The Phantom

[The Ghost Who Walks]

Anyone here reading the Phantom from Moonstone Books?

I love this series!

Mike Bullock, creator of Lions, Tigers and Bears, will take over the title with issue 12, and I can't wait for it to happen!

[Agentum]

They is hard to get but i have read some of them and i like them, the series is better than the thicker trades they put out before this.

I like that Walker is young again, it's more back to basic than the current Phantom comics we have here that builds on Falks work.

[Mia]

I've been collecting them. But I have not liked past issues. I think that Ben Raab is an awful writer. Just plain awful! I find his Phantom to be very juvenile and adolescent. I'm glad his gone.

I just added the Phantom to my pull list. I enjoyed the last two issues written by Chuck Dixon. And anxiously await what Mike Bullock has in store.

[The Ghost Who Walks]

I like that Walker is young again, it's more back to basic than the current Phantom comics we have here that builds on Falks work.

Agreed. Also, I think their characterization of Diana Palmer is great.

[Hintermann]

I belong to the 'conventional' Phantom fan group and tend to like only Lee Falk's stories. Neither Egmont's 'Fantomen' nor the American stories under Moonstone are a fraction as good as Falk originals.

[Agentum]

But he is dead, and if they want the character to live on they have to find other writers and the old style of Falk wouldn't work today, ok i like his early work best with the Phantom doing adentures, but the later family picknick Phantom is very boring to me:)

Give the new people a chance to make something of him, the 50-60s is never comming back again.

To tell you the truth many people was complaining here over Falks later work and the sales dropped, and it could only be used in backup storys to sell the comic, of course it was mostly younger readers that did not like it but they needed to sell the book so i think thats why those non Falk versions is diffrent.
An all Falk Phantom book was tried alongside of the 2 ordinary ones here but it only came out with 6 numbers, so of course this is all about taste but to few liked Falk stories.

[Hintermann]

Give the new people a chance to make something of him, the 50-60s is never comming back again.

To tell you the truth many people was complaining here over Falks later work and the sales dropped, and it could only be used in backup storys to sell the comic, of course it was mostly younger readers that did not like it but they needed to sell the book so i think thats why those non Falk versions is diffrent.
.

Fair comment, but as you say, it is each to his own taste. I came relatively late into Mickey Mouse for example and so do not like the 1930s work by Floyd Gottfreidsson. Likewise, I expect the present day kids and youngsters will find it hard to identify with 'our' Phantom.

I have not read Moonstone's work, but have quite a few Frew reprints of the Scandinavian work by Egmont. I confess, I found most of them terrible.

[Agentum]

I'm often amazed that no one in Austalia try to do something with the Phantom, he is as big there as here but they reprint our material.

I Think Moonstones work is ok, but i did not like the early work that much it felt sloppy with numberous spelling errors etc.

I like The Phantom to be younger, Diana can of course be a part of it, but no marrige and children thanks:)
Of the scandinavian work i like the historical storys about the ancestors, but the storys about the current Phantom is very uneven in quality from really bad to ok to read, i want some more feeling in the work, to get to know Kit Walker a bit more.

[The Ghost Who Walks]

I like The Phantom to be younger, Diana can of course be a part of it, but no marrige and children thanks:)

The children have had some tiny little cameos from time to time in Moonstone's stories, though...

In Australia, the Phantom is published by Frew, a comic book company consisting of three, THREE!, people. They did produce four Phantom stories ages ago, but after they discovered that this required another, more expensive licence from King Features, they stopped with it.

[Agentum]

OK but it seems those people is lacking a vision of doing something or is the sales very bad since a long time maybe?

[Babylon23]

OK but it seems those people is lacking a vision of doing something or is the sales very bad since a long time maybe?

Sales of the Phantom are still strong over here, relatively speaking. However, Australia has an incredibly small comic book reading population, and we don't really have a comic industry as such. There are no major publishers of original material, so most of the Australian produced comics are by independent creators.

The cost of the licence combined with the cost of production just isn't really viable over here. It's much cheaper to go with the reprints.

[Agentum]

Well he sells around 100.000 copys a month in scandinavia i guess, but they seems to think it is worth it to run the whole thing.

It's a bit to much to call it a industry, this has always been independent publishers too but that have been bought up by one company (Egmont)

It's so expensive to export to Austalia from most west coutrys so i thought it would be worth to try something.
But if it's only like 10-20.000 readers then is not worth it of course.

Comics has dropped here over the last 10 years and Phantoms 150.000 sold books in Sweden only have dropped to around 50-60.000, a lot of it is by subscriptions.

Donald Duck is the biggest seller here with still around 200.000 books every two weeks.

[Hintermann]

I normally don't like Egmont's Phantom stories mainly because of the art. Felmang and usually Bode are good, but most others, including the much praised Lindahl do a very sloppy job. But one Egmont story that has really good plot is "Lord of the Jungle". The twist at the end is very good.

[Agentum]

Ok, no the art i my least trouble and i don't think it's that bad mostly compared to other modern books, i'm not that fond of the storys anymore.

[Babylon23]

It's so expensive to export to Austalia from most west coutrys so i thought it would be worth to try something.
But if it's only like 10-20.000 readers then is not worth it of course.

Comics has dropped here over the last 10 years and Phantoms 150.000 sold books in Sweden only have dropped to around 50-60.000, a lot of it is by subscriptions.

Frew sells about 50-60,000 copies per issue. They've been publishing the book regularly since 1948. The latest issue was #1448. Apparently, the US comic book implosion didn't affect Frew's sales, so Phantom sales remain fairly consistent.

I think it comes down to costs. The licencing of the Phantom isn't cheap, and it's cheaper to reprint existing stories than it is to create originals. There have been a few original Australian made Phantom stories, mostly published in the late 80's - early 90's.