THE PHANTOM

DEVIL

Devil is the Phantom's pet wolf, his best friend and constant companion. He is also, in a sense, one of the Phantom's most formidable weapons. He has saved the Phantom's life, and vice versa, many times.
Devil first met the Phantom as a cub. His father was a wolf named Satan notorious in the area as feared leader of a pack with which the Phantom had clashed before.* Devil's mother was killed by hunters who stole two wolf cubs to train as killers. Devil was trapped under his mother's body when she fell, and so hidden from the hunters. The Phantom found him and admired his feisty spirit. He took the cub back to Deep Woods and trained him to defend himself against tigers, falcons and snakes.
The Phantom did not want to keep the young wolf away from his natural destiny and gave him a chance to return to the pack. But when Satan howled, Devil didn't follow, but went with the Phantom instead. Later, after Satan's death, Devil forsook the opportunity to become the new leader of the pack, and returned to join the Phantom for good. The Phantom promised the wolf to be comrades until death.
Devil often travels with the Phantom. If the Phantom has to take a plane (in disguise, of course), he will frequently buy a seat for Devil rather than consigning him to the cargo area. (He makes the reservation for K. Walker and Friend.) When confronted by a flight attendant who states the airline's policy against dogs flying in the passenger cabin, the Phantom coolly replies that Devil is a wolf, not a dog, so the rule does not apply.
Devil has a particularly close and unusual partnership with Hero, the Phantom's horse, and together they have performed some amazing deeds. No doubt they are bound by their common loyalty to The Ghost Who Walks.

* This wolf pack was, in fact, descended from a group of four pups that were brought by the Phantom from America to Bengalla in the 19th century. The Phantom had been saved by a wounded female mountain-wolf, and he pledged to protect her pups when she died.

TM The Hearst Corporation