Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Amazing Heroes Retroverse - PHANTOM LADY!

Amazing Heroes Series 7 - Phantom Lady (BBTS) - Fresh Monkey Fiction 2022

Phantom Lady first appeared in the August 1941 issue of Police Comics #1, published by Quality Comics and created by Arthur Peddy. (She was a regular feature for 23 Issues). Her original costume was a yellow and green design that resembles her current DC Comics incarnation today. Over the years, her clothing got skimpier and skimpier and by the time Fox Feature Syndicate gave her a solo title in 1947, she was a notorious example of Good Girl art (and it was also her solo title which changed her color palette to red and blue). She was a focal point of the comic censorship campaign on the 1950's. One of her covers (#17) was famously touted as "a sadist's dream" (in that horribly annoying book that people are still quoting 70 years later). Phantom Lady was a gadget-based vigilante who used "black light" technology to blind her opponents and render her invisible. Of all the female heroes in this Retroverse wave, she easily has had the greatest comics legacy. Let's check out Phantom Lady below!




In 2021, BigBadToyStore and Fresh Monkey Fiction unveiled this exclusive Amazing Heroes Retroverse Series 7 featuring ten female characters. These were the first females figures in this retro "Secret Wars" aesthetic and included some of the oldest female comic characters ever. In fact, for this series I had to create a new tag of "Era - Thirties." Previously my oldest figures were two Fleischer Lois Lane figures based in the 1940s era, so I love the history being represented here. Series 7 was a crowdfunding-type endeavor with a minimum number of BBTS pre-orders required before going into production. Luckily the collector community got on board.













Phantom Lady comes with her Black Light Ray Projector.


























Here are some solicit images of the customizable Blank Slate character. I did not purchase this, but I like including the images so you can see the construction and pieces developed for this exclusive wave.





I love an excuse to make an infographic. I just wanted to stress the time period at play here. Most of these Retroverse characters pre-date Wonder Woman and are clustered around that magical year, 1941. I don't know what societal factors were in play that year, but the sheer amount of new characters was impressive.



















Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!


Here are my eight Series 7 figures. From Left to Right: Phantom Lady, Black Cat, Lady SatanFantomahMiss Fury, BulletgirlMiss Masque, and Queen of the Jungle. (I did not buy the modern Cassie figure from Hack/Slash nor the customizable Blank Slate).






Cheers!




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