- For other uses, see Phantom.
The Phantom is a comic strip created by Lee Falk, recounting the adventures of a costumed crime-fighter called the Phantom. The
series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, which was joined by a colour Sunday strip in May of 1939; both are still running as of 2005, although Lee Falk has
passed away, and the comics are now written by a Scandinavian team.
The Phantom is credited as being the first "costumed superhero", i.e. the first crimefighter to wear the skintight costume
attributed to comic book superheroes. Previous fictional crime fighters, such
as Zorro and Doc Savage, were not
designed especially for newspaper comic strips or comic books.
The character
The Phantom wears a mask, a purple skintight costume, and carries two .45 pistols.
His base is in the Deep Woods of Bangalla, a fictional
country in Africa where he is the secret commander of the Jungle Patrol. He is
particularly the enemy of pirates. It is notable that he has no supernatural
powers.
In the African jungle, the Phantom is called "The Ghost who Walks" because he seems to have been around for generations. This
is because the Phantom is descended from twenty previous generations of crime-fighters
that all share the same persona. Frequently the strip highlights the adventures of previous Phantoms, set in the past, and some
European publications have featured the Phantom's children as future crimefighters.
The Phantom has two helpers, a mountain wolf Devil and a horse Hero. He is married to Diana Palmer-Walker, who works at the
UN. They have two children, Christopher and Heloise.
"There are times when the Phantom leaves his jungle home and travels as an ordinary man." When he does, he wears a
fedora, sunglasses, and an overcoat and is known as "Mr. Walker". References to "Mr. Walker" are traditionally accompanied by a
footnote saying "For 'The Ghost Who Walks'", although some versions of the Phantom's history suggest that Walker was actually the
surname of the man who became the first Phantom.
In comic books
In addition to the two newspaper strips, original stories are published by Egmont Publications in Scandinavia (where the
Phantom is very popular). Egmont publishes a fortnightly Phantom comic book in Norway
(as Fantomet), Sweden (as Fantomen), and Finland (as Mustanaamio ["Black Mask"]). Most of the writers and artists who have worked on the newspaper
strips since Lee Falk's death have been members of Egmont's talent pool.
Another country where the Phantom is popular is Australia, where Frew Publications has published a fortnightly comic book,
The Phantom, since 1948. Frew's book mostly contains reprints, from the newspaper strips and from Fantomen (in
English translation), but has occasionally also included an original story.
In 2002, Moonstone Books in the United States began publishing
original graphic novels based on The Phantom, and a comic book series
followed in December 2003.
In other media
The Phantom has appeared in two animated series. Phantom 2040 is
about the adventures of a descendant, the 24th Phantom. In Defenders of the Earth, the Phantom teams up with fellow King Features adventurers Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician.
The Phantom was also made into a movie in 1996. It
starred Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson and Catherine
Zeta-Jones.
External links
- The Phantom at King Features (http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/phantom/about.htm)
- Fantomen (http://www.fantomen.com) - Swedish official site (in Swedish)
- The Deep Woods (http://www.deepwoods.org/) - fan site with very complete reference section; also the closest
thing to an official Frew site
- A Phantom FAQ (http://members.aol.com/TGoldberg/phantom.txt) - includes list and short bios of the 24 known
Phantoms
- The 21st Phantom's Deep
Woods (http://www.deepwoods.cjb.net/) - fan site about the Phantom, with an
Indian perspective. It features info about the Phantom, Indian comics, Indian links, etc. It also has a popular Daily Comic Strip
section where you can view the Phantom daily and Sunday newspaper strips as well as Mandrake strips online.
- Toonopedia (http://www.toonopedia.com/phantom.htm)
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