Issue 1581 - Fortnightly, 2010

• "The Secret of the Stone Plains" - story by Norman Worker and art by Georges Bess.

Secret of the Stone Plains was widely published in Scandinavia in that year, but for reasons unknown to me, has languished in the Frew files ever since.

It’s well worth dusting off, if only because one important part of the story touches upon the immense damage caused by grasshopper and locust plagues.

Australian farmers especially have battled with this problem since the first days of agricultural development in the country!

Norman Worker’s script is riveting and entirely plausible and artist Georges Bess has captured all the drama and all the bleakness of a devastated landscape.

There is always something very special about Phantom adventures set in a semi-desert environment!