By Ed Rhoades

Secret identities! Most of the costumed superheroes have them.
It’s a tried and tested tradition for fictional heroes pre-dating even the Phantom. The Scarlet Pimpernel was Sir Percy Blakeney and Zorro was Don Diego.

Superman is really mild mannered Clark Kent. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne (except for that time he was Jean-Paul Valley…or Azrael). The Flash (who at least owes the idea for his skin tight suit and cowl to The Phantom) sped through a bunch of secret identities…Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West and Bart Allen. Secret identities make sense. The famed crime fighter would need a place where he could kick back without the threat of people stalking him or fans making demands. Plus it gave more problems for the hero having to deal with keeping his secret from those around him and finding excuses to escape. It was another ongoing plot device.

“Clark Kent was sort his vacation from being Superman. ..But the Phantom sacrifices his identity to be the Phantom,” explained former syndicated Phantom artist Keith Williams.

Lee even considered it for The Phantom. In the pilot story, playboy Jimmy Wells was created as The Phantom’s secret identity. But as the story progressed, Lee’s vision became more unique and he developed the mystique of the skull cave in deepest darkest Africa. The Phantom is known my by many names…The Ghost Who Walks, Guardian of the Easter Dark, The Man Who Cannot Die…but none of them could be considered a secret identity. There has been a little suspense in keeping the secret of The Unknown Commander of the Jungle Patrol, but they weren’t problems that impacted The Phantom’s daily routine.

The Phantom only disguises himself as Mr. Walker when he travels incognito. He lives his life in costume at both of his jungle homes, but neither place is accessible by the public so a secret identity is unnecessary. The secret problem that causes the most difficulty for The Phantom is not who he is… but the legend of his immortality. To keep that idea going, he has to be fearless and literally death defying…leaping from cliffs, fighting sharks with a knife, wrestling tigers barehanded…a superhero without superpowers. He doesn’t wear the mask to hide another identity. He wears the mask because that’s who he is.

By Paul Jonassen

The Phantom has a rich history when it comes to being adapted into other forms of media, though sadly not as diverse and consistent as one might wish. The character has never had the constant popularity of many of the figures he inspired outside of comics, and his appearances on film and TV have been sporadical. With the upcoming movie The Phantom: Legacy (which looks like it could be the best non-comics presentation of the Man Who Cannot Die this far) and the SyFy television series The Phantom (which looks, to be honest, appalingly bad) the time is right to look back at what we have seen of the Phantom’s adventures on the screen so far.

The Phantom’s first appearance on the silver screen was the 1943 movie serial from Columbia, simply called The Phantom. Directed by B. Reeves Eason, it starred Tom Tyler (who was born with the less catchy name of Vincent Markowski) as the Phantom and Jeanne Bates as Diana. Sadly, any romance between the two characters is pretty much non-existent in this version, as the serial’s target audience, kids, normally have little time for such trivialities as kissing and stuff. The film also features the brilliantly named Ace the Wonder Dog as Devil (a German Shepherd was likely less expensive and easier to use than a wolf).

Obviously made on the cheap and probably shot in a hurry, The Phantom is a wonderful film, possibly the most fun version of the character on a screen so far. It plays loose with a lot of aspects from the comic: there is no mention of the origin of the 1st Phantom, the real name of the 21st Phantom is Geoffrey Prescott (Falk was yet to reveal his hero’s true identity), and the story does not take place in Bengalla, but the equally fictional place of Sai Pana. While this might irk some fans watching the film on DVD today, they should keep in mind that at the time the serial was made, the Phantom was far from being as ”established” as he is today: he still had something of an ”on-and-off” relationship with Diana, Kit and Heloise were obviously not a part of the series, Guran still believed “jungle magic” was quite nifty, and Hero would not appear until later (it’s charming that the Phantom both in the comic and the serial travels incredibly long distances in the jungle on foot).

The story is just an excuse for the Phantom to roam around the jungle fighting lots of villains: the MacGuffin is a bunch of ”keys” that when put together will show the road to the lost city of Zoloz, where the evil Dr. Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald plans to build a hidden airbase (this intriguing part of the plot is sadly mostly forgotten about by the filmmakers, who are way too busy thinking of new places to stage a fight scene to fully use the best idea they came up with).

Western star Tom Tyler makes an excellent Phantom in almost every way. His cheap, but extremely faithfully rendered costume would have looked ridicilous if it had not been worn with such a quiet dignity (as evidenced by seeing the old, chubby actor who plays the 20th Phantom wear the same kind of costume, looking painfully silly in it). Tyler looks a little like a Ray Moore drawing (he shares the tall, lanky look Moore gave the character in his early years on the strip), and is very believeable as a man of action. You really feel this is a man of incredible physical skill and determination. His voice, however, is less impressive, and is strictly speaking too light for somebody who, according to the old jungle saying, makes blood freeze, but hey, you can’t get everything in life.

Eason’s directing is fine, and the neverending action-scenes are energetic and exciting, even in today’s world with all your Bonds, Bournes and Batmans. One, set on a bridge high above a river (or rather, a painting supposed to look like a river; a special effect Ed Wood would have looked down on), is genuinely exciting, and you often find yourself wondering how on earth the Phantom is going to get out of the numerous bizarre situations he finds himself in (the loveably silly fight against a dangerous gorilla is another favourite).

This film is also notable for being the only time we’ve seen the handling of the Phantom-mantle from father to son on screen, and the moments with the dying 20th Phantom and his son are well done and actually quite touching. I do get why Lee Falk claimed to hate what he had seen of the film, though, as it plays rather loose with a lot of the things he wrote due to the limited budget. Nevertheless, in my eyes, it still manages to capture a lot of the spirit of some of his early stories, though it lacks the edgy, mysterious tone and cracking dialogue of those tales.

The serial did well at the box office, and Columbia finally got off their butts and decided to make a sequel in 1955, with Lone Ranger-actor John Hart replacing Tyler, who sadly died the year before. As dedicated fans will know, the rights to the character lapsed after the sequel had been filmed, and producers had the bright idea that it would be cheaper to re-shoot all of the scenes involving the Phantom instead of renewing their rights to the licence. And so they did, and the serial morphed into The Adventures of Captain Africa. Watching it is, to say it the least, a puzzling experience. The reliance on stock footage is obvious, and Captain Africa is unsurprisingly a modified Phantom: similiar costume (it is essentially the Phantom’s costume with regular pants and an aviator cap thrown on), similiar demeanor, near-similiar throne and so on.

To be fair, yours truly never made it through any longer than the first few chapters, as the film is pretty awful in most ways, and I was not surprised to learn it was one of the last serials produced by Columbia.
Unforgiveably, it also re-uses a fair amount of footage from the 1943 version, which makes it all the more pointless to watch today.

The next time the Phantom would be seen on a screen, or rather, NOT be seen on any screen, was in the unaired TV-pilot from 1961, starring Roger Creed as the Phantom, and featuring actors such as Paulette Godard, Lon Chaney Jr., and Richard “Jaws” Kiel as villains. The fact that the thing was never picked up by any network and has to the best of my knowledge never been shown on television anywhere in the world, is probably enough for most people to have low expectations when watching it. And sure, it IS not exactly a great way to introduce a potential Phantom series. However, the pilot is better than its reputation among the hardcore fans who have gotten their hands at bootleg copies, and there are some fine moments in it, like the Phantom’s fight with assassin “Big Mike” (played by Kiel) and the Phantom hunting down bad guys in the jungle by playing “hide and seek” with them, like he is frequently seen doing in the comic. None of these moments can be said to be brilliantly executed, but at least they’re there, and it’s fun to see the Phantom outwitting his enemies. Another favourite is the part where he kicks the crap out of an incredibly menacing rubber-alligator.

Creed does a decent job playing the Phantom, but it’s obvious from his rather wooden acting that he was primarily a stuntman. Born in 1915, he was also a bit long in the tooth for the part, but is nevertheless excellent physically. The costume is rendered down to the smallest detail, and Creed looks pretty good in it, despite his age and the outfit’s low budget look.

Hero and Devil also appears. The part of Diana had, according to an interview with writer John Carr published in Friends of the Phantom, been given to actress Marilyn Manning, but sadly, she is nowhere to be seen in this episode. Carr also wrote three other scripts for proposed episodes, but none were filmed (shame, since I’ve been told they were all vastly superior to the one that was filmed).

Overally, I rather like the pilot, despite its cheap feel and pretty weak plot, which sees the Phantom, who mostly appears out of costume due to being “undercover”, trying to break up a slave camp (he disguises himself by wearing an eye-patch, but one can only wonder why. Nobody knows his face anyway). We also get a wonderfully cheesy theme song, with whoever-is-singing shouting “The Phaaaantoooooom! THEEEE PHAAAAAANTOOOOOMMMM!” being the most memorable part.

The pilot is today easy to get on bootleg DVDs, and can also be seen on Internet sites such as Google Video (I hope anybody who checks it out survives the piss poor sound and picture quality).

From one obscurity to another, in 1968, the world’s first Phantom movie made in Turkey (but sadly not the last) was released, likely without anybody involved actually bothering to ask King Features or Lee Falk for the rights to use the character. Called Kizil Maske (the Phantom’s name in the country, oddly enough translating into “Red Mask”) and starring international megastar Ismet Erten, it is an understatement to call it a loose adaptation of the comic. To be fair, I don’t understand a word of the Turkish language, and my copy of this film has no subtitles, making watching it (or rather, fast-forwarding through the dialogue scenes and watching most of the action scenes) a rather strange experience.

First, there’s a lot of fist fighting in this film. A lot. Everbody seems to hit each other at least once during the running time, and the Phantom in particular seems happy to kick any poor sod’s butt at whatever given moment.

The plot? No idea. The bad guy has a huge moustache that would make a walrus envious, that’s about all I can get from it.

The Phantom uniform used in the film stays fairly close to the original design, the only real addition I can recall is a giant, pirate-like skull head placed all over the Phantom’s chest and stummick, making him look like a sissy Punisher (Erten’s appearance suggests he didn’t bother to check out weightlifting before taking on the role) with a cheap mask. Devil makes an appearance too, with Mr. Walker having very obvious problems of controlling him in one scene that the director really should have bothered to film a second time.

I have no idea how much this film cost to make, but it sure doesn’t look like a great deal of money was spent on this unforgettable epic. The soundtrack is goofy, yet strangely creepy in a way (maybe it’s the walrus-guy subconsciously giving me the chills). The natives of what is either intended to be Turkey or Bengalla (again, no idea) looks only a little less fake than the ones used in the Tom Tyler serial, and they also use “talking drums” as a way of reaching the Ghost Who Speaks Turkish.

Believe it or not, a second movie called Kizil Maske was released in Turkey in 1968, beating out The Phantom: Legacy and the SyFy series the honour of being the first competing Phantom film projects. This one stars Irfan Atasoy (what do you mean you never heard of him?), in a landmark performance that would make Sean Penn wet himself. Sadly, the costume he wears is not even remotely like the one used in the comic. He looks more like Zorro’s even more flamboyant little brother, with a hood that covers most of his face and tights that would make Adam West point and laugh. The scary part is, the uniform used here still doesn’t look anywhere near as awful as the costume they’re intending to use in the SyFy Phantom series (yes, I do need to bash this show at every possible opportunity).

With a hero who doesn’t look like the Phantom (and certainly doesn’t behave much like him), most of the weird entertainment value given by the other film dissappears. It’s as cheesy as film can possibly become (and I’ve seen Plan 9 From Outer Space twice, so I know what I’m talking about), and has an even more relaxed view at licencing rights than its namesake (the James Bond Theme is even played during one scene, to expected hilarious effect). The climax seems to be onboard, or possibly on top of a moving train, but sadly, my copy of the film ends before the film is over. I can’t say I’ve lost any sleep of wondering how it will all turn out, though.
If Lee Falk had seen this film, I suspect he would have died much earlier than 1999.

A third Phantom movie was made in Turkey in 1971, called Kýzýl Maske’nin Intikamý, which translates into The Phantom’s Revenge (thanks, Wikipedia). I don’t own this, so I’m afraid sarcastic comments and pointless trivia will have to be saved for a later occasion.

While other unauthorized Phantom projects seems to have popped up here and there throughout the years, the next time the Man Who Cannot Die was widely seen on a screen was in the 1986 cartoon Defenders of the Earth, where he teams up with fellow Falk-creations Mandrake the Magician and Lothar, plus Flash Gordon. This mismatched quartet would primarily fight Gordon’s nemesis, Ming the Merciless (couldn’t he have thought out something less pretentious to call himself?), but viewers could also witness the 1st Phantom’s meeting with an alien, the Phantom’s evil older brother Kurt (why the hell the parents named the older son Kurt is anybody’s guess, but you’ll quickly notice this series has its own “logic”) and the Phantom fighting an updated version of the Sky Band. In space.

Surprisingly, the most annoying element of this show is not the Phantom travelling around the galaxy with Flash Gordon, but the fact that the creators gave him the “powers of ten tigers”, which he calls upon to receive awesome strength and agility.

The Phantom, said to be the 27th in the line (does that mean Flash and Mandrake are really the descendants of their comic strip counterparts too?), is here voiced by actor Peter Mark Richman, who does a very good job with it, making even the silliest line seem thoughtful and believeable. The costume is faithfully rendered, but the animators decided to ditch the striped pants (though earlier Phantoms wear this strange part of the uniform in flashbacks) and the gun belt (in fact, I don’t think the Phantom uses guns at all in this series, perhaps due to the fact it is primarily aimed at children). As a result, the costume looks very bland and uninteresting.
Despite such silly additions as superpowers, the character is portrayed pretty much as we know him from the comic page: kind-hearted, honourable, but menacing if you cross him. Sure miss some good one-liners, though.

I really don’t like most of what I’ve seen of this show (admittedly not a whole lot), but then again , this is a series aimed at very young kids, and I therefore feel I have no real right to comment on its quality: I’m not the target audience. Some of it is admittedly cheesy fun even for die-hard adult fans, such as the aforementioned episode with the return of the Sky Band called, well, Return of the Sky Band, which includes a lengthy flashback to the time of the 21st Phantom and Diana.

The animation is mixed at best, with some loveable/lamentable guffaws, such as Kurt Walker’s beard dissapearing when he puts on his mask/helmet, only for it to mysteriously reappear when he takes it off.

In short, if you’re seven, you’ll likely enjoy this series, if you’re older, it might help you cure that insomnia you’ve been struggling with. I know a lot of people got into the Phantom because of this show and have fond memories of watching it as kids, but since I first saw it as a cynical teen, I feel free to trash it.

The Phantom would return in animated form again in 1994, in another futuristic series, Phantom 2040. While a definitive improvement over DOTE, it’s still far removed from the comic, and features yet again the adventures of one of the 21st Phantom’s descendant, this time the 24th Phantom. While it’s wrong to call the series a smashing success, it did well enough to last until 1996, and spawned quite a bit of merchandise, among other things a video game that is still interesting to play today.

I’ve not seen that many episodes of this series, only the few available on DVD plus some from YouTube, and though it is no doubt a very intelligent show with some good writing, I find it to be a bit dull in places. There are some neat references to the original comic, but this is generally nothing like the Phantom we’re used to reading about, often coming across as a Blade Runner-wannabe that just happens to feature a guy in a purple suit. The creators also gave the Phantom gadgets that would make Roger Moore’s James Bond envious. In one episode found on the DVD “Phantom 2040: The Ghost Who Walks”, he has a mini chainsaw in his costume that comes very much in handy when he is tied up (one could say this is an extension of the ever handy “knife-in-boot” trick that Falk was fond of using to get the Phantom out of this kind of situation, though).

Then, in 1996, the Phantom finally made his return to the big screen in a movie simply called The Phantom, starring Billy Zane as the Man Who Cannot Die, Kristy Swanson as Diana and Treat Williams as bad guy Xander Drax. The “plot” consists of the Phantom and Drax separately chasing three magical skulls. And, uh, that’s about it. This is by no means a deep film.

Despite an ineffective MacGuffin in the supernatural skulls (with 60 years of excellent comic book stories to borrow from, and this was the best they could think of?!) and an even less effective villain (the scariest thing Drax does is spelling his name), the film manages to mostly be good, clean fun, that captures some of the tone of Falk-written Phantom stories (note “some of”).

For new fans who have never seen this film before, it might look awfully dumb. This is not as serious an adaptation as most of the comic book movies we see today, and is more in line with the likes of The Shadow and Batman Forever, in that it seems unable to decide on a consistent tone and doesn’t take itself very seriously for the most part. Watchmen this ain’t.

The one element that keeps it all together is Billy Zane. Despite the plot being Indiana Jones-lite, action scenes of varying quality, and very little to actually work with in terms of character development, Zane IS the Phantom through and through. If you think of it, the character must have seemed incredibly dull as written on the script page, but like Michael Keaton as Batman, Zane does very much with very little. The body language (which he carefully copied directly from panels of the strip), the deep, determined voice, the warm smile, the way he “hits” bad guys, the way he commands his animal companions, the way he shoots… Nobody could have played the role better, and it is very well possible that nobody ever will (it’s not like Ryan Carnes looks like a serious contender).

The rest of the cast are a mixed bunch. Most of them are well cast but struggle with the lacking screenplay. Swanson is OK as Diana, James Remar is very cool as Quill, the murderer of the Phantom’s father (played by Patrick McGoohan, who despite his undeniable talent was roughly 150 years too old for the part), and Catherine Zeta Jones does a pretty good job with the part of Sala, despite being saddled with some horrendous dialogue.

The late Jeffrey Boam’s script might as hinted by previous sentences be the movie’s greatest weakness. A fine writer responsible for the likes of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and Lethal Weapon 3, you would expect something better than what he delivered. It’s not that bad, but it’s frustrating that we got the aforementioned weak plot, and almost no character development to speak of. I am convinced one of many reasons why the film failed at the box office is that there is almost no backstory given to the characters, including the Phantom. All we get is a very brief (and rather poorly realized) version of the 1536 pirate attack that “created” the Ghost Who Walks, plus a few lines of dialogue here and there that refers to Kit and Diana’s history together. We don’t get to see any Skull Oath, no passing over from father to son (which might in retrospect be a good thing, given that we were thankfully spared the sight of Patrick McGoohan in purple tights). The audience are given little reason to care for the lead character other than him being the hero of the picture, and without Zane’s sympathetic and compelling performance, I suspect few people would have.

The film looks great. Despite having some sets that looks like, well, sets, I can very well understand Roger Ebert’s claim that it was one of the best looking movies he had ever seen. The locations are all stunning, and though I am unsure of where Bengalla is supposed to be located in this version, the scenes from the country are beautiful.

The Phantom costume is faithfully rendered, though the filmmakers ditched the “underpants” and added subtle tribal designs. It would look downright absurd on most actors, but Zane manages to look great in it, due to having worked out like crazy for close to two years because he felt “the Phantom should be natural”. That’s dedication. The man looks like a Sy Barry drawing magically come to life.

Despite its many shortcomings, I very much like the film. I loved it as a kid, grew weary of it in my early teens when I wanted all action movies to be “dark and moody”, and have grown to immensely enjoy it again as I’ve gotten older. It’s obviously nowhere near as accomplished as the comic book movies like Superman The Movie or Batman Begins, but I find it more entertaining than many other more praised films about guys in bizarre costumes. A sunny, light hearted romp, and a true feel-good movie in every sense of the word. It won’t change your life, but it doesn’t need to, it just wants you to have a good time. (If you enjoy the film, you need to check out two other comic book/pulp movies from the early 1990s, The Rocketeer and The Shadow. These three films almost form a loose trilogy, as they are incredibly similiar both in terms of tone and look. The Shadow sucks, The Rocketeer is great)

In the future, we can look forward to the excellent-sounding big budget Australian movie The Phantom: Legacy (or The Phantom Legacy, sources contradict each other on the film’s actual title) and the somewhat less excellent-sounding modest budget SyFy TV-series The Phantom. We’ll see.

By Ed Rhoades

The Phantom is credited by most as the first costumed hero in comics. He predates Superman and Batman and the plethora of others to wear a skintight outfit in following years. In a business where everyone is inspired or influenced by someone, how did The Phantom begin the whole thing?

Having already created the successful comic strip Mandrake the Magician in June of 1934, Lee Falk turned his attention to a new kind of hero. Since his original plan was to name his protagonist ‘The Gray Ghost’, it’s possible that John Singleton Mosby was the kind of hero Lee had in mind. Mosby was a real-life daring figure whose exploits during the Civil War were similar to those of Lee’s new character. Both Mosby and The Phantom single handedly captured an important general, freed imprisoned men and captured the attention of the public.

Mosby was gray because of his Civil War uniform, and it’s possible that was the way Lee envisioned The Gray Ghost.

However, when Mandrake assistant artist, Ray Moore, began to translate Lee’s ideas to comic panels, he and a group of fellow artists who shared a studio had meetings and discussions during which Ray and the guys planned how The Phantom would appear. Ray’s widow, Claire Moore, told me that Lee only came to one or two of the meetings, and all of the Phantom art that was printed was Ray’s work.

The hood or cowl was reminiscent of an old time executioner with a form suggesting a skull. The skintight shirt and tights were the sort of thing an old time circus performer would wear. The shorts were drawn with a hatching that gradually evolved into stripes that might be inspired by a costume from a Shakespearean play. It was no accident that the visual to the Oath sworn on the skull bears a resemblance to Hamlet’s ‘Alas Poor Yorick’ scene.

The Phantom’s eyes were shown early on in Ray Moore’s drawings. Later, the convention of leaving white spaces instead had two advantages. It was easier to draw, and it looked a little spooky. Lee said the white eyes on ancient Greek and Roman statues inspired it, but in their day, those statues had eyes painted over them. The white eyes were a convention maintained by Wilson McCoy and Sy Barry. There were two rare occasions where Sunday strip artist, Bill Lignante, showed the Phantom’s eyes. Once was when Queen Samaris asked the Phantom to marry her. Bill thought showing him wide-eyed made sense for the situation. Fans still haven’t quit talking about it.

For the movies, discussions showed an expectation of not showing the Phantom’s eyes or his face. However, I’m sure Billy Zane’s agent had other ideas. When wearing the hard plastic molded mask, the area around his eyes was blackened so nothing showed but the whites of his eyes, however, his scenes as Mr. Walker made no attempt to hide his face. Billy and Phantom serial actor Tom Tyler wore a thick black mask when in costume. In the comics, the mask has varied somewhat being a bit thinner in the early 70’s and thicker in the following decades.

The costume’s color has been the subject of much discussion amongst Phantom fans. In the newspapers, The Phantom was referred to as a gray figure. The first color version of the character adorned the cover of the Big Little Book in 1936. For that issue, the Phantom’s costume was an orange color. In the following Better Little Books, he was again orange for The Sign of the Skull, green for Desert Justice, purple for The Return of The Phantom blue for The Sky Pirates and back to purple for The Phantom and the Girl of Mystery.

In the first US Phantom comic to feature color, the character was given a brown costume.

When King Features Syndicate finally produced a Sunday version of the strip, they had to decide upon an official color. There is much speculation about this including a rumor that it was a printer’s error making The Phantom purple. When considering possibilities, gray was just too drab to take advantage of color printing. Perhaps they tried using red and blue to get a neutral color…a substitute for an ‘off gray.’ The new Phantom purple was seen in all the US papers, but in other countries, they decided for themselves. In Scandinavia, his outfit is blue; in South America, Turkey, France, and Italy, it is red.

The Tom Tyler Columbia serial from 1943 was in black and white and Lee expressed a disappointment saying, “It’s too bad they didn’t have stretch material back then.”

For the Paramount big budget film, there were about a dozen designs created, with the final one being two thin layers with a fabric showing lines that reacted as a moray pattern. The man responsible for the costume, Matt Britton says they were inspired by tribal tattoos from real pygmies to make an intricate design echoing the skull motif in the belt and ring.

In the animated cartoon series and the unused pilot for a newer Phantom film, the costume had chameleon like qualities.

I suspect that when a new film actually begins development, they will try to distance themselves from the Billy Zane film, which could disappoint fans, since that movie played pretty close to traditional Phantom lore. More thought is going into movie costumes for comic characters these days. Batman’s armored suit was result of a research and development for the military, Daredevil’s leather costume is practical for gymnastic stunts over cement. In Superman Returns, the costume has a beveled ‘S’ with a leather like cape. A major concern in such designs is licensing. Making sure that kids are sold on buying action figures is almost as important as promoting the movie itself.

Moonstone’s Phantom has a traditional purple costume with white spaces in the mask. The painted pulp-like covers of Joel Naprstek and the tight painted Doug Klauba covers provided an especially chilling effect. Moonstone’s Legacy presented a realistic depiction of how the first Phantom might have looked with a makeshift costume inspired by the Wasaka idol.

Both recent covers and interiors present a vintage look with the exception of metallic skull belt buckles that add another additional touch of realism.

While other comic heroes’ costumes have changed through the years, the first costumed hero of comics continues with a mysterious look that holds up and still looks great after 70 years.

By Joe Douglas

NOTE: This article is something of a follow on from the Phantom For All article as well as a response to discussion on that article that can be found at the Phantom Phorums.

One of the biggest debates in the Phantom community is what exactly makes up Phantom canon.

Canon, generally, is considered to be material that comes from an original source or author, so in the case of The Phantom Lee Falk’s stories are canon. However, this is not a golden rule and, as with Falk’s stories, sometimes these canonical stories contradict themselves.

In the case of contradiction there are two main approaches that readers can take. The first of these is the “principle of first mention.” Basically this means that whatever fact was printed first is canonical. For an example lets use Joonkar /Joomka as an example. Falk originally called the character Joonkar so the later re-naming to Joomka is not considered canonical under this approach.

The second approach, however, does the opposite. In this instance if something is changed or retconed then the change becomes canon. So, once Falk changed the name from Joonkar to Joomka the name was, in essence, retconed and Joomka became canonical.

But then one has to consider the stories that occur after the original author stops writing. Things can become tricky here. Lee Falk may have been the original creator of The Phantom, but the character is owned by King Features Syndicate. In effect, Lee handed over all control of the character to KFS once he signed that deal and therefore the ability to affect canon as well. As KFS now own the Phantom it could be argued that any story they give the OK to can be considered canon. So, in essence, everything Egmont, Moonstone, DC, Marvel etc have done is canon.

But doesn’t this affect the rule of “principle of first mention?” Well, yes, if that is the way one decides to look at canon. But only for certain things. If Egmont changed the name of a character that name change would NOT be canon. However, Lubanga becoming president is still canonical. Why? Because Lee never stated anywhere the Luaga would remain President indefinably. Yes, Lee wrote Luaga as the president during his stories but he never indicated that this could never be changed. There for Luaga losing the presidency is not a breach of canon.

Of course if we use the second method of looking at canon than everything Egmont (and Moonstone et al) has done is canon. As explained this can hold true because KFS own the character. Also, because Egmont is, in essence, carrying on the work of Falk and is therefore a continuation it is not a breach of canon.

If you want to go further you can take into account “expanded universe” stories. In The Phantom these would be stories such as Phantom 2040 and Defenders of the Earth. Generally these would not be considered canon but there are exceptions. When the hit British TV series Doctor Who ended in the early 90s the series continued on through various novels and audio dramas. Stories of both the current (7th, and then the 8th after 1996) Doctors as well as past Doctors were recounted. Generally stories appearing in such mediums (mediums removed form that which the character originally appeared in – in this case TV) are considered expanded universe stories but with Doctor Who they are considered canon by most fans and also, to a certain extent, the creators of the current series of Doctor Who as well as the BBC itself.

So 2040 and DotE could be considered canon if the individual wished. Also, because they don’t contradict any established continuity there is just as good a case for them being canon as against. This can also be extended to the Marvel and DC mini series.

Because comic characters enjoy something of a floating continuity (or time line) things can be said to happened “between” stories. For example, the DC series sees the Phantom propose to Diana so these stories could be said to take place “between” those that Falk wrote between the proposal and the wedding. This could also be argued for the current strip, Egmont and Moonstone tales; they all belong to the same time line, the same continuity, but they happened between and around each other.

As you can see canon is a very subjective thing. The only true way that a definitive canon can be given is if a representative of whatever franchise in question comes forth and declares what is and what is not canon. For example in the 1970s and 80s Franz Joseph published a number of Star Trek reference books that were declared canonical by Gene Roddenberry (creator of Star Trek). Therefore, everything in the books was official canon and all that was left out was not. As this has not happened with The Phantom nothing can truly be said to be “in” or “out” of canon.

However, an official canon can still be undone. In 1988 as part of the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures changed their policies on canonicity and therefore Joseph’s books became non-canonical.

Canon is a very hard thing to put ones finger on definitively. Unless an official representative of KFS states that such and such is official Phantom canon and all else is “extended universe” it is, like most things in the Phantom’s world, left up the the individual reader to decide what is and what is not Phantom canon. Thusly, people who feel that only stories written by Lee Falk are canon are not wrong and, in turn, those who feel every single Phantom story ever published makes up the totality of Phantom canon are also correct. And every opinion or variation between those also has a good argument for being considered canon.

It’s probably safe to say that as an overall body that the Phantom phan community will never agree upon one, true canon as different people read and regard fictional stories in different ways. Perhaps the best thing to do is also the simplest – read what you enjoy, everything else is just fluff.

Referances:
Canon (fiction) @ Wikipedia
Phantom Phorum posts
Special thanks to pcsarka for the Joonkar/ Joomka example.

Discuss this article on the forums.

Everyone loves a bad guy! Paul Jonassen takes a look at ten of the best thieves, murderers and evil types that have come up against The Ghost Who Walks over the years. A “villain” might be a rather ambiguous term in a Phantom story. After all, nothing seems to scare the man in purple more than his own mother-in-law, Lily Palmer, but we should obviously use the word solely on the many misguided souls giving the Phantom REAL trouble.

So, here is the top 10 most memorable proper baddies in the Phantom’s 71-year-old history counting down from 10 to 1. Feel free to argue.

10. The Marshall Sisters -

No, the Marshall sisters are not really bad at all, but regardless of this they managed to make the Phantom more nervous, confused and bothered than the Singh pirates did in 400 years, by doing nothing else than desperately trying to marry him. Our hero always had an almost supernatural appeal to the opposite sex, but the Marshalls were particularly taken by his charms.

The sisters desperately need a proper resurrection. Do you hear me, Mike Bullock or Claes Reimerthi?

9. Goldhand

Not necessarily the villain with the most memorable or fleshed-out personality, but for a gimmicky physical appearance that rivals famed Bond-assassin Jaws, Goldhand had to make this list. As his nickname says, his right hand-prosthesis is made entirely of gold, and seems to be a surprisingly effective weapon (the Phantom managed to beat him by pure coincidence in both their physical fights).
Created by the great Janne Lundstöm, he returned in a story called, well, Goldhand Returns, written by Tony De Paul, in 1998. Died (?) in an unfortunate encounter with some sharks.

8. Sala
Sala might not really be considered a villain,
as she fell in love with and helped the Phantom out in some rather problematic situations, but she was an important member of the criminal Sky Band, after all. Other than Kabai Singh and the Fire Princess, she is also the only villain from the strip to appear in a Phantom film adaptation, perfectly played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.

It’s a great shame she’s only appeared in three stories, excluding her tiny look-in in Moonstone’s The Aviatrix. The character is obviously popular among fans, as I seem to recall members of a Phantom forum having a serious discussion about how much cooler it would have been had the Phantom ditched Diana and married the air pirate. At least she would not have gotten herself kidnapped all the time, I guess.

7. Rama Singh

Rama might not have the most memorable personality of the series many crooks, but he killed the 20th Phantom. That’s got to count for something, right?

Treacherous to both our Phantom’s father as well as his companions in the Singh Brotherhood, the guy helped the Phantom blowing up the fleet of the pirates, only to stab him in the back immediately after, stealing his gun belt in the process. He then hid at the island of Gullique for quite some time; before the 21st Phantom finally tracked him down to avenge (if one can use that word) his father and reclaim the belt. Last seen blowing up both himself and his island, in one of Falk’s most memorable stories, “The Belt”. Rama also appeared in early drafts of the screenplay to the 1996 Billy Zane movie, but was ultimately ditched and morphed into a character called Quill instead, played by James Remar.

6. Bail

A.k.a. Liba, Abil, and Ib-al, Bail originally worked as the supervisor of King Salomo, and appeared to menace different Phantoms in The Mystery of the Golden Rune saga. The seemingly immortal man tried to open the gates of hell (in Bengalla!), and almost managed to kill the Phantom by controlling Guran into shooting him with a poisoned arrow
(which was not that poisonous after all! Thank heaven!). You have to be bad to the bone to use Guran, of all people, as your hitman.

5. Baron Grover

Anybody else notice how much more colorful the baddies were in Lee Falk’s earliest works? Grover is a good example of this, as the charming, elegant fellow constantly snaps memorable dialogue while committing memorable crimes. A former war-pilot, peace bored him so much that he had to buy a yacht to become a modern day pirate (with a cool hideout at a desert island). A great deal of old school Falk villains could have appeared on this list, such as Count Bart from The Prisoner of the Himalayas, and numerous others. They just seem to have a lot more personality than anyone that came after them.

4. Ralph Mars

The one villain on this list even the most faithful fans might not be aware of, Mars only appearance was in the 1995 Marvel Comics miniseries The Ghost Who Walks, which also offered an excellent update of General Bababu. Based on Australian sportsman Merv Hughes, the borderline psychopathic bodyguard faced the 22nd Phantom, in what might be best described as an alternative future.

It’s a shame, really, that he could never face the 21st Phantom.

3. Dogai Singh

Kabai Singh might have been the leader of the Singh Brotherhood in Falk’s brilliant first story, but the old bastard was killed off before he could manage to do any serious harm to the Phantom (despite throwing him into his own, private shark tank, off course).

Dogai Singh, on the other hand, has given our hero some serious struggles, either it be tricking Mr. Walker into believing the first Phantom was actually a member of the Singh Brotherhood, or actually using the Ghost Who Walks as a helping hand in his search for a weapon of doom (the mythical Crystal Skulls). In one of his earliest appearances, Dogai was even a physical match for the Phantom, defeating him in hand-to-hand combat. However, after that encounter, the writers focused more on his intellect rather than fighting skills, although he was never smart enough to actually plant a bullet in the Phantom’s head rather than placing him in some not-so-carefully thought out death trap.

2. General Bababu

The most frequently used antagonist in Lee Falk’s stories (in fact, one of very few to show up on more than one occasion at all), the cowardly, self- obsessed and constantly power-seeking Babo Bababu has been trying to take over Bengalla more times than even the most hardcore fan would bother to remember. Needless to say, due to his seemingly limited intelligence, at times ridiculously bad planning, sheer clumsiness, and the constant interruption of one Kit Walker, he has failed spectacularly every single time. His greatest loss, however, ridiculously bad planning, sheer clumsiness, and the constant interruption of one Kit Walker, he has failed spectacularly every single time. His greatest loss, however, might be that his only daughter, Lila, actually ended up marrying Lon Luaga, son of his arch-enemy Lamanda Luaga.

1. Kigali Lubanga

Without a moment of doubt the Phantom’s most dangerous enemy, the Semic-created Lubanga got the upper hand on the Ghost Who Walks when he won the Bengalla Presidential Election, beating Lamanda Luaga. Had his identity been known, the Phantom would no doubt have been made an enemy of the state, as he continuously tried to stop the dictator from making bad things worse. Even worse, he is also one of too few villains to create major problems in the Phantom’s personal life, resulting in hostility between Kit and Lamanda, as well as forcing Diana and the kids to temporarily live in the US.

Killed due to unhealthy intercourse with an electric iron bar, he has since returned to terrorize the Phantom many times as something of an unusually healthy zombie. No, really.