Team Fantomen

Team Fantomen is the collective term for the artists and writers, responsible for the Scandinavian production of stories about the Phantom. It's closely tied with the production of the Swedish Fantomen magazine.

History

The first Phantom story to be produced for Fantomen was "Skatten i Dödskallegrottan" ("The Treasure in the Skull Cave") by Bertil Wilhelmsson, published in 1963. The last issue of 2021 contained story number 1000.

The 1960's

Between 1963 and 1967, nineteen Phantom stories was created for Fantomen, all but one by Wilhelmson, with cover artist Rolf Gohs being responsible for the only exception.

The style of these early stories bears more resemblance with the stories of Wilson McCoy, rather than, as the later production, Sy Barry.

By the end of the 1960's the production temporary ceased, as Fantomen started to reprint stories produced by the Italian publishing house Fratelli Spada. Several of the Spada stories was however edited, and - between 1968 and 1970 - even had some new art added to them. The artists known to have participated in the Spada additions are Bertil Wilhelmsson, Özcan Eralp and Anders Thorell.

Anders Thorell also provided the art for a redrawn version of the 1952 Sunday story "The 'Copter Pirates", published as a prologue to a 1969 Fantomen print of the Sunday story "The Super-Jet Gang".

The 1970's

1970 saw the return of original Fantomen stories, and this time artists Wilhelmsson and Eralp was joined by writers Magnus Knutsson and Janne Lundström, forming the first proper "Team Fantomen". In addition to new stories, several Daily and Sunday stories from the Moore and McCoy years was slightly rewritten and provided with completely new art. The last of these stories was published in 1973.

In 1972 Jaime Vallvé joined, and remained as one of the most influential artists of the team until the mid 1990's. When Ulf Granberg turned editor-in-chief of Fantomen in 1973, he also became in charge of Team Fantomen, and under Granberg's lead the production truly was established.

One of the goals of the Scandinavian produces Phantom stories of the early 1970's was to add "social awareness" to the character. As early as in 1969 a Swedish magazine had called the Phantom a fascist, and the left winds blowing over Sweden during the 1970's also affected the Phantom. In a story from 1973 he helped a jungle tribe to start a cooperative, four years later he met up with Fidel Castro, and as the fictional country of Rhodia - based upon the regimes of Rhodesia and South Africa - was introduced in 1972, he joined the fight for to liberate Africa's people from the colonial powers.

Prominent writers joining the team during the mid and late 1970's include, besides Granberg, Norman Worker and Donne Avenell, while Heiner Bade, Georges Bessis, Kari Leppänen and Knut Westad were established as Team Fantomen artists.

The 1980's

During the first half of the eighties the team kept growing with all Scandinavian creators Eirik Ildahl, Diane Alfredhsson, Claes Reimerthi (writers) and Hans Lindahl (artist) joining. In 1986, Fantomen celebrated the Phantom strip's 50th anniversary by reprinting thirteen handpicked stories from its Scandinavian production.

As the political winds slowly started to change during the decade, so did the tone of the Scandinavian Phantom production. However, the political awareness still remained an important part of the stories, with environmental issues and white slavery continuing to be addressed.

During the later years of the decade there was what later has been referred to as a "Latin wave", as several South European and South American artists, including José Casanovas, Carlos Cruz, Romano Felmang and César Spadari, joined in, together with the Scottish writer Scott Goodall, who lived in France.

The 1990's

The early and mid 1990's had artist Joan Boix, and writers Sverre Årnes, Lennart Moberg, Tony de Paul, and Terrence Longstreet joining the team. In 1992 Granberg summoned the most influential writers and artists, along with some editorial staff members, to the first of many seminars, nicknamed "the Brain Trust", to discuss the concept of the team's Phantom production.

As a result of the Brain Trust's work, 1994 saw some severe changes within the world of the Phantom, as Bengali was given a new president, Kigali Lubanga, and the Phantom's relationship with several of his former friends and allies was complicated. However - the reaction from the readers was mixed, and by 1997 most things were back to normal.

The 1990's also saw the return of the practice to reuse old Lee Falk stories. This time around - unlike in the 1970's - there were only minor changes, made by Ulf Granberg, to the original scripts. Between 1993 and 2001 a total of six Dailies and Sunday stories were redrawn.

The 2000's

Around the turn of the millennium, several former core artists and writers were no longer a part of the production. Donne Avenell and Norman Worker had been the team's most influential writers since the 1970's, and with Avenell's death in 1997, and Worker's leaving as a regular writer in the same year, there was a need for new writers. Claes Reimerthi, who had been one of the main writers during the Lubanga-era, kept on as the most influential writer, together with Tony de Paul, and artist Hans Lindahl, who also took up writing. New Zealand-born writer David Bishop (now residing in Scotland) was a popular addition to the team's ranks, and Dag R. Frognes of Norway served as both writer and artist for a handfull of stories.

In 1999 the first story by American writer Ben Raab, was published, and during the 2000's the "American wave" kept sweeping through the Team Fantomen production, with acclaimed American comic book artists and writers like Dick Giordano, Bob McLeod, Graham Nolan, Don Perlin, Paul Ryan, Alex Saviuk, Roger Stern and Sal Velluto all contributing. Additionally, former Team member Janne Lundström returned in 2007.

Notably, in the beginning of the new millennium an increasing amount of the stories revolved around supernatural or fantastic elements, while the politic aspects of the stories slightly faded. By the mid-2000's, the politics of Bengali again became a recurring theme in the stories, as Sandal Singh, the new leader of the Singh Brotherhood became president of the country.

The 2010's

In 2012, Ulf Granberg retired from the position of editor responsible for the production of new Team Fantomen stories. The last published story that he produced was "The Runestone Saga" published in Fantomen 25-26/2012.

Granberg was succeeded by Team Fantomen members Claes Reimerthi and Hans Lindahl. The first published story where they were responsible for the production was "The Bandar Idol" published in Fantomen 1/2013.

Granberg also retired from the position of Fantomen editor and was succeeded in this position by Mikael Sol, who, in 2015, also replaced Reimerthi and Lindahl as head of the comics production. Lindahl also retired from writing and drawing the Phantom, while Reimerthi remains the most productive writer of the team, to which Philip Madden, Terje Nordberg, and John Rassy (writers) and Henrik Jonsson and Rafael Ruiz, amongst others, were added.

The 2020's

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Team Fantomen participants

Current team

Since 2021, project manager Jacob Habinc is managing the Team Fantomen production, with support from editor Andreas Eriksson.

Note that creators on The World of the Phantom is not included in this list.

Name	Work	Active years	Additional work
Kim W. Andersson	Artist	2022
Heiner Bade	Artist and (previously) writer	1975-present	Cover artist 1979-1983 and 2007-2012, 2017.
David Bishop	Writer	2001-present
Joan Boix	Artist and writer	1994-present	Cover artist 1998-2003, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2016-2017.
Daniel Carlsson	Writer	2021-present
Andreas Eriksson	Writer	2018-present	Editor of Fantomen 2021-present
Bernd Frenz	Writer	2022
Dag R. Frognes	Writer and (previously) artist	2000-2002, 2014-present	Cover artist 2001-2002, 2013. Cover artist for Fantomet and Fantomets Krønike.
Jacob Habinc	Writer	2020-present
Henrik Jonsson	Artist	2015-present	Cover artist 2015-2016.
Jörgen Karlsson	Writer	2023
Kari Leppänen	Artist and (previously) writer	1979-present	Cover artist sporadically since 1982. Cover artist for some Finnish publications.
Philip Madden	Writer	2013-present
Janusz Ordon	Artist	2018-present	Cover artist 2022-present
Carlos Pedrazzini	Artist	2018-present
Rafael Ruiz	Artist	2015-present	Cover artist 2017-present
Alex Saviuk	Artist	2004-2006, 2013-present	Cover artist 2015, 2017
Anthony Spay	Artist and writer	2019-present
Sal Velluto	Artist	2007-present	Cover artist 2007-present.

Previous participants

The following artists and writers have written or done artist work for Team Fantomen's stories.

Name	Work	Active years	Additional work
Håkon Aasnes	Artist	1982
Diane Alfredhsson	Writer	1983-1986
Peter Andersson	Writer	1977
Sverre Årnes	Writer	1990-1998
Donne Avenell	Writer	1978-1997
Eugenio Benni	Artist	1992-2005
Ingebjørg Berg Holm	Writer	2003
Lennart Bergman	Artist	1972
Georges Bessis	Artist	1976-1987
Jan Bielecki	Artist	2015-2019	Cover artist 2019
Kjell Broberg	Writer	1976
José Casanovas	Artist	1988-1990
Carlos Cruz	Artist	1988-2004
Dan Davis	Artist	2001
Tony DePaul	Writer	1993-2013
Anders Eklund	Writer	1976-1979
Terje Emberland	Writer	1988-1990	Author of the Phan-Toom article, 1991.
Özcan Eralp	Artist and writer	1968-1991
Jörgen Ewers	Writer	1983
Romano Felmang	Artist	1987-2014	Cover artist 1997-2012.
Norberto Fernandez	Artist	2020
Germano Ferri	Artist	1990-2000, 2011-2012	Cover artist in 1997, 2000, and 2008-2012. Cover artist for Fantomen Christmas Album.
Layla Gauraz	Writer	1983-1985
Dick Giordano	Artist	2002-2007
Rolf Gohs	Artist and writer	1966-1970	Cover artist 1957-2012.
Scott Goodall	Writer	1989-1999
Ulf Granberg	Writer	1975-2001	Editor-in-chief of Fantomen 1973-1986 and 2003-2012. Head of Team Fantomen 1973-2012. Editor-in-chief of Fantomen Krönika 1993-1996 and of issue #58 in 2003
Jens Hansegård	Writer	1997-2004, 2010, 2013-2016
Lennart Hartler	Writer	1972-1973	Editor-in-chief of Fantomen 1969-1972.
Per-Erik Hedman	Writer	2001-2003
Per G. Hvidsten	Writer	1992
Eirik Ildahl	Writer	1981-1986
Ken Ikonen	Writer	1997-2004
Anna Jansson	Writer	2009
Ulf Jansson	Artist	1973-1974
Kjell T. Johnsen	Writer	1999
Mats Jönsson	Writer	2000-2002	Editor-in-chief of Fantomen 1987-1990 and of Fantomen Krönika 2006-2007. Cover artist in 1987.
Nils Kajander	Writer	2012
Bane Kerac	Artist	2014
Magnus Knutsson	Writer	1970-1975, 2005
Henning Laugerud	Writer	1988-1990
Hans Lindahl	Artist and writer	1983-1989, 1992-2015	Cover artist 1985-2015. Head of Team Fantomen 2013-2015.
Janne Lundström	Writer	1970-1977, 2007-2015
Federico Maidagan	Artist	1976
Kim McLaughlin	Writer	1998-2004
Bob McLeod	Artist	2003-2006	Cover artist 2005-2006.
Magnus Magnusson	Writer	1972
Jean-Yves Mitton	Artist	1989-1993
Lennart Moberg	Writer and artist	1992-2004
Edoardo Morricone	Artist	1996-2000
Stefan Nagy	Artist	1993-1994
Bengt Nilsson	Writer	1993
Graham Nolan	Writer	2003	Cover artist in 1999.
Nils Nordberg	Writer	2005
Terje Nordberg	Writer	1982-1985, 2012	Editor of Fantomet 1984-1985
George Olesen	Artist	1991
Borislav Pavlović	Artist	1993	Cover artist for Fantomet and Fantomets Krønike
Don Perlin	Artist	2001-2002
Idar Pettersen	Writer	1993-1994
Pierfrancesco Prosperi	Writer	1990
Ben Raab	Writer	1999-2003
Ilario Ranucci	Artist	1994-1996
John Rassy	Writer	2014-2017
Claes Reimerthi	Writer	1984-2021	Head of Team Fantomen 2013-2015.
Paul Ryan	Artist	2001-2006	Cover artist 2001-2013.
Umberto Sammarini	Artist	1991-2007	Cover artist in 2006.
Nils Schröder	Writer	1992-1995
Göran Semb	Writer	1996, 2015-2016
Magnus Seter	Writer	2005
Olof Siverbo	Writer	2014-2016
Mikael Sol	Artist and writer	2014-2019	Editor-in-chief of Fantomen 2012-2021.
César Spadari	Artist	1987-2019	Cover artist in 1992, 2000-2002, and 2008-2012.
Roger Stern	Writer	2004
John Stokes	Artist	1986
Tommy Sydsæter	Artist	1985
Anders Thorell	Artist	1968-1970
Christer Thunborg	Artist	1995-1998	Editorial staff member of Fantomen. Cover artist 1993-1997.
Jaime Vallvé	Artist and writer	1972-1996	Cover artist 1976-1989, with reprints in 1999 and 2007.
Anders Végh Blidlöv	Artist	2017
Claudio Waldrag	Artist	1989-1995
Knut Westad	Artist	1979-1989	Cover artist 1978-1985. Cover artist for Fantomet and Fantomets Krønike.
Rod Whigham	Artist	2006
Bertil Wilhelmsson	Artist and writer	1963-1988
Norman Worker	Writer	1976-2004
Ebbe Zetterstad	Writer	1960's	Editor-in-chief of Fantomen 1958-1961.

Name variations

Note that several creators have used more than one name as a Phantom creator:

• Norman Worker used the pen-name "John Bull" during his first years as a Phantom writer.
• Romano Felmang (a pseudonym for Romano Felice Mangariano) was called "Roy Mann", or "Roymann", 2001-2003.
• Terje Nordberg has never used his given name, having signed his stories as "Th. Pelerin", "Ed Redno", or "Falco Pellerin".
• The writing team consisting of Ken Ikonen, Jens Hansegård and Kim McLaughlin adopted the collective name of "Terrence Longstreet", starting in 1999.
• Claes Reimerthi used the pen-name" Michael Tierres" until 1993.
• Terje Emberland and Henning Laugerud used the pen-name "Johan L. Borgnes" when working together.

Additionally Diane Alfredhsson used the pen-name "Dai Darell", and Eirik Ildahl signed his Phantom stories as "Idi Kharelli"; Eugenio Benni's pen-name is "Benny", Edoardo Morricone's is "Morrik", Pierfrancesco Prosperi's is "Piero", Borislav Pavlovic's is "Boro", Ilario Ranucci's is "Rancho", and Umberto Sammarini's is "Usam". None of them ever signed their stories with their proper names. Georges Bessis usually signed his work as "George Bess".

Cover artists

Before the Scandinavian production of Phantom stories began, the Fantomen covers was made by several European illustrators, including George Camitz, Lennart Ek, Martin Guhl, Göte Göransson, John Lindblom and others. In 1957 Rolf Gohs made his first Fantomen cover, remaining one of the most profilic Phantom artists until his retirement in 2012, at which point he had provided 911 covers (only counting cover work for the Fantomen magazine). From 1960 to 1975 Gohs was responsible for every single Fantomen cover to be produced, with the exception of six covers in 1966.

In 1976 Jaimé Vallvé produced his first Fantomen cover, and since then has cover material been produced by several of the Team members (i.e. Bade, Boix, Felmang, Ferri, Frognes, Giordano, Jonsson, Jönsson, Leppänen, Lindahl, McLeod, Nolan, Ryan, Saviuk, Spadari, Thunborg, Sammarini, Vallvé, Velluto and Westad). In addition, some cover art have been made by artists who hasn't done any Team Fantomen stories; these include Terje Aspmo, Tony Bagge, Sy Barry, Alex Biffignandi, Iván Boix, John Cassaday, Peter Friman, Mats Indseth, Elin Jonsson, Alexander Klingspor, Erik Larsen, Eugenio Mattozzi, Juan Miguel, Brittany Pezzillo, Silio Romagnoli, Henrik Sahlström, Tom Smith and Rudy Walk.

Most covers for Fantomen Christmas Album have been made by Fantomen cover artist, but Bo Majgren and Jonathan Case also created one cover each.

The Norwegian, Finnish and Danish Fantomen counterparts (Fantomet, Mustanaamio and Fantomet, respectively) generally use the cover material produced for the Swedish magazine. However - there are also covers made specially for the Norwegian magazines; the previously mentioned Westad, Pavlović, Frognes, Larsen and Aspmo all have made covers that have exclusively been used by Fantomet, Fantomets Krønike and other Norwegian publications. Artists who only have produced cover material directly for the Norwegian market include Sebastià Boada, Yngve Eriksen, Liv Jacobsen, Kent Jensen, Morten Myklebust, Per Henning Olsen, Erlend Tønnesen and Volker Zibell, as well as signatures Kokstad, H. Jakobsen and Arcadia. In addition, there are a handful of Fantomet covers from the late 1970's whose creators still remain unknown.

Kari Leppänen has produced a couple of covers for Finnish publications, as has Harri Sulonen. Søren Haakansson have done some cover work for Danish publications.

See also

• Team Fantomen stories