the Phantom's World

HISTORY

FREW PUBLICATIONS * first published the Phantom on 9th September 1948, however the first ever appearance of the Phantom was in the American newspapers on 17th February 1936. The first actual Phantom comic was published in Italy. The debut story was 'The Singh Brotherhood'.

The first time a Phantom story was ever published outside the strip was in a Big Little Book in 1936 while the story was still running in the newspapers. Also the first Australian Phantom comic book was published on 6th May 1938 by the Australian Woman's Mirror.

The Phantom has captured the hearts of his fans through his determined efforts to rid his world of cruelty and piracy, as well as eliminating any wrong-doers that may cross his path or interfere with the well-being of friends, family, and the innocent. He was created in 1936 by the now legendary author Lee Falk (1915-1999), and the Phantom along with Mandrake the Magician (first published 11th June 1934) grew to quite large proportions in the years to come.

The Phantom however had that something special, with sales around the world, (particularly Australia, Scandinavia and Spain) showing editors just how much a character like the Phantom could succeed. In fact, sales of the Phantom reached 44 million in Australia on October 1996. He led the way for other "superheroes" such as Superman and Batman. Fans of superheroes may be correct in saying that the Phantom is not particularly a super hero, boasting no magical powers or high-tech weaponry, but instead those properties giving way to a keen sense of duty, a greater than most strength, a good sense of humor, and a purple suit.

The Phantom was initially supposed to be an elusive character, playboy Jimmy Wells, whose identity was supposed to be unknown. The idea was dropped by Falk in favour of the more appealing concept of the Phantom being a seperate character entirely, living in the deep Jungle. As a point of interest, the Jimmy Wells - Diana Palmer idea was actually written into the Superman story a few years after when Superman was created in 1938.

He wrote in the Phantom's identity as Kit Walker, living in the deep jungle of Bengalla (also Bangala, Bangalla, Bengalli), in a natural rock formation in the shape of a human skull, the Skull Cave.

For 400 years, the Phantom legend has dominated the world.

* The letters FREW were based on the first letter in the surname of the four men who formed a partnership in 1948 to enter the comic book publishing field (R. Forsyth, L. Richardson, J. Eisen & J. Watson).

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