Comic Book Reads: The Phantom by Lee Falk

The Phantom: Fighting crime since 1936

Before Superman and Batman, arrived the Phantom...

Did the creators of Superman and Batman borrow from Phantom's heroic features? 

May be they did, by the likes of it.    

Zero superpowers, full of grit, clearly wealthy, outlandish costumes, moral code, just like Batman. 

The ghost who walks...

Man who cannot die...

When the Phantom strikes, lightning stands still...

When the Phantom asks you answer...

Call the Phantom anywhere, and he will hear...(yes, even in regions without cellular network...)

Lee Falk's legendary crime-fighting vigilante, Phantom was an addictive, immersive comic book childhood hero, with an unending air of regality and mystery. 

A costume that fitted kiddie exagerration hand in glove, mesmerized females - only person supposed to see the Phantom without his mask is his wife, as he mischievously quips in one episode, even as the girlfriend (soon, wife to be) smiles away. Way to go Phantom, you smooth operator! 

The 1996 movie version poster

Adaptation hiccups 

Live action movie transition hasn't been smooth for the celebrated crime crusader. 

For one the purple spread is jarring in live action, certainly not a colour for camouflage, also the ears bulging out in certain adaptations is funny. The hero's enigma is lost in live action, masked face closing out most emotions.  

Having said that The Phantom (1996) seems like a good watch, will be doing a review soon on my blog, Movie Reviews, Mini.  

The animation adaptations have been great in some instances, particularly Phantom 2040, a superb well-written futuristic French-American TV series that aired between 1994-1996.    

Racial jibes? 

The eighties and the nineties were the golden age of comic book reading for me - exceptional, engaging stories, crackling dialogues, beautiful heroines, lavish colouring and illustrations, superb hero-villan face-off, cute, loyal pet animals and trademark mannerisms. 

It didn't occur to me then that underneath the costume, it was a first world white man saving the world from third world's darker-coloured villans (among others).  

In one's adolescent years, who thinks of that, and as comic book fiction, a lot of it is irreverent, bubblegum fun, apart from when the racist undertones are painfully obvious.

Phantom's wacky origins 

The back story for the ghost who walks...man who cannot die... is stuff of legend, classic comic book storytelling, with white supremacy splashes perhaps, you decide. 

Falk along with Ray Moore created a origin story that was often repeated in the initial frames of a new adventure, for those who came in late. 

Once upon a time, four hundred years ago, the sole survivor of a merchant ship attacked by pirates near the Bay of Bengal, washes up a remote shore, having witnessed the Singh pirates killing his father. The survivor is nursed back to health by natives.

Then many days later, a body washes up the shore dressed in his father's clothes! It's his father's murderer! 

Brazenly, I must say, the survivor takes an oath upon the murderer's skull to devote my life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty in all its forms, vowing that the eldest of each generation will succeed him as the next Phantom. 

Yet, common folk will think it is the same man, timelessly fighting crime across generations. I love that deceptive part, the fabulous, carefully manufactured and protected myth. 

To quote the comic strip: 

AS THE UNBROKEN LINE DOWN THROUGH THE CENTURIES, THE ORIENT BELIEVED IT WAS ALWAYS THE SAME MAN! THE MAN WHO COULD NOT DIE! SO THE LEGEND OF IMMORTALITY GREW! 

MOVING SILENTLY AND QUICKLY , THE PHANTOM WAS USUALLY KNOWN BY THE SIGN OF THE SKULL, HIS MARK, WHICH HE ALWAYS LEFT BEHIND HIM! 

TODAY, AS ALWAYS BEFORE, STRIKING SUDDENLY, MYSTERIOUSLY, THE PHANTOM WORKS ALONE!

Yes, with the same bold emphasis and specifically underlined text. 

It did make me groovy to think that the Phantom worked alone, now it seems a bit sad, a kind of self-imposed social qarantine, even though the present Phantom, Kit Walker, has it all, gorgeous, intelligent wife, two lovely kids, thus ensuring employment to future Phantom artists and gifting bloodline continuity to the next Phantom generation. 

Did I mention, a cosy skull home deep in the jungle, away from the dreary city pollution with definitely no mortgage, skull ring to leave a mark on his enemies, comfy skull throne, well-guarded secret identity (Hush! Only you and me know!), two faithful animals (Hero, his white steed, more on Devil later) and a protective African tribe. 

What more does a crimefighting comic book hero need?   

Ultra cool Phantom moment       

My all-time favourite Phantom moment: 

When airplane authorities don't allow his dog, Devil, into the passenger aircraft as it is against the rules, the Phantom utters with gentle dark sunglasses-adorned relish, "He is a wolf, not a dog."

The authorities, baffled and stunned, allow Devil in. 

When the Phantom requests, you comply.

Thank you Lee Falk, and if legend has to be believed, hospitalized before his death in March 1999, Falk narrated the latest Phantom episode to his wife Elizabeth, while tearing off his oxygen mask to do so. 

Now there's a hero! 

(Article by Snehith Kumbla) 

Short Story Reads: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Gifted with an elegance remeniscient of Anita Desai and glowingly compassionate, Jhumpa Lahiri's debut collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies (1999) still eminates with delicate, beautifully carved keen insights. 

Indians living overseas are pivotal to most of the gathered tales.  

A Temporary Matter is about five days of a one-hour power cut and how it causes a young couple to converse and reflect. The premise may seem ordinary, but Lahiri weaves lively stems of thoughts, imagery and conversations to carve out the intricacies of a fragile marriage.

Tonight with no lights, they would have to eat together. For months now they'd served themselves from the stove, and he'd taken his plate into his study, letting the meal grow cold on his desk before shoving it into his mouth without pause, while Shoba took her plate to the living room and watched game shows, or proofread files with her arsenal of colored pencils at hand. 

- Excerpt from A Temporary Matter

When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine is a weaved mix of history, house guests and human tenderness in a heartfelt tale. The blood-splattering formation of Bangladesh is a moving canvas to this account of families, geographies, meetings and partings. 

Jhumpa Lahiri (file photo)

Interpreter of Maladies is about unique human connections and separations, rarely explored in a short story, loosely parallel to the universal spirit in Rabindranath Tagore's writings. Rich in descriptive prose, the oddities of bonding in transit are magnificently explored, a story that places Lahiri among  the best short story specialists.

The vulnerable life of the downtrodden is given strong emphasis and sensitivity in A Real Durwan. A powerful yet understated turn, a social take that evokes sympathy without any exagerrated drama.  

Stunning debut collection 

The other stories offer unique insights and perspectives into contrasting lives, different cultures, complexities of human relationships, expressed in graceful, unblinking, lush, intelligent detail. 

The publication lead to deserving rave reviews, with Lahiri gaining prominence as an important literary voice over subsequent decades.   

If I were to look for enhancements, would be more infusions of lightness and humour. But these are merely afterthoughts, for the writer's hold on her craft is exemplary throughtout, haven't read anything as fluid in ages. 

As if  Lahiri was destined to echo, amplify the voice of immigrants and the disowned through her yarns. 

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)

Jhumpa Lahiri photographed for Financial Times article (2019)

Non-Fiction Reads: Sholay: The Making of a Classic by Anupama Chopra

The first time I saw Sholay (1975) was on national television in the late nineties. It was also the first time the movie was telecast on Indian television, I found out later. 

Sholay never felt four-odd hours long on that first viewing. I mourned a major character's death way past the end credits, and an unbreakable fan-movie bond was forged.

Sholay (Embers) has the epic wide landscape features of Sergio Leone westerns and is yet endearingly Indian in its earthiness, dialogues, acting style, song and dance sequences. There haven't been many befitting mixed genre, adventure, buddy movie experiences like Sholay in popular Indian cinema.     

The movie still holds my cinematic imagination and I am a huge fan now of its filminess, well-moulded Western elements, imperfections, memorable dialogues, detailed train robbery scene (standout action sequence), overdone water tank top jokes, largely sturdy acting, good music, and popcorn-crunching screenplay. 

So much that I run a blog, Sholayism and was among the select few who saw Sholay in 3D at the theatres, on its limited one week run.

Unexpected,fun stories 

Sholay: The Making of a Classic (2000) was a story screaming out loud to be told and Anupama Chopra tells it with spunk and great enthusiasm. An exclusive collection of colour and black & white photographs also decorate the pages. 

Each chapter is wackily titled after a popular Sholay dialogue. The anecdotes are well spaced out, aptly arranged chronologically, and ending with an actor breaking down on realizing the magnitude of his popularity.

How did a lead actor lose out on a great opportunity, what was it about the Salim-Javed writing pair, the unlikely outdoor location in Karnataka, a villian who everybody had their doubts on, how the dialogue audio cassettes sold more than the soundtrack, why the director-cinematographer chemistry is so important, among many other interesting tales, when shooting a magnum opus was a daunting challenge, than it is today.    

If you immensely love movies, you will love discovering how much passion, madness, technicalities, patience and self-belief goes into creating a landmark cinematic experience.

(Article by Snehith Kumbla)