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 937


I'd walk a camel for a mile


All American Western was the continuation of DC Comics' All American Comics. Western comics were popular in the late '40s and superheroes had lost their audience, so All American added "Western" to its banner and covered another genre entirely. This issue, #126, is the last under that title. In 1952 All American Western was canceled and replaced by All American Men of War, a title that lived on until 1966.

The last we see of Western action hero Johnny Thunder he and his girl are watching their horses return to them in the desert. They had just had an adventure with some Arab raiders on camels who tried to kill them. It's probably a story not likely to decrease tensions between our cultures. But camels in the Southwest, imported as pack animals, were a reality. The experiment of using them in the deserts of the United States territories just didn't work and by the Civil War the experiment was essentially over. As Western historian Will Bagley writes:

It wasn't that the camels couldn't adapt to the West; the West couldn't adapt to camels. They were not friendly animals, even to fellow camels, and they held grudges. Despite their bad temper and ability to spit the contents of their stomachs with the accuracy of a Kentucky marksman, it was camel stench that helped do them in. Odor usually was not an issue for Western muleskinners, but the slightest whiff of camel stench played havoc with a mule train. Sometime in 1865, camels stampeded a pack train bound for Missoula and turned the whiskey-bound town's Fourth of July celebration into Montana mud. It was not long before camels were banished from northern mining camps.

Their vast advantage as pack animals notwithstanding, it was America's affection for horses that doomed Western camel caravans. Camels and their legends long survived among the boomtowns and ranches of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. A grizzled sideshow camel with a U.S. brand turned up in San Antonio in 1903. Arizona declared camels extinct in 1913, but hunters reported seeing them in the desert around Yuma into the 1950s.

As interesting as the history is, and it probably influenced this Johnny Thunder episode, it wasn't noted by the writer or editor Julius Schwartz, who loved to drop these types of facts into stories in the form of footnotes.

"Phantoms of the Desert" is written by Robert Kanigher, drawn by Carmine Infantino and Seymour Barry, from All American Western #126, 1952.

Number 721


Alan Ladd, Star of stage, screen and comic books


Alan Ladd, an actor popular in the 1940s and '50s, had a comic book series from DC that went for nine issues in 1949 and '50.

In the comics Ladd was presented as what he was, a movie star, albeit a star who got into adventures apart from his movie career. According to the Grand Comics Database, "The Damascus Diamond," from Alan Ladd #1, is drawn by Joe Certa and Sy Barry. It takes its plot from The Maltese Falcon. Ladd's comic book co-stars story remind me of Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Astor.

Number 662


Legacy of Horror!


Murphy Anderson drew this horror story for DC Comics' Sensation Mystery #113, dated Jan.-Feb. 1953. In the pre-Code era DC didn't wander too far into horror comics territory, but they did at least dip their big toe in the fetid swamp. DC emphasized mystery and not gore (even though there is a "decapitation" panel in this story) and there is a non-supernatural explanation for the goings-on. It's an absurd plot that wraps up with a spooky last panel.

The Grand Comics Database says Sy Barry is the inker. I admire the moody splash page; it sets the mood perfectly.

Number 646


The human bomb of Big Town!


Dan and Seymour (Sy) Barry were widely influential comic artists in the late 1940s-1950s. The Barry brothers went on to syndicated strips, Dan with Tarzan and then Flash Gordon, Sy with The Phantom.

Even though the only signature is Dan's, according the Grand Comics Database Sy inked over Dan's pencils on "The Human Bomb!" for Big Town #2 in 1951. DC's Big Town was the comic book version of a popular radio and TV show about a crusading newspaperman, Steve Wilson.

I admire the Barry brothers. I believe Dan admired himself a lot, too. Here's a 1958 photo of him in a Speedo.


I've seen a lot of comic books and a lot of splash panels, but this Big Town splash stands out. I can visualize the original framed and on my wall. Now you guys know what I want for Christmas! Ha!