Phantom Eagle

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Phantom Eagle is the name used by at least two comic book aviator characters: one introduced during the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comic books by the now-defunct Fawcett Comics. The other was introduced in 1960s by Marvel Comics. It should be noted that the Fawcett Comics version lapsed into public domain before the company's assets were purchased by DC Comics.

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[edit] Fawcett Comics

Wow Comics #6 (July 1942). Phantom Eagle at right. Artist unknown.
Wow Comics #6 (July 1942). Phantom Eagle at right. Artist unknown.

The first Phantom Eagle was introduced by uncredited creators in Fawcett Comics' Wow Comics #6 (July 1942). This was teenager Mickey Malone, who, though forbidden by superior officer Sergeant Flogg at his military airbase in Great Britain, was determined to fight the World War II Axis powers. Donning an aviator-styled costume and building his own airplane, he takes the name Phantom Eagle and becomes a secret ace. He later forms the Phoenix Squadron, a group of fellow teen pilots. During the post-war period, Malone formed a charter airline and searched for the Golden Chalice, a lost artifact upon which is inscribed the "Formula for Peace".

Following his debut, the Golden Age Phantom Eagle appeared in every issue of Wow through the final issue, #69 (August 1948). His primary writer-artist was Marc Swayze.

[edit] Marvel Comics

Phantom Eagle (Marvel Comics)


The Phantom Eagle's debut. Art by Herb Trimpe.
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Marvel Super-Heroes #16 (Sept. 1968)
Created by Gary Friedrich & Herb Trimpe
Characteristics
Alter ego Karl Kaufman
Affiliations Freedom's Five
Abilities None: Ace World War I pilot

The second Phantom Eagle was an unrelated character created by writer Gary Friedrich and artist Herb Trimpe in Marvel Super-Heroes #16 (September 1968).

In 1914, three years before the United States entered World War I, Karl Kaufman, a skilled American pilot from Oshkosh, Wisconsin — whose German parents had returned to their native country — desired to fight the Central Powers. Concealing his identity so as not to risk reprisals against his parents, he devised a stylized aviator uniform with darkened goggles and a cape, and joined the European conflict to become an ace on the side of the Allies.

In retcon appearances, the Phantom Eagle was shown to have joined the WWI team of costumed adventurers known as Freedom's Five. Consisting of himself (the sole American), the Crimson Cavalier, the Silver Squire, Sir Steel, and Union Jack, the group was introduced in a cameo appearance in The Invaders Vol. 1, #7 (July 1976), by writer Roy Thomas and artist Frank Robbins.

Not a particularly successful Marvel character, the Phantom Eagle as of 2005 has made only two contemporary appearances beyond his debut. The first, a time travel story in The Incredible Hulk #175 (Jan. 1971), saw Kang the Conqueror send the Hulk to WWI in an effort to secure a victory for Germany, by preventing the Phantom Eagle from destroying a key German weapon.

His other appearance was in Ghost Rider Vol. 1, #12 (June 1975), in which the Phantom Eagle, as the cover proclaimed, was a real phantom. A flashback revealed Kaufman and his parents had been killed together in Germany near the end of the war by German pilot Hermann von Reitberger, who strafed both the Phantom Eagle and the two civilians. Swearing vengeance, the Phantom Eagle haunted and hunted von Reitberger through the years until, after a chance encounter with the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, he battled the aged German in a dogfight. With von Reitberger's death, Kaufman's vengeful spirit was allowed to pass on.

Ghost Rider Vol. 1, #50 (Nov. 1980) contained a page of pinup art by Trimpe that one historian speculates [1] may have been an unused cover of issue #12.

[edit] The Counter-Earth Phantom Eagle

Another Phantom Eagle was revealed to exist in the Marvel Universe's Counter-Earth. He was the counterpart to Lloyd Bloch, a.k.a. Nefarius, and lost his Moonstone to Karla Sofen, a.k.a. Moonstone, when the Thunderbolts were stranded at that planet.

[edit] Quotes

Herb Trimpe [2]: "John Verpoorten had been a classmate at SVA. When I got out of the Air Force in October 1966, he worked in the production department at Marvel. He said they were hiring freelance people, and I should come up to the office and show my work to Sol Brodsky, who was Stan [Lee]'s right-hand man at the time. I said, 'Okay'. Later, while I was in the photostat department, I did the Phantom Eagle freelance, the first book I penciled. I think."

[edit] References

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