Created by Frank Miller (Sin City) and Dave Gibbons (Watchmen), Martha Washington first appeared as young freedom fighter in a near-future America in the pages of Pizzazz #14 (November 1978).

A fearless Black teen from the hardened housing projects of The Green (Cabrini Greens), Martha found herself enlisting in PAX Corps after escaping the mean streets surrounding her home. Her ultimate goal was to take down the fascist corporate outfit, Aryan Thrust, who fought on behalf of a conglomerate called Fat Boy Burger corporate army.

Martha herself is depicted as a streetwise, very tough gun-toting soldier with either a blonde crew-cut or blonde cornrows. Though the series deals strongly in thinly veiled white vs. black racial themes, many readers have also pointed out its similarities to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

She appeared in several issues of Dark Horse Presents before getting her own four-issue miniseries, Give Me Liberty in 1990. Since then, Martha Washington has appeared in multiple miniseries and one-shots like Martha Washington Goes to War, Happy Birthday Martha Washington, Martha Washington Goes to War, and Martha Washington Saves the World. In 2007, she starred in the ominously titled, Martha Washington Dies.