Artist Arianne de Lima recently shared a commissioned pinup of the 1950s comic book villain Black Phantom.
Black Phantom first appeared in Magazine Enterprises western series Tim Holt #25 back in 1951 by Frank Bolle.
In her debut issue she is described as “black as the night itself with a laugh on her lips and a greedy clutch to her fingers.”
She’s “as deadly a shot as Annie Oakley as daring as Butch Cassidy with his Wild Bunch.”
She was an outlaw who led a gang that robbed stagecoaches as well as trains looting wherever she went.
In her debut issue it’s revealed that she has a twin sister who is dating man named Chito. Unfortunately, for Chito he doesn’t know his girlfriend has a twin sister and tries to put the moves on Black Phantom. It doesn’t work and he’s captured and taken to a well where Black Phantom’s gang dumps him.
Fortunately for Chito, the hero Redmask shows up and rescues him. However, things don’t end well for Black Phantom. She flees Redmask and decides to leap off a cliff rather than be taken in by the hero.
However, that would not be the end of Black Phantom. She would abandon her outlaw ways and actually team up with Redmask to take down her former gang.
She would eventually be deputized and work with Redmask to keep Bullett safe.
The character would undergo a little bit of a redesign in a miniseries from AC Comics that also picked up from Black Phantom’s origin story when she jumped off the cliff and showed how Redmask helped reform her.
Take a look at their new design.
Artist Arianne de Lima shared her healthy pinup of the western outlaw turned deputy to her Instagram that is definitely inspired by the AC Comics design of the character.
Take a look.
What do you make of this pinup of Black Phantom by Arianne de Lima?