So which did you think were the best Frew issues, stories and covers published in 2019?
After a huge response from the phans, the Best of Frew 2019 survey has been run and won. Today we're releasing the results - very exciting!
It was an expanded survey this year as we added a "Favourite Issue" category, and we were blown away by the entries - over 230 responses in all. The google form document went into hyperdrive on the last day in particular as votes came in thick and fast.
It's great to see so many phans, new and old, getting involved. Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to reflect on the year that was and nominate your favourite Frew covers, stories and issues from 2019.
Before the individual results, a few points that we noted about the overall voting:
90% of voters come from Australia
Votes were shared around. Almost every cover and almost every story received recognition as being in someone's Top picks, so Frew are certainly catering for a wide audience - and doing it successfully.
We all need to remember that this a highly subjective list and some phans may disagree with the results. A reminder that the final placings are based on popular votes.
Phan votes for Best Frew Cover of 2019
According to the popular vote, where people nominated their Top 3 covers of the year:
Points of note:
Special congratulations to Jeremy Macpherson, the only artist to have two covers appear in the Top 10
7 of the top 10 positions were taken by Australian artists, but only 2 of the top 5
3 of these covers have already been made into posters by Frew - Grange Wallis', Glenn Lumsden's and Chris Wahl's (NB the Lumsden has been sold out for some time).
Phan votes for Best Frew Story of 2019
According to the popular vote, where people nominated their Top 5 stories of the year:
Points of note:
Australian-created stories matter for Australians. Their patriotism shows in the survey, with 6 of the 10 phavourite stories being original commissions by Frew.
Three of the four that were not Aussie-made are KFS newspaper strips: Phantom Goes to War (1942), The Sky Band (1936), and A Reckoning with The Nomad (2018)
Two phavourites in 2019 are reprints of stories over 70 years old
At only four pages long, the filler story The Man Who Cannot Die is a reasonably surprising entry at equal 3rd favourite story of 2019
Blood Rain was the only Team Fantomen (Sweden) story to feature in the Top 10. This story placed second in the Fantomen fan-voted Best of 2018 list, beaten by The Ghost at Gallows' Inn. Gallows' Inn was also published by Frew in 2019 (#1847), but finished outside the Top 15 in our poll
The much-maligned Phantom by Gaslight will surprise some people in 9th place
8 of the top 10 stories appeared in Special issues. Clearly, the extra effort in an issue makes the story stand out
Of the 69 stories to be published by Frew in 2019, only 4 were written and drawn by a single creator. Two of these made the top 10.
Phan votes for Best Frew Issue of 2019
According to the popular vote, where people nominated their Top 3 issues of the year:
Points of note:
The Annual has been a phan-favourite since its inception and will likely always remain so. The care and detail taken with #1830 was special, and it showed with roughly 1 in 3 respondents voting for that issue as one of their favourites.
Classic reprints together with new and modern stories would seem to be a winning combination for Frew - placings 1, 2 and 4 explicitly feature this mix, with the 3rd-placed A Day at the Races arguably fitting into both categories.
Overall
Without question #1832 has to be declared the overall "winner", placing first in every category. #1850 probably edges out the Annual #1830 by a nose at the post for "second".
Thanks to all voters, and a huge "Well done!" to everyone who finished in the Top 10 of any category - with Frew pumping out 41 books and 69 stories last year creating a highly competitive field, to emerge as a popular favourite is no mean feat.
And we must say a particularly massive congratulations to Duncan Munro, Jeff Weigel, Matt Kyme, Paul Mason, Pidde Andersson and Wendell Cavalcanti, the creators whose work contributed mightily to the success of the three dominant issues of the year.
But most of all: well done, congratulations and THANK YOU to Glenn Ford, Rene White and Dudley Hogarth - the core of the Frew Crew and the men who make all of this possible.
Prize Winners!
After all that of course we need to say a special congratulations to the five winners of our lucky prize draw, selected at random from all respondents. You can follow the draw in the video below.
Miles Chambers and Tony Bates are our lucky winners of the Frew Crew badges - well done.
The next three voters drawn at random are winners of a set of ChronicleChamber stickers - congratulations to Thomas O'Donnell, Chad Kyme and Peter Thorley.
Make sure you all keep an eye on your mail for the next few days as the prizes make their way to you!
So what are your thoughts? Did the right issue, cover and story win? Any surprising placings for you? Please let us know via the comments below or on any of our social media platforms!
*Yes, the nose-at-the-post pun was deliberate.
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