Editing Phantom Lady (section)

==Character origin and early publication history==
[[File:Phantom Lady panel.jpg|left|thumb|Panel from [[Quality Comics]]' ''Police Comics'', depicting Phantom Lady's black ray gun]]

===Quality Comics===
Phantom Lady first appeared in [[Quality Comics|Quality]]'s ''[[Police Comics]]'' #1 (August 1941), an anthology title which also included the debut of characters such as [[Plastic Man]] and the [[Human Bomb]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cowsill |first1=Alan |last2=Irvine |first2=Alex |last3=Korte |first3=Steve |last4=Manning |first4=Matt |last5=Wiacek |first5=Win |last6=Wilson |first6=Sven |title=The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe |date=2016 |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn=978-1-4654-5357-0 |page=231}}</ref> That issue established her [[alter ego]] as Sandra Knight, the daughter of [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] Henry Knight.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benton |first1=Mike |title=Superhero Comics of the Golden Age: The Illustrated History |date=1992 |publisher=Taylor Publishing Company |location=Dallas |isbn=0-87833-808-X |url=https://archive.org/details/superherocomicso0000bent/page/118 |access-date=April 1, 2020 |pages=119–121}}</ref> The issue established that it was not her first appearance as the Phantom Lady, but it did not go into her origin. Stories published decades later by [[DC Comics]] would give her a proper origin, which was altered several times to give Sandra a more active role. Her skimpy costume was eventually explained as a deliberate tactic to distract her usually male foes.

Sandra Knight assumed the identity of Phantom Lady in a costume consisting of a green cape and the equivalent of a one-piece yellow [[swimsuit]]. She used a "black light projector", a device which allowed her to blind her enemies and make herself invisible. She drove a car whose headlights also projected black light when necessary. She was sometimes assisted by her fiance, Donald Borden, an agent of the U.S. State Department.

According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "she fights the cowgirl Ace of Spades, the arsonist Fire Fiend, the Killer Clown, the Robbing Robot, the woman-killer the Subway Slayer, and the cloud-seeding saboteur the Vulture".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nevins |first1=Jess |title=Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes |date=2013 |publisher=High Rock Press |isbn=978-1-61318-023-5 |page=206}}</ref>

Phantom Lady ran as one of the features in ''Police Comics'' through #23. [[Arthur Peddy]] continued as the artist through #13, with [[Joe Kubert]] drawing her feature in ''Police Comics'' #14-16; [[Frank Borth]] in #17-21; Peddy again in #22; and Rudy Palais in #23. Phantom Lady also appeared in ''[[Feature Comics]]'' #69-71 as part of a [[fictional crossover|crossover]] with [[Spider Widow]] and the Raven.

===Fox Feature Syndicate and Star Publications===
After Quality stopped publishing the adventures of Phantom Lady, what was now simply Iger Studios believed it owned the character and [[assignment (law)|assigned]] it to [[Fox Feature Syndicate]], a move that would later cause confusion as to who actually owned the character's [[copyright]]. The Fox version which premiered in ''Phantom Lady'' #13 (taking over the numbering of ''Wotalife Comics'')<ref>As new periodical titles were subject to an expensive registration fee by the postal service to receive a second class mail permit, Golden Age comic book publishers frequently continued the numbering of old titles on new ones, hence ''Phantom Lady'' "continuing" from the completely unrelated ''Wotalife''.</ref> is better known to contemporary comic fans than the Quality version because of the "[[good girl art]]" of [[Matt Baker (artist)|Matt Baker]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mougin |first1=Lou |title=Secondary Superheroes of Golden Age Comics |date=2020 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=9781476638607|pages=52–54}}</ref> Baker altered her costume by changing the colors to red and blue, substantially revealing her cleavage, and adding high-cut loose shorts. Fox published ''Phantom Lady'' only through issue 23 (April 1949), though the character guest starred in ''All-Top Comics'' #8-17, also with art by Baker. Her rogue's gallery in these two Fox titles included the Avenging Skulls; the Fire Fiend; the Killer Clown; Kurtz, the Robbing Robot; the Subway Slayer and Vulture.

[[File:Phantom Lady 17.jpg|thumb|''Phantom Lady'' #17 (April 1948), [[Fox Feature Syndicate]], cover art by [[Matt Baker (artist)|Matt Baker]]]]
Baker's cover for ''Phantom Lady'' #17 (April 1948) was reproduced in ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'', the 1954 book by Dr. [[Fredric Wertham]] denouncing what he saw as the morally corrupting effect of comics on children. The cover, which illustrated Phantom Lady attempting to escape from ropes, was presented by Wertham with a caption that read, "sexual stimulation by combining 'headlights' with the sadist's dream of tying up a woman".<ref>Wertham, Fredric. ''Seduction of the Innocent''. Rinehart and Company, Inc., 1954. Picture insert</ref> In the meantime, Fox went under and its assets were acquired by other publishers, and a Phantom Lady story from ''All-Top'' was then reprinted as a backup feature in ''Jungle Thrills'' by [[Star Publications]], which then itself went out of business.

===Ajax-Farrell Publications===
[[Ajax-Farrell Publications]] then published four issues of the second ''Phantom Lady'' title, [[cover date]]d Dec. 1954/Jan. 1955 through June 1955. The company also published her as a backup feature in two issues of ''[[Wonder Boy (comics)|Wonder Boy]]''.

[[File:Phantom Lady 2.jpg|thumb|left|''Phantom Lady'' (vol. 2) #2 (March 1955), Ajax-Farrell Publications]]
By then, Wertham's efforts had led to a Congressional investigation into the comics industry, and publishers formed the self-censoring [[Comics Code Authority]] in the fall of 1954. Some changes were consequently made to the Phantom Lady's costume, so that her cleavage was covered and shorts replaced her skirt.

===Charlton Comics and I.W. Publications===
Farrell's assets were later acquired by [[Charlton Comics]], and, until DC relaunched the character in the 1970s, Phantom Lady's only appearances were in reprinted Matt Baker stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Israel Waldman's [[I.W. Publications]] (later Super Comics), a company that published unauthorized reprints from 1958 to 1964, included Phantom Lady reprints in issues of ''Great Action Comics'' and ''Daring Adventures''. These comics featured new cover images of Phantom Lady that bore little visual consistency either to the Fox version of the character or each other (e.g., the character was blonde on one cover, brunette with a brown costume on another).