Ed Rhoades

Ed Rhoades (Charles Edward Rhoades, Jr)
Biographical information
Born:	December 9, 1946
Died:	July 30, 2012
Nationality:	American
Occupation:
Website:

Biography

Life and career

Ed Rhoades was the son of Charles Edward Sr. and Ellen Mae (Snyder) Rhoades. He was born in Mahoning Township, Momtour County (Pennsylvania) on December 9, 1946.

He grew up in Danville where he was active in the art world. When he graduated Danville High School in 1964 his cartoons were featured weekly in the "Danville News" (as part of a school page). He continued to study art at Bloomsburg State College and recieved a bachelor of science degree in elementary education in 1968. He held the post as art editor of the college publication (Maroon and Gold), and his cartoons were also featured in nationally Collegiate Publications. He also worked in the studio of Peter Gstalder and exhibited his work in his gallery during the weekends. While at Bloomsburg University he began exploring his interest in music, and performed in Philadelphia clubs and at college concerns and festivals. He took graduate courses at the Tylor School of Art, and worked as a graphic artist in the city. Some of his work have been used by Smithonian Institution, New York Public Librqary, Brown University and other libraries and institutions.

In 1978 he won the "Hometown Album" songwriting competition in Philadelphia with his song "Mainlining", and performed at the Super Sunday festivities with his band, "Watertite". To earn art certification to accompany his teaching degre he took refresher courses at Penn State, and started teaching in the Southern Area School District about 1987, retiring in 2011.

In 1985 he married Kimberly Gay Baylor and they had two daughters, Heather and Renee.

Early 1990s he had several exhibitions where he showed his paintings and musical compositions. His media included charcoal, pasten, watercolor, oil and acrylic. Often his art was upon science fiction/ fantasy influence to create a neoromantic mood. He also started to perform at venues in the area, singing old-time blues and ballads as well as his own songs, ususlly as "Ed Rhoades & Friends". Kaye Berg, Rich Ahearn, Joe Andreacci, Dan Stoneham, David Kinn and John Sweeney also performed with his band during the 1990s and early 2000s. By 2004 he performed as "Ed Rhoades Family Band" (with his wife and daughters) with John Sweeney. Later on with his wife as "Kim & Ed Rhoades".

He died following a bicycle accident in Catawissa Township on July 30, 2012.

Friends of the Phantom

In the first issue of the "Friends of the Phantom" newsletter Ed Rhoades told the beginning of his longtime fascination for Lee Falk's "The Phantom". At age three he discovered the strip in his local newspaper and when he became four age old he was able to read the ongoing story in the newspaper himself. He continued to read the newspaper strip while living in Danville, but when moving to Philadelphia he found that non of the local newspapers carried the strip. When he bought his first "The Phantom" comics by Pioneer Comics it became the start of his growing colletion of "The Phantom" comics and memorabilia.

"Friends of the Phantom" club was founded by Ed Rhoades, Pete Klaus and Bob Lian after their meeting with Lee Falk at the Great Eastern Convention in 1993. Ed Rhoades was the editor of the clubs newsletter, "Friends of the Phantom" (24 issues, February 1993 to Spring 2004), with articles on collectibles, artists, artwork and on. When the newsletter ceased Ed Rhoades continued with a online site, reusing some of his previous printed material. Adding new material like pages for memorabilia and for the annual "Friends of the Phantom" dinner at Sardi's. After his retirement in 2011 he made a new site for his music and art, and retained his Phantom site as a sub-site of this, with a slightly different design.

Rhoades was integral to the making of the A&E "The Phantom: Comic Book Crusader" special, created for the A&E Biography series in 2000. He was also a consultant for Moonstone Books and contributes articles under the title "Behind the Mask" in their "The Phantom" series. Also Moonstone Books he co-wrote a story with Mike Bullock for the prose anthology "The Phantom Chronicles".

Cameo appearances

Year	Daily/Sunday	Title	Comments
2001	Sunday	"Return of the Tourist"	as Ed, wearing a Phantom t-shirt

Web sites

Screenshots of Ed's homepages from:

• 

  2004

• 

  2006

• 

  2010