Fantômas by Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre

Fantômas (French: [fɑ̃tomas]) is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared in a total of 32 volumes written by the two collaborators, then a subsequent 11 volumes written by Allain alone after Souvestre's death. The character was also the basis of various film, television, and comic book adaptations. In the history of crime fiction, he represents a transition from Gothic novel villains of the 19th century to modern-day serial killers. The books and movies that came out in quick succession anticipate current production methods of Hollywood, in two respects: First, the authors distributed the writing among themselves; their "working method was to draw up the general plot between them and then go off and write alternate chapters independently of each other, meeting up to tie the two halves of the story together in the final chapter." This approach allowed the authors to produce almost one novel per month. Second, the movie rights to the books were immediately snapped up. Such a system ensured that the film studio could produce sequels reliably. The popular depiction of Fantômas as wearing a blue mask, black gloves, and using technological devices did not originate in the novels, but is a result of the popularity of the trilogy of Fantômas movies directed by André Hunebelle in the 1960s. The trilogy, which started in 1963 with Fantômas, departed considerably from the novels by giving the story a more comedic tone, and by making Fantômas (played by Jean Marais) more of a James Bond enemy. Despite these discrepancies, the blue-masked Fantômas is arguably the one that is most easily remembered.

The 1395th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
Fantômas: A House of Pomegranates Esoteric Edition Paperback 1204405 $15.95 2021
The Exploits of Juve Being the Second of the Series of the "Fantomas" Detective Tales Paperback 13185547 $6.99 $869.56 2015
Fantômas - Edition intégrale tome 3 (03) (French Edition) Paperback 9014948 $69.12 2014
Fantômas (Dover Value Editions) Kindle Edition 1998032 2012
The Silent Executioner (Being the Second in the Series of Fantomas Adventures) Hardcover 1911827 $68.28 $3.59 1987
A Royal Prisoner for Fantômas: The Fifth in the Series of the "Fantômas" Detective Tales Paperback 1233069 $9.99 $10.92 2019
Fantômas, Master Criminal Collection (Halcyon Classics) Kindle Edition 2140607 2011
Messengers of Evil Paperback 5955720 $8.49 $9.59 2015
Fantômas - Edition intégrale - tome 5 (5) (French Edition) Paperback 18875695 $33.70 $27.94 2015
Messengers of Evil Being a Further Account of the Lures and Devices of Fantômas Kindle Edition 44849 $0.00 2011
Silent Executioner Mass Market Paperback 464061 $63.15 $4.49 1989
The Silent Executioner (Picador Books) Paperback 9426872 $2.97
The Exploits of Juve: Fantômas Saga Kindle Edition 3816516 $0.99 2018
Fantômas (Dover Mystery Classics) Kindle Edition 685482 $5.68 2018
Messengers of Evil (The Fantômas Novels Book 3) Kindle Edition 1056951 $2.99 2014
Fantomas: The Corpse Who Kills (Solar Research Archive) Paperback 3915034 $8.07 $9.43 2008
Fantômas - Edition intégrale tome 2 (02) (French Edition) Paperback 1639470 $31.61 $37.63 2013
Fantômas - Edition intégrale tome 4 (04) (French Edition) Paperback 1641318 $31.37 $41.97 2014
Wrath Of Fantomas Hardcover 236299 $19.34 $19.63 2019
Fantomas Versus the Multinational Vampires: An Attainable Utopia (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) Paperback 940129 $9.95 $7.74 2014
Je t'aurai, Fantômas ! Hardcover 1366987 $13.25 $45.00 2016
La colère de Fantômas, Intégrale : Album 1366988 $30.68 $90.00 2017
Fantomas by Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre Unabridged 1911 Original Version Paperback 1487307 $5.89 2017
The Exploits of Juve: Being the Second of the Series of the Fantomas Detective Tales Paperback 1719830 $14.64 $12.95 2014
The Wrath of Fantômas Vol. 1 Kindle Edition 2879005 2019
Marcel Allain - Fantomas Paperback 3167327 $5.98 $3.59 2016
Fantomas Hardcover 3498688 $5.99 $19.99 2009
Fantomas Mass Market Paperback 4355173 $57.42 $3.88 1987
Fantomas Versus the Multinational Vampires: An Attainable Utopia (Semiotext(e)) by Julio Cort?zar (2014-08-01) Paperback 11575544 $17.08 $17.12
Je t'aurai, Fantomas ! (Hors Collection) (French Edition) Kindle Edition 4718614 2016
Fantômas - La Main coupée Mass Market Paperback 14501341 $25.50
The Exploits Of Juve: Being The Second In The Series Of Fantoms Detective Tales Paperback 8030433 $3.99 $6.48 2008
The Exploits of Juve, Being the Second of the Series of the "Fantômas" Detective Tales Hardcover 14971606 $35.00
Fantomas: Being the First of the Series of the Fantomas Detective Tales Paperback 3480662 $17.32 $17.41 2014
Juve in the Dock: A Fantomas Detective Novel Paperback 1543222 $16.33 $18.95 2017
The Lord of Terror: A Fantomas Detective Novel (Volume 33) Paperback 1555894 $17.77 $19.79 2016
Nick Carter vs. Fantomas Paperback 1947876 $5.76 $14.95 2007
Awesome Tales #9: Fantomas: Reign of Terror part 2 Paperback 934663 $6.00 2019
Awesome Tales #3: Fantomas: Reign of Terror Paperback 934846 $6.00 2019
SHERLOCK HOLMES. FANTOMAS, LUPIN, RAFFLES, AND MORE: THE SPANISH PLAYS Paperback 1981069 $16.92 $60.05 2016
La cólera de Fantomas 3, A tumba abierta Hardcover 1992206 $12.94 $24.81 2016
La cólera de Fantomas 2, Todo el oro de París Hardcover 1992207 $16.33 $16.87 2015
La cólera de Fantomas 1, La guillotina Hardcover 1992208 $15.83 $24.81 2015
Writing Architecture: Fantomas Fragments Fictions - An Architectural Journey through the 20th Century Hardcover 4427021 $405.00 $24.72 1990
Fantômas sous les tropiques : Aller au cinéma en Afrique coloniale Paperback 1109720 $23.27 $37.92 2015
Nick Carter vs Fantomas Kindle Edition 2926846 2013
Awesome Tales #9: Fantomas: Reign of Terror Paperback 3417051 $6.00 $7.40 2019
The Exploits of Juve: Fantomas Detective Tales 2 Audible Audiobook 176974 $4.28 2019
Messengers of Evil: Being the Third of the Series of the Fantomas Detective Tales Paperback 3428727 $16.91 $18.73 2014
Fantomas: Fantomas Detective Tales 1 Audible Audiobook 194246 $4.28 2019
The Death of Fantomas Paperback 1220301 $15.29 $16.01 2017
Fantômas : A Nest Of Spies: The Fourth in the Series of "Fantômas" Detective Tales Paperback 1233716 $13.50 2019
Fantômas: Messengers of Evil: The Third in the Series of "Fantômas" Detective Tales Paperback 3976284 $12.99 2019
A Royal Prisoner: Being the Fifth of the Series of the Fantomas Detective Tales Paperback 4633728 $14.86 $17.85 2014
A Royal Prisoner: Being The Fifth In The Series Of Fantomas Detective Tales Paperback 9126353 $16.95 $10.99 2008
A Nest of Spies: Being the Fourth of the Series of the Fantomas Detective Tales (Volume 4) Paperback 4720864 $16.46 $20.30 2014
The Daughter of Fantomas Paperback 4966068 $8.59 $3.72 2006
Messengers of Evil - Being a Further Account of the Lures and Devices of Fantômas Paperback 10125896 $17.95 2015
Messengers of Evil Being a Further Account of the Lures and Devices of Fantomas Hardcover 16157585 $39.10
Fantômas: The First in the Series of "Fantômas" Detective Tales Paperback 869739 $12.49 2019
Messengers of Evil: Being a Further Account of the Lures and Devices of Fantômas Paperback 12849840 $14.99 2016
Messengers of Evil: Being a Further Account of the Lures and Devices of Fantomas Paperback 5705688 $12.99 $12.98 2009
Fantômas Paperback 7517766 $17.95 2015
Fantômas (The Fantômas Novels) Kindle Edition 1186950 $2.99 2014
The Long Arm of Fantomas: Being the Sixth of the Series of the Fantomas Detective Tales Paperback 550795 $18.61 $18.55 2016
Fantomas (Penguin Classics) Paperback 602579 $9.99 $2.56 2006
Slippery As Sin: Being the Seventh of the Series of the Fantomas Detective Tales Paperback 1945602 $15.89 $30.82 2016
Fantômas: The Exploits of Juve: The Second in the Series of "Fantômas" Detective Tales Paperback 4125941 $11.99 $12.93 2019
Messengers of Evil Kindle Edition 2686412 2018
Fantômas édition intégrale : Tome 1 Paperback 7112420 $30.64 $31.93 2013