Fantomen Nr.4/2003
by Hans Lindahl
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- The First Mission
- Script: Ben Raab
- Art: Romano Felmang
- First published in Fantomen Nr.4/2003 by Egmont, Scandinavia. Original cover shown on the left, thanks to Brian Jensen.
- The working title of this story was The Phantom Legion.
- Message from the Publisher:
Writer Ben Raab and artist Romano Felmang have injected loads of creativity into this story! An old theme of Kit and Heloise day-dreaming about the time when one (or both) will become The Phantom has been given a few new twists. Kit sees himself accompanied not by a descendant of Devil, but by a well-trained tiger and Old Man Mozz has a vision of the future, with Kit and Heloise sharing the role of The Ghost Who Walks! Mystery piles upon mystery!
At the start of the story we discover that the 21st Phantom (according to the future Mozz claims he can see) one day disappears. At the end of the story we discover that one day Heloise may be badly wounded in her support role as the female Phantom. Gripping stuff indeed and especially so when it is not made at all clear whether Heloise will recover from her knife wound! To compound the mysteries, Mozz stresses to both Kit and Heloise that they have time to change what he sees as a future possibility. Do we accept what he says on page 33 as some advice for Heloise? If we do, it seems to indicate that Mozz is strongly suggesting that Heloise should stop dreaming about becoming a female Phantom! Read into this fascinating story what you will! Raab's script is ultra-clever and Felmang has turned in one of his top artistic renderings of recent times.
Now, if you think The First Assignment contains not only mystery, but virtually non-stop action, just wait until you see our next issue! Frew No 1350, which will be on sale on 4 April, features another brand-new adventure, The Weapon of Terror, written and illustrated by Hans Lindahl. In Frew No 1351, we will present The False Prince, written by Norman Worker and illustrated by Kari Leppänen. In the following edition (Frew No 1352), we will bring you Return of the Halloween Gang. Script by Claes Reimerthi and some wonderful art by Pau Ryan! The False Prince story is a vintage piece, which has never been published by Frew and the Halloween story is fresh off Ryan's drawing board.
Back, however, to The First Assignment. Artist Felmang is an Italian based in Rome and a creator with a passion about his country's heritage. He also has a passion for 1960s and 1970s American culture - especially popular music from that time. Judging by the art in this story, I fancy he must have a new love - motorcycles! Study the two wheeled action on pages 14 through 19 and you will see what I mean. Felmang has come up with some radical ideas in modern motorcycle design. Some of the machinery he has depicted (invented?) range from trail bikes to adaptations of Fat Boy Harleys to a few resembling Grand Prix racing machinery!
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