The Phantom - The Charlton Years Volume Three!

The Phantom - The Charlton Years Volume Three offers up more vintage Pat Boyette artwork. For all the glory that other artists get (from me and others) for their work on the Charlton Phantom run, it was 
Boyette who was the workhorse, cranking out a total of twenty-one issues for two and a half years. 

The majority of the Boyette issues contained multiple stories, but issue forty-eight's "The Man of Destiny" likely written by Joe Gill was a yarn that took up the whole issue. We meet a young man named Hokana who leaves the jungle to get an education in the outside world and there he comes into contact with people who want to use him to undermine the traditional culture of his people with talk of politics and such. There's a suggestion they are Commies, but it's kind of vague. But Hokana is resistant and with the help of the Phantom is able to fend off this foreign threat to his people. 

"The Hostage" kicks off the next issue as the book returns to its regular three-stories an issue format. The hostage is of course Diana Palmer, drawn again a bit off model who is taken by dimwits who don't realize what they've brought down on themselves.  "A Better Way" showcases a young lad named Jelrami who is saved by the Phantom but injured. He's sent to the outside world where he falls victim to evil influences and returning to Deep Woods seeks to undermine the Phantom's authority.  "The Intruders" is the tale of an earlier Phantom who found himself battling strange creatures from another world. They are overly confident when it comes to Earthlings and the Ghost Who Walks takes advantage. 

"The Fire Gods" kicks off the fiftieth issue of The Phantom and features astronauts returning from a Moon mission who accidently land in the middle of the jungle and a hostile tribe. The Phantom though has the right stuff and is able to save the day. "No Gratitude" has the Phantom pursuing a small-time thief into the deadly jungle and it's a real test of a true nature of the man when the Phantom require help in a mortal situation. "The Lost Legion" is a story right out of the pages of an Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, as the Phantom finds a forgotten valley and a forgotten society straight out of Roman times. For the record, this is the last issue of The Phantom produced under the auspices of Sal Gentile. 

The next issue of The Phantom introduces us to Rex, the Phantom's nephew and his friend Tomm. In the story "A Broken Vow" the two young boys are kidnapped by a resentful native whom the Phantom has already run out of the area once. The Phantom has to battle a crocodile to save them. The boys attempt to help an elephant named King in the story "Captive King". The beast is trapped by the Wambesi who seek not only capture the elephant but the Rex and Tomm as well. "The Treasure Room" guest stars Diana Palmer who searches for the lost city of Lak and finds it. But she also finds villains who have located the remote place to plunder it. George Wildman takes over as editor of the Charlton line. And it seems to me that we get more robust credits with this change over. 

"Lost in the Land of the Lost" is credited to Joe Gill as is one other story in this issue. It's assumed that Gill wrote most if not all of these Phantom tales, though the credits are vague. Rex and Diana find a lost temple and once again encounter plunderers who kidnap them. But they are able to help themselves as the Ghost Who Walks arrives to assist. "A World Away" has the treasure of the Bandar stolen yet again, this time with the seeming assistance of Diana. The Phantom has to travel to civilization to find the crooks and his love to why she betrayed him.  "Revenge of the Singh Pirates" brings back the Phantom's original enemies, This time they want to steal ivory from a village, but the Phantom is one step ahead as usual. 

"The Looters" has the treasure of the Bandar stolen still another time. (This is getting a bit repetitive.) Once again, the Phantom travels to civilization, this time to France to find the looters, a man named Marcel and his girlfriend Jeanne. "The Do-Gooders" echoes an earlier story as well, as a social worker arrives to help the Shivi tribe and gives them modern appliances like washing machines and weapons as well. The Phantom is resistant and there is more than a whiff of a demeaning attitude for traditional ways on all sides. "The Outlaw's Herd" sees an elephant called Kaswili on the rampage. The Phantom has to get to the bottom of this and to do so has to consult the chronicles which document an earlier event in which the Phantom helped the creature. 

"Killers in the Mist" takes the Phantom to London to confront thieves who once again have plundered the Bandar treasure. (This is turning into the easiest treasure to steal I've come across.) The Phantom confronts pea-soup fog and a Brit named Lord Percy. There's also a dangerous Dragon Lady of sorts on hand. "The Angry Gods" is about a temple which is desecrated by a movie crew despite multiple warnings from the Phantom. He also gets distracted by a lovely actress named Regina Shaw. "Master of Evil" has the Phantom battling an evil native named Wazuli who is able to marshal the very animals of the jungle to his corrupt cause. 

"The Black Blight" has the Phantom on the desert where he is battling a vile oil tycoon named Tokulis, who is building oil wells with no regard to the water underground. The Phantom frees the tribal leaders who are being held captive and turns the tables on this rogue. "A Far-Off Drum" gets mystical when the Phantom gives Diana a small drum to signal him from great distances. When she is waylaid by villains seeking archeological treasure, she is able to send a message via the drum to bring the Phantom to her side. "A Thief in the Night" is about the Bandar treasure once again being stolen. This time the Bandar have taken charge of it, since I guess they got tired of it getting stolen from the Skull Cave time and time again. The thief though has pure motivations. 

The final issue in this collection, number fifty-six begins with "Jungle Madness" which has the animals of the jungle getting ferocious. The Phantom is attacked by an elephant, an ape, a hawk, and even Hero gets nasty. Turns out it's a chemical in the water put there by a scientist and a villain named Boonton. His plan, such as it is, is to run off all the animals and plunder the villages. "The Nazi Phantom" turns the clock back to World War II and another Phantom who pretends to sympathetic to the Nazi cause when a U-Boat turns up in the waters of Bengali. It's back to the present when in "The Chief Who Went Astray!" the Phantom has to rush home to contend with a villain who has seemingly corrupted an older chief is using heavy machinery slave labor to mine for Uranium. 

(Pat Boyette)

There is a sameness to the stories that is emphasized when you read them in quick succession as I've been doing. That the books were not intended to be consumed in that manner allows for some leniency on this, but nonetheless the crew at Charlton did seem to be cranking these out. Joe Gill famously writes quickly and Pat Boyette's artwork while remaining distinctive does show signs of wear from time to time. As has been noted before, the Phantom was one of Charlton's best-selling books, so I suppose this is why King Features was content, at least for a while, to leave things in the hands of the editors. That would change. More on that next time. 

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