The Phantom Stranger #37

The Phantom Stranger teases the tale about to unfold. A bank robber takes a taxi cab driver, Ann Catron, hostage, and forces her to be his getaway driver. The Phantom Stranger appears in the cab's path, forcing it to veer off into a crash. Catron makes a run for it. The bank robber shoots Catron in the back. The Phantom Stranger beats the bank robber into unconsciousness. The police arrive to take the bank robber into custody. The Phantom Stranger vanishes. Catron is taken to the hospital. Catron's husband, Alan meets with Jason Osburn, the curator of the a Natural History Museum.

Osburn wants Alan to forge an antiquity. Alan refuses, and storms out. The police inform Alan of his wife's condition. At the hospital, Alan worries over how he will come up with the money to pay for his wife's care. The Phantom Stranger confronts Alan. The Phantom Stranger's cryptic warning is largely ignored. Alan meets with Osburn, and agrees to forge the antiquity. Alan sets to work crafting an Egyptian sarcophagus, with mummy-wrappings. Osburn inspects, and approves, of the work in progress. Unbeknownst to Alan, Osburn plans to murder him as soon as the work is finished.

Days later, Alan shows Osburn the completed antiquity. Osburn, very pleased with the finished product, pulls a gun on Alan. The Phantom Stranger appears. Osburn fires on the Phantom Stranger, to no effect. Osburn points the gun at Alan, to get the Phantom Stranger to comply. At gunpoint, Osburn forces Alan, and the Phantom Stranger to walk into an acid-filled cauldron. Osburn shows off his newest "antiquity" to his peers. As the sarcophagus lid is pulled back, a mummy emerges. The mummy seeks vengeance on Osburn. The mummy lifts Osburn over it's head.

Osburn claws at the mummy's wrappings, revealing the face of Alan Catron. The mummy shatters a window, and prepares to throw Osburn to his death. The Phantom Stranger appears. The Phantom Stranger reasons with Catron, convincing him not to murder Osburn. The Phantom Stranger tasks Catron with mending Osburn's ways. The Phantom Stranger returns to the alley, where the taxicab crashed, to retrieve his hat. At that same moment, Doctor Nathan Seine is breaking into a museum. Seine guns down the security guard, then opens a crate containing a skull. Taking the skull into his hands, Seine vows vengeance on the Phantom Stranger.