Shakti Comics from India continue with their publication of the The Phantom in the three languages of English, Bengali and Hindi, with their 2nd issues out in January 2022. The new issue is a vast improvement over their debut issue - which had impeccable production quality but was riddled with a number of problems which could be considered as birthing pains.
The 56 page comic is of 17 × 23 cm size - slightly smaller than their previous issue which was 17.5 x 23.3 cm. Like its predecessor it too has high quality laminated covers, thick but light glossy inside pages and is glue binded (also known as 'perfect binding' in India).
Shakti set a very high standard in the production quality of their first release. Having continued with that level of production for the second issue they have added a new factor of collectibility with the inclusion of variant covers!
The issue comes with 2 cover options:
The standard cover, done by yours truly Ankit Mitra, is available across all three languages of English, Bengali and Hindi.
The variant cover is pencilled by Indian Comic's living legend Anupam Sinha - famous for his work on Raj Comics' mainstay characters of 'Super Commando Dhruva' & 'Nagraj' - and inked and coloured by yours truly Ankit Mitra. This variant cover is exclusively available in the languages of Hindi and Bengali
In addition Shakti has also given a poster of 43.5 x 29 cm featuring the standard edition cover art - made by yours truly Ankit Mitra - as a free novelty to all those who ordered the book during the preorder stage directly from their own website, or their authorised retailers. As of now the free poster is only available with the preorder stock fulfilled with the retailers, and/or by ordering the book directly from Shakti's website.
The story included is 'The Phantom Lion', which is the 236th Daily Strip story written by Tony DePaul and illustrated by the late Paul Ryan.
All the major presentation problems from the previous issue have been addressed by the new decision they have taken by:
The Original Lettering has been kept intact.
No Panels have been omitted, rearranged or 'stretched'. The book follows a 4 daily strip per page format like most publishers have done their reprints of daily strips on and is hence a lot more aesthetically pleasing to read.
Their effort to maintain the production quality and take in the feedback and improve on their presentation easily makes this release highly recommended!
The price for each issue is 200 Indian Rupees which is about: $3.80 Australian Dollars, $2.68 US Dollars, 2.39 Euro and 24.99 Swedish Krona.
Due to licensing limitations, Shakti Comics 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 going to be 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.
Shakti has a webstore you can order from plus they are also available across various comics retailers in India.
For any assistance regarding ordering these books directly from Shakti Comics you can contact them here:
Shakti Comics
Website: https://www.shakticomics.com
E-mail: shakticomics@gmail.com
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