Long-running
adventure comic strip. Created by
Lee Falk in
1934. Starred (natch)
Mandrake the Magician, a
debonair guy with a
mustache and
tuxedo who spent his time either performing
magic shows or using his skills in
sleight-of-hand and
hypnotism to solve
crimes. Hell, it was the
'30s.
Everyone was solving
crimes. He also demonstrated other powers from time to time, including
invisibility,
levitation,
teleportation, and even
shapeshifting. These powers were sometimes attributed to his magical
hat,
cape, and
wand, handed down to him by his father.
The comic strip was also one of the first to have a
racially-integrated cast, with the musclebound
Lothar, with powers of
invulnerability and
superstrength, assisting
Mandrake on most of his adventures. Mandrake's
girlfriend,
Princess Narda, also tagged along on the
magician's escapades.
Falk originally wrote and drew the strip, but soon gave up the
illustration chores to other
artists so he could concentrate on
writing. He died in March 1999, but the strip continued being produced. The daily strip ended in the middle of a storyarc on July 6, 2013, though reruns of the strip run today.