Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Monster in the Pool"

Sexy women and werewolves...

...long before Twilight or True Blood, the Phantom Lady put her scantly-clad body between lycanthropes and an innocent human race!

The art for this tale from Phantom Lady #16 is by the inimitable Matt Baker, and the story is probably by Ruth Roche.
Supernatural elements would crop up in several more Phantom Lady stories.

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Reading Room: THE SHADOW "Princess of Death"

When Last We Left The Shadow...

...we promised you  a look at the purple and green-garbed Silver Age version...

You'll note a number of changes since The (Silver Age) Shadow's last appearance...

He's now a brunette, not blonde.
He's no longer using hypnotic powers to cloud mens' minds, preferring stealth.

He's wearing a green and purple skintight costume!

The art style has changed, and not for the better.
(Paul Reinman, who was also illustrating Archie's other superhero titles, has replaced John Rosenberger.)
However, the writer was still Robert Bernstein. In fact, either this tale, or its' companion from this never-reprinted issue was his last comic book work.
We'll be re-presenting the other, longer tale from Archie's The Shadow #3 in the near future.
I can hear the screams of anguish already!

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Reading Room: JET DREAM "Spy in the Sky"

The very first Jet Dream tale...

...from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #7 (1965).
Jump in and enjoy!

This opening tale by writer Dick Wood, penciler Mike Sekowsky and inker Frank Giacoia was not related to U.N.C.L.E. in any way, except being spy-themed!

You'll note it's only four pages. Every Jet Dream tale until the book-length one-shot was the same length.

As a result, characterization and back-story are at a minimum and the stories race along at a maniacal pace!

The team is, like the Blackhawks, international, with members from the US, Germany, England, France, and an unspecified Pacific island.

They're all expert aircraft pilots, all can handle weapons and know various marital arts, and each has unique talents.

Unlike the Blackhawks of the era, they are mercenaries, hiring out to the highest bidder (as long as they're not Commies or an evil organization like SPECTRE or THRUSH)!
There's no origin story, we're just introduced to them as an already-organized and fully-equipped team.

We're adding Jet Dream and Her StuntGirl CounterSpies into the rotation of ongoing strips in our Reading Room, so keep an eye on us for their next appearance!

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Reading Room: IMPOSSIBLE MAN "Electro"

As we promised...the return of Hugh Mann, the Impossible Man!

His second appearance, in the back of the 1946 one-shot Captain Wizard #1!

"Knight of Light"?
Nah, stay with "Impossible Man"!
Much cooler!
This story, chronologically the second in the series, was published almost a year after his third story was printed in Meteor Comics #1 in 1945!
Also note the first appearance of a villainous Electro.
There already was a couple of heroic Electros (in Fox's Science Comics [who was renamed Dynamo] and Timely's Marvel Mystery Comics), but both were gone by the time of this story (though the Timely Electro has reappeared in Marvel books including The Twelve).
There would be a couple of other one-shot villainous Electros after this one, a mad scientist in Shadow Comics and a communist agent in Captain America before Marvel's long-running Spider-Man foe appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #9! (The Communist Electro has since appeared in flashback tales.)
As we said earlier, some attribute the art to George Marcoux, who created SuperSnipe, the Kid with the Most Comic Books in America! and some say Charles "C.A." Voight, who did humor strips like Captain Milksop and Sir Prize.

Impossible Man will return in his final appearance...soon!

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Avenging Skulls"

Phantom Lady #16 brings us a new pseudonym, "Joe Logan" instead of the usual "Gregory Page", but it's still Matt Baker on the art illustrating a Ruth Roche script!
It's the only time the "Joe Logan" byline appears anywhere in comics!

 Matt Baker drew incredible women, but his skulls left something to be desired, which was odd, since his skeletal hands (like on the cover of #13)...

 ...were great!

Phantom Lady will return, next week...

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