Fantax
Real Name: Lord Horace Neighbour
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Attache to the British Embassy in Washington
Affiliations: None known
Enemies: the Black Tigers, the Cobra, the Gentleman Ghost, the Ku-Klux-Klan, the Mafia (headed by Al Capy), the Mikado, the Nazis, the Werewolf
Known Relatives: Pat (wife, a.k.a. Lady Fantax), Horace Neighbour Jr (son, a.k.a. Black Boy)
Aliases: Le Gentleman Fántome
Base of Operations: Washington, D.C.
First Appearance: "Fantax chez les Gangsters" Paris-Monde Illustré #26 (1946)
Powers/Abilities: Skilled fighter, excellent detective
History: Lord Horace Neighbour works as British attaché at the British Embassy in Washington during the day, and fights crime at night as the caped crusader, Fantax.
Comments: Created by Pierre Mouchotte. Apparently the first French superhero character, Fantax's (for the time) graphic series drew a lot of unwanted attention from conservative and Christian organisations at the time of publication, but still lasted three years and thirty-nine issues. A decade later an additional eight new stories were published. A Fantax collection, Fantax est de Retour [Fantax Returns], was reprinted in the graphic novel format by Bedesup in 1986.
He inspired the Italian hero Maskar.
Thanks to Richard Boucher & Darrin Wiltshire @ PR-Publications for permission to use information from their brilliant collection of Golden Age Sites, PR Publications. Much of the information on this page comes verbatim from Cool French Comics, used with permission. Likewise the images.
CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with
Fantom, Golden Age hero
Fantomas, French anti-hero
le Fantôme Justicier, ghostly French character
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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