The Chain (Sunday story)

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The Chain

Start date:	February 8th, 1953
End date:	May 24th, 1953
# of strips:	16 pages
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Wilson McCoy
Preceded by:	"Diana and the Bank Robbers"
Followed by:	"Madcap Miriam"

"The Chain" is the 34th Phantom Sunday story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Wilson McCoy.

Plot summary

When the current Phantom loses patience with some warring tribes and is on the verge of giving up, an old Bandar is forced to tell him the story of the Chain that hangs on the Skull Throne. Many years before, so the story goes, the future wife of his father (so his future mother) was traveling to Bengalla on board a steam ship, when she came across some unwelcome attention from a violent and oppressive Misty Mountain prince named Prince Hakon. She had no interest in the prince, telling him that she loved another and was on her way to be married. He became enraged and upon arrival in Bengalla, he had her kidnapped and taken to his highland palace. She refused to marry him, so he kept her locked in a cell until she changed her mind. Upon hearing of the kidnapping, the Phantom rides to the highland kingdom and attempts a rescue, however, due to his rage he rushes things and is captured by the palace guards. Instead of imprisoning or executing the Phantom, the Prince instead puts him to work pushing a mill in plain view of his fiance's cell. With each turn of the mill, the Phantom notices that the chain catches a little, scraping against stone, weakening the links. Month after month the Phantom labors, knowing that with each turn, he comes closer to freedom.