Phantom 1936

[Mark Tracy]

The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The character has been adapted for television, film and video games.

The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of 2024. In 1966, King Features stated that The Phantom was being published in 583 newspapers worldwide.[1] At its peak, the strip was read by over 100 million people daily.[2][3]

Unlike many other superheroes, the Phantom has no superpowers; he relies on his strength, intelligence, skill at arms (he carries two holstered handguns, a revolver and a 1911 .45 autopistol, one on each hip, and is an expert marksman with both), and the myth of his immortality to take action against the forces of evil. The 21st Phantom is married to Diana Palmer; they met while he studied in the United States and they have two children, Kit and Heloise. He has a trained wolf named Devil and a horse named Hero, and like the 20 previous Phantoms he lives in the ancient Skull Cave.

The Phantom was the first fictional hero to wear the skintight costume which has become a hallmark of comic-book superheroes, and was the first shown in a mask with no visible pupils (another superhero standard).[6][7] Comics historian Peter Coogan has described the Phantom as a "transitional" figure, since the Phantom has some of the characteristics of pulp magazine heroes such as The Shadow and the Spider and earlier jungle heroes such as Tarzan, as well as anticipating the features of comic book heroes such as Superman, Batman, and Captain America.[6]

After the success of Mandrake the Magician, King Features Syndicate asked Falk to develop a new feature. His first effort was to write and draw a strip about King Arthur and his knights.[8] When King Features rejected the strip, Falk developed the Phantom, a mysterious, costumed crime-fighter. He planned the first few months of the story, and drew the first two weeks as a sample.[9]

Fascinated by myths and legends (such as King Arthur and El Cid) and the modern fictional characters Zorro, Tarzan and The Jungle Book's Mowgli,[10] Falk envisioned the character as wealthy playboy Jimmy Wells by day and the crime-fighting Phantom by night. During his first story, "The Singh Brotherhood", before disclosing that Wells was the Phantom, Falk changed the setting to a jungle and made the Phantom an apparently immortal, mythic figure.[11] Thinking that there were already too many characters called "the Phantom" (including The Phantom Detective and The Phantom of the Opera), Falk considered calling his hero "The Gray Ghost". However, he could not find a name he liked better and decided to stay with "The Phantom".[12]

In the A&E American cable TV documentary The Phantom: Comic Strip Crusader,[13] Falk explained that Greek busts inspired him to omit the Phantom's pupils when the character was wearing his mask. He incorrectly believed that ancient Greek busts had no pupils (they were painted on originally and faded with time) which he said gave them an "inhuman, awe-inspiring appearance."[9] In an interview for Comic Book Marketplace, Falk said the Phantom's skin-tight costume was inspired by Robin Hood, who wore tights in films and onstage.[14]

Falk was a Shakespeare enthusiast[15] and the comic included several references to Shakespeare. These include the third Phantom playing Juliet in the original premiere of Romeo and Juliet, as well as marrying Shakespeare's niece.[16]

The Phantom began as a daily strip on February 17, 1936[17] with "The Singh Brotherhood",[18] written by Falk and drawn by him for two weeks and then by Ray Moore (assistant to artist Phil Davis on Mandrake the Magician). That year, The Phantom was serialized in the Australian Woman's Mirror. A Sunday Phantom strip was added on May 28, 1939.[19]

During World War II Falk joined the Office of War Information, where he became chief of the radio foreign-language division. Moore also served during the war and left the strip to his assistant, Wilson McCoy. When Moore returned he worked sporadically on the strip until 1949, when McCoy succeeded him.[20] During McCoy's tenure, The Phantom appeared in thousands of newspapers worldwide and was smuggled by boat into Nazi-occupied Norway during the war; "Phantom" was a password for the Norwegian resistance movement.[21]

McCoy died unexpectedly in 1961. Carmine Infantino and Bill Lignante (who later drew several Phantom stories for comic books) filled in before a successor was found in Sy Barry.[22] During Barry's early years he and Falk modernized the strip, laying the foundation for what is considered the Phantom's modern look. Under Barry, Bangalla became a democracy and the character of President Lamanda Luaga was introduced. Barry worked on The Phantom for over 30 years until his 1994 retirement, drawing a total of about 11,000 strips.[23]

His longtime assistant George Olesen remained on the strip as penciller, with Keith Williams inking the daily strip. The Sunday strip was inked by Eric Doescher until Fred Fredericks succeeded him in 1995.

Falk continued to script The Phantom and Mandrake until his death on March 13, 1999. His last daily Phantom strip story, "Terror at the Opera," was finished by his wife, Elizabeth.[24] After Falk's death King Features cooperated with European comic publisher Egmont, publisher of the Swedish Fantomen magazine (which changed from publishing Phantom stories in comic-book format to providing the newspaper strip as well) by adapting their own Phantom comic-book stories into the strip format. Fantomen writers Tony DePaul and Claes Reimerthi alternated as writers of the newspaper strip after Falk died, with DePaul handling the daily strips and Reimerthi the Sunday ones. DePaul would later become the strip's sole writer. Some stories were adapted from those originally published in Fantomen.[22]

In 2000, Olesen and Fredericks retired from the Sunday strip. It was continued by comic-book artist Graham Nolan, who had drawn three Fantomen covers. In early 2005 Olesen and Williams left the daily strip after Olesen retired, and artist Paul Ryan (who had worked on the Fantomen comic stories and had been a fan of the character since childhood) took over the daily strip. Ryan succeeded Nolan as artist on the Sunday strip in 2007.[25] On July 31, 2011, Eduardo Barreto became the Sunday-page artist. He died after only a few months, and Ryan temporarily took over the Sunday page again on January 15, 2012 (which featured a memorial to Barreto). Ryan also did the following week's strip, before Terry Beatty became Barreto's replacement.

The Phantom has been published by a number of publishers in the United States. During the 1940s the strips were reprinted in Ace Comics, published by David McKay Publications. Harvey Comics published The Phantom during the 1950s. In 1962 Gold Key Comics took over, followed by King Comics in 1966 and Charlton in 1969. By 1977, a total of 73 issues were published. Principal Phantom artists during this period were Bill Lignante, Don Newton, Jim Aparo and Pat Boyette.[27]

Moonstone Books published Phantom graphic novels beginning in 2002. Five books, written by Tom DeFalco, Ben Raab and Ron Goulart with art by Mike Collins were published. In 2003, Moonstone introduced a Phantom comic-book series written by Raab, Rafael Nieves and Chuck Dixon, and drawn by Pat Quinn, Jerry DeCaire, Nick Derington, Rich Burchett, and EricJ. After eleven issues Mike Bullock took over the scripting, with Gabriel Rearte and Carlos Magno creating the artwork before Silvestre Szilagyi became the regular artist in 2007. Bullock's stories often feature topical issues, based on actual African conflicts. In a 2007 three-part story arc, "Invisible Children", the Phantom fights a fictional warlord called "Him" (loosely based on Joseph Kony).[31]

In 2006 Moonstone published a retcon of the Phantom's origin, "Legacy", by Raab and Quinn. Three years later the company reintroduced the series as The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks, beginning with issue 0 (a retelling of the first Phantom's origin). The aim was to make the comic darker, grittier and more realistic, similar to the 1930s stories by Lee Falk and Ray Moore. It updated the Phantom, giving him modern accessories, and introduced a number of supporting characters and villains. In the series, the Phantom fights reality-based enemies such as modern terrorists, organ smugglers and Somali pirates.[32]

Dynamite Entertainment introduced a monthly comic-book series, The Last Phantom, in August 2010.[33] The series was written by Scott Beatty and drawn by Eduardo Ferigato, with covers painted by Alex Ross.[34]

In 2013 the Phantom appeared in Dynamite's five-issue miniseries, Kings Watch. In the series, written by Jeff Parker and drawn by Marc Laming, the Phantom joins Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician to fight Ming the Merciless and prevent his attempt to take over the planet.[35] It was followed by the 2015 five-issue miniseries King: The Phantom in which Lothar as the new Phantom looks for the rightful heir to the legacy. In 2016 started a new crossover of King Features characters (The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, Flash Gordon, Prince Valiant, Jungle Jim), Kings Quest.

In 2014 Hermes Press announced that it would publish a Phantom comic-book miniseries with new content, written by Peter David and illustrated by Sal Velluto,[36] scheduled for publication in November 2014.[36] It debuted October 31, 2014.[37] For Free Comic Book Day 2015, Hermes published a Phantom comic book with art by Bill Lignante and samples of the new miniseries[38]

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