As first revealed in our Best of 2022 podcast - the results from Chronicle Chamber's annual poll of Frew phans' phavourites results are detailed here!
Thanks so much to all the phans who voted over the Christmas break, letting us know what you loved about the work of Frew Publications last year. When it comes to sharing your best Frew issues, stories and covers, you weren't backward in coming forward! Now, as the reality of a new work year settles in for many of us, let's have one last look back at the year that was.
Before the individual results, a serving of kudos for team at Frew While not quite matching the herculean feat of last year when every single cover, story and issue received at least one vote from the public, you would have to say that they've still managed to tickle most of our fancies:
ALL 31 covers received votes (i.e. in someone's top 3)
50 of 54 stories received votes (i.e. in someone's top 5)
ALL 31 issues received votes (i.e. in someone's top 3)
It certainly seems that Frew are employing a winning formula when it comes to broad phan appeal.
The CC team have a full discussion and dissection of the results on episode #240 of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast - check it out here!
Phan votes for Best FREW Cover of 2022
According to the popular vote, where people nominated their Top 3 covers of the year:
Points of note:
Voters are telling us that variety is the spice of life, with Matt Kyme's minimalist cover edging a narrow victory over Lauren Marshall's action-packed and detailed image.
With 2022 being the first year that Frew have published a female cover artist (there were six in total by year's end), it feels only appropriate that they filled three of our top six favourites.
The decision to have Glenn Ford create the covers for the Replica Series issues has proven to be a winner, with two of these images seeing Glenn as the only artist to feature multiple times in the top 10.
For a third year in a row, 9 of the top 11 positions were taken by Australian artists.
Phan votes for Best FREW Story of 2022
According to the popular vote, where people nominated their Top 5 stories of the year:
Points of note:
Matt Kyme's prowess and popularity as a Phantom writer is there for all to see. His 1-2 finish this year shows that his previous achievements with "Diana and the Heartbreaker Gang" (4th in 2021) and "A Day at the Races" (2nd in 2019) were no fluke.
This is the first time in this history of this poll (run since 2018) that a serialised story has taken out first place.
It is an extraordinary achievement for a pair of Lee Falk / Wilson McCoy classics - from 1948 and 1956 respectively - to finish in the top 5 favourite stories of 2022.
However before Messrs Falk and McCoy get too carried away making heavenly toasts with their glasses of milk: the only stories to receive 0 votes were four other reprints of their collaborations, all from the various replica series through the year.
For the second year in a row, 7 of the top 10 phavourite stories are original commissions by Frew.
Phan votes for Best FREW Issue of 2022
According to the popular vote, where people nominated their Top 3 issues of the year:
Points of note:
Featuring the favourite cover to go with the second-placed story, it's no surprise that #1930 would share the lead in the 'Best Issue' category.
It does seem fitting that the Masked Marvel special, featuring the third-placed cover as well as favourite stories 3 and 4, should tie in first place. Congratulations to Paul Mason for his thoughtful and creative additions to a Lee Falk favourite.
This is the first time in the history of the poll (begun in 2018) that we have had a tie for first place,
Despite increased costs, longer 'special' issues remain popular with phans. All four "specials" produced through the year finished in the top six places.
Thanks to all voters, and a huge "Well done!" to everyone who finished rear the top of any category - with Frew pumping out an amazing 31 books and 54 stories last year creating a highly competitive field, to emerge as a popular favourite is no mean feat.
Most of all: well done, congratulations and THANK YOU to Glenn Ford, Rene White and Dudley Hogarth - the core of the Frew Crew and the men who make all of this possible.
Prize Winners!
After all that of course we need to say a special congratulations to the five winners of our lucky prize draw, selected at random from all respondents.
Check out the prize draw in the video below:
Brad Eade and Chris are our lucky winners of the Frew Crew badges - well done.
The next three voters drawn at random are winners of a set of ChronicleChamber merch (stubby cooler etc) - congratulations to David Ennis, Luke McDermott and Steve Seabert.
Make sure you all keep an eye on your mail for the next few days as the prizes make their way to you!
So what are your thoughts? Did the right issue, cover and story win? Any surprising placings for you? Please let us know via the comments below or on any of our social media platforms!
