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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Phantom Stranger </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=388 WIDTH=300 ALT="The Phantom Stranger confronts a typical menace. Artists: Carmine Infantino and Sy Barry." SRC="phanstrn.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>THE PHANTOM STRANGER</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> DC Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1952 <BR><B>Creators:</B> John Broome (writer) and Carmine Infantino (artist) <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> In the early 1950s, most American comic book publishers used stories of horror and the supernatural, often quite grisly and tasteless, as a means of selling their wares. <A HREF="dc.htm">DC Comics,</A> which  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> wasn't known for hopping on trends toward grisliness and against good taste, responded with a few tepid (but long-lived) fantasy titles without continuing characters, like <I>House of Mystery</I> and <I>Tales of the Unexpected</I> — and with one rather short-lived title based on a continuing character. <P> <I>The Phantom Stranger</I> debuted with a cover date of Aug-Sept, 1952, with an introductory story written by John Broome (<A HREF="atomic_k.htm">Atomic Knights</A>) and drawn by Carmine Infantino (<A HREF="marvel.htm">Marvel Comics'</A> <A HREF="nova.htm">Nova</A>). Together, Broome and Infantino had created <A HREF="capcomet.htm">Captain Comet</A> the previous year and <A HREF="chimp.htm">Detective Chimp</A> a few months after that, and would later collaborate on <A HREF="flash2.htm">The Flash</A> and <A HREF="elongman.htm">Elongated Man.</A> <P> The Stranger was an ambiguously-supernatural character, one who regularly dealt with supernatural menaces and helped people get through crises involving the supernatural, but it wasn't clear whether he, himself was anything but a mortal man. He wore an ordinary coat and tie, with a trenchcoat and a hat to cast a deep shadow over much of his face, and the whole ensemble was black. In this, he had a couple of look-alikes in '50s comics, <A HREF="charlton.htm">Charlton's</A> Mysterious Traveler and <A HREF="harvey.htm">Harvey's</A> succinctly-named <A HREF="maninblk.htm">Man in Black.</A> Since he often functioned as a catalyst for the story rather than a main actor, he also had some slight kinship with <A HREF="ec.htm">EC Comics'</A> horror hosts, The Crypt Keeper, The Vault Keeper and The Old Witch. <P> The comic lasted a mere six issues, the last dated June-July, 1953. Broome and Infantino had work in all of them, tho the latter did only covers on a couple of the later ones. Among the other writers and artists to work on the title are Jack Miller (<A HREF="riphuntr.htm">Rip Hunter,</A> <A HREF="deadman.htm">Deadman</A>), John Giunta (<A HREF="fly.htm">The Fly,</A> <I><A HREF="airboy.htm">Air Fighters Comics</A></I>) and Manny Stallman (<A HREF="thunder.htm">T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents,</A> <I>Adventures of the Big Boy</I>). Afterward, the character vanished for a decade and a half. <P> He was next seen in the 80th issue (January, 1969) of <I>Showcase,</I> the DC comic where characters like <A HREF="spranger.htm">Space Ranger</A> and <A HREF="atom2.htm">The Atom</A> had been tried out before the publisher committed itself to a full-scale launch. He moved out into his own comic again with a May-June, 1969 cover date. This time, his series lasted much longer. It started with reprints from the '50s, but those quickly ran out and it had to be continued by new writers and artists, such as Len Wein (<A HREF="titans1.htm">Teen Titans,</A> <A HREF="swamp_th.htm">Swamp Thing</A>), Jim Aparo (<A HREF="aquaman.htm">Aquaman,</A> the comic book version of <A HREF="phantom.htm">The Phantom</A>), Neal Adams (<A HREF="batman.htm">Batman,</A> <A HREF="msmystic.htm">Ms. Mystic</A>) and Tony Dezuñiga (<A HREF="jonahhex.htm">Jonah Hex,</A> <A HREF="arak.htm">Arak Son of Thunder</A>). <P> In this incarnation, there was no doubt about The Stranger's supernatural status. He'd disappear before the reader's eyes, perform unambiguous feats of magic, and generally deal with his fantastic foes on their own level. He also became less of an outsider and more of a main player in his own stories, and would interact more often with other characters — even, improbable as it may seem, to the point of being inducted into <A HREF="jla.htm">The Justice League of America</A> in 1972. But they still kept his exact nature fairly mysterious. In fact when, in 1989, they finally got around to giving him an origin story, readers were given several equally plausible origins to choose from. <P> The series ended with its 41st issue (Feb-Mar, 1976), but this time the character wasn't consigned to oblivion. He continued to turn up as a guest star, had a mini-series in 1987 (which included a major <A HREF="glossary.htm#xover">crossover</A> with the roving villain <A HREF="eclipso.htm">Eclipso</A>), and was the subject of a 1993 oneshot from Vertigo (a DC imprint that specializes in adult fantasy). And he's still seen from time to time when a DC story skirts the edge between the supernatural and the mortal world. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! 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