Fantomen Nr.25/1994
by Christer Thunborg
|
- Murder in the Eyes
- Script: Tony De Paul
- Art: Kari Leppänen
- First published in Fantomen Nr.25/1994 by Semic, Sweden. Original cover shown on the left, thanks to Ulf Granberg.
- Message from the Publisher:
The story in this edition has a connection to Christmas, but all at Frew considered it was just a little too brutal to include in our recent 2006 Christmas Special. Murder in the Eyes, we hope you will agree, is better showcased in a stand-alone issue. The story, written by Tony De Paul and illustrated by Kari Leppänen, first appeared in Scandinavia in 1994 and actually preceded Diana's New Job, which appeared in Frew #1462. However, there is only a slight connection between those two stories and nothing has been lost by holding this one over until the New Year.
Murder in the Eyes is almost entirely based in New York City and because it first appeared so long ago it is understandable that Leppänen included a scene depicting the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Both towers were, of course, destroyed in the infamous terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001, but to be faithful to the original script and the art, we decided to retain the scene.
That explained, it is obviously necessary to comment on the theme of the story. De Paul has written about New York City being (in 1994) a rather dangerous metropolis. I'm sure Tony was really writing in very general terms and painting a broad picture of the city as it apparently was in a time much earlier than 1994. New York for many years has enjoyed an enviable reputation as a safe place to live and visit, due at least in part, to the Zero Tolerance policy adopted by the City Mayor and the New York Police Department. Back in 1955 and for many years afterwards, areas such as Times Square, which is in the centre of the world-famous theatre district, was very much down-at-heel and side streets off Broadway were to be avoided late at night or early in the morning. The entire area has since been cleaned up and is completely safe. So - if you have any thoughts about visiting, take the chance. New York is one of the most exciting cities in the world, steeped in history and with something for everybody of any age! All of that said, full marks to Kari Leppänen for capturing so much of New York's magic so well.
Our next issue, the 2007 Annual Special, will feature a huge line-up of Lee Falk - Sy Barry classics plus a new American adventure - plus yet another Frew replica issue. This time it will be #16 from 1949 Adventure in Algiers with art by Ray Moore. In no particular order, some of the Lee Falk Phantom adventures will include The Phantom's Vacation, The Blue Gang, Phantom Head Peak, Exodus of the Little People, Return of the Thuggees, Valley of the Elephants, Attack of the Witchmen and The Astronaut and the Pirates. All of the stories have been out of print for at least 15 years and all have been reproduced from pristine copies of the original masters. The 2007 Annual Special, bagged as usual, will be on sale on 12 January. All the standard features (lists of best selling editions, most popular covers and all the rest) will be included, together with our complete publishing schedule throughout 2006.
We have so much more to bring you in following editions as we count down to the release of Frew's history-making 1500th Issue which is planned to be on sale early in April. That edition will rival our famous 1000th issue in terms of collectability and as we get closer, we will reveal a BIG surprise ... a special bonus publication which will make world history!
|
