Frew Phantom 2027 Annual theme announced
Mandrake the Magician returns! Announced by Glenn Ford in his message from the publisher in The Phantom #2035, it has been confirmed that we are going to get a second Annual published in 2027 featuring both of Lee Falk’s iconic characters.
For those of us that came in late, Frew’s latest Annual is titled - When Legends Meet! “The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician” was published back in January 2026. Containing a mixed bag of old and new, the Annual featured stories from both characters' newspaper strips as well as a new three-part story created by Andrew Constant, Jeff Dyer and Boris Kay.
You can read Boris explaining his creative choices and decisions in regard to his story here. You can read the final weeks' worth of strips from the story "Still Lovely, Still Deadly" that was left out here.
Doing a second half of the Phantom and Mandrake crossovers wouldn’t have much to get from the Newspaper Stories. Aside from their appearances in each other's weddings, the other appearances are often reduced to cameos and Easter eggs. Without having much to do with the stories, those were only phun elements that acknowledged each other's existence in their respective strips.
What gets left are stories for comic books created for different publishers across the world. Starting with Marvel in 1986 with their Defenders of the Earth series (Read about the lost 5th and 6th issues here) to Moonstone, Dynamite with their ‘King’ universe and the most recent attempts by Mad Cave Studios with another two Defenders of the Earth series. On the European side, stories from Fantomen and Felmang exists.
It's likely that Frew would be accompanying whatever stories they choose with newly produced materials. While details are under wraps, we may expect another crossover story created by an inhouse team.
With this news in hand, it would be interesting to see what stories and content await us in the next annual. What are your thoughts on this announcement? Are you excited for another crossover issue? Let us know via our email chroniclechamber@gmail.com or our various social media handles.
