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- The Goggle-Eye Pirates
- Script: Lee Falk
- Art: Wilson McCoy
- 56th Sunday newspaper story; 30 Oct 1960 - 26 Mar 1961
- Previous Frew appearances: #437 (1970), #612 (1977), #819 (1985), #1280 (2001)
- Note: The Message from the Publisher mistakenly indicates that this story has been out of print for 15 years. It was published in complete and unedited form in #1280, the 2001 Annual Special.
- The Man-Thing
- Script: Lee Falk
- Art: Sy Barry
- 163rd daily newspaper story; 18 Jan - 21 May 1988
- Previous Frew appearance: #911 (1988).
- Mystery of Wamba Falls Inn
- Script: Lee Falk
- Art: Sy Barry
- 66th Sunday newspaper story; 4 Jul - 24 Oct 1965
- Previous Frew appearances: #346 (1967), #501 (1973), #679 (1979), #909 (1988).
- The Hit Men
- Script: Tony De Paul
- Art: George Olesen (pencils), Keith Williams (inks)
- 208th daily newspaper story; 28 Apr - 30 Aug 2003
- First Frew appearance
- Message from the Publisher:
Four stories in this issue - the Lee Falk classics, Mystery of Wamba Falls Inn, The Goggle-Eye Pirates and The Man-Thing, plus the new American daily adventure, The Hit Men.
We bring you more background information on the three Lee Falk stories on the splash pages and as you will discover, all three are presented in their entirety for the first time after being out of print for upwards of 15 years.
[Comment from Guran: Jim seems to have forgotten that he published The Goggle-Eye Pirates in complete and unedited form as recently as 2001 in Frew #1280.]
Wamba Falls and Man-Thing were created by Sy Barry about 23 years apart and you will find it fascinating to compare his change in style.
Goggle Eye was illustrated by Wilson McCoy back in 1960-61 (remember that was more than 40 years ago!) as a Sunday adventure and despite its age, the art still possesses a certain magic. One reason is that back in the 1960s, Sunday newspaper comic supplements were much larger than today and adventure strips especially, were invariably given lots of space to do justice to the colours used. Wilson McCoy always took full advantage of the space allocated Sunday newspaper strips and incorporated far more background detail than was possible for daily strips. That is the basic reason why his Sunday stories appeared far more dramatic than his daily stories. Another reason why The Goggle-Eye Pirates is so striking is that Wilson relished illustrating sea-going Phantom adventures. He had a special flair for ships, sea scenes, the reflection of the moon on water and other lighting effects.
If Sy Barry had one very special skill, it was his rendering of animals and jungle scenes. That was his forte, but of course, Sy had so many skills and still ranks with the greats of comics illustration as does his late brother Dan (of, among many other titles, Flash Gordon and Tarzan fame). Now that the boom days of newspaper adventure strips appear to be over, it is highly unlikely we will ever see their likes again in the comics sections of the tabloids and broadsheets.
The new daily adventure, The Hit Men is one of the best from the current art team.
Covers for this issue have been rendered by Antonio Lemos who notches up his 101st Frew cover with some spectacular layouts.
In our next issue (Frew #1366, on sale everywhere on 17 October), we will present another new Scandinavian adventure entitled, The Apprentice, with art by Heiner Bade.
A reminder that you can catch up with all the news from Frew and worldwide Phantom news on Bryan Shedden's wonderful website. Click onto: www.deepwoods.org
[Comment from Guran: Thanks for the plug Jim!]
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