Number 1885: The Phantom Stranger and the Moon ©ult

DC’s initial run of the title, Phantom Stranger, lasted six issues. It was another of Julius Schwartz’s books, and as I have mentioned with his equally short-lived Danger Trail, it may have had something to do with his newer titles of that era, Mystery In Space and Strange Adventures, both hits needing his close attention. Or, it could just be that Phantom Stranger, despite provocative covers and good art, just didn’t survive in a crowded comic book market. It is too late to ask any of the principals involved.

“The Three Signs of Evil” is by John Broome, drawn by Carmine Infantino, inked by Sy Barry and Joe Giella. The first thing that struck me was the "c" in the circle, which here is an evil sign, but is also the symbol for copyright, as in “Copyright © 1952 National Comics Publications, Inc.”

Unlike my example, the boilerplate indicia DC used in that day doesn't use the symbol. So, for the purposes of this posting an evil symbol it is, and forget I said anything.

From Phantom Stranger #2 (1952):

In 2012 I showed the debut of the Phantom Stranger. Just click on the thumbnail.

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.

Number 1503: Hiking the Danger Trail

The King Faraday lead story from DC’s Danger Trail #1 (1950) begins with a reference to a popular 1948 movie, Sorry, Wrong Number. Here’s an ad for the movie, taken from Life magazine:

The story that follows is as unlikely as the plot of the movie that King complains about, but is entertaining in its pulpish way. When you get through the overcooked first person narrative and snappy dialogue there is even a bit of space left for the artist to work in! The type of smartass, two-fisted character represented here by King Faraday was familiar to pulp magazine and paperback book readers, as well as radio listeners of the forties. In contrast to that other media, a comic book should let the pictures, not hefty captions, tell most of the story.

Story by Robert Kanigher, edited by Julius Schwartz, art by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella.

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Here’s another King Faraday story. Just click on the thumbnail:

Number 1251: Phantom Stranger makes his debut

The Phantom Stranger has a whole history with DC Comics, encapsulated in this Wikipedia entry. For our purposes today we're ignoring all of that to show you the first Phantom Stranger story from The Phantom Stranger #1 (1952).

[SPOILER ALERT] This is shown with a caveat: it's a story that appears to be supernatural but is shown to be a hoax. That was a basic trademark of DC's mystery comics line, which during the horror comics fad of the early '50s fell short of horror due to the debunking done in virtually every horror story. There's a fictional tradition of this type of mystery, and while a gimmick, it's a clever gimmick. For those who prefer their supernatural straight with no twists at the end to spoil the illusion, years later DC went full-bore into the supernatural, including the stories featuring this character.[END OF SPOILER]

This first series featuring The Phantom Stranger had a short run, just six issues. It was edited by Julius Schwartz.

This story is written by long-time DC scripter John Broome, and is drawn by Carmine Infantino and Sy Barry.

Number 1213: The short Danger Trail

DC's Danger Trail lasted five issues, from #1, dated Jul-Aug 1950 to #5, Mar-Apr 1951. I have no idea why it had such a short life. It had good covers and interior art, and interesting characters in action-filled stories of intrigue. The artists, among them Carmine Infantino and Alex Toth, were some of DC's best. I don't know if sales were bad, or because editor Julius Schwartz was debuting a new title, Strange Adventures, with a first issue dated Aug-Sep 1950. In the wings was a sister publication, Mystery In Space, the first issue dated Apr-May 1951, which coincided with the last issue of Danger Trail. Science fiction was Schwartz's entry into magazine editing, after all. Read more about editor Julius Schwartz.

King Faraday, starring in this Robert Kanigher-scripted story from Danger Trail #2 (1950), had an even shorter career than the comic book. He appeared in the first four issues. He was brought back years later by DC in one of their revisionist versions of old and obscure characters, but that’s outside the scope of this blog. The story I'm showing here is a little caption heavy, but well drawn by Infantino and Frank Giacoia.