The Secret Squadron: Portugal

Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts

As Aventuras do Capitão Morgan (Portugal, c.1950?)

"Aventuras Extraordinarias d'um Policia Secreta" (Portugal, c.1909-1911)

"Since Arthur Conan Doyle published the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes, "A Study in Scarlet" in November 1887, the public demonstrated enormous enthusiasm, demanding the immediate publication of new adventures of what would become the greatest detective of all time. Conan Doyle would even become Sir Arthur. Faced with the growing success of the character, a Berlin publisher decided to create a series of magazines offering the apocryphal adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the first issue was published January 16, 1907. At this point, the real Sherlock Holmes was the subject of three novels, thirty six short stories and two theatre plays, but the German publisher, ignoring all the (early) copyright laws, published these new adventures without the least permission, written very quickly by some German hacks, but beautifully illustrated by Alfred Roloff. Nevertheless, a sizeable change appeared in the stories: Doctor watson was replaced by a young pupil, Harry Taxon. On October 15 of the same year the French publisher Fernand Laven would publish in France the first installment of "Les Dossiers Secrets de Sherlock Holmes" (The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes)."

-- in "Les Maitres du Mystère - De Nick Carter à

Sherlock Holmes, 1907-1914", by Philippe Mellot

In France, the publishers of Sherlock Holmes reacted very quickly and demanded that publication would cease. They only managed to prevent the name "Sherlock Holmes" from appearing on the cover. The first three issues, already printed, were recalled and the covers changed, becoming "Les Dossiers Secrets du Roi des Détectives" (The Secret Files of the King of Detectives). The German copyright holders took a bit longer and the series would go on to have 230 issues, with the name changed from issue 10 on. In spite of the title changes, the famous detective was easily recognizable (he was still called Sherlock Holmes inside) and the series would be translated into numerous languages. We know of Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Turquish and Russian editions.

These issues are from the Portuguese edition, by "A Novella Popular", and are titled "Aventuras Extraordinarias d'um Policia Secreta" (The Extraordinary Adventures of a Secret Policeman), #6 dated April 1st 1909, #15 dated August 10th of the same year, #18 is undated and #105 is dated June 11th, 1911. We seem to have played it safe and the Sherlock Holmes name is not on the cover...

Cavaleiro Andante #1-15 (Portugal, 1952)

The "Cavaleiro Andante" was a Portuguese comic book, published between 1952 and 1962 and had 556 issues. The publisher was the Empresa Nacional de Publicidade and its director was Adolfo Simões Muller. Mainly geared towards European artists and stories, it published many stories by great artists like Fernando Bento, José Ruy, Eduardo Teixeira Coelho, José Garcês and Hergé.

I have the good fortune to own the first 69 issues (and some assorted later issues) with all the extras, as nearly all these issues had "separatas", or loose supplements that, when collected, would allow you to assemble something fun, and several loose announcements and contests. These are seldom seen, as they were the first to disappear when kids got their hands on them.

So please enjoy the first fifteen issues with all the supplements and extras. The scans seem to come out yellowish, but somehow I couldn't fix that.

The Shadow - Comic Books

The Shadow has had a long and diverse life in comic books, starting in 1940 as a newspaper strip and then Street & Smith (also publishers of the pulps) published 101 issues, from 1940 to 1949. Then Archie had their turn, but it's more of an embarrassment than anything else, as The Shadow bears little resemblance to the character we know and love. Then DC Comics picked up the flag with wonderful art by Kaluta in 1973, then Dark Horse in 1993 and now Dynamite in 2012.

Below is a chronological gallery of the Shadow comic books in my collection. Unfortunately I don't have a single one from the Street & Smith run. But I have everything else, except for some Dynamite variants. As a rule, if the image has the Secret Squadron logo, it was scanned from my collection. If not, the images were lifted from the Grand Comics Database (thank you!), as 99% of my collection is Near Mint and it seemed redundant to scan the whole thing -- except for the Archies, those are Fine or less, and I'll get around to scanning them.

I also added the few non-US editions I have, from Brazil, Spain and France. These are fun curiosities to see, I think. Enjoy! This is going to be a looong post :)

Archie

The Shadow (1964-1965, 8 issues)

DC Comics

The Shadow (1973-1975, 12 issues)

Below, the 9 issues of the 1974 Brazilian edition by Ebal, of which I'm missing #2.

"As Maiores Aventuras do Sombra"
(The Shadow's Greatest Adventures)March, 1982

Here is an oddity, a very small Portuguese black and white comic, by Clube do Cromo, also a reprint of the Kaluta series. Issue #2 is announced in the back cover, but I could never find it. Notice the conspicuous absence of The Shadow on the cover. Date unknown.

The Shadow (1986, mini-series, 4 issues)

Ediciones Zinco, Spain, collects #1-4

The Shadow (1987-1989, 21 issues)

Below, three issues of the Brazilian edition by Abril. Not sure if more were published.

The Shadow Strikes! (1989-1992, 32 issues)

Dark Horse Comics

The Shadow - In the Coils of Leviathan (October 1993 - April 1994, 4 issues)

This "Dark Horse Tip Sheet" was offered in an issue of "Previews", a Diamond Distributors' catalogue from where clients and retaiers can order their comics. The publication, containing single-page advertisements for upcoming Dark Horse comics, was glued to the larger and thicker magazine. I had removed it, hence the torn spine.

The Shadow (June-July 1994, 2 issues, ties in with the film)

"The Shadow - La BD du Film"
(Dark Horse France, hardcover, 1994)

The Shadow and the Mysterious 3 (September 1994, one-shot)

The Shadow - Hell's Heat Wave (April-June 1995, 3 issues)

The Shadow and Doc Savage (July-August 1995, 2 issues)

Ghost and the Shadow (December 1995, one-shot)

Dynamite

The Shadow (2012, ongoing)

Dynamite have the habit of issuing several different covers, which is a nightmare for the completist (but excellent business for them, I imagine). These are the regular issues and variants I have, but I'm still missing a few.