Phantom Eagle

Phantom Eagle (Fawcett Comics)
Wow Comics #6 (July 1942). Phantom Eagle at right. Artist unknown.
Publication information
Publisher	Fawcett Comics
First appearance	Wow Comics #6 (July 1942
Created by	Unknown
In-story information
Alter ego	Mickey Malone
Abilities	Skilled aviator Good hand to hand combatant

Phantom Eagle (Marvel Comics)
Marvel Super-Heroes #16. Art by Herb Trimpe.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Super-Heroes #16 (Sept. 1968)
Created by	Gary Friedrich (writer) Herb Trimpe (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Karl Kaufman
Team affiliations	Freedom's Five
Abilities	Ace World War I pilot Good hand to hand combatant

Phantom Eagle is the name used by two fictional aviator heroes appearing in American comic books.

The first character to use the name was teenaged Mickey Malone, a young aviator who appeared in the 1940s in Fawcett Comics publications depicting contemporaneous World War II adventures. The second and better-known character, created in the 1960s by Marvel Comics, was Karl Kaufman, the American son of German parents, who became a masked World War I ace.

The first Phantom Eagle was introduced by uncredited creators in Fawcett Comics' Wow Comics #6 (cover-dated July 1942), during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Following his debut, the Phantom Eagle appeared in every issue of Wow Comics, and by the final issue, #69 (Aug. 1948) was a sidekick to Commando Yank. His primary writer-artist was Marc Swayze.

The Phantom Eagle was teenager Mickey Malone, who, though forbidden by superior officer Sergeant Flog at his military airbase in Great Britain, was determined to fight the World War II Axis powers. Donning an aviator-styled costume and building his own airplane, he takes the name Phantom Eagle and becomes a secret ace. He later forms the Phoenix Squadron, a group of fellow teen pilots. During the post-war period, Malone formed a charter airline and searched for the Golden Chalice, a lost artifact upon which is inscribed the "Formula for Peace".

The second Phantom Eagle was an unrelated World War I hero created by writer Gary Friedrich and artist Herb Trimpe in Marvel Super-Heroes #16 (Sept. 1968). As Trimpe described, Marvel production manager John Verpoorten "had been a classmate at SVA. When I got out of the Air Force in October 1966, he worked in the production department at Marvel. He said they were hiring freelance people, and I should come up to the office and show my work to Sol Brodsky, who was Stan [Lee]'s right-hand man at the time. I said, 'Okay'. Later, while I was in the photostat department, I did the Phantom Eagle freelance, the first book I penciled. I think".