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July 07, 2008
The Story Behind Tim's Shirt
The shirt Tim is wearing is an homage to Danger: Diabolik!, most widely known in the US from the Beastie Boys video Body Movin'.
But did you know the rich history behind the Diabolik character spanning back to France in 1911 and his many iterations across the world?
Illustration by Paul Pope
Inspired by the French characters Lupin and Zigomar, Diabolik's direct predecessor was Fantomas, a vicious and ruthless serial killer-ish villain who starred in 43 books from 1911 to 1963 in France, five silent film serials, six feature films, four 90 minute television episodes, and comic books from 1941 to 1995.
Jean Marais as Fantômas from one of the films.
In the 1960's Mexican comic book publisher Editorial Novaro started a Fantomas series with murky legal rights but which has become well-known and regarded in South and Central Mexico. Here Fantomas was more of a rogue James Bondian inspiration than his French inspiration.
The Mexican comic 'Fantomas versus the Multinational Vampires'
Fantomas gave way to the Italian Diabolik and his many imitators such as Kriminal, Killing, and the female Satanik (all using the 'Criminal K').
The Italian Diabolik comic
The Diabolik comic series has run since 1962 and has spawned a notorious movie produced by Dino De Laurentiis (Barbarella, Conan) and an animated series.
In 2002 Fantomas' influence made it to America via a Scottish writer and a Croatian-born Canadian when Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey introduced the character Fantomex in the pages of New X-Men.
Fantomex from New X-Men (c) Marvel Comics
It can also be argued that the comic Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon is heavily influenced by the Fantomas character, but moreso by Diabolik.
Fantomas also recently appeared in Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier where it was revealed he was a member of the French equivalent of the League, Les Hommes Mysterieux.
Yeah, all of that thought went into me putting that design on Tim's T-Shirt, just to show that he's a villainous rogue. It's amazing I get anything done, isn't it?
Posted by Schamberger at July 7, 2008 10:17 AM