How a Comic Book Transformed Shield Painting in Papua New Guinea
By Christina Hellmich, curator in charge, Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas and the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art
June 19, 2025
Kaipel Ka (ca. 1950–2008). Gilgalkup Clan, Senglap Tribe, Banz, North Wahgi region, Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea. “Phantom” shield (detail), 1980. Wood, paint, metal, cassowary feathers, fiber including mosquito netting, 64 1/2 x 24 x 8 1/2 in. (163.83 x 60.96 x 21.59 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Major Accessions, 2024.21. © Kaipel Ka. Photograph by Randy Dodson
The Phantom is the first costumed crime fighter in the world of comics, originally created by Lee Falk in 1936 and still published today. The Phantom preceded Superman, appearing in 1938, and Batman, in 1939. A tough, highly physical superhero with a multigenerational mandate, the Phantom lives in a cave deep in a forest protected by Indigenous people. The Phantom is descended from generations of crime fighters who pledge upon the death of their fathers to devote their lives “to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty, and injustice, in all their forms,” as the character himself says in the first Sunday strip in 1939. The first Phantom makes this oath on the skull of his father’s murderer. He, along with each successor, is known as the “Man Who Cannot Die.”
Lee Falk, art by Ray Moore. The Phantom, May 28, 1939.
While created in the United States, The Phantom comic has been and remains very popular in the Pacific, especially Australia and Papua New Guinea. A sign painter and artist from Papua New Guinea, Kaipel Ka took inspiration from The Phantom comic books to paint shield designs combining, in his words, “the ideas of the white man and the man from the village.”
Detail of the “Phantom” shield.
Historically, in the Highlands regions of Papua New Guinea, shields were the most important art form aside from body adornment. Decorated shields with striking designs, customized for the size of their user, physically protected warriors from flying arrows. They also projected the power and prestige of their owners on the battlefield. Shields were thought of as brothers — shadow figures — beside warriors in battle.
Around the independence of Papua New Guinea from Australia in 1975, a resurgence of tribal warfare fueled renewed demand for shields. Older shields stored and concealed during the Australian colonial administration were brought out and repainted — some with completely new cultural designs.
Ka claimed to be the first painter to employ the Phantom shield motif. Shields with the Phantom design were, he said, “for those who led the battle, because those who lead the battle are the toughest fighters, just like the Phantom. . . . He cannot die, so men are afraid of him.” The shield is emblazoned with an inscription in Tok Pisin: “Man Ino Save Dai!!” (The Man Who Cannot Die!!).
Kaipel Ka, 2008. Photo by Mark Eby.
The Phantom has no superpowers; as commonly declared, he relies on his wits, skill with his weapons, and reputation to fight crime. He generally carries two large-caliber pistols, as shown on Ka’s shield. Ka also represented the distinctive purple costume of the Phantom, with striped shorts and a belt featuring the crime fighter’s skull emblem and motif.
“During the time of our ancestors . . . there weren’t any courts, so we would just go out and fight. We would use our shields, and we enjoyed it. We would also fight over land and theft. We’d take out our shields and fight. And then in the 1980s, we started making homemade guns. We saw that shields were no longer effective, so we gave them up when we took up guns. So after fighting with homemade guns, many have gone out to get the real thing, and we only fight with guns now . . .
“I liked reading comic books. I was really interested in The Phantom. I really enjoyed reading The Phantom and Superman and these kinds of comic books. I knew they were strong men, and I had that in the back of my mind, so when the tribal fight started [in the late 1970s and early 1980s], it quickly occurred to me that the leaders of the battle should be carrying these symbols. If they went first, the enemy would be afraid — or something like that. . . . Those that had the Phantom design were for those who led the battle, because those who lead the battle are the toughest fighters, just like the Phantom. He wins the battle. So I’ve called him the ‘man of the match.’ He cannot die, so men are afraid of him.”
— Kaipel Ka speaking with filmmaker Mark Eby in The Man Who Cannot Die, 2008
Kaipel Ka (ca. 1950–2008). Gilgalkup Clan, Senglap Tribe, Banz, North Wahgi region, Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea. “Phantom” shield, 1980. Wood, paint, metal, cassowary feathers, fiber including mosquito netting, 64 1/2 x 24 x 8 1/2 in. (163.83 x 60.96 x 21.59 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase, Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Major Accessions, 2024.21. © Kaipel Ka. Photograph by Randy Dodson. A distinctive aspect of this piece is Ka’s use of a historic shield for his contemporary design. The original punctated design in the wood is still visible under Ka’s painting.
Back of the shield, showing the handle. The rounded top has holes drilled for a cane band — the headband — that secured a row of feather regalia (bilas). The shoulder sling on the back is secured with a binding passing through four holes that pierce the center of the shield.
Just four Phantom shields by Ka are known. His work stands out for his artistry and style. The Phantom imagery was subsequently used by many other painters in Papua New Guinea, giving rise to the Banz school of shield painting, named for Ka’s birthplace. Ka’s shield painting brought new imagery and meaning to an enduring art form, and he inspired a generation of Highlands warriors with his depictions of a superhero of the modern world.
For more on Kaipel Ka, watch “The Man Who Cannot Die”
Sources cited
Boylan, Chris. “Shields of the Highlands of New Guinea.” In New Guinea Highlands: Art from the Jolika Collection, edited by John Friede, Terence E. Hays, and Christina Hellmich. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/Prestel, 2017, 107–155.
Cree, Bruce. “Phantom’s Origins.” In Man Who Cannot Die: Phantom Shields of the New Guinea Highlands. Boylan & Phillips, Sydney and Toronto, 2021, 14–19.
Eby, Mark. “Kaipel Ka, Shield Painter.” In New Guinea Highlands: Art from the Jolika Collection, edited by John Friede, Terence E. Hays, and Christina Hellmich. TFine Arts Museums of San Francisco/Prestel, 2017, 157–161.
Eby, Mark, dir. The Man Who Cannot Die. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2009.
Eby, Mark, Christina Hellmich, and John Friede. Extended catalogue entry for “Phantom” shield. In Mark Eby, “Kaipel Ka, Shield Painter” in New Guinea Highlands: Art from the Jolika Collection, edited by John Friede, Terence E. Hays, and Christina Hellmich. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/Prestel, 2017, 157, fig. 7.1.
Fogel, Jonathan, ed., with contributions by Chris Boylan, Bruce Cree, Hubert Langmann, Kevin Patrick, and Jessica Lindsay Phillips. Man Who Cannot Die: Phantom Shields of the New Guinea Highlands. Boylan & Phillips, Sydney and Toronto, 2021.
Patrick, Kevin. “The Phantom’s Oceanic Odyssey.” In Man Who Cannot Die: Phantom Shields of the New Guinea Highlands, edited by Jonathan Fogel. Boylan & Phillips, Sydney and Toronto, 2021, 20–27.
