Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Yankee Doodle Luck"

Though Phantom Lady may have been forced to lose her cleavage...

...politically-incorrect racial stereotypes still abounded even after the Comics Code took hold.

Note: may be NSFW!

Formosa is now known as Taiwan, or the Republic of China.
When the Communist Party took control of mainland China after World War II, the deposed government and it's supporters moved to the island of Formosa off the China coast.
These days, when most people refer to "China", they're talking about the People's Republic of China which controls the vast area traditionally-known as "China".
At the time of this story in Phantom Lady #3 (1955), Formosa was officially-considered to be "China" by the United Nations.
Since 1971, though, mainland China has become the "China" recognized by the UN and Formosa/Taiwan is no longer an official member of the international organization, though most countries maintain diplomatic relations and the US still has military bases there.
The artist (or artists) of this tale are unknown, but the writer is probably editor Ruth Roche, as usual.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Television Spies" 2.0

We've seen a story originally published with a different heroine...

...now here's a totally-redrawn version of a previous Phantom Lady tale!

In the original 1948 version of this tale, the tv images were in full glorious color, and television was just beginning to enter American households, so few people had actually seen a tv screen!

But, by the time of this story in Phantom Lady #3 (1955), almost half the households in America had tvs, but they were almost all b/w sets.

As a result, the tv screens shown in this version of the story were b/w, the way most Americans experienced video.

The artist (or artists) of this tale are unknown, but the writer is probably editor Ruth Roche, as usual.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Eye for an Eye-Witness"

It's about time someone figured out that Sandra Knight is Phantom Lady...

...it's not like the costume really disguises her!

(and this version doesn't even have the distracting cleavage of the Fox Comics costume!)

The villain tells Sandra Knight (whom he believes to be Phantom Lady) to come to an address, where he tries to kill her.
She escapes, changes into Phantom Lady, returns to the same address and the villain freaks out with a "how did you ever find me?" reaction!
And this was the only guy who was smart enough to figure Sandra was, in fact, Phantom Lady?
Geez...

The artist (or artists) of this tale from Phantom Lady #2 (1955) are unknown, but the writer is probably editor Ruth Roche, as usual.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Old Shell Game"

Here's a story with our favorite heroine that has a surprise ending...

...because, this time, she's not the only one in an identity-concealing costume!

Transvestite characters weren't a new concept in comic books.

One of the earliest heroes was the first Cat-Man, who dressed as a little old lady to battle crime over fifteen years earlier, as seen HERE and HERE!

By the time of this tale in Phantom Lady #2 (1955), the stories had become a mix of existing unused Fox Comics material and totally-new stories.

The artist (or artists) are unknown, but the writer is probably editor Ruth Roche, as usual.

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Reading Room: SPITFIRE SAUNDERS "Whip"

Yesterday, you read the second version of this story, starring Phantom Lady...

...here's the original (and longer) version of the tale, starring a totally-different heroine from Spitfire Comics #132 (1944)!

Spitfire Saunders 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!
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) and Fox Comics.
It's unknown who did the art modifications on the Phantom Lady version of the tale, but odds are Ruth Roche did the extensive editing and re-scripting.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Satan's Seal"

This is one of the most unusual Phantom Lady tales you'll ever read...

...because it wasn't meant to be a Phantom Lady story!

In fact, this story in Ajax/Farrell's Phantom Lady #1 (1954) originally appeared a decade earlier, featuring a different character battling Nazis (not Commies), in another publisher's magazine!

The first version was published in Elliot Comics' Spitfire Comics #132 (1944), starring female spy Spitfire Saunders in the first of only two appearances...

...but we're out of room (and time), so you'll see the complete Spitfire Saunders story tomorrow!

Besides, you'll probably want to open both entries in side-by-side tabs or windows so you can compare the stories!

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