September 25-26 2004
Meeting in Gothenburg coinsiding with the comicfair
Twentieth Event
Gothenburg September 25th 2004
Attending Members: Brian Jensen, Torbjörn Onegård, Jan-Ola Sjöberg, Björn Harnby, Arne Olin, Andreas Eriksson, Ulf Bennetter, Magnus Eriksson, Simon Treschow, Christer Borg, Lars-Olof Hansson, Per Gudiksen, Pierre Sund, Henrik Bengtsson, Mikael Lyck, Ulrik Lundin, Lars Fagerstedt, Åsa Svennberg, Hans-Erik Hansson and Anders Hansén.
Guest: Håkan Eriksson
Only one week after the last gathering, twenty eagerly Phans went in Gothenburg to attend to what might be described as a double anniversary – not only was it the 20th gathering of the Club, it was also pretty much four years since the first real gathering took place. And – by chance or design? – the location was to be the same as four years ago; the home of Björn Harnby in Västra Frölunda, Gothenburg.
Most of the attending members stayed at Hotel Kville in Gothenburg where they met to go to Björn’s, while the remaining group joined up during way there. After a bus trip where we got a taste of the Bengali tropical heat – probably due to broken air conditioners – we arrived safe and sound.
Having entered the Harnby house we started off by an introducing round and went on to watch Björn’s truly impressive collection of Phantom collectibles from around the world. The light in the eyes of the members when entering Björns “Scull Cave” could only be compared with the one demonstrated by the selected ones that has been allowed to enter the treasure rooms of the Phantom. Among the many objects in Björn’s collections that we were shown were figurines, files with Collector Cards, watches, neckties, original paintings, decks of playing cards, t-shirts and even underwear. And of course comics and books in abundance.
After quite some time of admiring we was served sandwiches, and time had come to show our “drooling objects”. There was “Defenders of the Earth” stuff, an old diploma from “Fantomen Klubben” (fan club of the Swedish Phantom magazine) from the 1950’s, a newspaper ad, a German Phantom magazine, a photo of very impressive homemade Phantom art, and a really nice hard cover book with Phantom magazines that Ulf Bennetter had had bound together.
When everyone had showed their objects, Brian Jensen talked about his work at “Fantomen” and this slowly turned into a very interesting discussion about the “Phantom Year One” project and the future of the comic. Many of the attending members were also seen happily trading and buying Phantom objects and magazines – just the way it should be on a gathering with the Scandinavian Chapter.
As the day turned into night the Harnby’s brought on the dinner, and after that it was time for the Goodiebag. The bag, which was put together for the 19th and 20th Gathering, contained a copy of a synopsis to a new Phantom story by Magnus Knutsson (his first in almost 30 years!), a autograph card by Moonstone artist Lou Manna, a DVD (The Phantom Collection IV – with the first episodes of the “Defenders of the Earth” TV-series) and a CD (Absolute Fantomen VIII – a music record with “Fantomen och Djungelbandet” (“The Phantom and the Jungle Band”)). The discussion proceeded as we discussed our favorite Phantom artists and writers as well as the new Phantom pocket books, and it was almost midnight when we left to go sleeping.
For the majority of us the gathering continued the following day though, as we visited the Gothenburg Annual Book Fair, who had it’s “Comic Sunday” with loads of comic creators present. Most notable, to us at least, was of course Kari Leppänen and Hans Lindahl, who signed their new pocket books.
/Pierre Sund, SC #37