Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY & SPIDER WIDOW Part 2

When Last We Left Our Heroines...

Police Comics #21

To that, we would add that the two heroines and a hero saved the life of Phantom Lady's father, Senator Knight!

Amazing, these crooks are yards away from the dueling damsels, yet they recognize Phantom Lady as Sandra Knight!

Her boyfriend in the Fox issues, Don, is even dumber than I thought!

Then the story continued in Spider Widow's home, Feature Comics...

Feature Comics #70

Scripter/artist Frank Borth was one of the under-appreciated craftsmen of the era.

He produced almost 100 stories, but never hit the "big time" with a major character or title.

Even his work on Phantom Lady is overshadowed by Matt Baker's more cheesecakey art on the later Fox version!

Be here next week for the final two chapters and a couple of surprises!

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Reading Room: Silver Age FRANKENSTEIN "Reward"

The Silver Age was an odd period of comics history...

 ...when anyone from spies (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) to soldiers (Blackhawk) to monsters could be remade into superheroes...with decidedly-mixed results!
You can read the origin of this funky, far-out revamp of Frankenstein HERE, the second part HERE, then continue with the cataclysmic conclusion to his premiere appearance...

How many elements from Silver Age Superman and Batman stories can you find in this tale?

(I found at least five, some for both Superman and Batman, some just from Batman.)

The art was by Tony Tallarico, who was working steadily for both Dell and Charlton, producing literally reams of pages per month in every genre!

(And most of the time he was inking himself, as well!)

The series ran only two more issues before Dell decided monster-based superheroes weren't the way to go, and canceled this book, as well as Dracula and WereWolf.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY & SPIDER WIDOW Part 1

SuperHERO team-ups were rare in the Golden Age.

SuperHEROINE team-ups were rarer!

And multi-issue cross-over team-ups were practically non-existent!

Police Comics #20

You'll note a couple of differences from the Phantom Lady you're used to seeing on this blog including a differently-colored costume, a mask, no black-light ray, and no Matt Baker art!

That's because this is the earlier Quality Comics version of the character, before she began her run at Fox in All Top Comics and her own title!

Just go with the flow, and all will be made clear...

Feature Comics #69

Beginning in Phantom Lady's strip Police Comics #20 and carrying over to Spider Widow's series in  Feature Comics #69 (both cover-dated July, 1943), Frank Borth (who wrote and drew both strips at the time) tried something a little different, tying the two series together for three months with an ongoing plotline!
Personally, I enjoy the "breaking the 4th wall bits" including mentioning that they're actually in comic books and referencing other characters like Blackhawk!
Be here next week for Part 2 (of 3).

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Reading Room: "Introducing CAPTAIN ATOM"

He co-created Spider-Man and Dr Strange...

...but this is Steve Ditko's first co-creation (with writer Joe Gill), exactly as it appeared in Space Adventures #33 (1960)!

Captain Atom has enjoyed the longest career of any Charlton character, still going today in his own title (from DC)! (Note: The Charlton version of the Blue Beetle didn't come along until 1964, and the Ditko-revised version first appeared in 1967!)

Note that despite the blue/silver coloring on the interiors, Captain Atom was shown on the cover in his orange/yellow garb.

Also, his trademark hair-color change from red to white when he "powers up"  isn't shown.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Jack-in-the-Box-Murders"

Last time we saw a villainess in a Phantom Lady costume...

 ...this time the roles are reversed as the Phantom Lady dons an evildoer's garb!

Both Senator Knight and Don Borden see Sandra in the Jack in the Box costume, yet both of them call her "Phantom Lady"!
You may notice a difference of art style in this story from Phantom Lady #21.
That's because the story is penciled and partially-inked by Jack Kamen with touchups by Matt Baker.
Kamen was being phased in as Baker's replacement as Matt moved on to other projects.
Baker's retouching grew less frequent as Kamen picked up the style, so by the end of the runs of both Phantom Lady and All Top Comics, the art was entirely Kamen.

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