X-Band: The Phantom Podcast

Stephen East, Dan Fraser and Jermayn Parker catch up with the team behind the Phantom Video Game. With pre orders for the digital version of the game now open, we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to catch up with Ash Nicholls the Director behind Art Of Play, but also two of his colleagues who have left their imprint on the game.

Go here to pre order your digital and collector boxes

Anthony Spay is the illustrator of the art from the game who has Frew and Team Fantomen credits as writer and illustrator of the comics and the third guest is Matthew Cutler who is the 2D animator for Art of Play and is behind the magic of the Phantom and Diana fighting against tyranny on our Switches, PlayStation's & X-Boxes.

For those who came in late, we have chatted with Anthony Spay before in Episode #188 (May 2021) and Ash Nicholls in Episode #242 (Feb 2023), #251 (May 2023) and #268 (Dec 2023). This is the first time Matthew Cutler has joined us on a podcast and he starts of the podcast explaining to us what he does for Art of Play and the Phantom video game.

We spend an hour talking shop and geeking out with the three creators as they spill the beans about behind the scenes information on the game. Some of the topics we chat about are: 

• How Anthony Spay got involved with the game.
• The process of hand drawing everything to animating it.
• What is drawn on traditional paper and what is drawn on the computer.
• What will be happening with the original artwork?
• The physical nature of the Phantom and Diana and how they are different to each other in the way they walk and fight.
• The differences drawing for comics to video games
• What is happening with the hand drawn original pencil and inked artwork?
• Will we see a Defenders of the Earth video game?
• The sprite backgrounds and how every one is hand drawn and unique.
• Some of the contents for the physical Limited Run collectors edition including the art book.
• We go over the future key dates in 2025.

We would love your opinions on what we discuss in this podcast. You can email us at [email protected] or chat 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.

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The 100th iteration of the iconic Supanova pop culture convention, in Brisbane November 2024, was a landmark event, especially for Phantom fans who descended upon the city in numbers. This year’s gathering was a celebration of all things Phantom, with a host of activities and special guests that made it an unforgettable experience.

Among the highlights were appearances by talented Phantom cover artists Jamie Johnson, Alex Trpcevski, and Lauren Marshall. These renowned artists, each of them stars across many walks of fandom but known by Phantom phans for their work with Frew Publications, showcased their work with a range of prints, comics and commissions available . They each have recent, current, and upcoming covers which really added emphasis to the currency of our favourite character. Lauren, Alex and Jamie participated in an entertaining Phantom-themed sketch-off, much to the delight of fans who got to witness their creative process firsthand while peppering them with questions all the while.

Saturday was packed with social activities that brought the Phantom community even closer. The day began with a casual breakfast hosted by Chris and Kim Hill, where fans were treated to informal catch-ups and a delightful brekky to accompany a tour of Chris' Minor and Major Treasure Rooms in their newly established Skull Cave. It was a delight to see Chris' thoughtful displays of some incredibly rare and diverse Phantom memorabilia and connect over our shared passions.

The evening saw the inaugural Brisbane Phantom Phans’ Dinner, coordinated by the extraordinary Christopher Schaffer. This intimate gathering was set in a wonderful atmosphere, with a delicious menu and excellent company. A poignant toast was made to departed Phantom luminaries, including Lee Falk, Jim Shepherd and Richard Fry. Another highlight of the evening was a question and answer session with Shane Foley, Frew cover and story artist, who shared insights into his work and experiences, as well as passing some of his original art around for all to see. We're pleased to report that most of it got returned to him! Attendees were delighted to hear from Shane, making the dinner an even more memorable event.

Brisbane Supanova 2024 was more than just a convention for those of us with purple in our veins. Thanks to Christopher's initiative and the support of others, it was a testament to the enduring legacy of the Phantom and the vibrant community that continues to celebrate this beloved character. For those who couldn’t attend, be sure to listen to the related podcast, where you can hear interviews with the three artists at Supanova, their sketch-off, and the Q&A with Shane Foley at the dinner. 

Here’s to many more gatherings and the continued adventures of the Ghost Who Walks!

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Jermayn Parker is joined by Team Fantomen editors Jacob Habinc and Andreas Eriksson as he asks them all the questions about what they are planning for 2025 which so happens to be their 75th anniversary birthday!

We first start off asking about the celebrations of 2025 and what they have planned. They tell us as much as they can and yet still hold back a few surprises which will be dropped as time goes by. If you want some hints, this is the podcast to listen to. 

Some of the secrets they tell us is that the celebrational issue will be in October 2025 and will feature as a double extended issue. Some of the reprint stories through out the year will be key classic stories that hold a special place in the history of the comic.

On top of the birthday celebrations, we also learn the following:

• Some of the writers writing stories for 2025 will be Andreas Eriksson, Pidde Andersson, David Bishop and John Rassy who is back after a 7 year hiatus. 
• Some of these creators will be writing two part stories.
• Some of the artists who will be drawing stories for 2025 are phan phav Janusz Ordon, Kasia Nie for her second story and Percy Ochoa who will be drawing his first Team Fantomen story who has previously drawn several Frew stories.
• The Phantom will be visiting Sweden and Australia.
• The theme for the hardcover collection will be stories from the 1970's. Can you guess the theme?
• 2025 will see other covers tailored for events like conventions like they did for Uppsala comic convention in 2024.

In addition to answering questions about 2025, we took the time to ask other generic editorial questions. For example: 

• What does Jacob Habinc look for in reprinting Frew and or Bastei stories?
• What are their views on AI and comics
• Different art styles including Rafael Ruiz' new style.
• Would they prefer a Phantom movie and or a TV show?
• How closely do they follow the latest developments from the newspaper stories with Kit in the Himalayas, the updated office in the Commanders office and if past Phantoms need to follow the costume design designed by Jeff Weigel.
• If they could change one thing about the Phantom or their job with money not being a hinderance, what would it be?

We would love your opinions on what we discuss in this podcast. You can email us at [email protected] or chat 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.

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Join us as we catch up with all the latest happenings with the Phantom from around the world in the month of October 2024. This podcast is truly international as we fly around dissecting Phantom related news from Sweden, Germany, Finland, Italy and Ukraine then review the latest Daily and Sunday newspaper stories and review comics from Australia, Sweden, Germany and USA.

We love comments and feedback from the Phantom phans from around the world. At the bottom of the article, we list some talking points we would love to have your input on.

Below is a timeline of what we discussed

Daily & Sunday Newspaper story progress

• Daily 266 "The Avarice has Landed": 6 Mins, 30 Secs
• Sunday 195 "The Princess of Songhai": 19 Mins, 30 Secs
  • Tony DePaul's blog post about the start of this adventure

Phantom comics

• Frew Comics (Australia)
  • "The Mystery of the Mali Ibex" (Frew #1980): 30 Mins, 30 Secs
  • "The Coast of Chains" (Frew #1981): 40 Mins, 30 Secs
  • "Operation Domino: Silent Running Chapter Four" and "Operation Domino: The Irregulars Chapter Five"  (Frew 1981): 50 Mins, 45 Secs
• Mad Cave Studios (USA)
  • Defenders of the Earth #2: 1 Hour, 30 Secs
• Egmont (Sweden)
  • Fantomen 20-2024: 1 Hour, 6 Mins, 30 Secs
  • Fantomen 21-2024: 1 Hour, 10 Mins, 30 Secs
• Wick & Zauberstern (German)
  • Wick #8: 1 Hour, 14 Mins
  • Zauberstern #14: 1 Hour

Phantom news 

• Zack Edition release Phantom series (link): 1 Hour, 22 Mins
• Editoriale Cosmo Italian book out: 1 Hour, 24 Mins
• Fantomet 2024 Album out 8th Nov (link): 1 Hour, 25 Mins
• Arki Design merch now out for sale (link): 1 Hour, 28 Mins
• Swedish Fantomen Subscription towel (link): 1 Hour, 34 Mins
• Phantom playset by ElastoWit (link): 1 Hour, 37 Mins

We would love to have your input on the following topics:

• What would you like to see us do for our 300th episode?
• Are you enjoying the AI subject with the current daily story "The Avarice has Landed"?
• Do you think the humanoid looks like the real life Elon Musk?
• Do you like your Phantom stories featuring current and future technology?
• Do you agree that it is best for Frew not to print black and white versions of Don Newton stories?
• Do you see this Operation Domino storyline happening before the Phantom Goes to War Lee Falk story if it was happening in chronological order?
• Do you like the idea of these publishers from around the world creating books featuring their local countrymen stories?
• Will you be purchasing any of the Finnish products? Would you like to see Frew and or PhantomsVault sell them?
• Would you buy a Fantomen subscription just for the freebie of the beach towel?

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

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Dan Fraser, and Jermayn Parker join Janusz Ordon who is a Polish comics creator who has created Phantom stories since 2018. In short 6 years he has drawn 20 full length stories for Fantomen but also Frew. He has also drawn 6x Fantomen covers at the time of recording.

We start at the beginning which includes how Janusz Ordon first came to know about the Phantom from the Fantom (TM-Semic) series published from 1992 to 1993 in his home country. Other areas we touch upon and discuss are:

• His prior relationship with Philip Madden a Fantomen writer.
• The art scene in Poland including Fantomen artist Kasia Nie who drew her first Fantomen cover and story in 2024.
• Janusz Ordon describes his style for the Phantom. How do you see his work?
• His style that works as well in black and white (Frew comic) and in colour (Fantomen comic). Do you have a preference? 
• Talks about his process and how that can change depending on the style of the script and how inspired he is by it.
• What he gets from different writers and editors in terms of the scripts and references.
• How he deals with different scripts and references from the dozen Phantom writers & editors he has worked with.
• Challenges working on scripts.
• Playing with the panels to use splash pages when working on Claes Reimerthi scripts.
• His process of using digital and traditional mediums for sequential (roughs / layouts and final art) and the cover art.
• Why Janusz Ordon traditionally paints his Fantomen covers and will traditionally pencil and ink his next Fantomen story.
• His process of creating a cover for stories he did not draw. [Editors note: this will surprise you]
• Would you like to see a process of Janusz Ordon painting some Phantom illustrations?
• We ask Janusz Ordon if he is drawing the next parts of the 22nd Phantom saga?
• He gives us some feedback on our own comments from past podcasts about his work. Dan Fraser even apologies. 
• Janusz Ordon lifts the lid on Kit and Heloise showing their eyes in the 22nd Phantom saga.

You can follow Jansuz Ordon at his Art Station page. He will be releasing his new Instagram page soon.

We would love your opinions on what we discuss in this podcast. You can email us at [email protected] or chat 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.

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Join the extended team in Seuj Abir, Ivan Pederson, Scott Waldyn, Stephen East, Jermayn Parker and Dan Fraser as together they discuss the latest Phantom comics from around the world from Sweden, India, USA and Australia. It has been a busy two months with 9 comics in total.

We would love it if you could answer some of our questions and topics we raise from our reviews from August and September 2024 - you can find them at the bottom. You can either email us, leave your comments at our YouTube Channel, and or leave them at our social media platforms in Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. 

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

• Frew #1977: 1 Minute
• Frew #1978: 3 Minutes
• Frew #1979: 18 Minutes & 30 Seconds
• Giant Size #30: 33 Minutes & 30 Seconds

Mad Cave Studios

• Defenders of the Earth TPB: 40 Minutes & 30 Seconds

Indian Comics

• Regal Publishers #37: 50 Minutes & 30 Seconds
• Shakti Comics #13: 59 Minutes & 30 Seconds

Fantomen Special Issues

• "Djungelpojken Rex" Softcover TPB: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes & 30 Seconds
• "Älskade pirat" Hardcover TPB: 1 Hour, 15 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. We would love some feedback on what we discussed on the podcast and on the following topics:

• Do you like the Lightning Strike stories? Would you like to see more?
• Did you collect the original Lightning Strike comics?
• Do you prefer the Fratelli Spada stories printed in colour?
• Do you like prose stories? Would you like to see more?
• Would you like to see more of Grigori Rasputin in future Phantom stories?
• Are you enjoying the Operation Domino short stories?
• Do you like Fabio Alves artwork? 
• Which Phantom do you think is featured in the Operation Domino short stories?
• Are you disappointed that Shakta have stopped printing their comics in Hindi and Bengali?
• Would you like to see English TPBs and collections like what Fantomen are producing?

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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Join the boys as together they discuss the latest Phantom news from around the world. We also keep up to date with the latest in the Daily and Sunday newspaper stories. It has been a busy August and September.

Please answer some of our questions we have from August and September 2024 - you can find them at the bottom. You can either email us, leave your comments at our YouTube Channel, and or leave them at our social media platforms in Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. 

Our timeline of what we discuss

Daily & Sunday Newspaper Story Progress

• Daily 266: "The Avarice has Landed": 3 Mins and 30 Sec
• Sunday 194: "The Commander Will See You Now": 15 Mins and 30 sec

Phantom News from Around the World

• The Phantom Video game Pre Order from October 1 2024: 26 Mins
• Pre Orders open for the 2025 Mallon diary, desk calendar and print (link): 30 Mins and 30 Sec
• Cover and details for the Fantomen 2025 Christmas album (link): 34 Mins
• Italian Editoriale Cosmo publishing Phantom stories created by Italians (link): 37 Mins and 30 Sec
• News to come out soon for a German publisher and a USA publisher: 44 Mins
• Matt Kyme talks about his new story on the radio (link): 45 Mins
• The Koala Phantom from the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary was on Sale (link): 47 Mins and 30 Sec
• John Cassaday passes (link): 50 Mins and 30 Sec
• Spanish comic artist Jose María Ortiz Tafalla passes (link): 53 Mins
• First issue of the Lightning Strikes & TASQ school monthly digital mag is out (link): 55 Mins
• Phantom pins by Yesterday.com (link): 57 Mins
• Events with Phantom creators: 58 Mins and 30 Sec
• Phantom themed wine (link): 1 Hour & 30 Sec

We would love some feedback on what we discussed on the podcast and on the following topics:

• What would you like to see us do for our 300th episode?
• Are you enjoying the AI subject with the current daily story?
• Are you ok with Luaga seeing the Phantom unmasked?
• Would you have tried shooting the AI machine if you were in the Phantoms boots?
• Do you like the longer newspaper stories?
• Do you collect comics in other languages besides your native language?
• Do you like the idea of Matt Kymes new story currently being worked on?
• Do you like the idea of drinking a Phantom themed wine?

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The team does not get a chance to nerd out too much by discussing the Phantom in finer details. This podcast fixes that with one podcasters wife commenting that this is perhaps our nerdiest conversation ever!

We will discuss two big questions: Is it ethical for the Phantom to have a major treasure room and is the key to the Phantoms future, the digital comic? To join in this discussion we have Seuj Abir from India joining Dan Fraser, Stephen East and Jermayn Parker.

We would love your opinions on what we discuss in this podcast. You can email us at [email protected] or chat via our social media profiles with your feedback at Facebook, Twitter and or Instagram. 

For those who have come in late, The Major Treasure Room houses artefacts from around the world throughout history that the Phantom has rescued or has been given to by people he has interacted with. The sole aim is to protect these items from fire, flood and destruction.

Throughout the past 60 odd years when it was first introduced, we have had stories created by from various Newspaper, Team Fantomen, Fratelli Spada and RGE creators. There has been nearly 100 different artefacts shown or have had stories written about them.

When the room was conceived by Lee Falk, the world was crazy coming off the second world war with various looted treasures being found. However is that still the case and should they be returned?

Our second and last Phantom hard question we will discuss in this podcast is the power of the digital comic. We have seen Lightning Strikes announcing their new monthly digital anthology, Comics Kingdom adding more importance with their digital daily comic website and three comic publishers in Frew, Fantomen and Mad Cave Studios releasing digital content.

Is it time for the Phantom to be pushed digitally more? Can the phantom comic survive without a digital presence?

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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During May 2024 there were a few comic conventions being held in Norway and Sweden. Thanks to phan Kristian Hellesund who has helped us with the recordings from the events we can now present them to you. It is a great opportunity to hear from some creators from around the world.

During this podcast we will hear from a panel discussion between Arild Wærness, Cormac Hughes, Knut Robert Knutsen and Kristian Hellesund. They will talk about their Phantom contributions including the Lightning Strikes comics.

The other Phantom artist we hear from are Mike Collins as he talks about about his history with the character, who he would like to see drawing the Phantom, his favourite stories, comparing him to other comic heroes and how to write stories from an African perspective.

As you would expect, a lot of the panels and discussions were held in the native spoken language which while are not included in this podcast will be uploaded on our website and YouTube Channel. If you do not speak Norwegian and Swedish, YouTube does allow automatic subtitles so if your nerdy enough, we would recommend clicking on that button.

We will hear from phan, writer and editor Andreas Eriksson, fans writers of the Norwegian story that was originally published in Lightning Strikes Arild Wærness and Knut Robert Knutsen plus an interview from Kristian Hellesund with Fantomen writer Sverre Arnes who wrote 20 stories in the 1990's.

A huge thanks goes to Kristian Hellesund for the recordings and helping us collect these.

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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Join the team as they review Phantom comics from and discuss the latest Phantom news from around the world. We also keep up to date with the latest in the Daily and Sunday newspaper stories.

Please answer some of our questions we have from July 2024 - you can find them at the bottom. You can either email us, or leave your comments at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We discuss the newspaper stories first and then discussed the Frew stories instead of the comics. Let us know if you prefer this format.

Daily & Sunday Newspaper Story Progress

• Daily 266: "The Avarice has Landed": 2 Mins
• Sunday 194: "The Commander Will See You Now": 9 Mins

Frew Phantom Comics

• Cover Discussion: 15 Mins
• "Bad Blood in Bangalla Part 6": 17 Mins
• "The Bat of Berlin": 22 Mins
• "Operation Domino, Part1 and 2": 32 Mins
• “The Highway Robbers”: 42 Mins

USA Phantom Comics

• DotE Prologue: 46 Mins

Phantom News from Around the World

• KFS Phantom Trend Guide (link): 54 Mins
• Maku Brewing release new Mustanaamio designs (link): 56 Mins
• Dai Darell dies (link): 58 Mins
• 2024 Fantomen Softcover Album (link): 1 Hour
• 2024 Ghost Who Walks Fantomen Album (link): 1 Hour and 4 Mins
• Fantomen Year Album Subscription: 1 Hour and 5 Mins
• Denmark Fantomet HC album #1 on sale (link): 1 Hour and 7 Mins
• Hungarian Fantom Daily story album (link): 1 Hour and 11 Mins
• Lightning Strikes & TASQ school release monthly digital mag (link): 1 Hour and 13 Mins
• The Phantom Express at the 2024 QLD Variety Bash (link): 1 Hour and 17 Mins

We would love some feedback on what we have discussed:

• Are you enjoying the cameos with Eoin Musk, Richard Branson & Jeff Bezos?
• What do you think is happening with the Daily story? Where will this story go?
• Would you like to see the Leopard Men back?
• Did you like the Phantom being responsible for the death of an innocent in The Bat of Berlin?
• Does the Phantom wear his mask on behind his glasses?
• What Phantom do you see battles in WW2? The 21st Phantom or the 20th?
• If you are from Finland and can do a review of the Phantom themed beer, please contact us.
• Are Frew missing a trick by not releasing more special collected issues like Fantomen?
• Do you think we should see more digital Phantom comics?

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

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