Delilah "Dee" Tyler/Phantom Lady II Appreciation 2022

[Agent Z]

First appearance: Action Comics #636 (January, 1989)

Created by: Len Strazewski and Chuck Austen

[Agent Z]

Hopefully, Delilah returns in any of DC's espionage titles.

[MajorHoy]

Hopefully, Delilah returns in any of DC's espionage titles.

They'd have to retcon her being killed (gutted) by Deathstroke first.

[Agent Z]

They'd have to retcon her being killed (gutted) by Deathstroke first.

Here's hoping.

[OOAgent]

Here's hoping.

I was hoping the Deathstroke/Black Canary series would've mentioned her at least. Canary had that moment in Birds of Prey right after Infinite Crisis #1 where she nearly gouged out Slade's one good eye while saying that was for Phantom Lady.

I was happy when Dee got to appear in a flashback of Green Lanterns, even if all you could see was her head.

It's nearly been 20 years, just say she was one of the people brought back at the end of Death Metal, I'd be happy just to know she's canon alive even if she never shows up again just because of how cruel her death was compared to all her other appearances.


But given the Peacemaker show and minor characters like that getting the spotlight, I got some hope characters like her get more love and may get DC to bring her back for some flashbacks at the very least... but I'd love them to resurrect her. And I'd be very happy if she resumed her role as a character who shows up in other series.

[Agent Z]

I was hoping the Deathstroke/Black Canary series would've mentioned her at least. Canary had that moment in Birds of Prey right after Infinite Crisis #1 where she nearly gouged out Slade's one good eye while saying that was for Phantom Lady.

I was happy when Dee got to appear in a flashback of Green Lanterns, even if all you could see was her head.

It's nearly been 20 years, just say she was one of the people brought back at the end of Death Metal, I'd be happy just to know she's canon alive even if she never shows up again just because of how cruel her death was compared to all her other appearances.


But given the Peacemaker show and minor characters like that getting the spotlight, I got some hope characters like her get more love and may get DC to bring her back for some flashbacks at the very least... but I'd love them to resurrect her. And I'd be very happy if she resumed her role as a character who shows up in other series.

Which Green Lantern run did she show up in?

[ERON]

What a fun character. And one of the Chuck Austen's few worthwhile contributions to DC. Hopefully someone brings her back one of these days.

Someone suggested to me one time that she would be a good love interest for Kyle Rayner. I thought it was a bit random at first, but it made sense the more I thought about it - both legacy characters, the light/shadow dichotomy, etc. I also enjoyed her team-ups with the Will Payton version of Starman back in the day and thought they might make a good couple.

[Agent Z]

I've been going back and forth on giving Delilah powers, specifically intangibility and invisibility.

Pros
* DC doesn't have many street level or espionage characters with powers.
* It can differentiate her from the other Phantom Ladies.
* It could give her an edge in survival.

Cons
* We lose a badass normal that isn't from the Batfamily.
* Comparisons between her and Phantom Girl from Legion of Superheroes will be made.

[OOAgent]

Which Green Lantern run did she show up in?

Green Lanterns #6

The current ongoing series. Shows up in a flashback/recreation showing Sinestro's previous crimes, which in this case was his killing Black Condor II in Infinite Crisis #1. Was nice to see Dee, even if only her head and shoulders given they drew her behind her teammates.

What a fun character. And one of the Chuck Austen's few worthwhile contributions to DC. Hopefully someone brings her back one of these days.

Someone suggested to me one time that she would be a good love interest for Kyle Rayner. I thought it was a bit random at first, but it made sense the more I thought about it - both legacy characters, the light/shadow dichotomy, etc. I also enjoyed her team-ups with the Will Payton version of Starman back in the day and thought they might make a good couple.

She showed up in a Flash(Wally West) issue and they ended the issue seemingly going on a date and Wally returned home pretty happy. She showed up in a fantasy of a bunch of attractive heroines fawning over him too, so she left an impression on him at least.

Dee had her seeming love interest, the Clint Eastwood looking assistant of her father in her original mini-series in Action Comics, and she seemed to address they were an item as she mentioned she was seeing someone in the Will Payton Starman series. Though it could've been anyone and given her mini-series characters never showed up again you could have her pair up with anyone really. She'd make a good 'love interest of the week' type character to show up in another hero's comic honestly, like she did through the 90s and early 2000s.

I've been going back and forth on giving Delilah powers, specifically intangibility and invisibility.

Pros
* DC doesn't have many street level or espionage characters with powers.
* It can differentiate her from the other Phantom Ladies.
* It could give her an edge in survival.

Cons
* We lose a badass normal that isn't from the Batfamily.
* Comparisons between her and Phantom Girl from Legion of Superheroes will be drawn.

Personally I prefer Dee just as a normal person whose powers come from tech. I think giving her intangibility tech would make sense if they brought her back to life. I imagine wanting to avoid being impaled and hoisted up in the air is an experience she'd want to make sure never happens again.

But her charm to me is that she's just a normal woman. She is good at one martial art, Savate. She's not a 'I've mastered a dozen fighting styles' she's proficient at one and likely isn't even as good a fighter as real life people in the real world. She went to a spy school for women and is one of the few heroes okay with killing.

She's got a weird dichotomy as one half of her is very grounded and realistic to a realistic spy who sometimes has to kill and uses their body and sexuality for the mission... and then the other half that is a golden-age heroine who is bright and cheerful and kind of naive with how cruel the world can be, who dresses in a scantily clad costume with a bright yellow and green color scheme.

And she somehow hangs in there with all the other DC heroes and was never treated as a joke or someone who shouldn't be there by other heroes.

She has that nice, almost contradictory, nature to her that I always felt was a goldmine of character development and story telling potential that was never tapped into.



I mean instead of creating Stormy Knight, a bitter, cynical, alcoholic... I would just as easily have bought Dee surviving Infinite Crisis but coming out of the experience broken and jaded. Her last words were 'Why?' to Deathstroke, her body was left strung up on the Washington Monument. If someone lived through that I'd imagine they'd become bitter and cynical and likely turn to alcohol. And it would've explained why Stormy Knight never bothered to keep her identity as Phantom Lady secret, as I'd imagine her identity would've been revealed with being hung on the monument and then removed with all the media coverage.

Same with Stormy having more tech, like intangibility, would fit with Dee wanting to make sure she'd never get hurt like that again.


I like Stormy myself too... but killing Dee only to replace her with a character that just as easily COULD have stayed Dee, with all the same issues, kind of bums me too. Even more so with Stormy never showing up anymore, Dee got replaced for nothing then.

[Agent Z]

Green Lanterns #6

The current ongoing series. Shows up in a flashback/recreation showing Sinestro's previous crimes, which in this case was his killing Black Condor II in Infinite Crisis #1. Was nice to see Dee, even if only her head and shoulders given they drew her behind her teammates.





She showed up in a Flash(Wally West) issue and they ended the issue seemingly going on a date and Wally returned home pretty happy. She showed up in a fantasy of a bunch of attractive heroines fawning over him too, so she left an impression on him at least.

Dee had her seeming love interest, the Clint Eastwood looking assistant of her father in her original mini-series in Action Comics, and she seemed to address they were an item as she mentioned she was seeing someone in the Will Payton Starman series. Though it could've been anyone and given her mini-series characters never showed up again you could have her pair up with anyone really. She'd make a good 'love interest of the week' type character to show up in another hero's comic honestly, like she did through the 90s and early 2000s.






Personally I prefer Dee just as a normal person whose powers come from tech. I think giving her intangibility tech would make sense if they brought her back to life. I imagine wanting to avoid being impaled and hoisted up in the air is an experience she'd want to make sure never happens again.

But her charm to me is that she's just a normal woman. She is good at one martial art, Savate. She's not a 'I've mastered a dozen fighting styles' she's proficient at one and likely isn't even as good a fighter as real life people in the real world. She went to a spy school for women and is one of the few heroes okay with killing.

She's got a weird dichotomy as one half of her is very grounded and realistic to a realistic spy who sometimes has to kill and uses their body and sexuality for the mission... and then the other half that is a golden-age heroine who is bright and cheerful and kind of naive with how cruel the world can be, who dresses in a scantily clad costume with a bright yellow and green color scheme.

And she somehow hangs in there with all the other DC heroes and was never treated as a joke or someone who shouldn't be there by other heroes.

She has that nice, almost contradictory, nature to her that I always felt was a goldmine of character development and story telling potential that was never tapped into.



I mean instead of creating Stormy Knight, a bitter, cynical, alcoholic... I would just as easily have bought Dee surviving Infinite Crisis but coming out of the experience broken and jaded. Her last words were 'Why?' to Deathstroke, her body was left strung up on the Washington Monument. If someone lived through that I'd imagine they'd become bitter and cynical and likely turn to alcohol. And it would've explained why Stormy Knight never bothered to keep her identity as Phantom Lady secret, as I'd imagine her identity would've been revealed with being hung on the monument and then removed with all the media coverage.

Same with Stormy having more tech, like intangibility, would fit with Dee wanting to make sure she'd never get hurt like that again.


I like Stormy myself too... but killing Dee only to replace her with a character that just as easily COULD have stayed Dee, with all the same issues, kind of bums me too. Even more so with Stormy never showing up anymore, Dee got replaced for nothing then.

I thought Wally was still married to Linda. Or is that Flash issue an older comic?

[OOAgent]

I thought Wally was still married to Linda. Or is that Flash issue an older comic?

It was from the early 90s. I think he was still living at home.

[MajorHoy]

. . She showed up in a Flash (Wally West) issue . . .

[OOAgent]

Yeah that was it. She was working for the CIA and escorting a defecting Soviet/Russian scientist to the US I think and Flash somehow ran into her and helped her defend the scientist from Malcolm Merlyn and Syonide.

Was a fun little story.

[Agent Z]

What issue and volume is this?

[MajorHoy]

What issue and volume is this?

Well, if you can see the image, it has issue #29 and a cover-date of August 1989.

Volume-wise, I'm assuming volume 2? (It was Wally's run post-CoIE.)