X-Band: The Phantom Podcast

In this episode, Jermayn Parker is joined by co-host Stephen East as they review the Australian comics and include a few rants about Frew missing the mark and other things that are bothering them. Scott Waldyn and Christian Moller also join in with their reviews of comics released in the USA, Germany, and Austria.

Normally, these podcasts are our attempt to wrap up everything from comic reviews to catching up on the latest Newspaper Comics Kingdom stories and related news from around the world. As it has been two months since we last reviewed everything that has happened in the Phantom's world, we have split the wrap-up podcast into two. In the last podcast we discussed all the related Phantom news and reviewed the Newspaper daily and Sunday stories. 

We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. If you agree and/or disagree with us, you can either email us; leave your comments at our YouTube channel, and/or leave them at our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. 

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

Frew (Australia)

• Frew #2013: 2 Minutes
• Frew #2015: 12 Minutes
• Frew #2016: 17 Minutes
• Giant Size #36: 31 Minutes

The USA

• Mad Cave Studios Phantom #4: 46 Minutes
• Mad Cave Studios Phantom #5: 59 Minutes
• Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny #2: 1 Hour & 15 Minutes
• Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny #3: 1 Hour & 26 Minutes

Germany & Austria

• Wick #9 & #10: 1 Hour & 41 Minutes
• ECR #98, #99 & #100: 1 Hour & 46 Minutes
• Zauberstern Spezial 7: 1 Hour & 51 Minutes
• (Austrian) Die Klassiker #4: 1 Hour & 54 Minutes

We can only report and discuss what we have seen or been told by the phans. We may miss something, especially conventions in your corner of the world with Phantom-related guests, so please let us know of them so we can promote them on our website, socials, and podcasts. We are also looking for reviewers who can review comics from India, Sweden, Finland, France, Italy, and some other locations that publish the Phantom. If you would like to join the team with regular reviews, please contact us.

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel. 

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In this episode, Jermayn Parker and co-host Stephen East go for a rant.

As it has been two months since we last reviewed everything that has happened in the Phantom's world, we have split the wrap-up podcast into two. In this podcast we discuss all the related Phantom news and the Newspaper daily and Sunday stories. In our next podcast, we will review all the comics from around the world.

Daily / Sunday Adventures Progress

• Daily #269 - "The Muckmen of Zumaridi River": 1 Min
• Sunday #197 - "The Ungraved": 11 Min

Phantom News

• Passing of Phantom creators: 17 Min
• Saturday Morning Cards announces volume 2 (link): 22 Min
• The Phantom movie goes Blu-ray (link): 27 Min
• What is next from Mad Cave Studios (link): 29 Min
• Vote for the best story and cover published by Fantomen in 2025 (link and link): 32 Min
• New Old Jungle Saying (link): 34 Min
• Norwegian Fantomet series cancelled (link): 35 Min
• New KFS product (link): 38 Min
• Shakti Comics releases more Phantom items through Imag!kal (link): 41 Min
• Mallon Publishing 90th anniversary collectibles designed by Douglas Klauba (link): 44 Min
• The Phantom art tile by Artovision 3D (link): 46 Min
• Aristocrat slot machine promotional limited edition figure (link): 47 Min
• The Phantom at Budapest, Hungary Comic Con 2026 (link): 51 Min
• Swedish lecture on Wilson McCoy (link): 52 Min
• Mythos Editora releases a Kings Watch TPB: 54 Min
• Original Phantom art to buy: 56 Min
• Phantom video game updates: 57 Min

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel.

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Mandrake the Magician was Lee Falk's first created hero and, to many, was their gateway into the Phantom, with some countries having a deeper relationship with the hypnotic magician than the purple-wearing jungle hero. 

Surprisingly, there have not been many comics or stories where the two heroes share equal billing. Frew in 2026 have tried to do this with their 2026 yearly annual. 228 pages in full colour featuring stories from both universes and a new story created for this annual.

Join us for 80 minutes as we review each Phantom & Mandrake crossover story in finer detail, the annual as a whole, and much more.

The following stories are reviewed and are time-stamped if you cannot listen to the whole podcast and want to listen to specific stories.

• "Mandrake's Bon Voyage" by Tony DePaul and Terry Beatty: 15 Minutes
• "The Missing Aviatrix" by Fred Fredericks: 22 Minutes
• "Lights! Camera! Danger!" by Fred Fredericks: 29 Minutes & 30 Seconds
• "Trouble in the Twelve Nations" by Tony DePaul and Terry Beatty: 33 Minutes
• "Shadows on Devil Road" by Fred Fredericks: 39 Minutes
• "Still Lovely, Still Deadly" by Fred Fredericks: 46 Minutes
• "The Magician's Curse" by Jeff Dyer, Andrew Constant and Boris Kay: 54 Minutes

If you are wanting to read the final week of "Still Lovely, Still Deadly" by Fred Fredericks that was edited out, you can read that here.

If you are wanting to read behind the scenes with "The Magician's Curse" story by Jeff Dyer, Andrew Constant and Boris Kay and find out about who Dryake is and how he is related to Mandrake, you can read that here.

Finally, a heads up: we are aware we have not done a monthly wrap-up podcast of January or February yet; that’ll be next.

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel. 

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To celebrate the Phantom's 90th birthday, we got several phans and creators to wish the Phantom a happy birthday, which we collected together for our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast, which you can watch and/or listen to here on your favourite podcast player, our YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-xMMwISoxM) or website www.ChronicleChamber.com

Sy Barry wishes the Phantom a happy 90th birthday.

Happy Birthday!

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your ideas: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ChronicleChamber/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/Chronicle_Tweet) and or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chroniclechamber/). 

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The Phantom is now 90 years young! We had to put out a special podcast to celebrate. Come join us and let us celebrate together!

First of all, we put the call out to our listeners, our phriends, those who follow us on social media and a bunch of creators from around the world if they would like to send out a happy birthday wish video to the Phantom. Thanks to all of those that did so. We have collected them here. If you missed out, send through a comment or post on whatever platform you use, use a #Phantom hashtag and remind everyone of our character. 

Let us now swing around the world for those who wished the Phantom a happy 90th!

The phans and creators you will hear from in alphabetical order are: 

• Antonio Lemos. Frew cover artist.
• Bernd Frenz. Writer for Fantomen.
• Bradleigh Kelly. Creator of the fan community The Phantom Cave Reviews.
• Bradley and Joyful Peach. Long-time phans and in the Lee Falk Bangalla Member Explorers Club (Australian chapter).
• Murilo. Cosplayer from Brazil
• Dan the Great Curator. Director of Saturday Morning Cards.
• Dean Rankine. Artist and writer for Frew.
• Duncan Munro. Writer for Frew.
• Ashley Tuchin. Phan from Australia.
• Glaucio Cardoso. Creator of the Brazilian fan community Fantasma YouTube Channel.
• Lucas. Phan from Brazil.
• Jaime Diaz. Phan from the USA.
• Jason Paulos. Artist for Frew.
• Jeff Weigel. Comics Kingdom Sunday Phantom newspaper artist & artist and writer for Frew.
• Joel Folda. Cover artist for Lightning Strike and Tasq Force.
• Juan Munari Rousselot. Phan from Argentina and is the stepson of the late Cesar Spadari.
• Lennart Moberg. Artist and writer for Fantomen.
• Mike Bullock. Writer for Moonstone and Lightning Strike.
• Paul Mason. Artist and writer for Frew.
• Pete Klaus. Phan from the USA & co-founder of Friends of the Phantom, a USA phan club.
• Pidde Andersson. Writer for Frew and Fantomen.
• Ross. Phan from Australia.
• Sammy J.  Phan from Australia and star of the Hero Complex comedy show.
• Scott Waldyn. Phan from the USA & Chronicle Chamber reviewer.
• Wendell Cavalcanti. Artist for Frew.

After hearing from the phans and creators, the team spends some time dissecting and discussing among ourselves why we are fans, why we enjoy the Phantom, and what are some of our favourite things about the character and our favourite stories, artists, and creators. To finish off, we will then speculate a bit about the future—what we may expect in 5, 10, and, who knows, even the next 90 years.

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel. 

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In this podcast we wrapped up everything that happened in the world of the Phantom for 2025, and we did it in under two hours. We will go over the tale of the tape, highlighting every comic and merchandise released around the world (that we know of), and then we and our regular contributors will go over our favorites. 

If you disagree with us, please let us know. We welcome the input!

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

• KFS/Comics Kingdom comics: 3 Minutes
• Frew: 4 Minutes
• Fantomen: 25 Minutes & 30 Seconds
• USA comics: 37 Minutes
• Indian comics: 46 Minutes & 30 Seconds
• German comics: 51 Minutes
• Other countries' comics: 1 Hour
• Our other phavourites 
  • Best writer: 1 Hour & 9 Minutes
  • Best story artist: 1 Hour & 14 Minutes
  • Best merchandise released in 2025: 1 Hour & 17 Minutes
  • Best Chronicle Chamber moment: 1 Hour & 23 Minutes
  • Overall reflection on 2025: 1 Hour & 28 Minutes
  • What will be the big news of 2026 as we enter the 90th birthday: 1 Hour & 35 Minutes

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel. 

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Ulf Granberg was a giant in the Phantom community as both a writer and editor but perhaps even more as a historian and Phantom-lore builder who added structure to the loose lore established by Lee Falk. Sadly, he recently passed, and Dan Fraser and Jermayn Parker talked about his legacy and reminisced about our chat with him almost a decade ago.

At the end of us talking and remembering a legend, we include some snippets from our 3-hour chat with him from XEpisodes 97A and 97B.

Ulf Granberg (born 1945) was the editor responsible for the Swedish Phantom comic book, Fantomen, from 1972 to 2012, a duty that also included heading the Team Fantomen production of Phantom stories. He had also written almost 40 Phantom stories.

Granberg became the 12th editor of Fantomen in 1973, succeeding Per-Anders Jonsson, and continued until 1987, being succeeded by Mats Jönsson. In 2003 he returned as editor, succeeding Petter Sjölund. He did, however, remain in charge of the production between his two periods as an editor, serving as editor-in-chief.

He retired from his Phantom duties with Fantomen 9/2012, after a total of 1001 issues. He was succeeded by Mikael Sol as editor for Fantomen and by Claes Reimerthi and Hans Lindahl as editors for the Team Fantomen production of stories.

What this bio doesn’t include is the behind-the-scenes stuff that many of us take for granted.

• He was important in the hiring of several key creators from around the world, including Cesar Spadari, Norman Worker, Jamie Vallve, Carlos Crus, Hans Lindahl, Claes Reimerthi, Dai Darell, Donne Avvenell, Felmang, Ferri, Joan Boix, Tony DePaul, Paul Ryan, Graham Nolan, David Bishop, Georges Bess, Kari Leppanen, Lennart Moberg, Sal Velluto, Bob McLeod, and Dick Giorando.
• He added to the lore of the Phantom and filling in the gaps.
• He created the first timeline of all 21 Phantoms. Even giving Lee Falk the list.
• He created the first Phantom map of Bangalla and the countries around Bangalla. The Bangalla map was very much liked by Lee Falk who asked for a copy.
• He added to the first Phantom adventures on how he got the skull ring and how he became known as the man who cannot die.
• He oversaw the origin of Devil.
• He oversaw the creation of Dogai Singh, perhaps the most dreaded Singh pirate, and of course Sandal Singh.
• He created the ‘Brain Trust’ or Team Fantomen which was a group of creators who would meet once a year and map out the theme of stories for the next year or period of time.
• He oversaw the Lubanga storyline, which was controversial but also impactful, which saw Luaga lose the presidency of Bangalla. 
• In 1999 after Lee Falk's death, the newspaper strip almost was cancelled. He pushed the continuous nature of it and suggested Paul Ryan and Tony DePaul/Claes Reimerthi to take over.

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel.

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In this episode the gang is back together after a few months of separation, as they chat with Australian comedian Sammy J, who 10 years ago toured Australia with his award-winning show Hero Complex. This show explores the friendship between two men who bonded over Phantom comics and spanned from the schoolyard to an Australian federal agent searching an attic. 

Sammy J talks to us about the last 10 years, and how because of the show, it has seen several great future stories to be told. This 2026 version of the show is a great encore with many more laughs to be had. Sammy J, will tell us why, even if you attended the first show, this is not a show to be missed.

The beauty about this show is that it is a great opportunity to attend the show with your friends and loved ones who may have questioned your addiction or, if you are lucky enough, attend the show with other like-minded Phantom phans from around the country. If you would like to attend one of the shows and would like to attend with another phan, let us know and we will help where possible to connect you with one.

If you would like to find out more about Sammy J, you can find him on the various social media platforms and his website. The tour dates are below. 

• Sammy J website
• Ticket sales
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube channel
• Collection of photos from the initial show, videos and reviews on our website
• X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode #45 - Interview with Sammy J and the gardener. 
• X-Band: The Phantom Podcast Episode #74 - Follow up interview after the show. 

Tour dates

30 Jan 2026. Narre Warren

31 Jan 2026. Geelong

4-8 Feb 2026. Perth

24 Feb - 1 March 2026. Adelaide

20 March 2026. Canberra

14-19 April 2026. Melbourne

30 April - 2 May 2026. Sydney

16-17 May 2026. Brisbane

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

These podcasts are our attempt to wrap up everything from comic reviews to catching up on the latest newspaper Comics Kingdom stories and related news from around the world. The hardest thing is to try and keep abreast of everything that happens in a month and stay concise - we usually fail. We will admit, the boys did get off-topic and distracted from the runsheet in a few places.

If we do not discuss the Phantom comics from your country, that is because we are still looking for someone to review them for us. Please get in touch with us if that interests you. Otherwise, we love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. You can either email us, leave your comments at our YouTube channel, and/or leave them at our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. 

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

Daily / Sunday Adventures Progress

• Daily #269 - "The Muckmen of Zumaridi River": 3 Minutes
• Sunday #197 - "The Ungraved": 15 Minutes & 30 Seconds

Australia (Frew Comics)

• Frew #2011: 23 Minutes
• Frew #2012: 43 Minutes

Phantom Comics from around the world

• ECR 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 126 and 128 (Germany): 1 Hour & 5 Minutes
• Die Klassiker #2 & #3 (Austria): 1 Hour & 18 Minutes
• Zack Edition #2 (Germany): 1 Hour & 28 Minutes
• Mad Cave Studios Phantom Series #3 (USA): 1 Hour & 31 Minutes
• Mad Cave Studios Defenders of the Earth: Dark Destiny Series #1 (USA): 1 Hour & 46 Minutes

Phantom News from around the world

• Tony DePaul rewriting Lee Falk-lore again (link): 1 Hour & 59 Minutes
• What if Billy Zane was a gamer? (link): 2 Hours & 4 Minutes
• Frew 2026 annual details (link): 2 Hours & 8 Minutes
• Fantomen Best Adventure stories poll now open: 2 Hours & 11 Minutes
• New German comic series on Heiner Bade (link): 2 Hours & 13 Minutes
• Tasq Force Annual #2 out & sold out (link): 2 Hours & 14 Minutes
• RIP Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa aka Kabai Sengh (link): 2 Hours & 15 Minutes
• Prize draws: 2 Hours & 17 Minutes

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube Channel. 

Support the show

When we first announced the proposed new Phantom TV show on our website in July 2023, we spent a whole episode with guests joining the team to pitch ideas in episode 256.

This year there has been some more news that Netflix is ‘likely’ going to be the platform to distribute the show. However, the Phantom has had some false dawns ever since Tom Tyler donned the uniform in 1943. This podcast is going to be a collection of all the hits, rumours, could-have-beens, and failed attempts in the last 70+ year period.

The list is below in chronological order:

• 1943. Serial featuring actor Tom Tyler as the Phantom.
• 1955. Captain Africa serial featuring actor John Hart as the Phantom / Captain Africa.
• 1961. Pilot for a serial featuring actor Roger Creed as the Phantom.
• 1966. Film released in the Philippines featuring actor Bob Soler as the Phantom.
• 1968. The Yellow Submarine movie.
• 1970’s. 3x Turkey films with the Phantom played by Ismet Erten and Irfan Atasoy.
• 1972. Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter, an animated film featuring King Features characters.
• 1973. Short fan-made film called Fanta.
• Late 1970’s. Ruby Spears animated TV series that didn't get past the writing script stage.
• 1982-1985. Filmation animated TV series.
• 1986-1987. Defenders of the Earth animated cartoon TV series featuring Flash Gordon and Mandrake with Peter Mark Richman voice as the Phantom.
• 1988. Letter from the producer of the (to become) 1996 film Peter Sjoqist to Svenska Films.
• 1994. Phantom 2040 animated cartoon TV series with Scott Valentine voice as the Phantom.
• 1996. Hollywood film with actor Billy Zane as the Phantom.
• 1997-1998. Betaal Pachisi an Indian TV series with actor Shahbaz Khan as Betaal.
• Mid to late 1990s. Brisbane proposed animated TV series with Glenn Ford working on the storyboards.
• 2002-2003. Hyde Park & Crusader Hollywood film with a script written.
• 2008. Sequel to the 1996 film with the main actors all returning.
• 2009. SyFy TV show pilot with actor Ryan Carnes as the Phantom.
• 2010. Legacy Hollywood movie with actor Chris Hemsworth auditioned for the role of the Phantom.
• 2014. Hollywood producer Mark Gordon took over the rights for a movie.
• 2018. Cholomon Oshoriri Indian fan-made movie.
• 2017 & 2019. Kid Phantom: Homework animated short film made by students at an animation school.
• 2019. Indian Bollywood movie with producers Ronnie Screwvala and Vasan Bala involved and actor Kartik Aaryan cast to play Phantom
• 2025. Brazil fan-made film 

You can email us at [email protected] or chat with us via our social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram. We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. Make sure you stay with us, and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast on our YouTube channel. 

Support the show