Fantomen Nr.2/2007
by Hans Lindahl
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- Son of the Jungle
- Script: Tony De Paul
- Art: Kari Leppänen
- First published in Fantomen Nr.2/2007 by Egmont, Scandinavia. Original cover shown on the left, thanks to Ulf Granberg.
- Message from the Publisher:
The Phantom returns to his real home in Son of the Jungle!
In recent times, we have seen The Ghost Who Walks in cyberspace, Europe and different locations in the United States but in this story, he fits perfectly into the action with the jungle, animals, a wild boy and a creepy bunch of roughnecks helping provide the backdrop.
Son of the Jungle has just about everything ... including touches of the Tarzan legend! In many ways (and I touched upon this in our special Lee Falk Tribute issue published last year) you can always find similarities between Tarzan and The Phantom! Lee loved Tarzan stories and just about everything written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but as pointed out in the Tribute edition, he strived to distance the two characters.
This new adventure is not from Lee's pen, and the creators, writer Tony De Paul and artist Kari Leppänen, have edged close to another famous adventure which appeared back in 1989 in Frew #931. Anybody remember Eden? That story was written by the late Donne Avenell and illustrated by Hans Lindahl and it centred upon a boy named Archie who had grown up with a family of wild gorillas. He is rescued by friendly natives, who call in The Phantom when they discover the boy can only utter wild animal noises. When The Phantom realises Archie has a very special affinity with wild animals, he helps him settle on the Isle of Eden with many of his animal friends. It was at that point we were told a quite different story about how so many animals came to Eden! However, that was of no serious consequence. Archie is helped by The Phantom to speak English and to gradually settle back into normal life. Quite sadly, the story had a tragic ending with Archie losing his life trying to protect his animal friends. The adventure was set at the end of World War Two. Son of the Jungle does not have the same ending, but there is just as much drama and pathos. I know you are going to enjoy this most unusual jungle story!
In our next issue (Frew #1469 which will go on sale on 16 February) we will bring you another new story called simply, Thirst! This is Part 5 of the longrunning Chamber of the Gods saga and we edge closer to The Phantom solving everything!
There are plenty more new adventures coming your way in the run up to Frew #1472 which will, in fact, be our history-making 1500th edition! This is not only a huge milestone in Australian comic book publishing (no other title has ever come close to 1500 successive editions!) but it represents a world record! No other publisher of The Phantom comic book can make such a claim Frew's famous 1,000th issue published in 1991 was a near instant sell-out and today commands upwards of $60 on the open market. Our 1500th edition will generate similar interest as it will include a lift-out bonus feature which will be a world first!
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