#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

#275 - S168_ThePrisonBreak_(08-09-92_to_01-24-93)

This is an interesting story of a jailbreak and hostage situation involving school kids. Part of it is in color (thanks Magnus Magnusson) and part of it in B/W.

I am providing only the MF link. So download this comic from here. The RS links are not very popular.

Thanks once again to Magnus, for the color strips.

Venkit

P.S. I am working on the 60 week Sunday story of Mandrake's marriage to Narda, which I am planning to have as the first post of 2014.

#274 - D068_Cleopatra'sTreasure_(04-14-52_to_07-26-52)

This is an old classic, in book format. This was sent to me by my good friend Ajay Mishra. Most visitors are familiar with him, if they are fans of Indian comic books. He is one of the pioneers of scanning Indrajal Comics. I still fondly remember those heady days of 2006 thru 2008, when a few of us worked hard to put all 803 Indrajal comics online.

Download RS version here

Download MF version here

Thank you Ajay, for this one as also the numerous other comics you have been sharing with all of us via your blog. 

Enjoy,

Venkit

#273 - S167_Capt.CC'sCrazyCircus_(04-26-92_to_08-02-92)

Like the name suggests this is one crazy circus and one small story. Not sure if this has been posted in any blog before. If yes, I crave forgiveness.

Download MF version here

Download RS version here

I have to thank Magnus Magnusson for the strips.

Enjoy,

Venkit

#272 - S165_TheSnarffOfKarff_(12-23-90_to_10-13-91)

This was the first strip after the various adventures on the ship SS Kraken. American pop culture loves one thing - make any Republican President look like a fool. Falk & Fred do that to the elder Bush in this story.

Sunday is Deepavali. Here is a good write-up on Deepavali in one of the most liberal blogs in America - The Huffington Post. 

HAPPY DEEPAVALI TO ONE AND ALL !

Download RS version here

Download MF version here

The Color strips are courtesy Magnus Magnusson.

Enjoy,

Venkit

#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.