TPH Exclusive: Novel by Lee Falk - The Story of the Phantom

Few phans know that between 1972 and 1975, Avon publications in USA had brought out a series of Phantom books (novels, not comics). Total 15 books were released in the series out of which some were written by Lee Falk himself and others were done by ghost writers for him. [Ghost writing on ghost who walks. Funny, isn't it? :-)]

The covers for the series were created by George Wilson, who was also attached with Gold Key publications and had previously illustrated several excellent Phantom covers for them.

While most of the books in this series are regarded as just average by the literary perspective, those written by Falk himself are considered better works.


A look at the covers.

01 The story of the Phantom	02 The Slave Market of Mucar	03 The Scorpia Menace
04 The Veiled Lady	05 The Golden Circle	06 The Myserious  Ambassador
07 The Mystery of the Sea Horse	08 The Hydra Monster	09 Killer's Town
10 The Goggle-Eyed Pirates	11 The Swamp Rats	12 The Vampires and the Witch
13 The Island of Dogs	14 The Assasins	15 The Curse of the Two-Headed Bull

Of the above, No. 1, 6, 9, 12 and 15 are written by Lee Falk. Remaining are the works of Basil Copper (2, 3), Frank S. Shawn (4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11), Warren Shanahan (13) and Carson Bingham (14).


The name of Falk was so sellable in those days that all the books bore his name on their covers. A small difference, his own writing shows the caption 'by Lee Falk' while others do not show the names of the real authors but simply say 'Lee Falk original story'.

I got a few of these in electronic form at net. Someone had scanned and OCRed them but the formatting was not really good. So I had to spend some time in improving the readability of the works and to give them a proper shape. Now it is in the form of a 92 page PDF file at A4 page size. Those with a laser printer at their disposal may like to have a print copy. So, I am posting the first novel in the series here.

Download Lee Falk's Novel, The Story of the Phantom

About the book

(Taken from the wikipedia page for this book)

Plot:

The book tells the story about Kit Walker, son of the 20th Phantom, who will one day grow up to take over the mantle from his father and become the 21st Phantom.

The book starts with Kit's birth in the Skull Cave. Several chapters are dedicated to him growing up in the Bangalla jungle, where the readers get to see events and lessons that shape him to the man he will once become.

When Kit reaches the age of 12, he travels to Clarksville, USA, to receive a proper education (it is a tradition in the Phantom family that the children are sent away to their mother's homeland for education). Kit lives with his mother's sister and her husband in Clarksville.

Kit is a brilliant student, and receives excellent grades in every subject. Kit proves to be a talented sportsman, and is predicted to become the world champion of a number of different genres (he even knocks out the boxing champion of the world in a match when the champion visits Clarksville.

Kit also meets his future wife-to-be, Diana Palmer, on a Christmas party on his school.

Despite being able to choose practically any career he wants, Kit faithfully returns to Bengalla to take over the role of the Phantom when he receives word from his childhood friend Guran that his father, the 20th Phantom, is dying from wounds he received in a battle with pirates trying to rob a jungle hospital.

Inspirations:

Falk based the book of his own comic strip story "Childhood of the Phantom". Several flashbacks to the adventures of earlier Phantoms are also taken from comic strip stories.