The Phantom:
A Publishing History in the U.S.A.

by Bob and John Griffin

Ace Comics (1937-1949)

(David McKay Publications)

Number	Code	Story Title	Artist	Start	Finish
11-25	D2	The Sky Band	Moore	9 Nov 1936	10 Apr 1937
25-40	D3	The Diamond Hunters	Moore	12 Apr 1937	18 Sep 1937
40-47	D4	Little Toma	Moore	20 Sep 1937	5 Feb 1938
47-54	D5	Prisoner of the Himalayas	Moore	7 Feb 1938	18 Jun 1938
54-56	D6	Adventure in Algiers	Moore	20 Jun 1938	23 Jul 1938
56-60	D7	The Shark's Nest	Moore	25 Jul 1938	5 Nov 1938
60-64	D8	Fishers of Pearls	Moore	7 Nov 1938	28 Jan 1939
64-69	D9	The Slave Traders	Moore	30 Jan 1939	6 May 1939
70-77	D15	The Phantom's Treasure	Moore	14 Jul 1941	31 Jan 1942
77-96	D16	The Phantom Goes to War	Moore/McCoy	2 Feb 1942	9 Jan 1943
97-105	D17	Bent Beak Broder	McCoy	11 Jan 1943	22 May 1943
105-110	D18	The Phantom's Engagement	McCoy	24 May 1943	24 Jul 1943
110-125	D19	The Governor and Suzie	McCoy	26 Jul 1943	26 Feb 1944
125-133	D20	The Spy Gang	McCoy	28 Feb 1944	20 May 1944
133-139	D21	The Crooner	McCoy	22 May 1944	26 Aug 1944
139-147	D22	The Maharajah's Daughter	McCoy	28 Aug 1944	24 Mar 1945
148-149	S17	The 12 Tasks	Moore/McCoy	29 Dec 1946	29 Jun 1947
150-151	S18	The Dragon God	Moore	6 Jul 1947	16 Nov 1947

NOTES

Thanks to Emile Lavigne and Les Gray for identifying the start and finish issues for The Diamond Hunters
Initially, the Phantom only ran for 4 pages in the middle of these comics, but from issue #38 the coverage was increased to 8 pages and was moved to the front. (thanks to Brandon Mitchell for info)
The daily strip from 8 May 1939 to 12 Jul 1941 was completely skipped for some unknown reason. This meant that the following classic stories were not printed under the Ace Comics covers: The Mysterious Girl, The Golden Circle, The Seahorse, The Game of Alvar, and Diana Aviatrix Lost.
#140 (Nov 1948) was the first to feature an introductory splash page for the Phantom. This practice was continued in subsequent issues. Interestingly the story title for this issue was changed to "The Thuggees". This must have inspired Lee Falk because he used the same story title a year later.
The Sunday strip story "The 12 Tasks" was abbreviated to "The Seven Tasks" for the Ace Comics version in #148 and #149. The original 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th tasks were edited from the story, leaving a total of seven.
#151 (Oct/Nov 1949) featured an advertisement for The Blue Gang which was supposed to appear in the next issue. However, #152 was never published and the series ended with #151.

Bryan Shedden / guran@deepwoods.org
Last updated 15 May 2003