Phantasmo
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Phantasmo, Master of the World is a fictional
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
who appeared in
Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...
' ''
The Funnies ''The Funnies'' was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing (Dell Comics), the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book. ''The Funnies'' (1929–1930) In 1929, George ...
'' from 1940 to 1942, during the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was Dell Comics' first original superhero feature, and was created by
E.C. Stoner Elmer Cecil Stoner (October 20, 1897 – December 16, 1969) was an American comics artist and commercial illustrator. Stoner was one of the first African-American comic book artists, and is believed to have created the iconic Mr. Peanut masco ...
, the first known
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
comic book artist. The character, introduced in ''The Funnies'' issue #45 (July 1940) as "the world's greatest magician," is an American adventurer named Phil Anson, who traveled to
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
and learned the secrets of body and spirit from the High Lamas. Returning to America, he takes up residence in a posh hotel in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he enlists bellhop Whizzer McGee to be his partner. Anson can separate his mind from his body, and in spectral form he can accomplish almost anything — fly through the air, turn invisible, grow to enormous size, and push with tremendous force. Phantasmo's only weakness is that while he's in ethereal form, his body is motionless and vulnerable to attack, so he relies on Whizzer to guard his physical form. The character was the cover star on ''The Funnies'' through issue #58 (Aug 1941), and made his last appearance in issue #63 (March 1942). It has been noted that, clad in nothing but golden shorts, boots and a transparent cape, Phantasmo often appears to be nearly naked during his adventures.


History

The cover of ''The Funnies'' #45 (July 1940) heralds, "Introducing Phantasmo, Master of the World". Phantasmo is seen on the cover as a giant figure, barely dressed in shorts and a transparent cape, grasping a crumbling city building as a crowd of tiny onlookers flees from the area. A profile of Stoner in ''
Alter Ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...
'' says, "His Phantasmo covers often showed the awesomely powered hero as a giant, perhaps owing something to Bernard Baily's contemporary ''
Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...
'' covers at DC. The over-sized hero motif appeared on many of his covers throughout his career." The scene, which does not appear in the comic itself, establishes the unparalleled might of the new hero. The comic's origin story skips over the main character's earthbound, mortal existence, and takes the reader directly to "the top of the world's highest mountain", where Phantasmo bids farewell to the High Lama who's been teaching him magical secrets for twenty-five years. "Thou hast learned all mastery of body and mind, Phantasmo," the Lama says. "Wield thy power well!" Many of the era's superheroes, including Phantasmo, Captain Marvel and Green Lantern, were given explicitly magical origins like this, drawing on themes from
pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
s. In fact, three other heroes introduced that year — the Flame, Amazing-Man and
the Green Lama The Green Lama is a fictional pulp magazine hero of the 1940s, created by American author Kendell Foster Crossen. He is commonly portrayed as a powerful Buddhist Lama, dressing in green robes with a red scarf and using his powerful skill set t ...
— also gained their powers from the apparently magical region of Tibet. Phantasmo flies under his own steam back to America, where he appears hovering above a New York City street. Aware that he's causing a scene, he turns invisible, takes a suit from a clothing store, and disguises himself as human. He checks into a fancy hotel as Phil Anson — and when the bellhop brings him to his room, he gives the boy fifty dollars and asks if he can keep a secret. Separating his spirit from his body, the hero towers over the boy and explains, "I am Phantasmo, master of space. I can fly on the wings of thought! I can grow small or huge! I can put the
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
on my shoulder and walk with it to the bottom of the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
! But I need your help, Whizzer, to keep my physical body safe when I am away from it — understand?" Whizzer says that he does. Then they're abruptly interrupted by noises coming from a nearby room, where a professor is being held by a group of spies who are trying to steal his invention that can turn salt water into engine fuel. From then on, Whizzer stays close to his friend, who can use his extra-sensory vision to spot trouble anywhere in the world, and may have to leave his earthly form at any moment. In some cases, Anson collapses in full view of the public, leaving Whizzer to explain his sudden loss of consciousness to onlookers. For the next year and a half, Phantasmo and Whizzer face a variety of different challenges. In one story, Phantasmo stops a gang of criminals who are planning to blow up a dam and flood New York City; in another, he might fight a forest fire, or stop a gang of pirates who are smuggling jewels. One critic complains that "his fantastic powers ereall too often squandered on mundane crimes like cattle-rustling and counterfeiting, though in one story the Master of the World saved said world from a doomsday meteor in spectacular fashion." Towards the end of the series, Phantasmo, feeling that he could help his country more if he "had some way to get on the inside of what's happening", adopted the identity of murdered FBI filing clerk Ted Bart who he happened to resemble, with Whizzer following along as an office errand boy. Phantasmo was the sole cover feature on ''The Funnies'' from his first appearance in #45 (July 1940) until issue #56 (June 1941). He shared the cover of issue #57 with radio adventure hero
Captain Midnight ''Captain Midnight'' (later rebranded on television as ''Jet Jackson, Flying Commando'') is a United States, U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. The character's popularity throughout the 1940s and into ...
, who was featured in a new comic book adaptation. In issue #58, Phantasmo was pushed to the secondary feature, with his last story appearing in issue #63 (March 1942). Over the next two issues, the book was relaunched as a
talking animal A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal ...
comic called ''
New Funnies ''The Funnies'' was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing (Dell Comics), the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book. ''The Funnies'' (1929–1930) In 1929, Geor ...
''. The first six Phantasmo stories were also reprinted in black-and-white in an issue of Dell's ''Large Feature Comic'' #18 (1941), a full-length comics series with each issue devoted to a single character.


Costume

In the 2016 anthology ''Super Weird Heroes: Outrageous But Real!'', editor
Craig Yoe Craig Yoe (born February 23, 1951) is an author, editor, art director, graphic designer, cartoonist and comics historian, best known for his Yoe! Studio creations and his line of Yoe! Books. Early life Craig Yoe was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He ...
introduces a story featuring "the almost naked Phantasmo, with plenty of suggestive poses and phallic symbols galore!" In a 2018 newspaper article about the series' second volume, Yoe said, "The Super Weird Heroes weren’t afraid to show a little skin, even a lot! Or not even be shy about being totally naked like Phantasmo in the first volume of ''Super Weird Heroes''. We were originally going to have Phantasmo on the cover of the first book, but decided he might not fly in Peoria. So weird-in-his-own-way Nature Boy was our main cover boy. But, Phantasmo was between the covers fighting criminal types in his birthday suit." On the cover of issue #47, the coloring makes it appear as if Phantasmo isn't wearing his shorts as he destroys a warplane, and on issue #48, it appears as if Phantasmo's bare buttocks are on display as he swims effortlessly past a battleship.


See also

* Another character named Phantasmo was seen in DC Comics' '' Young All-Stars'' in 1989, as part of a group called the Young Allies.


References

{{Golden Age of Comic Books Golden Age superheroes Dell Comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1940