What 'Makes' a Phan?

[JoeMD]

Ivan made a comment on our Facebook page saying that he doesn't consider someone a phan unless they have originally read Lee Falk's stories and bases all other stories against that (Ivan, please correct me if I'm mistaken in understanding what you were saying). While I don't completely agree with this, I DO see where he's coming from.

While I've never really applied this thought to the Phantom before now, it is something that I can relate to in regards to Doctor Who. You all know how much I love that show, so I won't go into that. Now that the 'new' series is so popular you see more and more people go on and on about how much they 'love' Doctor Who, but have never seen an episode of the original series. The more popular the series becomes the more and more this annoys me. I actually un-subscribed from a Dr. Who fan page on Facebook because of all the rubbish fan 'art' they were posting by people who obviously had no idea who Jon Pertwee was. When I hear someone say 'oh, I TOTALLY love Doctor Who....um, but who's William Hartnell" I have an overbearing urge to bash their skull in.

So, putting that thought into a Phantom context, I can understand where Ivan is coming from. For him (and please correct me if I'm wrong, Ivan) to be a 'true' phan you need to have a knowledge of Lee Falk's stories. Thinking on this, I've come to realise that for me - in regards to both the Phantom and Doctor Who - you need to have if not a love for at least an appreciation of a things origins, of 'what came before.' So, love or hate The Last Phantom if you can discuss it in relation and reflection of Lee Falk's works then you can call yourself a 'true' phan (even more so if you can talk about it in regards to Falk AND Egmont, Moonstone, DC, Marvel, 2040, etc).

So that's what makes a Phan to my mind, someone that not necessarily likes all aspects the Phantom, but has the knowledge to discuss those aspects in relation to one another.

This idea of what 'makes' a phan is quite an interesting one and I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this, so please share your idea and opinions.

Cheers.

[Bill F.]

I would tend to agree that in order to be a dedicated "true Phan" that you should at least read some of the early Falk/Moore stories so that said ''Phan" has an apreciation of the history and evolution behind the character, however I don't think that it is an absolute neccesity to have read the early stories to be a fan, but I after all am but an old fossil.

[Ben]

I see where you are coming from. But is it really fair to expect todays generation to be familiar with the phantom in the 1930's / 40's or doctor who in the 1960's / 70's. Early Doc Who material is really hard to come accross in the case of Hartnell and Troughton some of the material is unobtainable. Early phantom strips are available thanks to the restoration efforts of people like Frew. But much of early Mandrake is unobtainable.

[Jim Layeux]

I'm not sure what makes a true fan - that question is usually born out of a singular, personal experience - a book, a movie, comic or TV program... As others have stated, an informed fan or close observer WOULD desire to go back to the origins - where fandom is transformed into history, research and most of all pure enjoyment...all of which the Phantom has inspired.

[Ben]

I think we should be greatful that the phantom hasn't been bastardised into a kinect game like star wars has:

[Ben]

O How the mighty have fallen:

[JoeMD]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I guess the point both of you have brought up is that of different ‘levels’
of fandom. As Bill said, maybe to be a ‘true’ fan you need to have an appreciation of a character’s
history, however simply being a ‘fan’ means you just read whatever and enjoy it for what it is.

Ben, I should clarify that I don’t EXPECT today’s audience to be familiar with 1930s Phantom/ 1960s
Doctor Who UNLESS they are claiming to be ‘totally, like, the biggest fan ever.’ If you claim that I
would expect to be able to discus with you how The Last Phantom is a metaphor for rebirth and
how that echoes Falk’s original – albeit shorter – first Phantom origin. If, however, you said “I’m a
Phantom fan/ reader’ and you didn’t know the above, well that’s OK. I guess it’s kind of similar to
the ‘casual/ hardcore’ gamer argument. To be a ‘true’ or ‘hardcore’ fan, IMO, you need to have that
knowledge base. I don’t think you need to know everything, but you need to be able to talk about
various aspects of a thing’s history, I think. However, I also think that you’ve the right to call yourself
a ‘true’ fan if you don’t yet know all the history but are actively researching it (be it over whatever
time period). And that knowledge really helps your enjoyment of a thing, too.

To go back to the Doctor Who example, my girlfriend loved the new series but had never seen any of
the original series before we started dating. I showed her a few of the original episodes and now she
can see things in the new series that echo or refer to the old and she has said to me that she gets
more excited about stuff now because she knows what it means within the show’s history. I think
that’s really important.

Again, though, the distinctions between levels of fandom need to be discerned as well, and that is
probably a whole other discussion on its own.

And yes, those videos are horrid.

[Ben]

Sure, I guess if true phantom fan means a phantom expert or phantom buff it's reasonable to expect they would have done their homework.

[Andreas]

I don't think it's fair to expect someone to have read ALL Falk stories just to call themselves a 'phan'. In fact, I would say that most Phantom fans in Scandinavia are probably more fans of the Team Fantomen version of the Phantom than Lee Falk's version. I wouldn't say that they are NOT fans just because of that though! Most - but NOT all - of Falk's stories have been published in Sweden, but those stories are just not as popular as the Team Fantomen stories produced directly for the Fantomen comic book.

There are degrees of "fandom" and to be a fan and not just a casual reader I don't expect them to have read and have knowledge about all that has been produced over the 75-year history of the strip. I would say that the entry level "fan" simply needs to have read a handful of stories (including, but not limited to Falk stories) and like the concept. The final level would perhaps be to have read all Phantom stories by all story producers, watched all TV and movie spinoffs etc - with lots of fandom steps in between.

[JoeMD]

So in your opinion, Ivan, would someone who prefers, say, Team Fantomen over Falk but still has a good understanding/ knowledge of Falk equal a phan to you?