Could Fantômas have influenced some North American writers?
Which? To my knowledge, no North American writer has admitted to being directly inspired by or indebted to Fantômas. However, Argentine author Julio Cortazar wrote Fantomas contra los vampiros multinacionales (1975), a situationist diatribe against the collusion between American multinational corporations, the CIA, and the military dictatorships of South America in the late 1970s. Cortazars Fantomas, however, is based on the Mexican Fantomas comic book character (a super hero), rather than Souvestre and Allains archvillain. In your opinion which are the best novels of the cycle? Why? Roughly, the 32-novel cycle can be split in half (or perhaps two-thirds and one-third). My preference is for the first half, for a couple of reasons. One, I was completely amazed by Souvestre and Allains ability to produce entirely new adventures of the “Lord of Terror,” “Genius of Evil,” and “Emperor of Crime,” every month. The impression of the first dozen novels is that the latest installment is even mo
