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The Phantom. Ghost Who Walks

The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many forms of media, including television and film, it stars a costumed crime fighter operating from the African jungle. 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 2009. The strip was at the peak of its popularity read by over a hundred million people every day.

If you don't know who I am talking about, this post is not for you. But if you know, read on! There are many of my friends who post Phantom Comics on their blog, so I will not repeat the same, and encourage you to visit their blog for Comics, specially now unavailable Indrajal Comics! Try finding Indrajal Comics on Google, or thy their blog search, and I am sure you can find lots of links for blogs posting Indrajal Comics.

So, what am I bringing on the table? Below is the details of Phantom in other media, as most of you already know about The Ghost Who Walks from Comics!

The Phantom - In other media

The Phantom - Novels

Avon Publications in the U.S. put out 15 books based on Lee Falk's stories. These ran from 1972 to 1975.
  1. The Phantom, The Ghost Who Walks 1972, Lee Falk
  2. The Slave Market of Mucar 1972, Basil Copper
  3. The Scorpia Menace 1972, Basil Copper
  4. The Veiled Lady 1973, Frank S. Shawn
  5. The Golden Circle 1973, Frank S. Shawn
  6. The Mysterious Ambassador 1973, Lee Falk
  7. The Mystery of the Sea Horse 1973, Frank S. Shawn
  8. The Hydra Monster 1973, Frank S. Shawn
  9. Killer's Town 1973, Lee Falk
  10. The Goggle-Eyed Pirates 1974, Frank S. Shawn
  11. The Swamp Rats 1974, Frank S. Shawn
  12. The Vampires & the Witch 1974, Lee Falk
  13. The Island of Dogs 1975, Warren Shanahan
  14. The Assassins 1975, Carson Bingham
  15. The Curse of the Two-Headed Bull 1975, Lee Falk

The Phantom - Movies

A 15-part movie serial starring Tom Tyler was made in 1943. A sequel was filmed in 1955 starring John Hart, but after problems with the rights to the character it was partially re-shot and re-named Captain Africa.
The Phantom was also made into a movie in 1996.
It starred Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson and Catherine Zeta-Jones and was directed by Simon Wincer. It was written by Jeffrey Boam, who also wrote Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
No less than three unauthorized Phantom movies were made in Turkey. Two were made in 1968 and both were titled Kızil Maske (the Turkish name for the Phantom, meaning Red Mask). The Phantom was played by Ismet Erten and Irfan Atasoy. In 1971 a movie called Kızil Maske'nin intikami was made.

The Phantom - Television

A TV pilot was made in 1961 starring Roger Creed as the Phantom, with Lon Chaney Jr. and Richard Kiel in supporting roles.
An Indian TV serial named "Betaal Pachisi" (meaning Phantom XXV), starring Shahbaz Khan, Tom Alter and Sonu Walia, and directed by Sunil Agnihotri, was inspired by the Phantom. It was first aired in May, 1997 on the Doordarshan TV network of India. Each episode was half an hour long and in the Hindi language. There were 49 episodes in total. However, this series, which originally was inspired by Phantom, ended up nowhere near Phantom.

The Phantom - Animation

The Phantom has appeared in two animated series. Phantom 2040 is about the adventures of a descendant, the 24th Phantom. In Defenders of the Earth, the Phantom teams up with fellow King Features adventurers Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician. The Phantom also made an appearance alongside other King Features characters in the 1972 animated movie Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter.
In Defenders of the Earth, The Phantom was able to use supernatural means to give himself increased strength and speed, by saying the incantation:
"By Jungle Lore The Ghost Who Walks Calls forth the strength of ten tigers" (or "the speed of the cheetah", etc.)
It is only in this cartoon series that the Phantom has such an ability.

The Phantom - Stage

A musical about the Phantom was produced in Sweden in 1985. It was written by Peter Falck and Urban Wrethagen and starred Urban Wrethagen as the Phantom. A recording of the songs was released on LP and a comic adaption of the story was published in the Swedish Fantomen magazine.
I will leave you all with the cover page of first even novel (of total 15 published ever) of Phantom, written by Lee Falk himself!

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Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi,
Thanks a lot for the posts.
It is a good start and an excellent idea to start these Phantom Novels.
I am eagerly waiting for more of them.
Please let me know how to read Sundays and Dailies as I am unable to open them.
Regards
Rakesh
15 October 2009 at 15:02
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