The Phantom 1955
This is the original artwork for the January 21, 1955, episode of "The Phantom", which is my all-time favorite comic strip. I bought it online in an auction (not eBay).
In this episode pirates -- the Phantom's sworn enemy -- have taken over a cruise ship carrying among its passengers Diana Palmer (seen in the third panel) and her mom.
Mrs. Palmer had never understood why her daughter would waste her time on the Phantom when there were all these effete playboys and rich dilettantes lining up to marry her.
Of all the costumed heroes -- and he was the FIRST -- the PHANTOM is the only one who relies on good genes, a white Palomino, a pet wolf, a loyal and fierce tribe of pygmy poison people (the Bandar), and a personal fortune to get him past bad times and bad people. He also has this stone fox of a girlfriend (Diana Palmer, a skilled 'aviatrix' and world-class tennis player), a skull throne -- THE Skull Throne -- and the coolest home on the face of the earth, the Skull Cave.
Diana's been away for a month and hasn't had a chance to write? The PHANTOM broods for about two seconds and puts on a hat, sunglasses, and a checkered trenchcoat; leaves Africa for the States; and breaks heads until he finds her and knows she's OK.
That's love.
Many "super"-type heroes have elements of the PHANTOM's lifestyle: Batman, for instance, ripped off the Skull Cave with his Batcave and his wealth; but unlike the PHANTOM Batman isn't saving the world 24 hours a day. Batman clocks in at sundown, works all night, then sleeps it off the next day. Presumably, too, crime in Gotham City isn't always afoot; Batman, as billionaire socialite alter ego Bruce Wayne, mixes it up with the nation's wealthiest 1% whenever possible.
And who built the Batplane, the Bat-o-cycle, the Batmobile, the Batboat, etc? If Batman's got his own pygmies building this stuff for him, let's see 'em! And what kind of "hero" ADOPTS a teenage boy (Robin)?
Batman uses his big inherited bucks to give him an edge over the bad guys in the application of technology to whatever skills he's otherwise developed, such as detective work (including working undercover and surveillance) and crime scene analysis.
Batman has Bruce Wayne's fortune to thank for his own defense as well -- the miniaturized gas masks, the canisters of chemicals in his utility belt to bail him out of an endless array of tight jams, and the aforementioned Bat-vehicles aren't cheap. And when he's not sleeping, eating, socializing, and home-schooling Dick Grayson, he's MAKING REPAIRS on all these things? Right. And what's with the smoking jacket?
The PHANTOM, on the other hand, is wealthy like nobody's business. In his Treasure Room he has, among other things: a goblet cut from a single diamond once owned by Alexander the Great; the Golden Fleece; Excalibur; The Holy Grail; and a specially-designed display case with a single, slightly withered apple inside with two bites taken out of it! I think he has a LITTLE LULU collection in there somewhere too.
What impresses me, though, is that with all these chests full of precious stones and jewels and coins, this guy is as rich as Scrooge McDuck and you'd never know it.
I hope that answers anyone's questions about why I love the Phantom.
The Phantom 1955
This is the original artwork for the January 21, 1955, episode of "The Phantom", which is my all-time favorite comic strip. I bought it online in an auction (not eBay).
In this episode pirates -- the Phantom's sworn enemy -- have taken over a cruise ship carrying among its passengers Diana Palmer (seen in the third panel) and her mom.
Mrs. Palmer had never understood why her daughter would waste her time on the Phantom when there were all these effete playboys and rich dilettantes lining up to marry her.
Of all the costumed heroes -- and he was the FIRST -- the PHANTOM is the only one who relies on good genes, a white Palomino, a pet wolf, a loyal and fierce tribe of pygmy poison people (the Bandar), and a personal fortune to get him past bad times and bad people. He also has this stone fox of a girlfriend (Diana Palmer, a skilled 'aviatrix' and world-class tennis player), a skull throne -- THE Skull Throne -- and the coolest home on the face of the earth, the Skull Cave.
Diana's been away for a month and hasn't had a chance to write? The PHANTOM broods for about two seconds and puts on a hat, sunglasses, and a checkered trenchcoat; leaves Africa for the States; and breaks heads until he finds her and knows she's OK.
That's love.
Many "super"-type heroes have elements of the PHANTOM's lifestyle: Batman, for instance, ripped off the Skull Cave with his Batcave and his wealth; but unlike the PHANTOM Batman isn't saving the world 24 hours a day. Batman clocks in at sundown, works all night, then sleeps it off the next day. Presumably, too, crime in Gotham City isn't always afoot; Batman, as billionaire socialite alter ego Bruce Wayne, mixes it up with the nation's wealthiest 1% whenever possible.
And who built the Batplane, the Bat-o-cycle, the Batmobile, the Batboat, etc? If Batman's got his own pygmies building this stuff for him, let's see 'em! And what kind of "hero" ADOPTS a teenage boy (Robin)?
Batman uses his big inherited bucks to give him an edge over the bad guys in the application of technology to whatever skills he's otherwise developed, such as detective work (including working undercover and surveillance) and crime scene analysis.
Batman has Bruce Wayne's fortune to thank for his own defense as well -- the miniaturized gas masks, the canisters of chemicals in his utility belt to bail him out of an endless array of tight jams, and the aforementioned Bat-vehicles aren't cheap. And when he's not sleeping, eating, socializing, and home-schooling Dick Grayson, he's MAKING REPAIRS on all these things? Right. And what's with the smoking jacket?
The PHANTOM, on the other hand, is wealthy like nobody's business. In his Treasure Room he has, among other things: a goblet cut from a single diamond once owned by Alexander the Great; the Golden Fleece; Excalibur; The Holy Grail; and a specially-designed display case with a single, slightly withered apple inside with two bites taken out of it! I think he has a LITTLE LULU collection in there somewhere too.
What impresses me, though, is that with all these chests full of precious stones and jewels and coins, this guy is as rich as Scrooge McDuck and you'd never know it.
I hope that answers anyone's questions about why I love the Phantom.