The Phantom: Wahgi War Shields

Lee Falk's hero, The Phantom, made his comic book debut in February 1936, but he also appears on dozens of traditional war shields made by people from the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea between the 1960s and 1980s. Why?

The Wahgi people of Papua New Guinea have long made enormous shields from tree trunks, and have continued to make these shields as a form of ritual artwork. In the late 20th century, many of these Papua New Guinea highlanders began incorporating "new ideas" into their traditional works, so that shields bore emblems of football teams, beer brands, and, yes, The Phantom. Western comic books became widely available in the region after World War II, and The Phantom became a particularly popular character.

Art educator and dealer Michael Reid notes that two things in particular made The Phantom an ideal subject for a war shield -- he is a hero who protects his home and he is known as "The Man Who Cannot Die." Just as many comic book readers adopt the emblems of their favorite heroes, so too have these artists taken the symbolic power of The Phantom and adapted it to their own traditions.

And, Oh Yes, They Will Be Mine -- 15 Vintage Phantom Paperbacks

Read it and weep: the Winner's Curse:

Lee Falk. Group of Fifteen First Printing Mass Market Phantom Paperbacks. Avon Books, 1972-75. Toning and mild rubbing; otherwise,Very Good or better. From the collection of first fan, Jack Cordes.

Don Newton Phantom #67 Painted Cover 1975

Menwhile...Back in the Cheap Seats

I bought the original art black and white art for today's Phantom Sunday from Terry Beatty last week in Oaklahoma City at OAFCon for $200. He asked me not to display it until after it was published, and I was delighted to see the color version posted online this morning.

"The Ghost Who Swims." Terry also had an episode with a panel of the Phantom using his "smartphone" -- what, no more jungle drums? Maybe at least he has a jungle beat ringtone.

First Phantom Sunday

My recent Ghost Who Walks obsession continues --- The Phantom Sunday, February 17, 1936.

After the success of his Mandrake the Magician, the King Features newspaper syndicate asked Lee Falk to develop a new feature. His first attempt was a strip about King Arthur and his knights, which Falk both wrote and drew. However, King Features turned this down, and Falk developed the idea of The Phantom, a mysterious, costumed crimefighter. He planned the first few months of the story and drew the first two weeks as a sample.

Inspired by his lifelong fascination with myths and legends, such as those of King Arthur and El Cid, as well as modern fictional characters as Zorro, Tarzan, and The Jungle Book's Mowgli, Falk envisioned the Phantom's alter ego as rich playboy Jimmy Wells, fighting crime by night as the mysterious Phantom.

Partway through his first story, The Singh Brotherhood, before revealling Wells was the Phantom, Falk changed the setting to jungle and made the Phantom a seemingly immortal mythic figure. Deciding there were already too many characters called the Phantom (including the Phantom Detective and the Phantom of the Opera), Falk had thought of calling his hero "The Gray Ghost" (which later became the name of a Batman character, a fact alluded to in the first episode of Phantom 2040). However, Falk could not find a name he liked better and finally settled on the Phantom.

In the A&E American cable TV documentary The Phantom: Comic Strip Crusader, Falk explained Greek busts inspired the idea of the not showing the Phantom's pupils when he was wearing his mask. Ancient Greek busts displayed no pupils, which he felt gave them an inhuman, awe-inspiring appearance.

In an interview published in Comic Book Marketplace in 2005, Falk said the Phantom's skin-tight costume was inspired by Robin Hood, who was shown wearing tights in films and on stage.

Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood; a screenshot from the 1922 United Artists film Robin Hood.

Bust of Socrates, marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from the 4th Century BC

The Phantom is Real!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY7R0lHSw3U

Kizilmaske: In Turkey The Phantom Wears Red

It must be awfully hard to sneak up on someone in the jungle while wearing a bright red jump suit! And Devil looks more like a German Sheppard than a wolf.

The High-Visibility Safety Phantom.