The Phantom Detective battles to halt a wave of sudden death and tragedy when railroads are the targets of sinister crime! Follow Richard Curtis Van Loan as he fights to stem grim slaughter and sabotage!
Even though directly inspired by The Shadow, not just character wise but simply because he was created to compete with Street and Smith’s powerhouse, The Phantom Detective stood out from his mysterious predecessor in significant ways. Richard Curtis Van Loan was a man with a history, much like Lamont Cranston, but Van Loan’s was much more straightforward. A veteran of the Great War, Van Loan found himself without a sense of purpose and stumbled, in a way, into being The Phantom Detective due to that. None of the mystery or assumed mysticism that filled Cranston’s confusing history is found in the Phantom Detective’s background. Also, The Phantom Detective had his assistants in many ways, just as The Shadow did, but the sense of why the supporting characters helped him out was more pure, more straightforward. Unlike The Shadow who often utilized agents that owed him something or felt indebted to him, The Phantom Detective’s cast simply helped because they believed in his mission. Frank Havens, the publisher of The Clarion, is in fact the reason The Phantom Detective ever came into existence at all, within the canon of the stories. Seeing his friend Van Loan at loose ends after the war, Havens suggests that he take on an apparently unsolvable crime. When he proves successful, Van Loan decides he should take a more active hand in crimefighting and the Phantom, as he’s known in the actual stories, is born.
Doom on Schedule was originally published in the February 1946 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Rails of Death
Chapter 2: Light In The Night
Chapter 3: The Phantom’s Case
Chapter 4: Ax Man
Chapter 5: New York Call
Chapter 6: Brown Eyes
Chapter 7: Voice Silenced
Chapter 8: Metal Disk
Chapter 9: Steve’s Lead
Chapter 10: Geared for Glamour
Chapter 11: Garrity
Chapter 12: Stacked Cards
Chapter 13: Wreckers
Chapter 14: Set Signals
Chapter 15: Frenchy’s Visitor
Chapter 16: Final Plans
Chapter 17: Super-Killer
Chapter 18: “Good Work, Phantom!”
