Ceative lessons from comics! The Phantom by Lee Falk

The Phantom is a classic American comic popular around the world for more than eighty years. Many would acclaim it as the greatest comic ever produced. I am one of those! The Phantom comic series of the adventures of its masked hero began in 1936 and continues today in Daily and Sunday newspaper formats. The Phantom is a jungle ruler who in that exotic locale and across the globe fights evil, especially pirates, with not only his superb physical skills, strong ethics, and high intelligence, but also by terrifying the irrational bad guys with the mystique of his own legend: The Ghost Who Walks.

The original Phantom stories by creator Lee Falk have too many great virtues to list them all but some of the key ones are:

The very clever (and first!) dramatization of a costumed/masked comic hero, many stories imaginatively inspired by ancient myths and legends, the gripping use of dramatic devices such as suspense and mystery as well as the ingenious use of disguise and deception, an entertaining love interest well integrated into the main action plot, a fascinating and cleverly-developed jungle-home world of this nemesis of evil, and, as noted, the especially creative (and often amusing) use of superstition and fear to fight the villains.

Also of special note, while most Phantom stories are “contemporary,” many adventures are also those of the current Phantom’s forebears, Phantoms of the previous 400 years. The father of the first Phantom was a cabin boy for Columbus!

A 1940s serial and a 1996 feature film of the Phantom comic were produced, but none has lived up to the vast potential of this layered and ethical hero and his imaginative adventures.

Two Writing Takeaways

First, one aspect of Falk’s writing that I often especially enjoy in Phantom stories is that he would open with a mystery hook re some fascinating person, crime, or event. The reader is thus compelled to continue reading with a strong sense of curiosity to learn the meaning of the mystery. After the answer to the mystery is revealed, Falk would then lay in a suspense hook of having the Phantom enmeshed in a dangerous struggle re the big threat the villain has enacted. See, for example, the mystery opening in the Hanta Witch story here.

Second, I encourage all creatives to read classic stories of the Phantom, say those from 1936 to 1990, and study how Falk sets up a story conflict and then layers and develops it. The more general point here for creatives is that it is often easier to see good writing principles in a simpler story art form like comics. When this essentialized form of story is done well, comics are not only wonderful to read but also excellent to learn from. The more essentialized plotlines, for instance, are easier to discern and study. Falk is master writer to learn from, as are other great comic creators.

For those who came in late, you can read more about Lee Falk, creator of The Phantom and also of Mandrake the Magician, here.

You can read the current Phantom strip here.

And you can buy Phantom comic books here.

Stories are ideas in action!

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