Fantomen Nr.4/2006
by Paul Ryan & Tom Smith
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- The Crime Apprentices
- Script: Tony De Paul
- Art: Paul Ryan
- 215th daily newspaper story; 19 Sep 2005 - 14 Jan 2006.
- First Frew appearance
- On the Trail of an Assassin
- Script: Tony De Paul
- Art: Graham Nolan
- 163rd Sunday newspaper story; 2 Oct 2005 - 26 Mar 2006.
- First Frew appearance
- Temple of the Gods Pt.3: The Secret Sect
- Script: Tony De Paul
- Art: Paul Ryan
- First published in Fantomen Nr.4/2006 by Egmont, Scandinavia. Original cover shown on the left, thanks to Ulf Granberg.
- Message from the Publisher:
Presenting a very special issue! In this edition you will discover three new stories including the most recent daily and Sunday adventures. The third story is probably the most interesting, because we return to the mysterious secret temple on Eden. A special editorial feature beginning on page 89 explains what happened in two previous daily stories and why The Phantom makes what could be a fateful decision to go against his better judgement and return to the temple. Interestingly, while the first two chapters of the temple story appeared as daily newspaper strips, this third part was specially created as a comic book story and has never appeared in newspapers! Stay tuned - this adventure may well continue into 2007!
To the best of my knowledge this is the first time a Phantom adventure began as a newspaper strip and then continued in a comic book. It is always exciting to learn from the Chronicles and especially to learn of new discoveries so close to known Phantom domains!
The Isle of Eden has existed as a private place from the very first time Lee Falk brought it into the Chronicles (in The Honeymooners, a 1960 Sunday story). Lee slowly built up the background of Eden as a special refuge for jungle animals and creatures who are brought up as vegetarians and live in harmony despite the fact that according to the laws of nature, many are deadly enemies.
Despite using Eden as the location for so many stories, Lee never took us exploring the interior of the Isle. For all these years, we were never told what lay in the jungle behind the beach. Now, with the discovery of the ancient Egyptian temple, some of the mysteries are being exposed. We will gradually learn more about the secret temple and who knows - there may be many more surprises to come!
Judging by the few maps depicted in old Phantom adventures, the Isle of Eden is a quite sizeable area of land and if the Egyptians found it centuries ago, it is logical to assume other early adventurers also stumbled on the location. It still strikes me as remarkable that Lee Falk did not develop more stories centred on Eden which were not purely based on the existing animal population and The Phantom's efforts to discourage curious visitors. For many years after Eden was first mentioned, there were far more Phantom adventures plotted around the nearby Golden Sands of Keela Wee.
Although this new series about the secret temple was not written by Lee Falk, the current writers have taken a highly acceptable guess at what Lee possibly had in mind. More should have been created about the Isle of Eden many years ago! The last map produced in Lee Falk's lifetime appeared in The Floradon Mystery published in 1988-89. Eden has been for far too long, nothing but a sanctuary for wildlife!
This edition is notable for a few other reasons. We have at last been able to catch up with a little of the backlog of Phantom Forum letters and this time we have spread the feature over four pages, commencing page 92. The luxury of a little extra space means we have also been able to preview some coming stories, rather than simply letting you know what will be in our next issue. The preview section starts on page 96.
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