Issue 1731 - fortnightly, 2015

36 pages.

Mint condition.

• "The Mysterious Prisoner" - story by Michael Tierres and art by Jaime Vallve.

The Mysterious Prisoner (or the prisoner who didn’t exist) has particular significance since it is the first older Egmont story to be sent through to us and it came about as a direct consequence of a letter sent to me from one of our readers (see Forum pages 32-33). David from Brisbane is obviously very keen on his historical Phantom and made enquiries about any that might be set during the time of the Huguenots and the French Wars of Religion. The French Wars of Religion were a series of nine wars between 1562 and 1598. Between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 people were killed and at the conclusion of the conflict in 1598, Huguenots (Protestants) were granted substantial rights and freedoms.

They saw the rise and fall of Catherine de Medici and ended with the accession to the throne of Henry IV. To be totally honest on first reading of this story it makes little or no direct reference to that aspect of French history and would appear on face value to be a simple tale of greed, sibling rivalry and betrayal were it not for the appearance of enslaved men and the uprising. The most exiting aspect is that it now appears possible for Frew to acquire more of these older previously unpublished stories that have been laying dormant in a Swedish archive. This story was written by Michael Tierres (which is an anagram used by Claes Reimerthi), who is one of Sweden’s most prolific comic book writers beautifully supported by the art work of Jaime Vallve. I also have the follow up story Blood Night which is set in the same period.