Russkie-Smashers PHANTOM LADY "Man the Kremlin Applauded!"

We showed a tale where a different heroine battling Nazis became Phantom Lady battling Russkies...

...but here's an all-new story featuring our stalwart all-American heroine!

Script for this tale from Ajax-Farrell's Wonder Boy #17 (1955) is probably by Ruth Roche.

However, the art is not by Matt Baker (who had left the Iger Studios).
While competent, the art, by nameless Iger Studio staff artists, is hardly the classic cheesecake we've come to expect of Phantom Lady!

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Phantom Lady

TPB Reprinting the Complete Golden Age Fox Comics Series, Mostly Illustrated by Legendary Good Girl Artist Matt Baker, and with a New Cover by Current Good Girl Artist Adam Hughes!
Paid Link

Russkie-Smashers BLACK COBRA "Big Blast"

As we have done in the past...

...we go from Blackhawk to Black Cobra!
Yet we're still involved in aquatic combat with Russkies!

The creatives for this never-reprinted tale from Ajax/Farrell's Black Cobra #6 (1954-5), which is actually #2, were from the Iger Studio which "packaged" comic stories (both scripts and artwork) for various publishers including Fox, Chesler, Elliot, Fiction House, St John, and (of course) Ajax/Farrell!
It may be a re-working of a previously-published comic story, which the studio was notorious for, as shown HERE, where a story written and drawn for one character was modified/updated for a totally-different character!
Or, it may be a totally-new tale.

We're not yet certain.

NEXT WEEK:

Another Water-Logged Russkie-Smashing Tale!

Who knew we'd actually find a sub-category to Russkie-Smashing!

Russkie-Smashers WONDER BOY "Midnight Showdown"

Like a certain Man of Steel, this character was also a survivor of a doomed planet...

...now a castaway on Earth, battling evil (including Russkies, of course) during his 1940s-50s career!

The teenage Last Son of the Planet Viro, possessing super-strength, speed, and limited invulnerability, arrived on Earth inside a meteor in Quality's National Comics #1 (1940).
Though he came to Earth in his teens, he never referred to his family or life on Viro.
He wore civilian attire from time to time, but he didn't have a secret identity, and everybody called him "Wonder Boy" no matter how he was garbed!
Since he was created and owned by the Eisner/Iger Studio, which "packaged" stories and art for publishers, he and other Eisner/Iger characters (like studio mate Phantom Lady) would be leased to other publishers when contracts weren't renewed, or if the characters' rights were purchased by the client and continued by in-house staff, as was the case with Blackhawk, Uncle Sam, among others at Quality.
In Wonder Boy's case, he bounced from Quality to Elliot, then to Ajax-Farrell, who published this particular tale in Terrific Comics #16 (1955).
BTW, this tale may be a re-working of a previously-published comic story, which Eisner/Iger was notorious for, as shown HERE, where a story written and drawn for one character was modified/updated for a totally-different character!
Or, it may be a totally-new tale.
We're not yet certain.

A Twice-Told Tale About Nazis Becoming Russkies...and Being SMASHED Both TImes by Different Heroines!

This is a "twice-told tale"...

...demonstrating how similarly WWII Germans and Cold War Russkies could be portrayed in pop culture!

First, a tale starring a long-forgotten heroine from Elliot's Spitfire Comics #132 (1944)...

Secret agent Spitfire Sanders made only two appearances, in successive issues of Elliot Comics' Spitfire Comics, which despite the high numbering of this issue (#132), only had two issues!
(And this was the first of the two!)
The art on this story about an extremely competent female spy is by journeyman artist Paul Cooper, working for the Iger Studios, who also supplied art to Ajax/Farrell (where the re-worked version appeared several years later) and Fox Comics.
It was scripted by "Rick Shawn", which was likely a pen-name since he's only credited with the two Spitfire Saunders tales!

Now we jump a decade to 1954.

The Nazis have been defeated.

Communism is on the rise.

A comic book publisher needs a story about a superheroine to meet a deadline, so Nazi-Crusher Spitfire Sanders becomes...already-existing Russkie-Smasher Phantom Lady!

Oh, and due to space limitations, the original story has to be cut by a couple of pages...

For this presentation in Ajax/Farrell's Phantom Lady #5 (actually #1) from 1954, the brand new (and extremely-restrictive Comics Code also required a reduction in gunplay and use of torture instruments like whips, so a number of panels were reworked...or deleted entirely!

Please Support Hero Histories
Visit Amazon and Buy...

Phantom Lady

TPB Reprinting the Complete Golden Age Fox Comics Series, Mostly Illustrated by Legendary Good Girl Artist Matt Baker, and with a New Cover by Good Girl Artist Adam Hughes!

Russkie-Smashers BLACK COBRA "...Crashes the Ring of Red Death!"

Fighting Russkies 24 hours a day as either an FBI agent or superhero...

...the Black Cobra is truly unstoppable!

The creatives for this never-reprinted tale from Ajax/Farrell's Black Cobra #1 (1954) were from the Iger Studio which "packaged" comic stories (both scripts and artwork) for various publishers including Fox, Chesler, Elliot, Fiction House, St John, and (of course) Ajax/Farrell!
It may be a re-working of a previously-published comic story, which the studio was notorious for, as shown HERE, where a story written and drawn for one character was modified/updated for a totally-different character!
Or, it may be a totally-new tale.
We're not yet certain.

Russkie-Smashers BLACK COBRA "Ace Spy Smasher vs Voice of Treason"

He's not as well-known as our previous Commie-crushers...

...but there's no denying his enthusiasm for the job...or his effectiveness!

The creatives for this never-reprinted tale from Ajax/Farrell's Black Cobra #1 (1954) were from the Iger Studio which "packaged" comic stories (both scripts and artwork) for various publishers including Fox, Chesler, Elliot, Fiction House, St John, and (of course) Ajax/Farrell!
It may be a re-working of a previously-published comic story, which the studio was notorious for, as shown HERE, where a story written and drawn for one character was modified/updated for a totally-different character!
Or, it may be a totally-new tale.
We're not yet certain.
BTW, the Voice of America is still broadcasting, as shown HERE!