The Phantom’s All-New Origin and Other Future Funnies
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Tony DePaul has announced his intention to write “an extended version of the Phantom’s origin myth.”
Says The Phantom comic strip writer:
Falk tended to vary the specifics in his 63 years of telling the Phantom’s genesis. He was hardly a stickler for continuity. The fundamentals were there, but names changed, language changed, the year changed, and details were left hanging.
To me, it’s fundamental that the myth be told through the eyes of the 16th-century man at the center of it. I’m resistant to the notion that the language ought to be updated in a way that imposes, upon that man, a sensibility it wasn’t possible for him to have.
More thoughts from the writer at the bottom of Tony’s blog post linked above.
No start date mentioned, planned for after the current Phantom story.
‘Tis the season for three to approach from the east, and so it is happening as Patrick McDonnell has created three new Mutts strips as Advent comes to a close. December 23, 24, and 25 will see new strips for Mutts fans. Will the following week see Mutts close out the Old Year and welcome the New Year with more newness?
As 2024 ends the incredibly cartoony cartoonist Roger Langridge has decided to change course:
I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but for the sake of clarity and so everyone knows what’s up: I will stop drawing the daily diary comics at the end of 2024. I have been doing this for five years straight and I don’t think there’s much left in the tank. I plan to take a short break (I’ll be pausing the next Patreon payment cycle so you won’t be charged) while I take stock for a bit and figure out what’s next. There are other things I would like to do, and the time I have been spending on the diary strips could be spent on those things instead.
One of those things will be finishing The Great McGonagall [link added] – the story I started, what, eight, nine years ago? Early in 2024 I spent a month doing McGonagall as a daily strip, which got another chapter done. Some similar arrangement seems to be the way forward here – possibly as a daily strip again, or possibly two complete pages per week, which is the same amount of work but allows me a bit more flexibility with page layouts. I’ll figure it out.
Longer-term, I’d like to do my own comic again – Zoot! [link added] or similar. I’m not optimistic about the future of independent ongoing comics, certainly as far as the US/UK market is concerned…
Roger’s thoughts as the year ends can be read at his Patreon site.
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