Thoughts on the first story:

I really really enjoyed this one. One of my biggest qualms with Golden Age heroes is how rugged and unflappable they always have to be. But since Phantom Lady is female, she is allowed (by 1940s standards) to be unsure of herself and full of conflict. It makes for a far more engaging story, especially as the whole thing begins with a spell of depression to which she can attribute no cause, and only becoming Phantom Lady cures it. Both the uncertainty in herself and the backdrop of Washington politics makes this feel a bit like the Huntress Feature that ran in Batman Family three decades later. I wonder if Phantom Lady was an inspiration for that.

I also enjoy the art. Very dynamic poses, unconventional page layouts, and good coloring. Really, the only flaw in this story was the absurdity of the premise, but when a book opens with a terrified hero wielding a flame thrower to hold off a legion of the undead, I'm hooked no matter what you write.

Commenting for a friend...

It sort of seemed like Fox was playing it both ways, at least in this issue. She is hyper-sexualized, but also a complex and sympathetic hero, which I'd imagine played best to women and girls. I especially appreciate that she isn't relegated to only fighting girl villains like she's stuck in some lightweight division of heroism. She is taking out men and zombies, fighting to protect the very nation. A very positive female symbol wrapped in a very negative female symbol.

Also, felt like recommending Stars and Stripes Comics #5 (November 1941, Centaur Comics) if you’re looking for more public domain heroes to read through: comicbookplus.com/?dlid=40344

Not all of the stories have origin recaps, so I might as well briefly tell some of the more interesting ones here:

Amazing-Man - an orphaned child who was chosen by a Tibetan Council of Seven to be trained to both mental and physical perfection

Dr. Synthe - an enormous energy-based alien from another planet

Iron Skull - a cyborg who fights in an alternate timeline where World War II lasted into the 1950s

The Shark - the son of Father Neptune who lived in an undersea kingdom

More here: internationalhero.co.uk/c/centaur.htm

Outside of Baker's art, most of it struck me as typical pulp storytelling, lots of emphasis of the female figure, lot of women in peril shots, lots of grisly death threats etc.

The Tropical Topics page is both racist and full of BS. The world it describes was mostly in the middle ages and/or well before the publication of the book.

There is one line in this that I recall being quoted either in Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics or one of Ron Goulart's histories: "America comes first...even before Dad!"



I had the AC Comics reprint book of Phantom Lady stories and their Senorita Rio reprint and the latter struck me as more entertaining. Baker's art helps this a lot; but, I wouldn't want a steady diet of this stuff, compared by Crimebuster or The Spirit or the Marvel Family. For a female lead, I'd still go with Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel for consistently entertaining stories, then probably Senorita Rio and Black Cat. I never really read the jungle comics, so I can't speak to Sheena or any of the other ladies in leopardskins.

This is my first time reading Pogo. It's something I've been meaning to get to for a long time now, mostly because of Cei-U!'s persistent praise of the work, but I suspect that this is the wrong entry-point for the series. I absolutely see how this work is better suited to a newspaper strip than a comic book feature, as the primary impression it gives off is endearing innocence. I know later stories will include some witty political commentary and even some surprisingly deep insights into life and living, but right now, the primary appeal is a return to innocence with a loveable cast of child-like anthropomorphic characters with whom I'd like to live. The plot is forgettable; the characters are not. I think I'd enjoy waking up to meet these guys at the breakfast table each morning, getting a small daily dose of that world each day, far more than pulling them from the spinner rack for a bi monthly drawn-out storyline.

I personally grew up on Bloom County, and now I see the source material, clear as day. Yeah, I'm more encouraged than ever to seek out this series, even if I wasn't wowed by this particular story.