Why we love The Phantom
By W Bro Leon Wild
by a winery – Margaret River’s Deep Woods Estate who use a stylised Good Mark as their logo.
Oath and skull
2021 is the 85th anniversary of that purple-suited hero who was always available at the local newsagent. W Bro Leon Wild is a writer and WM of Lodge Southern Cross 91. He’s not telling if he wears purple undies.
Kevin Patrick has written a PhD thesis on The Phantom in Australia, which is now available as a book. I was able to get a few jungle drum messages to Kevin:
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’m talking about The Phantom of course. The Ghost Who Walks, Guardian of the Eastern Dark jungles and friend to the pygmy tribe of the Bandar. The Phantom was the creation of an American, Lee Falk (1905–99), who also created the Mandrake the Magician series. Together with his wolf-dog Devil and trusty steed Hero, the Phantom is well known for fighting evil and tyranny – and he was on the scene well before Batman and Spiderman. Our Phantom is the 21st Phantom, from a long line who have each followed in his father’s footsteps for hundreds of years: Ghost Who Walks, Who Cannot Die. The very first comic shows the first Phantom swearing a solemn oath on the skull of his father’s killer. ‘I swear to devote my life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty, and injustice, in all their forms! My sons and their sons shall follow me.’
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I grew up thinking that the Phantom was an Australian creation. His mark just seemed everywhere, from Skull Ring toys in candy machines to neckties and t-shirts – and a new comic almost every week. This is partly due to the business acumen of local imprint Frew Publishing, who under licence from the Phantom HQ, created Australian specific storylines.
December 2021
A skull is also the dreaded mark of the Phantom, from his signet ring which is indelibly imprinted on a villain when he meets the righteous fists of our avenger. As a symbol the skull works on many levels. There is nothing more uncertain than the great mystery of Death – unusually for a super-hero, the Phantom does not usually hasten his enemies to seeking that mystery. He is so skilled in fighting and gun play he usually can disarm enemies by shooting the guns from their hands. Those marked with the skull are branded as reprobates and a warning to others that the social contract is broken. This may remind the mason of the penalty of breaking a solemn obligation. The Phantom also has a friendly mark, a four-whorled ‘P’ known as the Good Mark in the series, likely inspired by the ancient Greek Chi-Rho symbol which meant ‘Good’ and was adopted by early Christians as a symbol of their faith and aspirations. It’s even been adopted
Phantom seems to have made such strides in Australia and seemed to be an Australian craze, so much so that I thought it was an Australian comic until recently. How did we claim him as our own? ‘I think the Phantom is a truly universal hero, who has appealed to readers in many different countries over the years, including Australia, in ways that more identifiably American characters such as Superman, simply do not. He is less a modern superhero, and more of a throwback to the classic heroes of legend and fable, which is why he translates well into other cultures. ‘However, I think it helped that when The Phantom comic strip first appeared in The Australian Woman’s Mirror back in 1936, the magazine deliberately promoted it as an Australian strip and went so far as to replace American place names with Australian cities, and even described The Phantom’s girlfriend, Diana Palmer, as a Sydney girl in early episodes. And I think that impression stuck with many Australian readers for decades thereafter.’
Humility – Kindness – Generosity Freemason
