aka The Ghost Who Walks, aka Kit Walker.
I have been following his exploits for over fifty years, via comic strip, cartoons and live action movies and, except for that “Defenders Of The Earth” atrocity, I have enjoyed every bit of it. I actually thought Billy Zane’s depiction of a newly-appointed Phantom was spot on in the 1996 film of the same name. I think the only thing I have missed seeing is a two-part mini series from 2009 that is supposed to be an updating of the character, but I think I can track that one down.
So, is anyone else a Phantom follower?
I liked Defenders Of The Earth. Of course, I was in grade school at the time. I doubt it holds up well. I really enjoyed Phantom 2040. “The whole world is my jungle now!”
A few years back, Boom! comics did an excellent revival. From memory ‘I know you are there. Oh, don’t worry. Your high tech stealth suits are still working and I can’t see you. But, like any jungle predator I can smell you.’
ETA I also really liked the Zane film. I still have a few of the skull rings you could get at 7-11.
Do you include The Adventures of Captain Africa in the canon?
I liked the film, rarely read the comix.
I thought the film got lost in the shadow (as it were) of the slightly better The Shadow.
Not official canon, but maybe an interesting side note.
I liked the movie ‘The Phantom’, at least enough to track down and read a few strips, but it didn’t hold my interest enough to become a fan. And I’ll second that I liked the Shadow a touch more, although it was more uneven in tone. I truly enjoy watching both from time to time in that they fully embrace their world without (normally) being excessively serious, especially in the like of the grimdark tendencies we see in modern films (looking at you much of the DCU).
On the same note though, I’d love to see a well made Doc Savage movie/mini-series (at least one of which is constantly rumored to be in the works), and felt that while the John Carter movie was overpriced and overproduced, it was much better than the reviews gave it credit for.
I enjoyed reading them when they were in my daily paper . For whatever reason, I LOVED the idea that he could punch someone in the jaw, and leave a mark (depending on which fist/ring!) 
I always enjoyed his forays into civilization.
I read a lot of the old comics back when I was a kid. I quite liked the Billy Zane movie. I think I have it on DVD.
I don’t have a long history with the character, but I do read the newspaper strip every day, largely because of Mike Manley’s art, which is gorgeous. Some of the lingering colonialist aspects of the character–white hero tricks African natives into believing he has supernatural powers–are a little troubling, but the current strip does a good job of making the African characters intelligent and sensible, with agency of their own. Some aspects, like that nobody can figure out the identity of the “unknown commander,” are a little eye-rolling, but that’s comics.
I know that I’ve seen the Billy Zane movie, and even had the novelty “Phantom Ring” that my comics shop was giving away at the time the movie came out, but I really can’t remember much about it.
The strip seems to be occasionally toying with the notion that the current Phantom will be succeeded not by his son, but by his daughter (who is really a much more competent crime-fighter than her brother), but I kind of doubt that they will ever pull the trigger on that plot development.
Yeah, I can’t see the Ghost Who Walk with, er, a bra. The daughter can kick ass, though.
I was thinking there would be two phantoms, Kit and his sister, whose name I cannot remember.
I read the current comic, and the old ones run in Comics Kingdom.
It’s been years. I followed the newspaper comic as a kid. I wanted a ring that would leave a mark like that when you punched somebody.
I was into that dude. I think I have (or had) all the 1970s paperbacks, a few of the comics, some reprinted vintage strips and a couple still and lobby card reproductions from the 1943 serial (which I haven’t seen). I recall not liking the 1996 movie, but don’t really remember it at all.
I also have a copy of The Son of the Phantom (1944). From Wikipedia: “The novel was written by Dale Robertson and was based on a Sunday strip story called “The Childhood of the Phantom”. The story is about the current Phantom’s childhood in the jungle, his education in America, the death of his mother Maude, and his return to the Deep Woods to take up on the mantle of the Phantom from his dying father.” As a young reader, I quite liked it.
As I look back on the character now, I don’t really see anything that makes him special; just another skintight costumed hero, more generic looking than most, who gets his kicks hanging out in Skull Cave ordering a bunch of pygmies around. The writing and artwork were good enough in the strip, but both arguably paled next to, say, Secret Agent X-9 created by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond. I will grant the character definitely has historical significance in terms of the development of costumed heroes.
While I may still feel (the ghost of) nostalgia for The Phantom, it is inexorably accompanied by acknowledgement of its juvenile nature and appeal.
Heloise Walker, who I think would make an excellent Phantom.
Except for the bra. That’s going to get in the way of smacking down evil doers.
“The Ghost Who Gets Her Nails Done” -New jungle saying.
Why does a ghost who lives forever suddenly change genders?
Who said there’s only one ghost?
I bought all the comics published fortnightly in Norway for several years in the late 80s early 90s and even bought some used one to fill in a few years backwards. Then I boxed them up and after not opening the box for several years gave them away. If I saw the Billy Zane movie I have repressed the memory. I couldn’t get over the purple costume, which in Scandinavia is blue due to a lack of clear instructions in the early days. Another mixup led to the current Phantom being married to Sala rather than Diana. We don’t like to disturb the local continuity, no sirrie!
This would be the place to ask, I’ve heard that the creator wanted the Phantom’s costume to be grey, but somebody picked purple without asking. Is this true?
They probably thought they had to punch it up a little- can’t have a gray suit on a color page. If I was Falk, I wouldn’t want my hero’s costume to look anymore ridiculous than absolutely necessary.
The guys who colored the script messed with “the grey chost” costume, and Falk eventually gave up.
That would be your basic phantom legend; murdered by pirates, came back to revenge himself on them, is immortal, so what the hell, punish all bad guys. There is only one.