RGE was the comic book publishing arm of Editora Globo. It was essentially the same company, and had the same owner, Roberto Marinho. RGE was the principal publisher of Phantom comics in Brazil.
This is the principal Phantom comic from Brazil, and was the first to regularly have the name Fantasma on the cover. A total of 371 issues were published between March 1953 and October 1986. The series commenced with a regular comic book format, but was reduced to a pocketbook size in August 1975 (#234 onwards). The magazine was issued bimonthly until December 1960 and then switched to a monthly release. Many cover artists contributed to the series over the years, including Luis Fernando Guimarães (Lutz), P.Juarez, Getúlio Delfim, Ares, Domingos Cervera, Gutemberg Monteiro, Walmir Amaral de Oliveira, Baptista, Miguel Piedra, Sérgio, Adir Teixeira, Milton Sardella, Evaldo de Oliveira, Joaquim Novo de Oliveira Monte, Márcio, Juarez Odilon, Primaggio Mantovi, Norival, José Menezes, and Carlos. Initially these comics published complete black and white Phantom stories from the newspaper strips. In March 1965 (#99), the first full colour edition reprinted Gold Key #2 from the USA. Most of the Gold Key / King / Charlton series were reprinted in colour, and the newspaper strip stories also began to appear in colour. The covers for issues #163 to #166 (15 March - 8 June 1970) featured photos of famous Brazilian football players who went on to win the 1970 World Cup in glorious style. From 1982, Fantasma Magazine began reprinting stories created by Semic in Scandinavia. Sadly, in October 1986, at a time when Australia's Frew Phantom comic was undergoing rejuvenation, RGE ceased publication of Fantasma Magazine.
Title: Fantasma Magazine Year: 1953-1986 Issues: 371 Size: 18cm x 27cm (#1-#233),
13.5cm x 20.5cm (#234-371)Pages: various
Issues #1 and #2 of Fantasma Magazine were reprinted in 1980 and 1985, respectively.
Seven "extra editions" of Fantasma Magazine were produced at irregular intervals between 1953 and 1971 (usually in July). These are considered to be a separate series from the regular magazine. The details of these issues are listed below. Two of these books (Jul 1956 and Jul 1958) reprinted the covers of Harvey Comics Hits #51 and #56 from 1951/52. The last issue was a reprint of the American one-off edition The Prisoner of the Himalayas by Golden Age of Comics (#3, 1969), and made use of the same cover art.
Title: Fantasma Magazine Edição Extra Year: 1953-1971 Issues: 7 Size: 18cm x 27cm Pages: various
Date Code Story Title Pages Cover Nov 1953 D13 The Game of Alvar 98 Luis Fernando Guimarães (Lutz) Jul 1956 D15
S21The Phantom's Treasure
The Haunted Castle66 Ares Jul 1957 (non-Falk) 66 Mauro Baptista Jul 1958 S18 The Dragon God
King of Beasts66 Ares Jul 1960 (non-Falk) 66 Gutemberg Monteiro Jul 1961 (non-Falk) 66 Ares 1971 D5 The Prisoner of the Himalayas 82 Ray Moore
Starting in November 1954, the Fantasma Magazine spawned a series of annuals called Almanaque. These were usually published in November of each year and carried the new year number on the cover - the first was Almanaque 1955. From 1963, half-yearly editions were produced for the July school holiday period and had the extra words de férias in the title. A total of 34 editions were produced between years 1955 and 1979. The size of each edition matched the regular Fantasma Magazine. The only exception was Almanaque 1976 which was a special edition celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Phantom strip and had an extra-large size of 28cm x 37cm. Cover artwork was by the same group of contributors from the regular magazine. The 1970 and 1971 annuals reprinted the covers of the 1967 Album and 1967 Annual from World Distributors in England.
Title: Almanaque do Fantasma Magazine Year: 1954-1978 Issues: 34 Size: 18cm x 27cm (1955-1974), 13.5cm x 20.5cm (1975, 1977-1978), 28cm x 37cm (1976) Pages: 98
RGE published a translation of Dale Robertson's The Son of The Phantom, originally published in the USA by Whitman. The excellent cover art was by Gutemberg Monteiro.
Title: O Filho do Fantasma Year: 1965 Issues: 1 Size: 15.5cm x 22.5cm Pages: 144
Three "special" editions of Fantasma Magazine were produced at irregular intervals between 1972 and 1978. These are considered to be a separate series from the regular magazine. The details of these issues are listed below. The first edition was in black and white and large format, while the second and third were colour and small format. All three covers were by Walmir Amaral de Oliveira.
Title: Fantasma Magazine Especial Year: 1972-1978 Issues: 3 Size: 18cm x 27cm & 13.5cm x 20.5cm Pages: 66 & 98
Date Code Story Title Pages 1972
S82(2 non-Falk stories)
The Tale of the Gooley-Gooley Witch66 1976 D3 The Diamond Hunters 98 Nov 1978 D47
D43The Great Ajax
The Governor's Family98
During the 1970s, RGE dabbled with a handful of one-off black & white Phantom comics. Mini Edição was the first Fantasma comic to be published in Brazil with the pocketbook format. This was followed three years later with a one-off special edition, three sequential editions of a comics magazine called Gibi Semanal, and finally two annual editions of Gibi Nostalgia; each reprinting classic Phantom stories from the 1930s. The cover of Gibi Especial #2 is shown above.
Title: Gibi Series Year: 1972-1976 Issues: 8 Size: various Pages: various
Date Book Title Code Story Title Pages Pages Jan 1972 Mini Edição D43
D41The Governor's Family
Whirlpool Channel13cm x 17cm 98 13 Apr 1975 Gibi Especial #2 D2 The Sky Band 21cm x 27cm 82 16 Apr 1975 Gibi Semanal #25 D4 Little Tommy Pt.1 21cm x 27cm 32 23 Apr 1975 Gibi Semanal #26 D4 Little Tommy Pt.2 21cm x 27cm 32 30 Apr 1975 Gibi Semanal #27 D4 Little Tommy Pt.3 21cm x 27cm 32 24 Jun 1975 Gibi Nostalgia #1 D1 The Singh Brotherhood 28cm x 37cm 130 May 1976 Gibi Nostalgia #3 D7 The Shark's Nest 28cm x 37cm 130
RGE produced several special albums to mark the occasion of some unique events in Phantom history: firstly, the wedding of The Phantom and Diana Palmer, and secondly, the birth of the twins Kit and Heloise. The wedding story was first split between two different albums before being republished a year later along with four other stories. RGE also produced a sticker album Livro Ilustrado Fantasma, containing 256 individual stickers, and it's included here for want of a better place to put it.
Title: Historical Events Year: 1978-1979 Issues: 5 Size: various Pages: 98 & 34
Date Book Title Code Pages Pages 1978 O Casamento do Fantasma D136-1 13.5cm x 20.5cm 98 May 1978 A Lua-de-mel do Fantasma D136-2 13.5cm x 20.5cm 98 Jul 1978 Os Bebês do Fantasma D140 13.5cm x 20.5cm 98 1979 Fantasma Casamento e Lua-de-mel D136 13.5cm x 20.5cm 98 1979 Livro Ilustrado Fantasma n/a 21cm x 27.5cm 34
In February 1979, RGE revived the Almanaque series which ended in 1978 (see above). But rather than a biannual schedule, they started with a quarterly release in 1979, before switching to bi-monthly in 1980. The series was temporarily halted after #17 in Oct/Nov 1981, before continuing in Dec/Jan 1984. The title of the series was changed to Novo Almanaque do Fantasma from #20 in Apr/May 1984. The last issue in the series was #31, published in Aug/Sep 1986.
Title: Almanaque do Fantasma Year: 1979-1986 Issues: 31 Size: 13.5cm x 20.5cm Pages: 98
The first four editions of Superalmanaque were published in the holiday periods of Jun/Jul 1980, Dec 1980, Jun/Jul 1981, and Dec 1981. However, when RGE temporarily stopped their Almanaque series in Oct/Nov 1981, it was replaced for a year by Superalmanaque, with the same bi-monthly schedule. There were a total of 13 colour issues of Superalmanaque, the last being published in Jun/Jul 1983. RGE then returned to Novo Almanaque do Fantasma (see above).
Title: Superalmanaque do Fantasma Year: 1980-1983 Issues: 13 Size: 13.5cm x 20.5cm Pages: 130
RGE produced three different extra large Hiperalmanaque editions in Nov 1981, Jun 1982 and Nov 1982. Each full colour comic had several stories focussed on a theme: dangerous woman, wild animals, and Diana.
Title: Hiperalmanaque do Fantasma Year: 1980-1982 Issues: 3 Size: 13.5cm x 20.5cm Pages: 194
Two editions Arquivos Secretos do Fantasma (Secrets of The Phantom Chronicles) were published in Nov 1981 and Nov 1982. The first issue contained information and curiosities about the jungles of Bengali, while the second also included a reprint of The Star of Bangalla.
Title: Arquivos Secretos do Fantasma Year: 1981-1982 Issues: 2 Size: 13.5cm x 19.5cm Pages: 98
RGE started their final series of colour Phantom comics in July 1983. RGE only produced 7 biannual issues before the series was taken over by Editora Globo, starting in February 1987. The last RGE issue appeared in June 1986.
Title: Fantasma Especial Publisher: Rio Gráfica e Editora (RGE) and Editora Globo Year: 1983-1989 Issues: 37 Size: 13.5cm x 20.5cm Pages: 66