Published in 2016; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here;
Hidden Headgames
Published in 2017; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here;
Daemonic Desperation
Tentative cover for Dem-Des; will probably be changed before it's published; scheduled to be released in 2018;
Phantacea Phase Two physically began with 2016's "Decimation Damnation", the first mini-novel extracted from the as yet open-ended saga of 'Wilderwitch's Babies'. It was set between the 9th of Tantalar and the 1st of Yamana, 5980 Year of the Dome. However, its follow-up, "Hidden Headgames" was set between the 30th of Maruta and the 14th of Tantalar in that same year. "Daemonic Desperation" picks up Babes near the end of the second week of Yamana and continues through the Summer Solstice of 5981. As the last known member of the Damnation Brigade, if the Witch was fortunate to survive Dec-Dam, alive and pregnant, she may not be so lucky come the end of Dem-Des. Oddly enough, her unborn babies may yet still be both viable and unborn by then.
Published in 2008; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here
The 1000 Days of Disbelief
Published as three mini-novels, 2010/11; main webpage is here
Goddess Gambit
Published in 2012; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here
Circa the Year of Dome 2000, Anvil the Artificer, a then otherwise unnamed, highborn Lazaremist later called Tvasitar Smithmonger, dedicated the first three devic talismans, or power foci, that he forged out of molten Brainrock to the Trigregos Sisters.
The long lost, possibly even dead, simultaneous mothers of devakind hated their offspring for abandoning them on the far-off planetary Utopia of New Weir. Not surprisingly, their fearsome talismans could be used to kill Master Devas (devils).
For most of twenty-five hundred years, they belonged to the recurring deviant, Chrysaor Attis, time after time proven a devaslayer. On Thrygragon, Mithramas Day 4376 YD, he turned them over to his Great God of a half-father, Thrygragos Varuna Mithras, to use against his two brothers, Unmoving Byron and Little Star Lazareme, in hopes of usurping their adherents and claiming them as his own.
Hundreds of years later, these selfsame thrice-cursed Godly Glories helped turn the devil-worshippers of Sedon's Head against their seemingly immortal, if not necessarily undying gods. Now, five hundred years after the 1000 Days of Disbelief, they've been relocated.
The highest born, surviving devic goddesses want them for themselves; want to thereby become incarnations of the Trigregos Sisters on the Hidden Continent. An Outer Earthling, one who has literally fallen out of the sky after the launching of the Cosmic Express, gets to them first ...
Published in 2010; main web presence is here; Character Companion starts here; ordering lynx are here;
Contagion Collectors
- Sedon Plague -
Published in 2010; main web presence is here; Character Companion starts here; ordering lynx are here;
Janna Fangfingers
- Sedon Purge -
Published in 2011; two storylines recounted side-by-side, the titular one narrated by the Legendarian in 5980, the other indirectly leading into the 'Launch 1980' story cycle; main web presence is here; Character Companion starts here; ordering lynx are here;
In the Year of the Dome 4825, Morgan Abyss, the Melusine Master of the Utopian Weirdom of Cabalarkon, seizes control of Primeval Lilith, the ageless, seemingly unkillable Demon Queen of the Night. The eldritch earthborn is the real half-mother of the invariably mortal Sed-sons but, once she has hold of her, aka Lethal Lily, Master Morgan proceeds to trap the Moloch Sedon Himself.
In the midst of the bitter, century-long expansion of the Lathakran Empire, the Hidden Headworld's three tribes of devil-gods are forced to unite in an effort to release their All-Father. Unfortunately for them, they're initially unaware Master Morg, the Death's Head Hellion herself, has also got hold of the Trigregos Talismans, devic power foci that can actually kill devils, and Sedon's thought-father Cabalarkon, the Undying Utopian she'll happily slay if they dare attack her Weirdom.
Utopians from Weir have never given up seeking to wipe devils off not just the face of the Inner Earth, but off the planet itself. Their techno and biomages, under the direction of the Weirdom of Cabalarkon's extremely long-lived High Illuminary, Quoits Tethys, have determined there is only one sure way to do that -- namely, to infect the devils' Inner Earth worshippers with fatal plagues brought in from the Outer Earth.
Come All-Death Day there are more Dead Things Walking than Living Beings Talking. Believe it or not, that's the good news.
Published in 1990; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here
The Damnation Brigade
- Phantacea Revisited 1 -
Published in 2013; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here
Cataclysm Catalyst
- Phantacea Revisited 2 -
Published in 2014, main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here
Kadmon Heliopolis had one life. It ended in October 1968. The Male Entity has had many lives. In his fifth, he and his female counterpart, often known as Miracle Memory, engendered more so than created the Moloch Sedon. They believe him to be the Devil Incarnate. They've been attempting to kill him ever since. Too bad it's invariably he, Heliosophos (Helios called Sophos the Wise), who gets killed instead.
On the then still Whole Earth circa the Year 4000 BCE, one of their descendants, Xuthros Hor, the tenth patriarch of Golden Age Humanity, puts into action a thought-foolproof, albeit mass murderous, plan to succeed where the Dual Entities have always failed. He unleashes the Genesea. The Devil takes a bath.
Fifty-nine hundred and eighty years later, New Century Enterprises launches the Cosmic Express from Centauri Island. It never reaches Outer Space; not all of it anyhow. As a stunning consequence of its apparent destruction, ten extraordinary supranormals are reunited, bodies, souls and minds, after a quarter century in what they've come to consider Limbo. They name themselves the Damnation Brigade. And so it appears they are -- if perhaps not so much damned as doomed.
At least one person survives the launching of the Cosmic Express. He literally falls out of the sky -- on the Hidden Continent of Sedon's Head. An old lady saves him. Except this old lady lives in a golden pagoda, rides vultures and has a third eye. She also doesn't stay old long. He becomes her willing soldier, acquires the three Sacred Objects and goes on a rampage, against his own people, those that live.
Meanwhile, Centauri Island, the launch site of the Cosmic Express, comes under attack from Hell's Horsemen. Only it's not horses they ride. It's Atomic Firedrakes!
"Helios on the Moon", the climactic third entry in the epic 'Launch 1980' story cycle, is now available for ordering either online or directly from the publisher.
Hel-Moon marks the culminating chapter of the 'Launch 1980' story cycle, Jim McPherson's long term project to novelize what was intended to be Phase One of the Phantacea comic book series. The first two entries in the trilogy are "The War of the Apocalyptics" and "Nuclear Dragon", the latter of which was both set and written simultaneously with"Helios on the Moon".
Based on comic book storylines that began with the launching of the Cosmic Express in Phantacea One, 1977, a similar version of Hel-Moon was serialized on pH-Webworld beginning in 1996. Like all the Phantacea Mythos books and graphic novels, it's an ensemble piece featuring multiple characters and story sequences interspersed with breathtaking action.
Characters on Hel-Moon's front cover are listed here; characters on the back cover here. A ten second teaser for the novel is here; a two second teaser here. An earlier 'work-in-progress' cover can be found on pH-Webworld along with serial synopses for the original prose versions of the interconnected novels. Excerpts from the novel, some of which were edited out of the final print and digital versions, link from Phantacea Publications' main menu.
Look Inside opportunities for most of the Phantacea Mythos full-length novels, mini-novels and graphic novels can be accessed online via Google Books, amazon.com and Drive Thru Fiction. More here.
Phantacea Revisited graphic novels morph into full length Phantacea Mythos mosaic novels; only the beginnings, middles and endings have changed to protect what really happened
Rhadamanthys Revealed
The never-remembered Smiling Fiend manifests memorably over Diminished Dustmound
Ian Bateson's unpublished artwork from Phantacea Seven provides the basis for the first full-length phantaceaMythos Mosaic Novel since "Goddess Gambit".
Check out the expanded Availability Listings for places you can order or buy Phantacea Publications in person
Look out below!
Cover art by Ian Bateson, 1980/2013
Nuclear Dragons are here!
The second full-length entry in the Launch 1980 story cycle.
Dedicated webpage is here; back cover text can be found here and here; lynx to excerpts from the book start here and ; check out material that didn't make it here and related excerpts from its scheduled follow-up, 2014's "Helios on the Moon", here; its Auctorial Preamble is reprinted here, here and here.
Lynx to ordering the book by credit card are here. To order from the publisher, click here.
Postage is extra. Please be aware that as yet Phantacea Publications can only accept certified cheques or money orders.
Double-click on images to enlarge in a separate window
Centauri Island
- Web-Serial to Novel -
At long last, the second entry in the Launch 1980 epic fantasy has arrived.
Ian Bateson's breathtaking wraparound cover for the novel utilizes his own dragons from pH-7. Those from the then unfinished cover for the Phantacea Phase One project can be seen here and here.
double-click on rollover to open a separate window featuring the full cover of "Goddess Gambit"; red sampler enlarges here
Phantacea Publications is pleased to announce "Goddess Gambit", the third and final book in 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories' trilogy, is available for ordering both online and directly from the publisher
(Please note: Phantacea Publications can only accept cheques and money orders.)
With its publication, "The 1000 Days of Disbelief", Book Two of 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories', concludes and, in some respects, the 'Launch 1980' story cycle begins.
Hit here for nearly instant ordering gratification
The Mighty Eye-Mouth in the Sky
double-click on Sedonic Eye to enlarge in a separate window; blue, 2012 ad enlarges here
Phantacea Publications is pleased to announce the three mini-novels constituting "The 1000 Days of Disbelief", Book Two of 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories', are available for ordering online by credit card.
"Feeling Theocidal -- Thrygragon, Year of the Dome 4376" (Book One of 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories' trilogy), "The War of the Apocalyptics" (the first full-length entry in the Launch 1980 story cycle), the three mini-novels making up "The 1000 Days of Disbelief" (Book Two of 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories'), "Goddess Gambit" (Book Three of the trilogy and in some respects the second – unless it's the third – entry in the Launch 1980 story sequence) and "Nuclear Dragons" (the second, full-length entry in the Launch 1980 story sequence) should be available at neighbourhood bookstores and public libraries all over the world.
"Janna Fangfingers", the third and final mini-novel comprising 1000-Daze, rather cleverly doubles as a prequel to both Gambit and the Launch 1980 story cycle. In its turn, Endgame-Gambit picks up from where War-Pox leaves off. Part Three of "Nuclear Dragons" connects to both War-Pox and Gambit. Parts One, Two and Four of Nuke also nicely sets up "Helios on the Moon", the last scheduled sequence in the Launch 1980 story cycle.
E-versions of Feel Theo, Hellion, Contagion,Fangers, War-Pox and Gambit are available on the Kindle format exclusively from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and some of amazon's other European and Asian affiliates.
Kindle e-books can be downloaded for I-Pads and I-Phones as well as a number of other devices. Many have text-to-voice capacity for the visually challenged.
Phantacea Publications e-books are also available in a variety of other formats. Please check your favourite online bookstore to download Phantacea Publications e-books to the device of your choice.
Some of the Phantacea comics and graphic novels can be ordered through Drive Thru Comics.
Or, if you prefer to order directly from the publisher, email or send your order(s) via surface mail. No matter where you live or what currency you prefer to use, I'll figure out a way to fill your order(s) myself.
Please add an additional 12% to cover Canadian and provincial taxes as well as Canada Post rates for shipping. At present Phantacea Publications can only accept certified cheques or money orders.
Another interesting option for the curious is Chegg, which has a rent-a-book program. Thus far its search engine shows no results for phantacea (any style or permutation thereof) but it does recognize Jim McPherson (a variety of them) and the titles of the novels.
As for the Whole Earth (other than the Hidden Continent of Sedon's Head, at least as far as I can say), this page contains a list of a few other websites where you can probably order the novels in a variety of currencies and with credit cards.
PHANTACEA One was published
in September 1977. Drawn entirely by Dave Sim,
it contains 'The
Launching of the Cosmic Express' and features the first appearance
of many of the characters found in the Web Serials featured on pH-Webworld throughout the late 1990s and into the early 2000s.
Some of these are depicted on the back cover but, at the time, a number of superhero fans, Sim included,
were quite taken by one character — Baron Justice II!
Despite his prominence in this issue, even as plain,
ordinary, leg-crippled T.J. Maxwell, he rarely showed up in subsequent
issues and is equally absent in the Web Serials and the 'Launch 1980' novelizations of the comics.
This does not mean he will not come into his own eventually. Just
that his time has not yet come, though it still might.
Other characters depicted in pH-1 include T.J.'s mother Aranyani always Nightingale Ryne become Maxwell, his father, O.J. 'Big Max' Maxwell, Big Max's never-married foster parents, Colonel Jock Maxwell and Bunnie nee O'Ryan Galvin, the Fatman, Alfredo Sentalli (albeit as Alpha Centauri), the Fatman's son/manservant Yataghan, Professor Romaine Kinesis, Dr Hiyati Samarand, Salvatore Dis L'Orca, Major Milo Mind, and Nick Stiletto.
All of these characters figure prominently in the 'Centauri Island' web-serials and "Nuclear Dragons". A number of them appear in both the "Helios on the Moon" web-serial and the mosaic novel of the same title. Devazurs who make an appearance (as 3-eyed devils) in pH-1 are the Moloch Sedon (as the Mighty Eye-Mouth in the Sky), Thrygragos Byron and Vayu Maelstrom (Devil Wind), one of his Primary Nucleoids. They figure in nearly all the mosaic novels, but most prominently in "The War of the Apocalyptics".
NOTES: A larger version of the back cover for pH-1,
together with some comments about the characters depicted, is here; as of December 2011, a downloadable PDF of pH-1 is available here; the Launching of the Cosmic Express sequence, with artistic improvements by Ian Bateson, illustrator, and Fred Armstrong, letterer, was reprinted in "Phantacea Phase One #1" and again in "Phantacea Revisited #1: The Damnation Brigade"; four pages crucial to following its storyline show up yet again in "Phantacea Revisited #2: Cataclysm Catalyst"; the Launching of the Cosmic Express sequence was novelized in "Nuclear Dragons", the second entry in the 'Launch 1980' story cycle; Nik Stiletto and eighteen of his fellow Signallers appears in "Nuclear Dragons".
-- Double-click images in this panel to open an enlarged version in a separate window --
PHANTACEA Two was published
in June 1978. Drawn by a number of artists including Sim, it contains
the first appearance of, among others, Professor Kinesis as Doc Defiance,
Big Max (T.J.'s father) as the Indescribable Mr. No Name, Devil Wind,
the Ubiquitous Uncle Universe and the Trigregos Sisters.
Ian Bateson, in his first work as a comic book artist, brought you
the debut of Demon Land (the first Thanatoid of Lathakra to appear as such in PHANTACEA) and the Damnation Brigade while Gordon Parker
took you to New Weirworld, where Uncle Universe hung his Saturn-like
Ring. (The Trigregos Sisters dwell there, too, but they don't actually appear until pH-4.)
In the same issue's fourth story, Sean Newton introduced one of
the most popular characters ever to appear in PHANTACEA: NergalVetala!
Together with her tormented, then unnamed soldier (Dmetri Diomad,
the son of Demonites
Zeross and his aunt, Roxanne
nee Heliopolis Kinesis, a love-loving Afrite and one of the myriad Summoning
Children), the Vampire Queen of Hadd figured prominently throughout
'The
Trigregos Gambit' web-serial and -- dare I say it? -- haunted the outskirts
of 'The
Moloch Manoeuvres' almost from Sentence One.
She also appears throughout "The Thousand Days of Disbelief" and was the titular goddess in "Goddess Gambit". Indeed, the entire epic trilogy, 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories', may never have existed without her unprecedented ambitions to rise far beyond her "lowly" station as a 12th bornMithradite.
Most of the other story sequences initially presented in pH-2 were novelized in the 'Launch 1980' story sequences that began in 2009 with "The War of the Apocalyptics". The final two novels in this story cycle, "Nuclear Dragons" and "Helios on the Moon", came out in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
NOTES: To date, with the exception of Sean Newton's story, there are no plans to reprint any of pH-2; however, as of December 2011, a downloadable PDF of pH-2 is available here; the Damnation Isle sequence was redone by by Ian Bateson, illustrator, and Fred Armstrong, letterer, in the mid-1980s; it was intended for Phantacea Phase One #2 but left unpublished, at least in print, until "Phantacea Revisited #1: The Damnation Brigade" , which was released in 2013; the artwork did appear on pH-Webworldhere and here; both Doc Defiance and the Indescribable Mr No Name feature prominently in "Nuclear Dragons" and "Helios on the Moon", the second and third, full-length novels in the 'Launch 1980' story cycle; the Ubiquitous Uncle Universe, his family and the Visionary of Weir, all of whom are depicted here, feature in "Helios on the Moon"; the front cover of pH-2 appears in the black & white 'Helarchy' promo below;
-- Double-click images in this panel to open an enlarged version in a separate window --
PHANTACEA Three was published in December
1978. It
featured flip top covers, one on the front and one on the back, though
I left which is which up to the reader to decide.
<== The one with the price and logo on it (only some of which is shown
here) is by Richard Sandoval and opens onto the initial chapter of 'Helios
on the Moon'. The bright blue one is by Ian Bateson and presents
the Damnation Brigade in the opening chapters of 'The
War of the Apocalyptics' ==>.
Other contributing artists include Peter
Lynde, Carl Muecke and, in their first work for PHANTACEA,
Tim Hammell and Verne Andrusiek (nowadays Andru), who succeeded Newton as the primary artist for 'The Soldier's Saga' storyline in pH-4.
NOTES: Chapter-by-chapter synopses from the Hel-Moon web serial link from here. Excerpts from the novelized version of "Helios on the Moon", the third and final entry in the 'Launch 1980' story cycle, link from here. The Peter Lynde 'Black Rose of Anarchy' graphic in the black & white 'Helarchy' promo below is the Page One splash panel from pH-3.
-- Double-click images in this panel to open an enlarged version in a separate window --
The wraparound cover was by Ian Bateson, who did the cover for the War-Pox novel in 2009, most of "The Damnation Brigade" cover in 2012/3 and the cover for "Nuclear Dragons" in 2013. The sample of it presented
here features Radiant Rider, one of the Damnation Brigade, facing off
against the Byronic Nucleoids.
The blue-skinned fellow is Vayu Maelstrom, Devil Wind, while the smoke-cloaked
woman in the lower left hand corner is Sedona Spellbinder. The monsters
with the maces are all Chimaera Glimmenmare, Byron's ever-changing Stallion,
some of whose half-progeny (Chrysaor Attis's Peg the Pegasus-psychopomp and Hinny
the Hippy) play important roles in "Feeling
Theocidal".
PHANTACEA
Five came out in Spring 1980. It featured a number of artists including
Bateson, Andrusiek, Hammell, George Freeman and Vince Marchesano, reputedly the latter
ably assisted by such friends as Sim and various Day brothers.
This
issue finished off 'The
War of the Apocalyptics', -- as well as a great many of its
characters. (Though, admittedly, most of them were cannon fodder, as
such like are affectionately known as in the business.)
Verne Andrusiek (nowadays Andru) designed and drew most of the front cover,
his first for PHANTACEA, while Ian Bateson
redrew parts of it, did the colour work and did much the same for the
back cover off material initially provided by Freeman and Andrusiek.
The Damnation Brigade looked to be in rough shape at the end but a
bunch of them were back in action the next issue. D-Brig, what's left
of them, are the featured characters in 'Year
One - After Limbo' and their younger selves also appear in
1938's 'Heliodyssey'
sequences. The graphic novel, "Phantacea Revisited 1: The Damnation Brigade", reprints virtually all of this issue.
PHANTACEA
Six also came out in 1980. Drawn entirely by Verne Andru, it ended
'The
Trigregos Gambit' and a lot more characters, -- including
more than a few cannons.
Verne's
cover, his second, albeit the first one he did in its entirety, was
another wraparound. In the bottom right hand corner of the back cover
is a depiction of AristotleZeross,
Ringleader.
Unfortunately PHANTACEA Seven was only
partially drawn, by Ian Bateson, before the money didn't so much run dry as got redirected into such strange things as car loans and mortgage.
Thus, since it never came out, the only way you could discover what
ultimately happened in 'Helios
on the Moon', and to most of PHANTACEA Phase One's then still-surviving characters, was to follow
the web-serial.
Fortunately, although the Moon serialization
ended in the Year 2000 out here in Cyberia, its synopsis is still online.
Ian Bateson's six pages of artwork for pH-7, all that was ever produced for the issue besides a script, can be seen here.
NOTE: Double-click on image and a new window will open with an enlarged version of this graphic
In
1987, responding to a boom in sales for independently published comic
books, an attempt to re-launch the PHANTACEAseries of comic books was begun.
Entitled PHANTACEA Phase
One, it was scripted to run fifteen issues. Idea was to present
complete stories in one issue, as well as an additional 4 or 5 bonus
pages that would tell an all-new story, namely 'The
Genesis of PHANTACEA'. The full
cover of the first issue, as well as some comments on the characters
depicted, is reproduced on the next page.
A few other covers were prepared for this project, including the ones
reproduced here. The Damnation Island cover for PHANTACEA Phase
One #2 (upper left) is by Ian Bateson and depicts a
significant event, the encounter between Devil Wind and Demon Land,
that occurred on Damnation Island on the 30th of November 1980.
The "Cain, Slayer of Abel" cover (upper right) is by Ian Fry. It depicts Anti-Patriarch Cain, the Biblical Slayer of Abel, raising the Golden Calf on the outskirts of Power
Point Sumeria some six hundred years before the Great Flood of Genesis,
what's referred to as the Genesea
in PHANTACEA.
Unfortunately, yet again, only one issue of PHANTACEA
Phase One was published before boom became bust. Fortunately,
yet again also, I've held onto a surprising amount of the original artwork and scanned in what I don't have to fill the gaps such that I could issue PHANTACEA Revisited compendiums at some point in the future should demand warrant.
I even have some idea what the covers might look like. "The Damnation Brigade" (to left) is by Ian Bateson circa 1988 whereas the "Rhadamanthys Revealed" cover art (to right) is by Verne Andrusiek from sometime in the early to mid 1980s.
NOTE 1: In 2008 Verne by now long Andru did the cover for "Feeling Theocidal", which is also here, and the cover for "Goddess Gambit" in 2012. The "Rhadamanthys Revealed" cover was finally finished for the graphic novel "Phantacea Revisited #2: Cataclysm Catalyst". Turns out the original was done circa 1982, much too late for pH-6. Ah, well ...
'pH 4-Ever&40'
is still available whereas pristine copies
of the original series of PHANTACEA,
the Comic Books, are virtually impossible to come by except online or, if you're really lucky, by scouring the back issue section in your local comic
store.
Then again, with the exceptions
of pH-5 and pH-6,
you could order them directly from me.
Perhaps best of all, if you've the wherewithal in terms of email and
a cheque book, you can order
scans of all the comics, including pH-5
and pH-6.
(NOTES: Additional information on the history of PHANTACEA,
including material on the various web serials and Jim McPherson's
novels featuring PHANTACEA characters, can
be found on the 25
Years Plus Webpage; quick-read overviews containing condensed versions of some of the same or similar information can be found here and here.)
Double-click on images in this panel and a new window will open with enlarged version of these graphics
As also per here, Ian Bateson, with some additions by Chris Chuckry, did the cover the year previous (2012). Jim McPherson digitally re-lettered a number of chapters; the Table of Contents listing all the illustrators is also here while the interactive PDF of the ad is here (look for "D-Brig’s Cover & Interior Contributors").
Ian Bateson also did the cover for "The War of the Apocalyptics", the first book in the 'Launch 1980' story cycle. Published in 2009, War-Pox is a full-length novelization of the D-Brig storyline. His cover for "Nuclear Dragons", reproduced here, is bordering on stunning.
(NOTE 1: The second book in the Launch series, "Nuclear Dragons", came out in 2013. As noted above, scans of Ian Bateson's original artwork for pH-7 can be seen here. In all likelihood they will reappear in "Phantacea Revisited #2: Cataclysm Catalyst", which is scheduled to come out in late 2013, early 2014. See here and here for a cover teaser.)
(NOTE 2: Nuke novelized the "Centauri Island" aspect of the original comic book series and, like War-Pox, had a much shorter incarnation as a Phantacea Web-Serial in the late 1990s. The same holds for the third book in the story cycle, "Helios on the Moon", which should be released in 2014. Jim McPherson has also utilized extant scripts intended for comic books that were never produced in order to prepare the full-lenght Launch 1980 novels.)
Double-click on images and a new window will open with enlarged version of these graphics
Verne Andru did the wraparound cover (the black and white original is here); he also provided the majority of the original artwork in this book, including the entirety of pH-6.
Jim McPherson digitally re-lettered Ian Bateson's 6-page Hell's Horsemen sequence intended for pH-7, the bulk of which was never completed, and adjusted 'typos' in a number of sections.
The Credits Page listing all the illustrators is also here while the interactive PDF of the flyer/ad is here (look for "Cataclysm Catalyst Artwork Credits").
NOTE 1: Verne did the cover for"Feeling Theocidal", the first book 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories' epic fantasy, which is also here, and the cover for "Goddess Gambit", the last book in the trilogy.
NOTE 2: As published in 2012, Gambit provides a far more, um, Phantacea-pHactual, full-length novelization of the Soldier's Saga that so dominates the graphic novel.
NOTE 3: Ian Bateson's six pages of artwork for pH-7, all that was ever produced for the issue besides a script, can be seen here.
Double-click on images and a new window will open with enlarged version of these graphics
The Launch sequence was included as a bonus chapter in the Phantacea Mythos mosaic novel "Goddess Gambit". The complete sequence features in "Nuclear Dragons".
Note: A couple of pages of Gordon Parker's depiction of the encounter between Rom Kinesis (pre Doc Defiance) and Devil Wind were reprinted in "Phantacea Revisited: The Damnation Brigade" (Rv1:DB). That entire sequence was novelized in "Nuclear Dragons".
It is, however, retold in the Phantacea Mythos mosaic novel "Helios on the Moon". Its cover was also done by (nowadays) Ricardo Sandoval, albeit in 2014
Note: Reproductions of virtually all of the sequences drawn by Verne Andrusiek, Carl Muecke and Ian Bateson for the flip side of this issue appear in "Phantacea Revisited: The Damnation Brigade" (Rv1:DB).
Exceptions are pages that have been digitally re-lettered by Jim McPherson.
Tim Hammell's map of Sedon's Head from pH-3 reappears after the Bateson sequence in the graphic novel. A couple of Verne Andrusiek's pages from this issue also appear in context. Like parts of the map page, Jim McPherson digitally re-lettered aspects of these pages for purposes of clarity.
Phantacea Five
Inks largely by Verne Andrusiek, 1979/80; Cover coloured, typeset and partially redrawn by Ian Bateson, 1980
Note: Reproductions of virtually all the sequences drawn by Ian Bateson, Vince Marchesano, various Day Brothers & unaccredited friends, Tim Hammell and George Freeman (with Verne Andrusiek) appear in "Phantacea Revisited: The Damnation Brigade" (Rv1:DB).
Note: Verne Andrusiek drew this entire 32-page issue. It concludes the Soldier's Saga begun in pH-2 by Sean Newton and carried on in issues #4 & #5 by Verne Andrusiek.
Most of the material prepared for the Soldier's Saga reappear in "Phantacea Revisited 2: Cataclysm Catalyst" (Rv2:CC). This time, though, Jim McPherson has painstakingly corrected myriad typos as well as added some judicious updates digitally.
Note: This issue was supposed to conclude both the Launching of Cosmic Express and the Helios on the Moon story cycles. Unfortunately producing it proved a logistical nightmare and it was abandoned.
Only Ian Bateson's Hell's Horsemen sequence was drawn and lettered. Those pages as they were initially submitted can be seen here. The same pages, digitally re-lettered by Jim McPherson in 2014, have finally seen print in "Phantacea Revisited 2: Cataclysm Catalyst" (Rv2:CC).
Chris Chuckry did some facial touch-up work on the Untouchable Diver, the Elemental Twins, Gloriel and the Witch
Phantacea Revisited 2: Cataclysm Catalyst
Artwork by Verne Andru, 1982-87/2013
Corrects and collects the entire Soldier's Saga from pH 2-6; starts with the Launching of the Cosmic Express as drawn by Dave Sim, 1977; continues with Phantacea's origin of the Devil Sedon as drawn by Ian Fry, ca 1986/7; and concludes with Ian Bateson's 6-page, Hell's Horsemen sequence intended for Phantacea Seven, 1980, as digitally re-lettered by Jim McPherson, 2014.
There may be no cure for aphantasia (defined as 'having a blind or absent mind's eye') but there certainly is for aphantacea ('a'='without', like the 'an' in 'anheroic')
Interactive PDFs of some of the Phantacea Mythos books and graphic novels released by Phantacea Publications are available for downloading from One Book Shelf and its frontline ordering sites: Drive Through Fiction and Drive Through Comics
![[COVER FOR THE LAUNCHING OF THE COSMIC EXPRESS]](graphicimages/pH1/phase11.jpg)
"Phantacea Revisited #1: The Damnation Brigade"
"Phantacea Revisited #2: Cataclysm Catalyst"![[<em>PHANTACEA ONE</em> Back Cover]](graphicimages/pH1/fecilit1.jpg)
![[IMAGE OF DOC DEFIANCE, FROM PH-2]](graphicimages/pH2/docdef1.jpg)
Most of the other story sequences initially presented in pH-2 were novelized in the 
PHANTACEA Three was published in December
1978. It
featured flip top covers, one on the front and one on the back, though
I left which is which up to the reader to decide.![[BACKCOVER FOR PHANTACEA 3]](graphicimages/pH3/pH3back_200w.png)
<== The one with the price and logo on it (only some of which is shown
here) is by Richard Sandoval and opens onto the initial chapter of '
This
issue finished off '
Verne's
cover, his second, albeit the first one he did in its entirety, was
another wraparound. In the bottom right hand corner of the back cover
is a depiction of 
some six hundred years before the Great Flood of Genesis,
what's referred to as the 
