| The Phantom | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Kit Walker |
|
First Appearance |
Phantom Comic Strip (February 17, 1936) |
|
Original Publisher |
King Features Syndicate |
|
Created by |
Lee Falk |
Origin[]
The Phantom is a fictional superhero character who operates from the fictional island of Luntok, Dutch East Indies. The character was created by Lee Falk for the adventure comic strip The Phantom, which debuted in newspapers on February 17, 1936.
The present Phantom is the 21st in the line. Unlike most costumed heroes, he has no superhuman powers, relying only on his wits, physical strength, skill with his weapons, and fearsome reputation to fight crime.
Diana Palmer returns to New York after two years in the South Seas. Her ship is however, attacked by New York based gangster Fats Horgan and his men before it reaches the port.
The Phantom, and saves Diana and the valuable cargo of ambergris that she has brought with her. We also learn that Achmed Singh of the Singh Brotherhood is behind the attempts to steal the ambergris. Achmed attempts twice to kidnap Diana, who is the only one who knows the exact location of the graveyard of the whales where enormous amounts of ambergris exist. The Phantom, however, foils both attempts. Subsequently Diana learns some very intriguing things about the Phantom when an old family friend Dr. James Dodd tells her that he saw the Phantom when he was a young boy seventy years ago. Diana decides to go back to get some more ambergris and is supported by the Phantom when he learns that she needs the money for a child hospital.
Diana is, however, kidnapped again by the Singh Brotherhood and taken to their leader Kabai Singh at their base at the bottom of the sea. The Phantom manages to rescue Diana and escape but he has to swim to the surface with only a diving helmet on his head and becomes severely injured by this. He disappears shortly before Diana is picked up by a British naval ship that destroys the base.
The Phantom is found by the Bandars, the tribe that he lives with, and their medicine man Guran tries to drive off the demons that he believes possess the injured Phantom. The Phantom persuades them to bring the British military doctor Melville Horton. Horton heals The Phantom's injuries and is rewarded with a ruby necklace for his beloved. Horton gives the necklace to Diana, even though she doesn't want to marry him. The Phantom shows up at the wrong moment and believes that Diana and Horton are a couple.
Horton is then sent on a suicide mission with too few men against savage natives who slay every one of them except Horton, whom they decide to burn alive. The Phantom saves him and sends him back to Diana with some treasures that would help finance an expedition to retrieve the rest of the ambergris. Horton realises that the Phantom thinks that he and Diana are a couple and tries explain that Diana loves the Phantom, but the Phantom has already gone. The Phantom then guards the expedition from afar and manages to stop an attempt to steal the ambergris by the Singh Brotherhood. He then reveals himself to Diana and tells her the story of how the Phantom originated.
Back at land the Phantom is participating in an attempt to destroy the new Singh base and is caught as he tries to enter alone. Kabai Singh's protegé, Sala, falls in love with the Phantom and offers to help him if he returns her love, but he refuses as he cannot lie to her. The Phantom is sentenced to be boiled but is rescued by Sala who cannot see him die, even though he doesn't return her love. At that moment, the Royal Air Force attacks with bombs falling everywhere. Kabai tries to kill the Phantom once and for all, but is instead stabbed by Sala. Sala then gets injured by shrapnel and, thinking that she is dying, reveals that she never was a real member of the Singh Brotherhood, but a spy for an organisation called "The Sky Band". The Phantom takes her information seriously, but the British officials are skeptical. The Phantom, however, decides to investigate.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Public Domain Comic Strip Appearances[]
- Phantom Comic Strip (February 17th, 1936 -August 6th, 1936; August 8, 1936-December 31, 1936)
Notes[]
- No copyright renewal has been found for the first strips of The Phantom by searching by the name of the distribution books or by the name of the strip itself. First renewal found was for August 7th, 1936, but no subsequent renewals were found for that year.
- The Phantom is considered by some historians to be among the first masked, spandex costumed superheroes.
- The Phantom was the first hero to wear a mask with no visible pupils.
- The early episodes of Lee Falk’s The Phantom strip closely resemble urban pulp heroes like The Phantom Detective. At first, the Phantom was implied to be Jimmy Wells, a wealthy playboy and friend of Diana Palmer. But soon, Falk shifted the setting to the jungle and redefined the character as Kit Walker, the 21st Phantom in a long line of masked heroes.
- In the early stories, the Phantom lived on the island of Luntok, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Soon after, the setting shifted to Bengali near India, and later to Africa, where it was renamed Bangalla.
- Interestingly, in the first Phantom’s origin, the Singh pirates' attack took place in the Bay of Bengal.
- Falk said he was inspired by the Bandar-log tribe from The Jungle Book to name the pygmy tribe that assists the Phantom.