Phantom Lady

by Matt Baker

Book by Baker, Matt

Genres: Comic Book

64 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

About the author

Clarence Matthew Baker was an American comic book artist best known for drawing early comics heroines such as the costumed crimefighter Phantom Lady, and romance comics. Active in the 1940s and 1950s Golden Age of comic books, he is the first known African-American artist to find success in the comic-book industry. He also penciled an early form of graphic novel, St. John Publications' digest-sized "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust (1950).

Baker was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.

Reviews

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

All due respect to Ruth Roche (aka “Gregory Page”), but I didn’t pick these up for the stories — I was looking for more of Matt Baker’s brilliant “good girl” art.

Unfortunately, while the back cover promises a “fully restored volume of favorite Phantom Lady strips,” the reproduction in this book is absolutely terrible. The colors are hideously oversaturated and far too dark, and the line work and lettering is rough and scratchy. Some of the copy is blurry, and there are what look like moire patterns from what I presume are badly executed scans. Many of the pages look like they were literally printed off on an inkjet printer. Whoever was in charge of the art direction had no idea what they were doing (“Catalyst Productions” is credited with art restoration and “Peg” with production). I’m guessing that they either found scans of these issues online or scanned them poorly from the original issues, and then dicked around in Photoshop until they thought it looked good on a screen — which is VERY different than print. A completely amateurish production from start to finish.

I didn’t think that ugly Matt Baker artwork was a thing that could possibly exist, but Glenn Danzig found a way. I know Danzig is a knowledgeable and passionate comics fan, but this is just plain disrespectful to Baker’s memory and legacy.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phantom Lady war in den 40er Jahren eine der ersten weiblichen Superheldinnen des Golden Age. Nicht nur der Slogan "Day or night, wherever crime may strike, she is there. Phantom Lady, beautiful and deadly" erinnert ein wenig an Green Lantern, sondern auch ihre (Schwarzlicht-)Lampe, die mich an den Spruch "Schwarzes Licht macht helle Räume dunkel" erinnert.
Die Stories sind nach heutigen Maßstäben zwar nicht wirklich überzeugend, aber die Good Girl-Art von Matt Baker ist durchgehend überraschend stark und gefällt mir besser als viele andere Zeichnungen aus der Ära. Die Seiten sind ungewöhnlich innovativ gestaltet und die Panels "charmant".
Obwohl der Band preiswert ist, ist die Wiedergabe der Zeichnungen erstaunlich gut.