New@FREW

Release Date: 22 Oct 2004

• Pages: 36
• Price: $2.20 inc. GST
• Cover: Jaime Vallvé & Jim Shepherd
• No Phantom Forum in this issue

• The Ambassador
  • Script: Ulf Granberg
  • Art: Jaime Vallvé
  • First published in Fantomen Nr.2/1980 by Semic, Sweden (now called Egmont). Original cover shown on the left, thanks to Phantom Kingdom.

• Message from the Publisher:
  In this issue we go back almost a quarter of a century with this first Frew presentation of the 1980 Scandinavian adventure, The Ambassador.
  The Phantom is seen in action around the time of the late 1770s, meets up with the famous American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin and plays a role in the War of Independence.
  Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) is so well remembered for his experiments linked to lightning and electricity and his famous demonstration with a boy's kite, which The Phantom recreates in this story. He is less remembered for his discovery of the Gulf Stream and its course and the discovery of the path of the storms which so regularly cross the continent of North America. Not to mention his efforts to have lightning conductors on buildings!
  The Ambassador was written in 1980 by Ulf Granberg, a comics creator and these days publisher of The Phantom comic book (Fantomen) in Sweden. Like all skilled comics creators, he has used loads of licence - especially in the scenes woven around Benjamin Franklin being kidnapped in France and transported to England in a wine barrel!
  Our next issue will mark a return to the first year of The Phantom! The story is entitled Death of a Phantom and none other than Kate Somerset makes a comeback. Death of a Phantom has been written by David Bishop, illustrated by César Spadari, and is wrapped in one of the most spectacular double covers produced so far this year!
  For Those Who Just Came In, a reminder that Kate Somerset is the beautiful and highly mysterious character who made her debut in the Phantom Chronicles way back in 2001 in Frew issue #1311, Convent Island. Since that story, created by Bishop and Spadari, Kate's incredible life story has gradually been pieced together in stories such as The Pirate Queen and all Phantom devotees now know the basic details, including the fact that a son was born to Kate and The Phantom! If you are new to the adventures of The Ghost Who Walks, the basics of what has happened is repeated in Death of a Phantom.
  It's hard to imagine Kate completely disappearing from future Phantom stories so the complete David Bishop-César Spadari output could be a long way down the track. Following Death of a Phantom there is yet another Kate Somerset saga!

Jim Shepherd
Publisher