# Is The Phantom comic strip ending? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [April 25, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421 "2022-04-25T16:31:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/1 "2022-04-25T16:31:48Z")
Over the past month or so there has been a story line where The Phantom has been told a prophesy where, if he goes on with a plan to rescue a certain person it will create a chain of events where he eventually dies, his wife leaves him and his twins decide not to carry on the legacy. He decides to carry on the rescue, and in today’s strip these words are written: “The men he fought covered his body with earth and rock to honor the courage of the stranger who stood one against many. Thus ends the tale of the 21st Phantom’s final hour.” I can’t find any news online-Is this the end of the strip? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/2 "2022-04-25T16:48:50Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > a chain of events where he eventually dies, his wife leaves him In that order? I mean, it even sounds like it if they were burying him under a pile of dirt and rocks! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/3 "2022-04-25T16:56:20Z")
The daughter gets married and becomes a housewife, the person who The Phantom frees does something that eventually convinces the son to become a mercenary, the wife leaves him because of all this and goes back to the U.S., The Phantom flies off to try to reconcile with his son…then this strip happens. Let’s see what happens in tomorrow’s strip…if it isn’t a re-run. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/4 "2022-04-25T20:37:33Z")
…Wait, it didn’t end, like, 50 years ago? I’ve never seen references to the strip except in historical context. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/5 "2022-04-25T20:40:03Z")
It has been an ongoing strip until, perhaps, today. > **[The Phantom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The character has been adapted for television, film and video games. > The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of 2023... ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/6 "2022-04-25T20:52:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I can’t find any news online-Is this the end of the strip? ISTR DePaul writing about this in his blog a while back. Sounded to me like the entire arc is his and Manley’s way of thumbing their noses at the wet blankets and trolls infesting Comics Kingdom’s comments. ETA: found it. [https://www.tonydepaul.net/the-everyday-yah-dee-yah/](https://www.tonydepaul.net/the-everyday-yah-dee-yah/) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/7 "2022-04-25T21:02:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > …Wait, it didn’t end, like, 50 years ago? That’s what I assumed. I read it as a kid, but lumped it in with Prince Valiant as “what to read when you get to the end of the comic section of the family newspaper and there’s nothing to do.” But then I got hooked on [The Comics Curmudgeon,](https://joshreads.com/) where a superhero named Josh snarks all over newspaper strips. Especially the soap opera ones… his take on Mary Worth, especially the Aldo and Wilbur periods? Brilliant! As are the comments. So I’ve been privy to discussions of the Phantom (“The Ghost Who Walks Around Following Teenage Girls” recently). And it’s been a crazy ride, shifting abruptly from mission to mission, continent to continent. With the help of an out-of-proportion airplane (and the maps it flies over). So who knows? One guess is this prophecy MAY come to pass (cop out!) OR it will, but in a year or so, and we’ll have a long slog until then… From those comments: > Sooooo… somewhere between the time when Kit is flying his **red plane** over the map of Asia and his death, he battles a large group of men. Kit is killed but, on the bright side, earns the respect of his enemies. His **desolate tomb** is as was shown in the **Flea-bitten Forest** by his Flaming Skellington Dad, and as later scritched out artistically… by Mozz. [![](https://safr.kingfeatures.com/api/img.php?e=gif&s=c&file=VGhlUGhhbnRvbS8yMDIyLzA0L1BoYW50b20uMjAyMjA0MjVfMTUzNi5naWY=) ](https://safr.kingfeatures.com/api/img.php?e=gif&s=c&file=VGhlUGhhbnRvbS8yMDIyLzA0L1BoYW50b20uMjAyMjA0MjVfMTUzNi5naWY=) More snark from the commenters: “Jesus, are we lighting the entire jungle around here? Candles don’t grow on trees, you know.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/8 "2022-04-25T21:05:14Z")
> [@digs](#): > > So who knows? One guess is this prophecy MAY come to pass (cop out!) OR it will, but in a year or so, and we’ll have a long slog until then… Seems to me that the prophecy will come to pass – as a way to have one of the kids take over as the 22nd Phantom. DePaul wrote about one of the kids taking over a long time ago, on his old Phantom Comics site. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/9 "2022-04-25T21:06:19Z")
According to that same prophesy, neither will become The Phantom, and the line ends. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/10 "2022-04-25T21:18:41Z")
The Phantom’s Facebook page, [Fan Ghost Who Walks Wiki Page](https://ghostwhowalks.fandom.com/wiki/The_Phantom#Kit_Walker), and the [Podcas](https://www.chroniclechamber.com/post/x-band-phantom-podcast-217-april-2022-comics-news)t all know nothing of this. Czarcasm, this is your time! Don the purple tights and claim Skull Cave for your own! ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/11 "2022-04-25T21:26:54Z")
Nope! I’m wrong. Looking at that strip, it tells of the end of the 21st Phantom. We’re on the 22nd. > **[22nd Phantom](https://ghostwhowalks.fandom.com/wiki/22nd_Phantom)** > > The 22nd Phantom is the 22nd person in a long line of secession to have taken The Oath of the Skull, and thus, assumed the mantle of The Phantom. Like his father, and his father before him, and so on, he has committed his life to end piracy,... > The 22nd Phantom’s story begins with no Phantom. The [21st Phantom](https://ghostwhowalks.fandom.com/wiki/21st_Phantom) was the last of the line of succession of Phantoms stretching back over four centuries. Kit Walker Jr. refused to take up the mantle as the masked crime fighter and instead chose a comfortable ride of both life and family, while handling the day-to-day affairs of the Walkabout Foundation, a philanthropic organization created by one of the previous Walkers to help support charities in Bangalla and the surrounding nations of Africa. Kit had broken the chain and was no longer The Phantom. However, no matter how much he fought it, fate had other ideas ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/12 "2022-04-25T21:54:18Z")
That version of 22 is from a comic book, not the syndicated strip. > **[The Last Phantom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Phantom)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Last Phantom is a comic book series published by Dynamite Entertainment, inspired by Lee Falk's The Phantom. It is a modern reboot of the classic character written by Scott Beatty and drawn by Eduardo Ferigato, with covers painted by Alex Ross. > Kit Walker, the twenty-first in a line of heroes originated in 1536, has forsaken his family legacy of becoming the Phantom, a masked vigilante defending the innocent and tirelessly fighting evil all o... Perhaps DePaul & Manley plan to link the two. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/13 "2022-04-25T22:02:18Z")
'Twould seem likely. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/14 "2022-04-27T18:50:22Z")
Nope. Didn’t end. > **[The Phantom](https://comicskingdom.com/phantom/2022-04-26)** > > The Phantom Tuesday, April 26, 2022 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/15 "2022-04-27T18:55:09Z")
Mozz lied, to manipulate The Phantom. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/16 "2022-05-17T14:20:03Z")
Comics Kingdom has been really pushing their premium plan, only allowing a couple of free views per day. _Phantom_ fortunately still has a mirror. [http://www.phantomtrail.com/daily-comic-strips/Phantom](http://www.phantomtrail.com/daily-comic-strips/Phantom) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/17 "2022-05-17T15:30:31Z")
I use the Seattle Times comics page. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/18 "2022-09-06T14:36:53Z")
I’m wondering, is the Phantom as of this date really dead now? Is his son Kit going to become the new Phantom? Is Kit Jr. in todays strip the son or grandson? Sorry, I haven’t kept up and can’t really find an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/19 "2022-09-06T15:49:38Z")
Is this the original possible Phantom used as a warning to the real Phantom not to go ahead with the plan, a secondary possible Phantom being used to show what will happen if the real Phantom goes ahead with the plan anyway after hearing what will happen, the real Phantom going ahead with the plan,…or a bad dream Devil is having after eating some bad gazelle meat? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421/20 "2022-09-06T17:47:11Z")
🤷 ya got me [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phantom-comic-strip-ending/963421.md?page=2)