Ma Hunkel

Red Tornado
File:Garedtornado.jpg "Ma" Hunkel, the Golden Age Red Tornado. Art by Sheldon Mayer.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	All-American Comics #3
Created by	Sheldon Mayer
In-story information
Alter ego	Abigail Mathilda "Ma" Hunkel
Team affiliations	Justice Society of America (honorary member, museum custodian)
Abilities	None. Decent scrapper, abnormally spry for a woman her size and age

For information on the Silver Age Red Tornado, see: Red Tornado.

The Golden Age version of the Red Tornado is a fictional superheroine who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Her real name is Abigail Mathilda "Ma" Hunkel.

Ma Hunkel was originally a housewife and mother whose costume consisted of longjohns and a pot on her head. Ma Hunkel first adopted the identity of the Red Tornado to fight local criminals in her New York City neighborhood, inspired by her son's admiration for Green Lantern. She was often accompanied on her adventures by her two children Huey and Sisty, boy cartoonist "Scribbly" Jibbet, and Scribbly's younger brother Dinky. Sisty and Dinky later adopted the costumed identities of the Cyclone Kids.

Created by Sheldon Mayer, Ma Hunkel first appeared in All-American Comics #3 (June 1939), and became the Red Tornado in All-American Comics #20 (Nov 1940). As the Red Tornado, she was one of the first superhero parodies, as well as one of the first female superheroes.

Her popularity was such that she was given a cameo in the first adventure of the Justice Society of America, visiting the JSA's headquarters but being forced by a humorous mishap (her pants split) to leave without having the chance to apply for membership. However, later Justice Society stories have declared Ma to be an honorary member of the team.

The Red Tornado virtually disappeared after the 1940s, and in Young Justice #16 (January 2000), her former sidekicks Dinky and Sisty, now middle aged, said that Ma had died of natural causes. (The same story revealed that after retiring as costumed sidekicks, the grown-up Dinky and Sisty married each other.)

However, in an issue of JSA, Ma Hunkel was revealed as being alive -- the explanation was that, after testifying against a local mob, she was placed in the Witness Protection Program and her death was faked. In JSA #55 (February 2004), Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Hawkman, and Wildcat visit Ma on Christmas in a small town in New Hampshire to inform her that the last relative of the gang she had testified against had died, and that she was free to resume contact with her family. The retired Red Tornado was appointed the custodian of the Justice Society Museum.

Now in her eighties, Ma is portrayed as a genial, motherly woman with a fiery personality. Like a doting grandparent, she coddles all of the JSA's members --- even the old-timers like Green Lantern and Hawkman. She's still a bit of a scrapper, being highly proficient wielding a frying pan. She even helped Wildcat, Stargirl and Jakeem Thunder defend the Brownstone against the Injustice Society in JSA: Classified. Ma is well-liked by every member of the JSA, in part because of her expert skills at cooking, especially when it comes to baked treats.

Ma's last name is frequently misspelled as "Hunkle." Due to her bright red longjohns costume and roly-poly build, she was sometimes jokingly referred to as the Red Tomato.

Recently, it was revealed that a new character named Maxine Hunkel (modelled on the future Red Tornado from Kingdom Come) will be appearing in the upcoming Justice Society of America relaunch. She is speculated to be a younger relative of Ma's.

External links

• Gay League Profile
• Ma Hunkel History
• The Unofficial Red Tornado Biography