Lot 1631: ADVERTISING POSTER THE PHANTOM LEE FALK TIGER COMICS

Original vintage advertising poster for the comic hero The Phantom created by Lee Falk – 'Whew'. Published by United Book Guild, 65 4th Avenue in New York City, NY (NYC). Lee Falk, born Leon Harrison Gross ( April 28, 1911 – March 13, 1999), was an American writer, theater director and producer, best known as the creator of the popular comic strips The Phantom (1936–present) and Mandrake the Magician (1934–2013). At the height of their popularity, these strips attracted over 100 million readers every day. Falk also wrote short stories, and he contributed to a series of pulp novels about The Phantom. A playwright and theatrical director/producer, Falk directed actors such as Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, Chico Marx and Ethel Waters. The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The character has been adapted for television, film and video games. The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of 2019. In 1966, King Features stated that The Phantom was being published in 583 newspapers worldwide. At its peak, the strip was read by over 100 million people daily. Falk worked on The Phantom until his death in 1999; from then until the present, the comic strip has been written by Tony DePaul. Since 2016, it has been drawn by Mike Manley (Monday–Saturday) and Terry Beatty (Sunday). Previous artists on the newspaper strip include Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy, Bill Lignante, Sy Barry, George Olesen, Keith Williams, Fred Fredericks, Graham Nolan, Eduardo Barreto and Paul Ryan. In the strip, the Phantom was 21st in a line of crime-fighters which began in 1536, when the father of British sailor Christopher Walker was killed during a pirate attack. Swearing an oath on the skull of his father's murderer to fight evil, Christopher began a legacy of the Phantom which would pass from father to son. Nicknames for the Phantom include "The Ghost Who Walks", "Guardian of the Eastern Dark" and "The Man Who Cannot Die". Unlike most other superheroes, the Phantom has no superpowers; he totally relies on his strength, intelligence and the myth of his immortality to take action against the forces of evil. The 21st Phantom is married to Diana Palmer; they met while he studied in the United States and they have two children, Kit and Heloise. He has a trained wolf named Devil and a horse named Hero, and like the 20 previous Phantoms he lives in the ancient Skull Cave. The Phantom was the first fictional hero to wear the skintight costume which has become a hallmark of comic-book superheroes, and was the first shown in a mask with no visible pupils (another superhero standard). Comics historian Peter Coogan has described the Phantom as a "transitional" figure, since the Phantom has some of the characteristics of pulp magazine heroes like The Shadow and the Spider and earlier jungle heroes such as Tarzan, as well as anticipating the features of comic book heroes such as Superman, Batman, and Captain America. Good condition, minor tears and creases in margins. County: USA, year of printing:1966, designer: Lee Falk, size (cm): 132x81.5