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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The Mystery of the Spitfire who Became a Phantom!

Phantom Lady will be back next week, when we show you how this story...

...was altered/transformed/morphed into this story...

...in a tale of publishing, print production, and paste-ups!

It's a two-day, two-for-one deal you won't want to miss!

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Ringside Racket"

It's a new decade and a new publisher for Phantom Lady!

But, the stories are still being edited (and probably written) by Ruth Roche with art from the Iger studios!

Though the Comics Code had not yet been instituted when Phantom Lady #5 came out in 1954, it's effects were being felt throughout the comics business.

(BTW, though it's #5, this is the first issue of Phantom Lady by Ajax/Farrell.

It carried over the numbering of the short-lived teen-humor book Linda since the publishers didn't want to pay for a new second-class postage license, which was required for each periodical!

It gets even weirder when the next issue of Phantom Lady is numbered as #2!)

Horror and crime comics, which had become the best-selling genres after World War II, were being cancelled en masse due to public pressure provoked by Dr Fredric Wertham and his crusade against comic books, which he claimed were the primary cause for a wave of juvenile delinquency sweeping the nation!

With over half their lines canceled, publishers looked for safe, even innocuous, material to publish.

Ajax/Farrell went with material from Iger Studios, who had an assortment of Fox Comics character stories that were in various stages of production when Fox went out of business in 1950.

While they wanted to use the name value of Phantom Lady, the publishers were aware that she had been one of the primary targets of Dr Wertham's scandalous screed Seduction of the Innocent.
So, the existing art was modified to cover up her exposed cleavage and replace her short skirt and oft-exposed panties with gym-type shorts.
All-new art also followed the modified costume design.
The artist is unknown, but the style is clearly the same as the later Fox stories, so it's probably at least Jack Kamen pencils.

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