80th Anniversary of The Phantom

[UltraMarginal]

I don't know how many people here will care but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Yesterday the 17th of February is the 80th anniversary of the first publication of the Phantom comic.

It's the longest running comic strip in the world and also the first superhero strip.

Here is a Press Release from King Features, the license holder to the phantom.

I've been collecting phantom comics by Frew here in Australia since the mid 90's. with only a few years break when I was at uni and didn't have the cash to get them regularly.

[The_Black_Sheep]

Yeah I read this the other day in the history bit in the Telegraph as well. Even though I don't buy comics, I've been reading the strips in the Tele every day for years & I luv it! With all these Superhero movies lately, I can only hope they'll make a new Phantom movie (a movie that does him justice - that Billy Zane movie was absolutely atrocious...)

That press release also mentioned a 2010 4-part miniseries on the SyFy channel - Have you seen it? Was it any good?

[Ralph Wiggum]

Used to collect them for a good 5-6 years then eventually stopped. I quite liked the series, they don't seem as pompous or wordy as a lot of other, mainly US comics. Classic Lee Falk strips were the best.

[UltraMarginal]

when the movie came out I really liked it, all except for the 'magical skulls of Tuganda' elements which I felt didn't fit in the quasi-realistic world of the phantom. I wasn't a super big fan of his costume either. It's got a pretty good musical score too if you can get hold of it.

the only Television appearance of the phantom I've ever seen was in the Defenders of the earth. I am yet to watch either the series you mentioned or the phantom 2040, and after listening to the review of it on the X-Band podcast I am quite interested in getting hold of it.

I too would love to see another phantom movie, especially if produced with the integrity of the more recent marvel Studios movies.

[griffin]

I remember the Phantom being on the 80s cartoon "Defenders of the Earth"... which was a bit of a mixed bag of heroes from their own comics like the Avengers Movies.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenders_of_the_Earth

[BigTransformerTrev]

I have absolutely no idea why but when I saw the thread title '80th Anniversary of the' I thought the next words were going to read 'Police Academy Movies'

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

I remember the Phantom being on the 80s cartoon "Defenders of the Earth"... which was a bit of a mixed bag of heroes from their own comics like the Avengers Movies.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenders_of_the_Earth

That was a such a cool show! With a kick-ass theme as well!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMKBQ3uu1Tc

[griffin]

The theme-song was pretty catchy... I still remember it 30 years later (it was a 1986 cartoon).

Ming's evil computer was called Octon, and I always thought that it would be a great Transformers name.

[Paulbot]

The theme-song was pretty catchy... I still remember it 30 years later (it was a 1986 cartoon).

Me too. For some reason the line "Master of magic spells and illusions, enemies tremble in fear and confusion" is one that often pops into my head at random times.

[CHILENO20]

Me too. For some reason the line "Master of magic spells and illusions, enemies tremble in fear and confusion" is one that often pops into my head at random times.

Mandrake!