EBAL

EBAL or Editora Brasil - América Limitada was a Brazilian publisher of comics.

History

EBAL (short for Editora Brasil-América Limitada) was one of the most important comic book publishers in Brazil. It was founded on May 18, 1945, by Adolfo Aizen, a Russian Jewish immigrant who settled in Brazil and became a pioneering editor. Aizen played a central role in establishing comic books as a popular medium in the country.

Before founding EBAL, Aizen had a long and influential career in Brazilian publishing. He worked at the magazines O Malho and O Tico-Tico and the newspaper O Globo. After a trip to the United States in the early 1930s, Aizen became fascinated by the popularity of comic strip supplements in American newspapers. Back in Brazil, he met Arroxelas Galvão, the Brazilian representative of King Features Syndicate, to sell adventure comic strips to local newspapers.

Aizen, however, recognized the potential of the format. He negotiated with Galvão and secured the rights to publish several King Features characters. This led to the first publication of adventure strips like Flash Gordon in Brazil. Aizen proposed the idea of a comics supplement to O Globo’s owner, Roberto Marinho, but Marinho rejected it, claiming it would be too costly. Undeterred, Aizen left the newspaper and launched Suplemento Juvenil in 1934, through the newspaper A Nação.

With the success of Suplemento Juvenil, Aizen founded the Grande Consórcio de Suplementos Nacionais. In response, Roberto Marinho eventually created O Globo Juvenil, initiating a rivalry that would shape Brazilian comics for years. Aizen countered with publications such as O Lobinho and O Mirim—the latter being the first Brazilian magazine to adopt the American "comic book" format, released in 1937. In 1939, O Gibi was launched by Marinho's group to compete directly with Aizen’s titles.EBAL’s first release was Seleções Coloridas in 1946, a joint effort with Argentina’s Editorial Abril, which held the rights to Disney characters. EBAL went on to publish an impressive catalog of international comics, introducing Brazilian audiences to major characters from DC Comics, Marvel, King Features, and classic literature adaptations via its Edição Maravilhosa series.

The company’s most successful and long-running title was Superman, which ran from 1947 to 1983.

Coleção King was a short-lived series of five books from 1948 that contained prose adaptations of stories for various King Features Syndicate characters. The Phantom appeared in one book entitled O Fantasma: Em Justiça do Deserto, which reprinted "The Phantom & Desert Justice" story (text version of "The Slave Traders") from Coleção Gibi.

Between January 1979 and November 1980, EBAL published a series of five large format color volumes. The first issue reprinted "The Childhood of the Phantom", and the next four volumes combined to reprint "The Singh Brotherhood". The striking cover artwork for all five albums was by A. Monteiro Filho.

In the late 1980s, EBAL expanded into Japanese tokusatsu heroes from Toei Company, publishing comics based on Jaspion, Changeman, Sharivan, and others—many produced by Studio Velpa. However, with the rise of new publishers and the death of Adolfo Aizen in 1991, EBAL’s influence waned.

The publisher officially ceased operations in 1995, after releasing its final volume of Prince Valiant. Its archives were donated to the Museu Permanente de Histórias em Quadrinhos (Permanent Museum of Comics), later transferred to Brazil’s National Library, ensuring EBAL’s legacy in Brazilian cultural history.

Serialized "The Phantom" titles

Title	Year(s)	Issues
Album do Fantasma	1979-1980	5

"The Phantom" one-shots

Title	Year
O Fantasma: Em Justiça do Deserto	1948