters

Known Relatives: Unidentified great-grandfather and great-grandmother (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
an unidentified city on the East Coast of the United States of America

First Appearance: Red Wolf I#7 (May, 1973)

Powers/Abilities: Rhonda had some experience with cinematography and riding a horse.

She was dedicated to opposing pollution, and she obtained an unspecified substantial wealth, which she planned to use in this effort.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'8)
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 130 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

History:
(Red Wolf I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Behind a draw in an old dresser she was about to repaint, Rhonda Harper found the letter the 19^th Century Red Wolf (John Wakely) wrote to her great-grandmother about the fate of her great-grandfather and of his burial site, which contained the gold he had discovered.

Making some inquiries, Rhonda was able to learn some more details about her great-grandfather's fate.

Taking footage of the city skyline for the anti-pollution board from whom she worked, Rhonda set her video camera on automatic, and she unknowingly caught on film a group of gangsters committing a drive-by shooting.

(Red Wolf I#7) - As a trio of criminals confronted Rhonda at gunpoint, demanding she give them her purse and camera, she asked them not to shoot. She would almost certainly have been overwhelmed and had her property stolen, at least, if the conflict had not been spotted by Red Wolf, who led his per wolf, Lobo, to join him in attacking the assailants. See Red Wolf's garb, Rhonda initially thought she was dreaming, but she nonetheless was glad he was helping her, and she rushed off to call the police.

By the time she returned, Red Wolf and Lobo had subdued the men, and Rhonda asked her savior if he always dressed like that. After the police arrived and were taking away the criminals, she thanked her savior, and when she heard others calling him Red Wolf, she remarked that she thought he would be a lot older. She invited him back to her apartment for a cup of coffee while she explained her knowledge of the older Red Wolf. After she noted how a Red Wolf had written to her great-grandmother, Thomas told her the history of that Red Wolf, his ancestor, John Wakely. harper-rhonda-rw-swing

Noting that it was sheer fate that brought them together, Rhonda then shared her grandfather's history. She stated her suspicion that the criminals were after the letter so they could obtain the gold, but Red Wolf doubted this, as there was not any reason the criminals would have known about the letter. Suspecting that she had caught something on camera that the gangsters did not want to be seen, he had her develop the film in her camera. She arranged for him to come back the next evening to watch the film.

(Red Wolf I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Rhonda had her photographer friend develop the film for her.

(Red Wolf I#7) - The next evening, after Red Wolf and Lobo arrived at her place, Rhonda showed him what she had filmed via her projector, and they observed the footage of the shooting. Red Wolf felt there was enough proof in the film to send the involved criminals to prison for life, however, his ancestors' voices then whispered to him a warning of danger just seconds before the criminals shot through and then crashed through the door.

As at least five criminals rushed in, demanding the film, and Red Wolf told Rhonda to get back as he and Lobo engaged them. After the men were initially stunned, Red Wolf grabbed Rhonda and leapt out of the window onto a nearby crane, with Lobo following them. Holding on for dear life as the men started shooting at them, Rhonda asked Red Wolf if he was crazy and told him he was going to get them both killed, but he correctly surmised that the stunned and startled gunmen wouldn't be able to hit them.

He swung over to building under construction and put her down on the scaffolding, and he told her to stay there while he went after the men as they ran across the street toward them; Rhonda commented that she had never been so scared in her life. As the men took the construction elevator up toward them, Red Wolf swung down and subdued them. He then guided Rhonda to walking the girders over to the elevator, which they descended.

(Red Wolf I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Red Wolf and Rhonda dropped the criminals off at the police station along with the film evidence of their crimes.

(Red Wolf I#7) - Rhonda then convinced Red Wolf to accompany her on a flight out west to locate her grandfather's grave and treasure. After they landed in Dallas, Rhonda rented a car to take them to see Eagle Plume, a plain warrior whose father had known the Wakely Red Wolf very well. Although Eagle Plume did not know where the grave was located, he remembered hearing his father speak of the incident, and he knew of a cave where the older Red Wolf had kept his papers and diaries of his deeds.

Borrowing Indian ponies (they looked like horses to me), Thunderhead and the excited Rhonda rode out upon the prairie to the cave Eagle Plume had described, wherein they found detailed notes Wakely had left with landmarks to tell how to find the grave. Less than an hour later, they arrived at the grave, and Red Wolf lifted away the rocks to find the gold-filled saddlebags. Rhonda tried to give Red Wolf a share of the gold for all he had done to help her, but he refused, insisting that it was her heritage and hers alone.

After returning Rhonda to her car, Red Wolf told her that he felt that her great-grandfather would rest easier in that grave, knowing that she had the gold. She resolved to use her money to fight pollution.

(Red Wolf I#7 - BTS) - Red Wolf subsequently considered that if she restored the air and water to how they were in the past, then her great-grandfather had not died in vain.

Comments: Created by Gardner F. Fox and Syd Shores

Red Wolf (Thomas Thunderhead)'s adventures were set in the 1970s and are not part of the sliding timescale.

I'm not sure how the criminals would have known that she had caught the shooting on film, but I guess someone must have spotted her, and they followed and subsequently confronted her.

This profile was completed 11/14/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Rhonda Harper should be distinguished from:

other "Rhonda" or "Harper" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

Rhonda's great-grandfather

(Red Wolf I#7 (fb) - BTS) - In the latter half of the 19^th Century A.D., Rhonda's great grandfather (his last name may or may not have been Harper, but I'm going to use that name for now for ease of description) was a prospector in the Old West. He left his wife and their children back east while he set out to make his fortune.

After making a big strike (finding a substantial amount of gold) in relatively northern Texas, he sent a letter to his wife. harper-rhonda-rw-ggf-shot

(Red Wolf I#7 (fb)) - After filing his claim, he left his strike and made his way across the Washita River and the Antelope Hills with a fortune in his saddlebags, carried by his burro. He planned to catch the Butterfield Stage at Fort Belknap, but he was ambushed by renegade Arapaho who sought to take his burro and his guns, and shot him down.

The Red Wolf of that time, Johnny Wakely, who had been tracking the renegades, arrived too late to save Harper, but he subdued the attackers, intending that they would stand trial and be punished for murder.

The dying prospector told Red Wolf about his wife and children back east whom he had hoped to make wealthy. Red Wolf buried the man and the gold-filled saddlebags under a cairn of rocks.

(Red Wolf I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Apparently having obtained the prospector's family's address from him or from a letter or something in his possession, Red Wolf wrote to his wife, telling her her husband's fate. He planned to bring her to the grave if she ever came out west.

--Red Wolf I#7

images: (without ads)
Red Wolf I#7, pg. 3, panel 1 (white dress, red jacket);
       pg. 5, panel 3 (great-grandfather);
          panel 4 (great-grandfather shot);
       pg. 6, panel 4 (ggf face, dying);
       pg. 7, panel 2 (face);
       pg. 12, panel 1 (swinging with Red Wolf);
       pg. 17, panel 2 (face);
          panel 4 (black dress)

Appearances:
Red Wolf I#7 (May, 1973) - Gardner F. Fox (writer), Syd Shores (penciler), Jack Abel (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)

First posted: 09/02/2026
Last updated: 11/14/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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