Fantomen Nr.2/2003
by Rolf Gohs
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- Revenge of the Shipwreckers
- Script: Claes Reimerthi
- Art: Dick Giordano
- First published in Fantomen by Egmont, Scandinavia in Nr.2/2003. Original cover shown on the left, thanks to Brian Jensen.
- Message from the Publisher:
Veteran American artist Dick Giordano returns in this issue with the beautifully rendered Revenge of the Shipwreckers.
Dick, who has illustrated Claes Reimerthi's script, was last showcased in a Frew edition in No 1320 last year. In that edition, he illustrated Terrence Longstreet's great story, The Wizard's House.
Shipwreckers is a follow-on to an earlier story, The Shipwreckers, which was published in No 1280 (2001 Annual Special). In that story, illustrated by Fred Fredericks, another veteran of the American comics industry (and especially, Mandrake the Magician) The Phantom battled a gang of fiendish types based on the wild coasts of Cornwall in south-west England. The gang specialised in lighting directional fires which caused sailing captains to steer off course and into rocks. The gang then murdered any crewmen who managed to swim ashore and loot the wrecks.
[Comment from Guran: Actually the only connection between this story and the Sunday story The Shipwreckers (S152) is the central theme. The "Scarecrow" character referred to in Revenge of the Shipwreckers comes from an old story by Norman Worker and Jaime Vallvé in Nr.15/1977 (Sweden), Nr.24/1977 (Norway), and Frew #765]
In Revenge of the Shipwreckers, another gang of looters continue the practice and as you about to discover, The Phantom has his work cut out tracking them down. In this story, writer Reimerthi has built in a surprise ending which seems to indicate we may be seeing the leader of the gang again in the not too distant future!
Reimerthi is the resident historian for the Scandinavian publishers of Phantom comic books and often builds his Ghost Who Walks adventures around historical fact. In the bad old days, Cornwall was a haven for Shipwreckers and the beautiful, but forbidding coastline is steeped in British maritime history. In the early days of World War One (1914-18), the British suffered heavy losses of shipping to German submarine attacks off the Cornwall coast. A trip back in history reveals that the entire south-western tip of the Cornish coast was once a favourite haunt of seaborne invaders and of course, pirates! (Who has never heard of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Pirates of Penzance?) The picturesque coastal town of Penzance remains a popular holiday destination in southern Cornwall.
Our next issue, which goes on sale on 14 March, will be a 100-page special and the feature story will be another vintage Scandinavian creation, The Kali Sect, which first appeared way back in 1977. The story was written by "John Bull" (an old pen name for Englishman Norman Worker) and illustrated by Jaime Vallvé. It has never been published by Frew and the story and the art is as fresh and as exciting today as it was more than a quarter of a century ago.
Finally .... we made a slip in our 2003 Annual Special! In the story, Alexander's Diamond Cup, one page was misplaced. Page 174 should have followed page 180. Sorry about that!
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