Les héros de l'aventure

Les héros de l'aventure (entitled Classiques de l'aventure during the first sixteen issues, thereafter Héros de l'aventure up to #32) was the monthly French version of the Italian I Classici dell'Avventura series, published by Fratelli Spada.

History

78 issues were published between July 1964 and April 1971, each one 100 pages. Unsold copies were later glued together with a new outer cover and sold as "albums". A total of 19 albums, containing the first 57 issues, were published.

Five unnumbered special issues of 132 pages were also published in 1967 and 1968, to coincide with French school holidays. At least one album with some of these extra holidays issues was later released under the generic title of "Sélection Héros de l'aventure".

The series was mainly devoted to The Phantom which appeared in every issue; a separate and similar publication, called Les héros du mystère, was dedicated to Mandrake the Magician. The original Italian series had many more issues but featured both The Phantom and Mandrake under the I classici dell'avventura title.

The French series was published by Les Editions des Remparts, a French comics publisher based in Lyon, but it was printed in Italy by Fratelli Spada. It was also occasionally distributed in Quebec, Canada by Presses Selection Limitée in Montreal.

Some issues featured dailies and Sundays, from Ray Moore to Sy Barry, and others featured original Fratelli Spada stories. The cover artwork was the same as its Italian counterpart.

Generally The Phantom story occupied only 30 or 40 pages and the remaining pages were devoted to other comics, including "Tim Tyler's Luck", "Rip Kirby", "Steve Canyon", "King of the Royal Mounted" and others. Like in Italy, The Phantom's costume was colored in red.

A series with a larger format and entitled Héros de l'aventure Spécial was published in 1969 by Les Editions des Remparts. However, despite the title similarity, it was not at all devoted to The Phantom but only featured war and western comics from Fratelli Spada's home-made material.

Issue overview

Regular series

1964	1	2	3	4	5	6
1965	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1966	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
1967	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
1968	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52
1969	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61	62
1970	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
1971	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78

Albums regular series

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19

Extra issues

1967	Easter 1967	Summer 1967	Christmas 1967
1968	Easter 1968	Christmas 1968

Album extra issues

1

2

See also

• I Classici dell'Avventura – L'Uomo Mascherato (Fratelli Spada)