The Comic Salon in Erlangen is the largest comic event in the German-speaking world and has been taking place every two years since 1984. At the same time, the Salon was known for always taking place in good weather. On its 40th anniversary, of all days, there was continuous rain instead of sunshine for the first time, but compared to the rest of Bavaria, where real storms raged that weekend, Erlangen once again got off lightly.
However, it wasn't just the weather that was surprising, but also the large number of publishers offering comics from The Phantom at their booths. Reason enough for a short tour dedicated entirely to "The Man Who Cannot Die".
In order to be able to photograph the largest of the three booths in its full splendor, I had to sneak into Hall B early in the morning, where Zauberstern Verlag was located. Later, when the visitors had access, this would no longer have been possible. The crowds that had been in the aisles all day were too dense.
The publisher Simeon Hrissomallis arrived just as I was taking the last photos, but he had to make final preparations before the onslaught of readers. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to talk to him later, but Chronicle Chamber are planning on an interview with Simeon to be published on their platform soon.
Shortly afterwards, I met a cheerful Ulrich Wick at the Wick Comics booth, who had just received the two brand new Phantom issues 7 and 8 from the printers.
He told me that his active time in his regular job will end on July 31, 2025 after 42 years of work. He is already looking forward to being able to devote more time to his publishing house, for which he still has various plans.
Including the ongoing reprint of the western series "Silberpfeil" (Silver Arrow) that is particularly close to his heart, but also possibly another Phantom series with German created material. No final decision has yet been made about this after issue 12. This will be reported on at the 2026 Comic Salon.
In keeping with its nostalgic program, ECR Verlag was located in the Redoutensaal, a baroque ballroom dating back to 1750 in the heart of Erlangen's historic old town.
In an informative conversation, the publisher Werner Reuß explained to me the concept of his Phantom series, which exclusively contains facsimiles of old publications from German daily newspapers.
Due to Werner having an extensive archive of originals at his disposal, he is aiming to use them for a complete publication of all German Sy Barry strips.
Strip #22 is also the start of a magazine in which facsimiles of various newspaper series will be published 2 to 3 times a year. Included in this series will be coloured Sunday strips of The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician and The Heart of Juliet Jones.
You can find out more about the event and the publishers at the following links. Note, that many of the publishers do send their comics abroad.
Photos by Bernd Frenz.
[Editors Note: If you attend any comic conventions and if you want to report on the convention or interview any Phantom related guests, please contact us at ChronicleChamber@gmail.com]
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