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"From the imaginative standpoint Fantômas is one of the richest works that exist." Guillaume Apollinaire
"Absurd and magnificent lyricism." Jean Cocteau
"Unable to resist the allure of evil, I spent the rest of the day with Fantômas..." Umberto Eco
Amongst the novels or popular books that have been defined as Pulp Fiction, Fantômas is one of the most special and appealing killers to be found. He is the greatest baddie alive. He’s not just evil, he’s the evilest. Fantômas doesn’t kill for revenge or because of some childhood trauma. Nope. He does it simply because he likes it. His evilness knows no bounds. He takes on the identity and character of his victim so that he can enjoy their wealth, women and luxury. The clearest example of what he is really like: he sends his son to the guillotine in order to leave no trace of himself behind. He is a downright bad bastard. The most appealing and classy son-of-a-bitch amongst serial-killers and it is no surprise that he sets up his little hell in Paris.
Fantômas never shows his real self. He always appears disguised as somebody else. That’s the real key to his mystery. We can sense him. He appears and disappears as if he were some kind of shadow and we never know exactly what character he is hiding behind in the story. He’s mysterious, elegant and manipulative. He plans each murder carefully and methodically and on most occasions he uses innocent people to further his evil aims. Fantômas has a nemesis, Inspector Juve. He’s as quick as Fantômas and has all the excellent detective skills of Sherlock Holmes. Fantômas also has lovers. The most important one is Lady Beltham, a beautiful and generous Parisian dame (Fantômas beats her husband to death with a cane.) We’ll say no more about the stories. If you want to feel Fantômas’ breath on the back of your neck... read the stories!
Even though the concept of Pulp Fiction was created in the USA, there are plenty of earlier antecedents to be found in Europe. Fantômas is probably the clearest example of this. Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain wrote the 31 short novels. Souvestre published the forefather of car magazines, L’Auto. As you can imagine, in 1911 car magazines didn’t have that much to say to its readers. Material-wise it didn’t really fare up to much so Souvestre asked collaborator Allain to come up with something. The next day he brought him along a 17-page story. That was how Fantômas was born. Editor Artheme Fayard read the story and asked them for five novels. They were enormously successful, success that in part was due to Gino Starace’s beautifully frightening covers for the books.
The first Fantômas film was made in 1913. Since then the Seventh Art has dug up our favourite killer every now and then. The best of these are the films starring Louise de Funes in the 60s and 70s. And he has also appeared as a comic-book character in Mexico. But given the choice, we prefer to look for the most attractive faceless killer in the cheap short popular novels that originally made him famous.
"Absurd and magnificent lyricism." Jean Cocteau
"Unable to resist the allure of evil, I spent the rest of the day with Fantômas..." Umberto Eco
Amongst the novels or popular books that have been defined as Pulp Fiction, Fantômas is one of the most special and appealing killers to be found. He is the greatest baddie alive. He’s not just evil, he’s the evilest. Fantômas doesn’t kill for revenge or because of some childhood trauma. Nope. He does it simply because he likes it. His evilness knows no bounds. He takes on the identity and character of his victim so that he can enjoy their wealth, women and luxury. The clearest example of what he is really like: he sends his son to the guillotine in order to leave no trace of himself behind. He is a downright bad bastard. The most appealing and classy son-of-a-bitch amongst serial-killers and it is no surprise that he sets up his little hell in Paris.
Fantômas never shows his real self. He always appears disguised as somebody else. That’s the real key to his mystery. We can sense him. He appears and disappears as if he were some kind of shadow and we never know exactly what character he is hiding behind in the story. He’s mysterious, elegant and manipulative. He plans each murder carefully and methodically and on most occasions he uses innocent people to further his evil aims. Fantômas has a nemesis, Inspector Juve. He’s as quick as Fantômas and has all the excellent detective skills of Sherlock Holmes. Fantômas also has lovers. The most important one is Lady Beltham, a beautiful and generous Parisian dame (Fantômas beats her husband to death with a cane.) We’ll say no more about the stories. If you want to feel Fantômas’ breath on the back of your neck... read the stories!
Even though the concept of Pulp Fiction was created in the USA, there are plenty of earlier antecedents to be found in Europe. Fantômas is probably the clearest example of this. Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain wrote the 31 short novels. Souvestre published the forefather of car magazines, L’Auto. As you can imagine, in 1911 car magazines didn’t have that much to say to its readers. Material-wise it didn’t really fare up to much so Souvestre asked collaborator Allain to come up with something. The next day he brought him along a 17-page story. That was how Fantômas was born. Editor Artheme Fayard read the story and asked them for five novels. They were enormously successful, success that in part was due to Gino Starace’s beautifully frightening covers for the books.
The first Fantômas film was made in 1913. Since then the Seventh Art has dug up our favourite killer every now and then. The best of these are the films starring Louise de Funes in the 60s and 70s. And he has also appeared as a comic-book character in Mexico. But given the choice, we prefer to look for the most attractive faceless killer in the cheap short popular novels that originally made him famous.
