The Phantom #0

The Phantom (2025)

by Ray Fawkes, Russell Olson (Illustrator)

The Phantom, Lee Falk's highly influential superhero, is back in an all-new adventure series! The first story in an exciting publishing plan that is sure to satisfy both new and returning "Phans" of comics' beloved Ghost Who Walks. In true Phantom fashion, look forward to pulpy storytelling focused on justice, honor, mystery, and mythology-all told with heaps of action! Exclusive Original Material!

Genres: Comics

Kindle Edition

Published May 14, 2025

About the author

Ray Fawkes is the critically-acclaimed author of the comics and graphic novels Underwinter, Intersect, One Soul, The People Inside, The Spectral Engine, Possessions, and Junction True, as well as Batman: Eternal, Constantine, Justice League Dark, and Gotham by Midnight (DC), Wolverines (Marvel), Black Hammer '45 (Dark Horse), Jackpot! (AfterShock) and more. He is an Eisner, Harvey, and Shuster award nominee and a YALSA award winner.

Ray has been making comics for over 20 years, starting with and continuing the tradition of DIY fiction as well as working for many major comics publishers in the U.S. and Canada.

Reviews

[Nicolo]

From the same publisher of that modern Flash Gordon comic book, a new title featuring another Defender of the Earth. It's a promising start and I'm even willing to overlook the presence of a tiger in Africa.

[James]

3.5 stars. I read Wolverines by Ray Fawkes and that was pretty bad. So I had low expectations when I saw he wrote this. To my surprise, this wasn’t half bad. The Phantom mixes it up with some poachers who killed a tiger and are now being stalked by a larger tiger out for blood. A simple but entertaining story. I could read more of this.

[Khurram]

A great start to the new Phanom series. I might be a bit biased as the Phantom is one of my favourite heroes. This is a very good short story of the law of the jungle. Hunters become the hunted. However, The Phantom does not do much here, he is more of an observer to make sure jungle law is upheld. The problem I have with the book is the Kindle format. This book does not allow panel-by-panel reading.

[alejandro galvez]

Excellent comic.

This was very good. Reminded me of my childhood with Billy Zane on the screen. A very good read. I am excited for this series. It was very good.

[Cameron Rhoads]

Superb. I love The Phantom. Well written and well illustrated.

[cloverina]

INCREDIBLE art, decently fun story! I don't think I've ever read a Phantom comic before, but I'm interested in seeing more.

[Gary Clark]

The Phantom

This was a FCBD comic about The Phantom, remember reading phantom comics when I was younger. He uses his wits to solve the situations he encounters.

This issue he needs to decide to save the hunters or the tiger. The artwork is okay, sometimes it seems a little off.

I recommend this for fans of The Phantom, or those that are tired of the same old superhero comics and want something different.

[Sarah]

I really enjoyed this! Especially that twist at the end. Anyone who defends animals and nature is a winner in my book. Loved the pulpy, classic superhero feel of this, complete with tights!

I also just found out that The Phantom is a beloved character from 1936!! I really hope this gets picked up for a full run, because I can totally see myself getting invested in this.

[Jason Holtzman]

This was a fun story worth picking up on FCBD. I'm pretty unfamiliar with the character but enjoyed the jungle setting and character interactions with animals. May be enough to have me check out new work with the Phantom later on.

[Roberto Lagos Figueroa]

Nuevas aventuras de un clásico

Comic introductorio a las nuevas aventuras de El Fantasma que camina de toda la vida, Kirk Walker. Un historia que contiene los elementos básicos del personaje y su lore. Buen inicio. Recomendable.

[BW Beeler]

The Phantom

Old jungle saying, Chuck Norris wished he was the Phantom! Great story, enjoyed the art work.
Love the Phantom, he's the only super hero that's gets to catch bad guys AND make babies so that the Phantom never dies.

[Jack Batts]

I’ve never heard of this guy he’s kinda cool. The story was interesting but kinda weak

[ellie]

i don’t really read comics that much so i didn’t know about the phantom before free comic book day… i love him now though he is so silly

[Johnathan]

A good foundation for an iconic comic book hero

[Joe]

Good Start for the series

A good story. Awaiting #1. Been interested in the Phantom since childhood. Would like to see more of this series.

[Ryan Gässer]

The FCBD issue was solid. I’m looking forward to the series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalla

[Rick Ray]

Free Comic Book Day 2025: The Phantom #0

Comics publisher Mad Cave Studios has kind of broken ground on resurrecting old comic strip characters into more contemporary comics narrative styled stories, having already started with Chester Gould's Dick Tracy and Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon. Now the publisher takes on Lee Falk's Phantom character, which will get its own ongoing comic series from the creative team of Ray Fawkes and Russell Olsen. The artwork by Olsen is quite nice, suitably striking a balance between noir and action adventure as needed, though the story does little to entice me towards wanting to pick this up right away. Though I have been finding their rendition of Dick Tracy to be quite fun, I'll wait to see what the reception of this iteration on The Phantom is before picking this series up.

[Rob Vitagliano]

Well, that was certainly enough to get me hooked on this series. That might have been the best "Free Comic Book Day" book I've read so far.

I only know what I've read in the new Defenders of the Earth series, and have had no other exposure to the character, but he's really growing on me. He's a Batman-like tough guy in this one, without actually being violent.

He deals with some animal poachers hunting tigers, an animal that the Phantoms seem to have a serious connection to. It doesn't bode well for the hunters that they've drawn the ire of not just another tiger, but this purple clad badass.

Definitely looking forward to issue #1 of this one.

[FernandoG]

Esta historieta es un clásico, un hito, en el cual nuestro súper héroe tiene un anillo con la marca de la calavera, está siempre acompañado en sus aventuras de un lobo, gran perro, de nombre: Diablo. 3.8/5.0

[Chad]

This was fine. Nothing original though. Just the Phantom in the jungle. This story has him going after some poachers. The Phantom has never really done much for me. That trend continues.