BESSIE
HOTCHKISS
Real
Name: Bessie
Hotchkiss
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Secretary
to the principal of
Andrew Jackson High School
Group
Membership: Andrew
Jackson High School staff
(Luke Charles (Black Panther (T’Challa), possibly Miss Parker, Miss
Rayburn, others)
(see comments)
Affiliations: Vision; possibly
Miss Parker (high
school principal, see comments)
Enemies: None
Known
Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base
of Operations: Andrew
Jackson High School (also
known as P.S. 76) in Harlem, New York City, USA
First
Appearance: Avengers
I#79 (August, 1970)
Powers/Abilities: Bessie
Hotchkiss had no superhuman
powers but was a skilled office secretary, albeit an easily startled
one.
History:
(Avengers
I#79) –
The Vision, wearing a rubber mask and
trenchcoat, visited Andrew Jackson High School and met with Bessie
Hotchkiss,
informing her that school teacher Luke Charles (secretly the Black
Panther (T’Challa))
would not be into work that day. Miss Hotchkiss commented that some
things
could not be helped and asked if Mr. Charles would be returning the
following
day but the Vision could only reply that he hoped so.
Comments: Created by Roy
Thomas, John Buscema and
Tom Palmer.
While
Avengers I#79 specifically
names Luke Charles’ high school teaching location as Andrew Jackson
High
School, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II#2 refers to it as P.S.
76. It’s
possible that Andrew Jackson High School was the public name of P.S.
76 (given
that both schools are drawn similar in both books), or one could argue
that
perhaps Luke Charles briefly taught at P.S. 76 before moving on to
Andrew
Jackson High School, given that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II took place
prior
to Avengers I#79. An argument against them being one and the same is
that in
real-life New York, Public School 76 is called A. Philip Randolph
School. In real-life New York, P.S. 76 currently
teaches grades 1-8
and not
high school (though I don’t know my New York school history, so it’s
possible it
could have been a high school in
the late 1960s/early 1970s when the stories of Black Panther teaching were
written...). For the sake of this profile, I am treating the two
differently named
schools as one and the same. Depending on whether or not they are
definitely the
same school, Bessie Hotchkiss’ affiliations could be affected.
Profile
by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Bessie Hotchkiss has
no known connections to
- or any other "Bessie” or
“Hotchkiss” characters
images: (without ads)
Avengers I#79, p9, pan3 (Bessie Hotchkiss, main image)
Avengers I#79, p9, pan6 (Bessie Hotchkiss without glasses, supplemental
image)
Appearances:
Avengers I#79 (August, 1970) – Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (art),
Tom
Palmer (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Last
updated:
02/09/13
Any
Additions/Corrections? please
let me know.
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