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

Friday, March 2, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Mystery of the Monkey Cult"

 It's been over fifty years since this story was first published...
...and we're still almost at war with North Korea, as shown in Phantom Lady's final Fox Comics appearance!
Credits for this tale from All Top Comics #17 (1949) are: script probably by Ruth Roche, pencils by Matt Baker, and inks by Baker and another artist.
Though All Top Comics went on for one more issue, this was Phantom Lady's last appearance in the Fox Comics line, which folded only a couple of months later.
One Phantom Lady reprint appeared in, of all titles, Jungle Thrills, published by Star Publications, in 1952.
In 1954, Ajax/Farrell published a Phantom Lady title featuring new stories, also by Iger Studios, who packaged the earlier Fox Comics books.
While Ruth Roche continued to edit (and probably write) the strips, Matt Baker had moved on to other publishers including St John, and the art was not up to the high standards Baker set.

Next week: the very first Phantom Lady story from Quality Comics' Police Comics #1!
Then, we begin the complete run of the Ajax/Farrell Phantom Lady!

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

Friday, February 24, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Saturnalia of Sin"

With a title like that, how can anyone say comics aren't educational?
(A "Saturnalia" is a major-level party, a shindig people will talk about for years to come)
Seems like a kool way to close out the final tale from the final Fox issue of Phantom Lady!
The final story from Phantom Lady #23 (1949) is by writer Ruth Roche and artist Jack Kamen.
Next week, the final Fox Comics tale from All Top Comics #17!
After that, the very first Phantom Lady story from Police Comics #1!
Then, we begin the complete run of the Ajax/Farrell Phantom Lady!

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

Friday, February 17, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Adventure of the Jade Maiden"

Since there were no Phantom Lady 3-D comics, we skipped last week...
...(and if there's anyone who would've been fantastic in 3-D it's her!)
 Nonetheless, we're back with the second of three tales from Phantom Lady #23, the final Fox issue!
Story probably by Ruth Roche, art most likely by Jack Kamen.

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

Friday, February 3, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Indian Tiger Murders"

Here's a Phantom Lady story that gives new meaning to the phrase "catfight"!
Despite the caption above, this issue (#23) of Phantom Lady was her last one at Fox Comics.
I find it amazing that Senator Knight doesn't realize his daughter is Phantom Lady.
(I'd given up on Don Borden having more than a couple of functioning brain cells long ago.)
Story probably by Ruth Roche, art likely by Jack Kamen.
This is the first of three stories from the final Fox issue of Phantom Lady.

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

Friday, January 27, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Man Who Lost His Stuff"

Spring Training is about to begin for Major League Baseball...
...but, no matter the season, the pulchritudinous Phantom Lady always hits a home run with us!
This tawdry tale from All Top Comics #16 (1949) was probably written by Ruth Roche, definitely penciled and partially-inked by Jack Kamen, and partially-inked by Matt Baker.
Oddly, though the Phantom Lady is based in Washington DC (her dad is a US Senator), the writers didn't use the existing Washington Senators or a surrogate like the "DC Representatives" or the "Washington Congressmen" or somesuch.

For those keeping chronological score, we skipped the second story from Phantom Lady #22, since it featured our heroine traveling to London and getting involved in the 1948 Olympics.
We'll be running that one in late July, around the time the Olympics open.
Next up will be the final Fox Comics issue of Phantom Lady, then her final All Top Comics appearance.
After that, we'll present her Ajax/Farrell stories from both her own title and her back-up tales in Wonder Boy!

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

Friday, January 20, 2012

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Case of the Robbing Robot"

It's Maiden of Mystery against Monster of Metal...
...as our favorite barely-clad heroine takes on her first cyber-criminal in this tale from Phantom Lady #22 (1949)
The usual scripted wackiness by Ruth Roche and full pencil/ink art by Jack Kamen who seems to have finally gotten the knack for both storytelling and rendering.
It's not quite on the level of Matt Baker, but close enough.

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