A super-hero created by
Lee Falk, the creator of
Mandrake
the Magician. The Phantom first appeared on February 17,
1936.
The history of the Phantom begins over 400 hundred years ago
with Christopher Standish. Standish had served with Christopher
Columbus and was now the captain of a merchant vessel. While
of the coast of Africa, Standish's ship was beset by pirates
and sunk. Stadish's son, Kit, was the only member of the crew
to survive, after seeing his father killed by the pirates. Washing
up on the African shore, he found the body of the pirate who had
slain his father. He swore upon the pirate's skull to fight
the pirates and all evil from that day forth.
Young Standish was befriended by a pygmy tribe known as the
Bandar. He settled in a cave that looks like a human skull
and fashioned for himself a costume based up on idol that was
located in the area. Dressed all in purple with a domino mask,
Kit Standish became the Phantom, the Ghost who Walks.
For many years Standish and his decendants have worn the mantle
of the Phantom. Because each generation of the Standish's take
up where the last ended, the Phantom has become known to all but
the Bandar as the Man who Never Dies. The comic strip has covered
the adventures of the latest member of the Standish clan, the
21st Phantom.
Riding a white horse named Hero and accompanied by a wolf named
Devil, the Phantom for many years has kept the jungle safe from
evil. Armed with a revolver and dressed as his ancestors have
dressed, the Phantom leaves his calling card mark on his enemies,
the impression of a skull from the skull-shaped ring on
his right hand.
The Phantom married his sweetheart, Diana Palmer in 1977. Palmer
was the daughter of a United Nations diplomat. So seriously
do the fans of this comic strip character take his adventures that
the New Zealand parliment suspended their business on the day
of their marriage to debate whether Diana Palmer should live in
the cave or stay at the U.N.