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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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Copy-Cat Killers"

Question: What's more fun than watching a scantly-clad Phantom Lady in action?

Answer: Watching two scantly-clad Phantom Ladies in action!

How dense is Don?
He spends hours sitting next to a woman who doesn't even wear a mask and can't figure out she's not Phantom Lady?
But then Don doesn't realize Sandra Knight is Phantom Lady when she's right in front of him...
While the story is typical of the type of slightly off-kilter plot Ruth Roche came up with, the art is another matter entirely.
While the inking style looks like Matt Baker, the layouts and pencils definitely are not.
Most people think it's Jack Kamen, who did a couple of Phantom Lady covers and stories later in the book's run.

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