| The Phantom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | Lee Falk |
| Current status/schedule | Running |
| Launch date | February 17, 1936; 89 years ago (February 17, 1936) |
| Syndicate(s) | King Features Syndicate |
| Genre | adventure |
The Phantom is an Americanadventurecomic strip, first published byLee Falk in February 1936. The main character, thePhantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictionalAfrican country ofBangalla. The character has been adapted for television,film andvideo games.
The series began with adaily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a colorSunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of 2025. In 1966, King Features stated thatThe Phantom was being published in 583 newspapers worldwide.[1] At its peak, the strip was read by over 100 million people daily.[2][3]
Falk worked onThe Phantom until his death in 1999; since his death, the comic strip has been written byTony DePaul. Since 2016, it has been drawn byMike Manley (Monday–Saturday) and, since 2017, Jeff Weigel (Sunday).[4][5] Previous artists on the newspaper strip includeRay Moore,Wilson McCoy,Bill Lignante,Sy Barry,George Olesen,Keith Williams,Fred Fredericks,Graham Nolan,Eduardo Barreto,Paul Ryan, andTerry Beatty. In the strip, the Phantom is 21st in a line of crime-fighters which began in 1536, when the father of British sailor Christopher Walker was killed during a pirate attack. Swearing an oath on the skull of his father's murderer to fight evil, Christopher begana legacy of the Phantom which would pass from father to son. Nicknames for the Phantom include "The Ghost Who Walks", "Guardian of the Eastern Dark" and "The Man Who Cannot Die".[6]
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 a1911 .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 toDiana 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-booksuperheroes, and was the first shown in a mask with no visiblepupils (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 ofpulp magazine heroes such asThe Shadow andthe Spider and earlier jungle heroes such asTarzan, as well as anticipating the features ofcomic book heroes such asSuperman,Batman, andCaptain America.[6]
After the success ofMandrake the Magician,King Features Syndicate asked Falk to develop a new feature. His first effort was to write and draw a strip aboutKing Arthur and hisknights.[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 andEl Cid) and the modern fictional charactersZorro,Tarzan andThe Jungle Book'sMowgli,[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" (includingThe Phantom Detective andThe 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 theA&E American cable TV documentaryThe Phantom: Comic Strip Crusader,[13] Falk explained that Greekbusts 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 forComic Book Marketplace, Falk said the Phantom's skin-tight costume was inspired byRobin Hood, who wore tights in films and onstage.[14]
Falk was aShakespeare enthusiast,[15] and the comic included several references to Shakespeare. These include the third Phantom playing Juliet in the original premiere ofRomeo and Juliet, as well as marrying Shakespeare's niece.[16]
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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 byRay Moore (assistant to artistPhil Davis onMandrake the Magician). That year,The Phantom was serialized in theAustralian Woman's Mirror. A SundayPhantom strip was added on May 28, 1939.[19]
During World War II Falk joined theOffice 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 intoNazi-occupied Norway during the war; "Phantom" was a password for theNorwegian resistance movement.[21]
McCoy died unexpectedly in 1961.Carmine Infantino andBill Lignante (who later drew several Phantom stories for comic books) filled in before a successor was found inSy 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 onThe 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, withKeith Williams inking the daily strip. The Sunday strip was inked by Eric Doescher untilFred Fredericks succeeded him in 1995.
Falk continued to scriptThe Phantom andMandrake 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 publisherEgmont, publisher of the SwedishFantomen magazine (which changed from publishingPhantom stories in comic-book format to providing the newspaper strip as well) by adapting their ownPhantom comic-book stories into the strip format.Fantomen writersTony 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 inFantomen.[22]
In 2000, Olesen and Fredericks retired from the Sunday strip. It was continued by comic-book artistGraham Nolan, who had drawn threeFantomen covers. In early 2005 Olesen and Williams left the daily strip after Olesen retired, and artistPaul Ryan (who had worked on theFantomen 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, beforeTerry Beatty became Barreto's replacement.
Ryan died at his home unexpectedly on March 7, 2016.Mike Manley succeeded Ryan as artist on The Phantom, beginning with the strip dated May 30, 2016.[26]
Beatty stepped down as Sunday artist in 2017, and was replaced byJeff Weigel.
The Phantom has had a number of publishers in the United States. During the 1940s the strips were reprinted inAce Comics, published byDavid McKay Publications.Harvey Comics publishedThe Phantom during the 1950s. In 1962Gold Key Comics took over, followed byKing Comics in 1966 andCharlton in 1969. By 1977, a total of 73 issues were published. PrincipalPhantom artists during this period wereBill Lignante,Don Newton,Jim Aparo and Pat Boyette.[27]
In 1943,Columbia Pictures released the 15-episode serialThe Phantom starringTom Tyler as "The Phantom" andJeanne Bates as "Diana Palmer".
DC Comics published aPhantom comic book from 1988 to 1990. The initial May–August 1988 miniseries was written byPeter David, penciled byJoe Orlando, and inked byDennis Janke. A subsequent series, written byMark Verheiden and drawn byLuke McDonnell, ran for thirteen issues from March 1989 to March 1990.[28] In the series, the Phantom fought racism, toxic dumping, hunger and modern-daypiracy. According to Verheiden, the series ended as much because of licensing issues as falling sales.[29] In the final panels of issue 13, the Phantom marries Diana.
In 1987,Marvel Comics published a four-issue miniseries written byStan Lee and based on theDefenders of the Earth TV series. Another three-issue Marvel miniseries,The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks (February–April 1995) followed which was written and drawn byDavid de Vries andGlenn Lumsden; it featured the 22nd Phantom with an updated, high-tech costume. Marvel later released a four-part miniseries (May–August 1995), pencilled bySpider-Man co-creatorSteve Ditko, based on thePhantom 2040 TV series.[30] One issue featured a pin-up by the original two Spider-Man signature artists, Ditko andJohn Romita, Sr.
In the United States and Australia,The Phantom was released in theaters as a major motion picture starringBilly Zane as “The Phantom/Kit Walker,” the 21st Phantom. Opened June 7, 1996 nationwide in the aforementioned markets.
Moonstone Books published Phantom graphic novels beginning in 2002. Five books, written byTom DeFalco,Ben Raab andRon Goulart with art byMike Collins were published. In 2003, Moonstone introduced aPhantom comic-book series written by Raab, Rafael Nieves andChuck Dixon, and drawn by Pat Quinn, Jerry DeCaire, Nick Derington,Rich Burchett, and EricJ. After eleven issuesMike Bullock took over the scripting, with Gabriel Rearte andCarlos 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 onJoseph Kony).[31]
In 2006, Moonstone published aretcon of the Phantom's origin, "Legacy", by Raab and Quinn. Three years later the company reintroduced the series asThe 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 andSomali pirates.[32]
Dynamite Entertainment introduced a monthly comic-book series,The Last Phantom, in August 2010.[33] The series was written byScott Beatty and drawn by Eduardo Ferigato, with covers painted byAlex 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 miniseriesKing: 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] ForFree Comic Book Day 2015, Hermes published a Phantom comic book with art by Bill Lignante and samples of the new miniseries.[38]
In 2024,Mad Cave Studios published a new Flash Gordon comic book, atrade paperback of Marvel'sDefenders of the Earth series, and launched a new series of the team.[39] Mad Cave released an issue #0 for Free Comic Book Day 2025 written byRay Fawkes and illustrated byRussell Mark Olson.[40]
Egmont Publications has published original Phantom stories in a fortnightlyPhantom comic book in Sweden asFantomen, in Denmark and Norway asFantomet and in Finland asMustanaamio[41] (Black Mask). The first issue ofFantomen was dated October 1950, and over 1,600 issues have been published. The first story created originally forFantomen was published in 1963, and there are a total of over 900Fantomen stories. The averageFantomen story is over 30 pages, compared to 20–24 pages for most American comics. Artists and writers who have created stories forFantomen includeDick Giordano, Donne Avenell, Heiner Bade,David Bishop,Dai Darell,[42]Georges Bess,Jaime Vallvé, Joan Boix,Tony DePaul, Ulf Granberg,Ben Raab,Rolf Gohs,Scott Goodall,Eirik Ildahl,Kari Leppänen,Hans Lindahl, Janne Lundström, Cesar Spadari,Bob McLeod, Jean-Yves Mitton,Lennart Moberg, Claes Reimerthi,Paul Ryan,Alex Saviuk,Graham Nolan,Romano Felmang andNorman Worker, and they have been nicknamed "Team Fantomen".[43] The team have experimented with the character and his surroundings, with Singh Brotherhood leader Sandal Singh taking over as President of Bangalla[44] and the Phantom and Diana having marriage problems.[45] In 2018, the Norwegian branch of Egmont issued a statement that the Norwegian Fantomet edition would get cancelled at the end of 2018,[46] thus leaving the Swedish edition as the only remaining edition in Scandinavia. The Phantom has been a noticeable part of culture in Sweden especially. Between 1986 and 2010, there was even a "Fantomenland" (Phantom Land) at the Parken Zoo inEskilstuna in Sweden.[47]
In Australia, theAustralian Woman's Mirror began publishing the strip in 1936 andFrew Publications has published a fortnightlyPhantom comic book since 1948, celebrating sixty years of uninterrupted publication in September 2008.[48] Although Frew's comic book primarily contains reprints from the newspaper strips,Fantomen (translated into English) and other Phantom comic books, it has occasionally included original stories drawn by Australian artists such asKeith Chatto. The editor-in-chief was Jim Shepherd until his death. Frew'sThe Phantom is the longest-running comic-book series with the character in the world,[49] and Australia's bestselling comic book.[50][51][52] FrewPhantom comics appear in a number ofSydney Royal Easter Show, Royal Adelaide Show, Melbourne Show andPerth Royal Showshowbags.[53]
In 2013, publisher Jim Shepherd, who had bought the rights from the original owners during the late 1980s, died of a heart attack. Shepherd had taken over the company and introduced some minor changes to placate King Features, which had become unhappy at Frew's treatment of its character. Shepherd's changes included glossy covers (replacing the standard newsprint covers), brief editorials, regular 100-page specials and, most significantly, an annual special of between 200 and 300 pages which included multiple stories and a standalone "replica" reprint of a very early Frew edition. Shepherd also embarked on an ambitious project to reprint the entire backlist of Lee Falk stories in their original formats: Frew's reprints had often been heavily edited to fit its 32-page format. Following Shepherd's death, Frew andThe Phantom were continued by Shepherd's wife Judith until she sold the business to artistGlenn Ford and Rene White in 2016. Since then, the new "Frew Crew" (with new publisher Dudley Hogarth) have introduced a range of innovations:
King Features soldThe Phantom to a number of New Zealand newspapers, includedThe New Zealand Herald.The Phantom also appeared in a successful comic from the Wellington-based Feature Publications during the 1950s.[54] The Frew comics are also available in New Zealand.
In India,The Phantom first appeared inThe Illustrated Weekly of India in the 1950s. In 1964, the Indian publisherIndrajal Comics began publishing aPhantom comic book in English.[55][56] Later Indrajal would also publishThe Phantom in several Indian languages.[55] Over the years, other Indian publishers have printed Phantom comic books, the most prominent beingDiamond Comics, Euro Books (formerly Egmont Imagination India), and Rani Comics.[57] TheTelugu regional dailyEenadu published translated versions of Phantom comics during the early days of its Sunday supplements. Phantom is also published in Bengali and Hindi language in local newspapers. In Hindi it is published by Indrajal comics as character name Vetaal. They have also published it in Bengali as character name, Betaal.
In the early 1990s, Regal Publishers from Kerala started publishing Phantom comics in Malayalam Language. After a gap, Regal Publishers have again started publishing Phantom comics in Malayalam in 2019. From August 2020 onwards Regal Publishers have started publishing Phantom comics in English.
Starting in 2021, Shakti Comics started publishing the Phantom along with Mandrake and Flash Gordon; they were published in English as well as Hindi and Bengali languages. Shakti Comics is the only publisher after Indrajal to publish phantom comics in Hindi and Bengali on monthly basis.
Leading Bengali publishing house,Anandabazar Patrika, had published the comics in Bengali, under the character name, Aranyadeb (the god of the jungle), in their elite magazine,Desh, later in their children's periodical,Anandamela, and continue to publish the strips in their Bengali newspaper,Anandabazar Patrika. Gujarati newspaper Mumbai Samachar also used to print the Phantom comics in their Sunday supplement named Utsav.
Italian publisher Nerbini reprinted the Phantom strip in its weekly comic newspaper L’Avventuroso, starting in issue 101, September 13, 1936. In 1939, Roberto Lemmi and Emilio Fancelli started to produce some new stories.[58]
Italian publisher Fratelli Spada produced original Phantom stories for theirL'Uomo Mascherato (The Masked Man) series of comic books during the 1960s and 1970s.[59] Contributing artists included Raul Buzzelli, Mario Caria, Umberto Sammarini ("Usam"), Germano Ferri, Senio Pratesi, Angelo R. Todaro, andRomano Felmang. Ferri, Usam, Felmang and Caria later worked forFantomen. Brazilian publisher RGE and German publisherBastei produced original Phantom stories for their comic books; in Brazil, the Phantom is known aso Fantasma.[60]
In 1939, the Phantom appeared in the second story of the Yugoslav comicZigomar, "Zigomar versus the Phantom", as an opponent and then an ally of the title character.[61] In South Africa,The Phantom ran in Afrikaans newspapers asDie Skim.[62][63] In the Republic of Ireland, the Phantom appeared in both theIrish Independent andSunday Independent newspapers during the 1950s and 1960s.[64]
Also in 1939, the Phantom appeared in Turkey as "Kizilmaske", which translates to "Red Mask" in Turkish, by publishers Tay Yayinlari.[citation needed] Originally, the publishers colored the hero's costume in red on the covers, and decided to stay with that color throughout the history of the comic in Turkey, rather than use the original purple coloring.[citation needed] Under the name "Kizilmaske" and with color covers drawn by Turkish artists, older Lee Falk stories of the Phantom has since appeared in Turkish comic books primarily in black and white.[citation needed]
The entire run of thePhantom newspaper strip was reprinted in Australia byFrew Publications, and edited versions of most stories have been published in the ScandinavianPhantom comics. In the United States, the following Phantom stories (written by Lee Falk) have been reprinted byNostalgia Press (NP), Pacific Comics Club (PCC) orComics Revue (CR):
In its October 2009 issue,Comics Revue began reprinting the Sunday story "The Return of the Sky Band" in color.
As of August 2019,Hermes Press has reprinted sixteen volumes of Phantom dailies and five volumes of Phantom Sundays. Volumes nine and ten of the dailies also carry the color Sundays from 1949 to 1951, when the stories for dailies and Sundays were synchronized.[65] In 2011 Hermes began reprinting the Complete Gold Key Volumes 1 and 2 with issues 1–17 and King's completePhantom issues 18–28 comics side by side.[66] The following year, it began reprinting the Charlton Years: Volume 1 through volume 5, issues 30–74. There was no issue 29, as Charlton started their series with issue 30) Hermes has also published a full-size Phantom Sunday Archives, 1939–1942.[67]
A live action serial titledThe Phantom was released in 1943 starsTom Tyler. As thealter ego of Kit Walker had not yet been introduced in the comic strip, the serial uses the moniker Geoffrey Prescott.
The 1986 animated seriesDefenders of the Earth is a team-up between The Phantom,Mandrake the Magician (another hero by Lee Falk) and Flash Gordon.
The animated seriesPhantom 2040ran for two series between 1994 and 1996. It follows the 24th Phantom.
A live action film ofThe Phantom was released in 1996, starringBilly Zane.
A live action mini-series,The Phantom, was released onSyfy in 2009 starringRyan Carnes as the 22nd phantom.
DuringWorld War II, soldiers received care packages containing comics. The soldiers stationed inPapua New Guinea shared these comics, and the Phantom became extremely popular among the tribes. The Papuan people who could read English would read the stories and share the images with others; by the 1970s, they were available inTok Pisin. The character's image is often painted on ceremonial shields or alongside other tribal art.[68] This is sometimes referred to as "tribal pop art".[69]
