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Hero complex

Things Are Hotting Up!

 

Australian comedian Sammy J toured his sell-out, 5-star award-winning show Hero Complex across the country throughout 2016/2017. The hilarious coming of age story is about a schoolboy and his gardener, and their friendship based on a shared love of the comic book hero, The Phantom.

 

Jam-packed with real life photos, videos and new songs, Sammy took his audiences on an unbelievably true journey across the last twenty years of his life to an incredible, must be seen to be believed finale.

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In 1996, Sammy J borrowed some Phantom comics from his school gardener. That moment set off a chain of events that led to the birth of his daughter, saw him committing a crime in Canberra, and ended with a federal policeman searching his attic.

Hero Complex has won multiple awards across the comedy scene in Australia. While the tour has now completed, Sammy has hinted at others to come. Stay abreast by checking out Sammy's official website at Sammy-J.com.

 

We've covered the show fairly extensively here on ChronicleChamber and even had the pleasure of Sammy as a guest on Episode 45 of X-Band: The Phantom Podcast.

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Now that Sammy is now a good friend of ChronicleChamber.com we thought it'd be cool to have something of a repository for all the cool stuff that has been released around the show from images to videos and more. Check it all out below!

Awards

Best Comedy Winner, 2016 Melbourne Fringe
Best Comedy Nominee, 2017 Adelaide Fringe

Best Comedy Nominee, 2017 Melbourne Comedy Festival

Best Comedy Performer Nominee, 2017 Helpmann Awards

Promos

To help promote Hero Complex, Sammy and The Phantom teamed up to release several short sketches which Sammy then shared accross various social media platforms. You can watch them all in the playlist below.

As well as creating these clips, Sammy also did his time on media street:

ABC radio -
The Conversation Hour
31 March 2017 Sammy J - ABC - The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine
00:00 / 00:00

And of course, there were the Facebook Live videos!

Gallery

Not only was a good deal of promotional images released for Hero Complex, but Sammy was constantly accosted by phans at his shows. The below gallery includes all the promo images and photos of those lucky enough to have met the man himself (Sammy that is, not The Phantom.)

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Remember, if YOU have any pics from the Hero Complex tour, including you posing with Sammy J or anything else, please send them through to us here at ChronicleChamber.com using this link and we will add them to the Gallery!

Tour poster
Sammy J with his Phantom diary
Poster pride
Brisbane City Hall
Melbourne Fringe Best Comedy 2016
Tim Wilson, Sammy J, Duncan Munro
with Duncan
On stage with Duncan
Sam's award winning Phantom Forum letter, circa 1997
Sammy suits up (pic by Andrew Batsch)
In the attic (pic by Michael Rayner)
Perth crowd
Selfie with poster
A house in suburban Perth - Duncan and Sammy J visit Jermayn Parker
On stage with Duncan and Tim Wilson
Sammy & The Phantom
Northcote Town Hall - Melb Fringe
Brunch in Sydney
Brisbane crowd
Frew Crew presentation
Diary entry 1996
Sammy gets slammed!
Bradley Peach
Billy Zane slide
Swanston Street Phantom
Fraser family
Adelaide Fringe - week 1 Best Comedy award
Sammy cosplay
Peter Bartlett w Swanston St Phantom
Phantom t-shirt on SA border
Phantom Club membership credentials, circa 1998
Perth coffee
Perth purple lighting
mid show
Hero Complex showbag
Julia Gillard
Steve East
Melbourne Fringe Best Comedy award
Extra show - Melbourne
Hotting up Diary entry
The Swanston St Phantom
Extra show - Adelaide
Frew HQ with Duncan
still from Hero Complex promo video
Duncan and Sammy on hallowed ground
Interviewing Duncan for the infamous documentary
MICF cake
Pathetic 12 yr old boy
Sammy and Duncan with the Fraser's
Sammy J and Duncan in Darwin
The open-roofed stage in Darwin
The stage is set in Darwin
Sammy gets a selfie with phan Kezia Purick and Duncan in Darwin
Selfie inception with Kezia Purick
Returning to Peninsula Grammar
with Luke Verri
Adelaide 12 March 2018

Reviews

Many publications reviewed Hero Complex as Sammy toured the show around Australia:

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Cross Media

Sammy J has been generous enough to allow the Irish publisher Lightning Strike Comic Books to use the song he wrote for Hero Complex to put behind their re-interpretation of Ray Moore's original Origin strip.

And here is Tim Wilson MP's maiden speech to the Australian parliament, with his very sneaky Phantom reference (skip to 5 min 15 seconds - this will make the most sense if you've seen Hero Complex):

And finally...

Possibly the most exciting moment of the Hero Complex tour for the ChronicleChamber team, as Sammy J and Duncan visit the Skull Cave of one of our own - Jermayn Parker - in a house in suburban Perth...

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