Photo courtesy and permission of Tony DePaul (28 January 2019).
The Modern Diner at 364 East Avenue, Pawtucket, RI. According to its website, “The Pawtucket restaurant was chosen to be the first diner in the nation to be accepted on the National Register for Historic Places. Customized and factory-built, it is a Sterling Streamliner, a line of ‘modernistic’ diners manufactured in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.”
Standing in line, I did a quick retrospective of what I had learned about Tony’s writing career. For 26 years, he was a newspaper reporter, first for the Bangor Daily News (1980 through the fall of 1986) and then for The Providence Journal (1986 to April 2006). For 26 years he ground out articles for these two New England newspapers. That’s a longtime witness to humanity, particularly to culture, crime, chicanery and corruption. I am positive that he caught an amazing glimpse into all kinds of foibles and follies people commit and/or omit, as well as writing and being exposed to powerful human interest stories.
Right side view of the diner. (Photo courtesy and permission of Tony DePaul.) Iron Piggy is parked just to the right of the light gray annex.
I wanted to be sure to talk with him about his experiences in writing comics and his take on storytelling.
Photo posted on Tony’s blog, “That’s it for me and the Phantom” (May 31, 2017).
Tony explains this Phantom “encounter” as follows (“That’s it for me and the Phantom,” May 31, 2017).
“It all started circa 1959, when America liked Ike. I was vaguely aware of his mug on the front page, but the Phantom, way inside the paper, was the one and only reason this grubby little street kid snatched the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin off the front steps. What great fun, in that concrete–and–asphalt world, to spread out the paper on the living room floor and imagine adventures in a jungle over the far horizon.”
“Both front brake rotors are ready for the scrap heap. They mic at .182, within spec by two thou. Any thinner than .180 and they’re done.” (“Honey I blew up the iron piggy,” October 13, 2017) (Photo courtesy and permission of Tony DePaul.)
Sample panel from a published August 1-6, 2016 strip. Story by Tony and artwork by Mike Manley. “The Phantom’s son, Kit Walker, is off to a secondary school in the Himalayas, where he’ll attempt to pass himself off as a student who spent two other lives at the school, in the 19th and 18th centuries.” (Photo courtesy and permission of Tony DePaul.)
I think it is fascinating that an experienced newspaper reporter turned his hand to writing comics as it seems on the outset to be such a wide disparity of venues. Yet, listening to Tony talk about his experiences in writing, his wide–ranging interests and motorcycle journeys on the Iron Piggy, his love of family, carpentry skills, and his innate sense and consummate ability to fix all things mechanical, I truly began to sense that here was someone with a keen appetite for investigating what scholars call the human question.12
Next morning, following the Clark Fork. This is probably Montana. We had camped just a few miles west of the state line. (“High Plains drifting,” July 29, 2013. Photo courtesy & permission of Tony DePaul.)
After all, I asked myself, doesn’t Tony’s triple literary threats—a natural literary giftedness, a creative, inquisitive spirit, and over two–and–a–half decades of newspaper reporting—provide an excellent grounding for writing stories for the comics, especially for the Phantom? 13
A panel from the 38-week story from The Phantom titled, “A Reckoning with the Nomad.” (“Consider the infamous Nomad reckoned with!” November 10, 2018. Photo courtesy & permission of Tony DePaul.)
“He’s a pure archetype, the selfless hero who braves any danger to do right, and never resorts to doing wrong as a means to accomplish an objective. That’s awfully old–fashioned today, but I like it. What makes the Phantom notable, of course, is the immortality myth. If Lee Falk hadn’t hit on that angle, the Phantom might have faded into obscurity in the 1940s.”14
“Reassembling the gear set[to Iron Piggy] after pressing new bearings in the side door.” (“In the home stretch,” February 29, 2012. Photo courtesy & permission of Tony DePaul.)
Headed north through the valleys between the Bighorns and the Rockies. Horses range down low, Bad Mr. Grizz up high.” (“Alaska!” February 5, 2014. Photo courtesy & permission of Tony DePaul.)
Self-reflection. Photo courtesy and permission of Tony DePaul (28 January 2019).
Here Tony is building a new storage shed. “But up it went, all plumb & square, one-armed-paperhanger style. Had a few adventures, as on November 6, during an all-day rain, up on a slippery plank trying to place 4 by 8 sheets of wet plywood and get a nail in each before gravity intervenes.” (“Where the advent of Winter finds us.” November 18, 2014. Photo courtesy & permission of Tony DePaul.)
Lake Cushman is a 4,010-acre lake and reservoir on the north fork of the Skokomish River in Mason County, Washington. “Here’s the view when you turn your back to the jet boat. Man, am I gonna miss waking up to this.” (“Goodbye to the Pacific.” July 15, 2013. Photo courtesy & permission of Tony DePaul.)
Notes:
• Featured photo taken by A. Keith Carreiro (28 January 2019).
• For your listening pleasure, please check out this podcast < “X-Band: The Phantom Podcast – Episode 95: Interview with Tony DePaul” >. It is about a two–hour, 24 minutes interview and covers a lot of territory. Thanks to the folks at chroniclechamber.com for permission to post this podcast on my weblog.
• Please take a look at artist Mike Manley’s web links listed below:
http://www.drawman.blogspot.com
http://www.michaelcolemanley.com
Footnotes:
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Bulletin
The Philadelphia Bulletin was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United States. Its widely known slogan was: “In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads The Bulletin.”
2https://web.archive.org/web/20100623085435/http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Fantomen
3https://web.archive.org/web/20100618142826/http://www.schapter.org/wiki/The_Phantom
4https://web.archive.org/web/20111003002947/http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Daily_stories
5https://web.archive.org/web/20101113230232/http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Sunday_stories
6https://web.archive.org/web/20110728003934/http://www.schapter.org/wiki/Kari_Leppänen
7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Falk See also, http://thephantomcomics.com/lee-falk/
8https://web.archive.org/web/20100618142826/http://www.schapter.org/wiki/The_Phantom
See also, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Phantom-comic-book-character
9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Communications See also, https://www.hearst.com/
10http://www.tonydepaul.net/thats-it-for-me-and-the-phantom/
11http://www.tonydepaul.net/thats-it-for-me-and-the-phantom/
12http://mentalfloss.com/article/50787/29-answers-question-what-human-being
13https://www.britannica.com/topic/Phantom-comic-book-character
14https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211338/http://fantomet.org/hele_nyhet/id/142/
15http://www.tonydepaul.net/thats-it-for-me-and-the-phantom/
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. As the sole author of the Penitent – Part I, and the Penitent – Part II, and as the sole proprietor of Copper Beech Press, I have a material connection to these books, as well as to the publishing press, I have just listed. Other than my previously stated novels and publishing press, I have no material connection to the brands, products or services that I have mentioned here. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
© 12 March 2019 by A. Keith Carreiro
For information about my series, The Immortality Wars, please go to my home page: https://immortalitywars.com/