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84-583: The Blonde Phantom ( Louise Grant Mason ) is a fictional masked crime fighter appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created for Marvel predecessor Timely Comics by Stan Lee and Syd Shores , the character first appeared in All Select Comics #11 ( cover-dated Fall 1946), during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books . The heroine

168-487: A naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko , Don Heck , and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with

252-498: A tabloid -sized, 10-by-15-inch (250 mm × 380 mm), 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology , it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the " yellow-peril " adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu -styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought

336-552: A Second Season of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law " list. Comics Buyer's Guide ranked Blonde Phantom 98th in their "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. Louise's daughter, Wanda Louise Mason, introduced in The Sensational She-Hulk #21 (Nov. 1990), briefly followed her mother's crime-fighter legacy, becoming the costumed Phantom Blonde two issues later, in a story by writer Steve Gerber and penciler Buzz Dixon. She

420-498: A Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story) in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman , was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon 's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the " superheroes " that would follow. In early 1939,

504-596: A capable woman hid behind a meek persona and only let her hair down, literally, to come to the aid of a man who completely ignored her unless she assumed a disguise. In a 1947 story entitled "I Hate Myself", Louise even dreams that Mark finally confesses his love for her, only to have the Blonde Phantom persona appear and steal him away." Louise Grant is a secretary at the Mark Mason Detective Agency, and secretly in love with her boss. When he

588-735: A collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer . The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats , in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault 's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley , starring

672-595: A crush on the Blonde Phantom, but not on Louise. At an unspecified point, the Blonde Phantom fought alongside the All-Winners Squad superhero team for an adventure. According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes , "she fights ordinary gangsters, femmes fatale , the monstrous Baron Frankenstein, the insane Carlo the Killer, the stage magician criminals the Mad Magicians, and Stillface,

756-476: A line of comic book adaptations of inspiring stories and morality tales like Banner in the Sky , God Is My Co-Pilot , Guadalcanal Diary , The Diary of Anne Frank , and Lost Horizon ; as well as a rough adaptation of Star Wars . After Charlton went defunct in the mid-1980s, Wojtkoski drew for the satiric magazine Cracked and for Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk comic strip , as well as for

840-634: A mask and veil and posed as the "Blonde Phantom" for a cosmetics company's publicity campaign in a story in Millie the Model #2 (Oct. 1946), published near the same time as the superheroine Blonde Phantom's debut in All-Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946). Acknowledging the shared Marvel Universe , Nevins writes that the famous model's stunt "perhaps inspired Louise Grant to put on a costume and fight crime". The character's civilian identity, Louise Mason,

924-603: A million copies a month each; comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books. In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston , created the female superhero character Wonder Woman , who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942. MLJ 's Pep Comics debuted as

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1008-423: A none-too-pleased She-Hulk in issue #48–49 (Feb.-March 1993), becoming so enamored with her new form and abilities that she only changes back when Morris reveals he wants Weezi the way she had been. The Blonde Phantom had no superhuman powers. She is an athletic woman, a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and a fine markswoman with the conventional handgun she carried. She also possesses excellent secretarial skills, as

1092-510: A profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era. The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did

1176-442: A promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies. The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks , Kinney Shoes , Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000. Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish

1260-520: A superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics . Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished, while the comic-book industry itself expanded. A few well-established characters such as Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring

1344-494: A ten-cent pricetag [ sic ] on the comic books". When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company , it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression , selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $ 4,000 in

1428-402: A third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles. Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC, and Archie were

1512-409: A thug whose maimed face was rebuilt with plaster". In Modern Age comics, Louise Grant has left crimefighting to marry her employer, Mark Mason, in 1949 and takes his last name. She gives birth to their daughter Wanda and, later, to son Earl. After her husband's death, she begins working as a legal secretary for district attorney Blake Tower in the 1989–1994 series The Sensational She-Hulk , acting as

1596-508: A true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands ". The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930. In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines , sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg , and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury, Connecticut , company Eastern Color Printing —which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as

1680-599: A variety of stories and covers for Captain America Comics , Human Torch Comics , Marvel Mystery Comics , Sub-Mariner Comics (where he drew the backup feature " Blonde Phantom "), and the landmark All Winners Comics #21 (Winter 1946/47), featuring Timely/Marvel's first superhero team, the (hyphenated) All-Winners Squad ; Nicholas penciled the cover and the Miss America chapter, and inked penciler Al Avison 's lead chapter. Wojtkoski later worked on

1764-777: A way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies , but only eight pages, this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate , the Ledger Syndicate , and the Bell-McClure Syndicate . These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith 's Mutt and Jeff , Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka , and Percy Crosby 's Skippy . Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands , but rather sent it out free as

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1848-461: A year. In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr. ) published The Funnies , described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert" and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than

1932-551: Is on a case, Louise takes off her glasses and lets her hair down, becoming the glamorous masked hero, rescuing him from danger in a floor-length evening gown. In a gender reverse to the famous Superman / Lois Lane dynamic, Mark is in love with the Blonde Phantom, and has no interest in the mousy secretary back at the office. Louise Mason returned in Modern Age comics as a sidekick for The Sensational She-Hulk , from 1989 to 1994. As superheroes began to fade out of fashion in

2016-499: Is portrayed as a famed private detective who often works as a confidant to Spider-Man and his girlfriend Sophia "Chat" Sanduval . American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States , on average 32 pages, containing comics . While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics , which included

2100-464: Is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined

2184-496: The Comics Code Authority . The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century. Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$ 1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect

2268-469: The Eisner & Iger shop. There he drew the first 11 stories of Blackhawk, the creation of which is also vaguely recorded from the early days of comics, when proper writer-artist credits were not a standard feature. Though reference sources list Eisner as scripter of the first four Blackhawk stories and Dick French beginning with issue #5, Cuidera said he created the character, and that Bob Powell scripted

2352-619: The Fawcett Comics jungle character Nyoka , and spent the remainder of his career in-house at Charlton Comics in Derby, Connecticut . There he enjoyed a remarkable 23-year run as penciler on a single creative team, with inker Vince Alascia (another Timely veteran) and writer Joe Gill . The art team would sometimes sign its work Nicholas & Alascia , as in the panel at left. In 1978–79, Wojtkoski drew comics for editor Vincent Fago on Pendulum Press 's Contemporary Motivators series,

2436-667: The Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space . Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics , also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ),

2520-613: The Human Torch , and the Sub-Mariner , briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics ' Young Romance and with Young Love , the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers. Dell 's comic books accounted for

2604-685: The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954. In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media". A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on

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2688-663: The Yellow Kid . The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend , measured 5 by 7 inches (130 mm × 180 mm) and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on the back cover. Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly , did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -by-9-inch (220 mm × 230 mm) format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted

2772-412: The pulp magazines used – a thing called a house name. A fake name. So the publishers not only owned the comic strip, they owned the name [of the creator], therefore the guy working for them couldn't lay a claim. That's how the name 'Charles Nicholas' started. Charles Nicholas Cuidera , also known as Chuck Cuidera (September 23, 1915 – August 25, 2001), was an American comic book artist best known as

2856-535: The 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published. Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton , Dell , Gold Key , Harvey Comics , and Tower . Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following

2940-457: The 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story. In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics , Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen , had

3024-542: The 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The " minicomics " form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing , arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses. The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck ,

3108-520: The 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking

3192-598: The American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom . While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a separate writer and artist , or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds. Particularly in superhero comic books,

3276-678: The CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead. By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952). The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance , television properties, and Westerns . Detective, fantasy , teen, and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comic strip reprints were in decline, with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955. In

3360-400: The Model . Other companies' included Fox Comics ' revival of Quality Comics ' Phantom Lady and DC's Black Canary . The creator of the Blonde Phantom is disputed. Don Markstein's Toonopedia says the character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Syd Shores , but Al Sulman claimed to have created the character during his time as script editor for Timely Comics: "Wonder Woman

3444-609: The Modern Horror age. But as of 2009 historians and fans use " Bronze Age " to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp. The development of the " direct market " distribution system in

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3528-407: The angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man , Hulk , X-Men and Fantastic Four . This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month. This

3612-408: The art may be divided between: The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline , finalizing it with a script . After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have

3696-478: The bandwagon in 1960. In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America ), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics . With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated

3780-501: The comic books. An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic . It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books . American comic books are one of the three major comic book industries globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books . The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages. Historically,

3864-534: The comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the future creators of Superman . The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural -crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult . In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled

3948-430: The comic-book packager Eisner & Iger during the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of comic books , and himself a comics creator, recalled in 1999 that at his company, We had a whole bunch of phony names like Chuck's. We just handed them out with the salary. There was a period in comics beginning with the middle- to late-'30s when none of the artists owned their own drawings. They were hired by the publishers ... [who] used what

4032-432: The countercultural era. Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s. Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote

4116-464: The country. Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent , where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety,

4200-645: The credited creator of the Fox Comics character Blue Beetle , which in various incarnations has continued through three comics companies and into the 21st century. The Blue Beetle first appeared in Fox Comics' superhero anthology series Mystery Men Comics #1 (Aug. 1939), with art by Wojtkoski (as Charles Nicholas), though the Grand Comics Database tentatively credits Will Eisner as the scripter. His family has said Wojtkowski "decided in

4284-575: The darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics , Dark Horse Comics , and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics . This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as " A Death in the Family " in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin ), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of

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4368-412: The debut of the superhero Superman . This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II . After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of

4452-475: The debut story before turning the feature over to him: "I never drew a script by French. Powell wrote the first one and I wrote the rest until I went into the service". Eisner, who has also said he was involved in Blackhawk's initial writing, hedged the issue, saying, "Whether or not Chuck Cuidera created or thought of Blackhawk to begin with is unimportant [and] the fact that Chuck Cuidera made Blackhawk what it

4536-471: The early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name— Disney comics by Barks were signed " Walt Disney ". In

4620-444: The final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer. The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors , the largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers. Another aspect of

4704-886: The first illustrator of the Quality Comics aviator character Blackhawk , in Military Comics #1–11 (Aug. 1941 – Aug. 1942). Cuidera was also an early artist of the superhero Blue Beetle , yet though he claimed, in his very late years, that he was the Charles Nicholas who created that character, comics historians credit Charles Wojtkowski , who also used the Charles Nicholas pseudonym. Cuidera grew up in Newark, New Jersey , and after earning art scholarships graduated from Pratt Institute in 1939. Breaking into comic books at Fox Feature Syndicate , where he drew Blue Beetle stories, he shortly afterward migrated to

4788-459: The general voice-of-reason for both Tower and Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk . Mason often finds herself more or less willingly pulled into the She-Hulk's surreal adventures, and occasionally vice versa. They confront many menaces, from Stilt-Man in issue #4 (Aug. 1989) to a town where stepping out of line, even swearing, is fatally punished. Mason even accompanies She-Hulk into outer space, where

4872-483: The introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency , which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics. While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%. The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there

4956-678: The late 1930s to sell the rights to the character to raise money". As Charles Nicholas, Wojtkoski variously penciled and inked stories for Timely Comics , the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics , where his credits include the character The Defender in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), and stories in Young Allies Comics #1 (Summer 1941), Tough Kid Squad Comics #1 (March 1942), and Comedy Comics (during 1942). Following World War II military service, he returned to Timely, where, beginning with comics cover-dated Spring 1946, he worked on

5040-628: The late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse. This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across

5124-433: The major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction House had ceased publishing. Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies. After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56. The rapid decline followed

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5208-545: The pair become allies of the space-faring hero Razorback and his compatriots U.S. Archer and Al the alien. After being taken prisoner by the subterranean ruler the Mole Man , she's restored to a more youthful version of herself by a mysterious chemical process in issue #33 (Nov. 1991). Mason, affectionately nicknamed "Weezi", begins a romantic relationship with Jennifer's father, Morris Walters in #36 (Feb. 1992). Mason later finds herself trading physical stature and powers with

5292-434: The post-war era, comic book publishers scrambled to explore new types of stories, characters, and audiences. In an attempt to appeal to young female readers, comics companies began introducing some of the first significant superheroines since Wonder Woman . Those of Marvel Comics ' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics , included Golden Girl , Miss America , Namora , Sun Girl , and Venus , and its teen- humor star Millie

5376-559: The process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition. The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix , continued somewhat in

5460-491: The pseudonymous Charles Nicholas , and others. When not inking themselves, the pencilers were embellished by inkers including Al Avison , Jack Binder , and Harry Sahle . Blonde Phantom Comics changed titles and formats completely to become the anthological romance comic Lovers with issue #23 (May 1949). Comics historian Jess Nevins notes that the Timely Comics teen-humor character Millie Collins wore

5544-505: The publication of Robert Crumb 's irregularly published Zap Comix . Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success. What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint , Kitchen Sink , Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in

5628-650: The red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $ 30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium . When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics , to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as

5712-572: The rights of Blackhawk in 1956, the penciler by then, Dick Dillin , and inker Cuidera continued to work on the character for the new owner. Cuidera became the regular inker on a number of DC features and series, including Hawkman and The Brave and the Bold , before leaving comics in 1970. Cuidera, an avid scuba diver, invented and sold a quick-release diver's weight belt, and also taught scuba in New Jersey YMCAs . He retired, and

5796-629: The satirical Mad —a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code. DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas ) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954. The new Flash

5880-662: The secretary for the Mark Mason Detective Agency, and later as the secretary of New York City District Attorney Blake Tower. Deirdre Kaye of Scary Mommy called Blonde Phanthom a "role model" and "truly heroic." Ben Patton of CBR.com ranked Blonde Phantom 2nd in their "Marvel: 5 Great Characters from the Past (& 5 Best Left Forgotten)" list, while Megan Nicole O'Brien ranked her 8th in their "Marvel: 10 Best Golden Age Heroines" list, and Albinder Cole ranked her 9th in their "10 Marvel Characters Who Deserve Their Own Series Again" list, and 10th in their "10 Characters We Want to See on

5964-408: The size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 in × 11 in or 380 mm × 280 mm), to print 4 pages which were each 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 11 inches (190 mm × 280 mm). This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4. In recent decades, standard comics have been trimmed at about 6.625 x 10.25 inches. The format of

6048-696: The success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman , who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books . It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half

6132-417: The tradition of the earlier underground comics , while others, such as Star Reach , resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist. This so-called " small press " scene (a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in

6216-486: The various X-Men books led to storylines involving the genocide of superpowered "mutants" in allegorical stories about religious and ethnic persecution. In addition, published formats like the graphic novel and the related trade paperback enabled the comic book to gain some respectability as literature. As a result, these formats are now common in book retail and the collections of US public libraries . Charles Nicholas (comics) Will Eisner , co-principal of

6300-408: Was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it. While the creators of comics were given credit in

6384-570: Was a guest of honor at the 1999 Comic-Con International . Future industry legend Jack Kirby (1917–1994) used the name Charles Nicholas during his fledgling days, in 1940, adopting that house pseudonym during his three-month run as artist of the Fox Feature Syndicate comic strip version of the Blue Beetle. Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (December 6, 1921 – June 21, 1985) was an American comic book writer-artist best known as

6468-464: Was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower . The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded. The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of

6552-567: Was is the important thing, and therefore, he should get the credit". As the debut artist who designed the characters, Cuidera is confirmably at least the co-creator. During Cuidera's absence, Reed Crandall had become established on Blackhawk , which would become one of Crandall's signature features. Cuidera segued to work primarily on the Quality character Captain Triumph and later became the company's art director . When Quality sold DC Comics

6636-593: Was later considered a "potential recruit" for the US government's superhero-training program, the Initiative . The Louise Mason version of Blonde Phantom appears as a recurring character in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and its follow-up series, Spider-Man Marvel Adventures , both published as part of the young-readers Marvel Adventures imprint , taking place in a non-canonical alternate reality from mainstream Marvel continuity. Here, she

6720-399: Was popular, so Stan [Lee] thought we should have a heroine, too. So I created a character called 'The Blonde Phantom', and I wrote those strips myself". Stan Lee also mentioned that Sulman wrote for the feature in his article "There's Money in Comics" from Writer's Digest in 1947, in which he said: "A sample page from a script of "The Blonde Phantom" follows. This is an actual page, just as it

6804-518: Was reintroduced in The Sensational She-Hulk #2 (June 1989). Two issues later, she was revealed to be the retired former superhero. Mason remained a series cast-member through the final issue, #60 (February 1994). She was featured in flashback adventures in All Select Comics 70th Anniversary Special (February 2009) and the five-issue miniseries Avengers 1959 , beginning with issue #1 (December "2011). Louise Grant, born in Hoboken, New Jersey ,

6888-436: Was secretary to private detective Mark Mason. Enamored with her boss and wanting to help him break cases, she surreptitiously donned a black domino mask and a sexy, skintight, slit-leg red evening gown and high heels , and ventured out at night fighting crime. Highly athletic and seemingly trained in martial arts, the Blonde Phantom also carried a .45-caliber pistol. In a distaff echo of Superman and Lois Lane , Mason had

6972-539: Was so well received that the next issue was retitled The Blonde Phantom . The series continued to feature her until issue #22 (March 1949). She also appeared in backup stories in many other Timely comics; in Superhero Comics of the Golden Age , Mike Benton observes that "for a few months in 1948, readers could find her in seven titles on the newsstand." In The Supergirls , Mike Madrid asserted, "Once again,

7056-581: Was typed by Al Sulman, the writer". The Blonde Phantom debuted in All Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946), which became Blonde Phantom Comics the following issue. The series lasted a little over two years (from #12–22, Winter 1946 to March 1949), during which time the crime fighter also appeared as a backup feature in: The character was the province of no one artist, and aside from originator Shores, her adventures in this wide variety of comics were pencilled by Vince Alascia , Ken Bald , Allen Bellman, Carl Burgos , Vernon Henkel, Mike Sekowsky , Ed Winiarski ,

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