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Fantom of the Fair

comics character

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ5434397
Source-derived summary

The Fantom of the Fair is one of the earliest published Golden Age superheroes. He debuted in Centaur Publications' Amazing Mystery Funnies vol. 2, #7 (cover-dated July 1939), the overall 11th issue of that title. He premiered, according to cover dates, the same month as DC Comics' Sandman, Fox Publications' The Flame, and Centaur's Masked Marvel. He was created by Paul Gustavson, who had previously created the Arrow for Centaur.

His early adventures are set fighting threats at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He lives in a subterranean chamber under the Fair, and he travels via secret trap doors placed around the fairgrounds. He spots criminals by using his "crimetracking televisor". During the time between the 1939 and 1940 Fair seasons, he travels in a series of stories set outside the Fair. He was often shown during these outside stories in a simple suit, with a hat brim hiding his features.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Fantom of the Fair” as comics character. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Fantom, Fair and comics.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1939, 1940—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Fantom, Fair and comics providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Fantom of the Fair”, the useful work is to connect “comics character” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5434397. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1939 and 1940.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Fantom of the Fair”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Fantom of the Fair primary sources, Fantom of the Fair archive and Fantom research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Fantom of the Fair” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.