Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Phantom battles prehistoric creatures

 
Phantom – the Ghost Who walks, Man Who Cannot Die and Guardian of the Eastern Dark – and Mandrake the Magician – who never reveals the secret of his magic because, well, magicians never tell – have fought all kinds of weird foes – man and animal, beast and alien. In these two covers, Phantom and Mandrake find themselves cornered by strange prehistoric creatures.

 
Phantom tames his Yeti-like foe and transports him to Eden, his very own island zoo where his other animals, both herbivores and carnivores, live in perfect harmony – the former feeding on grass and the latter feeding on fish. The prehistoric ape is called Hzz who later finds a mate named Hrz and they raise a family.

In another comic-book, Phantom captures and trains a stegosaurus and brings him to Eden where the creature takes an immediate liking to Hzz. Together, they guard the Phantom’s beautiful isle.

 
The Phantom of these stories belongs to our generation, the 20th century. Reality, step aside.

4 comments:

  1. the virtual definition of pulp. I've got a couple of Phantom novels. The one I've read was pretty bad. But you want to like 'em anyway, just for the cheeziness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Charles, I wonder to what extent Lee Falk, creator of Phantom and Mandrake, was influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I have never read Phantom novels, though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That takes me back Prashant! Growing up in Italy in the 70s, Lee Falk's strips seemed ever-present - I loved these two (Rip Kirby I liked a little less) and really wanted to be a magician when I grew up - didn't manage it, but I'm still a sucker for anything involving a conjuror like the wonderful JOANTHAN CREEK television for instance.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sergio, it sure does. I used to like private eye Rip Kirby and his loyal butler Desmond. In fact, I still have a few of his comics that I read occasionally along with Phantom, Mandrake and Flash Gordon. I am not familiar with the Jonathan Creek mystery series.

    ReplyDelete