The Best Fantomen Cover of 2018 has just been announced by the Swedish publisher, and it must be said that the winner comes as no surprise to the Chronicle Chamber crew. In Fantomen 16/2019 released July 25 2019, it is announced that the famous rainbow flag cover for Fantomen 9/2018 The Golden Eagle, by Swedish artist Henrik Sahlström, was voted by the phans as the best cover of the year. The chance to cast your vote was back in February. This cover initially caused a huge stir all over the Internet, receiving both positive and negative feedback. There was a lot of love and support from phans (and non phans) around the world; meanwhile the Fantomen Facebook page was hacked by spammers and angry Polish right-wingers took to the airwaves on Telewizja Republika to decry the issue. In episode #116 of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast, Mikael Sol talked glowingly about Sahlström's rainbow flag cover, and the impact it could likely have decades down the track. Back in April 2018, we posted an expose on the cover and The Golden Eagle storyline, which you can read here. Fantomen 16/2019 has included all the votes for the poll, and with over 300 voters from around the world it was basically down to two top contenders, and only four covers receiving more than 40 votes. The Golden Eagle cover received 76 votes . Indeed, Henrik's work ended up taking the top two places, with the cover of Fantomen 25-26/2018 Hero coming in second on 70 votes. Third was the famous Blood Rain (Fantomen 24/2019) cover by American artist Sal Velluto and Eugenio Mattozzi, reviewed here by Mikael Lyck and discussed here in greater detail. Blood Rain received 48 votes. Fourth was another cover by Henrik Sahlström, this time for the story Flame (Fantomen 2-3/2018), which received 41 votes. This cover was a re-imagined version of Fantomen 14/1980, as a tribute to the great Rolf Gohs. The next best only received 17 votes, with the remaining covers only receiving roughly a third of all votes. See the full count in the image at the bottom of this page. If you are one of the 320 odd people who entered in the competition you have a 1 in 3 chance of getting a bag with the winning cover on it as your prize. When / if you receive it in the mail, make sure you share on Facebook or one of our other social media platforms. Thanks goes to Andreas Eriksson and Henrik Sahlström for the information about this announcement. Congratulations to Henrik and Sal for their places in last year's competition. #HenrikSahlström #MikaelSol #AlexSaviuk #PhillipMadden #EugenioMattozzi

Our determination to keep the conversation under two hours this month was thwarted by a few huge recent announcements in the world of the Phantom! With Billy Zane hitting Australian shores in a few short months, two new exciting collections of Phantom merch, and a raft of reading to get through there's a lot to discuss in the world of the Phantom at the moment! Of course, our ever-reliable Scandinavian correspondent Mikael Lyck also gives us his detailed insight into the latest Fantomen issues. Enjoy and as always, Happy Phantoming! #TeamFantomen #Egmont #Frew #Podcast #XBand #KidPhantom #PhantomsWorld #JeffWeigel #GrahamNolan #ChuckDixon #Henriquez #Spada #WulfricMedia #BossFightStudio #GrangeWallis #IkonCollectables #BillyZane #ClaesReimerthi #KnutWestad #GlennFord #GlennLumsden #ChristopherSequeira #JasonPaulos #AndrewConstant #DrPaulMason #LeeFalk #WellingtonDiaz

Early last week an intriguing post popped up in the social media feeds for many phans - a little company called Wulfric Media began advertising a range of Phantom collectibles unlike anything we've seen before! Kelby Wooldridge is the man behind Wulfric Media. For those who came in late, we've spoken with Kelby before as he looked to produce a specilised Phantom comic storage box, but he has recently announced that he will be producing a range of Phantom Country miniatures - little 3D representations of landmarks and landscapes that are unique to the Phantom universe. We have been lucky enough to be chatting with Kelby, and have asked a few questions about the upcoming collection. Chronicle Chamber: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself Kelby - how long have you been a Phantom phan? Have you ever done anything like this (produced merchandise) before? Kelby Wooldridge: I was introduced to The Phantom by my grandfather when I was about 11 and started collecting them by visiting secondhand bookshops to get as many as I could This wasn’t very often as I grew up on a farm a while away from any bookshops. Since then I have been interested in pop culture of all types such as films, novels, tabletop RPG [role playing games] and of course comics. Apart from my stalled start in trying to get the comic storage box started, this is my first attempt. We are based out of the Gold Coast in Queensland but will ship internationally. We are looking to release a miniature a month with the map and case to come last. By the way we will still be proceeding with the storage box along with this idea; it was just put on hold when this idea came along. This is so unique that we wanted to get a start on it straight away. CC: We can understand that excitement! So how long has this new idea been brewing? KW: We came up with the idea about 7 to 8 months ago and surprisingly, it has not really changed much from its inception. However, we are refining it and elaborating on it. Ideas are workshopped to see if they fit the overall feel of the Phantom and adjusted if necessary or discarded all together. CC: Why landscape miniatures rather than characters? KW: We felt that the characters have been overdone. Also, they don’t fit into the overall idea of our concept. I know I am being a bit cagey about the end concept but once it’s completed and released, it will be clear why. As far as I know this has never been done before. CC: No, we can't think of another set like this either. Can you please describe the miniatures and perhaps expand on the distribution concept... we understand that you will produce 10 miniatures to be released monthly, and collected in a box or placed on a map? KW: The Phantom Peak miniature will be 48mm wide, 35mm deep and 40mm high, with the others similarly scaled. Yes, all the miniatures are designed to stand on the three dimensional map. It will weigh about 100 grams. I thought it would be awesome to be able to visit Phantom Country rather than just look at it. The sale concept came about to make it affordable to the phans and to help with the workflow of producing the run of miniatures. We will ship internationally. CC: Can you please share images of the landscapes you'll be creating, or a list of the full range? KW: So far I have announced that we have The Phantom Peak and the Skull Cave of course. The other ones to come will be Witchman's Peak, Keela-Wee, Whispering Grove, The Misty Mountains, Isle of Eden, Eastern Daak, The Jungle Patrol and Nyahpura. These are all included for a reason, which will be revealed at the end. As we get the artwork and finish the images, we will release these for people to view on my Facebook page, Wulfric Media. CC: The pics of the Phantom Peak miniature and the design for the Skull Cave look fantastic - do you have prototype versions of each of them created already? KW: We have only the prototype of the first model, Phantom Peak, with drawings for the Skull Cave from Glenn Ford. Each prototype takes time and money to transfer it from a two dimensional drawing to a three dimensional model. As we get the interest and sales we can invest more time and money in speeding up the release of each miniature. CC: Your release model seems very similar to the Bradford Exchange model. How do you reassure phans who may have concerns about the run being completed? [FTWCIL: some Bradford Exchange lines were discontinued mid-run] KW: The only way for this run to not be completed is if there is no interest from the phans in buying it. I love this concept and its uniqueness and want to see it to its completion. Hopefully, with the phans’ support, we will. CC: We are all hoping! You said that the artwork for the series was completed by Glenn Ford, which is a coup in itself. How has it been working with him? KW: Glenn has been fantastic. He’s been very accommodating and helpful in supplying the artwork. Without him, we would have had a real struggle in getting this far. His artwork really brings the landscapes to life. CC: Will you be having each miniature signed by Glenn, or the box/map? (i.e. will the finished set feature several signatures or one) KW: All pieces that are made from artwork by Glenn will be signed by Glenn. This will include the map. CC: Who is the sculptor, and what are your thoughts of their interpretation of Glenn’s designs? KW: I have partnered with John Evans from Paramount Jewellers on the Gold Coast and we are working together on the miniature to get approval from KFS. We have gone through a few interpretations of this. I should have the latest version of the miniature printed out this week and will show you differences when I can. CC: Very good! And what has the response been like from King Feature Syndicate? KW: KFS have been extremely supportive and helpful, particularly through Merchantwise in Australia and Kerryn McCormack. She has helped us to get this far with her knowledge on what we can and can’t do and has pointed us in the right direction in order to get things moving. Can I also say there has been a lot of help and support from a lot of phans from other pages and countries to get this far, which is an immense help. That encouragement is immeasurable in getting something like this started and to keep the momentum as well. CC: Are you concerned about the licensing costs that KFS are asking? KW: Not at all, it is a small price to pay to work off the back of someone such as Lee Falk who started with just an idea. They are part of doing business in the pop culture arena, you just have to calculate that into your figures and budgets. CC: That leads u to the obvious question then: what will it cost? Also, what will your model be regarding sales, pre-orders etc? KW: Each miniature will be $45 + GST. The box and map will be extras at the end, so the full cost of the complete set is projected to be $770 for ten miniatures plus map plus case. This includes GST and shipping. We are looking at several options and checking them against what the phans want. Some want to pay the total cost upfront and others want to pay as the miniatures come out. We also want to offer a regular fortnightly payment to cover the total cost, including the case and map. CC: Your Facebook ad mentions that it will be a Limited release. How limited? KW: Depending on demand, we are looking at between 10,000 to 20,000 sets worldwide. I know this may seem like a lot, but given the Phantom readership and the fact that this won’t be re-released, this is not many complete sets for the readers. CC: You’ve mentioned a surprise for those who buy the full set? KW: Yes, the full set and the map. At the end the surprise will be revealed then and not before, unfortunately. But I can say that it will be worth it. CC: That’s really intriguing! Will the surprise only be for people who have purchased the full set, or will it be available separately afterwards as well? KW: The surprise is for those who have purchased the full set including the map, as that is sold separately. However if people change their mind they can purchase the missing pieces prior to the map being delivered to sign up for the surprise as well. CC: When will you start taking orders/for the first miniature? What about phans who come in late? KW: Once we get enough people liking the miniatures, we will set up the website for orders. We will have some for latecomers, but it will be a maximum of 20,000. CC: How many people do you want to be liking the miniatures before you set up the website? Is there a particular way that you are tracking this interest, and that people should let you know? KW: To make it worthwhile we are looking at 1,500 to 2,000 people who would like to purchase the pieces. At the moment we are tracking this with likes to the Wulfric Media page, so far we have just hit 100 likes. People can message me at my page with their interest and their country. This will help us track where we will potentially have to send the pieces. CC: Thanks so much for your time with this interview Kelby! It's been great to find out more about the plans, and we would love to have you on a podcast as the release date for the miniatures gets closer! KW: Sounds great - thanks guys. Make sure you check out the Wulfric Media Facebook page, and give it a Like and Follow to stay abreast of all the news, and to give Kelby the encouragement to continue working through this project! #WulfricMedia #GlennFord #KingFeaturesSyndicate

GI Joe #263, released in April by IDW Publishing, features a special memorial day themed story called "Some Gave All". The story is written by Larry Hama (who has written almost every GI Joe comic story since this series began in 1982) and drawn by SL Gallant. In this story, the main characters visit the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Wall in Washington DC to pay tribute to fallen friends. However, in a close-up panel the names on the wall are all comic industry professionals who have passed away. At least three of these are Phantom related. Harold Fredericks Jr, better known to us as Fred Fredericks was the longtime artist on Mandrake the Magician and for a time also inker of the Phantom Sunday strip. Fredericks was also a continuing collaborator with Larry Hama, as inker on several issues of GI Joe and all issues of Hama's own creation Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja. Paul Ryan was a Phantom artist for both Egmont and King Features, and the current artist of the daily strip when he passed suddenly passed away in 2016. Hama has previously paid tribute to Ryan, as seen in the following quotes on Paul Ryan's wikipedia page. Writer Larry Hama, Ryan's friend and collaborator at both Marvel and DC Comics, praised him as "an impeccable draftsman, a solid visual storyteller, and really, really nice guy." Hama continued, "I always knew that a plot I sent him would be drawn with a keen attention to detail, aspects of the story would be improved upon, and my mistakes would be corrected." Herbert W Trimpe, better known as Herb Trimpe, has only one Phantom credit; a cover for Moonstone. But Trimpe was a long ongoing artist on GI Joe, including the very first issue from 1982, as well as several other Marvel titles. We thank Larry Hama for this heartfelt tribute to his friends and colleagues, of which we have only touched upon the few we've found with a Phantom connection. A preview of the issue can be read here. The cover of the issue and the full page of the tribute are also included below. #LarryHama #SLGallant #PaulRyan #FredFredericks #HerbTrimpe

The latest Fantomen issue 14-15/2019, released throughout Sweden on June 27, 2019, contains a story titled Djävulen i Stockholm (The Devil In Stockholm) written by Mikael Sol with art from Jan Bielecki. In this story, the 21st Phantom visits modern day Stockholm. Throughout the story he visits real life buildings and places. In the attached video Mikael Lyck visits these locations and matches them up with the scenes in the comic. It's a fascinating insight into the work of the artist to be so accurate and true to life. Enjoy following in the footsteps of the Phantom! #JanBielecki #MikaelSol #MikaelLyck #Fantomen #TeamFantomen #Egmont

Chronicle Chamber has been around since 2006, and we've had a few different iterations since then! Different website platforms, various backgrounds and site logos have come and gone over the years. Hopefully most of it has passed the casual viewer fairly seamlessly, but we do like to keep things fresh and current, as well as providing a quality experience for you the consumer. To that end, at our recent AGM in Sydney we decided that it was time for another freshen up! The big thing for us was consistency - we wanted to have a clear and recognisable logo, adaptable for a variety of formats, but one image that tied them all together. Enter our wonderful Patreon supporters and the extremely talented Grange Wallis. Grange has created an incredible interpretation of our "Phantom wearing headphones" motif, and provided us with the variations we need to have a consistent look across our various social media platforms and podcast. Thanks so much to the phans who support the work we do via Patreon - without them we wouldn't be able to have new things happening, like the recent CC merch (contact us directly for details) or this glorious new look. And of course a huge shout out to Grange. We've been loving his work on Frew covers recently, and his card in the recent trading card series, and we love what he's done here. Check out more of his work on his Facebook page. We hope you enjoy the new look - we love it! #GrangeWallis #Patreon

In the second of our two-part summary of the 2019 Sydney Supanova/LFMBEC adventure, this podcast features a number of short recordings from the weekend of 21-23 July 2019, as well as Jermayn and Dan reflecting on their experiences. It's both longer and shorter than we expected. What does that mean? Only Old Man Mozz would know. Happy Phantoming! #Supanova #LFMBEC #JeffWeigel #DrPaulMason #JamieJohnson #AndrewConstant #GrangeWallis #GlennFord #JasonPaulos #DudleyHogarth #XBand #Podcast

There's no doubt that one of the most enjoyable purchases that a phan could make at the Supanova comic convention in Sydney last month was the long-awaited The Phantom Gallery Series 2 trading cards. Make sure you also check out our video review at the bottom of the page! It really was a delight for phans from around Australia to come together, open packets of the shiny new cards and share what they'd found. Many of us took the opportunity of having like-minded individuals around us, and traded spare cards with each other to complete sets and to get extras for signatures from attending artists. For everyone else, these cards will be available in newsagents around Australia from tomorrow and are already for sale on the Frew website right now. Be in no doubt - the cards are an amazing product that most phans will absolutely love. As a fun way to start the cards, producer Glenn Ford has brought us the conclusion to Death's Dark Path part 2, written by Chuck Dixon and masterfully illustrated by Graham Nolan. It's a fast-paced story that is perfectly suitable to be read as a standalone, but is best enjoyed by revisiting part 1 from The Phantom Gallery Series 1. Glenn has also brought together over 75 artists from around the world in this 110 card set. These include a huge range of brand new and unpublished images of The Phantom, representing a wide and diverse mix of art styles, themed geographically and printed in outstanding detail. The cards have art styles to appeal to almost every phan, from the Falkist to the Modernist, as well as to children with Kid Phantom and Fantomen Kids represented. It's also a huge amount of nostalgic fun to be opening cards and slotting them into the purpose-designed Collector's Album. Complementing the Base set of 100 is the ten Chase cards - the six Level 3 cards from various artists are pictured below. With three embossed Sal Velluto cards and a very special embossed and debossed Sy Barry card rounding out the chase, there's certainly a little heart flutter with every packet opened. Check out our detailed collector video review at the bottom of the page. There was one hiccup in production however, which you will notice as you slot them into position: a small number of the cards contain minor editing errors. This will not be a surprise to listeners of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast, with Glenn admitting as much when he announced the cards in Episode #121, "Just a couple of little mistakes that I made along the way..." In the opinion of the ChronicleChamber team, while they are an unfortunate talking point, these errors do not detract greatly from the overall product. To help alleviate any possible confusion ahead of time, ChronicleChamber and a group of eagle-eyed phans have gone through and identified those minor mistakes, listed below. Glenn told us about the printing error on the box (listed first), and conceded that "there's a couple of numbers wrong [on the cards], but as long as you follow the little index at the back you'll be fine, that's all you need to do." We have, and this is it: Box is headed "Gallery Series 3" - should be "Gallery Series 2" Two cards numbered #11 - Predominantly red story card featuring "Give me my money" should be #20 Card numbered #T - should be #85 Two cards numbered #92 - Rafeal Lopez Espi (Phantom running, white background) should be #72 There are ONLY three Sal Velluto Chase Cards, not six as mentioned on the back of the cards. Covered in the video below. The pedants at CC have also found a few editorial oversights on the rear of some cards, but these in no way detract from the beauty of the artwork or the quality of the collection. It is worth noting that not all of these oversights are found on all cards. Most appear to have been picked up part way through the print run; for example, the error on Chase Card #G3 (rogue 'g' and missing text) only appears on some instances of the card - compare below. This will have completists reading diligently and investors hunting for the rare cards with printing variants! The team at ChronicleChamber congratulates Glenn on the fine work he has done in assembling the story and artwork for us all to enjoy, and we thank him for his latest beautiful contribution to our collections! Thanks to the Supanova Discussion messenger group for helping to identify the correct numbering. #TradingCards #GlennFord #Phanfare #Frew #Supanova #ChuckDixon #GrahamNolan #KidPhantom #FantomenKids #SalVelluto #SyBarry

In the first of two podcasts recorded over the weekend of 21-23 July 2019, we bring you the Speeches of Supanova & LFMBEC . These were the more formal presentations from the weekend, with panels at the Supanova pop culture convention and speeches at the Lee Falk Memorial Bengalla Explorer's Club (LFMBEC) dinner. It's another longer compilation podcast, so back due to popular demand we have timestamps for you! So whether you couldn't make it and are listening for the first time, or you were there and are just keen to hear them all over again, we hope you enjoy - the Speeches of Supanova. *Please note that the fourth panel featuring Jeff, Simon, Donny and others did feature some swearing so please do not listen to this with sensitive ears around. 0hr10m25 - Sunday Supanova 'The Phantom' Panel - Jeff Weigel, Paul Mason, Jamie Johnson and Andrew Constant 1hr03m35 - Rita Uechtritz at the LFMBEC dinner - The Phantom's Papua New Guinea connection, especially through the Wahgi tribe and their shields 1hr24m45 - Jeff Weigel at the LFMBEC dinner - My journey to becoming the Sunday Phantom artist 1hr54m25 - Friday Supanova 'Comic Creators' panel - Jeff Weigel, Simon Bisley, Humbarto Ramos, Donny Cates and Megan Hutchinson Happy Phantoming! #Supanova #LFMBEC #JeffWeigel #DrPaulMason #JamieJohnson #AndrewConstant #XBand #Podcast

Ikon Collectables are renowned for their beautifully designed Phantom collectibles, with statues, bobbleheads, rings and mugs making their way into many phans' collections over the last few years. Two years ago we helped Ikon out with a competition for ideas to inspire their next Phantom release. That competition was won by David Hunt, with his suggestion "I would like to see the Phantom with Devil; ideally The Phantom has his guns drawn and Devil jumping to help his best mate out." Fast forward to 2019 and here it is, with The Phantom leaping onto a rock, guns firing, as Devil leaps into action with a ferocious snarl. At 1/6 scale, this is the largest statue produced by Ikon yet! Currently advertised on the Popcultcha and Mighty Ape websites for anywhere between $405 (pre-orders before 5th July) and $500, the price tag is not for the faint-hearted. With no fewer than SIX variant colours available, completists will need to start saving now! With removable gun blast and a genuinely dynamic action pose, this seems to leap off the screen, so it will be exciting to see how it looks on the shelf. In an exciting revelation in our exclusive interview with the team at Ikon below, phans attending Supanova this year (Sydney and Perth) will be able to see the statue in real life for themselves, as it appears at the Popcultcha booths. We're certainly looking forward to seeing it there, and our shelves at the end of the year when it is released! We were lucky enough to ask Ikon Design Studio some questions, many posed by our Patreon supporters who, as part of the reward for their support, get early notification of our interviews and are able to submit questions as well. ChronicleChamber: The Phantom's face would seem to be designed by the same person who designed the 'Phantom with Guns' and 'Phantom & Hero' statues? Who was the designer for these/this statue? Ikon Design Studio: All elements of the process have been done by the Ikon Design Studio Team (To be more specific, Adam, Natasha and Robin) CC: A price point of $450 retail is obviously pretty high-end in terms of Phantom collectibles on the market. What makes this piece so special? IDS: There has been an extreme amount of detail put into this piece. This is very high-end and the details in this piece far supersede any other Phantom statue released to date. There have been many new paint and design techniques applied to this statue that we have previously been unable to execute that go into making this statue truly top of the range. Furthermore, this statue is scaled a little differently to previous versions, in that this is a 1/6 scale statue. Previous releases were 12 inch statues, meaning this release is scaled a little larger than the previous incarnations. These factors, in combination with the significant rising manufacturing and distribution costs has led to the higher price-point on this item. CC: One observation might be the structural integrity of the statue, with the whole Phantom figure affixed to the base by a single leg, and the leaping Devil by his two hinds paws. Should there be any concerns about the strength of the item? IDS: This should not be an issue. This statue is shipped as four pieces (Phantom, Devil, gun-blast and base). Shipping as 4 pieces eliminates the stress points on the joins during the highest danger period for damages, transportation. Customers will assemble the statue upon receipt (through an easy keyed peg-hole system). In fact, despite the complexities of the design and layout, we do not foresee any issue with damages on this piece. CC: As Australians, we reckon the purple looks fantastic, and we certainly understand the market for blue, red and grey. Why have you also chosen green as a variant colour? IDS: We are actually announcing two exclusive colours for this item that will only be available in extremely limited quantities. Green (available exclusively through Popcultcha.com) which is a representation of how the Phantom appeared when he was first released in the Australian Mirror way back in 1938. Brown (available exclusively through Mighty Ape) is a representation of the brown suit the Phantom was seen wearing in the early comic releases in New Zealand. Pictures of this will be available soon. These are certainly are not mainstream colours and we are only making a handful of each colour available. The green is more for the avid Phantom collector, and the Brown is to give our friends in New Zealand the chance to own The Phantom in the colour they may have originally known him. CC: Can we confidently add this to our Christmas 2019 wish lists? Will it definitely be available for shipping by then? Is this related to Popcultcha's pre-order closing date of July 5th? IDS: At this stage we expect it to release in December. We can never guarantee ship dates, as we need to ensure the product meets all our QC requirements, so delays can occur. However, at this stage we fully expect it to be ready for December. As for the pre-order window, this is a Popcultcha initiative that they do on all their statue pre-orders. It has nothing to do with the manufacturing or timing from us. CC: If a super-phan was looking to buy all variants, would there be a discount available? IDS: This would need to be negotiated directly with Popcultcha, or whichever retailer the customer buys from. If a fan was in this position, I’d suggest they reach out directly to Popcultcha to see if a deal can be struck. CC: Phans love your designs. Is there any more Phantom stuff on the drawing board for Ikon Design Studio? IDS: Appreciate that. At this stage, we have no other Phantom products in the works….. but you never know what the future holds. CC: Thanks for your time today. Is there anything else to add that might interest phans and convince fence-sitters? IDS: It’s worth noting that this statue is being released under the “Ikon Design Studio” Brand (as opposed to Ikon Collectables). Ikon Design Studio releases are reserved for only the very highest quality releases. We concede that the price-point is expensive, but the workmanship that goes with it is top-notch. We are all very proud of this statue; and I’m sure Phans all over the world will appreciate the effort gone into making this piece. We are hoping to team up with the Popcultcha events team and have them display some of our upcoming statues (Including the Phantom) at Supanova events later this month. This will be Phans first chance to see the statue up-close and personal. Make sure you check out the Popcultcha and Mighty Ape websites for all details pre-ordering, timelines and variants. Special thanks to Adam Henderson, Department Head - PD from Ikon Collectables, for taking the time to share such detailed and comprehensive answers. Also thanks to our Patreon supporters who also submitted their own questions about this new design. #IkonCollectables #CollectorsCorner

It's been 23 years since Series 1 was in stores, and almost three since the promo card came with Frew's 80th Anniversary Special, but finally - The Phantom Gallery - Series 2 trading card set is available for sale! Creator Glenn Ford is understandably relieved that his vision of over two decades has finally been realised. "It all got done - it's looking amazing, it's looking fantastic." he tells us in Episode #121 of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast. Glenn was speaking to ChronicleChamber in the lead up to Sydney Supanova, where the Gallery Series 2 will be officially launched. Gallery Series 2 completes the Chuck Dixon / Graham Nolan story that was left on a cliff hanger in Gallery Series 1. "It's all wrapped up", says Glenn. "It's a shorter story. I had no idea how Chuck was going to wrap it up, but Chuck just started at chapter 2 basically, putting The Phantom in Shanghai and off they went. That turned out really well." It also features some extraordinary Phantom art from around the globe, all drawn by published Phantom artists. Some that we have been able to identify as featuring in the base set include: Jan Bielecki, Keith Chatto, Luca Erbetta, Felmang, Shane Foley, Jamie Johnson, Douglas Klauba, Antonio Lemos, Bill Lignante, Glenn Lumsden, Jeremy Macpherson, Mike Manley, Lou Manna, Paul Mason, Luke McDonnell, Don Newton, Jason Paulos, Don Perlin, Ruben Procopio, Alex Saviuk, Aslan Sukur, Knut Westad, Cannan White and many more! "It's been a three year job, dealing with nearly a hundred artists," Glenn explained, "it's been like dealing with a hundred of me!" Some details: 100 cards in the base set six Level 3 chase cards, with art by Felmang, Jeff Weigel, Rafael Ruiz and Bane Kerac, as well as the late Lindsay Walker and Paul Ryan three Level 2 chase cards, a subset drawn by Sal Velluto one Level 1 chase card, with art by Sy Barry. The Sy Barry card has been inserted at a ratio of 1 per 650 cards, i.e. one in every two boxes (no guarantees!) a carton card, by Massimo Gamberi Each pack of nine cards is guaranteed to include one chase card, either Level 2 or Level 3. There are special Supanova prices for those able to attend - or send a mate! However, they are already available for purchase online. The cards retail at $6 for a pack of nine. They can also be purchased in bulk, with a box of 36 packs (324 cards) costing $170. For serious aficionados, you can also purchase in bulk, with 5 boxes (1620 cards) setting you back $535. As a sweetener the rarest card of all, the carton card by Massimo (could we call it a Level 0?), is included with the 5 box deal. A dedicated folder is available, again with cover art by Massimo. This will set you back $35. Happily, all prices include postage. The cards, boxes and folders are currently available on Glenn's Phanfare website. Promotional material for the cards has also been published on Frew's Facebook page. They are not yet available on Frew's website, but one imagines that this might happen in the future. Glenn has also confirmed that the trading cards will also be distributed Australia-wide, through Gordon & Gotch, into 2,000-odd newsagents that already sell The Phantom comics and also into various comic shops. ChronicleChamber are hoping that this really takes off and helps return The Phantom into the broader public consciousness! ChronicleChamber congratulates Glenn on the culmination of his vision all those many years ago, but he takes it all in his stride. "Thanks - now I can get back to work." ChronicleChamber has started with a review of Gus, a 10 year old kid opening the cards and getting very excited with the whole process. To come a detailed collector review. #TradingCards #Phanfare #GlennFord #SyBarry #MassimoGamberi #GrahamNolan #ChuckDixon #SalVelluto #Felmang #JeffWeigel #RafaelRuiz #BaneKerac #LindsayWalker #PaulRyan #AlexSaviuk #DouglasKlauba #DonNewton #MikeManley #LucaErbetta #AslanŞükür #AntonioLemos #JamieJohnson #DrPaulMason #RubenProcopio #JanBielecki #LouManna #CannanWhite #BillLignante #DonPerlin #LukeMcDonnell #GlennLumsden #ShaneFoley #JeremyMacpherson #JasonPaulos #KeithChatto #KnutWestad

The ChronicleChamber team are getting ready for our annual Phantom pilgrimage to Sydney, for the Supanova event, the Frew Booth and of course, the wonderful Lee Falk Memorial Bengali Explorers Club Dinner. To help get you in the mood, we chatted with six different Phantom creators from around Australia and the special guest in Jeff Weigel. We learn a lot including an amazing exclusive and what to expect from the Frew booth. It's a marathon episode, so to help listeners to dip in and out as time permits: 0hr13m05 - Jeff Weigel 1hr09m07 - Shane Foley 1hr21m08 - Jamie Johnson 1hr41m22 - Grange Wallis 1hr59m20 - Paul Mason 2hr48m05 - Glenn Ford 3hr49m45 - Full list of artists attending Supanova If you are new to Supanova and the Phantom Mecca Pilgrimage we recommend you to listen to a couple of podcasts from our catalogue. Episode #67: Planning to go to your first Sydney trip Episode #96A: Last minute planning Episode #96B: Wrap up 2018 with Stephen, Jermayn & Dan. We're off to pack. Enjoy the listen and until next time - Happy Phantoming! #Supanova #LFMBEC #JeffWeigel #ShaneFoley #GrangeWallis #DrPaulMason #GlennFord #JamieJohnson #XBand #Podcast

There might only be three Frew and two Egmont comic books for us to review since our last Comics and News podcast, but it does not mean it will be a short podcast :) We received a phone call during the podcast by none other than Shane Foley the creator behind the Frew's version of the team up between their characters in The Phantom, Sir Falcon, Catman and The Shadow. Shane gives us a great in depth look at the series and what will happen next. Mikael Lyck also gives us his detailed insight into the latest Fantomen issues. Enjoy and as always, Happy Phantoming! #TeamFantomen #Egmont #JanneLundstrom #BertilWilhelmsson #UlfGranberg #RobertAman #ShaneFoley #AntonioLemos #Frew #Semic #Podcast #XBand

Australia and Sweden have their branch of the LFMBEC, Supanova Sydney has a Chronicle Chamber lunch and USA has their annual phan meet up at Sardi's. Every meeting is different and has it owns uniqueness - Sardi's is no different. On the 8th of June 2019 in New York the FOTP (Friends of the Phantom) group had another lunch with three Phantom artists in attendance in Sy Barry (with his wife Simmy), Luke McDonnell (DC Phantom artist) & Keith Williams (Daily Inker & Moonstone Artist). Pistol Pete the founder and Jaime Diaz where two other known phans who attended. Below is a photo gallery from the lunch with photos supplied by phans Pete Klaus & Jaime Diaz from the lunch. The FotP lunches started in 1990 and the first event included Lee Falk, Jim and Judith Shepherd, Phantom historian Bob Griffin, founder Pete Klaus, the late Ed Rhoades plus others. The event went for two hours as all that attended soaked up every minute and story from Lee Falk. Sardi's was one Lee Falk's favourite local restaurants. Lee Falk and many other artist / creators have attended the lunches including Alex Saviuk, Sy Barry, Luke McDonnell, Lou Manna, Keith Williams, Ulf Granberg just to name a few. Jim & Judith Shepherd always attended and many other Australians in Bradley Peach, Gary Horne and William Higgins have also attended over the years. Like all phan catch ups gifts are usually swapped and given away with Pete always playing the part of Santa Claus ensuring everyone goes away with nick knacks to add to their collection. The above photo is from Lee Falk's last dinner with Friends of The Phantom at Sardi's in New York. Falk was presented with his third and last cane from FOTP, with a Phantom head in bronze. The previous canes had a Mandrake head and a white Phantom head respectively. In talking with both Pete and Ed two gifts at Sardi's stand out among the rest - the above walking cane was one and the other gift that stands out to this day in Pete's memory was an original hand painted Phantom Bust sculpture, by renounced sculptor Ruben Procopio to Sy Barry. Like most phan events please note, there is no 'open invitation' or ticket you can buy from a ticketing company. It is run and organised by devoted Phantom phans and is invite only. We thank Pete Klaus and Jaime Diaz for the photos and Pete & Ed for the information, photos and stories from these events from the last 30 years. #LukeMcDonnell #PeteKlaus #SyBarry #KeithWilliams #FriendsofThePhantom #Sardis #LFMBEC #LeeFalk #BobGriffen #EdRhoades #AlexSaviuk #LouManna #RubenProcopio #UlfGranberg

The Gottenburg Book Fair is one of the biggest comic (and book) conventions in Sweden and to coincide with the convention Egmont Fantomen have created a relativity new tradition of releasing an annual softcover album each year. The first softcover album was released in 2015 and for the first two years they had no official theme. 2017 we saw the first themed softcover album celebrating the Phantoms 40th Wedding Anniversary. 2018 we saw a pirate theme which also featured the first non-retro looking cover and now in 2019 we have the Noir theme. It could be argued that 2016 had a theme for the 80th Anniversary. Both the 2018 and 2019 covers are designed by Luca Erbetta, an Italian artist living in France who is fast becoming a phan phavourite among Swedish but also many Australian readers. Noir is French for black and represents a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity. Noir is not new to the Phantom with Moonstone producing their own Noir series back in 2010. You can view the comics and background information on that series by clicking here to go to the Phantomwiki website. There are no details as of yet on the contents of this book with the stories but they usually feature newspaper reprint stories. All softcover album series are in black and white, roughly 21cm x 26.8cm in size and around 130-150 pages and feature interesting articles either about the stories or their creators. The album series in the past have been published in Finnish along with Sweden. You can now pre order the book via various Swedish websites or wait for a Swedish buddy to pick up a copy for you. As we learn more details, we will inform you. #LucaErbetta #Egmont #AndreasEriksson #KingFeaturesSyndicate #Dailys #Sundays