The Phantom, masked jungle hero created in the daily and Sunday comic strip by Lee Falk on 17 FEB 1936. As of 1999, the strip still appears. There was a movie serial, as well as a ***movie written by Jeffrey Boam, author of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, starring Billy Zane. The advertising had the slogan slam evil, which was obviously thought up by idiots, but it is still a great movie.

A super-hero created by Lee Falk, the creator of Mandrake the Magician. The Phantom first appeared on February 17, 1936.

The history of the Phantom begins over 400 hundred years ago with Christopher Standish. Standish had served with Christopher Columbus and was now the captain of a merchant vessel. While of the coast of Africa, Standish's ship was beset by pirates and sunk. Stadish's son, Kit, was the only member of the crew to survive, after seeing his father killed by the pirates. Washing up on the African shore, he found the body of the pirate who had slain his father. He swore upon the pirate's skull to fight the pirates and all evil from that day forth.

Young Standish was befriended by a pygmy tribe known as the Bandar. He settled in a cave that looks like a human skull and fashioned for himself a costume based up on idol that was located in the area. Dressed all in purple with a domino mask, Kit Standish became the Phantom, the Ghost who Walks.

For many years Standish and his decendants have worn the mantle of the Phantom. Because each generation of the Standish's take up where the last ended, the Phantom has become known to all but the Bandar as the Man who Never Dies. The comic strip has covered the adventures of the latest member of the Standish clan, the 21st Phantom.

Riding a white horse named Hero and accompanied by a wolf named Devil, the Phantom for many years has kept the jungle safe from evil. Armed with a revolver and dressed as his ancestors have dressed, the Phantom leaves his calling card mark on his enemies, the impression of a skull from the skull-shaped ring on his right hand.

The Phantom married his sweetheart, Diana Palmer in 1977. Palmer was the daughter of a United Nations diplomat. So seriously do the fans of this comic strip character take his adventures that the New Zealand parliment suspended their business on the day of their marriage to debate whether Diana Palmer should live in the cave or stay at the U.N.

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