Phantom #60- Charlton

Phantom#60
June 1974
Charlton Comics
Cover: Jim Aparo
Script: Giovanni Fiorentini (uncredited)
Pencils/Inks: Mario Pedrazzi (uncredited)

This series of The Phantom had already been published by two other comics companies by the time Charlton Comics got ahold of it. Starting with Gold Key Comics, The Phantom ran 17 issues. It was then picked up by King (published by King Features Syndicate, the owners of The Phantom property) from issue 18 through issue 28. There was no #29 published in the U.S., but Charlton started publication with issue #30.

This issue advertises a "New" Phantom. Charlton had decided to return the comic to it's newspaper strip roots and kicked this "new look" off with a reprint of a story previously published in Italy in Avventure Americaine- L'uomo Mascherato (American Adventures of the Masked Man) The story was titled "Assalto al Tressoro dell'Ombra"-"Assault on The Shadow Treasure".

Just as the Phantom continues the work of his ancestors, so, too does Strangol, this issue's villain. Only difference is, Strangol's Grandfather was a PIRATE!

The story features not only two things the Phantom hates: Pirates and Arms Dealers, it also features a tank straight out of a Republic Serial. I hope you all enjoy this week's offering:

A Few International Phantoms

I plan to scan and post one full issue of The Phantom each week. But, until I get that up and running, here is a sampler of phantom covers from around the world:

Netherlands


India- In case you're wondering, this is a reprint of the Gold Key Phantom "The Belt". Follow the link to Mykal Banta's Gold Key Comics blog to read the whole story.


Italy



Germany


United Kingdom


Australia


Sweden

The above images were borrowed from the Grand Comic Book Database.

Why Purple?

In 1936, Lee Falk colored the Phantom's costume gray. Of course, that was for a daily, black and white newspaper strip, so it could have been any color. Falk had actually intended the costume to be gray. He had even toyed with naming his new mystery man "The Gray Ghost".

It wasn't until 1939, when King Features began running a color, Sunday strip of the Phantom that the suit was depicted as purple. It isn't recorded why the colorists chose purple, but Falk continued to describe the costume as gray within the text of the strip. Eventually, Falk gave in and let it be purple.

In some countries, the Phantom's costume is depicted as red (in Italy, Turkey and South America) or blue (In Norway, Sweden and Finland).