The Ghost
The Ghost, aka George Chance, was a magician trained in India who used his legerdemain
and mystic knowledge to enhance his detective work, convincing his nemeses that he was an
actual ghost. He first appeared in Jan 1940 in the pulp fiction magazines as the title
character of The Ghost Super-Detective, a series that lasted for seven issues with
two renamings (The Ghost Detective with the fourth issue in Fall 1940, followed by
Green Ghost Detective for the fifth issue in early 1941). Later, he had additional
stories in Thrilling Mystery, but no time travel. But when George Chance made the
leap to comic books, his second story (“The Ghost Strikes Again” in Thrilling
Comics 4, May 1940) introduced the evil Professor Fenton and his time machine. From
then until Thrilling Comics 52 (Feb 1946) had regular adventures, mostly with
Fenton:
This machine can send you back in time to any age since the world began! Thus I have
disposed of America’s Greatest men! Later I shall take over control of the entire
nation and bring them back through time to serve as my slaves!