Today in Comics History, January 7: Happy birthday, Phantom Lady!

Born on this day, according to the DC Super Calendar 1976: Sandra Knight, the effervescent but sometimes hard-to-see Golden Age crimefighter known as Phantom Lady! (Not to be confused with Phantom Girl, who is more than 1,000 years younger.) She was created by the Eisner & Iger Studio and drawn by Arthur Peddy, who had a deft hand with a glamor girl character (he also drew Marvel/Atlas's "Jann of the Jungle").


from Super DC Calendar 1976 (DC, 1975), letters by Ben Oda



Like quite a few other heroes who are now published by DC, PL began life at a totally 'nother comics company: Quality Comics, premiering in the epic Police Comics #1, just in time to catch the rise of superheroes with the beginning of WWII a few months later. Issue #1 which also debuted Plastic Man, the Human Bomb, and Firebrand...with a line-up like that, it's no wonder she was relegated to page 52 of that book!


from "Phantom Lady" in Police Comics #1 (Quality, August 1941), pencils and inks by Art Peddy
There's no need to show Phantom Lady rocketing away from her dying planet, or grabbing a glowing green lantern, or having parents getting killed in a dark alley (in fact her father is shown still alive as a law-and-order senator): Phantom Lady sprung from the four color pages with no origin, as ripped untimely if from the thigh of Zeus. (Ew.) In fact, she received no origin story at all during her entire Golden Age Quality publishing history. She's just already there!



With the downswing of the market during the fities (dang you, television!), Quality Comics folded in 1956. They sold many of their characters and trademarks to DC. At the time, DC only chose to keep four of Quality's titles running: Blackhawk (which eventually became part of the DCU), G.I. Combat, Heart Throbs (each ran for another 100 or more issues), and Robin Hood Tales. Fools, DC! You didn't need to buy Robin Hood! He belongs to the people! ]

Later on, the ownership of the other Quality characters was frequently argued and often believed to be in the public domain. There are still a few modern websites that list Sandra Knight's Phantom Lady as public domain — I wouldn't advise NFTing her, guys! In the interim she was published by Ajax-Farrell, Charlton Comics, and I.W. Publications, until DC asserted (or steam-rollered) their rights to the Quality characters and brought Phantom Lady back in the pages of Justice League of America, along with Quality heroes Uncle Sam, The Black Condor, Doll Man, The Human Bomb, and The Ray, as part of the annual JLA/JSA crossover summer picnic-slash-slugfest event. Now P.L. and company lived on Earth-X, an infinite Earth conquuered by Hitler (which is why it was almost named Earth-Swastika). Dang that Hitler! He's always tryin' that.



from Justice League of America (1960 series) #107 (DC, September 1973), script by (you'd think Roy Thomas, but no!) Len Wein, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Dick Giordano, colors by Glynis Oliver, letters by Ben Oda
Uncle Sam and his freedom fighters, including Sandra Knight, become...um, the Freedom Fighters, in a DC book titled just that released a few years later (just in time for the all-patriotic Bicentennial).



from Freedom Fighters (1976 series) #1 (DC, March 1976), plot by Gerry Conway, script by Martin Pasko, layouts by Ric Estrada, finishes and letters by Mike Royer
It wasn't until the final issue of Freedom Fighters that Sandra would get even the hint of an origin story:


from Freedom Fighters (1976 series) #15 (DC, July 1978), script by Bob Rozakis, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Jack Abel, colors by Mario Sen, letters by Milt Snapinn
Phantom Lady appeared in Roy Thomas's Earth-2 series All-Star Squadron in the 1980s, but her history was left in mystifying jeopardy after the Crisis, and sometimes contradicted by different stories. She was a mentor to a new Phantom Lady II (and maybe III?) in 1989's Action Comics Weekly, until II or III or who knows was killed off, as was everyone in the world, it seemed, in 2005's gorefest Infinite Crisis. Boo!

In the meantime, however, James Robinson's 1990s Starman series filled in a considerable amount of Sandra Knight's WWII history, retconning her as a citizen of Opal City and a cousin of Ted "Starman" Knight — because in the DC Universe, if you have the same last name, you must be related!




from Starman (1994 series) #44 (DC, July 1998), cover painted by Tony Harris
Another of Robinson's light retcons established her as the first superheroine of the Golden Age (take that, Wonder Woman!), and even predecessor on the hero stage to Starman. At least, according to The Shade, who must be taken as a potentially unreliable narrator, even when he's just telling you what he had for breakfast.



Towards the end of the series, an elderly Sandra shows up to speak at the funeral for Ted Knight. Displaying class and decorum at the service, she did not mention that Ted had still owed her fifty bucks.


from Starman (1994 series) #73 (DC, January 2001), script by James Robinson, pencils and inks by Peter Snejbjerg, colors by Gregory Wright, color separations by Jamison, letters by Bill Oakley
So happy birthday, Sandra Knight! And here's hoping you never caught cold in that outfit.


from Freedom Fighters #1