The Skull Ring is the mark of the Phantom, and has been for 400 years. It leaves its imprint, permanently, on anything it touches. That is why a criminal who has tangled with the Phantom often has the skull mark apparently tattooed on his jaw where the Phantom punched him. (This doesn't happen to female criminals because the Phantom does not hit women.)Sometimes the Phantom will deliberately leave the mark on an object in a place where he knows the criminal will see it (a door, a crystal wine glass) as a warning. The Phantom's reputation is known and feared by wrongdoers the world over, and this kind of psychological intimidation is frequently very useful to the Phantom in bringing them to justice.
