Issue 1657 - Fortnightly, 2013

Here’s an historical Phantom adventure with a quite unique climax!

The Phantom does not emerge triumphant from all the drama!

Quite the opposite in fact….At the end of The Slave Ship Zong, you will discover (most likely to your surprise) that the story is only actually beginning! Considering the long history of The Phantom line and their ceaseless battle against piracy and evil doers, slavery and corruption, you may find it hard to accept that the creators do not have The Phantom winning this one in his usual resounding fashion!

Now, that’s unusual, because tradition demands that no matter the odds against him, The Phantom wins, or at the worst, gains an honourable drawn result! Read on and find out for yourself why The Slave Ship Zong does not end in another victory for The Ghost Who Walks!

(Then, perhaps it may be a good idea to put this issue in double acid-free bags and somewhere ultra-safe in your Phantom archives….it could one day be a much sought-after issue by collectors of the really rare or unusual Phantom stories!). Author Janne Lundstrom has penned a powerful word picture of the horrors of  slave trading, once rife throughout much of the world and artist Hans Lindahl has created the absolutely brilliant illustrations.

All of Lindahl’s work is wonderful, but there are individual panels on many pages which fall into the superb category. If you think the words and images might be exaggerated, let me assure you the Zong saga is based on actual happenings of the time. The suffering of African slaves really was as horrific as depicted in the story and sections of British ’justice’ (Maritime Law in particular) was then partly designed to protect the rich and worse, administered by the wealthy. They were not the greatest times for the poor and needy British workers who obviously could not afford to defend themselves in court and in effect, became near-slaves in their own country.