Sandokan Sinónimo de Aventura comic books were published by Editorial Columba in Argentina from 1982 thru till 1983. Over this short period of time, a total of 28 editions were published in Spanish after being translated from English.
Editorial Columba was founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1928 by brothers Ramón and Claudio Columba, with the companies main business being publishing, paper supply, printing and distribution. Second generation brothers, also named Ramón and Claudio, are credited with the success Editorial Columba saw for being a high grade publisher of comic books.
Editorial Columba released various successful publications, including El Tony, Interval, Fantasía, D’artagnan and Nippur Magnum. Editorial Columba would continue to remain under ownership of the Columba family for three generations, before closing in May 2001 due to the economic crisis that hit Argentina in 2000.
Sandokan Sinónimo de Aventura comic books were published in full color, with the first 20 comics printed in portrait format, then in landscape format for the last 8 editions. Each edition had a mix of comic book characters including Gringo, Mandrake the Magician, Popeye, Rip Kirby, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Quincy, Spiderman, Hulk, Prince Valiant and Superman, just to name a few.
Comic book numbers 1 to 20 measure 40cm x 28cm and contain 32 pages, whilst comic book numbers 21 to 28 measure 18cm x 28cm and contain 52 pages. Comic book covers generally contained the title at the top ‘Sandokan Sinónimo de Aventura’, a list of comic book strips found within, with the main image being a comic strip. Unique to the series, we see profile images of comic book characters along the header of the front cover.
Below we see edition number 1, released on the 29th of September, 1982.
The Phantom also featured in the series, but not in all editions. Phantom comic strips can be found in editions 10, 11, 13, 15, 20, 22, 25 and 27. The Phantom isn’t always featured on the front cover in the editions he’s featured in, as can be seen below.
The last edition, number 28, was released on the 6th of July, 1983.
Whilst the above comic book series was being published, a second series was released by Editorial Columba titled ‘Super Sandokan Sinónimo de Aventura’, commencing in January 1983 and running thru until July 1983. A total of 14 comic books were published in this series in Spanish.
Super Sandokan Sinónimo de Aventura comic books were published in full color, with the first 11 comics printed in portrait format, then in landscape format for the last 3 editions. Each edition had a mix of comic book characters, similar to the series above, including Gringo, Mandrake the Magician, Popeye, Rip Kirby, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Batman, Quincy, Spiderman, Hulk, Wonder Woman, Prince Valiant and Superman, just to name a few.
Comic book numbers 1 to 11 measure 40cm x 28cm and contain 44 pages, whilst comic book numbers 12 to 14 measure 20cm x 29cm and contain 52 pages. The covers resemble the series above, except now we see the word ‘Super’ added to the heading at the top. Again, unique to the series, we see profile images of comic book characters along the header of the front cover.
Edition number 1 can be seen below, released on the 12th of January, 1983.
Phantom comic strips can be found in the last 2 editions of the series, numbers 13 and 14, however the Phantom isn’t featured on the front covers. The last edition, number 14, was released on the 13th of July, 1983.
The Phantom 