..of Dogs"!!
Yes, I'm talking about that '60s Phantom classic - an intriguing plot about a devilish & dreaded plan by an enemy country(probably Russia) when their army general(and his thousand soldiers) formed a secret missile base at that deserted "island of dogs" - their hide-out - owned by an ol' major Helm!
I'm not going in details of the plot, rather concentrating on a major character of this adventure, who played an integral role quite by accident - Janice Helm - the beautiful & seductive grand-daughter of that major Helm!
Over the years quite a lot of beautiful ladies have had desired the Phantom as their mate, at some point of their lives. And there was no short of varieties as from the sky-band chief Sala to Marshall sisters, from those highland princesses & queens to numerous lost/kidnapped girls - all of them were in this special league. They were quite beautiful & desirable in their own right, still none of them had this spark & beauty combined in one place, like this one Ms. Helm! Majority of those ladies were either "damsels in distress" or "self-obsessed egoists" than anything else but Janice was an exception.
Today I'm going to post some of those
special moments from this adventure
-with supporting panels - so we can have a closer look on Janice(and her reaction) in the different situations!
[Note: : #1 -
This classic was published in India
only by Diamond Comics(as ToI had skipped this at Indrajal) twice in their Phantom digests(#8 & #70) , #2 -
I have added panels from both of the Bengali & English versions together(after bit editing), so all Phans can enjoy these!]
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Lets meet
lonely Janice, when she was getting bored as there was NO unmarried attractive man to accompany her!!
But at least, she could dream(about some unknown mysterious & exciting man) even if that sounds silly to herself!! (By then, she had very little idea on how her dream was in the verge of fulfillment - in a quite different and unnerving way though!)
"When you are writing a phony letter, do better than that" - this was one of the few lessons those kidnappers have learnt on that evening when they wrongly spelled Janice(as 'Janis') and wrote a letter that supposed to be
from her grandpa, signed by 'Major Helm'! You just can't fool a beauty who
got a brain too!
Moreover, she was hardly afraid of these con men, rather threatened them with
"get lost before I yell for police".
So this brave girl herself can fight-back but you don't have to do much when the Phantom was around. When you heard something like "That lady said..let go, don't move...anybody" - came from a deep, cold voice - then either you have to obey it or face the consequences..like those kidnappers did! Another lesson they have learnt.
"I'd enough of this...Get out!!" - she was too anxious to realise that her dream man was right in front of her. So Janice screamed only to realise(or taken aback?) that this man doesn't take, but only give, orders! Few moments later, now she had some sort of 'emotional transformation' &
apparently won't mind if this mysterious, exciting & wonderful 'burgler' robs that place. By then, he has already
robbed her beautiful heart, quite
unknowingly for himself though!
Now, Janice is telling her side of story & shared some information on her 'disappeared' grandpa...
She tried her luck in little bit of flirting with
"They were driven mad by my rare beauty" (on why those kidnappers came) but all were went in vain!
Meantime, enter of the patrolman
Riggs, one of those numerous
dopey men that Janice used to meet all the time. It's like, years ago she had replaced her
dolls with these men and can control them in her own will! But we can't blame Riggs, can we?? He was only a
commoner while she was the
rarer!
"He said I'd never see him again...that's what HE thinks" - She was determined to see "her man" once again, by hooks or crooks..
"I'm 21,he's 400. When I'm 30 he'll be 409" - It seems that age was NO bar for her(she was ready to marry a
400-year old man) as long as he was unmarried!! Hmm...Janice was a lady with some rare spirits! She was ready to face everything for him..
...even to take some risks that one patrolman would hesitate!! Moreover, she had knowingly took that risk, to visit the dog-island at midnight, just to be with her "dream man" - the Phantom!
(Earlier, she used to like those dopey guys, but no more!)
"Can we..help you??" - Just after
their arrival on that mysterious dog-island, for the first time Janice had realised that how much
danger she was in!! What she thought would be a rather
fun-trip, turned out to be a quite different ball-game as they were 'welcomed' by some ruthless killers with guns in their hand..and they meant business!!
Janice, who thought her dream man would be delighted for her surprise-visit, had a rude shock with "you are a foolish girl, lucky to not have your pretty head blown off"!! She couldn't have realised that her dream man was on a mission(of death) and NOT on a date!
"Awful" - that said everything! This mission was too much for everyone, included that ruthless general and so for her beautiful soul...
"In a war, one is ready to die" and that was
unfortunately true for everybody including our beautiful Janice! When Phantom said it, she couldn't believe her ears though -
"Does he mean it??"
"Like a thousand 4th-of-Julys" - amidst all of these dangers, she had her sense-of-humour intact!
"If I hadn't come with a boat, you would have been in a spot!" - How much Phantom had scold Janice for her wild visit, at the end she indeed made the job much
easier for him and there's no denial!
"A man who blows up islands and scares away a thousand men..more than a little me can handle.I'll settle for a dopey guy like that(Riggs)...I'm smarter than he is." - Finally, even being an irresistible
seductress by herself, she was well aware of her own strengths & more importantly, the
limitations - something that made her even more 'unique' among the
league of beautiful-ladies-who-once-desired-Phantom as unlike others, she had enough brain to support her own beauty!
Janice showed that she was neither any
doll(who always needed a man in her side for protection) nor any
madcap(like Miriam) who would plot to get her man by any means. She would rather use her
grey matters a bit!
Phantom might have forgot her, but can we??
