The Phantom - The Madding Crowd, Part 6 (exposition again) - R.A. Wonsowski

This goes back to the hint from last week's episode, filling on some backstory on the mysterious black diamond....

Layout:

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The top of the gutter around the page should be the coastline of Bengalla, the Skull Cave in the top right corner. The rest of the gutters and the space between panels should be the greenish blue of the sea, but the further down the page we go, it should transition from blue-green to near black...

GUTTER CAPTION: 1890. Bengalla, Africa.

Panel 1 - The Professor and the Mercenary have found the legendary Heart of Darkness, a giant black diamond that fell from the stars long ago, in an empty cavern. The giant ebon stone is cradled in a makeshift stone rest. We have arrived mis-en-scene, as the Mercenary has just "ensured" that he is the only one to profit from the discovery, bloody machete in hand. The PHANTOM stands silhouetted in the mouth of the cavern.

PHANTOM: You!

Panel 2 - The PHANTOM leaps forward, and mightily THWAKs the Mercenary across the jaw with his fabled skull ring. And yet, the Mercenary still grins.

PHANTOM: You have no idea what you are dealing with.

MERCENARY: Ah, but I do.

Panel 3 - Wide panel - On the left, the PHANTOM in a menacing stance, one fist up ready to fight, the other hand pointing at the giant black diamond, which stands foreground and center panel. On the right, the Mercenary regains his footing, rubbing his jaw, but leaving his machete on the ground.

PHANTOM: This stone poisons my country from within! My people are sick from its darkness...

MERCENARY: I offer a way to heal your land and its people.

PHANTOM: This stone...it corrupts to the soul.

MERCENARY: I am already corrupt. And its power is too great to be left whole...

Panel 4 - Zoom in, and we are seeing through the black diamond, so everything has that warped glass look about it, and the colors are varying shades of violet, inked in midnight blue. The Mercenary has his hands wide apart and low, empty an nonthreatening. The PHANTOM lowers his guard.

MERCENARY: There is a man I know in London, a cutter. He will render it down to smaller stones, a thousand perfect shards.

Panel 5 - From over the Mercenary's shoulder, we see him offer his right hand to the PHANTOM, who wears a weary, saddened look upon his face as he considers the deal he is offered.

MERCENARY: I promise, no one man will possess them all. They will be scattered to the four corners of the globe.

MERCENARY: What do you say?

Panel 6 - A ramshackle steamer leaves the coast of Bengalla, thunderclouds in the sky. They cast a shadow over the left 2/3 of the face of the Skull Cave. The cloud can hint at the shape of the head and shoulders of the PHANTOM, a guilty posture that almost says "what have I done?"

CAPTION: So the Heart of Darkness was spirited out of Africa. And the Ghost Who Walks wept for the outside world...

...to be continued...

The Phantom - Fairy Tales - Travis M. Holyfield

Panel 1: Interior. Night. MR. COOPER sits in his office chair, behind a magnificent desk - the desk of a powerful and influential man. His corner office has floor to ceiling windows, and he has a magnificent view of the city. Cooper sits facing one of the windows, only the right side of his face visible to us in profile.
 
COOPER: It's a sound plan, Lawrence. But what about opposition? Do you propose to stride into Bangalla and take this treasure with no resistance?

Panel 2: LARRY stands facing Cooper's desk. He is wearing a suit, but it is crumpled and fits badly. He is trying (and failing) to maintain an aura of confidence in front of Cooper.

LARRY: What resistance, Mr. Cooper? It's a bunch of primitives with loincloths and spears.

Panel 3: Cooper at his desk again, still not looking directly at Larry, still only giving us that profile view of his right side. He has tented his fingers in front of his chin, thoughtful.
COOPER: It is said there are other things to fear in the jungles of  Bangalla than spears.

Panel 4: Larry shrugs, and tries on a casual smile.

LARRY: Seriously, sir? "The Ghost Who Walks?" It's a jungle boogeyman. A fairy tale!

Panel 5: Cooper's face has gone dark at Larry's last comment.

COOPER: Fairy tales, Lawrence?

COOPER: Like "Hansel and Gretyl"? Like "Little Red Riding Hood"?

COOPER: Do you know what a fairy tale is, Lawrence?

Panel 6: Cooper turns now to face Larry, and for the first time we see the left side of his face, a mass of scars circulating out from the clear mark of a skull imprinted on his left cheek.
COOPER: A WARNING.

The Phantom – Bad Phantom – MK Stangeland Jr.

The following comic works a lot better if done in comic strip form than comic book form.

(4 Panels)

Panel 1: THE PHANTOM is standing with JOE EVERYMAN (a generic stand-in.) Next to PHANTOM is his wolf, DEVIL.

JOE EVERYMAN: Thank you for saving me, Phantom!

PHANTOM: You are welcome, citizen!

DEVIL: Ruff!

Panel 2: PHANTOM punches JOE EVERYMAN with his left fist.

PHANTOM: I shall now mark you with my seal of protection!

JOE EVERYMAN: UUFH!

Panel 3: PHANTOM leaps off-panel as JOE EVERYMAN keels over. DEVIL follows PHANTOM off-panel.

PHANTOM: Phantom AWAY!

DEVIL: BARK! BARK!

JOE EVERYMAN: [Angry Grumbling]

Panel 4: JOE EVERYMAN looks in a mirror at the mark PHANTOM left on him.

JOE EVERYMAN: [Angry Grumbling]

(END PAGE)

The Phantom - Legacy - Grant McLaughlin

1 - The Phantom walks across the room, one hand to his chin in classic thinking pose and the other behind his back.  The edge of a table is visible in the foreground of the panel.

THE PHANTOM: I'm not saying I haven't done great things or made a difference, but who am I to say what my son must or mustn't do?

2 - The Phantom is pacing back the other way, his fretting increasing - he now has one hand up on his head, as if he was passing it through his hair in confusion / desperation.

THE PHANTOM: What if he wants to be a doctor?  An artist?  A rock star?

3 - The Phantom is pacing back in his original way, clearly making little progress.  His hands are thrown up in despair,

THE PHANTOM (1): Why shouldn't he get the luxury to chose his own destiny simply because he was born to the Walker name?

DIANA (off-panel): Kit...

4 - Switch angles to the other side of the table.  Diana Palmer, wife of Kit Walker, sits at the table, feeding an obviously very young child who is sitting in a high chair next to her.  Kit Junior is not being incredibly cooperative in this goal, with food pretty much everywhere but in his mouth - this side of the room is messy.  Diana looks at Kit Senior with some bemused frustration.

DIANA: I think we have some time to consider the question.

The Phantom - Who Walks - Ben Rosenthal

1. A shady looking criminal is looking around, scared in a a dark room.  High in the rafters the white eyes of The Phantom can be seen by the reader, but not by the crim.

CRIM
Jim?  Mack?  Where are you?

CAPTION (Phantom)
A picture says a thousand words.


2.  The Crim is startled by a thud from behind him.  He doesn't know what it is.

sfx: THUD.

CRIM
GAH! Wh-who's there?

CAPTION (Phantom)
A ghost only needs one.


3.  A close up of the Crim's face, but only the left half is on panel.  It takes up half the panel.  The other half is made up of the Phantom's face whispering in the Crim's ear.  However it is darkened out, barely visible.

PHANTOM
Leave this place.

Now.

CAPTION (Phantom)
Fear.

The Phantom - Mistakes - Simon McDonald

PANEL ONE

Arthur Dalley (new character) is driving his decade-old sedan, on his way to a job interview. He’s dressed for success: suit and tie, hair swept back, shaven; but there’s no hiding the skull mark on his chin; an eternal consequence of the Phantom’s form of vengeance.

CAPTION: I made a mistake, and was punished for it. I did my time.

CAPTION: I was determined to make something better of my life.



PANELS TWO, THREE & FOUR
(These panels are of equal size. Dalley appears progressively more dishevelled, and crushed, through each one, as he is rebuffed by three different employers)

PANEL TWO CAPTION: I tried.

PANEL THREE CAPTION: I tried, damn it.

PANEL FOUR CAPTION: But they can’t see past the mark.



PANEL FIVE
Dalley is sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed in shorts and a singlet, a multitude of beer bottles and liquor bottles dotted around his filthy room. He is holding a revolver, staring at it like it has all the answers he needs.

CAPTION: They can’t see past the mistake.



PANEL SIX
The Phantom is standing in Dalley’s room, looking down on Dalley’s body. Blood has pooled on the floor. The Phantom is holding Dalley’s suicide note.

CAPTION: Can you see past yours?

Why The Phantom?

I never loved The Phantom like I did Batman and Superman, but as a kid, sometimes all I had was $1.50 in my pocket, which wasn’t enough for a DC or Marvel Comic, but was just right for a 32-page black-and-white Frew comics starring Lee Falk’s Ghost Who Walks. Over time I amassed quite the collection; even as I got older, I’d occasionally flip through the comics; while the stories were never deep or complex, some of the artwork was fabulous. 

Kit Walker is the 21st in a line of crime fighters that originated way back in 1536. The original Phantom, Christopher Walker, swore an oath on the skull of his father’s murderer following a brutal pirate attack, and established the legacy that would be carried down for generations, bringing to fruition the notion of The Phantom being an immortal ghost – “the Ghost Who Walks.”

I’ve never been totally enamoured with the storytelling presented in The Phantom comics I’ve read, but have always felt the character has a ton of potential to be modernized; not re-imagined, but refreshed, to bring new eyes to the character. Dynamite Entertainment attempted a revival several years ago; now it’s our chance.