Forged in war, The Phantom Detective wages a one-man battle on crime! Solving impossible mysteries and delivering his own justice, he is the underworld’s masked nightmare!

 

The Phantom hurls body and brain into a maelstrom of death-laden mystery when evil forces smash a city’s peace and establish a grim reign of terror! A criminal master brain weaves a sinister mesh of death baited to catch human flies — and challenges the might of law!

 

Although similar to other masked men featured in Pulp Magazines, The Phantom Detective can actually be credited with at least two influences on later characters, both those to follow in pulps and one in particular to come to life in comic books.

 

Because he wore a mask and was so skilled at the art of disguise, Richard Curtis Van Loan had to come up with a way to identify himself to law enforcement officials as the actual Phantom Detective. To this end, he fashioned a platinum badge in the shape of a domino mask. This concept of leaving a calling card would be found in innumerable heroes to follow in unique ways, including The Spider.

 

Another even more influential invention on the future of a certain caped crusader came in the form of a red beacon that Frank Havens, the only person to know the Phantom Detective’s true identity, had installed on the roof of his newspaper building. This was used whenever the Clarion’s owner needed to summon The Phantom from somewhere else in the city. Obviously, this is very similar to the signal used to summon Batman in comics in later years, but the connection between the two is not mere supposition. Jack Schiff and Mort Weisinger both edited The Phantom Detective under the leadership of Leo Margulies before moving on to editing in a different format and a different character-Batman in comics books.

 

The Web Of Murder was originally published in the February 1939 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: Hush Before Storm

Chapter 2: Fourteen Minutes of Death

Chapter 3: Witness to Murder

Chapter 4: Rat-Face

Chapter 5: The Red Nosed Souse

Chapter 6: The Panhandler

Chapter 7: Madeleine Dennison’s Folly

Chapter 8: The Missing Witness

Chapter 9: The Murderer

Chapter 10: A Fresh Lead

Chapter 11: High Finance...

Chapter 12: and High Dive

Chapter 13: Syracuse? Fannie Davis?

Chapter 14: The Verdict

Chapter 15: The Silent Bullet

Chapter 16: Blood-Flecked Lips

Chapter 17: On Vickers’ Trail

Chapter 18: The Voice of the Master

Chapter 19: The Snatchers

Chapter 20: Between Three Fires

Chapter 21: In Again, Out Again

Chapter 22: The Scent Grows Hot

Chapter 23: Trapped!

Chapter 24: The Fires of Justice