The Human Bomb is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics . He first appeared in Police Comics #1 (August 1941), and was created by writer and artist Paul Gustavson .
76-485: The Human Bomb was first published by Quality Comics in the 1940s, and decades later by DC Comics after it acquired Quality's characters. Police Comics #1 also featured the first appearances of Plastic Man and the Phantom Lady , among others. Roy Lincoln is originally a scientist working with his father on a special explosive chemical called "27-QRX". When Nazi spies invade his lab and kill his father, he ingests
152-686: A Black Lantern during the Blackest Night crossover. He and his fellow Black Lantern Freedom Fighters attack the JSA. They mostly target their former teammate Damage , admonishing him for surviving the Society's attack where they didn't. In the pages of Dark Nights: Death Metal , Roy is revealed to be entombed in the Valhalla Cemetery. Batman later revived him with a Black Lantern Ring. A panel in " The New Golden Age " one-shot revealed that Human Bomb had
228-463: A doppelganger . It was believed that Senator Knight wanted to run America as a dictatorship enforced by a metahuman army shown through visions created by Uncle Sam, but it appears that the real person who wants America this way is the individual running S.H.A.D.E. This figure, a cyborg named Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard, is impersonating Senator Knight. In the second issue of Uncle Sam and
304-461: A backup feature in Jungle Thrills by Star Publications , which then itself went out of business. Ajax-Farrell Publications then published four issues of the second Phantom Lady title, cover dated Dec. 1954/Jan. 1955 through June 1955. The company also published her as a backup feature in two issues of Wonder Boy . By then, Wertham's efforts had led to a Congressional investigation into
380-505: A character named Andy Franklin , a former scientist caught in the blast that destroyed Blüdhaven who had been held as an experiment in the secret internment camps within the shattered city. He is referred to in the story as "some kind of human bomb ". With issue #2, he becomes the new Human Bomb, first displaying his powers in Blüdhaven #3 when he plucks off a piece of his fingernail, flicks it, and kills an oncoming troop of Atomic Knights in
456-401: A company named Comic Magazines , from 1940 onwards all publications bore a logo that included the word " Quality ". Notable creators associated with the company included Jack Cole , Reed Crandall , Will Eisner , Lou Fine , Gill Fox , Paul Gustavson , Bob Powell , and Wally Wood . Quality Comics was founded by Everett M. "Busy" Arnold , a printer who saw the rapidly rising popularity of
532-506: A four-page ashcan titled The Phantom Lady #1, on the belief that the character had lapsed into the public domain. While the announced standalone title was never released, the character continued in titles such as Fem Fantastique . Black's Phantom Lady was an even more undressed version of the Matt Baker character, and a mask and ordinary handgun were also added. When DC Comics threatened legal action, AC changed their version to " Nightveil ",
608-510: A higher sense of morality than his teammates, but has shown that he will use lethal force when he sees his friends hurt. Andy seems to be more powerful than his predecessors, as seen in Uncle Sam and The Freedom Fighters #2, when he created a concussive blast just by slamming his gloved fists together. Andy's condition requires him to take special medication developed by SHADE, otherwise he will involuntarily explode. In 2011, " The New 52 " rebooted
684-459: A more active role. Her skimpy costume was eventually explained as a deliberate tactic to distract her usually male foes. Sandra Knight assumed the identity of Phantom Lady in a costume consisting of a green cape and the equivalent of a one-piece yellow swimsuit . She used a "black light projector", a device which allowed her to blind her enemies and make herself invisible. She drove a car whose headlights also projected black light when necessary. She
760-576: A move that would later cause confusion as to who actually owned the character's copyright . The Fox version which premiered in Phantom Lady #13 (taking over the numbering of Wotalife Comics ) is better known to contemporary comic fans than the Quality version because of the " good girl art " of Matt Baker . Baker altered her costume by changing the colors to red and blue, substantially revealing her cleavage, and adding high-cut loose shorts. Fox published Phantom Lady only through issue 23 (April 1949), though
836-425: A sidekick named Cherry Bomb who took a recreated version of the formula that gave Human Bomb his powers. Due to it growing dangerous, Human Bomb had Cherry Bomb continue wearing her special containment costume to avoid an unexpected explosion. It was stated that Human Bomb worked on finding a way to cure Cherry Bomb until the day she mysteriously vanished. Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Blüdhaven #1, introduces
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#1732854841837912-508: A spoiled movie star and treats her other teammates like the popular girl in high school would treat the geeks (especially the Human Bomb and Major Force ), but shows some hint of respect for the new Doll Man , hinting that they worked together for some time. Her wristbands not only project light but can bend reality. She does not maintain a secret identity. In Brave New World , a radio program names her as Stormy Knight. Like other members of
988-550: A style of comic art depicting voluptuous female characters in provocative situations and pin-up poses that contributed to widespread criticism of the medium's effect on children. The character was ranked 49th in Comics Buyer's Guide 's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. Phantom Lady first appeared in Quality 's Police Comics #1 (August 1941), an anthology title which also included
1064-464: A super-powered troublemaker in half on live television, Black Condor takes her to the extra-dimensional Heartland, where Uncle Sam tells her she will not leave until her habit has been kicked. Stormy later slits her wrists, but is found in time by Doll Man. Miss America removes all the toxins from her systems, allowing her to recuperate better. By the end of the miniseries, Stormy decides to forgo her superhero career to pursue an acting vocation. She
1140-578: A supernaturally-themed character who was later made a member of Femforce , the first all-female superhero team; the Bill Black version of the Phantom Lady was retained as Nightveil's original superhero identity, under the name "Blue Bulleteer". AC Comics, as well as other minor publishers such as Verotik , have nonetheless published reprints of the original Quality and Fox stories without any legal action from DC Comics. When Verotik published its reprints, it
1216-455: Is a fictional superheroine appearing in media published by Quality Comics and DC Comics . She was created by the Eisner & Iger studio, one of the first to produce comics on demand for publishers. The character's early adventures were drawn by Arthur Peddy . As published by Fox Feature Syndicate in the late 1940s, Phantom Lady is a notable and controversial example of " good girl art ",
1292-410: Is a wealthy debutante, whose father invented the "Shadow Ray Projector". Shadow Lady is not Veronica, however, but is actually a duplicate created by the projector. She has the power to become solid or intangible at will, and has her own Shadow Ray Projector she can use to blind villains. The character's costume, and the art style, are strongly based on Phantom Lady. The Fox Features Syndicate version of
1368-423: Is later rescued by Dane, who had become miniaturized . He gives her a special suit and gloves enabling invisibility and shadow manipulation. She then chooses to become a vigilante, known as Phantom Lady. In "The New Golden Age", Phantom Lady was mentioned by Mister Terrific to have been enlisted to take Human Bomb's sidekick Cherry Bomb and Red Bee's sidekick Ladybug under her wing so that she can hook them up with
1444-670: Is not the pre-Crisis Earth-X. New Super-Man features a character named Ghost Woman (an analog of Phantom Lady). Cobweb appeared in Tomorrow Stories , an anthology title in Alan Moore's America's Best Comics line. The character, created by Moore and Melinda Gebbe, was an eroticized homage to Phantom Lady. She is a rich society girl named Laurel Lakeland who battles crime out of sheer boredom with her chauffeur/lesbian partner, Clarice. In May 1972, Bill Black's Paragon Publications began publishing its own revival of Phantom Lady with
1520-531: Is whether and how comic packaging shop Harry "A" Chesler was involved with the company's early days. Several sources list Chesler as the publisher of Feature Funnies , but the only primary source to mention Chesler is an interview with Arnold in which he describes purchasing content from the shop for Military Comics and Police Comics , neither of which began until 1941. An interview with Will Eisner quoted in The Quality Companion indicates that Arnold
1596-660: The DC Multiverse : Earth-Quality and Earth-X . While Earth-Quality followed much the same history as the main Earths, Earth-X was radically different from most Earths, in that World War II continued there until 1973, enabling the Freedom Fighters to continue their fight against the Nazis. Crisis on Infinite Earths #11 established a new "Post-Crisis" continuity in which the Quality and other DC characters have instead always lived on
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#17328548418371672-517: The Freedom Fighters . As was done with many other characters DC had acquired from other publishers or that were holdovers from Golden Age titles, the Freedom Fighters were located on a parallel world, in this case called " Earth-X " on which Nazi Germany won World War II . The team were featured in their own series for fifteen issues (1976–1978), in which the team temporarily left Earth-X for " Earth-1 " (where most DC titles were set). The Human Bomb
1748-430: The aviator hero Blackhawk . Quality also published comic-book reprints of Will Eisner 's " The Spirit ", the seven-page lead feature in a weekly 16-page, tabloid -sized, newsprint comic book, known colloquially as "The Spirit Section", distributed through Sunday newspapers . The name Quality Comics debuted on the cover of Crack Comics #5 (Sept. 1940; see at right). "Seemingly never an official publishing title,"
1824-485: The "Human Bomb", removing his gloves only to expose his explosive powers against Nazi and Japanese enemies, as well as ordinary criminals. He also fights the invisible Mr. Chameleon, the pied piper of destruction Herman Stingmayer, and Yarboe, who has the Human Bomb's explosive ability. He later gains enough control over his powers to be able to remove the containment suit, though the gloves are always necessary. In 1943,
1900-608: The "Second Wave" of its continuity reboot and entire-line relaunch, The New 52 which begun in September 2011 following on from the Flashpoint limited series. Several years ago, Jennifer Knight witnessed the murder of her parents on Christmas Eve. Her father had been one of the best reporters on the Daily Planet's crime beat, and was close to breaking the case against crime boss Robert Bender, until Bender found out. She swore to bring
1976-562: The 1986 series Young All-Stars ). The two were paired on several missions and fought a Soviet-backed agent named The Baron, actually the German Baron Blitzkrieg , a foe both had met during World War II. Shortly after becoming pregnant, Sandra was kidnapped by The Baron who stole the fetus from her womb and left her for dead. After escaping from Communist Poland, Sandra wanted out of the spy game and turned to an old friend, Roy Lincoln . He helped her, and soon thereafter she started
2052-494: The 1994 Starman title. She joined a new version of the Freedom Fighters in the 1999 JSA series. Phantom Lady is later killed by Cheetah and Deathstroke during Infinite Crisis . In Blackest Night , she is temporarily resurrected as a Black Lantern . A new Phantom Lady was introduced in Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven (2006), as one of the metahumans guarding Blüdhaven . She appears in
2128-458: The Bender family down and in the present tries to enact this by infiltrating the inner circle of Cyrus and Eli Bender, the heirs to Robert Bender's crime legacy. Her cover is quickly discovered forcing Jennifer to seek help from her friend, Dane Maxwell, hoping to use his genius to hack Cyrus Bender's cellphone, but Cyrus' henchmen track them down and apparently kill Dane inside his own machine. Jennifer
2204-497: The Blüdhaven team, this incarnation of Phantom Lady is a cold-blooded killer, although there are indications in issue #1 of Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters , as she finds herself defending her actions, that she may be disturbed by what she is ordered to do. Also in issue #1, her father is depicted in a more sympathetic light as a man who might disband the Blüdhaven team if elected. He is murdered on orders of Father Time and replaced by
2280-635: The Bomb briefly has a comedy sidekick, Hustace Throckmorton, who has similar powers (thanks to a blood transfusion from Lincoln) but only on the soles of his feet. Following this, Lincoln shares his formula with three friends — Swordo the Sword Swallower, Montague T. "Curly" McGurx and Red Rogers. They become "the Bombardiers", and work behind enemy lines for a few issues targeting Japanese and German soldiers. The Human Bomb drops his new team soon after and returned to
2356-886: The Connecticut Historical Society noted, "the Quality Comics Group is a trademarked name (presumably taking its name from Stamford's nickname of 'the Quality City') encompassing Comic Favorites Inc., E.M. Arnold Publications, Smash Comics, and any other imprints owned by Arnold". A 1954 federal document noted that the Quality Romance Group, owned by Everett M. and Claire C. Arnold, with an office at 347 Madison Avenue, in New York City, published two titles as Arnold Publications, Inc., two titles as Comic Favorites, Inc., and 14 titles as Comic Magazines, Inc. By
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2432-546: The DC universe. A 4-issue mini-series helmed by Battle for Bludhaven creators Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti introduces a new Human Bomb. Michael Taylor is an ex- Marine and veteran who uncovers a plot to use "human bombs" to destroy the United States . Lincoln could generate a biochemical explosion with just a touch. If he increased the kinetic force by hitting the object harder,
2508-495: The Freedom Fighters , Stormy becomes a Freedom Fighter. She reveals that she has a degree in quantum physics and pretends to be a spoiled idiot so she won't end up like other socialites. Her wrists bands appear to be able to transport Stormy and others from the third dimension to the fourth dimension. In the second Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters series (September 2007), Stormy, still in shock over her father's death, begins to take drugs and drink heavily. After she drunkenly cuts
2584-527: The Freedom Fighters as this is seen on one of the screens. The second Silk Spectre in Watchmen by Alan Moore is based loosely upon the Phantom Lady. Alan Moore had originally intended to use Charlton Comics characters in his mini-series (until DC told him otherwise), which would imply that Silk Spectre was based on Charlton's Nightshade . Moore found the Nightshade character boring, and based Silk Spectre on
2660-417: The Freedom Fighters were relocated to a parallel world . Their particular earth was referred to as " Earth-X ". On Earth-X, Nazi Germany had won World War II . The team was later featured in its own series for 15 issues (1976–1978), in which they temporarily left Earth-X for " Earth-1 " (where most DC titles were set at the time) and Phantom Lady was given real phantom-like powers. During the final issue of
2736-502: The Phantom Lady and DC's Black Canary instead. A new Phantom Lady is shown in the Elseworlds comic Kingdom Come , who is described in the series' endnotes as a literal phantom (ghost) of the original version. Series co-creator Alex Ross used famed pin-up model Bettie Page as his model for this version of Phantom Lady. In the final issue of 52 , a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among
2812-587: The States alone. A Human Bomb feature continued in Police Comics through issue #58, published in September 1946. After Quality Comics went out of business in 1956, DC Comics acquired the rights to the Human Bomb as well as the other Quality Comics properties. The Human Bomb remained unpublished until he and several other former Quality properties were re-launched in Justice League of America #107 (October 1973) as
2888-739: The Universite Notre Dame Des Ombres (the University of Our Lady of the Shadows) in the hopes of making further intelligence contacts and finding her baby, but she was not successful. Phantom Lady's presence in the U.S. and her work with American Intelligence was kept a secret to most; she never reunited with her husband, and in her old age became headmistress of the school she began, now a training center for female spies in Washington, D.C. In Manhunter (vol. 3) #23 (June 2006), Phantom Lady met
2964-554: The artist through #13, with Joe Kubert drawing her feature in Police Comics #14-16; Frank Borth in #17-21; Peddy again in #22; and Rudy Palais in #23. Phantom Lady also appeared in Feature Comics #69-71 as part of a crossover with Spider Widow and the Raven. After Quality stopped publishing the adventures of Phantom Lady, what was now simply Iger Studios believed it owned the character and assigned it to Fox Feature Syndicate ,
3040-844: The character guest starred in All-Top Comics #8-17, also with art by Baker. Her rogue's gallery in these two Fox titles included the Avenging Skulls; the Fire Fiend; the Killer Clown; Kurtz, the Robbing Robot; the Subway Slayer and Vulture. Baker's cover for Phantom Lady #17 (April 1948) was reproduced in Seduction of the Innocent , the 1954 book by Dr. Fredric Wertham denouncing what he saw as
3116-528: The character made a minor appearance in Savage Dragon #141 as one of the many Golden Age characters who were released from Solar Man's prison. In the subsequent clash between Image Comics superheroes and Golden Age superheroes, Phantom Lady wound up fighting Witchblade until the misunderstanding between the two groups was resolved. The Golden Age Phantom Lady made her return in Savage Dragon #199 as part of
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3192-534: The character was blonde on one cover, brunette with a brown costume on another). In 1956, DC Comics obtained the rights to the Quality Comics characters, which they believed included Phantom Lady, and reintroduced her 17 years later with a group of other former Quality heroes as the Freedom Fighters in Justice League of America #107 (October 1973). As was done with many characters DC acquired from other publishers, or that were holdovers from Golden Age titles,
3268-463: The chemical to prevent it from falling into their hands. As a result, Lincoln gains the ability to cause explosions in any object he came into contact with, particularly through his hands; the only way to control it is to always wear special asbestos gloves (which were subsequently retconned into "Fibro-wax" gloves after the human health hazards of asbestos were discovered). Donning a containment suit to prevent any accidental explosions, Lincoln becomes
3344-467: The child was Pratt's son. Knight and Munro still keep in contact, as she brought him to meet Kate and her son, Ramsey. A second Phantom Lady, Delilah "Dee" Tyler, was introduced in Action Comics Weekly #636 (January 1989) and was given a back-up feature in that title through #641 with art by Chuck Austen . The daughter of the U.S. Attorney General, Tyler was trained by the original Phantom Lady,
3420-558: The comic book medium in the late 1930s. Deducing that Depression-era audiences wanted established quality and familiar comic strips for their hard-earned dimes, in 1937 the enterprising Arnold formed the suitably titled Comic Favorites, Inc. (in collaboration with three newspaper syndicates : the McNaught Syndicate , the Frank J. Markey Syndicate , and Iowa's Register and Tribune Syndicate ). Comic Favorites, Inc.'s first publication
3496-423: The comics industry, and publishers formed the self-censoring Comics Code Authority in the fall of 1954. Some changes were consequently made to the Phantom Lady's costume, so that her cleavage was covered and shorts replaced her skirt. Farrell's assets were later acquired by Charlton Comics , and, until DC relaunched the character in the 1970s, Phantom Lady's only appearances were in reprinted Matt Baker stories in
3572-411: The current Manhunter, Kate Spencer, and it was revealed that she was Spencer's grandmother. Phantom Lady and Iron Munro were revealed to have had a child before their marriage whom they gave up for adoption—Walter Pratt, Spencer's father. The Golden Age Atom , Al Pratt, had allowed Phantom Lady to use his contact information so that she could get into a home for unwed mothers, causing the belief that
3648-412: The debut of characters such as Plastic Man and the Human Bomb . That issue established her alter ego as Sandra Knight, the daughter of U.S. Senator Henry Knight. The issue established that it was not her first appearance as the Phantom Lady, but it did not go into her origin. Stories published decades later by DC Comics would give her a proper origin, which was altered several times to give Sandra
3724-480: The decades, DC revived other Quality characters. Plastic Man has starred in several short-lived series starting in 1966, as well as a Saturday morning cartoon from 1979–1981. The character went on to become a member of the Justice League in the 1990s. According to DC canon, the Quality characters, before the 1985-1986 DC revamping event called Crisis on Infinite Earths , existed on two separate realities in
3800-455: The device as a weapon. In 1981, Phantom Lady became a recurring guest star of All-Star Squadron , a superhero-team title set on " Earth-2 ", the locale for DC's World War II-era superheroes, and at a time prior to when she and the other Freedom Fighters were supposed to have left for Earth-X. Phantom Lady then appeared with the rest of DC's superheroes in Crisis on Infinite Earths , a story that
3876-409: The explosive force was also increased. Lincoln was also a fine hand-to-hand combatant and a talented chemist. The changes to his body chemistry seemed to have prolonged his life. Lincoln wore from head to toe, a containment suit made of "Fibro wax", which inhibited his biochemical explosive reaction. When he wanted to use his powers, he simply removed his gloves. Quality Comics Quality Comics
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#17328548418373952-448: The late 1950s and early 1960s. Israel Waldman's I.W. Publications (later Super Comics), a company that published unauthorized reprints from 1958 to 1964, included Phantom Lady reprints in issues of Great Action Comics and Daring Adventures . These comics featured new cover images of Phantom Lady that bore little visual consistency either to the Fox version of the character or each other (e.g.,
4028-410: The limited series Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters . Her name is Stormy Knight and, like the original character, her father is a U.S. Senator, though no connection to the other Knight characters has been established. She seems to know Father Time and has hinted that they have met before with him in a different guise, referring to his look as "this year's look is Colonel Sanders, Time?" She acts like
4104-731: The mid-1950s, with television and paperback books drawing readers away from comic books in general and superheroes in particular, interest in Quality's characters had declined considerably. After a foray into other genres such as war , humor , romance and horror , the company ceased operations with comics cover-dated December 1956. Many of Quality's character and title trademarks were sold to National Comics Publications (now DC Comics ), which chose to keep only four series running: Blackhawk , G.I. Combat , Heart Throbs (each for another 100 or more issues), and Robin Hood Tales (for 8 issues). There has been much confusion over whether
4180-545: The mid-1990s, but he then subsequently appears as the Human Bomb in several issues of JSA in 2003. His death was depicted in Infinite Crisis #1 (October 2005) at the hands of Bizarro , when the Freedom Fighters fought with the Secret Society of Super Villains . After the Human Bomb killed Doctor Polaris in a fit of rage, Bizarro attacked the Bomb, hammering his face to produce more colorful explosions. Lincoln's body
4256-415: The morally corrupting effect of comics on children. The cover, which illustrated Phantom Lady attempting to escape from ropes, was presented by Wertham with a caption that read, "sexual stimulation by combining 'headlights' with the sadist's dream of tying up a woman". In the meantime, Fox went under and its assets were acquired by other publishers, and a Phantom Lady story from All-Top was then reprinted as
4332-488: The newly formed Comic Magazines, Inc., the corporate entity that would publish the Quality Comics line. That year Quality released Smash Comics #1 (Aug. 1939), the company's first comic book with exclusively new material. Initially buying features from Eisner & Iger , a prominent "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium, Quality introduced such superheroes as Plastic Man and Kid Eternity , and non-superhero characters including
4408-513: The now-elderly Sandra Knight, at the exclusive [Université Notre Dame des Ombres (Our Lady of the Shadows) in France. She inherited Knight's equipment and costume. It was heavily implied in that series that she was not alone in being thus trained and equipped, as her "college roommate" Marie Saloppe also appeared in the guise of Phantom Lady in Action Comics Weekly #639. Tyler's primary ability
4484-436: The original Freedom Fighters series, the writers gave the character an origin story. One night, Sandra happened across two would-be assassins targeting her father, and stealthily thwarted them with nothing more than a rolled-up newspaper. Knight consequently developed a taste for adventure and crime-fighting, and after finding a "black light ray projector" that a family friend named Professor Davis sent to her father, she adopted
4560-573: The original Quality Comics and/or the characters they published are in public domain . The original copyrights for Quality's publications have never been renewed by either Arnold or DC (as no such renewal is on file with the Library of Congress ), leaving those original stories in the public domain. The trademarks to the characters, and to the titles of the various comic book series, however, were sold to DC in late 1956, which has periodically published stories with them in order to keep their claims alive. Over
4636-522: The parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-10". As a result of Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-X, including the Quality characters. The names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the panel in which they appear, but a character visually similar to the Sandra Knight Phantom Lady appears. Based on comments by Grant Morrison , this alternate universe
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#17328548418374712-465: The prestigious Knight family of Opal City , a locale central to DC's Starman line of heroes. Her formative story was changed so that she overtook her father's would-be assassins with her fists instead of a newspaper. Lastly, she was given a more active role in the acquisition of her black light ray, which she no longer received from a mere family friend but instead from a scientist named Dr. Abraham Davis, who had escaped from Nazi -controlled Europe . In
4788-468: The resulting explosion. He is a lifelong fan of Green Lantern , even refusing to attack him during the Battle For Blüdhaven series. In Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #2, Uncle Sam remarks that a drop of Franklin's sweat would be sufficient to level Manhattan. Andy is highly emotional, and is hurt deeply because his teammates refer to him as a freak because of his destructive powers. He has
4864-556: The retelling, Sandra Knight gave asylum to Davis, setting him up in a laboratory and helping him to complete his invention. Ted Knight, now established as her cousin, also aided Davis, as a result acquiring the technology that allowed him to become the first Starman . The 1994 title Damage established the post-World War II history for Phantom Lady. She was made an agent of a Cold War -era government intelligence agency called Argent, in which she met and married fellow former-All Star Squadron member Iron Munro (a character introduced in
4940-457: The similarly confusing histories that DC had attached to its characters by retroactively merging the various parallel worlds into one. This erased the Human Bomb's Earth-X days, and merged the character's All-Star Squadron and Freedom Fighter histories so that the Freedom Fighters were merely a splinter group of the Squadron. Lincoln was shown as retired and frail in several issues of Damage in
5016-687: The single, unified DC Earth. New, successor versions of the characters Black Condor and The Ray were introduced in 1992. Both were recruited into the Justice League. The new Ray had his own 1994–1996 series and occasionally appears as a reserve Justice League member. Yet another version of the Ray was introduced in 2011. Some Quality Comics titles, including Blackhawk and Plastic Man , have been reprinted by DC, while lesser-known ones have been reprinted by AC Comics . Quality published comics from 1939 to 1956. Phantom Lady Phantom Lady
5092-468: Was Feature Funnies , which began primarily with color reprints of hit strips from all three co-owning syndicates (including Joe Palooka , Mickey Finn , and Dixie Dugan [all three from McNaught]) alongside a small number of original features. The original material came from various sources, including the company's in-house staff and/or freelancers (from the first issue) and the Eisner & Iger shop (from issue #3). A frequent point of confusion
5168-473: Was AC Comics that sued for trademark infringement, not DC Comics. Many believe these early stories to have lapsed into the public domain because the original owners failed to renew the copyright before it expired (as was required under pre- 1976 U.S. copyright law ). Shadow Lady is a character seen in Big Bang Comics , all of whose characters are parodies of DC Comics. Like Sandra Knight, Veronica Prescott
5244-527: Was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books . Notable, long-running titles published by Quality include Blackhawk , Feature Comics , G.I. Combat , Heart Throbs , Military Comics / Modern Comics , Plastic Man , Police Comics , Smash Comics , and The Spirit . While most of their titles were published by
5320-444: Was an extensive knowledge of the martial art called savate , also known as French kickboxing. She also possessed a wrist-mounted blaster, and a holographic projector developed by her childhood friend and roommate Sarah that could be used to cast powerful illusions. This successor Phantom Lady never received a series of her own, but was a periodic guest star in other titles, including the 1988 Starman , Flash , and most frequently in
5396-476: Was intended to eliminate the confusing histories that DC had attached to its characters by retroactively merging the various parallel worlds into one. This left Phantom Lady's Earth-X days written out of her history, and the Freedom Fighters became a mere splinter group of the All-Star Squadron. DC also retconned the origin of Phantom Lady established in Quality's Police Comics , so that she now belonged to
5472-484: Was invited by Oracle to join the Birds of Prey , but ended up casually setting fire to her invitation immediately after reading it, stating that she was already on someone else's payroll. In 2012, DC Comics published a new ongoing comic book, Phantom Lady and Doll Man , featuring completely new versions of the characters, with no relation to their Freedom Fighter predecessors other than the character names. These were part of
5548-503: Was not always an owner of Comic Favorites, Inc., but the authors of that reference were unable to find any corroborating evidence amidst a large volume of evidence to the contrary. In 1939, Arnold and the owners of the Register & Tribune Syndicate's parent company, brothers John Cowles, Sr. and Gardner Cowles, Jr. , bought out the McNaught and Markey interests. Arnold became 50% owner of
5624-466: Was pulped by the brutal beating received, his explosive nature not harming the impervious Bizarro. The explosions stopped even though Bizarro continued punching, indicating that the power ended at the instant of death. His body was strung up on the Washington Monument, next to his deceased comrades, Phantom Lady and Black Condor . Both had perished in battle with the Society. Roy reanimated as
5700-496: Was sometimes assisted by her fiance, Donald Borden, an agent of the U.S. State Department. According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes , "she fights the cowgirl Ace of Spades, the arsonist Fire Fiend, the Killer Clown, the Robbing Robot, the woman-killer the Subway Slayer, and the cloud-seeding saboteur the Vulture". Phantom Lady ran as one of the features in Police Comics through #23. Arthur Peddy continued as
5776-403: Was then an occasional guest star of All-Star Squadron , a superhero team title that was set on " Earth-2 ", the locale for DC's WWII-era superheroes, at a time prior to when he and the other Freedom Fighters were supposed to have left for Earth-X. The character then appeared with the rest of DC's entire cast of superheroes in Crisis on Infinite Earths , a story that was intended to eliminate
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