King Features Syndicate has announced Alex Segura will take over as writer of The Phantom comic strip this December. He will succeed Tony DePaul, who has written the strip since the death of creator Lee Falk in 1999. Mike Manley and Jeff Weigel will respectively continue to draw the daily strips and the Sunday editions of the comic, something they have done since 2016 and 2017.
On Bluesky, Segura acknowledged “these are big shoes to fill and I know Phantom phans [sic] new and old will be watching. I’m only one of a handful of writers to handle the strip (and, I believe, the first Latino!) and I approach it with the reverence and humility the Phantom deserves. Looking forward to talking more. In the meantime, hats off to Tony. This is very much his well-earned moment.”
Created by Falk in 1936, the Phantom is Kit Walker, the defender of the fictional African country of Bangalla. He was one of the first masked superheroes to wear a pupil-less mask and skintight costume, bridging the gap between earlier pulp figures like the Shadow, and subsequent ones like Batman. Segura previously created (with Michael Moreci and John Amor) The Phantom 2040: A New Shadow, a reimagining of the 1994-96 cartoon, which launched in 2025, and is set to return for its second “season” next year.
The Phantom also currently stars in a series of comic books from Mad Cave Studios (where Segura and Moreci have written several Dick Tracy comics). The latest installment, Ray Fawkes and Russell Olson‘s The Phantom vs. The Singh Brotherhood, was released on August 19. King Features’ partnership with Mad Cave will continue in the meantime with more Flash Gordon releases (including the monthly ongoing), and a Rip Kirby revival starting November 4.
King Features says, “We’ll share more about Alex’s plans in the coming weeks. For now, please join us in thanking Tony for 27 years of storytelling and welcoming Alex to the daily and Sunday adventures. Thank you for being part of The Phantom’s story.” You can continue to read the strip at Comics Kingdom.
