| Torchy | |
|---|---|
The cover of Torchy #5 (July 1950). Cover art by Ward. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Quality Comics |
| First appearance | comic strip: Fort Hamilton base newspaper (1944) comics: Doll Man #8 (Spring 1946) |
| Created by | Bill Ward |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Torchy Todd |
| Torchy (comics) | |
| Publication date | (Torchy solo series) Nov. 1949 – Sept. 1950 |
| Collected editions | |
| Bill Ward's Torchy, vol. 1 | ISBN 1566850487 |
| Bill Ward's Torchy, vol. 2 | ISBN 1566850576 |
Torchy is a comic strip and, primarily, a series of comic books featuring the ingenue Torchy Todd, created by the American "good girl art" cartoonist Bill Ward in 1944.
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Following Bill Ward's drafting into the World War II military, the artist created the tall, blond, busty ingenue Torchy Todd for the base newspaper at Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton, where Ward was deployed. The comic strip in which she starred soon became syndicated to other Army newspapers worldwide.
Torchy made her comic-book debut as star of a backup feature in Quality Comics' Doll Man #8 (Spring 1946). Her feature went on to appear in all but two issues through #30 (September 1950), resuming in #35 (August 1951) through #47 (October 1953), as well as in Modern Comics #53-102 (Sept. 1946 - Oct. 1950). A solo series, Torchy, ran six issues (Nov. 1949 - Sept. 1950).
Several Torchy stories, including some Fort Hamilton strips, were reprinted in Innovation Comics' 100-page, squarebound trade paperback Bill Ward's Torchy, The Blonde Bombshell #1 (Jan. 1992). Others have been reprinted in The Betty Pages #1 (1987); AC Comics anthology Good Girl Art Quarterly #1 (Summer 1990), #10 (Fall 1992), #11 (Winter 1993), and #14 (Winter 1994), and in AC's America's Greatest Comics #5 (circa 2003). Comic Images released a set of Torchy trading cards in 1994.[1]
Ward drew an original cover featuring Torchy for Robert M. Overstreet's annual book The Comic Book Price Guide (#8, 1978).
Torchy Todd is a ditzy but goodhearted young blond woman who frequently finds herself in humorous, mildly risqué encounters with lustful men.