Number 2496: That was no lady, that was my phantom

I am muttering in my beard today, because I am showing you another Phantom Lady story. I am muttering because I know I have beat the subject to death, but I’ll get it out of my system anyway: how come when Phantom Lady is in costume, not even wearing a mask, no one, including family members, knows her?

[Shrugs shoulders.] All part of the magic of the comics, I suppose.

This is an early entry in the Phantom Lady canon, which went on when the character ended up in Fox comic books, drawn much more sexy than this early episode. On second thought, I do like the way Arthur Peddy draws Phantom Lady in her skimpy costume. Until now Peddy is an artist who has escaped my notice. I have seen his name for years when associated with other features in comics, but have not paid attention. I am paying attention now, and will find the time to go back and take another look at his work. Peddy is obviously an artist who fit into the Eisner-Iger shop, making Quality Comics stand out for their...er...quality!

From Police Comics #5  (1941). 

Phantom Lady is introduced. Just click on the thumbnail. 

Number 2235: Goodbye Black Pirate

All American Comics #102 was the last issue before it turned into All American Western. It featured the first Johnny Thunder story, and the last stories featuring Green Lantern, Dr Mid-Nite, and Black Pirate, which I am showing today.

It was a good run for all of those characters, especially in the here today/gone tomorrow world of 1940s comic books.

Black Pirate appeared in three popular comics titles in his career. Created by Sheldon Moldoff, he first appeared in Action Comics #23, then switched to Sensation Comics beginning with issue #1. After 50 issues, he then moved over to All American Comics, bumping out The Atom. Not bad for a comic book character who never had his own book, or was on the cover of any issues of the comic books where he was a second tier feature.

I have read less than half a dozen adventures of Black Pirate, so I can’t give an opinion of how Jon Valor (Black Pirate’s secret identity) fared as a pirate, but in his final adventure he was inland, and rode away on a horse.

Artwork by Arthur Peddy and Bernard Sachs.

Number 2192: Good night, Dr Mid-Nite

Dr Mid-Nite, the secret identity of blind Dr Charles McNider, was a stable, if second tier superhero, for DC Comics from 1941 to 1948. His Wikipedia entry claims he was the first superhero to have a physical impairment. He pre-dated Marvel’s Daredevil by a couple of decades. His first appearance was in All-American Comics #25 (1941), his origin told by creators Chuck Rozenstein and Stan Aschmeier, who signed his work Stan Asch.

Once again, as we showed with Green Lantern a few weeks ago (Pappy’s Number 2180), the hero disappeared after a final appearance in All-American Comics #102 (1948). The only warnings to the reader were replacing Green Lantern on the cover with the Western star, Johnny Thunder, and an announcement on the bottom of the one of the pages to watch for all new adventures of Johnny Thunder in the new All-American Western.

The decision to replace the superhero contents of All-American with cowboys probably disappointed those superhero fans still left, but such is the nature of the business. The characters served their purpose, but when they no longer sold other genres were tried.

No scripter is listed by the Grand Comics Database for this final Dr Mid-Nite story, but the artwork is credited to Arthur Peddy and Bernard Sachs.

Number 2107: Phantom Lady is introduced

Phantom Lady, who went on to infamy, had a modest beginning at Quality Comics in 1941. Arthur Peddy signed the first Phantom Lady appearance in Police Comics #1, which I am presenting today.

Peddy co-created the character (writer unknown) for the Eisner-Iger studios, which supplied the contents of early Quality Comics. Her gimmick, besides being a United States senator’s daughter, was the “flashdark,” a portable black light, putting crooks literally in the dark.

Peddy went in the Army, and Phantom Lady was turned over to Frank Borth, before disappearing from Quality. She reappeared for Fox, when Jerry Iger revived the character. Along with Rulah, Phantom Lady was one of the mainstays of Fox’s late forties’ sexy comic book heroines.

Number 2003: Human Meteor: a bullet for the boy

Human Meteor was another short-lived superhero of the early forties. He was a cab driver, Duke O’Dowd, who had been given a magic belt by a Tibetan. Duke shed his clothes for his role as Human Meteor, and did his super deeds bare-chested and bare-legged — the better to show his muscles, I guess. Duke had a boy pal, Toby, who had no powers, but who Duke took into battle with him. And Duke had no right to do so...especially when Toby took a bullet from the Nazis when they flew to France to help out a British commando. To compound Duke’s bad judgment, he even lied to Toby’s mom when he and the boy went home, telling her Toby had been injured in a car accident. Apparently lying to a boy’s mom is not a bad thing; the guys are winking at each other in the last panel.

It is probably no wonder Duke and Toby only had two more adventures in Harvey’s Champ Comics before their careers were ended. Perhaps Child Protective Services caught up to Duke O’Dowd.

The nice artwork is identified by Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr, as Arthur Peddy. Lambiek.net tells us while working in the Iger shop Peddy is the artist who drew the first episode of Phantom Lady for Quality Comics. He had a long career in comics. I remember Peddy mainly as an inker for DC Comics in the sixties. He died in 2002.

From Champ Comics #23 (1942):