Frew Publications has recently released a three part story titled "The Golden Queen" by Australian creator Shane Foley.
This video is part of our "For Those Who Came In Late" video series and is designed to help give phans an idea on what they may have missed if you have not read this story or have forgotten it and cannot be bothered digging it out amongst your archive of comics.
What makes this three part story special is that it is a prequel to a 1960's story by Lee Falk and Sy Barry titled "The Golden People". It was the 78th Sunday story and originally published in American newspapers from December 14th, 1969, to March 29th, 1970.
This story was the only time the people, has ever been seen in both newspapers and other created stories around the world. It has however included on the Alga board game released in 1984 which includes a map painted by Ozcan Eralp.
The "The Golden People" story was last published in
The story starts off with Rex and Tomm Tomm wanting to explore the major and minor treasure rooms and we get a preview of the amazing objects in the Skull Cave.
Rex finds a golden flower that feels like metal and the Phantom has no idea. He looks into the chronicles and finds a date of April 1735 with the words "I returned from the Golden People with only a gold flower to remember them. I promised to say no more".
This is what Shane Foley explores. that one paragraph in the chronicles. Brilliant concept.
Back to the story, Devil and Hero go for a run and devil brings back a golden flower. Devil shows The Phantom where he found it and he is led to a cave with a hidden lake and a waterfall. He luckily escapes an arrow directed at his head and then climbs the waterfall.
Once he reaches the top he gets attacked and quickly defeats the guard who recognises the Phantom.
The Phantom then sees a queen being tied to a throne and about to be burnt who he of course foolishly runs in and rescues her and they all get excited about him being a 'mighty messenger of the gods'. The 21st Phantom then learns about the ceremony of the queen which includes them burning the queen every three years.
What is interesting is the wall paintings which we learn that the queen and the Phantom were in love. The Phantom had to leave the broken hearted queen who then died of a broken heart.
The Phantom rescues the day, stops the ceremony again and tours the place. It turns out its a huge plateau high above the clouds and is very isolated. It is like a jungle version of "Walkers Table".
These prequel and sequel story ideas that Frew are creating are great ways of adding to the lore of what Lee Falk set out for us before and allows Frew to quietly build their own universe which sits closely with what Falk did before. Team Fantomen did it for decades as well.
Shane Foley's story is a stand alone story and you do not need to read this to understand and appreciate his work but hopefully this video will make you enjoy it even more.
Ensure you let Frew know if you enjoyed this story and would like to see more Shane Foley work and or prequel and sequel Falk stories.
We hope this gives you the best understanding of what has happened in the past for what is about to happen in the future. Let us know if you like this 'For Those Who Came in Late' video and we may make more videos on other Phantom stories or elements of the Phantom.
