The Phantom: The Complete Series Vol. 4: The Charlton Years

The Phantom: The Complete Series #7

by Joe Gill, Giovanni Fiorentini, Pat Boyette (Artist)

The mid-1970s comic book adventures of The Phantom return in full, glorious color! Hermes Press is collecting all 74 issues of The Phantom comic books that ran from 1962-1977. The Charlton comic book version of the grand-daddy of costumed heroes, The Ghost Who Walks, is available again, digitally remastered to look better than the original books. This volume presents the last efforts of stalwart Pat Boyette, with artwork by Mario Pedrazzi, Sante D'Amico, and Frank Bolle. Also featured is an exhaustive essay on the artists who created these books and other special features.

Genres: Comics, Superheroes

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2015

About the author

Joseph P. Gill was an American magazine writer and highly prolific comic book scripter. Most of his work was for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the superheroes Captain Atom, Peacemaker, and Judomaster, among others. Comics historians consider Gill a top contender as the comic-book field's most prolific writer. Per historian and columnist Mark Evanier, Gill "wrote a staggering number of comics. There are a half-dozen guys in his category. If someone came back and said he was the most prolific ever, no one would be surprised."

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This volume went back to full length stories rather than 3 stories per issue, but really I think I preferred the shorter stories. The stories also tightened up the continuity a bit as now the Phantom has a recurring villain that keeps popping up from issue to issue. The art wasn't up to the Jim Aparo or Pat Boyette standard, but it was decent. Not bad but the quality is starting to decline a bit.

I think the problem may be more with the transfer than the art itself, as Charlton was notorious for cheap and low quality printing. The art was probably much better than it comes across.

Still not a bad read.

[Nakul Shenoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is just amazing to be able to catch up on these classic Phantom stories. I loved this latest in the series.