The Castle of Evil

The Castle of Evil

Produced for:	Fantomen 2/1988
# of pgs:	30
Writer:	Norman Worker
Artist:	Hans Lindahl
Original colorist:	N/A
Producer:	Semic Press

"The Castle of Evil" is a 1988 Team Fantomen story, written by Norman Worker, with art by Hans Lindahl.

Plot synopsis

Rex and Tom-Tom are hanging around in the Major Treasure Room where they find the novel "Red Riding Hood" by the Grimm Brothers and a glass jar that contains a strangely deformed hand. The Phantom tell them they are artifacts from an adventure with the 13th Phantom.

The 13th Phantom arrives to the Harz mountains in Germany and the little town of Zellerstadt. In the doctor's home he meets a fellow traveller, Jacob Grimm, who is collecting folk tales. The doctor show them a painting of the hospital patroness, a beautiful young lady, baroness Germaine Faustenberg, with a deformed left hand. The painting is is more than 50 years old and the baroness still live in castle Rosenhag nearby. Both the Phantom and Grimm need to continue their travels and decide to go together. The doctor advises against travelling through the forest at night but they leave anyway.

In the forest they rescue a carriage with two passengers who are attacked by wolves. Besides the coachman is the young lady Lorelly, grandchild of the baroness Germaine, and her maid. Arriving to the castle Rosenhag the groundskeeper Hans warns them that evil lives in the castle before being interrupted by father Karl, the baroness' spiritual advisor. The Phantom and Jacob Grimm decide to spend the night in the castle. At dinner they meet the baroness herself who is very old but still wolfes down the meat served. Her beastly demeanor scares her grandchild.

After retiring to bed, the Phantom wakes up in the middle of night to the sound of howling wolves. A scream of terror makes him climb down to the courtyard where he is attacked by a wolf. The Phantom smashes the wolf's head with a stone and the wolf disappear.

The next morning the Phantom and Jacob Grimm leave early, but first they meet father Karl who has his head wrapped in band aid.

Riding through the forest the Phantom realize that the baroness they had dinner with the night before did not have a deformed hand and decide to investigate. They return to Zellerstadt and in the parish register they find that the baroness also had a twin sister. The priest tell them that they should speak with the old nursemaid Brünhilde. Speaking with her in her house, Brünhilde tell them that the twin girls were as different as night and day; while Germaine was a nice little girl, her sister Irma was wicked and cruel and had to be sent to a convent school. Her husband Kurt tell them it is dangerous to speak about the sisters but gives the Phantom two silver bullets for protection.

Outside Brünhildes house they are attacked by three thugs, sent by father Karl to teach them a lesson. They prove no match for the Phantom.

Returning to the castle, the Phantom and Jacob Grimm learn that the baroness and father Karl has taken Lorelly to the hunting lodge on top of a mountain. Arriving to the lodge the Phantom manage to release the little girl who has been tied up. The lodge is attacked by a group of wolves but the Phantom manage to shoot one of the wolves with a silver bullet and to use a knife to cut off the front paw of the most ferocious one. The remaining wolves disappear.

In the castle they find the old baroness dead with one of her hands cut off. In the cellar is the nice twin sister, Germaine, who has spent her life locked up by her wicked sister. The Phantom keep the cut off hand as a memento.