#271 - All the Kraken episodes - A Navarathti & Vijayadashami presentation

The word Navarathri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and rathri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, various forms of the Goddess Devi are worshiped. The tenth day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami. Navarathri is a very important and major festival and is celebrated with great zeal by Hindus all over the world.

In the Indian state of Kerala (where I hail from), the last two days of Navarathri - Ashtami (eighth), Navami (ninth), and VijayaDashami are celebrated as Saraswathi Pooja in which books are worshiped. (Saraswathi is the Goddess of learning.). The books are placed for Pooja on the Ashtami day in own houses, traditional nursery schools, or in temples. On VijayaDashami day, the books are ceremoniously taken out for reading and writing after worshiping Saraswathi. That day is considered auspicious for initiating the children into writing and reading, which is called Vidyarambham (start of education). Tens of thousands of children are initiated into the world of letters on this day in Kerala.

The area where I am in the USA does not have a lot of Hindus and we would have to go to Fremont or Sunnyvale to celebrate Navarathri. So I felt that I could celebrate Navarathri by putting all the 09 strips related to the Kraken series in one mega post.

HAPPY NAVARATHRI AND HAPPY VIJAYADASHAMI TO ALL

Let us start right at the beginning - S156_TheKraken_(11-23-1986_to_07-12-1987). Mandrake, Narda, Lothar and Karma just plan on having lunch with Capt.Jon, an explorer friend of Mandrake and the owner of the yacht the "Kraken". An ordinary lunch turns into a journey extra-ordinaire.

Download MF version here.                                  Download RS version here

In the second story - S157_TheFloatingIsland_(07-19-87_to_03-27-88) - the group comes upon an island pulled by trained Orcas! They also encounter a ship of dead people who turn into no-so-dead pirates. Never understood why these two very diverse stories are clubbed together.

Download MF version                                          Download RS version

In the third story - S158_TheYoungPrince_(04-03-88_to_06-12-88) - we see a ten and a half year old kid smitten by Narda. Who wouldn't be, if the first sight one sees via the binoculars, is a bikini-clad Narda!! How Narda and the team make it back to the ship is what this story is all about.

Download MF version                                             Download RS version

In the fourth story - S159_TabooIsle_(06-19-88_to_11-06-88) - Mandrake and Lothar investigate and then escape from an island that has a family of Rocs.

Download MF version                                                   Download RS version


In the fifth story - S160_SingingRocks_(11-13-88_to_04-02-89) -we see the team handle a group of thieves who use mannequins of mermaids to lure sailors.

Download MF version                                                      Download RS version


In the sixth story - S161_TheSportOfMagicians_(04-09-89_to_08-27-89) - we see the girls being harassed by some bullies and also how the bullies got beaten by our heroes, first by illusion and then by sheer muscle.

Download MF version                                                         Download RS version

In the seventh story - S162_TheDolphins_(09-03-89_to_01-14-90) - the team and the readers get a lecture on ecology and saving the environment.

Download MF version                                                           Download RS version


In the eighth story - S163_IsleDesFleursEtMorte_(01-21-90_to_06-24-90) - Mandrake and the girls get caught in an island with flowers that cause people to lose consciousness. Lothar then rescues all of them. Check out the way he lifts all the 3 of them.

Download MF version                                                              Download RS version


In the ninth story - S164_DangersInTheJungle_(07-01-90_to_12-16-90) - the team has adventures in Africa, somewhere near to Lothar's tribe. We also have Lothar being chased by his dead uncle's widows much to Karma's consternation.We along with the team, breathe a sigh of relief, when we see the team back on the ship.

Download MF version                                                                 Download RS version


Thanks to Magnus Magnusson, for the color strips.

Enjoy.

#270 - D165_TheMysteriousChief_(09-20-76_to_12-11-76)

Just because I try to post a comic in this blog every week, some people are under the impression that this is my day job. Well I do have a day job, which is not this one, and always takes up a majority of my time, including weekends at times. So there may be instances, which will be on the rise for the near future, when I will not be able to post comic strips every week.

This story that I am posting today, is also based on someone's real day job and his perceived one - Hojo's. His day job was not being Mandrake's chef extra-ordinaire. It was something else. For regular subscribers like me, in those days, it did come as a surprise, when the revelation happened. See the story "The Thieves" posted a few weeks ago in this blog for a panel that shows a bit of contradiction.

The strips are courtesy my Australian friend, Donald Ladhams, who has been very active trying to get us daily strips from Australian newspapers. Paulo Marques, who is not an unfamiliar Mandrake fan extracted them from the PDFs and created the cbz file. I blew up the strips' size and tried a few edits. There are about 5 or 6 strips which have black smudges and one strip that got very white (Guess that is why they call it Black and White). Otherwise the strips are fine.

If there is a way anyone can clean these using PS, it is most welcome. Till then enjoy these strips.

Download RS version here

Download MF version here

Enjoy,

Venkit

#269 - S028_TheSantaClausPirate_(09-03-1944_to_12-03-1944)

While at work with the next story in the Kraken series, I received this story from the one and only Magnus Magnusson. This is a story, which is already available with a lot of us, albeit Black and White. Who can pass up a color version of a Mandrake story?

Download RS version here:

Download MF version here:

Magnus had scanned this and I just cropped off the unnecessary portions and sharpened the dialogues. So enjoy the story and offer your thanks to Magnus Magnusson.

Please visit Lothar's blog to download the B/W version.

Enjoy,

Venkit

#268 - S156_TheKraken_(11-23-1986_to_07-12-1987)

Well this was the first episode in the Kraken series. There are many  mixed versions available  in the Net of this story, but here I am posting the complete story with all panels in Black and White. This story was reprinted in IJC as the first story in V25N14 & V25N15 in 1988 called "The Undersea Killer Monster".

Usually, I put the first panel as the tease picture, but this time I am deviating and the reason is quite obvious.

What could be more wonderful than seeing Narda reclining in all her splendor!

Download RS Version here

Download MF Version here

I also had a full color "complete" version of this. But when I compared that with the above version, I did see that the panels were not complete. I am putting out the above panel in the color version for your enjoyment. Hee, hee. Now you get to see Narda in color, in the same pose!

Of course it goes without saying that a major part of the color strips in this collection came from Magnus Magnusson.

Download Color Strip here:

Enjoy,

Venkit

#267 - S164_DangersInTheJungle_(07-01-90_to_12-16-90)

Well, all adventures have to come to an end and this was the last story in the Kraken series. As the name suggests, this story takes place in the jungle and that too in the locality of Lothar's former tribe.

The color strips are courtesy, Magnus Magnusson, one of the greatest Mandrake fans ever. All I did was complete the story in English, replacing the Swedish strips.

Download RS version here

Download MF version here

Enjoy and shower your thanks on Magnus. 

#266 - S162_TheDolphins_(09-03-89_to_01-14-90)

Pop culture in America (probably the world around) has, in the name of liberalism, often been in the forefront of shining light on controversial subjects, to a great extent. One such topic is environment awareness, which started off as a movement to educate people about the effects of man's action on the environment. It has now deteriorated into eco-terrorism and a whole new false religion called "Climate Change".

We see in this story, Lee Falk having some dolphins lecture Mandrake and friends on the ill-effects of oil spillage into the oceans, just 6 months after one of the biggest environmental disasters in history - The Exxon Valdez incident of March 24, 1989.

This story has a special place in my heart. It was the sharing of the Italian language version of this story, that helped me become friends with one of the greatest (but very silent) fans of Mandrake comics - Paulo Marques - who shared a very rare Sunday strip (The Pacifica) and a whole lot of Mandrake daily strips including the two Mandrake Wedding stories, without much ado.

Download RS version here

Download MF version here

Enjoy,

Venkitachalam

#265 - S161_TheSportOfMagicians_(04-09-89_to_08-27-89)

Here is a Sunday strip, part of the Kraken series that was never published in IJC. Nothing great about it as a story. A rehash of a few of Lee Falk's earlier stories. The only change is that the protagonists are on a voyage and on land in between voyages.

Download MF version here

Download RS version here

Enjoy,

Venkit

#264 - S007 Full color version from a Knight in Shining armor & some disheartening news

In my last post I had expressed the hope that a Knight in shining armor, would come forth with a full color version of the S007 (The Treasure Hunt) strip. And sure enough, a full color version has been provided to us by none other than Magnus Magnusson. How does one thank a person who has been so selflessly sharing whatever Mandrake strips he has been able to get from various sources. There are obviously no words that can express the gratitude.

Thank you, Magnus, once again.

Download RS version here

Download MF version here


I would also like to bring to all of you the address of  a publishing house in Norway, which has been publishing 3 full color Sunday stories in a single book, since 2005. The cost comes to about USD 60.00 per book.
Thule Forlag AS
PO Box 4006
N-2306 HAMAR
Norway


Now to the disheartening news:
It is now official. The other day King Features came out with the news that Fred Fredericks has officially retired at the end of July and they would be resorting to regular reprints of strips starting from September 2nd, 2013, much like Flash Gordon. There have been a lot of comments in Daily Ink after that notification calling upon King Features to create a new team and continue the Mandrake strip. Hopefully the "powers that be" in KFS will listen and create a new team that can come out with good stories and art. Thanks to Fredericks for having imparted joy to a lot of people even after the demise of Lee Falk.