Blonde Phantom Comics #18

The Last Man!

From his childhood Ignatius Fowler focused on his studies of nuclear physics, becoming an outcast in society for which he had not interest in. By the time he was an known as the greatest scientific mind of his time. One night, the lab he was working in was invaded by some crooks seeking to steal supplies of Radium and Uranium, setting off the alarms. The gang then tried to threaten Fowler into revealing the location of the nuclear materials when suddenly they are attacked by the Blonde Phantom. As the Blonde Phantom deals with the gang, Ignatius suddenly falls in love with her and after the police pick up the crooks he proposes marriage to her.

The Blonde Phantom cannot help herself but to laugh about it and politely turns him down, feeling badly for having laughed at him after she leaves. Ignatius however is furious and begins planning a scheme that he hopes will force the Blonde Phantom to marry him. He begins developing a formula that will make him the last man in the world.

Weeks later, the Blonde Phantom, in her alter-ego of Louise Grant is working at the office of her employer Mark Mason. As she pines over Mark never noticing her but always has time for the Blonde Phantom, a strange purple smoke enters the office. Louise is startled, but Mark brushes it off as a strange mist that is harmless. However, Mark Suddenly passes out and cannot wake up. Rushing to a nearby doctors office, Louise finds that the doctor has also fallen the same fate. Rushing outside for help she finds that men all over the city have also been stricken in the same way and changes into the Blonde Phantom and rushes to the police station to investigate what the cause might be. There she finds that the police have also been stricken as well. As she goes outside there is a sudden radio broadcast from Ignatius Fowler, who explains that he has unleashed a chemical that have made all the men on Earth go into an eternal sleep. He tells the women of the world that he will not free them until the Blonde Phantom promises to marry him and tells the women of the world to bring the heroine to him.

An army of women soon surround Blonde Phantom and force her to Fowler's lab. There he demands that she marry him. The Phantom feigns sudden interest and plays on his pride by asking him to show her how he managed to unleash his mister of sleep on the world. He shows them the chemical vats he made the mist, including the antidote and the motorized hot air balloons he used to unleash the mist. He explains that it does not take much of the antidote to cure the world of the affliction. With this information, Blonde Phantom smashes open the vat of the antidote and collects some in a vial. Ignatius orders the women to capture her again. Blonde Phantom manages to flee into a nearby hanger that Ignatius stored his blimps. There as the women try to break down the door, the Phantom places the antidotes into the blimps and unleashes them.

When Fowler and the women place a bomb at the door, but it is too late as the antidote has been released. An army of men led by Mark Mason arrive and defuse the bomb and break down the door, freeing the Blonde Phantom. Later as he reads the newspaper about Fowler being sent to an asylum, Mark remarks about what a man will do for love. Louise, smitten by Mark agrees while dumping a bottle of ink on her dress.

Continuity Notes

• Blonde Phantom

• Mark Mason

Terror of the Tattler!

Miss Warren has come to the office of famed gossip columnist the Tattler to plead to him to give her more time to pay his ransom demands to keep the contents of letters he found to not be published in his column. However, the Tattler is not interested in hearing excuses and informs her that the letters will be published in the next morning’s papers. Miss Warren leaves, with only one idea in her mind to avoid the embarrassment.

Later as the Sub-Mariner and Namora swim near shore they come across the drowned body of Miss Warren. They pull her body to shore and find a note saying that she committed suicide to avoid the embarrassment from the information that the Tattler was going to publisher. Reading this angers the Sub-Mariner who believes that the Tattler is practically guilty of murder and both decide to pay him a visit. At that time two notes from the Tattler are sent out: One to wealthy industrialist Enoch Packert and a crime chieftain calling himself the Gorgon, threatening to reveal their secrets if his price is not met. While Packert goes out to deal with the ransom demand, the Gorgon gets one of his men to eliminate the Tattler.

At the office of the Tattler, the Sub-Mariner and Namora confront the Tattler and accuse him of being responsible for Miss Warren's death. The Tattler brushes it off, telling them that they cannot arrest him for Warren's suicide and tells them to beware as he might dig up some embarrassing things out of their pasts. As the Tattler leaves his building he just narrowly avoids a drive-by shooting by one of the Grogon's men. Namor and Namora rush out of the building and easily subdue the shooters. With the Gorgon and his men rounded up, the Tattler threatens to expose all the truth about his operations and see that he gets the electric chair. Namor then warns the Tattler to change his gossiping ways before the cause him real trouble.

Later, the Tattler meets with Enoch Packert and demands a hundred thousand dollars to keep the truth about how Packert spent time in prison for forgery in 1926. This conversation is overheard by Enoch's daughter who seeks out the aid of the Sub-Mariner and Namora to help keep her fathers secret from becoming public knowledge. They agree to help and go to the cemetery where Enoch and the Tattler agreed to meet. There, the Sub-Mariner and Namora accuse the Tattler of blackmail and fight off his goons. But before they can apprehend the Tattler, he tells them that he has larned that David Haring -- a man Namor got arrested and convicted for being a member of a smugglers ring -- that was revealed as an innocent dupe had committed suicide over Namor's false suspicion. This apparently strikes deep at the Sub-Mariner, who is horrified by this and allows the Tattler to escape and seemingly gives up his crime fighting career.

Later, Enoch gets another letter from the Tattler demanding payment and he calls Namora for help. She agrees to help him with a plan to catch the Tattler at his own game. When Enoch meets with the Tattler and his men, Enoch turns over a letter that tells that he has learned that the Tattler is really "Con-Man" Chris. Before the Tattler and his men can rough Enoch up, Namora arrives and she is joined by the Sub-Mariner, answering a call from Namora saying there was going to be trouble. With the Tattler knocked out, Namora presents to him David Harding who is alive and well and thanks to the Sub-Mariner's public apology, cleared his name.

After turning the Tattler over to the police and burning all his notes on others, the Sub-Mariner and Namora return to the sea.

Continuity Notes

• Sub-Mariner

• Namora

Murder in Print!

One evening in Times Squad, Gordon Henderson, a writer for ghastly Detective Magazine picks up the latest edition that has his story published inside. Two hours later, a man holds up a jewellery store, shooting the clerk in cold blood. Overhearing the shots are Mark Mason and Louise Grant who are walking home from the office. Going to the scene of the crime, Mark takes a statement from the female clerk. While Mark is distracted, Louise finds a copy of Ghastly Detective Magazine on the floor and abruptly leaves to examine it.

As the Blonde Phantom, Louise reads the magazine and discovers that the crime that was committed in the jewellery shop was exactly the same as a story depicted in the magazine and wonders if some crook is copying what he reads in the magazine. She pays a visit to Gordon, the writer who finds it hard to believe that someone might be copying crimes detailed in his stories. None the less, even though he is certain his publisher Graham Rudolph will be upset, he turns over all his stories to the Blonde Phantom and she decides to go and pay him a visit.

She arrives at the Rudolph house and meets Graham's daughter who tells her that her father would find the story fantastic, as -- in his opinion -- Gordon was not good at anything, and that is why she won't marry him. However, the Blonde Phantom convinces the daughter to let her see Rudolph. However when she enters his office she screams for help. Rushing in she catches a masked man going through the files. When she tries to stop him he knocks her out with a single punch. When she comes around she finds Miss Rudolph is okay, and finds another magazine left behind at the crime scene. When Graham Rudolph enters the room to see if his daughter is okay, the Blonde Phantom calls Mark Mason and asks him to come over to the Rudolph place immediately. She tells them that Mark will be on his way and if anyone can solve the mystery he can do it, meanwhile she is going to read the magazine left behind be the killer.

Later when Katherine Rudolph has gone to sleep, the Blonde Phantom goes up to her room and catches the killer just before he can plunge a knife into the girls chest and knocks him out with a single punch. She then unmasks the killer, who is revealed to be Gordon. After the police take Gordon away, the Blonde PHantom explains that Gordon suffered from a split personality. His sane personality wrote his crime stories, while his insane personality then committed them.

The next morning at his office, Mark Mason tells Louise about the adventure she missed the night before, and Louise -- knowing full well what happened -- pretends to be disappointed that she always misses the adventures of the Blonde Phantom.

Continuity Notes

• Blonde Phantom

• Mark Mason