India's Regal Publishers are back in April '21 with two new issues of their ongoing full colour, English comic series of 'The Phantom'. 28th April 2021 marks the 110th birth anniversary of the late Lee Falk - the legendary creator of The Phantom & Regal pulled no punches in commemorating this event through their latest issues of #11 & #12 - also labelled as 'Lee Falk Birthday Special' Issues.
Each issue runs for 56 pages, have thick gloss paper (comparable to the Frew Trade paperbacks), contain stories written by Lee Falk, Special articles by well known personalities in The Phantom creator-sphere & phandom - to celebrate the life and times of Lee Falk. Each issue comes with its unique free supplements too & for the first time in this comic series - each issue reprints a Daily newspaper strip in colour. The print quality and colour separation are as usual - simply impeccable.
Issue 11 has a cover drawn by Vincent Moses Raja, the same image is also used in the free collectible card that comes with it. The Inside Front Cover has a Lee Falk portrait drawn by me (yours truly) to commemorate his Birthday. The Inside Back Cover has a Lee Falk portrait drawn by Vincent Moses Raja with a quote from Lee Falk.
The Issue Opens with an excerpt of an article by Peder J Bjorkmann, originally from the book 'Lee Falk - Storyteller' Valerie Falk & Andreas Eriksson (Now the editor of Fantomen, Sweden) are co credited in the article and also Indian Phan Swaroop Chand is credited for making this exchange with Regal Publishers possible.
The Stories included are 'Waterman', a Sunday strip drawn by George Olesen & inked by Fred Fredericks, & 'The Albee', a dailys strip drawn by George Olesen & inked by Keith Williams.
Issue 12 has a cover drawn by me (yours truly) & is something I've strived to make very unique and different. If you want to know more about the process and how this cover came to fruition check out the article I wrote about The Journey behind my Covers for Regal Comics.
The Inside Front and Back Cover both have the Lee Falk portrait I drew. The Issue has articles by Anthony Tollin (the colourist on DC Comics' The Phantom run of 1989), Bob Griffin and Pete Klaus - all paying their tribute to Falk. Swaroop is credited with helping Regal get in touch with these personalities and making it happen.
The Stories included are 'The Vanished Village' - Another Olesen & Fredericks Sunday Strip & 'Terror at The Opera' - The very last Lee Falk written Daily Story. Lee Falk passed away during the publishing of the strip and his wife Elizabeth is also co-credited for finishing the story. A Fitting choice for the tribute.
The price for each issue is 200 Indian Rupees which is about: $3.47 Australian Dollars, $2.69 US Dollars, 2.22 Euro & 22.50 Swedish Krona. (Rates as of today)
Regal continue with their superb quality of production in these new issues & these are indeed going to be worthy of being collectibles in the future for Indian as well as international Phantom collectors.
Due to licensing limitations, Regal can only sell & ship to addresses within India - so for Phans living outside India, I recommend you befriend an Indian Phan & have these books bought & shipped to you by them. If not, FREW are selling some copies of this series via their website, and I'm sure these issues too will show up for order there - although in very limited quantity.
India is already in a devastating second wave of the pandemic, and things are more grim than ever. I wish the team at Regal the best of luck, & for the sake of all the Phans worldwide I hope these sell well enough to ensure we keep getting these fantastic comics at such great prices.
Regal have an Amazon Storefront for Indian Phans who would like to order these books from Amazon.in
For any assistance regarding ordering these books directly from Regal you can contact Regal Publishers here:
Regal Publishers
Whatsapp & Phone No: +91 94810 52592
Instagram: https://instagram.com/regalpublishers/
E-mail: regalpublishers@gmail.com
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