{"id":30747,"date":"2024-10-20T14:32:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T14:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30747"},"modified":"2024-10-20T14:32:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T14:32:05","slug":"mandrake-the-magician-fred-fredericks-sundays-volume-1-the-meeting-of-mandrake-and-lothar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/10\/20\/mandrake-the-magician-fred-fredericks-sundays-volume-1-the-meeting-of-mandrake-and-lothar\/","title":{"rendered":"Mandrake the Magician: Fred Fredericks Sundays volume 1 – The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Lee Falk<\/strong> & Fred Fredericks <\/strong>(Titan Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-78276-692-6 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced during less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Time for another Birthday briefing as we exploit the month of mystery and imagination to celebrate 90 glorious years for another Golden Age stalwart\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Regarded by many as comics\u2019 first superhero, Mandrake the Magician<\/strong> debuted as a daily newspaper strip on 11th<\/sup> June 1934 – although creator Lee Falk had sold the strip almost a decade previously. Initially drawing it too, Falk replaced himself as soon as feasible, allowing the early wonderment to materialise through the effective understatement of sublimely solid draughtsman Phil Davis. An instant hit, Mandrake was quickly supplemented by a full-colour Sunday companion page from February 3rd<\/sup> 1935.<\/p>\n

Falk – as 19-year-old college student Leon Harrison Gross – had sold the strip to King Features Syndicate years earlier, but asked the monolithic company to let him finish his studies before dedicating himself to it full time. Schooling done, the 23-year-old born raconteur settled into his life\u2019s work, entertaining millions with astounding tales. Falk also created the first costumed superhero in moodily magnificent generational manhunter The Phantom<\/strong>, going on to spawn an entire comic book subgenre with his first creation. Most Golden Age publishers boasted at least one (and usually many) nattily attired wizards in their gaudily-garbed pantheons: all roaming the world(s) making miracles and crushing injustice with varying degrees of stage legerdemain or actual sorcery.<\/p>\n

Characters like Mr. Mystic<\/strong>, Ibis the Invincible<\/strong>, Sargon the Sorcerer<\/strong>, and an assortment of\u00a0 \u201c<\/em>\u2026the Magician\u201d\u2019s <\/em>like Zatara<\/strong>, Zanzibar<\/em>, Kardak<\/em> proliferated ad infinitum: all borrowing heavily and shamelessly from the uncanny exploits of the elegant, enigmatic man of mystery gracing the world\u2019s newspapers and magazines. In the Antipodes, Mandrake was a suave and stalwart regular of Australian Women\u2019s Weekly<\/strong> and became a cherished icon of adventure in the UK, Australia, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Turkey and across Scandinavia: a major star of page and screen, pervading every aspect of global consciousness.<\/p>\n

Over many decades he has been a star of radio, movie chapter-serials, a theatrical play, television and animation (as part of series Defenders of the Earth<\/strong>). With that has come the usual merchandising bonanza of games, toys (including magic trick kits), books, comics and more\u2026<\/p>\n

Falk worked on Mandrake and \u201cThe Ghost who Walks\u201d until his death in 1999 (even on his deathbed, he was laying out one last story), but also found a few quiet moments to become a renowned playwright, theatre producer and impresario, as well as an inveterate world-traveller. After drawing those first few strips Falk united with sublimely polished cartoonist Phil Davis, whose sleekly understated renditions took the daily strip, and especially the expansive full-page Sunday pages (collected in companion volume The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers<\/strong>), to unparalleled heights of sophistication. Davis\u2019 steadfast, assured realism was the perfect tool to render the Magician\u2019s mounting catalogue of spectacular miracles. Soon the Magician was a major star of page & screen, pervading all aspects of global consciousness as hinted at in a furore of fact features and massed memorabilia treats, beginning with introductory essay \u2018The Real Mandrake the Magician\u2019<\/em>. This discusses real-life stage magician Leon Mandrake<\/em> – who shared the evocative sobriquet in the mid-20th<\/sup> century – as revealed courtesy of his son Lon. Next on the bill is an appreciation of Davis\u2019 inspired replacement as illustrator, in \u2018Fred Fredericks – My Mandrake Artist\u2019<\/em> by Andreas Erikson, with incisive exploration of Harold \u201cFred\u201d Fredericks, who took over art production when Davis died and who ultimately assumed full creative duties when Falk himself passed on in 1999. This briefing covers that his tenure and includes his prodigious pre- and post-Mandrake comics work.<\/p>\n

Those in the know are well aware that Mandrake was educated at the fabled College of Magic in Tibet, thereafter becoming a suave globe-trotting troubleshooter. Always and everywhere he was accompanied by African partner-in-crimefighting Lothar<\/em> and, from early on, capable companion (eventually, in 1997, bride) Princess Narda of Cockaigne<\/em>. Together they solved mysteries and fought evil. Those exploits took the close-knit team literally everywhere, and the strips section of this luxury monochrome landscape hardback opens on \u2018Traveler\u2019s Tale\u2019 <\/em>which ran from March 21st<\/sup> to August 22nd<\/sup> 1965 and saw the last episodes illustrated by Davis, before his death in 1964 from a heart attack.<\/p>\n

The saga sees Mandrake in the arctic, where iceberg-watching leads to the recovery of an apparent alien in a survival capsule. A physical and mental marvel, while slowly awakening Opolo<\/em> deduces not just the English language but also that he\u2019s been in hibernation for 60,000 years. He goes on to reveal that he\u2019s actually from Earth, albeit part of a space-faring race that preceded Homo Sapiens. He\u2019s also pining for his estranged true love Adrana<\/em>, and Mandrake is happy to help him find her and the long buried civilisation they both came from and are the last survivors of…<\/p>\n

Incredibly, along the way, the magician also solves an ancient murder mystery and plays cupid to the reunited survivors, before seeing them abandon their birthworld for the stars…
\n\"\"
\nAlways well in tune with contemporary zeitgeists – like sci fi and spy fi – Falk dipped into the growing well of supervillains monopolizing book shelves and airwaves by next reviving Mandrake\u2019s personal arch-nemesis as \u2018The Cobra Returns\u2019 <\/em>(August 29th<\/sup> 1965 – April 3rd<\/sup> 1966). The sinister savant was once Mandrake\u2019s tutor at The College of Magic and here begins a globally destabilising assassination spree, provoking crime busting agency Inter-Intel<\/em> to call in the Magician and his crew to consult. Sadly, the ploy only makes the perfidious plotter turn his full murderous attentions on our heroes, in an escalating series of attacks that ultimately end in a spectacular showdown and apparent end of the evil one…<\/p>\n

With global stability secured, organised crime goes wild, and the miracle trio are kept busy helping the good guys crack down on mobsters in \u2018The Underworld vs. Inter-Intel\u2019<\/em> (April 10th<\/sup> – August 7th<\/sup> 1966), after which \u2018The Astro Pirates\u2019 <\/em>(August 14th<\/sup> – December 25th<\/sup> 1966) highlights a modern spin on an old racket…<\/p>\n

When bold bandits begin holding up airliners in the stratosphere they foolishly pick a jet carrying Narda, and a fully-engaged Mandrake and Lothar spare no effort to end the sinister sky-jinks, after which – inspired by the \u201cGreat Northeast Blackout\u201d of November 5th<\/sup> 1965 – Falk & Fredericks fill us in on \u2018The Blackout Caper\u2019 <\/em>(January 1st<\/sup> – April 23rd<\/sup> 1967), as a mad scientist teams up with mobsters to use darkness and chaos to get rich quick and fulfil even nastier nuclear ambitions but underestimate the power of the mighty magician…
\n\"\"
\nFredericks was a liberal and civil rights proponent, and had for months been subtly changing the \u201chappy, loyal native\u201d appearance of the African globetrotter to match the acts and character Falk had been crafting for years. The process was completed with a reboot of their first adventure together spanning April 30th<\/sup> – September 24th<\/sup>. \u2018The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar\u2019 <\/em>relates how the practically superhuman prince of reclusive kingdom \u201cthe 12 Nations\u201d joins Mandrake in stopping crazed fugitive Mad Dog Dill<\/em>, before abdicating all monarchical responsibilities to fight evil everywhere. However, returning to the present, shocks abound as Lothar agrees to helm his people\u2019s transition to democracy by becoming their president, just as Mandrake and Narda are targeted by a manic gambler turned master-villain.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Game of Chance\u2019 <\/em>(October 1st<\/sup> 1967 – February 11th <\/sup>1968) soon sees Lothar return to aid in the comeuppance of devious blackmailer, kidnapper and influence-peddler Baron Chance<\/em> and, prior to a resurgence of full-on fantasy, returns in \u2018Invasion of the Babu\u2019 <\/em>(February 18th <\/sup>– July 21st<\/sup> 1968). No stranger to space adventure, Mandrake and Co are best friends with Magnon<\/em> and Carola<\/em>, Emperor and Empress of the Central Galaxy and benign rulers of one million worlds. The humans were there when the potentates had their baby Nardraka<\/em>, and, as dutiful \u201cgodparents\u201d, pull out all the stops when the toddler princess is abducted by barbaric invaders the Baboos<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sadly for them, the apelike alien aggressors make a string of mistakes, beginning with hiding the hostage on even more barbaric Earth, continuing with trying to outsmart Mandrake and closing with believing Nardraka is \u201cjust\u201d a stupid little female…<\/p>\n

With one crisis resolved, Mandrake barely survives the renewed attentions of the Baron as \u2018Second Chance\u2019 <\/em>(July 28th<\/sup> – November 3rd<\/sup> 1968) sees the magician and Inter-Intel hunt the murderous malefactor to his hidden island fortress and strike a major blow against organised crime, after which \u2018The All or Nothing Hunt\u2019 <\/em>(November 10th<\/sup> 1968 – March 30th<\/sup> 1969), heralds the arrival of alien gamblers Alpha<\/em> and Beta<\/em>, who have made the mage their next obsession. Hiding a planet-eradicating bomb on Earth, the wagerers expect the wonder wizard to traverse the globe, deciphering clues to deactivate it. Of course, the extraterrestrials don\u2019t play fair, but Mandrake isn\u2019t playing at all…
\n\"\"
\nNo good deed goes unpunished, however, and \u2018The Galactic Rumble\u2019 <\/em>(April 6th<\/sup> – September 7th<\/sup> 1969) reveals that Alpha and Beta are intergalactic crime lords with millions of thugs now indulging in an intergalactic gang war Magnon\u2019s military and peacekeepers are helpless to stop. Isn\u2019t it time to call in some consultants with the know-how to fight them on their own terms?<\/p>\n

Yes it is, and not even exploding stars and marauding star dragons can long slow them down…<\/p>\n

Ending the show are \u2018The Fred Fredericks Mandrake the Magician Complete Sunday Checklist (1965-2002)\u2019<\/em>, plus full biographies of Fred Fredericks <\/em>and Lee Falk<\/em>. This thrilling tome offers exotic locales, thrilling action, bold belly laughs, cunning crime action and sheer wonder in equal measure. Paramount taleteller Falk instinctively knew from the start that the secret of success was strong and, crucially, recurring villains to test and challenge his heroes, and make Mandrake an unmissable treat for every strip addict. These stories have lost none of their impact and only need you reading them to concoct a perfect cure for the 21st<\/sup> century glums.
\nMandrake the Magician \u00a9 2018 King Features Syndicate. All Rights Reserved. All other material \u00a9 2018 the respective authors or owners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lee Falk & Fred Fredericks (Titan Books) ISBN: 978-1-78276-692-6 (HB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times. Time for another Birthday briefing as we exploit the month of mystery and imagination to celebrate 90 glorious years for another Golden Age stalwart\u2026 Regarded by many as comics\u2019 first superhero, Mandrake the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Mandrake the Magician: Fred Fredericks Sundays volume 1 – The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,78,75,290,102,364,108,225,127,107,169,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-comic-strip-classics","category-crime-comics","category-dinosaurs","category-fantasy","category-mandrake-the-magician","category-miscellaneous-superhero","category-mystery","category-nostalgia","category-science-fiction","category-spy-stories","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7ZV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30753,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30747\/revisions\/30753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}