With many newspapers dropping the comic strips in the last month, one question we have seen lately is how can phans read the comics now?
We suggest Comics Kingdom even with the problems we have which we will highlight in this video.
There are other options out there like the Phantom Trial website but the archive is limited.
Yes Comics Kingdom has countless adverts and some commentators that may frustrate others but its nothing that you will not find on social media and we suggest you bounce those snarky comments. It is not the end of the world if you disagree with someone.
Now a free account will only give you certain access for a month which to be honest is fairly standard and they need to make money. You have a yearly plan for $30US per year which is fairly cheap and only 4-6 coffees depending on where you like. You can also sign up for a bi-yearly and five year plan - slight discounts apply. You can also do a 30 day free trial which is worth doing before you take the plunge.
The best thing about a subscription on top of the access to reading the Daily and Sunday strips every day is you get access to roughly 13,000 strips.
At the moment the archive option goes back to 1970 to current but not all strips from as far back to that are currently uploaded. We can confirm that they are updating this archive on continuously as we have helped the archivist to find certain strips. In going through the archive, basically everything from the late 1990's to current are there.
For example 1997, has just the Sunday strips in the archive section. I would like to see ALL dailies and Sundays in this section which will be a true archive and give more bang for your buck for your $30US.
A negative is that the website can be clunky trying to access strips beyond the late 1990's. Another negative is the layout of the Sunday strips. Some phans prefer the 4x3 layout model instead of the portrait style. I prefer this method also.
Another good example on the clumsiness of the website which is a real negative is that you can access old Wilson McCoy stories but to find them, you need to go to a separate section and search for it. I have designed websites for a living and I cannot understand what they have done. Its a dogs breakfast which is a pity as they have another 3,500 strips in that section of the archive. Why would you have two archives with one hidden?
To access this hidden section of the archive go to https://comicskingdom.com/phantom-1
Now if you read other characters this will ensure you get even more bang for your buck. You can access Mandrake including strips by Phil Davies, Flash Gordon with strips by Alex Raymond and many more old and new comics. Again to access this, it is hard and a real dogs breakfast.
So why should we visit this website when the creators and other phans post the strips each day on Facebook and other social media platforms? Great question and thanks for asking.
KFS and Hearst who at the end of the day have the power to cancel the Phantom use this website to track what is popular and use it with their budget, costs etc to make decisions on what to keep and kill off. Factors like visits, comments etc on this website are all tracked and if there more comments, clicks on adverts, subscribers clicking on Phantom strips, they wont kill the comic off as it makes them money.
We know the Phantom is important and this helps tells the uneducated also.
KFS and Hearst do not track this on Facebook, Twitter and other possible websites out there.
Yes, the website has plenty of holes like accessing a true archive, reading and finding the Wilson McCoy/Ray Moore classics and not to mention some snarky comments. However it is still our recommendation to use this website to read your daily and sunday new and old Phantom comics.
And no, this is not a paid review. This is just my opinion.
