Phantom Stranger Issue?

[joe_collector]

Okay, I bought few DCs in my childhood, but I remember (with fondness) an issue of Phantom Stranger that I either bought, or received as a "back issue gift". Here's what I remember:

 

First story started with a panel of PS fighting with a large tentacle, and I believe concerned a lady who was to marry a mysterious sailor or ghost pirate of some sort.

 

Another was a reprint of that alchemy guy (Mark Merlin?) who would carry various potions and artifacts in a suitcase. There was some treasure that had to be claimed by a relative, and it turned out the guy wasn't actually a relative at all!!

 

Is this the issue:

 

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=24928

 

And if so, anyone know what the Stopover story was about?

[Zonker]

I think you got the right issue, JC. I just got PS 18 out, and while I forgot to check on the Mark Merlin story, the Phantom Stranger story does have an interior shot, like the cover, that has PS fighting a tentacled sea monster. It's not the splash page however.

 

I also glanced over "Stopover," and it's a mess: you'd probably remember reading it if this is the issue: It is a Dr. 13 story. Dr. 13 was a man of science who made it his business to debunk supernatural phenomena-- early on in the series, they would have stories pitting Dr. 13 against PS, as 13 was trying to prove PS was a fraud. Most of the solo Dr. 13 stories I recall were played straight-- at the end Dr. 13 exposes some fake occult or supernatural fraud. Well, in "Stopover" a seance occurs, and green men appear as if by magic. But Dr. 13 is too smart for them, as it turns out the green men are not supernatural beings at all, but-- TA-DA!-- spacemen come to take away Earth's atmosphere to turn the planet into an intergalactic refueling station or some-such. No sir, nothing supernatural here, rationality wins again.

 

By the way, here's a fan site that indexes the PS series, with 1-line plot synopses, in case this turns out not to be the issue you remember.

[joe_collector]

Thanks for the info, and that Stopover story sounds familiar.

[sterlingcomics]

good info Zonker. I haven't yet read the Phantom Stranger series. Does anyone know the first appearance of Dr. 13? My first exposure with him was in the later issues of Ghosts, except that time he was constantly bucking heads with the Spectre.

[Zonker]

Dr. Thirteen "Ghostbreaker" goes back equally as far as Phantom Stranger, i.e. the early 1950s. I'm pretty sure it is the same character as listed in Overstreet as first appearing in Star-Spangled Comics 122.

 

Oh, and the 1970s Phantom Stranger series is highly recommended. Great early Jim Aparo art, and classic covers by Adams, Aparo, Luis Dominguez, among others. Heck, any DC series that Joe_Collector likes is worth a serious look!

 

Phantom Stranger Bronze Age Cover Gallery