In my previous post, I discussed how The Phantom became — and remains — one of the most popular adventure comic strips in the world yet is all but ignored by the American comics industry. In this follow up article, I’ll be looking at the exact opposite; countries in which The Phantom has had such an impact that he has influenced its their culture.
What the very first comic book (as in a magazine-style publication of 20 pages or more focusing on the one character) featuring The Phantom was is something that was up for debate until recently. Originally, it was thought that the honour went to the May, 1937 published Italian comic Collana Albi Grandi Avventure #1. However, some eagle-eyed fans noticed that a Brazilian comic, also from 1937, had a publication date a month earlier. The story did not end there though, as it was revealed that a comic from the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia predated the Brazilian comic. Titled Fantom, it was confirmed to have been published sometime before April 14th, 1937, thirteen years before the US would see a The Phantom comic.
As discussed previously, however, the character and the comic books featuring his adventures were a huge success internationally!
In 1948 Australian publisher Frew Publications secured the rights to reprint The Phantom newspaper strips in comic book format. Originally publishing comic books featuring other titles such as Popeye and The Shadow (an original Australian creation, not the Walter B. Gibson character), The Phantom proved far and away to be Frew’s most popular title. By 1958 publication of other titles had cased and Frew concentrated on The Phantom, and it continues to be their sole publication to this day.
As one might expect with such a long period of publication, The Phantom has become part of the popular culture of Australia. Much like Batman or Spider-Man today in America (and much of the world) it is hard to find anyone in Australia of teenage years or older who does not know who The Phantom is, even if they have never read a The Phantom comic.
Such is the popularity of the character in Australia, that the Australian government has used him in promotional and educational material. Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company, has featured him on their products and Australian comedians and TV-personalities, such as Paul Hogan of Crocodile Dundee fame, have credited The Phantom as inspirations and even featured him on their programs, usually by dressing up as the hero.
A similar situation can be seen in Nordic countries, especially Sweden. Introduced in 1940 in the weekly magazine Vecko-Revyn via newspaper strip reprints, these were collected into special annuals beginning in 1944, becoming Sweden’s first The Phantom comic book.
The Phantom had his own theme park in Sweden at Parken Zoo, Eskilstun. Complete with Skull Cave and The Phantom himself, the park offered a fun jungle setting for children to explore. Sadly, this was closed in 2010, however Fantomen, the country’s current The Phantom publication, remains very popular.
Another country in which The Phantom is extremely popular is India. Appearing first in Indrajal Comics in 1964, The Phantom had a fairly constant presence up until 2014. It is not only The Phantom whose publications disappeared around this time, however, as much of the printed media in India had suffered from rising production costs and increasing competition from other entertainment avenues, particularly online.
While The Phantom did not had an official publication in India from 2014 to 2020, the popularity of the character lead to something of an underground bootleg trading community of The Phantom comics. Fanned by the rarity of original publications, nostalgia and the desire of the “urban poor” to have access to comics, illegally produced reprints (mainly taking the form of photocopies) were passed around among fans.
The advent of digital comics and PDF scans, again illegal, also became popular in India as they allowed readers to easily access stories that would have otherwise cost a considerable amount. It also provided access to new The Phantom stories from international creators such as those from Australia, America and Sweden, which Indian readers otherwise would not have been able to enjoy. To give something of an idea of the magnitude of this underground movement, it is estimated that 25% of India’s book trade consists of pirated publications. Comic books do not fall under the heading of “books/ literary works” in India, so the numbers don’t transfer exactly, but when you consider the comics market of India had all but dried up and The Phantom was longer being published, you can imagine just how big this movement is.
A perfect example of how The Phantom made an impact on a culture is Papua New Guinea. Around the 1940’s images of The Phantom began to appear on the traditional war shields of the Wahgi people of the Central Highlands. Traditionally, the shields would be crafted from large tree trunks and depicted images of a guardian spirit, an ancestor, or some fearsome being. They believe that by depicting them on their shields the warriors would be imbued with their essence.
During World War II when Allied soldiers travelled to Papua to fight the Japanese, some of the care packages they received while there (packages flown in which contained mostly food, but sometimes other items) contained comic books. The soldiers began to share these comics with the native people and they were a huge hit.
While the comics featured a selection of heroes, it was The Phantom to which the tribespeople reacted to most. Experts on the culture of the Wahgi people say that the reason for The Phantom connecting with the tribe so much is because he imbued many important aspects of their culture.
The current Phantom in the comics is the twenty first in a long line who devoted their lives to fighting crime. This connects with the Wahgi people’s deep respect for, and worship of, their ancestors. Thus, the idea of a lineage of warriors resonated with them. The fact that the Phantom lives in a jungle setting very similar to Papua also resonated with the Wahgi. So too did the Phantom’s use of a skull, or “Deaths Head,” as his symbol. Skulls and skeletons feature prominently in the Wahgi’s ceremonial body paint. Importantly, within the lore of the comics the Phantom earned himself the moniker of “The Man Who Cannot Die” over the centuries. Obviously, as warriors this is an aspect of the character the Wahgi wished to imbue.
The Phantom’s world wide travels have not only touched the cultures he has encountered, but those cultures have also impacted The Phantom. Originally, The Phantom creator Lee Falk envisioned his character’s costume being grey; indeed, he originally planned to call the character “The Grey Ghost.”
When the strip debuted it was printed in black and white. While a grey costume could have been included by use of halftone, it was felt it would make the strip look too “muddy,” thus the suit was left uncoloured. When the strip was reprinted in colour internationally, the publishers had no reference as to what colour the suit should be. So…they made it up. This resulted in a red suit in Italy, a blue suit in Sweden, a yellow-brown in New Zealand, and many other variations. It was not until May 1939 — three years after the strip’s debut — that The Phantom was printed in colour in America. It is not known why the colour purple was picked for the Phantom’s costume — Lee Falk has said he was never consulted — but the colour stuck and it is now considered the official costume colour of the hero. However, most countries still use their own colour preference.
While The Phantom may not have been the success in America as it has been in many other countries, it would be hard to find another comic book that has impacted so many and so varied cultures as The Phantom. Marvel and DC heroes may be the most visible today, but it is this originator, this proto-superhero, that has a left long lasting impact on those who have come across him more than 80 years after his debut.
Thank you for reading this article. It was originally published on Medium on Feb 16, 2021. It has been updated here slightly for clarity.