LAVENDER
Real Name: Lenora Moore
Identity/Class: Human (post World War II-era)
Occupation: Jewel and perfume thief, gang leader
Group Membership: Leader of her unidentified gang
Affiliations: Gang members (Pete, Joey, Mutt, Lem, Deke, Blackie)
Enemies: Captain America (Jeff Mace), Bucky (Fred
Davis), Golden Girl (Betty Ross), Madam Fifi
Known Relatives: Unidentified family
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Chinatown, New York City, New York, USA
First Appearance: Captain America Comics#66 (April 1948)
Powers/Abilities: Lavender is a cunning gang leader and
adequate fighter, and is especially skilled with pistols and throwing knives.
She wears a debutante-style lavender-colored evening gown, domino mask and
covers herself in lavender-scented perfume, making her easy to identify by
scent at a distance.
History:
(Captain America: Patriot#3(fb)) - Lenora Moore's upper class family brokered deals
with Nazis during World War II, helping sell German gold and gems, many
probably acquired from victims of the Holocaust. After the war, these business
deals came to light, ruining the family financially. By 1948, Lenora - using
the name "Lavender" after her favorite scent - was leading her own gang.
(Captain America
Comics#66/Captain America: Patriot#2) In April, after weeks of jewelry thefts,
Lavender led her gang to a perfumery where she planned to steal crates of
ambergris, planning to sell it to perfume-makers later. Captain America (Jeff
Mace) and Bucky (Fred Davis) were on patrol looking for the jewelry thieves,
after spending the day celebrating Mace's birthday with the All-Winners Squad,
when they heard Lavender's gang. When Bucky arrived on the scene, Lavender shot
him and escaped before Captain America could identify her or her gang.
(Captain America: Patriot#3)
Bucky was severely sounded, requiring hospitalization and later needing a cane
to walk. Although Captain America initially suspected his one-time partner Miss
Patriot (Mary Morgan), who also wears lavender-scented perfume, Morgan told Cap
she heard Lavender's henchmen talking about the crime at Singapore Sallie's, a
bar in Chinatown.
(Captain America Comics#66/Captain America: Patriot#3) Captain America, joined by Golden Girl (Betty Ross), followed Lavender's men, confronting them and her near Mme. Fifi's, a high-class fur dealer's business Lavender had attempted to extort protection money from. Although Lavender briefly got the drop on the heroes (see comments), Golden Girl eventually helped Captain America arrest her.
Comments: Created by Bill Woolfolk (writer) and Syd Shores (penciler).
The cover of Captain America
Comics#66 shows Lavender in a golden dress and announces the "Case of
Golden Girl," but Lavender usually has a lavender-colored dress
(naturally) and the "Golden Girl" introduced that issue was Captain
America's new partner.
Captain America: Patriot tells
the story of Jeff Mace becoming the third official Captain America - it's well worth the read if you haven't checked it out! In
that series, Lavender is presented not only as coming from a family of
Nazi-sympathizers, but also as a believer in the "Zionist conspiracy"
that faked the Holocaust, an opinion that serves to further enrage Cap, who is
already peeved over what happened to Bucky.
In the original 1948 comic,
Lavender escapes her first encounter with Cap and Golden Girl, and Golden Girl
uses her detective skills to track Lavender's gang to their hideout, allowing
the heroes to arrest the bad guys once and for all, but in the retelling, Cap
and Golden Girl track the gang separately, teaming up to take her down on the
first try. In both stories, Cap takes out the bad guys by flipping over a card
table. Of course, the biggest change between these two issues is Captain
America and Bucky's identities. In the original they were still Steve Rogers and
Bucky Barnes, but in modern continuity, Steve was on ice and Bucky was
technically dead in 1948, so Jeff Mace and Fred Davis took their places.
Stan Lee has famously said that
he disliked teen sidekicks, and his opinions may have influenced Captain America
Comics #66, as Bucky is taken out within the first few pages and only makes a
few more appearances in the 40s. Similarly, Toro is often left out of Human
Torch stories of the time period in favor of Torch's female partner, Sun Girl.
It's interesting that the woman
who put an end to Bucky has not had a bigger impact on the Captain America
mythos. Admittedly, she shot the second Bucky, but maybe Lavender (one way or
another) could become relevant again someday.
Thanks to Ron Fredricks for the new main image and head shot.
Profile by Kevin Garcia.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Lavender (Lenora Moore) has no
known connections to
images: (without ads)
Captain America Comics#66, p11 pan1 (main image)
Captain America Comics#66, p8 pan6 (head shot)
Captain America: Patriot#3, p15, pan4 (close up)
Captain America Comics#66, cover (golden)
First Posted: 01/31/2013
Last updated: 09/19/2020
Any
Additions/Corrections?
please let me know.
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