Issue 1647 - Fortnightly, 2012

• "The Assassin" - story by Norman Worker and art by George Olesen.

Prepare yourself for a most unique Phantom adventure!
The Assassin demands more than normal concentration, because author Norman Worker slowly develops a plot in which the current Phantom meets and has a conversation with one of his forefathers.

At least, that’s what you may immediately believe happens. But think about Worker’s story for a moment….the 21st Phantom is bitten by a desert scorpion and is badly affected by its often lethal poison. He requires urgent medical assistance and in the process of seeking help, finds himself back in an old desert ghost town which he has already visited and it appears to have a lone inhabitant.

From this point on, the reader has to decide what appears  to happen actually occurs—or whether it is all in the mind of a befuddled Phantom trying to fight off the  paralysing effect of the scorpion’s poison. Whatever you decide will take nothing away from the gripping nature of the adventure!

But spare a thought for all the challenges that faced artist George Olesen as he illustrated one of the strangest stories in the long history of The Ghost Who Walks! Olesen had to get so many things right….American desert landscapes...clothing and weapons from the Wild West days...the fit-out and furnishings of an old-time store from the era...the correct time to inject some faded and fuzzy art to stress the point that at various stages of the story, The Phantom is on the verge of passing out…