Background of the Study
Introduction:
In 1936, Lee Falk, the young writer of a two year old comic strip, Mandrake the Magician, Lee Falk created Mandrake at the age of 19, in 1924, and drew two weeks’ worth of strips. Ten years later, he sold it to King Features Syndicate. Not trusting his own artistic ability, he brought in commercial artist Phil Davis to draw it. Falk’s tightly-plotted stories kept the strip lively for decades, but much of its early success is due to Davis’s smooth, clean rendering, reminiscent of the contemporary art deco movement. Mandrake’s tuxedo virtually shone of its own light, and the same could be said of his fashionably slicked-down hair. Davis died in 1964. His replacement, Harold “Fred” Fredericks Jr., initially adopted Davis’s style, and few readers noticed the changeover. Fredericks continues to draw the strip today, but has gradually, over the years, let his own style emerge.
Falk: launched a second strip, The Phantom, which featured the first costumed hero portrayed in the medium. Falk’s dream was to break into theatre and he saw comics as a way to support himself while he pursued that endeavor. He intended to write the syndicated strips for a year or two then move on, but never could have guessed what would transpire. Eventually, he owned six playhouses, became a published playwright, directed and produced many stage productions including Othello with Paul Robeson…but the comics continued. His amazing record as a writer is unsurpassed. For sixty of the hundred years comics have been in existence, he has written two strips nonstop, and still does today, a record no other can claim.
Literature Review
1.1
Mandrake’s powers were acquired through years of schooling in Tibet, where he began his studies during childhood. One of his teachers, Luciphor, later decided to use his powers for evil, adopted the name “Cobra”, and appeared in the strip as a recurring villain. Like many of comics’ origin stories, Mandrake’s has been subject to some embellishment over the years. It came to include an evil brother, Derek; a troublesome younger sister, Leonore; and a benign elderly master named Theron.
Mandrake is joined in his adventures by Lothar, American comics’ first seriously-treated black character. Although he is by birth an African prince, Lothar prefers his position as Mandrake’s valet and bodyguard. As years went by and America’s consciousness was raised, Lothar lost most of his accent and became more a friend and companion than a valet — but right from the start, he was treated as an intelligent man and a valuable ally.
Mandrake’s other companion is Narda, also of royal blood. She, like Lothar, prefers Mandrake’s company to her birthright as princess of Cockaigne, a mythical European pocket kingdom. Her engagement to Mandrake lasted longer than most marriages, but they finally tied the knot in 1998.
Mandrake has had only limited success outside of newspaper strips
Mandrake’s powers were acquired through years of schooling in Tibet, where he began his studies during childhood. One of his teachers, Luciphor, later decided to use his powers for evil, adopted the name “Cobra”, and appeared in the strip as a recurring villain. Like many of comics’ origin stories, Mandrake’s has been subject to some embellishment over the years. It came to include an evil brother, Derek; a troublesome younger sister, Leonore; and a benign elderly master named Theron.
Mandrake is joined in his adventures by Lothar, American comics’ first seriously-treated black character. Although he is by birth an African prince, Lothar prefers his position as Mandrake’s valet and bodyguard. As years went by and America’s consciousness was raised, Lothar lost most of his accent and became more a friend and companion than a valet — but right from the start, he was treated as an intelligent man and a valuable ally.
Mandrake’s other companion is Narda, also of royal blood. She, like Lothar, prefers Mandrake’s company to her birthright as princess of Cockaigne, a mythical European pocket kingdom. Her engagement to Mandrake lasted longer than most marriages, but they finally tied the knot in 1998.
Mandrake has had only limited success outside of newspaper strips
The tale of the Phantom was a blend of mystical elements and realism. Drawing on the influences of classic literature, mythology, history, current events, and theatre, Falk provided something for everyone.
The origin story began with Christopher Standish, who once served as Christopher Columbus’ cabin boy, now acting as captain of a commerce vessel attacked by pirates. His young son, Kit, the sole survivor of the ordeal, sees his father slain by the pirate leader. Washing up on a distant African shore, Kit is befriended by the Bandar, a tribe of friendly pygmies. There he dwells in a cave which resembles a human skull. After discovering the body of the pirate who murdered his father, Kit swears an oath on the skull of the killer. His promise to fight piracy and injustice is carried out by his descendants for 400 years making him seem immortal to all but the pygmies.
Adopting a costume based upon the image of an idol of the Wasaka giants, he becomes a menacing and feared figure on seas and continents and his legend grows. He travels with a wolf and often on horseback and leaves the indelible mark of the skull as a calling card.
1.2
The Phantom in the strip is the 21st or modern day Phantom. In addition to having a base in the skull cave in the deep woods, he is married with a family living in a treehouse on the edge of the jungle. The Phantom’s wedding to Diana Palmer after a forty year courtship came at the same time as Lee Falk’s to Elizabeth Moxley. (Her name along with Falk’s children’s names appear in Phantom adventures.) However, marriage doesn’t stop the Phantom from his international adventures, but now the family often plays into the stories. Even the element of romance isn’t gone because of the built in device of telling stories of the lives of the Phantom’s ancestors.
The Phantom’s adventures have intertwined with history. One Phantom as a youth acted in Shakespear’s troupe, another met Mark Twain. Often, Falk uses the medium to introduce readers to classic literature. One story, “The Jungle Games,” retold the Greek classic, “Lysistrata,” another, “Queen Samaris,” paid homage to H. Rider Haggard’s “She,” “The Rattle” reflected Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels.” Falk, a novelist, and world traveler, draws upon a wealth of knowledge and experience to weave the tales, which unfold like scenes in a play.
The well developed storyline is both complex and compound and has had a continuity missing in other long running adventures. The Phantom is an archtype such as defined in Joseph Campbell’s description of the classic hero…one who undergoes a transformation and ultimate sacrifice for the good of others. This is pretty heady stuff for a comic strip, but its substance and graphics have kept the readers interest for six decades.
For the first two weeks, Lee Falk drew the strip himself, but found the task of producing scripts for Mandrake and the Phantom while working on theatre projects time consuming enough. Enlisting the help of Ray Moore, assistant artist for Mandrake’s Phil Davis, he hit upon a formula that propelled the character into an immediate popularity.
During the wartime, the artisistic duties were assumed by commercial artist, Wilson McCoy who eventually took over drawing the strip and continued until his death in 1961. (McCoy once journeyed to Africa and visited the actual “poison pygmy” tribe that the Bandar was based on.) After McCoy, the Sunday strips were drawn by famed courtroom artist, Bill Lignante for 8 months. (Lignante served as the artist for ABC in such trials as Rodney King, Charles Manson and Sirhan B. Sirhan.)
The dailies and later Sundays were drawn by the legendary Phantom artist, Sy Barry, who built a team of talented assistants that included famed biblical artist, Andre LeBlanc, Batman and Mary Worth illustrator, Joe Giella, the late Don Heck, Italian standout, Bob Forgione, and current penciller, George Olesen. Today the Sundays are inked by longtime Mandrake artist, Fred Fredericks, and the dailies by Keith Williams. The longstanding international success of the strip was due to Falk’s solid storylines and the talent of these men.
From its inception, The Phantom has been a global phenomenon. The first Phantom comic book was printed in Italy. There the character became so popular that when the strip was banned by Benito Mussolini, a Phantom doppleganger called the “Masked Lawman” appeared to take its place. When this failed to satisfy the Italian hunger for the strip, Frederico Fellini, himself, wrote unlicensed Phantom adventures which were carefully copied in t he style of Falk and Moore. When relations were normalized with the US, Italy continued to publish thousands of Phantom comics.
In Sweden, the Semic Press creates a new Phantom story at a rate of one every two weeks. These stories have been circulated all over Europe. Near Stockholm, there is a Phantom theme amusement park where thousands greeted Lee Falk with autograph requests.
In New Zealand, the activities of Parliament were suspended in 1977 when the Phantom got married, to stage a mock debate about whether Diana, the Phantom’s wife, should live in the skull cave or continue her work in the UN. In Australia, the Phantom is the number one comic and has been printed continuously since the 40’s.
Other Phantom comics have emerged from England, France, Germany, India, Thailand, Russia, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, and Greece.
In the US, initially the comics were adapted reprints from the newspaper strips which appeared in Ace, King, Harvey Comic Hits, Harvey Hits and in illustrated text form in Big and Better Little Books
References based on Turkish Consortium a Social Media Group members of DaydreaminComics Community
A Turkish Social Media Group based on curating European, Turkish, and Syria Comic book art history that is popular in those regions curator is Murat Aks ( www.facebook.com/cizgiromanci)