The unbelievably unfortunate retconning of The Phantom's son Kit the 22nd's character

A comparison & review of Kit's character based on 115th Sunday story : Kit and the Little People

Here's a brief synopsis on what's wrong with the Phantom's son Kit the 22nd in the current Phantom comic. How Lee Falk envisioned his character and how Tony De Paul ruined him. (From an observation that I made on 12 June 2018 on the ongoing daily Phantom story of Kit the 22nd studying who knows what in a remote monastery at that time.)

Phantom's son, little Kit the 22nd, had a little adventure with the little people when he was just a little kid. This is the 115th Sunday Phantom story.

S-115 : Kit and the Little People ;
Original run: 15 November 1981 to 11 April 1982
Written by: Lee Falk; Art by: Sy Barry

In this review, I'll compare and contrast the character of Kit the 22nd, son of our Phantom (the 21st), by comparing how Lee Falk envisioned his character and how that completely contradicts the current writer's teenager character of Kit. First of all, looking back at Falk's works, no Phantom kid would be as insecure and wussy in the first place as De Paul's teenager Kit is. This itself is a big contraction to the brave and adventurous Phantom offspring of Lee Falk's writing. I shall discuss more on that aspect in an upcoming post and confine myself to this specific aforementioned story of little Kit.

Our Phantom 21's son, little Kit the 22nd, had a little adventure with the little people (who were later revealed to be aliens in a future story). Falk's one or two year old Little Kit the 22nd was way more adventurous and daring than the self-doubting low self-confidence Kitty boy teenager that De Paul has turned him into.

The comic book cover for the S-115 story "Kit and the Little People", which ran in two parts on Indrajal Comics under a title called "The Phantom's Valiant Son". This is the cover of the second part.

Here's a brief synopsis of that Falk's story :
Diana comes to the skull cave with the kids, little Heloise is unwell and has a cold, so she and Diana go to get some rest. Little Kit the 22nd gets a little tour of the skull cave (he's such an adorable little kid).

After hearing the tale of the Little People and how Phantom saved them, Heloise goes to sleep, but little Kit 22nd, who was very exploring and adventurous (way more exploring and adventurous than this gloomy teenager in a monastery that DePaul has turned him into), wanders off into the deep woods all by himself, in search of the little people he heard about in the story! Such an adventurous little kid he was when Falk wrote him!

Little Kit the 22nd wanders off into the deep woods, in search of the little people. Devil notices him wandering off and follows him. Yes, Devil "the wolf who never ages", who was in his prime in this story when Kit 22 was a little one or two year old child, the same wolf Devil is still in his prime in the current comic when Kit 22 has grown up into a 16 year old teenager. Do wolves age that slowly and remain in their prime for so long? Well, Tony De Paul certainly thinks so.

Coming back to Falk's story, Devil saves little Kit 22 from a leopard, and drives the leopard away! If not for Devil, little Kit 22 would've been eaten by the leopard! They then get into a boat together and into the river. While everyone back in the skull cave realise that little Kit is missing and are tensed and begin searching for him, little Kit, along with a nervous Devil enjoy a boat ride down the river!

It's so sad that De Paul has retconned such a daring little kid Kit the 22nd and forced him to grow up into a teenager who sulks in a gloomy monastery (something that's completely absurd itself , but let's discuss that one another day). Back to the point at hand, I always thought that little Kit 22 would grow up to be a daring dashing adventurous and exploring young lad. But ALAS! ALAS! So much for होनहार बिरवान के होत चिकने पात !

I'll just cut short the tale and let you know our adventurous Little Kit finally meets the little people, and they save him and Devil from the impending waterfalls. This scene was depicted on the Indrajal Comics cover which you see in the picture above. That was Lee Falk's little Kit the 22nd, the adventurous and exploring brave little fellow. That's how Falk had envisioned him.

Falk never let the kids grow up much in his strips, and it wasn't necessary too, for the comic was primarily about the 21st Phantom. But if Falk had the character grow up, I'm sure he'd be brave, bold, and adventurous like his father and the other Phantom offspring that Falk wrote about. Totally unlike this current fool Kit who sits and burns letters in a remote monastery.

Okay, in a Sunday story called "The Fourth Son" (from Falk & Barry era), one of the 8th Phantom's sons had suffered from low self esteem because he was a short fellow and his brothers used to regularly mock him for that, although he was a very strong fellow. He even refused to leave the deep woods and get a formal education outside. But on his father's death, he overcomes this issue and does what a Phantom does and gets the job done in full confidence. That Phantom's number was probably wrong for it contradicts the 9th Phantom we see in previous stories of Falk where the 9th Phantom is a tall guy like the rest of the Phantoms. But in Kit the 22nd's case, there is no reason whatsoever why he should be as a somewhat wussy teenager who has less confidence in himself. Especially since he was such a brave little explorer when he was a little one.

Thank you for reading! Do I get some free food now? 🐻

P.S : Here's a bonus about these little people.
The Phantom saved the Little People who were actually little ancient aliens who landed on earth before 200 centuries. No kidding! Phantom saved them from the volcano and retrieve their "blackbox" from their spaceship which was stuck inside the volcano. The black box sent a signal to their spaceships to come and rescue them. Until their rescue arrived, the Phantom gave the Little People (who we now know they're actually aliens) refuge in his Isle of Eden. "

Phantom Sunday Strip : S132 - Exodus of the Little People;
Original run: 24 Jul 1988 - 26 Feb 1989
Written by: Lee Falk; Art by: Sy Barry