Fantomen Nr.21/2005
by Bob McLeod
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- The Redeemer Pt.3: The Army
- Script: Claes Reimerthi
- Art: Bob McLeod
- First published in Fantomen Nr.21/2005 by Egmont, Scandinavia with the title God's Army (the working title was The Army of the Lord). Original cover shown on the left, thanks to Ulf Granberg.
- Message from the Publisher:
There's something just a little too topical about The Army, which is part three of the Lubanga saga, The Redeemer!
We are transported into the insane world of terrorism, the scourge now sweeping the world. Author Claes Reimerthi takes us into the dark recesses of the minds of terrorist leaders and the brainwashing techniques used to recruit followers of their fiendish causes.
The Army is doubly scary because it is a mirror image of what has already happened (and is likely to happen again) in New York, Madrid, Paris, London, the Middle East and Indonesia. Now that Australia has been placed on a new level of high security with even more protective measures to come, this story takes on extra and quite alarming meaning!
The focus is again on Lubanga and his plot to wreak revenge on President Luaga and mankind in general. As recently mentioned, Lubanga has developed into such a frightening, yet charismatic figure, it seems unlikely he will ever disappear. Despite the scenes at the end of this story! Remember ... The Redeemer series is yet to finish. There is much more drama and carnage to come. No matter the outcome, anybody would be foolish to think that Lubanga could be finally killed or locked away forever! There are so many other areas to be cleared up. What, for example, will happen to Sarah and her doctor father ... will President Luaga be able to resume office ... will the long suffering Phantom be able to finally rest in peace ...? All will be revealed in a forthcoming issue, but in the meantime, prepare yourself for more terrorist drama.
Our next issue (Frew #1431, on sale 11 November) is entitled The Racist Cult. The title almost says it all, but there is far more to this story than basic racism (yet another scourge of our times!). The 21st Phantom is to be reunited with an old wooden native carving which inspired the first Phantom to create the famous uniform of The Ghost Who Walks.
To refresh your memory, the first Phantom modelled the design of the costume on the demon god of a jungle tribe known as the Wasaka Giants. Not only did he borrow from the appearance of the statue, he settled on the purply-blue colour of the statue as the perfect colour scheme for The Phantom uniform. That at least, was how creator Lee Falk explained the reason for the chosen hue! It was a clever ploy by Lee, because so many people still question why a jungle-based fighter for law and order would select a distinctive colour for his uniform, rather than something with at least a hint of camouflage. The Wasaka Giants tribe once held all the Bandar pygmies as slaves! The tribe long ago disappeared from the Chronicles, because the first Phantom ordered them to retreat to a remote part of the jungle and to stay there forever! The entire story first appeared in a Sunday adventure called The First Phantom, beautifully illustrated by the great Sy Barry. It originally appeared as a newspaper strip in 1975 and has been published a few times by Frew, the last appearance being in Frew #1032 (the 1993 Annual Special).
Hope you like Antonio Lemos' covers for The Army! Antonio set out to capture the high drama which envelops this story from start to finish and I think he succeeded admirably.
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