Fantomen Nr.22/2003
by Rolf Gohs
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- The Cruel Revenge
- Script: Claes Reimerthi
- Art: Joan Boix
- First published in Fantomen Nr.22/2003 by Egmont, Scandinavia (16 October 2003). Original Finnish cover shown on the left, thanks to Brian Jensen.
- Message from the Publisher:
Another new adventure - and one with plenty of surprises - in this issue! The Cruel Revenge, written by Claes Reimerthi and illustrated by Joan Boix, takes us to ancient Venice in north-east Italy in the time of the 11th Phantom, his wife Renata, and Chris, their grown-up son.
Author Reimerthi has left everything wide open for a follow-up story which is referred to by the current Phantom as he finishes relating this adventure to Kit and Heloise. It is likely we will be able to bring you the story in the very near future!
I'm sure by the time you finish The Cruel Revenge, you will be eager to find out what happens when the 11th Phantom catches up with the dreaded Prince Korshir, even though the ending to that story is revealed in the very last frame of this issue!
There are evil-doers galore in this new adventure, but none quite so scary as the scary-looking former Inquisitor of Venice. In a way it is a pity he will not be around when we finally find out what happens to all concerned!
Reimerthi and Boix have teamed brilliantly on The Cruel Revenge. The historical background injected by Reimerthi is accurate enough and Boix obviously went to a great deal of trouble to research everything he could about old Venice. The architecture and clothing is perfect!
I know there will be many students of Lee Falk Phantom history who will dispute the role of Renata as the wife of the 11th Phantom and her death as described by Reimerthi. Nowhere in the Lee Falk
Phantom chronology is there mention of a Phantom wife named Renata! For that matter, details of the 11th Phantom's wife are very patchy. In two stories (The Heirs in 1978/79 and Captain Amazon - Pirate Queen in 1989/90), Lee confused everybody by referring to two separate women who might have been the wife of the 11th Ghost Who Walks, a Maharajah's daughter and an Indian maiden, neither of whom were named! For that matter, Lee never gave a name for the wife of the 10th Phantom, who was probably the daughter of a Scandinavian sea captain, or the 12th Phantom (Chris in this story).
In many ways, it is a great pity Lee never attempted to clear up all these mysteries before he died.
However, the many unnamed Phantom wives and the on-going ultra mystery - whatever did happen to all of them - has left it open for modern keepers of the Chronicles to speculate on what could possibly have been the truth.
All these grey areas, of course, only add to the ongoing intrigue of The Phantom legend which remains unique in the world history of comics.
I know you will thoroughly enjoy The Cruel Revenge!
In our next issue (Frew #1368, on sale 7 November), we will bring you yet another new adventure. This one is entitled The Boy From San Diablo and while it too, is set in an exotic overseas location, it is thoroughly modern. Written by Graham Nolan and illustrated by Kari Leppänen, The Boy From San Diablo takes us to the islands north-east of South America where The Phantom is embroiled in a rescue mission and faces a small army of gun-happy revolutionaries.
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