While comic book companies across the world seem to be cutting down & cancelling titles, Regal Publishers from India seem to be upping their production in 2021. Since the start of their full colour 'The Phantom' English comic series in August 2020, Regal's publishing schedule has been that of two issues released together with a month's gap till the next two issues. However that seems to have changed - In February of 2021 Regal released Issues 7 & 8, and Issues 9 & 10 are now already out in March! This is great news for Indian Phans, who will be hoping that Regal keep up this schedule and release a pair of issues every month from now onwards. The comics are printed in the same high quality thick gloss paper (similar to the high-quality colour trade paperbacks of Frew) that was very well received and since in use from the first time it was presented with the 2020 Christmas Special Issues #5 & #6. The Regal Direct freebies this time include a sticker of 'The Phantom' based off the cover art from Issue #9 & a mini-poster based off the cover of Issue #10. Each books reprints two Sunday strips, all of them written by Tony DePaul and illustrated by Terry Beatty. Issue #9's cover is by Ankit Mitra (Yours Truly) based off a panel from 'The Power House Gang' story - The issue runs 56 pages and has the two Sunday stories 'The Power House Gang' & 'Death Stalks the 5th Phantom' - the latter being one of my favourite stories illustrated by Terry Beatty alongside 'Trouble in the Twelve Nations'. Issue #10's cover is by, Regal Comics' veteran, Vincent Moses Raja (this is his 5th cover) & is based off a panel from the Story 'The Ghost Story', and probably my favourite Phantom work of is so far. The issue runs 56 pages too and contains the two strips of 'The Ghost Story' & 'The Iceman'. The price for each issue is 200 Indian Rupees which is about: $3.61 Australian Dollars, $2.76 US Dollars, 2.33 Euro & 23.85 Swedish Krona. (Rates as of today) Regal have set a benchmark amongst serially published monthly released 'The Phantom' comic series titles with the sheer quality of their paper and printing, & its a matter of pride for any Indian Phan to be able to get these stories in such quality at such economical prices. It is also a publication that any international Phantom collector would regale at the sheer quality of its production value. I wish the best for Regal and hope this series runs for years, giving us the dose of Phantom that has been missing for a long time in India. 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. Regal are still finding it difficult to distribute their books since the pandemic, and now as India is seemingly bracing for a second wave of the pandemic, things are looking to get even more grim. 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 domestically. 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 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

It may be only be 4-5 weeks since our last comics and news podcast but with 11 comics out around the world, Claes Remierthi 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. We will release Episode 185B News in a weeks time. Comic Reviews Frew Publications Frew 1886, 1887 & 1888 (Vulture Saga): 4 Minutes Revenge of the Vultures (Frew 1888): 24 Minutes The Phantom in Vietnam (Frew 1886 & 1887): 30 Minutes Frew TPB 4: 40 Minutes Regal Comics Regal #7: 1 Hour, 9 Minutes Regal #8: 1 Hour, 9 Minutes Regal #9: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes Regal #10: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes Fantomen Fantomen 5/2020: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes & 30 Seconds Fantomen 6-7/2020: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes & 30 Seconds 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.

The question everyone is asking at the moment is "where can I buy my Phantom figurines?" Phans are now blessed to have not one but two companies releasing Phantom figurines in the first quarter of 2021 with NECA with their Defenders of the Earth toy line and Boss Fight Studio with their Phantom line. You can also of course buy the figurines from their own creators website. The orders through the websites can deliver world wide: Boss Fight Studio NECA Toys Some USA retail shops like Walmart will be stocking the figurines but for the non-USA phans, we have found a few possible solutions for you. Not every local comic will be getting these in and this is not an exhaustive list as of yet but hopefully it will help you scratch that itch to buy them. If you find any other stores we have missed, please let us know by contacting us on social media or emailing us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com so we can add them to the below list. Australian Fans Majority of these shops will be selling both companies lines. Sanity, 147 stores around Australia Kaboom Comics, Toowoomba QLD Collector Zone, Perth WA Cult Collectables, Mornington Vic Pop Culture, Geelong Vic Collectors Edge Comics, Moonee Ponds Vic Ozzie Collectables, Melbourne, Vic Kollector Kaos, Adelaide SA Impact Comics, Canberra ACT Robotoyz, Online store only If you are an Australian comic shop owner or a phan looking to get them through your local comic shop, Ikon is the Australian distributor. Sweden Fans Heromic will be stocking the Boss Fight Studio figurines but at this stage not the whole line - and the first wave of the NECA Toys Defenders of the Earth line. Heromic, Gustavsberg England Fans Comics and Cocktails, Online store only Toy Trash, Online store only Other Locations If ordering through their own websites do not work for you. On the advice from other phans we have settled on the website "Big Bad Toy Store" as the other best option out there to get your Phantom figurine posted to you. If you find any other stores we have missed, please let us know by contacting us on social media or emailing us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com so we can add them to the above list.

We are joined by past Phantom Sunday artist, Terry Beatty who drew the Phantom in the KFS Sunday newspaper strip between the dates of January 29, 2012 and the last one on May 7, 2017. He drew 9 complete stories and 2 part stories including gems like "Mandrake's Bon Voyage", "Death Stalks the 5th Phantom" and "The Shadows of Rune Noble". Terry is part of the exclusive club that both drew The Phantom and Batman, only the third credited artist to draw both the Phantom and Mandrake in a newspaper story and the last artist to draw the Mandrake after legendary artist Fred Fredericks retired. This is a phun episode as we go through Terry's career including his Australian trip as a guest of the Australian chapter of the LFMBEC. 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.

Covid-19 sucks and unfortunately we are still experiencing the effect of it. From a Phantom perspective we have been lucky with no comic series or anything else being cancelled or threatened until now. The amazing resource that every hard core Phantom phan, collector and researcher uses, The Phantomwiki website is asking for our help. The Phantomwiki is hosted and normally fully paid for by the Swedish chapter of the LFMBEC, however due to COVID-19 there is currently a shortfall which we need to help out with. Due to the amount of data and images being hosted on the website, the price is 5,000 kronor per year which is about $750AU, $600US and 500 Euro. If you would like to donate to the running of the awesome Phantomwiki website, please click here.

Readers of Fantomen 5/2021 might notice some familiar faces. In the story "The Little Detective Who Disappeared" part of the story takes place in Sweden. One of those panels in particular got quite heavy edited in the Swedish Fantomen comics as you can see on the images above. In the Fantomen comics, the character Farfar (Swedish for grandfather on your father's side) has been edited to look more like Ulf Granberg with the eye patch added. The woman and the man in the background were also removed and edited. In their places the retiring Fantomen editor Mikael Sol and the new Fantomen editor Andreas Eriksson were added. You should also notice the logo on the back of Andreas' shirt, which is Ades Media, his own publishing company. Below are photos of Mikael Sol, Andreas Eriksson and Ulf Granberg.

In Fantomen issue 6-7/2021, a bit later than usual, we can now vote for your favourite 2020 Fantomen comic cover. You can vote here at this website. I would say it is a tough year, the covers for 2020 had an amazing high quality. If you want to hear what me and the guys in the X-Band: The Phantom podcast thought was the best covers you can listen to Phans' Phavourites of 2020 here. (Around the 42 minute mark). New prize You can win a limited print featuring art of the winning cover. Earlier the raffle prizes has been T-shirts or Tote bags, so very exciting with a new kind of giveaway! This is open for international phans with the winning prize sent free of charge to your address. You can vote until 5th of April and the result will be announced in Fantomen 16/2021 with a poster of the winning cover as a supplement.

India's Regal Publishers kicks off their 2021 with Issues #7 & #8 of their ongoing English full colour comics series of 'The Phantom'. 17th February, 2021 marks 85 Years of 'The Phantom' being in existence and in publication in newspaper strips since its inception in 1936 - and these issues came out just in time to commemorate this historical milestone. Regal continue their usage of thick gloss paper which was introduced from their previous #5 & #6 '2020 Christmas Special' issues, and some free supplements with each issue. Issue #7 comes with a mini poster featuring the cover art of the same issue while #8 comes with a card with the picture of The Phantom taken from the cover art of issue #7. Issue #7 features cover art by Vincent Moses Raja, who seems to have been featured in majority of the covers and supplement art. Issue #8 has covers drawn by Abhilash Chako, who was also responsible for the cover of Issue #3. There are two unique new Phantom art by legendary Italian artist Felmang in each issue's inside covers. Stories on both issues are reprints of Sunday strips however #7 features a Lee Falk story for the first time in this comic series. So far Regal had been reprinting Sundays of all the post-Falk era, however with 'The Floradon Mystery' they take their first step into an original Falk story in this series. Quite apt considering its the 85th Anniversary, and its natural that a story by the original creator will be featured. Speaking about firsts, Issue #7 also for the first time features the art of Terry Beaty in this publication with the modern classic Sunday story 'Mandrake's Bon Voyage' - written by Tony DePaul. This also is the first appearance of another of Lee Falk's legendary character, Mandrake in this series. Quite an introduction considering that Regal have already announced that they will soon be publishing a 'Mandrake the Magician' series later this year. Issue #8 features two Sundays written by Tony DePaul and illustrated by Graham Nolan, 'On The Trail of An Assassin' and 'The Mystery of Fire Head Peak'. Both solid tales - the former an intense action drama, while the latter is a very Falkish fantasy adventure story. The price for each issue is 200 Indian Rupees which is about: $3.50 Australian Dollars, $2.80 US Dollars, 2.27 Euro & 23 Swedish Krona. Regal have raised the bar very high for 'The Phantom' monthly comics with their premium quality paper and high fidelity colour printing. Regal have been going from strength to strength with each issue however all their efforts are still unfortunately hampered by the broken distribution chain - an aftermath of the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 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. For any assistance regarding ordering these books directly 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 If you would like to learn more about the creators, you can find interviews here: Tony DePaul Graham Nolan

In 2019 a Lee Falk exhibition-sale was organized by one of the leading art galleries in Brussels called "Galerie Champaka". The flyer for the event is located to the right and a photo gallery of the event is below. Held from 3/10/2019 and until 19/10/2019, the exhibition mainly showcased original artwork by Wilson McCoy (The Phantom) and Phil Davis (Mandrake the Magician). A few Sy Barry early original pages could also be seen. The gallery, whose name is derived from the rare Himalayan flower "Magnolia Champaca" is a well known establishment in the field of Franco-Belgian comic book art in Europe. Hergé and Will Eisner figure among the names of artists previously exhibited in the art space. During the vernissage or preview evening guests and collectors could admire large format Sunday pages of "The Ghost Who Walks" …and indulge in aesthetic contemplation on the unique style and art of Wilson McCoy. Thanks to Ohm Roy for the information and photos. If you have photos and information from other previous galleries, please contact us as we would love to share them with the wider Phantom community.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! It is The Phantoms 85th Birthday - on this day back in 1936, something amazing happened with the debut of a comic strip in the newspapers that has changed the world and many peoples lives. We at Chronicle Chamber have celebrated the birthday by talking about each of the decades in detail and going over what we believe are the key moments through out the Phantoms history. Have a listen and tell us what you agree with and do not agree with. Have we missed any key dates or moments? We would love to hear back from you. Here are a few moments we discussed in the podcast. The video will have images showing the dates. 1930's Oath of The Phantom, Comics being published around the world, strong character development, top stories, world wide appeal. 1940's WW2, Frew Publications, Wilson McCoy and Alfred Bester filling in for Lee Falk and Ray Moore, First mainstream merchandise, serial featuring Tom Tyler, the first engagement, Mr Walker alias, love interests from other characters to Diana and The Phantom. 1950's Heaps of new countries (Brazil, Sweden, Indonesia, Denmark, Norway etc), Jungle Patrol, the good mark and the Female Phantom were both introduced. Our Phantom was first introduced as the 21st Phantom 1960's Sy Barry started on the Daily and Sunday strips, modernisation of the Phantom being moved to Africa and Bengalla becoming independent breaking from its former colonialism rule. RGE/Semic started creating their own stories. Luaga, General Bababu, Eden, Rex, Whispering Woods, Keela Wee, Phantom Peak and Bomsbay Prison were all introduced. 1970's The Phantom and Diana finally were married and then had two children. The stories from Sweden had a left lean towards them and emerged as the biggest producer of Phantom stories in the world. Old Man Mozz, Kit and Heloise, Dogai Singh, Mori tribe, Wasaki Tribe, origin of the Bandar friendship, the Dolphins, Hzz and Steggy were all introduced. The 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 18th Phantoms are all introduced to readers also. 1980's Jim Shepherd took over Frew and modernised the comic. There was an explosion of merchandise in Australia and Sweden helped by the popularity of the clubs. Comic numbers sold in Brazil, Sweden and Australia all peaked. Defenders of the Earth was introduced. Fantomen Land in Sweden was opened and Frew went from the dominate blue cover to yellow strip top. 1990's The 1996 Billy Zane movie, Sy Barry retiring and Lee Falk passing away was the big three of the decade. We were also introduced to Lubanaga, perhaps the biggest foe the 21st Phantom has ever dealt with. Fantomen moved to colour and Semic sold their rights to Egmont. Unfortunately with Lee Falk nearing his end and Sy barry retiring the newspaper stories hit an all time low. We also saw the 2040 Phantom TV show. 2000's Moonstone started publishing comics, Ulf Granberg was instrumental is saving the newspaper strips existence with Cleas Remeirthi and Tony DePaul. Continue decline in Egmont and Frew sales. Introduction of Sandal Singh and the Python as major arch nemeses to the 21st Phantom. 2010's End of an era with Ulf Granberg retiring and Jim Shepherd passing away. Frew Crew picked up the mantle and ran with it. Kid Phantom and Fantomen Kids started. Introduction to the Nomad and numerous swapping of newspaper artists. A bigger focus on Australian created content. We then discussed our favourite decades and had a go at predicting what we believe will be key moments throughout the 2020's. Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. Our next podcast is one to remember - stay tuned. 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.

Out in January 2021 in Serbia was a comic magazine featuring the Phantom on the cover. While there is no Phantom content in this comic it may be of interest to the completist collectors out there. Serbian magazine "Strip Sa Margine" (translated to Comic from the Margins) brings works by non-established authors and artists. All works exude creativity, ingenuity, and the whole book abounds in different styles of drawing and storytelling. The cover is by Serbian local artist Aleksandar Anđelković. If you are a completist and need this in your collection, we suggest buying from their website. The cost is 400 Serbian Dinars which is $5.50Au, $4US, 35 Swedish Kronors and €3.5 Euros. Thank you to Phantomwiki contributor Marko Davidovic for the information on this comic. To learn more about Marko and his contributions to the Phantomwiki - listen to X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode #165.

It may be only be a month since our last comics and news podcast but with a heap of news and four comics to review there is plenty to talk about. Who are we kidding? We love chatting Phantom and you love listening to us - its a perfect match. As some may only want to listen to parts of the podcast, we have included a time stamp of each topic. Either way, I hope you enjoy the podcast. We have also included links to each piece of news so if you want more information you can click the links. The Frew 2021 annual has received a lot of negative feedback on social media. We discuss our thoughts including a response from the Frew Crew themselves and what the Frew 2022 annual may look like - they also want our feedback on what we want included with the annual. Make sure you listen to the podcast to hear some suggestions. Comic Reviews Frew Publications Frew 1884: 3 Minutes Frew 1885: 29 Minutes Fantomen Fantomen 2-3/2020: 37 Minutes 30 Seconds Fantomen 4/2020: 41 Minutes Phantom News Card Game Update (link to read more): 43 Minutes 30 Seconds Andreas Eriksson new Fantomen editor (link to read more): 44 Minutes Board Game Update (link to read more): 53 Minutes 30 Seconds 2021 Mallon Diary (link to read more): 59 Minutes Boss Fight Studio Wave 1.5 (link to read more): 1 Hour 30 Seconds Peter Richman Passing (link to read more): 1 Hour 9 Minutes Hermes Phantom DC Series Announcement (link to read more): 1 Hour 11 Minutes New German Series (link to read more): 1 Hour 18 Minutes NECA Defenders of the Earth Update: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes 30 Seconds EDIT: Worth noting that there has been THREE Frew created stories published by Egmont. Thanks for the correction by our loyal listeners. Hero Complex published by Fantomet Jungle Love and Errand of Mercy published by Fantomen Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. Our next podcast is one to remember - stay tuned. 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.

Are Frew readers colourblind? If you like watching your podcasts with props, this will be a podcast to watch on YouTube. To discuss The Phantom & colour in detail we are joined by Kevin Patrick, author of "The Phantom Unmasked: America's First Superhero" and Indian phan Ankit Mitra who reviews the Regal Publishers Phantom comics for us. Together with Jermayn and Dan they discuss The Phantom and colour specifically focusing on the Frew comic published in Australia. We discuss all means of topics including the quality of the product with the colouring in quality, comparing colour styles of DC and Marvel, comparing the paper quality and of course the impact it will mean to the price of the comic. What makes this podcast work is that Ankit and Kevin know what they are talking about having a history of comics outside the Phantom. We touch upon several discussions including the history of Indians comics and why colour is so important to them. Along with Kevin's knowledge of India, he also talked about his research into the Swedish market and even looked at why and what lessons Frew could learn with Swedens and Norways Fantomen and Fantomet change to colour in 1991. To finish the podcast we all answer some final questions Will colour Frew comics generate new younger readers for the Frew Magazine? Should Frew publish all the comics in colour, keep black and white or do a nice mixture of both? If you were in charge of Frew, what would you do with the colour and black and white mix of comics? If you were in charge of Frew, would you colour newspaper reprint stories? Would you be happy with less Frew comics a year if all in colour? We would love to hear from you on what you think of this podcast episode along with your answers to the above questions. You can email us at chroniclechamebr@gmail.com or via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. Kevin Patrick is an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University (Rose Hill, NY). He is an Australian media studies academic and comics historian, who has lived in the United States since 2016. He is the author of "The Phantom Unmasked: America's First Superhero", published by University of Iowa Press (2017) and has been on our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode #83 as he discussed the book and his research. You can follow Kevin at his academia page and his Instagram page.

The Chronicle Chamber team is excited to share our preview of the 2021 Phantom Diary, soon to be released from Mallon Publishing in Australia. We've been sent an exclusive plotter's proof to share with phans and got the chance to have a good long through at it in the video below. Full disclosure - we at Chronicle Chamber are contributing editors to the book so might be a little biased, but this is honestly a fantastic celebration of our hero in his 85th year and well worth adding to your Phantom library. As you'll see, this book is a diary by name but in reality is so much more. The careful curation of unfolding Phantom history is both a visual feast and an information smorgasbord. It features detailed notes about important Phantom dates regarding stories, lore, creators, and publishers, all laid alongside intelligent and thoughtfully chosen imagery from all corners of the world But don't take our word for it - watch the video below and judge for yourself! To pre-order, download the order form at this link and Email it directly to Mallon info@mallon.net.au

Jermayn, Dan, Stephen & Mikael go over their phavourites from around the world for 2020 including the "Frew Best Of 2020" results as held in the survey ran by Chronicle Chamber. It is a bumper podcast just a tick over 2.5 hours but with 100+ comics and products that came out and 12 categories for us to discuss from 2020, it was not an easy task but we managed. First of all we go over the tale of the tape highlighting where each comic, TPB and book came from and comparing it from the previous years and then we go over our favourites. The discussion areas we discussed are: Best non-Frew/Fantomen cover Best Frew Cover Frew Survey Results for Best Frew Cover Best Fantomen Cover Best Writer Best Story Artist Best Story Published by Frew Frew Survey Results for Best Frew Story Overall Fantomen Best Story Best Fantomen Issue Best Frew Issue Frew Survey Results for Best Frew Issue Best Licensed and Unlicensed Merchandise We then finished it off discussing our overall thoughts of 2020 from an overall Phantom perspective and our favourite Chronicle Chamber moment. Our YouTube video includes images and examples of all of the comics, stories and merchandise so if you are a visual person we recommend you watching our video. Otherwise our audio podcast is attached for your pleasure. Also a huge thanks to everyone who entered in their phavourites for the Frew survey and a huge shout out to the winners: Frew Crew Badge Daniella Colomara Nick Moles Chronicle Chamber Merchandise Set Shane Glaucio Cardoso Adrian Wade All winners have their prizes sent out to them. 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 via our social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram.