The Keeper thought he’d dip into the Fortress’ well-guarded vaults today and dig out Beware The Claws Of The Cat #4, a Bronze Age Marvel epic that featured the title character’s titanic struggle against the villainous menace known as the Man-Bull!

Why? Because if any heroine has been forced to put up with a lot of “man-bull” lately, it’s Greer Nelson!

Yes Fortress Fan, years before Tigra gained fame (?) for her uncontrollable libido - thanks a lot, Mr. Englehart - and complete inability to defend herself - we’re looking at you, Bendis - Greer was a shining example of Marvel’s one-time ability to absorb and manipulate the Zeitgeist for the sake of comic-book awesomeness.

According to Back Issue! # 17 - a special heroines issue of the comics-fan mag - Greer, a.k.a. The Cat, was thought up by Stan The Man himself as a response to the burgeoning Women’s Liberation movement of the early 1970s.

Marvel even assigned a team of female creators on The Cat: comics legend Marie Severin and newbie writer Linda Fite.

Essentially handed a blank slate, Fite came up with the brilliant stroke of essentially making Greer a cross between Captain America and Spider-Man with a liberal helping of feminist empowerment thrown into the mix.

Nelson, an intelligent but insecure woman sheltered by overbearing men her entire life, found herself at loose ends after her husband is murdered.

Despite some background in science, Greer was unable to start a career of her own until she bumped into an old physics professor - who happened to be working on a project to “fulfill the potential of womankind.”

(Kind of like, you know, a certain Super-Soldier formula … )

Much like Peter Parker and Steve Rogers, tragedy strikes but leaves Greer imbued with super-powers and an obligation to use them for the good of all - no matter how much said abilities complicate the wise-cracking heroine’s own life.

The Cat was one of the few Marvel heroines to receive her own series without being a reformed villain (Black Widow) or a knock-off of a more famous, male counterpart (Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Spider-Woman).

Unfortunately, Greer didn’t attract the female readership Stan coveted and her series was canceled after four issues. The final issue even broke the book’s string of female creators, as Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss and Frank McLaughlin took over the art duties.

(Severin left after two stories, to be followed by the team of Paty Greer and Bill Everett. The great Ramona Fradon was scheduled to take over the book as of the fifth issue, which sadly never saw the light of day.)

Now that we’ve dispensed with the back story, let’s join Greer and a friend as they stop by a somewhat seedy bar to rest their feet and meet … well, see for yourself!

The Keeper loves how the Man-Bull’s civilian name is “Bull.”At any rate, Bull takes rejection about as well as you’d expect and transforms into the Raging …

In time-honored super-hero fashion, Greer enters the fray as The Cat. Of course, like any good pro ‘rasslin match, she lets the bad guy get a few good hits in to establish the credibility of his threat.

Plus, he gets to spout some male chauvinist bull!

Fortunately, and we can’t stress this enough, Greer is not a helpless damsel in distress!

Unfortunately, fierce super-hero battles near the Chi-Town docks often lead to collateral damage - in this case, a warehouse full of prime, grade-A bulls.

Now, for the sake of a certain, little stuffed bovine blogger who may be reading this post, let the Keeper take a moment to assure everyone that no cows or bulls were harmed or humiliated during the making of this comic.

Well, unless you count the Man-Bull …

His “master plan” to lead an army of bulls through the streets of Chicago quickly fails because:

1. Greer cracks the dude’s head open with a crowbar, and …
2. The bulls in question have no intention of listening to the lout and simply beat a hasty path back toward their homes. Too bad the Man-Bull was standing directly in their way at the moment!

Talk about everything going wrong at once! It’s like the guy suddenly found himself stuck inside a Tex Avery cartoon.

After making sure the poor jerk is OK - remember kids, Greer is trained in science and medicine - The Cat swings into the Windy City sunset … and comic-book oblivion.

Greer did not surface again until Giant-Size Creatures #1, which introduced the world to Tigra The Were-Woman.

The character owed her unexpected metamorphosis to writer Tony Isabella, who liked Greer Nelson but thought she stood a better chance at success as a supernaturally themed heroine.

(This was during the heyday of Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider and Son of Satan titles … )

In BackIssue!, Isabella stated:

I wouldn’t have been interested in bringing Greer back as The Cat. I saw more possibilities in Tigra, both as a character and the wider range of stories I could tell with her.

When Tigra subsequently appeared in Monsters Unleashed and Marvel Chillers, Isabella kept Greer’s strong will and sense of humor but added an interesting twist: an ongoing mental and spiritual struggle against her animal nature.

While later writers played out this struggle in largely sexual terms, Isabella’s Tigra fought to keep herself from gutting every villain she encountered - a decidedly Marvel-esque convention that brought fame and fortune to a guy called Wolverine.

Meanwhile, Greer’s old Cat identity was resurrected as well.

Patsy Walker, once Marvel’s answer to Betty Cooper, found herself trapped in a loveless marriage and one day - Avengers #144 to be exact - ended up with a certain discarded super-hero uniform.

The rest, as they say, is history … although Patsy’s taste in husbands didn’t improve as time wore on.

Really now, the friggin’ Son of Satan?? How was that ever going to end well???