PHANTOM comics (Lee Falk, Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy, Sy Barry) - and... DUNEDIN
Diana is a heck of a girl -- smart and tough and beautiful, with a pretty level head on her shoulders...
...but at heart she is a typical woman, worrying half the day over how The Phantom is feeling about things between them, conjuring up all sorts of emotions for him...
...when in actual fact he hasn't even been thinking about their relationship at all!
WRITER: Lee Falk
ARTIST: Wilson McCoy
This Phantom post is somewhat of an anomaly for The Dad Who Walks. As with Halley's Comet, you may not see its like again during your lifetime: it doesn't feature the writing of Lee Falk or the drawing of his three great artists, Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy, or Sy Barry.
This modern tale makes the intriguing suggestion that The Phantom is the unwitting agent of an intelligent, unseen power, and that this universal intelligence deploys "powerful unseen forces" on his behalf.
I don't have a problem with this idea. In fact, it actually makes a lot of sense. Although practically none of the Phantoms die peacefully at home in bed, each one lives long enough to beget a son and raise him to young manhood.
And, what's more, not only is each son unusually good, strong and courageous like his father, but he also has that amazing Phantom "luck" -- or tendency to make it through the most horrendous of scrapes by the skin of his teeth.
As to what, or who, this universal intelligence actually is, well... I don't have to spell everything out, do I?
And later...
WRITER: Tony De Paul
ARTIST: Paul Ryan
Right about here.
My beautiful little daughter pleading with me to let her into the school where the children are. I remember being on the other side of the fence during my own abominable school years wishing I could get out.
The Cook, but not Captain Cook.
Amazing autumn in the Botanic Garden.
I could never tire of these beaches.
Stood up... in North Road.
On the Pineapple.
A peaceful morning at the waterfront.
Some time ago, I wrote about "the importance of Devil as The Phantom's confidant, comrade-in-arms, and right-hand man. (Or right-hand wolf, if you prefer.)"
The Phantom has proven time and again his mastery of the urban environment; yet, equally proven is how much his continued survival depends upon the faithful Devil.
It's a dangerous life, but the relationship is not entirely one-sided. More than once, The Ghost Who Walks has risked everything to save Devil.
And Devil gets to travel the world, having all sorts of adventures, when he's not running alongside The Phantom's horse in the jungle or chasing rabbits.
Thanks to Devil, the thugs of the disgraced General Bababu fail in their attempt to kill The Phantom. It's only a short time later that Devil gets the chance to save his master again, as they trail General Bababu's daughter, Lila.
WRITER: Lee Falk
ARTIST: Sy Barry
