PHANTACEA

PHANTACEA Two was published in June 1978. Drawn by a number of artists including Sim, it contains the first appearance of, among others, Professor Kinesis as Doc Defiance, Big Max (T.J.'s father) as the Indescribable Mr. NoName, Devil Wind and the Ubiquitous Uncle Universe.

Defiance and NoName appeared in both the 'Centauri Island' and 'Helios on the Moon' Web Serials. Universe also appeared in MOON. Devil Wind, Great Byron and his fellow Byronic Nucleoids appear in 'Feeling Theocidal', which can now be pre-ordered. They are also featured characters in 'The War of the Apocalyptics', the first chapter of which is included in FEEL THEO.

Ian Bateson, in his first work as a comic book artist, brought you the debut of Demon Land and the Damnation Brigade while Gordon Parker took you to New Weirworld, where Uncle Universe hung his Saturn-like Ring. In the same issue's fourth story, Sean Newton introduced one of the most popular characters ever to appear in PHANTACEA: Nergal Vetala!

Together with her tormented, then unnamed soldier (Dmetri Diomad, the son of Demonites Zeross and his aunt, Roxanne nee Heliopolis Kinesis, a love-loving Afrite and one of the myriad Summoning Children), the Vampire Queen of Hadd figured prominently throughout 'The Trigregos Gambit' and -- dare I say it? -- haunted the outskirts of 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' almost from Sentence One.

PHANTACEA Three was published in December 1978. It featured two fliptop covers, one on the front and one on the back, though I left which is which up to the reader to decide.

The one with the price and logo on it (only some of which is shown here) is by Richard Sandoval and opens onto the initial chapter of 'Helios on the Moon'. The bright blue one is by Ian Bateson and presents the Damnation Brigade in the opening chapters of 'The War of the Apocalyptics'. Other contributing artists are Peter Lynde, Carl Muecke and, in their first work for PHANTACEA, Tim Hammell and Verne Andru, who became the primary artist for the Gambit storyline.

PHANTACEA Four came out in mid-1979. Fully fifty-six pages long and having a number of artists including Sim, Bateson, Andrusiek, Reginald Klassen, and the late Gene Day, it carried on all three storylines: 'The War of the Apocalyptics', 'The Trigregos Gambit' , and 'Helios on the Moon'.

The wraparound cover was by Ian Bateson. The sample of it presented here features Radiant Rider, one of the Damnation Brigade, facing off against the Byronic Nucleoids.

The blue-skinned fellow is Vayu Maelstrom, Devil Wind, while the smoke-cloaked woman in the lower lefthand corner is Sedona Spellbinder. The monsters with the maces are all Chimaera Glimmenmare, Byron's ever-changing Stallion, some of whose half-progeny (Attis's Peg the Pegasus-psychopomp and Hinny the Hippy) play important roles in 'Feeling Theocidal', which can now be pre-ordered.

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PHANTACEA Five came out in Spring 1980. It featured a number of artists includign Bateson, Andru, Hammell, George Freeman and Vince Marchesano, the latter ably assisted by such friends as Sim and various Day brothers.

This issue finished off 'The War of the Apocalyptics', -- as well as a great many of its characters. (Though, admittedly, most of them were cannon fodder, as such like are affectionately known as in the business.)

Verne Andru designed and drew most of the front cover, his first for PHANTACEA, while Ian Bateson redrew parts of it, did the colour work and did much the same for the back cover off material initially provided by Freeman and Andru.

The Damnation Brigade looked to be in rough shape at the end but a bunch of them were back in action the next issue. D-Brig, what's left of them, are the featured characters in 'Year One - After Limbo' and their younger selves also appear in 1938's 'Heliodyssey' sequences.

PHANTACEA Six also came out in 1980. Drawn entirely by Verne Andru, it ended 'The Trigregos Gambit' and a lot more characters, -- including more than a few cannons.

Verne's cover, his second, albeit the first one he did in its entirety, was another wraparound. In the bottom righthand corner of the back cover is a depiction of Aristotle Zeross, Ringleader.

In addition to being the main protagonist in GAMBIT, he was the titular character in both Rings '55: 'The Last of the Supranormals' and Rings '60: 'Aspects of an Amoebaman', both of which have already been serialized on the Web.

We last saw Rings in 'Year One' when he was being lowered into a tub of Cathonic Fluid.

Unfortunately PHANTACEA Seven was only partially drawn, by Ian Bateson, before the money ran dry.

Thus, since it never came out, the only way you could discover what ultimately happened in 'Helios on the Moon', and to most of PHANTACEA Phase One's then still-surviving characters, was to follow the web-serial. Fortunately, although the Moon serialization ended in the Year 2000 out here in Cyberia, its synopsis is still online.

NOTE: Double-click on image and a new window will open with an enlarged version of this graphic

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In 1987, responding to a boom in sales for independently published comic books, an attempt to relaunch the PHANTACEA series of comic books was begun.

Entitled PHANTACEA Phase One, it was scripted to run fifteen issues. Idea was to present complete stories in one issue, as well as an additional 4 or 5 bonus pages that would tell an all-new story, namely 'The Genesis of PHANTACEA'. The full cover of the first issue, as well as some comments on the characters depicted, is reproduced on the next page.

A few other covers were prepared for this project, including the ones reproduced here. The one to the left is by Ian Bateson and depicts a significant event, the encounter between Devil Wind and Demon Land, that occurred on Damnation Island on the 30th of November 1980.

The one to the right is by Ian Fry. It depicts Anti-Patriach Cain, Slayer of Abel, raising the Golden Calf on the outskirts of Power Point Sumeria some six hundred years before the Great Flood of Genesis, what's referred to as the Genesea in PHANTACEA.

Unfortunately, yet again, only one issue of PHANTACEA Phase One was published before boom became bust. Fortunately, yet again also, PHANTACEA on the Web is available to take its place!

NOTE: Double-click on images and a new window will open with enlarged version of both graphics

In 1990 I incorporated the intended back-up features for PHANTACEA Phase One into an oversized Graphic Novel entilted 'Forever & 40 Days - The Genesis of PHANTACEA'. 'pH&40' is still available whereas pristine copies of the orginal series of PHANTACEA, the Comic Books, are virtually impossible to come by.

If you scour the back issue section in your local comic store you might get lucky in terms of getting hold of the originals. Better yet, with the exceptions of pH-5 and pH-6, you could order them directly from me. Perhaps best of all, if you've the wherewithal in terms of email and a cheque book, you can order scans of all the comics, including pH-5 and pH-6.

Additional information on the history of PHANTACEA, including material on the various web serials and Jim McPherson's novels featuring PHANTACEA characters, can be found on the 25 Years Plus Webpage; quick-read overviews containing condensed versions of some of the same or similar information can be found here and here.