The tale of Lee Falk’s Phantom begins in 1536, with a young man named Christopher Walker, who serves above a British merchant ship captained by his father. The ship is attacked by pirates and set alight off the coast of Bangalla, East Africa. Christopher, only 20 years old, is the sole survivor.
Christopher is washed ashore and found by members of the local Bandar pygmy tribe who nurse him back to health. While he is recovering, he walks the beach near where he was found and discovers the skeletal remains of a body: the pirate who killed his father. He takes the skull of the pirate and swears an oath on it:
“I swear to devote my life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty, and injustice, in all their forms, and my sons and their sons shall follow me!”
The Phantom is thought to be the same immortal man down through time, a Ghost Who Walks, the Man Who Cannot Die, but the Chronicles tell of early deaths for many a Phantom. Only two of 21 Phantoms lived long enough to see 50.
Today, Kit Walker is the 21st Phantom. He lives in the same Skull Cave that has been the home to generations of Phantoms. He still follows Christopher’s Oath of the Skull: protecting people around the world from despots, traffickers, and thieves of all stripes.
Classic heroes fight for what’s right. They confront criminals in the jungle, on the high seas and in cities around the world.