The Phantom Stranger #13 - June 1971

The Phantom Stranger reveals a terrible secret locked from inside a grave!

A goofily creepy cover by Neal Adams, I love the commercial guts it took to have The Phantom Stranger on it in this fashion. You didn't see a lot of Superman or Batman covers like this.

Inside, the story starts this way:

...Aparo draws the creepiest kids!

After the professor's body is found, an emergency meeting of the project's international scientists is called, and the stern Prof. Heinrich declares himself in charge. The rest of the board decides to wait until after the funeral to pick a new leader.

After the funeral (which the Stranger attends), another meeting is held, and Heinrich is passed over, in favor of someone else. He threatens to show them why he should be in charge. Uh-oh...

A week later, the same kid--Freddy--does the whole "bang bang" thing with the new project's leader, ending with the same result:

What's going on here?!?

Meanwhile, outside:

(...Prof. Henrich later got a job on Fox News)

The remaining scientists sedate Heinrich, since he keeps babbling about a mysteriously cloaked Stranger haunting him.

Later, Freddy does his thing with Dr. Clair, who, for once, doesn't fall over dead. We're making progress!

Another professor--Freddy's father--is put in charge, and, late at night, Freddy appears again, but luckily for Dr. Forsythe, the Stranger is there to intervene!

The Stranger says he is Phillip Strong, a professor's assistant here to help out the project. Forsythe buys this, and calms Freddy down and puts him back to bed.

Later, Forsythe is alone, holding Freddy's toy gun. He starts to think...

He then heads outside, where he sees Freddy running into the rocky cliffs outside. He confronts Freddy:

Freddy, suddenly not a child, tells the story of his people, who lives eons ago. A small band of them who managed to outlive the great Ice Age took them deep into the Earth, far from the warmth of the sun:

Over the centuries, some of them developed bizarre ocular powers, having the ability to kill just by looking at someone!

When their underground lair is threatened by atomic testing, the group who had this killer ability were sent out to the surface world, to infiltrate every atomic bomb project, with the goal of killing everyone in charge of it!

Why, sure, that makes total sen....what?!?

As if that wasn't enough, we find out that the kid-friendly Dr. Clair is actually Tala, who learned of this plot and wanted to help it along! The Stranger doesn't have any time for Tala's nonsense, and he chases after "Freddy":

Needless to say, this story is completely insane. Writer Bob Kanigher works in more tonal changes in 17 pages than Paul McCartney did in an average Wings song. How Aparo made sense of all this, and found a way to make the story flow as well as it does, is further testament to his artistic abilities.

I mean, you've got this super-secret atomic project, the mysterious deaths, the angry Dr. Heinrich (who is a red herring), The Phantom Stranger, a kid with mysterious powers, a whole alternate race of homo sapiens, Tala, plus a little social message. Whew!

There is another Dr. Thirteen solo story, "The Devil's Timepiece", by Kanigher and Tony De Zuniga, but I bet most people were too exhausted from the main story to even to read it. I know I was.

The Phantom Stranger #12 - Apr. 1971

The Phantom Stranger becomes a sinister warning of divine justice!

After yet another super-spooky cover by Neal Adams, we open with millionaire Jason Phillips, just as he enters his castle home with his new bride. He is troubled to see a mysterious, cloaked man standing inside, pointing at him!

His wife sees no one, but is troubled to see this when they enter the main dining room:

Years ago, Jason met a woman named Irina, whom he fell in love with, despite her fragile heart, insuring she would not live long.

Soon enough, Irina did die, and in her will she intends to leave her millions to charity, unless he takes Irinia with him, wherever he goes, in her custom-made sarcophagus(!). Jason tearfully agrees--and inherits her vast fortune.

The Phantom Stranger appears again, at their dinner, rattling Jason, but seemingly invisible to anyone else.

After the wedding party has ended, Jason makes his way downstairs, and:

The Phantom Stranger demands Jason look inside in the coffin, and he screams in terror! Jason then sees the coffin is locked...this whole thing has been a hallucination.

His new bride, Wanda, finds him downstairs, and tries to comfort him. It works for a moment, but then Jason sees Irina's ghostly image outside on the balcony!

He chases it, and there again is The Phantom Stranger, demanding that Jason "look inside his soul." Jason responds by punching the Stranger, who plummets off the balcony, only to disappear. Wanda thinks its Irina's coffin that is driving Jason mad.
The next day is no better:

Wanda has the coffin put into storage, but that doesn't stop Jason. He heads there, having to see if Irina is still in there. And guess who's waiting for him there?

Jason threatens to kill the Stranger with a handy ax, but he reminds Jason of the true story about how he and Irina met--yes, they fell in love, but Jason was not who he appeared to be.

When Irina's heart began to give out, and she asked Jason for her life-saving pills, this was his reaction:

Turns out Jason was lying to Irina all along, and just waiting for the moment for her to die!

Jason is infuriated that someone knows the truth, and he chases the Stranger outside with the ax, swinging wildly in the air. He's so crazed with anger he thinks the oncoming bright light is another one of the Stranger's tricks, but:

...spooky!
In addition, starting this issue, Dr. Thirteen got his own solo story, courtesy Jack Oleck and Tony De Zuniga:

This issue's PS story is great, creepy fun, and I'm glad that they didn't feel the need to shoehorn Dr. Thirteen into it, giving him another chance to harangue the Phantom Stranger. And for those Dr. Thirteen fans, he got a chance to shine as the main character of his own story.

This was the first real instance of the Stranger being a sort of symbol of divine justice, an approach that stuck to the character on and off for the next few decades.

The Phantom Stranger #7 - June 1970

Can The Phantom Stranger defeat...The Curse?

Behind a very spooky cover by Neal Adams, comes what many of us have been waiting for: the late, great Jim Aparo on The Phantom Stranger!

As we can see, our intrepid teenagers--Spartacus, Wild Rose, Attila, and Mister Square--are looking for Vulcan's Castle, but the local townsfolk seem less than approachable on the subject.

The kids unwisely head inside, where all the objects in the house--the rugs, the lamps, the furniture--begin to fly around the room!

They are told that the castle resides on a small island off the coast, so they (unwisely) climb aboard a boat and head there.

While on their way there, that mischievous succubus, Tala, shows up and tries once again to send them to their deaths!
Before we get further into the story, I just want to point something out that I haven't seen mentioned too much: Jim Aparo drew some of the most sultry, sexy women in comics.

Maybe it's me, but I find something creepily...alluring about how he draws Tala, especially in this panel (even with her crazy right leg). Again, maybe its me.

Anyway, the Stranger shows up, and helps rescue the kids, and gets their boat out of the water.

Right after disappearing, another stranger shows up, Professional Wet Blanket Dr. Thirteen!

After dismissing the Stranger's efforts (once again), he arrives at Vulcan's Castle with the kids, where they are met by its owner, a man who tells Thirteen that his daughter Vanessa is...cursed!

At that very moment, high atop the castle, Vanessa is standing on the ledge, and is seduced by Tala to jump!

The Stranger reappears to save her--still not earning any respect from Thirteen. Turns out "the Curse" was when Mr. Vulcan bought the castle from angry old Count Druga, who was forced to sell it because of bankruptcy. He was so angry over this turn of events that he cursed anyone who lived in the castle!

It's here that Dr. Thirteen takes it upon himself to tell a story about another "curse", a case he calls:

...it's not as much fun as it sounds.

It involves a cursed mine, but Thirteen learns that its all a scam designed to drive the mine into disuse.

The Phantom Stranger has a story of his own, called "Curse of the Sea Siren!", about two brothers. One of them, Frank, is left their father's fishing boat whe he dies. The younger, hothead brother, Bill, doesn't take the news well.

This leads to a fight, with Bill stealing the boat after knocking his brother into the water. As he is eaten by sharks(!) he curses the boat, the Sea Siren, and everyone who sails on it. After nearly crashing the boat, the ship's bow--which looks an awful lot like Tala--breaks off, and the curse is ended.

...as you can see, Thirteen is not impressed (on a side note: man, do I love this panel. Nice job, Mr. Aparo!)

The dazed Vanessa then tells the story of her curse: growing up, she was friends with a boy named Nicholas, who harbored a deep crush on her.

When they grew into adulthood, she fell in love with another man, which Nicholas reacted to, angrily. Soon, he died of a broken heart, and his dying words are a curse on Vanessa--any man who kisses her will die!
Indeed, this seems to come true, as man after man in Vanessa's life dies mysteriously and suddenly.

This whole sequence doesn't feature either the Stranger or Thirteen, and with Aparo's superb art, it works as a really well-told "gothic romance" type story:

Thirteen thinks the deaths are all a coincidence, but the Phantom Stranger has another alternate.

He takes them all to Nicholas' grave, where they dig him up(!). They look inside, and see...a corpse, as Thirteen snidely remarks.

But what kind of corpse sweats?, The Stranger points out. Turns out Nicholas has been under a hypnotic spell, brought on by Nicholas' father, who wanted to get revenge on Vulcan. Turns out the three deaths were caused by Nicholas, under the trance. But where did father get the power to create such a powerful spell?

You guessed it...Tara, who reveals as much to the Stranger, but in ghostly form so only he can hear it!

Meanwhile, Nicholas tries to shoot the Phantom Stranger, but steps too far towards the edge of a cliff, and he falls to his death.

Tala is delighted by all the misery she has caused, and flies off into the mist. The Phantom Stranger takes off after her, leaving Thirteen to wonder what just happened...


A fairly convoluted story, but Aparo brings it off beautifully. The pages drip with mood, and his rendering of the Phantom Stranger is a thing of beauty. Also, nice that writer Bob Kanigher pushes the "Scooby Gang" off the side, using them pretty much only at the beginning.

This issue was the first step towards a really great era of The Phantom Stranger.

The Phantom Stranger #5 - Feb. 1970

Tala is back!

This issue opens with the Phantom Stranger himself, telling us about the story we are about to learn--"The ghost of Earl Winthrop returning to atone for the untold pain and anguish he caused during his ruthless lifetime!" Sounds good to me!

The story is "The Devil's Playground", by Bob Kanigher (who also wrote last issue), with art this time by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson.

We open with a bunch of kids as they wander the beach at night. They are shocked to see a man coming out of the water, yelling "Wait...Wait for me!"

The kids help him out of the water, but soon after they see that he's...dead!

They leave him on the beach, and engage in some very "hep-cat" dialog--they sound like hippies, but they're dressed more like the Scooby gang.

Anyway, a man and his dog wander by, asking what the kids are doing. When they point to the body, they all see its...gone!

Meanwhile, back in the city, Dr. Thirteen and his wife Maria are watching the lightning as a storm moves in.

What they don't see, amid the lightning, is the figure of The Phantom Stranger! Following him is a dark cloud, out of which emerges...Tala!

We find the kids back at the concert they were splitsville from earlier (I love the overlapping word balloons in the first panel--a great, unusual touch). As you can see, Tala seems to be there, too, getting down:

Also there is Dr. Thirteen and Maria, as well as a couple in the middle of breaking up--Earl and Vera.

Earl is particularly cruel to Vera, calling her "an ugly little rag doll" (what a jerk!). Vera gets so upset she gets in her car and takes off.

But Vera is driving too fast, and she loses control of her car when she hits an oils slick and crashes off of a bridge into the water below. Luckily, The Phantom Stranger is there:

The Stranger rescues there, and brings her to the surface.

As the police take care of her, the Stranger, as he is wont to do, disappears into the mist.

Back at the nightclub (called "The Quiet Clam"!), Earl introduces himself to the group of kids from earlier. The girl recognizes him...as the man they found on the beach!

As they get up to dance, Tala makes her presence known, and starts causing all kinds of trouble--she blasts a chandelier so it crashes down onto the floor, which starts a fire.

Of course, the Stranger is there, and he puts the fire out. But not the one in Tala's loins:...I hear you, PS!

While everyone is outside, Earl generously offers the use of his beach house to the kids, and tells them he'll meet them there. Earl says he has to take a trip to Florida, but he'll meet them there later. Is he crazy?

Unfortunately, when the kids arrive there a few days later, they are told that Earl Winthrop died in a plane crash, and the body has not been found.

But since storm clouds are now threatening overhead, the kids come in anyway. Other friends arrive, and a would-be wake occurs.

We find the kids as they try to figure out what the heck is exactly going on? Is Earl dead--again?:

...normally, I wouldn't post this panel, because there's not much going on here. There's nothing exciting going on, and neither The Phantom Stranger or Tala (or even Dr. Thirteen) are in it.

But I'm posting it simply because I love this guy:

...that's such a great little caricature of a swingin' hep-cat. Mike Sekowsky had to have known a guy who looked like that in his real life. Had to.

Anyway, everyone is only mildly shocked to see that Earl has arrived, alive and well! Coated with globs of seaweed, but alive. He tells them that the police got it wrong--it was a different plane that crashed. The party resumes.

The local police arrive to say the storm is getting worse, everyone better leave the beach. Only he girl--Rose--stays behind, and she unwisely goes on a beach stroll with Earl!

While on the walk, he tells Rose that he did in fact die in that plane crash! As he floated in the water, a voice from above told him that he will get his life back for one day only, in a chance to redeem himself for all the cruelty he's showed toward others in his life.

He needed to find someone who would pity him, shed tears for him. He tried it on another woman at the party, but she only laughed at the idea of shedding a tear for the nasty Earl.

This causes Rose to tear up, which allows Earl to "move on" to the afterlife, and he wanders onto the water, and disappears into the mist.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, Tala shows up and attempts to throw Rose into the eye of the storm!

The Phantom Stranger arrives in the nick of time, using his powers to stop Tala from causing a massive tidal wave to crash onto the beach, killing Rose, her friends, and Dr. Thirteen, who have just arrived.

Thirteen is of course not impressed, saying its all a fake (two words: broken record). The Stranger scoffs at this, and disappears again...the end.


One swingin' hilly-dilly of a story. But the Stranger and Tala are merely ancillary to it, so I wonder if this wasn't a horror story Kanigher had previously written and then found a way to insert The Phantom Stranger's cast of characters into it.

The Phantom Stranger #4 - Dec. 1969

Now we're getting somewhere!

With all due respect to the talents of Mike Friedrich and Bill Draut, I feel like the "true" Phantom Stranger starts here--first off, we have the debut of The Phantom Stranger's new, "mod" look, one that would last for decades.

Second, we have the first issue entirely illustrated by Neal Adams, which is always a plus, and this is the first issue of the new series that features an all-original story, courtesy Bob Kanigher.

Thankfully, someone at DC (editor Joe Orlando?) must have said "Enough with the shoe-horned reprints! What are we, Marvel in the 70s?" So we get a brand-new, slam-bang exciting Phantom Stranger adventure! Let's get to it!

As you can see, the story--"The Dead Don't Sleep Forever!"--starts off with a bang, with the creepy new visage of The Phantom Stranger warning us of the sinister tale to follow.

Dr. Thirteen (oh, him again?) and his wife Maria are in Haiti, where they watch as a throng of townfolk start chanting "Tala, Tala, Tala..."

Suddenly, at the top of the waterfall, a fellow tourist from the hotel appears, and jumps into the raging waters below!

Thirteen follows, but sees the man as he gets sucked into an underwater tunnel. He makes his way to the surface, just in time for all the townfolk's candles to be blown out by a powerful wind.

The next day, he has the authorities explode the tunnel, to prevent anyone from being trapped in there again. Spoilsport.

But Dr. Thirteen does not see that the explosion has freed someone--a noxious cloud that rises from the water, turning into the beautiful but sinister-looking Tala!

On the flight back home, the sunny day suddenly turns dark and ominous, and we see Tala sitting atop the airplane!

Then there's a thundercrack, and The Phantom Stranger appears, ready to do battle with the evil Tala!

As the plane makes its way to New York, all the lights and power in the city go out. Dr. Thirteen takes a gander outside the window, and doesn't like what he sees:

The pilots try the difficult maneuver of landing the plane safely in total darkness--luckily the Stranger is there, who fills himself with light. The pilot are then able to use him as a guide to know where to land.

Tala tells him "The battle has only just begun" and then turns into a wisp of smoke, disappearing into the sky. Suddenly, all the lights in New York come back on...

The next day, we see a group of teens as they head into a local junkyard, looking to sell its owner, a man named Shark-Tooth(!) some stuff to get some "bread." Shark-Tooth seems very ornery, and he throws them some cash as well as a book to raise the dead! Um, ok...

The kids wander into a deserted tenement, where they see a painting of a beautiful woman. What they don't notice is another painting, one of Tala. When one of the kids drops the book, breaking open its lock, Tala reaches out of the painting, and starts to turn its pages...

Later, the kids are reading a passage from the book, an incantation, which produces two giant gargoyles! Suddenly The Phantom Stranger appears, grabs a curtain rod, and turns it into a sword:

...that first one gets it right in the head! Ouch!

Soon, the gargoyles return to being piles of dust and plaster.

Tala then steps forth, out of the mirror, and plants a passionate kiss on the Phantom Stranger!

She tries to talk him into joining her, vowing to be the woman "man has dreamed of through the ages--Scheherazade, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy!"

The Phantom Stranger, thankfully, thinks with his head, not his medallion, and breaks off the kiss. Tala flings herself out of a window, promising "I also have teeth!"

Later, Dr. Thirteen shows up (The Phantom Stranger gets a great dig in when he does--"Still chasing answers with a slide rule, Dr. Thirteen?"), and tells the kids this is all fakery.

Thirteen also tells them this house was owned by a millionaire, Reed Jones. The painting is of his girlfriend, Linda Phillips, who mysteriously disappeared in 1869.

The group is startled by a loud moan, and the Stranger--using a laser beam radiating from his hand--cuts open a small chunk of wall, revealing...an aged Linda Phillips!

She tells them that, back in 1869, she told Reed she had fallen in love with another man. Reed didn't take too well to this, so he did the next logical thing--buried Linda in a wall!

And there she stayed, as they both got older. Finally Reed died, and the house remained untouched for years.

The house then begins to shake and rumble. They all make their way out, to see Tala on the roof, waving her arms and laughing.

As the dust settles, Linda finally passes away, in the Stranger's arms:

The Stranger and Thirteen bury the woman. Just as Thirteen tries to get the Stranger to admit this is all a hoax, perpetrated between him and Tala, the Stranger disappears...but the flowers he left on Linda's grave remain.


A really solid issue, creepy and weird, and of course the perfect tale for Neal Adams to pull off. The panel above is a great example of that--moody and dynamic, with great colors. With this issue, The Phantom Stranger was kicked up a notch, or two.

(This issue's story must have run a little short, because it also features a three page, non-PS ghost story, "Out of This World", by Kanigher and Murphy Anderson, which was also all new)