Femforce is a comic book published by AC Comics that began publication in 1985, detailing the adventures of the eponymous team: the "Federal Emergency Missions Force" or "Femforce". Some of them were original creations, while others originated in the 1940s and '50s, lapsing into public domain by the time
Femforce was published. The team are, as their name implies, all female superheroes, and are the first and the longest-running all-women 'super-team'.
Femforce (and associated titles) contains examples of:
- Amazon Brigade: Femforce itself. And its Legion of Doom counterpart Fearforce.
- Animal-Themed Superbeing: She-Cat and Dragonfly.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Tara and Garganta both have the power to become giantesses.
- Garganta became so popular that she briefly had a separate feature dedicated to giant women, Gargantarama.
- Badass Normal: Colt, Rio Rita and Stormy Tempest are the only members of Femforce to have no superpowers. Also Tara before becoming a giantess.
- The Baroness: Lady Luger
- Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: In #51, the Claw mind controls Ms. Victory and intends to make her his queen. He declares her costume to not be raiment fit for a queen and strips her before handing her over to handmaidens with the instructions:
"Now, handmaidens, prepare a hot bath for your lady! Your royal robes await! Tomorrow, my American beauty, you shall take your place as the Bride of the Claw!"
- Captain Ersatz:
- She-Cat is based on Harvey Comics' Black Cat.
- Nightveil/The Blue Bulleteer was originally the Phantom Lady from Fox and Atlas Comics (the character was originally created for Quality, who did not contest the use by Fox, long story), but when DC Comics claimed ownership they hastily changed tiny minuscule details like the name and the color of her costume. Yep, she is totally not Phantom Lady. To be fair, she eventually got magic powers and a new costume and became a totally distinct character (albeit an expy of Raven).
- In a Blue Bulleteer one-shot, the Blue Bulleteer runs into another hero using the same name as her - this one an ersatz version of Fawcett Comics' Bulletman. It even featured a backup story starring the other BB, which was really just a slightly edited Golden Age Bulletman story.
- Rio Rita is based on Senorita Rio from Fight Comics.
- Stardust is a Science Hero version of Starfire.
- Captain Patriotic: Miss Victory and Yankee Girl.
- Clothes Make the Maniac: Nightveil's powers are connected to her Cloak of Darkness, an inherently evil magical artifact. While this makes her arguably among the most powerful beings on earth, Laura must constantly struggle to keep the evil influence of her Cloak in check. She is at times insecure in her own ability to do so and is disturbed by the possibility that the Cloak may already be corrupting her in some way.
- Crusading Widow: Colt became a superheroine after her husband (a spy) was murdered and she felt the organization she and he worked for did not do enough to catch the killer. She quit and used her skills to become a vigilante.
- Deadly Gas: In The Untold Origin of Femforce, the villainous Plant Person (and ally of the Nazis) Fungi launches a poison gas attack on an army camp just outside of Washington, D.C., using toxic spores known as 'Green Mist'. It is this attack that brings the founding members of Femforce together for the first time.
- Face–Heel Turn: Ms.Victory was force-fed V-45 by the Black Commando, and transformed into the villainous Rad. Her daughter Jen was likewise mentally warped into Rad II by the God Capricorn.
- Female Misogynist: Fem-Paragon
- Flying Brick: Miss (later Ms.) Victory, and Rad.
- Genre Throwback: To The Golden Age of Comic Books.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Stormy Tempest.
- Giant Woman: After the success of Garganta, AC Comics took that ball and ran with it, including more giantesses into their titles.
- Gruesome Goat: Capricorn is an extra-dimensional Mad God/God of Evil who looks like a giant humanoid goat and requires human souls for sustenance.
- Heel–Face Turn: Garganta
- Hotter and Sexier: Miss Victory and Yankee Girl show off a lot more skin than their Golden Age versions.
- Human Alien: Stardust
- Jet Pack: Sported (unsurprisingly) by the heroine Jet Girl.
- Jungle Princess: Tara Fremont
- Karma Houdini: Semi-Example with Ms.Victory who never really faced any repercussions for her time as Rad. Although she never does anything outright villainous beyond breaking Tara's hand. Most of her criminal acts are spur of the moment, and/or collateral damage. Her daughter on the other-hand, as Rad committed numerous crimes. Including but not limited to sinking a cruise-ship and trying to murder her ex-husband; but she gets away scot free.
- In this universe members of the military can apparently act with total impunity. Major Tom Kelly ruins Jen's life to get her to agree to become Ms. Victory, and only suffered a broken hand for it. Gen. Gordon uses Ms. Victory transformation into Rad to settle his personal hated of her, and attempts to kill her numerous times including hiring mercenaries and super-villains to do it.
- Legion of Doom: Fearforce, a supervillain team comprised of several of Femforce's greatest foes: Darkfire, Gorgana, Krone, Proxima, and Valkyra.
- Leotard of Power: She-Cat, Nightveil, Yankee Girl, and Stormy Tempest.
- Line-of-Sight Name: While Alizarin Crimson is a kinda cool name for a supervillainess, you just can't not imagine a graphic artist frantically looking for a name of his new creation, and finally looking at a tube of red paint.
- Magic Pants: Tara and Garganta wear special outfits that grow with them. In fact, Tara got her growing powers specifically to show off the special fabric by a sleazy promoter who slipped the Garganta formula on her water.
- Ms. Fanservice: So many characters...
- Colt wears a short blue jacket that stops just below her breasts, leaving her entire midriff bare.
- Tara Fremont's preferred attire is a camouflage bikini.
- Garganta's outfit is just slightly more modest than Tara's.
- Mugged for Disguise:
- Issue #43 contains a scene where Tara steals an Amazon uniform in order to infiltrate their base. The woman she ties up appears to have been Going Commando.
- Issue #48 features a scene where Lady Luger yanks a passing woman into an alley so she can appropriate her clothing in order to flee the city undetected.
- Mystical White Hair: Stardust
- Newspaper Dating: In a Nightmare Sequence in #22, Ms. Victory finds herself in New York City. She checks a newspaper on a newsstand and sees it is 1937, a few years before she gained her powers.
- Outside Ride: In The Untold Origin of Femforce, She-Cat escapes from a crashing airliner by leaping from the plummeting plane on to the top of the Nazi zeppelin that had just shot it down, and clinging to the envelope until it lands.
- Pendulum of Death: She-Cat is subjected to this in #98, in a story titled "The Cat and the Pendulum".
- Pirate Girl: Singapore Sally
- Playing with Fire: Firebeam, the ghost of a woman killed in a house fire, whose spirit can now control fire.
- Poke the Poodle: Despite being labeled as a major threat, Joan as Rad doesn't actually do anything overly evil. She just becomes incredibly selfish and rude. Still the members of Femforce try repeatedly to capture her and change her back.
- Amusingly if you consider the number of fights, illegal entry into other countries, property damage, trespass, and thefts (she confiscates supervillains equipment like the time machine.) She actually committed LESS crimes in her time as Rad then she does as Ms. Victory.
- Refugee from TV Land: In the Nightveil Special spun off from Femforce, a comic book superheroine named Thunderfox is brought into the regular world, and became a Femforce member for several issues.
- Refused the Call: Jen really doesn't want to be Ms. Victory and was forced into it facing financial ruin.
- Replacement Scrappy: In universe example. The girls in Femforce never accept Jen Burke as the New Ms. Victory, and consistently ostracize her. They hate her because she was forced on them by the government, and made their leader without their consent.
- Shoo Out the New Guy: Thunderfox was introduced with much fanfare, but appeared in only eight issues before disappearing. The explanation occurred five issues after her last appearance, telling us that her 'book' was cancelled.
- Sizeshifter: Tara and Garganta
- Space Police / Time Police: Stormy Tempest is an Interplanetary Police Officer sent from the 26th century to the present to prevent a corrupt system from taking over planets.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Tara Fremont
- Spy Catsuit: Dragonfly and Jet Girl both wear skintight bodysuits. Dragonfly's is black with a white chest insignia, while Jet Girl's is gold, which limits its usefulness for actual stealth.
- Star-Spangled Spandex: The lining of Nightveil's magical Cloak of Darkness—an item of cosmic power—is a star field.
- Stripperific: Most, if not all, of the heroines wear very revealing costumes.
- Superhero Packing Heat: Colt
- Super Serum: How Miss Victory got her powers. A failed attempt to recreate it gave Tara and Garganta their powers.
- Trauma Conga Line: Jen Burke's life has been horrible. She never wanted to be a superhero, but because she was Ms. Victory's daughter she was compatible with V-47. When Ms. Victory went rogue, she was asked to take her place. She refused, and Tom Kelly responded by ruining her life to the point, including arranging for husband's legs to be broken, where it was either do it, or face financial ruin. Once in Femforce, the girls resented her for being forced on them, and refused to accept her. In addition, she couldn't tell her husband what was going on, badly straining their marriage eventually leading to an affair and divorce. Then her son Jason gets killed by collateral damage from one of Garganta's rampage. Then she gets manipulated into becoming Rad II, by the mad God Capricorn. Finally she just snaps.
- Wolverine Claws: She-Cat's nails extend into talons. Her gloves and boots are adapted to allow for this.
