Three words from the lips of a dying victim start the Phantom Detective on a grim crime hunt that disrupts a city! The world’s greatest sleuth circles the edge of death when he probes an evil murder ring!
With the end of his magazine in 1953, The Phantom Detective seemed to drop out of circulation literally and out of the minds of fans. Although reprints and new stories have brought the character new attention, his longest lasting impact actually comes from two conventions within his twenty year run of stories. The only person to know The Phantom Detective’s true identity was Frank Havens. Keeper of this knowledge since the first story, Havens, as publisher of the city’s newspaper, often assisted The Phantom Detective with his cases, even acting as the one requesting his unique help, often at the behest of law enforcement. To summon the masked man, Havens had a red light installed atop the Clarion Building, one that would shine when the Phantom Detective was needed. This is definitely a precursor and most likely the inspiration for a much more famous signal that debuted in comics years later. It isn’t really a leap to connect Batman’s Bat Signal to the Phantom’s Clarion beacon. Two of the editors in the early days of Batman actually cut their teeth editing The Phantom Detective.
Another impact, one that was more immediate on some of his Pulp counterparts, like The Spider, was the fact that The Phantom Detective carried a calling card of sorts as an identifier. To prove he was in fact the real Phantom Detective, he would show a badge of platinum fashioned into the shape of a domino mask.
‘The Tall Tomb’ was originally published in the Winter 1950 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: Blood Stains
Chapter 2: Identification
Chapter 3: Jeweled Badge
Chapter 4: Three Important Men
Chapter 5: Murder and Near Murder
Chapter 6: A Scream in the Night
Chapter 7: Mistaken Identity
Chapter 8: The Unmounted
Chapter 9: Shooting Affair
Chapter 10: Private Eye
Chapter 11: Vanished Men
Chapter 12: Story of Alonzo
Chapter 13: Kidnapped
Chapter 14: Nameless Terror
Chapter 15: Walk Into My Trap
Chapter 16: Hand of Murder
Chapter 17: Graveyard Detail
Chapter 18: Gun at His Back
Chapter 19: The Crypt
Chapter 20: Revelations
Chapter 21: Price of Crime
