With 2017 officially here it is the perfect time to look back at the year that was. 2016 was another big year for not only we here at ChronicleChamber but also the Phantom himself. Join us as we look back at the biggest stories of last year. 80th Anniversary: February 17, 2016 saw Lee Falk's hero turn 80 years young. Still enjoying any level of popularity after 80 years is an achievement for any fictional character but The Phantom still enjoys on-going publication in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Sweden and Norway. Celebrations for the Ghost Who Walks went on long past February and phans were treated to a host of merch. No only did we get celebratory comics, but stamps, special art prints, a film festival and Pop Vinyl toys. Tributes came from from and wide, from newpapers to YouTubers. It seemed everyone was keen to make sure the Phantom's 80th would be one hell of a bash! Frew's Restructuring: For Aussie phans 2016 began with some uncertainty. Judith Shepherd, who had been part of the company with her late husband and former Frew publisher Jim, stepped down from the company after 28 years. Judith's departure lead to a few months of uncertainty for Frew and their readers as the company looked for new owners. They were finally found in Australian phan Rene White and Australian Phantom artist Glenn Ford . While phans had to wait a little longer for their new comics after Ford and White's purchase of the company it was not long before these passionate phans and businessmen produced the goods. Passing of Paul Ryan: Perhaps the saddest moment of 2016 for phans was the shock passing of artist Paul Ryan. Not only a brilliant Phantom artist but a legend in the comics industry, we were indeed lucky to see him depict our hero. For those who had the pleasure of meeting him at the 2015 Lee Falk Bengalla Explorer's Club dinner we remember him as a gentleman, the kind of man you hope someone you look up to turns out to be. For everyone else there will always be Paul's art. Dramatic, beautiful and timeless. Mike Manley Takes Over as Daily Artist: After Paul Ryan's passing, King Features Syndicate had to find a replacement for the daily Phantom strips. Filling the huge boots left by Ryan would be no easy task, but KFS found their man in Mike Manley. Himself a seasoned comics artist, it seems that Manley has lived up to phan expectation. Sammy J is a Phantom Phan! Turns out that Australian comedian Sammy J is a huge The Phantom phan! After discovering this by way of his recent live show Hero Complex, we were able to invite Sammy to wax lyrical about his love for the purple-clad hero in Episode 45 of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast, which ended up leading to much shenanigans. The Story Behind the Unreleased The Phantom and Mandrake Video Games: There are few things more exciting for phans than uncovering a piece of our hero's past, and I was particularly ecstatic to be able to uncover the story behind the unreleased The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks and Mandrake the Magician: Shadow of the Vehme for the Game Boy Advance. Discovering details that no other video game or comic research had, ChronicleChamber was able to bring to light not only interviews with the developers of the games, but an actual, playable version of it! Phanfare Arrives: Glenn Ford is a very busy man. Apart from becoming the new co-owner of Frew Publication, 2016 also saw him open his new production company Phanfare. which specialises in The Phantom related merchandise. With a puzzle already available and a Phantom bust and the second series of The Phantom Gallery forthcoming, 2017 could prove to very unkind to phans' wallets. Was the First The Phantom Comic Really the First? With some herculian research efforts, ChronicleChamber team member Jermayn discovered some evidence all but confirming that the long-thought first ever The Phantom comic book, the Italian Collana Albi Grandi Avventure #1 from May, 1937. However, it seems the real first ever Phantom comic was actually O Fantasma Voador from Brazil in April, 1937. Time to re-write those history books! And the Rest... As for ChronicleChamber itself, the site saw a lot of change this year. We moved from WordPress to Wix. The new platform allowed me to redesign the site to be more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Our new focus on news-related content seems to be working as our stats have risen over the last year. With my move to the UK and handing the majority of reporting over to Dan, Jermayn and Stephen the site has grown in leaps and bounds. No where is this more obvious than with X-Band: The Phantom Podcast. The boys have taken the podcast to heights that I never even dared dream over covering a myriad of topics and interviewing some amazing people, such as Sy Barry. I mean, SY BARRY! I still can't get my head around it! Thank you to everyone who was part of the CC phan community in 2016, especially those of who who donated to our Patreon - we couldn't do this site without you! I hope that you can all join us again in the new year as we continue to follow our favourite hero wherever he may take us. Long live The Phantom! #YearinReview #Frew #SammyJ #XBand #Games #Mandrake #MikeManley #PaulRyan #GameBoyAdvance #Nintendo #80th #Phanfare #PhantomHistory #SyBarry #Patreon

If you've been following the site for a little while you might know that ChronicleChamber has had a few different homes over its 10 years. Well, after much consideration I decided it was again time to move out of the house that had served the site well and, with a sentimental tear in my eye, relocate to a place that better suited the site and what I want for it going into 2016 and beyond. The decision to move has been forming for a little while now, at least as early as January this year, and is the culmination of many variables. As stated on the site's Patreon account the site was becoming expensive to run. While I won't go into specifics, the cost of hosting, domain registration and other site-related expenses have built to the point at which it was no longer feasible - let along sensible - for me to continue to pay for them. However, what this forced me to do was reevaluate the site and what I wanted it to be. I sat back and thought about why I had built ChronicleChamber in the first place. Basically, the concept behind the site was "community." By this I don't just mean regular phans, although they of course were a part of it, but creators, publishers, and anyone else that had a hand in creating Phantom media as well. While phans might not be able to talk directly to creators (although this did happen on occasion,) creators would be able to "talk" to phans by way of interviews and articles. There was no Phantom site on the internet that offered that. Unfortunately; or fortunately depending on your point or view, the larger part of interacting with fellow phans has been taken away from things like message boards and replaced with social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Sure, they might be more convenient but they don't have that family-ness to them that message boards did. But I digress... So if Facebook has made having any kind of site-based community null and void, where did that leave ChronicleChamber? Well, with the news. Not just news though, but also creator interviews and quality, well-written editorial articles about The Phantom and his world. Something no Phantom website had offered before 2006, or since. These things, along with X-Band: The Phantom Podcast will be the main focus of ChronicleChamber moving forward. While this is a down-sizing in scope of what i had originally intended for the site, it also means that these aspects can be given the attention they deserve to bring you the best content possible. Everything will be directly accessible from the main page and all will be archived and kept for prosperity. The site has been slimmed down, streamlined and content made much easier to find. Everything you need can be accessed from the site's main page. I hope you enjoy this new version of the site. Everything from the previous v5.0, or at least the most important stuff, is still accessible. There have been some changes but also at least one new addition (more on that later, but the keen eyed among you may have already spotted it). I've tried to make the new site as user friendly and intuitive as possible so please feel free to let me know what you think via our Facebook page, PhantomCollector group, Twitter, or email. Cheers. #Patreon #Podcast #XBand

Today we would've probably all seen the sad news that Terry Beatty has drawn his last Sunday strip, ending a five-year reign with the character we have an unhealthy addiction to: The Phantom, the Ghost Who Walks and the Guardian of the Eastern Dark. The Sunday page in newspapers today (below) is his final contribution to the strip. You can read Terry's official statement on his Facebook page, and with his permission we have reposted it here: Are you sitting down? This will come as quite a surprise to my friends and fans -- but this Sunday page is my final PHANTOM. What!?! Really!?! Yep. No kiddin'. I resigned from the strip about two months back, and this Sunday marks the end of my five year run on the strip. Why did I step down? The answer is simple. Writing and drawing the REX MORGAN feature (daily and Sunday) and drawing the Sunday PHANTOM had turned into a seven days a week gig. And after a year of that, I simply couldn't do it any more. I wasn't gaining any time on the schedule -- and both strips needed to be a few weeks ahead of where they were (at least) -- and the grind was doing me in. I had no time for my family or myself and it was taking a toll. So, something had to go -- and as cool as the PHANTOM gig is, REX is the bigger part of my income -- and with me writing REX now, I'm more invested in that feature, no matter how much I may dig The Ghost Who Walks. I'm grateful to editor Brendan Burford, for bringing me to King Features and trusting me with these strips. A tip of my hat also to the late Paul Ryan for his help in the early days. My thanks to Tom Smith for his colors on the early Sundays in my run and (along with a couple others behind the scenes) for encouraging me to go after the gig. Thanks to fellow PHANTOM artists Mike Manley and Graham Nolan for their support and advice along the way. Thanks to my artist pals who helped out on a few Sundays -- Rick Burchett, Alex Saviuk and Brandon McKinney. And a big thanks to Tony DePaul for giving me so much fun stuff to draw! The strip led to many wonderful opportunities -- visiting Australia -- connecting with many great PHANTOM fans -- and landing the REX MORGAN assignment. Hey -- I even got to draw MANDRAKE! I'm proud to have been an official PHANTOM artist -- and part of the rather exclusive BATMAN/PHANTOM artist club, too! Who takes over next Sunday? Not my place to announce -- but I will say I suggested a good sized list of possible successors, and King made, in my estimation, a mighty good choice. I'll be wishing the new guy good luck next week! So -- I've already packed my bags and moved out of the Skull Cave, taking up long term residence in Glenwood. See you all there. Personally, I enjoyed Terry's reign as the artist behind our phavourite Ghost. My phavourite stories and highlights were the cross overs with Mandrake, Death Stalks the 5th Phantom and the story ending the ongoing saga with Savarna. I feel every good and great The Phantom artist leaves a mark on my life. I grew up and became hooked on Sy Barry, Graham Nolan made me love the newspaper stories again with his short reign and Paul Ryan made me appreciate the medium and set a high almost impossible standard to follow. Terry Beatty left his mark on me with his breaking of tradition with the layout on the Sundays, which may have been hell for Frew as they try and fit it into a comic book format. I was lucky enough to meet Terry Beatty when he came to Australia as part of Supanova and the LFMBEC dinner. He was an interesting person and some could say a historian in the art field going back to the glory days. It's a pity we see him go but nothing tends to last for ever. We at the ChronicleChamber say thank you to Terry, and good luck with your future ventures. #TerryBeatty #KingFeaturesSyndicate #MikeManley #GrahamNolan #AlexSaviuk #TonyDePaul #Mandrake #SyBarry #PaulRyan #Supanova #LFMBEC

Many Phantom phans share a common thread when it comes to the time they were introduced to the Ghost Who Walks - their first comics came via a Phantom showbag at their local show. So what on earth happened to these?? Scrolling through my twitter feed over a lazy Easter weekend, I was pulled up short by the following tweet: With a few notable exceptions (@Phantom_Comic, @_GhostWhoWalks and of course our own @Chronicle_Tweet) it's not often that the classic comic strip hero makes much of an appearance on the popular and very modern short form social media network, so of course my interest was piqued. And the news that The Phantom Showbag was out of production after being available for over 70 years - this was huge! What had happened to the iconic showbag that got so many people hooked on The Phantom?? A call to Australian showbag distributors Hunter Leisure confirmed the story behind the tweet - The Phantom Showbag is no more. As I suspected, it has actually been out of commission for a while now, with the Hunter Leisure representative stating that it had been "at least a few years" since the bags had been supplied by The Showbag Factory in Wangaratta. By now I was down the rabbit hole so another phone call, this time to Craig Patrick at The Showbag Factory. Craig confirmed that their modern iteration of The Phantom Showbag had been produced from 1997-2015. He recalled it as "a good value bag, with 8-10 comics inside ranging from the $1.50 - $5.50 books". When asked why they had stopped producing the bags, the response was simple: "we lost our supplier. We had been getting books that were returned from newsagents, and when we stopped receiving those the showbag ceased." The obvious question then was, if The Showbag Factory was somehow able to start sourcing the books again, would they resume production of the bag? "Probably not," said Craig. "It wasn't a big seller to be honest, only 1-2 bags at each country show... They were popular with collectors but that's about it. We've replaced them with other bags that sell better now." So that's it - the end of an era. Modern phans would possibly shrug their shoulders and say, so what, that really isn't an issue for me (especially if they already have a bag or two in their collection!). And perhaps there's a point there - after all if new readers aren't being introduced to the comic in this way anyway, does it really matter? The nostalgic among us will say yes, of course it does. The showbag is an Australian icon and a way to tempt new phans. Perhaps the delivery just needs re-thinking. Maybe Sammy J is on the right path with the showbag he was selling at performances of Hero Complex. Inspired by the Phantom bag, he included a comic but also a range of other merchandise - wristband, confectionery, Hero Complex book, signed photos... Perhaps giving punters a little more than just reading material is what's needed these days. Could this be an idea for Frew? A Supanova or Convention showbag with a few random back issues, a replica issue, a Kid Phantom mask and stickers sheet or even a pin, a bookmark or two, maybe a special Phantom by Gaslight short story, a Universe card, a packet of Phile cards... If it was successful at the conventions perhaps something like this could find its way back on the traditional show circuit. Surely there would be plenty of parents and grandparents who would love the nostalgic appeal of buying a wholesome Phantom Showbag for their children. There'd be oldtime phans who just might be surprised and impressed at the new stuff they find inside. And if it encouraged a few folk to the Kid Phantom website or into the newsagent for the next Jamie Johnson cover, it could be well worth it. What do you think? Are we happy to see the death of The Phantom Showbag? Or would you like to see it make a comeback in a new and reinvigorated form?

There have been some beautiful Phantom collector cards through the years. The more recent ones featured modern conventions like colour foil and lenticular imaging. The lenticular card is throwback to what used to be called ‘flicker’ images like shown on the Captain Action Phantom ring. Ten years ago, Inkworks put out a very nice example of a lenticular Phantom card. When held one way, the throne was empty, when moved slightly an image of Billy Zane sitting on the skull throne appeared. However, the rarest cards were also the first Phantom card known to have been produced. These were called ‘penny cards’ and they featured black and white illustrations by Ray Moore used for the first Big Little Book. They were made to be dispensed from a machine, and on the back of each card was the name of the gas station that sold them. (There were a few with a blank back where the business name was to be added.) The printer and company that produced them are long gone and information is scant, but the only known examples of these cards are mint/near mint condition and have never been in circulation. There also were posters advertising the cards. The posters said “Educational, Entertaining” and “Buy The Whole Series.” Glued on the poster were actual cards from the series. I’m told that Hakes guide lists these posters at $1,000, but I’ve never seen any penny cards or posters listed for sale or auction anywhere. They are so rare that the handful of collectors who own them seem to have no interest in parting with them.

Knock offs are a problem in today's society. You have illegal pirated software and DVDs available from many Asian countries and not to mention what you can download on your computer, and now you can add Phantom knock offs to the list. I am a huge phan and recently after my marriage I now have some money to spend and so like most Phantom phans I head over to eBay and other forums to try and add to my collection and swap with other phans. However recently I have become aware of some great looking Phantom merchandise that made my Phantom sense tingle with warning signs. I was not wrong either after some research. These items are nice, do not get me wrong they are so good that many, including me, have been tricked. Please note I am not saying that you should not buy or seek to get these items, I am just warning that you may be getting something you did not expect. Some items that are doing the rounds Brazil pins – These are really nice and I have a copy of them myself and I would recommend them to anyone. Iron on Member patches – Yes these are fake and I have two. Member keyrings – These look nice and if they were cheaper I would buy one (pictured). Trading card Magnets – They are not advertised as a Trading card Magnet BUT all they are is a trading card in a plastic container with a magnet stuck on the back, nice on my white board but fake. Homemade badges – I almost paid a mini fortune for a set. All they are is bits of comic placed in a badge making machine. How To Spot A Fake It’s hard, I have been a collector for a number of years and have Johnson's Price Guide but I still have been caught. I would recommend getting the latest price guide as it includes a CD which has images of ‘most’ of Phantom memorabilia. Also posting an image to a forum/ email (Chronicle Chamber Forum/Phantom Phorum) to an expert may also help. Another idea is to actually ask the seller or to read the description. I once asked the seller and then got him to remove me as a bidder after I found it was a fake. Is there a difference between a fake and something licensed? To the collector who has everything, I would say no. To someone who has been duped and paid for something believing it was official, I would say yes. I think it all depends on the buyer. If you're aware it's a fake and are willing, you may have something very rare indeed.

Few people actively reading The Phantom today can be unaware of Claes Reimerthi. The man is, after Lee Falk, by far the most productive writer to ever work on the character. Most of his work has been for Semic and Egmont, but Claes was also asked by King Features Syndicate to write the Phantom newspaper strip after Falk’s passing, which he did for several years before finally returning to focus solely on Egmont’s Phantom stories. He is also responsible for what is by far the longest Phantom story of all time, the epic Heart of Darkness saga (to date not published in English), and is today in charge of writing most of the new stories that are focused on evolving the Phantom and his world. Claes kindly took time out of a very busy schedule to answer ChronicleChamber’s questions about the future of the Phantom and his career so far. ChronicleChamber: In the two recent stories about Dogai Singh’s life it is revealed that Dogai survived Khermet Singh’s assassination. What plans do you have for Dogai in the future? Claes Reimerthi: Honestly, I have no idea. It could sound strange, but that is how it is. Ever since Phantom Year One and the five-part Final Countdown where the Phantom believes that his family and circle of acquaintances are wiped out, I have worked on a set of stories that follow up the questions that originated there, which the intention of is to gradually modernize the Phantom-concept. Among other things, that goes for President Luaga’s, the Jungle Patrol’s, Lubanga’s and the Singh-pirates’ future roles in the series. One should be able to compare these stories to what we called “key-adventures” during the Lubanga-period in the beginning of the nineties, which means stories that influence the concept of the series. It has due to different reasons been me who has written all of these stories. But still I will not lock myself at only writing stories of this kind, I will do others as well, for example historical adventures. That means that there is a fairly long time span between each episode in this batch. Once a year I participate in a Phantom-seminar together with Ulf Granberg and Hans Lindahl, where we draw the guidelines for next year’s production. Then I try to get in two-three of these “key-adventures” on the schedule. The 2007-2008 schedule is now nearly done with and there are no more “key-adventures” on schedule. But in a short while it is time for a new seminar, and then I will get the opportunity to start pondering the continuation. Until then I am simply not quite sure. CC: Sandal Singh was recently elected President of Bengalla, and this is only one of the many events that have contributed to make the Phantom’s world a lot more dangerous and insecure. What plans does Team Fantomen have for this new situation? Can we expect something like the Lubanga-era, or are you planning something entirely new? CR: The Lubanga-period is characterized by very many episodes – not just “key-adventures” – circling around Lubanga and Bengalla’s domestic-politics. I thought it was an incredibly dynamic and exciting time for the series, but it showed after a while that a) people thought it became too much internal-politics in the series and b) that it was annoying that Lubanga was certainly struck by back strike, but was never defeated for good. So a conclusion one can draw from this is that a rate of two-four new “key-adventures” a year is more passable. Of course, for example, the fact that Sandal Singh is president also be used in other stories during the year, but the concept ought to not be hard released in the way that happened during the Lubanga-period. At the same time I am confident that there should be an overbearing “soap opera” theme in the series; that there will at all times be things happening that brings change to the characters’ lives. Both to create uncertainty about what will happen, and to make the comic more interesting to follow. There shall at all times be stuff happening that will have consequences. The Phantom’s universe was static for way too many years. It is in addition more fun to write a comic that is constantly under development than one that just repeats the same formula over and over again and where everything that happens in the series is forgotten by the next issue. But outermost it is a question about making the series more believable and more realistic. CC: It has always been popular among fans to discuss who will become the 22nd Phantom and if the 21st will ever die at all. A while ago a rumor was spread that the editors had serious plans about telling stories about the 22nd Phantom, without necessarily killing off the 21st Phantom. What is your opinion on this, should we, and will we, ever see stories featuring the 22nd Phantom of Kit and Heloise, or the death of the 21 Phantom? CR: This is an incredibly difficult question. Those who favor change claim that it lays in the series’ concept that the Phantom dies and is replaced by the next generation. That is correct, but simultaneously it is a fact that Lee Falk never took this step with the 21st Phantom. Something that was reasonably justified long before Falk passed if one looks at the different Phantoms’ average life-length. It is simply two widely different cases to have the 17th Phantom die and have “our” Phantom die. My personal perception is that the 21st Phantom’s death would bring changes so big that it would no longer be the same comic. The risk is so big that one would throw the baby out with the bath water. It is true that it’s been discussed about doing adventures with the 22nd Phantom without killing off the 21st. But so far the discussions have mostly held themselves at a common level as an imaginable possibility. Personally I deem this a good way of testing the 22nd’s carrying power, as there then is a possibility of retreating if the result in one way or another or does not live up to expectations. All things considered I would gladly see more experimenting with the actual concept. I have myself contributed with several of these experiments in the last few years. CC: Do you have any all-time favorite Phantom stories by other writers than yourself? CR: It would probably be several if I really considered. But the first that pops up in my mind are Norman Worker’s Castle of Evil and The Shipwrecker. I also liked (it is a number of years since I read them the last time) many of Janne Lundstöm’s stories from the seventies. It was Janne’s stories, in a much larger degree than Lee Falk’s, that inspired me to become a Phantom-writer. CC: The 1996 Phantom movie adaptation starring Billy Zane remains a co discussion-matter among fans. What do you think of the film? CR: It did not make a strong impression on me. First and foremost it was much too uneven. Good scenes were mixed with embarrassingly bad scenes. CC: You seem to write most of the stories about the evolvement of the Phantom and Bengalla. If you were given free reins, how and to what degree would you have developed the series? Are there certain elements of the comic you feel need modernization/change? CR: As I mentioned earlier it is maybe first and foremost me and Hasse Lindahl who determinedly fought to change and develop the concept (and who has opportunity to exert influence on that point). One could say that we got a bit carried away in regards to the Lubanga-period, which offered several opportunities to rummage around in the series. It felt very sad to return to the old, static Phantom in 1997 and see all the changes etched away. Luaga became President again, even the tunnel into the safe in the Jungle Patrol’s headquarters was recreated. I mean that if the series is to survive, then it needs to follow its times. And first and foremost the characters have to follow their times. I have very free reins when it comes to developing the series, which is of course a strong reason why I enjoy it so much. I can make the series “mine” and write the sort of story that interests me. As I mentioned earlier, most of the ideas for new stories are presented at the Phantom-seminars. Editor Ulf Granberg is of course the one who decides if an idea is to be scrapped or realized. But we (Ulf, Hasse and I) are so coordinated after all these years that we think on approximately the same tracks. Ulf is open for changes and willing to listen to all suggestions on that way. Is it just a good idea, he tends to receive it without protests and also complete it with his own suggestions and ideas. You can say that I now, to some extent, accomplished the changes I considered to be most needed. Luaga is gone from the presidential post (for good if I get to decide!) and the Singh have got a new interesting leader, who is just as charismatic as old Dogai, while the piracy is in the process of undergoing an adjustment to the 2000s with the launch of Singh Inc. Luaga must get a new role onwards, but the biggest problem is Diana, who does not at all have any working role in the series anymore. And I am not very sure on the Jungle Patrol’s role either. (When it comes to Diana, Hasse Lindahl is of another opinion and has, I think, certain ideas within the future) On the other hand I cannot see any sudden need to do anything with the “order of succession” in the Skull Cave. CC: The Phantom is a character who looks to be very usable for a writer, but in contrast to other comic book figures he has not evolved that much throughout the years. What are your thoughts on the Phantom as a character? Are there any sides of his personality you wish had been different? CR: The Phantom is a classic hero to the degree that he frankly misses personality traits. He is just silent, heroic and self-sacrificing. I made certain attempts to penetrate in “behind the mask” during the Lubanga-time by reflecting his thoughts by the help of so-called inner-monologues, but it did not work very well. One will just have to accept that the Phantom is the unalterable cliff that everything in the series revolves around, but that the changes, psychologically and so on, first and foremost influences the characters around him. The myth simply overshadows the human. CC: Will Kigalia Lubanga appear in the series again, or is he gone for good? CR: An interesting question. Considering the Phantom’s fairly static role (see above) the villains who challenge him are incredibly important to give the series color. Good villains, such as Lubanga or Dogai, are literally invaluable for the series. At the same time it is difficult to create villains of this calibre. Therefore a writer always hesitates to “turn off” these characters for good: it becomes an emptier, poorer comic without them. At the same time there are from the readers (even if they too love a good villain) a certain impatience, which I described above. Some time the bad guy must have to pay for his sins! His violation cannot remain unpunished forever, as this disrupts our sense of justice. And as a writer one is at time also tempted to take that last crucial step, if not for anything else then to raise the intensity and show that the fights the Phantom are battling are deadly serious and at life’s risk. And then one easily ends up in an evil circle where the bad guy’s “presumed death” is altered with constant resurrections. Both Lubanga and Dogai are examples on this. I can tell that when Dogai met his fate in The Crystal Skulls my thought was that he should really die for good. But once again he is such a good character that I fell to temptation and resuscitated him again. When it comes to Lubanga’s passing, my thought was the opposite: this was a typical case of “presumed death”. But as I see it now, I wonder if we, despite everything, should not let him remain dead, for the believability of the series. But I cannot swear that I will not sometime in the future fall for the temptation to resurrect him again. As Oscar Wilde said: “The best way to get rid of a temptation is to fall for it” (quoted freely from the memory). He was a usable figure. CC: Have you ever had any ideas for new stories that have been rejected simply because they were too controversial, or are you usually allowed to tell the stories you want to? CR: No, I cannot recall ever getting a story rejected for that reason. The most common occasion is usually that they are simply not good enough. I experience having a very large artistic freedom to evolve the series after my own mind. CC: In the stories about Dogai Singh we get a new appearance by Kabai Singh from Lee Falk’s first story, plus a glimpse of Sala, the aviatrix. Is it of interest to use more characters or crime-organizations (such as Hydra) from Falk’s stories in new adventures? CR: What concerns Kabai Singh and Sala, they show up in the series simply because they are an established part of the Phantom-myth. I cannot claim that I have any personal connection to these characters that makes me think of ideas to stories where they are featured. Generally it can very well be thought that figures from Falk’s universe resurface again, under the assumption that I feel I can do something exciting with them. One can look at them as pawns standing ready without leaving the game-board. But the crime-organization Hydra will probably not resurface in any of my stories. It is a pretty sad and anonymous organization whoes only distinctive stamp is the fact that it consists of a large number of branches. It does not at all have the lightning-power and originality of, for example, Singh and the Vultures. The Vultures’ specialty to primarily attack the weak and helpless makes them perfect enemies for the Phantom. They should actually get more attention in the series. We manage just as well without Hydra. CC: The last part of the serial ends with a real cliffhanger, so I just have to ask: Are you planning a sequel to the trilogy about the Phantom Crusader? CR: Of course I intend to keep exploring the past history of the Phantom-family. They are actually the stories I am the most enthusiastic about at the present time. But it will drag on a while before all the mists are spread and things will get their final explanation. Right now follows a trilogy that takes place in the antiquity of Rome and Palestina. That one I will start writing in a few weeks. Then I have two additional trilogies planned. Where and when they take place I think I will not reveal yet, but I really look forward to start writing them. I hope to realize such a trilogy once a year. The readers seems to have liked the Phantom Crusader-trilogy, so I hope to get to play further with this concept another time. CC: Which of your own stories are you the most pleased with? CR: I don’t think I can give a good answer to that. With almost 200 Phantom-scripts under my belt I have simply forgotten quite a few stories that I have written. There are some stories that I wish I had never written; a fair amount that are competent craft but not much more; and then there are a number of stories that for some reason “stand out” a bit extra, but that may be due to very many different reasons. I leave it to the readers to decide what stories they like or not. Donald Duck-artist Don Rosa has said, that for every story he does there are those who think it’s the very best he ever did, while others think that it is the absolutely worst one. And most of the assessments end up somewhere on the scale between these extremes. That is also my experience. That makes one purified in the adversity and sober-minded in prosperity. CC: The “brain trust” consists of you, Ulf Granberg and Hans Lindahl. How far into the future are you planning stories? CR: Earlier on we had one seminar bi-annually, but now we are content with meeting once a year. On this meeting we draw the guidelines for about a year’s production. CC: You have written the longest Phantom story of all time, Heart of Darkness. Have there ever been plans to publish this serial in a collected edition? And has it been discussed making another of these serials that are published over several issues in the future? CR: I have long hoped to see Heart of Darkness collected, as I think the series would work better as a continuous narrative. Clearly there are at least a fair amount of readers who wish the same thing, as I have gotten to learn that it is the series people request most frequently for reprinting in the Swedish Phantom Chronicles (interviewers note: a black and white comic book that reprints older Phantom stories). Pleasantly enough we will get to have our wish fulfilled this year already if everything goes according to the plan. A reprint of the entire Heart of Darkness is as a matter of fact planned in the autumn and will run over four issues of The Phantom Chronicles. The thought is moreover that the fourth and final issue is to be completed with an entirely newly drawn episode that ties up to Heart of Darkness. This is to fill out the final issue. I am currently reading through the entire Heart of Darkness to find an angle to such a story. So let us hope that I will so that these plans can be locked. CC: Are you currently working on other writing-projects that are not related to the Phantom? CR: I write about 8-9 Phantom-scripts per year. Beyond that I write scripts to the Swedish humor-series 91:an and make translations for the Donald Duck-editorial staff (I have for instance translated about two thirds of the article-texts to the Swedish prestige-edition of Carl Bark’s Collected Works on 30 volumes). Beyond that I write a number of facts-articles for The Phantom and forewords to the Donald Duck-volume books. During my free time I work on a youth-book, a fantasy-novel that is called Myrddin (I have just finished editing the first half of the book and will in some days send it away to the publishing house), and with text- and facts scrutinizing of a book about Swedish comic book history (comic book history is one of my great fields of interest) that is set to be published by Seriefrämjandet (interviewer’s note: The Swedish Comic Book Association). Myrrdin I have done on pure speculation – I have no contract on the book yet – and the comic book history is ideal work from my side. CC: And finally, the obligatory question: What inspires you as a writer? CR: Everything I see, hear and read. I watch a lot of movies, read a lot of comics and heaps of both fiction and books of facts. One can say, that when if I do not write, I read. I do not have time for much else. There are therefore ideas popping up all the time and occasionally where you least expect it – both background-material and impulses for themes, plots and characters. Note: Claes has also written many Phantom stories under the pseudonym Michael Tierres For further reading, Claes Reimerthi's PhantomWiki biography and complete list of stories authored is here. #ClaesReimerthi #Semic #Egmont #KingFeaturesSyndicate #UlfGranberg #HansLindahl #Fantomen #NormanWorker #JanneLundstrom #BillyZane #22ndPhantom

I put The Phantom, the new mini-series from RHI Entertainment, set to air on SyFy in June, into the Blu Ray-player with a strange feeling of both being excited and having rather low expectations, thinking that what I was going to see would probably not be my cup of tea. I took the disc out with very, very high expectations, excited about the possibility of this turning into a regular series. I have rarely been so wrong before, because amazingly, the company that ruined Flash Gordon and butchered the iconic Phantom costume in the Worst Concept Art in the History of Mankind (which they thankfully ditched after overwhelmingly negative online-reaction), have given us a pretty good Phantom series. Let me stress this: many fans of the character are going to be deeply disappointed by this show (maybe even more so after reading a primarily positive review like this one). This is NOT the Phantom we all know and love, at least not on the surface. This is a VERY modern take on the Ghost Who Walks, one that adds elements of science fiction rarely seen in the comic, which features a heavily modified Phantom costume, and, most importantly, tells the story of an all new Phantom. When reading SyFy’s initial announcement of the project, I thought the plot sounded like it was inspired too much by that of Phantom 2040, an average, flawed series that, despite some great ideas, ultimately has ended up boring me out of my skull every time I’ve tried to watch it. While there are similarities (young man discovers he is actually the heir to the Phantom legacy, learns to accept his destiny, and uses state of the art technology to kick the crap out of evildoers), I am happy to say that SyFy’s Phantom is entertaining almost from beginning to end. If you still expect this show to be completely faithful to the comic, you are either very naive or you have been living under a rock since it was announced. As we all know, Kit Walker, the boy who will grow up to become the 22nd Phantom, was born in the Skull Cave, has a twin sister named Heloise, and knows everything about his father’s ”occupation”. This Kit Walker, however, was born in Switzerland, and has no sister (that we know of, maybe they’re saving Heloise for a potential regular series? The writers have named the ship of the 1st Phantom Maria Heloise, which means they are aware of her existence after all). Due to some form of amnesia, the closest he has to memories of his real parents are the recurring appearances in his nightmares of a woman with a gun, Diana Palmer-Walker, and the awe-inspiring shape of a mysterious, awe-inspiring man, his father, the Phantom. Will Kit rise to the challenge of fulfilling his destiny? You know the answer, because as one of the characters says,”He is a Walker”. Ryan Carnes does a fine job as the 22nd Phantom. I was vocally skeptical about his casting, since, let’s face it, he looks very boyish compared to how the Phantom has looked in every previous incarnation. Mr. Carnes proves that I was wrong to doubt him, by doing a solid job with what is a pretty intricate and confused character. This Kit Walker is a likeable lead who by the course of the series develops a pretty strong moral code, but he is slightly more insecure than previous Phantoms, a typical American student thrown into extraordinary circumstances without being sure if he really wants to. It feels pointless to compare Carnes to previous Phantoms Tom Tyler and Billy Zane, since he is after all playing an entirely different character, but he (or his stuntmen?) has Tyler’s skills in fight scenes and some of Zane’s natural charm (he also has a very deep “Phantom voice” that is almost as good as that of his terrific predecessor). He looks pretty good in the new Phantom costume (as soon as he puts it on he looks a good ten years older, which is a good thing), imposing and physically impressive. In short, Mr. Carnes has won me over, and I will be disappointed if he does not get to wear the Skull Ring again in new episodes. Speaking of the new Phantom costume, I can live with it. Let’s just say it looks much, much better when seen on screen than on still photos (somebody at SyFy deserves trouble for releasing the worst possible pictures of it). Surprisingly, I can still recognize this as the Ghost Who Walks when I see Carnes wearing the uniform, which is impossible in the photos. The hood (or rather the helmet, because that’s what it actually is!) is very far from perfect, but still looks much sleeker than it did in stills, where it looked so big that one wondered if the Phantom hid a water melon inside it. The first time Kit shows himself as the Phantom to Renny, there is this awesome shot of Carnes just standing there, where he looks very much like the Phantom we know and love. All the elements of the old costume are still there, the mask, the hood, the belt, the rings, the boots, some of them are just designed differently than we are used to (hopefully that can be changed later down the road if ratings merit new episodes). However, SyFy feels the need to diss the original outfit on one occasion, having one of the characters saying that the 21st Phantom ”loathed” his costume because it was so theatrical, which I found completely unnecessary and annoying. The new uniform can resist bullets, knives, and other forms of damage, and it doubles the Phantom’s strength. While I prefer the low-tech approach of previous Phantoms, it kind of makes sense that Kit would use such a costume, since he is just a regular guy who never received training in the jungle, and also because Carnes is not as physically impressive as Tyler or Zane. The outfit sadly means that this Phantom does not bother with lurking around in the shadows taking out bad guys one by one; instead he wades right in and starts fighting. It works, but I wish we had gotten a scene where he plays games with the villains, scaring the crap out of them. The new Mr. Walker still wears a coat (though bizarrely, he walks around with it open at times, revealing his costume and gun belt underneath. While it looks undeniably cool, it is not exactly the smartest way to keep your ”true self” a secret), but instead of a hat he wears a purple tuque, which probably looks hip to young viewers but I suspect will make many phans cringe. No sunglasses, sadly. One of the great mistakes of the otherwise underrated 1996 film was to provide very little backstory for the Phantom, failing to show what makes the character so unique and appealing. The writers of the mini have not repeated the same mistake, since the series is frequently making references to the Chronicles and their stories about Phantoms of the past. True, writing team Charles and Daniel Knauf, has tweaked the origin of the 1st Phantom too much for my liking, since, mild spoiler ahoy, Christopher Walker no longer finds the body of his father’s murderer on the beach but rather the actual body of his father. I’m not sure if this was a deliberate change or just a big goof, but either way, it’s a very annoying one that should have been changed at script stage. The origin still works perfectly fine, since the inherent concept of it is so powerful and clever, but it’s a great shame it is not completely faithful to the one in the comic. Obviously due to budgetary concerns, the origin is done in a pretty neat form of moving comic book art (obviously inspired by Pat Quinn’s magnificent drawings in Moonstone’s graphic novel Legacy), which sounds very cheesy on paper but actually works well when seen on screen. This is also the first time we hear the famous Skull Oath said out loud on screen in its proper form (I believe Phantom 2040 included it but messed up some of the words), and it is a moment that, while not exactly filmed the way you have imagined it in your head, should give any phan goose bumps. This is the best representation of the origin on screen so far, with the 1st Phantom ”himself” narrating it in voice over. Another mistake done by the Zane film and the Tyler serial was that the stories didn’t take much time for romance, which has always been an important part of the Phantom strip. Mr. Knauf and, um, Mr. Knauf, have on the other hand written a sweet and appealing relationship between Kit and an American girl of his age named Renny Davidson (possibly a small nod to the Tyler serial, where Diana’s uncle was called Dr. Davidson). The beautiful Cameron Goodman is just lovely as Renny, there is a part of you who wants to jump into the screen and kiss her. Actor Cas Anvar (who some action movie enthusiasts will recognize from his small role in an underrated recent film about another comic book hero who uses a skull as his logo, Punisher: War Zone) plays Rhatib Singh, the head of the Singh Brotherhood, and does a fine job with it. He is over the top at times and there are some moments where you expect him to start twirling his moustache, silent-film style, but he still feels like a fairly threatening and unpredictable figure (let’s just say I am happy I do not work for him). However, spoiler on the way again, it’s a shame the only confrontation between him and the Phantom takes place on the phone, as it would have been pretty cool to see them meet face to face. (end of spoiler) The Singh Brotherhood has been modernized in the same way they have been updated in recent Egmont stories, in that they are now a major crime syndicate masquerading as a legal corporation. Thankfully, they also haven’t forgotten how to use swords in 2010. Guran is played by actress (yes, actress) Sandrine Holt. Possibly intended to be the daughter of the man we see in the comic, she is a good character, and serves much of the same function as the real Guran does in the comics, in that she becomes Kit’s close friend and advisor due to her sympathetic nature and cleverness. While the ”sex change” will annoy many fans, I think it works okay. The beautiful Ms. Holt (boy, does it feel weird to fancy Guran) is a good actress and plays the part well, and you’ll understand why Kit bonds with her so quickly. There is no sight of Colonel Worubu here, but in his place we have a good character called Abel Vandermaark, played by Jean Marchand, leader (if memory serves me right) of the modern incarnation of the Jungle Patrol (called Bpaa Thap, simply pronounced “Ba Thap”, in case you wondered). His family is said to have worked for the Walker family for five generations, and he plays an essential part in training Kit for his new ”job”. His character becomes more and more intriguing as the series goes on. Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini plays Dr. Bella Lithia and gets her name prominently displayed on the film’s poster, rather undeservedly if you ask me as her performance is the weakest link of the cast. Thankfully, she does not have much screen time, but there was something with her acting that just didn’t sit all that well with me (though in her defense she gets to play one of the least interesting characters). We also get an appearance of one Diana Walker. However, while the actress who plays her (her name escapes me and I am much too lazy to go back and watch the credits again) does a fine job with extremely brief screen time, this Diana happens to have a much lighter hair colour than in the comic. Why couldn’t someone be bothered to give her a dark wig? It’s a simple detail that should have been easy to get right (however, like a lot of people, Diana could simply have decided it would be cool to colour her hair…). The most pointless and irritating change of the entire mini is that Bengalla has been relocated yet again. As phans know Falk originally placed it in India, but would move it to Africa later on where it has mostly stayed since. This new Bengalla, however, is an island located somewhere near Indonesia. I have no idea why this decision was made, but I suspect the budget could be a factor. Why remove the Phantom from the most interesting and struggling continent on our planet, where a figure like him would be needed more than ever? The new setting works (just like it did in the Zane film, which was clearly not set in Africa either), but it’s still disappointing. Part one of the series has a ”Phantom feel”, but some of it is sadly lost in part two, where things become very, um, tech-y (there are also some minor pacing issues evident in this episode). The plot involves a plan to assassinate the man who could bring peace to the Middle East, which in itself feels like it could be taken out of a Phantom comic, however there is a sci-fi (or is that sy-fy?) twist to it that I’m sure won’t sit well with some fans. For me, though, it worked, as these elements (I don’t want to go further into it what they consist of because it could probably spoil somebody’s enjoyment), but it’s the kind of plot that could have been used by witch doctors in a comic book story, the difference here is that it is done with modern technology instead of some jungle mumbo jumbo. There are some very nice references that only people who read the comic will pick up on. One of them is an extremely brief cameo from the Whispering Groove: in one scene where one of the characters is shown the way to the Skull Cave, you can barely hear the word “Phantooom” blowing in the wind (at least I thought I did). The action is solid, which is kind of surprising given that this is not a big budget Hollywood production. There are among other things a great foot-chase through New York, obviously inspired by the free-running scene in Casino Royale, and a fight scene between the Phantom and a French assassin, which works really well. It has the feel of something you’d expect from the fantastic Jason Bourne films (though thankfully without the frenetic cutting of those films), with its hard edged, brutal combat. When the Ghost Who Walks marks villains with the Skull Ring, you really feel the poor schmucks’ pain. Then there’s the ending. Like I said, it’s a very exciting moment that could lead to an entire season’s worth of future Phantom TV-adventures if used right. I’m obviously not going to spoil anything, but let’s just say that if the show gets picked up, the Phantom won’t have time for a vacation on Keela Wee. It is obvious that SyFy has actually spent some money on this mini, surprising given how cheap the little I saw of their Flash Gordon looked, and director Paolo Barzman does a good job all in all. The effects and production design is not on par with their fantastic Battlestar Galactica remake (if you haven’t seen it, leave this website right now and buy season one on DVD), but it’s all still quite good. The exterior of the Skull Cave is fine in its own right despite a rather small entrance, but does not look as impressive as it did in the Zane film (which obviously had a much bigger budget), but the interior looks great (though rather light for a cave). The cave has, like everything else in the series, been updated as there is now even a big basement filled to the brim with modern technology, which I’m sure will make some purists cry themselves to sleep. In short, if you can accept changes, I think you can enjoy the show, like yours truly did. However, purists will probably tear out the hair they have left while watching it, so I suggest you find something else to do with your time. The people who thought the Zane film stayed too far away from the comic should have a field day with this one. The Phantom is not perfect, but I think it’s good, and that’s all I asked for at this point. It is certainly not the ultimate Phantom adaptation (who ever expected it to be?), but it’s still an entertaining and for the most part well-written modernization of the Ghost Who Walks. Despite a total running time of three hours, I found myself wishing it had been longer. My fingers and toes are crossed that enough people tune in when it airs on SyFy in June to warrant a regular series. Now, somebody please finance The Phantom Legacy and the world will be a much better place. #SyFy #Phantom2040 #BillyZane #TomTyler #Moonstone #Egmont

Tony DePaul has written countless Phantom stories since the early 90s, taking the Ghost Who Walks on some incredible adventures. Last year saw the Death of Diana storyline, second only to Claes Reimerthi and Joan Boix’s brilliant Heart of Darkness when it comes to being the most ambitious Phantom story ever created. Tony kindly took time out of his very busy schedule to talk to ChronicleChamber and answer some questions about his work on The Man Who Can Not Die. ChronicleChamber: It can’t be debated that the strip has received something of a modernization in the last few years. I’ve personally always felt it started when [Paul] Ryan came onboard as the artist. Do you agree with this? Tony DePaul: Sure, I think that’s true. When the chairs shuffle and a new artist comes in, he brings a new quality and vision that can be said to update or modernize the strip. Wilson McCoy did so after Ray Moore, the great Sy Barry did it again after McCoy and so on. And yet the Ray Moore strips still knock me out! Fantastic work. I suspect that Paul Ryan would be humbled by your comment, because I know how much he respects the work of those who came before him. We’re fortunate to always have the “best artist ever” working on the strip. CC: This might just be something that I feel, but: in the last few years it really seems you have decided to take a deeper look at the man behind the mask, and arguably a more serious tone. Has this been a conscious decision? TDP: Absolutely. In The Death of Diana I wanted to see how the Phantom would behave if he believed he had been beaten and might not have the heart to continue on as the 21st Phantom; finished not by his own death but by the revenge that an enemy had aimed at a loved one. His depression at the murder of Diana was apparent. Was he a good father when he sent Kit and Heloise to live with the Luagas after the terror bombing in Mawitaan? That’s open to debate. Some readers probably thought he was a lout and should have been there more for his kids. On the other hand, we saw how fiercely loyal he is to Diana. Not many men could resist Savarna but the Phantom was never tempted to commit his wife’s memory to the past and move on. CC: You’re an active user of Facebook, which gives phans the opportunity to communicate directly with you. What kind of response do you get from readers? Any fanatic Falk-purists sending you death-threats? TDP: No death threats so far! All the phans I met on FB are well balanced and great fun. Through other channels, email and snail mail, I’ve run into a few who are wound a little tight, may have spent time in their mom’s basement stewing in purple tights and dry-firing a .45 at my photo. But as for FB, I recently signed off and let my page go dark. I’m not a fan of the Zuckerberg empire. He and his minions keep finding new ways to drive home the point that user-generated content belongs not to the user but to them, so when it wasn’t fun to be there anymore I decided to check out. When you hear about the Next Big Thing, a new, hipper, more user-friendly social media platform, let me know! CC: You’ve mentioned a desire to write a novel based on the Death of Diana-storyline, which I’d love to see as a big fan of Falk’s excellent Phantom novels. Do you think anything will come from this? Would we see stuff in a book that could not be shown in a comic strip? TDP: As far as I know, my proposal on that is still alive at King Features and being discussed with outside publishers. I would love to write that book. It would go much further in exploring the Phantom’s humanity and fleshing out what readers saw in the strip. CC: The recent SyFy miniseries and the on-going Dynamite comic book depicts the adventures of the 22nd Phantom. Do you see any advantage in changing the lead character this way, and would you have done the same in the strip if given the chance? TDP: I enjoyed the SyFy series, just taking it for what it was, a very different look at the Phantom. I wouldn’t want to go that far afield in the strip, though. I’m all for preserving the Lee Falk legacy there while bringing it up to date in ways that seem clearly necessary, like getting the Phantom up to speed on the Internet. I try to honor the past without being trapped in it. No reader under 50 can relate to Monkey Mail or the Phantom climbing a telephone pole to get in touch with Colonel Worubu. So far we’ve got Internet access established in Skull Cave and on Walker’s Table. And the Phantom WILL have a smart phone one of these days! Maybe right after I get one. CC: What is the greatest appeal of the Phantom? Are there any obvious limitations when chronicling his adventures? TDP: His greatest appeal for me is his courage, good heart, willingness to forge ahead no matter what. In short, his integrity as a man. The obvious limitation? — Space! How I envy Lee Falk the space he had to work in back in the Golden Era. It’s tough to tell a story in the preferred two panels a day, and the art gets so tiny when you go to three panels out of necessity. Even with newspapers dying out, the newspaper format remains the yardstick; it dictates what we can do even in the electronic version where space is theoretically unlimited. CC: Does Paul Ryan have any input on your scripts, or does he “only” draw them? TDP: We don’t write stories together but every now and then Paul says something that sparks a good story idea for me. A recent Sunday adventure, The Return of Colonel Weeks, started with Paul wondering whatever had become of the old colonel. Why was he just suddenly gone one day, replaced by the younger Worubu? Lee Falk never tied up that loose end for the readers so Paul suggested that we tackle it. Great idea! Paul’s a professional and does his best work on every story but I like sending him material that I know holds a special interest. CC: The Phantom is very popular in Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia, but is largely ignored in by Americans, who instead prefers the countless costumed characters inspired by the Ghost Who Walks. Why do you think that is the case? TDP: I’m not sure I have a good theory on that, Paul. It could be that we simply don’t see the strip anymore. The Phantom is out of sight, out of mind, and potential new readers don’t even know he exists. Newspaper editors long ago decided that the daily gag strips were the only ones that busy readers could handle anymore. As a newspaper man for 26 years, I can tell you all kinds of stories about newspaper editors not having a clue. CC: How long do you expect to stay on the strip? Could you see yourself continuing to write it as an old man, like Falk did? TDP: Well, I always think the story I’m writing today is my last, so I take nothing for granted. That said, I’d love to write the Phantom for as long as the work is fun to do and as long as King Features Syndicate likes what I’m doing. The day it starts to feel like a chore I’ll ask KFS to start casting about for my replacement. Of course, a change could originate on the King Features side at any time. Many writers working for the Syndicate have long-term contracts. I don’t, and never have. I serve at the pleasure of Brendan Burford, my editor in New York. I enjoy working on that basis, on a handshake and good will, voluntary on all sides. CC: The Death of Diana was a big success, judging from the response of fans. Is this kind of “experiment” (i.e. one massive storyline split into separate parts) something you’d be interested in trying again? TDP: Yes! It’s being tried again as we speak, on both the daily and Sunday sides. The daily story A Detente With Crime is the first of three parts. The two that follow are The Den of Tigers and Mexico’s Phantom. They’ll be published starting December 12, 2011 and April 9, 2012, respectively. The Sunday story The Nomad is the first of two parts. The second part, set to start this month, September 25, is called The Shadows of Rune Noble. I’ve been disappointed that there hasn’t been more episodes of The Game of Death (a science fiction back-up series written by Tony and drawn by Kari Leppännen, which ran in many issues of the Scandinavian Phantom books in the 90s and 00s). CC: Do you think we’ve seen the last of that series? TDP: I’m afraid so. But I’d love to pick up that storyline again. Now you’ve got me wondering… Maybe that’s why Egmont never published the “final” episode I wrote many years ago? So we’d have an opportunity to continue at a later date instead of wrapping things up? Hmmm… CC: Among other things, you’ve also worked as a journalist and a screenwriter. Do you have any non-Phantom projects coming up? I remember reading on your Facebook you were working with a film producer. TDP: One of my scripts was optioned last year but I’ve never had the kind of Hollywood access a writer needs to get read by top producers, those who have the reputation and the money to make things happen. Trying to market screenplays is a tough game, only for those at least as hardheaded as me and preferably ten times so. On other fronts, I’ve been working on a novel lately and on a nonfiction book proposal with a reporter at the Boston Globe. CC: Finally, something of a standard question for ChronicleChamber interviews: Did you see the Phantom movie starring Billy Zane and/or the recent SyFy mini-series? What did you think? What would a Phantom movie written by Tony DePaul be like? TDP: It would be dark, the Phantom would be a night creature, and it would stick to the Falk universe. Guran would be Guran, not Kato. No campy pirates, cheesy magic skulls, or tweedy old ancestors plucked from the faculty lounge in the Great Beyond. That said, I admire Billy Zane and thought he did a terrific job with the script he had and the production as designed. I was disappointed that the movie was aimed at a very young audience, and at selling trading cards and action figures and Sequel Sequel Sequel! I’d love to be tapped to write a Phantom movie with a hard edge, aimed at adults. And no sequel. The Phantom would die at the end. #TonyDePaul #ClaesReimerthi #JoanBoix #PaulRyan #WilsonMcCoy #RayMoore #SyBarry #LeeFalk #KingFeaturesSyndicate #SyFy #KariLeppänen #Egmont #BillyZane

Antonio Lemos talks about the amazing journey he took to become Australian Phantom cover artist. When you’re drawing The Phantom, the most important thing is to understand the kind of hero he is. He might be ‘rough on roughnecks’, as the old saying goes, but you can’t draw The Phantom doing something unkind to anyone – even a bad guy.” Antonio Lemos has had plenty of opportunity to get to know The Ghost Who Walks and understand what makes him ‘tick’. Since 1993, he’s drawn dozens of covers for Frew Publications’ Australian edition of The Phantom comic book. While his signature may have been previously unknown to Australian readers, The Phantom represents the latest stage in a fascinating artistic journey that has taken Antonio Lemos a long way from his homeland of Uruguay. But the worlds of art and literature have always been more than lines on a page for Lemos, who treasured books and comics as an escape from a poverty-stricken childhood. Born on 4 August 1940 in the small Uruguayan town of Artigas, Antonio was one of seven children, raised by their father, a butcher, and their mother, who was a housewife. “When my father was around, everything was okay. We weren’t too different from anybody else in the neighbourhood – we were poor, but we managed.” Tragically, Antonio’s father committed suicide at a relatively young age, for reasons that he and the rest of his family would never know, or understand. “We were seven kids who had to be fed, schooled and cared for by a young, uneducated woman who had never worked outside her home before,” explains Antonio. “My mother went to work at any job she could get, from maid to washing rich people’s clothes in the river,” he recalls. “As you can imagine, we had the freest childhoods that anyone could have, for the simple reason that providing for all of us was my mother’s full-time occupation.” Comic books were one of the few affordable pleasures available to the young Antonio, but they quickly became more than just childhood entertainments. “They were a wonderful source of inspiration and a magical world to where I could escape and forget the rawness of reality.” “We did not have a comic book industry in Uruguay, so all our comics were – and still are – imported from other countries, particularly Argentina,” he explains. “I remember magazines such as Frontera, Hora Cero, Misterix, Rayo Rojo, Scorpio, Tit Bits and many others,” he recalls. “Reading comics, and later anything in print that I could get my hands on, was my only consuming passion.” While in primary school, Antonio started copying drawings from magazines and even started his own magazine with other school kids – much to his family’s bewilderment. “No one in my family had any interest in art, let alone comics,” says Antonio. “They not only didn’t encourage me – they just couldn’t understand my penchant for drawing for hours at a time, without getting bored.” Dream as he might of studying art, Antonio knew that this was an impossible luxury for a young boy from a poor family. Leaving high school one year before completing his full term, Antonio knew he had to earn a living and help his family survive. “It was impossible to get a job in Artigas and I desperately wanted to leave my hometown,” he explains. “I decided that the only way out for me was to go to (the national capital) Montevideo and gain an apprenticeship with the navy.” For a skinny, undernourished teenager, earning admission to the Uruguayan Navy was a near-impossible task. “I couldn’t complete all the physical tests, like running and rope climbing, in the allotted time, so I failed the test.” Undeterred, Antonio applied for a second time and was eventually admitted to the Navy Training School. “It was a lonely life, in a strange city,” he admits, “but at least I was earning some money and helping my mother with the family’s Already obsessed with learning more about ancient civilisations, the afterlife and UFOs, Antonio’s naval training allowed him to fulfill his other great passion – to travel abroad, study other cultures and discover how other people lived. “Through the navy, I visited the USA, Brazil, Argentina and Panama, staying in cities throughout the Americas,” he says. But the urge to draw never left him. “I drew a comic book which was a dramatised account of our annual naval exercises with neighbouring countries, using people from my ship as ‘extras’.” Antonio got the chance to exercise his artistic skills while working on his ship (a destroyer), but in some ways it was more frustrating than not being able to draw at all: “How do you get to publish your work if you’re at sea most of the time?” The solution to his problem came during an on-board naval function, which was attended by one of the officer’s wives, who was a journalist with El Dia, one of Uruguay’s largest newspapers. “She heard about me and my drawings and asked to meet me,” he recalls. “I showed her some of my artwork and not long after that – I was freelancing for the same newspaper!” Eventually reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer, Antonio was transferred to the Naval Academy where he became a naval cadet instructor. During this time, he began a15-year tenure with El Dia, working as a freelance illustrator on the newspaper’s children’s supplement. Antonio freely drew inspiration from fellow South American comic artists, such as Alberto Breccia [], Hugo Pratt and Emilio Cortinas, as well as such American cartoonists as Stan Drake, Burne Hogarth and Warren Tufts. It was while working for El Dia that Lemos created his first major comic strip series, Rocco – The Man from the Islands. “Rocco was inspired by the short stories of Horacio Quiroga, a Uruguayan writer whose tales were set in Misiones , back in the days when they were a remote jungle region of Argentina.” Lemos both wrote and drew Rocco, which first saw print in 1974 and ran for seven years in Uruguay. “Perhaps the most peculiar episode that I wrote was one in which a space satellite with a deadly cargo plummets to Earth in South America and Rocco is asked to rescue its contents and deliver them intact to some foreign agents.” “The irony was that, not long after that story was published, a real space station, called Skylab, fell to Earth,” he explains. “And by the time that episode was later reprinted in Australia, parts of the Skylab space station were falling…in Australia!” Antonio also had the chance to collaborate with another Uruguayan comic artist, Eduardo Barreto, who is best known to English-language audiences as a popular artist on such American comics as The New Teen Titans, Martian Manhunter and The Escapist. “A few years before leaving Uruguay, I teamed up with Eduardo and helped him with an adventure comic strip called Atla, about an Atlante prince living in dangerous times, thousands of years ago,” he says. “Eduardo created, wrote and drew most of the strip, but I also drew quite a bit of it, too.” “Our goal was to try and get it syndicated through United Press, but I don’t know if that eventually happened.” Although he had achieved his childhood dream of becoming a comic artist, Antonio, by now married and with a son, had reached a difficult crossroads in his life. “I’d turned 41 years-old and had reached an early peak in my naval career,” he says. “Unless I decided to become an officer, I would simply grow old in my position, retire and live on a progressively diminishing pension.” Concerned that both his own artistic ambitions, along with his family’s future, would be squandered if he stayed in the navy any longer, Antonio looked abroad for an answer. “I heard that a Uruguayan guy was in charge of a Spanish-language newspaper, El Espanol en Australia, which was published in Sydney.” “I sent him a sample of my work and, after he got approval from the paper’s German owners, a work contract arrived on my doorstep from Australia!” Antonio turned his back on a 23-year naval career and, together with his wife and child, migrated to Australia in November 1981. “But three months later, the economic recession started and I was the first to be sacked from the newspaper.” Despite having little money, few friends and limited language skills, Antonio focussed on establishing himself as an artist in his new country. “I got lots of commissions from educational programmes for different ethnic communities, such as Arabic, Macedonian, Spanish and Turkish, which were partly funded by the government of the day.” Lemos was no stranger to making his way through a different society, as he’d previously spent nearly a year living in the United States before relocating to Australia. “The migration shock was not so great and, because I was able to learn English quite quickly, the social isolation wasn’t too great, either.” Antonio worked as a freelance artist throughout the 1980s, and illustrated 15 books during that time, but by the end of the decade, realised he could no longer support his family solely from his artwork. “I needed a regular income,” he says. “I was already 48 years-old and had not held a regular job since the newspaper sacked me in 1982.” During that time, however, Antonio had received official accreditation as an interpreter and applied for a position with the Department of Immigration. “I got the job, just days before I received a letter from Walt Disney Australia, inviting me to join a training programme, with the prospect of being employed as a background artist.” “But I turned Disney down,” he says. “Imagine me saying ‘no, thank you’ to the company any aspiring artist would give his right arm to work for!” He may have knocked back the chance to work for Disney, but that didn’t mean Antonio had turned his back on comic art forever. By the early 1990s, the acclaimed Australian comic artist Keith Chatto had begun working as a cover artist for Frew Publications, where he made comics history as the first Australian artist to illustrate an all-new Phantom adventure – Rumble in the Jungle, which was written by Frew’s publisher, Jim Shepherd, and published in The Phantom No. 951A in 1990. When Chatto died in 1992, one of Antonio’s Australian artist friends suggested he apply as a replacement cover artist on The Phantom comic book. “I did read The Phantom when I was growing up in Uruguay, but he wasn’t my favourite hero – perhaps because I wasn’t too excited about the artists working on it at the time,” he admits. Nonetheless, when Antonio applied for the position, Jim Shepherd hired him on the spot! “Jim asked me for a sketch to see how I managed – and that sketch became my first cover in 1993!” (The Phantom No.1056, ‘Kukailomoko’, 1993) Antonio’s association with The Phantom yielded unexpected dividends, as he began to receive commissions for caricatures, fantasy art and comic book styled-illustrations. One of these commissions was The Wisdom of The Phantom, an educational comic book starring The Ghost Who Walks, published by the Family Court of Australia in 1997 for distribution amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Yet his new role as The Phantom’s cover artist came with some unique challenges and demands. “Most of the time, Jim gave me a sketch indicating what he wanted shown on each cover,” explains Antonio. “There was always the question of tight deadlines to consider, and since I was working full-time as an Immigration Officer, sometimes it was preferable to ‘adapt’ the original Semic covers than to risk disaster exploring new concepts.” Drawing The Phantom is, in some ways, more difficult for Lemos than drawing what he calls the “American super muscular heroes, every one identical to the next – except for the costume.” “The main thing for me is that The Phantom should always look like someone you could look up to – not because of his physical strength, but because of the strength of his moral convictions and his incorruptible character.” “That’s why The Phantom’s pose, body language and facial expressions should be carefully thought through,” he adds. “Achieving a faithful representation of this has never been an easy task for me.” Since retiring from the Department of Immigration, Antonio says he has been able to spend more time on his work and take his Phantom cover designs “to another level of quality and creativity,” as well as “exercising more freedom” when it comes to composing the cover layouts. Antonio’s personal favourite of all his Phantom covers was The Temple, which appeared on The Phantom No. 1240 in 1999. Strangely enough, the opportunity for Antonio to spend more time perfecting his work comes during a period when Frew Publications have commissioned fewer cover designs from him. “I don’t know why I have been asked to draw less covers lately; perhaps it is to cut costs, or to give readers covers drawn in different styles – who knows?” While fans may bemoan the lack of new Phantom covers bearing his signature, Antonio still has plenty of work to keep him occupied. “At my age, as much as I love drawing, I do not want to commit myself to be at my drawing board all day, trying to meet awful deadlines,” he says. “I’ll continue my private [art] commissions and my [Phantom] covers and that will keep me busy, free – and content.” #AntonioLemos #Frew #KeithChatto #JimShepherd

The ChronicleChamber team has turned our mind to the phestive season. As a present to our loyal readers, this page can be a handy link to share with loved ones who are wondering exactly what gift they can get for the phan in their lives. Merry Christmas! So share it on your Facebook wall, tag your girlfriends, boyfriends, wife, husband, children, Mum, Dad and anyone else who celebrates the season by buying you gifts. Clothing A new and unusual design, available from eBay from the United States is the new Boxer Shorts. Need to order soon if you want it before the big day. Phantoms Vault also has a nice collection of clothing from the old Davenport range along with some more recent T-shirts for both men and women in all sizes. Coffee Mug While the Ikon Collectables Heat Changing Coffee Mug has been on the market for a couple of years now, it remains one of the most affordable and arguably coolest Phantom items available to place under the tree this year. Even if your phan already has one of these, a second one to use at work or around the home, or even to just keep as a collectible, is going to be highly valued. You just can't go wrong with this one. Available from the Popcultcha website here. Coin A unique collectible released for The Phantom's 80th Anniversary this year, this silver piece of "Bengallan currency" is very popular with collectors. Packaged beautifully and presented in a light-up Skull Cave display box, this would be a wonderful gift for any Phantom phan. Available from the Perth Bullion Company here. Comic Subscription One of the best gifts possible for a Phantom phan! What better way to shower them with Phantom love than to ensure a new story arrives in their mailbox once a fortnight throughout 2017? For that special touch, a Signature Series subscription delivers a limited edition comic that is signed by the cover artist. Either way, contact the crew at the Frew website here. Of course for single issues or older runs, Frew and Phantoms Vault has hundreds of back issues from Frew, Hermes, Moonstone, Dynamite Entertainment, Indrajal and around the world. Jigsaw puzzles One of the newer items on the market, Phanfare has available two Phantom jigsaw puzzles. With 1000 pieces, these are challenging and fun for phans of all ages. Available in a few locations, but from the Phanfare website here. Posters Frew Publications has posters available, sold individually or in sets of four. Classic covers or more modern scenes, there are images that would delight the traditional Falkists or the more modern phan. At A2 size they are perfect for kids bedrooms, in the office, shed or Skull Cave. Available from the Frew website here. Some may have seen the old 90's Phantom Zone, Vault and convention prints in other phans collections and often wished they had these. Phantoms Vault has a backload of them which you can find here signed along with some of the more modern Indian, Hermes, E & M prints. Some of their featured products is the signed Sy Barry print. A even more modern take on Phantom artwork for your wall is another Phanfare item: posters that glow in the dark! Designed from Glenn Ford's iconic image, these have been available for a little while but if you're searching for that hard-to-buy-for phan in your life, these just might be that unique item you're looking for. Available from Phanfare here. Statues For those with deeper pockets, you could consider either of Ikon Collectables beautiful Phantom statues. The "standing" Phantom has been out for a while now and in fact has sold out of the purple suit version, but blue, grey and a festive red are still available. Released only this month, The Phantom on Hero statue is also a wonderful piece that would look fantastic on a book shelf or display case in any home, and would be very delightfully received. These statues can be found at the Popcultcha site here. Also on Popcultcha and Phantoms Vault you can find the Funko Pop Vinyl's. Phantoms Vault also has the Phantom and Throne statue, the Bookends along with the Ikon Collectable Statues and figurines. Original Cover Art For those who have loads of money to be spent on, maybe original cover art is your answer. We have Glenn Ford listing his original art on his new Phanfare website along with Antonio Lemos on his personal website, both selling their original artwork that have been featured for over 20 years on Frew covers. Or why not perhaps the biggest ticket item of them all? Every phan would adore some original Sy Barry art, available from his website here. Hopefully we've been able to help you out finding that something special. Whatever you choose, Merry Christmas and all the very best for the phestive season from all in the ChronicleChamber team! #Clothing #IkonCollectables #Popcultcha #PerthBullion #Frew #PhantomsVault #HermesPress #Moonstone #DynamiteEntertainment #Indrajal #Phanfare #SyBarry #GlennFord #PopVinyl #AntonioLemos

Ask any Phantom phan and they will say the first ever The Phantom comic book was produced in Italy. This is something we have all believed, and been lead to believe for 80 years, by people who are much more knowledgeable than us. So without causing too much controversy, could they be wrong? You'd better believe it because its now time to rewrite Phantom history: we have discovered an older The Phantom comic! And this is not the end of the story, as there is a real chance that history could be rewritten yet again and we find that the Italian comic, previously thought of as the first The Phantom comic, may not even be the second or third. Let us go back to in time, lay out some known Phantom phacts and go from there. In Frew #1771. the Frew Crew included a feature article reminding readers that the first ever The Phantom comic was published in 1936 which technically is incorrect. Actually the date referred to here is September 13, 1936 when the L'Avventuroso magazine published their weekly magazine with a supplement filled with comics from around the world, including American comics and The Phantom. It is argued if these are actually comic strips or more like a magazine supplement (i.e. like the travel section in the newspaper) and not really a comic book as we understand it. Also it is argued that this magazine only featured a page or two combined with others and was therefore not a true Phantom comic. The most commonly known first The Phantom comic is the Italian Collana Albi Grandi Avventure 1 (above) which was released in May 1937. When Phantom phans talk about the first Phantom comic, this is what they are referring to. As you can see on the cover, it is dated Maggio (May) 1937. Now let's discuss how this is wrong. Uncommon knowledge is that there were many other The Phantom comics published before 1940 including Brasil, Turkey, France, the United States, Australia and the former Yugoslavia. About a year ago a Phantom phan from Brasil posted this Phantom cover (below) on a Facebook post citing a date of 27 April 1937 - a full month before the date that it had been credited with previously, as identified on the Deep Woods website. Clearly, this is also about a month before the well recognised May 1937 publication date of the Italian comic Collana Albi Grandi Avventure 1. This has been confirmed personally by the original Brasil phan who posted it, plus the original writer on the Deep Woods webpage who also owns a copy, as well as other researchers working independently, besides myself. The below image is the inside cover which shows the date 27th April 1937! So it seems that the title of "First Ever Phantom Comic" must pass from Italy to Brasil. Now to make this even more interesting, both Turkey and the former Yugoslavia also published comics featuring the Phantom in 1937. However at the moment we do not have confirmed months of publication for those two, so at this time the Italian comic is only relegated to the second Phantom comic ever published. However in time, it may prove that Collana Albi Grandi Avventure 1 was actually third or even fourth! Special thanks must go to Helio, Sergio, Swaroop and Andreas who have helped gather the information with the team at Chronicle Chamber. #PhantomHistory

The following is an edited transcript of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast – Episode 53 “Our Interview with Sy Barry”. The complete, unedited and unabridged version was made available to Patreon subscribers on January 8th. Features of the full transcript include: The complete and unedited voice of Sy Barry Pre- and post- interview chat from the CC Team Sy's thoughts on Australians Comic strip artists living the rock star lifestyle Sy's attitude to the Horror comic genre popular in the 1960s Our little chat with Sy's wife Simmy Individual identification of CC Team members - who said what The heart-stopping moment when the call dropped out A stunning invitation and a few rash promises Over 5.000 more words CC [It’s a great pleasure today to be speaking with] one of the biggest names in Phantom history and certainly one of the living legends in The Phantom and that is Sy Barry, from New York. Hello Sy! SB Hello! How are you, good to talk to you. CC No very good to talk to you Sy. SB I had remarked before that it’s a shame we’re not on FaceTime because I would’ve liked to see you guys. But we’ll do it again … and maybe we can get to see each other and you can take have a look at my studio too. CC That would be awesome. One of the advantages of doing a podcast is that we all have faces for radio as they would say back in the olden days. SB Right, right! Right now I’m working on another watercolour. I’ve been into watercolours lately and just sketching in a portrait of a photo I have of … a young blonde lady, and I’m doing it for my class. I’m teaching watercolours to a class of women. They’re quite talented, they’re very good … I don’t give out compliments too easily. But these women are quite good but it’s just sketching, it’s just painting nothing else. They’re a lot of fun and … they’re showing improvement every day, every week there’s a little more of an improvement in their painting. So that’s my new career and I love it, I love teaching. It’s been a whole new experience for me and for as long as I can I hope to keep teaching. And doing some painting, trying to sell some paintings that I’ve done. So that’s where I am right now. Anything in particular you guys would like to know? CC For sure – there’s so many things! SB Many things, okay! CC With your watercolours, would you say you’re enjoying that as much as your work on The Phantom, or probably even more by the sounds of what you’ve told us? SB You know something, at one point I would have said I enjoyed The Phantom more, but I got to the point, after working 33 years on it where it just became a bit of a task. When I retired I just felt that I needed to go on somewhere else. I felt like my creative juices were just kind of drying up and I needed to go into another area. Not commercially, but for my own enjoyment. I felt that I had enough of this experience, I had spent well over 50 years in comics – because you know I had worked for another 17 years … before I began to work on The Phantom … I worked several years for Marvel at that time it was called Timely Comics. I worked for DC, mostly that was my bread and butter account, and worked for several editors there including Julie Schwarz and several other editors. Then the strip came along. I guess you know how that happened? Wilson McCoy became ill and they asked me – I had just brought in a strip of my own, my own strip idea – and they were considering it when Wilson McCoy became ill and they liked my work, and I had also done Flash Gordon with my brother for a few features, so they knew me there, which was good because I had my foot in the door already, and then they asked me to just temporarily take on The Phantom until Wilson McCoy recovered. CC How did you become aware of The Phantom as a comic book or as a character in the first place? SB Well I began to see it when Ray Moore did it, the original art. I was a kid then, and I used to look at that strip and I loved the idea and the concept. I loved the fantasy issue in it, and I just thought it was something a little unusual, a little different. In fact, you know it started in 1936 before Superman came out, so it was really the first costumed character, before Superman. There were no other costumed characters. CC So would you just read it in the newspaper strips then and go home and doodle your own pictures and practise drawing The Phantom at that age? SB You know what, I didn’t spend my childhood drawing comic strips or comic characters. I enjoyed reading them and seeing them, but I didn’t really use them as my introduction into drawing. I really drew from life mostly. That’s where my style is more illustrative than humorous, because I always liked more representational kind of drawing. I was more of an illustrator than a comic strip artist. When they called it the “funnies”, I always wondered why they called it the “funnies”, because there were many adventure strips going on at the time. In fact, they took precedence, the adventure strips like Flash Gordon and Terry the Pirate and Secret Agent and Smiling Jack, all of these wonderful strip ideas. Of course the best of them was Prince Valiant, who was kind of my god because he [Hal Foster] was such a great illustrator. I loved the other illustrators who did illustrations for magazines. Those were the artists I was following; they were kind of my idols. Not really humorous artists, more serious and adventure strip kind of artists. Then of course my older brother Dan was an artist and I hadn’t known this. I don’t know if you know my childhood, but I had been fostered out … for the first 10 years of my life, and when I came back home I discovered that my older brother Dan was an artist too. That kind of made me feel very close to him. However, he was five years older than me. I always admired his drawing and his ability, but the only thing was that our personalities were very different. He and I didn’t see eye to eye too often... So we had a lot of conflict, Dan and I, but I did admire his ability and his talent, and he happened to be a brilliant individual too. He never quite finished high school because we were a very poor family – I’m one of eight children – and we grew up during the Depression. Our Depression was extremely difficult for us. Our father was a house painter and he had a very difficult time making a living, so we knew what poverty was before we became successful. We worked our behinds off to try to make a career out of our talents. CC … Was there any pressure on you to get a “real job” so to speak, rather than just your drawings and your art? SB Well I worked at all different kinds of art jobs by the time I was about 12 or 13. We lived in Coney Island at the time. I should say my parents lived there with my brothers and sisters; I didn’t live there till I was 10. Why I was kept away from home all those years and why I didn’t come back home all those years, I could never answer that and I could never find out why. Nevertheless, when I did come back home it was quite a disrupting experience for me, because I was living very nicely in the foster home and I had very nice foster parents, I didn’t want to be taken away from them. When I came home I discovered my older brother was able to draw, we had something in common, but our personalities were a lot different. We had the same skills but I didn’t find him easy to deal with. Very different individuals. I spent most of my life trying to work out a relationship with him but it never quite worked. But he was an amazingly talented guy. Do you know of, have you seen any of- ? CC Yeah, I remember reading some Flash Gordon and he also did some work on Indiana Jones? SB Yes, he did, after he left Flash Gordon, right. CC I remember reading the Indiana Jones and I’m going “Boy this art looks familiar” and then I looked at the credit and I realised it was Dan! So did you notice that there was a lot of similarity between your two artworks, the artworks between yourself and Dan? SB I must say I have to give credit to Dan. When I … helped him on Flash Gordon for several years, while I was doing my own work with DC at the time. That too was disrupting for me because I had my own accounts and he kept needing help on his strip, he always was working on deadlines and he kept calling me for help. I would leave my work and help him out. Put myself in trouble, but that was the job of a brother you know, you have to step in when he needs help. I just wish it were appreciated a little bit more (laughs) in our relationship. I was always there for him and it was nice being able to help him. I always felt good about giving him a hand. Even though it affected me financially many times, I would lose money on it because it didn’t quite pay as well as my own work, but I just felt that you can’t let him down. CC Did you learn a lot from him? SB Yeah, you know I studied illustration and cartooning in high school and what I learned there didn’t even touch the surface compared to what I really learned doing comics itself. Reading a script and visualising a scene and you know, all these things that require so much of your talents and your creativity. Remember, as I said I’ve been doing it for like 50 years when I retired … and it always commanded so much of our attention and our creativity that eventually you become drained, you just kind of dry up. Some guys could keep going forever, but I just felt I came to the point where I just wasn’t enjoying it the way I did once. I think you could tell from my work that I really loved it when I worked on it, I really enjoyed it. I think it came out in my work because I was always right in there when other artists would get together, respect for my work as well as the respect I had for them. Working in comics was a marvellous experience I must say. It was wonderful working on my own schedule, although it was kind of my own defeat too because I would tend to procrastinate and not get down to work when I should. I’d waste time and then when the juices started to flow then I was fine. CC It’s good to hear that you’re human as well then Sy, because I think we can all relate to that. SB Oh absolutely absolutely. CC I think all creative people are like that, they procrastinate until they get the juices flowing, and if it’s not flowing, your work suffers. SB Oh absolutely, that’s right – when the juices are flowing you can’t be any better than when things are coming through very easily… But when you can’t produce, you just sit there and you’re not in the mood or you can’t think of something and you try just applying yourself “God dammit you’ve gotta get it done”, it doesn’t always work... So we’re all humans, we all have the same problems, the same flaws and the same difficulties in getting our creativity going. We all have the same problems. CC Yes. Did you have any methods that would help you get in the groove? SB Yes. One of the things I did was I would look back at some of the Impressionists. I enjoyed Degas and Daumier, … to me Daumier was more of a cartoonist. So I would look back at the more classical art and just marvel at some of the things, and I would see things there and would suddenly just say “Gee that’s inspiring” so that’s basically what got me going is looking at some other beautiful art work. Or I would look back at some of the stuff that I enjoyed in comics too. Some of the things that inspired me and made me want to do comic book work. CC … Did you have a lot of reference in your study? SB Yes, as a matter of fact I had what they called a morgue. It was three full file cabinets of reference material from A to Z: sports, education, scenes, foreign cities, clothing, uniforms, all of this stuff. Every bit of material that you can now get on Google, Yahoo or any of the other search engines, all you have to do is type it in and you’ve got it right at your fingertips. I got rid of most of my files because I really don’t need it... Not only is there so much material out there to pull from all of the resources, but there are many different views and angles. Black and white and full colour and what have you, paintings, there’s so much to choose from that it doesn’t pay to keep a morgue and take up space. So now I use the Internet. CC Sy ... how was the process for you in terms of picking up where Wilson McCoy left off and moving into creating your own Phantom? SB That’s a great question … On the first week that I did The Phantom, I did in my own style and it looked a bit like one of my science fiction stories in my comic book days and it also looked like Flash Gordon. Here’s the Phantom wearing his costume in the jungle and it’s not at all Wilson McCoy’s style. So when I delivered it the editor said “Sy that’s beautiful but I can’t use it.” I said “Why?” He said “Well it’s just not Wilson McCoy, it’s too much too far, it looks like Flash Gordon.” So he said “Look, we’re gonna pay you for this, but you’ll have to do it over.” Fortunately the strip was far enough ahead of deadline that I had the time to do it again, but I had to kind of rush it out. Working in Wilson McCoy’s style, to me, I must admit, I guess many people are going to be learning this now, but working in Wilson McCoy’s style was so difficult for me. It was, what I had to do, it was like stripping myself down naked. I had to undo everything I had learned, not only in school, but in comics! All of the techniques and all of the tricks and all basic requirements to doing a good looking strip had to be forfeited for the sake of working in his style. It was more of a problem undoing what I would normally naturally do and try and work in someone else’s style. I’d never done that before … I should say I had done it when I worked on Flash Gordon, but I still had a certain amount of freedom to work in my own way. It looked reasonably like Dan’s Flash Gordon when I worked on it but it had something of my own too, it my finished technique in it, and it was the final technique that just didn’t match Wilson McCoy’s work. You know his work of course? How would you describe him? I’m just curious how another viewer would describe his work in the way of artistic ability and the way of seeing it as an interesting looking drawing. ... CC A lot of phans really love McCoy’s work because it’s so simple and clean. When you took over and as your style evolved, the strip became far more detailed, … and the depth of each panel I think really increased. SB Well that’s good, that’s a very good explanation of my work, because I did give it more depth. I gave it more body. My use of black began to give it a more three-dimensional look to it rather than the flat two-dimensional single line technique that Wilson used. I mean … I was able to understand why people enjoyed the way he worked, I could understand that. His simplicity, it had its value … and I could understand how people liked that simplistic look to it. I remember Ed Rhoades saying that when he was a kid his father would sit him on his lap, and his father would read the strip to him because he loved it so much, he loved the style. So when I told him that I had difficulty working on it and it wasn’t my favourite kind of style I think I put a knife through him, it was like I was breaking up his childhood dreams. I hadn’t realised how badly it would affect him when I was giving a professional opinion of his artwork, you know. I didn’t realise that he was so devoted to Wilson McCoy. CC So you didn’t have a working relationship with McCoy at any stage? Did you know each other personally? SB No, not at all. I never met him. I think he lived in St Louis, yeah, I think he lived in Missouri. CC That sounds about right. And what about Ray Moore, did you ever cross paths with Ray Moore? SB Oh not at all, not at all … I spoke to Lee Falk quite often, I met him several times. I remember being in Central Park in New York one time, … I probably was on the strip about 20 years already and I see this old guy with a cane and a young lady walking with him. The young lady was his granddaughter, and I hadn’t really recognised him until he passed me and then I turned around and I realised: hey that guy is wearing an Ascot tie, you know that’s what he used to wear, the Ascot. He’s wearing an Ascot tie and a jacket and a cane, and he’s walking very slowly. I had just seen him maybe 8 months before and he was in good shape, and here he is this guy toddling along you know, very slowly and his granddaughter holding his arm you know. I said “Lee?” Well he looked at me and he was so embarrassed, I think he just – he had a bit of an ego, Lee – I said “Lee, how are you?”. He was just a couple of blocks away from his own home, his own apartment, he lived around Central Park West. … So I never did meet Wilson McCoy and I never met Ray Moore, I never even talked to them. First of all when Wilson McCoy became ill and went into the hospital, he was too ill. He had some kind of infection that reoccurs, that he developed when he was in Africa and it seemed to return. … Somehow it formed a blood clot and went to his heart and he died in the hospital. I thought I was only doing it temporarily, until… CC Temporary for 30-odd years! SB (laughs) I would’ve liked … I did a chalk talk one time at the Cartoonists Museum … and lo and behold his daughter was there with his grandson, Wilson McCoy’s. She came over to me and she said “I loved your talk and did you know my father?” And I said “No I never did. I never spoke to him. I would’ve liked to.” So she said “Well I loved your drawing and your talk about The Phantom. My father felt the same way about The Phantom that you do, and you brought back beautiful memories of my father.” I felt so good, you know like, everything else was nice, it was nice receiving the accolades from other people and everything, but to hear that I reminded her of her father because of the way I spoke about my love for the strip and that’s how he felt … I just felt so good after that. I went home feeling better about that statement than anything else that was said to me. Because it struck home, … and I knew how her father felt about The Phantom. And I felt that way all through those 33 years, until towards the end when I felt like I just had enough. It was good to me, the strip, and I know I did the strip a good favour, because by the time I left the strip had picked up 400 papers. When I came on the strip we had 500 papers and when I left we had 900. Now I hear it’s back to about 450. Sadly, adventure strips are losing their popularity. All the humour strips are taking over now. CC The panels are smaller … SB You’re right. They’re harder to see, and I don’t know, I’m just not thoroughly excited somehow… there was just something about the way Lee wrote. Much as I disagreed with the kind of personality he was and I had a difficult time dealing with him personally, because he was always at odds with me… I just wanted to do a professional job and get the work done, and he always made it a personal issue. Kind of, just bucking me all the time you know. So I said “You want to play that game go ahead but you know, I’ve got work to do, I’ve got a strip to turn out” (laughs) and I just didn’t let him bother me. CC So what sort of things would he take issue with, in terms of bucking you … ? B Ok. On several occasions he would lose the story, he would lose a character in the story. He would leave somebody abandoned on an island or something, or in someone’s captivity and he’d never get back to them. The story would be ending and this guy was never recovered, the Phantom should have been out there getting him back to safety. I would remind Lee and he’d say “Oh well, the audience won’t know.” And I’d say, “No don’t say that, they’re very cognisant of what goes on in the strip and I get a lot of mail! That this guy was left here and that woman was left there and what are you doing about it? She was all tied up and she hasn’t eaten in 20 days” … (laughs). I’d get these letters from these people and I’d say “Lee you can’t just leave them there! People do know, they don’t forget, they notice, you’re writing a story you’ve gotta be true to it!” So I would have some really bitter – and he hated to be corrected. He’d say “Oh I’ll look into it.” He wouldn’t admit that I was right, you know, and so there was this ego going on and I don’t play that kind of game I mean that’s not my thing. So he was a bit difficult. Then there were times when I needed to go on vacation and I’d tell him “Get me some extra script written so that I can go on vacation.” Well he made sure he did it for himself when he went on vacation but he would just hold me up and hold me up and I’d want to get ahead, then the last week he’d get a ton of script to me, the last week before I’m going to leave. Many times I had to go over his head and call the Managing Editor and tell him “Look you’ve got to do something about Lee, he’s just not cooperating with me, he’s not letting me go on my vacation. How can I go away when I’ve got so much work to do? You’re gonna have a blank spot in the newspaper one day. It’s not gonna appear.” (laughs) So those are the things that he did. He was spiteful and a bit on the egotistic side. CC So would you ever make edits to a story? SB No I wouldn’t do that. No. ... I once changed the words… that was part of the difficulty. He would not let me do anything on the writing, not nothing. He said “You call me first.” So I said “Yeah when I call you you give me a hard time, so I decided not to have a difficult time and I decided to rewrite a couple of words.” So he said “Don’t ever do that again.” I said “I’m not your student, and I’m not your child, don’t tell me don’t ever. You can find a better way of telling me this. I’m a professional the same as you are, and you don’t treat me like a student or a child.” So these were the issues that came up, you know. But I must say that he was a brilliant writer. Somehow after he died the strip never had the same quality to it in the way of writing, and I don’t think it ever had the excitement in the artwork that I tried to put into it. I put so much thought into it because I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t have gone that far with the strip if I didn’t enjoy it that much. I really loved it. CC Exactly. I thought Graham Nolan did a good job with his Sundays for the short period of time that he was on them. … SB Oh yes, after I left, yeah. I would say that he was pretty faithful to the strip, he was. I would’ve liked to see just a little more excitement in the layouts, in the storytelling I should say, but he was an accomplished artist, he was good. He at least kept the character in the strip, he really did. CC Do you have any other thoughts on any of the other artists that are currently doing it, or like Paul Ryan, or any other Phantom artists that did Dailies and Sundays? SB Unfortunately I’m mostly seeing; I haven’t seen the strip lately. I really haven’t, I haven’t been getting the proofs of the strip. So I don’t know what the Daily and Sunday look like lately. In fact, I’m not sure who’s doing it right now. Who’s doing the Daily and the Sunday, I’ve lost touch? CC Mike Manley’s doing the Dailies, and Terry Beatty’s doing the Sundays at the moment. SB Oh Terry Beatty, yeah I’ve seen his name on Facebook yep. But I haven’t seen it. CC Well that’s probably not to be expected. I think once you retire it’s probably fair enough to move on … SB That’s right. Once I’m done with it, you’re right, you know it’s the end of a career and I was starting another area of interest. I would just hear about another artist getting onto it, and that kind of thing. I know that George Olesen who was helping me at the time that I left, I know he continued – at one point he was doing some layouts for me, and then I would tighten them up or change the layout in a panel here and there, tighten it up and ink it. Do you know what I mean by this process that I’m talking about? CC Could you go through the process … from the script, pencils, inking and lettering …? SB Yeah, he would give me a rough layout and put the lettering in in pencil and if I, most of the time, he was very talented George Olesen, I guess you’ve seen his work right? CC Yes, I’ve got a couple of pieces of his. SB Yeah, and then this other guy Ryan… Brian was it that did the inking, with George pencilling, … what was his last name? CC Was it Keith Williams? SB Huh? CC Was it Keith Williams? SB Williams! What was his first name? CC Keith. SB Jase? CC Keith. SB Oh, Keith! CC Yeah, Keith Williams. SB Did you say Keith? CC Keith. SB Keith, Keith. Oh Keith Williams, yes. You know I forgot Australians say “A” for “E”. I think I told you – I don’t know if I mentioned this story when I spoke in 2008 at the dinner, there’s this story of the first time I came to Australia. They had a convention, and they had a couple of tables for me to put my work on. They put some of the things that I did that were reprinted into comic books, some Dailies and Sundays. People were bringing – when I came in there they said “Oh you’re going to be signing a few pieces of work for your fans” and I see this line starting to develop and start to go around the room. Before I knew it there were like 300 people on line! I said “You’re kidding, am I gonna sign all these things? 300 people?” Each one of them had about 6-7, or a dozen pieces of work for me to sign! I said “You’ve gotta be kidding, I’m not, my hand’s gonna fall off!” So, these people came along, I decide I would sign 2, 3 at the most at a time. One guy comes along, a big burly guy, well over 6 feet and he’s got a short sleeved, like a T-shirt, and he’s got the T-shirt rolled up to his shoulder, you know, so as his whole arm is showing. His bicep and his tricep. And he’s got a mark, he’s got a red mark indicating where he would like me to put my signature. Put my name “SY BARRY”. So I said “What do you mean, you want me to sign on your arm?” He said “Yeah, right there, right over there.” So I said “Wait a minute, what’s your name?” He says “Diamond.” I said “Diamond?” He says “No, Diamond.” I said “Yeah, Diamond!” He says “No, Diamond.” (laughter) So I said “Wait a second, maybe he means Damon, oh DAMON!” (laughter) Well from that point on I realised that the “A” was an “I” and not an “A”. But the funny thing was, so I said “Well why do you want me to do that? You’re gonna go home, you’re gonna shower, it’ll all wash off. Unless you don’t intend to bathe?” So he said “No, I’m gonna go from here right into a tattoo shop and I’m gonna tattoo it on my arm.” My god. My wife Simmy was sitting next to me, she almost fainted. (laughter) We both started laughing, it was just hysterical. Even people next to him were laughing, I mean it was such a funny scene. I never heard of this before. That’s how much a guy wanted my signature on him, so that it would never be removed. … I’m certain that he did it, I’m certain that he really did that. He was so determined, you know. I said “I hate tattoos.” He said “Please, I really want to do this, it’s very important to me.” So I did it! ... CC Wonderful. .... [and] did you want to finish the procedure of how you were doing the art? … It sounds like there was a big support staff and- SB Oh yes yes yes – trying to bring my style around to, you mean trying to bring my style around? CC Sure. SB So then I redid it. It was so difficult working in that style, undoing whatever I had learned in the past you know. Trying to duplicate that simplicity, that utter simplicity, … not working with any blacks, and not being able to give it a three-dimensional look. I mean there are ways of using black and white to give the effect of solidity and volume to the work to make it look three-dimensional like it’s popping out of the page. You can do it more effectively with colour, I began to realise that when I started to work with colour, you can do it much more effectively with colour but to do it with black and white- I’m finding that it’s much more difficult doing it that way. All the secrets that you’ve learned to make things look three-dimensional … were there so I was able to give it more dimension, but I couldn’t do that until I was able to break into my own style. So I must say that for the first 5 to 6 weeks I began to just lighten up, or should say, get a little heavier in my artwork, rather than the very light simplistic style. I began to put a little black here and a little black there and more black in the background. Then I began to work with some more shadows and just little by little began to introduce – but it was tough working that way, very tough. It’s very hard … to simplify, very hard. I mean, ask any designer when they have to – one of the main tricks to design is simplicity. The more things that are on a bit of fashion the more distracting those things are. The simpler the lines, the simpler the effect, the better it looks. So it’s a very good principle. One of the basics of art is simplicity. Mine got to be more and more involved, but only because, not because I put more work into it later on, but because everything was reproduced smaller. Much smaller. By the time I finished, I would say it was about at least a third smaller than the original size I worked. If you don’t know what that means, unless you’re working on panels, and reducing lettering and reducing pictures and trying to get figures to fit into a panel and trying to get them make look obvious to the viewer. It’s very difficult to work small and give the viewer an opportunity to see the point of the picture that you want them to see. That’s a very difficult thing to do. CC Sure. SB So I hope I’m teaching you a little bit of art while we’re at it. (laughter) CC … Back when you started doing The Phantom what was the process … in getting the scripts and what have you? SB Well it wasn’t Monkey Mail. (laughter) SB You remember Monkey Mail? CC Of course. SB Yes right okay. He lived in New York and I lived on Long Island, and that’s about 35 oh 40 miles away from each other, all right? Now, when you say 35 to 40 miles, to get into New York City from Long Island, it could take anywhere from an hour to three hours, depending on the traffic. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the word that’s as busy and as tied up and as intense, as New York City. So going through the tunnels and the bridges and all of that to get into New York … you have to go over the East River and all of these different crossings to get into New York. So naturally he would mail the stuff to me and many times when I finished up the work I would send it in by messenger rather than travelling in and delivering it, I would send it in by messenger, it was a lot easier for me. CC So was that the finished artwork, the finished panels? SB Yes, that’s the finished artwork, the finished Dailies or finished Sundays, right. Sometimes I’d send them both in together, the Dailies and the Sundays. CC Did Lee Falk have a final look over that before it went to publishing or anything? SB No, no, he didn’t. It went right to the Syndicate. I would fume if Lee had a look at that. If Lee had’ve looked at that stuff I would be fuming. (laughter) SB Because again. I’m not letting another professional look at the work of another professional and I think it’s just a poor practice and I would never abide by it. CC Sure. What sort of turn around were you looking at, from script to seeing it in the newspaper? … SB Oh, you’d see it, well actually, from the time Lee would send it to me, well from the time I delivered it, it would be five weeks before it’s printed in the newspaper – the Daily, the Daily would be five weeks ahead. The Sunday would be eight weeks ahead because there was a colour process going on and you needed a – in those days when I first started on it there was a four plate processing, your black red yellow and blue, and now it’s all done by computer, it’s all done by codes and numbers. It’s not done by plates any more. It’s a much cheaper process, much faster. CC So did you have to draw the Sundays differently knowing that they were going to be coloured and did you have a preference for whether they came out in black and white or…? SB There’s not a preference. If you do a Sunday page it’s gotta be done in colour. CC Sure. SB Yeah, so there’s no pref – the only preference is… At one time we would have the staff, the art staff at the Syndicate do our colouring for us. They basically knew the colours we were using for The Phantom and all the other issues. If there was anything that I wanted a little different … then I would make colour notes. Indicate what I wanted. Whatever changes I needed. So that’s how it was done in those days. Now guess what? They … don’t require you to send in the work anymore. You copy it up on your copier, on your printer, you copy it up if you have a copier, … you run that copy onto your Internet and it gets sent out onto your email and it gets sent out. You keep your originals you don’t send them out. CC So you didn’t get to keep a lot of your originals … then? SB No. Those days I delivered them because we didn’t have that process. When I retired don’t forget it was in ’94, 22 years ago. So we didn’t have that process then. CC So obviously you’ve got your website there and you are selling some original art. But I’m just curious- obviously you don’t have your full back catalogue of original art then if most of it got sent in? SB Oh I’ve got some – some of it got stolen I don’t know if you heard about that? CC No. … SB Yes. Yep. I really don’t – can’t make accusations but I have an idea of who stole it but I can’t really vouch for it definitely but it was pretty awful and I’m very upset about it. Now I’m hearing that those Dailies and Sundays are being sold, and that’s even more upsetting... I mean you as a collector could appreciate how difficult it is for me to deal with that, that my work is being sold out there and profits are being made on my sweat. That’s pretty bad. Pretty bad. Whoever is selling it … seem to have a lot of my work and they claim that it was given to them. That I gave it to them, and I have to prove that I didn’t give it to them. So I’m really up a creek. CC Right. So I hope that wasn’t a home invasion or anything like that was it? Did it disappear from King Features or-? SB Yes. I called them one time to get my originals, they said “No. They’ve been taken, we don’t have them.” They didn’t say who took them. They wouldn’t tell me- and I was furious. I really wanted to sue. But you know, whoever did it pretended that they had the right to it, for some reason. Guys in the mailroom had no experience with this. They, they just gave it away- Anyway, I have to get past that. I can’t worry about it; I can’t let it get me sick. I mean I know it happened and I know who did it, but that’s it. If I want to keep my sanity I can’t bother with it. CC Sure. Some things are not worth stressing over. SB No, that’s right. Exactly. CC Health is more important. SB Yes. It is. Especially at this stage of my life – so many of my friends are becoming ill or more serious … I’m just grateful that I’m in the shape I am and that Simmy is as well. So we just are very grateful. Really. Yep, we get up each morning, we say “Hey, we’re here. My back aches so I know I’m alive…” (laughter) SB So we’re doing fine. We’re very content, I love what I’m doing, I love the teaching and I just wanna be around a few more years to get to a certain point in my talents that I’d be satisfied with. I’d just like to be able to hold a pencil and hold a brush for another few years. CC So do you have, when you look back at your career Sy, do you feel like there was a particular period when you were at the peak of your powers and really knocking out some great work? What was your favourite stories, or period of time? SB Oh. Well, my favourite story, one of my favourites, very favourites is The Jungle Patrol. ... It’s a group of pirates that … the Phantom appoints as the beginning of the Jungle Patrol, and he makes Redbeard the Captain of the, or Colonel of the Jungle Patrol. That was my favourite story. One of the things that I really was hitting my juices with, I must say, I guess that I appreciated my work on… there was a story called, I think it was called The [Masked] Ball. … Now the funny thing was at that point I was not talking to my brother Dan. We had had a real break up and then I tried getting in touch with him again because I felt- his family, he wasn’t doing well with his family. I felt like I had deserted him so I started to get back in touch with him and he wouldn’t receive me. He wouldn’t respond to me. You know, I had to say that I tried. And I thought of him as one of the villains (laughter). As a result of my experience with him I made him the main villain. He was the guy – he was the pirate. CC Yes, yeah I know the guy. SB Okay. Dark, very dark-haired guy you know, with a pirate hat. It looked so much like him. If you go back to that sequence at all, if you can find it. CC We’ll do that later today I think. … SB Oh you are? How are you looking it up? How do you find that? CC Back issues of Frew comics mostly. SB Of Frew yeah, okay. CC We all collect Frew comics so I think we’ll be able to go back and find the publications of that … [Frew issue] #1125 in 1996 is the last published, but it was first published in #402 in 1969. SB ‘69? CC That’s when it was first published. SB It was first published in ’69? Did you say ’69? … Wow. All right. I don’t think – you know something; I think that was stolen too. See I try to forget about it until I need to look for something. When I need to look for something and then I can’t find it - it gets me upset all over again you know. And you guys as collectors would certainly appreciate that right? CC I think most collectors are very keen on making sure that the products they buy are all licensed by King Features and that sort of thing. We want to make sure that the money’s going in the right way and for it to not go back to the artist who produced it, that’s yeah, it’s very wrong. SB Yeah exactly, exactly. So, it’s upsetting. It’s upsetting. But as I say, it doesn’t – when I don’t need something from it or when I’m reminded of something that I have done and they say “Oh I loved that sequence” and then I think “Oh no I don’t have that either” (chuckles). It does get to me a little. But you know, I have to live with it and that’s about it. CC ... I‘m sure I read somewhere recently that you saw something of the personality of the Phantom coming into your world, that it was an escape for you to draw the character, so you’d really get involved in the story that you were illustrating at the time? SB Yes, well particularly the villains. In order to make them realistic and to depict them as qualifying as a villain you had to kind of feel their emotions and see how would they react if they were being, if their plan is being voided, foiled you know. How would they react and what would the expressions be and would they throw some things around? So I would go beyond Lee’s description and I would add some things in there you know. But I would never change the dialogue. I’d never do that. I tried it once and he was not very happy. (laughter) CC [Did you understand how much you were loved by comic book fans?] SB ... I mean there were many [artists] that were loved. For some reason this Aragonés… Sergio? Aragonés… CC Yes. Did all the work for Mad Magazine. SB Yeah, yeah. He’s got quite a reputation and I mean, his work is funny but I’ve seen other artists whose work was easily as good and in some cases better, and yet there’s something about his technique that the audience seems to love, they rave over his work. His work is beautiful, it’s nice, but there are a lot of other artists that are very capable who don’t get the same acclaim. Go figure that. How do you figure? CC Just in the right place at the right time I suppose. SB I guess so, I guess so. There’s something about it that seems to hit their fancy, they just enjoy it. I guess I could understand that because there were artists whose work I, even as a professional, whose work I always enjoyed and admired and respected. For example, in comics I admired Stan Drake’s work. Are you familiar with that? He did a Romance strip… what was her name, in the strip? [The Heart of Juliet Jones, also owned by KFS] Oh god, it was a beautifully done strip. Then there was another guy, whose work is very little known. His name was Luke Vine [?], he was an illustrator. He was probably ten years older than me. He’s gone now. He was a marvellous artist. He had a wonderful technique, realistic and yet semi-teenage kind of style you know, just beautifully done. So there were some artists whose work – not too many guys knew, or were aware of, but that I knew personally – whose work I really admired. CC Did you – with the fame in Australia which you experienced first-hand, did you ever go to the Scandinavian countries like Norway and Sweden? SB Yes yes, I went to three of them. There too I was invited to sign some books. They were producing the Sundays, reprints of my Sundays in a hardcover book, and I was asked to come and sign for them at a book convention. So that was quite an experience because at the time, guess what happened? It was 9/11. … We were there in Sweden, in Guttenberg Sweden when it happened. We couldn’t believe it, we were sick. We tried to reach home to find out if our kids were all right, or any of our relatives were affected at all and we couldn’t get through. All the trunks were closed, telephone trunks. So I used, at that time I think Egmont had taken over at that time and Egmont used its News services to try to get us through. CC Oh wow. SB Now if anyone could get us through to our family it’s a News service. They couldn’t get us through by phone, but they got us through by mail, by email finally. We couldn’t even use emails, everything had shut down. Everything. Just shut down. It was terrible. But everyone who came along… meanwhile I was signing books and pictures and everything – there again there were a few hundred, couple of hundred people on line waiting – and everyone who came by said “Mr Barry we’re so sorry for what happened in New York.” I’m telling you, it was such a difficult experience, I don’t know how I stayed through those hours of signing. It just was a bit overwhelming for me. It was tough, it was tough. But nevertheless our flight was never cancelled ... We were able to get home. They made sure, the Egmont publication made sure that our flight was honoured. CC That was good. SB Yes, we were very grateful for that, yeah very grateful. But I loved it there. I think one time we were in Norway and Simmy stopped for a minute, and I stopped, and I see her looking at something in a store, like a novelty store. She sees this rack of comic books and there’s The Phantom, a couple different issues of The Phantom in Norway. And she said “There’s one of your books!” She saw my artwork on the cover. (laughter) I pulled it out and then everybody – we were on a bus tour – everybody on the bus saw my name Sy Barry on the cover and on the, in the book itself. So I felt a little, I felt very good that day. CC So, you mentioned before about being asked to draw the Horror strips [see unedited version] and not wanting to do that because … you wouldn’t want to draw something that you didn’t want your kids to see. The Phantom is, as much as any comic strip character, a very moral character and … a family guy, good versus evil, all of those sorts of things. To what extent do you think the morality of the character kept you on board for so long? SB Why wouldn’t it keep me on board? I liked the established style, the established concept, that Lee wrote into this. I just thought that he developed a character who could be tough, and rough … rough on roughnecks… But he was clever. He did the things that families respect. They didn’t, he didn’t deviate into the more ugly – sadly it’s become more acceptable here in the States, I don’t know how things are now in Australia, I haven’t been there for a few years. The fact that the Australians love the strip so much, they respect the cleanliness and the- ethics of the strip… I think that’s what they see in it, as well as the legendary story, which I thought was the most brilliant part of, the most brilliant concept to use for a strip. So I must respect Lee, as much as I think there were many things that he wasn’t nice about, I must say that he was a brilliant writer and his concepts were really clever, really… They were the kind of things that helped it last for this many years. That’s one of the things that made it last all these years, is that wonderful fantasy, and the ethics involved in the strip. It never lost sight of that. And it still stayed, it still stays a fantasy strip. And it’s hard to make it a science strip, or a science fiction kind of strip, and start to deviate completely away from the old concept – it loses, it’s not The Phantom anymore, and it needs to be The Phantom. It needs to be an escape. And I think, I thought it was a beautiful escape. CC Excellent. (pause) SB Are you guys awake? (laughter) CC A bit mesmerised by your talk. SB Okay. (laughs) CC Just to finish up here Sy: you’re almost universally acclaimed as one of the big three artists of The Phantom and for many phans … you are their unashamed favourite. How do you consider your place in the history of such an iconic and culturally important comic book character? … What do you see as your legacy to The Phantom world and to the comic world? SB I think that I interpreted The Phantom … the way I saw it, and since the time that I was a kid I saw him in a certain way. I always dreamt of someday – it’s strange ‘cause it was that strip, because of its fantasy and its unusual concept, and where its location was, everything seemed to fit in so well. I just thought it was a great strip idea and a great concept. Even as a kid I thought that. And I said “Someday, I wish I could draw that strip someday, because I would love to give it my illustrative technique” you know. And strange enough fate played her hand and I was able to do it. So I would place The Phantom as something more unique than the average strip. I would say that it gave… a new concept – of course fantasy was always selling, for … hundreds of years, fantasy was done. But to put it into a comic strip in this form and make it a costumed character, and to present it as fight against evil, and to use this concept of a 400-year-old man; I thought it was a marvellous idea and it held up! It held up for all those years, it’s been 80 years now, and it’s still popular. It’s, the idea of it is still popular. … It wouldn’t be a strip without the artwork, without some good artwork on it. My feelings that in most cases the artwork has been very dedicated to the story concept. It has been, in most cases. … If I have to mention what kind of legacy I left? I think I gave it the kind of character and- emotion. I gave it a kind of emotion that it didn’t have before. That’s one thing I think I may have added to the strip. The emotion of the characters and identifying them as individual human beings, that’s the way I wanted the reader to see the Phantom and the characters involved in The Phantom. When they were sad I wanted everybody to feel it. When they were happy I wanted them to look gleeful and expressive in many ways so I think I did give it that, I gave it the emotion that it needed. As well as the drama. Those two issues. Drama and emotion, that’s, I think I contributed that and I think I left that legacy behind. CC Totally agree. SB If you saw that in the strip then I’d be very satisfied because that’s what I tried to leave there. I tried to add to it. That’s what I felt I added to it. And if it was left there and people can remember it, I did my job. CC I think most phans would certainly feel … that you were the perfect artist at the perfect time for The Phantom. You know, getting married and having children and having those family moments, that style that you just talked about was the perfect … style to take at that time. SB I think we hit the nail on the head because those subjects were new and they were difficult to draw and difficult to – first of all I had to visualise them and put them … on paper, make the reader appreciate what I was thinking … what I wanted to depict, to express the story. That’s the important thing, expressing the story. To be able to depict that and to have the opportunity – I loved it. I just loved it, the challenge. The challenge was just wonderful, it was a wonderful experience, really. As I say, having had that experience and lived through it and done what I did, and I felt I did I had no more to express, I just felt I had to go on to something else. I know it was sad for a lot of readers because I got so many letters saying “Why why why don’t you get back on the strip, I loved your style, I miss you” you know, and much as I appreciated it, it made me feel sad that they felt that way. … I did what I needed to do and I couldn’t do anymore as far as I was concerned. And things were getting more difficult with Lee too, he was getting older and more irascible and more difficult to work with, so there were little problems. Yeah, I didn’t want to deal with that anymore, I’d had enough of it, it was too silly to deal with. … CC … Thanks a lot for your time. You’ve been very generous Sy thank you so much. (chuckling) SB Right. I didn’t think it would take this long. Woah, two hours! I can’t believe it. (laughter) CC No, we really appreciate it and I’m sure everyone who’s listening [reading] will really appreciate it. SB Oh, you’re very welcome. I don’t give Simmy two hours at a time! (laughter) SB Okay guys, good talking to you … It’s … quite an honour, thank you so much. CC No thank you. The honour is ours, thank you very much Sy. SB Ok guys. Take care, good talking to you. #SyBarry #Podcast #XBand #Marvel #DC #WilsonMcCoy #LeeFalk #RayMoore #LFMBEC #KingFeaturesSyndicate #EdRhoades #FlashGordon #GrahamNolan #TerryBeatty #MikeManley #GeorgeOlesen #KeithWilliams #Egmont

It's 2017 and it seems that almost everyone with an Internet connection has a social media account. And, as we have seen in recent stories, even the Phantom uses the net; he has a a PC in the Skull Cave, uses a smart phone and steals external hard drives from the bad guys. So it only makes sense that he's on social media too! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more - The Phantom may be 81 years old but thanks to the efforts of some intrepid phans, he really is beginning to embrace the modern jungle drums! A little searching reveals quite a number of Phantom and Phantom-related social media accounts. So today ChronicleChamber is launching what will hopefully be an on-going series of interviews, in which we talk to the brains behind some of these accounts. In The Phantom on the Web #1, we talk to the owner of the @Phantom_Comic Twitter and @Phantom.Comic Instagram accounts. "Before there was Superman, before there was Batman, before there was Spider Man... there was The Phantom." ChronicleChamber: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us! First up, can we ask a little about yourself? Age/Sex/Location/Profession/Family? PhantomComic: Male / 37 / Australia / Management Position / Not Married CC: So what is your history as a Phantom phan? When did you start reading the comic? Are you a collector? PC: I was introduced to Phantom comics by my father approximately 27 years ago. The stories and adventures intrigued me as a young person, especially the fact that the Phantom had no ‘super-powers’ and would use his smarts and strength to ‘save the day’. As time went by, I continued to grow my Frew collection, mainly buying from markets or second hand shops and would enjoy reading the older stories. Then eBay came along and opened up the possibility of growing my Frew Phantom collection even more, plus add Phantom comics from overseas. My collection is mainly made up of Phantom comics, both domestic and international, but I do have some Phantom merchandise that I've picked up over the years, including trading cards, posters, rings, ceramics and glassware. CC: Would you consider yourself to be a Falkist, a modernist, or somewhere in between? PC: I've never thought about it really. As long as the Phantom’s values are upheld as initially created by Lee Falk, and the consequent comic writers remain true to the Phantom heritage, I enjoy reading and collecting it. CC: Did you have a personal Twitter/Instagram account before you started the Phantom Comic accounts? PC: I did/do have personal Social Media accounts, however I do keep the accounts separate. Social Media is a great way of staying in touch with people and getting real-time information. CC: When did you first open your Phantom Comic account? Was Twitter first, or Instagram? PC: I created the Twitter account first (in May 2015), then Instagram soon after. As Instagram is primarily a photo sharing platform, it only made sense to create an Instagram account as well. I haven’t created a Phantom Facebook page at this stage as Facebook seems to have enough phan pages which contain great content. The accounts aren’t linked and I don’t use any specific software to post new content, I post and share images manually. I have the opportunity to control filters and cropping of images by posting manually. CC: Can you describe your approach to the @Phantom_comic accounts? How many hours a week do you spend curating them? PC: I generally share images that are circulating the web at the time, or take photos of my own comics and add a digital twist via an image enhancement application. Simply adding filters or manipulating the original art can change an image to present the Phantom in a new light. It really doesn’t take much time - like anything, if you enjoy what you do, it’s not a burden in any way. CC: Given that your accounts are heavily image focused, it would be remiss of me not to ask who your favourite artists would be. Also, do you have any particularly favourite stories? PC: Top artists for me that come to mind are Glenn Ford, Jamie Johnson, Sal Velluto, Sy Barry, Henrik Sahlström but not limited to just these artists. I sway more for the modern style of art, however that's not to say the classic artists weren't great success as Wilson McCoy and Ray Moore. I enjoy stories that are intertwined with historical facts with the Phantom travelling to exotic lands. The Phantom dressed in armour as a knight look amazing.... CC: Why start (and continue) these Phantom Comic accounts? What do you get out of it, personally? PC: I struggled to find dedicated Phantom related accounts to follow on Instagram and Twitter which were constantly updated with new content, hence I started up my own accounts. Being a collector and ‘phan’ for so long, it was disheartening that The Phantom wasn’t represented on these platforms as other comic heroes are (such as Batman, Superman or Spider-Man). CC: Are you aware of any other "Phantom" social media accounts? PC: I do constantly search for the Phantom on social media platforms. I do come across postings that fans or collectors post. Obviously the ChronicleChamber are present on various platforms (Twitter @Chronicle_Tweet and Instagram @ChronicleChamber), always sharing up-to-date and informative news. There’s also a Twitter account named Kit Walker (@_GhostWhoWalks) which posts interesting content. There are various Phantom artists who have amazing Instagram accounts (such as Jamie Johnson @quickdraw13 and Dr. Paul Mason @pmason83) however they post other content/heroes on their feeds, not just Phantom. CC: With almost 6000 Twitter followers and 850 Instagram followers at the time of writing, you run easily the most popular Phantom accounts on these platforms (from what I've seen, anyway!!) - what is your secret to these large followings? PC: No secret really. I post on a constant basis and what I post is what I feel other fans want to see (I would like to think anyway): the Phantom presented in the best light possible. CC: Can you give us any indication of where your followers are around the world? PC: I'm not sure where my account followers are from. The great thing about images is the fact that they translate into any language.... CC: What are highlights of your time running these accounts? PC: It’s always a pleasure being tagged in a Phantom related post. It’s always good to see what other fans are posting or what they’re commenting on. Sometimes I post a picture that I think has been in mainstream media for a while which I think will get average reactions on, but the opposite occurs and it's really popular. CC: Obviously you think there is some hope in terms of bringing an 81 year old comic strip to a modern audience? What do you think KFS / Frew / Egmont need to be doing to help capture this audience? PC: I’m certainly in no position to tell a publishing company how to operate, however….. we very much live in a digital world and social media is a simple way to engage a younger audience. I strongly believe comics need to remain in paper form (I'm not a big fan of digital comics). However in respect to getting in touch with fans and building a fan base, these publishers can create some amazing content (behind the scenes of creating a Phantom comic, upcoming comic art, facts and figures, etc) which I know would be extremely favorable and create ‘buzz’ online with fans. Also, Frew’s presence at Supanova last year seemed to be a great hit, amazing PR within an environment specifically targeted at pop-culture fans. Frew is certainly in great hands with the ‘Frew Crew’, with an amazing future ahead for the Phantom here in Australia….. CC: Thanks so much for your time, and keep up the great work. I for one really enjoy the content you put up and seeing @Phantom_Comic popping into my Twitter feed! PC: No worries at all, thanks for making contact. Happy collecting!! If you have a favourite social media "Phantom" you'd like us to talk to, please suggest their handle in the Comments below! #GlennFord #JamieJohnson #SalVelluto #SyBarry #HenrikSahlström #WilsonMcCoy #RayMoore

Well we didn’t have to wait long to find out who has replaced Terry Beatty as artist on The Phantom Sunday strip! Within 24 hours of Terry’s announcement of his retirement from the strip, fellow American artist Jeff Weigel had raised his hand, also using Facebook, posting his version of the Sunday splash panel and announcing: Since today Terry Beatty officially announced his decision to step away from the Sunday Phantom newspaper strip, I guess it's now okay to tell you who's taking the helm for the Sunday Ghost Who Walks--ME! I am incredibly excited and honored to announce that starting next week I'll be the official Phantom Sunday artist. I can't begin to describe how proud I am to be working on this strip! I grew up reading The Phantom in my hometown paper in Freeport, Illinois during Sy Barry's distinguished tenure. The Phantom is one of my favorite comics characters, and to have this job drop into my lap feels like I won the lottery! I'm walking in the footsteps of a line of master cartoonists/illustrators who've made The Phantom a legendary strip over +80 years, and I have every intention of giving Mr. Walker the best I have to offer. Many thanks to Terry for sending this assignment my way (and for the distinguished work he's been doing on the strip for years now), and to Brendan Burford and Evelyn Smith at King Features, who plucked me from Terry's line-up. Also, a quick shout out to Mike Manley, who's doing terrific work on the Phantom daily. Saddle up Hero, let Devil off the leash--let's all head out from Skull Cave for some action and adventure! So… who is Jeff Weigel? And just as importantly… what sort of an artist is he? The short answer is that Jeff is based in small town Belleville, Illinois, and has a history in graphic design, commercial illustration, graphic novels and comic books. As has been the case for some of the finest artists in Phantom history, Jeff has worked extensively in advertising, creating promotional materials for books and magazines as diverse as Mad Magazine and Playboy, as well as working on product packaging, annual reports, national and local print advertising, story-boarding and corporate identity. He is also a teacher, having instructed young and old alike in illustration, visual storytelling and graphic design. He's been an adjunct professor at Webster University, teaching Illustration, and at Maryville University, teaching advance level Package Design. He continues to teach regular comics classes through the nearby St. Louis's Center of Contemporary Arts (COCA). Jeff also makes lecture appearances at libraries and schools. On top of this, he wrote, illustrated and designed Stop Math, an interactive and educational children's storybook app for iPad. Jeff is clearly a prolific artist, with an array of credits listed on his website. Much of this is award-winning or nominated work, going back to 1998 when he was nominated for the Russ Manning Award For Most Promising Newcomer in the comics industry. Most recently, he has been produced Dragon Girl: The Secret Valley, the latest in what has been a sequence of comics and graphic novels successfully aimed at a young teenage or children’s audience. Some notable titles from the last 10 years include The Monster Alphabet, Thunder From The Sea, and Atomic Ace (He’s Just My Dad). He has also authored and produced a range of comic books, including The Last War Chief, Star Troupers and the unpublished Batman: White Lies. As to his artistic style? The first clue is in a teaser panel that Jeff posted on Instagram a few weeks ago. Captioned “Coming soon to a newspaper near you. Can't tell you more until a few more weeks pass”, the image would now seem to be clearly a very small snippet of an upcoming Phantom adventure. Beyond that, a good indication would be for curious phans to read Dragon Girl: The Secret Valley, now being released as an online web comic here. The attention to detail, backgrounding, and anatomical work are all very promising for our hero. We would also very much encourage you to browse through both Jeff’s colour and black and white galleries. As you can see from the images throughout this page, there has been a great deal of diversity in Jeff’s work, and so much of it is very appealing to the eye. It also suggests serious aptitude for capturing the spirit and humanity of The Phantom. His comic covers are spectacular, and of particular note is the work on his Batman: White Lies proposal. Putting all this together, and we get a sense of why Terry Beatty recommended Jeff, and why KFS picked him up for the role on the Sundays. All remains to be seen, however, and we are sure that countless Phantom phans around the globe will be waiting with bated breath for his first published Sunday, due on 15th May. #JeffWeigel #KingFeaturesSyndicate #TerryBeatty #SyBarry #MikeManley