Frew published 31 editions of The Phantom in 1999, with a total count of 1844 pages. The net cover price for all of the 1999 issues was $82.50, which is about 5% higher than the previous year. This was caused by a small increase in the price of the standard 36 page issue from $1.50 to $1.75, commencing with #1222 on 26 February. Incredibly, Frew had managed to keep their pricing structure unchanged for almost 12 years -- the first $1.50 issue was #887 in August 1987. This must surely represent another publishing record! Even with this modest price hike, the average price per page still remains below 1987-90 levels. Frew's The Phantom is still the lowest priced comic book on the Australian market. Unfortunately, the price for all Australian comics will increase by 10% when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is introduced on 1 July 2000. You can thank Little Johnny Howard and the Judas Democrats for this bimillennium gift! A detailed breakdown of the size, price and number of issues published in 1999 is shown below, in comparison with the last four years.
| Number of Issues | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # Pages | Price | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| 36 | $1.50 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 24 | 3 |
| 36 | $1.75 | 20 | ||||
| 44 | $2.00 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 52 | $2.50 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 68 | $3.00 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| 76 | $3.00 | 1 | ||||
| 100 | $5.00 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| 116 | $5.00 | 2 | ||||
| 164 | $6.50 | 1 | ||||
| Annual | $10.00 | 316pp + #4 replica (32pp) | 324pp + #5 replica (32pp) | 332pp + #6 replica (32pp) | 316pp + #7 replica (24pp) | 316pp + #8 replica (24pp) |
| Other | $10.00 | 50th Anniv. Special 212pp + 44pp Index | ||||
| TOTAL | 31 issues 1812 pages $74.50 | 31 issues 1868 pages $76.50 | 31 issues 1868 pages $78.00 | 31 issues 1928 pages $79.00 | 31 issues 1844 pages $82.50 | |
There were a total of 61 stories this year (including the replica edition). As usual, the Lee Falk classics deserve first mention. Of the 61 stories, 27 were reconstructed Lee Falk classics (see table below) -- the majority dating from the 1950s. Phans of the Wilson McCoy era were certainly kept happy this year! Frew also presented us with the last 5 stories from the master, two of these being co-written by his widow, Elizabeth. Combining these with the edited version of The Sky Band in the #8 replica edition (included with the Annual Special #1219), brings the total number of Lee Falk stories in 1999 to 33, spread out over 10 issues. Hence Lee Falk's stories represented 54% of the total number of stories published -- a significant improvement on last year.
| Year | Code | Story Title | Artist | Issue # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949/50 | D36 | The Thuggees | McCoy | 1234 |
| 1950 | S25 | The Ape Idol of the Durugu | McCoy | 1248 |
| 1952 | S31 | The 'Copter Pirates | McCoy | 1248 |
| 1952 | S32 | The Female Phantom | McCoy | 1219 |
| 1953/54 | D51 | The Super Apes | McCoy | 1219 |
| 1954 | S37 | The Belt | McCoy | 1219 |
| 1954 | D54 | The Wrestling Tourney | McCoy | 1219 |
| 1954/55 | S39 | Alexander's Cup | McCoy | 1219 |
| 1955 | S41 | The Crescent Cult | McCoy | 1234 |
| 1955 | S42 | The Horned Star Demons | McCoy | 1226 |
| 1955/56 | D59 | Queen Sansamor and the Sixth Man | McCoy | 1244 |
| 1956 | D62 | The Grove of the Sleeping Giant | McCoy | 1244 |
| 1957 | S48 | A Lesson for Prince Orq | McCoy | 1219 |
| 1957 | S49 | The Frameup | McCoy | 1234 |
| 1960 | D77 | The Monkey Mail | McCoy | 1230 |
| 1968 | S73 | The Little Ones | Barry | 1219 |
| 1971 | S84 | The Wig | Barry | 1248 |
| 1976/77 | D132 | Return of the Terrorists | Barry | 1227 |
| 1976/77 | S101 | The Swamp Dragon | Barry | 1219 |
| 1977 | S102 | The Hunters | Barry | 1248 |
| 1978 | S106 | Hzz and Hrz | Barry | 1223 |
| 1978 | D139 | Jungle City | Barry | 1230 |
| 1980 | S112 | The Uninvited Visitors | Barry | 1219 |
| 1982 | D149 | Tale of Rex | Barry | 1219 |
| 1982/83 | S117 | The Missing Link Family | Barry | 1219 |
| 1983/84 | S119 | The Eastern Dark | Barry | 1226 |
| 1986 | D159 | Ruler of Baronkhan | Barry | 1228 |
| 1998/99 | D193 | The Dakk Pirates | Olesen/Williams | 1223 |
| 1998/99 | S149 | The Floradon Mystery | Olesen/Fredericks | 1226 |
| 1999 | D194 | The Albee | Olesen/Williams | 1230 |
| 1999 | D195 | Terror at the Opera | Olesen/Williams | 1239 |
| 1999 | S150 | The Kidnappers | Olesen/Fredericks | 1239 |
During 1999, Frew printed 27 new stories originally published by Egmont, Scandinavia. There was only one multi-part story, and it came from a story written by Claes Reimerthi and illustrated by Romano Felmang, entitled The Last Phantom (2 parts, #1218 and #1220). All of Egmont's new feature stories from issue Nr.24/1998 through to Nr.26/1999 were reproduced in Frew's Phantom comic. Claes Reimerthi was by far the most prolific of the Egmont writers with 13 of his stories being printed. It is clear that Egmont recognise their reliance on Reimerthi, as two new writers have been trialed this year -- Ben Raab and Terrence Longstreet. It remains to be seen whether Egmont will keep them on or pursue other candidates. The task of illustration is more strongly supported by a group of highly experienced Phantom artists; so much so that the least experienced -- Joan Boix -- can already be considered a veteran of 4 years! A summary of the statistics for all Egmont writers and artists is shown below.
| Writers | Artists | |||
| Claes Reimerthi |  13
| Romano Felmang | 6
| |
| Tony de Paul | 5
| Joan Boix | 6
| |
| Norman Worker | 2
| César Spadari | 6
| |
| Terrence Longstreet | 2
| Hans Lindahl | 3
| |
| Ben Raab | 2
| Carlos Cruz | 3
| |
| Scott Goodall | 1
| Heiner Bade | 3
| |
| Hans Lindahl | 1
| |||
| Jens Hansgård / Kim McLaughlin | 1
| |||
 |
Cover Artists | ||
| Jim Shepherd | 12
| ||
| Glenn Ford | 10
| ||
| Antonio Lemos | 5
| ||
| "Tessa" | 3
| ||
| Ray Moore | 1
| ||
