Blonde Phantom
Blonde Phantom | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | All Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946) |
Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Syd Shores (artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Louise Grant Mason |
Species | Human |
Team affiliations | All-Winners Squad Invaders[1] "Avengers" (1959) |
Notable aliases | Louise Mason Weezie |
Abilities |
|
The Blonde Phantom (Louise Grant Mason) is a fictional masked crime fighter appearing in
Louise Grant is a secretary at the Mark Mason Detective Agency, and secretly in love with her boss. When he 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.[3] 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.[4]
Louise Mason returned in Modern Age comics as a sidekick for
Publication history
As
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,[6] but Al Sulman claimed to have created the character during his time as script editor for Timely Comics: "Wonder Woman 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".[7] Stan Lee also mentioned this 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 was typed by Al Sulman, the writer".[8][9][10]
The Blonde Phantom debuted in All Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946),[6][11] 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:
- Marvel Mystery Comics #84–91 (Oct. 1947 – April 1949)
- All Winners Comics #1 (Aug. 1948)
- Sub-Mariner Comics #25–28 & 30 (Spring – Oct. 1948 & Feb. 1949)
- all three issues of Blackstone the Magician (#2–4, May–Sept. 1948)
- Namora #2 (Oct. 1948)
- Sun Girl #2–3 (Oct.-Dec. 1948).[11]
The character was the province of no one artist, and aside from originator Shores, her adventures in this wide variety of comics were
Blonde Phantom Comics changed titles and formats completely to become the
Concurrent Blonde Phantom
Comics historian Jess Nevins notes that the Timely Comics teen-humor character Millie Collins wore 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".[12][13]
Revival
The character's civilian identity, Louise Mason, was reintroduced in The Sensational She-Hulk #2 (June 1989). Two issues later, she was revealed to be the retired former superhero.[14] Mason remained a series cast-member through the final issue, #60 (February 1994).[15] She was featured in flashback adventures in All Select Comics 70th Anniversary Special (February 2009)[16] and the five-issue miniseries Avengers 1959, beginning with issue #1 (December "2011).[17]
Fictional character biography
Origin and Golden Age adventures
Louise Grant, born in
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, a thug whose maimed face was rebuilt with plaster".[19]
Modern Age
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 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
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 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.
Powers and abilities
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 the secretary for the Mark Mason Detective Agency, and later as the secretary of New York City District Attorney Blake Tower.
Reception
Critical response
Deirdre Kaye of
Other versions
Phantom Blonde
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,
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man
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 is portrayed as a famed private detective who often works as a confidant to Spider-Man and his girlfriend Sophia "Chat" Sanduval.[28]
References
- ^ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z vol. 1 #5
- ISBN 978-1465455505.
- ^ ISBN 0-87833-808-X. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-935259-33-6.
- ^ Nolan, Michelle (August 2004). "The Super Women of Timely". CGC. 3 (8). newsletter. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2006.
- ^ a b The Blonde Phantom at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on October 28, 2011.
- ^ Amash, Jim; Morris, Brian K. (August 2011). "I Had a Liking for the Comic Magazine Business". Alter Ego (104). TwoMorrows Publishing: 50.
- ^ "There's Money in Comics!". Writer's Digest (Vol. 27 #12): 11. November 1947.
{{cite journal}}
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has extra text (help) - ^ "Celebrating 90 Years of WD: Cult Classics". Writer’s Digest University. August 6, 2009. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- ^ "Stan Lee's 1947 Guide to Writing and Selling Comics". Writer’s Digest University. November 12, 2018. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Blonde Phantom (character) at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ The Blonde Phantom (I)" Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at Nevins, Jess, A Guide to Golden Age Marvel Characters of latter.
- ^ Millie the Model at an International Catalogue of Superheroes
- ^ "Dream Casting: She-Hulk". SYFY Official Site. August 28, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
- ^ The Sensational She-Hulk at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ All Select Comics 70th Anniversary Special at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Avengers 1959 at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ All-Winners Squad at MarvelDirectory.com, reprinted from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Teams 2005
- ISBN 978-1-61318-023-5.
- ^ "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic". Scary Mommy. November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ Patton, Ben (March 23, 2020). "Marvel: 5 Great Characters From The Past (& 5 Best Left Forgotten)". CBR. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ O'Brien, Megan Nicole (November 8, 2020). "Marvel: 10 Best Golden Age Heroines, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ Albinder, Cole (September 30, 2022). "10 Marvel Characters Who Deserve Their Own Series Again". CBR. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ^ Albinder, Cole (October 25, 2022). "10 Characters We Want To See On A Second Season Of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law". CBR. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-4402-2988-6.
- ^ Phantom Blonde at The Appendix to The Handbook of Marvel Universe
- ^ Civil War: Battle Damage Report (March 2007)
- ^ Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #58