The yearly LFMBEC dinners in Australia are back on! LFMBEC Members have been receiving emails by the head instigator Richard Fry of plans of the great evening including who the guest speaker is. This is the first dinner in two years with no dinner in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked many comic conventions and international travel. LFMBEC Dinners are held on the same weekend as Sydney Supanova which is held June 19-20 2021. The dinner is on Saturday 19th June. If you would like to learn more about the event and club, please visit the website lfmbec.org. Please note, this event is not open for all and is invite only. Chris Boylan will be the main guest and is the man behind the “Man Who Cannot Die” book: the study of the Phantom shields of the New Guinea Highlands. You can learn more about the book here and buy the book here. Chris is a familiar and intrepid figure in the New Guinea Highlands which he has visited many times. He has been robbed by some tribes and then had his money returned threefold by friendly tribesmen who have retrieved his losses. All the while he was researching the history, the diversity and the mysteries of the Phantom shields and the reason our Purple Clad Hero has become embedded into the psyche of these tribes while Superman, Batman … etc have not. Chris is a renowned art dealer specialising in the art of Oceania who regularly holds exhibitions in London, Paris, San Francisco and New York. Rita Uechtritz who is involved with the book, gave a speech about the book at the 2019 LFMBEC dinner and you can listen to her talking about her experience through the Wahgi tribe and their shields either here or via the audio play section below. She speaks from 1hour, 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Rafael López Espí is an artist originating from Spain who during the seventies, illustrated some amazing covers for the El Hombre Enmascarado Spanish series and The Phantom series published by Bastei in Germany up into the 1980's. With just under 300 covers to his credit he has left a huge imprint on the Phantom community especially to the European audience. If he is someone new to you and never heard of him before, we recommend you to look at his collection of covers which can be found here over at Phantomwiki. Chronicle Chamber: Thank you so much for talking to us and for your time. To start off, can you tell us a bit about yourself? What country and region are you from? Rafael Lopez Espi: I was born in Barcelona, ​​capital of the Catalonia region in Spain. CC: Where did you study art? RLE: Even though I studied at the Artistic Center of Fine Arts of Barcelona and received good grades with an A for grade on 1st year, and valid for the 2nd year. Most of my skills in the painting style was in a self-taught way. CC: Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you and influenced your work? RLE: Although being self-taught I was not self-sufficient, so what I learned was always accompanied by admiration of certain works of predecessor artists. From these, interpretative inspiration arises, with which you are opening the way towards a goal of graphic expression. So there were no influences from anyone, except the spirit transmitted by those who liked my drawings. CC: What made you want to be an artist? RLE: In principle, it was not my main objective to be an artist. Being an artist implied a knowledge and a skill that I did not have. It was the admiration of works done by important artists that struck me, and it was then when I began to see it as a great challenge. CC: Is it true that you were a published artist at the age of 13? Can you tell us how that happened? RLE: Since I was a child, I knew that I wanted to be a graphic designer. I shared my school period with drawing practices. After finishing my schooling and my time in Fine Arts, I sought the support of other successful artists, to be introduced to the world of comics. It didn't take long for me to do so and from 1950 on, I was able to see my first works published by the Editorial Symbol of Barcelona, in an almanac celebrating the new year 1954, called “Picolin” and in a comic series called “Disco”. CC: You have such a long and distinguished career with credits for Commando Comics, Romance comics, Various Marvel characters, Masters of the Universe and published works for Spain, Germany, UK and Sweden publishers. Do you have any series that even today stands as a highlight for you? RLE: Yes. A special collection entitled “Extra Humans”, composed of 4 episodes in Comic book format, of which I was editor in 2001. CC: Did you know of the Phantom before you started work on those stories? Did you ever read the comics or newspaper adventures? RLE: Indeed, since my childhood during the post-civil war in 1940 and the end of World War 2, the comic adventures concept in Spain was imported by some Spanish publishers, which have since disappeared. Among the many topics was that of Ghost, known as "The Masked Man." CC: Did you like working on the Phantom? RLE: I found it pleasant because the stories took place in the jungle. CC: You drew just under 280 Phantom covers alone over a 10-12 year period. How long would one cover take for you to create? RLE: Depending on the complication of the subject of the story, no more than three days for a painted or complex cover. Shorter for a simpler cover. CC: How did you get the role of the Phantom for the “El Hombre Enmascarado” Spanish series between 1973 and 1978? RLE: The Vertice Editorial publishing company commissioned me to do the job and I did it. As simple as that. CC: At the same time you also did covers the German “Bastei” Publisher between 1974 and 1983? How did that come about? RLE: At the same time that I was working for Spanish publishers, I received commissions from various agencies. One of them being the “Estudiortega” Agency from which the order for Bastei came. Normally, agencies look for the most suitable artist for the job, but some other times it is the Editorial itself who select the artist they wish to contact. CC: What was the format you used for these Spanish and German covers? A lot of the earlier Spanish “El Hombre Enmascarado” comics seem to be painted. RLE: During those years, the reproduction workshops perfected the intaglio system, using the new system known as "offset". This system has been working because it has a high definition similar to photography, facilitating direct painting on the original inked in black of the drawing on the cover. CC: Do you have a favourite format that you used back then and what about now? RLE: Taking into account that the published format was similar to that of the magazines, I probably should have made them on A-3 paper size (29.7X42 cm.), leaving blank margins on all four sides. I always made the drawings or paintings with 50% added to the size of the reproduction for which it was intended. CC: Can you tell us the difference between doing covers for the two publishers? RLE: There are no differences, each Editorial decides what they want. My style is the same, with slight adjustments depending on the publishers preferences. CC: Do you have a favourite or a number of favourite Phantom covers? (link to look at your amazing covers) RLE: Yes. Some of the early El Hombre Enmascarado covers and Bastei issue #100. CC: Did you ever get offered or were close to doing a Phantom story with interior art? RLE: No, never. CC: Do you prefer covers or interior work and is there a difference in the way you work with a cover / interior story? RLE: Having reached a more complete level of the graphic art of comics with painting, I have not done interior comics since the publication of the “Extra Humans” series. CC: Can you explain to us your process for creating a cover? RLE: I can, but there are many details to mention. In short, it is first draw the idea to represent while thinking about the colors that are going to intervene depending on whether the scene takes place inside a room, or outside. Rain or sun. The theme to represent, adventure or horror, science fiction or romanticism, is what sets the tone for color. CC: Are you still doing covers or commercial art today? RLE: No, I retired in 2007, and since then I have not attended professional assignments from publishers or agencies. CC: Do you accept commissions and how can they contact you? RLE: Yes, you can contact me through the Internet, but always privately. CC: Do you have a place where fans can see your work? RLE: They can visit my official website: www.lopezespi.com, or they can just type my name in Google: Lopez Espi CC: Thank you for your time sir. It was a great pleasure to learn more about you and your extraordinary career.

Even with Frew not attending Sydney Supanova and the effects of COVID-19 still reeking havoc with travel there is still plenty to do in Perth and Sydney for June 2021. LFMBEC dinner #32 is still on. Details of the event found here Background of the event Phantom related guests for Sydney Supanova (June 19-20) Camillo Di Pietrantonio Jamie Johnson Chris Sequeira Phantom related guests for Perth Supanova (June 26-27) Jamie Johnson Andrew Constant At this stage their doesn't seem to be any of the Phantom related guests doing panels. It may change closer to the date, so we would suggest keeping an eye out. If your in Sydney for Supanova and LFMBEC as reported back in May, there is a Phantom PNG shields exhibition for you to go and visit. More information can be found here. Perth has unfortunately been postponed due to WA adding restrictions to NSW and Victorian's coming into the state.

Last week a group of Norwegian phans met to celebrate the 54-year run of Fantomet magazine, and commiserate its demise at the end of 2018. Arranged by phan Kristian Hellesund, the wake took place in the cellar of Barbarista, the pub run by May Vik Medås (partner of Lightning Strike Comics author Arild Wærness). The venue features an open space in front of a stage, as well as a bar. With a Phantom cosplayer and a number of The Phantom and Fantomet creators on deck, the mood was suitably solemn but also ultimately upbeat, as we will explain. Unfortunately Arild himself was unable to attend due to a medical condition, but Mike Collins and Knut Knutsen were present, as was keynote speaker and long-time member of Fantomet's editorial staff Kjell Steen. Around 50 phans attended the evening, and the wake ended up drifting on as these things do, finishing more than an hour over schedule. Understandably, it seems that there was a little denial in the room, with loyal readers very hopeful that their magazine could make a comeback and eager to know what the future would have in store. From our vantage point, it would appear that the accountants and bean-counters at Egmont copped a bit of a hiding from the crowd gathered. Word in the room was that what ultimately sank the Norwegian Phantom comic was that an accountant at Egmont Norway determined that it was too expensive and decided not to approve the budget for 2019. Kjell Steen shared a number of insights on the possible future of Phantom comics in Norway, which we can report on here. Apparently reprint collections will continue to be published, given that they are cheaper to produce than new and original material. Reports suggest that Fantomet was paying a higher reprint rate for the Swedish-produced Phantom stories than they did for the US newspaper strips. Together with the reprint collections, there are also hopes that Egmont Norway may be able to produce an annual anthology book as a way to publish new Phantom stories. Between this, and a focus on the emergence of Lightning Strike Comics with their use of a Norwegian creative team and setting the story in issue #2 in Norway, people were able to leave the wake with some sense of optimism and on something of a high note. Interestingly, concerns were also raised for the future of Fantomen in Sweden. Reprint fees from Norway (and Frew in Australia) for the Swedish-produced Phantom stories go in part to budget for their writers and artists. Therefore, there are fears that the loss of the Norwegian market could impact on the profitability of the Swedish comic and force them to significantly reduce the number of new stories they produce. The Norwegians are hopeful that initiatives like the proposed annual anthology may help Fantomen maintain production at current levels. It must be noted here that in the editorial for Fantomen 25-26/2018, Team Fantomen promised no reprints in their 2019 schedule - only new stories and others that have not been seen in a Fantomen magazine before. Indeed, in a Q&A session earlier this year, it was even suggested that there would be more new stories published in 2019 (18-19 up from 13 in recent history). Trond Sætre, editor of Norwegian comics newssite Serienett, also reported extensively on the event and has posted his tribute here, which we would encourage you to visit and read (usefully for international phans, it is English!). Many thanks to Knut Knutsen and Trond Sætre for sharing their experiences of the evening. #Fantomet #ArildWaerness #LightningStrikeComics #KjellSteen #MikeCollins #TeamFantomen #Fantomen #Egmont

Fantomen is currently celebrating their 70th anniversary in 2020. This is a HUGE achievement and the two publishers of the title, Semic (1944-1997) & Egmont (1997-present) have a rich history of creating their own stories over that 70 year period. However there is a trend emerging which has some phans worried with a mere FIVE stories new to Fantomen readers, of which only ONE is an original Team Fantomen story, released so far in this special anniversary year*. It has been mentioned on some Facebook groups as well as discussed on our own X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #148 March 2020 Comics & News by Swedish correspondent Mikael Lyck. In the most recent Fantomen magazine, 8/2020, reader Pierre also wrote a letter to the editor, Mikael Sol, about the lack of new stories. Full credit to Mikeal Sol for publishing the criticism. A translation of his reply, directly related to the reprint topic follows: Yes, it is correct that we may become more and more like Agent X9 [a comic that consists entirely of reprint stories] for the immediate future. Personally I prefer to have new stories and I believe many other readers also prefer it...... New Phantom adventures will only be in the double issues. Hopefully we will get an increase of production of new stories in the future. These very open and honest comments by Mikael Sol have received mixed responses by phans, with fears that the magazine is on a sharp downward spiral and will become a lot like more generic Swedish comic magazines that only deal in reprints. (The example used, Agent X9, is a comic title that only publishes reprinted stories like Modesty Blaise etc.) Chronicle Chamber has also had a quick chat with Mikael Sol about the lack of new stories in 2020, and he has been good enough to respond to our queries. First of all there has to be some perspective around this. We are currently in a pandemic that is causing worldwide distress. Between illness, deaths and dire effects on all economies there is a lot worse going on than the effect on our comic books. Some may have seen that the global distributor Diamond Comic Distributors has ceased delivering new titles to comic stores around the world. The fact that we are still getting new Fantomen and The Phantom comics from Egmont and Frew Publications at all is a testament to the editors and publishers. With regard to the issue of Fantomen, according to Mikael Sol, sales have NOT decreased this year despite the magazines being mainly reprinted stories. I am worried that the readers will lose interest because of the reprints, but right now the sales are pretty much unchanged according to the numbers so far. We also asked if the double issues which feature new stories have seen an increase of sales. It's pretty much the same. I suspect there are different kind of Fantomen readers. Those who love the old stuff, so they're super happy now, and those who love the new stuff, so they might be a bit more disappointed, at least if they're subscribers. But those who buy single copies generally only buy every 5th issue, so they can choose issues to pick. I do believe that the product Fantomen in Sweden is new Team Fantomen stories, so it might be a high risk to change the concept up like this, but there wasn't any other choice this year. And if it bombs it's going to be hard to tell if it was because of the reprints or the current crisis. There is a willingness to publish stories created by Frew in Australia, but again budget constraints bite We save money on using King Features stories instead [and then] we can produce more of our own. Frew costs us more. It is not a surprise or secret that the budget of Fantomen magazine to spend on newly created stories has been decreasing. We are told that new stories take anywhere between 8 months to 24 months depending on creators, changes to the script and other editorial changes. It must be said that 2019 saw NO reprint stories which was a first for Fantomen for many years. Perhaps if 2019 had been a mixture of new and old stories there may have been more new stories available to be published in 2020. It probably comes down to the type of person you are, whether you prefer to have the new stories spread out over time or have them published as soon as they are available. It could also be argued that 2020, the 70th anniversary of the magazine, is a good year to "catch up" with the budget and reprint extra old, revised covers and stories seeing it is a celebration of the past. At the end of the day all this probably raises more questions than answers, and some will still focus on the negatives and predict doom and gloom for the Fantomen magazine. Mikael Sol has promised Fantomen will produce more new stories from 2021, and leaves us with a small tidbit of what we can still expect for this year. The annual book will have new high resolution scans of old McCoy and Sy Barry stories that we are going to use from the old print proofs that KFS had and from Bulls Press. They will look really good in print with sharp lines and blacks that's not messed up. But this year is heavy focused on nostalgia. We do sit on a treasure trove of a lot of good old stories that haven't been reprinted at all, or not in a long time, so I do think it's fun to drag them out into the sunlight, and hopefully we can find a nice balance with old and new stories for 2021. * Stories released by Fantomen in 2020 (accurate to #9/2020) include: 1 newly produced Team Fantomen story: Den hemliga teatern, del 1: Mannen med Silvernäsan by Claes Reimerthi & Kari Leppänen 1 Frew story not previously published in Fantomen: Kärlek i djungeln (Jungle Love) by Pidde Andersson & Shane Foley 3 newspaper stories not previously published in Fantomen: Uppgörelse med Nomaden (A Reckoning with the Nomad); Brevet från Himalaya (Kit's Letter Home) both by Tony DePaul & Mike Manley; Passageraren i hytt 7 (Danglor, International Bank Thief) by Lee Falk & Wilson McCoy 10 reprinted stories - five newspaper and five Team Fantomen titles Many thanks to Mikael Lyck for this research.

Back in Fantomen 8/2020, reader Pierre wrote a letter to the editor, Mikael Sol, about the lack of new stories. You can read Mikael's response plus our own thoughts in our article here. Fast Forward to Fantomen 17/2020, in response to a question by Thomas Askjellerud, Mikael Sol has again been very open to the public by announcing that the budget for new stories for 2021 has been increased. A rough translation is as follows: "...As for next year I have just been informed that we are getting an increased budget for 2021 compared to 2020 which means we can increase production of new stories. Fun!" Mikael then goes on to drop a bombshell that 2021 will see another topical social theme used in a Phantom story. "We have a story which we hope will get a lot of attention that is an important topic that many today take for granted." 2018 we had the story about The Phantom fighting right wing extremists with a rainbow flag and 2019 we had a story themed on depression which won best adventure for 2019 as voted by the readers. This is fantastic news for the Fantomen magazine but also for Frew readers as the new Team Fantomen stories eventually find their way into the Australian Frew comic. The readers feedback from social media has been obvious that the majority of readers want new stories. The more new stories we get, the happier phans will hopefully be. If you would like to learn more about Team Fantomen writer and Egmont editor Mikael Sol, we would recommend listening to our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #116. Thank you to Andreas Eriksson and Mikael Lyck for the heads up about the news.

You can now pre order the Fantomen 2020 Softcover and Christmas Albums online with them being released in the next few months. You can either pre order directly from the websites: Pre order Christmas Album Pre order Softcover Album Or you can order them via leftlets that have now been sent out to customers (pictured to the right). The Softcover Album is usually made available at the Gottenberg Book Fair between Thursday 26 September to Sunday 27 September 2020 (website). The cover is designed by Luca Erbetta with more information found here. Luca did go into detail about the cover in X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode #160. The cover artist for the 2020 Christmas Album is Henrik Salhstrom. The stories included in the Christmas Album are: "Juveltjuvarna" ("The Crime Apprentices") by Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan "De försvunna katakomberna" ("The Ossuary") by Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan Along with the above stories a facsimile copy of the Fantomen Christmas Album 1970 with cover by Rolf Gohs will also be included, the two stories are: "Den sköna häxan" ("Venus of the Jungle") by unknown Fratelli Spada creator and Angelo Todaro "Von Burgers sista safari" ("A Strange Hunter") by unknown Fratelli Spada creator and Lamberto Lombardi When these albums become available they will be included in our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast comics and news reviews by our Swedish correspondent Mikael Lyck. Henrik has done a great job capturing the Paul Ryan tone of his Phantom and with the lighting effects in this cover. It is always more dramatic with some light from underneath the Phantom. What is interesting is that the 2019 Christmas Album included the first two parts of the Temple of the Gods storyline and the 2020 does not. Mikael Lyck was fairly critical of this inclusion in his review of the album. Maybe his criticism was heard. If you would like to watch his review of it, you can via the YouTube video below. Thanks to Mikael Lyck, Henrik Salhstrom and the Phantom Wiki for the information.

On December 13 2020, Fantomen editor Mikael Sol announced that he will soon step down from the role and away from Egmont altogether. In a post on his personal Facebook page he announced that he will be leaving in March 2021. His message is: The contracts are signed and mailed to both parties now. Therefore I can announce that in the beginning of March I am starting as publishing editor at Tukan Förlag! A really fun employment with focus on children books, something I have wanted to work with for a long time. It will be 10 years and 5 days at Egmont, which feels kind of cool and at the same time epic! Hadn't really read Fantomen before, so there was a lot to get into. I spent many hours after work plowing through different volumes about the Ghost Who Walks to extend my knowledge. It has been 10 intense years with the move from Stockholm to Malmö, made many new friends, worked with a lot of legends in the comic book industry, met a girl in Norrköping, we moved in together, had a child, moved to Halland, started commuting to Malmö, got married, the pandemic happened etc. There have been many seminal moments in Fantomen publishing with Mikael at the helm over the last decade. Many phans might regard the 2018 publication of what came to be a controversial story,'Philip Madden and Alex Saviuk's "Den gyllene örnen'' ("The Golden Eagle'") as his biggest moment. This issue featured a provocative cover by Henrik Salhstrom depicting the Phantom hitting a right wing roughneck with a rainbow flag, an image that caused a major storm around the world. However, this is just one example of many editorial decisions that Mikael has made over the years that have pushed the limits of what we have traditionally expected from our Phantom comic books. Another, also from 2018, was the publication of "Blodregn" ("Blood Rain"), the world's first Phantom 'jam' story with no fewer than eight artists (Sal Velluto, Heiner Bade, Alex Saviuk, Joan Boix, Kari Leppänen, Carlos Pedrazzini, César Spadari, and Rafael Ruiz) bringing Andreas Erikkson's script to life. To complement his talents as an editor, Mikael also got the absolute most out of his ever-shrinking budget by writing his own stories, touching on formerly taboo subjects like depression, suicide and LGBTQI+ rights. He also conceived and created The World of the Phantom series (2014) as well as Fantomen Kids (2015), aimed at appealing to a younger audience. Perhaps proving himself to be a true triple-threat, Mikael also illustrated several of The World of the Phantom stories under the pseudonym Alan Sonne, as well as generously contributing a striking submission for our Chronicle Chamber Bushfire Phundraiser Book at the start of 2020. As a champion for the Phantom in Scandinavia, and someone who has worked closely with the legendary Claes Reimerthi on the overall story arc of Fantomen stories (including the controversial Sandal Singh saga), Mikael is leaving mighty big shoes for the next editor to fill. If the handover is not done properly it could cause concerns for the Fantomen magazine as Mikael has gone over and beyond to stretch the budget and fight for the magazine. We wish Mikael Sol all the best with his new venture and we thank him for everything he has done as editor, writer and artist. To learn more about Mikael Sol from the man himself is the podcast interview we conducted with him which for X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #116 - listen here!

After a week of excitement with many Norwegians getting the Phantom on a cover of Beetle Bailey and a copy of the Swedish Softcover Album the week got even better with Kjetil Johnsen an Egmont editor saying on Facebook that they are looking at doing a 2021 Christmas Album. After a emotional last few years with false hopes and cancellations it is good news that Norwegian Phantom phans may be able to get more than just the Fantomet Kronologisk issues sparitically. Some may see it is grasping at straws but good news is something and we all hope for the day that Norwegians can read their hero in their language regularly again. Thanks to Andreas Eriksson and other Norwegian phans who have told us about this great news.

Scandinavian publishing giant Egmont has just announced that their new Fantomen Magazine editor is Andreas Eriksson after the news that Mikael Sol will be stepping down as editor in 2021. As we said, it will be very big shoes to fill as Mikael Sol has done a great job. They have found the right person for the job and everyone at Chronicle Chamber is very excited about this announcement. Andreas is no stranger to the Phantom with him being a lifelong phan of the Phantom which means he knows the Phantom. He understands what makes him special and he has probably grown up thinking what he would do if he ever was publisher. Along with being a lifelong phan Andreas is also a publisher himself. He publishes his own comics and magazines and has even stepped into the shoes of Mikael Sol before when he was on extended leave in 2016 and briefly in 2019. Along with that, Andreas has been the editor for the successful Fantomen Year Books and Softcover Albums the last couple of years. Mikael Sol had a double duty with Egmont as both Project Manager and Editor for Fantomen along with other Egmont titles. However Andreas will only be Editor of the Fantomen magazine, while Egmont will look for a Project Manager to work at their main office. The job vacancy is open for applicants until 7 February 2021. To add even more credentials as the perfect candidate as the new editor for Fantomen he has written several Phantom stories. Some have been published and some are yet to be published - the most exciting one was the "Blood Rain" story (review here) - and worked as a Phantom historian on the Swedish Chapter LFMBEC "Lee Falk: Storyteller" book (review here). If you would like to know more Andreas Eriksson we would recommend going back to 2014 and listening to X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode #14 where myself and Joe talked to him. Obviously much has changed in 7 years and he has already agreed to coming on in 2021 to talk to us when the dust has settled. We are excited about this announcement and believe Andreas will do a great job in the role. Are you as excited as us?

Fantomen 9/2021 is released April 15 2021 and will feature a new story by new writer Daniel Carlsson with art by Anthony Spay. The story is set in the 1920's as the Phantom battles grave robbers and then an ancient curse associated with the grave. In chatting with Daniel we learnt that he comes from Sweden and grew up on the Fantomen like many Scandinavians and treasured the moments he went home from school and received the latest Phantom magazine to devour. Prior to writing this script he also worked at Egmont up until 2018 which included hiring and working with the previous editor Mikael Sol. His role at Egmont was as publisher and development manager for several of the comic titles including The Phantom. When asked what he loved about The Phantom. Like many of us, his love for the Phantom is the mythology and history surrounding the character, his adventures and how the Phantom was such a valiant champion of good. Daniel further comment that he was really excited to get the chance to write a story for his beloved hero and he hopes it captures some of the things he loves about the Phantom. Will there be any other stories coming from Daniel? Only time will tell...

Chronicle Chamber's contributor Mikael Lyck has been drafted onto the staff at Egmont's Fantomen magazine as part of their editorial team. His first credit was in Fantomen 9/2021. Mikael would be known to most phans with his amazing Phantom Card Game (Unveiling of the game here). He has also been helping reviewing Fantomen comics since late 2018 on our comic and news X-Band: The Phantom Podcasts. His input, reporting on news and friendship has been greatly appreciated from everyone at Chronicle Chamber. We know he will do great at Egmont, thankfully he will still be around helping us out as he fits his day job around us and Egmont.

(Editors Note: This review was originally published in the Sydvesten newspaper - shown right on 21 October 2021. Used with permission and translated by Kristian Hellesund) The Phantom is back at the newsagents’. Egmont has released an annual (original announcement here). The Norwegian Phantom magazine folded in 2018. In the meantime two trade paperbacks have been published, except for these two the Norwegian comic readers have not seen new material with The Ghost who Walks until now. Out now at shops is a new Phantom annual comic - printed landscape (or horizontally). The first impression is it is very good printed om nice paper and excellent printing. The new story is a modern Sunday story called "The Spy Ship" by Tony DePaul (script) and Jeff Weigel (art). We go into the past and learn earlier unknown glimpse into the history of generations of Phantoms and the Vault of Missing Men. The story ends at the battle of Trafalgar, where the Phantom plays a role. As a story it is somewhat slow going, but there are many seeds to future possible stories that are sowed and it will be interesting to see if these will be created. The horizontal format is excellent for Sunday pages, and the presentation of "The Spy Ship" is so much better than in the newest Swedish Fantomen comic magazine. In the Fantomen magazine the story is published in a vertical format which is better suited for daily strips. The other story printed in the annual is a classic daily strip story, "The Drums of Timpenni" by Lee Falk (script) and Sy Barry (art). This story has already been printed several times in Norway, in my opinion it would much better to use this publication to only present new material. The story has been both coloured and retranslated. From my point of view, I prefer daily Phantom strips in black and white, just like the artist originally intended it. The colouring was done by Ivan Pedersen and is the same that was in the recent Frew issue #1895. My biggest problem with the annual is that the daily strips have not been edited for this publication and the overall presentation is not good. Have a look at the below image comparing the layout of the Fantomen annual with a previous publication, it shows the page gutters are too large. Another Sunday story in this landscape annual format would have worked better in my opinion. It is good to see a comic book with new Phantom material on the stands. Let us hope this sells well and that there are more comic books coming up.

Samlarmapp (comic folders) are very popular in Scandinavian countries as a way to store comics and it is no different with Fantomen readers. For others they are simply a new collectible to track down and collect. Either way phans will be happy to find out that there is a new design based on the popular Henrik Salhstrom design for Fantomen 25-26/2019. Interestingly this cover came third in the votes for "2019 Best Cover" and was Henrik's most favoured of the covers he drew for 2019. This is what both sides of the comic folder look like: These sell for 39 Swedish Krona each PLUS postage on the dintidning.se website. 39 kr equals roughly $5US, $6.50AU & 4euros which makes them very reasonably priced. On the dintidning.se website it shows the previous design but some phans have been receiving the new designs with their latest order. These Samlarmapp (comic folders) were first released back in the 1970's. For the collector who wants to know more about these folders, we recommend you watching the video below of me going through examples of comic storage products including past designs of these popular Samlarmapp (comic folders). Let us know if you are interested in a historical breakdown of each design from each Scandinavian country from the last four decades for a possible future article.

March 6 and 7 2021 sees the first major comic convention in Australia for over a year and it will be full of Phantom creators. If your a local phan and are prepared to attend with the risk of COVID-19 still present we are sure you will have a great time. A full list of each creator with current and or past Phantom credits are: Marcelo Baez (Frew 1766 cover & Frew trading card artist) Chewie Chan (Frew & Hermes cover artist & Frew trading card artist) Andrew Constant (Frew writer: Kid Phantom, Triads, regular writer of Phantom stories) Camillo Di Pietrantonio (Frew 1813 back cover & Chronicle Chamber bushfire contributor) Julie Ditrich (Frew writer: Princess Sin) Jamie Johnson (Frew, Lightning Strikes & Hermes cover artist, Frew Games artist, Frew trading card artist & Chronicle Chamber bushfire contributor) Tim McEwen (LFMBEC guest, Phantom Zone Phantom trading card & Chronicle Chamber bushfire contributor) Daniel Picciotto (Frew cover artist, Frew trading card artist & Frew games artist) Nicola Scott (LFMBEC guest) Christopher Sequiera (Frew writer: Gaslight) Jan Sherpenhuizen (Frew trading card artist) Not only do you have 11 creators to say hello and thank them for their Phantom input and to get signatures and sketches from there are several panels with these creators participating with including one solely dedicated to the Phantom. The list of Phantom related panels are: Saturday 9:10am: Character Creation Drawing Workshop with Marcelo Baez. Saturday 11am: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles workshop with Jamie Johnson, Camillo Di Pietrantonio and Daniel Picciotto. Saturday 12pm: The Phantom with Julie Ditrich. Saturday 2:30pm: How to become an International comic creator with Christopher Sequiera, Chewie Chan and Jan Sherpenhuizen. Sunday 10:10am: Breaking into Aussie Comics with Andrew Constant, Julie Ditrich and Tim McEwen. Sunday 12:40pm: Character Creation Drawing Workshop with Marcelo Baez. Sunday 2:10pm: IPI Comics with Christopher Sequiera, Chewie Chan and Jan Sherpenhuizen. Sunday 3pm: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles workshop with Jamie Johnson and Camillo Di Pietrantonio At this stage there is no word if Frew are attending. if we had to guess, they wont be. Comic-Con are well aware of the risk involved and have their own policy regarding the event. If you would like to know more, we suggest reading their website here. Will you be attending? if you are and are willing to be our reporting journalist please contact us.