They did what? An exposé into showing the Phantom's eyes in "Phantom’s End" Daily newspaper story

Tony DePaul and Mike Manley have done what many consider the ultimate sin of showing the Phantom's eyes and face in the 261st Daily Phantom story "Phantom’s End". It is such a sin for many phans, that one rumour was invented that Bill Lignante was sacked by Lee Falk for drawing the eyes in a story.

In our Phantom Bible that we created, we have noted that creators should NOT show the Phantom unmasked or show his eyes. Even though Tony DePaul and Mike Bullock have done it here, we would recommend that all creators who may be reading this article, do not follow this. We would recommend you going through the Phantom Bible for more important lore and elements to follow.

The panels in question with the "Phantom’s End" story are from Monday 15th, Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th, Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd August 2022. We have included them below so you can catch up what is happening.

This is not the first time the eyes have been shown with many other great names in Ray Moore, Bill Lignante and Graham Nolan have also done the same. However, this is the first time the whole face has been shown while the Phantom has been the Phantom.

Here are the examples of them showing the eyes in the past. Click the arrows to view the examples.

The only times we have previously seen the Phantom's face and eyes showing were in the two childhood stories in 1944 and 1959. It is worth noting that as soon as his father, the 20th Phantom, was dying, his face and eyes started becoming shaded and hidden in both versions of the story. This tradition and lore are also followed in Team Fantomen stories with other past previous Phantoms taking over the role from their fathers and their faces shown during the process.

Attached are two examples from newspaper and Team Fantomen stories.

If you have heard or read any of Tony DePaul's comments and interviews on our platforms, you would know he carefully and meticulously plans what is happening and puts in the time required to avoid careless mistakes. Showing the Phantom's face unmasked was not a mistake by Tony or artist Mike Manley.

A great example of DePaul's meticulous planning is Jampa's comments of wanting to retire to somewhere with warm beaches, which was first mentioned back in 2016 in a Daily story, and now we know how critical it was with that phrase being key to Savarna killing him, which is the catalyst of this very storyline.

I saw all that because, as we can see, Tony is playing the long game and carefully plots the stories.

Chronicle Chamber is lucky enough to have a relationship with Tony DePaul, so naturally we reached out to him, who was kind enough to sneak behind the mask of why he decided to show the Phantom's face unmasked.

What is happening on the 15th August 2022

Tony DePaul: The script asked Mike Manley for a close, full-on look at the Phantom’s unmasked face on 8/15 and again on 8/23. In all other cases, whether the eyes are open or closed is incidental to what’s going on in the panel. Or that’s how I saw it as a reader.

What is happening on the 17th August 2022

Tony DePaul: On 8/17, I presume Mike Manley closed his eyes to communicate the intensity of the effort, the will, and the pain tolerance required for the Phantom to get to his feet with a broken femur and a fatal bullet wound to the chest.

Once we’ve seen the unmasked face, there’s no narrative reason to see it in every panel. Hitting the reader over the head with it would devalue the effect I wanted to go for in the 8/15 and 8/23 strips.

The reader has known for over a year now that the Phantom dies in this Old Man Mozz' prophecy. That’s been a given from the day Mozz stopped the Phantom on the trail to Gravelines Prison and begged him to turn around and let Savarna die. Now that we’ve arrived at the destination Mozz foretold, I’ve been trying to confirm for the reader that this is it. When the glasses came off on 8/8, some readers got it immediately: the Phantom’s going to die.

Then comes the unmasked face on 8/15, something never before seen in the 86-year history of the strip. A reader who’s paying attention has to get what that means.

Then on 8/17, the past tense. You were the 21st Phantom. Another signal in a series of signals on the certainty of death. It's not that he stopped being the Phantom when Manju shot him or stopped being the Phantom when we saw his unmasked face. He won’t stop being the Phantom until he’s dead. But he’s as good as dead, and he knows it. That’s the reason for the past tense. Readers with a metaphysical outlook may see the ancestors as real, the voices as real. Others may take blood loss into account and regard it as a dying man seeing what he would like to see, hearing what he would like to hear. But the important thing about the sequence is that the Phantom knows his final moments have arrived.

What he means to do next, by climbing up out of the rocks and facing his distant, unseen killer, is predicated on him knowing he’s been fatally wounded.

In our Phantom Bible that we created, we have noted that creators should NOT show the Phantom unmasked or show his eyes. Even though Tony DePaul and Mike Bullock have done it here, we would recommend that all creators who may be reading this article, do not follow this. We would recommend you going through the Phantom Bible for more important lore and elements to follow.

What are your thoughts on this storyline? Are you happy with Tony DePaul and Mike Manley showing the Phantom's eyes? Did you get all the visual clues?