The character, introduced in The Funnies issue #45 (July 1940) as "the world's greatest magician," is an American adventurer named Phil Anson, who traveled to Tibet and learned the secrets of body and spirit from the High Lamas. Returning to America, he takes up residence in a posh hotel in New York City, where he enlists bellhop Whizzer McGee to be his partner. Anson can separate his mind from his body, and in spectral form he can accomplish almost anything — fly through the air, turn invisible, grow to enormous size, and push with tremendous force.[4] Phantasmo's only weakness is that while he's in ethereal form, his body is motionless and vulnerable to attack, so he relies on Whizzer to guard his physical form. The character was the cover star on The Funnies through issue #58 (Aug 1941), and made his last appearance in issue #63 (March 1942).
It has been noted that, clad in nothing but golden shorts, boots and a transparent cape, Phantasmo often appears to be nearly naked during his adventures.[5][6][7]
History
The cover of The Funnies #45 (July 1940) heralds, "Introducing Phantasmo, Master of the World". Phantasmo is seen on the cover as a giant figure, barely dressed in shorts and a transparent cape, grasping a crumbling city building as a crowd of tiny onlookers flees from the area.[8] A profile of Stoner in Alter Ego says, "His Phantasmo covers often showed the awesomely powered hero as a giant, perhaps owing something to Bernard Baily's contemporary Spectre covers at DC. The over-sized hero motif appeared on many of his covers throughout his career."[9] The scene, which does not appear in the comic itself, establishes the unparalleled might of the new hero.
The comic's origin story skips over the main character's earthbound, mortal existence, and takes the reader directly to "the top of the world's highest mountain", where Phantasmo bids farewell to the High Lama who's been teaching him magical secrets for twenty-five years. "Thou hast learned all mastery of body and mind, Phantasmo," the Lama says. "Wield thy power well!"[8] Many of the era's superheroes, including Phantasmo, Captain Marvel and Green Lantern, were given explicitly magical origins like this, drawing on themes from pulp magazines.[7] In fact, three other heroes introduced that year — the Flame, Amazing-Man and the Green Lama — also gained their powers from the apparently magical region of Tibet.[10]
Phantasmo flies under his own steam back to America, where he appears hovering above a New York City street. Aware that he's causing a scene, he turns invisible, takes a suit from a clothing store, and disguises himself as human. He checks into a fancy hotel as Phil Anson — and when the bellhop brings him to his room, he gives the boy fifty dollars and asks if he can keep a secret.[8] Separating his spirit from his body, the hero towers over the boy and explains, "I am Phantasmo, master of space. I can fly on the wings of thought! I can grow small or huge! I can put the Empire State Building on my shoulder and walk with it to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean! But I need your help, Whizzer, to keep my physical body safe when I am away from it — understand?" Whizzer says that he does. Then they're abruptly interrupted by noises coming from a nearby room, where a professor is being held by a group of spies who are trying to steal his invention that can turn salt water into engine fuel.[8]
From then on, Whizzer stays close to his friend, who can use his extra-sensory vision to spot trouble anywhere in the world, and may have to leave his earthly form at any moment. In some cases, Anson collapses in full view of the public, leaving Whizzer to explain his sudden loss of consciousness to onlookers.[2]
For the next year and a half, Phantasmo and Whizzer faced a variety of different challenges. In one story, Phantasmo stops a gang of criminals who are planning to blow up a dam and flood New York City; in another, he might fight a forest fire, or stop a gang of pirates who are smuggling jewels. One critic complains that "his fantastic powers [were] all too often squandered on mundane crimes like cattle-rustling and counterfeiting, though in one story the Master of the World saved said world from a doomsday meteor in spectacular fashion."[3]
Towards the end of the series, Phantasmo, feeling that he could help his country more if he "had some way to get on the inside of what's happening", adopted the identity of murdered FBI filing clerk Ted Bart who he happened to resemble, with Whizzer following along as an office errand boy.[11]
Phantasmo was the sole cover feature on The Funnies from his first appearance in #45 (July 1940) until issue #56 (June 1941). He shared the cover of issue #57 with radio adventure hero Captain Midnight, who was featured in a new comic book adaptation. In issue #58, Phantasmo was pushed to the secondary feature, with his last story appearing in issue #63 (March 1942). Over the next two issues, the book was relaunched as a talking animal comic called New Funnies.[10]
The first six Phantasmo stories were also reprinted in black-and-white in an issue of Dell's Large Feature Comic #18 (1941), a full-length comics series with each issue devoted to a single character.[2]
Costume
In the 2016 anthology Super Weird Heroes: Outrageous But Real!, editor Craig Yoe introduces a story featuring "the almost naked Phantasmo, with plenty of suggestive poses and phallic symbols galore!"[5] In a 2018 newspaper article about the series' second volume, Yoe said, "The Super Weird Heroes weren’t afraid to show a little skin, even a lot! Or not even be shy about being totally naked like Phantasmo in the first volume of Super Weird Heroes. We were originally going to have Phantasmo on the cover of the first book, but decided he might not fly in Peoria. So weird-in-his-own-way Nature Boy was our main cover boy. But, Phantasmo was between the covers fighting criminal types in his birthday suit."[12]
On the cover of issue #47, the coloring makes it appear as if Phantasmo isn't wearing his shorts as he destroys a warplane,[13] and on issue #48, it appears as if Phantasmo's bare buttocks are on display as he swims effortlessly past a battleship.[14]
See also
Another character named Phantasmo was seen in DC Comics' Young All-Stars in 1989, as part of a group called the Young Allies.
Related Research Articles
Marvel Mystery Comics is an American comic book series published during the 1930s–1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. It was the first publication of Marvel Comics' predecessor, Timely Comics, a division of Timely Publications.
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium. In 1953 Dell claimed to be the world's largest comics publisher, selling 26 million copies each month.
Bulletman and Bulletgirl are fictional superheros originally published by Fawcett Comics.
Cat-Man and Kitten are a pair of fictional superhero characters created by artists Irwin Hasen (Cat-Man) and Charles M. Quinlan (Kitten) with unknown writers. Cat-Man was first published in 1940 by various Frank Z. Temerson companies. Due to circumstances during World War II, an altered version of Cat-Man was published in Australia and reprinted in the 1950s. AC Comics later revived the characters in the 1980s.
The Funnies was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing, the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.
Mr. Muscles is a fictional comic book superhero created in 1956 by writer Jerry Siegel for Charlton Comics, and drawn by Bill Fraccio for the first of two issues of his namesake comic, and by the team of penciler Charles Nicholas and inker Vince Alascia for the second. A young Dick Giordano provided the premiere issue's cover. Siegel, who co-created Superman, wrote both issues featuring Charlton's own muscleman.
Yellowjacket is a fictional super-hero, and the first to be published by the company that would become Charlton Comics. He first appeared in Yellowjacket Comics #1.
Hydroman is a fictional superhero character who first appeared in comic books from Eastern Color Printing in 1940.
"Professor Supermind and Son" was a comic book feature that appeared in issues #60–71 of Dell Comics' Popular Comics. The strip was drawn by Maurice Kashuba.
Funnyman is a fictional comic book character whose adventures were published in 1948 by Magazine Enterprises.
The Bouncer is a fictional superhero who appeared in comic books published by Fox Feature Syndicate. The Bouncer had no secret identity, but was in reality a statue of the Greek mythological figure Antaeus. The statue had been sculpted by Adam Anteas, Jr., a descendant of the very same legendary figure. Like his Greek ancestor, Anteas Jr. gained power when in contact with the earth. Anteas Jr.'s power was that he bounced back whenever he struck the ground; the harder he hit, the higher he bounced. Like his ancestor, he lost his power when out of contact with the ground.
Samson is a fictional superhero that appeared in comic books published by Fox Feature Syndicate. He first appeared in Fantastic Comics #1. The writer was uncredited, but is believed to be Will Eisner; the artist was Alex Blum, using the pseudonym "Alex Boon".
Bronze Man is a fictional comic-book superhero in comics published by Fox Feature Syndicate. He first appeared in Blue Beetle #42.
The Scarab is a fictional superhero from the Golden Age of Comics. He first appeared in Startling Comics #34, published by Nedor Comics. The character was later revived by writer Alan Moore for America's Best Comics.
Fantomah is an American comics character, best known as one of the earliest comic-book superheroines. Created by Fletcher Hanks, the character first appeared in Jungle Comics #2, published by Fiction House. Hanks is also known for creating the equally strange Stardust the Super Wizard.
Blue Bolt is a fictional American comic book superhero created by writer-artist Joe Simon in 1940, during the period fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of Comic Books.
The Moth is the name of two American comic-book superhero characters. The first was created by artist Jim Mooney and an unknown writer for Fox Feature Syndicate in 1940, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. The second was created by writer-artist Steve Rude in 1998 for Dark Horse Comics.
The Owl is a fictional superhero that first appeared in Dell Comics' Crackajack Funnies #25, continuing until #43.
The Eye is a fictional comic book character created by Frank Thomas and published by Centaur Publications. The character had no origin story, and existed only as a giant, floating, disembodied eye, wreathed in a halo of golden light. This powerful being was obsessed with the concept of justice, and existed to encourage average people to do what they could to attain it for themselves. If the obstacles proved too great, the Eye would assist its mortal charges by working miracles. Time and space meant nothing to the Eye and it existed as a physical embodiment of man's inner conscience.
The Green Turtle is a superhero originally published by Rural Home Publications. He first appeared in Blazing Comics (1944), and was created by Chinese-American cartoonist Chu F. Hing. While the original run of the character lasted only five issues, the Green Turtle is notable for three factors. First, during WWII, the stories represented the Chinese in U.S. popular media as heroic partners fighting the Axis. One issue begins with the banner 美國及中華民國, and features a U.S. general joining Chinese guerrillas in battle. During the war, U.S. depictions of the Pacific theatre were typically racialized; the "Yellow Peril" stereotypes applied to the Japanese were originally anti-Chinese and portrayed Asians as racial enemies of Western civilization. Second, the character is often identified as the first Asian-American comic book hero. These factors inspired a contemporary graphic novel on the Green Turtle, Shadow Hero, by Gene Luen Yang, whose American Born Chinese was the first work in a comics format to be nominated for the National Book Award.
1 2 3 Fischer, Stuart (March 2018). "Those Unforgettable Super-Heroes of Dell & Gold Key". Alter Ego. TwoMorrows Publishing (151): 57.
1 2 Mitchell, Kurt; Thomas, Roy (2019). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944. TwoMorrows Publishing. pp.16, 112–113. ISBN978-1605490892.
↑ Nevins, Jess (2013). Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes. High Rock Press. p.204. ISBN978-1-61318-023-5.
1 2 Yoe, Craig (2016). Super Weird Heroes Vol. 1: Outrageous But Real. IDW Publishing. p.254. ISBN978-1631407451. They must have been running out of tights in Tibet because Phantasmo appeared to be nearly nude.
↑ Smith, Andrew A. (December 28, 2016). "Superheroes sprung from the vault". Philadelphia Inquirer. Tribune News Service. pp.C1, C8. Fantomah shouldn't be confused with Phantasmo from Dell Comics, a handsome lad who fought crime in a cape and a Speedo — and sometimes just a thong.
1 2 Knowles, Chris (2007). Our Gods Wear Spandex. Weiser Books. p.127. ISBN978-1578634064. He was identical in appearance to Quality's Hercules... a nearly naked man wearing boots and briefs and a cape with a folded shirt-collar.
1 2 3 4 Mougin, Lou (2020). Secondary Superheroes of Golden Age Comics. McFarland & Co. pp.391–392. ISBN9781476638607.
↑ Quattro, Ken (July 2013). "E.C. Stoner, The Forgotten Trailblazer". Alter Ego. TwoMorrows Publishing (118): 47.
1 2 Markstein, Don. "Phantasmo". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
↑ "Funnies #61" as reprinted in "Phantasmo - The Master Of The World Readers Collection Gwandanaland Comics #35-A"
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
