"The Phantom The Best of the Sy Barry Years 1961-1994; contains twelve complete Phantom stories — nine daily continuities and three Sunday continuities — hand picked by Phantom aficionados;Finally a collection of some of the most memorable stories by master Phantom artist Sy Barry. The Phantom, referred to by comic strip historian Maurice Horn as the “granddaddy of all costumed superheroes,” was created in 1936 by Lee Falk and in 1961 Sy Barry added his superlative talents pencilling and inking the feature which took it to new heights.It should be remembered that the Ghost Who Walks came to newspapers well before the Dark Knight or Superman made their first appearances and has been acknowledged as an influence on every “masked man of mystery” since. The Phantom set the standard for action, adventure, intrigue, and romance in comic strips and comic books — it has frequently been copied but never equaled. To celebrate Sy Barry's 97the birthday as well as the end of his tenure on the daily version of the strip with Volume #36 of Hermes Press' complete reprint of the Phantom dailies (with still more to come from Sy with our reprints of his Sundays), we have collected twelve stories displaying his best work on the strip — dailies and Sundays. Collected in this deluxe volume, with special cover art created by Sy exclusively for Hermes Press are: (daily continuities) “Adventures of Lucy Cary,” 6-29-64 – 12-12-64; “The Cavelands,” 12-30-74 – 4-19-75; “Guardian of the Eastern Dark,” 4-4-77 – 8-13-77; “Tyrant of Tarakimo,” 8-15-77 – 10-29-77; “Phantom Wedding,”10-31-77; “Jungle City,” 9-18-78 – 12-18-78; “The Heirs,” 12.18.78 – 5-19-79; “Gooro's Jungle Muggers,” 11-3-80 – 4-4-81; “Tale of Rex,” 1-18-82 – 9-11-82; (Sunday continuities) “Founding of the Jungle Patrol,” 7-5-64 – 1-24-65; “The Name,” 9-9-79 – 6-1-80; and “The Third Phantom,” 8-26-84 – 2-17-85.Also included is a lengthy interview with Sy Barry, a biographical essay, and original comic art spanning Barry's career. This title is limited to 1000 copies."
