Issue 1587 - Fortnightly, 2010

• "The Cabin Boy and the Princess" - story by Jann Lundstrom and art by Hans Lindahl.

This could well be the story which will break all records for stirring up controversy!

The Cabin Boy and the Princess does not agree with many aspects of Lee Falk’s official Phantom history and in particular, his record of the father of the first Phantom sailing with Christopher Columbus!

Lee had it that the father (as cabin boy for Columbus) landed with Columbus in either the Bahamas or a nearby island, did some exploring and eventually returned to Spain where he became a sea captain himself, married and had a son named Kit, who eventually became the first Phantom.

According to Lee Falk, the father of the first Phantom married either a granddaughter of Columbus, a daughter of Eric the Rover or a Spanish princess.

Which is all very simple and understood to be the absolute truth for Phantom enthusiasts throughout the world.

However, in the Cabin Boy and the Princess, writer Jann Lundstrom, has changed nearly all of that!

He has the father of the first Phantom literally going native and living with the local ‘Indians’ somewhere in the Bahamas!

He has him imprisoned!

He has him marrying a local ‘Indian Princess’ and fathering a baby boy!

He has him and his wife eventually returning to England to live.

The vast bulk of this complete contradicts what Lee Falk wrote in his original stories!

Hopefully, at least some of the grey areas will be cleaned up when we publish the second part of the story.

However, that will not be until a little later in 2011.

Artist Hans Lindahl, the ultimate perfectionist, is still hard at work completing the art for Part Two, which Frew will publish as ‘The Sons of Captain Walker’.

Please do not ask for a synopsis of the story!

As I write this, I have not sighted any of the second part of the story.

All I know is the title – and the fact that Hans Lindahl is still at work on it!

Best you keep your wits about you (and perhaps even make notes!) as you read The Cabin Boy and the Princess.

Much is revealed about the character of acclaimed seafarer Christopher Columbus, some of his senior crew and some of the strange happenings on all four of his voyages to what became known as ‘the Americas’.

If Lundstrom’s script can be believed, Columbus was no knight in shining armour.

He was—and history records much of it—a ruthless and often incredibly cruel seeker of wealth.