The Comic Samlar-Gnuggisar (which translates to ‘Comic Collector-Rubs) Album was produced by Semic Press in Sweden in 1971.
Semic Press was a Swedish comic book publishing company that operated from 1963 to 1997. Known for original comics such as Bobo, Bamse, FF med Bert, as well as translated American and European titles such as the Phantom, James Bond, Blondie, Tarzan and many more. For decades Semic was the country’s largest comic book publisher. In 1997 Semic was sold to the Danish media house Egmont.
The Comic Samlar-Gnuggisar Album contains 38 pages and houses a total of 252 syndicated newspaper comic strip rub-on transfers published in Sweden by Semic Press. Both album and individual packets of 8 rub-on transfers per packet were sold in select newsagents. The front and back covers of the album can be seen below.
We find instructions within the Album on how to apply the rub-on images to the allocated spot.
2 pages within the Album are dedicated to the Phantom, page 8 and 9. We see 20 rub-on transfer images across these 2 pages, numbered from 21 to 40, of either the Phantom, or characters and symbols found within Phantom storylines.
The text published on page 8 in Swedish reads:
The Phantom series turned 35 in January 1971 and is thus the oldest of the masked hero series. Many also say it’s the best, horse lengths ahead of the successors Stäl mannen, Laderlappen and Captain Marvel, etc. The man who created it and is still in charge is Lee Falk, who also writes Mandrake. The first cartoonist was called Ray Moore, in 1942 Wilson McCoy started to draw and in 1962 the pen was taken over by Sy Barry. In addition, a number of assistant cartoonists have dealt with the many fates and adventures of the wandering charity.
An unused rub-on transfer can be seen below, number 25.
The Albums centerfold page contains 2 mail-away cards to order missing rub-on transfers.
King Features Syndicate licensed their comic book characters to Bulls for European syndication, which is why so many of the transfers are marked copyrighted to Bulls. The other characters are European; some of them Franco-Belgian, some Scandinavian or Dutch and of course Andy Capp being the British contribution.
Thank you Christopher Smith for assisting with images and information.
The Phantom 