The Ghost Who Walks

This year marks the 70th anniversary of The Phantom, arguably the first costumed super-hero.

The fabled “Ghost Who Walks” first appeared Feb. 17, 1936 in a syndicated strip written and drawn by Lee Falk, who also created Mandrake The Magician.

Judged by appearance alone, the Phantom is clearly an inspiration on the future creators of Batman. Bob Kane’s earliest strips depict a masked super-hero of roughly the same build, with a costume that is markedly similar save for the famed cowl and flowing cape.

The Phantom also operated out of a Skull-Cave and relied on little else than his wits, fighting prowess, way-cool skull rings and .45 pistols.

(Such pistols were the weapons of choice for a nascent Caped Crusader as well. In a clever nod to the Dark Knight’s predecessor, Batman: The Animated Series televised an episode in the 1990s where Bruce Wayne acknowledged the influence of a TV hero known as The Gray Ghost, an early name Falk had considered for The Phantom.)

Yet The Phantom had one other gimmick, one the ageless Batman can never match. A crime-fighter situated in the wilds of Bangalla, the masked figure known as the Phantom has existed for decades - a persona passed from father to son for 22 generations.

To evildoers, The Phantom that busted heads open in the 20th century is the same man who kicked pirate booty a century earlier. He projected the image of a truly immortal foe of evil, a presence who easily inspired fear in the hearts of criminals.

The Phantom’s allies included Devil, a wolf, and Hero, his horse and Fraka, a trained falcon - animal sidekicks that took down more crooks than Bat-Hound, Streaky, Rex the Wonder Dog and Detective Chimp combined! (But not Krypto. Krypto rules.)

The Fortress Keeper first encountered The Phantom in an animated film from the early ’70s called Popeye Meets The Man Who Hated Laughter. The story revolved around an arch-villain who kidnapped all the humorous characters owned by the Kings Feature Syndicate (i.e. Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois and Blondie.

Aside from the always-cool Popeye, the heroes included Flash Gordon, Mandrake and the Ghost Who Walks. The Keeper remembers little else about the cartoon, other than the Phantom looked like he could handle tougher customers than guys who hated comic strips.

The Phantom strip runs to this day throughout the world, although he is far more popular overseas. He has also appeared in countless movie serials and comics, and was the subject of a somewhat campy film starring Billy Zane in 1996.

Despite the peaks and valleys of his popularity, however, it is almost assured that The Phantom will continue fighting crime into the 21st century.

After all, there’s always a new generation ready to assume the mantle of “The Man Who Cannot Die.” It’s a family tradition.

The Legion Of Super-Blogs

The Fortress Keeper is proud to be a member of the Comic Blog Legion.

“sniff”

The Fortress Keeper now knows how Polar Boy felt when he finally…

FINALLY…

graduated from the League of Substitute Heroes to the “A” team.

“Choke”

Of course, the Keeper will probably be rebooted now by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson!

s’tI annataZ!

Although known primarily these days for drive-by mind wipes, Zatanna has bewitched the DC universe since the early ’60s, when she enlisted members of the Justice League to find her missing father - Zatara.

At that time, the character was a breath of fresh air among DC’s straight-arrow heroes: she was young, inexperienced with her powers, and unafraid to tackle any challenge. Best of all, Zatanna lacked the pretentious gravitas usually given to mystical characters. (For further research, look at Doctors Fate and Strange.)

The character also initiated a storyline that ran across several different magazines before resolving in the Justice League’s own comic. Back in the day, it was rare to see a superheroine play such a major role in what was - and essentially remains - a boy’s club.

(A quick glance at Marvel’s “Avenger’s Disassembled” and “House of M” arcs demonstrates how little has changed. The Scarlet Witch plays a major role, but only because the character’s suddenly unlimited powers have driven her insane - reducing a once strong heroine to the role of victim.)

Even Zatanna’s costume - a longtime fanboy turn-on - had a practical purpose, given that she was a stage illusionist in her “secret identity.”

The character’s back story was expanded in the Bronze Age, when she finally joined the Justice League and discovered her mother was a member of the Homo Magi race (a seeming attempt to provide Zatanna a “cool” factor traditionally associated with the X-Men).

It was an unnecessary addition, but provided little harm. Worse were her new costumes, which were supposedly more appropriate for a true-blue superheroine.

After the JLA folded its tent, the Mistress of Magic hooked up with the much-derided Justice League Detroit, where she developed a liking for the manly Dale Gunn. (In fact, over the years Zatanna has ben one of the few heroines allowed to pursue a sex life that doesn’t involve Green Arrow…)

After her departure from the Justice League, Zatanna played a small, but significant, role in various Vertigo titles. Paul Dini, of Batman: The Animated Series fame, wrote a memorable Zatanna one-shot illustrated by Rick Mays that highlighted the character’s down-to-earth personality.

He also worked on an online Zatanna cartoon that cast the heroine as a teenage character in the mold of Buffy. (Dini is such a fan that his wife, magician Misty Lee, resembles a real-life Zatanna. Cool, and a little bit creepy…)

Other than some memorable appearances in the Batman and Justice League cartoons, little more was heard from Zatanna until her infamous role in Identity Crisis and its sequels.

Happily, Zatanna apparently shook off her angst by the conclusion of a four-issue mini-series that is part of Grant Morrison’s epic Seven Soldiers of Victory project.

What the future holds next for the Mistress of Magic is unknown (one of the Seven Soldiers is destined to die, although that means little in the world of comics), but hopefully Zatanna will regain her status as a bright light in the increasingly dour world of superheroics.

If Doom Ruled …

If Dr. Doom ruled America, he would not stoop to secretly spying on American citizens to “combat terrorism.”

Doom does not operate in the shadows. Doom’s subjects would be openly monitored by an army of invincible Doombots!

Doom knows what is best for all!

Hail Doom!

The Many Deaths Of Supergirl

The Fortress Keeper realizes that it’s been 20 years since the original Supergirl heroically met her end in Crisis On Infinite Earths and was subsequently erased from existence.

Your humble host also realizes that Peter David took the mediocre “Matrix-girl” and reshaped the character into a worthy (if somewhat convoluted) replacement for Kara Zor-El.

It is also common knowledge that a new version of Kara Zor-El currently graces the DC Universe in her own (apparently quarterly) series.

Yet for some reason, the image of Supergirl’s death continues to haunt the Fortress Keeper’s mind. It’s as if the scene keeps reappearing in different contexts…

Hmmm… Probably just a figment of the imagination.