Who was the first comic book Phantom Lady you ever read about in a story?

[MajorHoy]

This one may get a little confusing, but here are your choices:

* Sandra Knight (Quality / DC comics) - 1st appeared Police Comics #1 (1941) from Quality Comics; later used by DC. Costume was yellow with green cape
* Sandra Knight (Fox Features & Ajax-Farrell version) - Costume was blue with red cape; appeared from 1947-1955
* Dee Tyler - 1st appeared Action Comics Weekly #636 (1989) / died in Infinite Crisis #1 (2005)
* Stormy Knight - 1st appeared in Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven (2006)
* Jennifer Knight - 1st appeared in Phantom Lady and Doll Man #1 (2012)

Note that there are two versions of "Sandra Knight" included. The first one was in stories published by Quality Comics starting in 1941, but the character had been created for Quality by the Eisner & Iger studio (as in Will Eisner and Jack Iger).

When Quality Comics stopped publishing stories with Phantom Lady, Jack Iger later made a deal with Fox Feature Syndicate allowing them to use the character (which they did starting in 1947).

Then in 1956, DC made a deal with Quality Comics to obtain some of Quality's properties (like Blackhawks) once Quality gave up publishing comic books, and it was thought by DC that they had acquired the rights to characters like Phantom Lady.

Quality Comics version:


Fox Features version:


DC Comics (with other members of the Freedom Fighters) - as seen in Justice League of America #107 (1973)

[MajorHoy]

Dee Tyler:


Stormy Knight:


Jennifer Knight:

[CaptCleghorn]

The Freedom Fighters one.

[ERON]

Dee Tyler FTW! I always wanted to see her hook up with either Kyle Rayner or Damage.

[The Darknight Detective]

The Freedom Fighters one.

That's the one I also first read about, but the first time I saw a Phantom Lady was a Matt Baker-drawn Fox cover of Sandra in the 1976 Comic Book Guide.

[Phoenixx9]

Sandra Knight from the JLA 1973.

Is that "Other" in the poll?

[MajorHoy]

The Freedom Fighters one.

Which "Freedom Fighters" one?

There have been a few different versions of that group, and Sandra Knight, Dee Tyler, as well as Stormy Knight have all belonged to different versions.

Sandra Knight from the JLA 1973.

Is that "Other" in the poll?

No, that would be the first option, who was further described as:

* Sandra Knight (Quality / DC comics) - 1st appeared Police Comics #1 (1941) from Quality Comics; later used by DC. Costume was yellow with green cape

All the members of the 1973 group The Freedom Fighters were characters originally published by Quality Comics in the 1940s.

[MajorHoy]

. . . the first time I saw a Phantom Lady was a Matt Baker-drawn Fox cover of Sandra in the 1976 Comic Book Guide.

Some of the Matt Baker drawn stories have been reprinted over the years by AC Comics (the company that does books like FemForce).



In fact, early on, AC Comics / Bill Black intended to publish new stories using the Fox version of the character, assuming the character and her name were available from the public domain.



However, to avoid problems from DC's claim to own the character (based on the Quality Comics agreement), Bill Black eventually renamed the character "Nightveil". Her back story was also changed so that she was a Golden Age/1940's costumed character now called "Blue Bulleteer".



And her secret identity was changed from "Sandra Knight" to "Laura Wright", though she was still the daughter of a U.S. Senator back in the 1940s.

[Phoenixx9]

Which "Freedom Fighters" one?

There have been a few different versions of that group, and Sandra Knight, Dee Tyler, as well as Stormy Knight have all belonged to different versions.

No, that would be the first option, who was further described as:All the members of the 1973 group The Freedom Fighters were characters originally published by Quality Comics in the 1940s.

OK, thanks! I voted #1.

I recognized those covers from long ago! Great art, cover and stories!

[WonderScott]

Stormy Knight for the win!

[justinslot]

Has DC ever published a Phantom Lady who resembles the Matt Baker version? It occurs to me that the Baker version is the most famous incarnation of the character, but every DC Phantom Lady I've seen has worn yellow and green, not blue and red.

[MajorHoy]

Has DC ever published a Phantom Lady who resembles the Matt Baker version? It occurs to me that the Baker version is the most famous incarnation of the character, but every DC Phantom Lady I've seen has worn yellow and green, not blue and red.

DC based its Phantom Lady on the earlier Quality Comics version, which I'm assuming is because DC felt that was the one they had the rights to.
As to "resembling the Matt Baker version", that was basically the same as the Quality Comics character but with a change in her costume color and stories/art that was more cheesecake-style. (And DC wouldn't do that!)

[The Darknight Detective]

The first wife of Jack Nicholson, appropriately , would have made a great-looking Phantom Lady:

[CaptCleghorn]

Which "Freedom Fighters" one?

This is a messy history. It's ambitious to document it. My compliments to your zeal and fandom, Major.

But I went with the Quality one. It was either the JLA crossover of the actual 70s Freedom Fighters book.

[Jim Kelly]

Has DC ever published a Phantom Lady who resembles the Matt Baker version? It occurs to me that the Baker version is the most famous incarnation of the character, but every DC Phantom Lady I've seen has worn yellow and green, not blue and red.

They're both the same character--Fox just acquired the rights from Quality--and now the original comics would all be in the public domain, so there's probably no reason why DC has to colour their Phantom Lady with the garish yellow and green from Quality rather than the blue and red that Fox used. If other DC characters can change their colour scheme, there shouldn't be any limit on their Phantom Lady.

However, given the old PL is in the public domain, DC wouldn't have any exclusive rights to that look. Maybe DC got trademark rights to the yellow and green costume when they revived the character in the '70s. That's just a guess. But I find those colours awful and I really don't like it when PL wears those sun-glasses--yech. The cloak with the hood from the Matt Beker version is so much better.

I have a bone to pick with Major Hoy. Not serious, but this poll seems inconsistent with the other ones. In other polls we could only pick DC versions of a character--yet here we can go outside DC. Also, I wonder if Phantom Girl should count as a Phantom “Lady.” But then we get into a whole question of how many other Phantom characters fit under that umbrella--Phantom Stranger?

I’m not sure when I first read about Phantom Lady--maybe in ALL COLOR FOR A DIME or the STERANKO HISTORY OF COMICS Volume 2. But our public library had SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT and I borrowed that book at around the same time as ALL IN COLOR A DIME. However, I didn’t read all of Wertham’s prose back then (not a real page turner, although now I have my own copy and I have read the whole thing). I spent more time looking at the pictures and I do remember that the library copy had a lot of pages torn out--so I think it was missing some of Matt Baker’s Phantom Lady art.