Hobby: Reading: Part 5: Nostalgia: Mandrake and Lothar



 

More than Phantom or Flash Gordon, I used to (still read) love Mandrake the Magician and his friend Lothar's adventures. A favourite daydream(Piscean trait, of course) for me, would be to imagine doing such magic/illusion/hypnosis, on friends/ enemies. heh heh.

One of the most famous friendships on earth- Mandrake and Lothar. (As they say in the tales)

Mandrake- a magician par extraordinaire known for his mass hypnosis feats.

Lothar-the strongest man on earth, King of 12 nations. Brings an ice machine when Narda asks him for ice cream. Picks up a car when Jed's cufflink rolls under it, rather than going under the car like us ordinary mortals would do.

Narda-another Princess, Mandrake's fiancee.(I forget the name of Lothar's fiancee-she came into the picture later)

Jed- head of Inter Intel-short for International Intelligence, which has a robot as it's big boss(above Jed). No-one thinks that there could be a human being behind the robot's voice which is disguised each time. Finally, in one issue, Mandrake discovers that the Big Boss is Hojo.

Hojo is Mandrake's cook(Uses this as the perfect foil so that people don't suspect his true identity), is a 10th degree black belt judo and karate expert.

Theron: grandmaster at Collegium Magikos(college of magic, for those not in the know), who taught Mandrake all about magic, and, who is 400+ years old, courtesy knowledge of slowing down heartbeats, etc. He is also Mandrake's Dad, as revealed in one issue. He gives Mandrake the Magic Cube, to use for good against evil, and, that cube was another item to day dream about. :

Lothar's enchanted(pun intended) with Mandrake's magic, finds life as a Prince boring and bids farewell to his Dad(the King of 12 nations). He runs after Mandrake and the team is ready to face the baddies of the world.

Mandrake and Lothar meet courtesy Mad Dog Dill, a NBK(Natural Born Killer) who always leaves a deadly trail, shooting everyone in his path. They go in search of Dill, in Zodum, supposedly the most evil city on earth(I can think of some such cities, today...hehe), where crime bosses rule. Thanks to Mandrake's mass hypnosis, they capture Dill and the King of Zodum without too much of a hassle.
The sinister World of 8 was one of the most fascinating of their crime-fighting stories. Ran into a number of episodes, each one coming after a big break, to keep up the suspense.

Not to forget his arch-enemy, the Cobra, whom Mandrake finds out in one episode, is his half brother (and half mad with jealousy towards Mandrake)... and Cobra's man, Ud.. the bald, short guy.. these were some of the chilling adventures.

Then, there was also the tale of how Mandrake came to own Xanadu, his dream home, by playing the part of a King of another nation.

Must read a few Mandrakes, for old times' sake, this weekend.Cheers.

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