The Phantom Is Back!

[Mr. Adventure]

^^ Does your Phantom SLAM EVIL!?

[KB24]

The Billy Zane flick is campy and has a lot of plot holes, but it has its fun. I do however hope there is a quality adaptation someday! I suppose its easy for some just to latch onto the pirates and absurdity of the purple suit, but there's much more to the comic than that. I still have the old Four Color and Harvey Hits and Gold Key editions. My Dad swears by the Phantom, though I must confess I've always preferred Flash Gordon. There's another guy who's do for a proper telling. ;0)

ETA Wasn't there supposed to be another Shadow movie or a Mandrake show with Jonathan Rhys Meyers? The Alec Baldwin Shadow is at least serviceable. Do you believe my Dad still listens to the radio show?

[Greg Cox]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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^^ Does your Phantom SLAM EVIL!?

Yes, and he FIGHTS TERROR!

[Dusty Ayres]

KB24 wrote:

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The Billy Zane flick is campy and has a lot of plot holes, but it has its fun. I do however hope there is a quality adaptation someday! I suppose its easy for some just to latch onto the pirates and absurdity of the purple suit, but there's much more to the comic than that.

Maybe somebody will produce a movie based on the DC Comics version...

[Captaindemotion]

Christopher wrote:

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I given that the Phantom is the ultimate legacy hero, it would be nice if the different incarnations fit together better chronologically, because they theoretically could if you just jiggered the numbers a little.

Absolutely. I don't expect the new cinematic version to refer to the Zane one (they've specifically said it won't be a sequel to it) but it would be nice if it didn't contradict it either.

You know, if you didn't know anything about that movie, then well and good, you enjoy this one on its own merits. But equally, it would be nice if you could choose, if you wanted, to assume that this Phantom, whoever plays him, was the grandson or great-grandson of Zane's version. Your own personal continuity, so to speak.

[Technobuilder]

I'd be looking forward to this new Phantom if it looked good to me... but it just doesn't.

I've always like the idea of the Ghost Who walks, but I have to say, I enjoyed it more when there's a quasi-mystical component to him as well. Never immortal, but maybe with artifacts of power handed down through the generations or some sort of technique that gives him a slight edge like The Shadow.

I hope if they do a new Phantom, they'll by pass the whole "Learning to Become The Phantom" storyline and just have him enter being the phantom, or having trained his whole life already and due to tragic circumstances it's now time to take up the mantle.

I don't care about learning to trust the character by watching him prove himself, I want to see him fully formed and showing me what he can do right off the bat.

[Christopher]

^I don't think it's about learning to trust the character so much as it is about introducing the concept to a new audience. If the viewers don't know about the Phantom, having a new Phantom who needs to learn about the legacy is a good way to provide exposition. Both this new miniseries and Phantom 2040 have used the same idea, a teen or young-adult Kit Walker who wasn't raised by his biological father and thus knows nothing of the Phantom legacy until he's asked to take on the mantle.

Of course, there's also the approach the Zane movie took, treating the Phantom as an already-extant hero and having another viewpoint character learn about him.

[Greg Cox]

Christopher wrote:

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Of course, there's also the approach the Zane movie took, treating the Phantom as an already-extant hero and having another viewpoint character learn about him.

I'm fond of that technique myself. Larger-than-life pulp heroes are often more impressive when viewed from the POV of an awestruck observer.

What's more evocative: getting into the Phantom's head, or seeing him appear mysteriously from the jungle!

"Oh my God. Who is that?"

"He is the Ghost Who Walks . . . ."

[Christopher]

That's pretty much how most X-Men adaptations have handled it: introducing the team from the perspective of a newcomer. First Kitty Pryde in the '80s "Pryde of the X-Men" pilot, then Jubilee in the premiere of the '90s series, then Wolverine and Rogue in the movie, then Nightcrawler in the X-Men Evolution premiere (although half the first season of that show was about new kids joining the team).

Come to think of it, I'm a little surprised that no one in the mass media has ever done a Batman adaptation from the point of view of Dick Grayson. He's orphaned, this mysterious dark knight swoops down to catch the killer and takes Dick under his wing, and through Dick's POV we discover the world of Batman and Bruce Wayne's tragic past. It seems like a natural application of a fairly common storytelling format. (Although Frank Miller did something similar with his All-Star Batman and Robin, and that's something we'd be better off not talking about.)

[KB24]

Imagine if they went for the what was it the 18th Phantom- a woman filling in! ;0)

There's a canonical way to set the franchise apart from all these other origins stories coming out!

[Christopher]

The 18th Phantom would be 3 generations in the past of the usual "default" Phantom, which would be maybe somewhere between 1880 or 1950 depending on when the "present" of a given adaptation is. So that wouldn't be the place for a female one.

Besides, the idea of the Phantom, "The Ghost Who Walks," is that by passing on the mantle from father to son, he's created a reputation of immortality that makes him intimidating to evildoers and criminals (who are, as has been observed, a superstitious, cowardly lot). If he suddenly "became" a woman, that would kind of spoil the illusion.

[KB24]

I can't see what Christopher says, but I'm sure he's contradicted me. There WAS a female Phantom, and as I said, instead of doing a traditional origins story like everyone else, it might be unique to do this period and female but no less canonical aspect of The Phantom. He is not a CGI superhero with magical powers anyway. In some ways, any Phantom belongs in the past, 50s at the latest. He has no superpowers to update him up to hip today. You can dang well do the Twin Phantoms as a family period piece. To anyone who knows the Phantom, the female angles are not so far fetched. How doall the wives feel about this legacy, hmm?

From http://weirdscifi.ratiosemper.com/phantom/faq.html

[FONT=arial, verdana, helvetica][SIZE=2][COLOR=#6300de] 16th Phantom (Active ~1840's-1860's): Father of twins Kip and Julie (the "female Phantom"). In 1994 dailies, called "the masked cowboy" and shown to marry Annie Morgan in Texas in the 1840's-1850's. Died after 1867.
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=arial, verdana, helvetica][SIZE=2][COLOR=#6300de]
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=arial, verdana, helvetica][SIZE=2][COLOR=#6300de] 17th Phantom (b. 1852): "Kip", educated in Rome, had twin sister Julie who temporarily served as the female Phantom while he was injured (Novel, 1952 Sundays). Also referred to in the story of the "Snake Goddess" (Frew #899A). [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]


Heck why not start with the first Phantom? No one said it has to be Kit Walker. Anyone who knows the comics would rather take the past than 2040. Imagine folks who don't know The Phantom and are introduced to a period family of non super hero jungle crime fighters, and its the sister that saves the day at the end before the happy ending that sets up sequels with the boys.

Its amazing The Phantom has never worked onscreen,because it is the only franchise that can allow for a different actor or actress to play The Phantom at any given time.

Dammit it to hell I can't find a jgp of the 17th female cover online. I can see it! I have to go to my parent's house and open up my non acetate comic vault now and scan it.

[KB24]

Good God! What are these photos from Syfy's version of?! Again, another modern update. Such a shame. 500 years of Phantom history and they have to make it a teen in a ski mask? WTF?

http://scifiwire.com/2010/06/gallery...miniseries.php

Must they ruin such a wonderful character so?

[Captaindemotion]

Christopher wrote:

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Frank Miller did something similar with his All-Star Batman and Robin, and that's something we'd be better off not talking about.)

No takers for 'I'm The Goddamn Phantom!' then?

As regards the idea of a female Phantom, that thought did occur to me the other day. What if one generation of the Walker family had no sons, just a daughter? Would she don the costume? A female might look better in that skin-tight purple get-up, for one thing!

It would certainly be a good novelty for a one-shot story, if nothing else, but I wouldn't be surprised if some movie or tv maker decided to have a female lead for a version of the tale. Unlike making a Jane Bond or a female Dr Who, there could be a simple, sound, sensible explanation for a female of the family having to take up the mantle.

[Greg Cox]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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No takers for 'I'm The Goddamn Phantom!' then?

As regards the idea of a female Phantom, that thought did occur to me the other day. What if one generation of the Walker family had no sons, just a daughter? Would she don the costume? A female might look better in that skin-tight purple get-up, for one thing!

It would certainly be a good novelty for a one-shot story, if nothing else, but I wouldn't be surprised if some movie or tv maker decided to have a female lead for a version of the tale. Unlike making a Jane Bond or a female Dr Who, there could be a simple, sound, sensible explanation for a female of the family having to take up the mantle.

At least one sister (Julie Walker, I believe) has filled in as the Phantom on occasion. There was recently a story about her in the first volume of The Phantom Chronicles and I believe she's appeared in the comics as well.

And speaking of comics, I just found out that my issue of THE PHANTOM: GENERATIONS (#12) finally goes on sale next Wednesday, June 23. It's a period piece set back during the French Revolution . . . .

I'm know what I'm going to be showing off at Shore Leave next month!