Las Grandes Aventuras: Merlin el Mago Moderno
| Las Grandes Aventuras | |
 First issue | |
| Country/language: |  Spain / Spanish
|
|---|---|
| Publishing company: | Hispano Americana |
| Publishing years: | 1935-1953 |
| Issues: | 45 + 2 |
| Format: | 21x32 cm, b/w |
Issue overview
In 1941 "Hispano Americana" started a new series under the generic title "Las Grandes Aventuras". More then 325 issues were released without any numbering or publishing date on the covers or inside. Information for the next issue and a back issue list was printed on the back cover for many years.
In 1942 the back covers also printed various small stickers which could be collected into different sticker albums (Albumes Centella). The stickers were categorized into 24 different categories such as: Spanish football team, American movie stars, marvells of the word and on. Next the back covers have a comic strip of "Las Lecciones del Jefe Piloto", about how to fly a plane. The last sticker series on the back covers was devoted to Spanish football players. To collect all the sticker one also had to buy the various issues of the similar "Los Albumes Preferidos por la Juventud" series. There exists issues with different variants of the back cover due to later reprints.
The regular series has price tag 1.5 ptas which increases to 2 ptas in about 1947. From the beginning there are also issues with price tag 2.5 ptas, known as "número extraordinario", which follows the regular publication rate. Interesting, due to reprinting of issues in 1946, there exists some covers with two different price tags: "Flas Gordon" issues 1 to 4 (2.5 ptas / 2 ptas) and "El Hombre Enmascarado" issues 46-48 (1.5 ptas / 2 ptas).
The series is usually categorized as several sub-series as: "Agente Secreto X-9 (Secret Agent X-9)", "El Hombre Enmascarado (The Phantom), "Flash Gordon", "Merlin el Mago Moderno (Mandrake the Magician)", "Tarzan" and on.
Merlin el Mago Moderno
Note: Almost all issues are censored version. Someone has added extra ink to the femals for covering their shoulders, back and knees so the girls appears more decent dressed. Joaquín Esteve edited in collaboration with "Club Amigos de la Historieta" a facsimile reprint of the collection in 1983.
Las Grandes Aventuras Extras
Under the generic title Las Grandes Aventuras there were 12 Extra issues, one with Mandrake which went on sale between numbers 4 and 5 of the regular series.
Albums
Album Verde
Issues from the generic "Las Grandes Aventuras" series were in 1943 collected/rebounded into a new album series known as Album Verde:
Almanaque 1944
Jorge y Fernando
back cover
Tarzán #1
Tarzán #2
Flas Gordon #1
Flas Gordon #2
Album Rojo
The Album Rojo series started with 3 issues of "El Hombre Enmascarado" collected/rebounded from the generic "Las Grandes Aventuras" in 1943. From 1944 several other issues were released:
- "Agente Secreto X-9", issue 1
- "El Hombre Enmascarado", issues 1-8
- "Flas Gordon", issues 1-3
- "Merlín", issues 1-4
- "Tarzán", issues 1-4
- LGA Merlin Rojo-01.jpg
Almanaque series
Starting in 1943 the first and second almanaque were dedicated to Mandrake. The other almanaques were dedicatet to "El Hombre Enmascarado" (1946-1951).
- Facsimiles editions of these issues have also been published in 1995.
Sources
