Mandrake the Magician: Fred Fredericks Sundays Vol. 1: The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar

by Lee Falk, Fred Fredericks (Illustrator)

The continuing adventures of the world's first costumed crime fighter. This is the first collection of the Fred Fredericks' Mandrake The Magician Sunday comic strips. Offering a heady mix of action, adventure, high jinx and drama!

Following Frederick's updating of Mandrake Welcome to Mandrake the Magician of the 1960s, hipper and cooler than his 1930s incarnation thanks to the art stylings of Fred Fredricks. And yet, both Fredericks and Mandrake's creator Lee Falk managed to land our top-hatted hero into some pretty outlandish and action packed adventures on this Earth and beyond! This volume includes the unwelcome return of Mandrake's arch enemy, The Cobra, the introduction of a sinister new crime syndicate called The Underworld and the creation of counter crime organization called Inter-Intel, headed up by Mandrake.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comic Strips

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Lee Falk, born Leon Harrison Gross (April 28, 1911 - March 13, 1999), was an American writer, theater director and producer, best known as the creator of the popular comic strips The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. At the height of their popularity, these strips attracted over 100 million readers every day. Falk also wrote short stories, and he contributed to a series of pulp novels about The Phantom

Reviews

[Jelena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mandrake, my old friend, you have not aged well. Though the exact same thing can be said of me as well, especially in this context.

When I was a little girl, “Mandrake the Magician” was among my preferred forms of entertainment. Never my very favourite, not something I would go wild about, but I did like the comic rather well (as opposed to lots of cartoons, comics and fairy tales that I despised). Adventures, travels, wild animals, even wilder and crazier humans, hypnotic powers, the occasional old-school punch, and the man is wearing a tuxedo at all times. What’s not to like?

Actually… The plot might be something to leave an adult reader in quite a meh state of mind. It is insanely naïve, blunt and repetitive. At its best, “Mandrake the Magician” is still quite fun to read, albeit with a condescending chuckle. At its worst, it comes down to a banal and terribly overbearing melodrama. While the stories are more often than not poorly written, the artwork still retains its charm. The dandy illusionist with his pencil mustachios à la Clark Gable, striking a movie star pose in every single panel, the precise lines, the elaborate, yet doll-like features. Such a delight!

Another thing is that I quite easily came to terms with Mandrake and me having grown apart. I cannot really explain this change of heart, since there is enough god-awful nonsense from my childhood which I still love fiercely and passionately. Among others, I will never get over “Flash Gordon” (the comic) or “He-Man” (the animated series), just like I would fight anyone who has an objection to those, and fight dirty if I have to. With “Mandrake” everything turned out just fine: the tender memories are fine, the lack of fresh excitement is fine too. No sting in the heart, no melancholic regret.

And one final remark, just to prove that the way it has always been is not always the best option: For me personally, “Mandrake” works much better when in full colour. Somehow, black and white artwork goes well with those sophisticated graphic novels and memoires. But the pulpier a story, the more it gains from all the blue, red, green, yellow etc. it can get.

[Ash]

I have read plenty of Mandrake comics during my childhood. However, I don't remember the comic book titles. I want to get hold of these old comics someday and just reread them.

[Marko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve grown up reading Mandrake comics from a morning newspaper, so this collection was admittedly full of nostalgia.

These Sunday newspaper strips had more repetition than the dailies from the same period and the stories were more fantastical. I think I preferred the dailies.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perchè leggere le striscie del Mandrake di Falk oggi?
Diversi motivi: il primo è il piacere dell'avventura. In generale non un gran piacere, perché conoscendo i poteri ipnotici di Mandrake e la forza di Lothar i finali delle storie qui presentati sono tutti abbastanza prevedibili.
Un secondo motivo è la narrazione: buona parte delle storie sono costituite da strisce settimanali, tre strisce a settimana per diversi mesi per completare una storia. Falk si dimostra un ottimo narratore in queste storie ed è bravo a dosare azione, riflessione, commedia e qualche stereotipo divertente; ad esempio Narda spesso lasciata indietro perché c'è un pericolo. Quando le storie diventano a singola striscia giornaliera purtroppo questa efficacia tende a perdersi.
Un terzo motivo è l'evoluzione grafica della serie: le prime striscie sono ancora di Phil Davis, con il suo tratto sottile e quasi da "linea chiara" e quando lo sostituisce Fred Fredericks inizialmente mantiene quell'impostazione, per poi virare sempre più verso linee più marcate ed un maggior uso delle ombre, dei neri per ottenere masse ed effetti.

Infine ci sarebbe anche un quarto motivo: Mandrake è l'archetipo fumettistico del "mago" e dello "stregone" e praticamente tutti i personaggi di questo tipo sono ispirati se non copiati dal Mandrake di Falk. Lo è Zatara e quindi sua figlia Zatanna, lo sono Sargon e il Dottor Fate e il Dottor Strange e lo sono i tantissimi epigoni della Golden Age dei comics americani. Vedere quindi come evolve Mandrake in confronto a questi altri personaggi è interessante.

Diciamo che, nel loro complesso, le storie non sono invecchiate troppo male, specie quella del Cobra che soggioga il regno di Cuccagna che ha momenti decisamente degni di un fumetto horror.
3 stelle e mezza.

[Boško Martinović · Rating 5 out of 5]

Posle mnogo godina, pročitah ga celog opet, ovaj put šestogodišnjoj ćerki. Magija je i dalje tu, kakvo uživanje! Krećemo sa sledećom knjigom

[Carmen Sanzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

No me ha gustado ni el dibujo ni las historias. Muy flojo

[Markus Heikkilä · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgic, for sure. Also a bit different, since I read it in Swedish as a kid.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had forgotten Lee Falk wrote Mandrake. Always a fun read.

[Federico Kereki · Rating 3 out of 5]

At this time, I think Lee Falk wasn't sure if Mandrake was an actual magician (able to conjure up things from nothing) or an hypnotist, as it became the case later. As to the book itself, I wonder why Hermes Press includes only 2 strips per page; 3 would fit well.

[Federico Kereki · Rating 2 out of 5]

At this time, many Mandrake stories were Sci Fi, in which the magician didn't even perform magic, but after a while stories turned back to more "reasonable" plots.