Disappointed in The Phantom
By
DumpleBerry,
Posted on: 2010-11-29 10:00 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
The reason for the glacially slow pace of newspaper comic strips is b/c most scripts only really advance the story on Sunday - the day they can count on the most readers. Mon thru Sat are just basically filler.
"Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to change themselves." -Tolstoy
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Not really. They run two stories: one on Monday through Saturday and a separate Sunday strip. (I assume this is because some papers only carry it on Sunday.) I'd expect the Sunday-only storyline to move slower. It's the storytelling during the week that seems really draggy to me.
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Originally Posted by GATE-keeper
The reason for the glacially slow pace of newspaper comic strips is b/c most scripts only really advance the story on Sunday - the day they can count on the most readers. Mon thru Sat are just basically filler.
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Still, a 3/4 panel weekday strip will usually be in the format of;
Panel 1) repeat of previous last panel, maybe from a different viewpoint
Panel 2/3) something new story related
Panel 4) either something new story related or micro cliffhanger for a fight scene
rinse and repeat. Can't really move the story along quickly that way. One reason I don't read Spider-man, The Phantom or Flash Gordon anymore. I use to eat them up, including Dick Tracy, when I was a kid, now it's just to glacially slow.
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The obvious solution is to learn Swedish. The Phantom is a much more popular figure in Scandinavia than in the USA, with 1600 issues of the The Phantom comic book published since 1950 with more than 900 stories published (most of which are easily available in various form of reprints and collections).
Maybe we're reading different versions of the Phantom.
The Phantom I read is currently raiding a third-world prison where his wife has been held captive. Chatu the Python faked Diana's death to destroy the Phantom's will, after he determined his civilian identity and menaced his family. Right now it's just the Phantom and Diana on a stolen horse vs. about one hundred prison guards. Meanwhile, the Phantom's comfort girlfriend from when Diana was presumed dead (the Phantom never "cheated," but Diana has been dead for a loooong time) is shelling the prison from her pirate-hunting battleship. Soon to come: letting Chatu live was the Phantom's cold sentence. How will the Phantom deal with Chatu, a man who not only knows his secrets but has demonstrated the ability to reach any member of the Walker clan. This larger arc has been going on for FOREVER and Diana has been reduced to a head-shaved, diseased, skeletal inmate. It's pretty wild and innovative to see something like this on the comic page, vs. the usual milieu of Peter Parker alternately napping/complaining that there isn't anything on television or that he can't reach the remote.
The Phantom, Dick Tracy solving every crime by horribly murdering the perpetrator in horrific fashion (eaten by wild lions, thrown into a running plane propeller), and Mark Trail's "I WILL KICK YOUR *** IN THE NAME OF MOTHER NATURE" are just about the only novelty/entertainment that remains on the sad, sad comic spread.
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Your description of the storyline actually sounds much better to me than when I was reading the original. It's not the concept of the storyline I object to as much as its execution.|
Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Maybe we're reading different versions of the Phantom.
The Phantom I read is currently raiding a third-world prison where his wife has been held captive. Chatu the Python faked Diana's death to destroy the Phantom's will, after he determined his civilian identity and menaced his family. Right now it's just the Phantom and Diana on a stolen horse vs. about one hundred prison guards. Meanwhile, the Phantom's comfort girlfriend from when Diana was presumed dead (the Phantom never "cheated," but Diana has been dead for a loooong time) is shelling the prison from her pirate-hunting battleship. Soon to come: letting Chatu live was the Phantom's cold sentence. How will the Phantom deal with Chatu, a man who not only knows his secrets but has demonstrated the ability to reach any member of the Walker clan. This larger arc has been going on for FOREVER and Diana has been reduced to a head-shaved, diseased, skeletal inmate. It's pretty wild and innovative to see something like this on the comic page, vs. the usual milieu of Peter Parker alternately napping/complaining that there isn't anything on television or that he can't reach the remote. |
For example, after the Phantom learned that Diana might still be alive, he went to the prison to investigate. He managed to check all the cells but one before an interruption forces his departure. Of course, this last cell held Diana. He decides to go back and check out that last cell and finally finds Diana alive.
That whole sequence just seemed contrived to me. "Oh, she's in the last cell." "Oh, the Phantom has to leave before he can check out the last cell." "Oh, he's going back in again to make sure." "Oh, he's finally found her." To me, it seemed like a heavy-handed way to fill up another week's worth of strips.
I agree that it could be very interesting to see how the Phantom deals with this existential threat to his family and identity. I just hope that the execution is as good as the concept. Up to this point, I've found it very flat.
I've lately become very disappointed with The Phantom newspaper strip. My two biggest complaints are the glacially slow pacing and the lack of action.
Storylines take forever to play out. It seems like the writer is intentionally dragging things out in order to fill up space. And when the story finally does reach a dramatic climax, the action either takes place out-of-sight or is just plain dull.
The character is roughly 70 years old and originated many of the tropes now associated with comic heroes, such as wearing tights and having eyes disappear behind the character's mask. I guess it's hard to maintain a high level of quality after so long.
It's kind of sad to see a once-great character reduced to mediocrity. I'll continue reading it because there aren't many heroic comic strips left anymore, but without enthusiasm. I wish The Ghost Who Walks would walk a little faster.