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- For the band Fantômas, go to Fantômas (band)
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He is a master of disguise, always appearing under an assumed identity, often that of a person he has murdered. He is pursued in the novels by Inspector Juve, a police detective obsessed with his capture, and Jérôme Fandor, a journalist whose father Fantômas murdered and impersonated. Fantômas is assisted, sometimes reluctantly, by his lover Lady Beltham, an English noblewoman whose husband was another of Fantômas's victims. Fantômas makes use of bizarre and improbable techniques in his crimes, such as plague-infested rats, giant snakes, and rooms that fill with sand.
During the series Fantômas is given as the father of at least three children:
- Hélène, illegitimate daughter by an unnamed mother. She posed as the daughter of the Emperor of India, who at the time of the novels was actually George V of the United Kingdom. She reluctantly helped her father on a number of cases and occasionally posed as the lover/wife of her brother or half-brother Prince Vladimir. She eventually fell in love with Jerôme Fandor and they married in volume 25 of the series. In later volumes her husband was suspected of also being her half-brother.
- Jérôme Fandor, actual name Charles Rambert. He believed himself to be the son of the deceased Etienne and Madeline Rambert. In Volume 26 of the series, however, Etienne was discovered alive, hiding in the Netherlands. He expressed his belief that Jérôme was actually the result of his wife's affair with another man. The latter was suspected to be Fantômas, who was also by that time Jérôme's father-in-law and worst enemy.
- Prince Vladimir, another illegitimate son. Like his father he is a villain with sadistic and homicidal tendencies. He enthusiastically assisted his father on several occasions and also posed as the lover/husband of his sister or half-sister Hélène. Whether they actually shared a sexual relationship was left uncertain.
The original French language series of Fantômas stories comprises 32 novels by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, which appeared in French between 1911 and 1913. The first seven books of the series appeared in English language translation between 1915 and 1920. The original covers of the novels, by Gino Starace, are often considered works of lurid genius in themselves, and may be seen at the "Fantômas Lives" site linked below. During the 1980s, the first two novels of the series were published in revised English translations: Fantômas appeared in 1986 with an introduction by the American poet John Ashbery, and Juve contre Fantômas appeared in 1987 under the title The Silent Executioner with an introduction by the American artist Edward Gorey. The remainder of the series has never been published in English.
In 1926, Marcel Allain published five more Fantômas adventures written by himself alone, Souvestre having died in February of 1914. Between 1933 and 1938, he published three more Fantômas adventures as newspaper serials, which never appeared as books. None of these later works have ever been published in English.
The silent film pioneer Louis Feuillade directed five films based on the Fantômas series, appearing in 1913-1914. They are regarded as masterpieces of silent film and are often considered to be superior to the novels themselves. His later serial Les Vampires, which concerns a mysterious crime syndicate known as "The Vampires," is reminiscent of the Fantômas series in many respects, and generally considered superior to the earlier films. Both sets of films have been released on video. A number of subsequent series of Fantômas films have been made, including one series starring Louis de Funes.
The Fantômas novels and the subsequent films were highly regarded by the French avant-garde of the day, particularly by the surrealists. Blaise Cendrars called the series "the modern Aeneid"; Guillaume Apollinaire said that "from the imaginative standpoint Fantômas is one of the richest works that exist." The painter René Magritte and the surrealist poet and novelist Robert Desnos both produced works alluding to the novels or the subsequent films.
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Influence
- Some critics have cited the Fantômas stories as an influence on Surrealism.
- Paperinik, a superhero alter-ego of Donald Duck created by Guido Martina and Giovan Battista Carpi in 1969, is partly based on him. His predecessor Fantomius was obviously also named after Fantômas.
- In 1999, Mike Patton named his rock group Fantômas after the fictional character.
- There is a Marvel Comics character named Fantomex, first appearing in August, 2002. He was created by Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey for the title New X-Men.
The Mexican comics
During the 1970s the Mexican comics company Editorial Novaro produced a Fantomas comic book series that was popular throughout Latin America. This was apparently meant to be the same character, although rewritten as a heroic character, and with no acknowledgement to the original books or films. It is not known if this was done with or without legal permission.
This Fantomas was a thief who commited spectacular robberies just for the thrill of it, and wore a white, skintight mask all the time or a variety of disguises so his true face was never shown. The character was also pursued by the authorities, in his case mainly by a French police inspector named Gerard. Apparently the series was strongly influenced by the James Bond movies, as Fantomas, equipped with advanced technology created by a scientist called Professor Semo, had all kind of adventures around the World, and even fought other, more cruel criminals.
He also was a millionaire, owning several corporations under assumed identities, and had a secret headquarters outside Paris, and was assisted by several agents, including the 12 "Zodiac Girls", beautiful women who assisted him personally, known only by their codenames—the signs of the zodiac. Although cancelled years ago, it is from this comic that the character is best known in both Central America and South America. For more information on this version of the character check the link to the Fantomas Lives website below.
Wold Newton family
Jean-Marc Lofficier, a published author of literature and comic books, has recently attempted to incorporate several French fictional characters to the Wold Newton family created by Philip José Farmer. His detailed profile for the various characters were covered in his book Shadowmen: Heroes and Villains of French Pulp Fiction.
According to his theories Fantômas was born in 1867 as an illegitimate son of Rocambole and his lover Ellen Palmure. Both characters were created by Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail (1829 - 1871). He further suggests that Rocambole himself was a great-grandson of two historical figures with a recuring presence in French fiction:Alessandro Cagliostro and Joséphine de Beauharnais.
External links
- http://www.fantomas-lives.com/
- http://www.fantomas.org/
- http://www.nwlink.com/~erick/fantomas/fant-1.html
- A more detailed profile of the character (http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/fantomas.htm)de:Fantômas