Dai Darell

Diane Elizabeth Karlstrom, pen name Dai Darell (October 5, 1952 – July 8, 2024) was a Swedish-American comic writer and young adult novelist.

Biography Darell was born in Rockford, Illinois, and grew up both in the United States and in Sweden. As a teenager, she was an avid reader of the Swedish comic book Fantomen, dedicated to the comic strip "The Phantom". After writing to the editors, she was encouraged to submit a script. Her first published Phantom story was published in 1983 and she became the first female Fantomen writer. It was then she adopted the pen name Dai Darell. She would write for The Phantom until 1986, contributing 16 stories.

In 1984, she met Swedish comic writer Claes Reimerthi at the Seriefrämjandet, the Swedish Comics Society and encouraged him to begin writing Phantom stories.

Darell died on July 7, 2024, in Canada.