Review of Zauberstern Phantom #20

Christian Moller reviews Zauberstern #20 that was out in late August 2025. The issue features the following stories that were first published by Charlton Comics in the1970's.

• "Triumph des Bösen" ("Triumph of Evil") by Joe Gill and Don Newton

• "Das Geheimnis des Mali-Götzen" ("The Mystery of the Mali Ibex") by Bill Pearson and Don Newton

• "Kampf gegen das Monster von Zanadar" ("Battles the Monster of Zanadar") by John Clark and Don Newton

• "Das Böse im Menschen" ("The Torch") by Ben S. Parillo and Don Newton

You can purchase this comic and other back issues of Zauberstern Phantom comics from their website.

This comic is of great value with 100 pages of comics in full colour on great-quality paper for 10€. This magazine sees Zauberstern reusing a past cover instead of creating their own new covers, which they have done previously and seems to be done more and more often. Do you prefer the publisher creating their own unique covers?

This cover was created by Don Newton and was originally used as the cover #73 for the Charlton Comics series, originally published in 1976. Again, like previous issues, Zauberstern re-use another cover for a double page poster being Don Newton's famous USA flag cover for #74.

The interior colours are good and in full colours unlike in the Bastei West Germany 1978 issue which was in red, black and white. Make sure you watch the video where I show some examples of the printing not super clean due to them using old printing plates. Overall I think it works - what is your opinion?

It includes an editorial information page about Don Newton which is great to highlight a past star.

Ensure you read our interview with the publishers and editors behind Zauberstern here - Interview with Simeon Hrissomallis and Charles Bone. You will learn about the extra albums and magazines planned to be published in 2025 by Zauberstern. We have reviewed the first special magazine on our platforms.

All Zauberstern and other German comic 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.

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