| Frew Publications Pty. Ltd. | |
| Founded: | 1948 |
| Founder: | Ron Forsyth, Jim Richardson, Jack Eisen, Peter Watson |
| Headquarters: | Unit 13, 77-79 Bourke Road Alexandria, New South Wales |
| Country: | Australia |
| Keypeople: | Glenn Ford and Rene White[1] Dudley Hogarth (Publisher) |
| Publications: | Comics |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Url: | https://www.phantomcomic.com.au/ |
Frew Publications is an Australian comic book publisher, known for its long-running reprint series of Lee Falk's The Phantom. Frew formerly published other comics, including Falk's earlier creation Mandrake the Magician.
Frew Publications was founded in 1948 by Ron Forsyth, Lawford 'Jim' Richardson, Jack Eisen, and Peter Watson, with each contributing 500 Australian pounds to establish the publisher. The name "Frew" is an acronym made from the surnames of the four founders, Forsyth, Richardson, Eisen, and Watson. Eisen and Watson withdrew from the company before the first publication was issued.
Forsyth and Richardson approached Yaffa Syndicate the Australian representative of King Features Syndicate about producing an Australian comic book issue of The Phantom. The agreement was conditional that Frew could not print any stories that was currently running in other publications, nor any story soon after it had appeared in the Australian Woman's Mirror. The first edition of The Phantom, "The Slave Traders", published by Frew debuted on 9 September 1948. The first two issues were not numbered and printed in a landscape format, with the staples were on the short edge of the cover. The third issue, "Mr Hog", was the first to be numbered and reverted to the traditional portrait format.
Between 1949 and 1958 Frew also published comics including Popeye, The Phantom Ranger, The Shadow (an Australian creation not to be confused with the American version of The Shadow), Sir Falcon, Catman and Super Yank Comics, peaking to a total of thirty titles in the mid 1950s. One of its local titles, which apparently lasted only one issue, was The Suicide Squad, which predated the DC Comics group by seven years (which its creator Robert Kanigher had stole the title).[2] In the early 1960s due to the influx of imported American titles Frew reduced their publications to a single title, The Phantom. In November 1978 Frew published its first Swedish Phantom adventure entitled "The Ghost" (Issue #730), although it was not until January 1983 that another Swedish story appeared, "The Tiger from Rangoon" (Issue #763).
In 1987 Forsyth and Richardson engaged Jim Shepherd as a consultant, the following year he was employed as its managing director. Shepherd and Forsyth's son, Peter subsequently bought all the shares in the company. In 1995 Shepherd purchased Forsyth's shareholdings, becoming the sole owner of Frew Publications.[3]
In 1990 Frew published the first ever Australian created Phantom adventure, "Rumble in the Jungle" (Issue #951A), with art by Keith Chatto and the story by Jim Shepherd. Chatto and Shepherd produced another two Phantom stories "Return of the Singh Brotherhood" (Issue #962) and "The Kings Cross Connection" (Issue #1000). Shepherd also wrote another story "The Search for Byron", published March 1996 (Issue #1131), which was illustrated by Glenn Ford.
On the 15 April 2013 Shepherd died of a heart attack at his Sydney home, at age eighty. He is survived by his wife Judith, who was also the senior editor at Frew Publications and son, Stephen. In 2016, the company and licence was purchased by Glenn Ford and Rene White[1]
Frew has a tradition of using their own cover art, created specially for the publisher. Cover artists have included Tommy Hughes, Keith Chatto, Terry Welsby (credited as "Tessa"), Glenn Ford, Antonio Lemos, Meg Coates, Terry Lee, Paul Agnew, Jason Frazer, Jeremy MacPherson, Wai-Chew Chan, and Shane Foley Jamie Johnson.
In 2017, some of the classic Frew characters were revived in new adventures in a new series of Giantsize Phantom. Stories include:[4]
The following section is a publishing chronology for the years when Frew used original titles. The first edition of The Phantom was issued in Australia in 1948 and it has today reached an estimated circulation of 25000 units. As of 2007, Frew sales figures place The Phantoms distribution above all other contemporary comic books sold in Australia.[5] It also places first in duration of publication: in 2006 Frew celebrated 70 years of continuity, longer than any other Australian comics syndicate.
| Edition Number | Production Code | Official Title | Frew Working Title | Writer | Artist | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D9 | The Slave Traders | Enter the Phantom | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | ||
| 2 | D28 | Queen Asta of Trondeley | In the Tiger's Lair | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | ||
| 3 | D29 | Mister Hog | Smashing the Crime Ring | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | ||
| 4 | D30 | Romance Pt 2 | The Phantom versus the Jewel Thieves | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | ||
| 5 | D15 | The Phantom's Treasure | The Phantom's Treasure Stolen | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore |
| Edition Number | Production Code | Official Title | Frew Working Title | Writer | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | D1 | The Singh Brotherhood Pt 2 | The Phantom's Revenge | Lee Falk | Lee Falk, Raymond Moore | |
| 7 | D13 | The Game of Alvar Pt 2 | The Phantom versus the Gun Runners | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 8 | D2 | The Sky Band Pt 2 | Death to the Sky Band | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 9 | D8 | Fishers of Pearls | The Pearl Pirates | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 10 | D12 | The Seahorse Pt 1 | The Phantom versus the Spy Ring | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 11 | D12 | The Seahorse Pt 2 | On Bleak Island | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 12 | D7 | The Shark's Nest | The Shark's Nest | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 13 | D11 | The Golden Circle Pt 1 | The Phantom's Dilemma | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 14 | D11 | The Golden Circle Pt 2 | Golden Circle Pt 2 | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 15 | D11 | The Golden Circle Pt 3 | The Poison Gas Chamber | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 16 | D6 | Adventure in Algiers | Adventure in Algiers | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 17 | D10 | The Mysterious Girl Pt 1 | Kidnapped in Egypt | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| Edition Number | Production Code | Official Title | Frew Working Title | Writer | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | D10 | The Mysterious Girl Part 2 | Trapped Under the Sea | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 19 | S12 | The Golden Princess | The Golden Princess | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 20 | S8 | Castle in the Clouds Pt 2 | The Phantom versus the Old Man of the Mountains | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 20 | S9 | The Ismani Cannibals | The Ismani Cannibals | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 21 | D5 | The Prisoner of the Himalayas Pt 1 | The Kidnapped Bride | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 22 | D5 | The Prisoner of the Himalayas Pt 2 | Sentenced to Death | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 23 | D14 | Diana Aviatrix Lost Pt 1 | Jungle Victory | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 24 | D14 | Diana Aviatrix Lost Pt 2 | The Phantom's Triumph | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 25 | D22 | The Maharajah's Daughter Pt 1 | The Kidnapped Maharajah | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 26 | D22 | The Maharajah's Daughter Pt 2 | The Royal Prisoner | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 27 | D16 | The Phantom Goes to War Pt 1 | The Phantom Goes to War | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 28 | D16 | The Phantom Goes to War Pt 2 | The Red Invaders | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| Edition Number | Production Code | Official Title | Frew Working Title | Writer | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | D16 | The Phantom Goes to War Pt 3 | Death to the Invaders | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 30 | D16 | The Phantom Goes to War Pt 4 | The Hero of Oolan | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 31 | S10 | Hamid the Terrible Pt 1 | Hamid the Terrible | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 32 | S10 | Hamid the Terrible Pt 2 | The Sultan's Prisoner | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 33 | D17 | Bent Beak Broder | Bent Beak and the Phantom Mark | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 34 | D18 | The Phantom's Engagement | The Phantom's Engagement | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 35 | S11 | The Young Phantom, The Childhood of the Phantom | The Young Phantom | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 36 | S15 | King of Beasts | King of Beasts | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 37 | S16 | The Scarlett Sorceress | The Kidnapped Princess | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 38 | S14 | Queen Pera the Perfect | The Reluctant Bridegroom | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 39 | S18 | The Dragon God | The Dragon God | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 40 | S13 | The Strange Fisherman | The Strange Fisherman | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| Edition Number | Production Code | Official Title | Frew Working Title | Writer | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | D24 | Lago the Lake God | Underwater Doom | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 42 | D25 | The Wild Girl | The Lion Woman | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 43 | S1 | The League of Lost Men | The League of Lost Men | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 44 | S4 | The Beachcomber | The Beachcomber | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 45 | S2 | The Precious Cargo of Colonel Winn | The Precious Cargo of Colonel Winn | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 46 | D41 | Whirlpool Channel | Whirlpool Channel | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 47 | D27 | Princess Valerie Pt 1 | Princess Valerie Pt 1 | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 48 | D27 | Princess Valerie Pt 2 | The Phantom versus the Hairy Twins | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 49 | S21 | The Haunted Castle | The Haunted Castle | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore, Wilson McCoy | |
| 50 | D42 | The Tiger Girl | The Tiger Girl | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 51 | S3 | The Fire Goddess | The Fire Goddess | Lee Falk | Raymond Moore | |
| 52 | D39 | The White Monkey | The White Monkey | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
| 53 | D32 | The Lady Luck Part 1 | The Lady Luck Part 1 | Lee Falk | Wilson McCoy | |
The following Frew editions were without edition numbers when issued. For ease of reference, official Frew archivists have assigned them either an 'A' or a 'B' as per their publishing date:
In editions 43-47, 49-821 and 823-828 no story title appeared on the front cover. Frew did not alter the official titles, which in most instances appeared at the start of the story.
Due to an accident in production, edition number 330 was never issued. Edition number 331 was substituted in its place. A retro "replica" #330 was later issued together with the 2019 Annual Special (#1830).[6]
List is restricted to pure Phantom comic books; supplementary Frew editions and associated publications have been excluded.