The Australian Woman's Mirror Phantom Comics (1938-40)
(Henry Kenneth Prior Publishers)
 #1 |
 #2 |
 #3 |
 #4 |
 #5 |
Thanks to Colin Williams, David Budds, and Dietmar Lederwasch for covers
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
Thanks to Colin Williams, David Budds, and Dietmar Lederwasch for covers
The first Phantom comic published by the Woman's Mirror ran for 100 pages and sold for sixpence. The artwork in this volume was later used by Frew for their 1988 "complete" reprint of The Singh Brotherhood (#918A). It included all the Woman's Mirror's original modifications to the dialogue and, for this reason, it is interesting to compare it with the more recent reprint (#1128), which is definitely complete. A second Woman's Mirror comic book appeared in November 1938, and a third in June 1939, but as Australia had still not recovered from the Depression, these editions were reduced to 68 pages, while still selling for sixpence. These two comics featured the first Australian appearance of Little Tommy (D4) and The Shark's Nest (D7), which had been skipped in the regular magazine. The Woman's Mirror published two more Phantom comics in April and then September 1940 (still 68 pages for sixpence). Issue #5 finished with the first 12 weeks of The Seahorse, and the last strip in the comic (13 April 1940) was followed by these comments from the publisher:
If she is unable to prove her innocence she may even be sentenced to death under war-time laws against Fifth Columnists. Will she escape?
And THE PHANTOM ... Alone on board the BARON's yacht he apparently intends to secure evidence of DIANA's innocence and bring DANTON to justice. How will he do it?
THE PHANTOM's adventures appear every week in THE AUSTRALIAN WOMAN'S MIRROR, price 3d. Buy it TODAY.
DIANA PALMER is certainly in a tough spot. BARON DANTON has provided very black evidence against her and, with her mother and uncle, she is in prison awaiting trial on a charge of spying.
The rest of the story could be read in the weekly pages of the Woman's Mirror, but the strips were never to be compiled again into a single volume by this publisher -- edition #5 was the last. The world was then at war, paper supplies were restricted and publishers began scrounging for any quality of supply they could find.
A complete list of the stories contained in each of the five Woman's Mirror Phantom Comics is shown below:
| Issue | Date | Pages | Noted Story Title | Official Story Title | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 1938 | 100 | none given | The Singh Brotherhood The Sky Band The Diamond Hunters | D1 D2 D3 (4 pages) |
| 2 | Nov 1938 | 68 | War in the Jungle From Luntok to London Diana's Wedding | The Diamond Hunters Little Tommy The Prisoner of the Himalayas | D3 (from start) D4 D5 (3 pages) |
| 3 | Jun 1939 | 68 | The Rajah of Barogar The Pirate Baron The Pirate Baron Back to the Jungle | The Prisoner of the Himalayas Adventure in Algiers The Shark's Nest Fishers of Pearls | D5 (from start) D6 D7 D8 (4 pages) |
| 4 | Apr 1940 | 68 | Jungle Justice Diana & the Slavers A Lapse of Memory | Fishers of Pearls The Slave Traders The Mysterious Girl | D8 (from start) D9 D10 (17 pages) |
| 5 | Sep 1940 | 68 | A Lapse of Memory The Golden Circle Diana & the Fifth Column | The Mysterious Girl The Golden Circle The Seahorse | D10 (cont'd from #4) D11 D12 (18 pages) |
Thanks to Barry Stubbersfield for his list of stories in The Australian Woman's Mirror Phantom Comics
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