X-Band: The Phantom Podcast

In X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #247 Matt Kyme chatted with us about his involvement with the exciting Phantom video game. We decided it was best to release it as a separate sneak peak podcast for our next podcast.

This 16 minute podcast will hopefully be a good tease as our next podcast which will be with Ashley Nicholas who has more to share with us including some more visuals. Devour this podcast and if you have any further follow up questions you would like us to ask, please email them  through to us at [email protected].

I hope you phans enjoyed that. We would love to hear your thoughts via YouTube Channel and or social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram). Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

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We have some phun (with a PH) and discuss playing in Lee Falk’s sandbox. The concept of playing in a sandbox is about playing with someone else’s creation, ie the Phantom. Jermayn Parker, Stephen East and Dan Fraser are joined with Shane Foley and Matt Kyme who are two creators who thrive playing in the sandbox.

All creators go some way into adding the “toys” that creators can play with in the sandbox. However today we’re getting a bit more specific. Today we’re discussing how creators utilise specific stories to create their own sandboxes to play in. We’ll be focusing mainly on Lee Falk stories.

Some of the topics we discussed are:

• Both creators using oodles of Lee Falk story references. For example Frew #1938/9 had three story references.
• How they get these ideas of adding or filling gaps in past stories.
• Why Lee Falk stories and not Tony DePaul or the Team Fantomen stories.
• Why is Lee Falk important to them.
• Do you like the Fantastical Lee Falk stories?
• How do you pay tribute to his stories?
• Do you see your work as 'Lore'?
• What are some pitfalls of you must look out for when playing in the sandbox?
• Would Shane Foley ever create stories with Kit and Heloise?
• Do you use the Phantom Bible?
• Shane Foley's defense of the 9th Phantom and him being portratyed as the 'Runt'?
• Their upcoming projects
• Are Matt Kyme and Shane Foley coming to Sydney Supanova in 2023?

Others who have spoken about the sandbox concept include Paul Mason and Jeff Weigel, we recommend giving their podcasts a re-listen for some other perspectives on the topic

I hope you phans enjoyed that. We would love to hear your thoughts via YouTube Channel and or social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram). You can also email us at [email protected].

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

The team are all together as they attempt to go through months comic reviews and news from around the world under two hours. Even in a quiet month, they still find a lot to talk about. we would love to hear your opinions as well.

If your one of the phans who can only listen to some parts of the podcast, below is a timeline of what we discussed.

Frew Publications Comics Review

• Frew #1939: 3 Minutes
• Frew #1940: 19 Minutes
• For Those Who Came In Late Video on this series (link)
• Giant Size #24: 57 Minutes 30 Minutes

Fantomen Magazine Comics Review

• Fantomen 4/2023: 1 Hour 5 Minutes
• Fantomen 5/2023: 1 Hour 6 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Fantomen 6-7/2023: 1 Hour 7 Minutes 30 Seconds

Zauberstern Comics Review

• Zauberstern #5: 1 Hour 11 Minutes

Daily / Sunday Newspaper Stories Progress

• Daily 263: "Dungeons Undone": 1 Hour 14 Minutes
• Sunday 193: "Return of the Temple of the Gods": 1 Hour 25 Minutes

Phantom News From Around the World

• Autumn / Spring Patreon Prize Draw: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
• Free shipping for Australian / New Zealand buyers of the card game (link): 1 Hour 35 Minutes
• Limited Edition Henrik Sahlstrom prints (link): 1 Hour 37 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Shatki publishing Sy Barry stories (link): 1 Hour 41 Minutes
• Reapers Quest / Wulfric Media relinquishing their license (link): 1 Hour 44 Minutes
• Selling singular jewellery boxes (link)
• Vote for the best cover and story for Fantomen 2022 (link & link): 1 Hour 50 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Matt Kyme writing a prequel to the very first Phantom story (link): 1 Hour 52 Minutes
• Joe Giella Death: 1 Hour 53 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Reprint of Ed Rhoades interview will be reposted first week of April.

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. We would love some feedback on what we discussed on the podcast and on the following topics:

• Did you enjoy the 22nd Phantom saga?
• Would you like to see more of the Spada created stories?
• Did you buy any of the Reapers Quest rings or products?
• Have you purchase the Henrik Salhstrom prints?

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

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Every phan has an opinion so we have opened the podcast microphone and allowed several phans to voice their opinions on several key modern day topics. This podcast is the recorded conversation between Jermayn Parker and five other phans from around Australia and India. 

If you missed the open mic invite and are now kicking yourself for missing out and want to participate next time, keep an eye out on our website or social media platforms, you can also email us ahead of time to express your interest in our next open mic invitation. 

If your one of the phans who can only listen to some parts of the podcast, below is a timeline of what we discussed.

• Should we be moving to colour or are you happy with a mix of black and white and colour? 7 Minutes 30 Seconds
• If Frew needed to raise the price of the comic to keep up with costs would phans be ok with say 30c, 50c or even a $1 price jump? 18 Minutes
• Do you have any ideas for a Frew 75th Special? 21 Minutes
• Are you excited about the new Phantom video game? 29 Minutes
• What are your strategies for reaching a new audience of Phantom phans? 48 Minutes

* Please note there is the odd swearword in this podcast - maybe 5 in total. We apologise if you have sensitive ears ahead of time.

We would love your opinions on what we have discussed, so please email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram or leave a comment on our YouTube Channel. 

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The team Dan Fraser, Jermayn Parker and Stephen East are all together as they attempt to go through almost two and a half months of comic reviews and news. As you can all probably assume, they failed so much, this podcast has been split into two. 

The first podcast is the Frew comics which consist of four comics and 14 stories which you can listen to here. This is the second part of the podcast which consists all the news, ongoing discussions on the Daily and Sunday stories as well as reviews from Fantomen, Regal, Shatki and Lion-Muthu by Mikael Lyck, Ankit Mitra and Seuj Abir. 

Enjoy...

If your one of the phans who can only listen to some parts of the podcast, below is a timeline of what we discussed.

Fantomen Comics Review

• Fantomen 1/2023: 1 Minute
• Fantomen 2-3/2023: 4 Minutes 30 Seconds

Indian Comics Review

• Tamil HC volume 1: 9 Minutes
• Tamil HC volume 2: 20 Minutes
• Regal 26: 27 Minutes
• Regal 27: 30 Minutes
• Shatki 6: 35 Minutes

Daily / Sunday Stories Progress Discussion

• Daily 262: "The Breakout": 38 Minutes
• Daily 263: "Dungeons Undone": 46 Minutes
• Sunday 193: "Return of the Temple of the Gods": 49 Minutes
• For Those Who Came in Late video for a recap of the series.

News

• Phantom Video Game (link): 55 Minutes
• We recommend either listening to Podcast Episode #242 or reading an article highlighting all the important bits for those who cannot listen to two hours of us geeking out.
• Boss Fight Studio Figurines Status & how to find them in Australia: 57 Minutes
• Charlton Companion Book (link): 1 Hour 3 Minutes 30 Seconds
• New Fantomen Tote Bags for subscriptions (link): 1 Hour 6 Minutes
• Hakon Aasnes 80th Birthday celebration book (link): 1 Hour 7 Minutes 30 Seconds

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Would love some feedback on what we discussed on the podcast and on the following topics:

• How many of these international comics do you have, read and or collect?
• Are you looking forward to a podcast chat with Tony DePaul so we can pick his brains on his decisions.
• Are you over Sarvana like Jermayn and Stephen?
• Have you brought the Charlton Companion and or Hakon Aasnes 80th Birthday celebration books?

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

The team Dan Fraser, Jermayn Parker and Stephen East are all together as they attempt to go through almost two and a half months of comic reviews and news. As you can all probably assume, they failed so much, this podcast has been split into two. 

The first podcast will be the Frew comics which consist of four comics and 14 stories. The second part of the podcast will be out soon. The second part of the podcast will consist all the news, ongoing discussions on the Daily and Sunday stories as well as reviews from Fantomen, Regal, Shatki and Lion-Muthu by Mikael Lyck, Ankit Mitra and Seuj Abir. 

Until then, here are our reviews of the Frew comics so far for 2023.

If your one of the phans who can only listen to some parts of the podcast, below is a timeline of what we discussed.

Frew Publications Comics Review

• Frew #1935: 2 Minutes 30 Seconds
• "Pirates of the Abbey" by Pidde Andersson and Giancarlo Caracuzzo
• "Hello the Himalayas" by Tony DePaul and Mike Manley
  
  
  
• Frew #1936: 25 Minutes
• "Woduro's Secret" by Claes Reimerthi and Graham Nolan
• "The Lion's Head Tamarine" by Claes Reimerthi and Graham Nolan
• "The War Mongers" by Claes Reimerthi and Graham Nolan
• "The Briefcase" by Claes Reimerthi and Graham Nolan
• "The Snake Goddess's Island" by Claes Reimerthi and Graham Nolan
• "Terror in Mawitaan" by Tony DePaul and Graham Nolan
• "The Sinbad Stone" by Graham Nolan
  
  
  
• Frew #1937: 1 Hour 17 Minutes
• "The Seahorse part 1" by Lee Falk and Ray Moore
• "Queen Sansamor and the Sixth Man" by Lee Falk and Wilson McCoy
• "The Slave Traders" by Lee Falk and Ray Moore
  
  
  
• Frew #1938: 1 Hour 24 Minutes
• “The Ibis Mystery part 5” by Andrew Constant and Rafael Dantas
• “The Strange Day of the Witchmen pt1” by Shane Foley

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Would love some feedback on what we discussed on the podcast and on the following topics:

• Did any of your comics have smudging with the new quality paper?
• Did you notice the quality change of the paper?
• Did you like the new Ibis Mystery sequel?
• Would you like to see Shane Foley explore the 9th Phantom problem with him married to Vhatta and Flame?
• Did you enjoy the Graham Nolan stories and the annual? Would you like to see Frew release Volume two next year?

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

Jermayn Parker is the odd man out as he is joined not by one, or even two but three Swedes in Mikael Lyck, Andreas Eriksson and Jacob Habinc. For Those Who Came In Late: Andreas and Jacob are the editors for Fantomen and they give what we can look forward to for the year 2023. Mikael Lyck helps drill the two editors and we manage to get several exclusives from the editorial team.

We start off by learning about Jacob Habinc and Andreas Eriksson and their histories with the comic and their roles as joint editors for the magazine.

We then ask the questions about Fantomen 2023 and what we can expect. They will release the same amount of issues with the same amount of pages and a Christmas album and softcover album.

The best news is that we will see another hardcover collection book like we saw in 2022 with the Heart of Darkness book. They gave us one clue which is that the stories are Team Fantomen and drawn and written by the same creators. We think we have an idea of the theme, do you? Let us know in the comments or on socials.

Some of the other topics we touch upon are the future of the magazine, subscription and printing numbers, some of the new and or returning creators we will see in 2023 like Sal Velluto, Rafael Ruiz, Phillip Madden, David Bishop and Anna Weatherley. 

One interesting subject was how and why they select Frew stories to print in their own magazines. The other interesting path was how they plan to go ahead with the Sandal Singh and 22nd Phantom plots and how the death of Claes Reimerthi has caused them to rethink the future of the storylines.

If you are a patreon of Chronicle Chamber, do not forget if you are a patreon all sneak peaks from Art of Play Games will be first shown to our $5 and above level Patreons, so now is the perfect time to join. 

If you have any questions we did not cover, please let us know and or add them to our YouTube Channel and or social media profiles, You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. 

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

The team interviews the man behind perhaps the biggest news of the last 10 years - the announcement of the Phantom video game by Art of Play Games. Thousands of phans from around the world were shocked, amazed and generally excited at the announcement. 

After the excitement sunk in, the questions flowed so we sat down with Art of Play games director Ash Nicholls who was very open and we think to say after two hours, there may not be many questions we didn't ask.

Some of the key questions that are answered in the podcast are:

• Is it a 2D or 3D style game?
• The genre of the game and why Art of Play Games chose this genre.
• The game levels and storyline
• Key dates including the digital, console and collector box release dates.
• What will be in the collector boxes
• The price points for the various ways of purchasing the game.
• Who are the artists and writers involved in the creation of the game.
• Will it be multi player?
• What generation of the Phantom is featured?
• What countries and locations will the Phantom be visiting?
• Will regular and known characters of the Phantom be included in the game?
• Will there be a morality clause with the game play that suits the Phantom ethos?
• What Phantom tropes will be non negotiable? 
• Is there room for an expanded “game universe” with other Phantoms or characters like Flash, Mandrake etc?
• When can we expect more images or gameplay footage?
• Easter eggs during the game
• Will the game play like a comic?
• Will there be a collectible element?
• How many units Art of Play Games need to sell to make a profit
• The ball park figure to make this game.

During the podcast, Ash asks for phan input on certain elements, so ensure you listen or watch and send your feedback to our comments sections.

To follow the progress on their website and social media accounts:

• Website 
• Facebook 
• Instagram 
• Twitter 
• Hastag: #PhantomGame 

If you are a patreon of Chronicle Chamber, make sure you login to your patreon account as we have a bonus chat with Ash which is just for our patreons. All sneak peaks from Art of Play Games will be first shown to our Patreons, so now is the perfect time to join.

If you have any questions we did not cover, please let us know and or add them to our YouTube Channel and or social media profiles, You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. 

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

Something a little special this time around as we interview Norwegian Ivan Pedersen who is a long time phan & has worked on 6+ publishers living the dream as a phan. Majority of phans who have a social media profile would know off Ivan. Jermayn Parker flies solo chatting with Ivan as they hash out some online arguments throughout the last 20 years.

It is a rather in depth interview as we start at the beginning and go through his phan years to working on the character. As we found out, he has helped coloured stories, consulted and provided scans of original newspaper strips for a lot of publishers including Frew, Fantomet, Comics Revue, Hermes, Zauberstern and Dolmen. Has their been any other phan or person who has worked with more publishers?

You will learn how Ivan ticks including his views on black and white verses colour and surprisingly the one Lee Falk story he would scrap from his collection of stories - yes you read that right!

We also get Ivan's opinions on some subjects like our Phantom Bible, modifying or adding to Lee Falk's lore, being called a troll, publishers printing three or four daily panels to a line and much more.

If you want to learn more about buying comics from his Facebook group here or you find his Fantomet (Norway) / Frew & newspaper stories index here.

If you are a patreon of Chronicle Chamber, make sure you login to your patreon account as we have a bonus chat with Ivan which is just for our patreons. 

If you have any feedback on the subjects touched up, you can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. 

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

The team Dan Fraser, Jermayn Parker and Stephen East join together along with contributors Duncan Munro, Mikael Lyck and Ankit Mitra to discuss EVERYTHING that has been published and released in the year 2022. 

We do it in two hours. Grab a glass of milk or start that park run and enjoy!

2022 see's 11 countries publishing the Phantom, 98 comics from around the world. That is roughly two Phantom comics released a week. It also see's 30 brand new (never been published again anywhere) Phantom stories released in 2022 which is roughly every two weeks, you could buy a comic featuring a brand new Phantom story.

Please note we go over the results of the Frew Survey competition we held. A full analysis will be up on our website along with the video draw of the five winners. Thanks to everyone who voted.

If your one of the phans who can only listen to some parts of the podcast, below is a timeline of what we discussed.

• Tale of the Tape: 2 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Our Best Phantom Comics for 2022: 
• Our Best Non Frew / Fantomen / Indian Cover: 26 Minutes
• Our Best Frew Covers: 30 Minutes
• Best Frew Cover Survey Results as Judged by You: 34 Minutes
• Our Best Fantomen Covers: 43 Minutes
• Our Best Indian Covers: 46 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Our Best Writers: 51 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Our Best Story Artists: 1 Hour 30 Seconds
• Our Best Stories Published by Frew: 1 Hour 7 Minutes
• Best Frew Stories Published by Frew Survey Results as Judged by You: 1 Hour 12 Minutes
• Our Best Stories Published By Fantomen: 1 Hour 19 Minutes
• Our Best Fantomen Issue: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
• Our Best Issue Published by Regal / Shatki: 1 Hour 21 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Our Best Frew Issue: 1 Hour 22 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Best Frew Issue Published by Frew Survey Results as Judged by You: 1 Hour 29 Minutes 30 Seconds 
• Our Best Phantom Merchandise for 2022: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
• Our Best Chronicle Chamber Moment for 2022:  1 Hour 44 Minutes
• Our Overall Phantom Reflection on 2022: 1 Hour 49 Minutes
• What will be the Big Phantom News for 2023: 1 Hour 58 Minutes 30 Seconds

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. Would love some feedback on what we discussed on the podcast and on the following topics:

• What are your favourites? Do you agree or disagree with us? Did we miss anything?
• What was your best Phantom Merchandise for 2022?
• What was your best Chronicle Chamber moment for 2022?
• What do you think will be the big Phantom news for 2023?

Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show