Terror Cells of New York

Terror Cells of New York
Start date:	April 19, 2010
End date:	August 14, 2010
# of strips:	102 (17 weeks)
Writer:	Tony DePaul
Artist:	Paul Ryan
Original colorist:	unknown
Preceded by:	"The Phantom At Sea"
Followed by:	"The Trail to Gravelines Prison!"

"Terror Cells of New York" is the 229th Phantom daily story. The story was written by Tony DePaul and drawn by Paul Ryan. It is the third part of a longer story, totally consisting of five.

Plot Summary

Lee Falk begins to retell the events of the previous two stories. The Death of Diana Palmer Walker The Phantom At Sea

The Phantom takes the helicopter to the USA, where he visits Lily and Dave Palmer and tell them about Diana's death and his blame to it, saving Chatu when he could have let him die.

Meanwhile in Gravelines Maximum Security Prison in Rhodia, Diana, alias prisoner Adele Cole, has become sick and is visited by a doctor. She tries to tell the doctor that she is Diana Walker, but he only thinks the fever has affected her mind. However, he deems the harsh condition in which Diana is held as barbarism and the female warden agrees to assign her to the farm detail. The fresh air makes Diana start plotting an escape, even though she knows that the Phantom believes her to be dead.

At the Palmers, the Phantom suggests that he should take up Dave's old work with counter terrorism. Even though Dave has quit, he still have clearance for counter-terrorism and so the Phantom could be provided with information. Dave agrees.

The Phantom begins with taking out a sleeper cell, he then continues and follow up the loose ends. Occasionally chatting with his family.

It is now revealed that Chatu believes that he has killed Diana, but the blind seer knows that she is alive, though he don't tell Chatu. The seer then mentions that the Phantom has children, but when Chatu asks to be shown their faces, the seer refuses, claiming that the Python has had his revenge and that he won't help him again. Despite Chatu's threats, the seer refuses, claiming that even though the Phantom is gone, he will be coming someday for both of them.

The Phantom's rage through terrorism finally leads to that Secret Service notes that everytime that Dave Palmer checks a suspect or a case on his computer, something good happens for them and something bad for the suspects. They confront Dave, but he denies everything.

At sea, captain Savarna day dreams about fixing the Walker family, before deciding to visit her own in New York.

At Gravlines, Diana is finally orchestrating an escape, burying herself alive to avoid being brought back into prison when the working day is over. When the prison warden realize that Diana is missing everyone is already inside the prison walls. Diana has already taken herself past the security fences when the hunt begin. Knowing that she eventually will be captured, Diana braeks into a private house and calls her mother in America. Lily believes that it is some sick person pretending to be Diana and slams the receiver back. When Dave comes, she tells him, then Diana phone again. Dave answers this time, Diana, hearing the prison guards coming closer, knows that she will be recaptured any minute and after some angry words from Dave she tries to silence him and quickly says "Gravelines prison, Rhodia! Get words to the deep woods! Tell Kit!" Then she is discovered by the armed homeowner and escapes from the house, eventually getting captured. The Palmers decide not to tell Kit about it as they considers it a cruel joke, when the Phantom returns, however, he soon realized that something has happened and they tell him about the mysterious phone call.

According to Dave, the woman calling (Diana) did not at all sound like Diana. The Phantom is not surprised by that as she is dead, but he is intrigued that she called him Kit and mentioned the Deep Woods. The Phantom suspects that this is some last devilish scheme from Chatu of continue to keep him in uncertainty whether Diana really is dead or not. He decides to track down the persons behind the mystery call after he has taken the last suspect.

Meanwhile Savarna is spending some time in New York with her family when she suddenly encounters Walker at the street. She introduces him to her family, but when they get alone Walker tell her about the mystery call from the late Diana. Savarna suggests that she should help the Phantom search for Diana in Rhodia and if they don't find Diana, he gets her.

To be continued

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Chatu
• Blind seer
• Diana Palmer-Walker
• Female Prison Warden
• Python terrorists
• Captain Savarna
• Lily Palmer
• Dave Palmer
• Lamanda Luaga
• Taru Luaga
• Kit and Heloise

One-time characters

• Homeland Security personel
• Secret Service agents

Real-life characters

• Lee Falk

Locations

• Bengali
  • Boomsby Prison
  • Mawitaan
    • The Presidential Palace
• Rhodia
  • Gravelines Maximum Security Prison
• USA
  • New York
  • New Jersey

Boats

• The India Voyager II

Tribes

Related stories

Refers to

• "Justice for the Python" by Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan
• "The Death of Diana Palmer Walker" by Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Australia

• "The Python Strikes Back, Part 3", The Phantom #1602 (2011)

Colombia

• El Colombiano May 20, 2010 – September 7, 2010 - without the first week

India

• Nava Bharat ? – December 16, 2010
• Anandabazar Patrika January 22, 2011 – May 23, 2011

Norway

• Bergensavisen January 28, 2011 – May 12, 2011
• Nordlys June 15, 2011 – ?
• Sandefjords Blad July 4, 2011 – ?
• Østlendingen July 21, 2011 – ?
• "På sporet av Sala, del 1", Fantomet 18/2011 (edited together with the first half of "The Trail to Gravelines Prison" and some new panels by Hans Lindahl)

Sweden

• Svenska Dagbladet ?
• "I Dianas spår, del 1", Fantomen 19/2011 (edited together with the first half of "The Trail to Gravelines Prison" and some new panels by Hans Lindahl)

USA

• Reading Eagle April 19, 2010 – August 14, 2010
• San Francisco Chronicle April 19, 2010 – August 14, 2010