Belphegor, The Phantom of the Louvre (French Mystery)

Once again, Black Coat Press presents a translation for one of the novelizations for a character they have been using in their Tales of the Shadowmen series. This time is "Belphegor" the so-called "Phantom of the Louvre". As far as I know, the movie serial this is based is not available on DVD.They've used this mysterious character before, and now we can read the original story. The author was trying to create a character that could rival Fantomas or Judex (the later of which he co-created).This would also spawn a later tv series (the cover is taken from that series) and a more recent movie version as well, tho these made changes in the characters. The extras in this book include synopsis of that 1965 tv remake, along with the comic book sequel that followed, as well as reprints of some of the covers to the book versions that have come out over the years."Belphegor" is the name of an ancient demon (not a god). The main villain of the story, the "Phantom of the Louvre" (also called Belphegor), is searching for a hidden treasure of the kings of France that is connected to the statue of Belphegor located in the Louvre. Opposing him are 2 characters. One is Chantecoq, originally created by Bernede as a French secret agent, now turned detective (he's called the "king of detectives") who appeared in other stories by the author before and after this work. The other is the journalist Bellegarde, who seems to be based on the classic French journalist/adventurer Rouletabille (Black Coat Press has reprinted 2 of his classic stories).Other characters include the daughter of Chantecoq (who didn't appear in the other works of this character), Bellegarde's fiance Simone Desroches, Police Inspector Ménardier, the Baron Papillon (his chateau is used in the climax of the story) & his wife, and a sinister hunchback. Adding to the plot, we have a love triangle between Bellegarde, Simone, and Chantecoq's daughter, all of whom Belphegor menaces. Both Chantecoq and Menardier are trying to unmask Belphegor as rivals.The original story was serialized, then published in 4 volumes, later collected into a single volume and reprinted several times. Interesting, between the original serialization and being collected, several passages (and in one case a whole chapter) were dropped. They have been restored in this edition as footnotes.Yet another great book from Black Coat Press. More information about Belphegor (and Rouletabille) can be found at BCP's "Cool French Comics"/"French Wold Newton" site.