| Fantomah | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Fantomah |
|
First Appearance |
Jungle Comics #2 (Feb. 1940) |
|
Original Publisher |
Fiction House |
|
Created by |
Fletcher Hanks |
The transformation of Fantomah.
Origin[]
Fantomah, the "Mystery Woman of the Jungle," is a mysterious goddess-like being who protects the jungles of Africa. She has vast magical power, to the point of being practically omnipotent, and can transform herself into a frightening blue phantom/skeleton creature as well as a floating skull with blonde hair. Like her fellow Fletcher Hanks creation, Stardust, Fantomah often used her vast magical powers to sentence her enemies to bizarre and brutal punishments. For instance, in Jungle Comics #7 she transforms a band of greedy diamond miners who oppressed the natives into one man, then sends that man to an "unfound world" to be enslaved by hideous green fanged monsters, then sent into a pit of cobras, and then absorbed into a wall by a giant hand. Besides greedy treasure hunters and slavers she wreaked her brutal vengeance on such bizarre foes as Org, who controlled giant spiders with a hypnotic drum, and Professor Zomax, who wanted revenge on nature after being successively attacked by a lion, an elephant, gnats, a snake, and a gorilla.
Fantomah with her companions, Ken and Fury
Later writers and artists who lacked Fletcher Hanks's uniquely grotesque imagination portrayed Fantomah as an ordinary human adventurer. Initially she was a conventional "jungle girl" character along the lines of Sheena or Tiger Girl, although she retained more limited mystical powers, which often seemed to come forth from prayers to other animal and nature deities rather than her own ability. During this period, she often intervened in disputes between feuding tribes within the jungle, corrupt authority figures, or greedy criminals from the western world. She also rescues a pet panther named Fury, and a young orphan boy, Ken, who briefly travelled alongside as her sidekick.
Fantomah as the "Daughter of the Pharoahs"
In still later stories she rediscovers her forgotten past that she is "Fantomah, Daughter of the Pharoahs," the queen of the lost civilization of Khefra, descended from the ancient Egyptians. Along with her pet black panther named Fury, she abandons Ken and the jungle to rule her kingdom. In this incarnation her enemies often involved the very barbaric jungle "savages" she once protected or treacherous members of her own court seeking to steal her throne, including Ghazia, "priestess of the vulture-headed goddess," who commanded an army of mummies, and Sheri, the Arab adventuress.
Public Domain Appearances[]
- Jungle Comics #2-51
Notes[]
- Fantomah was one of the earliest powered, female heroes in comic books, following the debut of the Magician from Mars the year prior.
See Also[]
English[]
- Toonopedia
- Free Universe
- A Fletcher Hanks Fantomah story
- A post-Fletcher Hanks Fantomah story
- Fantomah: the first super heroine?
- ComicVine