An upcoming auction listing has been posted on the US based Heritage Auctions website featuring original comic strip art by Wilson McCoy.

The Sunday comic strip on offer was originally printed in newspapers on the 15th of June 1958. The art featured in the comic strip is by Wilson McCoy, the second artist to illustrate Phantom Sunday newspaper comic strips, following on from Ray Moore in the late 1940s.

The comic strip art is from the 5oth Sunday Phantom story titled ‘The Monster of Green Valley‘ , written by Lee Falk and illustrated by Wilson McCoy, published every Sunday in newspapers from the 29th of December 1957 thru till the 27th of July 1958.

The panels see the Phantom in a fight with Bruno who is first seen in the story working as the ‘World’s Biggest Man‘ due to his height, before escaping to the jungle and becomes known as ‘The Giant‘ amongst local tribespeople who he terrorizes. The Phantom quickly puts a stop to this, with Bruno becoming remorseful. The Phantom introduces Bruno to Countess Louisa who resides at Green Valley and herself being 8 feet tall, referred to as ‘The Monster‘ by local tribes. They eventually fall in love and marry at the end of the story, with the Phantom being best man for Bruno, as can be seen below in the final 3 story panels (not included in the auction artwork).

The original artwork offered seeing the Phantom fighting Bruno is made up of 10 comic strip panels plus the title panel in black and white, with Heritage Auctions notifying us of the size, measuring 26″ x 5.5″. The image as posted by Heritage Auctions can be seen below.

The comic strip as it appears in print can be seen below.

The description seen on the auction listing reads:

The Phantom confronts the Jungle Giant, a bitter man who is terrorizing the neighboring tribes. These three fast-paced strips are created in ink over graphite on three separate sections of Bristol board, with a combined image area of 26″ x 5.5″. Handling, corner, and edge wear, with production tape in the margins, and tape residue staining. In Good condition.

The comic strip looks like it’s in fantastic condition, considering its been 66 years since it was illustrated, which looks like it’s been well cared for with very little damage or signs of wear present.

The auction listing ends on the 14th of October 2024.

To view the original Phantom artwork by Wilson McCoy on the Heritage Auctions website, click HERE

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