Up until recently majority of Phantom phans did not know when legendary artist Carmine Infantino worked on the Phantom Sunday strip in-between Wilson McCoy and Bill Lignante. Now after some close inspections in correspondence with several phans we are confident we now know.
Carmine Infantino was an American comic book artist and editor who played a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2000 and cited in Comics Buyer's Guide Millennium Poll as the greatest penciller of all time.
After the death of Wilson McCoy, the artist of The Phantom comic strip, Carmine Infantino helped finish one of his last stories with the Sunday strip The Limper. It is believed that Infantino only drew one Sunday page while the remainder of the story was continued by Bill Lignante. The magic date we believe is the 24 September 1961 which is today 57 years ago.
Carmine Infantino was a strong candidate for taking over the Phantom Sunday strip after McCoy's death; however the job was ultimately given to Sy Barry.
Below we will show the three Sundays and then list below the differences in the art and style which we believe help identify the three artists.
17th September 1961 - Wilson McCoys Last Sunday
Notice the title panel with Wilson McCoy credited
Gurans hat
Tiger
Natives including the way the hair is tied up on the head
No ears in the Phantoms cowl
Simplicity of the hunters outfit
24th September 1961 - Carmine Infantino Only Sunday
No artist credit in the title panel
Tigers face
Gurans hat
Way Hero is drawn
No Devil shown
Natives have hair
Hunters outfit more detailed
1st October 1961 - Bill Lignante First Sunday
Tigers Face
Gurans Hat
Hero different
Some natives have the same as Wilson McCoy hair tied up on his head
High grass drawn differently
Devil has now joined the Phantom
Hope you enjoy insights like this of Phantom history, if you do please let us know so we can bring more to you.
Thanks goes to Ivan Pederson from IPComics who supplied me with the clean strips above so we can identify the differences between the artists.
