Mad Cave Studios announces variant covers & the synopsis for issue #1 of their regular Phantom series
- Jermayn Parker
- Jun 19
- 4 min read
For the Phantom to be successful, we need a popular and successful Phantom series in the USA. Starting September 24 2025, Mad Cave Studios regular series will be out in comic shops around the world. You can either pre order via Mad Cave Studios website or via your local comic shop with the pre orders being available in the July previews.
The series is written by Ray Fawkes, drawn by Russell Mark Olson and lettered by Taylor Esposito. The first Phantom story of this new Phantom series was issue #0 which was released on Free Comic Day on 3 May 2025. Our review of this comic can be found here.
The synposis of the first issue is:
When a violent gang of smugglers stubbles on an idyllic Bandar village, the peace that the Phantom has brought to the African nation of Bangalla will suddenly shatter. It will take all of the Phantom’s many skills — and allies — to restore it. The most exciting series of the year starts here!
To help make a big splash with this new series, Mad Cave Studios has released various variant covers including two of the artists who have drawn Phantom covers for Australian publisher Frew. The art style is different and varied among the seven different artists which will be great to try and draw in multiple phans who all have different tastes.
Cover A drawn by Freddie Williams II
Cover B drawn by Canaan White
Cover C drawn by Russell Mark Olson
Cover D drawn by Dan Brereton
Cover E drawn by Freddie Williams II which will be a B&W version of cover A
Cover F is a Blank Sketch Cover Variant
Mad Cave Studios website exclusive drawn by Maria Wolf
1:10 Retailer incentive drawn by Natacha Bustos
We would not be surprised to see other variants released similar to what they did with their Defenders of the Earth comic to coincide with comic conventions around USA.
Freddie Williams II
Freddie Williams II entered the comic scene in 2005, when he began work with DC Comics on Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle. He has since gone on to work on several series including finding a niche in crossover series, including Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man/ThunderCats, Injustice vs. Masters of the Universe, and Turtles of Grayskull.
This is not the first time he has drawn the Phantom. He has drawn the cover for the second Frew TPB. When we have spoken to him about the story behind this cover, he talked about his relationship with the Phantom came from his mother in-law who was a fan of the character and that he contacted Frew to draw the TPB cover as it was a homage to his mother in-law.
Canaan White
Canaan White entered the comic scene in 2006, when he was published by both the lndie Graphic Novel Publisher Dabel Brothers and Marvel Comics. He has since gone on to work on several series for Avatar Press (Uber which is a historical fiction series on second world war), Zenescope (Grimm Fairy Tales) and Marvel Comics (Luke Cage and Ptolus)
Canaan White has also drawn a cover before for Frew for their 2017 Female Phantom Annual (issue 1774).
Russell Mark Olson
Russell Mark Olson has the disctintion of growing up in the St Louis, Missouri area which was the home town of Lee Falk. Russell is the current ongoing artist for this new Phantom series.
Since moving to the United Kingdom, he has worked on several comic series in the UK comic scene including 2000AD, AccentUK, Cult Empire, Mad Robot, and other various UK and US small presses like "Gateway City".
Have you read the first #0 comic? If you have not, you can download your FREE copy at the Mad Cave Studios website.
Dan Brereton
Dan Brereton entered the comic scene back in 1988 with the story "Lost Causes Chapter 1" in Merchants of Death #1 published by Eclipse Comics. Brereton gained further attention for his work on Batman: Thrillkiller, Superman and Batman: Legends of the World's Finest, and JLA: Seven Caskets, His most famous work is his own series "The Nocturnals."
This will be his first Phantom licensed work and it is good to see another USA well known creator adding the Phantom to their credits.
Maria Wolf
Maria Wolf entered the comic scene back in 2019 with her work on Boom! Studios. She has also drawn covers for Image Comics and IDW Publishing on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Her rise has continued with several covers for Marvel Comics for Spider-Man, and Moon Kinght. She has also worked on several video games.
She identifies with her tribe the Tarascan, purepecha of Michoacán Mexico and has created comic book illustrations for the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of the American Indian’s “Native Knowledge 360” (KN360) online exhibit.
Natacha Bustos
Natacha Bustos is from Spain and has an unique clean style that may be a bit different for some old school phans but I believe it will appeal to many younger readers which we need to encourage to pick up every Phantom comic we can.
Her first cover was for the Star Wars franchise for Marvel and since then has worked on other credits include Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Doctor Aphra, Buffy Vampire Slayer: Willow, Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville and Harley Quinn.
The final cover is a sketch blank cover where you can hire an artist to use the comic as a canvas to create an unique custom illustration for you. Many of these have become popular in the USA comic industry.
It will be interesting to see how many other Phantom phans buy this for their collections.
Chronicle Chamber can confirm that these comics will be available to pre order via your local comic shop with the July previews. Preorder from your local comic shop to secure your copy. Retailers interested in exclusive variants are encouraged to contact Mad Cave and we have been told that no minimums are required!
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