Phantom historian Bob Griffin donates his collection to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio

Robert J Griffin is a Phantom collector and historian from the USA who had one of the largest Phantom collections in the world. He also was instrumental in his Phantom research, providing information on comics and products produced around the world for the Deepwoods.org website as well as the popular 1990s Friends of the Phantom newsletters.

What many phans may not know is that he is one of the key reasons Jim Shepherd and Frew were able to locate the unedited and uncensored Phantom Daily and Sunday newspaper stories and publish them in the 1990s. Whenever Jim wrote in the Frew comic about locating lost stories, that was due to Robert J Griffin.

Even today when you read a Hermes collection book or one of the other publishers reprinting the Ray Moore and early Wilson McCoy drawn stories, these are the panels that Robert J Griffin hunted and found for us to read and enjoy.

Robert J Griffin was also featured in the 194th Sunday newspaper story on the 24th March 2024 strip, which is below, and it is a touching tribute to the friendship and mentorship he has provided Tony DePaul over the decades.

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is the foremost center for the study and preservation of comics and cartoon art, proudly stewarding the largest collection of related materials in the world. Its galleries and reading room are free and open to all.

Check out The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum website

Currently it houses over 300,000 original artworks and over 170,000 comic books, magazines, books, and graphic novels. It also houses over 2.5 million comic strip pages and clippings. It can now add to the pile of original artwork Phantom artwork like two Sunday Ray Moore pages and others by Sy Barry, Wilson McCoy, Don Newton, animated cels; and much more. These names go well with the other amazing artwork housed at the musuem including Bill Watterson, Will Eisner, Winsor McCay, Edwina Dumm, Walt Kelly, Ted Shearer, Dan DeCarlo, Jay Lynch, Ho Che Anderson, Trina Robbins, and Jeff Smith.

All up, Robert J Griffin donated 16 boxes of original artwork, collectibles, and memorabilia. One interesting piece that surely will be the holy grail that is now housed at the museum is the skull ring that was worn by Tom Tyler when filming the 1943 15-chapter Phantom serial.

Below you will see a close-up photo of the ring on Tom Tyler's hand, and the second photo is Jim Shepherd, the Frew publisher at the time, wearing the ring when he visited Robert J Griffin.

We have been lucky enough to communicate with Robert J Griffin about this donation and process, and with permission, we have been able to include his letter about the donation.

After discussing the matter with my family, I have decided to donate my entire collection of original comic art and Phantom memorabilia to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. What prompted us to seriously think about the disposition of the collection was when my son and I drove to Columbus (June, 2024) to see an exhibit of “Calvin and Hobbes” original art. John, of course, has been a Phantom “phan” since I began reading to him the adventures of “The Ghost Who Walks” when he was quite young. During his teenage years, he became particularly fond of the humor of “Calvin and Hobbes” and when he heard there was an exhibit featuring Bill Watterson’s excellent strip in The Billy Ireland Museum and Library on the campus of Ohio State University, he asked me if I’d like to go with him. I was delighted not only to visit the museum but to return to Ohio State University for the first time since earning my PhD at that institution 52 years before. The library and museum far exceeded our expectations with its incredible inventory of comics, cartoon art and related materials. The galleries are large and beautifully arranged along with a reading room which allows one to request materials to examine personally. I took the opportunity to see the Phantom collection which proved to be sparse and fairly recent with just a few pieces of daily and Sunday strips. We were given a wonderful tour of the library by Professor Caitlin McGurk, Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art. It occurred to me then that they would very likely be interested not only in my Phantom materials, but in the broader collection of original comic art that I had compiled over many years. They included more than 50 items including Phantom, Tarzan, Popeye, Blondie, Li’l Abner, Mutt & Jeff, Brenda Starr. etc., etc. We discussed the scope of my collection and found that they would appreciate a donation of the original art as well as any and all Phantom collectible merchandise of which they had nothing and I had a great deal. Part of our consideration was whether to forego the opportunity to sell all or part of the collection since I knew there were collectors who would welcome the opportunity to acquire many items, especially the two original Ray Moore Sunday pages. Our final decision was to transfer the entire collection to the Billy Ireland Museum & Library where anyone interested in seeing them would only have to come to that facility and request them. Returning home, the family discussed the matter and we decided to donate the entire collection without seeking a tax deduction from the IRS. On October 23, 2025, Professor Wendy Pflug and her assistant, Michelle Maguire, arrived with a university van and picked up my original comic art as well as over a dozen boxes of Phantom realia as a gift to the Billy Ireland Museum and Library where it will remain in toto. It will be designated as the “Robert Griffin Donation.” The matter was finalized in December when the materials were deeded to the Billy Ireland Museum and Library. As a result, anyone with an interest in viewing the materials can request them at that location. Over the many years I have had them, only three Australian friends have actually been to our home and seen the collection. Now anyone who comes to Columbus, Ohio will have the same opportunity. Bob