Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Ringside Racket"

It's a new decade and a new publisher for Phantom Lady!

But, the stories are still being edited (and probably written) by Ruth Roche with art from the Iger studios!

Though the Comics Code had not yet been instituted when Phantom Lady #5 came out in 1954, it's effects were being felt throughout the comics business.

(BTW, though it's #5, this is the first issue of Phantom Lady by Ajax/Farrell.

It carried over the numbering of the short-lived teen-humor book Linda since the publishers didn't want to pay for a new second-class postage license, which was required for each periodical!

It gets even weirder when the next issue of Phantom Lady is numbered as #2!)

Horror and crime comics, which had become the best-selling genres after World War II, were being cancelled en masse due to public pressure provoked by Dr Fredric Wertham and his crusade against comic books, which he claimed were the primary cause for a wave of juvenile delinquency sweeping the nation!

With over half their lines canceled, publishers looked for safe, even innocuous, material to publish.

Ajax/Farrell went with material from Iger Studios, who had an assortment of Fox Comics character stories that were in various stages of production when Fox went out of business in 1950.

While they wanted to use the name value of Phantom Lady, the publishers were aware that she had been one of the primary targets of Dr Wertham's scandalous screed Seduction of the Innocent.
So, the existing art was modified to cover up her exposed cleavage and replace her short skirt and oft-exposed panties with gym-type shorts.
All-new art also followed the modified costume design.
The artist is unknown, but the style is clearly the same as the later Fox stories, so it's probably at least Jack Kamen pencils.

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Reading Room: NATURE BOY "Origin of Nature Boy"

Long before pro wrestler Ric Flair usurped the name...

...Nature Boy stood for truth, justice, and ancient gods (Huh?) as seen in his first appearance.

Rescued by "gods" who control various aspects of nature, he's given a portion of each of their powers, ala the Golden Age Captain Marvel...
Neptune--water
Gusto--wind
Furo--fire
Eartha--earth
Electra--lightning
Allura--love
Azura--skies
Friga--cold
...and he didn't have to say something like "SHAZAM!" to do it!
(Yeah, I know a couple of the deities overlap, and only one was an actual mythological god, but why quibble?)
Nature Boy only had three issues of his own title (which started with #3) at Charlton Comics before he disappeared from the comics scene..until now!But, within those three issues, the seeds were planted for an entire superfamily of Nature-heroes including Nature Man (an adult version of the hero from the future) and female counterpart Nature Girl.
This isn't surprising, since he was conceived by Jerry Siegel (co-creator of Superman) who knew a thing or two about that sort of thing.
To add to his hero cred, Nature Boy was drawn by John Buscema, who later did Conan, Avengers, and damn near everything at Marvel from the late 1960s thru the 1990s, so even if the stories were a bit silly, they looked damn good!

Nature Boy should be considered one of the first Silver Age heroes since his premiere was in 1956, just a couple of months before The Flash re-emerged in Showcase #4!
On that basis, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have revived Nature Boy as part of our Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics™ line, on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other kool kollectibles!
He was one of the first, but hardly one of the worst...

Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Introduction"

Here's the very first appearance of Phantom Lady, in Police Comics #1 (1940)

...with a somewhat more demure look (and different color scheme) than we're used to!

The writer is unknown, but the artist is Arthur Peddy, a journeyman with credits at almost every Golden Age comic publishing house.
Next week: we begin the complete run of the Ajax/Farrell Phantom Lady!

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Reading Room: JET DREAM "Splash-Down to Death"

Usually we see Jet in action solo or with the entire team...

...but here we get to see her kicking evildoer butt with just one of the team at her side.

Script for this short, but effective, tale from Man from U.N.C.L.E. #14 (1967) by Dick Wood, with art by Joe Certa.

The one problem I had with the story is that Certa has difficulty visually-differentiating Jet and Ting, who look very similar (almost generic) in most panels!

Mike Sekowsky was able to make their faces different enough in Ting's intro tale (as seen HERE) to make it easy, even the group shots, to see who was who.

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Reading Room: PHANTOM LADY "Mystery of the Monkey Cult"

 It's been over fifty years since this story was first published...

...and we're still almost at war with North Korea, as shown in Phantom Lady's final Fox Comics appearance!

Credits for this tale from All Top Comics #17 (1949) are: script probably by Ruth Roche, pencils by Matt Baker, and inks by Baker and another artist.

Though All Top Comics went on for one more issue, this was Phantom Lady's last appearance in the Fox Comics line, which folded only a couple of months later.

One Phantom Lady reprint appeared in, of all titles, Jungle Thrills, published by Star Publications, in 1952.

In 1954, Ajax/Farrell published a Phantom Lady title featuring new stories, also by Iger Studios, who packaged the earlier Fox Comics books.

While Ruth Roche continued to edit (and probably write) the strips, Matt Baker had moved on to other publishers including St John, and the art was not up to the high standards Baker set.

Next week: the very first Phantom Lady story from Quality Comics' Police Comics #1!
Then, we begin the complete run of the Ajax/Farrell Phantom Lady!

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