Ray Moore

Raymond S. Moore
Biographical information
Born:	Febuary 27, 1905
Died:	January 13, 1984
Nationality:	American
Occupation:	Artist
Website:	N/A

Raymond Stephen Moore (February 27, 1905 – January 13, 1984), better known as Ray Moore, was the co-creator, together with Lee Falk, and first artist on what would grow to become the world's most popular adventure comic strip, The Phantom, which started in 1936. Moore had previously worked as Phil Davis' assistant on the Lee Falk-created Mandrake the Magician comic strip, which was why he was thought to be a suitable choice to draw Falk's new creation.

Life and career

Little is known about Ray's personal life, but he was born in Montgomery City, Missouri, in 1905, and he lived most of his life in Missouri (St Louis, Manchester), until his death in 1984, together with his wife, Claire Moore. He was the son of a jeweler, and originally intended to become an engineer, before he realised that he could live off his job as an artist.

Moore attended Washington University Art School in St. Louis and started drawing The Phantom in 1936, after creator Falk realised he would not have the time to do the artwork in the strip himself. He had previously worked as an assistant on Falk's other strip, Mandrake the Magician.

Ray was involved in an accident during his career as a pilot in World War II, which made him unable to keep on drawing The Phantom, therefore leaving work on the strip to his assistant Wilson McCoy.

Ray Moore had a moody and mysterious drawing style, with a style of shadowing which suited the mysterious Phantom character. However, he slightly changed his style later on, focusing less on the dark atmosphere he had become known for, in advantage of a more realistic style, with more details and a less moody style of drawing.

Lee Falk always claimed that Moore was the best artist on the Phantom, because of his talent for drawing beautiful looking girls. It was this talent that led Falk to creating many crime corporations only consisting of women, like the infamous Sky Band.

Moore is known by fans to be as mysterious as the Phantom character he co-created and very few photos of him are known to the public. On the rare occasions he did interviews, he seldom mentioned his private life.

Ray Moore died in 1984 at St.Joseph Hospital near Kirkwood, a St.Louis suburb, after suffering a stroke. He was survived by his wife, Claire, who passed away in 2005.

Trivia

• Moore would sometimes use his wife Claire as a model when drawing the Phantom's girlfriend, Diana Palmer.
• The idea of the Phantom's pet wolf Devil is believed to have come from Ray Moore's lifelong pleasure of drawing wolves.
• In Paramount Pictures' The Phantom movie adaptation, starring Billy Zane, the butler of the Palmer-family is called "Falkmoore", a reference to Lee Falk and Ray Moore.

Phantom work by Ray Moore

Stories

Daily stories

#	Title	Writer	Artist	Start	End
1	"The Singh Brotherhood"	Lee Falk	Falk, Moore	17 Feb 1936	7 Nov 1936
2	"The Sky Band"	Falk	Moore	9 Nov 1936	10 Apr 1937
3	"War in the Jungle"	Falk	Moore	12 Apr 1937	18 Sep 1937
4	"Little Toma"	Falk	Moore	20 Sep 1937	5 Feb 1938
5	"The Prisoner of the Himalayas"	Falk	Moore	7 Feb 1938	18 Jun 1938
6	"Adventure in Algiers"	Falk	Moore	20 Jun 1938	23 Jul 1938
7	"The Shark's Nest"	Falk	Moore	25 Jul 1938	5 Nov 1938
8	"Fishers of Pearls"	Falk	Moore	7 Nov 1938	28 Jan 1939
9	"The Slave Traders"	Falk	Moore	30 Jan 1939	6 May 1939
10	"The Mysterious Girl"	Falk	Moore	8 May 1939	2 Sep 1939
11	"The Golden Circle"	Falk	Moore	4 Sep 1939	20 Jan 1940
12	"The Sea Horse"	Falk	Moore	22 Jan 1940	27 Jul 1940
13	"The Game of Alvar"	Falk	Moore	29 Jul 1940	14 Dec 1940
14	"Diana Aviatrix Lost"	Falk	Moore	16 Dec 1940	12 Jul 1941
15	"The Phantom's Treasure"	Falk	Moore	14 Jul 1941	31 Jan 1942
16	"The Inexorables"	Falk	Moore, McCoy	2 Feb 1942	9 Jan 1943
17	"The Mermaids of Melo Straits"	Falk	Moore	12 Nov 1945	16 Feb 1946
18	"Princess Valerie"	Falk	Moore, McCoy	18 Feb 1946	13 Jul 1946

Sunday stories

#	Title	Writer	Artist	Start	End
1	"The League of Lost Men"	Falk	Moore	28 May 1939	15 Oct 1939
2	"The Precious Cargo of Colonel Winn"	Falk	Moore	22 Oct 1939	10 Mar 1940
3	"The Fire Goddess"	Falk	Moore	17 Mar 1940	21 Jul 1940
4	"The Beachcomber"	Falk	Moore	28 Jul 1940	29 Dec 1940
5	"The Saboteurs"	Falk	Moore	5 Jan 1941	23 Feb 1941
6	"The Return of the Sky Band"	Falk	Moore	2 Mar 1941	22 Feb 1942
7	"The Impostor"	Falk	Moore	1 Mar 1942	11 Oct 1942
8	"Castle in the Clouds"	Falk	Moore, McCoy	18 Oct 1942	18 Apr 1943
9	"Queen Pera the Perfect"	Falk	Moore	9 Dec 1945	17 Mar 1946
10	"King of Beasts"	Falk	Moore	24 Mar 1946	4 Aug 1946
11	"The Scarlet Sorceress"	Falk	Moore, McCoy	11 Aug 1946	22 Dec 1946
12	"The 12 Tasks"	Falk	Moore, McCoy	29 Dec 1946	29 Jun 1947
13	"The Dragon God"	Falk	Moore	6 Jul 1947	16 Nov 1947
14	"The Marshall Sisters"	Falk	Moore, McCoy	23 Nov 1947	16 May 1948
15	"The Phantom Trophy"	Falk	Moore	23 May 1948	5 Sep 1948
16	"The Haunted Castle"	Falk	Moore, McCoy	12 Sep 1948	13 Feb 1949

External links

• Interview with Ray Moore's widow
• Moore's profile at Lambiek.net
• Obituary from New York Times, Jan. 17, 1984
• The Phantom – Ray Moore

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This article, in the version of October 11, 2007, includes information from Wikipedia: Ray Moore (comics).