Raven Red's henchwomen are a trio of unnamed female criminals, the gun toting hirelings of arch villainess Raven Red.
Appear in - "The Man from UNCLE" comic no 12 (USA Gold Key 1967); "The Man from UNCLE annual" (UK 1968); story Jet Dream and her Stunt-girl Counterspies - The Powder Puff Derby Caper.
These spy/crime stories are about the adventures of a glamorous team of aviatrix Hollywood stunt-women, who use their skills to fight foreign agents and criminals; their leader is the resourceful, beautiful and dark haired Jet Dream.
Appearance - Raven's henchwomen are all white women, probably in their 20s; 2 brunettes and a blonde; not uniformed, but dressed in casual pants and tops of differing colors. One has light brown shoulder length hair with bangs, another darker brown short hair, flicked up at the sides, with bangs, the blonde has short wavy hair.
Weapons - Handguns (pistols)
Story - Villainess Raven Red is hired by a foreign agent to assassinate heroine Jet Dream, the leader of the Stunt-Girl counterspies, during the all female Honolulu to San Francisco air race known as "The Powder Puff Derby."
Raven Red ambushes Jet's defenceless plane over the Pacific, shooting down the stunt girl's aircraft. Jet manages to bail out of her stricken aircraft and evade the barrage of bullets Raven fires at her as she falls in her parachute. Jet lands up on top of a tree on a small island. However, bullets fly up at her from the ground, and a jeering voice is heard; 3 henchwomen, armed with handguns, have surrounded the tree and are shooting up at Jet. Using her stunt skills, Jet manages to avoid being perforated by the gunwomen's bullets; she escapes by rolling down a steep slope. Seeing Jet rolling down the slope, Raven Red, who has now arrived at the scene, screams at her henchwomen, telling them to get after their tumbling target, it's what they're being paid for. But the henchwomen are not capable enough and are too fearful for their themselves to follow Jet down such a slope and say they must go another way.
Jet soon realises the buildings mean this island is Raven's secret hideout. She breaks into one of them, Raven's ammo dump. When Red and her henchwomen rush into the area they are met by a surprise attack by Jet, who pinwheels at them throwing their own grenades - the terrified gang flee in disarray as the grenades explode at their heels. Jet finds Raven's 2 planes in "secret hangars" and destroys them using a flame thrower, another item taken from Red's stores. Now Jet determines to capture Raven and her girls, bring them to justice. Raven and her gang see the flames and smoke, so they rush to the area. Jet has taken position on the top of a hut; Raven crows that they will now give "Dream" a "nightmare," as the arch villainess and her dolls ready to shoot the heroine down. However, Jet aims the flame thrower at the ground, and fire bursts all around the stunned Raven and her goons, trapping them, the guns falling from their hands. Jet had lured them into a circle of gasoline, which she ignites to trap them all. At that moment the Stunt- Girl Counterspies parachute down - finding Jet has already saved herself solo and captured all her enemies.
Background/Character - Raven seems to have quite an elaborate set up on her island; clearly she is a career criminal and the attempted assassination of Jet Dream is not just a one off crime for her. Just as Raven Red can be seen as a bad counterpart to Jet Dream, Raven's female goons can be viewed as bad counterparts to Jet's Counterspy team. None of the hench-women are named and we are given no background information on them. We aren't told whether they have aided Raven Red in other crimes, or were hired for this one, though the former seems most probable as they know the island, The words Raven screams at them - "After her! What do you think I'm paying you for?" shows they are hired accomplices. One of the women refers to the grenades Jet hurls at them as "our own," and Raven Red says "our" rather than "my" secret hangars being aflame. They call their boss "Raven," not "Miss Red."
They are totally ruthless, perfectly ready to commit murder for money. Smug, overconfident (initially) and callous, one of them jeers "Look gals..we've got Jet Dream up a tree! She's a perched pigeon for us..." as they fire at the unarmed heroine after she has chuted down and landed atop some trees.
Their lack of competence and cowardice is seen when -
- they fail to manage to shoot Jet dead when they ambush her, despite a barrage of bullets from their 3 guns.
- they are too unskilled and fearful to chase after Jet as she rolls down a steep slope.
- they run panic stricken from Jet's grenade assault.
Apart from being able to actually shoot their guns and managing to ambush Jet when she lands on the island, there's no evidence they can think tactically or carry out their job with much ability/competence. Despite seeming to have all the odds in their favor it's clear that the counterspy leader has the gang, and their boss Raven Red, totally outclassed.
Fate - Captured by Jet in her fire trap and arrested. The final picture shows Raven and one henchwoman, hands tied, being taken by the Stunt- Girls to a plane. It seems certain they will receive many years in prison for attempted murder.
Notes - Raven Red and her henchwomen (and the woman who hires Raven to murder Jet) are the only female villains to feature in any of the Jet Dream stories. Despite Jet's confident prediction at the end of The Powder Puff Derby Caper Raven Red returns to try to take vengeance in the story The Menace of the Feathered Warriors, but no henchwomen are featured.
See also - Raven Red
