You may remember a while ago we lamented the loss of message boards to the rise of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. After we posted this a good number of you added your own voices to this chorus and thus we took note. Now, ChronicleChamber is proud to announce that The Phantom is on Reddit, one of the few message board platforms to remain since the domination of social media. For those who came in late, Reddit has long been a popular place for the denizen of the internet to hang out and discuss their favourite topics. Reddit doesn't require you to give your name or address or age to join, all you need is an email address and you're good to go. Structured like a traditional message board Reddit also allows users to up- and down- vote threads and replies to you only see the stuff you're interested in and get rid of the stuff you're not. While we understand that the on-line Phantom community isn't huge, we hope at least some of you will come over and join us to discuss our favourite hero. There are already several threads up ready to go, so why not head on over the the r/PhantomPhans subreddit by clicking the Phantom-ised Reddit mascot Snoo, which next to the rest of our social media links in the site's header (or on any of the links in this post). Hope to see you there.

Today, I’m very happy to announce the Phantom Preservation Project. The Phantom Preservation Project, or P3 as I like to call it (cause I’m a nerd), is planned to be a repository for all out-of-print Phantom media. Newspaper articles, phan club newsletters, music from decades ago, no-longer-published magazines and more will be housed here for generations of phans to enjoy. There is a a lot of Phantom stuff out there though, so this will be an on-going, ever evolving project! However, we already have a heap of stuff on there for you to check out including - Newsletters from the Official Phantom Phan Club of Australia Newsletters from the Independent Phantom Phan Club of Australia A heap of newspaper articles about the 1996 Phantom film Decades worth of Phantom-inspired music The long-lost Phantom: Ghost Who Walks video game And more! P3 was something Jermayn and I discussed waaaay back, even before X-Band was a thing. However, at the time we weren’t really sure how we’d implement it or even if we could. The idea remained on the back burner for a long time until we discovered Patreon. We’d figured that with the cost of hosting such a large amount of files as P3 would entail we simply couldn’t afford it. However, thanks to all of our generous Patrons we can now bring this idea to fruition. That’s right, P3 has been made possible completely because of those of you who support the site with your donations! Due to this the Project will be exclusively available Patron members (of the $5 tier or higher)! We chose to go this was because we wanted a special way to say "thank you" to those who support ChronicleChamber with their wallets. This is not a way for us to make money; every cent donated to the Patron goes straight back into the site to ensure we can continue to bring you the best content we possible can. We hope everyone finds the Phantom Preservation Project as exciting as we do! We’ll constantly be adding to it in order to preserve as much Phantom history as possible so be sure to keep checking back for updates! Cheers, - Joe #P3 #Patreon

Hello fellow Phans, and welcome to 2018! For our first update to the Preservation Project this year we've been able to provide you with several issues of the classic, largely informative Friends of The Phantom newsletter. These newsletter contain interviews with many Phantom creators as well as original art and lot more. Secondly, all versions of the classic Phantom 2040 video game have been added, along with links to emulators which will allow you to play them on our PC, Mac, iOS or Android device. As with our previous Preservation Project content, this is only available to our Patrons who are on the $5 tier or higher. If you'd like to join our Patreon and gain access to the Project, you can do so HERE, or read more about the Project HERE. Happy New Year. #P3 #Downloads #Patreon #FriendsofThePhantom #Phantom2040

The trickle of information about the upcoming Phantom board game continues! We now know a little bit more about the game-play and most importantly, we now also have a clear idea what it will be called, thanks to a recent magazine interview with the creative team. The Campaigner is an Australian digital and hardcopy magazine dedicated to tabletop gaming news and reviews. In the current issue #23, Dale Maccanti - one half of the team behind the Phantom game - leaked out a little more insight into the tabletop board game which will be titled: "The Phantom: Treasures of Drakon" The interesting part of the title referencing the Island of "Drakon" from the Pirates of the Red Dragon trilogy, is that it is borne of a mis-translation by Frew! "Drakon" ("Drakön") is Swedish and could have been translated literally as "The Dragon Island" but hey - Drakon is a cool name and sometimes so-called mistakes become legendary. For the full interview, you can buy a copy of the magazine (and/or download a digital copy) here. Dedicated collectors and especially those considering becoming board game completists will not want to miss out - there are only 18 hard copies of the magazine left in stock at time of writing. Much of the Interview does repeat what you would have already heard on our two podcasts with Alex Wynnter (Episode 86) or Dale (Episode 89), or read in the ChronicleChamber posts that followed. However The Campaigner #23 is worth reading to refresh your enthusiasm for what an awesome board game this will be, and also for the awesome game-play tidbits that are released. One particular element that got our attention was that the game will feature "a mechanic that allows the players to create a playable comic. It will look like a collection of daily strips that will change every time you play." This, together with the promise of some spectacular and new Glenn Ford artwork, will continue to have phans licking their lips, feeling for their hip pockets, and eagerly eyeing the October release of the Kickstarter campaign! #Games #GlennFord

The veil of secrecy has been lifted - The Phantom will return via Lightning Strike Comic Books! ​When we reported Lightning Strike's Facebook teaser image last month (right), we were all very confident that the "New Adventure" would be a Phantom story. Today that has been definitively proven to be the case. On their Facebook page today, Lightning Strike posted the main image at the bottom of this page, together with this statement: Lightning Strike Comics are pleased to announce following the approval of King Features Syndicate the production of a new and original Phantom story set to be released this May. We will be announcing the full creative team next week.. For those who came in late, Lightning Strike Comic Books is an independent comic book label located in Dublin, Ireland. In 2016 they celebrated the 80th Anniversary year by publishing a short The Phantom comic book for the Dublin Comic Convention. Clearly that single issue was a success, and it is wonderful to see the commitment to return to the popular character. A number of questions spring to mind: It remains to be seen what type of book the team will be creating. Last year it was a compilation of short and very short stories. Will this be a similar collection, or can we assume that the use of the singular verbs "Adventure" and "Story" (not "Adventures" or "Stories") means that this will be one, longer narrative? Will this be the beginning of an on-going story arc, or will it be a one-shot? And just might we be witnessing the origin of a whole new publishing arm of The Phantom, with Lightning Strike to join Frew, Egmont, Dynamite and Hermes Press in publishing regular stories? ChronicleChamber have been in contact with the good folk at Lightning Strike Comic Books, and we will update you as soon as we know more. #LightningStrikeComics

The 100th Episode of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast is fast approaching, and we want you to celebrate with us! Recording and publishing these podcasts is a labour of love for all of us here at ChronicleChamber, and we hope you enjoy listening half as much as we enjoy recording. We have had so many wonderful experiences doing it, especially the conversations with Phantom luminaries that we could only have dreamed of when we were young phans reading comics under the covers at night by torchlight. Hopefully some of these conversations have been fun, interesting, informative and entertaining for you as well! It's hard to believe we have almost reached 100 episodes! There are a few things we have planned for #100 when it hits, and we are now ready to announce the first of them! As you would have heard in Episode 96 (or seen if you've watched the Youtube vodcast), we are holding a competition to give away a limited edition Bradford Exchange Bronze Phantom statue!! The statue is an absloute classic and a must-have for any serious Phantom collector. The statue on offer is #0167 of 1936 made. Based on a Glenn Ford design, the imposing 12 inch figure will stand proudly on your Phantom shelf or display case, or even be the most excellent paperweight possible on your desk at work. All you need to do to enter is write a review at iTunes for X-Band: The Phantom Podcast. The ChronicleChamber team will choose the review that we like the most, and that author will win the prize! Yes, it's that easy! So go on to iTunes either on your device or here via the website and give us a 5 star rating and review! Make sure you leave your name as part of the review so we can identify the winner and send you the statue. We will announce the winner as part of the Episode 100 celebrations. Many thanks to MerchantWise in Melbourne who have donated the statue for us to give away in this competition. #Podcast #BradfordExchange #MerchantWise #GlennFord #XBand

Many moons ago, the 100th Episode of X Band: The Phantom Podcast was unashamedly a celebration of the podcast, and we so appreciated the dozens of people who sent in congratulatory messages for us to include. First advertised in Episode 96, we held a competition to give away a limited edition Bradford Exchange Bronze Phantom statue. The statue is an absolute classic and a must-have for any serious Phantom collector. Based on a Glenn Ford design, the imposing 12 inch figure is simply sensational. All you needed to do to enter was write a review on iTunes for X-Band: The Phantom Podcast. The ChronicleChamber team sorted through the entries and chose the review that we liked the most, and that was written by - Finn Mauriks of Victoria, Australia! Now we do have to say at this point that we had no idea how old Finn was until he sent in his photo with his prize - he definitely won the competition on merit and not some sort of youth vote! To be up front, there was actually some spirited debate among the ChronicleChamber team regarding the "best" review, but once we saw the photo and realised Finn was a member of the next generation of Phantom phans, we could not have been more delighted. The statue is in the right hands. It did cause a little problem for us though - we didn't want to publish Finn's photo without parental permission and perhaps unsurprisingly, now he has his statue he has stopped replying to emails! So we eventually decided to go ahead with a pixelated pic that you see above. We've actually had this post sitting in our Drafts folder for over four months! Either way. we really appreciated Finn's generous review, and his response to receiving the statue has further confirmed for us that he truly is a deserving winner: "I have been a Phantom collector for three years now so I'm still very new. I found out about the Phantom from my uncle who had a few in the attic. I think my first issue was 1736...? But now I have loads of old issues now. Right now the statue is living on my desk looking phantastic. "I discovered X-Band: The Phantom Podcast by typing "Phantom" into the podcast app on my phone. I saw the photo of the Phantom and knew this was the one to listen to. I have been listening to the podcast since early 2017. But I have listened to all the episodes from #55. I like the podcast because I just get to know what's happening in the phantom community. Also because of the great interviews. Or I like it because I can hear people talking about the Phantom, something I don't usually hear. "My chosen side? Falkist or modernist? To say it flatly I think both are equal. It shouldn't be one or the other, it should be about the qualities of the story and art. The art is what draws me into the stories. Although if I were to pick a side I would go with Falkist, because you have to give recognition to the creator. Although Scandinavia has brought the Phantom along so that new stories can be made." Congratulations again Finn, and many thanks to MerchantWise in Melbourne who have donated the statue for us to give away in this competition. One last word on the 100th episode... Including our production of The Gibs Brothers radio play was a pretty special thing for us too, and we really hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't heard it yet - why not? The YouTube version is at the bottom of this post... do yourself a favour, take the 10 minutes, and check it out now! The Gibs Brothers: #Podcast #BradfordExchange #MerchantWise #GlennFord #XBand

There is only a couple of weeks left to enter our competition for a copy of Don Newton's Complete Phantom, the beautiful volume published by Hermes Press. Celebrating one of the greatest American comic book artists of our favourite hero, it is a stunning volume and a must have for any serious Phantom phan. Valued at around $80AUD in your local comic store, this is a prize worth chasing. Of course, there is a catch... The competition is exclusively open to Patreon supporters of ChrnoicleChamber.com, the fine folk who help keep this website running with their contribution. How to enter: Current Patreon supporters: Do nothing. You are already entered! Not a current Patreon supporter? Head over to our Patreon page and sign up for as little as $1/month. It's that easy! The raffle draw is random, and Patreons will be entered at a rate of one ticket for each dollar pledged monthly. For instance, supporting at $1/month equals one entry; supporting at $5/month equals 5 entries. Of course, $5/month support also entitles you to access all the Phantom goodies that are stored in our very own Major Treasure Room, the Phantom Preservation Project (P3). We'll draw the raffle on a Facebook Live video over the weekend of 1/2 June, so make sure you sign up to the Patreon before the end of May! As ever, a huge thanks to the team at Hermes Press for their donation of a copy of this book for us to raffle to our Patreon supporters. #DonNewton #HermesPress #P3 #Patreon

In news sure to concern the worldwide Phantom community, Daily and Sunday newspaper strip author Tony DePaul has been diagnosed with cancer. To be specific, biopsy results show that Tony has a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that should apparently respond well to chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Fair to say the man himself is staying very optimistic, with his philosophical never-say-die attitude clearly evident in his blog posts sharing the news. Over a series of posts he variously describes the offending lump as a "marshmallow", "lazy", and "the Beetle Bailey of lymphatic cancers". Typifying the man, one response to a well-wisher encapsulates his approach, "I think this will just be a chronic thing from here on in, where cancer & I live in the same town, pass on the street every day, and give each other a sidelong look with a hand resting on our guns." You can read all about Tony's assessment of the situation in his own words here. It's fair to say he hasn't resorted to consulting witchdoctors just yet! Given that he's just returned from 14,500 mile (almost 23,400 km) motorcycle odyssey through the Arctic circle - a run from his home on Rhode Island up to Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories and Prudhoe Bay in Alaska - you can understand that this little setback is not going to slow him down too much. For those keen to catch up on those adventures, Tony recommends this post as a window into the trip. From all the team at ChronicleChamber, and we are sure from the wider Phantom phandom, we wish Tony all the best and all our support as he faces this new battle. #TonyDePaul

As reported by ChronicleChamber last week, world renowned comic book artist and unofficial Phantom ambassador Sal Velluto will be appearing at Lucca Comics and Games Convention at the end of this month. In further exciting news, we can now reveal that he and colourist Eugenio Mattozzi have produced a folio of Phantom prints that will be available for sale at the event, Europe's largest comics convention. There are eight exclusive prints in the collection, produced on high quality 200g Bristol paper. An appealing (11x17; A3) size, the images have been hand-selected by Sal from among the forty or more covers he has had published. The featured covers have previously illuminated books produced by Egmont (Fantomen) and Frew Publications. The Phantom is coloured purple in seven of the eight prints, with one blue for colour consistency. Eugenio has also created a one-off design for the cardboard folio to house the prints, in a stunning black envelope with a white close up profile image. Each print will be signed by both artists. A very limited number of these folios are being created, only available at Lucca from Sal and Eugenio. While he is primarily at the convention to promote his new Italian comic Zagor, Sal will of course do some Phantom promotion on the side, together with Massimo Gamberi. ChronicleChamber is run by phans for phans and we know that very few of our readers will be able to attend Lucca to purchase these. So, in a non-convention exclusive and as a ChronicleChamber first, we have coordinated with Sal and Eugenio to bring 20 folios to Australia. To order a copy of the Lucca Phantom folio (8 prints), please email us at chroniclechamber@gmail.com. The 20 sets will be allocated on a first in first served basis. We are only asking buyers to pay the cost price of $85 (covers sale price, import to Australia and postage within Australia). For purchasers outside of Australia, please contact us via email for a quote on international shipping. The artists have requested payment in full before they will ship the prints, so we do require payment (via PayPal) to hold your set. Please note: For fairness to all and ease of time stamping, orders may ONLY be placed via email, NOT via social media or other messaging service. This post will be edited once all sets have been reserved and paid for. Sal & Eugenio introduce the folio set on Facebook 23 October 2019 and a copy of the video can be found here #SalVelluto #EugenioMattozzi #LuccaComics #MassimoGamberi

This is a bumper podcast with five phans in Stephen, Dan, Jermayn, Mikael Lyck and Duncan Munro talking about the latest Phantom news and comics from all around the world. It may be almost two and a half hours long but you will have phun. Mikael Lyck gives us a review of the three latest Fantomen issues and Duncan joins us for the whole podcast and then we spend 45 minutes dissecting his latest new story printed in Frew issue 1869. In case you cannot listen to the whole two and a half hours, we will list a timestamp Sydney & Perth Supanova: 5 Minutes Bastei Freune Magazine Issue #50: 17 Minutes Wulfric Media: 20 Minutes Mikael Lyck Card Game: 26 Minutes Fantomen 2020 Softcover Album Cover: 28 Minutes 30 Seconds Indian Regal Publishers printing in English: 30 Minutes 30 Seconds Bad News for Fantomet: 33 Minutes 30 Seconds Fantomen Comic Reviews: 46 Minutes 30 Seconds Fantomen 12/2020 Fantomen 13/2020 Fantomen 14-15/2020 Frew Publications Comic Reviews Frew 1869: 53 Minutes Giant Size 13 Annual: 1 Hour 38 Minutes Phantoms World #12: 2 Hours 3 Minutes

Do you need something to do while stuck in isolation? For a bit of phun we have created a Phantom crossword for you and hopefully it will give everyone an excuse to read some more Phantom comics. We've mixed Phantom TV shows, creators, Newspaper & Team Fantomen stories into the crossword. You should be able to fill out the answers in the crossword, otherwise you can print out the questions by downloading the PDF below. Stay safe!

In our latest podcast we talk to Antonio Lemos Frew cover artist who has been producing covers since 1993 with over 170 to his name. This is phun podcast as we chat about all things covers, his love and discovery of The Phantom, his love for the water and his time in the navy plus his country of birth Uruguay. Antonio talks about his relationship with international superstar artist Eduardo Barreto who would have a short but successful stint as a Phantom Sunday artist, visiting studios of Phantom famous artists around the world in Cesar Spadari & Felmang. The differences between drawing covers for Jim Shepherd and the Frew Crew. Along with his experience's in being censored plus much more. This is a podcast not to be missed, you will have phun!

A masthead is part of the publication's branding, with a specific font and, usually, color. It may include other details besides the name, such as ornamentation, a subtitle, or motto. What follows is the history of every masthead from a Denmark publisher over a 50+ year period. My name is Simon Treschow and I have been a Phantom phan since I was in school in 1962. A series that immediately attracted me when I was reading comics in the newspaper was the Phantom. I distinctly remember the last part of The Iron Dragon drawn by Wilson McCoy and today I am 65+ and still enjoying reading my comics. Today I am looking at logos and mastheads on the Fantomet releases in Denmark. This research has also taken me on a little trip around the world including Norway, France, UK, and the USA. From 1952 to 1954 Carl Allers published the so-called Fantom-Heft. Some issues had the Phantom as the main story. Therefore, these numbers had Fantomet (The Phantom) as the logo on the front. The logo did not change during the period of this series being published.. On the last four numbers, however, the Fantomet logo was framed in a box. In 1970, the "Fantomet Annual" was published by Interpresse. It was the first Fantomet Denmark comic release since 1954. The left image is the Denmark Fantomen comic and the right is the original 1968 British Phantom Annual. The contents are the same but translated and The Fantomet logo was new compared to the previous Fantom-Heft series. In 1971, a new regular publication started named Fantomet and was published as a monthly magazine by Interpresse. The logo was initially copied from the Norwegian Fantomen logo with the Norwegian logo originally modified from the Swedish logo. if you compare the two covers and mastheads below, most would not know they come from different countries. The Swedish logo that has not changed significantly since 1950 but that is another story. [Editors note: the below covers that are discussed can be seen in the slideshow below] In 1977 Interpresse launched a new Fantomet logo with issue #70 which features a different text style and the popular skull in the hole of the 'O'. In 1983 sixteen years later, Interpresse on issue #219 redesigned the logo to a much smaller Fantomet with the issue number, price and page count much bigger. The skull in the hole of the '0' was also dropped. That logo design did not last long with it changing again in 1986, issue #272. The issue number, price and page count was all redesigned again with a tidier compact block to the left of the comic. The Fantomet logo is more modern and probably the most minimalist. In 1990 with issue #321 the whole masthead was simplified again with a return to old. The logo font was returned to a similar style as the 1977 style (minus the skull) and the issue number, price and page count was shrunk to the top right corner. The logo had a white drop shadow and the words "Lee Falk's" was added on top of the "NTO" in Fantomet. In issue #338 in 1992, Interpresse changed the Fantomet logo back to the 1977 logo with the skull and an outline with no previous drop shadow. The "Lee Falk's" text was added to with the words "Klassiske Junglehelt" which translates to "Lee Falk’s Classic Jungle Hero". The issue number, price and page count was again modified to fit in with the new addition to the top right hand side of the comic cover. The last change before the cancellation of the magazine happened in issue #343 (cancellation was at issue #369) which saw the words "Klassiske Junglehelt" which translates to "Lee Falk’s Classic Jungle Hero" removed. Besides the regular magazine, during this time three other series was also released which featured different style masthead styles. In 1994, Interpresse launched a new Fantomet magazine called "Fantomet Krønikee" which translates to Phantom Chronicle with a logo based on the logo from the "Fantomet Annual" album from 1969. The capital "F" in Fantomet was changed to be larger. Borgen / Bogfabrikken released three beautifully colored albums with Wilson McCoy Sundays in 1985 to 1987. The Interpresse logo from 1983 was used. These albums were a translated duplicate from the same Swedish Christmas albums. In 2001, Egmont released a beautifully colored hard cover album with Sy Barry Sundays. This featured a new logo which is the same style as the Swedish book of the same format. Egmont Sweden originally intended this series to be 18 books and covering all of Sy Barry's Sundays. Three were published in Sweden and only one in Denmark. I hope you enjoyed this journey through out the history of the masthead of Fantomet comics from my country Denmark. Researching this topic has seen me track the popular logo style across continents which I will explore in another article. [Editors note: Thank you Simon for your time, research and sharing with us your research. If you enjoyed this, please let us know]

Our patreon's love the Preservation Project as it preserves Phantom history from all around the world. The depository is HUGE and it is very easy to get lost reading, listening & watching everything that has been digitised. New this month: 19 Character and poster designs from Art Director for the animated Defenders of the Earth television series, Rick Hoberg. These were originally shown in the X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #154. The ABC radio interview between Sammy J and Duncan Munro. Jason Paulos' musical composition "Phantom" from 2018 - he may be better known as Frew cover and story artist, but he also wields a mean guitar! 27 new Newspaper articles from around the world, with another new country represented in England. 9 more scans from print material produced by "The Official Phantom Club of Australia" in the 1990's. 10 advertisements from Scandinavia. 3 videos focusing on the collection of Chris Smith, Phantom mega-phan and likely future guest on X-Band: The Phantom Podcast. All this joins the remainder of the Major Treasure Room that is the P3 - the full Index is available here. This is starting to become a very serious collection of digitally archived The Phantom material. The link for access to the full library is available via our Patreon page for US$5 / month supporters. Become a Patron!