Mandrake the Magician is a syndicated newspaper comic strip, created by Lee Falk before he created The Phantom.Ron Goulart, The Encyclopedia of American Comics. New York: Facts on File, 1990. . pp. 91, 249–250.Judith O'Sullivan, The Great American Comic Strip. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990. . p. 17. Mandrake began publication on June 11, 1934. Phil Davis soon took over as the strip's illustrator, while Falk continued to script. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate.Ron Goulart, "The Glory Days, or Believe It or Not!" in Dean Mullaney, Bruce Canwell and Brian Walker, King of the Comics: One Hundred Years of King Features Syndicate. San Diego: IDW Publishing, 2015. . pp. 119, 122.
Mandrake, along with the Phantom Magician in Mel Graff's The Adventures of Patsy, is regarded as the first superhero of comics by comics historians such as Don Markstein, who wrote, "Some people say Mandrake the Magician, who started in 1934, was comics' first superhero."
Davis worked on the strip until his death in 1964, when Falk recruited artist Fred Fredericks. With Falk's death in 1999, Fredericks became both writer and artist. The Sunday-newspaper Mandrake strip ended December 29, 2002. The daily newspaper strip ended mid-story on July 6, 2013, when Fred Fredericks retired, and a reprint of Pursuit of the Cobra (D220) from 1995 began July 8, 2013.
Characters and story Mandrake is a magician whose work is based on an unusually fast hypnotic technique. As noted in captions, when Mandrake "gestures hypnotically", his subjects see illusions, and Mandrake has used this technique against a variety of villains including gangsters, mad scientists, extraterrestrials, and characters from other dimensions. At various times in the comic strip, Mandrake also demonstrates other powers, including becoming invisible, shapeshifting, levitation, and teleporting. Although Mandrake publicly works as a stage magician, he spends much of his time fighting criminals and combatting supernatural entities. Mandrake lives in Xanadu, a high-tech mansion atop a mountain in New York State. Xanadu's features include closed-circuit TV, a sectional road which divides in half, and vertical iron gates.
Leon Mandrake Leon Mandrake, a real-life magician, had been performing for well over ten years before Lee Falk introduced the comic strip character. Thus, he is sometimes thought to have been the source for the origin of the strip, however Leon didn't appear on stage by the name of Mandrake until 1943. Leon Mandrake, like the fictional Mandrake, was also known for his top hat, pencil-line mustache, and scarlet-lined cape. Ironically, Leon Mandrake had changed his stage name to Mandrake to match the popular strip and then legally changed his surname from Giglio to Mandrake later. The resemblance between the comic-strip hero and the real-life magician was close enough to allow Leon to at least passively allow the illusion that the strip was based on his stage persona. Leon Mandrake was accompanied by Narda, his first wife and stage assistant, named after a similar character, who appears in the strip. Velvet, his replacement assistant and eventual lifetime partner, would also later make appearances in the strip along with his real-life side-kick, Lothar.
Other characters Supporting Lothar is Mandrake's best friend and crimefighting companion, who Mandrake first met during his travels in Africa. Lothar was the Prince of the Seven Nations, a mighty federation of jungle tribes but forbore becoming king to follow Mandrake on his world travels. Lothar is often referred to as "the strongest man in the world". One of the first African crimefighting heroes ever to appear in comics, Lothar's début alongside Mandrake was in the 1934 inaugural daily strip. In the beginning, Lothar spoke poor English and wore a fez, short pants, and a leopard skin. In a 1935 work by King Features Syndicate, Lothar is referred to as Mandrake's "giant black slave." When artist Fred Fredericks took over in 1965, Lothar spoke correct English and his clothing changed, although he often wore shirts with leopard-skin patterns.
Narda is Princess of the European nation Cockaigne, ruled by her brother Segrid. She made her first appearance in the second Mandrake story. Even though she and Mandrake were initially infatuated with each other, they did not marry until 1997, when they held an extravagant triple wedding ceremony at Mandrake's home of Xanadu, Narda's home country Cockaigne, and Mandrake's father Theron's College of Magic (Collegium Magikos) in the Himalayas. Narda learned martial arts from Hojo.
Theron is the headmaster of the College of Magic (Collegium Magikos) located in the Himalayas. He is hundreds of years old and may be kept alive by the Mind Crystal, of which he is the guardian.
Hojo, who knows six languages, is Mandrake's chef at his home of Xanadu and the secret chief of the international crimefighting organization Inter-Intel. As such, he has enlisted Mandrake's help with many cases. He is also a superb martial-arts expert. Hojo's assistant at Inter-Intel is Jed.
The Police Chief is named Bradley but mostly called Chief. Mandrake aided him on several occasions. The Chief created the S.S.D. (Silly Stuff Dept.) for absurd and unbelievable cases that only Mandrake could solve. He has a son, Chris.
Magnon, the emperor of the galaxy, is Mandrake's most powerful friend and, with his wife Carola, has a daughter, Nardraka. She was named after Mandrake and Narda and is their godchild.
Lenore is Mandrake's younger half-sister. She is a world-renowned explorer.
Karma is Lothar's girlfriend, an African princess who works as a model.
Villains The Cobra is Mandrake's most evil and dangerous foe, apparent from the start of the story. In 1937, the Cobra seemed to be defeated, but returned in 1965, wearing a menacing silver mask. The Cobra's main goal is to acquire one of the two powerful Crystal Cubes, which increase mental energy. Mandrake and his father Theron guard them. Mandrake learned that The Cobra was secretly Luciphor, Theron's oldest son and, thus, Mandrake's half-brother. In later years, the Cobra was able to abandon his silver mask because his face had been reconstructed through surgery. He is sometimes accompanied by his assistant Ud, later revealed to be Octon, the leader of the 8.
Derek is Mandrake's twin brother and, thus, similar to Mandrake in appearance. He used his magical powers, which were nearly the same as Mandrake's, to achieve short-term personal satisfaction. Mandrake tried to remove Derek's knowledge of magic but never entirely succeeded. Derek's son Eric, with an unknown mother, shows no signs of following in his father's footsteps.
The Clay Camel, real name Saki, is a master of disguise, able to mimic anyone and change his appearance in seconds. His name comes from the symbol he leaves at the scenes of his crimes, a small camel made of clay.
The Brass Monkey, daughter of the Clay Camel, has a similar talent for disguises.
Aleena the Enchantress is a former friend of Mandrake's from the College of Magic and a much-married spoiled temptress who uses her magic powers to benefit herself. She sometimes attempts to seduce Mandrake, but fails and, afterward, attempts to cause him trouble.
8 is an old and very powerful crime organization originating in medieval times. Members are known to often incorporate the number 8 in their crimes or leave the number 8 as a mark. They are organized like an octopus with eight arms, as in its headquarters, which are spread all over the world. One head — the mysterious leader Octon — is only shown as a menacing image on a computer screen. Over the years, Mandrake destroys the various headquarters one by one. In one episode, the Octon of 8 is revealed as Cobra, but the name later refers to an artificial intelligence wielded by Ming the Merciless in the television series Defenders of the Earth.
Ekardnam, Mandrake spelled backward, is Mandrake's "evil twin", who exists on the other side of a mirror. Like his world, in which the government is run by the Private of the Armies and generals do menial tasks, Ekardnam is an exact opposite and uses his "evil eye" to work his magic.
The Deleter is an extraterrestrial contract killer who will "delete" anyone for a price but will inflict justice on anyone who tries to cheat him out of his contract fee.
Nitro Cain is a mad bomber who throws sticks of explosives at people, including Mandrake. After the Mandrake comic strip appeared in the Australian newspaper Sunday Telegraph, the series was later abruptly withdrawn with the last panel showing that Nitro Cain had blown Mandrake off a horse, with Mandrake exclaiming: "Blast you, Nitro Cain", a clever reference to the explosive's blast.
The newspaper strip Oddly, newspapers did not carry any Mandrake daily strips with dates between June 26 and June 30, 1940. Instead, they carried strips dated one week later. The following week, to catch up, newspapers ran a week of undated strips. Some newspapers even scratched out the date printed on the strip and by hand wrote in the correct date.Comics Revue Presents, August 2023
Comic books Mandrake had a prominent role in Magic Comics, a compilation of newspaper comic strip reprints published by David McKay Company from 1939 to 1949. Mandrake was the cover star for issues nos. 8 through 24. Beginning with issue no. 25, an illustration of Mandrake became part of the magazine's logo.
Dell Comics published a Mandrake the Magician issue in its Four Color comic book series with various main characters. The Mandrake issue, no. 752, featured original stories by Stan Campell and written by Paul Newman.
In 1966–67, King Comics published ten issues of a Mandrake the Magician comic book. Most of the stories were remakes of past newspaper strip stories and featured art by André LeBlanc, and others. Mandrake stories also ran as backup features in other King titles.
Italian publisher Fratelli Spada produced a considerable amount of original Mandrake comic-book stories in the 1960s and 1970s. A few were also published in the American Mandrake comic book mentioned above.
Marvel released a Mandrake mini-series in 1995, written by Mike W. Barr with painted art by Rob Ortaleza. However, only two of three planned issues were published.
Mandrake has also enjoyed great success in comic books published in Britain, Australia, Brazil, India, France, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Turkey, and Sweden. Although, in the Nordic countries, it was most often a backup feature in The Phantom comic books. As well, Mandrake is popular in India through Indrajal Comics.
Mandrake is featured together with the Phantom in The Phantom Annual #2, written by Mike Bullock and Kevin Grevioux and published by Moonstone Books.
In 2013, Dynamite Entertainment launched a mini-series, Kings Watch, in which, much like Defenders of the Earth, Mandrake and Lothar teamed up with the Phantom, Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Hans Zarkov. The series pitted the six characters against the Cobra and Ming the Merciless. This was followed by a Mandrake solo comic, written by Roger Langridge and drawn by Jeremy Treece, as part of Dynamite's King: Dynamite series."KING: Five New Dynamite Launches of Classic Characters" Newsarama, 8 October 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2015.