Mikael Lyck is joined by regulars Dan Fraser and Jermayn Parker in reviewing the latest comics and news from Australia, Sweden and around the world. With the team at Chronicle Chamber releasing other topical podcasts it meant the normal practice of a comics and news podcast once a month did not happen. Here we present a review of the comics from May and June. Episode #192B will contain all the news from the past two months. We also discuss the latest happenings with the Sunday and Daily newspaper stories discussing "The Visitor" (1 Hour 20 Minutes), "Hello to the Himalayas" (1 Hour 25 Minutes 30 Seconds) & "To Wrack and Ruin at Gravelines" 1 Hour 34 Minutes). Please make sure you share, like and leave a comment on our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram as well as our YouTube Channel. If you only want to listen to specific reviews of the comics and or stories, we have included a timeline for you to follow. Enjoy! Frew Publications Frew 1892 (4 Minutes 30 Seconds) "Diana and the Heartbreaker Gang" by Matt Kyme and Shane Foley Frew 1893 (11 Minutes 30 Seconds) "Triumph of Evil" by Joe Gill and Don Newton "Forever" by Andrew Constant and Massimo Gamberi Frew 1894 (34 Minutes) "The Rhodian Column" by Tony DePaul and Mike Manley Frew 1895 (47 Minutes 30 Seconds) "The Drummer of Timpenni" by Lee Falk and Sy Barry "Revenge of the Drummer" by Norman Worker and Knut Westad "Revolt in the Jungle" by José Menezes, Walmir Amaral, and Wanderley Mayhé "Legacy of the Drummer" by Andrew Constant and Angelo Todaro Giant Size 17 (1 Hour 9 Minutes) "The Game" by Lee Falk, Bill Harris, and Bill Lignante Daily / Sunday Stories Sunday: "The Visitor" (1 Hour 20 Minutes) Daily: "Hello to the Himalayas" (1 Hour 25 Minutes 30 Seconds) Daily: "To Wrack and Ruin at Gravelines" 1 Hour 34 Minutes) Fantomen (1 Hour 42 Minutes) Fantomen 10-11/2021 "Kolonnen från Rhodia" ("The Rhodian Column") by Tony de Paul and Mike Manley "Oavslutade affärer" ("Unfinished Business") by Tony de Paul and Mike Manley "Den galna elefanten" ("The Rogue Elephant") by Lee Falk and Sy Barry Fantomen 12/2021 "Requiem" ("Requiem") by Pidde Andersson and Wendell Cavalcanti "Diamantmysteriet" ("The Diamond Mystery") by Lee Falk and Özcan Eralp Fantomen 13/2021 "Legenden om Djungelpatrullen" ("The Founding of the Jungle Patrol") by Lee Falk and Sy Barry "Elefantkyrkogården" ("The Elephant's Graveyard") by Özcan Eralp Fantomen 14-15/2021 "Det odödliga lejonet" ("The Phantom Lion") Tony DePaul and Paul Ryan "Förbannelsen" ("The Curse") by Dai Darell and Özcan Eralp "Diana i Djungelpatrullen" ("Diana in the Jungle Patrol") by Magnus Knutsson and Jaime Vallvé If you have ever wanted to do your own Chronicle Chamber reviews we are looking for any French / Canadian fans who have a copy and can review the latest Editions Dante TPB as well as anyone who can review the PNG Shields and Mallon Diary. We are also still on the look out for a Brazilian fan who can review all the new Mythos Phantom comics. Please email us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com if you are interested. Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode and our reviews and opinions. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.

Video wrap up of the LFMBEC #32 & Supanova 2021 weekend on 19th and 20th June 2021. A Video wrap up of the SupaNova event by phan Nick Moles. Now for the recording of the presentation at the LFMBEC dinner from Chris Boylan who gave a great presentation. The video might be a bit average, but the audio is okay. Enjoy! The 2021 LFMBEC guest speaker Chris Boylan, has a gallery at the Michael Reid Gallery at Surry Hills that was held from 10 June - 24 June 2021. Details of the art gallery are: Address Standard House 105 Kippax Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia Opening hours: Wednesday to Friday from 11am – 5pm, Saturdays from 11am – 3pm or by appointment outside these hours info@michaelreid.com.au +61 2 8353 3500 [Editors note: A big thanks to Duncan Munro for helping us out with the recording and a report of the Sydney weekend.]

Every since we started this website and the X-Band: The Phantom Podcast one of the most common questions we have received is when will we get to hear from someone from King Features and or Hearst? It has always been a goal for us as we ourselves had a million and one questions that we wanted to ask. After 200 podcasts we got the chance and while we did not get to ask them all, we spent 90 minutes racing through as many questions as possible. A huge thanks must go to Tea Fougner who is the comics editor for the Phantom plus 60 other comic titles. She was great in answering as many questions as possible and some were not easy to answer. A brief list of the questions we asked in no particular order are: What is the approval process of new stories from Tony DePaul, Egmont and Frew Publishers? Is there a Phantom bible? Will we ever see a new Phantom TV Show and or Movie? The process from KFS point of view of the Matt Kyme and Shane Foley "Diana and the Heartbreakers Gang" story in Frew #1892. The Phantom and cross over stories with The Raven, Sir Falcon, Flash Gordon, Defenders of the Earth etc Moonstone verses Dynamite Entertainment. What is the target audience of the Phantom? Targeting the next generation. The 100th Anniversary of The Phantom. It must be noted that she did choose not to answer one question but you will have to listen and or watch the podcast to find out which one. She also went over the history of King Features and Hearst and how they relate to our hero, the Phantom. As always the video will show slides, art examples and props as we discuss the Phantom. The audio only version is attached if you prefer that method. Make sure you subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode. You can email us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.

In Frew 1893, Dudley Hogarth the Frew publisher in his Message from the Publisher suggested that the short story "The Future Phantom: Forever" may be worth a podcast. We listened and here is our thoughts of the 8 page story by Andrew Constant and Massimo Gamberi. To begin with we go over every story and future Phantom which includes the 27th from the Defenders of the Earth TV Show, the 24th from the Phantom 2040 TV Show and a host of others from publishers like Fantomen and Dynamite Entertainment. Andrew also joins us and we go over the story with him. What began as a 40 minute planned podcast has turned into a 80 minute discussion between Andrew Constant and the team (Jermayn Parker, Stephen East and Dan Fraser). Where do you sit with this story? Did you like it? Do you want to see more? We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Andrew also drops a massive exclusive in the podcast on a new story he is working on at the moment. It is worth mentioning that there is the occasional swear word in this podcast - parental guidance is recommended. As always the video will show slides, art examples and props as we discuss the Phantom. The audio only version is attached if you prefer that method. Make sure you subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. As we touch upon the future phantoms we drop upon a few past X-Band: The Phantom Podcast's. If you want to dig those out, the links are: Episode #154: Rick Hoberg DotE Art Director Episode #173: Thom Schillinger, Phantom 2040 Art Director Episode #176: Tim Boyle Writer of the 2010 Phantom Legacy movie Episode #186: Ben Raab, Moonstone & Fantomen Writer Episode #126: Alex Saviuk

Heiner Bade (born 1949) from Hamburg is an unusual phenomenon among comic artists one who is unknown to many fans in his own country and abroad. Although he has been drawing the U.S. comic character The Phantom for almost forty years, very little is known about Heiner Bade in Germany. A couple of brief mentions in the comic journal COMIXENE, a one-column article in the magazine TEMPO, and a biography of only a few lines in the comic album Seemannsgarn (Translated to Sailor's Yarn) have so far shed insufficient light on this hard-working artist. Heiner Bade has succeeded over four decades in doing what other comic artists only can dream of, namely establishing himself as a long-term draftsman of adventure comics. He was able to do this because he lived in Sweden from 1970 to 1981, at a time when the editorial team of Fantomen experienced a major transformation that has made the bi-weekly magazine the world's leading producer of The Phantom comics to this day. He has been a member of the Fantomen magazine's creative team since 1975 with his stories published from Australia to Scandinavia, his name is firmly associated with the transformation of a classic pulp character into a modern hero. Heiner Bade has just celebrated his 45th Fantomen anniversary. The following interview was originally published in the 2014 German Magazine Camp. Bernd has given us permission to publish it on our website. Bernd Frenz: Please describe a little about the influence that comics had on your childhood. Heiner Bade: I grew up in a rather rural area, on the edge of a forest and heath landscape, very close to Hamburg. Even as a child, I enjoyed reading Fix and Foxi, Mickey Mouse, Rip Kirby (by Alex Raymond), Flash Gordon and The Phantom (by Wilson McCoy). At that time, The Phantom appeared as a daily strip in the newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost, and I enthusiastically cut out and collected the strips, never suspecting what role the series would play for me once again. BF: How did your graphic development proceed? HB: A certain talent became apparent as early as the age of five. At that time I won many drawing competitions, illustrated the time of dinosaurs at school and drew my own small series. Later, I trained in photography and illustration by correspondence course and took anatomy lessons as a guest student at the Lerchenfeld School of Art. As a nineteen-year-old, I also painted the walls of Hamburg discotheques. That was in the middle of the flower power time, which influenced everything, I painted with phosphorescent colors. Perhaps you would today call it pop art. BF: Did you already publish in print before you emigrated? HB: Yes, at that time I designed postcard motives and did illustrations for the magazines Praline and St. Pauli-Nachrichten; for the latter also a weekly comic strip. In addition, I earned my money as a fashion model, so that photos of me were published, for example in mail order catalogs. Unfortunately, I have kept nothing at all from this pre-Sweden period. The things were stored in the attic of a Hamburg friend and eventually disposed off. BF: What made you decide to emigrate to Sweden? And how did you make your first publishing contacts there? HB: I left Germany on May 24, 1970, in order to escape from being drafted into the Bundeswehr (German Army). Sweden had always been my second country, but working there as a model didn't work out. So I drew cartoons and became somewhat known. During this time I also created a funny album in the style of Asterix, but it remained unpublished. At that time, I made contacts with all the publishers until I was able to sell a Sex & Crime series that I had developed. The stories with the private detective Robert Starke which ran for about a year and a half in the True Crime magazine Veckans Brott. BF: You also drew a Frankenstein comic back then, but it didn't find a publisher? HB: Yes, I found the old Boris Karloff film version with its romantic black-and-white images very fascinating. I was tempted to adapt it, but the subject wasn't very popular at the time. Still, the work wasn't in vain, because the pages brought me contacts with magazine publishers like Semic. I drew the comic Gengångaren (ghost), which I thought would fit very well into the Semic magazine Chock, but instead it was printed in Serie Magasinet. After this publication, the editors almost fought over me. In 1975 I received an offer to draw a test page for Fantomen. When that turned out to everyone's satisfaction, I received the order for my first story. Since then, I have worked continuously for the magazines, for which I also have created several covers. BF: Have you worked on other series or in other graphic areas over the years? HB: Yes, in the 1970s the Swedish publisher Egmont offered me to draw Mickey and Goofy stories. I also supplied them with two episodes, but the strict Disney guidelines severely limited my creativity, and I quickly became bored with it. I also did various storyboards for advertising. BF: After forty years of Fantomen – what fascinates you about this character to whom you have remained loyal for so long? HB: First and foremost, that every new story also represents a new challenge for me. Since there are only self-contained episodes, no story-line is like the other. And because the duties and costumes of the Phantom have been passed down from father to son for four hundred years, our stories can be set in all sorts of different eras. Personally, I prefer to work on historical adventures. BF: Eleven stories drawn by you were also published in the Phantom magazine of Bastei Verlag. How did you like the black and red printing back then? HB: I didn't follow it much at the time. The German Phantom magazine was just horrible. Our stories were rigorously shortened and the necessary changes were made by amateurish adjustments – for example, painting over characters with bushes. A crime! No wonder that these booklets did not establish themselves permanently on the German market. BF: Your only other German publication known to me until this interview is a two-page contribution to the compilation album Seemannsgarn of the Hamburg Carlsen Verlag... HB: Another short article about me appeared in the tween magazine Tempo in 1992, for which I also drew a page. Apart from this and the two pages in Seemannsgarn I am not featured in any other German publications. BF: You've been living in Hamburg again since 1981, but you have little or no contact with the local comic artist scene? HB: Even if I wanted to – with my immense workload, I simply don't have the time to maintain contacts with local colleagues. I don't have a 9 to 5 job. BF: The older Fantomen issues are drawn in black and white, now they shine with very nice color pages... HB: Yes, the changeover to color took place in 1991, which was not only received with enthusiasm at the time. And rightly so, because at first the stories seemed more screamingly colorful than colored. Today, in my opinion, the Scandinavian color editions are quite a treat. BF: How close is the cooperation within the very international team? Are there joint editorial meetings, or do you coordinate by email and phone? HB: No, there are no editorial meetings. Communication is limited to a few emails, mainly to submit manuscripts, and rare phone calls. However, when I lived in Sweden, I delivered the finished episodes in person, which means I visited the editorial office once every three months. Usually my manuscripts are written in English, only rarely do I get one in Swedish. There is no further communication with the authors. Over the years, the authors have come to rely more and more on the illustrators, thus saving themselves a lot of work. This starts with the fact that they sometimes no longer describe such simple but important things as the milieu, the time of day, etc., and ends with the fact that they leave all the research work to the artist. I don't have influence on future themes, but can of course make suggestions. BF: Do you prefer jungle adventures or big city thrillers? HB: In general, it doesn't matter to me. Well, maybe I do have a certain preference for jungle adventures. An episode without architecture is quite relaxing. BF: In the 40 odd years that you've been drawing for Fantomen, are there any outstanding events or stories that you remember particularly fondly? HB: It was quite nice when, at the beginning of my career, at the tender age of my mid-twenties, the Ku Klux Klan story aroused a lot of media interest. After all, I had also written the story, but later I unfortunately had no time left for writing. In any case, several newspaper articles about me and my work appeared at that time. However, I also experienced some oddities in the process. Just one small example: I told a Swedish journalist at the time that I had converted the second largest room in the apartment – namely the bedroom – into my studio. In the printed article he wrote Heiner Bade draws in his bedroom! BF: Can you describe a bit your working method and tell which working materials you prefer? HB: I read the manuscript and do the necessary research, then I scribble through the entire story and determine the page layout before doing the drafts and sketching the individual pages. Finally, there's inking with brushes. Covers I prefer to paint in acrylic. BF: After more than ten years in Sweden, you moved back to Hamburg in 1981. What prompted you to go back then? HB: My new wife – and the beer :D BF: Thank you for your time. About Bernd Frenz A huge thanks to Bernd and Heiner for their time and allowing us to publish this article and interview which was originally published in the 2014 German Magazine Camp. Bernd Frenz is a German novelist and comic book writer, who has been writing Crime, Western, Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels for over twenty years. The Blood Orcs trilogy established him firmly in the realm of German-language Fantasy. As a comic book writer he works for franchises like DreamWorks Dragons, Power Rangers and Vic the Viking, but also has published own stories in the US comic magazine Heavy Metal. Beginning as a comics journalist in 1990, he has since worked for all major German comic journals, including Alfonz, Comic Report, Comixene, Hit Comics, and Reddition. Here are a few links where you can find a bit more about Bernd and his comic work. In part 2 of the English article about the History of German Comic you find also a paragraph about Heiner Bade and his work for Fantomen magazine. www.europecomics.com/history-german-comics-part-1/ www.europecomics.com/history-german-comics-part-2/ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernd_Frenz www.berndfrenz.de

If you love classic Lee Falk, Wilson McCoy and Ray Moore, this is a must listen (or watch) Podcast as we chat with two Australian creators whose work is heavily influenced by their legendary work. Frew #1892 was released May 6 2021 and features the second Phantom story by Matt Kyme. His first Phantom story was solely created by him. For this second story Shane Foley was brought in by Frew Publications to ink and enhance the original art. If you are wondering why Shane was brought on to this story you simply have to listen and or watch to this podcast. We chat to both creators and listen to the story on how this story was originally rejected by King Features. We then learn of the lengths Frew, Matt and Shane went through to ensure the story was published and enjoyed by us phans. The podcast is close to two hours long and you may be wondering what we discussed for two hours? Along with the dissection of the "Diana and the Heartbreakers Gang" story in great detail we chat about Wilson McCoy and Ray Moore classic stories. Again if you love those stories, you need to listen to this podcast. If your watching, Shane shows his original artwork and we compare many panels that are influenced directly by McCoy and Moore. As always the video will show slides, art examples and props as we discuss the Phantom. The audio only version is attached if you prefer that method. Make sure you subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.

We at Chronicle Chamber get asked the same questions all the time.... What Phantom stories should I be reading? What is the official Phantom cannon? Where can I buy Frew comics in the USA? How much is my collection worth? plus much more. So to try and help the phan we have created a Phantom FAQs page and also a list of stories that we suggest every phan should read and hunt down. Now the list is not complete and will continue to grow. If you would like to add to the list, please contact us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com. We have also made some other small cosmetic changes to the website. If you can think of anything we should also add to the website, let us know.

Anthony Spay's first story appeared in the 2019 Fantomen Christmas album and in no time he has seven completed stories to his credit. In this episode Mikael Lyck joins Jermayn Parker as we go over each of his stories and learn interesting things about Anthony like how he got the job at both Frew and Fantomen. Anthony is one of two artists you have created new stories for both publishers - the other is Joan Boix. Is there anyone else we have missed? Anthony Spay before his work for Fantomen and Frew has credits for Zenoscope Entertainment, Marvel and DC. If you would like to keep track of his work we recommend visiting his Instagram social media profile. As always the video will show slides, art examples and props as we discuss the Phantom. The audio only version is attached if you prefer that method. Make sure you subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode and want to know your answers to our questions. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.

We are back to a shorter comics and news podcast this month. Due to timing there isn't a Regal Publishers comic to review but Mikael Lyck is joined by regulars Dan Fraser and Jermayn Parker in reviewing the latest comics and news from Australia Sweden and around the world. Latest Comics Frew 1889 & 1890: 3 Minutes, 30 Seconds Frew 1891: 19 Minutes Fantomen 8/2021: 29 Minutes, 30 Seconds Fantomen 9/2021: 32 Minutes, 30 Seconds Latest News New Fantomen Editor Team Member (link): 35 Minutes Best Fantomen Story Results for 2020 (link): 35 Minutes, 30 Seconds Shipping Update for the Card Game (link): 35 Minutes, 40 Seconds Reflections on the 2021 85th Anniversary Mallon Diary (link): 44 Minutes The LFMBEC Dinner & Sydney Mecca Weekend (link): 49 Minutes Hint of a new Frew Product Coming Out Soon: 53 Minutes, 30 Seconds New Fantomen writer (link): 59 Minutes, 30 Seconds New French Publisher (link): 1 Hour, 3 Minutes Fantomen Softcover Album for 2021 (link): 1 Hour, 6 Minutes & 30 Seconds We want to know from our listeners if you want us to review the newspaper stories as they finish in the newspaper or when they are published in a Frew and or Fantomen comic. If you have ever wanted to do your own Chronicle Chamber reviews we are looking for any French / Canadian fans who have a copy and can review the latest Editions Dante TPB as well as anyone who can review the PNG Shields and Mallon Diary. We are also still on the look out for a Brazilian fan who can review all the new Mythos Phantom comics. Please email us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com if you are interested. Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode and our reviews and opinions. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.

India's Regal Publishers are back in April '21 with two new issues of their ongoing full colour, English comic series of 'The Phantom'. 28th April 2021 marks the 110th birth anniversary of the late Lee Falk - the legendary creator of The Phantom & Regal pulled no punches in commemorating this event through their latest issues of #11 & #12 - also labelled as 'Lee Falk Birthday Special' Issues. Each issue runs for 56 pages, have thick gloss paper (comparable to the Frew Trade paperbacks), contain stories written by Lee Falk, Special articles by well known personalities in The Phantom creator-sphere & phandom - to celebrate the life and times of Lee Falk. Each issue comes with its unique free supplements too & for the first time in this comic series - each issue reprints a Daily newspaper strip in colour. The print quality and colour separation are as usual - simply impeccable. Issue 11 has a cover drawn by Vincent Moses Raja, the same image is also used in the free collectible card that comes with it. The Inside Front Cover has a Lee Falk portrait drawn by me (yours truly) to commemorate his Birthday. The Inside Back Cover has a Lee Falk portrait drawn by Vincent Moses Raja with a quote from Lee Falk. The Issue Opens with an excerpt of an article by Peder J Bjorkmann, originally from the book 'Lee Falk - Storyteller' Valerie Falk & Andreas Eriksson (Now the editor of Fantomen, Sweden) are co credited in the article and also Indian Phan Swaroop Chand is credited for making this exchange with Regal Publishers possible. The Stories included are 'Waterman', a Sunday strip drawn by George Olesen & inked by Fred Fredericks, & 'The Albee', a dailys strip drawn by George Olesen & inked by Keith Williams. Issue 12 has a cover drawn by me (yours truly) & is something I've strived to make very unique and different. If you want to know more about the process and how this cover came to fruition check out the article I wrote about The Journey behind my Covers for Regal Comics. The Inside Front and Back Cover both have the Lee Falk portrait I drew. The Issue has articles by Anthony Tollin (the colourist on DC Comics' The Phantom run of 1989), Bob Griffin and Pete Klaus - all paying their tribute to Falk. Swaroop is credited with helping Regal get in touch with these personalities and making it happen. The Stories included are 'The Vanished Village' - Another Olesen & Fredericks Sunday Strip & 'Terror at The Opera' - The very last Lee Falk written Daily Story. Lee Falk passed away during the publishing of the strip and his wife Elizabeth is also co-credited for finishing the story. A Fitting choice for the tribute. The price for each issue is 200 Indian Rupees which is about: $3.47 Australian Dollars, $2.69 US Dollars, 2.22 Euro & 22.50 Swedish Krona. (Rates as of today) Regal continue with their superb quality of production in these new issues & these are indeed going to be worthy of being collectibles in the future for Indian as well as international Phantom collectors. Due to licensing limitations, Regal 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 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. India is already in a devastating second wave of the pandemic, and things are more grim than ever. I wish the team at Regal the best of luck, & for the sake of all the Phans worldwide I hope these sell well enough to ensure we keep getting these fantastic comics at such great prices. Regal have an Amazon Storefront for Indian Phans who would like to order these books from Amazon.in Issues #1 to #6 can be ordered HERE Issues #7 to 10 can be ordered HERE Issues #11 to #12 and Mandrake #1 can be ordered HERE For any assistance regarding ordering these books directly from Regal you can contact Regal Publishers here: Regal Publishers Whatsapp & Phone No: +91 94810 52592 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/regalpublishers/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/regalpublishers/ E-mail: regalpublishers@gmail.com

The seventh Fantomen/Musta Naamio Softcover book has been made available for pre order with an amazing cover by Luca Erbetta. The release date is 1st October 2021 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 four 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 "Hård mot de hårda" is a translation of the old jungle saying "Rough on Roughnecks". 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: "The best from the world of the Phantom! A thicker softcover book for anyone that recognize the foremost crime fighter of all. The Phantom takes on roughnecks in classic black and white!"

Back in 1997, in the 4th standard of my junior school, my 9 year old self confidently filled in one of our class activity worksheets that I would make comic books when I grew up. The naivety of childhood! Issue #9 Final Cover January 2021 - I was given the opportunity to illustrate a cover for Regal Comics' ongoing full colour, English, 'The Phantom' comic book series. It was a nerve wracking experience and after multiple iterations, editorial push & pulls I managed to get the cover approved. It was published on March 2021 as the cover of Issue #9. Fortunately it was well received by my editors & the readers. I was aware that Regal were planning to commemorate the 110th Birth Anniversary of Lee Falk in their April issues & pitched my idea for a cover that I felt would be very unique but fitting. Their response, contrary to my expectations, was very positive. The beginning of the Lee Falk tribute cover My idea was to project Lee Falk as a central multiversal god-like figure, conjuring 'mini globes' containing all the different Phantoms featured across different media - newspaper strips, animation, live action throughout the years. I also decided that the featured Phantoms would be only limited to Lee Falk's lifetime - so anything created post the 1999 death of Falk would not be featured. I scribbled a rough layout of the placements on my sketchpad and then got on to work on my friend's iPad Pro. I used the app, 'Procreate' for the whole process. It was evident to me quite early that I couldn't do too many 'globes' as Regal would need ample space to add the story names and other texts or logos that they usually put on each of their covers. I started with a quick sketch of Lee Falk's face, using a reference pic of him at the 1996 The Phantom Live Action film set, a pair of posed palms & some empty circles of different sizes. It led me to conclude three points: Circles shouldn't be cropped. The optimum number of circles of varying sizes that I could accommodate without making the art look too cluttered was nine. The minimum size that a circle could be to keeping the art visible and be a good fit. The most important decision was choosing which nine Phantoms to include. One of my reasons to pitch for a cover like this was to have the opportunity to draw, mimicking the style of each legendary artist who worked on the strip. Which would help me analyse & learn from their work thus helping to enhance my own skills. Those Phantoms which did come from a non strip background however, I had to draw in my own way to best represent the look of their respective source material. The nine Phantoms I chose were: Sy Barry's Phantom Phantom 2040 Wilson McCoy's Phantom Defenders of the Earth Phantom Ray Moore's Phantom George Wilson's Phantom Fred Frederick's Phantom George Olesen's Phantom Billy Zane's Portrayal of the Phantom Now I will go into each image I chose for these nine different style of Phantoms. Sy Barry's Phantom This one was a no brainer & a very obvious choice. Is there a more iconic, popular & timeless rendition of The Phantom than Sy Barry's? No. Hence I chose to draw him in the largest and center most circle. Barry's image of The Phantom riding Hero is probably one of his most recognised ones. I used my Hermes Press 'The Complete King Years' cover as the reference to recreate this iconic image. Throughout the process I marveled at the sheer line control Sy had. It took me quite a long time to get the sketch to a stage where I was satisfied. Phantom 2040 Phantom 2040 is a childhood favourite. I rank this series just after Batman - The Animated Series on my list of the greatest comic based animated shows. It is by far my favourite non-comic Phantom portrayal across all audio visual media. I paused a YouTube video of the intro of the show to use a reference. As its a non comic Phantom I had to draw it in my own style but also be careful to retain that animated look. Phantom 2040 took the second largest circle - a choice made from sheer bias. Incidentally my publisher did suggest placing some other Phantom instead & draw this in some smaller circle, but I was adamant. Phantom 2040 is my favourite Phantom and I fulfilled a childhood dream by drawing him. Hopefully having him more prominently on my cover will re-introduce him to a lot of older and younger phans who might have completely overlooked this gem of a show from the 90's. Wilson McCoy's Phantom Wilson McCoy & Ray Moore's Phantoms were not the ones I grew up on. I became aware of their existence when I was already in my early 20s & in my ignorance would look down on their art styles which I had deemed as 'primitive'. However I was well aware how important this Phantom was for establishing the strip & how loved he is by a huge section of the older phans. The choice of image to draw was suggested by Jermayn Parker, his reasoning being that McCoy was the first who made the Mr. Walker alias look of The Phantom iconic. I used Hermes Press' Complete Sundays Vol 6's cover as my reference. McCoy's Phantom took the third largest circle and was a humbling experience as I came to appreciate the man's simple but very tight and defined line control and inks. The Phantom from 'Defenders of The Earth' I was never fond of how The Phantom was portrayed in the 'Defenders of The Earth' cartoon in my childhood - The plain purple trunks instead of striped ones, the lack of any guns & a skull ring that shot out laser? Everything about him felt very disconnected to the character I grew up reading. However, it did have some interesting additions. Most unique of them all was 'The Phantom' calling on his 'Jungle Birthright' to grant him 'the power of ten tigers'. That dictated my choice to go with the Image of The Phantom imbibing in the strength of those 'ten (though the animation actually showed about 7 flashes of those) tigers. I used a YouTube video and paused in one of these sequences for my reference. It was pretty straightforward but a bit tricky to have clean line separation to have The Phantom as well as the tiger outline flash look like an animation sequence. Ray Moore's Phantom I have previously mentioned about my naivety in disregarding the art styles of Ray Moore and Wilson McCoy, however redrawing their art during this project really gave me so much more perspective & I had to admit my complete foolishness in treating their art with general disdain previously. I chose a panel from the daily story 'The Singh Brotherhood'. I had two reasons for this choice, first - I got to include Diana, the wife of the 21st Phantom who is the main protagonist for most of the Phantom stories, and also its Falk's very first story featuring The Phantom. For colouring - I chose to use just a dot textured brush in grey to mimic the printing dots of news papers, as my tribute to the origins of the strip in black and white. George Wilson's Phantom George Wilson's painted covers for The Gold Key Phantom Comics & The Avon Phantom novels are legendary. I was extremely intimidated whenever I was getting close to the prospect of replicating his art in the project. I chose to recreate his cover from the very first issue of The Gold Key Comics & used the reference from my Hermes Press 'Complete Gold Key Years Vol 1' cover. Inspite of being one of the smaller illustrations, the time and effort I put in painting it was much more than any of the other Phantoms I recreated for the cover. I don't mind saying that I actually felt a bit proud seeing how it turned out. Fred Fredericks' Phantom Known more for his work on Falk's other well known character 'Mandrake The Magician', Fredericks' art and inks, in my opinion, was the most consistent & smoothest transition from Barry's style. Although he was the Inker in his Sunday Strips run, his style was dominant over Olesen's pencils, which is evident when you compare the art with Olesen's work on the Dailies of that period where he was inked by Keith Williams. Fredericks also included The Phantom in some of his Mandrake stories and was one of the last artists to have worked with Falk on the character. For reference I used a picture of a commission that Fredericks drew of Mandrake and The Phantom. It was a lot of fun recreating this style and was a lesson in making something pop with simple elegant line work and minimal but super effective inks. George Olesen's Phantom In all honesty the only reason I included Olesen's Phantom was because of the historical significance of him being the last artist that Falk worked with on the strips. The reference image I chose to recreate was from a panel of the very last Falk written Daily Story 'Terror at The Opera'. I chose it for a few reasons - firstly it had Kit and Heloise, the children of the Phantom; secondly its the last Lee Falk daily hence it nicely brings my cover to full circle as I also recreated a panel from the very first daily in my Ray Moore recreation - finally, the story too was going to be included in the issue. Billy Zane's Live Action Portrayal of The Phantom The 1996 Live Action film 'The Phantom' so far remains the only major movie outing of the character and has very polarized reaction from phans. However the one thing that phans on both sides of the camp agree upon is that Billy Zane was just the right man to play the Ghost Who Walks on screen. His portrayal is a phan favourite & I have a lot of nostalgia associated with it. I took utmost care in sketching his portrait from the iconic 'Slam Evil' Poster of the film. The real challenge however was in the colours. The image demanded a colouring style that could hit the right balance between the live action & comic book aesthetics. It took a lot of experimenting with different brushes to get the look I was trying to achieve with the paints. I'm quite satisfied with the results. Final Inks I took a Watercolourish approach for the Lee Falk Portrait to give a more 'diety like' look that would heavily contrast with the flat colours of the Phantoms. To each circle I painted on glass like reflections to give depth to make them look like transparent reflective spheres. I chose a bluish gradient for the background as a tribute to the blue colour of The Phantom by Team Fantomen, also it was one of the few shades that was not undermining the colours on any of the Phantoms. Final Colour Art Along with the cover I also did a portrait of Lee Falk and a Lee Falk signature for Regal to use if required. Regal went ahead and used the portrait in the interior of issue #12 and the logo as one of the elements for their final Cover print. I had a very enriching experience while creating this cover & am extremely thankful to my editor Pratheesh Jacob for giving me complete freedom in bringing my idea to the printed page. I'm also very grateful to Jermayn Parker & Mikael Lyck for their valuable ideas and advice while making this cover, which always gave me a different perspective. The Final Cover of Issue #12 with Regal's Presentation Elements Happy Phantoming!

We are joined by past Phantom Team Fantomen & Moonstone writer, Ben Raab who wrote 23 Phantom stories over a decade between 1999 and 2009. Some of his stories include the popular "The Spear of Destiny" saga, "The Hero", "The Invisible Phantom" which won Norwegian best story in 2001, the first team we see Kit and Heloise as the joint 22nd Phantom in "The First Assignment" for Team Fantomen. After Egmont he wrote several classic stories for Moonstone including the first two graphic novels "The Ghost Killer" and "The Singh Web" which was his adaption of the 1996 movie along with classic stories exploring the mythos of the Phantom in "Curse of the Phantom", "The Aviatrix" and "Legacy". Eager phans may know that Ben Raab has been making waves in Hollywood since with writing credits for "Warehouse 13", "Flash", "Arrow" and currently "Legacies". So obviously we end the podcast talking about how he would write a Phantom TV show series. One of the questions we ask is could the Phantom exist being a hero in Africa in a TV show with a possible white saviour label being used against him? Ben also tells us how he would write a Phantom TV show. As always the video will show slides, art examples and props as we discuss the Phantom. The audio only version is attached if you prefer that method. Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode and want to know your answers to our questions. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.

In Fantomen issue 9/2021 the best Fantomen story of 2020 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 "A Reckoning with the Nomad" written by Tony DePaul and drawn by Mike Manley. This is the 4th time a Daily story wins in Fantomen best storys' 43 years history and the second win for the duo Tony DePaul and Mike Manley, their first win was "Farewell to the Deep Woods" in 2017. The best Team Fantomen story landed a third place, the reprint of 1983s "Revenge of the Drummer" written by Norman Worker and with art by Knut Westad. The best newly produced Team Fantomen story is the first part of the secret theater arc by Claes Reimerthi and Kari Leppänen. If one would combined the votes the three stories in the arc got, it would be a clear winner. In the 2019 poll for the best 2018 adventures, Egmont received 165 votes, last year they received over 200 votes and this year 255 votes! Which is an encouraging sign to see more people voting. You can listen to my thoughts about 2020 in the podcast #179 here. Here are the full results:

It may be only be a month since our last comics and news podcast but with 11 comics out around the world, Claes Reimerthi retiring, board and card games, wall banners plus much more news to discuss the podcast originally went for 3 hours so we decided to split it into two podcasts. Hopefully it makes the podcast more palatable and enjoyable. This is episode 185B and where we focus on all the Phantom news from the last 5-6 weeks. There is a lot. In X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode 185A Mikael Lyck our Swedish correspondent went into detail why Claes Reimerthi decision to retire is a big deal. We agree and pick off from there. Latest News Claes Reimerthi Retiring (link): 1 Minute 30 Seconds Fantomen Editor Easter Eggs (link): 9 Minutes Card Game Arrived (Review link): 12 Minutes Board Game Update (Review link): 24 Minutes 30 Seconds 2021 Mallon Diary (Preview link): 41 Minutes NECA DotE Figurines (Where you can buy them): 48 Minutes 30 Seconds Boss Fight Studio Figurines (Where you can buy them): 55 Minutes 30 Seconds Ikon Collectibles Wall Banner (link): 1 Hour, 1 Minute Serbian Comic with Phantom on cover (link): 1 Hour, 6 Minute PNG Shields Coffee Table Book (link): 1 Hour, 7 Minutes 30 Seconds Sydney Comic Con (link): 1 Hour, 10 Minutes 30 Seconds LFMBEC 2021 Dinner confirmed: 1 Hour, 15 Minutes 30 Seconds Support Phantomwiki (link): 1 Hour, 20 Minutes 30 Seconds If you want an extra motivation to listen, we have included a key word for a prize. Full instructions and the key word in the podcast. Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode and our reviews and opinions. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or chat with us via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.