Doll Girl is a

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

from the

Golden Age of Comics The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known chara ...

, originally published by

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...

and currently part of the of characters. She first appeared as Martha Roberts in ''

Feature Comics ''Feature Comics'', originally ''Feature Funnies'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the superhero genre. Publication history T ...

'' #27 (December 1939) and as Doll Girl in ''

Doll Man Doll Man is a superhero first appearing in American comic books from the Golden Age of Comics, originally published by Quality Comics and currently part of the DC Comics universe of characters. Doll Man was created by cartoonist Will Eisner a ...

'' #37 (December 1951). A new version later appeared in '' Titans Secret Files'' #2 (October 2000).

Fictional character biography

Martha Roberts

Martha Roberts was the daughter of Professor Roberts, who tutored his young protégé Darrel Dane in his home laboratory. During the summer of 1939, Martha was being blackmailed by a criminal named Falco over love letters she had written one of her former college teachers. After imbibing a concoction, Dane found himself shrunk to the height of six inches, but with his normal strength intact. Martha sewed him new clothes to wear, and he began to worry that he might never be able to regain his normal height. After refusing to pay Falco any more blackmail money, Martha was kidnapped by Falco and rescued by the "doll man". Finding that through intense concentration Dane could affect his height, he decided to begin to fight crime as the

, often assisted by Martha (who also became his scientific research assistant). Several years later, while wishing and concentrating about being able to shrink down to aid Doll Man, Darrel also was thinking about the same thing and suddenly, Martha's height and weight dwindled down until she was on the same scale as Doll Man. She began to team with Doll Man as Midge, the Doll Girl. She fights "the Skull, the Druids, the Count de Grasso, and the houngan Dr. Voodoo. After Quality Comics went out of business in 1956, DC Comics acquired their superhero characters. Doll Man and several other former Quality properties were re-launched in ''

Justice League of America The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

'' #107 (October 1973) as the Freedom Fighters. As was done with many other characters DC had acquired from other publishers or that were holdovers from Golden Age titles, the Freedom Fighters were located on a parallel world, one called "

Earth-X ''Earth X'' is a 1999 comic book limited series published by American company Marvel Comics. ''Earth X'' was written by Jim Krueger with art by John Paul Leon. Based on Alex Ross' notes, the series features a dystopian version of the Marvel ...

" where

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

had won

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The team were featured in their own series for fifteen issues (1976–1978), in which the team temporarily leaves Earth-X for

Earth-One Earth-One (also Earth-1) is a name given to two fictional universes (The Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis versions of the same universe) that have appeared in American comic book stories published by DC Comics. The first Earth-One was given its name in ...

(where most DC titles were set). It was revealed during the ''Freedom Fighters'' series that Martha Roberts was now deceased on Earth-X, and Doll Man later encountered the Earth-One version of Roberts. The Earth-One Martha Roberts became a supporting character in the series and also guest-starred in ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'' #47 as a reporter. Following the ''

Crisis on Infinite Earths "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a 1985 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to March ...

'', a story that was intended to eliminate the similarly confusing histories that DC had attached to its characters by retroactively merging the various parallel worlds into one, Doll Girl's Earth-X and Earth-One days were erased and her histories were merged as one. In ''Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters'' #4 (February 2008), it is revealed that Martha is deceased, killed by cancer. She was unable to get medical treatment because of her small size.

''Titans Secret Files''

A version of Doll Man and Doll Girl about whom little has been revealed briefly appeared in '' Titans Secret Files'' #2. This Doll Girl also had a cameo in ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

'' (vol. 2) #174.

Powers and abilities

As Doll Girl, Martha can shrink through mental concentration to a

height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...

of 5 and 1/2 inches. She retained her full-size strength and is a fair unarmed combatant. She can also pilot the small "flying saucer" that the duo used and was able to use other small vehicles as needed.

Other versions

In ''

Kingdom Come " Kingdom come" is a phrase in the Lord's Prayer in the Bible. Kingdom Come may also refer to: Film * ''Kingdom Come'' (1919 film), a Western short featuring Hoot Gibson * ''Kingdom Come'' (2001 film), a comedy starring LL Cool J * ''Kingdom ...

'', the Doll Man/Doll Girl franchise is represented by a female character named Living Doll, wearing the Doll Girl costume, and is seen sitting on

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

's shoulder acting as a sort of secretary for the Justice League. She is the daughter of the original Doll Man and Doll Girl. Based on comments by

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...

, the 52’s Earth-10 universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-X.

References

External links

Doll Girl
at Comic Vine {{GoldenAge Comics characters introduced in 1939 DC Comics female superheroes DC Comics metahumans DC Comics characters who are shapeshifters Fictional reporters Fictional female scientists Golden Age superheroes Quality Comics superheroes Fictional characters who can change size