Year One
"Year One" is a 12-part Team Fantomen story arc detailing the first year of the 21st Phantom, following the death of his father.
Concept
The 21st Phantom is seriously wounded by a bullet in his neck, and while unconscious at Dr Axel's Jungle Hospital he's hallucinating and remembering his first year as the Phantom.
The story follows the inexperienced 21st Phantom as he has to leave his former life as a student in America and come to terms with what it means to be "the Ghost Who Walks", while also processing his grief and hunting down the man responsible for his father's death – Rama Singh. It also include stories drawing parallells to the 18th Phantom succeeding his father, the 17th Phantom.
Behind the scenes
The Year One concept was first announced in Fantomen 26/2003, with five preliminary story titles listed.
The individual stories, or chapters, are given roman numbering, counting down from 12. Two of the chapters are older stories, re-worked to better fit into the Year One storyline.
The two stories about the 17th and 18th Phantom (chapters VI and V) technically take place before the actual Year One storyline, as they end with Guran (who has been reading them from the Chronicles) receiving a message that the Phantom is seriously wounded. This would then lead into "The 21st Phantom", but the stories were likely not finished in time to be published before the Year One storyline. These stories were collected in the Kate Sommerset omnibus and therefore excluded from the Year One omnibus.
The final story, originally published in 1995, is based upon Lee Falk’s 1954 Sunday story "The Belt".
The backstory about the Phantom's injury leads into "The Grim Reaper" which is the start of a new story arc.
Episodes
| # | Title | Writer | Artist | First publication | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The 21st Phantom" | Reimerthi | Ryan | Fantomen 17/2004 | ||
| "Molok" | Reimerthi | Ryan | Fantomen 18/2004 | ||
| "The Courier" | Reimerthi | Saviuk | Fantomen 19/2004 | ||
| "Johnny Hotwire" | DePaul | Lindahl | Fantomen 20/2004 | The original, 1 page shorter, version was published in 1996. | |
| "Johnny Hotwire Rides Again" | DePaul | Lindahl | Fantomen 21/2004 | ||
| "The Lethal Trap" | Reimerthi | Leppänen | Fantomen 22/2004 | ||
| "Death of a Phantom" | Bishop | Spadari | Fantomen 23/2004 | Featuring the death of the 17th Phantom. | |
| "Of the Same Blood" | Bishop | Spadari | Fantomen 24/2004 | Featuring the 18th Phantom revenging his father’s death. | |
| "The Black Widow" | Reimerthi | Ryan | Fantomen 25/2004 | ||
| "Eye of the Hurricane" | Bishop & Lindahl | Leppänen | Fantomen 26/2004 | ||
| "The Doomsday Ship" | Bishop & Lindahl | McLeod | Fantomen 1/2005 | ||
| "Gullique and the Double Rainbow" | Granberg (based on a Falk story) | Leppänen | Fantomen 2/2005 | The original, 2 page shorter, version was published in 1995. |