The Phantom:
A Publishing History in the U.S.A.
by Bob and John Griffin
Ace, King and Future Comics (1938-1952)
(David McKay Publications)
Reprinted King Features Sunday and Daily strips including Flash Gordon, the Lone Ranger, Mandrake, etc. The Phantom appeared as just one of the characters presented in each issue. All were published in colour.
Ace Comics
#1 - #151
Apr 1937 - Oct/Nov 1949
Reprinted 8 pages of Phantom strips per 36 page issue. The Phantom first appeared in #11 (Feb 1938) in brown costume (see the above image)! The stories were serialized from the daily strip, and were not complete in each issue. The last 4 issues in the series broke with tradition and contained stories from the Sunday strip. All of the Phantom strips printed in this series were quite heavily cropped and edited, and occasionally the text was rewritten.
A detailed list of all the Phantom stories published in Ace Comics and the corresponding issue numbers is now available. Click HERE to see it.
The Phantom's first appearance on the cover of Ace Comics was on issue #140. Issues #140 to #142 had a small picture of the Phantom's face in a circle about 25mm in diameter on the cover, with the rest dominated by other King Features characters (Popeye etc.).
The first cover entirely devoted to the Phantom was #143, and he remained there until the publication ceased with #151. Thumbnail images of each of these covers are shown below, and larger images can be downloaded by clicking on a thumbnail.
King Comics
#1 - #159
Apr 1936 - Feb 1952
Reprinted 4 pages of Phantom Sunday strip per 36 page issue. The Phantom first appeared in #61 (May, 1941) reprinting The Fire Goddess. The stories were serialized from the Sunday strip, and were not complete in each issue. The last 3 issues in the series broke with tradition and contained stories from the daily strip (6 pages per issue).
A detailed list of all the Phantom stories published in King Comics and the corresponding issue numbers is now available. Click HERE to see it.
None of the covers had anything to do with the Phantom, so I haven't bothered with any scans.
Future Comics
#1 - #4
Jun 1940 - Sep 1940
The first Phantom Sunday page (28 May 1939)
as it appears in Future Comics #1
These 68 page comics included 4 Phantom Sunday pages in each issue. They reprinted most of the first Sunday strip story from 1939, The League of Lost Men. The first Sunday page from Future #1 is shown above. All except the last five Sunday pages of the story were published in this series.
| Issue | Date | Sundays (1939)
|
|---|
| #1 | Jun 1940 | 28/5, 4/6, 11/6, 18/6
|
| #2 | Jul 1940 | 25/6, 2/7, 9/7, 16/7
|
| #3 | Aug 1940 | 23/7, 30/7, 6/8, 13/8
|
| #4 | Sep 1940 | 20/8, 27/8, 3/9, 10/9
|
As for the King Comics the covers for this series had nothing to do with the Phantom, so I haven't bothered with any scans. Instead they showed some weirdo with a rubber glove on his head!
© 1999 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC. THE HEARST CORPORATION
Return to The Phantom in the USA
Bryan Shedden / guran@deepwoods.org
Last updated 5 December 1999
