Like you, I've been reading The Phantom for a long time and as I've neted the first time I saw The Ghost Who Walks was in Fife in a Crail newsagents window in the '50's.That was the cover of what I now know to be a Frew issue. A lot of pestering got my mum to buy it. I was hooked but Australian comics were difficult to find in Scotland although some arrived as ballast on boats, but there was no rhyme or reason to what was in a bundle. Pot luck - if you could even find them. I had to make do with the 1/- Miller issues. Covers here:-
http://www.deepwoods.org/miller.htmlNow I have a fair collection of Frew Phantoms incl. the thick specials and some old Giant size. Plus a selection of French, Italian, German and Scandinavian issues.
As Catman was completely re-designed, I thought it became a Frew character, as there is very little left of the Continental character.
As you mentioned the Scandinavian issues, it reminded me that I was chatting to David Bishop at a library do a couple of years ago (embarrassing as I was being a bit of a fan boy) and he told me that he writes the script in English, sends it to Sweden where it's translated into Swedish and Norwegian, then when Frew want to reprint the story its translated back into English. Odd. You'd have though they would have simply sent the original English strip. Hope I've remembered correctly
As for the costumes link, thank you for that. Love the illos.
