Fratelli Spada
Edizioni Fratelli Spada (in English Spada Brothers Publishing) was an Italian comics publisher, founded in 1956, which published many Mandrake and Phantom comics during the 1960's and 1970's.
History
The Fratelli Spada Mandrake production continued a similarly named series previously published by the publisher La Freccia, a company managed by Mario Nerbini. La Freccia's comics were printed by Stampa Stabilimento Grafico Editoriale Fratelli Spada; Fratelli Spada's printing division in Rome which posseded better and cheaper methods of printing. When Nerbini ended his publishing activities due financial problems, he sold his Mandrake and Phantom publications to the Fratelli Spada company.
From the first Mandrake release, issued on January 5, 1962 (Mandrake #1) until the last one in January 1980 (Mandrake #96), the 19 year long period of Fratelli Spada Mandrake comics was quite an achievement compared to the only four years long (1958 –1961) La Freccia period.
It is worth noting that the Mandrake (and Phantom) issues also contained many other American comics such as "Rip Kirby", "Tim Tyler's Luck", "King of the Royal Mounted", "Brick Bradford", and so on. At the end of the seventies, encouraged by the popularity of such reprints, Fratelli Spada was also involved in the reprints of other famous American comics, such as "Prince Valiant", "Flash Gordon", which received special individual releases, often published in bigger format.
As several Mandrake issues were released each month, Fratelli Spada obtained rights from King Features Syndicate to produce its own Mandrake stories, "home-made" by Italian creators (see list on Fratelli Spada stories).
A great part of the issues printed by the Fratelli Spada were also translated into French and published by Editions des Remparts in similar formats around the same time.
In the beginning of the 1980's, Fratelli Spada ceased to publish comics almost completely, but the company still exists as a printing company.
Mandrake publications published by Fratelli Spada
| Title | Year(s) | Issues |
|---|---|---|
| Il Vascello - Mandrake | 1962-1967 1967-1971 1971-1972 1972-1979 |
140 206 32 96 |
| Super Albo / Special Mandrake | 1962-1967 | 115 |
| I Classici dell'Avventura | 1962-1967 | 67 (of total 134) |
| I Giganti | 1967 | 7 (14 in total) |
| Albi Spada | 1972-1974 | 1 (of 6 in total) |
| I Quaderni del Fumetto | 1973 – 1977 | 4 (of 25 in total) |
| Mandrake Selezione | 1976 - 1979 | 19 |
