Mandrake in the Lost World: The Dailies, Vol. 1 (Mandrake the Magician: the Dailes)

When I saw that the new Mandrake the Magician dailies were listed as volume 1 in the product description I assumed that it was an error. Nope, this is indeed volume 1. The OTHER volume 1 included the first Mandrake comics featuring illustrator Phil Davis from the mid 1930’s. THIS volume 1 features illustrator Fred Fredericks and jumps to the mid 1960’s. This is actually the THIRD volume 1 from Titan including the Phil Davis Sunday comics. In April 2018 Titan will be publishing a fourth Mandrake volume and guess what. It’s volume 1. That would be the Fredericks Sunday comics. I have no idea why Titan is jumping all around but I find it somewhat annoying particularly since their release rate is pretty slow.Putting aside my issues with Titan hopping all over the place, is the material here good? The art is a mixed bag. In the introduction Roger Langridge wrote that, ‘[Fred] Fredericks was fast. He had to be.” He had to be because he was working on so many projects at the same time. Langridge wrote this as praise but as far as I’m concerned Fredericks art looks rushed and uninspired. In the first story, his art looks much cleaner and although I had some issues with how he drew some faces it looked like he put in some effort. It was with the second story that his effort seemed to dip. Regardless of the praise in the introductions I just wasn’t impressed by the art. Sorry, Fredericks fans.Comics have always tried to capitalize on the cultural zeitgeist of the moment. In the 1950’s it was all about western comics. In the late 70’s everyone jumped on the Star Wars bandwagon. In the mid 1960’s James Bond was all the rage and it was during this time that Mandrake the Magician became a secret agent. Mandrake now works with an organization called inter-intel which is his version of MI6 and in three of the stories he fights an organization called The Sign of 8 which would be a surrogate for Specter. In one story called ‘The UFO’ (which does not feature any aliens) Mandrake never once use any of his hypnotic powers or astral projection. He is essentially a spy in a stage magicians costume except the stories lack the charm of the real James Bond. The final story, ‘The Return of Evil – The Cobra’ is EASILY the best story in this collection and Mandrake actually acts like Mandrake. Hopefully future stories will be far most like this and less like the other stories.I am reminded of several other times when comic characters were changed from interesting to boring. In the late 1960’s DC decided to try something different with Wonder Woman. They took away her powers and costume and had her fight using martial arts. This change wasn’t inspired by James Bond but was instead influence by another British spy franchise, The Avengers, with Wonder Woman acting like superspy Emma Peel. Since you probably never heard of this change you can imagine how successful it was. In the 1940’s, Dr. Fate burst on to the scene with the powerful Fate fighting weird, otherworldly foes. However, after a while the writer decided to shift gears, depower Dr. Fate and give him regular old thugs to defeat. And then Fate was put on the shelf for several decades. Why do writers do this? In the second introduction Jon Preddle says the weirdest thing. In comparing Mandrake to Flash Gordon Preddle says, ‘Mandrake was set in the present day, and this allowed for a far more creative canvas on which to work’. Seriously? Setting a story in present day allows more creativity? Stealing from James Bond is creative? James Bond at least had some interesting bad guys but the villains here are just dull.I always appreciate publishers like Titan, Fantagraphics and IDW reprint these classic comics and Mandrake continued for almost 50 years so either this was just a weak period or people actually liked this Mandrake. I’m going to assume this was a brief stutter in an otherwise fine series and the return of Cobra is the truer reflection of the quality of the stories. I'm giving a generous four stars because the presentation is great and I always commend the re-presenting of classic comics.

This is the stunning debut of Fred Fredericks on The Mandrake daily strip and collects over two years worth of strips. Six complete story lines from 1965-1967. Plus two introductions and a complete checklist of all the Lee Falk / Fredericks stories.I am not sure who is to blame ( Titan Books or Amazon) for the confusion with probably another 2nd volume of the Phil Davis Strips. But the they have both the title and the description mixed up. The cover is also similar but different. I will post a photo of the actual cover. The subtitle of the book is not “The Lost World” but instead “The Return Of Evil- The Cobra”.The book is 240 pages in a landscape format ( wider then tall) with a sewn binding and a sturdy matte finish pages. The strips are reproduced 3 to a page. The images are sharp with good line restoration.This period in the strip is very significant as Lee Falk and Fred Fredericks reinvent the strip. Luthor his companion evolves from loyal Man Servant to a full partne. Luthor stops speaking in broken English and eventually loses his Fez. The storylines stop featuring unexplained Magic or Illusions to resolve the plot but now rely on Mandrake’s wits. Mandrake gets a secret Hideout/ Fortress called Xanadu and starts working for the secret organization called Inter-Intel. The Mandrake strip begins to emulate a James Bond/ Man From Uncle type feel which was just emerging to popularity. Narda, Mandrake’s princess girlfriend becomes more like a Bond Girl Eye Candy. She is often pictured in a bikini lounging around the pool at Xanadu. And to his credit Fredericks draws a nice female figure.The six stories included are covered here:1) ODD FELLOW in this first Fredericks story he does a good job of emulating Phil Davis with a very overly rendered style to start with a rapidly morphs into Fredericks own clear illustration style with lots of zip-a-tone work for shading. This is quirky Science Fiction tale similiar to what had gone down previously.2) THE SIGN OF THE 8 introduces both Mandrake’s lair Xanadu and the secret bad guy organization called the 8. This is the start of The more spy like adventures.3) THE WITCHES introduces a pretty debutant who is being hypnotized to steal by some costumed phonies.4) THE UFO is another robbery scam this time using real UFO and pretend aliens. In the end we find it is the work of the 8.5) THE TRAIL OF THE 8 features the full return of that shady super spy group.6)THE RETURN OF EVIL- THE COBRA is the title named episode which reintroduces the Phantom Arch Enemy as a cloaked figure with a silver skull mask. I also enjoyed this story because it involves Princess Narda and gives her something to do besides sit around the pool in her bikini. Her brother the King finds his country overrun by The Cobra.I throughly enjoyed reading these stories.My Highest Recommendation.

Excelente apresentação gráfica, que valorizou o conteúdo do Álbum com estas estorias do periodo clássico dos quadrinhos! Parabéns! Recomendo aos fãns!!

Enfin ! Reddition des planches quotidiennes de Mandrake le magicien dessiné par Fred Frédéricks en version originale (anglais), mais qu'importe ! Il est très facile de comprendre le sens des histoires. Oui des histoires car il y en a 6 et dans l'ordre chronologique ! Contrairement aux commentaires anglais : le format des planches est respecté. Trois articles et la nomanclature complète des histoires dessinées par Fredericks complètent cette édition. On ne peut que féliciter TITAN Comics pour cette initiative! Les fans de cette période attendent avec impatience les prochains volumes !

Magnífica publicación. Cuida varios detalles como los comentarios sobre los autores, presentación, etc. Además las tiras están en perfecto estado de restauración en su caso. Excelente para coleccionistas de los cómica en prensa.

J'ai acquis cet album de Mandrake Le Magicien. J'ai gardé un excellent souvenir de cette bande dessinée de ma jeunesse dans les années soixante-dix.

This is a very good reprint of Falk and Fredericks dailies, pity these Mandrake volumes take so long to be published.