{{Newspaperbox
|Title=The Tyrant of Tarakimo
|image= [[Image:Watch.png|200 px]]
|Start=August 15th, 1977
|End= October 29th, 1977
|Strips= 66 (11 weeks)
|Writer= [[Lee Falk]]
|Artist= [[Sy Barry]]
|Preceded="[[Guardian of the Eastern Dark]]"
|Followed="[[The Wedding of the Phantom (daily story)|The Wedding of the Phantom]]"
|}}
'''"The Tyrant of Tarakimo"''' is the 135th [[The Phantom|Phantom]] [[daily story]].
The story was written by [[Lee Falk]] and drawn by [[Sy Barry]].

The first installment in the [[Tarakimo]] series, this popular yarn tells the tale of a self-aggrandizing, evil dictator, [[General Tara]], and his sadistic torture cartel who hold a small Asian mountain nation, [[Tarakimo]], hostage to his insane whims.

[[Diana]] sets out to expose the dictator and winds up becoming a prisoner of the insane ruler.

== Plot Summary ==
As the first part of the Tarakimo saga unfolds, Diana is becoming bored with her desk job at the UN and is both intrigued and horrified by the reports of Tara's atrocities, which she has been reading. She petitions [[Dr. Henry]] to go along with [[Sven|Sven Nilsson]], another UN agent, to Tarakimo. He refuses, telling her that the leader there is, in no uncertain terms, "a monster." "I've met monsters before," Diana retorts. Her next obstacle is convincing Sven she can handle herself. When her co-worker laughs at the idea of a woman going to such a "savage" place, they face off in a stringent competition to diffuse Sven's misogyny.

While Diana swiftly bests her co-worker in a number of physical contests, we cross-cut to Tarakimo, where the self-indulgent dictator basks indolently on a large gilded [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throne throne] chair, plotting how he will cover up his crimes from the incoming UN interlopers. During these early sequences, all we see of Tara are his large, ornately accessorized boots (symbolizing tyranny), and a gauntlet gloved hand delicately gripping a long [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_holder cigarette holder] as his menials grovel before him on hands and knees simply because "he saw it in a movie once" and found it amusing. [[Image:Glove.jpg|thumb]]

It is implied from his decadently lavish lifestyle that Tara uses the nation's funds as something of a personal checking account as did many dictators such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin Amin] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier Papa Doc].

As Diana and Sven are met by Tara's legion of soldiers at the airport, it is disclosed that a newsman, [[MacGregor]], is also in the country, secretly sending out stories of the general's foul deeds. Diana and Sven are stalled for as long as possible, then shown Tara's prison, which turns out to be, as Diana terms it, a "farce." The two witness "prisoners" (in reality, guards) sleeping till noon and eating steak in their beautifully furnished "cells." For Tara to believe this ruse will be successful is more a testament to his insanity than to his cunning, but he has a fair share of both, in spades, as we will soon see.

When Diana and Sven finally are granted an audience with the obnoxious autocrat, they are dismayed and disgusted to learn they are expected to crawl on their hands and knees before him! While Sven reluctantly concedes, Diana is much more vocal in her protesting, though she finally relents after Sven convinces her that they won't get anywhere by angering the dictator. Tara keeps the pair prostrated for a long while, relishing his physical position of authority over them, until Diana has enough of the humiliation and jumps to her feet. Telling the general she is in no mood for his degrading games, Diana wastes no time in letting the pompous thug know that they are wise to his tricks. Tara is enraged --- even more so when his men uncover news of a note that one of the inmates slipped Diana, detailing his crimes ("hundreds of men are tortured and killed in these prisons")...a note that Diana cleverly mails out of the country via Tara's butler. [[Image:Begs.jpg|thumb]]

Tara demands the note. Diana and Sven attempt to feign ignorance, but the dictator is adamant. He commands the offending inmate be taken to a torture room and ruthlessly beaten with a flogger until the tyrant obtains a confession. After the interrogation, the unfortunate man is sent before the tyrant's throne and laid at his jackbooted feet, where he tearfully begs the monster for mercy and forgiveness, in full view of Diana and Sven. Of course, the display only hardens Diana's resolve to defy the petty bully. (''Note the color panels at right are from the [[Indrajal Comics]] version of this story''.) [[Image:Humiliate.jpg|thumb]]

Getting nowhere, Tara orders the UN agents' rooms torn apart and their persons strip-searched, incurring more humiliation for our heroine and her sidekick. Afterwards, while they are dressing, they are accosted again by the despot and again refuse to exonerate him. Now deadly intent on obtaining their statements, Tara falls back on using every bloodthirsty dictator's fail-safe: imprisonment and torture. He orders their arrests. "You came here to spy on our jails!" he ominously intones. "Now you will see them...FROM THE INSIDE!"

As the Phantom slowly but surely uncovers the danger Diana has unwittingly placed herself in, and completes his round-the-world trek to Tarakimo, the dictator sends his thugs to retrieve Diana and Sven from their dank little cells. If they won't give him the note, his maniacal mind reasons, they will give him a “confession” stating that the note was a lie. It’s a rationale that only the most deranged of minds could construct: “I will torture you into giving me a confession that states I do not torture.” One can only imagine Falk’s grim chuckling at this darkest of ironies.

[[Image:Torturechamber.png|thumb]]

It is in Tara's underground [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_chamber torture chamber], that we truly see how twisted and sadistic this monster is. Even though the room is set up as a medieval dungeon, with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_(torture) racks], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden_(torture_device) iron maidens], and whipping posts, it has been given a modern spin, with closed-circuit cameras mounted all around. These cameras transmit the images of Tara's victims, along with their pain and suffering, to the tyrant's plush private office, for his perverse "enjoyment."

After the general orders Diana bound to a torture rack, and Sven to a whipping post, [[Major Isamu]], Tara’s sycophantic flunky, badgers them further, threatening them with physical injury if they don't comply with the tyrant's demands --- much to Tara's delight, as he coolly monitors their mounting distress from the large television mounted in his luxurious office ("I hope they refuse," he smugly giggles to himself).

[[Image:Gloat.png|thumb]]

Meanwhile, the Ghost is closing in, parachuting past Tara's "closed" airport and leaving his trademark skull-shaped brand on numerous thugs and henchmen. Back in the dungeon, Diana (being Diana) mouths off to the tyrant, calling him on his ridiculous demands. Tara, deciding he will teach her some manners, orders Isamu to stretch her on the rack.

Even though she is bound tightly on the uncomfortable wooden frame, with Tara’s insidious camera winking down at her, Diana refuses to cooperate, still believing the torture room and it's ancient devices to be another elaborate ploy by Tara to scare them. Just before Major Isamu can give the order to commence with the stretching, Tara gives her a reprieve --- of sorts. "She's too beautiful and bold to waste," the general muses, genuinely impressed by the woman’s audacious resolve as he puffs languidly on his cigarette holder, "...I will keep her...." For his personal pleasure...no doubt! [[Image:Rack2.jpg|thumb]] [[Image:Start.jpg|thumb]]

Supremely confident that he can have the lovely Diana for himself and still extract a confession, he orders his bully boys to torture Sven first. But the villain's vile intentions for Diana and Sven are not to be. Just as he's settling into a leather easy chair for some depraved "fun," directing Isamu and his henchman to begin the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwhip bullwhip]'s dance toward Sven's bared chest, two hands of steel wind their way around his pudgy neck! As he chokes the despot, the Phantom demands that the general call off his goons. Tara, ever the yellow-bellied coward, instantly wilts, sweat streaming down his face, his garish form-fitting tunic suddenly a tad too tight. He sends for Diana, Sven, and MacGregor, then casually tries to depress the emergency call switch, to summon his guards, to the left of his chair. "Don't touch that button, general!" the Ghost warns. "Or you won't live to regret it!" [[Image:Sweat.jpg|thumb]]

Isamu frees his prisoners reluctantly, warning them not to get too comfortable ("Sometimes the general likes to question spies ''personally''.... ''That'' will be worse than this!").

But, up in Tara's office, Kit is the one doing the questioning. When his fiancee arrives with her comrades, he forces the over-dressed thug to his hands and knees at gunpoint, just as Isamu forced Diana and Sven to pay the general homage earlier. Tara complies, vehemently cursing the Phantom and vowing revenge.

Probably not a good idea, that last bit...since the Phantom decides to take Tara hostage to ensure a safe escape. As the general's battalion of tanks and fighter planes idle, his soldiers watching helplessly, he is directed aboard a plane...and then pushed out...with a parachute of course. Nice guy, that Phantom...considering the fat creep was going to dislocate his fiancee's limbs just for kicks!

Diana and the Ghost ride off into the sunset to their nuptials (after all, how can [[Lily Palmer]] refuse a man who saved her daughter from the torture rack?), and all seems to be well.

But evil never sleeps, as they say, and in [[Return to Tarakimo]], the villain has his chance at revenge....

=== Analysis ===

Tara's smug, grating effeteness as he remotely monitors Diana's aborted torture session is no chance plot or character construction on Falk’s part. Just as he steers clear of handling his cigarettes, Tara considers himself too superior to lower himself to dirtying his hands (usually gloved, remember?) --- at least with those whom he doesn’t plan to kill. He wants to remain as cozy and isolated from his foul deeds as possible, thereby insuring himself a somewhat tight alibi (“Torture? Who, ''me?'' ''I'' didn’t torture anyone.”).

He's often underestimated in the canon of Phantom villains, because he's not a traditional tough guy, but more the cold, calculating "gentleman sadist": he behaves like a barbarian but can't resist the posh trappings of a sophisticate. His real strength lies in his deviousness and his cruelty. For example, it’s really quite brilliant when he takes Diana to the brink of being tortured, only to decide it would be more amusing to have her for his pleasure, and feed her cohort to his thugs, instead. He accurately surmises that, to a valiant woman such as Diana, it would be far worse to watch her co-worker be tortured before her eyes. It's all the same to Tara, as long as he gets the added bonus of inflicting pain, which ultimately gives him the most satisfaction.

This unabashed cruelty is something that distinguishes Tara among many of the Phantom villains --- as his large collection of torture instruments attests, he really enjoys hurting people.

=== Trivia ===

*[[Lee Falk]] has been quoted as saying that [[The Tyrant of Tarakimo]] and [[Return to Tarakimo]] (the story's sequel) were his personal "statements" on the growing number of harsh third-world dictatorships fueled by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture torture] cartels.

*''The Tyrant of Tarakimo'' was finished by an unknown inker. If you examine the strip closely, you will see marked changes in Tara and Diana's appearance following the scene where Diana, Sven, and MacGregor are brought to the general's office, after Tara has been captured by the Phantom.

*The Tarakimo stories, though unbelievably well drawn --- Barry's eye for detail in illustrating the general's opulent palace and his garish uniforms is amazing for a daily comic strip, not to mention making Tara into a superb characature of evil excess --- suffer from a little irregularity. The most blatant gaffe can be seen on this page in the frame of Tara gloating "I hope they refuse" to the monitor, sans goatee. His uniform breeches seem to change color mid-scene as well. Maybe they're mood breeches? It ''was'' the '70s!

== Reprints ==
This story has been published in the following publications:

=== [[Image:mini_australia.gif]] Australia ===

=== [[Image:mini_finland.gif|border]] Finland ===

=== [[Image:mini_norway.gif]] Norway===

=== [[Image:mini_sweden.gif]] Sweden ===
*[[Fantomen 6/1978|''Fantomen'' 6/1978]]

[[Category: Daily stories|Tyrant of Tarakimo, The]]

The Tyrant of Tarakimo

2008-02-07T11:33:29Z

Gtar:

{{Newspaperbox
|Title=The Tyrant of Tarakimo
|image= [[Image:Watch.png|200 px]]
|Start=August 15th, 1977
|End= October 29th, 1977
|Strips= 66 (11 weeks)
|Writer= [[Lee Falk]]
|Artist= [[Sy Barry]]
|Preceded="[[Guardian of the Eastern Dark]]"
|Followed="[[The Wedding of the Phantom (daily story)|The Wedding of the Phantom]]"
|}}
'''"The Tyrant of Tarakimo"''' is the 135th [[The Phantom|Phantom]] [[daily story]].
The story was written by [[Lee Falk]] and drawn by [[Sy Barry]].

The first installment in the [[Tarakimo]] series, this popular yarn tells the tale of a self-aggrandizing, evil dictator, [[General Tara]], and his sadistic torture cartel who hold a small Asian mountain nation, [[Tarakimo]], hostage to his insane whims.

[[Diana]] sets out to expose the dictator and winds up becoming a prisoner of the insane ruler.

== Plot Summary ==
As the first part of the Tarakimo saga unfolds, Diana is becoming bored with her desk job at the UN and is both intrigued and horrified by the reports of Tara's atrocities, which she has been reading. She petitions [[Dr. Henry]] to go along with [[Sven|Sven Nilsson]], another UN agent, to Tarakimo. He refuses, telling her that the leader there is, in no uncertain terms, "a monster." "I've met monsters before," Diana retorts. Her next obstacle is convincing Sven she can handle herself. When her co-worker laughs at the idea of a woman going to such a "savage" place, they face off in a stringent competition to diffuse Sven's misogyny.

While Diana swiftly bests her co-worker in a number of physical contests, we cross-cut to Tarakimo, where the self-indulgent dictator basks indolently on a large gilded [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throne throne] chair, plotting how he will cover up his crimes from the incoming UN interlopers. During these early sequences, all we see of Tara are his large, ornately accessorized boots (symbolizing tyranny), and a gauntlet gloved hand delicately gripping a long [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_holder cigarette holder] as his menials grovel before him on hands and knees simply because "he saw it in a movie once" and found it amusing. [[Image:Glove.jpg|thumb]]

It is implied from his decadently lavish lifestyle that Tara uses the nation's funds as something of a personal checking account as did many dictators such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin Amin] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier Papa Doc].

As Diana and Sven are met by Tara's legion of soldiers at the airport, it is disclosed that a newsman, [[MacGregor]], is also in the country, secretly sending out stories of the general's foul deeds. Diana and Sven are stalled for as long as possible, then shown Tara's prison, which turns out to be, as Diana terms it, a "farce." The two witness "prisoners" (in reality, guards) sleeping till noon and eating steak in their beautifully furnished "cells." For Tara to believe this ruse will be successful is more a testament to his insanity than to his cunning, but he has a fair share of both, in spades, as we will soon see.

When Diana and Sven finally are granted an audience with the obnoxious autocrat, they are dismayed and disgusted to learn they are expected to crawl on their hands and knees before him! While Sven reluctantly concedes, Diana is much more vocal in her protesting, though she finally relents after Sven convinces her that they won't get anywhere by angering the dictator. Tara keeps the pair prostrated for a long while, relishing his physical position of authority over them, until Diana has enough of the humiliation and jumps to her feet. Telling the general she is in no mood for his degrading games, Diana wastes no time in letting the pompous thug know that they are wise to his tricks. Tara is enraged --- even more so when his men uncover news of a note that one of the inmates slipped Diana, detailing his crimes ("hundreds of men are tortured and killed in these prisons")...a note that Diana cleverly mails out of the country via Tara's butler. [[Image:Beg.jpg|thumb]]

Tara demands the note. Diana and Sven attempt to feign ignorance, but the dictator is adamant. He commands the offending inmate be taken to a torture room and ruthlessly beaten with a flogger until the tyrant obtains a confession. After the interrogation, the unfortunate man is sent before the tyrant's throne and laid at his jackbooted feet, where he tearfully begs the monster for mercy and forgiveness, in full view of Diana and Sven. Of course, the display only hardens Diana's resolve to defy the petty bully. (''Note the color panels at right are from the [[Indrajal Comics]] version of this story''.) [[Image:Humiliate.jpg|thumb]]

Getting nowhere, Tara orders the UN agents' rooms torn apart and their persons strip-searched, incurring more humiliation for our heroine and her sidekick. Afterwards, while they are dressing, they are accosted again by the despot and again refuse to exonerate him. Now deadly intent on obtaining their statements, Tara falls back on using every bloodthirsty dictator's fail-safe: imprisonment and torture. He orders their arrests. "You came here to spy on our jails!" he ominously intones. "Now you will see them...FROM THE INSIDE!"

As the Phantom slowly but surely uncovers the danger Diana has unwittingly placed herself in, and completes his round-the-world trek to Tarakimo, the dictator sends his thugs to retrieve Diana and Sven from their dank little cells. If they won't give him the note, his maniacal mind reasons, they will give him a “confession” stating that the note was a lie. It’s a rationale that only the most deranged of minds could construct: “I will torture you into giving me a confession that states I do not torture.” One can only imagine Falk’s grim chuckling at this darkest of ironies.

[[Image:Torturechamber.png|thumb]]

It is in Tara's underground [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_chamber torture chamber], that we truly see how twisted and sadistic this monster is. Even though the room is set up as a medieval dungeon, with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_(torture) racks], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden_(torture_device) iron maidens], and whipping posts, it has been given a modern spin, with closed-circuit cameras mounted all around. These cameras transmit the images of Tara's victims, along with their pain and suffering, to the tyrant's plush private office, for his perverse "enjoyment."

After the general orders Diana bound to a torture rack, and Sven to a whipping post, [[Major Isamu]], Tara’s sycophantic flunky, badgers them further, threatening them with physical injury if they don't comply with the tyrant's demands --- much to Tara's delight, as he coolly monitors their mounting distress from the large television mounted in his luxurious office ("I hope they refuse," he smugly giggles to himself).

[[Image:Gloat.png|thumb]]

Meanwhile, the Ghost is closing in, parachuting past Tara's "closed" airport and leaving his trademark skull-shaped brand on numerous thugs and henchmen. Back in the dungeon, Diana (being Diana) mouths off to the tyrant, calling him on his ridiculous demands. Tara, deciding he will teach her some manners, orders Isamu to stretch her on the rack.

Even though she is bound tightly on the uncomfortable wooden frame, with Tara’s insidious camera winking down at her, Diana refuses to cooperate, still believing the torture room and it's ancient devices to be another elaborate ploy by Tara to scare them. Just before Major Isamu can give the order to commence with the stretching, Tara gives her a reprieve --- of sorts. "She's too beautiful and bold to waste," the general muses, genuinely impressed by the woman’s audacious resolve as he puffs languidly on his cigarette holder, "...I will keep her...." For his personal pleasure...no doubt! [[Image:Rack2.jpg|thumb]] [[Image:Start.jpg|thumb]]

Supremely confident that he can have the lovely Diana for himself and still extract a confession, he orders his bully boys to torture Sven first. But the villain's vile intentions for Diana and Sven are not to be. Just as he's settling into a leather easy chair for some depraved "fun," directing Isamu and his henchman to begin the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwhip bullwhip]'s dance toward Sven's bared chest, two hands of steel wind their way around his pudgy neck! As he chokes the despot, the Phantom demands that the general call off his goons. Tara, ever the yellow-bellied coward, instantly wilts, sweat streaming down his face, his garish form-fitting tunic suddenly a tad too tight. He sends for Diana, Sven, and MacGregor, then casually tries to depress the emergency call switch, to summon his guards, to the left of his chair. "Don't touch that button, general!" the Ghost warns. "Or you won't live to regret it!" [[Image:Sweat.jpg|thumb]]

Isamu frees his prisoners reluctantly, warning them not to get too comfortable ("Sometimes the general likes to question spies ''personally''.... ''That'' will be worse than this!").

But, up in Tara's office, Kit is the one doing the questioning. When his fiancee arrives with her comrades, he forces the over-dressed thug to his hands and knees at gunpoint, just as Isamu forced Diana and Sven to pay the general homage earlier. Tara complies, vehemently cursing the Phantom and vowing revenge.

Probably not a good idea, that last bit...since the Phantom decides to take Tara hostage to ensure a safe escape. As the general's battalion of tanks and fighter planes idle, his soldiers watching helplessly, he is directed aboard a plane...and then pushed out...with a parachute of course. Nice guy, that Phantom...considering the fat creep was going to dislocate his fiancee's limbs just for kicks!

Diana and the Ghost ride off into the sunset to their nuptials (after all, how can [[Lily Palmer]] refuse a man who saved her daughter from the torture rack?), and all seems to be well.

But evil never sleeps, as they say, and in [[Return to Tarakimo]], the villain has his chance at revenge....

=== Analysis ===

Tara's smug, grating effeteness as he remotely monitors Diana's aborted torture session is no chance plot or character construction on Falk’s part. Just as he steers clear of handling his cigarettes, Tara considers himself too superior to lower himself to dirtying his hands (usually gloved, remember?) --- at least with those whom he doesn’t plan to kill. He wants to remain as cozy and isolated from his foul deeds as possible, thereby insuring himself a somewhat tight alibi (“Torture? Who, ''me?'' ''I'' didn’t torture anyone.”).

He's often underestimated in the canon of Phantom villains, because he's not a traditional tough guy, but more the cold, calculating "gentleman sadist": he behaves like a barbarian but can't resist the posh trappings of a sophisticate. His real strength lies in his deviousness and his cruelty. For example, it’s really quite brilliant when he takes Diana to the brink of being tortured, only to decide it would be more amusing to have her for his pleasure, and feed her cohort to his thugs, instead. He accurately surmises that, to a valiant woman such as Diana, it would be far worse to watch her co-worker be tortured before her eyes. It's all the same to Tara, as long as he gets the added bonus of inflicting pain, which ultimately gives him the most satisfaction.

This unabashed cruelty is something that distinguishes Tara among many of the Phantom villains --- as his large collection of torture instruments attests, he really enjoys hurting people.

=== Trivia ===

*[[Lee Falk]] has been quoted as saying that [[The Tyrant of Tarakimo]] and [[Return to Tarakimo]] (the story's sequel) were his personal "statements" on the growing number of harsh third-world dictatorships fueled by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture torture] cartels.

*''The Tyrant of Tarakimo'' was finished by an unknown inker. If you examine the strip closely, you will see marked changes in Tara and Diana's appearance following the scene where Diana, Sven, and MacGregor are brought to the general's office, after Tara has been captured by the Phantom.

*The Tarakimo stories, though unbelievably well drawn --- Barry's eye for detail in illustrating the general's opulent palace and his garish uniforms is amazing for a daily comic strip, not to mention making Tara into a superb characature of evil excess --- suffer from a little irregularity. The most blatant gaffe can be seen on this page in the frame of Tara gloating "I hope they refuse" to the monitor, sans goatee. His uniform breeches seem to change color mid-scene as well. Maybe they're mood breeches? It ''was'' the '70s!

== Reprints ==
This story has been published in the following publications:

=== [[Image:mini_australia.gif]] Australia ===

=== [[Image:mini_finland.gif|border]] Finland ===

=== [[Image:mini_norway.gif]] Norway===

=== [[Image:mini_sweden.gif]] Sweden ===
*[[Fantomen 6/1978|''Fantomen'' 6/1978]]

[[Category: Daily stories|Tyrant of Tarakimo, The]]

File:Beg.jpg

2008-02-07T11:31:18Z

Gtar:

Major Isamu

2008-02-07T11:18:08Z

Gtar:

{{character
|name=Major Isamu
|image=[[Image:Isamu.jpg|250 px]]
|first= "[[The Tyrant of Tarakimo]]"
|creators= [[Lee Falk]] and [[Sy Barry]]
|}}
'''Major Isamu''' is a somewhat predominant supporting character in the [[Tarakimo]] series.

Known as [[General Tara]]'s "right hand," this officious, annoying little man lives to stoke the already monumental egos of the sadistic dictators he works for, kneeling and scraping, lavishing flattery and attention on them, doing everything for them short of actually licking their boots.

He delights in bullying and threatening people who do not cooperate with his bosses, and takes great pleasure in conducting leisurely interrogation sessions while his goons wait for instruction from him, manning medieval torture instruments as his unfortunate, usually innocent, victims bathe in their own sweat and fear, which he eagerly eats up as one would candy.

His true love, though, is torture of a more subtle kind, such as humiliating [[Diana Palmer-Walker]] for General Tara's deviant enjoyment. In one such scene, from "[[Return to Tarakimo]]", he conveniently "loses" her clothes in the Tarakimo laundry, relagating her to wearing a harem girl outfit identical to that of the general's other concubines: a costume "suitable," he gloats, for making Diana "pleasing" to the fat fiend, as Isamu prepares her to grovel for him.

At the height of his meanness, he locks Diana in a degrading elevated cage, on Tara's whim, for the tyrant's extended, overbearing ridicule, after tricking her into exposing the identity of [[The 21st Phantom|the Phantom]].

He receives a well-deserved sock to the mouth at the end of the Tarakimo saga, when he is in the employ of newly ensconced despot General Dito. "I was only following orders...nothing personal!" he explains weakly to the enraged Phantom, who sees through his lie instantly.

No...Isamu enjoys himself far too much to be merely carrying out the orders of those more twisted than he.

== Notable appearances ==
*"[[The Tyrant of Tarakimo]]" by [[Lee Falk]] and [[Sy Barry]].
*"[[Return to Tarakimo]]" by Lee Falk and Sy Barry.

[[Category: Characters|Isamu, Major]]

Gtar: /* Plot Summary */

{{Newspaperbox
|Title=The Tyrant of Tarakimo
|image= [[Image:Watch.png|200 px]]
|Start=August 15th, 1977
|End= October 29th, 1977
|Strips= 66 (11 weeks)
|Writer= [[Lee Falk]]
|Artist= [[Sy Barry]]
|Preceded="[[Guardian of the Eastern Dark]]"
|Followed="[[The Wedding of the Phantom (daily story)|The Wedding of the Phantom]]"
|}}
'''"The Tyrant of Tarakimo"''' is the 135th [[The Phantom|Phantom]] [[daily story]].
The story was written by [[Lee Falk]] and drawn by [[Sy Barry]].

The first installment in the [[Tarakimo]] series, this popular yarn tells the tale of a self-aggrandizing, evil dictator, [[General Tara]], and his sadistic torture cartel who hold a small Asian mountain nation, [[Tarakimo]], hostage to his insane whims.

[[Diana]] sets out to expose the dictator and winds up becoming a prisoner of the insane ruler.

== Plot Summary ==
As the first part of the Tarakimo saga unfolds, Diana is becoming bored with her desk job at the UN and is both intrigued and horrified by the reports of Tara's atrocities, which she has been reading. She petitions [[Dr. Henry]] to go along with [[Sven|Sven Nilsson]], another UN agent, to Tarakimo. He refuses, telling her that the leader there is, in no uncertain terms, "a monster." "I've met monsters before," Diana retorts. Her next obstacle is convincing Sven she can handle herself. When her co-worker laughs at the idea of a woman going to such a "savage" place, they face off in a stringent competition to diffuse Sven's misogyny.

While Diana swiftly bests her co-worker in a number of physical contests, we cross-cut to Tarakimo, where the self-indulgent dictator basks indolently on a large gilded [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throne throne] chair, plotting how he will cover up his crimes from the incoming UN interlopers. During these early sequences, all we see of Tara are his large, ornately accessorized boots (symbolizing tyranny), and a gauntlet gloved hand delicately gripping a long [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_holder cigarette holder] as his menials grovel before him on hands and knees simply because "he saw it in a movie once" and found it amusing. [[Image:Glove.jpg|thumb]]

It is implied from his decadently lavish lifestyle that Tara uses the nation's funds as something of a personal checking account as did many dictators such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin Amin] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier Papa Doc].

As Diana and Sven are met by Tara's legion of soldiers at the airport, it is disclosed that a newsman, [[MacGregor]], is also in the country, secretly sending out stories of the general's foul deeds. Diana and Sven are stalled for as long as possible, then shown Tara's prison, which turns out to be, as Diana terms it, a "farce." The two witness "prisoners" (in reality, guards) sleeping till noon and eating steak in their beautifully furnished "cells." For Tara to believe this ruse will be successful is more a testament to his insanity than to his cunning, but he has a fair share of both, in spades, as we will soon see.

When Diana and Sven finally are granted an audience with the obnoxious autocrat, they are dismayed and disgusted to learn they are expected to crawl on their hands and knees before him! While Sven reluctantly concedes, Diana is much more vocal in her protesting, though she finally relents after Sven convinces her that they won't get anywhere by angering the dictator. Tara keeps the pair prostrated for a long while, relishing his physical position of authority over them, until Diana has enough of the humiliation and jumps to her feet. Telling the general she is in no mood for his degrading games, Diana wastes no time in letting the pompous thug know that they are wise to his tricks. Tara is enraged --- even more so when his men uncover news of a note that one of the inmates slipped Diana, detailing his crimes ("hundreds of men are tortured and killed in these prisons")...a note that Diana cleverly mails out of the country via Tara's butler.

Tara demands the note. Diana and Sven attempt to feign ignorance, but the dictator is adamant. He commands the offending inmate be taken to a torture room and ruthlessly beaten with a flogger until the tyrant obtains a confession. After the interrogation, the unfortunate man is sent before the tyrant's throne and laid at his jackbooted feet, where he tearfully begs the monster for mercy and forgiveness, in full view of Diana and Sven. Of course, the display only hardens Diana's resolve to defy the petty bully.[[Image:Humiliate.jpg|thumb]]

Getting nowhere, Tara orders the UN agents' rooms torn apart and their persons strip-searched, incurring more humiliation for our heroine and her sidekick. Afterwards, while they are dressing, they are accosted again by the despot and again refuse to exonerate him. Now deadly intent on obtaining their statements, Tara falls back on using every bloodthirsty dictator's fail-safe: imprisonment and torture. He orders their arrests. "You came here to spy on our jails!" he ominously intones. "Now you will see them...FROM THE INSIDE!"

As the Phantom slowly but surely uncovers the danger Diana has unwittingly placed herself in, and completes his round-the-world trek to Tarakimo, the dictator sends his thugs to retrieve Diana and Sven from their dank little cells. If they won't give him the note, his maniacal mind reasons, they will give him a “confession” stating that the note was a lie. It’s a rationale that only the most deranged of minds could construct: “I will torture you into giving me a confession that states I do not torture.” One can only imagine Falk’s grim chuckling at this darkest of ironies.

[[Image:Torturechamber.png|thumb]]

It is in Tara's underground [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_chamber torture chamber], that we truly see how twisted and sadistic this monster is. Even though the room is set up as a medieval dungeon, with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_(torture) racks], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_maiden_(torture_device) iron maidens], and whipping posts, it has been given a modern spin, with closed-circuit cameras mounted all around. These cameras transmit the images of Tara's victims, along with their pain and suffering, to the tyrant's plush private office, for his perverse "enjoyment."

After the general orders Diana bound to a torture rack, and Sven to a whipping post, [[Major Isamu]], Tara’s sycophantic flunky, badgers them further, threatening them with physical injury if they don't comply with the tyrant's demands --- much to Tara's delight, as he coolly monitors their mounting distress from the large television mounted in his luxurious office ("I hope they refuse," he smugly giggles to himself).

[[Image:Gloat.png|thumb]]

Meanwhile, the Ghost is closing in, parachuting past Tara's "closed" airport and leaving his trademark skull-shaped brand on numerous thugs and henchmen. Back in the dungeon, Diana (being Diana) mouths off to the tyrant, calling him on his ridiculous demands. Tara, deciding he will teach her some manners, orders Isamu to stretch her on the rack.

Even though she is bound tightly on the uncomfortable wooden frame, with Tara’s insidious camera winking down at her, Diana refuses to cooperate, still believing the torture room and it's ancient devices to be another elaborate ploy by Tara to scare them. Just before Major Isamu can give the order to commence with the stretching, Tara gives her a reprieve --- of sorts. "She's too beautiful and bold to waste," the general muses, genuinely impressed by the woman’s audacious resolve as he puffs languidly on his cigarette holder, "...I will keep her...." For his personal pleasure...no doubt! [[Image:Rack2.jpg|thumb]] [[Image:Start.jpg|thumb]]

Supremely confident that he can have the lovely Diana for himself and still extract a confession, he orders his bully boys to torture Sven first. But the villain's vile intentions for Diana and Sven are not to be. Just as he's settling into a leather easy chair for some depraved "fun," directing Isamu and his henchman to begin the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwhip bullwhip]'s dance toward Sven's bared chest, two hands of steel wind their way around his pudgy neck! As he chokes the despot, the Phantom demands that the general call off his goons. Tara, ever the yellow-bellied coward, instantly wilts, sweat streaming down his face, his garish form-fitting tunic suddenly a tad too tight. He sends for Diana, Sven, and MacGregor, then casually tries to depress the emergency call switch, to summon his guards, to the left of his chair. "Don't touch that button, general!" the Ghost warns. "Or you won't live to regret it!" [[Image:Sweat.jpg|thumb]]

Isamu frees his prisoners reluctantly, warning them not to get too comfortable ("Sometimes the general likes to question spies ''personally''.... ''That'' will be worse than this!").

But, up in Tara's office, Kit is the one doing the questioning. When his fiancee arrives with her comrades, he forces the over-dressed thug to his hands and knees at gunpoint, just as Isamu forced Diana and Sven to pay the general homage earlier. Tara complies, vehemently cursing the Phantom and vowing revenge.

Probably not a good idea, that last bit...since the Phantom decides to take Tara hostage to ensure a safe escape. As the general's battalion of tanks and fighter planes idle, his soldiers watching helplessly, he is directed aboard a plane...and then pushed out...with a parachute of course. Nice guy, that Phantom...considering the fat creep was going to dislocate his fiancee's limbs just for kicks!

Diana and the Ghost ride off into the sunset to their nuptials (after all, how can [[Lily Palmer]] refuse a man who saved her daughter from the torture rack?), and all seems to be well.

But evil never sleeps, as they say, and in [[Return to Tarakimo]], the villain has his chance at revenge....

=== Analysis ===

Tara's smug, grating effeteness as he remotely monitors Diana's aborted torture session is no chance plot or character construction on Falk’s part. Just as he steers clear of handling his cigarettes, Tara considers himself too superior to lower himself to dirtying his hands (usually gloved, remember?) --- at least with those whom he doesn’t plan to kill. He wants to remain as cozy and isolated from his foul deeds as possible, thereby insuring himself a somewhat tight alibi (“Torture? Who, ''me?'' ''I'' didn’t torture anyone.”).

He's often underestimated in the canon of Phantom villains, because he's not a traditional tough guy, but more the cold, calculating "gentleman sadist": he behaves like a barbarian but can't resist the posh trappings of a sophisticate. His real strength lies in his deviousness and his cruelty. For example, it’s really quite brilliant when he takes Diana to the brink of being tortured, only to decide it would be more amusing to have her for his pleasure, and feed her cohort to his thugs, instead. He accurately surmises that, to a valiant woman such as Diana, it would be far worse to watch her co-worker be tortured before her eyes. It's all the same to Tara, as long as he gets the added bonus of inflicting pain, which ultimately gives him the most satisfaction.

This unabashed cruelty is something that distinguishes Tara among many of the Phantom villains --- as his large collection of torture instruments attests, he really enjoys hurting people.

=== Trivia ===

*[[Lee Falk]] has been quoted as saying that [[The Tyrant of Tarakimo]] and [[Return to Tarakimo]] (the story's sequel) were his personal "statements" on the growing number of harsh third-world dictatorships fueled by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture torture] cartels.

*''The Tyrant of Tarakimo'' was finished by an unknown inker. If you examine the strip closely, you will see marked changes in Tara and Diana's appearance following the scene where Diana, Sven, and MacGregor are brought to the general's office, after Tara has been captured by the Phantom.

*The Tarakimo stories, though unbelievably well drawn --- Barry's eye for detail in illustrating the general's opulent palace and his garish uniforms is amazing for a daily comic strip, not to mention making Tara into a superb characature of evil excess --- suffer from a little irregularity. The most blatant gaffe can be seen on this page in the frame of Tara gloating "I hope they refuse" to the monitor, sans goatee. His uniform breeches seem to change color mid-scene as well. Maybe they're mood breeches? It ''was'' the '70s!

== Reprints ==
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*[[Fantomen 6/1978|''Fantomen'' 6/1978]]

[[Category: Daily stories|Tyrant of Tarakimo, The]]