What 'Makes' a Phan?

[AmanKing]

Very interesting topic, and good points raised so far that I agree with. I have a brother-in-law who talks about the "strength of ten tigers" (from the DOTE animated series that aired in India years back) as soon as I mention the Phantom... he mentions it genuinely as he actually enjoyed that Phantom but I get irritated anyways as I know the DOTE animated Phantom is not a true representation.

I have another question though: I was lucky to be exposed to original Falk stories by Diamond Comics, and later, through exchanges of Frew reprints with other Phans. However I am out of touch with the newer Phantom stories: only limited Egmont stories got published in India, Frew is not readily available in India (except for Phan exchanges), and the US publications don't make it here either. So am I a true Phan if I know the original Phantom stories but do not keep in touch with the newer stuff?

I think it comes down to what Ivan mentioned: if a person tries to figure out, with whatever means available to him or her, "what is the Phantom?" or what he has stood for in all these years, it's a good hint that the person truly appreciates the character.

[JoeMD]

I have another question though: I was lucky to be exposed to original Falk stories by Diamond Comics, and later, through exchanges of Frew reprints with other Phans. However I am out of touch with the newer Phantom stories: only limited Egmont stories got published in India, Frew is not readily available in India (except for Phan exchanges), and the US publications don't make it here either. So am I a true Phan if I know the original Phantom stories but do not keep in touch with the newer stuff?

That's an interesting point, Aman. To answer you simply, I'd have to say yes, you are a true phan. If you've exercised all options immediately available to you to gather the various stories you want to read I don't think anyone can begrudge you that. However, to play devils advocate I'd suggest that you ARE able to read at least the US stories via things such as BookDepository (order the Moonstone/ DE collections and have them shipped to India - and the shipping is free) or Comixology (digital comics which can be read in Idevices/ Android or a computer). So they are available to you. Sure, it's a little more effort and time to get the stories, so maybe doing that moves you across from a true phan to a hardcore one?