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Comics With or Without Pulp Talkback: Episode 5

Guest Co-Host Lance Kizer assists with discussing 'Old Jungle' Sayings, Family Legacies, Legends, and the Color Purple. We give an in depth look at the Ghost Who Walks from its origins, newspaper strips, comics, novels, and live-action interpretations. Grab Devil and saddle up Hero and join in the fun as we look at the Phantom. (1:49:25)

Listen here.

Comments

  • LibraryBoyLibraryBoy Posts: 1,803
    Looking forward to listening to this episode about Mr. Walker.*

    (*For the Ghost Who Walks) :D

    The Phantom was the only adventure strip my local newspaper carried (well, unless you count Mark Trail, but really, why would you?), so my friends and I all read it pretty regularly as kids. We always thought the dialogue and action were so sparse, though... a friend of mine used to joke about there being captions like "Next week: a verb!"\

    Funny thing, though... we got the b&w dailies, but not the color Sundays, so none of us knew the Phantom's costume was purple until the Defenders of the Earth cartoon came out! The way it was shaded in the paper, I always sort of assumed it was red.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    I discovered the Phantom when I was pretty young. The Biloxi paper carried the comic strip. And it along with Flash Gordon had me begging my grandparents to save the comic strip section out of the paper. Then when the Defenders of the Earth cartoon started up I was very happy. Revisited the cartoon back when BCI put out the complete run on DVD. And found it odd that the Phantom had powers in the cartoon that he never had in the strips or comics. I would love for all the episodes of the Phantom 2040 cartoon to get a region 1 DVD release. I have the one DVD that has come out.
  • I agree, the Phantom 2040 cartoon was a good show. Occasionally it would get a little preachy, but the stories were pretty good otherwise, the animation was nice, and I loved the designs by Peter Chung, who also created Aeon Flux.

    I was probably reading the Phantom newspaper strip before I began reading comic books, and I read it every day for many years. Your assessment that he was more a more upbeat, swashbuckling type of hero than the brooding avenger is spot on, but that was typical of the newspaper adventure heroes. In that sense he was no different than Flash Gordon, Prince Valiant, Terry Lee, or Captain Easy. You didn’t really see dark avengers in the newspapers.
  • rebisrebis Posts: 1,820
    "sigh"
    It's to bad Aurora didn't release this.
    image
    image
  • I highly recommend Charlton’s Phantom comics, particularly the Jim Aparo-drawn issues (#31-38) and the Don Newton-drawn issues (#67-74). I’m surprised no one has done a collection of those yet.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    I highly recommend Charlton’s Phantom comics, particularly the Jim Aparo-drawn issues (#31-38) and the Don Newton-drawn issues (#67-74). I’m surprised no one has done a collection of those yet.

    The Charlton Phantom comic is one I am always looking for. But every time I see issues either they are really beat up or priced out of my price range.
  • Yeah, they can get a bit pricey. Which tells me there must be some demand for them. That's why I'm surprised they've never been collected.
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200

    Yeah, they can get a bit pricey. Which tells me there must be some demand for them. That's why I'm surprised they've never been collected.

    I get a feeling rights issues are why they haven't been reprinted. Plus the Phantom isn't that big a draw in the USA.

  • I just did a search and found that Hermes Press, the company reprinting the Phantom newspaper strip, is reprinting the Charlton series. The first volume came out in March—don’t know how I missed it—and contains all the Aparo material and a bit more besides. I've not been very impressed with Hermes’ publications from a production standpoint, but it’s certainly a lot cheaper than buying the original issues.
  • I have a few odd issues that were apparently published in India. In English. I might not have known the difference if it weren't that the cover price was in rupees and some of the ads were India-specific.
  • Really enjoying this episode. The Phantom and Prince Valiant are my two favorite comic strips. I have an old Charlton Phantom issue with a story about a female Phantom. Also, I believe one of the Phantom's homes is on top of a mesa in the American southwest.
  • Great Episode, was a little disapointed the show didn't go into the australian comic in more detail as this is pretty impressive. (but i undersatnd that infomation may not be easy at hand in the states)

    The comic published by Frew is the longest runing comic book in the world (issue 1647# is out now!) Now sadly its not all new matrial, alot is reprints but most phantom works from around the world aside from the american versions (ie moonstone and dynamite ) end up here as well as new australian made stories

    Phantom is huge in australia, he is up there with Spider-man Batman and Superman in peoples minds here. often appearing in skit parody shows and such.

    Some of the frew run is fantastic comics, those cut out maps of the cave a in alot of these, back stories into past phantoms are here, Some really great action (Phantom vs the assasin in the swamp like arnie vs predator ) some good character studies (walker quiting the leagcay and trying to lead a normal life in new york)

    Phantom is so huge over here it is one of the banes of local comic shops, as i said Frew reprints alot, and the main thing the reprint is Phantom 1# , so people find these reprints at garage sales and car boot sales think they have found a "action comics 1# or Detective comics 27, bring it in to claim there riches and get annoyed when they are told its worth nothing (they often think the clerk is trying to rob them)

    I love the frew phantom,( i should mention to it is a continuation on the falk scripts of the newspaper strips, so this is the continuing stories of Lee's actual creation not reboots like moonstone or dynamite )

    they are found REALLY cheap on ebay, just seach Phantom in australia and grab yourself some great cheap pulpy reads :D
  • LOVE this episode! The Phantom 2040 was one of my favorite cartoon shows as a kid. I actually had the super nintendo game that was merch for it.
  • Just wanted to drop in and say that I love this series, Matt. These are characters I'm interested in but have had limited exposure to, so they're always informative and interesting and give me ideas of things to look out for.

    Thanks,
    chris
  • MattMatt Posts: 4,457
    Thanks, Chris. I have more set for this year, so stay tuned.

    M
  • dubbat138dubbat138 Posts: 3,200
    Hey @Matt any idea if you are gonna do a show on Tarzan or Conan the barbarian?
  • MattMatt Posts: 4,457
    edited January 2013
    dubbat138 said:

    Hey @Matt any idea if you are gonna do a show on Tarzan or Conan the barbarian?

    Yes on both. Always looking for people interested in guest cohosting.

    M.
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