Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews this amazing hardcover collection book which is the second of the series after last years Heart of Darkness book (Our Review).
This collection features the following stories:
"The Phantom Crusader, Part 1" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1484.
"The Phantom Crusader, Part 2" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1487.
"The Phantom Crusader, Part 3" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1493.
"The Phantom Gladiator, Part 1" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1545.
"The Phantom Gladiator, Part 2" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1546.
"The Phantom Gladiator, Part 3" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1557.
"The Legend of Rahotep, Part 1" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1596.
"The Legend of Rahotep, Part 2" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1601.
"The Legend of Rahotep, Part 3" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1612.
"Save Jerusalem" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1628.
"Secret of the Templar Knights" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1646.
"Year 1349" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1659.
"The Last of the Merovingans" by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen. Published in Frew #1689.
It must be noted that this book spent time in the top five selling books on the Swedish Bokus website which is a huge achievement. You can purchase the book at the following websites:
First up it features an amazing cover by Henrik Sahlström, This so far in 2023 is his only Fantomen cover and he has kept up to his usual high standard. Will he have any more for 2023?
A few let downs in my opinion is that there is no embossing on the hard cover and no stamp with the limited edition number like last year.
The art in the stories are all made by Kari Leppänen and it is of amazing quality. We also get all the covers of when the stories first were published.
I was a bit surprised when they announced the theme of the book, thinking it might not be what I was most excited to see as a hardcover book, I remember the stories as being odd and not that “important” since they were never about the “real” Phantom.
However, after re-reading all of them I really understand it, as Andreas Eriksson wrote in the foreword, it is almost as if it is written as a follow up on the Heart of Darkness saga and in my opinion it elevates these stories to a new level by reading them all in short succession unlike when first published.
In my mind it was an easier read than the Heart of Darkness hardcover collection, both that it is in color, but also that the parts are more self contained.
Overall, I expected a good book and was pleasantly surprised by a great book. I really hope the sales of this book matches the last one so we can get more of these! What would you like to see as next years hardcover collection?
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.
