An Interview with Claes Reimerthi

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An Interview with Claes Reimerthi
Topic Started: Apr 29 2008, 11:56 AM (420 Views)
JD	Apr 29 2008, 11:56 AM Post #1
Evil Genius Posts: 4,813 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: April 4, 2006	We talk to Claes Reimerthi about where the Phantom comic is going, about the stories he's written and he even gives us something of an exclusive...



Paul Andreas	Apr 30 2008, 03:52 AM Post #2
Singh Leader Posts: 2,188 Group: Team CC Member #5 Joined: April 4, 2006	I hope people like the interview. Again, I would like to give a big thank you to Claes Reimerthi for taking time out of his extremely busy schedule (you don't need further proof of that schedule than to see his name on so many Phantom stories every year!), and I was especially happy to see him answering my questions in such great detail. I was especially excited to see him announce his plans for a follow-up of sorts to his magnum opus Heart of Darkness, which I truly cannot wait to see (I hope it'll be published in Norway too!). I have to say it, it's such a HUGE shame that English-speaking Phantom fans have never had the opportunity to read this masterpiece. I think it would only be second to The Singh Brotherhood on my top 10 list of history's best Phantom stories (which, incidentally, should be finished before too long and run on CC ). It's an amazingly detailed adventure of truly epic proportions, to use an old Hollywood trailer cliché. Someone should try to convince Jim Shepherd to run it as a backup story in each issue, like it was originally presented in Scandinavia. I only wonder if there's really any more story to tell, as everything that was going on was concluced nicely in the last few chapters. We'll see, I guess, and I am extremely excited about these news.



Karl MAN	Nov 14 2008, 12:37 AM Post #3
Evil Doer Posts: 203 Group: Members Member #573 Joined: October 20, 2008	When it comes to stories of the ancestors of the Phantom family, great caution is needed as there already have been published some stories about their origin and the new ones must not contradict them because then would everything be strange. ("The Viking Castle Mystery" would though have been much more healthier if it had never been written (it was written by DePaul) as it makes incorrect references to "The Mystery of the Golden Rune" and then claims that the Phantom is the direct descent father-to-son way to a Viking, while he earlier have been said to descended from one of the knights of the round table which indicate Welsh origin, "The Phantom Crusader" and following stories tend to mess it up even more) I hope that Luaga may come back as president, or possibly someone as good as him, so hopefully, Granberg won't listen to Reimerthi's ideas forever. The Myrrdin novel might be interesting; Myrrdin is the real, Welsh name of Merlin. (Geoffrey of Monmouth probably rendered it Merlin when translating it to latin not to make the readers associate it with the French merde)



Andreas	Nov 14 2008, 02:07 AM Post #4
Evil Doer Posts: 446 Group: Team CC Member #23 Joined: April 9, 2006	Karl MAN Nov 14 2008, 12:37 AM [...] and then claims that the Phantom is the direct descent father-to-son way to a Viking, while he earlier have been said to descended from one of the knights of the round table which indicate Welsh origin, "The Phantom Crusader" and following stories tend to mess it up even more) Why would that be impossible? These "claimed" ancestors lived at various points in time – could they not be direct descendants of each other?



Karl MAN	Nov 14 2008, 04:13 AM Post #5
Evil Doer Posts: 203 Group: Members Member #573 Joined: October 20, 2008	Andreas Nov 14 2008, 02:07 AM Karl MAN Nov 14 2008, 12:37 AM [...] and then claims that the Phantom is the direct descent father-to-son way to a Viking, while he earlier have been said to descended from one of the knights of the round table which indicate Welsh origin, "The Phantom Crusader" and following stories tend to mess it up even more) Why would that be impossible? These "claimed" ancestors lived at various points in time – could they not be direct descendants of each other? That they would be descendants of each other is highly unlikely; the knights of the round table would be around 500 AD AND he would also be of the original, celtic people living there, now living in Wales. The vikings was not that interested in Wales, so visits would have been rare though perhaps some viking snatched a maiden, then is the scenario that Ale's descents joined the normans and then his descents became related to the knights from Errant, then they came to England, though exactly which part of France that they came from is unclear. However, "The Viking Castle Mystery" contradicts "The Mystery of the Golden Rune" so much (Ale, or Ali as his name would really have been, only had four mens with him and he died of burning wounds, this does not fit with "The Viking Castle Mystery") and there is always a risk that some writer forget about some detail and then produce contradicting stories. (I feel a bit critical to DePaul and think it unfortunate that he is writing the newspaper strip as the risk is that something wrong could come in, though this thread is not about him so any discussion should probably be held at an other place) All I am saying is that everything becomes so messed up with unlikely scenarios that the best would be if the stories weren't made at all.



Karl MAN	Nov 27 2008, 07:31 PM Post #6
Evil Doer Posts: 203 Group: Members Member #573 Joined: October 20, 2008	The turn with stories like "The Great Deception" part 1 & 2 and Reimerthi's talk about changing the comic with these permanent changes has actually made me wonder if I perhaps should stop reading "The Phantom" and perhaps even sell my collection (which I must have spent several thousands of SEK:s on).



Andreas	Nov 27 2008, 08:23 PM Post #7
Evil Doer Posts: 446 Group: Team CC Member #23 Joined: April 9, 2006	Why? Despite the controversies, the new stories don't affect the entertainment value of all old stories in your collection? And what would you do if a new story comes along that disregards "The Great Deception" - will you try to buy back your entire collection again? To clarify: I'm not very thrilled over "TGD" and some of Reimerthi's other recent work, but I think some of the reactions have been a bit drastic.



Paul Andreas	Nov 27 2008, 11:00 PM Post #8
Singh Leader Posts: 2,188 Group: Team CC Member #5 Joined: April 4, 2006	I choose to simply look at TGD as a "what if" story. Problem solved (for me, anyway). It seriously takes away some of the "epic" of the series, and I think it's best to look at it as if it never happened. Besides, in how many Falk stories have we seen the 1st Phantom swear his oath in the traditional way? It's ridicilous and not believable to try and change it after 72 years. So though I agree with you Karl Man, I hope you won't stop reading the Phantom. And you're obviously way too passionate about the character to get rid of your collection; I am 100 percent sure that would be a decision you would regret later on. In my experience, interest in one's heroes can fade for a while, but it always comes back. Edited by Paul Andreas, Nov 27 2008, 11:01 PM.



Karl MAN	Nov 28 2008, 11:03 PM Post #9
Evil Doer Posts: 203 Group: Members Member #573 Joined: October 20, 2008	Paul Andreas Nov 27 2008, 11:00 PM I choose to simply look at TGD as a "what if" story. Problem solved (for me, anyway). It seriously takes away some of the "epic" of the series, and I think it's best to look at it as if it never happened. I have done so too, as I have with "Giovanna". I also have done so in my mind with a story by DePaul who tells the "True" story of the father of Diana, which contradicts picture of him as given by Falk; an adventure-seeking, but probably quite fine, man who died when Diana was very young. (Though I have not read the story, I have heard that the father, name given as Henry Zapman, simply abandoned his family) The thing is just that this new turn has made me begun to think what it actually is that I am reading. Some stories has too much nudity to my taste (I have the opinion that girls look a lot better while dressed and not in any sexually challenging position). Also, writers like Lindahl does not seem to know that at least in stories from the early 90s, death by hanging was a possible punishment in the newspaper strip (and probably still are); Lindahl even claimed that Bangalla would have used the electric chair!!! (In fact, the US is more or less alone in that use and the only African country who have tried was Ethiopia, who quickly abandoned the attempt as they had no electricity [Haile Selassie used one of them as a throne instead])



Andreas	Nov 29 2008, 01:19 AM Post #10
Evil Doer Posts: 446 Group: Team CC Member #23 Joined: April 9, 2006	Karl MAN Nov 28 2008, 11:03 PM I have done so too, as I have with "Giovanna". I also have done so in my mind with a story by DePaul who tells the "True" story of the father of Diana, which contradicts picture of him as given by Falk; an adventure-seeking, but probably quite fine, man who died when Diana was very young. (Though I have not read the story, I have heard that the father, name given as Henry Zapman, simply abandoned his family) The thing is just that this new turn has made me begun to think what it actually is that I am reading. Some stories has too much nudity to my taste (I have the opinion that girls look a lot better while dressed and not in any sexually challenging position). Also, writers like Lindahl does not seem to know that at least in stories from the early 90s, death by hanging was a possible punishment in the newspaper strip (and probably still are); Lindahl even claimed that Bangalla would have used the electric chair!!! (In fact, the US is more or less alone in that use and the only African country who have tried was Ethiopia, who quickly abandoned the attempt as they had no electricity [Haile Selassie used one of them as a throne instead]) The story about Diana's dad is indeed a bad story IMO - but it was written by Sverre Årnes and not DePaul. I haven't noticed any increase in nudity in recent years. In fact, I think it was "worse" in the 1970's but on the other hand, Felmang may have contributed to more nudity than I can recall right now Re. the electric chari... well, that's a lot of knowledge on execution methods there! But Since Bangalla is a fictional country in a comic strip, I think that such discprepancies with the real world is allowed. There can be a bunch of explanations for Bangalla to have installed an electric chair in one of their prisons - we just haven't seen a story about it yet. That no other African country has used electric chairs is just how things are in the real world, but in the Phantom's fictional version of Africa there may very well be a nation called Bengali that used the chair for a while. Also, details and history within the comic strip has always changed a lot - in the beginning Bangalla wasn't even in Africa. The Phantom is a comic strip with a rich history spanning 70 years, hundreds of writers and artists and half a dozen different producers of stories that all have very different ideas of "how the Phantom is supposed to be". I think all that read the Phantom for any longer stretch of time will wonder "what am I actually reading", but the being a fan of a comic (or a band or an actor or whatever) means that you have to accept a bunch of bad stuff mixed with the good stuff. You may have to disregard a lot of stuff that isn't up to what you personally like, but in the end I'd say that it's worth it.



JD	Nov 29 2008, 11:51 AM Post #11
Evil Genius Posts: 4,813 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: April 4, 2006	Andreas Nov 29 2008, 01:19 AM The Phantom is a comic strip with a rich history spanning 70 years, hundreds of writers and artists and half a dozen different producers of stories that all have very different ideas of "how the Phantom is supposed to be". I think all that read the Phantom for any longer stretch of time will wonder "what am I actually reading", but the being a fan of a comic (or a band or an actor or whatever) means that you have to accept a bunch of bad stuff mixed with the good stuff. You may have to disregard a lot of stuff that isn't up to what you personally like, but in the end I'd say that it's worth it. Well said Andreas!



Karl MAN	Dec 2 2008, 09:32 PM Post #12
Evil Doer Posts: 203 Group: Members Member #573 Joined: October 20, 2008	Andreas Nov 29 2008, 01:19 AM The story about Diana's dad is indeed a bad story IMO - but it was written by Sverre Årnes and not DePaul. I haven't noticed any increase in nudity in recent years. In fact, I think it was "worse" in the 1970's but on the other hand, Felmang may have contributed to more nudity than I can recall right now If the story was written by Årnes, then I owe DePaul an apology in that case. What I had in mind of the nudity thing was perhaps mostly the Circe island stories, though Felmang was critized for that. Then there is the ending story of Diana's Crisis, where there is an unnecessary shower image. The 1970s stories that I have read does, as far as I know, not have these types of challenging positions, even though nudity might have been more common then. I am thinking of the first nudity appearance when Diana joined the Jungle Patrol and exposed some of her breasts during what appeared to be a medical examination, without no real reaction herself, though the examiner was sweating and seemed very nervous. I also remember the three Princess Sin stories, that did not use, as far as I could remember, any positions where the woman actually tried to look sexy, even though Princess Sin tried to seduce the Phantom while topless. However, I do not want to defend any nudity, most of it seems quite unnecessary, though som plots might need someone to be nude, like in "Flame", where Flame takes herself into the sea naked, but not with close-up images of nudity, which would have been unnecessary. Concerning the electric chair, I have only heard people talking of hanging, and besides, Bangalla is a former Commonwealth country, and as far as I know, only hanging was then used, at least at the end. Otherwise, I have to agree with you and JD.



JD	Dec 3 2008, 04:16 PM Post #13
Evil Genius Posts: 4,813 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: April 4, 2006	Well, the Phantom is a "family" comic like Doctor Who is a "family" show, so nudity shouldn't be in it for that reason. Now, if it was a Phantom comic which was obviously aimed at older, 20-up readers it'd be a different matter IMO.



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