Showing posts with label superheroine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label superheroine. Show all posts

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!

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

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 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!

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

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.

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

Friday, April 20, 2012

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

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

Friday, April 6, 2012

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