Fantom of the Fair Archive Vol 1 is a public-domain archive collection reprinting the Golden Age adventures of the Fantom of the Fair, one of the earliest costumed superheroes in American comics. Created by Paul Gustavson for Centaur Publications, the masked mystery-man debuted in Amazing Mystery Funnies vol. 2 #7 (July 1939) and operated from a subterranean lair beneath the 1939 New York World's Fair, guarding the fairgrounds against racketeers and saboteurs. Strong enough to bend gun barrels, pass through solid floors, and erase memories through hypnosis, the Fantom was a notably hard-boiled hero who maintained a torture chamber in his underground hideout.

This volume gathers seven complete stories spanning the character's full run — from his World's Fair debut through later adventures at a steel mill, a coal mine, and on the high seas, into his renamed Fantoman incarnation once the Fair closed. The Fantom premiered the same cover-date month as DC's Sandman, Fox's The Flame, and Centaur's Masked Marvel. Centaur Publications holds the distinction of being among the first American comic-book companies to fold (by 1942), which left its characters in the public domain.

Today the Fantom of the Fair is of real interest to Golden Age historians and public-domain enthusiasts. The character directly inspired DC's villainous "Phantom of the Fair" in Secret Origins and Sandman Mystery Theatre, and Malibu Comics' Gravestone. As a freely reprintable artifact, this archive offers an accessible window into the experimental, pre-code origins of the American superhero — including its dated and uncomfortable elements.