Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews Fantomen 1/2024 & 2-3/2024 which feature the following stories:
"Slavjägarna från Singh" ("The Singh Raiders") by Andreas Eriksson and Ivan Rodriguez
"Barracudas skatt" ("The Treasure of the Barracuda") by Norman Worker and Jaime Vallvé
"Vålnadens nya kläder" ("The Ghosts New Clothes") by Jacob Habinc and Rafael Ruiz
"De tusen tigrarna" ("The Thousand Tigers") by Lennart Hartler, Magnus Magnusson and Jaime Vallvé
Review of Fantomen 1/2024
First up, the cover with art by Henrik Sahlstrom. Nice to see that he has not totally stopped creating Fantomen covers with him drawing no regular covers in 2023.
First of we are getting some information about what is going to happen in Fantomen during 2024. Highlights include new creators debuting, a continuation of the 22nd Phantom saga planned for end of year, otherwise about the same as last year, which is good news!
[Editors note: We will be having another podcast chat with the Fantomen editors in February.]
The main story is "Slavjägarna från Singh" ("The Singh Raiders") by Andreas Eriksson and Ivan Rodriguez which was earlier published in Frew 1952 from 2023 which features the 17th Phantom, Julie, Singh pirates and lots of action. I had a blast reading this one. A great choice to include.
As an extra supplement with the comic is a publishing schedule poster for 2024 by phav Henrik Sahlström.
As for the last few years, the poster is double sided with one side including the dates of issues being published in 2024 and the other side without the dates. This is better for framing or presenting after the year has ended.
The side comic is half an Thorgal story featuring an adventure from his youth.
Review of Fantomen 2-3/2024
A new cover artist by Henry Johannes. It is great to see new artists drawing the Phantom.
First story is "Barracudas skatt" ("The Treasure of the Barracuda") by Norman Worker and Jaime Vallvé. This is a classic Team Fantomen story spanning a whooping 46 pages, takes place both in the past and the present, with descendants walking in their forefathers footsteps on both sides of right and wrong.
Next up is "Vålnadens nya kläder" ("The Ghosts New Clothes") by Jacob Habinc and Rafael Ruiz. This is a very short story with a more American superhero graphic style than we are accustomed to. More funny than regular stories which seem to be the norm in these shorter ones. Good to see Rafael Ruiz back drawing the Phantom who has not drawn the Phantom in a story since 2019.
The final Phantom story is "De tusen tigrarna" ("The Thousand Tigers") by Lennart Hartler, Magnus Magnusson and Jaime Vallvé which is a classic Team Fantomen story, a real must read to get the backstory about why there are tigers in Bangalla Africa.
The comic also includes the opening for the vote for best Phantom story in Fantomen last year started with this issue. You can read more about the vote in this article. Closing the magazine is the second part of the Thorgal's youth album started in issue 1/2024.
Until next time, Happy Phantoming!
All Fantomen reviews will be included in our monthly X-Band: The Phantom Podcasts. You can find out more at our website and or subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos. Thanks also goes to Jörgen Karlsson for his help creating the Fantomen review intro which will now be featured for all reviews by Mikael Lyck.
