The Phantom:
A Publishing History in Brazil

by Sérgio Takara and Bryan Shedden


The Beginnings (1936-1937)

Title:A Gazeta #169 #169 p.5
Publisher:Jornal A Gazeta
Year:1929-1940
Size:28cm x 38cm
Pages:16
The Phantom's first appearance in Brazil was in issue #169 of A Gazeta, on 2 Dec 1936. A Gazeta was a comics newspaper reprinting strips from various characters. Each issue contained a single chapter of The Phantom, consisting of three daily strips. The Singh Brotherhood was the first story and it reached a conclusion in #242 on 21 Aug 1937, over a total of 73 chapters. The Sky Band followed until issue #258 on 30 Sep 1937. All Fantasma adventures were published in two colours - black and red - possibly explaining the origin of The Phantom's red costume in Brazil.



Title:Correio Universal #216A #241A
Publisher:Livraria Civilização, Rio de Janeiro
Year:1937
Issues:2
Size:37.5cm x 27cm
Pages:96 or 48
These two books contained complete Phantom stories, and can therefore be considered as the first Brazilian Phantom comics. Only two Phantom editions were produced: #216A on 27 May 1937 reprinted The Singh Brotherhood (96 pages), and #241A on 17 Nov 1937 reprinted The Sky Band (48 pages). Both editions had hard covers with original artwork credited to "Calmon". The world's first Phantom comic book was L'Uomo Mascherato, published in May 1937 by Casa Editrice G.Nerbini in Italy - a date matched by Correio Universal #216A. This book also predates the first Australian Phantom comic by one year (Woman's Mirror Annual).



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Bryan Shedden / guran@deepwoods.org
Last Updated 16 January 2002