Wilson McCoy

According to later Phantom artist Sy Barry, "First of all when Wilson McCoy became ill and went into the hospital, he was too ill. He had some kind of infection that reoccurs, that he developed when he was in Africa and it seemed to return. Somehow it formed a blood clot and went to his heart and he died in the hospital." In another interview published by Hermes Press in 2019, Barry recalls "... he seemed to have an infection, a lingering dormant infection that he picked up in Africa and they had gone and treated him with antibiotics but every once in a while it would crop up a bit and affect his heart a bit little too. This time he had a heart seizure in the hospital after having been battling the disease."

Heritage Auctions is the main auctioneer for U.S. sale of Wilson McCoy original Phantom artwork. In 2013, a 1955 original Phantom Sunday art page was auctioned by the French auction house Artcurial; and in 2016, a Wilson McCoy 1958 Phantom Sunday art page was auctioned by Sotheby's.

Hermes Press published the Wilson McCoy daily continuities in their The Phantom Complete Dailies volumes 5-17 (2013–2019). The Wilson McCoy Sunday stories were published by Hermes Press in The Complete Sundays Vol. 2–Vol. 7 (2014 - 2020).

On 24 September 2012 a McCoy-inspired Mr. Walker postage stamp, illustrated by Jan Håfström, was released in the Faroe Islands. The idea came from Niels Halm, director of the Nordic House in Tórshavn.

He was survived by his wife Dorothy and two children, Robert Wilson Jr. (Bob) and Carol. Son Robert Wilson McCoy Jr was the proprietor of the Museum of Questionable Devices in Minneapolis and a frequent guest at talk shows such as Late Night with David Letterman. He died in 2010 at the age of 83.

In 2005, the Italian publisher La Repubblica published a Wilson McCoy anthology called L'Uomo mascherato – Il mito dell'Ombra che cammina (Serie Oro 18) with an introductory essay by Luca Raffaelli.

In the year 2000, Egmont Publications from Sweden published a special edition called Wilson McCoy - de opublicerade äventyren. It includes articles about McCoy, written by Ulf Granberg, Ed Rhoades, and Pete Klaus, and also features an interview with McCoy's children Carol Dharamsey and Robert McCoy.

Dare Jennings, founder of the brands Deus Ex Machina and Mambo Graphics, cited Wilson McCoy as his favorite artist in his opening speech at the Bunker Cartoon Gallery Phantom art show in New South Wales, Australia. Jennings produced Phantom T-shirts featuring McCoy's art via the Phantom textile printers (Chippendale, New South Wales, Australia) in the early 1980s.

In 1975, the publishing company Biblioteca Unviversale Rizzoli of Milan released a Wilson McCoy special in the series I Giganti del Fumetto with a 5-page foreword titled, "Un fantasma che cammina da quarant anni" ("A Ghost who walks since 40 years") written by Ferruccio Alessandri.

McCoy ceased drawing the strip after he became ill in 1961. His last daily strip was dated 19 August 1961, and his last Sunday strip was dated 17 September 1961; the following Sunday strip, dated 24 September 1961, was drawn by Carmine Infantino. The strip was continued by Bill Lignante for a short while, and then by Sy Barry.

He made several trips to exotic locations to make the stories look realistic. In Cairo, he was detained for unauthorized photography, and in Morocco he was robbed. On safari in Central Africa, he traveled in an unreliable vehicle, was chased by an aggressive rhino, and confronted belligerent elephants. In Central Africa he studied forest Pygmy peoples. Despite being threatened by their poisoned arrows, McCoy won over the tribe members. He sketched them as they posed and in return was welcomed and invited to beat on tom drums. This was his tour to the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) in 1961 for researching the Mbuti pygmies of the Ituri Rainforest tribe for episodes of The Phantom. The Mbuti became the inspiration for the Bandar tribe featured in the Phantom stories.

In 1961 upon returning from the trip to the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), McCoy stopped drawing, became ill, and was hospitalized. R. Wilson McCoy died July 19, 1961, at age 59, on a Wednesday afternoon in Wesley Memorial Hospital, Chicago, following a heart attack the previous Thursday morning.

McCoy belonged to the Barrington Natural History Society, and two days before he was stricken, had shown at the society's meeting, a film with commentary on his journey into the Congo that spring of 1961. It was his first program on the trip into the African jungle, which was made in the interest of his art.

During the year 1960, Wilson McCoy and his wife frequently visited Mrs. McCoy's sister, Mrs. Terrell Croft, an artist who lived on the Austin Highway, as well as the other sister, also an artist, Mrs. Robert Falmar.

In a 1960 interview, McCoy explained, "I've been almost every place American soldiers have. I contribute my time and the military forces provide transportation." His travels have helped in his artwork, he said, making it easier for him to draw scenes and people in far-off lands. He claimed to be a "camera bug" and used his photographs as models for some of his work, often including in his strip people of whom he had taken pictures. Wherever he went, he studied the architecture and people's dress for possible future use.

In 1955, McCoy was one of 95 comic artists invited to attend the US President's breakfast hosted by the National Cartoonists Society in Washington, DC. President Eisenhower attended the breakfast, which was organized as a fundraiser for the United States Savings Bonds program. Wilson McCoy's art was featured in President Eisenhower's Cartoon Book, published in 1956, which was a tribute to the President.

In 1954, sophomore students from the history section of Federal Way High School took issue with a panel in a Phantom comic strip that contained a depiction of Alexander the Great with a white beard. McCoy wrote a letter of reply and said:

McCoy participated in four trips abroad sponsored by the National Cartoonists Society for the entertainment of military personnel. The trips were made to Europe in 1953, 1954 and 1955, plus one to Japan in 1955. In 1954, a Christmas card to his family lists the countries he visited in the spring: Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Libya, French Morocco, and France, with the following caption: "I cant wait to show these to Dorothy, Carol and to Alice and Bob, Spring 1954, While drawing funny pictures to entertain overseas military personnel — The Phantom has fun. Taking pictures to entertain his good friends at home."

In a letter to fellow cartoonist Clarence Allen on April 3, 1953, McCoy wrote:

McCoy actively interacted with his fans through letters. He set up a Phantom club in the '50s and sent out a sealed certificate of membership to fans with the following mention, "Know All Men By These Presents: That in consideration of your valued friendship this certificate of membership in the Ancient and Mysterious Order of The Phantom is hereby awarded to ______, this day of ____ with all rights and privileges, to Health, Wealth and Wisdom," signed by himself as the "Exalted Imperial Phantom Delieanator" & Dorothy — the "Witnessing and Recording Fatima." One such certificate of induction was later given to Anthony Tollin, the American comics colorist, by Bob McCoy, who filled in his name and the date of 20 Feb 1952.

In a letter written on Sept 17, 1952, to Harrell Jacob Leigeber (Alabama, USA) McCoy wrote:

In another letter to Joyce and Ken Browne, signed “Dot, Carol, Bob, Wilson, and Brownie,” February 21, 1950. McCoy wrote:

The Phantom had its fair share of criticism. The strip was branded as "very objectionable ... in terms of cultural, moral and emotional tone and impact" by "50 trained reviewers" rating comic strips in Parents magazine in 1949. Also in July 1949, censorship laws struck the publication of The Phantom in France. (It should also be noted that in March 1960 The Phantom was being published in 467 newspapers, with half of them being outside the U.S.)

In a letter to a fan written in 1949, McCoy explained that:

Differing sources conflict in their accounts of the transition from Moore to McCoy. In one account, after his return from the war, Moore focused on the Sunday page only but was forced to retire in 1947. In a 1978 interview with Phantom writer Falk, he described the change this way: McCoy was Moore's assistant and good friend. When Moore was called into the military in 1941, McCoy took over and he also continued when Moore came back. From then on Moore drew on extremely rare occasions, but he was still on the pay list, and at first his signature was also on some of the series he did not draw. In yet another interview, Falk stated, "Ray only drew it for three or four years, then he went off to war as a pilot. Then Wilson McCoy, who was a friend of his, an art director of some company, took over in his absence. But he kept Ray's name on it right through the war.

Wilson McCoy had initially shared an art studio with Ray Moore, the original Phantom artist. When Moore went to serve in the military during the Second World War, McCoy took over the responsibilities of illustrating The Phantom. McCoy started signing the strips and was fully credited as the artist from the daily story "Queen Astra Of Trondelay" (1946), although he started drawing the strip from 1941, when he first filled in for Moore.

Aspects of American Realism may also be perceived in McCoy's work due to the use of photographic references in his panels. In a Phantom exhibition held in Sweden, a parallel was drawn between Wilson McCoy and American artist Edward Hopper. Hopper had also worked as a commercial advertising illustrator (ref. artwork for American Locomotive Company. 1944). Both worked in the realm of narrative art and were masters of dramatic lighting (and diagonal shadows).

In 1931, McCoy miraculously escaped death in an auto accident where a reckless driver hit his car, causing it to rest on McCoy’s chest, crushing both his lungs. He made history as the first man to survive such an injury.

St. Louis city directories from the 1930s show that McCoy was associated with several studios:

McCoy met Dorothy Rainwater at Washington University and married her in September 1925. His son Robert ("Bob") McCoy was born in 1927 and his daughter Carol was born on the 17th of November 1933. In 1930, the McCoy family lived at 7603 Forsyth, Clayton, Missouri, before moving to 100 N. Bemiston Avenue. When daughter Carol was born, they lived at 6748 Crest Avenue, University City. By 1940, they had moved to 7035 Ethel Avenue, St. Louis.

Robert Wilson McCoy (April 6, 1902 – July 20, 1961) was an American illustrator and painter, best known as the second artist on The Phantom comic strip. He always went by his middle name and signed The Phantom as Wilson McCoy, but his other artwork was signed R. Wilson McCoy.

Wilson McCoy was born April 6, 1902 in Troy, Missouri, the sixth of seven children born to Edward Fernand (a salesman by profession) and Theodosia Turnbull McCoy. Before the age of seven, he was determined to become an artist. His father died when he was eleven years old, leaving his mother with seven children and no money. She opened a boarding house with borrowed funds, and young Wilson got a job in a drugstore, working eight hours a day after school and twelve hours on Saturdays and Sundays for $3 a week, which went into the family treasury. After two years of high school, he went to work as an errand boy for a St Louis advertising agency, D'Arcy Advertising Co., and practiced drawing during errands. Ultimately, he was taken on the firm's art staff, and after four years, he had saved enough money to attend Washington University's art school before branching out professionally.