Ray Moore (1)Besprekingen

Very interesting. I didn't realize that the story of the Phantom developed as the strip went on - he started as a costumed crimefighter with a playboy alter ego, and the immortality and the jungle parts developed over time. It's fascinating watching them appear - Devil, the Bandar, the Skull Throne, the Phantom's Peace...there's no sign, yet, of the Jungle Patrol, and I know (coincidence of timing - reading online vintage comics) where he gets Hero. And like that. The stories are quite pulpy, unsurprisingly - he battles pirates of various sorts, including an all-girl group of sky pirates (who lose mostly because two of them fall in love with him), then a jungle war. And love is a major theme - the Phantom and Diana, Diana and Horton, the pirate women and the Phantom, and a Romeo and Juliet slant to the jungle war. Plus, when the Phantom finally rescues Diana and has her safe, a lovers' quarrel about how and where they'll live - she says he can't leave the jungle, he says she can't be happy in the jungle...and the book ends. Now I want to read the next.

A collection of black-and-white "Phantom" Sundays from March 24, 1946 to December 23, 1947. The strips begin in the middle of an episode, although the book ends with the conclusion of a storyline. "The Phantom" is an interesting strip in concept, but I never cared much for its execution, either in storyline or artwork.

Sunday continuity from 3/2/1941 to 2/22/1942. Black-and-white reproduction. Phantom thwarts a female-led Nazi Sky Band.

Sunday continuity from 10/22/1939 to 3/10/1940. The Phantom scuttles a Nazi attempt to blow up a crucial dam. Standard stuff.

Sunday continuity, from 5/28/39 to 10/15/39. Includes the introductory page, which is in color. The rest are good black-and-white reproductions.

The Phantom's treasure is stolen. Covers 7/14/1941 to 1/31/1942.

A fairly entertaining story about the Phantom and Diana thwarting a Nazi attempt to build airbases in Africa. Covers 12/16/1940 to 7/14/1941.

Another Phantom adventure, from 7/29/1940 to 12/14/1940. Not as good as its reputation, but it is a fun summer read. One problem with the Phantom, at least in this book, is that he is a little too invincible, undergoing a life-saving surgery from a soft-nosed bullet and going into action, good as new, a few hours later.

A nicely-reproduced complete adventure of "The Phantom".. It's a little overrated; the concept of the Phantom, believed by the natives to be immortal, but actually the fourteenth in a long line, is fine, but the writing is kind of hokey. Good artwork, though. These strips are from 2/7/1938 to 6/18/1938.

This story from the 1930's features Lee Falk's creation, the Phantom, against a band of female air-pirates called the Sky Maidens. The art is stiffly old-fashioned but interesting, and the storylines are the simplistic good vs. evil adventures of the time, with the Phantom exerting a universal attraction upon the evil women he is fighting. Simplistic and chauvinistic, the strip is still historically interesting, and mildly intriguing on its own.