The Phantom:
A Publishing History in India

by Bryan Shedden with thanks to Aman King, Ed Rhoades, and C Srinivas


Egmont Imagination India Ltd.

Comic Series (2000-2002)


#1 book 1

#1 book 2

#1 book 3

#2 book 4

#3 book 5

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14
In June 2000, Egmont Imagination India Ltd. (formerly Indian Express Egmont Publications Ltd.), launched the first issue of a new series of Phantom comics for distribution throughout India. These comics were full colour English-language reprints of the excellent Phantom comics produced by Egmont Scandinavia - they even reproduced the original cover art. Each issue also contained a classic Mandrake the Magician Sunday story as back up. All stories were carefully selected by Ulf Granberg, Head Publisher of Egmont's Fantomen magazine in Sweden.

The publishers began in style with a promotional Phantom Adventure Kit (see right) containing three comics, a poster, a cut-out Phantom mask, five rub-on tattoos, and two small standies (July 2000). Quite an amazing package and all for only Rs.100 (Aus$3.50, US$2). But confusion followed with succeeding regular issues due to a strange numbering system. The three comics from the Adventure Kit were regarded as a single issue, ie #1 books 1, 2 and 3. The fourth comic in the series was called #2 book 4, and so on. Thankfully, issue #4 onwards did not included the chronological "book" designation.

The comics ran for 52 pages and sold for Rs.30 (Aus$1.10, US$0.70), which was incredibly cheap by Western standards, but quite expensive for most Indians (about 10 times the price of the Rani Comics published at the same time). Issues #1 to #12 were a standard "comic book" size of 174mm x 256mm, but from #13 the size was increased to 192mm x 276mm. Starting with issue #14, the publishers switched to a new printer and began to use locally-produced cover artwork. The comics were reduced to 34 pages with a cover price of Rs.20. Unfortunately the printing quality was not as good as previous issues, especially for the covers. The reduction in pages also meant the end of Mandrake in the comic series. Details of the contents are listed in the tables below. The last issue in the comics series was published in April 2002 (#21).

In February 2003, Egmont Imagination reprinted most, if not all, of these comics as a second edition. All issues were assigned an ISBN number, suggesting that they are to be supplied to bookstores, with ongoing reprints assured if demand requires it. The cover price of these reprints is Rs.25. The issue numbering was altered for some titles: The Freedom Trail changed from #18 to #15, Nautilus changed from #20 to #18, Live Cargo changed from #19 to unnumbered, and a new story The Lethal Science by Lindahl (Fantomen 15/1999, Frew #1239) appeared as #19.

In July 2003, Egmont reprinted all of the Comic Series yet again (3rd edition) as single unnumbered issues with different covers. This means that a diligent collector would have copies of the same story with 5 different covers (including the Action Adventure Series and The Adventures of the Ghost Who Walks).

The Phantom

Issue Book Date Cover Story Title Writer Artist Fantomen Frew
#1 1 Jun 2000 Gohs Devil's Story Avenell Bess 23/1979
(24/1999)
#1013
(#1125)
#1 2 Jul 2000 Gohs Hoogan's Revenge Moberg Mitton 12/1992 #1028
#1 3 Jul 2000 Lindahl Return of The Ghost Lundström Vallvé 24/1972 #730
(#1058)
#2 4 Aug 2000 Gohs Death in Central Park De Paul Boix 12/1998 #1209
#3 5 Aug-Sep 2000 Lindahl The Ghost Who Died Twice Worker Lindahl 9/1997 #1188
#4   Sep-Oct 2000 Gohs The Chief of the Stork People Avenell Lindahl 24/1985 #928
#5   Oct-Nov 2000 Gohs Aron De Paul Lindahl 15/1993 #1059
#6   Dec 2000 Gohs Island of Death De Paul Spadari 23/1997 #1191
#7   Jan 2000 Gohs Lord of the Jungle Johnsen &
Reimerthi
Bade 4/1999 #1225
#8   Jan-Feb 2001 Gohs Ku Klux Klan Granberg Bade 19/1978 #1210
#9   Mar 2001 Ferri The Tiger Girl Falk &
Granberg
Felmang
& Ferri
1/2000 #1252
#10   Mar-Apr 2001 Gohs The Monument De Paul Boix 25/1999 #1248
#11   Apr 2001 Leppänen The Test Worker Leppänen 5/1993 #1029
(#1125)
#12   May-Jun 2001 Gohs The Zombie Maker Frognes Boix 19/2000 #1273
#13   Jul-Aug 2001 Gohs The Witchdoctor's Secret Frognes Bade 20/2000 #1275
#14   Sep 2001 (Indian) The Barbary Pirates Worker Cruz 21/1999 #1245
#15   Oct 2001 (Indian) The Spear of Destiny Pt.1 Raab Boix 5/2000 #1256
#16   Nov 2001 (Indian) Messenger of Evil De Paul Bade 19/1999 #1243
#17   Dec 2001 (Indian) The Temple Raab Boix 16/1999 #1240
#18   Jan 2002 (Indian) The Freedom Trail Goodall Felmang 18/1999 #1242
#19   Feb 2002 (Indian) Live Cargo Reimerthi Spadari 23/1999 #1247
#20   Mar 2002 (Indian) Nautilus Longstreet Felmang 14/1999 #1238
#21   Apr 2002 (Indian) The Halloween Gang De Paul Lindahl 22/1999 #1246

Mandrake the Magician

Issue Book Story Title Writer Artist Sunday Dates
#1 1 Universal Love Falk Davis 29 May - 7 Aug 1955
#1 2 The Vanishing Houses Falk Davis 18 Mar - 20 May 1951
#1 3 The Underwater City Falk Davis 19 Feb - 3 Jun 1956
#2 4 The Water Pirates Falk Davis 14 Aug - 4 Dec 1960
#3 5 The Sleeping Woods Falk Davis 19 Dec 1954 - 13 Mar 1955
#4   The Watcher Falk Davis 22 Mar - 5 Jul 1959
#5   The Invisible Thief Falk Davis 7 Dec 1958 - 15 Mar 1959
#6   The Mesa of the Thundergod Falk Davis 27 Apr - 6 Jul 1958
The Water Champs Falk Davis 14 Jun - 5 Jul 1953
#7   The Doorway to 'Z' Falk Davis 13 Jul - 16 Nov 1952
#8   The Horse Thief Falk Davis 6 Sep - 15 Nov 1959
#9   The Magnetic Island Falk Davis 14 Aug - 20 Nov 1955
#10   Demon Photographer Falk Davis 8 May - 24 Jul 1960
#11   The Place Called X Falk Davis 11 Aug - 29 Dec 1957
#12   The Ghost Whale Falk Davis 11 Jun 1950 - 27 Aug 1950
#13   The Castaway Falk Davis 27 Nov 1955 - 12 Feb 1956
No Mandrake stories after #13

For more information contact the publisher at Egmont Imagination (India) Ltd., Dani Wooltex Compound, 158 Vidya Nagari Marg, Kalina, Santacruz (East), Mumbai 400098, India, Ph: 0091 22 6924700.



Return to The Phantom in India



© 2003 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC. THE HEARST CORPORATION

Bryan Shedden / guran@deepwoods.org
Last updated 21 September 2003