New German Series by Wick Publications

In our X-Band: The Phantom Podcast episode #178, we announced that Wick Publications was going to be producing a new Phantom series coming from Germany. Thanks to Ulrich Wick owner and publisher from Wick Publications who has confirmed that the series will be a total of 12 comics starting in May 2021.

In our exclusive interview with Peter Mennigen he mentioned that he knew there were several stories that he wrote that was never published. June 2020 saw Bastei Freunde #50 released which featured a story (The Slaves) that was never published with the cancellation of the Bastei Phantom magazine that was re-written into a prose adventure for the magazine.

More information and a review found here on the Bastei Fruende #50 issue.

Because of the great success and interest of that magazine Wick Publications has purchased a license from KFS to release 22 Phantom stories written by the amazing team of Peter Mennigen and drawn by José María Ortiz Tafalla.

The best thing is that five of these 22 stories have never been previously published which is a huge exclusive. One of the five is the full comic version of "The Slaves" story which is what previously appeared in a prose format in Bastei Freunde #50.

You can find out more about Ulrich Wick and how he found these previously unpublished Bastei comics by reading our interview with him here.

The details of the 12 comics are:

• Each comic will be around 36 pages long.

• Majority of the stories will be in black and white as the art was created for that style publishing.

• Two comics will be in colour with those stories created for the Phantom Spezial series with those stories 28 pages long. These will be issues #6 and #12.

• Included in each comic will be editorial extras to give the reader more background information about the Bastei series.

• Priced at €12.50 each ($20Au, $15US, 130Sek)

The previously Bastei comics that were published and will be again published are listed below. In some cases confirmed by Ulrick that the stories will be printed using modified titles. The titles of the stories as originally published by Bastei comics are the following:

• "Die Flußpiraten von Sambesi" (The River Pirates of Sambesi) - in colour

• "Die Gefangene des Wüstenprinzen" (The Prisoners of the Desert Prince)

• "Die Erpresser von Paris" (The Blackmailers of Paris)

• "Der Schatz des wandelnden Geistes" (The Treasure of the Ghost Who Walks)

• "Eine Rechnung geht nicht auf" (A Sum Doesn't Work)

• "Die Todeskralle" (The Deadly Claw)

• "Der Doppelgänger" (The Doppelganger)

• "Der Gefangene" (The Prisoner)

• "Der Zwillingsbruder" (The Twin Brother)

• "Die Bergkrieger" (The Mountain Warriors)

• "Die Falle am Highway" (The Trap on Highway)

• "Die Göttin des Todesvulkans" (The Volcano of the Death Goddess)

• "Der Piratenfreund" (The Pirate Friend)

• "Der Racheschwur" (The Oath of Vengeance)

• "Der Hexer von Manhattan" (The Wizard of Manhattan)

• "Schwarzer Tag für Diamantenhaie" (Black Day for Diamond Sharks)

• "Der Gefangene des Teufels-Grafen" (The Prisoner of the Devil Count)

What will excite many a phan is that the cover art will be produced by Ertuğrul Edirne who was born in in Turkey and now lives in Europe with a very successful career. Ertuğrul recently produced several covers for Turkey publisher Büyülü Çizgi Roman between the years 2013 and 2017.

Below is a sample of Ertuğrul's cover art.

If you are interested in getting yourself a copy, we would recommend contacting Ulrich Wick at www.wick-comics.de.