Weeks before the introduction of Louise Grant and her alter ego the Blonde Phantom, Millie Collins assumed a different Blonde Phantom identity
The Blonde Phantom was one of Marvel’s most popular female superheroes of the Golden Age. The character debuted in All Select Comics #11, cover-dated Fall 1946, and that series was retitled Blonde Phantom Comics beginning with the next issue. She made around 40 appearances across seven titles between late 1946 and early 1949, and had stories in multiple different titles on the newsstands in most months during that period. As explained in her debut story, the Blonde Phantom was Louise Grant, the secretary to OSS agent Mark Mason. Unbeknownst to Mason, his secretary often transformed into the domino-masked Blonde Phantom to assist him on his missions. This doesn’t exactly speak well of Mason’s skills as a spy, but we’ll ignore that for now, because All Select Comics #11 was not the first time that someone calling themselves the Blonde Phantom had appeared in a Marvel comic book.
All Select Comics #11 hit the newsstands around September 26, 1946, according to copyright data. On July 8 of that year, Millie the Model #2 had Millie Collins assuming the identity of a different masked Blonde Phantom for an advertising gig. As explained in that issue in a story drawn by artist Ken Bald, Millie Collins becomes a model for the General Cosmetics Company on assignment from the Hanover Model Agency. General Cosmetics wants Millie to assume the secret identity of the Blonde Phantom to promote their new perfume brand of that name in advertising and personal appearances.
While there’s no direct connection between the two characters, it’s hard to imagine that Stan Lee (or Al Sulman, as the case may be) and Syd Shores were not inspired to pick up that name from a one-off story in a Marvel release just a few weeks earlier when it came time to launch the “real” Blonde Phantom. It’s essentially a Golden Age instance of the kind of Marvel prototype issue that is so popular among Silver Age comic book collectors. There’s a copy of Millie the Model #2 (Marvel, 1946) Condition: VG- up for auction in the in the 2023 April 20 Timeless Good Girl Art Comics Featuring Dan DeCarlo Showcase Auction #40221 at Heritage Auctions.
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