MISS CAXON
(see comments)

Real Name: Caxon (surname); first name unrevealed (see comments)

Identity/Class: Human (conventional weapons-user)

Occupation: She presumably had some real title/role within the Caxon Oil Company

Group Membership: Caxon Oil Company

Affiliations: Gerald Mills, unidentified bodyguard;
    formerly Captain Barkan

Enemies: Captain Barkan, Linda Lee Black and her sister, Blackbyrd (Nathaniel Alexander Byrd), Abraham "Abe" Brown

Known Relatives: Unidentified father (last name Caxon)

Aliases: "Miss Devon"

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    apparent death in the waters off Manhattan's Lower East Side;
    possibly formerly New Mexico

First Appearance: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12 (May, 1975)

Powers/Abilities: Miss Caxon was a skilled marksman, able to hit a target with a handgun even in rough seas in a motorboat. 

    While she could play the role of a clueless secretary or romantic interest, she could rapidly change pace and return to form, pulling her gun and killing a target with a single bullet after delivering a chastising speech.

Height: Unrevealed (she didn't seem much, if any, shorter than Mills; perhaps 5'7-5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 125-135 lbs.)
Eyes: Dark (perhaps brown; it was a black-and-white comic)
Hair: Black

History:
(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Devon Caxon (see comments; I am going to refer to her as Devon for the purpose of this profile) was the daughter of Caxon Oil Company's owner, who allegedly owned most of America's wealth. 

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Devon's father told her that directors were a dime a dozen.

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - Caxon apparently transported a of the radioactive material it was bringing into the country to a warehouse on Manhattan's Lower East's docks/wharf. Caxon also allegedly made a deal with "some tiny third world country" to receive a load of illegal plutonium in exchange for helping plan a revolution in that country. 

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Miss Caxon posed as the companion/secretary of Gerald Mills, director of operations at a Caxon Oil Company office in New Mexico.

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - Traveling to the Lower East Side's docks at midnight, Blackbyrd explained that Linda Lee's notes identified the warehouse they were investigating as the site to which Caxon Oil Company was dumping a lot of the radioactive material it was bringing into the country. They further noted that Caxon had made a deal with "some tiny third world country" to receive a load of illegal plutonium in exchange for helping plan a revolution in that country. 

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Mills and Caxon arrived at the docks, and Blackbyrd got closer to hear/see what was going on. 

    As Mills and Miss Caxon approached the ship, a man greeted them, noting that the skipper had been waiting over an hour and was plenty raw about it. Mills replied that the money they had paid their skipper should have been enough to soothe his nerves, and he instructed the sailor to show them in. When the sailor was concerned about "the lady," Mills instructed him that "Miss Devon" was to come with him, as she was "my -- eh -- secretary. You understand, sailor?" 
    "Miss Devon" smiled as the sailors eyes roved freely over her, and the two men exchanged a wink of understanding...

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - After Mills and "Miss Devon" had been escorted inside, Blackbyrd unthinkingly coughed and drew a pair of guards' attention, but Abe swiftly drop kicked the two men, and Abe and Blackbyrd finished the pair off, without anyone inside noticing.

    They then listened inside as...

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Captain Barkan told Mills that this operation had cost him quite a bit of grief, and while he acknowledged that he had been well payed for it, he further noted that he had considered that some folk would pay an awful lot to hear of the smuggling and other operations they were conducting. 

    After the sweating and desperate Mills turned to his "secretary," asked what they could do and noted they would have to give them more money, a sudden change came over her face, as her mask of servility was dropped. 

    As all within (and Blackbyrd and Brown outside) watched in shocked silence, Devon drew a gun on Captain Barkan, telling him he had made a foolish move and should have accepted the agreed-upon arrangement. She further noted that that amount was already too much, and if he could be bought by them so easily, he could be bought by anyone. 

    Realizing her intent, Captain Barkan screamed, "No! Don't, I--," but Devon shot him, noting, "Farewell, Captain Barkan!"

    When Mills -- used to dealing with indirect murder carried out on his orders -- stood shocked, Devon yelled at him to pay attention, after which she instructed him that the plutonium was aboard the tanker and that their men were ready to cast off. She then ordered him to make sure that no trace of this place was left for anyone who might come looking. 

    Not certain whether she could count on Mills, Devon stared at him for a moment before departing through a back door (intending to avoid being seen being seen by the guards at the car, unaware that they had been incapacitated).

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 - BTS) - Sending Abe after Devon, Blackbyrd went after Mills, who turned and fired on him.

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Hearing the gunshots, Devon shrugged, remembering her daddy's comment about the worth of directors. 

    Climbing a ladder down the end of the pier, Devon entered and then took off in a motorboat before Abe could reach her. Having vowed she would not escape justice for her role in Linda Lee's death, Abe leapt off the pier and onto Devon's boat, calling her "Killer!" as he landed. When her bodyguard/assistant asked who was this fish, Devon told him, "Who cares! Kill him! That's what I pay you for!" The large man confronted Devon with a knife, but Abe, a the highly-skilled martial artist, easily overwhelmed the man and knocked him overboard.  

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Taking a nasty wound in his right arm from Mills, Blackbyrd's shot apparently subdued Mills non-fatally and prevented him from setting fire to the warehouse.

    Blackbyrd contacted the Harbor Patrol / US Coast Guard (see comments), who came to the warehouse. Mills agreed to reveal what he knew if the Harbor Patrol kept Blackbyrd from coming after him again. Blackbyrd boarded the Coast Guard ship as it went after Devon's boat.

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Despite the rolling of the craft, Devon leveled her gun at Abe with a steady hand, and she told her "black friend," she neither knew nor cared who he was, but she didn't come all this way to be stopped by him or anyone else.  Since her father had instructed her that were to be no witnesses, she told him he she was afraid he would have to be removed as she shot him and dropped him to boat's deck; however, a roll of the boat had thrown off her aim enough that she had only shot him in the arm. 

    As Devon approached him, Abe told her to give it up, as his friend had taken down Mills and that he was probably revealing everything to the police, but she told the "black boy" that she wasn't buying it. However, as her bejeweled fingers tightened on the trigger, she was blinded by a light from a Harbor Patrol ship (see comments), and the authorities on board told her to lay down her weapon, as she was under arrest. 

    Refusing to accept this, she began firing futilely at the Harbor Patrol ship, and before Abe could act on his desire to stop her, a wave tossed the boat enough to knock her overboard. Abe yelled to her to swim to safety, but she noted that she had broken her leg, and then she screamed in vain as the Harbor Patrol ship apparently ran right into her.

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Coast Guard (see comments) apparently got the plutonium-loaded tanker.

(Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - After Abe had boarded the Coast Guard ship, he noted how the case had been wrapped up, but Blackbyrd had his doubts as he feared there was still deep-seated government corruption, although he hoped otherwise.

Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, George Perez, & Rico Rival.

    She was first referred to as "Miss Devon," and then later revealed to be "Miss Caxon." So, we know that her last name was Caxon and that she wasn't married, but we don't know for sure that her first name was Devon...for the purpose of this profile, I've ASSumed that it was, but we all know what it means to assume, and that first name is not official until it sees print...

    Speaking of which, there's no evidence that her father was brought to justice for his crimes. We haven't seen him on panel, nor has he even received a first name. But he was powerful, influential, corrupt, and criminal...

    There is no confirmation that her corpse was recovered, so it is very possible that Miss Caxon survived.

    While Roxxon had already appeared in 1974, it wasn't the main oil/corrupt corporation of the Marvel Universe at that time...and so, this story had Caxon...all plays on Exxon and/or other oil companies...

    The story repeatedly refers to the power plants' process as nuclear FUSION (combing smaller atoms into larger ones). I'm no nuclear physicist, but my understanding is that nuclear power plants use nuclear fission (splitting larger atoms into smaller ones)...especially in the 1970s.

    While the person on the ship calling out to Miss Caxon identified his or her group to be the Harbor Patrol, the ship that Blackbyrd and Abe subsequently boarded was labeled "US Coast Guard." I know they are different, the first a branch of the police department and the second a branch of the US military, but I'm just reporting what was stated in-story. Perhaps both were involved.

    Much like most white people shown in the Sons of the Tiger series, Miss Caxon was racist. Not a stretch given the realities of how life was in the 1970s in the USA, but it just seems to be overdone. Maybe I was too young to appreciate it, as I was only born in 1970...

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Devon Caxon should be distinguished from:

• other Caxon characters, groups, etc. 

A large (he looked to be perhaps 6'-6'3" and perhaps 275-300 lbs.) and powerful man wielding a substantial knife, he was a paid killer working for Devon Caxon.      However, he was not match for the martial arts abilities of Abe Brown. (Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2) - Devon joined him in the motor boat after slaying Captain Barkan and took off.       Having vowed she would not escape justice for her role in Linda Lee's death, Abe Brown leapt off the pier and onto Devon's boat.       When her bodyguard/assistant asked who was this fish, Devon told him, "Who cares! Kill him! That's what I pay you for!"      The large man confronted Devon with a knife, telling him, "You heard the lady, Fish! You're dead."       For a brief second, Abe considered calling upon the power of his Tiger Amulet.       However, he swiftly realized he didn't need it.     Abe easily deflected the man's knife-wielding arm, punched him in the gut and then delivered a pair of blows to the face that knocked the man overboard.        The sailor's screams were lost in the roar of the engines, and Abe was engaged by the gun-wielding Devon before he could react further... --Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 Note: Being punched in the gut and then the face twice by a supremely talented martial artist, with sufficient force to knock this guy into the air and out of the boat, seems like enough trauma that he likely may have drowned.      Abe didn't seem overly concerned by this, but Miss Caxon did confront him at gunpoint almost immediately thereafter.      Regardless, his fate is unrevealed.

Appearances:
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu I#12/2 (May, 1975) - Bill Mantlo (writer), George Perez (penciler), Rico Rival (inker), John Warner (assistant editor), David Kraft (associate editor), Archie Goodwin (editor)

First posted: 12/04/2021
Last updated: 12/04/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters