Wilson McCoy

American illustrator and painter (1902–1961)

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. McCoy studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the American Academy, and Washington University's School of Fine Arts (now the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts), where he later served on the faculty. He was a member of the National Cartoonist Society Foundation (NCSF).

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. 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. One year when Robert was a teenager, a birthday gift for him was that he was the "handsome prince" in one Phantom continuity. Wilson made a very accurate drawing of Robert for the story. That strip hung in the McCoy family home for many years. The couple had moved to Barrington, Illinois 13 years prior to Wilson's death and lived on E. County Line Road. Later, McCoy's Barrington home, located on Donlea Road in Barrington, was used as a model for the Phantom's girlfriend Diana Palmer's house in the comic strip. McCoy used the study to draw the Phantom strips. The house was on a five acre lot, and Wilson had a full size farm tractor to mow it. Wilson was also a volunteer fire marshal in Barrington. His fire chief helmet from the city is still with the family today as a souvenir. 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.

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. 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. McCoy's wife, Dorothy, was also an artist, and she penciled in the lettering and panel borders on her husband's strips. In an interview with Ed Rhoades, Bob McCoy confided: "Initially, Wilson McCoy was paid $75 a week to sub for Moore, an arrangement that ticked him off" when he discovered how much more Moore was getting paid. But conditions improved, and the family moved to a prosperous Chicago suburb. Wilson McCoy built a studio. Robert regained a bedroom." In describing his workload and schedule, McCoy explained in an interview, "King Features Syndicate, which distributes The Phantom, prefers the artists keep six weeks ahead of their weekly strips and three months ahead for Sunday material." 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.) The strip was continued by Bill Lignante for a short while, and then by Sy Barry. 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.

Like Phantom creator Lee Falk, McCoy was a world traveler with an adventurous spirit, traveling to jungles where he visited native tribes. 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. 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 1960 interview, McCoy explained, "I've been almost every place American soldiers have. I contribute my time and the military forces provide transportation." 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." 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. A memorial service was held on the Saturday after his demise at the Barrington Methodist Church. As requested by the family, flower contributions were made to the Heart Fund or the Barrington Methodist Church. Rev. Carl G. Mettling, along with Rev. Eugene B. Nyman, were in charge of the service in the church, which was filled to near capacity. Messages and words of condolences were received by the family from all parts of the United States and many other countries. 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.

McCoy's Phantom stories are occasionally published in the Australian Frew Publications Phantom comic, and the Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish Phantom comic books, and also in hardcover editions. 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, D. C. 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 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. 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. 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. 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). Black and white press proofs of the continuities, that originate from King Features Syndicate, are archived at Michigan State University, in the Special collections division, which is supervised by Randy Scott, the MSU Special Collections Librarian, Comic Art Bibliographer, and head curator of the MSU Comic Art Collection. King Features syndicate donated another set of proofs to Ohio State University. Wilson McCoy original art may be viewed at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (Ohio State University libraries).