Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch

Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch
Start date:	November 28th, 1949
End date:	February 11th, 1950
# of strips:	66 (11 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"Mystery Taxi"
Followed by:	"Deadman's Gulch"

"Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch" is the 54th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis. This story exists in three variants, one made to span three newspaper columns, one to span four and one to span five. Compared to the four-column variant the five-column variant is cropped in the lower part. The three column variant is cropped less in the lower part and the panels are made wider by adding extra ink. The copyright line is almost always placed differently in the strip, as is the date. In addition, the shape and placement of the speech bubble can be different.

Plot Summary

At Janet's ranch cattle disappears mysteriously.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda

One-time characters

• Janet, Narda's aunt.
• Cactus, Janet's forman.
• The Sheriff
• Pete, a cattle thief.
• Mac, a pilote and cattle thief.

Locations

• New York
• Mid west
  • Bar-J Ranch

Behind the scenes

• The title for this story is taken from the plot.
  Note: At the deepwoods.org index the title for this story is "Mystery at the Bar T Ranch"
• Janet Squire is the aunt of Lee Falk's wife Constance.

Signifiant covers

• 
  Brazil
• 
  Brazil
• 
  Italy
• 
  New Zealand
• 
  New Zealand
• 
  Spain
• 
  USA

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Australia

• "Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch", Mandrake Comic #5 (1953)

Brazil

• "O vaqueiro de duas cabeças", Novo Gibi #1740 (1950)
• "Mandrake no Oeste", Mandrake, o Mágico #28 (1974)
• "Mandrake no Oeste", Mandrake #254 (1977)

Denmark

• "Kvægtyvene", Fantomet #189 (1982)

France

• (no given title), Roy Rogers #10, Roy Rogers #11 and Roy Rogers #12 (1953 )
• "Le cow-boy à deux têtes", Mandrake #335 and #336 (1971)

Italy

• "Il cowboy con 2 teste", Mandrake #9 and #10 (1971)
• "Il cow-boy con due teste", Mandrake - New Comics Now #261 (1991)
• "Il cow-boy con due teste", Mandrake 45/46 (Comic Art) (1995)

Mexico

• "El rancho Bar J", Paquito #11010 (1952)

New Zealand

• "Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch", Mandrake the Magician #24, Mandrake the Magician #25, and Mandrake the Magician #26 (1951)

Norway

• "Ormebolet", Serie-pocket #75 (1982)
• "Kvegtyvene", Fantomet #16 (1989)

Spain

• "Mandrake en el Rancho", Mandrake #15 (1997)

Sweden

• "Bodskapstjuvarna", Mandrake #3 (1963)
• "Boskapstjuvarna", Fantomen #20 (1976)

Turkey

• "İki Başlı Haydut" (part 1), Haftalık Albüm #25 (1952)
• '"no title"', Güneş #3 and Güneş #4 (?) (1968) following the previous story: "Esrarengiz Taksi"

USA

• "Mystery at the Bar Ranch", The Classic Mandrake Series (second series)/ Episode: "The Ice Lady" (Pacific Comics Club) (2015)

United Kingdom

• "The Vanishing Steers", Mandrake the Magician #8 (1960)