PHANTOM LADY & SPIDER WIDOW Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroines...

Feature Comics #71

The Spider Widow and Phantom Lady, brought together to battle a menace threatening PL's father, US Senator Knight, have also developed a rivalry for the affections of The Raven.

Note: the order is changed this month as the Spider Widow tale comes first in story continuity.

Also, even though most sources list this as a Frank Borth job, it's not signed, as most of his work is, and the art style is a bit...off.

So while Borth probably wrote and penciled the story, he probably didn't ink it.

Now for the Phantom Lady installment...

Police Comics #22

The art here seems to be a combination of Frank Borth and Phantom Lady creator Arthur Peddy.

Both Spider Widow and Phantom Lady would make one more appearance in their respective series before being canceled.

While Phantom Lady was revived and revised at Fox Publishing, the Spider Widow hasn't appeared in a new story since.
interestingly, when DC revived the Phantom Lady as part of the Freedom Fighters in the 1970s, they brought back this version in yellow and green, not the later, notorious Fox/Ajax blue and red version!

We hope you enjoyed this look at the first version of Phantom Lady!

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!

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 by anybody 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 Quality Comics characters like Blackhawk!

Be here next week for Part 2 (of 3)

TRAGG AND THE SKY GODS "Death-Duel" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...in our distant past, aliens from Yargon manipulated the DNA of two cavewomen!

Their children, Tragg and Lorn, were the first homo sapiens.

After observing the successful results of their experiments, the Yargonians left.

Two decades later after a bloody revolution on their world, other Yargonians, far less benevolent, landed on Earth.

The now-grown Tragg and Lorn seek to organize resistance to the aliens, whom the cave dwellers consider "gods" due to their technology and appearance!

But one of the aliens, Keera, lusts after Tragg and seeks to slay his beloved Lorn...

Up to this never-reprinted story by writer Don Glut and illustrator Dan Spiegle from Gold Key's Tragg and the Sky Gods #6 (1976), Lorn had been a fairly-passive character, following Tragg around and occasionally acting as a decoy or distraction when he battled aliens, dinosaurs, and other, less evolved cavemen.

This issue presents her in a far more aggressive light as she battles for her life in hand-to-hand combat against the alien who also desires her man!

In what can best be described as an "interstellar soap opera",  the ongoing Keera/Tragg/Lorn triangle continued for the remainder of the series' run, adding a human interest side to this variation of the then-phenomenally popular Chariots of the Gods concept!

As to how this series features dinosaurs hanging around with the cavemen (and aliens), this one-pager explains the matter...

If you'd like to see earlier adventures of Lorn and Tragg...click HERE!

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Thanksgiving Turkey NIGHTCAT Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Disco Heroine...

Art by Joe Jusko

...NightCat was about to perform, but with real ninjas (working for evil record producer/drug lord Amanda Gideon) in place of her backup dancers!

Only in comics would the previous sentence make sense...

Sadly, 'twas not to be.

She didn't prowl after this one-shot since both the comic and her album tanked.

But, perhaps you were one of the lucky few who ordered the limited-edition t-shirt...

Plotted by Barry Dutter & Jim Salicrup
Scripted by Stan Lee
(yes, that Stan Lee, who also appears in the story!)
Penciled by Denys Cowan
Inked by Jimmy Palmiotti

With Dazzler achiving some sales success, Marvel decided in 1991 to try again, this time following-through with the idea of using a real songstress performing in costume that they wanted to do with Dazzler.

In partnership with MCA Records, Marvel hired model/singer Jaqueline Tavarez to embody the character.
An album was released and Stan Lee appeared with her on several music-themed tv shows including Into the Night with Rick Dees and Party Machine with Nia Peeples.
Oddly, despite this being the Golden Age of MTV, no music video of NightCat was ever released!
But, thanks to YouTube, you can listen to her only single...
Hope you enjoyed our Thanksgiving Turkey!

Next Week

the never-reprinted origin of

Mighty ISIS!

(no, not the idiot terrorists, but the kool Saturday morning tv character)