Phantom Eagle
Encyclopedia
Phantom Eagle is the name used by three fictional
comic book
aviator
heroes. The first was introduced during the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comic books
by Fawcett Comics
. The other two have appeared sporadically in various series published by Marvel Comics
.
#6 (July 1942). Following his debut, the Golden Age Phantom Eagle appeared in every issue of Wow through the final issue, #69 (Aug. 1948). His primary writer
-artist
was Marc Swayze
.
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".
hero created by writer Gary Friedrich
and artist Herb Trimpe
in Marvel Super-Heroes
#16 (Sept. 1968). As Trimpe described, Marvel production manger 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".
Trimpe in 2002 described the character's creation:
The character has made few appearances beyond his debut. The first was a time travel
story in The Incredible Hulk #135 (Jan. 1971). Next came a flashback
appearance in Ghost Rider
#12 (June 1975), in which the Phantom Eagle, as the cover proclaimed, was a real phantom. The Invaders #7 (July 1976) retconned the character as a member of the Freedom's Five, a newly created World War I team of costumed adventurers never subsequently seen. The Phantom Eagle also appeared for two panels in Thor Corps
#3 (Nov. 1993), when the antagonist briefly alters reality.
Ghost Rider #50 (Nov. 1980) contains a page of pinup art by Trimpe that one historian speculates may have been an unused cover of issue #12.
, Wisconsin
, whose German
parents had returned to their native country. Kaufman had become an expert stunt-pilot and co-owner of a flying circus, by 1917, when the United States
entered World War I
, and 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
as a U.S. Army Air Corps test pilot. In his first mission as Phantom Eagle, he successfully led a U.S. fighter squadron against an experimental dirigible aircraft carrier with which German forces attempted to invade New York; however, he witnessed the death of his best friend, Rex Griffin, as a result. At one point the time-traveling dictator Kang the Conqueror
sent the simpleminded brute the Hulk
back to 1917 in an effort to secure a victory for Germany, by preventing the Phantom Eagle from destroying a key German super-weapon. Another time, a brief altering of reality saw the Phantom Eagle's biplane
pursued by modern jet fighters.
The Phantom Eagle went on to join the 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.
Kaufman and his parents were later killed together near the end of the war by German pilot Hermann von Reitberger, who strafed both the Phantom Eagle and the two civilians with his machine guns as they fled from Germany into Alsace, France. Swearing vengeance, the Phantom Eagle's spirit haunted and hunted von Reitberger through the years until, after a chance, modern-day encounter with the original Ghost Rider
, he battled the aged German in aerial combat. With von Reitberger's death, Kaufman's vengeful spirit was allowed to pass on.
#59 (Feb. 2002) revealed another Phantom Eagle existing in the Marvel Universe
's Counter-Earth
, located on the far side of the sun. He is the counterpart to our Earth's Lloyd Bloch
, a.k.a. Nefarius, and lost his Moonstone to Karla Sofen
, a.k.a. Moonstone, when the reformed-supervillain team the Thunderbolts
were stranded on Counter-Earth.
and penciller-inker Howard Chaykin
produced an alternate-reality
version of the character in a World War I
-set miniseries, War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle
#1-5 (May-Sept. 2008), published under Marvel's mature-audience MAX
imprint
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
heroes. The first was introduced during the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comic books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
by Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
. The other two have appeared sporadically in various series published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.
Fawcett Comics
Publication history
The first Phantom Eagle was introduced by uncredited creators in Fawcett Comics' Wow ComicsWow Comics
Wow Comics was a monthly ongoing comic book anthology series, which was published by Fawcett Comics from winter 1940 to March 1952. From issue #9 to #58, the book's cover features were the solo adventures of Fawcett's Mary Marvel character...
#6 (July 1942). Following his debut, the Golden Age Phantom Eagle appeared in every issue of Wow through the final issue, #69 (Aug. 1948). His primary writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
-artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
was Marc Swayze
Marc Swayze
Marc Swayze was an American comic book artist from 1941-53 for Fawcett Publications.He is best known for his work on Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family during the Golden Age of comic books for Fawcett Comics, and is the co-creator of Mary Marvel with writer Otto Binder...
.
Fictional character biography
The Phantom Eagle was teenager Mickey Malone, who, though forbidden by superior officer Sergeant Flogg at his militaryMilitary
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
airbase
Airbase
An airbase is a military airfield that provides basing and support of military aircraft....
in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, was determined to fight the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
. Donning an aviator-styled costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
and building his own airplane
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
, 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".
Marvel Comics
Publication history
The second Phantom Eagle was an unrelated World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
hero created by writer Gary Friedrich
Gary Friedrich
Gary Friedrich . is an American comic book writer best known for his Silver Age stories for Marvel Comics' Sgt...
and artist Herb Trimpe
Herb Trimpe
Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe (b. May 26, 1939, is an American comic book artist and occasional writer, best known for his work on The Incredible Hulk and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolverine, who later became a breakout...
in Marvel Super-Heroes
Marvel Super-Heroes (comics)
Marvel Super-Heroes is the name of several comic book series and specials published by Marvel Comics.-Marvel Super-Heroes Special:The first was the one-shot Marvel Super-Heroes Special #1 , reprinting Daredevil #1 and The Avengers #2 Marvel Super-Heroes is the name of several comic book series and...
#16 (Sept. 1968). As Trimpe described, Marvel production manger John Verpoorten
John Verpoorten
John Verpoorten was a comic book artist and editorial worker best known as Marvel Comics' production manager during the latter part of the Silver Age of Comic Books and afterward, during a seminal period of Marvel's expansion from a small publishing concern to a multinational popular culture...
"had been a classmate at SVA
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
. When I got out of the Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
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
Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations and vice president, special projects...
, who was Stan [Lee]'s
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
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".
Trimpe in 2002 described the character's creation:
The character has made few appearances beyond his debut. The first was a time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
story in The Incredible Hulk #135 (Jan. 1971). Next came a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
appearance in Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (comics)
Ghost Rider is the name of several fictional supernatural antiheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Night Rider and subsequently to Phantom Rider.The first supernatural Ghost Rider is...
#12 (June 1975), in which the Phantom Eagle, as the cover proclaimed, was a real phantom. The Invaders #7 (July 1976) retconned the character as a member of the Freedom's Five, a newly created World War I team of costumed adventurers never subsequently seen. The Phantom Eagle also appeared for two panels in Thor Corps
Thor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
#3 (Nov. 1993), when the antagonist briefly alters reality.
Ghost Rider #50 (Nov. 1980) contains a page of pinup art by Trimpe that one historian speculates may have been an unused cover of issue #12.
Fictional character biography
In 1914, Karl Kaufman was a skilled American pilot from OshkoshOshkosh, Wisconsin
As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, whose German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
parents had returned to their native country. Kaufman had become an expert stunt-pilot and co-owner of a flying circus, by 1917, when the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
entered World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and desired to fight the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
. 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
Allies
In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...
as a U.S. Army Air Corps test pilot. In his first mission as Phantom Eagle, he successfully led a U.S. fighter squadron against an experimental dirigible aircraft carrier with which German forces attempted to invade New York; however, he witnessed the death of his best friend, Rex Griffin, as a result. At one point the time-traveling dictator Kang the Conqueror
Kang the Conqueror
Kang the Conqueror is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in Avengers #8 , and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby...
sent the simpleminded brute the Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
back to 1917 in an effort to secure a victory for Germany, by preventing the Phantom Eagle from destroying a key German super-weapon. Another time, a brief altering of reality saw the Phantom Eagle's biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
pursued by modern jet fighters.
The Phantom Eagle went on to join the 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.
Kaufman and his parents were later killed together near the end of the war by German pilot Hermann von Reitberger, who strafed both the Phantom Eagle and the two civilians with his machine guns as they fled from Germany into Alsace, France. Swearing vengeance, the Phantom Eagle's spirit haunted and hunted von Reitberger through the years until, after a chance, modern-day encounter with the original Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze)
Ghost Rider is a fictional character, an antihero in the Marvel Comics Universe. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following the Western hero later known as the Phantom Rider, and preceding Daniel Ketch.Johnny Blaze was portrayed both in the 2007 film Ghost Rider and...
, he battled the aged German in aerial combat. With von Reitberger's death, Kaufman's vengeful spirit was allowed to pass on.
Powers and abilities
The Phantom Eagle was a normal man with no superhuman powers. He possessed good hand-to-hand fighting skills, and was an expert stunt-flyer and combat pilot. He customized his own World War I vintage biplane.Counter-Earth Phantom Eagle
ThunderboltsThunderbolts (comics)
The Thunderbolts are a Marvel Comics superhero team, which consists mostly of former supervillains. The group first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 , and was created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley.-Publication history:...
#59 (Feb. 2002) revealed another Phantom Eagle existing in the Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
's Counter-Earth
Counter-Earth (comics)
In the fictional Marvel Universe, there have been three versions of the hypothetical planet known as Counter-Earth, each one a near-duplicate of Earth.-Publication history:...
, located on the far side of the sun. He is the counterpart to our Earth's Lloyd Bloch
Nefarius
Nefarius , previously known as Moonstone, is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in Captain America #169 and was created by Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich and Sal Buscema....
, a.k.a. Nefarius, and lost his Moonstone to Karla Sofen
Moonstone (comics)
Moonstone is a fictional character, both a supervillain and superheroine in Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe.-Publication history:...
, a.k.a. Moonstone, when the reformed-supervillain team the Thunderbolts
Thunderbolts (comics)
The Thunderbolts are a Marvel Comics superhero team, which consists mostly of former supervillains. The group first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 , and was created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley.-Publication history:...
were stranded on Counter-Earth.
MAX
Writer Garth EnnisGarth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
and penciller-inker Howard Chaykin
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin is an American comic book writer and artist famous for his innovative storytelling and sometimes controversial material...
produced an alternate-reality
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
version of the character in a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
-set miniseries, War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle
War is Hell (comics)
War Is Hell was a horror/war comic book series from Marvel Comics in 1973-1975. For its first six issues, it featured reprints of old war comics, followed by two issues of reprints of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos...
#1-5 (May-Sept. 2008), published under Marvel's mature-audience MAX
MAX (comics)
MAX is an imprint of Marvel Comics aimed at a niche 'adults only' audience, launched in 2001 after Marvel broke with the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system...
imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
.
External links
- Nevins, JessJess NevinsJohn J. Nevins, MA/MS, is an American author and librarian, born 30 July 1966 and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of the World Fantasy Award-nominated Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana , and other works on Victoriana and pulp fiction...
. Jess Nevins' The Golden Age Heroes Directory - The Captain Marvel's (sic) Homepage: Phantom Eagle Bio
- Marvel Directory: Phantom Eagle
- Nevins, Jess. A Guide to Marvel's Pre-FF #1 Heroes: Phantom Eagle and Freedom's Five