Countdown to Halloween 2023 DC SUPER-STARS "Phantom Stranger & Deadman in 'Chapter 3' " Plus "Story Behind the Story"

We Have Witnessed...

Cover art by Jim Aparo

...The Phantom Stranger, Deadman, and Doctor 13 all journeyed to Rutland, Vermont on Halloween and battled mystic menaces...but the threat isn't over...yet!

Bonus: here's a kool behind-the-scenes feature about the story you just read...

NEXT MONDAY...this story didn't end two years ago!

Be Here as Rutland Faces Yet More Halloween Horror...this time from one of the Marvel Multiverse's Non-Magical Menaces!

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DeadMan Omnibus

(which reprints this tale)

Countdown to Halloween 2023 DC SUPER-STARS "Phantom Stranger and Doctor 13 in 'Wraiths in the Rain' "

When Last We Left Our Mystical Heroes...

While Deadman battled half-human/half-demon gargoyles, The Phantom Stranger has not been idle, and now he's about to be joined by another whom he's met before...under less than ideal circumstances!

Left to right: writer Carla Conway, husband Gerry Conway (who was shown in Rutland during the Beast/Justice League/Thor crossover we presented two years ago, and wrote the Thor story which wound it up!), writer Marty Pasko, writer/editor Paul Levitz, and artist Romeo Tanghal (who drew this entire story except for the caricatures of the real-life people which were done by Joe Staton)!

To Be Concluded...Tomorrow!

Trivia: The mystic Stranger and parapsychologist/skeptic Thirteen were created about the same time in the early-1950s, though they didn't encounter each other until the 1970s.

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Showcase Presents

Phantom Stranger

Volume 2

(Which reprints this Story...but in Black and White, not Color)

Countdown to Halloween 2023 DC SUPER-STARS "Deadman in 'Hour of the Demon' "

We Have Already Seen...

The Phantom Stranger, already in the Vermont town of Rutland, is aware of the threat of a demon named Quabal and his minions...half-human/half-demon beings who look like classic gargoyles!

But another mystical character, the ghost known as Deadman, has also arrived...during the annual Halloween Parade...

The Mystical Mayhem Continues Tomorrow as the Phantom Stranger Joins Forces with Doctor Thirteen: Ghost-Breaker!

BTW, his real name is Dr Terence Thirteen.

It works for another guy you've heard of...Dr Stephen Strange...too!

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

DeadMan Omnibus

(which reprints this tale)

Countdown to Halloween 2023 DC SUPER-STARS "Phantom Stranger in 'Gargoyles' "

We return to Rutland's Halloween Parade...

...with someone who attended it several years earlier...the Phantom Stranger, as shown HERE and HERE!

The "old bum" isn't quite what he appears to be.

To find out more, be here...

TOMORROW!

Please Support Hero Histories

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Showcase Presents

Phantom Stranger

Volume 2

(Which reprints this Story...but in Black and White, not Color)

Heroic Halloween in Rutland PARADE & PARTICIPANTS

Here's pix of the actual parade and the cosplayers...

...a shot from the mid-1980s (the woman on the left is Silk Spectre from Watchmen, which makes it 1986 or later!)

Note the blow-ups of covers from comics which featured the Rutland Parade!

Tom Fagan, comics uber-fan and the guy who made the parade a comics legend by including superheroes in it from the mid-1960s onward!

Usually, Tom was costumed as Batman (seen here with Hela: Goddess of Death from Thor)...

...but, to match his appearance in Marvel Comics' Rutland stories, where his comic counterpart couldn't be seen as the Caped Crusader. he sometimes appeared as the "evil Batman", Nighthawk!

We hope you've enjoyed our contribution to the amazing annual

CountDown To Halloween Blogathon!

Click

HERE

to see what other contributors have to show about various aspects of pop culture at Halloween!

BTW, if you want to see the first comic to feature the Rutland Halloween Parade, click HERE to go to our sister" RetroBlog, Heroines!

Heroic Halloween in Rutland MIGHTY THOR "Firesword!" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Norse God of Thunder, Mighty Thor, Lady Sif, and Hildegarde had pursued the Absorbing Man to Rutland, Vermont, where the Son of Odin defeated him, only to discover the villain was merely bait, manipulated by the guy shown on the kool Gil Kane/Joe Sinnott cover above!
Now, forsooth, the mayhem shalt begin!

Poor Glynis Wein (dressed as Supergirl) can't catch a break!
First, magician Felix Faust conjures up a demon who possesses her (while giving her the powers of Supergirl) and forces her to battle the Justice League (as seen HERE)!
Now Loki enchants her, and most of the Rutland Parade goers/participants!

We saw weakened evil mage Felix Faust steal comics writer Steve Englehart's muffler-free car at the end of the Justice League tale HERE!

So a DC bad guy is responsible for a Marvel bad guy hurtling to his doom!

(Spoiler: Loki survives, eventually gets his sight back, and causes the Avengers/Defenders War, which results in another Halloween trip by the Mighty Avengers to Rutland the next year!

We're saving that one for Halloween 2022!)
Written by Gerry Conway, penciled by John Buscema, inked by Vince Colletta, with caricatures of all real-life comics pros and fans penciled by Marie Severin.

BTW: Thor eventually saves Lady Sif!

Next Week:

A Rutland Parade SuperHero Special!

And that's all the clues you're getting!

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Thor Epic Collection

Into the Dark Nebula