The Phantom, The Ghost Who Walks

Real Name: Christopher Walker

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Crimefighter

Affiliations: His ancestors and descendants; Diana Palmer, Hero (his horse), Devil (his wolf), Dart (his falcon), Joomba (his elephant), Mandrake, the Jungle Patrol

Enemies: Chessman, the Sky Band, the Golden Circle, Mermaids of Melo Straits, Lady Luck Pirates

Known Relatives: Diana Walker (wife); Kit (son, the 22nd Phantom); Heloise (daughter),  Rex King (adopted son), Maude (mother, deceased), Dave Palmer (wife's uncle), Lily Palmer (mother-in-law), Christopher Standish (ancestor, first Phantom, deceased)

Aliases: The Ghost Who Walks, Kit, Kip, the Man Who Cannot Die, Guardian of the Eastern Dark, the Gray Ghost

Base of Operations: Skull Cave, The Deep Woods, Bangalla, Africa

First Appearance: Phantom newspaper strip (King Features Syndicate, 17th February 1936)

Powers/Abilities: Expert horseman. Marksman. Good fighter, trained in many forms of combat. Extremely agile and athletic. The Phantom usually carries a dagger, twin .45 pistols, and two distinctive rings which can leave permanent marks on those they touch - the "Good Mark" on the left hand, a four overlapping swords / letter P's forming a rotating cross, which marks the bearer as being under the Phantom's protection; the "Skull Mark" on the right hand, normally delivered with a solid punch to the face, which shows the victim as someone who has crossed the Phantom and been punished for same.

History: For more than four centuries criminals and villains the world over have spoken in whispers of a legendary figure, the Ghost Who Walks, a seeker of justice who cannot be killed or stopped in his pursuit of those who prey on the weak. This Phantom operated out of Bangalla (whose exact location is a bit inconsistent in the stories, but seems to be near or part of coastal Africa), but would pursue evildoers across the globe. Those who faced him were usually marked for life, left with a skull-shaped scar on their faces, indelibly marked by the ring on his right hand when he strikes his enemies.

The Phantom is both more, and less, than his legend. Instead of a single, undying apparition, the Phantom is a dynasty of crimefighters who have sworn down the years to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, and if necessary, to lay down their lives in the service of justice. Directly descended from Christopher Standish, Columbus' cabin boy, the current Phantom, Kit Walker, is the 21st of the line. Since the 1930s, when he took over after the death of his father, Kit has fought the good fight. In 1977, after decades of courtship, he married his love Diana Palmer, and they now have two children, Christopher (Kit) and Heloise.

Comments: Created by Lee Falk, who wrote the strip from when it started until he died in 1999. Falk had also created Mandrake the Magician a couple of years earlier, and the two have occasionally shown up in the other's strip, most notably when they attended one another's weddings. They were also depicted as allies in the Defenders of the Earth cartoon (see below for more details). After the death of Lee Falk, his wife Elizabeth completed his last two stories (daily strip #195 and Sunday strip #150) from his notes. Various artists have illustrated the strip over the years, such as Wilson McCoy.

To begin with the Phantom appeared in his daily strip in black and white, and it wasn't until the Sunday supplement began on 28th May 1939 that he was coloured purple. No one seems to know why the colourist chose this colour, but it stuck with the character thereafter (although various foreign editions have used a wide range of colours). Falk was apparently a little surprised by this choice too - he had envisioned the Phantom as wearing grey. Before settling on calling the character the Phantom, he had considered "The Gray Ghost" for a moniker. Additionally, the text of the black and white strip referred to the Phantom as being grey twice before the colour strip launched, and at least four times after this Falk reiterated this. It wasn't until 1956 that Falk finally gave in and stated within a story that the Phantom's costume was purple.

With the success of the newspaper strip, it wasn't long before collected reprints started. The first of them were in Big Little Books (a.k.a. Better Little Books), who released 6 volumes:

  1. The Phantom                                                 1936

  2. The Phantom and the Sign of the Skull            1939

  3. The Phantom and Desert Justice                     1941

  4. The Return of the Phantom                             1942

  5. The Phantom and the Sky Pirates                   1945

  6. The Phantom and the Girl of Mystery             1947

The Phantom soon made the natural progression to appearing in comics, although to begin with they featured only reprints. David McKay publications began the reprints in Ace Comics, between #11 (February 1938) to #151 (November 1949). While that title concentrated on the daily strip, the same company began reprinting the Sunday strip, first in Future Comics #1 to #4 (June 1940 to September 1940), then as part of King Comics, starting from #61 of that title (May 1941). He continued there until #158 (with a break in #148 to #155 where he didn't appear). McKay also reprinted some Phantom daily strips in Feature Comics, the first time the hero had a comic all to himself, in issues #20 (1938), #22, #39, #53, #56. and #57 (1949).

Harvey Comics took over the reprints next, featuring the Phantom in #51 (October 1951) and #56 of Harvey Comics Hits, then in Harvey Hits #1, #6, #12, #15, #26, #36, #44 and #48. It wasn't until Gold Key launched a Phantom comic in 1962 that he got his own title. It ran for 17 issues before King Comics took over the licence in 1966, continuing the numbering to publish #18 to #28. Then in 1969 it was Charlton's turn - they went from #29 to #74. In 1973 King Features released a single issue of a Phantom comic, then Pacific Comics had their turn for 2 issues in 1977. D.C. Comics released a four issue mini-series in 1988, followed by an ongoing series a year later, which lasted 13 issues. Meanwhile Pioneer Comics were releasing a variety of comic format reprints of the newspaper strips around the same time. In 1993 Wolf Comics released 9 issues of a Phantom Comic. Then it was the turn of Marvel Comics, with both Phantom The Ghost Who Walks (five issues, apparently starring the 22nd Phantom) and Phantom 2040 (four issues) - they had previously published the Phantom as part of their Defenders of the Earth comic, based on the cartoon of the same name. Most recently (2002 on) Moonstone Publishing have been releasing their version of the iconic character.

Between September 1972 and July 1975 Avon Books released a series of 15 novels based (mostly) on Lee Falk's strips. In 1996 a novelisation of the movie was released.

The Phantom has been a world-wide phenomenon - he is published under a variety of names:

In some of these countries, the demand is sufficiently high that local creative teams have produced new strips, not available elsewhere - some of these have depicted the future adventures of this Phantom's children.

Vesa Lehtinen notes that "before Marvel comics came to Scandinavia at the 1980's, Phantom was the most popular US superhero alongside with the Superman (and more popular with the older population since he was not as "impossible" as Superman - my grandmother used to read the strip). Scandinavian comics publishing house Semic Press (that later become Egmont Publishing) has had its own Phantom comic books in the Finnish and Scandinavian languages from 1970's onwards. It has published both the original strips and its own stories, written and drawn by Swedish and Finnish comic artists. For example, Finnish artist Kari T. Leppänen made a number of stories that depicted historical Phantoms in historical situations, including one where one of the modern Phantom's ancestors defends the Island of Malta against Turkish conquerors. Some of the writers also used the background of Bangalla to write adventures based on real-life third-world problems or elaborated on Phantom's background, like how he met and befriended the wolf Devil."

Anshuman Gaur adds "Phantom was one of the more popular characters in India. He went under the name 'Betaal', which in Hindi means Phantom. There were minor changes in the names of his dog/wolf- Shera and horse- Toofan, and some place names were also rendered into Hindi.

He began appearing in the Times of India in the mid 60's and later was published by Indrajaal comics till about mid 80's. Some pocket formats were also introduced and one full length novel in Hindi- which borrowed from the original comics but was not an authorized version."

The Columbia serial Phantom starring Tom TylerIn 1943 the Phantom was the star of a fifteen part Columbia Pictures serial, starring Tom Tyler in the lead role. It's recently been released on DVD.

Billy Zane as the movie PhantomJosh Geren notes that "1996 saw the release of the big budget, still set in the thirties, Phantom with Billy Zane as the title character and Treat Williams as the villain. While a flop at the box office, it is a cult favorite." In the movie, Zane plays Kit Walker, the (presumably) 21st Phantom, with Patrick McGoohan playing his father, the 20th Phantom. A new movie version, "The Phantom Legacy" is currently in the works, scheduled for a 2009 release (thanks to Craig Killian for this information - some more is on his website).

There have also been two cartoons which featured the Phantom, more on which below.

There's an excellent, in-depth site devoted to the Phantom at http://deepwoods.org/

Thanks to Dick Walker for correcting me as to the Phantom's pistols not being revolvers. 

 

 

 

The (first) Phantom

Real Name: Christopher Standish

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Cabin boy, vigilante

Affiliations: Unknown

Enemies: Singh Pirates

Known Relatives: Christina (wife), Eric the Rover (father-in-law), Christopher (father, deceased - accounts vary as to whether his surname was Standish or Walker), his various descendants (most named Kit, Phantom #2 on)

Aliases: Christopher Walker, Eric Nelson, Kit, Guardian of the Eastern Dark

Base of Operations: Skull Cave, The Deep Woods, Bangalla, Africa

First Appearance: Phantom newspaper strip, Sunday editions (1936)

Powers/Abilities: Expert horseman. Marksman. Good fighter, trained in many forms of combat. Extremely agile and athletic. The Phantom usually carries a dagger, twin pistols, and two distinctive rings which can leave permanent marks on those they touch - the "Good Mark" on the left hand, a four overlapping swords / letter P's forming a rotating cross, which marks the bearer as being under the Phantom's protection; the "Skull Mark" on the right hand, normally delivered with a solid punch to the face, which shows the victim as someone who has crossed the Phantom and been punished for same.

History: In the early 1500's Christopher "Kit" Standish sailed the oceans with his father, a sea captain who had once been the cabin boy of Christopher Columbus. Kit was due to take over control of the vessel once their current voyage ended, but destiny stepped in to prevent this. Off the coast of Africa the ship was raided by the Singh pirates, and the two crews fought a vicious battle in the middle of a raging storm, with the pirates gradually gaining the upper hand. Then the ship ran was smashed by the tide onto a reef, ripping it apart. As his vessel went down, so too did the Captain, struck down by a blow to the heart from the sword of the pirate chief. Kit's attempt to gain vengeance for the murder of his sire was prevented by the destruction of the ship, and he was washed overboard into the stormy waters, and lost consciousness.

He was discovered washed ashore by a group of Bangallan pygmies, who nursed him back to health. Once he had recovered, he returned to the beach were he had been found, where he discovered the remains of a European man. Closer examination of the corpse revealed it to be his father's killer. Kit left the body for the scavengers, but returned some time later. Taking the skull, he swore an oath that he and his descendants would live to ensure "the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty and injustice." Both Kit and his descendants have remained true to this oath for over four centuries. Kit freed the local Bandar tribes from slavers who were preying on them, gaining their friendship and allegiance for all time. Taking inspiration from one of their native idols, he designed a costume and set up base in a cave with an entrance which resembled a skull. Thus began the legend of the Phantom, the Ghost Who Walks.

Comments: Created by Lee Falk.

Though the first Phantom was originally named Standish, his surname was later ret-conned to have been Walker all along. For the sake of this profile, I've left it as Standish. In the 194o's hardback book, The Son of the Phantom, the original Phantom was named Eric Nelson, and his father was renamed Sir Gerald Neslon. However this appears to be the only time these names were used.

The only hardcover Phantom book (other than the Big Little Books) was published from 1944-1946 by the Whitman Publishing Co., titled The Son of the Phantom.

The 22nd Phantom

Real Name: Christopher Walker

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Crimefighter

Affiliations: Unknown

Enemies: General Babadu

Known Relatives: Diana Walker (mother); Kit (father, the 21st Phantom, deceased); Heloise (sister),  Rex King (adopted brother), Maude (paternal grandmother, deceased), Dave Palmer (mother's uncle), Lily Palmer (maternal grandmother), Christopher Standish (ancestor, first Phantom, deceased), Kit (grandson, the 24th Phantom)

Aliases: The Ghost Who Walks, Kit, the Man Who Cannot Die, Guardian of the Eastern Dark

Base of Operations: Skull Cave, The Deep Woods, Bangalla, Africa

First Appearance: (as Kit) Phantom newspaper strip (1977)

(as Phantom) Lee Falk's The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks (Marvel Comics, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: Expert horseman. Marksman. Good fighter, trained in many forms of combat. Extremely agile and athletic. The Phantom usually carries a dagger, twin pistols, and two distinctive rings which can leave permanent marks on those they touch - the "Good Mark" on the left hand, a four overlapping swords / letter P's forming a rotating cross, which marks the bearer as being under the Phantom's protection; the "Skull Mark" on the right hand, normally delivered with a solid punch to the face, which shows the victim as someone who has crossed the Phantom and been punished for same.

History: After his father was murdered by General Babadu and his mercenary allies, young Kit Walker took on the mantle of the Phantom to avenge his dead parent and to carry on the family tradition.

Comments: Created by Lee Falk, but depicted as the Phantom for the first time by Dave De Vries and Glen Lumsden.

The 24th Phantom (Phantom 2040)

Real Name: Christopher Walker Jr.

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Crimefighter, university student

Affiliations: Aunt Heloise, Guran, Sparks, Jack Archer

Enemies: Rebecca Madison, Maxwell Madison Sr., Maxwell Madison Jr, Maximum Inc., Queen Nia, Graft

Known Relatives: Kit Walker (grandfather, the 22nd Phantom), Kit Walker (father, the 23rd Phantom), "Aunt" Heloise (grandfather's sister)

Aliases: The Ghost Who Walks, Kit, the Man Who Cannot Die, Guardian of the Eastern Dark

Base of Operations: Metropia and the Ghost Jungle

First Appearance: Phantom 2040 (Hearst Entertainment for Syndication, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: Expert horseman. Marksman. Good fighter, trained in many forms of combat. Extremely agile and athletic. The Phantom usually carries a dagger, twin pistols, and two distinctive rings which can leave permanent marks on those they touch - the "Good Mark" on the left hand, a four overlapping swords / letter P's forming a rotating cross, which marks the bearer as being under the Phantom's protection; the "Skull Mark" on the right hand, normally delivered with a solid punch to the face, which shows the victim as someone who has crossed the Phantom and been punished for same.

History: The 23rd Phantom united Africa in the year 2014, bringing the continent a new age of peace and prosperity. Finding little to do in his homeland, he relocated to the United States, based out of Metropia, the city formerly known as New York. He soon ran fowl of Max Madison, villainous head of the Maximum Inc. corporation, and the two began a lengthy feud which ended in 2024, when both men disappeared the night a train carrying toxic waste crashed into Grand Central Station, demolishing it and poisoning large portions of the city.

The son of the 23rd Phantom, Kit Walker Jr, was raised by a man called Guran. Unaware of his heritage, he was the first of his line in nearly five hundred years who wasn't trained from birth to assume the heroic mantle worn by his forebears. In a city blighted by environmental disaster, where the rich had retreated from the devastation to live in high towers overshadowing the masses who scavenged a living in the wastelands below, Kit grew up loving what remained of the natural world, and went to university with the goal of becoming an environmental engineer, and to work in New Brazil's eco-preserves. Meanwhile Max Madison's widow and son used Maximum Inc. and their robotic Biot enforcers to consolidate their power, and plotted to construct Cyberville, a haven for the elite to hide in while the Earth died.

On Kit's 18th birthday he was informed of his heritage. Though his new role in life was something he was unprepared for, and he felt unready for the job, still he recognised the weight of history and that the world needed a hero, now more than ever. Thus Kit Walker Jr became the 24th Phantom, and the ghost walked once more.

Comments: Phantom 2040 was a cartoon, launched in 1994, which reinvisioned the character for a dystopian near future world. The show lasted 36 episodes (32 stories), with the new Phantom voiced by Scott Valentine.

  1. Generation Unto Generation (1)

  2. Generation Unto Generation (2)

  3. The Sum Of The Parts

  4. Fire And ICE

  5. Reflections of Glory

  6. Shadows From The Past

  7. The Good Mark

  8. Ghost In The Machine

  9. Dark Orbit (1)

  10. Dark Orbit (2)

  11. The Biot In Red

  12. The Gauntlet

  13. Three Into One

  14. Life Lessons

  15. The Magician

  16. Swifter, Higher, Faster

  17. Lasers In The Jungle

  18. Down The Line

  19. Control Group (start of Season 2)

  20. A Boy And His Cat

  21. Rite Of Passage

  22. The World Is My Jungle

  23. Sanctuary

  24. The Ties That Bind

  25. The Woman In The Moon

  26. Matter Over Mind

  27. The Sins Of The Father (1)

  28. The Sins Of The Father (2)

  29. The Sacrifice (1)

  30. The Sacrifice (2)

  31. Rogue

  32. The Second Time Around

  33. The Furies

  34. Moments Of Truth

  35. The Whole Truth

  36. Ghost Who Walks

In May 1995 Marvel released a four issue mini-series to tie in with the new Phantom cartoon.

The 27th Phantom (Defenders of the Earth)

Real Name: Unknown (but probably Kit Walker)

Identity/Class: Unknown - human mutate?

Occupation: Crimefighter

Affiliations: The Defenders of the Earth

Enemies: Ming the Merciless, Kurt

Known Relatives: Jedda (daughter), Kurt (twin brother)

Aliases: The Ghost Who Walks, the Man Who Cannot Die, Guardian of the Eastern Dark

Base of Operations: Skull Cave, The Deep Woods, Bangalla, Africa

also The Defenders of the Earth base

First Appearance: Defenders of the Earth Episode #1 "Escape from Mongo"

Powers/Abilities: Expert horseman. Marksman. Good fighter, trained in many forms of combat. Extremely agile and athletic. The Phantom usually carries a dagger, twin .45 pistols, and two distinctive rings which can leave permanent marks on those they touch - the "Good Mark" on the left hand, a four overlapping swords / letter P's forming a rotating cross, which marks the bearer as being under the Phantom's protection; the "Skull Mark" on the right hand, normally delivered with a solid punch to the face, which shows the victim as someone who has crossed the Phantom and been punished for same. Possesses the "strength of ten tigers".

History: In the year 2015 the villainous Ming the Merciless threatens the security of the world. Several heroes ally to thwart his evil plans, including the Phantom (27th in the line) and his daughter Jedda, who alongside Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar and their proteges form a group known as the Defenders of the Earth.

Comments: The Defenders of the Earth was a cartoon which attempted to bring together a number of Kings Features newspaper strip heroes into a single team. The Phantom, voiced by Peter Mark Richman, was said to the 27th in the line (which, given the 2015 date, doesn't really fit in with any of the other Phantoms). The show lasted 65 episodes::

  1. Escape From Mongo

  2. The Creation Of Monitor

  3. A Demon In His Pocket

  4. A House Divided

  5. Bits And Chips

  6. The Root Of Evil

  7. Cold War

  8. The Sleeper Awakens

  9. The Revenge Of Astra

  10. The Hall Of Wisdom

  11. The Mind Warrior, Part II

  12. The Lost Jewels Of Tibet

  13. The Mind Warriors

  14. The Evil Of Doctor Dark

  15. Diamonds Are Ming's Best Friends

  16. The Men Of Frost

  17. Battleground

  18. The Panther Peril

  19. Fury Of The Deep

  20. Family Reunion

  21. The Defense Never Rests

  22. Like Father, Like Daughter

  23. The Would Be Defender

  24. Doorways Into Darkness

  25. Deal With The Devil

  26. Terror In Time

  27. Ming's Household Help

  28. The Starboy

  29. The Gods Awake

  30. The Ghost Walks Again

  31. The Book Of Mysteries

  32. The Future Comes But Once

  33. Kshin And The Ghost Ship

  34. The Carnival Of Dr. Kalihari

  35. The Mystery Of The Book

  36. Flash Times Four

  37. The Frozen Heart

  38. Rick Gordon, One Man Army

  39. The Rites Of Zesnan

  40. Audie The Tweak

  41. Return Of The Sky Band

  42. Dracula's Potion

  43. One Of The Guys

  44. 100 Proof Highway

  45. The Time Freezer

  46. The Prince Makes His Move

  47. Prince Triumphant

  48. The Prince Weds

  49. The Prince's Royal Hunt

  50. The Prince Is Dethroned

  51. Lothar's Homecoming

  52. Suspended Sabotage

  53. The Call Of The Eternals

  54. The Phantom's evil twin, Kurt.The Return Of Doctor Dark

  55. The Deadliest Battle

  56. The Necklace Of Oros

  57. Torn Space

  58. Ming Winter

  59. The Golden Queen, Part 1

  60. The Golden Queen, Part 2

  61. Flesh And Blood

  62. Drowning World

  63. The Adoption Of Kshin

  64. Street Smarts

  65. Ming's Thunder Lizards

Marvel Comics released a four issue mini-series based on Defenders of the Earth in 1987 as part of their Star Comics imprint. The only notable contribution it made to the Phantom's mythos was introducing the 27th Phantom's evil twin, Kurt.

The 28th Phantom (Defenders of the Earth)

Real Name: Jedda Walker

Identity/Class: Unknown (human mutant?)

Occupation: Crimefighter

Affiliations: Kisa, The Defenders of the Earth

Enemies: Ming the Merciless

Known Relatives: Her father (27th Phantom)

Aliases: The Ghost Who Walks, the Man Who Cannot Die, Guardian of the Eastern Dark

Base of Operations: Skull Cave, The Deep Woods, Bangalla, Africa

also The Defenders of the Earth base

First Appearance: Defenders of the Earth Episode #1 "Escape from Mongo"

Powers/Abilities: Expert horseman. Marksman. Good fighter, trained in many forms of combat. Extremely agile and athletic. The Phantom usually carries a dagger, twin .45 pistols, and two distinctive rings which can leave permanent marks on those they touch - the "Good Mark" on the left hand, a four overlapping swords / letter P's forming a rotating cross, which marks the bearer as being under the Phantom's protection; the "Skull Mark" on the right hand, normally delivered with a solid punch to the face, which shows the victim as someone who has crossed the Phantom and been punished for same. Jedda also had telekinetic powers and appeared to be able to communicate telepathically with her black panther ally, Kisa

History: Jedda was the daughter of the 27th Phantom, and like him a member of the Defenders of the Earth. When her father was briefly believed to have died, she assumed the mantle of the Phantom until he returned. Although this proved to be a false start, it remains only a matter of time before she takes on the identity more permanently.

Comments: Jedda was voiced in the cartoon by Sarah Partridge.

CLARIFICATIONS: None of the Phantom dynasty should be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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