King Features Staff (1 results)

Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Very Good +. b/w Illustrations (illustrator). Not Indicated. Pages tanned, otherwise in nice condition. Mandrake the Magician is a U.S. comic strip created in 1934 by Lee Falk (also creator of The Phantom) and mainly appearing in syndication in newspapers. Falk soon gave the job of drawing the comic strip to artist Phil Davis, while continuing to write the storylines. Davis worked on the strip until his death in 1964; Falk then recruited current artist Fred Fredericks. On Falk's death in 1999, Fredericks took over writing the strip as well. Mandrake is widely believed to have been the first bona fide superhero.[1] Mandrake was an illusionist whose work was based on an impossibly fast hypnotic technique. As the narrator informed us: "Mandrake gestured hypnotically" and the subject or subjects of this hypnosis would suddenly see a cane transformed into a bouquet of flowers or a cat into a tiger. Mandrake fought crooks and other bad guys in his spare time. This would include common gangsters, mad scientists, and aliens from outer space or other dimensions. He would gesture hypnotically, and guns would seem to change into snakes or red hot pokers. A Mandrake movie with real-life magician Criss Angel is set to premiere in 2008. One very minor crease and some stain on back cover, otherwise in very nice condition.