Princess Valerie

Princess Valerie

Start date:	February 18th, 1946
End date:	July 13th, 1946
# of strips:	126 strips (21 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Ray Moore and Wilson McCoy
Original colorist:	unknown
Preceded by:	"The Mermaids of Melo Straits"
Followed by:	"Queen Asta of Trondelay"

"Princess Valerie" is the 27th Phantom daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Ray Moore and Wilson McCoy.

Plot summary

The Phantom encounters a lonely girl at the road late one evening. He asks her who she is and she introduces herself as Princess Valerie, alomst six years old and looking for her grandfather. The Phantom brings her home to Diana with the intent of finding her grandfather he next day. They have, however, been observed and followed and in the middle of the night, Princess Valerie is kidnapped. The Phantom tracks he kidnappers and confronts them nearby an airplane, then it turns out that they are messengers from the White Rajah of Volara, Princess Valerie's grandfather, and that they are to take her to her grandfather. The Rajah is General Cordney, who led the forces that liberated Volara and as a thank, was elected Rajah. Convinced by their papers, the Phantom let them go, even though he did not like their look.

Meanwhile, the sick Rajah is waiting for his granddaughter, unaware that two of his closest men, Vizar and Beli, are plotting to kill her so that he then will die of grief and they could rule.

The two men that took Valerie then lands their plane and put it on fire, they take Valerie a little bit, before leaving her to be taken by the jungle. The leader of the two then brings the news that Valerie and the pilot have died in a plane crash (the pilot has actually been bribed to keep away). Vizar and Beli receives the news and informs the Rajah, who becomes unconscious and lands in a very critical condition.

Later, the Phantom reads in the newspaper that Valerie has been killed. Suspecting foul play, the Phantom decides to investigate.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Valerie starts wondering where the men went. It starts raining and she seeks shelter in a cave under the roots of a tree. Then by chance, a tiger kills a leopard, that has chosed to get Valerie as his dinner. The tiger then turns to a deer calf that seeks shelter in the same place as Valerie. Before the tiger could attack, however, comes a herd of elephants and crush him. Meanwhile, some men from the cannibal tribe Tiwa is hunting, they discover the crushed leopard and tiger and also Valerie hiding. Attributing the death of the animals to Valerie, they thinks she is a goddes and bring her to their village and treats her like a queen.

In Morristown, the pilot goes to Joe's Bar to celebrate., unfortunately for him, the Phantom has just arrived to the city too and as a first start decided to go to Joe's Bar to see if he could catch som clues. The Phantom recognizes the pilot and soon knows everything about what really happened. Quickly, the Phantom runs to the the place where he keeps Hero, bringing the pilot with him by using the threat of Devil's jaws. Then the pilot shows where they left Valerie. When the princess is not to be found there, the Phantom leaves him hanging from a tree in his waist.

Meanwhile in the Tiwa village, the medicin man feels threatened by Valerie's new powers and persuades the chief to realize that she is a threat as she one day might replace him as chief. It is decided that the spirits is to be asked, which the medicin man does and then delivers the answer that she possesses great power and that should be eaten by the Tiwa warriors so that they could share her power. Princess Valerie and the deer calf is then placed in a huge cauldron with water but when one warrior is to lit the fire, his torch is shoot out of his hand by the Phantom. The Phantom quickly restores order and gives them the punishment that they must never again eat meat, threatening to destroy every member, should the ban be broken.

Meanwhile, the pilot has managed to escape from the tree and warn Vizar end Beli. The Phantom is too late to stop him. Then the Phantom and Valerie goes straight for Volara, while the Volaran soldiers is placed around the palace, warned of a masked man riding on a white horse with a child. The Phantom and Valerie, nevertheless, manages to slip through the first line of defense and pass the crocodile-filled moat. In order not to be bothered with Valerie when he restores order, the Phantom places her in "Princess Valerie's Orphanage", disguised as a very poor girl and although the Princess is the royal protector of the place and has her portrait hsnging on the wall, she is not recognized.

The Phantom then proceeds to infiltrate the palace and discover that it is Vizar and Beli that are behind the assassination attempt at Valerie's life. After being terrorized by the Phantom through the Skull Mark appearing everywhere, Vizar asks for the hairy twins to be brought before him. The hairy twins are notorious criminals, now serving time in prison. He offers them their freedom if they kill the Phantom, which they happily agree upon. Vizar arranges a trap by waiting in his room and having the twins wait in the next room, when the Phantom then appears, he calls them in and locks the door. When everything is quiet, he opens the door and encounters the unconscious and tied twins falling out. Vizar end Beli then sees their only chance in killing the Rajah, unfortunately the Phantom has already entered the Rajah's room and informed him that Valerie is still alive and when Vizar and Beli arrives to kill him, he easily prevents the attempt. The Phantom then makes them confess all their plans.

The next day, Princess Valerie get chased by a boy and retaliates by smashing him into the wall in the sight of the overseer of the orphanage, thst lends her the punishment