''The Phantom Detective'' was the second

pulp hero Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

magazine published, after ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

''. The first issue was released in February 1933, a month before ''

Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a doctor, scientist, adventurer, detective, and polymath who "rights w ...

'', which was released in March 1933. The title continued to be released until 1953, with a total 170 issues. This is the third highest number of issues for a character pulp, after ''The Shadow'', which had 325 issues, and ''Doc Savage'', which had 181. In western titles, '' Texas Rangers'' would have around 212 issues of their main character, known as the Lone Wolf.

Publication history

The series was published by Ned Pines'

Thrilling ''Thrilling'' is a 1965 Italian comedy film. The film is split into three distinct segments, each directed by a different director; namely Carlo Lizzani, Ettore Scola and Gian Luigi Polidoro. Cast Il vittimista * Directed by Ettore Scola * N ...

(also known as Better or Standard) Publishing. Ned Pines had a comic book imprint, which collectors usually refer to as Nedor Comics, and The Phantom Detective had a series in their title '' Thrilling Comics'' #53-70 from 1946-49 as well as ''America's Best Comics'' #26 in 1948. Stories were credited to several pseudonyms. The first eleven Phantom Detective stories were published under the Better house pseudonym of "G. Wayman Jones", and were largely written by D. L. Champion, a.k.a. Jack D'arcy. The rest were published under the pseudonym "Robert Wallace". These were largely written by Edwin V. Burkholder, Norman A. Daniels (36+), Anatole F. Feldman, Charles Greenberg, George A. MacDonald, Laurence Donovan and C. S. Montanye. Less frequent contributors included

Paul Chadwick Paul Chadwick (born 1957) is an American comic book creator best known for his series '' Concrete'' about a normal man trapped in a stone body. Biography Born in Seattle, Chadwick grew up in its suburb Medina, where his father, Stephen F. Chad ...

, Norvell W. Page, Paul Ernst, Emile C. Tepperman,

Henry Kuttner Henry Kuttner (April 7, 1915 – February 3, 1958) was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Early life Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915. Kuttner (1829–1903) and Amelia Bush (c. 1834–1911), the ...

Ray Cummings Ray Cummings (born Raymond King Cummings) (August 30, 1887 – January 23, 1957) was an American author of science fiction literature and comic books. Early life Cummings was born in New York City in 1887. He worked with Thomas Edison as a ...

, Ralph Oppenheim and others. Ryerson Johnson is credited with #46, ''The Silent Death''. There have been several reprints of Phantom Detective stories over the years. Soft porn publisher Corinth Books released the most, with 20 titles.

Character overview

The Phantom (as he was called in the stories) is actually the wealthy Richard Curtis Van Loan. In the first few issues of the title, the Phantom is introduced as a world-famous detective, whose true identity is only known by one man—Frank Havens, the publisher of the Clarion newspaper. Richard Curtis Van Loan is orphaned at an early age, but inherits wealth. Before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he leads the life of an idle playboy, but during the war he becomes a pilot and downs many German planes. After the war, Van Loan has a difficult time returning to his old life. At the suggestion of his father's friend, Havens, he sets out to solve a crime that had stumped the police. After solving it, he decides he has found his calling. He trains himself in all facets of detection and

forensics Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimin ...

, and becomes a master of disguise and escape. He makes a name for himself as the Phantom, whom all police agencies around the world know and respect. When dealing with law enforcement officials he carries a platinum badge in the shape of a

domino mask Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...

as proof of his true identity. The initial stories were less about a detective than an adventurer using disguise and lucky escapes to conclude his cases. In one issue, Havens installs a red beacon on the roof of the Clarion building, which he turns on when he needs to see the Phantom. (This served as an inspiration for

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

Bat-Signal The Bat-Signal is a distress signal device appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, as a means to summon the superhero, Batman. It is a specially modified searchlight with a stylized emblem of a bat affixed to the light, allowing ...

; two early Batman editors,

Jack Schiff Jack Schiff (1909 – April 30, 1999) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for his work editing various Batman comic book series for DC Comics from 1942 to 1964. He was the co-creator of Starman, Tommy Tomorrow, and the Wyom ...

and

Mort Weisinger Mortimer Weisinger (; April 25, 1915 – May 7, 1978) was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing DC Comics' ''Superman'' during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the Silver Age of comic books. He also co-created such features a ...

, got their start editing ''The Phantom Detective'' under editor-in-chief

Leo Margulies Leo Margulies (June 22, 1900 – December 26, 1975) was an American editor and publisher of science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines and paperback books. Biography Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, but was raised in ...

.) Other people in Van Loan's life include Muriel Havens, Frank Havens' daughter, with whom he is in love, and Clarion reporter Steve Huston. Laurence Donovan introduced a kid sidekick named Chip Dorlan in the 1939 novel, ''The Sampan Murders.'' After

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, Chip joins the Army as an Intelligence officer, returning briefly to the series after the war. Van Loan's former mechanic and pilot, Jerry Lannigan, assists him in several cases, as do others from time to time. The Phantom employs several alternate identities, including Lester Cornwell and Dr. Paul Bendix, a chemist. The pseudonym "Robert Wallace" was coined to evoke popular British thriller novelist

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

, and was also used on short stories and novelettes not featuring the Phantom.

Cultural references

The early episodes of

Lee Falk Lee Falk (), born Leon Harrison Gross (; April 28, 1911 – March 13, 1999), was an American cartoonist, writer, theater director, and producer, best known as the creator of the comic strips ''Mandrake the Magician'' and ''The Phantom''. At the ...

's ''

The Phantom ''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 charact ...

'' newspaper strip strongly resemble the Phantom Detective. Abruptly, Falk abandoned this tack for the exotic adventure approach, abandoning his Manhattan locale and the Phantom's original identity of playboy Jimmy Wells.

Reprints and continuations

The property slid into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

when the

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

was not renewed, allowing others to bring the character back into print. From 2002, Adventure House has been reprinting the stories of The Phantom Detective. As of 2018, 133 of the 170 novels have been reprinted, 126 of them as replicas, including the cover and additional contents, of the original Phantom Detective pulp issues. In 2006 Wildside Press LLC printed the "first new Phantom Story in 50 years": ''The Phantom's Phantom'', which takes place in 1953 after the original pulp series ends. It was written in the first person, which allows an in-depth study of the Phantom's personality that never occurred in the pulps. In 2016, Airship 27 Productions published a new anthology featuring five original Phantom Detective stories by Gary Lovisi, Gene Moyers, Whit Howland and Robert Ricci.

In popular culture

In the film '' The Artist'', George Valentin adopts an appearance similar to the Phantom (minus the cape) for ''A Russian Affair'', the film showcased at the movie's start.

External links

Full list of The Phantom Detective Magazine issues and contents
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phantom Detective, The Fictional male detectives Literary characters introduced in 1933 Fictional aviators Fictional socialites Fictional World War I veterans Publications established in 1933