Chronicle Chamber’s Phundraiser for the Australian Bushfire Appeal Comic

February 8, 2020|In Comics, Miscellaneous

Created by Lee Falk in 1936, and joined by a succession of artists beginning with Ray Moore, The Phantom comic strip continues to this day. The character has enjoyed a large international following, and new comic books are published in Sweden by Egmont and in Australia by Frew.

Just in case you don’t follow the news – Australia has had their worst bushfire season ever. Millions of animals have perished, millions of hectares left scorched and barren, and homes and lives lost. To show you the extent of the fires, here’s a map showing the size of Australia compared to the continental US – Australia is no small island – with an overlay added detailing the heartbreaking extent of an entire continent on fire.

Before and After showing the size of Australia and the extent of the bushfires.

The Phantom community is a dedicated one and Australia’s The Chronicle Chamber is no exception:

Chronicle Chamber began life in 2006 as a humble discussions forum by past owner Joe. It wasn’t long after that it was grown into a fully-fledged website, quickly becoming the online resource for all your Phantom needs. It is now the largest fan-run website to interview creators from all major Phantom publishers and in 2013 debuted X-Band, the world’s first Phantom dedicated podcast which has posted more than 100 episodes. As the website has grown, so has the team.

They came up with the idea to publish a Phantom benefit book with proceeds going to the Australian Red Cross, and that’s where I almost come in.

Noted Phantom comic book artist Joan Boix – working for both Egmont and Frew – contributed a piece to the book and posted the art online. I thought it was a great drawing and coloured it up as a show of support. That led to an invite from Boix and Chronicle Chamber for my coloured version to be published. I was more than happy to see that happen.

As a follow-up, Percy Ochoa – another contributor to the book – liked what I had done with Boix’s piece and Chronicle Chamber reached out to have me do Ochoa’s colouring as well.

I hope you’ll follow Chronicle Chamber’s efforts and pick up a copy of the book when it’s published. It’s for a very worthy cause. With your help, Australia will heal and regain its strength.