The Phantom was published by Vidyarthi Mithram in Kottayam, Kerala, India in the mid-1970s. Not a great deal is known about this comic book series, estimated to of been released from around 1975 thru till around 1978, with an assumed 13 editions published in both Malayalam and Tamil languages.

At around the same time, Vidyarthi Mithram was also publishing comic book series featuring Mandrake the Magician in Malayalam language and Tarzan in English, Hindi and Tamil. Upon these series coming to an end around 1978, Vidyarthi Mithram released new comic book series such as Inspector Eagle and Secret Agent Vikram.

On several Tarzan comic book editions published by Vidyarthi Mithram, we find an advertisement on the outside back cover cross-promoting the Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and Tarzan comic book series. An example of the advertisement can be seen below, on the back of Tarzan edition number 26.

The Phantom comic books contain approximately 20 pages measuring 7.25” x 9.5”. The comic books were initially printed in black and white, then in monochrome color and then in later editions in 4 color print. Comic strip stories found within the series are translated newspaper strips written by Lee Falk and illustrated by Sy Barry.

All editions contain the Vidyarthi Mithram logo on the front cover, plus an edition number. 11 of the assumed 13 covers found in the series can be seen below.

A sample of internal pages can be seen below.

Found in Phantom comic book edition number 2, on the inside front cover, we read who the contributors of the series are, including a credit to King Features Syndicate.

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