Number 1614: Blonde Phantom and the two-person triangle

Blonde Phantom, the forties heroine from Marvel Comics, was one of those costumed types whose secret identity was in competition with her civilian identity. Blonde Phantom, Louise Grant and Louise’s boss, Mark, were the self-contained triangle. Unless Mark was just kidding about not knowing that Louise, even in glasses and buttoned up to the chin, was the sexy, evening-dress wearing Phantom.

Blonde Phantom was one of the postwar heroes created to sell comics in a rapidly changing market. Apparently she worked out for Marvel for about three years, and then was no more until a revival many years later, outside of the scope of this blog.

According to Don Markstein’s Toonopedia website, Black Phantom was created by Stan Lee and artist Syd Shores. The Grand Comics Database says this story was drawn by Allen Bellman. It appeared in All Winners Comics Vol. 2 No. 1 (1949), which was the last issue under that title.

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Number 1613: Frankenstein’s terror under trance!

You already know this, don’t you? If not, the funny Frankenstein character published by Prize Comics ended its run with issue #17 in 1949. A couple of years later the character was resurrected n a more serious version, more like the Karloff monster of the movies. In the latter version the Frankenstein monster is mute, shambles along from town to town, country to country, getting involved in local doings, supernatural and otherwise.

This story, the lead for Frankenstein #19 (1952), has the monster under hypnotic control. It is drawn by the versatile Dick Briefer, whose career as a journeyman comic book artist would end when Frankenstein ceased publication in late 1954. The specter of another monster — the Comics Code Authority — finally did to Frankenstein what no mob of torch-waving villagers could do.

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#677 - A contribution from Celso Nunes

Celso Nunes is a "Phan", who is very active in groups related to our favorite masked hero in purple. I was pleasantly surprised when I got a note from him asking if I would be willing to share his scans. So here they are.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u9apicvvom0y23h/The%20Phantom%20001%20%282003%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/973nh1esmw47dyt/The%20Phantom%20002%20%282004%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6kagckmybzyio3u/The%20Phantom%20003%20%282004%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/166usn5qheb3ytx/The%20Phantom%20004%20%282004%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/egzxgt88p1k2fsw/The%20Phantom%20005%20%282005%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tzcqy1q27kpk8qq/The%20Phantom%20006%20%282005%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ebdnpjg2vcsxrw/The%20Phantom%20007%20%282005%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/25zuj7rkxfbz9lk/The%20Phantom%20008%20%282005%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ivduwgugffbwu6/The%20Phantom%20009%20%282006%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j1p86pguywtrar3/The%20Phantom%20010%20%282006%29.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y9ys05hc27zcmgh/The%20Phantom%20011%20ctc.cbr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/orxee9muuused1p/The%20Phantom%20012.cbr

There were 36 stories in this series that ran from 2003 thru 2008 plus 2 Annuals. This is the first installment of 12 stories. Watch this space for more in the coming weeks.

Enjoy,

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Number 1612: The Marvel Man

Martan, who came to Earth for a honeymoon with his bride, Vana, decided to stick around. They had encountered another bunch of aliens who had attacked our planet, so Martan, called the Marvel Man, helped to fight them off.

Martan was yet another spaceborn type who landed on our planet, and out of all the countries ended up in America. He and his spouse decided to defend that country over all others. My fellow Americans...we have been really lucky that way in the comics, eh?

This character was part of a wave of superheroes in Dell Comics’ Popular Comics, which lasted for a couple of years until Dell decided to dump the super people and go to licensing funny animals and such. They did that so well that they got away without the usual superheroic contents of most comics of the era (1939-42 or so). In Martan and Vana’s case, they appeared in issues #44-68. The writer of the story is credited as G. Ellerbrock, and the artist is unknown. E. C. Stoner, who did the cover, was also part of the art movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.

From Popular Comics #59 (1941).

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Number 1611: Bradbury and Sutton, “The Exiles”

Ray Bradbury’s imaginative tale, “The Exiles” was interpreted by artist Tom Sutton in Eclipse Comics’ Alien Encounters in 1986.

“The Exiles” in its original prose form has been oft-reprinted. Using authors like Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens as writers whose works have been banned in some future society seems improbable, but Bradbury liked to use startling ideas. Having long-dead authors holing up on Mars as their works are discarded on Earth is a concept I don’t think could come from any but Bradbury.

Tom Sutton did an excellent job in visualizing the Bradbury style. Both of these talented men are now sadly deceased.

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Number 1610: Flying gorillas from outer space!

Last week I showed some gorilla horror stories, and now a gorilla science fiction tale from DC. Flying monkeys have been around since the Wizard of Oz, but flying King Kong-sized gorillas, well, that's new.

Not only are they flying giant gorillas, they come from a planetoid which has parked itself in Earth’s sky so the flying giant gorillas can steal our atmosphere. Atom bombs can’t stop them, so our scientists use fear gas* on them. What a crazy plot.

Script is by Gardner Fox. Fox wrote it for editor Julius Schwartz, who used high concepts when planning out stories for his magazines. It’s drawn by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, and it appeared originally in Strange Adventures #125 (1961). The striking cover is by Sid Greene.

I bought this issue of Strange Adventures when it came out. As goofy as the story is, and despite my love for gorilla-fiction, what I remember most about the comic were the full page ads that heralded Joe Kubert’s Hawkman and the first full-length Aquaman comic.

*There really is such a thing as fear gas, although that name implies that is the gas’s sole effect. It does a lot more damage than that. You can read about it here.

UPDATE: I found this incredible Chinese fireworks package  on the Design/Destroy website a few days after posting the story. I love a coincidence.

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