There’s one comic strip that has, perhaps, the best canon back story of all time. Most of us are familiar with the tale of Superman, with his alien origins and deep love for an Earth woman named Lois Lane. We know of Batman who became a crime fighter because of tragedy in his youth. We even know of Wonder Woman’s women only island home. In 1936, before these icons were created, Lee Falk created a hero whose entire family has been in the crime fighting business for more than 450 years.
I’m referring to the comic strip, The Phantom. It has been two movies (one was a 15 part movie serial in 1943), a long running comic strip, two animated cartoons and a soon to be live action television show. The Phantom takes place in Africa and tells the tale of a multigenerational family dedicated to fighting pirates and smugglers.
The hero of our tale is Kit Walker, the 21st member of his family to be called “The Phantom.” All of the previous Phantoms have been men, with the exception of Julie Walker who substituted for her wounded brother for a short period around 1860. The current Phantom is married to his long time girlfriend, Diana Palmer. They have two children, a boy named Kit and a girl named Heloise. The boy is expected to take his father’s place as the 22nd Phantom when the current one dies (violently if family history is any indicator) as has been done in the family for generations.
The Phantom is still printed in American Newspapers, but the current storyline is some what distressing to me. I’m not talking about the obvious racial implications that can be drawn from the storylines of white law enforcement in Black Africa. No, it’s worse than that. It appears that the Phantom’s wife, Diana, has been killed off in a 9-11 style terrorist attack by a man whose life the Phantom saved years earlier. This leaves our Phantom, Kit Walker, left to raise his two preteen children alone. Apparently, the Phantom can’t be bothered with being a proper father to his two kids when they need him the most. So he is making arrangements to ship them off to the big city. This will allow our Phantom to return to being the “big bad” of the jungle.
I happen to be one of those people who believe that this comic strip is best when it is just the Phantom and Diana. I understand that the introduction of the children has muddled story lines and doesn’t present as many opportunities for adventure as past tales. But this Phantom has always had Diana Palmer in his life to ground him. And without her, I fear this strip will turn into something groundless. And I, for one, am truly sorry to see that happen.