The Phantom: The Complete Series Vol. 1: The Gold Key Years

by Bill Harris, George Wilson (Cover Art), Bill Lignante (Artist)

242 pages! The The Complete Series-- Volume One, Gold Key collects eight issues of slamming crime-busting global action from the Ghost Who Walks! This first volume collects eight adventures from the Gold Key comic book run, with stories by Bill Harris and Bill Lignante that are put forth with George Wilson's masterful painted covers. These comics were originally produced in the 1960s, and have been digitally remastered to modern perfection for a new audience...or as a reminder to the old one.

Genres: Comics

242 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2011

Reviews

[Paul Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

'For Those Who came in Late',... The Phantom originated as Newspaper strips and typical of comic strips, they were published in black and white Dailies, and color Sundays.

There were several attempts at bringing out comic book version of these strips. Most of them were reprints. with exception of some adaptations.

In 1962,KK publications decided to bring out comic book versions of this famous strip. It began under the label Gold Key. The stories in these series were neither new stories, nor reprints of the already published strips. But were completely re-scripted and re-drawn versions of selected Dailies and Sundays. The artwork for these were done more leisurely and hence more detailed and colorful. But one cannot really judge whether they are actually better than the original. There certainly is a charm to the originals as they appeared in the strips day after day.

Bill Lignante did the art work inside and George Wilson painted the covers for this series. One can tell that they were talented artists.

So, what we have in this book, are collections of the very early exclusively 'comic book' format of The Phantom.

(II) Book quality

This collection is a nice hardbound edition, with dust jacket. The stories are printed on nice thick high quality paper. The print quality itself is not extraordinary, but pretty good. the glossy paper coming in the way of enjoying the fine art work. But probably the original books were the only sources, and so this can be summed up as a good quality photocopy at the best. Still 5 stars? absolutely. I think this book has more value than just the production quality.

(III) What does it contain

This particular collection contains the books #1 through #8 from the Gold Key series. These are replicas of the original books, including the colorful covers of each of the book.
The stories in these books are adaptations from the Dailies and Sundays from the late fifties and were originally drawn by the talented Wilson McCoy.

#1 Nov 1962
The Game (Original details: Daily #52: Ragon's Game)

#2 Feb 1963
The Rattle (Sunday #46: The Rattle)
The Test (Sunday #42: The Horned Star Demons)

#3 May 1963
The Diamond Cup (Sunday #39: Alexander's Cup)
The Crybaby (Daily #71: The Crybaby)

#4 Aug 1963
Ooogooru (Daily #75: Oogooru and the Witchmen)
The Goggle-Eye Pirates (Sunday #56 : The Goggle-Eye Pirates)

#5 Nov 1963
The Swamp Rats (Daily #74: The Swamp Rats)
The Phantom's Boyhood (Sunday #53: The Childhood of the Phantom)

#6 Feb 1964
The Lady From Nowhere (Daily #49, The Lady From Nowhere)
The Phantom's Boyhood: Diana (Sunday #53: The Childhood of the Phantom)

#7 May 1964
The Super Apes ( Daily #51, The Super Apes)
The Phantom's Boyhood: School (Sunday #53: The Childhood of the Phantom)

#8 Aug 1964
The Belt (Sunday #37, The Belt)

This is certainly a collectors item for Phantom fans, since this series collects the beginnings of interesting adaptation in the comic book format.

[Doctor Doom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The covers are superb, the art inside not quite as good. Some of the stories at the beginning were only so-so [the Phantom vs. aliens? really?]. But towards the end they started telling short stories of the current Phantom's life growing up - these were fantastic! Worth a read for sure!

[Cryptic Saturn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating (review for Kindle version)

I remember reading Phantom in newspaper comic strip. I enjoyed this collection-full of thrill and adventure. Print book is expensive. Kindle subscription gave me an opportunity to read it.

[Anurag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the legendary Phantom.

As a kid I have been reading Phantom comics and these are amongst my favorite. The Ghost who walks and his skull mark are always very engaging to read. Some of my best childhood memories.

[Murali Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good old memories

I highly recommend this book to all phantom fans and others looking for a new adventure series. Wish we had access to Mandrake too.

[Dr Archit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy adventures

The gold key years of Phantom adventures are a set of delightfully simple stories which seamlessly entertain. Perfect for a nostalgic weekend reading