Lee Falk's creations , the King Features Syndicate characters The Phantom and Mandrake The Magician , are still published as syndicated strips , but I don't know , for instance , how many people here follow those versions , even .
There have been many publications of the characters over the years - However , frankly , for one , since they have generally stayed away from the DC-Marvel world , many US comics fans would be fairly foggy about those characters , though I think ( especially Mandrake ) they have a certian " You've heard of the names " recognition - if not much to follow that !!!!!!!!!!!
Actually , the comics-shop era has seen an awful lot of Phantom comic books especially from a variety of different publishers - Which , however , arguably have tended to try to make the Phantom more like the perceived mainstream for a US comic book character .
At present , Dynamite?? is publishing the Alex Ross-connected " The Last Phantom " miniseries , which I have only seen (6 bought) one issue of , which GREATLY retcons - and " grim and gritties " (!) - the Phantom concept .
Comics Revue magazine , which I wish I could get more regularly , offers pre-60s reprints of the strips of both characters regularly .
When I first got on the Web , I found out especially how popular the Phantom is in some non-USA markets - where he has MANY stories published , in comic-book form , which are never published in the US - including , at times , ones by name US pros !!!!!
Let's discuss these famous characters...
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I'm a huge fan of the Phantom, and think he has been handled exceptionally well for most of his long history. But I'm something of a purist when it comes to his non-newspaper strip appearances (they don't count!)
Here's a short discussion we had on the Phantom lately. 2011 is the Phantom's 75th Anniversary, and if he isn't the 'first superhero' he's the first to have so many trappings of what the man in the street expects a superhero to have. Skintight costume, secret base, secret identity, exceptional skills, explicit mission to fight crime etc.
I never really cared for the Phantom. We only got the Sunday color strips here when I was growing up, and they always seemed to me to be more concerned with his domestic life with his wife and twins than any real adventures.
And the twins, in their white diaper-looking outfits, creeped me out.
I'm aware of both characters, but I never read their adventures growing up, either in the newspaper or in the King comics. So I have no nostalgic connection and very little interest over all in them. Reviving them in any big way might be difficult, given their low profile. A guy in a purple skintight suit in a jungle story and a hypnotist/magician would be a pretty hard sell, I'm afraid.
I'm not sure how the Phantom qualifies as a super-hero, but I don't really know his history. I'm not even sure why he wears that gaudy suit in the jungle and what the mask hides. So I'm a pretty hard sell on getting excited about him.
-- MSA
The Phantom and Mandrake are important historical figures but I haven't been too impressed with the current revivals. I recently dropped The Last Phantom and I wanted to like it!
Figs says that he gets reprints of the old strips as annuals. I would buy that in a minute!
...For some basics on the Phantom , MSA , he is supposed to be the 21st generation of Phantoms , deriving from the first , a cabin boy on a ship marauded by pirates who landed in Bangalla , the African country that is now his HQ .
He swore an oath on his father's grabe to fight all piracy , cruelty , etc.
He is supposed to be , in theory , non-superpowered and just trained to the absolute maximum .
THe strip started in 1936...and , frankly , the reign of the 21st Phantom , and his GF-later-wife Daina Palmer , has been unaturally extended , certainly if there was any kind of " real " logic we'd be on the 23d or 4th by now , jus' a lil' bit o' SOD there .
The costume's color - even shade , within the basic color has changed greatly , especially worldwide . ( The strip didn't add a Sunday for a number of years so Falk didn't have occasion to straightforwardly decide for a while . )
THere are occasional flashback episodes of earlier Phantoms in Falk's strip's ( Especially a " Girl Phantom " from the late 19th Century who filled in for her brother for a while . ) , more in the non-Falk versions , especially the European publications .
THe Phantom is shown as having children with his wife , who live with himein Bangalla...Axctually , in the early years of the strip I believe that what was then known as " Dutch East INdia " ( INdonesia now . ) was more or less the setting , but Falk tended to come of with stories involbing Indian settings as well .
Emerkeith Davyjack said:
Philip Portelli said:
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