Thirtieth Event
Stockholm, November 25th 2006
Attending Members: Ulf Granberg, Janne Lundström, Brian Jensen, Torbjörn Onegård, Jan-Ola Sjöberg, Bosse Engberg, Björn Harnby, Ulf Bennetter, Magnus Eriksson, Christer Borg, Patrik Axelsson, Henrik Bengtsson, Mikael Lyck, Lars Fagerstedt, Michael Lindqvist, Hans-Erik Hansson, Lahrs Bergström, Örjan Woldoff.
Guest: Mats Jönsson, Kristina Larsson, Håkan Eriksson, Niklas Bergvall
It is a grey afternoon and I am on my way to my first SC event. While the raining increases, I am walking on Kungsholmen towards our rendezvous at Egmont Kärnans office at Igeldamsgatan with quite some excitement. How will this event be? How will the members be like? How will the Phantom Editorial office be like? Many are the questions in my head.
Outside the office I meet a couple of people who are waiting for the rest. Many are down the street getting all their collector binders. I start speaking with Christer who also lives in Sollentuna and Mikael who I've been chatting with before.
We then walk up to the Egmont office. A personal "legend" opens the door. It is Ulf Granberg who greets us. We are standing in the reception and small talking while waiting for the last members. Then Ulf has the office tour. He starts with showing the glass cabinets with various Phantoms memorable. Then he shows us the office and where people are working. Later we arrive to area where Ulf’s desk is. Now he shows us a unique lamp, the "Guran" lamp that is so unique that it is the only example. Brian directly asks who made the lamp and whether it can be produced for the SC members. Ulf shows how they have organised the Phantom magazines in various ways, years, drawer etc. All needed in their work. We are shown very nice examples of covers. Ulf also shows a new cover by Heiner Bade which looked fantastic.
After some time we move to the kitchen and sit down for the more official SC meeting. We all get some coffee and then Ulf start talking about various things. He explained about the costs of producing Swedish adventures. That they are lacking material for first filler and they are looking on some alternatives. He mentioned the new Phantom web site. We then had the opportunity to ask questions. Then Brian introduced another "legend", Janne Lundström. Janne explained that he had discussion with Andreas and Magnus on a train and where asked why he doesn't write another episode. He told us that he got motivated and actually went home writing the storyline of another episode which he sent to Ulf and it got approved. He has now finalized it and it will be drawn by Kari Läppinen and will be published in no 9, 2007. Something to really looking forward to! We also asked whether this was a one time occasion or if he would continue. Janne told us he had tried with a second storyline but that he got stuck. Let's hope he writes more.
Then Brian asked me and Lahrs from Örebro to step up. We then received our official membership documentation. Very nice! Thereafter Brian asked us about the statues changes that were proposed. Brian read the old versions and then the changes and whether we approved the changes. We approved all of them. We then discussed the coming SC meetings. There were discussions about having one in Örebro next time and there were also discussion about the SC event at Fantomenland in Eskilstuna.
Bosse delivered Moonstone magazines to those who had ordered and a Brasilian Phanthom book.
Then the third legend got the word, Mats Jönsson. He discussed the Phantom Chronicle. He spook about the problem with very few historical episodes left. Due to this they need to find more "Theme" numbers. There were several suggestions about how to make "theme" issues. Mikael suggested that you could have best issues by year theme. Mats also discussed how the circulation of the Chronicle and that is fairly stable.
Finally the Goodie bags were delivered. There were various collectables including signatures from interesting Phantom related people including Billy Zane. It was my first goodie bag and it was nice. I was most impressed by the Phantom tray. It looks really great and will be perfect for a glass of milk over maybe something stronger...
Time flied and it was time to move down to the restaurant that had changed name many times. It was now named Winbladhs. We sat down and ordered our food and continued to discuss various things. At my table were Bosse, Mikael and Janne. We had many discussions on various topics. We discuss when we start reading Phantom, when we first got "exposed" to comics. , which decades of Phantom we like best etc.
We had a really good time and eventually it was time to wrap up and go home. I drove home and gave Christer a lift. We continued to discuss our interest and collections. When I got home I was asked by my wife how it had been and it was time for a reflection of my first SC meeting.
At a quick glance maybe we look a bit odd with little in common and big age and geographical variances. But as we are there with a common interest, it is very easy to get to know each other and it was striking how different each person’s interest in Phantom was. Maybe my personal highlight (apart from receiving the official membership) was to hear Ulf, Janne and Mats speak, there are many personal memories connected to these guys. Overall, I was very happy that I attended the meeting and next meetings I hope to learn more about other members.
Örjan, member 86