The Phantom and Australia.

The Phantom is Australia's longest running comic book. It started being published in 1948 and continues to be published today. In fact the issue count for the Phantom puts American books like Uncanny X-Men or even Action Comics to shame, with the current issue of the series being #1633.

(Admittedly comics like Action Comics have stupidly low issue counts at the moment because of the reboots...)

So what has made the Phantom such an enduring character, so popular in Australia? I'm not really sure. Part of it is that it's actually a really damned good comic, but I think there's more to it than that. There's a feeling of familiarity in the Phantom. He's such a... colonial character, that he just suits Australians down to a tee.

Part of why Phantom is such an enduring character in Australia is down to Frew's efforts. They put out a new comic every couple of weeks, and make sure to pepper each issue with information and editorials which make the Phantom a really approachable character for new readers. But I don't really want to talk about the Phantom as he is now, I wanna talk about the past.

Phantom at the Window: Frew #1623

What's going on with that kid's hand?

Well it's been a while since we've seen the Phantom stalking people, so let's talk about Frew #1623, and maybe add a few more images to our already legendary collage.

Maybe? Son we found *seven* new images!

Frew #1673 is Frew's 2012 Annual Special. The Annual Specials are a tradition that's been going since 1991, and this is the 21st Annual Special ever. These books are enormous -- 250-300 page comic books. The equivalent of a trade paperback, and a large one, released to news agents as a regular comic book for $11. It's frickin' awesome.

And this is my first one since getting back into Phantom last year, so I'm totally chuffed to get Frew #1623. So why don't we take a little look at it together?

Phantom's in the window, again!

I'm so jealous! Why couldn't I win this
uhhh... "awesome" art?

So recently I bought a pile of 25 Phantom comics from a second hand store. Out of all of them, only two had classic Phantom stories from the newspapers. Almost all of them were Team Fantomen stories. (I talk more about that in this post, if you're confused.)

So out of 25 issues only two had newspaper stories. Out of 25 issues how many had a classic image of Phantom in a window? One. One of the newspaper issues.

This is why I hate Team Fantomen stories! They just don't honour the classic Phantom iconography!!

Fortunately, Sy Barry? Sy Barry knows what he's doing!

This story is actually a really typical Phantom story. It's about secrets. Secrets are really important to the Phantom, and to the Phantom mythology. A lot of Phantom stories are about either uncovering ancient secrets (a really common theme in Team Fantomen stories) or guarding secrets against people who just wouldn't understand.

Let's review Phantom #1607

In Australia Phantom has been published continuously since 1947 in a comic book format by Frew Publications. Frew's version of the Phantom comic is the longest running comic book based on the character in the world. Almost all the material in it is reprints of either newspaper strips or comic stories from the Scandanavian comic Fantomen.

I've be workin' on the... circus.

I've only recently gotten back into buying Frew Phantoms and I basically pick-and-choose, buying pretty much only the issues which have 'Phantom Classic' on the cover, because that usually means it's a reprint of a Lee Falk newspaper strip.

This comic isn't. It's a reprint of an old Team Fantomen story.

There's a Phantom at Your Window.

From "Little Toma", by Lee Falk and
Wilson McCoy. Reprinted in Frew #931A

Have you ever noticed that somtimes comics have themselves little visual motifs. Especially ongoing long-running series. They have these little visual queues or concepts that pop up again and again. I've noticed that.

I've especially noticed it with The Phantom. Sy Barry's punch panels are so iconic that they've been parodied about a million times.

But sometimes there's a less commonly recurring visual motif. Something that comes up every now and then... just often enough for you to notice it as a pattern. For example... the Phantom sure as hell likes peeping in people's windows!