Publisher: Titan Comics
Release Date: March 2, 2016
Price: $39.99
Creator(s): Lee Falk (writer), Phil Davis (artist)
Format: 160 pgs., Full-Color, Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-8576-8572-8
Age Rating: All
ICv2 Rating: 5 Stars out of 5
Along with featuring the very first appearance of the famous comic strip magician and biographies of both creator Lee Falk and artist Phil Davis, Mandrake the Magician: The Sundays Volume 1, The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers collects half-dozen stories from the 1930's in beautiful color.
In sharp contrast to the plethora of rugged, two-fisted adventures that filled the funny pages back in the 1930's, Mandrake was a suave, unflappable figure who languidly wandered the world always on the lookout for opportunities to display his formidable powers. He invariably found himself caught up in wild adventures which ranged from pulpy orientalism to fairy tale fantasies to old school science fiction romances.
The two stories in this collection that best demonstrate the wide variety of Mandrake's adventures is "The Chamber into the X-Dimension," a lush science fiction yarn, where the magician enters a world where humans are ruled by robots. And at the other end of the spectrum is the more prosaic "Circus People" where Mandrake briefly joins the circus and proves himself equally adept at refereeing the love lives of circus freaks and teaching sadistic bullies valuable lessons.
Featuring clever scripts and beautiful art deco style art, Mandrake the Magician, was a sophisticated and elegant entertainment that for too long has lived in the shadow of Lee Falk's other classic comic strip creation, The Phantom. But you needn't be a fan of either Mandrake or comic strips to appreciate Mandrake the Magician: The Sundays Volume 1, The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers. You just need to be someone who enjoys a good story well told.
--Steve Bennett: Writer and retail services consultant.
