All Phantom News, Reviews, Articles & Podcasts

Egmont Innovation - an Artist Jam Story!

Oct 23, 2018

Egmont Innovation - an Artist Jam Story!

In the back pages of the Egmont comic (22-23/2018) released on Thursday there is an announcement that is taking the concept of a Phantom jam to whole new exciting level! For the past three years, Frew Publications in Australia have released Jam Covers featuring five or six artists doing a cover together. Egmont have stepped up the concept to a new level in a massive logistical undertaking with eight artists collaboratively drawing the one story. The eight (8) artists are: Sal

Jermayn Parker

Sep 20, 2018

Fantomen Pirates Book is OUT NOW

Back in May 2018 we announced that there was a new Pirates Themed Softcover book being released this year. On the weekend at Stockholm Comic Con this past weekend (15th and 16th September) it was released. With the Gothenburg book fair in a weeks time between 27 and 30 September you have one more chance to buy it before having to purchase online. You can buy via the Bokus website for 129kr + Shipping. If your an English reader read this link that will help you place your orde

Lee Falk on the Team Fantomen Origin Stories

Jermayn Parker

Sep 5, 2018

Lee Falk on the Team Fantomen Origin Stories

Have you listened to Episode 97 of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast - the Ulf Granberg interview? If so, no doubt you have learnt a lot and may also have been intrigued by his comments when we asked about Lee Falk's opinions about Semic* stories. While of course Lee Falk's work provides the core of The Phantom canon, there are many disputes as to what else can be regarded as 'true' Phantom Lore. Scandinavian authors published stories on the origin of both of the Phantom's rings, a

Jermayn Parker

Aug 28, 2018

The Latest News from Team Fantomen

Mikeal Sol and his team of editorial staff at Fantomen recently took to Facebook and asked for input and questions, and then took the time to answer them individually. I must congratulate Mikeal and the team for doing so and in reading their responses I learnt a bit and wanted to share it. While many responses may not affect the average Frew (or Australian) reader - ChronicleChamber is an interntional phan website and some of their decisions do effect Frew with their created

Introducing New Egmont Artist: Janusz Ordon

Jermayn Parker

Aug 20, 2018

Introducing New Egmont Artist: Janusz Ordon

August saw a new Egmont artist making his debut for the Scandinavian publication. Janusz Ordon is from Poland and mainly known for his work on Clive Barker's Hellraiser, but soon will be known as a Phantom artist for the amazing work in his debut issue. There is no word yet if or when Frew will publish the story in Australia. Janusz has another Phantom connection, as he worked on the comic series Iron Dragon, written by Fantomen writer Philip Madden. Today, ChronicleChamber i

The Story Behind the Censoring of Frew 1817

Jermayn Parker

Aug 13, 2018

The Story Behind the Censoring of Frew 1817

Please note that we will be touching upon adult themes in this article. Censoring in comics is such a negative word that tends to leave a bad aftertaste in everyone's mouth. However, is it always a bad thing? Frew and the Phantom have had a history of censoring. Some of the earliest Ray Moore stories, notably The Phantom Goes to War, were altered prior to publication as a comic book for Australian audiences. For instance, Diana being tied up in front of a cannon on a ship's d

Göran Semb & Pidde Andersson Talk World Phantom

Jermayn Parker

Aug 3, 2018

Göran Semb & Pidde Andersson Talk World Phantom

Those who remembered our podcast interview with Göran Semb back in episode 57 would remember that he had his own podcast talking about comics and pop culture. In his latest podcast (& a future podcast) he is joined with Pidde Andersson. In episode 104 they talk all things Phantom from a writing perspective which makes sense seeing both are highly accredited writers and phans. For majority of Australian fans who do not speak Swedish will miss out on what I hear is a great conv

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #97B - Interview with Ulf Granberg Conclusion

ChronicleChamber Team

Jul 23, 2018

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #97B - Interview with Ulf Granberg Conclusion

It is HERE!! Big shout out to Stephen who battled sickness & family commitments to get this edited and to you for a listen. Opportunities like this do not come along very often. Ulf Granberg is the man behind Egmont through what was a golden age for The Phantom in Scandinavia - he was the editor of the Swedish Phantom comic book, Fantomen from 1973 to 1987, then again from 2003 to 2012. From 1973-2012 Ulf was head of Team Fantomen, the group of creators responsible for produc

Pidde Andersson Pays tribute to the Phantom in his Other Work

Jermayn Parker

Jul 17, 2018

Pidde Andersson Pays tribute to the Phantom in his Other Work

Egmont publishes many more magazines than Fantomet / Fantomen and one of their other magazines that most Phantom phans would not know off is called 91. In the most recent magazine starting on page 12 there is a short story featuring Sergeant Revär who is barking at a bunch of recruits. The recruits tell Privates 91 and 87 that they've heard a lot about Revär and that he's always been at the regiment. This story runs for three pages. Private 87 then makes up a story about Revä

Jermayn Parker

Jul 3, 2018

El Hombre Enmascarado Vol 1 reviewed

Please note that this book was sent to the team at ChronicleChamber for a review. All our opinions are individual and we are not paid for anything we write. Below is a video review I have done for the The Phantom - El Hombre Enmascarado: Volume 1, and overall I believe it to be a great book. We first posted about this book back in February. The most important factor with any of these retrospective presentations is the print quality of the strips, and this book is crystal clea

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #97 - Interview with Ulf Granberg pt 1

ChronicleChamber Team

Jun 14, 2018

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #97 - Interview with Ulf Granberg pt 1

Opportunities like this do not come along very often. Ulf Granberg is the man behind Egmont in their glory years - he was the editor of the Swedish Phantom comic book, Fantomen from 1973 to 1987, then again from 2003 to 2012. From 1973-2012 Ulf was head of Team Fantomen, the group of creators responsible for producing Phantom stories for Semic then Egmont. Ulf has also written over 30 Phantom stories himself. That is over 40 years of being paid to write, edit, read and plot o

Ulf Granberg

May 24, 2018

Carlos Cruz & The Phantom

After the recent passing of longtime Egmont Phantom artist Carlos Cruz, ChronicleChamber has reached out to one of the colleagues who knew him best: Team Fantomen editor Ulf Granberg. Ulf has kindly contributed the following tribute to one of the very highly talented artists in the Egmont team. Carlos Cruz was recruited to ”Team Fantomen” by me in 1987. In the mid 80’s the Swedish production of stories with the Phantom for the Scandinavian market was in full swing, with an an

Jermayn Parker

May 24, 2018

Vale Carlos Cruz

With a simple email from his son to Egmont editor Mikael Sol, the world began to find out that long-time European Phantom artist Carlos Cruz has passed away. Carlos Cruz González was born in 1930. He was born and raised in Spain and began to work as a professional artist at the age of 17. In 1949 he moved to Argentina where he continued his art career. In the 1960s he returned to Spain, where he began working for British firm Fleetway Publications on their British comics. His

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #95 - Newspaper writer Tony DePaul

ChronicleChamber Team

May 10, 2018

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #95 - Newspaper writer Tony DePaul

Tony DePaul has been the writer of The Phantom newspaper strip and official keeper of Phantom lore since Lee Falk's death in 1999. This interview is a fascinating insight into his personal history, his passion for our favourite purple comic book hero, and the possible future of The Phantom. It's a fascinating chat with a fascinating man - we know you'll enjoy it... Happy Phantoming! #XBand #Podcast #TonyDePaul #KingFeaturesSyndicate #MikeManley #JeffWeigel #UlfGranberg #Semic

NEW Egmont Pirates Themed Softcover Book Announced

Jermayn Parker

May 9, 2018

NEW Egmont Pirates Themed Softcover Book Announced

There was a Fantomen Facebook post a few days ago making mention of Egmont's Fantomen editor Mikeal Sol and others going through volumes of hard bound Fantomen comics from the 1960's onwards, looking for articles on the Phantom and pirates. Eagle eyed phans soon spotted a cover that was listed as a pre-order on a local Swedish website called www.ginza.se. After some detective work and reading between the lines, we at ChronicleChamber believe this will be the fourth release of

Phantom Uses Flag to Rough up Roughnecks

Jermayn Parker

Apr 27, 2018

Phantom Uses Flag to Rough up Roughnecks

A recent Egmont story, created by Philip Madden and Alex Saviuk and with covers by Henrik Sahlström, has gained attention in mainstream media and generated an unusual volume of commentary on social media. This is all based on a few images of the Phantom hitting a roughneck with a rainbow flag. Sexual preference and equality has been a media hot button topic recently, and some media and a number of Phantom phans have made ill-informed comments and judgements based merely on a

Jermayn Parker

Apr 27, 2018

Best Egmont Stories of 2017 Announced

Back in January, Egmont Sweden and Norway held a competition for readers to vote for their favourite stories and covers of 2017. The best stories have now been announced; the best covers should be next month. Sweden's Best Phantom story of 2017 was the 245th Daily Phantom story Farewell to the Deep Woods by Tony DePaul and Mike Manley. This was published in Fantomen 25&26/ 2017 and has NOT yet been published yet in Norway. It has been a while since a newspaper story has featu

Egmont Commissions New 'The World of the Phantom' Short Stories

Jermayn Parker

Mar 21, 2018

Egmont Commissions New 'The World of the Phantom' Short Stories

After almost a year's absence, the World of the Phantom short stories are making a return to Egmont. The series was initially called Phantom's Kids because the short stories focused on Kit and Heloise, but was later changed to Fantomen's Värld ("The World of the Phantom") as other minor Phantom characters like Diana, Guran, Old Man Mozz, Hzz and others featured in the short stories. These are created by writers and artists with no previous experience working on The Phantom. T

Jermayn Parker

Mar 14, 2018

New Egmont Phantom Creators Announced

Eagle eyed Fantomen and Fantomet Egmont readers would have noticed an advert announcing new creators creating Phantom stories. First up is Fantomen Egmont editor Mikael Sol who will be adding to his busy plate writing full length Phantom stories and artist Carlos Pedrazzini. Now before you go and search for Carlos Pedrazzini on Google, just be wary as he has drawn comics that may get you in trouble if you're at work and or in front of your kids. Here is a self portrait of Car

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #90 - Lightning Strike Comic Books

ChronicleChamber Team

Feb 13, 2018

X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #90 - Lightning Strike Comic Books

Lightning Strike Comic Books may be a small Indi publisher in the scheme of things, but they have grand plans for our favourite purple comic book hero! In this episode, Dan and Jermayn speak to Eoin McCauly, one half of the Lightning Strike brains trust. He tells a little more about his company and it's place in Irish comic publishing history. Eoin clears the air about the ill-fated Australian delivery of their second Phantom book Scarlet Sapphire, as well as some of the stor

Recent Phantom Happenings

PRESERVATION PROJECT

All Phantom News, Reviews, Articles & Podcasts

Recent Phantom Happenings

PRESERVATION PROJECT

MUST STORIES FOR NEW PHANS TO READ