Saturday 7 April 2007

No 1041 - The Phantom Goes to War



This is a significant Phantom tale in the history of the Phantom, as it's the only time the Phantom has gone to fight, deliberately, unlike his usual peace making. The Phantom, although he has guns, prefers to talk to people and resolve issues peacefully. He very rarely kills anyone, usually using his guns to shoot a gun from the bad guy's hands.

Read the editorial included in this significant story, which explains the history of this comic:

No 1040 - The Drug Sharks

No 1039 - Takal's Mask

No 1038 - The Last Mission

No 1037 - The Knight of La Mancha



The Phantom fan club started around this time, I joined up - of course. It was really around to promote a cartoon and other collectible store in Melbourne (owned by the chap administrating the Fan Club), in the Royal Arcade. They also sold a lot of Elvis stuff, and ran an Elvis fan club too.

As luck would have it, at the time I worked in the city and my hairdressers were in the Royal Arcade, so I would visit this store every week or two. And slowly got a few Phantom items. Like my Phantom bomber jacket, purple leather sleeves and all. A treasured possession, it comes out at winter time.

No 1036 - The Attilan Mystery



I love the wrap around cover art on the Frew comics - but the old advertisements are a hoot too. Mind you, I think a lot of the companies who advertised, no longer exist. Frew only runs one ad per issue, unlike the Marvel and DC comics, every second page appears to be an ad in those.

No 1035 - The Ghost Tribe

No 1034 - Mysterious Karapura



A Lee Falk story, this one uses Alice in Wonderland and space ships in a tale of mystery and fantasy.

No 1033 - Tiger, Tiger!



No 1032 - Blockbuster Issue

To kick off 1993, the third in the blockbuster issues, this edition has 13 Phantom tales in it!

Front and back cover - Diana is on the spine and unfortunately lopped off:


Stories published

  1. The Fire Goddess
  2. The Beachcomber
  3. The Saboteurs
  4. The First Phantom
  5. The Wedding - first published in 1977, this is the story of when the 21st Phantom married Diana Palmer
  6. The Epidemic
  7. The Lake Lady
  8. The Beasts of Madame Kahn
  9. The Torch
  10. Poisoned Dreams
  11. Hero's Death Sentence - Hero is the Phantom's horse
  12. The King is Dead
  13. The Wolf is Coming!

No 1031 - The Fire of Life!

Friday 6 April 2007

No 1030 - 1992 Christmas Special

A four story special issue for Christmas.





Stories published:

  1. Secret of the Arctic
  2. Walker's Table
  3. Tale of Devil
  4. Diana and the Bank Robbers

Diana Palmer is the 21st Phantom's wife. She works for the UN, and is the mother to Kit and Heloise. Kit is The Phantom's real name, or Christopher. The Phantom met Diana in the very first Phantom comic, but they weren't to marry until the seventies. Mandrake the Magician and Lothar attended the wedding!

No 1029 - The Test



The 'current' Phantom is the 21st in the line to be the Phantom. This tale covers the 21st Phantom as a teenager, in his training towards taking over from his father.

No 1028 - Hoogan's Revenge



Love the cover art on this one, it's really striking stuff.

And the Phantom kangaroo is a hoot!

No 1027 - The Wolfman of Montargis

No 1026 - Five Stories special



Notable trivia - Keith Chatto, the only Australian to illustrate a full length Phantom comic up until this point, passed away October 22, 1992, before this issue was published. He designed covers for the Phantom and Mandrake the Magician, another Lee Falk creation.

Stories published:

  1. The Secret of Magic Mountain
  2. Blackie
  3. The Ape Idol of the Durugu
  4. The Gooley-Gooley Witch
  5. The Blue Giant

No 1025 - The Curse of the Granite God part two

No 1024 - Curse of the Granite God part one

No 1023 - The Normal Life

No 1022 - Mojados!

No 1021- The Grave Vandals

No 1019 - The Fourth Son & Jookar and The Slavers

A special two story edition.

No 1018 - The Vampires of Koqania




I have one of the profile shot tshirts - the bottom right one. It's gone from purple on black background to purple on grey, and is very faded and worn, and now hidden in the back of my wardrobe to prevent further fading. You could find some Phantom merchandise in the nineties, including a Phantom Phan Club, which I was a member of, naturally. Very hard to find it now though.....poop.....

No 1017 - Deadman's Point

Published in 1992

No 1016 - Four Stories Special

Another special edition, with four stories instead of the usual one.

Frew publishes every two weeks, and is the best value comic book around - for the (current) price of $2.50 you get a new Phantom tale, and for $5 you might get 3 or 4 stories in one of the special editions. The Annual Special is $11 for ten stories. Whereas most of the other comic books published (Marvel, DC, Futurama, X-men etc) are usually $6.95 each or more.



This is another special one - Rex is king of a land that borders on Bengali, the land the Phantom rules peacefully over. Well, the Phantom is not a king, but a guardian of Africa, to ensure peace and no piracy. Anyway, Rex was the Phantom's ward for some time until the Phantom found out Rex was the next in line to the throne of Baronkhan. He pops up in Phantom stories from time to time, and sees the Phantom as a father-like figure. This tale ("Prince Rex and Princess Alicia") introduces another royal to the Phantom Chronicles, Alicia, who finds a friend in Rex. Both 12 years old, it may well be that these two are matched up in later issues.....

Stories:

  1. King Bongong
  2. Prince Rex & Princess Alicia
  3. The Crime School
  4. The Vault of Missing Men