Mandrake the Magician

Mandra, the magician (English: Mandrake the Magician ) is an American comic strip and its main character, which was invented in 1934 by Lee Falk.

Content

Mandra is an illusionist whose work is based on an unusually fast hypnotic technique. He gesticulates hypnotic and the goal of his hypnosis sees what Mandra want him to see. In his spare time Mandra uses his skills to combat the crime. Here, Lothar, a entmachteter African King helps him. In the black magician Cobra Mandra finds its strongest opponents. Later, Mandra in love with Princess Narda from Cockaigne (English Cockaigne ).

Publication

The comic was published in June 1934 in American newspapers, the sales stood at King Features Syndicate. Lee Falk wrote the stories and Phil Davis was responsible for the drawings. First, it was shown that Mandrake actually has magical powers. Following protests by Christian organizations Falk reduced his skills on hypnosis. After Davis 's death in 1964 took over the artist Harold Fredericks, who also took over the writing of the stories in 1999 after the death of Falk's. Longer stories with the figure published in booklets by Dell Comics and King Comics. The comics have been translated into several languages ​​and published among others in the United Kingdom, Italy, Brazil, Spain and Turkey. In Italy parodies appeared in the 1950s on Mandrake and other early American comic strips.

In German publications called the figure " Mandra " and first appeared in 1965 in two volumes in the wall Hardt Publisher. 1967-1968 published six books in Semic Press under the title Mandra, the magician and 1980 output Mandra, the magician appeared at Condor Verlag. The strips also appeared in the series " Colorful Allerlei" and newspapers were published, for example in the Hamburger Morgenpost.

Adaptations

The figure has been repeatedly adapted into other media. The first time in a twelve -part film series from 1939, produced by Columbia Pictures. 1940 to 1942 was followed by a radio show at Mutual Broadcasting System with the figure and in 1954 was a pilot episode for a Mandrake the Magician - television series that was never producing. In 1979, the television film Mandrake based on the comics. Also in the 1970s, the musical Mandrake the Magician and the Enchantress at Lenox Arts Festival in Massachusetts was shown.

In 1986, the comic book publisher King Features Mandrake, together with other figures of his comics like Flash Gordon and phantom one of the main characters of the television series Defenders of the Earth. Unlike the comics Mandrake has in this series not only about hypnosis techniques, but actually dominated magic.