Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews the latest Fantomen issue - 2022/10-11 which features the following stories: "Vigil at Phantom Head" by Tony DePaul and Jeff Weigel. "The Reunion" by Tony DePaul and Mike Manley "The Twins' 8th Birthday" by Lee Falk and Sy Barry. This issue contains 3 Phantom stories and 1 "Karl Kämpe" story and we will find out the winner of Best Fantomen story for 2021. Very nice cover again by Luca Erbetta. "Vigil at Phantom Head", a police man that is a descendant of emperor Joonkar gets freed by the Phantom and together they take down quite a lot of thugs while also fixing some contradictions from old Lee Falk stories in a great way! More of this! "Karl Kämpe", I will not go into details because it is not a Phantom story, but has lots of action and is a great fit for the comic book and I love it! "The Reunion" Not much action, but loads of drama. It almost feels like you are in a totally different universe than most other Phantom stories, but I like it, it fleshes out the characters and sets up feelings for the future. "The Twins' 8th Birthday" A bit older than the other stories. The twins turn 8 years old and get their first spandex Phantom suits. This one is quite cute but I know when reading it the first time I felt that I did not want the focus to be on kids, maybe my taste has changed, or that there were a few to many made in this style. We also got to know the result of best Fantomen story of 2021, winner is "Story of Devil", that story means a lot to me since it was a big part of my card game, "Diana in the Jungle Patrol" also received a lot of votes but you can read more about that in the article here. Happy Phantoming! All Fantomen reviews will be included in our monthly X-Band: The Phantom Podcasts. You can find out more at our website and or subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos.

In Fantomen issue 10-11/2022 the best Fantomen story of 2021 was announced and as always it brings up some interesting results. As per usual we would love to hear your thoughts on the voting. The winner this year is "Devil's Story" written by Donne Avenell and drawn by Georges Bess. This is the 5th time this story wins Sweden Fantomen best story, this is truly unprecedented and might be the best Phantom story of all times. Second place as voted by the phans is "The True Singh Brotherhood‎", by Andreas Eriksson and Janusz Ordon. Third place and the top Frew story is "Requiem" by Pidde Andersson and Wendell Cavalcanti. You can listen to our thoughts about the best 2021 stories in X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #209 here. Other interesting notes: 13 stories did not receive a vote Only one Lee Falk story was voted in the top 10 Here are the full results:

This book has been in the making for sometime and now Regal Publishers have announced their very first trade paperback collection and is already on preorder and scheduled to come out in a week. It is a first of its kind being released in India, which makes it a milestone release in the Indian publishing history of The Phantom. The Trade paperback titled 'The Phantom: Terror of The Python - The Chatu Saga' is a 256 page, full colour, English release with glossy inside pages. The TPB collects the bulk of The Chatu stories in chronological order along with bonus material. The book is dedicated to Paul Ryan, fitting as most of it contains his art. Some of the bonuses include an in depth interview with Tony DePaul, the writer of these stories and a touching tribute to the late Paul Ryan by Duncan Munro. One last bonus is that the book also comes with collector cards as freebies. The book comes with cover art for both the front and the back, both done by yours truly, Ankit Mitra. The back cover art is my own take on the iconic Paul Ryan panel from the "Death of Diana Palmer Walker" storyline. You can preorder the TPB on Regal Publishers website. The Price is INR 2,250/- which is about $45 AUD, 300 Swedish Kr, 30 USD and 28 Euros. As per normal due to licensing limitations, Regal Publishers can only sell & ship to addresses within India - so for Phans living outside India, I recommend you befriend an Indian Phan & have these books bought & shipped to you by them. In a future podcast we will cover the in depth making, release and review of this book.

Phans may know that Chronicle Chamber is in the middle of a campaign with artists around the world who are donating their time and original artworks to support Unicef and displaced children in the war of Ukraine. The next original art piece to be donated for Unicef is by Matt Kyme. Attached below is a 10 minute video of him talking about his piece. The phaffle will be starting Friday 29th April. The tickets will be $10 AU each with a minimum of 15 needed before we draw. We will then proceed with a Live Facebook event drawing the winner. The winner will have this piece posted to them for free. A huge thanks to Matt Kyme for his donation and support to Unicef who are supporting the children from Ukriane. Also a huge thanks to everyone who has brought a ticket and supported the cause.

Thanks to phan Kristian Hellesund for the news on the latest from Wick Publications. The series was originally going to be released in 2021 but with COVID and some other personal reasons, the series was postponed to 2022. We now have some fresh news when the first comic will be available. For those who came in late, Wick Publications will be releasing 22 Phantom stories originally created for the Bastei publisher by the amazing team of Peter Mennigen and drawn by José María Ortiz Tafalla. The best thing is that five of these 22 stories were never previously published. One of the five is the full comic version of "The Slaves" story which previously appeared in a prose format in Bastei Freunde #50 (our review here). The first two comics will be available at the Erlangen Comics Festival held between 16 to 19 June 2022. Issue 3 and 4 will available before the end of the year and more in 2023. Attached below is an example of an interior page we will see in one of the comics. Information posted by Ulrich can be found at this forum. Thanks to phan Kristian Hellesund for the heads up.

Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews the latest Fantomen issue - 2022/9 which features the following stories: "Uppgörelsen vid Paradise hotel" ("Showdown at Paradise Hotel") by Claes Reimerthi and Janusz Ordon Heloise is on the cover by Henrik Sahlström, I am excited but also a bit sad to read the last new Claes Reimerthi Phantom story ever. The story "Showdown at Paradise Hotel", not sure if intended but it's a bit funny as in Sweden we have a reality show called Paradise Hotel, I am quite sure it is not the same hotel. As the last issue the art is done by Janusz Ordon and is great. Last time ended with a bit of a cliff hanger and this issue ties together the plot lines, but even if they are now tied together it is not tied up, this story arc needs to be continued to be concluded. My hope is that Andreas and Jacob are planning to do that. The second part of the Thorgal album is as fine as the first one. Next issue is a double issue and it features 3 newspaper stories. But the last part on this last page is what excites me the most, Fantomen will run Karl Kämpe as a side comic! Everyone who has backed my card game probably knows that I really like this comic. I have linked to Jörgen Karlssons Kickstarters that he runs to fund the Karl Kämpe comic book. I think this one will suit Fantomen greatly since it is also an adventure story, it tells the story about Karl a Caroleans, who is a Swedish soldier during the shift of 16th and 17th century. But he is fighting more than people, all kinds of demons and monsters come into his way. I recommend everyone to check it out, there is even a free digital version of a comic in English. Happy Phantoming! All Fantomen reviews will be included in our monthly X-Band: The Phantom Podcasts. You can find out more at our website and or subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos.

Shakti Comics from India continue with their publication of the The Phantom in the three languages of English, Bengali and Hindi, with their 3rd issue now out in April 2022. This issue has some striking differences in presentation from its predecessors and we will get to it in more detail later. The book although solicited for a March release faced some delays due to the Uttar Pradesh state elections in India. The 32 page comic is of 17.5 × 23.4 cm size, has laminated covers, glossy inside pages, however unlike its predecessors, which were glue binded (also known as 'perfect binding' in India), it comes with the more traditional double staple binding. The change is probably due to the much lower page count making a thinner spine, hence more practical to go with the staples. The cover now has a white header with the publisher logo, book title and the story and issue numbers mentioned. This is a design change that has been done to the other titles published this time by Shakti (Mandrake and Flash Gordon). The cover art is a collaboration between yours truly, Ankit Mitra on the pencils and inks, and Avishek Biswas on the colours. The story included is 'A Detente with Crime', which is the 233rd Daily Strip story written by Tony DePaul and illustrated by the late Paul Ryan. The storyline continues over the next two daily strips and we can expect Shakti to publish them in their subsequent issues. The price for each issue is 135 Indian Rupees which is about: $2.38 Australian Dollars, $1.77 US Dollars, 1.63 Euro and 16.70 Swedish Krona. Due to licensing limitations, Shakti Comics can only sell & ship to addresses within India - so for Phans living outside India, I recommend you befriend an Indian Phan & have these books bought & shipped to you by them. If not, Frew are going to be selling some copies of this series via their website, and I'm sure these issues too will show up for order there - although in very limited quantity. Shakti has a webstore you can order from plus they are also available across various comics retailers in India. For any assistance regarding ordering these books directly from Shakti Comics you can contact them here: Shakti Comics Website: https://www.shakticomics.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/268814338130861/ E-mail: shakticomics@gmail.com

In the discussion with Andreas Eriksson on the X-Band: The Phantom Podcast episode 201 he mentioned this book 5 months ago! There he mentioned it was planned to be released within the first half of the year. It has also been hinted at in a Fantomen comic in the beginning of the year. But now we finally know what this secret project is thanks to Kristian Hellesund, who pointed us to a post on Facebook where someone had collected all the upcoming comic book titles for 2022 and this "Heart of Darkness" clue was there. The long story was first published in 1994-1996 with a few pages in each issue of Fantomen / Fantomet / Mustanaamio comics. It then got reprinted in Fantomen krönikan in a more collected form that span 4 full issues and added a new story of 38 pages. You can now pre order it from Aldibris.com here, the price is 564 kronas ($60US, €55 & $80Au). "The Heart of Darkness" is a 390 pages long Team Fantomen series written by Claes Reimerthi and drawn by Joan Boix. The story features the Phantom facing several supernatural elements, and ran as a backup story in Fantomen from 1994 to 1996". The story also makes some references to the 1985 Team Fantomen story "The Fire of Life", that is 32 pages. This book will probably be between 360 and 430 pages depending on what they include. A real brick of a book in other words. We will review the book when it is available for purchase, keep an eye on our website and or social media profiles at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Thanks also to Kristian Hellesund for letting us know about the announcement.

The eighth Fantomen / Musta Naamio Softcover book has been made available for pre order with an amazing cover by Luca Erbetta. The release date is 4th October 2022 and will be 128 pages. These softcover books are a relatively new tradition and actually started in Norway in 2014 but are now produced by the Swedish Fantomen editorial team. The last five covers have all been produced by Luca and only been published in Sweden and Finland. You can pre order the Swedish book at Adlibris for 135 kr ($20AU & $16US) plus shipping. You can order the Finnish book at Turun Sarjakuvakauppa for 24 Euros ($37AU & $29US). The other method is to do a swap with a Swedish or Finnish phan. The book title "Ondskans Nemesis" translates to "The Nemesis of Evil" which is an epithet used in Sweden sometimes to describe the Phantom. The contents of the book has not yet been released but are generally unedited newspaper stories along with an article or two going from past editions. The description about the book is translated to something like: "A thicker softcover book for everyone who recognize the nemesis of evil! The Phantom stops crooks and pirates in classic black and white!" We will review the book when it is available for purchase, keep an eye on our website and or social media profiles at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Thanks also to Kristian Hellesund for letting us know about the announcement.

Phans may know that Chronicle Chamber is in the middle of a campaign with artists around the world who are donating their time and original artworks to support Unicef and displaced children in the war of Ukraine. Today we are introduced to Charles Paul Wilson III an artist from USA who has donated the following piece. The artwork is pen on 6”x9” watercolor paper. Charles works on a book called "The Stuff of Legend" (Amazon link), along with a comic called "Wraith" with Joe Hill, and he has done cover work on Ninja Turtles, The Shadow, Hulk and Superman. You can find out more about Charles at his Facebook and or Instagram. Attached is a video we did with Charles. The phaffle will be starting Wednesday 20th April. The tickets will be $10 AU each with a minimum of 13 needed before we draw. The winner will have this piece posted to them for free. A huge thanks to Charles Paul Wilson III for his donation and support to Unicef who are supporting the children from Ukriane.

Aslan Sukur has sadly passed and left behind an amazing legacy with his work for Kizilmaske publisher Tay Yayınları. They had the license for The Phantom from 1973 through to the early 1990's. Our thoughts are with his friends, family and loved ones. Aslan created over 200 Phantom covers along with hundreds other covers for Mandrake and Zagor over a 20 year period. We at Chronicle Chamber were lucky enough to interview him three years ago. We recommend every phan go and have a read and learn more about this legend from Turkey. The below video is a documentary featuring Aslan. While it is not in English, it will be interesting for many who loved his work.

First created by Joe Douglas back in 2006. We are now sweet 16! Beauty about CC is that it is a collective of phans. Not one but several over the years. A huge thanks to the following who have all written, recorded and done things for Chronicle Chamber over the years: Joe, Jermayn, Dan, Stephen, Paul, Andreas, Mikael, Ankit, Swaroop, Ivan, Ulf, Matt, Sean, Jon, Sal, Ohm, Seuj, Robert, Roy, Simon, Kristian, Kevin, Jason, Howard, Glaucio, Ed, Pete, Duncan, Christian, Bernd, Anthony and many others. On our birthday, it was great to read the comments from phellow phans. Its nice to know that what we do is appreciated - thank you. The phans that wished us a happy birthday are in a draw for a Phantom club t-shirt created by Scott Loxely and we have a few sets of stickers, badges and pins for a consolation prize.

The guys at SuperMonster市City have just announced a new exhibition titled "Collecting Memories: A Love Story". In the exhibition there will be a section featuring the Phantom. Here is a great video featuring David Barnhill talking about the exhibition and his love for the Phantom. His enthusiasm for the character is infectious - we recommend watching the video. The details for the exhibition are: Dates: April 28 from 5-9pm and runs thru May 8 Address: Squirrel Haus Arts 3450 Snelling Ave Minneapolis MN The guys at SuperMonster市City have described the event as an immersive and fun art installation that features vintage toys from the 1960’s – present, family photos, recordings, an original soundscape, and augmented reality. This lyrical exploration into the mind of a collector, delves into nostalgia, memory and identity. This exhibition reveals the hidden and personal memories we all embed into pop culture objects. In addition to experiencing the joy of seeing vintage toys from the past 60 years, the installation includes low tech and high-tech interventions to engage audiences. Attendees will experience visual tricks and audio stimulations; open-ended written prompts and an augmented reality experience produced by REM5 Virtual Reality Lab. Any phans from that area that will go and visit the exhibition? You can follow the event via Facebook here or via their website.

Mikael Lyck from Chronicle Chamber reviews the latest Fantomen issue - 2022/8 which features the following stories: "Den översvämmade staden" ("The Flooded City") by Claes Reimerthi and Janusz Ordon Cool cover by Henrik Sahlström with the twins swimming around in the flooded city. The main and only Phantom story in this issue is "The Flooded City" and it is as we guessed by the cover the latest part of the 22nd Phantom arc. We learn from the editorial page that this and next issue features the last two stories written by Claes Reimerthi. Andreas also writes about action figures, this time a fan made one, made by Anders Eklund, looks like the "Last Phantom" by Dynamite with all the blood (berry juice) running down. Back to "The Flooded City", art by Janusz Ordon. This story has two parallel story lines, the twins try to take down the Vultures that plan on, you guessed it, flooding a city and Diana is trying to get her original report to the right persons while getting chased by an assassin. Lots of action and as usual with 22nd Phantom stories I liked it a lot, Ordon's art is magnificent as always. The issue also contains a side comic, Thorgal, a lot of Fantomen fans probably ranks this as their favourite side comic. I believe this is the 37th album about vikings with fantasy elements, but some parts have been sci-fi but this one is not. I think it was quite ok, better than many of the later stories. In the preview of the next issue we get the next part of the 22nd Phantom arc and the conclusion of the Thorgal album. I look forward to that in 2 weeks! Happy Phantoming! All Fantomen reviews will be included in our monthly X-Band: The Phantom Podcasts. You can find out more at our website and or subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos

Ever wanted to write your own Phantom story? Here is your chance. Frew and Moonstone Phantom creator Lou Manna has created a 10 page story minus the dialogue and has asked us to see if there any budding creators who wanted a shot at creating their own story. Once you have added your dialogue feel free to either share on social media yourself (and tag us - Facebook, Twitter & Instagram) or email to us (chroniclechamber@gmail.com) so we can all enjoy the finished work.