THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA COSTUME SERIES
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA COSTUME TV

Barry would continue working on the strip for over 30 years before retiring in 1994.īarry's longtime assistant George Olesen remained on the strip as penciller, with Keith Williams joining as inker for the daily strip. During Barry's early years, he and Falk modernized the strip, and laid the foundation for what is considered the modern look of the Phantom. Carmine Infantino and Bill Lignante (who would later draw Phantom stories directly for comic books) filled in before a successor was found in Sy Barry. During McCoy's tenure, the strip appeared in thousands of newspapers worldwide. On Moore's return, he worked on the strip on and off until 1949, when McCoy succeeded him. Moore also served in the war, during which he left the strip to his assistant Wilson McCoy. A Sunday Phantom strip was added May 28 1939.ĭuring World War II, Falk joined the Office of War Information, where he became chief of his radio foreign language division. The Phantom started as a daily strip on February 17 1936, with the story 'The Singh Brotherhood', written by Falk and drawn first by him, for two weeks, followed by Ray Moore, who was an assistant to artist Phil Davis on Falk's Mandrake the Magician strip. In an interview published in Comic Book Marketplace #121 in 2005, Falk also told that the Phantom's skin-tight costume was inspired by the legendary figure of Robin Hood, who often wore tights in film and stage adaptations. The Greek busts had no pupils, which Falk felt gave them an inhuman, interesting look.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA COSTUME TV

In an A&E American cable TV documentary about the Phantom, Falk said Greek busts inspired the idea of the Phantom's pupils not showing when he wore his mask. But he could ultimately not come up with a name he liked better than The Phantom. He had tinkered with the idea of calling his hero The Gray Ghost (which later became the name of a Batman character) after thinking there were already too many Phantoms in fiction, such as The Phantom Detective and The Phantom of the Opera. Inspired by Falk's lifelong fascination with such myths and legends as that of El Cid and King Arthur, and such modern fictional characters as Zorro, Tarzan, and The Jungle Book 's Mowgli, Falk originally envisioned the Phantom's alias as rich playboy Jimmy Wells, fighting crime by night as the mysterious Phantom, but partway through his first story, 'The Singh Brotherhood', he moved the Phantom to the jungle. He planned out the first few months of the story and drew the first two weeks of a sample strip. When King Features turned him down, Falk developed what would become The Phantom, about a mysterious, costumed crimefighter. Falk's first attempt was a strip about King Arthur, which Falk both wrote and drew.

1.3 International names of 'The Phantom'Īfter the success of his Mandrake the Magician strip, the King Features newspaper syndicate asked Lee Falk to develop a new feature.

While the Phantom is not the first fictional costumed crimefighter, he is the first to wear the skintight costume that has become a hallmark of comic-book superheroes, and the first to wear a mask with no visible pupils, another superhero standard.

New Phantom stories have also been created for comic books in different parts of the world, among them by Egmont in Scandinavia, Moonstone Books in the U.S. Previous artists on the newspaper strip include Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy, Bill Lignante, Sy Barry, George Olesen, Keith Williams, Paul Ryan, Fred Fredericks, Terry Beatty, Graham Nolan, and Eduardo Barreto.

As of 2021, the comic strip is produced by writer Tony DePaul and artists Mike Manley (daily strips) and Jeff Weigel (Sunday strips).

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA COSTUME SERIES

The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip in May 1939 both are still running as of 2021. A popular feature adapted into many forms of media, including television and film, it stars a costumed crimefighter operating in the African jungle. The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. For other uses, see The Phantom (disambiguation). This article is about the comic strip 'The Phantom'.

The phantom of the opera costume