Hermes Press has over the weekend put out a press release about a mistake that made its way into their Phantom Dailies Volume #29. The press release reads: To our Phans: It was recently brought to our attention by a Phan via email that our most recently published Dailies reprint, Volume 29, has a significant error. Due to our error, the Phantom story “The Poachers” (July 21, 1980 – November 1, 1980) was omitted from the book. It should have been either the last story of Volume 28 or the very first story of Volume 29. We have no excuses for this negligence. While we have recently brought on new staff to work on the series, the fault lies with us for not looking more closely. We apologize. In an effort to make this right, we are doing two things. Because Volume 30 is already at the printer, we are going to run “The Poachers” as the first story (with notation) for Volume 31. We will also be providing a link on our website and social media accounts for a free download of the missing story so that everyone can read it as soon as possible. That should be going live early next week. We realize this is a huge problem, and wanted to be as transparent as possible with you, our fans, because we know that you are the ones who will miss out due to our mistake. Thank you for supporting us, and we promise such a mistake will not happen again. You can download the missing story here.

Christian Moller reviews the latest issue from Zauberstern #7 which features the following stories: "Lockruf der Sirenen" ("The Mermaids of Melo Straits") by Lee Falk, Ulf Granberg, Felmang, and Ferri "Diebe in Bangalla" ("Temple of the Gods, Part 1: The U-Boat Mystery") by Tony DePaul, George Olesen, Keith Williams, and Paul Ryan "Das Geheimnis des Temples" ("Temple of the Gods, Part 2: Return to Eden") by Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan This comic is of great value with 100 page of comics in full colour on great quality paper. Be interesting if Zauberstern decides to publish the other Temple of Gods stories after publishing the first two stories on this ongoing saga. This story was first published in 2005. If you would like to learn more about the series, you can watch our recap video here. 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. If you would like to join the team and review new comics being released around the world, please contact us.

Christian Moller reviews Wick Publications #3 which features the following stories: "Die Kronjuwelen" ("The Crown Jewels") by Peter Mennigen and José María Ortiz Tafalla "Flucht von der 'Teufelsinsel" ("Escape from Devils Island") by Peter Mennigen and José María Ortiz Tafalla One of the stories was originally published in Bastei issues #236 while the other was originally unpublished. These comics can be hard to find and are already almost sold out, we would suggest to contact the publisher directly, you can contact Ulrich Wick via his website. A great cover by Ertuğrul Edirne who is a Turkish cover artist currently living in Germany. These stories originally featured on the Büyülü Çizgi Roman Turkish series. Some highlights of this publication series are the paper and print quality. The print run is smaller than most comic of only 700 copies. To learn more about these comics and stories being produced by Wick, we suggest you read these articles: Interview with the publisher Ulrich Wick Interview with the writer Peter Mennigen The contents of the 12 comics in the series All Wick Publication comics 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. If you would like to join the team and review new comics and products being released around the world, please contact us.

Monogram International has made available for pre order a Defenders of the Earth themed set of 2 inch 3D foam key chains. The distributor Entertainment Earth has them available for pre order on their website in packs of either 6 for $34.99US ($55Au, 32Eu, 2,900INR and 375sek/nok) or a pack of 24 for $143.99US ($220Au, 132Eu, 12,000INR and 1600 sek/nok). As you can see, we have two different Phantom designs, three Flash Gordon designs, two Ming the Merciless and one of Mandrake, Lothar, Zuffy and Garax. These are sold in blind bags, much like the King Comic PVC Figurines released by Boss Fight Studio (Our review). You may also notice that the 10th and 11th design of Zuffy and Garax are the chase designs. This means they are rarer to find than the other 9. At this stage of writing you can only buy from the Entertainment Earth website. Link for the set of 6 packs Link for the display case of 24 packs It is worth pointing out that Monogram International has multiple licenses for various larger licenses like Disney, Marvel, DC, Back to the Future, Teenage Ninja Turtles and many others. More and more Defenders of the Earth licenses are being granted by King Features Syndicate. From our research Big Bad Toys online store and the Australian Pop Cultcha store stock current Monogram International products on their stores and we expect them to stock these Defenders of the Earth keychains also. The Entertainment Earth website only provides express postage to Australia at $100+ where Big Bad Toy Store offered a lower rate when I purchased the King Comic PVC Figurines. Attached below is the point of sale display box that will sit on the shop counter plus the blind bag.

The 31st issue of Regal Publishers' Phantom Comics was released on July 15th. Recently celebrating 3 years of publishing the phantom in English, Regal has become a phan phavorite for their phantastic products. With their incredible dedication to quality they haven't failed to impress phans with their latest issue as well. This issue contains two Phantom stories, the first being a classic Daily Strip story 'The Drummer of Timpani' by Lee Falk and Sy Barry and a Sunday story 'The Wharf Rats' by Lee Falk, George Olsen and Fred Fredericks. The cover done by Ankit Mitra is quite nice, based upon the Drummer story, the cover captures the essence of the story quite brilliantly. The use of circles to highlight various moments from the story and the drumbeat is a very nice effort. The face and figure of the phantom reminded me of Joan Boix's Phantom. We also get a stamp based on the cover as a freebie with the comic. It is a nice looking stamp and I appreciate them giving this away as it is far better than a black and white print out of the cover (like last issue). Its also probably a coincidence that both the Indian publishers decided to give away stamps as freebies at the same time. The story 'The Drummer of Timpani' is the 87th Daily strip story and regarded by many phans as one of the classic stories. The story being a daily strip story originally, was in black and white. In order to publish it in colour, Regal had to commission a colourist. And this time instead of using a local colourist, they got Ivan Pederson to do it. Ivan's colouring of this story was previously used in Frew #1895 from 2021. From my understanding, Regal has used the same colouring with some tweaks by Ivan and of course with a far better presentation with glossy papers compared to the newsprint paper of Frew. The story is presented in its original format of four panels per row, as it was originally printed in the newspapers and with zero editing, making it a pure representation of the story. A comparison between the presentations of the same story by some publishers have also been discussed on the video review. The story 'The Wharf Rats' is the 151st Sunday strip story, a remake of the original Daily story illustrated by Sy Barry. After Lee Falk had passed away, this version of the story was made as a filler for the Sunday pages. The artwork is quite good, but if compared to the original, it feels odd. But keeping in mind of the situation the story was created, it is very much understandable. It also makes sense as it was one of Olsen & Fredericks last works on the Phantom. I highly appreciate Regal bringing out these Sunday stories in a comic book format as they were never published before in India aside from the magazines and Newspapers. Regal's latest issue doesn't disappoint with the same superb quality carried over from the last issues. However, a few criticisms or suggestions can still be made. Even though Regals softcover format is good, the volume of these is gradually becoming less and less. For comparison, the last issue (#30) had 96 pages, which was already much less than the previous issues and the latest issue (#31) only has 40 pages. Even though Regal has decreased the price accordingly, it isn't about the pricing that I have a problem with. My main concern is that if they decrease page count like this, we will end up with a much smaller issues even compared to the Regular 3 or 2 issues that they used to release. Even though this softcover format is very good, I miss those regular issues. It also makes sense to have two or three issues after months of gap to make up for it. Regal has announced that there's another Phantom comic on the way, while celebrating their 3rd anniversary of publishing the phantom in English. I hope they will deliver 2-3 issues at once or increase the number of stories in the comic book to make up for it. Wishing them the very best for the future.

German had a thriving publishing history with Bastei publishing hundreds of comics in the 1970's and 1980's. In the recent years Wick Publications and Zaubersten have started their own publishing with great fanfare and success. In an exclusive we can announce that ECR-Verlag Werner Reuß will be joining them to bring a new series of Phantom comics to the country. From November 2023, ECR-Verlag Werner Reuß will be printing the first three Lee Falk and Sy Barry daily stories ("The Slave Market of Mucar", "The Epidemic" and "The Wharf Rats") in two exciting formats. These stories will be printed in black and white. The first release is three separate softcover comics with individual covers drawn by Andy. Volume one is 52 pages, the second is 36 and the third is 32 pages. The size of each comic will be 26.5x18cm. The three comics are sold together in a three foil pack. The three covers are below. The second release is the three stories in a hardcover collection in both English and German with a separate cover drawn by Andy. These editions will be 116 pages and the bigger size of 29.7x21cm. The price for each hardcover is 29,80€ ($50Au, 35US & 340 sek/nok). More information on this series can be found in a the ECR-Verlag Werner Reuß magazine titled "Comic Rundschau 17" which is due out November 2023. We believe the cover artist Andy is a psydeum and features an art style that may be different to what many phans are used to. However I like the style and look forward to seeing his future covers. Confirmation from ECR-Verlag Werner Reuß that this series will continue in 2024 with at least 5 hardcover collections with 15 further Lee Falk and Sy Barry adventures, Thanks for this news to phan Mathias who brought it to our attention. Also thanks to the team at ECR-Verlag Werner Reuß for answering our questions to bring you this news.

Wick Publications released issue #1 and #2 June 2022 but due to circumstances the next issues have not been released since. These issues were sold out and very popular in Germany but also throughout other countries. We have just received word from the publisher that the series has started again and issue #3 and #4 are now out. One of these comics will feature a previously unpublished story created nearly 40 years ago and now being published for the first time. Peter Mennigen is the writer and José María Ortiz Tafalla is the art behind the stories. Keen phans will notice the covers are drawn by Ertuğrul Edirne a Turkish cover artist currently living in Germany and originally featured on the Büyülü Çizgi Roman Turkish series. The cover and details of the next two issues coming out are: Issue Three Title: "Die Kronjuwelen" (G206) and "Flucht von der 'Teufelsinsel'" (G215) Original Bastei Issue: Unpublished and #236 Issue Four Title: "Jones‘ Tiershow" (G184) and "Der Racheschwur" (G198) Original Bastei Issue: #211 and #232 If you would like to learn more about the series, the creators and publisher behind the stories, follow these links: Review of Wick Publications #1 Review of Wick Publications #2 The Contents and Covers from the 12 issue series Interview with Ulrich Wick Interview with Peter Mennigen

The results for the 2022 Fantomen Best Cover is now released in Fantomen 16/2023 and the winner is issue 4/2022 by Henrik Sahlström. Henrik has now won this award every year since 2016. Second place was 10-11/2022 by Luca Erbetta. Third place was once again Henrik Sahlström with 25-26/2022. All top 3 covers features "generic" motives, that is not directly connected to a specific story. 482 phans voted in total and the winning cover received 40% of those votes. in a similar trend as the best adventure for 2022 with a huge increase of votes, the amount of votes is more than there have been since 2010! The full list with vote numbers for each cover is as follows:

Thanks initially to some eager eyed phans, we have been able to confirm the details with the editors for the Norwegian Fantomet Annual which will be out in October/November of 2023. Since 2021, these annuals have been in the landscape format with the cover art by Sam Klein. Below is the virgin cover design minus the logo and trade dress. The past annuals in this format have been 68 pages in full colour and we expect the 2023 annual will be the same. The stories included are: "The Horned Star Demons" by Lee Falk and Wilson McCoy "The Fence" by Lee Falk and Sy Barry "The Little Detective Who Disappeared" by Tony DePaul and Jeff Weigel Both "The Horned Star Demons" and "The Little Detective Who Disappeared" have never been published in Norway before. "The Little Detective Who Disappeared" was first featured in newspapers in 2018 and 2019 and has been published in Sweden, Australia and Indian comics. "The Horned Star Demons" was first in newspapers in 1955 so it is weird that its never been featured in a Norwegian Phantom comic before. I like how the editors have brought two stories into the annual that have never been published in a Norwegian comic prior. "The Fence" while has been published in the regular Fantomet comic, it has been 20+ years since it was last published. 20 years is a good gap and it is a similar policy that Frew uses. Thanks to several Norwegian phans who brought this news to our attention and to the Fantomet editors who have been able to confirm the news.

The Swedish Fantomen Christmas Album is the longest ongoing Phantom comic series in the world beating the Swedish regular series and the Frew comic with their first Christmas Album coming out in 1944. On the Jultidnings Forlaget website we see the 2023 Christmas Album for future orders. They have listed the book at 99 sek ($15Au & $10US/EU). The album will be available to buy at shops and other website providers from November. The cover for this Christmas cover is drawn by Luca Erbetta. This is the first time since 2015 the cover has not been drawn by Henrik Sahlström. The contents for this Christmas Album are: "Den grymma hämnden" (The Cruel Revenge) by Claes Reimerthi and Joan Boix "Dödlig maskerad" (The Deadly Masquerade) by David Bishop and Kari Leppänen Facsimile copy of 1973 Christmas Album "Jättegorillan" ("Old Baldy") by Lee Falk and Sy Barry

Indian Publisher Shakti Comics is back with their 9th Phantom Comic. After the usual delays, the comics came out on 2nd July. But with timely delivery from the courier, I received it very fast and could do this review on time. The Phantom story in this comic is: "The Phantom Stamp" by Tony De Paul and Mike Manley The Comic features a cover by Abhishek Biswas. It's a quite good looking cover and is printed in a laminated finish. Due to it being a small story and the paper quality less thick than past comics, the thickness of the comic became very small - It made the comic feel like a standard comic magazine. The printing quality of the story was also another problem with this issue. The panels of the story were more brightened and it made the colours look weird. The blacks, especially looked very strange in some of the panels. It can be understood more from the video review. When asked, Shakti replied that this was the fault of their printer and they are looking to change them from the issue onwards. While this can be understood, it still is sad situation. As a buyer will get this issue from Shakti for the same price as before and will get a copy with strangely reprinted panels, smaller size and same price. This should be kept in mind by Shakti and continue delivering good products like before. The suggestion for the need of a fixed format also comes again. Thus, this issue didnot seem sub par. While the previous paragraphs explained what went wrong with this recent issue, they also did some good things with the set. The publishers have started to include an information page in the same vein as Fantomen and Frew for the readers since the first issue last year. This page features a gallery of various stamps made about the phantom from around the world. While incomplete, this list will definitely interest the readers as they get to learn something new with the story. It is very much a welcome move from them. They also have the story synopsis, which is moved to the back cover. The comic comes with a freebie of a phantom stamp lookalike card. It's funny because in the story the phantom doesn't want a stamp with him on it but in this comic we are getting information about the Phantom on past stamps and now free stamps. I hope Shakti continues to publish great products like before. They just need to keep in mind of their quality and suggestions from the buyers. They also needs to come up with a fixed format. Wishing them the best on their next ventures. All Shakti 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.

[Editors note: This article was originally released in the amazing Friends of the Phantom Newsletter #18 released by the late Ed Rhoades and Pete Klaus in the USA Fall of 1998. This article was republished with permission. Access to all Friends of the Phantom newsletters and much more can be found at our Phantom Preservation Project.] Longtime Phantom penciler George Olesen spent his summer seasons in Denmark. As a result, the Phantom strips make quite a trek, beginning as a script from Lee Falk's typewriter, to George Olesen's studio where he pencils the art, to Milt Snappin who lettered the work, then to Keith Williams or Fred Fredericks who ink the final panels. All in all, they travel from Massachusetts to Denmark to New York to Massachusetts / New York Wow! What happens if they get lost? We now know because it happened last summer (Editors Note: June-July-August 1997). The penciled art from Denmark was delivered to the wrong address. The kids there were so happy to receive the package, they kept it! But thanks to George Olesen's meticulous, methodical recordkeeping, all was saved. Fortunately, before sending his work he photocopies it for safekeeping, so he was able to return to his files to provide new copies. Keith and Fred then had to work with a light box instead of inking over the usual bristol board to create inked art. Deadlines pushed them to work feverishly to make up for lost time, and their diligent efforts saved the day. The public enjoyed the stories without realizing the difficulties the artists went through to make publication happen. Keith gave me (Ed Rhoades) the photocopies of the pencils he used. When he received it, the masking tape Keith applied to the borders for accurate tracing was still in place. The photocopies gave me yet another look at the creative process that underlies the finished product. In fact, I shared these with the students in the art classes I teach, posting on a bulletin board a peek of a few days ahead, so they could check the newspaper to see how the inker would interpret the pencils. Some time later George Olesen recovered the "lost" penciled art, this is a rarity since inks are applied on top of almost all of his work. He was kind enough to provide samples of these treasures, and they make for a fascinating study. They are evidence of his great creativity as the one who makes the first link from prose to visual. When reading, one visualizes images from a story-but George must crystalize images on paper in a way that is interesting and exciting-and fit them into the tiny format of today's newspaper strips. We hope you enjoy these samples.

The Greek publisher Mikros Iros has been publishing their 'Blek' Magazines (Μπλεκ) since December 2018. This series titled Μπλεκ is a bi monthly series by Mikrosiros featuring "Tarzan", "Il Grande Blek", "Judge Dreed", "Luck Star O'Hara" and many other European classic and new comic characters. The series is named after the comic series "Il Grande Blek". For a comparison, the series is very similar as the USA Comics Revue and Hungarian Kockás series featuring several characters in a comic. Order your copies here We have purchased a couple of comics and reviewed them in the following video. The Phantom has not appeared in all issues - he has appeared in Issue #1 to issue #5 and then again starting from #20 to current. Each comic has between 100 and 166 pages and is in colour. Each issue retails for 6.50€ ($11Au, $6US, 600 INR & 75 sek/nok). At the time of this recording the following Phantom stories have been printed in this Greek comic magazine. Issue #1: The 5 Days of the Dragon (part A) by Ron Marz & Rubén Procopio Issue #2: The 5 Days of the Dragon (part B) by Tony Bedard & Allan Goldman Issue #3: The 5 Days Of The Dragon (part C') by Chuck Dixon & Graham Nolan Issue #4: The 5 Days Of The Dragon (part IV) by Rafael Nieves, Tony Akins & Ken Wolak Issue #5: The 5 Days Of The Dragon (Part V) by Mike Bullock & Juan Ferreyra Issue #20: Mandrake's Bon Voyage by Tony DePaul & Terry Beatty Issue #21: The Accursed Land by Tony DePaul & Paul Ryan Issue #22: The Love Triangle by Tony DePaul & Paul Ryan Issue #23: The Visitor by Tony DePaul & Jeff Weigel Issue #24: The Nomad by Tony DePaul, Paul Ryan & Eduardo Barreto Issue #25: The Shadows of Rune Noble by Tony DePaul, Paul Ryan, Eduardo Barreto & Terry Beatty Issue #26: The Sinbad Stone by Graham Nolan Issue #27: The Wharf Rats by Lee Falk, George Olesen & Fred Fredericks Issue #28: The Phantom Is Everywhere by Tony DePaul, Terry Beatty & Jeff Weigel Issue #29: The Iron Python by Tony De Paul & Graham Nolan Since recording the three attached comics, issue #29 is out now which features another Phantom cover, this time by Sal Velluto which was first printed for the Hermes Comics Series. The characters and articles for 'Blek' #29 (Μπλεκ) are: Black - Knife to the Throat (Part II) by Franco Frescura & Carlo Cedroni Captain Mickey - The Masked Prince (Part II) by Maurizio Torelli & Franco Bignotti Phantom - The Iron Python by Tony De Paul & Graham Nolan El Zabato - Kimberlan (Part D') by Victor Mora & Francisco Darnis The Panther Child by Tom Tully, Mike Western & Eric Bradbury Ma ta hili... by Vangelis Saitis Number 1 : Amazonian of Nikos Dim. Nikolaidis The Duck, the old one & the other one by G. Zoitas, I. Angelis & G. Papadopoulos. Sketches by N. Stephadouros Have you brought any of these magazines from Greece? Will you buy it? We would love to hear your thoughts on this magazine series. Do you collect comics from around the world?

In Fantomen 14-15/2023 editor Andreas Eriksson writes about Diana's hair color in his editorial letter and addresses something that has been happening for 30+ years. It may surprise some non Fantomen readers but in their comic book, Diana has been depicted as a brunette and or redhead. However most phans have always seen Diana with black hair which is shown in the comics and newspaper stories with the blue tones. This is perhaps established because of the colours Ray Moore (or the unknown colourist) coloured in his Sunday newspaper stories and majority have since followed. In the past Fantomen would edit the newspaper stories to change her hair colour to match. Fantomen has now decided to leave the newspaper stories when published in the comic as black haired and the current and new Fantomen stories will be kept having Diana with brown / red hair. Do you think the team behind Fantomen has made the right decision? Can you live with the inconsistencies or would you prefer the Fantomen comic keeping Diana with the same colour?

Last year Fantomen phans got a luxurious book containing the epic "Heart of Darkness" storyline. Jacob Habinc and Andreas Eriksson from Egmont said that if that if the sales warranted it, we phans would get a new book for 2023 in the same ambitious quality. Chronicle Chamber just received an exclusive sneak peek of the cover which would mean that the sales were enough to see a second volume. The artwork is by Henrik Salhstrom and you can pre order from the following websites: Sweden Pre Order (663sek) Norwegian Pre Order (677nok) In the preview of Fantomen 2023 with Jacob Habinc and Andreas Eriksson they did tease the contents of the book. Along with the cover sneak peak, the editors also gave us the following tease information: It will have more pages than the "Heart of Darkness" book. The stories are in full colour. Stories written by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppanen The contents of the book should be easy to judge by the cover. One last thing is that if you can figure out the contents the book based from the cover you are likely to identify that the page count may not equal the page count of the "Heart of Darkness" book. We can only speculate and guess on what more can be included. What is your guess? I for one am super excited! Are you?