The Phantom at Sea

The Phantom at Sea

Start date:	December 21st, 2009
End date:	April 17th, 2010
# of strips:	102 strips (17 weeks)
Writer:	Tony DePaul
Artist:	Paul Ryan
Original colorist:	KFS staff
Preceded by:	"The Death of Diana Palmer Walker"
Followed by:	"Terror Cells of New York"

"The Phantom at Sea" is the 228th Phantom daily story. The story was written by Tony DePaul and drawn by Paul Ryan. It is the second part of a longer story, totally consisting of five.

Plot synopsis

Lee Falk begins to tell: "For those that came in late! The blind seer of Boomsby prison identifies Diana Palmer Walker as the wife of the Phantom! The imprisoned Python shatters his enemy by staging Diana's "Death"!"

The retelling of "The Death of Diana Palmer Walker" is continued by mentioning of Diana's imprisonment in Rhodia and the Phantom's belief that she died in the terrorbombing of the UN building.

At the ship, the Phantom is trying to throw off nightmares by doing the work of ten men exhaust himself.

Suddenly, a man shows up at sea and claims to have been taken by the current after he accidentily lost his oars. However, he is part of a pirate gang and as soon as he has come aboard, he pulls out a gun and orders the crew to disable their radio.

Other pirates closes in with a motorboat, when the Phantom whispers to the Skipper to get to a weapons locker. When the other pirates soon are to board the ship, the Phantom then overpowers all the pirates before the rest of the crew could interfere.

The Phantom takes the pirates' motorboat and go off, pondering on recent events when suddenly a shell hits the sea nearby from the sky. The Phantom starts dodging from the shelling with the motorboat and finds out that the shelling comes from the India Voyager II, ship of Captain Savarna whom he has met at an earlier occasion. Crocco Island West

Assuming that pirates has hijacked the India Voyager II, he immediately sets the course for the ship, determined not to let the pirates kill Captain Savarna as Diana already is dead (as he believes). One shell makes a perfect hit and the Phantom's motorboat exploades, the Phantom is, however, fast enough to jump off into the water. Despite rifle fire from the ship, he manages to get aboard unnoticed only to discover that the shooter is captain Savarna herself. She quickly realizes that he is the "Walker" that earlier had sailed with her ship.

It turns out that captain Savarna's parents was killed by pirates when she was a kid and she is now fiercely hunting them whenever she can. The Phantom agrees to join her for a while. When she asks the Phantom of his family, the story of Diana's "death" surfaces. Captain Savarna proposes then that they will fight the Python together. Savarna, having a love interest and also having been told by old man Mozz that the Phantom has fought pirates since 1536, believes that she and the Phantom could start fighting pirates together and that he eventually will learn to love her. The Phantom on the other hand realizes her ideas, but knows that his heart will always belong to Diana. Meanwhile, Diana tries to convince herself that her husband never will give up on her and thus continue to search for her.

Captain Savarna and the Phantom then hunts down the pirate ship and torpedoes it so that it starts sinking, the pirates in their lifeboats. The Phantom the explains that it is time for him to leave. In front of the eyes of a stunned captain Savarna, who cannot understand why it cannot be them, he jumps into the sea and swims to the sinking pirate ship. There, he unties the chopper that is at the pirate ship and starts loading fuel. The ship then sinks before he can load as much fuel as he had preferred.

The Phantom swim to the surface glad that he started with untying the chopper, also constating that he has enough fuel. Meanwhile, captain Savarna blames herself for "Walker's" departure, being to aggresive and disrespectful, when "Walker" suddenly hails her on the radio to warn her of the Coastal Guard. Captain Savarna, however, is confident that no one will believe the pirates wild story. They then say goodbye over the radio and the Phantom assures her that he won't forget her.

Then the Phantom starts thinking of Diana and feels that it is totally wrong as it is the Phantom that should be reached by fate, not his wife. The Phantom knows that Diana always will be alive inside him. Meanwhile, Diana feels determined to stay alive and get out of the prison. She knows that the Phantom is thinking about her.

To be continued

Appearances

Recurring characters

The 21st Phantom
Chatu
Blind seer
Diana Palmer-Walker
Python terrorists
Captain Savarna

One-time characters

Skipper
Pirates

Real-life characters

Lee Falk

Locations

Bengali
- Boomsby Prison
- Mawitaan
  - UN building
  - Presidential Palace
- Mozz' home
- Deep Woods
  - The Skull Cave
    - The Skull Throne
  - Bandar Village
Rhodia
- Gravelines Maximum Security Prison

Boats

The India Voyager II

Tribes

Bandar

Trivia

Scandinavian publication

I Sweden and Norway, where the Team Fantomen are making an overall background plot of the stories, the Singh pirate Sandal Singh has become president instead of Lamanda Luaga, who is currently working as a doctor in the poor part of Morristown (Mawitaan) known as Bengete. In order for this to work, editor Ulf Granberg rewrote parts of the story to make Sandal Singh president and Luaga living in Bengete, the new art for this was supplied by Hans Lindahl.

There was a minor mistake when this was done as Kit and Heloise is seen talking to the Phantom at sea using a very modern computer in Bengete and also the walls are clearly those of a palace or at least a more fancier house, since they were left unaltered from the original.

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Australia

"The Python Strikes Back, Part 2", The Phantom #1602 (2011)

The Bahamas

The Freeport News December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010

Colombia

El Colombiano January 30, 2010 – May 19, 2010 (the first two daily strips missing)

Croatia

Večernji list February 11, 2010 – March 1, 2010 (incomplete story)

Finland

Aamulehti June ?, 2011 – October 15, 2011
Karjalainen April 14, 2012 - in the supplement
"...Uhrien joukossa: Diana Palmer-Walker", Mustanaamio Spesiaali 3/2013 (2013; edited together with "The Death of Diana Palmer Walker" with additional story by Ulf Granberg and art by Hans Lindahl)

India

Anandabazar Patrika September 24, 2010 – January 21, 2011
"The Phantom at Sea", Terror of the Python (2022)

Jamaica

The Daily Gleaner December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010

Norway

"... blant offrene: Sala Palmer-Walker", Fantomet 1-2/2011 (edited together with "The Death of Diana Palmer Walker", with additional story by Ulf Granberg and art by Hans Lindahl)
Bergensavisen October 15, 2010 – January 27, 2011
Nordlys January 31, 2011 – June 14, 2011
Sandefjords Blad February 24, 2011 – July 2, 2011
Østlendingen March 16, 2011 – July 20, 2011
Tønsbergs Blad April 12, 2011 – August 16, 2011
Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen May 11, 2011 – September 10, 2011
Østlandsposten June 7, 2011 – October 5, 2011
Lofotposten June 22, 2011 – October 19, 2011
Agderposten June 27, 2011 – October 21, 2011
Fædrelandsvennen June 28, 2011 – October 26, 2011
Romsdals Budstikke July 8, 2011 – November 3, 2011
Grimstad Adressetidene July 14, 2011 – November 8, 2011
Varden December 20, 2011 – April 20, 2012

Spain

Las Provincias ?

Sweden

"... bland offren: Diana Palmer-Walker", Fantomen 2-3/2011 (edited together with "The Death of Diana Palmer Walker", with additional story by Ulf Granberg and art by Hans Lindahl)
Svenska Dagbladet January 11, 2011 – April 23, 2011

USA

The Citizens' Voice December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010
Delaware County Daily Times December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010
Houston Chronicle December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010
The News Item December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010
The Plattsburgh Press-Republican December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010
Reading Eagle December 21, 2009 – April 17, 2010

Venezuela

El Nacional January 30, 2010 – May 19, 2010 (the first two daily strips missing)

The Phantom at Sea

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