#292 - S179 The Invisible Person (08-08-99 to 10-10-99)

I bring you a Mandrake Sunday strip here. This was one of the 4 or 5 Daily strips which were tweaked in the 90s to come forth as Sunday strips. I have already presented some others in this very blog.

This one is S179 The Invisible Person and the first panel starts off like this:

This also came as a daily strip called D184 Little Man (11-14-83 to 03-03-84). The first panel looked like this : (Thanks to my friend Don Ladhams for this one)

For those of you who also follow the history of Mandrake comics in India, this came as Vol 22 No 29 in Indrajal Comics during the week of July 21 - 27 1985 as "The Invisible Thief". I had shared this comic in Prabhat's wonderful blog Indrajal Online. The first panel in that was almost the same as the Daily strip.

It is just 8 more to hit 300 in this blog. I am hoping that Balaji is getting ready with some kind of bumper post for that landmark.

So please download the Sunday strip here.

Enjoy,

Venkitachalam 

#291 - The Octopus Ring

Emile, who has been the source of many a rare Mandrake comic strip, has come up with this old classic in strip format. There are other versions in book format doing the rounds.

Download the story from Emile's original link and shower your thanks on Emile.

Enjoy,

Venkitachalam

290 - Scary Aliens

October is the month of Halloween, here in the good old USA. What better way to start the month, than with a scary Mandrake story.

This is again from Emile, and please download the story here.

Thanks, Emile, from the bottom of my heart for this one.

I would like to point out that our good friend Ajnaabi has also put out a version of this story.

Enjoy,

Venkit

#289 - Lothar the Champ

We have seen stories in the long running friendship between Mandrake and Lothar, where they split for a short time, before coming back together to fighting crime, which was the KRA in their collective Performance Management Plan.

Emile just sent me this complete story, where Lothar goes off to be a "rassler", becomes a prey to the politics of international wrestling, becomes the world champ. But after all that...

This is one of those Mandrake stories where Mandrake uses the word "servant" while referring to Lothar.

There is another version of this story doing the rounds on the Net, but this probably is the first "real" strip version.

Download the story here and shower your thanks on Emile.

Enjoy

Venkit

#288 - S178 TheBullies (04-18-99 to 08-01-99)

After the story called "The Speedy" which ran for 33 Sundays from 16 Feb 1997 thru 28 Sep 1997, there were 4 stories that were rehashes of already published Daily Strip Stories and I think this was one of them. I had posted S176 & S177 earlier in this blog.

Download the story from here and enjoy.

Venkitachalam

#287 - S174 Dr.Holton'sReputation (08-25-96 to 02-09-97)

Well, this is the continuation of the story in my previous post. Once there is a solution to a complex problem people just forget about the problem and the panic it caused and try to evaluate the actions and the activists with new moral glasses. Two things come immediately to my mind. The first is the evaluation of the actions under the team led by Sri. KPS Gill who broke the back of the Khalistani revolt in the late 80s and early 90s. The second of course is the on-going second guessing by the Obama administration of the actions of the Bush administration following the the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Just two examples of ungrateful nations trying to put a moral facade after the problem has been sorted out by others who were prepared to wade into territories that many of us would not dare venture into. We would only twiddle our thumbs and wish the problem away, much like most of the world is wishing away the Boko Haram & ISIL issues.

Similarly once the problem of the Swarm was over, the moral police turned on Dr. Holton  and the way the problem was identified. When his senility itself came into question, Mandrake and Magnon had to intervene and come to his rescue.

Thanks to the one and only Magnus Magnusson for the color strips.

Download and enjoy the story here.

Venkitachalam

#286 - S173_TheSwarm_(01-14-96_to_08-18-96)

I am presenting here a Sunday strip story of some extra-terrestrial swarm of animals that eat anyone or anything in their path.

Check out Mr.Bill Clinton who appears as himself in panel number 30. Download the story here.

While on this subject, this story is similar to another Sunday strip story S114 which appeared in 1971 called the Space Pack, which was posted earlier in this blog itself.

As you can see I had to resort to various sources to get the complete story. I have to thank Magnus Magnusson for the color strips.

Enjoy,
Venkit

Oh and one other thing, I also had the good fortune to gain the acquaintance of a Spanish Mandrake fan who goes under the name of fereugeen, who has been in his own unique and excellent way been providing daily and Sunday strips. Do go and have a look at this forum - http://lamansion-crg.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=51811&hl=mandrake.

He also has a blog - http://fereugeen-mandrake.blogspot.com/.

#282 - S007_TheTreasureHunt_(09-05-1937_to_03-20-1938)

Balaji had posted the version of this story as published in Feature Book 49, published by David McKay publications, in this blog quite a while ago. Many if not all of us have that version, which unfortunately was incomplete.

I was able to get a Hi-Resolution color version in Spanish from Teo, a Mandrake fan from Spain. I was also able to download the complete English version, though in Low resolution from AWW. Magnus Magnusson was magnanimous to provide me with a complete version of this story in English and in color. But unfortunately, it looked like the textual material had been translated from Swedish. I also had a Hi-res incomplete Black & White version of this story.

I sent all these to my friend, the well known and talented blogger TPH, who runs a wonderful blog where he showcases his talent converting Black and White strips into color. And for the last 29 weeks he has been posting a strip every Sunday, by using his PS skills to insert the English text into the colored Spanish strips. Click on his name in the above line and you will be transported to his magical blog, where you can enjoy his talent.

You can download the full story here and shower your thanks on Teo and TPH.

Enjoy,

Venkitachalam

UPDATE: Looks like the link reflected an older version instead of the correct version. I have updated it. Please download again.

#281 - Yet another Vishu and another twist on the meeting between Mandrake & Lothar

This is the third Vishu after I started helping out Balaji to keep the stories about the acknowledged first super hero in comics, coming in this blog.

Here is a picture of the Vishu Kani of last year from my home.

 

Happy Vishu to all visitors to the Blog.

Now on to the matter at hand. Most of us still fondly remember the story of the first meeting of Mandrake and Lothar.

Mandrake meets Lothar - Classical version:
A dreaded killer is on the run after murdering quite a few people including Mandrake's friend. Mandrake goes in search of the killer and meets this young strong man, who mistakes Mandrake for the killer. After the misunderstandings are worked out, both Mandrake and Lothar work together and bring the fugitive to justice.

Here is the first panel of that story S101:


Download the story from here.
(Thanks to Magnus for the color strips)

Another take on the meeting of Mandrake and Lothar:
In the daily story - D214_TheEarsOfTheEarth_(07-19-93_to_11-27-93).cbr - Lee Falk and Fredericks fumble on the first ever meeting of Mandrake and Lothar.  This story was published earlier in this very blog. (Thanks to Paulo for extracting images from newspaper PDF files)


Continuing from where the second version left off:
Now in this black and white Sunday strip that ran for nearly a year - S172_RevolutionInLotherton_(01-29_95_to_01-07-96) - we have a story that continues from where it left off in the above daily strip. For those of us who grew up on the classical tale, this one was a big let down.

Here is the first panel of this story:

Enjoy the story.

Venkit

#280 - S020 - The Flame Pearls Pt.7: Land of the Giants And D158 - The Cobra and the Cube

Balaji's blog (well it is this one) and Lothar's blog (http://mandrakearchive.blogspot.com/) were two blogs which were solely dedicated to the first super hero in comics history - Mandrake The Magician. Many of us got a taste of the early Mandrake stories from these blogs.

Unfortunately, Lothar's blog has run into some technical problems and no new posts are possible in that blog.

So with Lothar's permission, I have offered to post any of his strips in this blog till Lothar can post on his own. So here are two of the Mandrake strips that Lothar has edited, which are being posted in this blog. The links are available in the Comments portion of his blog also.

Download Lothar's original link from here.


Lothar had also earlier posted a link to D158 - The Cobra And The Cube in his blog, in the comments column.

Some of you may have downloaded these already.

Thanks, Lothar for these two strips and the 232 others that you have been meticulously collecting and editing for our enjoyment.

Most Important:
Lothar has posted a gist of his problem on his blog in the comments. If any of you can help him fix the issue, please do get in contact with him at his blog or his email - cazito@ig.com.br.

Enjoy,
Venkit

#279 - S171_TheGalacticBirthdayAdventure_(01-02-94_to_01-22-95)

When we hear the term "Talking Heads", the first image we get in our minds is about these bloviating know-alls that come on TV and talk about almost everything under the Sun.

But in the Mandrake stories, we encounter a different group of talking heads - wise men with extra-ordinary powers. And when they join forces with Mandrake and friends in battling extra-terrestrial terrorists all in the middle of Nardraka's 10th birthday celebrations, it will be some story.

Download the story from here.

Enjoy,

Venkit

#278 - Happy Valentine's Day & Enjoy the Mandrake Narda Wedding Sunday strip

We in India grew up on a staple diet of Mandrake, Narda and Lothar living in Xanadu. We never had any idea about how Mandrake and Narda met each other. Or even that Lothar started off being Mandrake's servant.

So where and how did Mandrake meet Narda? Balaji and I had posted that story in this blog nearly 3 years ago. It all happens in the second Mandrake daily strip - D002_TheHawk(MandrakeMeetsNarda)_(11-26-34_to_02-23-35). Here are the 2 panels where Mandrake and Narda meet and introduce themselves.

But in the realm of the Sunday strips, we do not see Narda till we reach the 28th Sunday strip - S028_TheSantaClausPirate_(09-03-1944_to_12-03-1944).

It is not until D0225 that we learn that Mandrake and Narda take the decision to marry. If you see that, it is much later than Mr. Falk's other character Kit Walker decided to marry Diana. In D0225, it is actually Theron (Mandrake's father) who brings up the subject of marriage. See panel below:

There were 3 weddings for Mandrake and Narda. D0225 covers the wedding in Cockaigne, Narda's home country. D0226 covers the wedding in the College of Magic, in front of Theron. D0225 and D0226 were posted by Balaji and Paulo in this blog on another Valentine's Day.

After an adventure called "Jake and Co" in D0227, Mandrake and Narda have their third wedding at Xanadu in D0228. D0228 can be downloaded from Lothar's wonderful Mandrake blog.

In 1997-1998, came a Sunday story - S176_MandrakeMarriesNarda).

Download the Sunday story from here

Enjoy,

Venkit.

BTW, we are just 11 strips away from a complete set of Mandrake Sunday strips, albeit in varied forms and sizes.

#277 - S170_TheBeeThief_(08-29-93_to_12-26-93)

I am posting the above story, which reminded me of at least 2 previous Mandrake stories.

Download the story over here.

Enjoy,

Venkit

P.S. My next post will be on Feb 14, Valentine's Day. What better story than the Sunday Mandrake Wedding strip?

#276 - A belated Happy New Year

Unfortunately, I had to spend the period between Christmas and New Year in a hospital. I am now back at home and shall try to start posting .

I am posting S169_TheBikersOfGhostTown_(01-31-93_to_08-22-93, which is a rehash of a few other Phantom and Mandrake stories.

I am enclosing only the MF Link. So please download the story from here.

Thanks,
Venkit