The Story of the Phantom
The Story of the Phantom is a series of 15 novels based on Lee Falk's Phantom stories, published by Avon Publications in the U.S.
History
The novels were published from 1972 to 1975, and five were written by Lee Falk himself. Ron Goulart, using the pseudonym of Frank S. Shawn, later remarked that Falk originally asked Alfred Bester, who had previously worked on the Phantom comic strip when Falk served in the army, to ghost-write a few novels. Bester was not interested, and recommended Goulart for Falk. The covers for the novels were done by George Wilson, previously known for his work on US Phantom comic books. Many of the books were translated into several foreign languages.
In the last book, Carson Bingham was credited as the writer on the title page, but in the Author's note of the same book (where the writers of the entire series are presented), Lee Falk is credited as the writer of this book.
The erroneous credit given to Bingham (who wrote the previous book in the series) reportedly upset Falk who requested a second printing with the correct credits. No such second edition is however known to exist.
The novels were reprinted between 2016 and 2020 by Hermes Press. The reprints were printed in a slightly larger format and had the Hermes logo prominently displayed to ensure there was no confusion between the originals and the reprints.
Book List
| # | Title | Writer | Date | Hermes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Ghost Who Walks" | Lee Falk | 1972 | 2016 |
| 2 | "The Slave Market of Mucar" | Basil Copper | 1972 | 2017 |
| 3 | "The Scorpia Menace" | Basil Copper | 1972 | 2017 |
| 4 | "The Veiled Lady" | Frank S. Shawn | 1973 | 2017 |
| 5 | "The Golden Circle" | Frank S. Shawn | 1973 | 2018 |
| 6 | "The Mysterious Ambassador" | Lee Falk | 1973 | 2018 |
| 7 | "The Mystery of the Sea Horse" | Frank S. Shawn | 1973 | 2018 |
| 8 | "The Hydra Monster" | Frank S. Shawn | 1973 | 2018 |
| 9 | "Killer's Town" | Lee Falk | 1973 | 2019 |
| 10 | "The Goggle-Eyed Pirates" | Frank S. Shawn | 1974 | 2019 |
| 11 | "The Swamp Rats" | Frank S. Shawn | 1974 | 2019 |
| 12 | "The Vampires and the Witch" | Lee Falk | 1974 | 2019 |
| 13 | "The Island of Dogs" | Warren Shanahan | 1975 | 2020 |
| 14 | "The Assassins" | Carson Bingham | 1975 | 2020 |
| 15 | "The Curse of the Two-Headed Bull" | Lee Falk | 1975 | 2020 |
The Avon Novels
Non-English Releases
The books were also released in non-English languages. In Germany the series was printed by Kelter Abenteuer.
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