Libros Animados (translating to ‘Animated Books’ from Spanish) is a series published by Editorial Oveja Negra in Colombia commencing in 1985. The story book series is printed and assembled by Carvajal S.A. in Cali, Colombia.
Carvajal S.A. was founded in 1904. In the late 1960’s, under Government pressure to step up exports, Carvajal S.A. made a series of strategic alliances with major international publishers (mainly in USA) such as Random House, Hallmark and Intervisual Communications to produce and co-publish animated books (specifically Pop-up books). It founded a new company specializing in the manufacturing of these books under the trading name of ‘Mancol’.
In this field of animated children’s books, Carvajal S.A. became the world market leader, producing more than 2,400 titles and millions of copies in the 34 years of continuous work. The books were assembled by hand in three production plants, in both Colombia and Ecuador.
At the end of 2001, Carvajal S.A. closed these three production plants because of the low cost of labor in Asian countries, making it impossible to compete economically.
The hardcover books measure 15cm x 14cm and are published in full color. Usually containing between 10-12 pages, the series have a unique ‘Pop-up’ feature on each page, with images raised above the page to add extra excitement to the story when being read.
The series isn’t solely dedicate to the Phantom, with other characters found including the Smurfs, the Flintstones, Spiderman, Popeye and more. We find the edition number of the book in large font on the back cover.
The Phantom appeared in at least 3 editions in the series in 1986, illustrated by Pedro Cassiani.
2 of these version can be seen below.
#61 – The Rebellion At The Jungle
A sample of internal pages can be seen below.
#70 – Rescue in Bangala
A sample of internal pages can be seen below.
The Phantom 