Lee Falk's Phantom is on paper, supposed to be something I would be all over. Yet, of the three main Defenders of the Earth characters, he's my least favorite. I have nothing against The African 'Batman'. His origin story is really cool. He's got a great costume, an awesome wolf sidekick and a bevy of lovely ladies. It's just that his stories are sooooo boring!
It seems that every Phantom story goes around in 3s. Either The Phantom will fight the baddie 3 times, get injured 3, or get captured 3 times. In this issue in which the Phantom takes on a mad scientist, he gets captured 3 times! 4 is you count him in a cage on the front cover.
Speaking of the cover- the mad pooch on the front isn't the Phantom's beloved wolf, Devil. This canine is the pet of our book's bad guy.
I love the old comics of the Big Three Defuncts: Gold Key, Dell, and Charlton (Four if you count Whitman, but it's history is so tied in with Gold Key, I consider them one and the same.) Charlton may not have had the best stories or the best art or the best sales (more often than not, it was the sales), but it's a beloved part of comics history. And despite this not being my favorite story or favorite character, it is still a beloved part of my collection.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
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