I keep saying I’m going to write about the Sunday narrative, then I look at it and, well… this story’s not quite on the cusp of commentary; something’s about to happen that really ought to happen before I say anything at all about it. So for now, know that Jeff Weigel’s doing his usual outstanding work, some of his best ever, and we’re going to get to it.
As for this morning, here’s a bit more on what we talked about in October with the Wrack and Ruin saga, the narrative running in the Monday-through-Saturday strip.
I’ve been writing the story on a serial basis. I have notes on where the closing chapters are likely to go, and how they might get there, but we’ll see. When I sit down to write the story in script format it may choose to sort itself out in an entirely unforeseen way. These things have a life of their own.
On the material I have scripted, I’m pretty far ahead of the reader at this point, maybe 35 weeks or so.
Back when Lee Falk was writing the Phantom, and in the early years after the job fell to me, you could generally count on three stories a year on the daily side, two in the Sunday strip. I started breaking that mold a dozen or more years ago and have broken it big time with the Wrack and Ruin saga. Which is all to the good, I think, given that stasis is the death of everything. I want to thwart predictability in both narrative form and the narrative itself.
This displeases some readers, but that’s all right. Change-resistant personalities have their say in all things, business, culture, politics, the arts, and yet the world is always moving from here to there. And when the new there becomes the here, it moves on yet again. Get used to it.
This isn’t an easy tale to read two and three panels at a time. When overseas publishers reprint it in comic books or trade paperbacks, I hope a certain aesthetic dimension might become more apparent. Readers might more readily see the shape of the narrative, where it folds in to reorient the reader, and where it opens up to get its arms around the big central settings in both timelines, Gravelines Prison, the Indian Himalayas…
The late Paul Ryan and I created Gravelines in 2009 as exactly that sort of big stage, a sprawling place measured in square miles: the central prison complex, guard towers around the inner wire, prison farmlands, grasslands and jungle scrub beyond, stretching to a distant outer wire and a perimeter security road beyond it.
It took Old Man Mozz almost 15 months to tell the prophecy of the Phantom freeing Savarna, and all consequences stemming therefrom. Those strips were published from June 30, 2021 through September 17, 2022.
Shortly thereafter, the Phantom set out for Gravelines in the flesh. Since then, we’ve seen some things happen exactly as Mozz said they would.
And some haven’t. Which is as it must be, given that the Phantom knows the prophecy now. The last time we saw him at Gravelines (with Mozz narrating) he knew a prophecy existed but hadn’t stopped long enough to hear Mozz tell it.
Now the Phantom has heard the tale.
Devil wasn’t at Gravelines in the prophecy but here he is now. What might it change, if anything?
Here we are seven weeks later, the strip published this morning. Notice that Devil’s attention is diverted. Keep your eye on that, see if it means anything.
Astute readers have noticed, too, the Phantom’s not wearing the bandolier he wore in the prophecy. He generally brings it with him whenever he expects to fight against great odds.
He’s already told us he’s not planning to attempt the brazen breakout Mozz described—even if Savarna’s all for it! Maybe there’s something else going on with the bandolier.
The two strips below give you an idea how the prophecy sequence can vary from the present timeline. These strips were published 16 months apart, the first as told by Mozz, the second in how it’s actually playing out in real time.
In some cases, dialogue said in the prophecy is said in the present, word for word. In others, it’s said but by a different character, as if some outside influence on events is at work; things may get scrambled here and there but events have a trajectory of their own that remains underway.
This is something that concerns Mozz: that his prophecy may, in the end, alter nothing. Things may vary along the way because the Phantom knows the prophecy now, but he may be bound for the same outcome nonetheless.
Here’s an example: a line that was Savarna’s in the prophecy is said now by the Phantom. Savarna’s in prison, she can’t very well say it. But her presence is felt in this scene. There may in fact be “no choice” for anyone—in anything, if Savarna’s destined to learn her mortal enemy is hiding in India. In the prophecy, this is the place where she learned that secret from the wounded Phantom, his mind clouded by fever.
In the prophecy…
And in the present, with the Phantom here preemptively to deliver a warning: don’t save my life, cataclysm follows for innocent people if you do.
This goes to the nature of the prophecy, the form it took in the telling. How exactly did Mozz transmit this information? How exactly did the Phantom receive it?
I saw three possibilities but left it open to readers to interpret for themselves.
- We’re seeing what Mozz saw.
- We’re seeing what the Phantom saw as Mozz told the tale.
- We’re seeing the pure thing itself, the future as neither man has seen it; the future that would unfold only if it were to remain unaltered by human foreknowledge.
In this sequence coming up, we rule out option 2: Clearly, the Phantom hasn’t seen what we’ve seen, thus he doesn’t know what we know.
It’s dawn, a few hours after the Phantom dropped in on the woman who saves his life in the prophecy. Things are starting to go a little differently here. Or at least the Phantom thinks that might be the case.
He inhabits a state of uncertainty and does his best to navigate his way through. Sound like anyone you know?
Before I wrap up, a word about that veterinarian sequence, if only because it illustrates a point or two about character, subtext, and narrative economy.
I’m told some readers were appalled to see the Phantom draw his sidearms on the veterinarian and her husband. We’re used to seeing the Phantom reach for his M1911’s when he has dangerous opponents before him. Why, all of a sudden, is he drawing down on innocent people?
Well, it should be obvious why. If it wasn’t to some readers, maybe their reading habits were formed in a bygone era when writers didn’t write the story, they explained the story. They wrote subtext as text; turned it into speech and inner monologue and dragged things out to a fare-thee-well.
I write for a participating reader, I don’t explain things to a passive reader.
First, a little context: Here the Phantom crosses the Rhodian frontier on his way to Gravelines…
He turns up at the veterinarian’s place and we see how little he knows for certain about the prophecy. He’s figuring it out as he goes.
“A powerful man.” That’s not a throwaway line; it means something. (There are no throwaway lines in the script; nothing is random.)
In combination with the doctor’s name, the powerful-man line tells us the Phantom thinks he might be in the right place. Moreover, it tells us what he’s thinking when he draws his sidearms.
His purpose is evidenced in action alone. You see what the Phantom’s doing and you immediately know why. You don’t have to be Umberto Eco’s model reader, just be a reasonably attentive empirical reader.
The Phantom holsters his sidearms. Because his purpose has been achieved.
When the Phantom drew his sidearms, I’m told some readers cried, “Out of character!”
Well, hardly. There’s out of character and then there are things you haven’t seen the character do before. The distinction is what separates a flat character from a round character.
In E.M. Forster’s terms, a round character is one that curves toward the complex and is capable of development, and thus surprise. A flat character is of a type, easily summed up, generally incapable of surprising the reader.
I’ll buy that. With this quibble: What do you suppose Forster would have made of a character who’s clearly flat and surprising?
There’s never any surprise in how surprising Kramer can be; he’s somehow always surprising in exactly the same way. And therein lies his flatness.
As you may know, it’s not a put-down to call a character flat. A story’s lead character can be flat.
Dame Maggie Smith played Miss Jean Brodie as flat as flat can be, for unforgettably flat is exactly what that character needs to be.
Lee Falk’s Phantom?—he’s round, baby! At least in the KFS canon. You know him but won’t ever fully know him. He has an infinite ability to surprise within character. Thus you can expect him to destabilize narrative, to introduce disequilibrium to achieve his aims.
Especially in a tale like this, which is basically all disequilibrium.
Moving on to the economy of the sequence: the way to de-economize it is to write it the way they did in the old days, where nothing ever happened without a character talking about what was happening, or thinking about it—at length. There was no such thing as subtext.
The “physically my match” line is all a participating reader needs to get inside the Phantom’s head and understand why he draws his sidearms. It’s that 10 percent of the iceberg (Hemingway’s subtext metaphor) that tells you all about the submerged 90 percent.
In the shadow box between these two consecutive strips coming up next, see how a writer who spoon-feeds the reader would do it. That scribbler would have the Phantom standing at the foot of the bed for a week (which, you know, artists just love it when you give them nothing to do but draw nothing happening from a dozen different angles).
In the shadow box, see your intervening week of needless inner monologue.
I can guess what happens when these people wake up and see me standing here.
I know for a fact what would happen if I were to see a stranger standing in the dark at the foot of my bed! Diana at my side, relying on me for protection? I pity that intruder. He’d have the fight of his life on his hands.
Mozz was right, the husband is a bruiser. He’ll defend home and hearth with everything he’s got. I’ll have to hurt him to stop him. I’ll likely have to hurt him badly to stop him. That would not only be wrong—this man’s no criminal!—it would defeat my whole purpose in coming here tonight.
If only I could somehow slow things down… Talk to them, gain their trust… Get them to see that I merely appear threatening when in fact I’m a friend.
There must be a way…
!! Of course!—My sidearms!
Normally, I don’t point deadly weapons at innocent people, but at this time and in this place it… just… might… work!
The moment they appear to think I might be exactly what I say I am—not a threat but the bearer of an important message—I’ll holster my sidearms in a gesture of good will.
Well… here goes…
Tony DePaul, December 27, 2022, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Hi Tony
Can I assume the Dr’s surname was taken from her husband?
Can I then assume he’s descended from the line mentioned when googling it?
Might this serve to localize our story?
Anyway thanks for cuing me to learn a little history!
Thank you for reading to that level of detail, Charles.
When I wrote the story I was aware of a historical figure from East Africa with the surname Kimathi. Like many figures from history (maybe most?), he was a hero, a villain or something in between, depending on one’s point of view. I think the family line might be the same, if distantly so, and it may be the Doctor’s birth name. She’s an educated woman, has been to university, she might be inclined to resist tradition in that way.
Just a guess on my part. Maybe because I have two married daughters, both are university graduates, both are modern women who know their own minds, one kept her birth name, the other chose her husband’s.
Thanks so much for writing and for following the Phantom, Charles.
I really enjoyed reading this Tony, I was sorry when it was over. It was really good, makes good sense at explaining how all this fits together. Both artists do such wonderful work on the strip. I loved Paul’s work so much on all the books he drew in his time and followed him for years. They had very big boots to fill and they have done it amazingly. They each have made the strip their own, and, yes, I hope you are still writing it at 87 and beyond. Jeff’s work on the current Sunday story is amazing, and you have given us a wonderful story that has such a good feel of reminding me of something of a ERB Tarzan adventure, love it. Great job, Tony, good health to you and your family, with many years more with the GWW.
Cheers,
Terry
Hi, Terry.
Yeah, these stories about hidden spaces are fun to write, and readers seem to enjoy them. Jeff’s having a good time, you can see it in his art, such wonderful work, week after week after week. The mark of a pro. There are lots of artists out there who can draw one strip of the Sunday Phantom. It would take them a month to do and they’d have to take a month off afterwards to rest up.
Pros like Jeff and Mike come with a flywheel & a drive belt, they crank away and reliably produce, produce, produce.
I wrote the Temple of the Gods piece basically because Jeff likes to draw caverns and had asked me to think of a story where the Phantom and Diana could team up on an adventure.
About the Tarzan connection, I can see that. Kids love confined hidden spaces, secret places. Barthes wrote a critique of Jules Verne along those lines back in the 50s. ERB kind of picked up where Verne left off, had a similar appeal to kids in his adventure writing.
Thanks for checking in, Terry. Hope you’re doing well.
Tony,
Great post – explains things I wouldn’t have thought about. Also, the line about stasis being the death of everything, brought about a delightful curiosity as to perfection.
Could something perfect have no need to change as it is fulfilling its purpose now and forever? Meditation, prayer bowls, temple bells, kittens purr, rain on a still pond, a flower? Stillness?
Now I’ve rambled, overthought, and must go have some tea to empty the surplus.
Dennis
Hey, Dennis. I strove for perfection today while painting the bride’s office, cutting-in what seemed like a mile-long line with a brush. Missed achieving perfection by about a mile, too, ironically.
The infinite ability to surprise within character makes sense for someone whose life is always right on the edge of danger. Being there forces you to make and adjust plans on the fly, sometimes scrapping them altogether. Reminds me a little bit of my late stepfather-in-law; his combat experiences in WWII had the same impact on him.
I find myself amazed by the way you’ve managed to preserve the essential elements of the strip while subtlety updating it for a modern readership. Kind of like a building reno where the bones have been saved but the systems and materials have been updated.
I particularly like the strips with the veterinarian. Very atmospheric and cinematic. Even found myself imagining background music (although background music in modern movies can often be as “on the nose” as explicit subtext).
Anyway, keep up the good work, and don’t let the trolls get you down. I used to read the CW comments, back in the day when there were a handful of people with interesting things to say. I think that some comments sections illustrate a variation of Gresham’s Law: bad commenters drive out good ones.
Have a great New Year!
Stephen, grab a screen shot of your comment so you can refer back to it when you’ve seen Jeff’s next Sunday story. Your second graf reads as if you were looking over my shoulder last week when I wrote the synopsis for King Features.
Happy New Year to you & yours as well. As always, thanks for following the GWW and the scribble here at the Nickels.
Will do. Thanks!
I am truly enjoying this tale both from the Mozz prophecy and the Walker attempt at a work around version.
Savarna made a move on #21, did he even notice? Perhaps, if they both survive this escape, she should find her rest on the isle of Eden until the childhood issues can be worked out peacefully.
I am hoping that the future holds a Phantom arc in which #22 goes through Jungle Patrol training. I miss the characters developed in the JP story lines.
In other words Tony, I hope TGWW continues to be published for many years, with many more plot lines meandering through days on end.
Thank you for maintaining the legacy.
Is there any word as to the survival of Phantom Trail?
Thanks for reading, Roger. Yeah I’m not sure about Phantom Trail. The jungle’s pretty quick about covering over places that fall into disuse. The tree house is still there, though we haven’t seen it since 2015, I think. Kit and Heloise visited the tree house on a run; if they didn’t run there on Phantom Trail I’m not sure how they got there. 🙂
Mr. DePaul,
Having recently recovered from a very long illness, I have been out of touch with my comics reading. I bought a subscription to comics kingdom to catch up what I had missed. The Phantom, being my favorite since I was a kid, was first on my list of comics to become current with. Imagine my surprise when the strip was still basically on the same story line before I went to hospital! I went back to the start of To Wrack and Ruin at Gravelines using the archive feature of Comics Kingdom and “binge read” the story up to present day. WOW! Occasionally reading the comment section, I was surprised at some of the negativity expressed towards you. I don’t quite understand this line of thinking as to me, this series is one of the most outstanding pieces of writing in a comic strip and would be worthy as a movie script or novel. Your writing is amazing using components in your storytelling that are similar to watching a Tarantino movie. Your use of nonlinear storylines combined with Mike Manley’s artwork makes for a truly sensational read. Attention spans being what they are with folks these days, I would venture to bet most readers cannot remember what happened in the strip last week, let alone what has transpired since the start of this series. I feel the negative comments are due to readers taking each daily strip individually and not considering the work as a whole. I might suggest the naysayers take the time to do what I did and I bet they will change their minds about this story arc. I commend the Phantom team for giving its readers one of the most amazing stories in Phantom history. Kudos to you, Manley and Weigel for the outstanding work you have done on this strip! I am very proud to be a participating reader of your very fine work!
Thank you, Joe. Hospitals are no fun, I know; glad to hear you’re on the other side of it. I’ll send your vote of confidence to Mike and Jeff, they’ll appreciate it, too.
Many thanks for following the adventures of the GWW.
Thanks for the explanations, though I doubt they were necessary. If the strip is to survive this arc, then clearly “fate” can be altered.
Do writers have any control over Disqus? I can read or make comments neither on my Android phone nor on a public computer. It’s been over a month since I could read s comment so guess I am not simply suspended. And if it happens to me, I rest assured others are also being blocked.
I’m the wrong person to ask, I haven’t been on the site in 15 years. But I do recall seeing a KFS press release a month or two ago, or maybe it was a company-wide email, where they said the site had become a “toxic cesspool” (Uh… took you all these years to notice?) and they were dropping Disqus and going to some kind of machine-learning system that identifies and bans abusers.
You probably just need to create an account to get on this new comment system, I would think.
If you do, don’t post links to anything I write here. This is my living room, I don’t want any class clowns from Comics Kingdom over here. Now and again I do need to tag a snarker who wanders over. They then disappear forevermore into the bowels of the Akismet plugin.
Actually, you turned out to be the right person to ask…thanks for your info! I tried logging in as a real person but the site required too much private info.
However, I beg leave to differ on the quality of posts. Some sites indeed are filled with mean-spirited comments (the late Funky Winkerbean). But your strip had commenters sharing info about the geography, aircraft design, weapons, social interactions, etc. by commenters experienced and trained in these fields. The Phantom became educational as well as enjoyable. Again, thank you for your work. No reply needed.
Just love these Phantom writing educational pieces Tony. We readers do not see the wonderful balancing of the writing with the imagery. Great stuff, thank you for these.
Thanks for reading, Brad. A fun diversion for me, too. I’m supposed to be painting walls today. 🙂
I agree. This is great stuff.
Thanks, Tom. Glad I used your time well. Often I’ll be banging out one of these posts and I’ll think, eh… everybody’s busy, why am I doing this?