Comic Con Express – Bengaluru - 2012

Another year and another Express Event from Comic Con India. Our Pre-show coverage of the event in the Garden City.

Comic Con India – New Delhi - 2011

Get to know, more about India's first ever Comic-Con, how does it rate among the rest.

Chennai Book Fair - 2011

We catch up with the Annual Chennai Book Fair, and see what it has to offer for Comic fans.

Lion Comics Jumbo Special - XIII Collector's Edition

An inside look into a collection, touted as the biggest Comic Book released in India

Apr 22, 2009

News - Disney Comics back in India | Apr '09

It’s time for the Ball vs. Bat, and every cricket fan is tuning into the (NR)IPL Season 2 in Zulu’s Country, which I must admit for its publicity and glamour is not living up to the euphoria set during the previous edition in India. But, if you are not amused with that, then you could always tune-into the anonymous blogger, who is stirring up all the news from behind the scenes. Truth or not, it is something everyone is gunning for at the moment. Enjoy them, I do!

PhantomWalt Disney Mickey MouseComing back to Comicology, I must admit the last post featuring the start of Phantom Series, was one of the ambitious project which I ever undertook at Comicology, both in terms of time and effort put forth. I was pretty much happy for the fact it was received well among the comicologists. In return I vouch to feature the concluding parts in the coming weeks, with fair share of information laced all along, while maintaining the tempo of the series.

What we have as a subject for our current post, is the recent media briefing about Walt Disney Comics entering India, after a long time. If not for others, It brought back all those childhood memories of watching the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge of Disney’s eternal characters, both on animated TV series and in the comic books. Before we look further on the Disney’s earlier Comics foray in India, here is the excerpt from the Media News:


Donald Duck (English)WaltDisney NewsMickey Mouse (English)Walt Disney Company (India), has announced a licensing agreement with Indian publisher Diamond Comics to publish Disney comic books, both in English and Hindi in India, under their Junior Diamond brand.

Roshini Bakshi of Disney said, "The comics offer a story of adventure and fun for every child, and for the child in us all. The launch of comic books in Hindi, reinforces our commitment to localize our stories and connect with the Indian consumers through content, that is appealing and relevant."

Featuring Disney's characters, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, the 32-page comic book will be priced at INR 25. Disney is gunning to reach 10,000 points-of-interest within the first month of launch.

Donald Duck (Hindi) Mickey Mouse (Hindi)"We are excited to promote fun reading through the launch of these Disney comics in India through our nationwide reach," said Junior Diamond’s Manish Verma.

Disney also plans to launch comic books on its proprietary character of Princess, which includes titles such as Snow White & Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella among others. Also on the cards are comic books in regional languages for the south India market. To start with Junior Diamond will be publishing the Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck titles also in Hindi.


Even though Diamond Comics (most famously known for Pran’s Chacha Choudhary, Pinki, among others) has a publishing industry experience of 70 odd years; their newer division Junior Diamond brand is still at its infant state. The last known attempt of Junior Diamond was to base comic books out of the Bollywood movie Roadside Romeo, which both bombed at theatres and newsstands respectively. But it looks the partnership with Walt Disney during that venture, has paved the way Disney Comics deal. (Read more about Roadside Romeo, on our 2008 Movies Round-Up at Comicology, here)

This time around with the partnership of Walt Disney, and the attractive pricing model of INR 25, I hope they turn the tide and continue publishing Disney’s Comic books which were missing out from the all Comic Book scenario in India. But, this is not the first time Walt Disney Comics is making it into India.  In fact there were some well received earlier accounts, and let’s look into some of those, to mark this occasion.

LM Comics Disney Today 8809 150588 Disney & Living Media: Disney Comic Book’s first real attempt to penetrate the Indian Market, was through Living Media, which is still known widely for their long running magazine, India Today. A new title named LM Comics was created for this venture, and it was published as a fortnightly comics magazine, named Disney Today, mainly carrying the Disney’s world famous characters.

LM Comics Disney Today 9115 150891 Not much is known like how long the publication was in business, but their another children's magazine, Target, which was once said to be the only competitor to the evergreen Tinkle Children's magazine, ran from 1980 to 1995. (Read more about Target and its inspiration for Tinkle’s Shikari Shambu in our exclusive post at Comicology, here)

So LM Comics should also have run along the same period, by both feeding out of each others success. During Disney Today’s famed run, it was often referred as the only comics magazine close enough to the popularity of Indrajal Comics. They were both fortnightly, and had a standard 32 pages of A4 size. Disney Today was priced from INR 5 to INR 6 during its run. The issues were assigned a 4 digit number, which comprised of the year and chronological issues number (For eg., an issue released on 1988 as the 14th issue of that year, will be numbered as 8814).

LM Comics was published from its then head office located at New Delhi (Living Media India Pvt. Ltd., 316 Competent House, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110 001). The packaging of the magazine, was top-notch, and the printing with colored pages make them a collectors item even today. I am fortunate hold a few of those issues in my collection.


Chandamama Classics n Comics 03 Disney & Chandamama: During the Same period, from October 1980, the Chennai based Chandamama also had a publishing deal with Walt Disney in India and had released two titles, starting from the Disney’s Wonder World series in Chandamama’s Classics & Comics (C&C) brand, and later a separate title which carried the adventures of other Disney characters like Zorro, Snow White, etc. under the Chandamama Book Shelf (BS) brand. (Read more about Chandamama’s recent 60 years celebration with their Coffee book Collector’s edition, here)

Chandamama Classics Editorial Refer to this editorial featured in their 3rd edition, which talks a great deal about the Disney and its impact to the Comics Industry as a whole.

Chandamama seems to have started both the C&C and BS series especially to feature the Walt Disney’s Comic books.  I doubt how successful was the series as I couldn’t see any titles dated after 80’s.

The C&C series were numbered like Indrajal Comics, Vol.1-No.1 (prompting they were planned as Weekly), etc. and was priced at INR 2, while the BS series, which was released monthly, were numbered sequentially, and were priced INR 3.50, during its run.

One of the problems with the packaging of these comics, was their idea of waxing the covers, instead of laminating it. As it turns out the Paperback covers with the wax coat, means that they are prone to damage and break through years in storage, making it very hard to maintain it for collection. I own a few titles from these series, and it still hurts every time I turn around to read them and find that some part of it breaks away and spoils the overall collection. Chandamama could have done better to avoid it.

Nevertheless, for the sheer reason that it was part of the 1980’s comics euphoria of India, it certainly deserves a place in your comics collection.  Here are few covers from the series.

Chandamama Book Shelf 08Chandamama Book Shelf 09Chandamama Book Shelf 08-1 


IE Egmont Mickey Mouse 13 1996 Disney & Egmont: Can you talk about American Comics publishing in India, and miss out from mentioning Egmont? Well, Egmont was also in the reckoning during late 90’s, taking up the mantle to release Walt Disney Comics in India.

Denmark based Egmont International, entered India in 1997, with a joint venture with Indian Express group. The resultant company was named Indian Express Egmont Publications Ltd. (IEEPL), and one of their first launches was bringing the Walt Disney Comics titles to India, for the obvious reason that they have a long publishing record in Denmark for Disney titles.

They released two monthly titles named Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mouse Digest. They were of B5 size, and were priced at INR 20 and INR 30 (for Digest with 96 pages. Egmont is known for the re-release and re-prints of the same titles, most evidently noticed with their Phantom editions.
(Phantom editions of Egmont  will be covered in detail in our Phantom series at Comicology soon).

So the reprints were even evident on the Mickey Mouse titles. The original print issues ran from 1995 to 1996, in the process releasing a total of 32 Digests. In 2000, after getting the nod from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), Egmont bought the complete stake of its Indian arm from the Indian Express group, for a reported sum of INR 2 Crores.

In 2002, under their newly formed Egmont India venture, they published 16 Mickey Mouse Double Digests, which were all reprints from the Original Mickey Mouse Digests released in late 90’s. This time the size was reduced to A4, to go along with other Digest formats in the book shops. The titles were initially priced INR 60, but was later changed to INR 65.

Egmont’s Mickey Mouse Digests and Double Digests, were one of the best format for any comics enthusiastic to add to his collection. The only problem was the pricing, which was way too high for the time it was released. Which could be the very reason why the series never made a long run.

Disney in Tamil: During their run, Egmont also published few titles of Donald Duck/Mickey Mouse in Tamil. The translation was one of the poorest attempts to say the least, so let’s not discuss much into that failed attempt.

When it comes to translation in Tamil, there is no denying the fact that Lion Comics/Muthu Comics Editor S.Vijayan scores all the points. He had his own Tamil version of Donald Duck in his another famous Tamil comics and now defunct brand, Mini Lion, for a short span. More on that while we look at those Mini Lion title in the future at Comicology. Those titles does deserve a special mention for sure.


Diamond ComicsSo the start-stop publishing of Walt Disney’s eternal characters are in for a long haul, with Diamond Comics jumping in the foray to market Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck Comics in India, which makes for an interesting wait. Be assured that you would hear about the titles and their review at Comicology, whenever the hit stands, which is expected to happen in the a couple of months.

Especially, when the New York based Disney’s comic books, which publishes 274 million copies of children’s magazines worldwide, are losing its stature and popularity in its parent country (evident through eroded sales in recent years), India may be a market which they can flourish on. Let’s stay hopeful.

Also in Junior Diamond's Disney review post we will discuss about the author who was never given due credit for all these wonderful Disney comics, which we have come to know of. Talking about him would be the main aspect for the next Disney post at Comicology. Stay Tuned.


As a Bonus, to all the readers who read the post till its end, here are the covers of the Egmont’s 16 Double Digest Series, from my collection, which were originally on sale in 2002.  Some of them were still available on bookstores, when I last checked.

So use them as a checklist for your next shopping trip, or simply enjoy the wonderfully drawn Disney Covers. Until, our next post, Adios Amigos!

Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 01 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 02 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 03 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 04
Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 05 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 06 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 07 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 08
Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 09 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 10 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 11 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 12
Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 13 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 14 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 15 Egmont Mickey Mouse DoubleDigest 16


Earth Day Save Petrol CampaignTail-Piece: Today (Apr-22) is celebrated as the Earth Day, to save the mother earth. There are plenty of ways in which we could do so, starting with a few things right from our home, and our way to office, to know more follow this link. Let’s do our bit for the good cause.

Now, a fellow comicologist, did ask me If I would contribute to Mother nature, by digitizing the comics archive I hold. Well, as much as I agree with the concept, which saves paper and ultimately the trees, it’s certainly not on my wish-list. I will safely pursue other options. ;)

Not to forget a point that, our own Mickey Mouse and Goofy were once featured in a comic book for Save Oil campaign, and thus save Mother Nature. To go along with the Earth Day celebration, here is the cover of that unique issue. Enjoy Reading. Adios Amigos !

Apr 17, 2009

Lee Falk’s Phantom-1: Origins of Ghost Who Walks

Superheroes Lineup One of my foremost thought while starting Comicology, was to base it as a definite place to cover all the comic characters who have appeared in every genres all through the evolution of Comics. It was a highly ambitious thought, but it was a dream too.

So, if you have been following the posts, I tried to base them on different genres and variety of publishers, to fulfil that dream. And I was thinking that I was doing a fair job so far on that account. But, the reality was about to strike.

Phantom Ring Recently, one of the new visitors to Comicology, asked me a Simple Question - ‘Why no articles about Phantom?’. It struck me, and made me ask myself, “why didn’t I think of mentioning about this legendary character so far at Comicology?”. The question made me travel back in time to my first Computer Class, back in school days.

We were all eager to experience our first encounter with a real Computer, but our Teacher had other ideas. “How many of you know Typewriting?”, He asked. After seeing the mum faces, he added “How do you expect to learn something which was invented a decade back, when you haven’t learnt the one invented centuries ago?”. There is no much difference between the question then and now.

Phantom

In both cases, the fact which comes to fore is that we can’t talk or try to learn about something without exploring its roots. Just like when we talk about costumed superheroes and their impact on Comics on a whole, we can’t skip past the first-ever in their lineage, long before The Shadow, Superman, and the likes, the legendary Phantom.

The No-Show of Phantom on Comicology, could be attributed to many reasons, top of which is that there are no publications which are actively publishing Phantom in India, at present. But, does that really make you forget the legacy of Phantom. Oh No!. I for one, who was mesmerised by this comic character, right from my childhood, can’t think so at the least. So, let me try to make some amends with a series of exclusive posts on the Phantom, as a Tribute to the legendary creator, Lee Falk. I agree it’s ambitious project in its own rights, but let me make an attempt to do it with all its merits.


Lee FalkLee Falk & Pre-Television Era: Lee Falk was the pen name of Leon Harrison Gross, who was born on 28 Apr 1911, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. His Birth year is still a debated concept, with some claiming it as 1905. But, historians through the years have accepted 1911 as the official birth year, by looking into past records, and the one also confirmed by Lee’s eldest daughter Valerie Falk Falbo. Lee was his nickname right from his childhood, but the reason as to why he chose Falk has his surname, is also not known much, even though his brother also, took the surname later.

Right from his school days Falk is known to have a likening towards writing, as he used contribute stories, articles and poems for his school and college newspapers. His extreme command over English, even let him dream to become an English Professor, something which he never pursued later. After completing the education, he started his career as a copywriter for a local advertising agency in early 1930’s.

The 1920s and 1930s, which is often referred as the pre-television era, saw an enormous amount of newspapers released worldwide. In New York city alone, there were two dozen thriving newspapers – The New York Times, Herald-Tribune, Post, Typical Comics Section (1961)News, Sun, The American, The Journal, and so on. So, it meant that these newspapers were increasingly looking to fill their content, and comic strips had become a norm for the same.

It was such a craze that they even dedicated 36 pages to it on Sundays, which was famously termed as Comics Section. This enormous need meant that these were also lucrative times for syndication companies, who were involved with providing comic strips, cartoons, and special features. These syndicates paved way for many great comic creators to come on the horizon in 1930s, which included legends like - Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon), Al Capp (Li’l Abner), Chester Gold (Dick Tracy), and Chick Young (Blondie).

MandrakeMagician So, it was only matter of time for Lee Falk, also to jump on the horizon, considering that he had the writing talent right from his school days. Along with Phil Davis, whom he met in his Advertising agency job, he went on to create his first comic strip, in form of ‘Mandrake the Magician’ in 1934, in an early age of 24. (We will look into Falk’s first comics character Mandrake, soon on an exclusive post at Comicology)

In the same year, Falk successfully negotiated a deal with King Features Syndicate, and the comic strip featuring an unlikely hero in the form of a magician, went on to become a huge hit, prompting the syndicate to ask Falk into creating another comic series for their line-up. In reply, Falk first proposed a concept featuring King Arthur and his famous knights, but King Features was reluctant to feature a medieval age series that time.

Phantom Closeup So, Falk then decided to alter his concept and changed it into mysterious, costumed crime-fighter, whom Falk decided to name as The Phantom, despite the fact that this name was already being used in pulp fiction stories, like Phantom Detective. The reason Falk termed for the same, was that he couldn’t find any other better name for the character he envisioned.


Phantom & His Early Secret Identity: The Original Idea of Falk, was to portray the character of The Phantom, as an secret identity to a Rich playboy by the name of Jimmy Wells. This is how the character eventually made its debut in “The Singh Brotherhood”, the first-ever Phantom Daily Strip on Feb 17, 1936.

First Phantom Daily Strip open withs DianaPhantom is Introduced to Readers in a few days

Phantom Saves Diana

Jimmy Wells  is introducedThe initial episodes, which were written and drawn by Falk himself, introduces Jimmy Wells and Diana Palmer as childhood friends.

He leaves enough clues for the readers to diffuse the link between the mysterious Phantom and neat-cloth Wells. But Falk took utmost care as to not reveal this openly in any of the strips.

Falk continued to draw Phantom for a couple of weeks from his debut, but then recruited artist Raymond Moore, who was then an assistant to Phil Davis in Mandrake strips, to don the Phantom artist role. But you could still see the style of Falk, as he continued to do the layout for the strip for several weeks, before handing over the complete artistic duties to Moore, deciding to concentrate his fledgling writing career, which had touched further medium like Theatres, and Novels.

Mid-way through the first Phantom comic strip adventure, The Singh Brotherhood, Falk decided that he would like to position Phantom away from a city background. Little did he know that at the time of this thinking, his original concept of running the daily strips for a couple of years, was about to be turned into a legendary character in the comics business.

The fact that he didn’t reveal Jim Wells, as the man behind Phantom’s mask, helped him to concentrate on rewriting the origin, which saw Phantom being moved the African jungles. The character of Jimmy Wells was about to be forgotten for ever.


Phantom's Origin being rewrittenPhantom’s Origin Reboots: Falk introduced a scene in the Sing Brotherhood mid-way, to support the Origin reboot, where the evil maniac Prince Achmed, who during a previous meeting with Phantom showed no fear, now is shown fearing the moment Phantom mouths the words “Oath of the Skull” and “Ghost who Walks”.

Phantom's 1st Letter Phantom's 2nd Letter Next, he went down justifying the presence of Phantom in the city, by calling it as a temporary stay, through the scenes, where the Chief of Police showcases the letters he claims to have been sent by Phantom, with a couple of years gap in between.

Now that he had rebooted the origin, he then explained in the following day’s strips, where Dr. James Dodd, explains his childhood stories having encountered Phantom 70 years back, only to be later ascertained him to have a legacy as old as 400 years. The seeds for a fascinating story was laid in fruition with these scenes of the first Phantom adventure.

Phantom and Devil Skull Cave By the time the Singh Brotherhood came to close, readers were left to witness the appearance of

> Devil - the Mountain wolf, which often accompanies Phantom in many of his missions as a trusted ally,

> The mysterious Skull Cave inside the deep jungle, the Home of Phantom, and

Guran and Pygmies> the unknown tribe of Bandar Pygmies, armed with Poisonous arrows, and among them, Phantom’s closest confidant Guran.

As the Singh Pirates story reaches its Climax, the readers get a glimpse of Phantom’s legacy, as 21st Phantom is shown explaining his origin, for the first time, to Diana Palmer, his lady-love.


First ever Phantom Sunday StripPhantom & his Legacy: The legacy dates back to 1525, in London. It was just 27 years since Vasco Da Gama had discovered the Water route to the India, and there were still many uncharted sea territories, tempting explorers and adventures.

A young noble, Sir Christopher Standish (which was later changed to Christopher Walker, the name which has remained ever-after, and said to have been born in 1516), charters on a ship down the Old Thames, in search of far more lands.  He is accompanied by his old father, Christopher Sr.. In later stories, the origin was rewritten, which said that the Christopher Jr. was the ship-boy (to make him look younger), and Christopher Standish/Walker. was the Captain of the ship.

After many months of hard-ship and adventures their ships gets attacked by Oriental Chinese pirates (which was later changed to Singh Brotherhood) somewhere in the Bay of Bengal. Christopher sees his old father slain before his eyes, but their misery is put to rest, as a typhoon strikes and destroys both the ships. Christopher the sole survivor of the ships, then manages to sail with a make-shift raft travelling weeks and weeks to reach a remote shore. Which is what later known to readers, as Bengala.

He is then saved by the Bandars, a secret tribe of Pygmies, who had never seen a white man before. Christopher later discovers the body of a pirate being washed ashore, wearing his fathers attire. He then takes an Oath on the Skull of the pirate that he and his descendants will fight the Singh in particular, and Crime in general. Pygmies had an Prophecy, which stated that a White from the seas will free them of slavery, and believed that it was Christopher himself. The one which Christopher did accomplish, in the process teaching Pygmies the art of Poisonous Arrows, and the entire tribe and the men from the jungle, began referring him as ‘The Phantom’.

21st Phantom Takes OverPhantom replaces Phantom The present Phantom is the 21st of that lineage, which was being passed on from generation to generation, to the eldest male of the family. Most of these change-over’s always happens when the current Phantom is mortally wounded, and he is shown breathing his last inside the Skull Cave, with the next Phantom at his side.

As this change-over happens in secrecy, the world outside sees and fears Phantom, as the single person who has wandered the world for all 400+ years, thus bringing him the famous nick-name “The Ghost Who Walks”. This centuries of fantasized living, earns Phantom a lot of Old saying or prophecies, one of which terms that anyone who sees the face of Phantom without mask, will suffer a terrible death. Something, which helps the Phantom to maintain his secrecy in in numerous battles.

One of the first Comic Books of Phantom featuring Complete Singh Brotherhood Daily Strips (1938)Phantom further reveals that they are bound by oath to not share the secrets of the Phantom, in order to make the people believe and uphold Phantom’s myth. The rule is exempted only to two people who will ever be close to Phantom: is supposed to be wife, and the son who is to carry the tradition. By this he indirectly proposes to Diana for a marriage, which Diana quickly accepts. No wonder that Phantom reveals that none of the Phantom were ever rejected. Doesn’t it sound great, only if this was true with all of us in reality :).

The Singh Brotherhood, the first-ever Phantom comic strip, ran until November 07, 1936, a total of 38 weeks, thus easily making it one of the longest comic strip adventures of Phantom, ever. By the end of the first adventure Falk had taken the legacy of Phantom to a great level among comic fans.


Lee Falk and His trusty Typewriter in 1940s The Making of Phantom: So, what caused Falk to change his original concept of New York playboy playing double life in secret as the Phantom? Falk remained evasive about the real reasons for the story changes, but it must surely have been inner instincts and his love of mythology, the epic (like Shakesphere’s), poetry and real life adventure’s.

He also confesses that he bought in some of the ideas of the Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan, which talks about a white-man of English origin living among the African natives, and learning their customs and mastery, by being one among them. But Falk had denied that he used the later Tarzan comic strips, to base his character, as he termed them as not the best adaptation to the legendary Tarzan novels. A fact I acknowledge to till date, after having witnessed many comics series, not being impressed of it so far.

Scandinavian Artist depiction of Lee Falk being inspired by Shakesphere and other Artists The Phantom had to has its roots placed somewhere else, which is more exotic and mysterious then the straight look cosmopolitan New York.  It took Falk more than 3 months into his daily strip to base his real origin change of Phantom. The result was what we described in Phantom’s Origins Reboots, earlier.

But that was not all, Falk was still not convinced with the origin stories, even after a couple of years into the Phantom Daily strip, as he went about changing them one by one slowly. As per his early stories, The first Phantom was English, as was the 21st Phantom, obviously. He also says that he was educated in Oxford, further claiming his English origins. There were references to Bay of Bengal in many places, meaning that the remote land he referred to was most likely India.

Phantom in Jungle He changed his English Origin to American, possibly to make him look close the American readers, which could have been a demand from King Syndicates. The Home base of the Phantom was also changed to Africa. Which is understood, as he earlier referred the place as Bengal (which was later changed further as Bengali), and was politically Incorrect. The reason, Bengal was actually state in India, and certainly does not have any African tribes living in there :).

Phantom with Sharks and Dolphins But then again Africa, was also not having all the animal species Falk had described on his Phantom comic strips, which was quickly pointed out by many fans. Falk decided to introduce a story in his daily strip, where he shown a ship carrying wide assortment of animals bound for an overseas zoo, being wrecked on the Bengali coast. Falk’s mastery in writing on show, in there, heavily adopting from the Noah’s Ark legend.

Phantom Pistols (1911) Even though, Falk envisioned 21st Phantom, and his predecessors as armed with guns and weapons, he never wanted to show them as a means to shoot for a kill, even the enemies.  Phantom generally uses his weapons, to disarm his enemies, or shock them during duals. Thus, a legend was born, unlike any of the costumed superheroes who were created during his time or later.

The legend also meant that unlike other caped crusaders of his time, Phantom was not linked to one generation, thus giving the writers the freedom to base their stories with either the current 21st Phantom in the modern era, or choose to feature stories on the earlier Phantoms, who are often shown walking or being part of the historical events in the past.

The earliest success to the series also owes much to the art of Ray Moore, who had a classic touch of drawing the Phantom strips, which to date remains the best example for defining the Phantom to all the later artists, till date. Phantom comic strip, grew from strength to strength, even managing to appear in few collected comic book formats, albeit a few. But, the series success eventually managed to land it on the first colored strip on Sunday newspapers starting from May 1939.

Batman Detective27But there was also another comic character which made its debut the same month and year, in the form of Detective Comic’s Batman.

What relations did Batman have with Phantom? What was the impact of Phantom Sunday Strips over the legacy of Phantom? Did Ray Moore continue to handle the artistic work for Phantom all the years single-handed?

Answers to them will be continued in our next review post of Phantom soon on Comicology:  Lee Falk’s Phantom–2: The Colored Years, and the Competition.

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