X-Band: The Phantom Podcast

To wrap up the festive season we have created a New Years Resolution that we all can get around and ensure we follow through. Forget eating healthy, saving your money or doing more exercise - let us all take some time out and read a Phantom back issue.

Seuj Abir, Bradleigh Kelly, Duncan Munro and Ankit Mitra join regulars Jermayn Parker, Dan Fraser and Stephen East in reviewing a story that is worth digging out of the back catalogue and having a re read. Many have been out of print for 10 or 20+ years.

The stories we have reviewed are:

• "The Story of the Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks" by Lee Falk 
• Avon Novel #1 (1972)
• Hermes Press #1 (2016)
  
  
• "Mistake Identity" by Idi Kharelli and Hans Lindahl
• Frew #1440 (2006)
• Sweden Noir (2019)
• Fantomen 18/1986
  
  
• "The Highland Murders" by David Bishop and Paul Ryan
• Frew #1336 (2002)
• Fantomet 22/2002
• Fantomen 22/2002
  
  
• "The Wolf is Coming"  by Sverre Årnes and César Spadari
• Frew #1032 (1993)
• Fantomen 15/1992
• Norway Krønikebok #17 (2004)
• UK Wolf #6 (1992)
  
  
• "Mandrake's Bon Voyage" by Tony DePaul and Terry Beatty
• Frew #1682 (2013)
• Fantomet 5/2015
• Fantomen 6-7/2015 
• Regal #7 (2021)
  
  
• "The Unknown Commander, Part 1 and Part 2" by Norman Worker and Georges Bess
• Frew #1682 (2013)
• Fantomet 1/2018
• Fantomen 25-26/2017
• Bastei #177 (1981)
  
  
• "The Castle of Evil" by Norman Worker and Hans Lindahl
• Frew #1047 (1993)
• Fantasma Especial #31 (1989)
• Fantomet 13/2006
• Fantomen 14/2006
  
  
• "Death in Cyberspace" by Hans Lindahl
• Frew #1442 (2006)
• Fantomet 6/2006
• Fantomen 7/2006
  
  
• "Lost in Cyberspace" by Hans Lindahl
• Frew #1460 (2006)
• Fantomet 23/2006
• Fantomen 24/2006
  
  
• "Duel in Cyberspace" by Hans Lindahl
• Frew #1473 (2007)
• Fantomet 5/2007
• Fantomen 6/2007
  
  
• "Chaos in Cyberspace" by Hans Lindahl
• Frew #1486 (2007)
• Fantomet 16/2007
• Fantomen 17/2007

What did you think of the stories? Have you read all of them? If you have another story you think phans and us should read, add a photo in the comments section or on social media. 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 join for the last X-Band: The Phantom Podcast of the year as we discuss all the latest comics being released and Phantom related news for December. We also have some phun stating our Phantom related Christmas wish for 2023.

Please note that our reviews of the Indian comics Regal Publications #26 and Shakti #6 will be up on our website and YouTube channel after this podcast comes out.

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 Comics Review

• Vote on the Best of 2022 Frew survey (link): 2 Minutes
  
  
• Frew #1933: 3 Minutes
• Frew #1934: 18 Minutes 30 Seconds

Fantomen Comics Review

• Fantomen 25-26/2022: 55 Minutes 30 Seconds

Daily / Sunday Stories Progress Discussion

• Sunday 193: "Return of the Temple of the Gods": 1 Hour
• For Those Who Came in Late video for a recap of the series.
  
  
• Daily 262: "The Breakout": 1 Hour 4 Minutes 30 Seconds

News

• Wulfric Media's Kickstarter campaign didn't reach the target: 1 Hour 9 Minutes 
• Release of the Phantom Bible (link to listen to Ep 237): 1 Hour 10 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Release of the Mallon Diary, Calendar and Poster (link): 1 Hour 14 Minutes
• Review to come
• Release of the Perth Mint Phantom coin (link): 1 Hour 20 Minutes
• Review to come
• Boss Fight Studio Wave 2.0 pre order (link): 1 Hour 23 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Boss Fight Studio 'King Comics Super Heroes' PVC Figurines Now Out (link): 1 Hour 31 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Link to find a shop near you to buy these
• Peter David Go Fund Me Campaign for his ill health (link): 1 Hour 35 Minutes

Christmas Themed Questions: 

• What is your Christmas wish / miracle. What would you like to see? 1 Hour 36 Minutes
• Have you brought yourself a Phantom Christmas present? 1 Hour 37 Minutes 30 Seconds
• On the back of Dan’s article of the Phantom and Christmas covers. Do we need to see a Phantom Christmas themed story? 1 Hour 39 Minutes

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:

• Would you like to see more TPBs from Frew?
• Do you like the themed Mallon diary and wall calendar?
• Do you like the new KFS style guide? Does it work for the new Perth Mint coin?
• How many of the Boss Fight Studio boxes will you be buying? One or two to keep intact?
• Would you like to see more Christmas themed comic covers and products?

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

Support the show

Dan Fraser and Stephen East are joined by contributors Duncan Munro and Ankit Mitra as they discuss and grill Jermayn Parker over the project "The Phantom Bible" which is now open for use. 

What is the Phantom bible? One suggested it is a jumping off point for inspiration and a sense check for reigning you in if you go off in the wrong direction for creators.

You can view the website at: www.PhantomBible.com 

This podcast is a good 2.5 hours long but to be honest it is jam packed with heavy Phantom talk and you will not be bored.

We go through the whole website and cover a wide range of topics that are covered in the bible like:

• How we decide what to include and ignore
• How we decide on what inconsistencies to ignore 
• Essential lore. What needs to be included in every story?
• The mythos of the Phantom and the characters
• What is obsolete lore and that is not needed to be included in stories anymore

We then go through the Phantom's, go over some inconsistencies like the 9th Phantom, Pura the Princess who married three different Phantoms including her son, some holes that are ready for creators to complete plus much more.

If you are a phan, we hope you enjoy the Phantom Bible and use it to hold creators and publishers accountable. If your a creator or a publisher, we hope this can be used as a tool for your creations and allow the research to be easily accessed so you can spend your time drawing or creating awesome stories instead of spending all the time on research.

You can view the website at: www.PhantomBible.com 

We are under no illusions that some phans won't agree on everything we have written. If you would like to contribute and add to the bible or even argue with us on something, 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

Jermayn Parker is joined by fellow WA resident Callum Markin. With the mad rush to the end of the year forcing the regulars to be absent. Callum, one of our long standing Patreons who has supported Chronicle Chamber for years has pitched in off the bench. 

We promise they only spent 5 minutes telling everyone how good WA and Perth is.

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 #1931: 5 Minutes
• Frew #1932: 10 Minutes
• Giant Size #24: 40 Minutes

Fantomen Comics Review

• Fantomen 24/2022: 54 Minutes 30 Seconds

Regal Publications Review

• #22: 59 Minutes
• #23: 1 Hour 1 Minute
• #24: 1 Hour 3 Minutes 30 Seconds
• #25: 1 Hour 7 Minutes
• Review of the Freebies: 1 Hour 13 Minutes

Shakti Comics Review

• #4: 1 Hour 18 Minutes
• #5: 1 Hour 21 Minutes 30 Seconds

Zauberstern

• #3: 1 Hour 25 Minutes 30 Seconds
• #4: 1 Hour 28 Minutes 30 Seconds

Daily / Sunday Stories Progress Discussion

• Sunday 193: "Return of the Temple of the Gods": 1 Hour 34 Minutes
• For Those Who Came in Late video for a recap of the series.
• Daily 262: "The Breakout": 1 Hour 41 Minutes

News

• Wulfric Media Kickstarter campaign status (link): 1 Hour 54 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Mallon Publications new products - Diary, Calendar and post:  (link): 1 Hour 57 Minutes
• Ikon Collectables 3D Mug released March 2023 (link): 2 Hours
• The Phantom Appeared on Hard Quiz TV Show (link): 2 Hours 4 Minutes
• Mythos Brazil Sy Barry Omnibus new publication (link): 2 Hours 7 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Still looking for someone to review these for us
• New UK Magazine ‘Infinity Magazine’ (link): 2 Hours 11 Minutes
• Review included
• Paul Mason winning the Stanley Award (link): 2 Hours 17 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Patreon Prize draw: 2 Hours 20 Minutes

Please note, we are still after a reviewer from Brazil reviewing all the latest Mythos Phantom comics. please contact us if you can help out.

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

Mikael Lyck takes over the reigns and leads the interview with special guest Robert Aman about his new book "When the Phantom Became Swedish". It is a rather provocative title and we are sure it will get some reactions from phans around the world. 

Please note, we do discuss several stories in this podcast which are listed here and may be worth a read before listening/watching this podcast.

Sweden was leading the way in the 1960's and 1970's regarding many issues in Africa and teh world at the time and it naturally flowed into their comics. Some of the 'left leaning' elements included colonialism, major white families controlling natural resources, race, apartheid, environmental issues, gender equality etc and our Phantom helped solved these issues in Team Fantomen created stories. 

One of the interesting things we learnt in this podcast was that phans would write in and hold Lee Falk accountable with unacceptable elements by saying he was not processive enough and how the Team Fantomen creators would 'fix' these problems. We will include an example of this in a future article on our website.

Through Robert Aman we also learn that Lee Falk was very positive and acceptable of what the Swedish creators were adding to his character.

Along with the list of Team Fantomen stories there is some overlap with our initial X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #101 which you may also want to listen to as well. Other podcasts worth reading along with this is our interview with Ulf Granberg in episodes #97A and #97B and Magnus Knuttson in episode #119.

To follow Robert Aman you can visit his social media page here and you can buy his books here and here.

Do not forget, the first person to sign up as a patreon will receive a signed copy of the book. Another signed copy will be given to a patreon for the next seasonal prize (summer / winter) which will be drawn early December 2022.

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

Reapers Quest this past week (2nd November 2022) has started his kickstarter campaign for miniatures of the Phantom country. We sit down with Kelby Wooldridge and he goes into great detail on his campaign.

Click here to go Pledge at Kickstarter 

In this podcast chat we go over the pledge levels, the sizes of the miniatures and ask the hard questions.

Have you backed yet? We wont be able to raise the full amount on our own but together, many phans together make light work! 

Click here to go Pledge at Kickstarter

We want your feedback on this podcast and the kickstarter campaign. Why have you pledged? Why have you not pledged? What would make you pledge?

Please note, our planned #234 episode on the Phantom becoming a Swede has been postponed for a week to try and give this Kickstarter campaign a pump.

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

This is a bumper podcast as we try and squeeze two podcasts into one - comics and news plus a creator interview as Matt Kyme gives us a peak behind the curtain of story. The result? A long podcast. Hope you will enjoy it though.

We have the full team  talking all the latest things Phantom from around the world for October 2022.

Mikael Lyck reviews five issues plus we have a heap of news including Kickstarter campaigns, deaths of Phantom legends, conventions, new comics to be released, a passionate plea to KFS and a lot of phun in between.

Below is a runsheet with time stamps. 

Frew Comics Review

• Frew #1928: 2 Minutes
• Frew #1929: 8 Minutes 30 Seconds
• “The Golden Queen”  29 Minutes
• Frew #1930: 43 Minutes 30 Seconds

Fantomen Review

• Fantomen 20/2022: 1 Hour 21 Minutes
• Fantomen 21/2022: 1 Hour 23 Minutes
• Fantomen 22-23/2022: 1 Hour 25 Minutes 30 Seconds
• HoD HC: 1 Hour 28 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Fantomen 2022 Softcover: 1 Hour 33 Minutes 30 Seconds

Daily / Sunday Stories Progress Discussion

• Sunday 193: "Return of the Temple of the Gods": 1 Hour 37 Minutes
• (video for a recap of the series)
• Daily 260: "The Phantoms End" (X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #232)
• Daily 261: "The Breakout": 1 Hour 49 Minutes 30 Seconds

News

• Kickstarter campaign starting 2 November (link): 1 Hour 58 Minutes
• Phantom wiki is back up and running properly (link): 2 Hours 6 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Convention News: 2 Hours 8 Minutes
• Brisbane & Adelaide Supanova Phantom related guests (link)
• New York Big Apple Con (link)
• Please let us know of other phantom related guests going to conventions around the world.
• The Phantom 2040 Archive created by Joe Douglas (link): 2 Hours 11 Minutes
• Billy Zane Phantom movie costume (link): 2 Hours 13 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Phantom Article in the October 2022 Assamese Magazine 'Sofura' (link): 2 Hours 19 Minutes
• Comics Kingdom & DiscountMags.com Bring Together A Paid Subscription Service for Vintage Strips (link): 2 Hours 20 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Peter Kingston Death (link): 2 Hours 23 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Editions Dante Release Their Second Hardcover Moonstone Collection (link): 2 Hours 27 Minutes

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. 

Support the show

Jermayn Parker is joined by Dan Fraser and Stephen East and we talk about one of the most controversial stories ever written. It features the 21st Phantom dying, the eyes being shown of the Phantom, Diana, Kit jnr and Heloise turning away from the Phantom, we see the end of the Walker line and much more.

This story has seen a lot of angst and phans upset, sad and unsure what is next. We simply had to review and talk about this story in great detail.

Worth noting that on the YouTube video, we show the whole story as we discuss it. Some past articles worth reading are:

• Tony DePaul's blog article on this story 
• Our article on showing the Phantom's eyes 
• Our article showing the burial ground 

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

Jermayn Parker chats with Christopher Walker a cosplayer from USA who is in the middle of something special including finding some other cosplayers including a Guran, Sala and Diana.

You can view more of Christopher Walker's work at his website which can be found here.

Hope you have enjoyed our mini series of talking to some cosplayers from around the world who are dressing up and showcasing the Phantom to other comic and pop culture fans.

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

Dan Fraser and Jermayn Parker join together talking all the latest Phantom comics and news from around the world. It has been a BIG month in the Phantom world. Phan and creator Duncan Munro takes the place of Stephen who is on holidays and does a great job filling his shoes. We are also joined with Mikael Lyck and Ohm Roy who review the Fantomen comics and the amazing Jean-Yves Mitton book by Black and White Editions. 

For those who cannot listen to the whole podcast, below is a runsheet with time stamps for you to listen to parts that may interest you. 

Frew Publications Comics Review

• Frew #1925: 2 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Frew #1926: 9 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Frew #1927: 25 Minutes
• Frew Giant Size 22: 50 Minutes 30 Seconds

Fantomen Comics Review

• Fantomen 16/2022: 1 Hour 1 Minute 30 Seconds
• Fantomen 17/2022: 1 Hour 4 Minutes

Black & White Éditions Review

• Jean Yves Mitton – Le Fantôme: 1 Hour 5 Minutes 30 Seconds

Daily / Sunday Stories Progress Discussion

• Sunday 193: "Return of the Temple of the Gods": 1 Hour 8 Minutes
• Daily 260: "The Phantoms End": 1 Hour 14 Minutes 

News

• News Corp and Lee Enterprises cancel KFS strips from their newspapers (link and link): 1 Hour 27 Minutes 30 Seconds
• How do you read your Phantom newspaper strips?: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
• Thoughts on the X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #227 - The Phantom Goes Digital (link): 1 Hour 37 Minutes
• Regal Publishers Anniversary Special (link): 1 Hour 58 Minutes
• Fantomen 2022 Christmas Album for Pre Order (link): 2 Hours 30 Seconds
• Fantomen Softcover Album and Heart of Darkness TPB now out. Review coming soon: 2 Hours 2 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Review of Boss Fight Studio Phantom and Hero Figurine (link): 2 Hours 3 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Jan Hafstrom Exhibition (link): 2 Hours 11 Minutes 30 Seconds
• Patron Spring Draw: 2 Hours 13 Minutes 30 Seconds

We want your feedback on a few topics which is listed below. You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. 

• Did you like our "For Those Who Came In Late" videos? Would you like more?
• Do you like Monster themed Phantom stories?
• Have you purchased a copy of the Black and White Editions Jean-Yvess Mitton book?
• Are you enjoying the daily story featuring the death of the 21st Phantom?
• Do you understand the concept of the new blockchain with the Phantom as discussed in X-Band: The Phantom Podcast #227 - The Phantom Goes Digital? 

Make sure you do not forget to subscribe and leave a review. 

Support the show