STEELE

PHOENIX (vo. 1) #4 (October, 1975). Cover by Al Milgrom.

The first issue of Phoenix...The Protector, and the last!

As was typical for books from Marvel-wannabe publisher Atlas/Seaboard, by the third issue there was usually a big change in creative teams and/or status quo for the characters. This book had them both.

The superhero previously known as Phoenix (an astronaut who gained superpowers by wearing a suit stolen from evil aliens) meets different aliens in this issue. If memory serves (my copy of this book is buried somewhere in my storage unit), the aliens not only give Phoenix a totally different costume - with a different set of powers (weaker than he originally had; again if memory serves) - but they shave his head and change his face; essentially turning him into a completely different person.

I gotta say though, I did like his new costume. It was more superhero-y, although I don't know that he needed those underarm wings (it seemed every hero in the '70s was getting those). His original costume looked like an off-the-rack track suit with New Balance sneakers:

PHOENIX (vol. 1) #1 (January, 1975). Cover by Dick Giordano and Sal Amendola.

I don't know why Atlas didn't just start a different book starring a new hero, unless their editorial staff knew that the company's end was near (it would go out of business not long after this book was released) and figured it wasn't worth the effort. Which begs the question: why make the radical changes at all then?

Or Worse