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- Stripes
- Script: Tony De Paul
- Art: George Olesen & Keith Williams
- 212th daily newspaper story; 30 Aug 2004 - 1 Jan 2005.
- First Frew appearance
- The King of Beasts
- Script: Lee Falk
- Art: Ray Moore
- 15th Sunday newspaper story; 24 Mar - 4 Aug 1946.
- Previous Frew appearances: #36 (1951), Giant Size #9 (1959), #955 (1990)
- The Witchman
- Script: Lee Falk
- Art: Sy Barry
- 116th daily newspaper story; 10 Jan - 8 Apr 1972.
- Previous Frew appearances: #486 (1972), #665 (1979), #875 (1987), #1254 (2000)
- The Uninvited Visitors
- Script: Lee Falk
- Art: Sy Barry
- 112th Sunday newspaper story; 8 Jun - 16 Nov 1980.
- Previous Frew appearances: #840A (1985), #1219 (1999)
- Message from the Publisher:
For your enjoyment - four stories headed by the recent daily Stripes and backed up by three Lee Falk golden oldies. Stripes sees The Phantom on a trip to the United States to rescue a tiger taken from Eden and put on display in a zoo! As you are about to discover this is no easy rescue mission!
You will find the other three adventures equally fascinating. The King of Beasts is a Sunday story which originally appeared in 1946 and which has been out of print for some 15 years. Credit for the art was given to Ray Moore, but if you look closely, you will see a great deal of input from Wilson McCoy, who was Moore's assistant for some time before taking over both the dailies and Sundays.
The other two stories were written by Lee and illustrated by Sy Barry. The Witchman dates back to 1972 and The Uninvited Visitors to 1980 and both are overdue for reprinting.
[Comment from Guran: Jim has apparently forgotten that he last published these two stories only 5-6 years ago in #1254 and #1219 respectively]
It's worth pointing out the difference in the art for both stories. The Witchman being a daily strip, was printed in newspapers in black and white. Without the worry of allowing for colour, Barry was able to inject an enormous amount of detail, especially into panel backgrounds. The Uninvited Visitors ran as a Sunday story and was printed in almost every newspaper in brilliant colour. Hence, Sy had to dispense with overmuch detail to give the colourists the chance to do justice to the art.
Coming up in future issues are two gripping adventures.
In Frew #1424 (on sale August 26), we will again meet the dreaded Lubanga, an old enemy of The Phantom - and the world at large. This arch-fiend manages to escape from jail where he is serving a life sentence! For those unaware of Lubanga's background, it should be explained that he is some sort of modem witchman, possessed with remarkable powers. He is a master of hypnosis and illusion and when all else fails, he has no trouble resorting to murder. In other words, he is close to a match even for The Phantom! He has "starred" in many stories and in one, The Death of Lubanga (Frew #1162, published in 1997), it appeared we had seen the end of him. Not so! Lubanga is the ultimate trickster and in that story, actually faked his "demise"! He's obviously in for the long haul!
In Frew #1425 (on sale 9 September), we will present Part Two of Diana Disappears (see Frew #1415 for the start of this story). You will remember from Part One that The Phantom at first thought Diana had been abducted by bank robbers. In #1425, you will discover that Diana, for reasons not fully explained, simply decides to return to the Skull Cave, collect her children and head for Morristown. Without letting The Phantom know the reasons! Diana Disappears does not end with this episode. There are two more parts to follow and the story becomes more mysterious the longer it runs. It's one of the more unusual adventures co-starring The Phantom and Diana and I'll guarantee you will find it impossible to even guess the answer to the riddle until the very final episode. The fourth and final part of the story will appear either at the end of the year or early in 2006.
Sorry to keep you waiting! For that matter, there is another episode coming up in Son of the Pirate Queen, but that will definitely be published before the end of the year.
In between the respective episodes we will keep bringing you new adventures, one of which is ultramodern - Death in Cyber Space!
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