X-Band: Phantom Podcast

Dan Fraser and Jermayn Parker interview the man behind the NECA figurines in Djordje Djokovic. He talks to us all about the very popular figurines featuring the Phantom in the Defenders of the Earth and Original Superhero's range. You will learn how important he was to ensure NECA went ahead in the figurines being made.
During this podcast, on UA-cam we show a lot of photos of the process, original art and prototypes. If you love learning behind the scenes information, this is for you. It is worth the two hour listen - you won't be disappointed.
You can follow Djordje Djokovic on his social platforms at / djordjedjokovicart
Some of the subjects we discuss are:
- Djordje Djokovic as a phan who grew up, loved the Defenders of the Earth and Phantom 2040 tv show and figurines and his favourite artists.
- What is special about the Phantom to him.
- His life calling in the figurine industry and how his graphic design skills helped him go from the "Four Horsemen" to "NECA".
- His thoughts on the Phantom 2040, 1996 movie and Defenders of the Earth shows, figurines and toys.
- What does a sculptor do?
- The process of the NECA Defenders of the Earth figurines.
- How Djordje Djokovic sold the concept of the NECA Defenders of the Earth figurines to Randy Falk?
- The idea behind why Zuffy was included with the Phantom in the NECA Defenders of the Earth figurine set.
- How Djordje Djokovic managed to sell the idea of the Defenders of the Earth figurine set to Randy Falk and NECA,
- The story behind the packaging and why it resembles the original Galoob figurines.
- Djordje Djokovic shows us the original drawings of the packaging including the Phantom for both sets.
- The logo design and how the new logo takes after the British version which includes Lothar unlike the Italian and Galoop design.
- Djordje Djokovic teases future plans with NECA and the Phantom. (Note: this would have included the Mad Cave Studios Defenders of the Earth new comic series which also features Djordje Djokovic as the cover artist).
- Addressing the issue on the Defenders of the Earth figurines needing a warm bath before usage and how it was fixed for the Original Superhero series.
- Djordje Djokovic and his experience connecting with Phantom phans, the Friends of the Phantom Sardi's luncheon and meeting Sy and David Barry.
- Djordje Djokovic asks us some questions about how the NECA figurines were received in Australia.
- Djordje Djokovic shows us some early prototypes of the NECA figurines and goes over the process from original sculpts, to molds, to China, to prototype painters, to toolers, to printing, to unpainted final prototype and then to final packaging.
Please note, we recorded this podcast before the official announcement of the Mad Cave Studios Defenders of the Earth new comic series which also features Djordje Djokovic as the cover artist. So while we now all know he is one of the artists, we skirted around the discussion during the recording of the podcast.
You can follow Djordje Djokovic on his social platforms at / djordjedjokovicart
If you want to chat with us, you can email us at [e-mail] or chat with us via our social media profiles with your ideas: Facebook ( / chroniclechamber , Twitter ( / chronicle_tweet ) and or Instagram ( / chroniclechamber .
Make sure you stay with us and do not forget to subscribe and leave a review on our podcast and or our UA-cam Channel. Do no forget to support the show ( / chroniclechamber )

[@borivojegrbic5772]

Great guest. As a fellow Serbian, I can confirm that the Phantom, Mandrake and Flash Gordon are among the most beloved comic book characters for us, since 1930's 'till today. Cheers!

[@Chroniclechamber]

Thank you for your comment! Jermayn has a few of the ex-Yugoslavian comics as well. Great comics.
Do you still read the comics?

[@djordjedjokovic3101]

Thank you! Greetings to a fellow Serbian! 🙂

[@borivojegrbic5772]

@@Chroniclechamber As a professional artist with a fairly big collection of comics, I'm practicaly obligated to read 'em. ;) Also, my fellow artist from Serbia, Bane Kerac (maybe you know him as H.M.Baker when he drew Ghost for Dark Horse), a few years ago worked on a Phantom story for the Scandinavians, so you will probably come across some Phantom art from around here soon. We had many editions with the Phantom, it's not easy to collect 'em all, but for the most part it's not expensive. And yes, he was mostly painted red. ;) If you need more informations on King Features in Serbia feel free to ask. Cheers and keep up the good work!

[@Chroniclechamber]

We are aware of Bane Kerac, we even interviewed him which can be read here: www.chroniclechamber.com/post/2019/09/04/introducing-bane-kerac-serbian-artist

[@borivojegrbic5772]

@@Chroniclechamber Great interview, Bane was a great influence on us younger artists, Cat Claw was the first Marvel/DC style superhero comic done right in Yugoslavia, but he also changed the whole approach to storytelling in our comics with his pages in Kobra, specifically in Hell's Angel episode.