Showing posts with label Ruth Roche. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ruth Roche. Show all posts

Monday, March 11, 2024

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

...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...
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

Friday, May 25, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Success is No Accident"

For the final time, if the story seems familiar...
...it's because this is yet another re-write of a story of the Fox Comics version of Phantom Lady published several years earlier!
Both ironically and appropriately, this final Phantom Lady tale in Wonder Boy #18 (1955) is based on a story that appeared, not in Phantom Lady, but All Top Comics #9 (1948), entitled "Killer Clown".
This is the final Golden Age Phantom Lady tale on this blog, but it's not the last one in our archives!
There's one more tale, from Phantom Lady #22 (1948), featuring our heroine at the 1948 London Olympics!
It'll appear in our new "sister" blog, Heroines™, when the Olympics open on July 27th!

Support Small Business!
featuring goodies emblazoned with cover art that Fredric Wertham railed against in Seduction of the Innocent.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Man the Kremlin Applauded"

Though she lost her own title for the second time in 1955, Phantom Lady battled on...
...in new stories as a second feature in Ajax/Farrell's Wonder Boy!
Script for this tale from Wonder Boy #17 (1955) is probably by Ruth Roche.
However, the art is not by Matt Baker, and, while competent, is hardly the classic cheesecake we've come to expect of Phantom Lady!
Be here next week to see Phantom Lady's final Golden Age appearance (not counting reprints)!

Support Small Business!
featuring goodies emblazoned with cover art that Fredric Wertham railed against in Seduction of the Innocent.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "What Price Protection?"

Once again, if the story seems familiar...
...it's because this is yet another re-write of a story presented in the Fox Comics version of Phantom Lady several years earlier!
The first version of this tale appeared in Fox Publishing's Phantom Lady #17 (1947) and called "Soda Mint Killer", as shown HERE, but it's toned-down both in terms of sexiness and violence in the new version published in Ajax/Farrell's Phantom Lady #4 (1955)!
So both stories in this issue are re-writes of earlier tales!
Script in both versions probably by Ruth Roche.
However, this time the art is not by Matt Baker, and though adequate, is no match for the original!
This was the final issue of Phantom Lady, but not her final Golden Age appearance!
Be here next week to see what we're talking about!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Meanest Men in the World!"

If the story seems familiar...
...it's because this is another re-write/re-draw of a story presented in the Fox Comics version of Phantom Lady several years earlier!
The first version of this tale appeared in Phantom Lady #15 (1947) as shown HERE, but the idea of crooked real estate agents ripping off returning veterans worked just as well in Ajax/Farrell's Phantom Lady #4 (1955), just changing the war (Korea instead of World War II) the vets were returning from!
Script in both versions probably by Ruth Roche.
However, this time the art is not by Matt Baker, and though adequate, is no match for the original!

Friday, April 27, 2012

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.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Television Spies" 2.0

We've seen a Phantom Lady 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 Ajax/Farrell's 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 at the time.
The artist (or artists) of this tale are unknown, but the writer is probably editor Ruth Roche, as usual.
Support Hero Histories
Visit Amazon and Buy...
Crime Never Pays!
(With a new Adam Hughes cover!)
Paid Link

Friday, April 13, 2012

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 her Phantom Lady costume, 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 Ajax/Farrell's Phantom Lady #2 (1955) are unknown, but the writer is probably editor Ruth Roche, as usual.
Support Hero Histories
Visit Amazon and Buy...
Crime Never Pays!
(With a new Adam Hughes cover!)
Paid Link