Christian Moller reviews the latest issue from Zauberstern #6 which features the following stories: "Götterdämmerung, Teil 2" ("Godfall, Part 2") by Mike Bullock and Silvestre Szilagyi "Götterdämmerung, Teil 3" ("Godfall, Part 3") by Mike Bullock and Silvestre Szilagyi "Götterdämmerung, Teil 4" ("Godfall, Part 4") by Mike Bullock and Silvestre Szilagyi "Götterdämmerung, Teil 5" ("Godfall, Part 5") by Mike Bullock and Silvestre Szilagyi These stories are reprints originally from Moonstone from 2010. The cover art by Art Thibert who drew the original cover for Moonstone. The main poster art is by Henrik Salhstrom. There are other featured pin ups through out the comic. These stories featured in this comic are my favourite stories that have been featured in the Zaubertsern comics so far. This comic is of great value with 88 page of comics in full colour on great quality paper. 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.

Phans are finding these figurines are a bit harder to source than other Boss Fight Studio products however do yourself a favour and ensure you add them to your collection. As you will find out with the attached review, the quality is top notch and worth the extra effort. I brought my boxes from BigBadToyStore.com, however you can also buy boxes from Boss Fight Studio and singular boxes from Minotaur in Melbourne. The Website links are: Big Bad Toy Store Boss Fight Studio Minotaur From what we understand, there is a licence reason why these are not more readily available in many other stores like the articulated figurines. All reviews will be included on our YouTube channel. If you would like to suggest other older items for possible Retro Reviews, please contact us with your ideas.

Shakti Comics has been publishing some great comic books for Indian Phans. They are known for their continuous experimental improvements with their comics. The comics may not come out as frequently as Regal's however that is mainly due to reasons like them publishing the comics in three different languages (English, Hindi and Bengali). Production delays do not help either. Shakti Comics released their Phantom comics #7 back in February of this year. Continuing from #6 they have been releasing them in a slightly larger format than before. This larger format makes the comics more easier to read and the presentation better. #7 features two different covers, both by Abhishek Biswas. The first, being the regular cover is featured on the three language versions. The second is the black and white cover printed in English version. The price for the variant cover is slightly more than the normal one. The black and white cover is the one I personally prefer. The story in this comic is the Daily story "Then Came Towns Ellerbee" by Tony DePaul and Mike Manley. The story has been presented quite well on slightly thicker paper than the one used by Regal. A recap on the previous stories in the Mexican saga is also explained. With the recap, two pictures of Tony DePaul and Mike Manley are also featured. With the last two issues, the phans who preceded the comics in both variants have been receiving cardboard standees of the phantom and related characters as freebies. Issue #6 came with standees of The Phantom and Diana, #7 came with standees of The Phantom and Guran. The standees look great and have been loved by other phans who got them. Shakti, with their new format seems to have improved their product, but they still haven't gotten a fixed format as of yet. The new format makes the comics look like a standard comics magazine and poses the question of the need for high priced variant covers. There is also the constant delays in getting a product out which has been frustrating for many phans. I hope Shakti focuses on these problems and find a fixed format for their comics. They should also mind their constant delays and try to deliver products in due time. In the end we hope they continue delivering good products and wish the best on their next ventures. All Shatki 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.

Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews Fantomen 9/2023 featuring the following stories: "Frankensteins arvtagare" ("Frankensteins Heir") by Joan Boix Listen up Chronicle Chamber crew, with some help, I have a pronunciation of Joan Boix name. Hopefully we all get it right now. This is a real special comic with the story written and drawn by Joan Boix along with the cover (with colours by Andrea Cagol). This is a different Frankenstein monster story published by Frew a few years ago. The story is also published in black and white instead of colour. Word has came out that Jacob Habinc discussed this with Joan. The side comic story is the final part of "Libertalia" by Fabienne Pigière, Rudi Miel, and Paolo Grella. Fantomen 10-11/2023 is a double issue with five different stories including two Phantom stories along with the results of the best Fantomen 2022 story. Stay tuned for my write up on that! 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.

Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews Fantomen 8/2023 featuring the following stories: "I skräckens skugga" ("The Shadow of Fear") by Jörgen Karlsson and Carlos Pedrazzini Featuring a cover by Henrik Jonsson, which is his first cover he has drawn for Fantomen for 7 years. The Phantom looks quiet green and is very striking. A new writer in this issue Jörgen Karlsson, can find out more about him in an interview here conducted by us. He is the creator behind Karl Kämpe The Adventurer which has been included as a side comic in several Fantomen comics. He also received some TV coverage which is great. Also on the editorial page is a snippet about the Chronicle Chamber X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #243 with Mikael Lyck, Andreas Eriksson and Jacob Habinc as we discussed Fantomen 2023. Carlos Pedrazzini is the artist for this new story written by Jörgen Karlsson. The story has great colours. The story is about bandits who encounter the Phantom and the story is from their point of view instead which is a nice change. I would like to see more stories from Jörgen. The side comic story is "Libertalia" by Fabienne Pigière, Rudi Miel, and Paolo Grella and I have enjoyed parts and been confused at the same time. Looking forward to finishing this story. Issue 9/2023 will have a Frankenstein story featuring the 17th Phantom by Joan Boix in black and white. 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.

Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews Fantomen 6-7/2023 featuring the following stories: "Belle époque, del 2: På takåsarna i Paris" ("On the Roofs of Paris") by Pidde Andersson and Percy Ochoa "Fredsmäklaren" ("The Albee") by Lee Falk, George Olesen, and Keith Williams Cover by Luca Erbetta, reused from the 2021 schedule poster. I believe this was not planned but the scheduled artist couldn't meet the deadline. I really am enjoying this Bella Epoque arc of stories, in my opinion part 2 is as good as the first and I am looking forward to the rest of the stories. The second story is in my opinion a weak story, Phantom goes back and forth and promotes talking instead of waring. However even though it is weak, I think it is good that Fantomen prints those stories in the magazine. This has never been previously published by Fantomen so we might as well have all of them published in the Swedish comic book. Then the rest of the issue is dedicated to a full length French side comic, “La venin” Another amazing story to fill the Fantomen pages in my opinion. It is a Western story about the daughter of a prostitute that grows up and seeks vengence. Very nice setting. Then we have the previews of issue 8, we will get the last part of the side comic "Libertalia" and a new Team Fantomen story from a new Fantomen writer, Jörgen Karlsson. He is the writer of the great comic "Karl Kämpe" so this will be a treat, he is joined by the artist Carlos Pedrazzini. There is also information about how to vote for the best cover of 2022, there is more info about this in the Chronicle Chamber article. 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.

In the first of what may well be a series of Retro Reviews, Dan Fraser cracks the packaging of a Fantasma O Espirito que anda ( Phantom The Ghost who walks ) toy, manufactured by Glasslite in 1997 for the Brazillian market. Until next time, Happy Phantoming (Fantasma feliz)! All reviews will be included on our YouTube channel . If you would like to suggest other older items for possible Retro Reviews, please contact us with your ideas.

Christian Moller reviews the German Die Sprechblase Magazine #247 featuring several articles and 12+ pages on the Phantom and his influence in Germany. All 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.

Phans may have have noticed that there are strong themes of family and responsibility in my Phantom work. What they might not know is these themes are also an integral part of my creator owned series, 'Wrath of the Cursed'. I am thrilled that the very talented comic creator, Kieran Jack has picked up the gauntlet and is adding his unique flair to my characters and concepts. I’d like to invite phans to check out this series and discover the world that Kieran and I have developed. Matt Kyme, Phantom creator I have had the honour to take the creative reins of the highly beloved series ‘The Wrath of the Cursed’ from Matt Kyme, to drive the next chapter in this series. By having Matt’s blessing and freedom to both write and illustrate this story I have crafted an emotional story, touching on themes most of us can relate to. In which the same themes have been explored throughout the many Phantom stories over the years. Kieran Jack, Halftone Productions We first met Kieran Jack at Border Dimensions, a small Comic-Con event in Albury when he was creating 'Talking Bread'. I asked if he could do an A4 artwork of The Phantom for me. Since that day, Kieran has supported the LFMBEC Phantom Dinner with donations of artwork, and I guess we have supported him by buying his comics and other artwork commissions. I, for one, particularly enjoyed his work on 'Apparition' and I look forward to reading his latest compilation through the continuation of Matt Kyme’s work on the 'Wrath of the Cursed'. I’m sure there will be many Phantom Phans out there that will enjoy Kieran’s creative efforts. Bradley Peach, Huge Phantom Phan Cole The Cursed Returns! A harrowing story of a son dragged back into his father’s life, after he walked away from it 30 years ago. When a wave of blood comes crashing on his doorstep from a gang war raging across the region, Mitsuo and Cole The Cursed will form an uneasy alliance and embark on a blood-soaked track to unmask the demons of their past life. Click to view & support the Kickstarter Campaign You can support the Kickstarter campaign from as little as $10AU ($6.50USD & 6EUR). The campaign goal is $2,500AU with plenty of options for various levels, stretch goals and original art to purchase. For $300AU, you can even get yourself a cameo in the story which includes the original artwork. Please note, while not a Phantom comic, we do like to support Phantom creators with their projects. This is not a paid promotion & we are simply giving phans a chance to support an Australian made comic with a huge Phantom influence. Hope you support & enjoy!

Perth Mint has released another Phantom coin! It is the opinion of this author that this is the best design yet out of the three released in the last six months. You can watch our review and comparison of the 2022 and 2023 designed ones at this link. Click to Buy This Coin Here or Here The price is around $250AU plus postage ($170US, 155EUR, 133GBP, 13,750INR & 1,750 sek/nok). The last two coins by Perth Mint was the same design. This coin is a two ounce silver coin compared to the one ounce - hence why it is double the price. This coin also has a mixture of new and old with the old style Sy Barry Skull Cave & Devil with the new Amelia Vidal designed leaping Phantom getting ready to skull mark someone. The coin comes with a case, the silver is antiqued to make it look older than it is and like the past two coins it is minted for the tiny Pacific ocean country of Tuvalu. Limited mintage of just 2,000 coins and measures 40.69mm in diameter. Will you be buying this coin to add with the others? Is this your new favourite coin or do you prefer one of the others? Please note, this coin is only available to be shipped from June 2023 onwards. As such at the time of writing this article, we have not included the purchase link from the Perth Mint website. Thanks to Will Dorington and Terry Krahe for letting us know about this news from Perth Mint. if you find any other Phantom related news you want to share with us, please let us know. If you would like to help out reporting on new Phantom news or reviewing products and comics, please contact us.

It must be said up front that while the 2022 version coins are licenced by King Features, these gold gilded coins done by Gilded Silver Coins (GSC) while come with a certificate of authenticity are not. GSC is from the UK and they have made a successful business model of gilding many world wide released coins. While not licenced we wanted to inform phans of this coin as we believe it will interest some. For Those Who Came In Late, Perth Mint has released a 2022 and 2023 version coin - we have reviewed and compared the two in a video review which can be found here. One of the review points was that the Phantom logo did not stand out well on the coloured or plain silver coin design. Expertly, GSC has done well to ensure the logo does not hide or merge with the Phantom design. I think they have done a better job on this than Perth Mint. Click here to view & purchase the gold gilded coin. The cost is £88 + postage ($165AU, $110US, €100, 9000 INR & 1150 kr/nok). This coin has been described by GSC as adorned with a beautiful layer of 24k pure Gold enhancing it far above the normal bullion version, in not only beauty but elegant style. It comes in stunning Packaging with COA Authentication. One troy ounce of 999.9% pure 24K Gilded Silver & limited mintage only 100 pieces worldwide. Thank you to Terry Krahe for the heads up on this Phantom news of the release of the gilded silver coin. If you find any Phantom related news that we miss, please let us know. We would love to credit & reward all new Phantom related news with a Chronicle Chamber gift.

We cannot call this a new series seeing issue #1 first came out in December 2018 and five years later we are made aware of it. Greece has a unique history with the Phantom. In the last 40 years there has only been two comics published but in the 1960's and 1970's there was around 130 comics published by publishers like Terzopoulos, Savvelen and Kabanas-Hellas. Interestingly Savvelen even created their own prose adventures created by Hofmey Brantler. 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. You can buy these comics from the publishers website. The latest issue at the time of this article is #28. The Phantom has not appeared in all issues - the first 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). The Phantom has been on the main cover twice so far in issue #2 and #21. The Phantom stories included in this series are a mixture of Moonstone and KFS Sunday newspaper created stories. A complete listing of the stories published so far is below: 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 Thanks must go to Manolis Talos for bringing this series to our attention. When we find a reviewer we will add these comics to our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast reviews. If you would like to review them or other comics, please contact us.

In Fantomen issue 10-11/2023 the best Fantomen story of 2022 was announced and as always it brings up some interesting results. As per usual we would love to hear your thoughts on the voting and results on our socials. The winner of the best Fantomen story for 2022 is "Saga of the Vultures Chapter One: The Haunted Castle" written by Pidde Andersson and drawn by Anthony Spay. This is the first time a Frew created story and the first time either Pidde Andersson and Anthony Spay has won the best Fantomen story title as voted by the phans. Tied for second place was two Team Fantomen stories, the reprint of the "Resputin's Puzzle" written by Idi Kharelli, with art by Georges Bess and the story titled "En prins i Almedalen" by Mikael Sol and Kim W. Andersson. "Rasputin's Puzzle" was last published by Frew in issue #1705 (2014) - "En prins i Almedalen" has not yet been published outside of Sweden. The best newspaper story was "Vigil at Phantom Head" by Tony DePaul and Jeff Weigel, it got a 6th place. Regal (issue #25) and Frew (issue #1934) has also published this story before. The amazing thing which we want to highlight is that 442 people voted, which is an outstanding number and is the highest amount of phan votes post Internet and for over 30 years! It would be great to see a further breakdown to see how many phans outside the Scandinavian region voted and if having Frew created stories helped allowing more non-Fantomen readers to be able to vote as they have read some of the stories. Here are the full results:

It is time to wear our Hero with some attitude! Phans have always loved wearing the Phantom and now thanks to USA clothing company Brisco Apparel they have released seven (7) new designs for us to buy and collect. These will look great at conventions, phan meet ups, work around the house or for most of us, in our Phantom collection never to be worn. You Can Buy Your Clothing Here The best thing about these designs is that majority of them are new designs never before seen. Brisco Apparel is a USA company that has been around for 20+ years. At this stage they do not ship outside of USA but if enough phans contact them, they may start shipping to Australia, Europe or India. The seven (7) designs printed on a range of products like jumpers, shirts, singlets and tank tops means there are 92 products to buy for those completists. The prices range from $18US to $30US ($30AU to $45AU). They do free shipping (inside USA) for orders over $35US - two shirts and you wont have to pay for shipping. The clothes feature artwork from Sy Barry and Amelia Vidal from the 2020 Style Guide. Some designs even feature a mix of both artists which is a nice touch to bring new and past together. Do you like them? My opinion is the new designs look better than anything King Features Syndicate have released on their Comics Kingdom website shop. My favourite is the Phantom Oath design.

Art of Play Games has updated their website with a whole heap of information including four screenshots of the game play from the new Phantom video game due out in 2024. You can view their website at www.ThePhantomGame.com Video gamers will be interested in the screenshots as it gives you more detail in the state of play including health and stamina meters. In the screenshots we also see bad guys in Singh pirates and poachers battling Diana and the Phantom with Devil and Hero playing key roles. We see an example of the Phantom skull marking a bad guy. We also see key roles in the Phantoms country including the waterfall and inside the skull cave with the skull throne with the chain of patience present. If you are interested in the story, we recommend listening to our recent chat with Matt Kyme on our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode #247A. Our next X-Band: The Phantom Podcast episode will be with Ash Nicholas. If you have any further details from this recent release, please let us know via email so we can ask him for you. You can view the screenshots in the gallery below.