In this Episode Dan, Jermayn and Steve review the hotly anticipated 80th Anniversary Special published by Frew . The episode opens with the boys recording their first impressions of the issue as soon as they open it. They then drag a fine tooth comb through every aspect of the publication. Was the colour a success? Does Jermayn agree with Barry's history? What's Dan's opinion on the non-inclusion of any Falk stories? Can Steve somehow reign these guys in so that we don't go off in too many tangents? The running time of this episode reflects the size of the issue and clocks in at a shade over 2 hours. The perfect companion as you take the family for a drive these school holidays. Enjoy!

Some very exciting news to begin the New Year! In 2017, Frew Publications will be publishing a new, Australian-made The Phantom series! Written by Sydney-based author Christopher Sequeira with art by fellow New South Wales resident Jason Paulos , the series will be advertised inside the rear cover of the new Frew issue (#1773) due in newsagents later this week. Believe it or not, Sequeira actually made the announcement on his Facebook page in November last year! FREW PUBLICATIONS TO PUBLISH 'THE PHANTOM BY GASLIGHT' By Christopher Sequeira and Jason Paulos Coming in 2017 from Frew Publications will be a new serial lifting the lid on the greatest threat the lineage of the Phantom faced in the Victorian age: tensions from both within as well as without the trusted inner circle of the Ghost Who Walks! Christopher Sequeira will be writing this history-making, graphic-novel length saga, and Jason Paulos will provide the masterful, creepingly moody art as only he can! More details to come in first quarter 2017! Sworn to secrecy on the first Phantom's oath-skull, we can say no more! This announcement was met with congratulations and excitement from members of the Australian comic book industry, but was largely missed by Phantom phans (including the ChronicleChamber team). However, with Paulos' release of the final artwork for the Frew advertisement this morning , the cat was well and truly out of the bag! Sequeira immediately re-posted the image, adding the following information: Awesome! Yes, this is the stuff, folks! Jason Paulos and I are doing THE PHANTOM for Frew Publishing! A graphic novel length series that will appear in regular installments in 2017! Chapter 1: 'A STUDY IN VIOLET' as the Phantom legacy grapples with a dark conspiracy in Victorian era London, that reaches across even to the homeland of the Phantom in Bangalla! And DON'T think for a minute this is simply going to be 'The Phantom Vs The Whitechapel Murderer'! OH, NO, no, no, the entire tradition of the Phantom is going to be at stake here, with repercussions that will reverberate even to today, and the forces of evil are much, much more vast and powerful than just Saucy Jack's predations! There are many a famous and infamous gaslight-era character that will grace the pages of this epic, as well as some startling debuts, so please, come and join us! It would seem we are about to have access to a new story from the Chronicle Room of the Phantom, perhaps the 18th or 19th Phantom, given the references to Jack the Ripper who was active in 1888. The title of the first chapter A Study in Violet also harkens to stories of Sherlock Holmes, another famous Victorian era character. While relatively unknown in the Phantom world, Sequeira is a very accomplished producer of Victorian material. Since 2003, Christopher Sequeira has had many essays and articles published on Sherlock Holmes, as well as a number of Sherlockian prose fiction stories. One of these was nominated for a WSFA Small Press Award in 2009, while another two were include in the 2012 Moonstone Publishing release Sherlock Holmes: The Crossover Casebook . Meanwhile, Jason Paulos has been writing, drawing and publishing comics since 1989. His biography lists his professional credits include Green Lantern , Australian Mad and Judge Dredd Megazine. As the creator of Hairbutt The Hippo and The Harlequin , Paulos will be familiar with taking on new and exciting comic ideas. As a quick scroll through his portfolio of work suggests, he will also be very competent in drawing the dark and moody era that Sequeira writes in. Some of his other preliminary sketches have also started appearing on Facebook (below). You can read a 2011 interview with Paulos here . Interestingly, Sequeira and Paulos both contributed stories for the Australian comic book and graphic novel publisher Black House Comics (2008-2014). Immediate reaction to the news on Facebook has been overwhelmingly positive, with this seemingly the answer to phan requests for Australian produced The Phantom stories. However, some doubts have been cast as to the title of the series with ChronicleChamber's Joe Douglas suggesting it may be too close to the 1989 DC one-shot Gotham by Gaslight : "We've seen the Phantom in that time period plenty of times before so why make such a blatant reference to a pre-existing, well known story? I can guarantee you anyone who knows comics is gonna see that title and roll their eyes." As to how this will roll out? It's a wait and see. ChronicleChamber's Jermayn Parker suggests: "I reckon it's going to be like Heart of Darkness," i.e. a few pages back-filling a 22-page Egmont story periodically throughout the year. However, it's also entirely possible that this will be a series completely removed from Frew's normal issue numbering and a standalone of its own, comparable to Hermes Press' Danger in The Forbidden City series. Over 50 years ago Frew had a history of publishing "other" Phantom stories, as well as a range of other characters too. Taken together with the news of the Giant Size printings , perhaps this is another representation that Frew is returning to their golden age. Either way, it is clear that we the readers are in for a treat! #Frew #ChristopherSequeira #JasonPaulos #Moonstone #DC

The story reported on ChronicleChamber earlier this month has been verified: Frew Publications has commissioned a new The Phantom series, produced by the all-Australian creative team of Christopher Sequeira and Jason Paulos. Frew confirmed the news on their Facebook page tonight with an extensive statement accompanied by some teaser artwork (shown below). As part of their determination to fill the 6-8 page gap left by Egmont's decision to move to 22-page stories, Frew have "come up with our own continuing series, broken up into 8-page episodes, which would combine to make a full story after 10-12 episodes. ... Some of these episodes can be self-contained standalone stories, but they will, by and large, be a part of an overall, ongoing series with continuing themes, recurring characters and overlapping subplots." The first of these series will be the Phantom by Gaslight stories. According to Frew's post: " The Phantom by Gaslight will be set in the Victorian era, a time when the ’sun never set on the British Empire’ and African colonial expansion was at its peak. The Phantom, the 17th in line, along with his twin sister, Julie, the ‘Girl Phantom’, will operate out of London - the same London populated by famous 19th century literary characters, such as Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, Inspector Dupin, Allan Quatermain and van Helsing, and famous villains and creatures of Gothic horror like Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, the Invisible Man, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Captain Nemo and the Murderer of the Rue Morgue…and these are just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until you see what writer, Christopher Sequeira and artist, Jason Paulos have in store for you. Real life figures and personalities, such as the Elephant Man, Sigmund Freud, Sir Richard Burton, Nikola Tesla, Jack the Ripper and Harry Houdini could also feature. Look for other surprising new and familiar characters from the world of the Phantom. Christopher Sequeira has crafted an epic Phantom adventure, A Study in Violet , for our inaugural tale and Jason Paulos has simply knocked it out of the park, with some astounding art." Pleasingly, it seems that some major hurdles have been overcome, with King Features Syndicate having already approved the concept, story outline and character designs. "The first story is sitting with them now, waiting for their stamp. As soon as we hear from them, [release] dates will be announced." The excitement at Frew is palpable. "It's some if the most exciting material. ... this heralds a major event for FREW as a comic producer. It's so good to work with serious home grown talent. Let's hope we won't keep you hanging too long before publication!!! Jason and Chris are nailing it!" Frew also hints at further news regarding a second series or beyond, once the Gaslight stories are finished. There is further wonderful news for all phans, whether casual readers or serious collectors. It seems that this also represents a resolute step from Frew towards breaking away from their traditional avenue of only selling in newsagents, and adding bookstores to their marketplace as well. Clear in the statement is plans to publish the complete series as trade paperback collections that would seemingly be retailed in local comic bookstores and the like. While this would seem to mean that the on-going Heart of Darkness story will feature even less regularly than it currently does, we suspect that most phans would get over this pretty quickly. Frew has definitely committed to Egmont's 1990's Claes Reimerthi / Joan Boix production: " Heart of Darkness will continue for some time to come ... We started with Heart of Darkness and we will we see it through." You can read Frew's full statement here . #Frew #ChristopherSequeira #JasonPaulos #KingFeaturesSyndicate #ClaesReimerthi #JoanBoix

Not wanting to rest on their laurels with the Phantom by Gaslight series, the crew at Frew have continued to hint at what is in store for the year ahead. It looks like the "Phantom Kids" concept which has been teased in several of Dudley Hogarth’s Message From The Publisher , as well as in the responses to Phantom Forum letters, has really taken shape. While there have been hints through the past weeks that an Australian creative team has been commissioned by Frew to create the series, today co-owner Glenn Ford has officially announced the series in a typically detailed Facebook post. Kid Phantom comic approved by King Features! Kid Phantom is a new comic from Frew, aimed at a younger audience, which will chronicle the adventures of the 21st Phantom when he was a young boy. Here’s the pitch, as it was given to King: “In the famous and much-loved Phantom Sunday comic strip story, ‘ The Childhood of the Phantom ’, by Lee Falk and Wilson McCoy, the current Phantom, 21st in the line, is shown as a young boy growing up in the Deep Woods, playing with his pygmy Bandar friends and training with his father, the 20th Phantom. It is quickly established, at the beginning of the story, that his education is sadly lacking and that he also needs to start developing his own set of values and learn some humility along the way, SO…it is decided to send him to to the States, to begin his schooling. Accompanied by his lifelong friend, Guran, the son of the Bandar chieftain, they sail to America, to stay with his aunt and uncle. Upon arrival, he finds he has trouble settling in to a suburban lifestyle and adapting to the ways of Western civilisation. He enrols in high school and soon runs afoul of his classmates. He is taken under the wings of his physical education teacher and the headmaster, and very quickly acclimatises to the ways of the west. He still has a wild and restless nature, though, as most young boys do in their early teens and is soon having his own adventures disguised in the ‘Kid Phantom’ costume that he has packed away, and brought with him, on his journey. In the 'Childhood of the Phantom’ story, 6 years pass in 2 panels. The new Kid Phantom comic will tell us what happened in between those panels. He will have an opportunity to learn some valuable life lessons and establish a foundation for the traits and qualities that we associate with the adult Phantom. In short, we will see how the Phantom became a hero.” Kid Phantom is illustrated by Queensland comic artist, Paul Mason, whose lively, energetic style has given our young hero a fresh, new look that will set this title apart from anything else out there. The first issue is written by the mysterious ‘Henriquez’ and he has hit the ground running. Subsequent issues will be written by Sydneysider, Andrew Constant. It will be published quarterly in the popular ‘digest-size’ format and available at newsagents and online, of course, at: phantomcomic.com.au We hope that, although aimed at a younger audience, a lot of our regular Phantom readers may find it a fun read, as well. In a post on Facebook a few weeks ago , co-owner of Frew Rene White wrote: "When Frew releases the Kid Phantom Series aimed at the younger generations, we may see some new Phans. No doubt us older Phantom Phans will also collect the new series." In response to phan Jon Cookson’s question, “Will they be Australian created stories?” , White replied, “We have commissioned the writer and the artist to draw the new stories. They will be the first time ever published anywhere in the world.” While the Scandinavian Egmont team in the past have done an awesome job keeping up the legacy of Lee Falk's creation, there has been a chorus of Australian phans wanting more of an Australian influence in the comic. Looks like phans like Jon Cookson will soon see it. It is a real innovative move from Frew. We have confirmed that Kid Phantom will be full colour. Given it will be published four times a year in a kid's digest-size comic, this clearly identifies it as separate from the regularly numbered Frew series - a completely new The Phantom publication! The premise of the story is undeniably clever. To have identified this 6 year gap in the tale of The Childhood of The Phantom is a masterstroke and has provided the creators with a real opportunity to explore the character. We have also been able to confirm that the series will be set in the 1960's. ChronicleChamber hopes that Frew are also checking out alternate sales points - Kid Phantom sounds like the kid’s magazines you can buy at the checkouts of supermarkets and fuel stations, which would normally come with the puzzles and giveaways that encourage pester power. With the limited information we know, the team at ChronicleChamber has raised several questions about the series and what has been announced so far: When will it be released? Why the change in the author? Will it always be Paul Mason as the artist? How many books will there be in the series? Will it be ongoing? How can we make sense of the 1960's setting? What about the 40's/50’s newspaper stories? Will this be disruptive? Would the Phantom kid stories have been better if it was the 22nd or a modern/future Phantom, where the stories could be set more in today's modern world which arguably, today's youngsters could be more interested in. #Frew #PhantomKids #DrPaulMason #AndrewConstant #GlennFord #ReneWhite #KidPhantom

Frew Publications continue their stellar start to 2017, with the announcement of a third new publication, as well as a free gift to all their fans. On Facebook today , Frew announced that they will soon be bringing the Giantsize Phantom comic back to life. "Giantsize Phantom was an anthology-style comic published by Frew in the late 50’s-early 60’s. It featured a Falk Phantom story along with other stories from Frew’s stable of characters, most notably Catman, Sir Falcon, the Phantom Ranger and the Shadow. We’ll be reprinting each of these titles, throughout this ongoing series, starting from issue #1 of each of them and in sequence." In the post, Frew go on to explain that publication will be 100 pages long (hence Giantsize) and published quarterly. The stories will be almost entirely reprints, although The Phantom story will be in colour. While the stories may be reprints, it seems that the covers will be original. However, with Glenn Lunsden's vibrant cover for the first issue (below) paying wonderful tribute to the covers from the 1950s and 60s, one senses that the tone of the era will not be lost. The announcement goes some way to clearing up the confusion caused by ChronicleChamber's first Giantsize Phantom report back in mid-December. As for the free gift? Frew have made a free poster available on their website! The poster, which comes in digital form as a downloadable PDF file, features 26 of Frew's covers from 2016. With the replica series covers absent, this is a genuine "at-a-glance" display of the new Frew crew's approach to comic book covers. It's available for phans to download and print for themselves at an Officeworks or similar business. According to Frew, the file is "high-quality print resolution ... .and can be printed out, in colour, at A2 size with no loss in quality ... That means it will scale down to A3 or A4, depending on how much wall space you have." The poster is available for download here . All this is the latest in a sequence of big announcements from the iconic Australian publishing company. It comes only only a day after Frew confirmed a new Kid Phantom digest comic book series and their Frew Philecards incentive for subscribers. Coming on the back of the announcement of the Phantom by Gaslight series, it seems that the Frew crew really is determined to make 2017 the beginning of a new era in The Phantom history in Australia. #Frew #GlennLumsden #Giantsize

January 19 is turning out to be a great day for news about new Frew initiatives! The publishing company's resurgence under new owners Glenn Ford and Rene White continues apace as they approach the one-year anniversary of acquiring the company. Their latest innovation ( announced on Facebook today ) is the Frew Philecards, to be released every week/ fortnight with each new issue and also available via the Frew website. Glenn told ChronicleChamber: "T hese [Frew Philecards] are trading card-sized collector cards, showing the cover to every single Phantom comic that Frew has produced, starting at #1. On the back will be all of the relevant information about that issue. ... "This information consists of the publishing date, the name of the story, the name of the original story, the cover artist, number of pages and cover price. ... Frew has gathered the information from historians Barry Stubbersfield and David Budds, distributor Gordon and Gotch, and their own archives. In a move clearly designed to encourage phans to buy directly from the company, the Frew Philecards will be included with every comic mailed to subscribers. Each subscriber will get a free pack. "Each pack will have 9 cards, so every issue will have a new pack of 9 cards, in sequence - i.e. subscribers will receive issue #1775 with the first pack with cards for Frew no.'s 1-9; issue #1776: pack 2 with no.'s 10-18, etc," says Glenn. Phans who prefer to buy their comic fortnightly from their newsagents will still be able to access the Phile cards through the Frew website, available for individual sale at $3.50 per pack, or a $130/year subscription. Frew is also planning to make a purpose-made binder available, allowing phans to collect the cards into a handy reference source for all Frews. The binders will hold a dozen 9-card sheets, therefore 108 cards per binder. This is a massive and long-term undertaking by Frew. Some simple maths: Currently, 1800 issues actually released. 1800 / 9 = 200 So it will take 200 issues to get the cards up to present day (beginning 2017). BUT... By then obviously, Frew will have released another 200 comics to get there. So that's an extra 23 packs of 9 to get up to date. So that's another 23 issues released, and an extra 2-3 packs required to catch up to that... Assuming Frew continues with 31 issues per year: 225 / 31 = 7.25 So it's going to take over 7 years for Frew to get their Frew Phile Cards to catch up to the issue of the day, which should be approximately the issue numbered #2000. Coincidence, or good planning? Either way, we look forward to having it all up to date in 2024! #Frew #GlennFord #ReneWhite #TradingCards #BarryStubbersfield

Frew Publications will shortly announce the release of their own bags and boards for Phantom comic collectors. Most diehard comic collectors are familiar with the painstaking but satisfying process of bagging and boarding their collection. Phantom phans in particular have been known to have long discussions about the merits of bagging and boarding, and the best methods and products to use. In a canny retail move, Frew will look to capture some of this market by producing their own bags and boards. Sourced from an existing bag/board manufacturer, the Frew product will be unique in that they will be clearly labelled "FREW". According to Glenn Ford , the "bags are all golden age size which will fit an Annual - but you need the smaller silver age board to fit all snugly." The bags and boards will be available from Frew's website soon. The ChronicleChamber team discuss the product on the upcoming X-Band podcast, due for publication over the weekend. #Frew #GlennFord

Following the 2016 success of Frew Publications' Supanova booth, their first in many years, it is wonderful to see they are renewing their appearance in 2017. So, what can we expect to see from them this year? From the outset, we already know that they will have double the floorspace from last year with not one but two booths in 2017. Clearly, while The Phantom may be a "niche" and "antiquated" character, he still draws enough of a crowd to really cram a small area! Given the comments made by Paul Mason and Andrew Constant (Kid Phantom creators) toward the end of their conversation with us in our conversation on X-Band: The Phantom Podcast, Chronicle Chamber expects that one of the booths will be manned by visiting artists, while the Frew Crew and their 'regular' booth will sit next door. No other guests have been revealed conclusively at this stage, however an extensive post from Frew on Facebook suggests that we could also expect to see artists Antonio Lemos, Glenn Ford, Jamie Johnson, Jeremy Macpherson and ‘Chewie’ Chan make an appearance. Why? Because they are confirmed as the returning artists for Frew's second ever jam cover, a Supanova exclusive that follows the success of the #1755 jam variant in 2016: "A variant Supanova edition of {issue #1785} will also be available to coincide with the Sydney leg of the well-known pop culture and comic convention/exhibition. This version will have a ‘jam’ cover from the same 5 artists that contributed to last year’s Supanova jam cover." With #1785 also slated to be the issue in which the much anticipated Phantom by Gaslight series makes it's debut, it seems logical to assume that the jam artwork will be Gaslight themed - an idea that seems well supported by Jamie's postings on social media in the last week or so. After regular progress updates, his striking image (right) was unveiled with the caption "My 'Phantom By Gaslight' cover in all its glory ... #phantombygaslight #variantcover #conventionexclusive" We may not be rocket scientists here at Chronicle Chamber, but that does seem fairly clear evidence! Clearly last year's jam cover and the associated Frew Pholio collection of that artwork was a success, as "the full unedited artwork (of the 2017 jam cover) will be the focus of the Frew Pholio #4 - also available at Supanova." Sidenote: ChronicleChamber has confirmed with Glenn that "Frew Pholio #4" is not a typo and that the Supanova release will indeed be the fourth Pholio set - despite no word yet about #3 being available! This raises the question: what will the theme of Pholio #3 be? With so many wonderful covers in the last year, the Crew is spoiled for choice. However, it seems likely that they would take the opportunity to promote one of their other innovations - Kid Phantom, the Giantsize comics, or Phantom's World perhaps? Either way, a jam cover and a new Pholio set feels like this could be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Frew goodies at the Supanova in June. We anticipate that there will be a raft of other announcements coming out over the next few weeks. If you're going, you may need a second mortgage. And if you're not, make sure you keep a close eye on the Frew website as the big weekend gets closer!

It has been 12 months since Glenn Ford and Rene White took over ownership of Frew Publications and, along with publisher Dudley Hogarth, formed the Frew Crew. For this episode Dan, Jermayn and Steve look back at Frew Crew: Year One going through innovations, positives, minuses, and things we thought were interesting. We also put forward what we would like to see in Year Two. Enjoy! In the episode, we refer to a bunch of statistics around Year One. These are posted below for those who prefer to read them: 1st year stats Issue 1745 (Feb 23 2016) - 1776 (Feb 23 2017) 31 issues 11 episodes of Heart of Darkness 3 Replica series issues 2 Annuals 1 Anniversary Special 2 multiple story specials (Xmas, Black Fire ) 1 Poster centrefold (Paul Ryan tribute) 70 stories (counting Parts separately, excludes HOD) 44 previously unpublished by Frew 26 reprinted stories - 9 in the three Replicas, 8 in the Girl Phantom Annual. Of the 11 not in the Replicas, Kings Cross Connection is a 3rd reprint, all others 2nd only. *Notable exception - Female Phantom 13th reprint 1.5 stories (3 issues) never published before anywhere 13 Colour stories (across 4 issues) (includes Treasure of Green Hell red) 23 different authors 18 Lee Falk 8 Claes Remerthi 29 different artists 12 Wilson McCoy 6 Kari Leppanen 5 Felmang 4 Bill Lignante 3 Heiner Bade 3 Alex Saviuk 3 Sy Barry 1 Ray Moore #Frew #GlennFord #ReneWhite #DudleyHogarth #Supanova #LeeFalk #Felmang #ClaesReimerthi #WilsonMcCoy #RayMoore #SyBarry #KingFeaturesSyndicate #AlexSaviuk #HeinerBade #BillLignante #KariLeppänen #PaulRyan

Glenn Ford 's revelation in the Autumn 2017 issue of the Australian Cartoonist's Association magazine Inkspot that Frew are planning to release a graphic novel later this year (as reported by ChronicleChamber here ) has certainly set some tongues wagging in the Phantom phan community. What is this story? What is it going to look like? We had a few clues to go on: The name of the story - The Sword of the Caliph The author - Henriquez The artist - Giancarlo Caracuzzo Chronicle Chamber's own human internet Jermayn Parker and the intrepid Andreas Eriksson , have remembered and tracked down what we think may well be some of the art for the story, and it's been under our noses the whole time... The images we've republished here today were actually first put out in front of phans on 29th December 2016, when Giancarlo posted three pages on Facebook, in a popular Phantom Facebook group no less! Many phans probably assumed that this was going to be the art for a regular Frew comic book, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Captioned "Phantom "the ghost who walks" "The Sword", Frew Publications Art by me, Color : Flavia Caracuzzo , it would seem that this could indeed be some of the art we are likely to see in Frew's latest attempt to broaden their business model and extend the reach and popularity of The Phantom into the wider community.

When news comes out of Frew Publications it comes strong, and so it has been today! The first item of big news is something that has been anticipated by phans ever since Frew started publishing titles outside their regular numbering: Kid Phantom , Giantsize and most recently, Phantom's World . Given that subscriptions have become such an important part of the business model, it was only a matter of time that these titles would also available directly from Frew HQ. In a Facebook post today , Frew announced that readers would be able to subscribe to each title, saving 30% on the cover price of each. As they are all quarterly publications, it makes sense that Kid Phantom , Giantsize and Phantom's World are also available for subscription as a package deal. A very exciting development is the introduction of Phantom's Universe character cards as an incentive to subscribe. In a similar fashion to the Phile Cards that currently accompany subscriptions to regular Frews, Phantom's Universe cards will be included with any of the comics that form part of the quarterly subscriptions. The cards will start with the next quarterly to be published, Phantom's World #2 , and continue with the other titles as they are released. ChronicleChamber has been in touch with Frew publisher Dudley Hogarth and can confirm that every comic will be posted with a different card. "Each comic has its own individual card so that the only ways to receive the full set would be to subscribe to all 3 quarterlies or purchase them individually as they are released, " says Dudley. This will mean 12 unique cards per year. Dudley has also confirmed the size of the set, although this would seem to be a little fluid. "There will be 52 unique Phantom's Universe Cards, one for each character. There may be a few more as new characters appear in new material," Dudley tells us. The Phantom's Universe cards have a distinct Egmont connection; ChronicleChamber can confirm that the text on the cards was written by former stand-in editor Andreas Eriksson , and the art was provided by cover artist Henrik Sahlström . The cards actually originally appeared in Egmont comics over the last few years but have been translated into English (with the assistance of our own Jermayn Parker ) for release by Frew. For those who do not want to subscribe to the comics, or who are selective in which titles they'd like to purchase, the cards will also be available from the Frew website at a cost of $2 each. Further to this, ChronicleChamber can confirm that there will be a Phantom's Universe collectors binder that will be available for phans to display their cards. According to Dudley, "we will be bringing out a collector's folder with sleeves to accommodate the cards in the future." The second piece of news is the addition of an exciting new tab on the Frew website - the Treasure Room . Apparently going live today, the Treasure Room is a page that lists "whatever we decide is a treasure that is a bit of a one off item that can't otherwise be categorised. It could be art, memorabilia, or any rare piece." Nine items were listed today, including a slabbed Frew comic from the estate of Lee Falk , and 8 different framed collages of international comic book covers, each complied by former Frew publisher, the late Jim Shepherd . Phans will have to be watchful - all 8 collages were sold within six hours of them being published! And finally, in a big week for Australians who are into their pop culture, Frew have given some indication as to their plans for Oz ComicCon at Brisbane (23 & 24 September) and Sydney (30 September & 1 October). While there will not be a dedicated "Frew booth" at the events, Frew will have a presence. "We will be represented by others doing some promotion on our behalf," says Dudley. In Brisbane that means Paul Mason and Andrew Constant , who will available with Kid Phantom prints, comics, bookmarks and stickers. They will also be presenting a Kid Phantom seminar at 12pm on Saturday. A special guest, in the form of a certain Frew co-owner and Phantom artist, is also rumoured to likely be in attendance. And as for Sydney? Only time will tell. Just another big news day in a big news year for Frew and the Phantom.

Without any phanfare at all (phun intended) Frew has released their pholio #3 quietly on the Frew website. Interestingly, this is the best set so far in my opinion, as it includes international cover art from the popular Phantoms World releases, including yet-unseen published Frew covers from Ömer Muz (Turkey) and Alexandre Jubran (Brasil). This set included five prints that feature The Phantom's World covers, created by four different artists: Alexandre Jubran , Romano Felmang , Angelo Todaro , and Ömer Muz . Each set is numbered, signed, and limited to 100 copies. Angelo has fast become popular among phans with his simple, clean, and beautiful artwork. To me, he reminds me of Felmang and in their heyday, both were among the best we have ever seen draw the Phantom. Alexandre and Ömer may be new to most phans but you can see by the quality they won't stay new for long. Alexandre has drawn a Phantom cover before for a Brazilian publication back in 2001 ( more details here ). You can buy Pholio #3 here for $60 plus postage . Pholio #1 and Pholio #2 are still available.

Over the last six months we have seen new Phantom stories being created by Frew with the Lou Manna , Felmany, Gaslight and Kid Phantom stories. Today the team at Chronicle Chamber has learnt and can confirm that two known authors who have done work for Egmont have also been commissioned to do more Frew created stories. Their names are Philip Madden and Pidde Andersson . Philip Madden we should all know as we have interviewed him before on the XBand Podcast (Episode #22) and has regularly been talked about and praised for his slightly different and unique writing style. Pidde Andersson however is a new name for many Frew readers. Pidde has never done a Team Egmont story for the Phantom ( Fantomen and Fantomet as known in Norway and Sweden) but has written non-Phantom comic stories for Egmont and other publishers for decades. One of the best things about Pidde is that he knows and has a love for the character. Information on the artist attributed to Philip Madden 's character is unknown at this stage but we can confirm that Italian artist Angelo R Todaro will be bringing Pidde's story to life with his classic clean style that is well loved by Australians and Frew readers. I expect dates and other information to be released by Frew in the next few weeks. I am looking forward to what these well-known and respected creators and Frew come up with and what style the adventures are, but with what we have seen so far I expect traditional stories that will ooze many Falkisms throughout and keep the majority of the Frew readers happy.

We all know about the beautiful and successful For Those Who Came In Late trade paperback released by Frew late last year , and are excited about the prospect of a Pirates of the Red Dragon TPB to be released as a Reward level or Stretch goal in the Kickstarter campaign for The Phantom board game in November 2018. ChronicleChamber has now discovered that Frew will also be celebrating their 70th Birthday later this year with another very unique and special TPB. As we explored with Frew artist Shane Foley in his interview with X-Band: The Phantom Podcast in episode 92 , Frew has commissioned a number of modern artists and authors to create Australian-produced sequels to classic Lee Falk stories! Our understanding is that three Falk stories, one from each of the 'big three' artists ( Ray Moore , Wilson McCoy & Sy Barry ), will be featured in the book. Each story will then be followed by a brand new sequel that follows hot on the heels of Falk's tale. Frew co-director Glenn Ford has confirmed this format, and that the original Falk stories will also be featured in the TPB "in colour" . Given the very high standard set by Frew, with high quality paper stock, printing and colouring in For Those Who Came In Late , these reprints promise to be marvels in their own right. Ivan Pederson was very impressive in his colouring of the Falk stories in that first TPB, so it seems likely that he would return for this anniversary edition. As for the sequels, in his podcast interview Shane was able to tell us that he would be working on the Wilson McCoy follow-up, but was not sure exactly which story he would be continuing. Since then, publisher Dudley Hogarth has clarified for us, "Shane is working on a new story which will be a sequel to The Movie Stars in the style of Wilson McCoy due for publication in our 70th Anniversary Trade paperback (subject to King approval)" . The other stories are still a closely guarded secret at this stage, but Shane did mention in the podcast that the choice would be driven by Frew's desire to only use stories that had not been printed by them in the last 20 years. Writers are also unknown at this stage. There is a lot of speculation around the ChronicleChamber water-cooler around the rest of the creative teams. Christopher Sequeira , Andrew Constant , Pidde Anderson and Andreas Eriksson are all names we're throwing around for the writers, while Massimo Gamberi 's style would certainly seem to see him lend himself to creating the sequel to whichever Sy Barry story is chosen. A modern artist whose style could flow easily from Ray Moore? Your guess is as good as ours! Whoever is chosen, we are thoroughly excited about the prospect of this collection and can't wait to hear more about it!

Ever since the news dropped about a potential Phantom board game back in X-Band 85, phans around the world have been clamouring for more information. Thankfully the design team of Alex Wynnter and Dale Maccanti have been very forthcoming, joining us in each of the last two Comics and News episodes of the podcast . With Episode 89 dropping earlier tonight, phans are becoming a little more aware of the gameplay, which sounds like it is heavily built around players avoiding booby-traps and disaster as they attempt to rescue a treasure. In the conversation Dale also gave us a few incredible revelations about some of the bonus material that will accompany the game through the upcoming Kickstarter campaign. As Alex explained in his interview on Episode 87 , the board game is based on the popular Pirates of the Red Dragon trilogy. Dale has revealed that, to celebrate this, Frew have committed to producing a new trade paperback available exclusively as an add-on for Kickstarter backers of the game. Not only have Frew acquired the license to publish the stories in colour and reproduce them all in English in a single edition, there are also concrete plans to generate two new parts to the story, adding a prequel and a sequel story to the trilogy. This will mean a collection of five Pirates of the Red Dragon stories in one book , similar to 2017's high-quality For Those Who Came In Late. Creative teams are begin to solidify, with Dale himself having written the prequel already. Frew co-director Glenn Ford is currently going over that draft. New Phantom writer Julie Ditrich is apparently charged with writing the sequel. Julie is perhaps best known as founder and CEO of Comics Mastermind , an Australian company providing professional development for comics creators. Artists for the two stories are not able to be announced yet. Given the popularity of the Red Dragon stories, both in Scandinavia where they originated in 1979 and in Australia where they were finally published last year, the prospect of a pair of book-ending narratives is bound to have phans around the world salivating. In addition to this exciting TPB news, Dale revealed that there will also be two exclusive Universe cards produced for the Kickstarter campaign: Waldo the Hypnotist and Orkhan, both key characters in the original Red Dragon trilogy. Yes, there are still nine more months until this all becomes real with the launch of the Kickstarter. However, the slow burn of excitement has well and truly begun! #Frew #Games #Podcast #XBand #GlennFord