Moon Maid is a fictional alien character from the Dick Tracy comic strip, created in 1964 by Chester Gould. In the comic, Moon Maid was at first very withdrawn, not saying any words (which led people to assume that she was unable to speak,but it was later revealed that she knew and understood English, having learned it from Earth television broadcasts). She quickly began displaying her superhuman abilities, such as drastically changing her body temperature from 18 degrees above zero to 200degrees. She could also shoot destructive energy beams from her hands, causing objects to explode. She did not want her picture taken and used her powers to render nearby cameras useless. Moon Maid's powers also disrupted global communications. This causedsome anxiety in Washington DC, which Diet Smith helped to alleviate.
In 1965 there was a nationwide contest to find a 'real-life' Moon Maid. It was sponsored by the strip's syndicate, and the final judging took place in Hollywood, CA. The winner was z 19-year-old Sheila Hanson, who was a student at the Universityof Mississippi at the time.
