A Gazetinha (translating from Portuguese to ‘The Gazette’) was published by A Gazeta in São Paulo, Brazil from September 1929 thru till April 1940. Included as a newspaper lift-out supplement in the A Gazeta newspaper, a total of 630 editions were published. It contained comic strip stories, general interest articles, puzzles and educational content, all focusing on children interests.
A Gazetinha was well ahead of it’s time, released prior to well known newspaper supplements in Brazil, such as ‘Suplemento Infantil’ (1934), ‘O Globo ‘Juvenil’ (1937) and ‘Gibi’ (1939). Superman would make his first appearance in Brazil in A Gazetinha in December 1938.
A Gazeta newspaper was established in 1906 by journalist Adolfo Campos de Araújo in São Paulo, Brazil. The evening newspaper mainly focused on economics, politics, literature and culture, with the pages heavy with text and light on images.
The journalist Cásper Líbero would take charge in 1918 and elevate and modernize A Gazeta to success, introducing new section to the newspaper, including local, regional, cultural, sports and social themes.
A Gazeta is still in existence to this day.
A mix of international and local comic book characters were published in the A Gazetinha supplement, including Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Felix, Bascomb, James Hull and Spider Man. Each edition wasn’t dedicated to the one character, with only part of a comic strip appearing in each edition.
The Phantom was also featured, making his first appearance in edition number 169, published on the 2nd of December, 1936. It contains the commencement of the Lee Falk and Ray Moore classic Phantom story, ‘The Singh Brotherhood’. The Phantom wasn’t featured on the cover, but found within. Edition number 169 can be seen below.
The comic strip is published in landscape format. This is the first Phantom comic strip to appear in a Brazilian publication, published by A Gazeta.
7 Phantom stories were published in A Gazetinha supplements, with the Phantom appearing on several of the 630 covers published. A small example of the covers published can be seen below.
Internal pages were printed in a mix of black and white and color (generally red), with the Phantom published in landscape format as can be seen below. Editions generally contain 16 pages and measure 28cm x 38cm.
The final edition of A Gazetinha to feature the Phantom was in edition number 628, published on the 20th of March, 1940. It contained the Lee Falk and Ray Moore classic Phantom story, ‘The Sea Horse’, with the Phantom not featured on the cover.
The last edition in the series, number 630 was published on the 20th of April, 1940.
The Phantom 