Les héros de l'aventure
| Classiques de l'aventure Héros de l'aventure Les héros de l'aventure | |
 First issue | |
| Country/language: |  France / French
|
|---|---|
| Publishing company: | Les Editions des Remparts |
| Publishing years: | 1964–1971 |
| Issues: | 78 |
| Format: | 15×21 cm, b/w(/r) & color |
Issue overview
The series started as Classiques de l'aventure, the title changed to Héros de l'aventure (from #17) and again to Les héros de l'aventure (from #32). The series was a monthly French version of the Italian I Classici dell'Avventura series, published by Fratelli Spada.
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.
Regular series
78 issues were published between July 1964 and April 1971, each one 100 pages.
Albums
Unsold copies were later glued together with a new outer cover and sold as "albums". At least 27 albums were published, the four first under the title "Classiques de l'aventure". Each album had 3 issues from the regular series, with a new cover (in the beginning re-use of covers from an issue inside). Issue 18 (52-54) was the last which had the regular series chronological and from #19 the contens have various issues from the regular series inside.
Issues with Mandrake
first album
Album #26
Extra issues
Five unnumbered special issues of 132 pages were also published in 1967 and 1968, to coincide with French school holidays.
- 1967: Easter, Summer and Christmas (Numéro spécial hors série, Numéro spécial hors série, Numéro spécial nöel 1967)
- 1968: Easter and Christmas (Numéro spécial pâques 1968, Spécial nöel)
Sélection Héros de l'aventure
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 first issue had the Christmas 1967 and Easter 1968 issues inside.
Issues with Mandrake
Note
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.
See also