Fantasma (RGE)

Fantasma was a series of Phantom comics published by RGE (Rio Grafica Editora) in Brazil.

History

RGE started the series in 1953, thus becoming the first publisher of a regular serialized Phantom titled comic in Brazil. Initially called Fantasma Magazine, the series lasted 33 years, one of the longest running Phantom series in the world, ending only when RGE changed it's name to Editora Globo in 1986. Globo continued publishing the comic but with restarted numbering.

Between March 1953 and October 1986, 371 issues were published. The series began in the larger "american format" (18 × 30 cm) but was reduced to a smaller format (13.5 × 20.5 cm) in August 1975 (issue #234). The magazine was initially published bimonthly but by December 1960 it became a monthly release. Between 1966 and 1979 a new issue was released every 4 week and from 1980 it returned to a monthly release.

Many artists contributed to the magazine over the years, including Luiz Fernando Guimarães (Lutz), Juarez P. Getulio Delphin, Ares, Domingos Cervera, Gutemberg Monteiro, Walmir Amaral de Oliveira, Mauro Batista, Miguel Piedra, Sérgio D. T. Macedo, Adir Teixeira, Milton Sardella, Evaldo de Oliveira, Joaquim de Oliveira Monte Novo, Márcio, Juarez Odilon, Primaggio Mantovi, Norival de Oliveira, José Menezes, and Alberto Carlos.

Initially, complete stories in black and white, originating from the daily/sunday strips, were published. In March 1965 the first colored edition came out, issue #99, with a reprint of American publisher Gold Key's #2. Most of Gold Key/King/Charlton stories were released in color, and later, adventures from the daily/sunday strips also started coming out in color.

The covers of issues #163 to #166, from March 15 to June 8, 1970, brought pictures of the Brazilian national team football players who would win the FIFA World Cup that year.

From 1982 onwards RGE began publishing stories created by Semic Press from Scandinavia.

Issues #1 and #2 were reprinted in 1980 and 1985, respectively.

At its height, in the sixties, the series sold more than 200,000 copies each month, and it was the biggest selling comic book in the country.

The stories came from all of the publishers of Phantom comics that had been active at the time; i.e. daily and Sunday newspaper strip stories, Team Fantomen, Fratelli Spada, Gold Key/King/Charlton stories, and RGE also produced their own Phantom stories.

Issue overview

The 1950's

1953	1	2	3	4	5
1954	6	7	8	9	10	11
1955	12	13	14	15	16	17
1956	18	19	20	21	22	23
1957	24	25	26	27	28	29
1958	30	31	32	33	34	35
1959	36	37	38	39	40	41

The 1960's

1960	42	43	44	45	46	47	48
1961	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
1962	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72
1963	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84
1964	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96
1965	97	98	99	100	101	102	103	104	105	106	107
1966	108	109	110	111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
1967	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130	131	132	133	134
1968	135	136	137	138	139	140	141	142	143	144	145	146	147
1969	148	149	150	151	152	153	154	155	156	157	158	159	160

The 1970's

1970	161	162	163	164	165	166	167	168	169	170	171	172	173
1971	174	175	176	177	178	179	180	181	182	183	184	185	186
1972	187	188	189	190	191	192	193	194	195	196	197	198	199
1973	200	201	202	203	204	205	206	207	208	209	210	211	212
1974	213	214	215	216	217	218	219	220	221	222	223	224	225
1975	226	227	228	229	230	231	232	233	234	235	236	237	238
1976	239	240	241	242	243	244	245	246	247	248	249	250
1977	251	252	253	254	255	256	257	258	259	260	261	262	263
1978	264	265	266	267	268	269	270	271	272	273	274	275	276
1979	277	278	279	280	281	282	283	284	285	286	287	288	289

The 1980's

1980	290	291	292	293	294	295	296	297	298	299	300	301
1981	302	303	304	305	306	307	308	309	310	311	312	313
1982	314	315	316	317	318	319	320	321	322	323	324	325
1983	326	327	328	329	330	331	332	333	334	335	336	337
1984	338	339	340	341	342	343	344	345	346	347	348	349
1985	350	351	352	353	354	355	356	357	358	359	360	361
1986	362	363	364	365	366	367	368	369	370	371