The German publishers Zauberstern gives The Phantom a large presence in Central Europe. As you will find out when you read the interview, Zauberstern are also planning three extra new publications starting in 2025 to build on their success so far.
Text & photos by Kristian Hellesund
After many years away from the market, The Phantom is back with new magazines and comic books in 2022 in the German market. While other German Phantom publishers have a lower profile, Zauberstern’s books are easy to find in the mass market at news agencies and kiosks in Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland.
Every second year the comics festival in Erlangen is held in Bavaria. This is the biggest comics festival in the German speaking sphere, and most publishers and the major comic book stores are present at the festival. Many artists and writers are also part of the festival, and there are many presentations, lectures and panel discussion. For many collectors, Erlangen is a must. Here you can meet artists and get sketches and autographs, and vintage comic books are easily found.
[Editors note: You can read about the event here, written by Fantomen writer Bernd Frenz]
Zauberstern were among the publishers with a stand at the Erlangen festival earlier this Summer. There you could meet publisher Simeon Hrissomallis and his colleagues Charles Bone and Martin Schatke. The whole range of Zauberstern’s comics were available, so back issue hunters could among others pick up the first 13 Phantom magazines and copies of the Flash Gordon magazine. A special gem was a limited edition of the original Defenders of the Earth miniseries in magazine size.
While being at the festival, we had a talk with Simeon Hrissomallis and Charles Bone about Zauberstern, its publishing strategy and the future.
Kristian Hellesund: How popular is The Phantom among Germans?
Zauberstern: The Phantom has a huge tradition in Germany since the mid-fifties to the mid-eighties, so 30 years without interruption and as a result, of course, it has a large fan base in Germany and it is still very popular.
KH: How has the reception been for your Phantom comics?
Zauberstern: The response was very fantastic from the beginning, so outstandingly grandiose, it was hotly awaited because there was no Phantom Comic published in Germany for over 30 years and it was then also slowly time for the fans to be delivered to the purple hero again and the fans are very grateful.
The numbers are very stable. And that's why there will even be a Phantom Special next year. This special will be available on the two-month change with the normal booklet, which will then also be filled with the Classics newspaper and Swedish stories.
KH: I have seen your comic books at various kiosk and newsagents in Germany. Is it easy to get this kind of distribution?
Zauberstern: To make it short. It is not hard. You just have to spend a lot of money because you have to print high numbers. For example, if you print a high circulation of 10,000-15,000 editions, you can assume that about a third will be sold. After the end of a run, you get the choice to get the unsold delivered back or to destroy and recycle them. It's a very expensive matter, so that’s why you can hardly find any small publishers in the newsagents anymore.
KH: Your company publishes several titles at the moment. Could you tell us a bit about them?
Zauberstern: Of course, we have the Phantom and Flash Gordon from King Features. Then we have Mikros, a French series from the 1980's by Jean-Yves Mitton, Savage Dragon by Eric Larson and Van Helsing by Zenescope.
KH: You have been publishing The Phantom for two years now. Why did you initially choose The Phantom?
Zauberstern: Because the Phantom is one of the great heroes. He is known all over the world and is, in my eyes, on a par with Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Flash Gordon. And yes, he is one of the very first heroes, You could say, the grandfather of all superheroes.
That is why it was a shame that the Phantom was not published for decades in Germany. That's why I decided in favor of the Phantom, because I was aware that there must be a market for it and the fans have confirmed that.
KH: Do you have any connection to The Phantom from your youth?
Zauberstern: Yes, of course, I also read the comics as a child/adolescent, but didn't collect the comics until I was at an older age.
KH: You publish various versions of The Phantom? Why do you choose doing this and not keeping yourself to for instance American newspaper stories only or comics from Team Fantomen in Sweden?
Zauberstern: The Phantom has many facets and I would like to publish the material from the last 30 years that was and is available in America, as well as from Sweden, Australia and the comic strips. It's the diversity that makes up the Phantom. And that's why we will always publish Phantom stories from different countries.
KH: Is it difficult to choose Phantom comics to publish?
Zauberstern: No not really. (Charles here, his words. To make it a bit longer, there are so much fine and awesome material out there in the world, it is not hard to choose)
KH: Do you do all the pre-press work in-house, or do you have help getting proofs and other materials to print?
Zauberstern: We are a publishing house, but I have a lot of freelancers who works for Zauberstern Comics. They do it really well. These include our editor Martin Schatke, our graphics team and translator team Alexis Heimberg, Tom Rippert and Charles Bone.
One example of the freelancers that may be known to some phans include Ivan Pedersen who has coloured stories we have printed.
KH: Do you colour your comics yourself or do you use the original colours?
Zauberstern: No we don't colour or re-colour very often.
With the story "The Haunted Castle" by Roy Felmang, which was a remake of a Lee Falk and Ray Moore / Wilson McCoy Sunday story included colours by Ivan Pedersen in issue 13. This story was originally printed in black and white in The Phantom's World Special No. 11 (2020).
KH: Have you thought about using original and new stories made in Germany?
Zauberstern: Yes, we have and had discussions with artists in Erlangen at the Comic Salon. We can't yet say whether it can be realized. Only time will tell.
KH: Norway has some writers and artists making Phantom stories. Do you recognize and like some of these creators? Will some of their stories be printed by Zauberstern?
Zauberstern: Yes, I know and admire many artists from Norway. But I can't yet say whether and which stories will be printed.
KH: The newest Swedish Fantomen magazine had a story where The Phantom met Der Wolf (Varg Veum) in Bergen, Norway. Is this a story you are going to publish?
Zauberstern: I can't say at the moment. Anything is possible.
(Journalist’s comment: The story has come out in Australia in Frew’s The Phantom #1978)
KH: Your Phantom magazine is published bi-monthly. Will a monthly publication be a possibility?
Zauberstern: No, we're not going to do that. For reasons of cost and conception.
However from 2025, we will publish another bi-monthly magazine with the newspaper strip stories, which will include a daily and a Sunday. This new series will also be published every two months, alternating with the current magazine. It will have 68 pages of content so that Phantom fans can have their regular dose of Phantom every month.
On top of this new magazine, from the spring of 2025, every three months we will publish a Phantom album, with a size of 52 to 68 pages. In this album, majority of the stories will be Team Fantomen Swedish stories.
That means from 2025, we will publish 16 Phantom publications a year, twelve magazines and four albums. That is what the fans have been asking for and that's what we want to do for the fans.
KH: There are other publishers making publications with The Phantom in Germany. What is different with Zauberstern compared to them?
Zauberstern: We naturally have the magazine trade, station kiosks and specialist comic shops as our distribution channels, while the other publishers limit themselves to online retailers and specialist comic shops as they have smaller print runs. Everyone is focused on what they do best.
KH: What Phantom story will you never publish and why?
Zauberstern: I cannot and do not want to answer this question, as it cannot be answered.
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