- Chris Smith from Phantomania has produced the first of what will eventually be four volumes chronicling The Phantom International Pictorial Collectables Encyclopedia. This CD ROM aims to provide a guided tour through the most vast collection of Phantom memorabilia ever seen in one place. Volume 1 is comprised of many Phantom related categories: the 1996 Movie, Phantom 2040, Audio - Clothing - Costumes, Comic Displays, Defenders of the Earth, Figures, Food items, Housewares, Jewelery, KFS Related, Models, Magnets, Postcards, Patches & Tattoos, Pins & Buttons, Posters & Prints, Rings, Stationary, Stickers & Transfers, Toys & Games, Trading Cards. The price for Volume 1 is US$39 or US$70 for 2, including free shipping to anywhere in the world (add $2.20 for insurance if required). Pictures of the CD cover etc can be seen from the following links: front cover, CD, CD in case, inside cover, back cover. For purchase enquiries, contact Chris Smith.
- Mallon Publishing have recently published The Phantom Diary 2004, with another great selection of rare and varied Phantom covers. This is Number 4 in the spiral-bound series. Readers have a chance to win a portfolio of four black & white Masterworks Prints by Antonio Lemos -- see the diary for details. Specification: 230mm x 170mm, 120 pages, full colour throughout, wire binding. Publication: November 2003. RRP: Aus$22 inc GST. The Phantom Diary is now available from newsagents throughout Australia via NDD (Ph. 02 9353 9911), retail outlets via Bookwise International (ph. 08 8268 8222), and direct from the publisher. An advertisement appears on page 97 of Frew #1372.
You can buy The Phantom Diary 2004 from the publisher by sending your name and address with a cheque or money order for Aus$22 plus postage and handling (Aus$5 within Australia, Aus$8 New Zealand, Aus$10 anywhere else), to Mallon Publishing, PO Box 375, Clifton Hill, VIC 3068, Australia. - This piece of news is slightly Phantom related. A new book titled A History of Australian Speedway is now on sale for $22 (inc. GST) at major newsagents in Australia (306 pages). This is the first complete history of the sport (1901-2003), containing hundreds of previously unpublished photographs, with extensive statistics and a historic track guide. Why should this book merit the attention of Phantom Phans? Because the author is none other than Jim Shepherd, Publisher and Managing Director of Frew Publications! Prior to joining Frew in 1987, Jim had a long career as a sports journalist, where his passion was covering speedway events. Writing this book has occupied Jim for many years and it's great to finally see his work in print.
26 November 2003
- Now here's something a bit different ... Phantom cuff links! Top Notch Ties have three designs to chose from and the asking price is US$49 per set. Check them out at this link.
23 November 2003
- Crusader & Hyde Park have decided to contract two new writers to prepare another script for the new Phantom film in development. The writers are Mel Stuart and Mark Brewington. Mel Stuart is an Olympic gold medallist (two gold and one bronze medal as a swimmer in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain; former world record holder for 200m butterfly!), who moved to Los Angeles and had his own show on ESPN before moving to a career as a screenwriter. For further background, check out the Hollywood Reporter. Thanks to Ed Rhoades and Will Dorrington for this news.
7 September 2003
- The Norwegian cartoonist Frode Øverli has a one-panel cartoon series, which pokes fun at various very Norwegian things. As The Phantom is a beloved icon in Norway, even he doesn't miss out on the cartoonists attention. Have a look at this link for Frode's irreverent look at the Ghost Who Walks. The text reads "My God! I'm a grown man running around the jungle in a costume. What's wrong with me?". Frode Øverli actually started out by drawing Phantom parodies in the Fantomet-klubben back in the 1980s. He went on to create Pondus, which has become the most popular Norwegian comic-strip ever, and is sold to newspapers all over Europe. Thanks to Jon Berger for this news.
27 July 2003
- While Tony De Paul is recovering from his motorcycle accident, Graham Nolan is the writer of the next Sunday Phantom story. The story starts 5 October and is called The Sinbad Stone. According to Graham, it's a Falk inspired adventure story where the Phantom, recovering from his wounds from the last story, has to free an island of shipwreck survivors that are forced to search the island for the buried Sinbad Stone -- a jewel of incredible power that legend has it was used by Sinbad to banish the giant Cyclops to the netherworld. Furthermore, the next daily strip story will be written by Claes Reimerthi from Team Fantomen at Egmont.
- Changes are afoot at Egmont. Earlier this year, Petter Sjölund had taken the reins as editor of Fantomen magazine but he has already moved on - his last issue as editor will be Nr.20/2003 to be published on 18 September. The new editor of Fantomen in Sweden is Ulf Granberg, who resumes the role he held from 1973 to 1986 (more background). Furthermore, the Swedish Fan Club liftout section will be cut down from 8 to 4 four pages, starting with Nr.23/2003 on 30 October. Two pages will be reserved for Fan Club letters (edited by Mats Jönsson), and the other two pages will be Fantomen Talar (Phantom Talk - edited by Björn Ihrstedt). The Norwegian edition Fantomet will continue unchanged with 8 pages in the liftout Fan Club section. Thanks to Kjell Steen for this news.
20 July 2003
- News just in from Fred Fredericks ... The Phantom is set to make another appearance in the latest Mandrake daily story Lights! Camera! Danger! Keep your eyes peeled on the King Features website in August where The Phantom lends Mandrake a hand investigating a shonky film producer.
- Issue Nr.15/2002 of Fantomen and Fantomet contain the results of the annual reader poll to select the best Swedish & Norwegian Phantom covers of 2002. Hans Lindahl scooped the poll, with 9 of his 10 covers finishing in the top 10 places. Paul Ryan & Tom Smith's cover for Nr.15 was also popular, finishing 1st in Sweden and 2nd in Norway. The results were quite different to the Deep Woods poll held earlier this year, although Nr.15 was also popular there. The poll results for the top 10 places are summarised below. My thanks to Brian Jensen for this news.
| Sweden | Norway | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nr. | Artist | Votes | Nr. | Artist | Votes |
| 15 | Ryan & Smith |  51 |
19 | Lindahl | 89 |
| 18 | Lindahl | 27 |
15 | Ryan & Smith | 85 |
| 19 | Lindahl | 26 |
25 | Lindahl | 52 |
| 11 | Lindahl | 22 |
17 | Lindahl | 45 |
| 16 | Lindahl | 19 |
20 | Lindahl | 31 |
| 25 | Lindahl | 19 |
16 | Lindahl | 26 |
| 5 | Leppänen | 16 |
24 | Lindahl | 24 |
| 9 | Lindahl | 16 |
11 | Lindahl | 23 |
| 20 | Lindahl | 15 |
18 | Lindahl | 21 |
| 17 | Lindahl | 12 |
22 | Ryan & Smith | 17 |
14 June 2003
- STOP PRESS!!! Earlier this month, the Phantom Phorum received a visit from none other than Steven E. de Souza ... scriptwriter of the new Phantom film in development by Crusader & Hyde Park! Over the last week or so, Ed Rhoades (Friends of the Phantom) has conducted an interview with Steven in which he spoke about Paramount's Phantom movie, his background with The Phantom, and gave some insights into his finished script for the new Phantom movie. You can read the exclusive interview HERE. A more detailed interview will be published in the next edition of Friends of the Phantom.
31 May 2002
- Issue Nr.11/2003 of Fantomet contains the results of the annual reader poll to select the best Phantom story of 2002 in Norway. The poll results for the top 5 places are summarised below. The clear winner was Claes Reimerthi and César Spadari's A Strange Land Pt.2 - a story that proved to be much more popular with Fantomet readers than it was in the Deep Woods Poll. A total of 466 votes were received this year - almost three times as many as last year!
| Nr. | Story Title | Writer & Artist | Votes |
| 20 | A Strange Land Pt.2 | Reimerthi & Spadari | 96 |
| 15 | The Longbow of Little John | Bishop & Ryan | 75 |
| 16 | The Ghost Pirate | Avenell & Bade | 60 |
| 25 | The Eye of Merlin | Moberg & Cruz | 27 |
| 23 | Patrolman Weeks Suspended | Reimerthi & Felmang | 25 |
27 May 2003
- The first ever "trade paperback" of The Phantom has been published this month by Moonstone Books. This volume contains the first three Moonstone graphic novels of The Phantom: The Singh Web, The Treasures of Bangalla, and The Ghost Killer (in order of when they were written). The book features an introduction by Ed Rhoades (Editor & Publisher of Friends of The Phantom), commentary from the authors Ben Raab and Ron Goulart, and unpublished art from the series. Check out New@Moonstone for a preview, including a scan of the excellent cover painting by Doug Klauba.
- Check out comicon.com for a cool interview with Pat Quinn, artist on the upcoming "new format" Phantom comics from Moonstone Books. The interview also includes previews of Pat's rough pencils for the first six pages of Ben Raab's Stones of Blood, a two-part story that is scheduled to be the first in the new series. Thanks to Jonas Vesterlund for this news.
- The Phantom newspaper strip writer, Tony DePaul was involved in a bad motorcycle accident on May 15. A lady went through a stop sign and broadsided him with her car. Tony suffered six broken bones in his right leg and ankle alone. After several painful operations, he now has a lengthy recovery ahead, but intends to continue writing the Phantom from his bedside. According to his wife, Tony is in a lot of pain but has maintained his sense of humor. If any fans would like to send cards to Tony, please contact Ed Rhoades.
15 May 2003
- Sérgio Takara was surfing the web and found an anthropology student studying the Phantom theme! Check out Levi-Strauss Tackles the Phantom for a fascinating analysis of the 1959 story Oogooru and the Witchmen.
- The response to the Market Research Questionnaire has been quite overwhelming. Jason Frazer asked me to pass on the following message:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for taking the time to complete my market research survey. You have given me information which will prove vital in establishing a marketing plan, as well as showing the type of people who purchase comics. At this stage, the product is about 2 months away from sale, and as a fellow collector of comics, I believe you will be thoroughly satisfied with the final product. Personally, I can't wait to use it for my own collection! To answer some of your questions, a link will be placed on this website once my own site is ready for trading so you can inspect the product yourselves. I would, however, like you to take a further minute of your time to complete a further 3 questions to provide me with information for the future. If you have any enquiries, feel free to contact me on unmasked_frontiers@hotmail.com. If you haven't completed the questionnaire yet, please do so here. I thank you wholeheartedly again and will post updates at a later stage. Jason Frazer.
Here are the final three questions Jason would like you to answer:
11 May 2003
- An Aussie Phantom Phan and comic collector by the name of Jason Frazer has created a unique comic book storage device. Although I have not seen the storage device, Jason assures me that not only does it maintain ideal environmental conditions for comic storage (airtight, no light exposure, comics kept flat), it is also attractive in appearance so that your comics can take pride of place on your bookshelves, and your comics will also be readily accessible. Jason is very serious about his project, having applied for a patent on his design, registered as an Australian business (Unmasked Frontiers, ABN 25 294 513 993), and sought government assistance to help get started. As part of this process, Jason needs to gather some market information to properly assess the potential for his business. I believe that this product will be of great interest to Phantom comic collectors, so I agreed to host Jason's market research survey on The Deep Woods. Please take a few minutes to complete his market research questionnaire on this page. Neither your name or contact details are requested, so your anonymity is assured. All questions are optional, so please do not answer anything you feel uncomfortable with.
3 May 2003
- Check out www.comics2film.com for some interesting news about the new The Phantom movie and Mandrake film from Crusader Entertainment and Hyde Park. In a nutshell, the contemporary Phantom script is being written by Steven De Souza and will feature an updated costume design, while a draft script for Mandrake has been turned in by Josh Oppenheimer and Tom Donnelly. Thanks to Paul Andreas Jonassen for this news.
- Turkish Phantom Phan, Lami Tiryaki, has launched a Lee Falk Tribute page on his website to mark the 92nd year since the great man's birth. You can find some good scans of Phantom comics from Turkey, where he is known as Kizilmaske (which means "red mask"). These pages will only be available from 28 April to 14th May so be sure to check it out soon: http://www.resimliroman.net/leefalk/index.htm.
- Here's some Phantom links I found recently: Dr Hermes reviews the Avon Phantom paperbacks; highnoonfilm.com have some Phantom skins for computer games; another Phantom 2040 fan page, and a small Italian Phantom webpage.
11 April 2003
- First we had a cameo appearance from Friends of The Phantom's Pete Klaus and Ed Rhoades in The Briefcase (S156, Frew #1335). Now the latest Sunday story Terror in Mawitaan (S158) which started last weekend, has a cameo of ... ME!!! Check out the April 6th strip where I make my debut -- I'm the ponytailed bad guy. Cool!!! Although I'm not too sure about being typecast as a terrorist so early in my acting career. I can feel a skull mark coming my way already. Incidentally, this story has been written by Tony De Paul in place of the usual Claes Reimerthi.
26 March 2003
- Moonstone Books will have a booth at the forthcoming Supanova comic convention in Sydney on April 5 & 6. How do I know this? Because I will be there running it for Moonstone! We will have Moonstone's complete range available for sale, including all four books of The Phantom. I'll also be running a competition with the winner getting a complete set of all Moonstones current titles. John Cassaday will be a special guest at the convention and as he will be doing the cover artwork on Moonstone's new Phantom comic series, we're trying to get him to visit the Moonstone booth too. But wait, there's more ...
The Moonstone booth will be shared with 99.94 Editions. Dietmar will be there displaying & selling his Phantom Generations prints and the Masterworks prints. A special guest appearance will be made by Frew cover artist Antonio Lemos and the famous Australian comic artist Monty Wedd (Scorpion, Bold Ben Hall, Ned Kelly). Antonio will also have some original Phantom artwork to giveaway throughout the convention.
These conventions usually don't have much of interest for Phantom Phans ... but this one is definitely an exception. For more details, check out the Supanova website.
- Moonstone Books have announced that this May, they will be publishing a Phantom trade paperback. This volume contains the first three Moonstone graphic novels of The Phantom: The Ghost Killer, The Singh Web, and The Treasures of Bangalla. Plunge headlong into danger with this rollercoaster-ride trio of action packed stories, as the Phantom tries to untangle himself from an exotic raven-haired killing machine, stop a supernatural force from ripping through the land, and then stomps on some thieving pirates just for good measure! PLUS: cool introduction/history lesson from Friends of The Phantom editor and publisher Ed Rhoades, "liner notes" commentary from the authors, and unpublished art from the series! With a new cover painting by the man, Doug Klauba (see right)! 160 pages, colour, US$16.95.
- The preview of The Hunt is now on-line. While you're at it, check out the interview with writer Ben Raab on www.comicon.com. (thanks to Jonas Vesterlund for this link)
8 March 2003
- Moonstone Books have released Volume 4 of The Phantom for the American market. Script is by Ben Raab, pencils by Lou Manna, inks by Matt Webb, and cover art by Joel Naprstek, in a new story called The Hunt. A preview will be posted on New@Moonstone page very soon.
15 February 2003
- Bowen Designs in the US are working on a very nice Phantom bust for release this summer. It stands 6" tall overall and is sculpted by Randy Bowen. Cost is US$42 + $6 shipping, releasing June 2003. You can preview the Phantom bust HERE. Thanks to Jonas Vesterlund for this news.
2 February 2003
- The winners and results of The Phantom Poll 2002 are announced today. The outright winner of Best Phantom Story 2002 was The Slave Market of Mucar by Lee Falk and Sy Barry (#1312). Best New Egmont story was The Long Bow of Little John by David Bishop and Paul Ryan (#1329), Best Semic Classic was The Ring by Ulf Granberg and Jaime Vallvé (#1341), and Best New Strip was Shadows on Devil Road by Fred Fredericks (#1340). The Best Frew cover was easily won by Antonio Lemos' painted piece for the Christmas Special (#1340), while the honours for Best Fantomen cover was shared by Paul Ryan & Tom Smith (Nr.15) and Hans Lindahl (Nr.17).
26 January 2003
- The latest issue of the Friends of The Phantom Newsletter (#23 - Fall 2002) was sent to subscribers in the last week. This edition features interviews with Graham Nolan, Joel Naprstek and Fernando Blanco, plus articles on Sy Barry, Phantom figures, and Phantom party items. All this and more, wrapped with a beautiful colour cover by Sy Barry. Highly recommended! Contact Ed Rhoades for subscription enquiries.
20 January 2003
- The creative team for the new comic format Phantom series from Moonstone has been finalized (refer 2 Nov 2002 entry for background)! Stories will be written by Ben Raab (Green Lantern, JLA, etc.), drawn by Pat Quinn (Green Lantern, Cryptopia), coloured by Ken Wolak (Tellos, The Tenth), and covers by John Cassaday (Capt America, Planetary). The comics will run for 32 pages in colour, and sell for US$3.50 each. For an example of Pat's Phantom, click here!
- John Cassaday is a name that might be recognised by some readers of Egmont's Phantom comics as he painted a cover for Fantomen Nr.16/1999. His original painting featured the traditional purple & blue costume of The Phantom which had to be recoloured to blue & red for Fantomen. You can view the original and published versions on John Cassaday's Website (thanks to Jonas Vesterlund for this link).
