Haunted by Phantom's ghost, hypnotized by Mandrake's magic

Raju Korti
The wise have always characterized old age as a period of second childhood and childish behavior. Fast approaching that age, I am showing symptoms of that relapse. For the past few weeks I have been possessed by the desire of revisiting what I consider as the most absorbing part of my childhood. Much before I entered the threshold of high school, it was about the days when our interests lay as much with reading as playing outdoors. And we were treated to the very best and creative.

As friends we pooled and shared story books and cartoons almost on a daily basis. From the likes of illustrated "Chandoba" to "Kumar" (both Marathi) and "Lotpot" (Hindi) to Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte and Austen and a host of story-tellers, our interests epicentered on cartoon strips made immortal by two legendary characters that seemed very real despite being larger-than-life.

One was the Phantom -- the Ghost Who Walks and the other; Mandrake the Magician. These two occupied bulk of our mindscape and defined recreation and leisure in their truest sense. Published as Indrajaal Comics, these were beautifully illustrated cartoon books that took less than no time to catapult Phantom and Mandrake as more than superheroes in our juvenile minds. Paying for a regular subscription was economically not viable for most of us. We struck a deal where one of us would buy a copy of the month and share it with others. Those who subscribed and got it delivered at home were a case of neighbour's-envy-owner's-pride. I particularly recall how low I felt while begging a Phantom book from a classmate who would act pricey before giving it to us condescendingly. Occasionally, dad would buy for me and I preserved those more jealously than a woman does her jewellery.

The lasting value with Phantom and Mandrake was phenomenal. Having read the next few months issues, it was an abiding pleasure to revisit the old ones to be read and enjoyed anew. The tall athletic figure of Phantom, his googles, his ring that left his stamp on the villains and above all the mystic and intrigue around his persona was compelling and spell-binding. It was difficult to exorcise the Phantom  ghost so much so that even his wife with hour-glass figure, Diana Palmer appealed to our juvenile senses. In his faithful lackey Gurran, we all saw the Ramukaka of Hindi films.

Close on the heels came Mandrake the Magician and his Mr Rippling Muscles side-kick Lothar. Far removed from the arcane charm of Phantom, Mandrake was a parallel superhero whose entrancing charms not only swept off his rivals, it also charmed us like facts being stranger than the fiction. Mandrake's prowess as magician had an inventory in Lothar and I remember nursing desires to have those muscles of steel.

It wasn't until we had added a couple of more years to our puerile minds that our attention was cornered by the creators of these two imposing characters -- Lee Falk and Sy Barry. In my view both had an enormous competition from William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry, George Remi's Tin Tin and Rene Goscinny's Asterisk -- the common chord being all coming from the American stable. Lee Falk was the object of our worship because Phantom and Mandrake were the best gifts at that age. The intense urge to revisit those cartoon books and partake of that preoccupation is a testimony -- if it is needed -- that the magic spell cast by Phantom and Mandrake hasn't depreciated with the passage of decades. Lee Falk lapsed into history in 1999 but his creations come with an ageless appeal.

Falk's own life and works are stuff folklores are made of. You have to hand it to anyone whose imaginary characters could reach an estimated 200 million homes every day. Come to think of it, Falk himself a great artist, drew these characters from the influences at home. To catapult them to such heights needs sheer genius. When Falk began his comic strip and comic book writing and drawing career , his official biography claimed that he was a seasoned world traveler who was well versed with Eastern mystics. When we realized that Falk had simply made it up to seem more like the right kind of person to be writing about globe-trotting heroes like the Phantom and Mandrake, our admiration turned into reverence. His trip to New York city to pitch Mandrake the Magician for publication by the King Features Syndicate was at that time the farthest that he had traveled from home. It amused us no end that to avoid the embarrassment of his bluff being called, Falk traveled the world in the later half of his life.

I am of the firm belief that childhood influences come without an expiry date. Falk had a fascination for stage magicians ever since he was a boy. By his own admission, he sketched the first few Mandrake  comic strips himself. When asked why his mind-son magician looked so much like himself, he is reputed to have said "Well of course, he had to. I was alone in a room with mirror when I drew him."  

Soon we found out that Phantom was inspired by Falk's fascination for myths and legends, such as the ones about El Cid, King Arthur, Nordic and Greek folklore heroes and popular fictional characters like "Tarzan" and "Mowgli" from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book". There was an Indian element as well as he was also drawn by the Thugs of India, and hence based his first Phantom comic on the "Singh Brotherhood". Falk originally considered the idea of calling his character "The Gray Ghost", but finally preferred "The Phantom". Falk must have been surprised that his comic strips that he thought would last a few weeks at best would eventually have the world in a thrall. He wrote them for more than six decades, until the last days of his life.

When Falk died this month in 1999, I remember we friends had observed a two-minute mourning and had watched a CD of "The Phantom" the movie that starred Billy Zane. With all those memories gushing forth, I am once again overtaken by that urge to lapse into those times again. For someone who always squeezes out time to scour old book shops including the sellers on Mumbai's pavements, I have found that Phantom and Mandrake have vanished from their shelf. Online sellers have limited editions and most of them in English. I was more into Marathi versions.

It would be well worthwhile for the times Group that brought out the Indrajaal Comics to rejuvenate them and bring them back to today's generation sold out on phone games and repetitive cartoon channels. I have little idea of the nitty gritty this would entail but the thought is worth the try. If not today's children, I -- like countless of my ilk -- would grab those legendary cartoon books in our second childhood. 

By the way, Lee Falk would have been 111 in April 2022. Falk is history but Phantom and Mandrake will remain contemporary. Ask Tom & Jerry, Tin Tin and Asterisk. Even they will vouch for them in their immortality.