Alex Segura Steps Into The Phantom's Legacy

Alex Segura is taking over as writer of The Phantom comic strip in December, stepping in for Tony DePaul, who has written the daily strip since 1999. That's more than two decades after Lee Falk, the character's creator, passed away.

Segura is positioned as one of the few writers to ever handle the strip, and possibly the first Latino to do so. His connection to the character runs deeper than most: he previously worked on The Phantom 2040: A New Shadow, which gives him existing fluency with the Ghost Who Walks' world.

Mike Manley and Jeff Weigel will remain as the illustrators for the daily and Sunday editions respectively, keeping visual continuity intact as the writing transition happens. The strip continues to be distributed through Comics Kingdom, maintaining its presence in the newspaper landscape where it's lived since 1936.

Segura's appointment comes as The Phantom enters another era. The property has endured through radio serials, film, television, and the modern comic book boom—surviving multiple writers and formats. Whether Segura will push the character in new narrative directions or honor the strip's established tone remains to be seen, but his appointment signals that the property isn't resting on legacy alone.

Source: ComicsBeat