#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.

#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