November 26 2005
Meeting in Stockholm at Egmonts  new office at Igelsdammsgatan.
With: Ulf Granberg, Magnus Knutsson, Björn Ihrstedt, Bo Majgren, Mats Jönsson, Stefan Nagy and Wilhelm Rejnus

 

 

Dinner 25
Stockholm, at Egmont, November 26th 2005

Attending Members: Ulf Granberg, Björn Ihrstedt, Magnus Knutsson, Brian Jensen, Torbjörn Onegård, Jan-Ola Sjöberg, Bosse Engberg, Andreas Eriksson, Magnus Eriksson, Lars Fagerstedt, Ulf Bennetter, Åsa Svennberg, Hans-Erik Hansson, Pierre Sund, Patrik Axelsson, Per Gudiksen, Henrik Bengtsson and Karl-Johan Lien.
Special guests: Vilhelm Rejus, Bo Majgren, Mats Jönsson and Stefan Nagy

It would be a lie to say that the weather in Stockholm was nice on Saturday the 26th of November. It was cold and windy and raining and snowing indiscriminately.
But of course, this didn’t stop the members of the Scandinavian chapter from getting to the 25th gathering, just to cheer up this bleak day.

The gathering was held in the new premises of Egmont Kärnan at Igeldammsgatan, in fact before the official moving in party had been held. The first SC-members were let in by Bosse Majgren, who maybe turned up that early due to that he was promised a surprise later on that day.

SC-members and editor staff members then turned up gradually and strolled around in the office without any particular goal. The souvenir cabinet (that among other things contains a rare Phantom mask, lent out by SC) was there and was scrutinized. Big attention was also payed to the corner of the old editor Granberg, where a complete wall was covered by Phan-tom related objects. A majestic sight!

The new Marketing Director Vilhelm Rejus was also there early and could with horrified joy see what devoted Phantom fans he most likely would meet in the future.

After that all present were gathered at the coffee machine and the meeting was properly started. A couple of important issuse was on the agenda. At first Bosse Majgrens curiosity had to be satisfied. SC wanted to honor him with a diploma as thanks for the more than 40 years that he had been working with the magazine (shame to say, we missed the 40 years anniversary). Besides this he also was given an exclusive Norwegian Phantom Bobblehead figure.
The writer Magnus Knutsson was present and told us about the story that he just had written and that could be read in nr 24 that was available in the stores at that time. It was a thrilling and interesting look into the creative process behind the scenes. Magnus ended up by mentioning that he had some more Phantom stories coming, but also that he had a lot of other things going on so he couldn’t tell if or when they would be published.   

In the end of Magnus Knutsson’s lecture Mr Granberg himself was entering the room, in a elegant way, via the back door. It was almost as you thought that it was Mr Walker him-self that turned up from the shadows. Discussions concerning the latest Fantomen issues and years to follow started. A lot of interesting stuff is being planned for the anniversary year 2006, and at the request of Granberg SC-members already are making research.
Coordinating officer Pierre Sund gave a report for what has been investigated so far concerning Phantom items in commercial advertising for other products. A lot of work remains but it will definitively be of use during a long period of time onwards when it’s done.

The Norwegian Phantom expert Karl-Johan Lien presented his master piece; a dictionary on CD-ROM that the Norvegian Egmont will distribute in the beginning of next year. An impressive work that hopefully will be published in Swedish some time.

A goodiebag belongs to the tradition and it was almost felt like an early christmas present when it was given at this meeting. The responsibles fear that the content would be considered as “routine” wasn’t redeemed! All present were absorbed by collecting cards, autographs, DVD-records, signed special material and others that was in the “bag”. But of course, this didn’t stop us from presenting proposals and hints of new, exciting stuff to search for for future goodiebags.

A guided tour around the office with Ulf Granberg, Bo Majgren, Björn Ihrstedt and Mats Jönsson as guides was also done. Comics were everywhere, as far as you could see, and besides this there were a lot of things remaining in the moveboxes! Just as it was expected the large “treasure room” was the Granberg corner where originals for future stories, comics and books from all over the world and all sorts of Phantom items were attracting our attention.

It wasn’t much time for “drooling objects” during this bulging meeting, but amongst others a Phantom recipe from a cookbook convenient enough was shown just before it was time to go to the restaurant “3vligt”. The discussions went on there during the evening, combined with good food and more toasts to the honour of Lee Falk.

The number of members were fewer and fewer and the last courageous crowd headed of towards the Central station and continued the discussions during the dark hours of the night.

Written by: Andreas Eriksson
Translated by: Björn Harnby