X-Band: Phantom Podcast #330 - Frew 2026 Annual review (Mandrake crossover stories)
- ChronicleChamber Team
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
Mandrake the Magician was Lee Falk's first created hero and, to many, was their gateway into the Phantom, with some countries having a deeper relationship with the hypnotic magician than the purple-wearing jungle hero.
Surprisingly, there have not been many comics or stories where the two heroes share equal billing. Frew in 2026 have tried to do this with their 2026 yearly annual. 228 pages in full colour featuring stories from both universes and a new story created for this annual.
Join us for 80 minutes as we review each Phantom & Mandrake crossover story in finer detail, the annual as a whole, and much more.
The following stories are reviewed and are time-stamped if you cannot listen to the whole podcast and want to listen to specific stories.
"Mandrake's Bon Voyage" by Tony DePaul and Terry Beatty: 15 Minutes
"The Missing Aviatrix" by Fred Fredericks: 22 Minutes
"Lights! Camera! Danger!" by Fred Fredericks: 29 Minutes & 30 Seconds
"Trouble in the Twelve Nations" by Tony DePaul and Terry Beatty: 33 Minutes
"Shadows on Devil Road" by Fred Fredericks: 39 Minutes
"Still Lovely, Still Deadly" by Fred Fredericks: 46 Minutes
"The Magician's Curse" by Jeff Dyer, Andrew Constant and Boris Kay: 54 Minutes
If you are wanting to read the final week of "Still Lovely, Still Deadly" by Fred Fredericks that was edited out, you can read that here.
If you are wanting to read behind the scenes with "The Magician's Curse" story by Jeff Dyer, Andrew Constant and Boris Kay and find out about who Dryake is and how he is related to Mandrake, you can read that here.
Finally, a heads up: we are aware we have not done a monthly wrap-up podcast of January or February yet; that’ll be next.
You can email us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel.
