In Fantomen issue 9/2020 the best Fantomen of 2019 was announced and as always it brings up some interesting results. As per usual we would love to hear your thoughts on the voting.
The voting breakdown is to the right which appears in issue 9/2020. In the 2019 poll for the best 2018 adventures, Egmont received 165 votes, this time around they received over 200 votes which is an encouraging sign to see more people voting.
Click here to read our thoughts on the 2018 voting.
In 2018 the highest placed newspaper Daily or Sunday story was voted at 15th. In 2019, Tony DePaul's and Jeff Weigel "The Rat Must Die!" Sunday story came in equal second. Tony DePauls and Terry Beatty's "The Ghost Story" Sunday story also came in fourth.
There was also two more Tony DePaul and Mike Manley Daily adventures in the top 10.
It goes to show that the current Newspaper teams are doing a great job. Well done all.
The top story for 2019 has received some interesting social media comments. However the "Djävulen i Stockholm" (The Devil in Stockholm) story written by Mikael Sol and drawn by Jan Bielecki in Fantomen 14-15/2019 polling so well should not be surprising.
It received a lot of media attention by local Stockholm and Sweden press with the Phantom visiting Stockholm and it dealing with the very real subject of depression and suicide. It should be praised for such a topic to be in a comic and is no surprise to me for winning the best story of 2019.
Mikael Lyck also gave us a virtual tour of the landmarks used in the story in a video which you can watch here.
As we saw in the Frew best adventure for 2019 polling, a lot of Australian's were patriotic with their voting and I think its fair that we have seen something similar here with them voting for stories created by their local publisher for their local audience.
Interestingly Mikael Sol also received an equal second vote at best adventure story for 2019 with his "Döden i Carpatia" (Death in Carpatia) story drawn by Janusz Ordon in Fantomen 18-19/2019.
"The Fight Against Singh" stories (Fantomen 5/2019, 6-7/2019, 17/2019 & 22-23/2019) did not feature as highly as I thought they would. I think the fact that it was a four part story stretched over the year did not help. Frew readers have read the first part and so far, the feedback has been very positive.
Also in looking back over the list of stories for 2019, you will notice that the baton has truly been passed from the mainstays of the past 20-30 years to a new generation with Claes Reimerthi not writing as many stories and artists like Kari Leppänen and César Spadari only drawing three stories between them.
Mikael Lyck (our Fantomen correspondent) has expressed his views several times in articles and podcast and in his opinion he expressed that "This year was hard since there was no story that stood out as the greatest above the others. There where a lot of good ones but no clear winner in my view".
When asked on what what his personal views as the best stories for 2019, he had the following to say "The Fight against Singh" (Fantomen 5/2019, 6-7/2019, 17/2019 & 22-23/2019) is a 4 parter of the new 22nd Phantom saga, "A New Hope" (Fantomen 24/2019), "The Devil in Stockholm" (Fantomen 14-15/2019) and "Death in Carpatia" (Fantomen 18-19/2019) where all equal the best stories for 2019 in my opinion".
What is your view? What was your favourite stories from 2019 in your opinion?
Comments