The Phantom Eagle!

What a neat character. Phantom Eagle was one of the earliest comics I've ever chanced across when a mere tot. The story in Marvel Super-Heroes #16 by Gary Friedrich featuring the scrumptious artwork by Herb Trimpe really appealed to me. The story's absolute merits have diminished somewhat through the decades as adult critical judgment comes into play, but I still think the Trimpe art, especially those planes holds up magnificently. His attention to detail in this story is exceptionally keen. Airplane stories are hard to tell and keep the storytelling effective in a comic, but Trimpe does it very well in the Phantom Eagle's single outing.



The character popped up a few more times over the decades. Trimpe brought him back in the Hulk for a one-off adventure and later the Eagle appears in Ghost Rider. But that was about all she wrote (literally) for the hero who does get a nod in the Invaders as a member of the Freedom's Five, a WWI precursor to the Invaders themselves.


Then Phantom Eagle got dusted off a few years ago by Howie Chaykin and given a limited series. This isn't the charming Phantom Eagle I loved as a kid, this is a pretty wretched young man in a world far more brutal than the kid-friendly war pictured in the old Marvel comics. Men die horribly and for no good damn reason in this series, and Phantom Eagle is far from a hero. He's a self-centered buffoon for most of the story, but he does grow as tragedy strikes again and again. It's a decent WWI story, but it's not really a Phantom Eagle story. I'm afraid only Herb Trimpe and Gary Friedrich can tell those, and together they only told one.


I got to meet Trimpe and Friedrich a few years ago at Mid-Ohio Con, and they were both nice fellows. I went wanting specifically to thank Trimpe for decades of great work and I took my copy of Marvel Super-Heroes #16 to get it signed. Trimpe and Friedrich had adjoining booths and when he saw the comic, Trimpe shouted to Friedrich to take a gander a book I suspect they don't see a lot. I now have a precious copy with both signatures. I also took advantage to commission Trimpe to draw a portrait of Phantom Eagle for me. It's a great treasure and occupies a place of honor in the non-virtual dojo.

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