The Phantom 27: Past year recap.

The Phantom comic posts from the past year are listed here, along with the title of each story and original publication date.

The Phantom 1: Spank me if you dare!
The Governor's Family (1951)

The Phantom 2: Don't you think I'm pretty?
The Lady Luck (1948)

The Phantom 3: That's the only real magic.
The Betrothal (1959)

The Phantom 4: Now I think I know what bravery is.
The Movie Stars (1950)

The Phantom 5: They belong to all mankind.
Alexander's Diamond Cup (1970)

The Phantom 6: Make it eleven cows.
The Rope People (1951)

The Phantom 7: The dog goes with me.
Little Toma (1937)

The Phantom 8: Just going for a stroll.
Adventure in Algiers (1938)

The Phantom 9: Don't ever touch me again!
Return to Tarakimo (1978)

The Phantom 10: Let go of the lady.
The Bad Ones (1964)

The Phantom 11: Devil goes to work.
The Mysterious Girl (1939)

The Phantom 12: I was hired to work.
The Normal Life (1974)

The Phantom 13: A man with muscles of steel.
The Mysterious Girl (1939)

The Phantom 14: Is there trouble in here?
The Bike Gang (1972)

The Phantom 15: I never kid.
The Bike Gang (1972)

The Phantom 16: They mean business!
The Tiger Girl (1951)

The Phantom 17: It fits me perfectly!
The Female Phantom (1952)

The Phantom 18: What happened?
The Wharf Rats (1962)

The Phantom 19: Who are you?
The Singh Brotherhood (1936)

The Phantom 20: A real, man-sized wallop!
The Wild Girl (1945)

The Phantom 21: I'm more your size!
A Lesson For Prince Orq (1957)

The Phantom 22: A man... in the royal harem!
The Curse of the Sacred Image (1974)

The Phantom 23: Well done, O Ghost Who Walks.
A Lesson For Prince Orq (1957)

The Phantom 24: I'll throw him out myself.
The Mob (1954)

The Phantom 25: You lose.
Return to Tarakimo (1978)

The Phantom 26: A rose-covered cottage...
The Normal Life (1974)

Around and about in the last day or three

Springtime in my neighbourhood.

When I was a young kid, my Nana always used to have Maltexo in the cupboard for a treat, and didn't we grandkids just love it! You can still see it on the supermarket shelves today.

The reason Dunedin people are so fit.

Just an average Dunedin street, on the banks of a green hill...

Sunday walking at Flagstaff Creek

Gorse and broom can be beautiful. On a hot day, the fragrance from broom can be quite heady.

The magnificent pines.

The lush beauty of the ferns in Dunedin's forests.

Deep in the woods.

Growing up alongside the creek.

An old water race wheel.

Friday hike up Mt Cargill

A view from the top.

Looking along the side of the mountain.

As mentioned by Dave Brown, the information plaque at the summit has been vandalised. The inner part of the disc seems porous, so the cretin who did this may have ruined it once and for all.

A little bridge on the trail up from Bethunes Gully.

The Phantom 26: A rose-covered cottage...

WRITER: Lee Falk

ARTIST: Sy Barry

Well, this post marks exactly one year of The Dad Who Walks, with a Phantom entry every fortnight for all of that time.

Like The Ghost Who Walks, I will take some time "to think... to make a decision..." about whether or not I will continue with the blog.

In the meantime, I will leave you with this excerpt from the prologue of one of The Phantom's oddest adventures, and one of my favourites.

I doubt that any boys' adventure comic was ever so explicit in presenting to its impressionable readers the horrors of married life and domesticity that lay in wait to snare their hero.

For a boy, it's a no-brainer. Either you can travel the world with a wolf for a friend, being chased by brazen hussies, shooting off guns and beating up bullies, and commanding a deadly pigmy army as Ruler of the Jungle... Or you can get married, work in an office all day, then come home to change nappies, wash the dishes, and mow the lawn...

Yes, it's a tough one, I know!

Railway Station

The Taieri Road

The Phantom 25: You lose.

The Phantom and I experience strikingly similar problems with women, especially when travelling alone... but he handles it with so much more aplomb.

WRITER: Lee Falk

ARTIST: Sy Barry

City Road station

Depot

DSC-W180

Towards Prospect

The Phantom 24: I'll throw him out myself.

There's little doubt Kit Walker could have been a success at anything he tried, had he not entered the family business of fighting pirates and helping the oppressed.

For instance, he would have made a crackerjack door-to-door salesman...

WRITER: Lee Falk

ARTIST: Wilson McCoy