March 24, 1946 – December 23, 1947
By Lee Falk & Ray Moore (Pioneer Books)
No ISBN
For such a long-lived and influential series, The Phantom has been very poorly served by the English language market. Various small companies have tries to collect the strips – one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history – but in no chronological order and never with any sustained success.
This particular edition is a lovely large paperback, printed in landscape format, displaying one complete Sunday strip (a complete instalment of two tiers every week) per page, in black and white.
Lee Falk created the Phantom at the request of his publishers who were already making history with his first strip Mandrake the Magician. The first ever hero to wear a skin-tight body-stocking, and the first to have a mask with opaque eye-slits, the Phantom debuted on February 17th 1936. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first two weeks before Ray Moore took over. The Sundays began in May 1939.
In the 17th century a British sailor survived an attack by pirates, and washing ashore in Africa, swore on the skull of his murdered father to dedicate his life and that of all his descendents to destroying pirates and criminals. The Phantom fought crime and injustice from a base deep in the Jungles of Bengali, and throughout Africa he was known as the “Ghost Who Walksâ€. Centuries later the latest wearer of the mask, indistinguishable from the first, continues the never-ending battle, whilst romancing American debutante Diane Palmer. After all, the line must go on.
These brief, all-ages adventures, taken from the immediate post-war period, are uncomplicated fare, full of whimsical, unrealistic kingdoms and tribes, but reassuring entertainment for all that. When Diana is mistaken for a jewel thief, the Phantom has to clear her name by defeating a man who can make animals do his bidding. Then the Rajah of Volara seeks aid when his young daughter is kidnapped for sacrifice to the ‘Scarlet Sorceress’.
When the thoroughly unpleasant Prince Pepe of Ptajar abducts Diana, with the intention of marrying her, The Phantom can only free her by completing the ‘The 12 Tasks’, and the eponymous ‘Dragon God’ threatens to revive the war-like depredations of the Wambesi, until the Ghost Who Walks reveals the true nature of the monsters behind its return.
Despite the annoyance of the last tale terminating mid-story this is still a welcome volume in a friendly format, which recaptures the thrills of mythical jungle realms, as valiant hero vanquishes evil gangsters, Nazi’s, witch-doctors and petty tyrants alike. Until such time as a serious methodical permanent collection becomes a reality, simple treats like this will have to do.
© 1989 King Features Syndicate, Inc. All Rights Reserved.