The Mona Lisa Caper

The Mona Lisa Caper
Produced for:	Fantomen 24/1977
# of pgs:	32
Writer:	Norman Worker
Artist:	Jaime Vallvé
Original colorist:	N/A
Producer:	Semic Press

"The Mona Lisa Caper" is a 1977 Team Fantomen story, written by Norman Worker, with art by Jaime Vallvé.

Plot synopsis

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Appearances

Recurring characters

• The 21st Phantom
• The Phantom of 1612 (mentioned)
• Diana Palmer
• Guran
• Devil
• Fraka
• Brunel de Gottschalk, Scorpia leader in 1612 (mentioned)

One-time characters

• Edge
• Favour
• Mr Quilter
• Marcelo
• Harry
• Professor Quentin Gillbank
• Avril Gillbank
• Count Klinger

Real-life characters

• Louis XIV of France (mentioned)

Locations

• Bengali
  • Morristown
  • Deep Woods
    • The Skull Cave
      • The Skull Throne
• France
  • Paris
    • Boulevard S:t Germain
    • US Embassy in Paris
    • Orly Airport
    • Louvre
    • Pont Neuf
• Scorpia island (mentioned)
  • Schloss Töplitz (mentioned)
• Jamaica (mentioned)
• East-Africa (mentioned)
• Suez (mentioned)
• Shanghai (mentioned)

Organizations

• Scorpia
• Sûreté
• British Fleet (mentioned)

Old jungle sayings

• The Phantom moves as silently as the jungle cat.

Behind the scenes

• This is the first Phantom comic story which connects the Scorpia to the animal scorpion.
• The police report refers to (and expands) historical events mentioned in "The Scorpia":
  • Within Team Fantomen lore, the 3rd Phantom was active in 1612. The location of Jamaica and the name of the pirate leader comes from the Avon novel "The Scorpia Menace".
  • In "The Scorpia": "Scorpia reappears 1713 East-Africa." In "The Mona Lisa Caper": "East-Africa 1780: Scorpia slavers arrested by the British Fleet." Unless the difference in years was an error, it means that Scorpia was active near the Phantom's home for almost 70 years.
    • These two entries does not mention any Phantoms, but "The Scorpia" includes three more entries that takes place in this time period: "March 8, 1715 – Fought Scorpia leader", "1718 – Phantom slays Scorpia king", "1765 – Phantom sinks flagship"
  • In "The Scorpia": "1818, Scorpia, near Suez." In "The Mona Lisa Caper": "Suez 1818: Pirate ship operates in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea under the flag of the Black Scorpion." Within the stories, this is the earliest mention a connection of the animal scorpion and Scorpia.

Related stories

Refers to

• "The Scorpia" by Lee Falk and Wilson McCoy
• "The Scorpia Menace" by Basil Copper

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Australia

• "The Mona Lisa Caper", The Phantom #786 (1983)

Denmark

• "La Gioconda", Fantomet #105 (1979)
• "La Gioconda", Fantomet Krønike #9 (1996)

Finland

• "La Gioconda", Mustanaamio 7/1978

Norway

• "La Gioconda", Fantomet 6/1978
• "La Gioconda", Krønikebok #43 (2008)
• "La Gioconda", Fantomet 7/2017

Sweden

• "La Gioconda", Fantomen 24/1977
• "La Gioconda", Fantomen 10-11/2017

West Germany

• "In der Falle der Mafia", Phantom #128 (1979)
• "In der Falle der Mafia", Phantom Super-band #22