In the Defenders of the Earth cartoon series, produced by King Features Entertainment and released in the USA in 1986, we see Episode 41 is titled ‘Return of the Skyband‘.

The episode is written by David Wise and is described as:

When notes are found announcing the return of the Sky Band, the Phantom is apprehensive. He recounts the story of his grandfather, who defeated an all-women pirate group in the 1930s whose Sky Band leader was accidentally killed.

The Sky Band is featured in Phantom comic strips as a femme fatale group of pirates who use sea planes to rob other planes of their cargo (the group was referred to as conducting ‘Air Mail Piracies‘), lead by the beautiful Sala. They were first noted in the very first Phantom comic strip story written by Lee Falk and illustrated by Ray Moore in the classic story ‘The Singh Brotherhood‘, going to print in newspapers in 1936.

Lee Falk thought so highly of the woman only pirate group, he would go on to write ‘The Sky Band‘ appearing in daily newspapers from 1936 (following on from the first story ‘The Singh Brotherhood‘) and ‘The Return of the Sky Band‘, appearing as the sixth Sunday newspapers story from 1941. Both of these stories were illustrated by Ray Moore.

The Sky Band are also featured in countless other Phantom comic strip stories published in both newspapers and comic books in various countries. They were even featured in The Phantom movie released in 1996, co-produced by The Ladd Company, Village Roadshow Pictures and Hearst Entertainment, with the part of Sala played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.

In Defenders of the Earth, we see the 27th Phantom notify the team that ”Something that happened to my Grandfather 80 years ago is happening all over again”. We watch as the Phantom tells of an encounter with The Sky Band in the form of a flashback in the cartoon, an event which took place prior to WWII to one of his ancestors.

We see the Phantom in the flashback scene in his traditional costume we’re accustomed to seeing him in our comic books, with stripped trunks and twin gun holsters, instead of the version seen in the futuristic Defenders of the Earth.

The flashback scene of the Phantom tracking down and battling The Sky Band by the 27th Phantom ancestor in Defenders of the Earth can be watched below, as found in Episode 41.

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