L'Uomo Mascherato (Fratelli Spada)

L'Uomo Mascherato was the regular series of Phantom comic books published by the Italian publisher Fratelli Spada. Being the direct continuation of a similar series previously released by La Freccia publications, it was also known as Avventure Americane (American Adventures) and Phantom with a total of 557 issues released from 1962 to 1980. Although it was essentially the same publication for the entire run, it was relaunched with restarted numbering several times, dividing the run into four distinctive series.  

History

First series (1962-1967)

The first issue is dated January 1, 1962 and the last (#221) February 26, 1967. Instead of the global name of Avventure Americane, the four first issues wore the generic name of “Ediziono Americane", the latter being however dropped from the fifth issue. Issues were released fortnightly until the issue #49 when it became a weekly publication. The format was 15 × 21.5 cm for generally 32 pages but some issues had 80 pages. The material was mainly composed of stories drawn by Italian artists but American reprinted material was also published. A large part of the painted color covers are works by Mario Caria.

Issue overview

1962	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
1963	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56
1964	57	58	59	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82
	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100	101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108
1965	109	110	111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130	131	132	133	134
	135	136	137	138	139	140	141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150	151	152	153	154	155	156	157	158	159	160
1966	161	162	163	164	165	166	167	168	169	170	171	172	173	174	175	176	177	178	179	180	181	182	183	184	185	186
	187	188	189	190	191	192	193	194	195	196	197	198	199	200	201	202	203	204	205	206	207	208	209	210	211	212
1967	213	214	215	216	217	218	219	220	221

Second series (1967-1971)

The first issue of this specific series was published just one week (March 5, 1967) after the end of the first series. The title was still Avventure Americane - L'Uomo Mascherato and the same format size was kept, but the numbering restarted from #1. The number of pages was 68, but only until issue #99. It decreased to 52 pages from issue #100 to #109, and again increased to 68 pages for the most rest issues of the series, except a few last with 60 pages. The series ended with the issue #207 dated April 25, 1971. Once again, it was mainly composed of stories drawn by Italian artists with some stories already published in the previous series. The covers sometimes represented others comic characters than the Phantom and were less often painted. A subtitle Grandi Avventure appeared on the covers of the last 22 issues.

Issue overview

1967	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44
1968	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96
1969	97	98	99	100	101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110	111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
	121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130	131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140	141	142	143	144
1970	145	146	147	148	149	150	151	152	153	154	155	156	157	158	159	160	161	162	163	164	165	166	167	168
	169	170	171	172	173	174	175	176	177	178	179	180	181	182	183	184	185	186	187	188	189	190	191	192
1971	193	194	195	196	197	198	199	200	201	202	203	204	205	206	207

Third series (1971-1972)

Beginning on May 9, 1971 with an issue numbered #1, it stopped on March 15, 1972 with the issue #32. This time the format size was reduced. It contained several reprints of stories from the Gold Key and Charlton Phantom comic books.

Issue overview

1971	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
1972	26	27	28	29	30	31	32

Fourth series (1972-1980)

On April 16, 1972, this new start was founded on a larger format size and was entitled Avventure Americane – Serie Cronologica – Phantom - L'Uomo Mascherato, the word Phantom being written predominantly as the main title. The Serie Cronologica issues had a dual numbering; Serie Cronologica #1 was also L'Uomo Mascherato #33, continuing the numbering of the previous third series.

Until issue Serie Cronologica #59, a separate folded supplement of 8 pages was included which reproduced the Sunday stories in chronological order. These inserts were later glued together to form the four books named L'epoca d'oro di Phantom. The series continued after the supplements ceased, until Serie Cronologica #96 on January 1, 1980. This final part of the Serie Cronologica contained several of Sy Barry's early works.

Unsold copies were later glued together and given new covers and sold as Raccolta Super Phantom.

Issue overview

1972	1 / 33	2 / 34	3 / 35	4 / 36	5 / 37	6 / 38	7 / 39	8 / 40	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
1973	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
1974	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
1975	71	72	73	74
1976	75	76
1977	77	78	79	80	81	82
1978	83	84	85	86	87	88
1979	89	90	91	92	93
1980	94	95	96

See also

• Le Fantôme