Al Shabah (which translates to The Phantom) is a comic series published by Ekhwan Maarouf under the rights of The Arab Center of Publishing in Alexandria, Egypt. This four edition series is the first time we see the Phantom in his own comic book series in Egypt, licensed by King Features Syndicate.
Ekhwan Maarouf (roughly translating to the “Maarouf Brothers”) was an Egyptian publishing house operating out of Alexandria under the legal rights of The Arab Center of Publishing. Although relatively obscure on the global stage, the imprint holds a distinct historical footprint in Middle Eastern pop culture for its role in localizing Western comic heroes for Arabic-speaking readers during the mid-to-late 20th century.
The publisher is best known among comic historians and collectors for producing Al Shabah (The Phantom).Officially licensed through King Features Syndicate, this release marked the very first time Lee Falk’s famous masked crime-fighter starred in his own dedicated comic book series within Egypt. Prior to this localized imprint, foreign heroic characters rarely enjoyed standalone, officially sanctioned runs in the Egyptian print market.
Today, surviving copies from Ekhwan Maarouf are considered rare collector items, serving as an important bridge in the history of international comic licensing across the Arab world.
In terms of production and format, Ekhwan Maarouf published Al Shabah as a four-issue series, each issue comprised 28 pages featuring translated Arabic text and black-and-white interior artwork, capped by vibrant full-color front covers. All four Al Shabah comic books found in the series can be seen below.
The back cover of all four comic books contain the same images and text.
A sample of internal pages can be seen below.
