Lenore, Mandrake's sister

Lenore
First appearance:	"Lenore"
Created by:	Lee Falk and Phil Davis

Lenore is a character from the Mandrake the Magician comic strip that first appeared in "Lenore", the 61th daily story.

Lenore is Mandrakes little sister, but no stories have explained in more detail about her childhood and upbringing or what family relationship they have. There are two different explanations given for who Lenore's parents are. One says that a traveling stage magician is the father of Mandrake, Derek, and Lenore, and that their mother died when the children were very young. Lenore grew up in a foster home while her brothers studied at the College of Magic. Another says that Lenore was the daughter of Theron and Mandrake's half-sister. And it is suggested that she grew up at the College of Magic.

Fictional Character Biography

The Phil Davis Era

The explorer Lenore was leading a safari deep into the jungle when she came across traces of something large having landed. But the people of Oswali said the area was taboo and belonged to a sun god, and took her prisoner to prevent her from entering the area. In an attempt to get help in the situation, she managed to write a letter to Mandrake, asking for his help.

Even though Lothar had met Lenore before, Mandrake had never told Narda that he had a little sister. The reason was that Lenore had not yet made a name for herself and felt in the shadow of her famous brother. So she had made Mandrake promise not to tell anyone that she was his sister. Because she did not want to be known as Mandrake's sister but as Lenore, a famous explorer.

It turned out that the taboo area Leonore had discovered was a crash site for a alian derelict space ship. Although the discovery of the space ship was the greatest find of the century, and Lenore's name became known, this discovery is not mentioned in other Mandrake stories.

Shortly after, Lenore helped Narda organize a surprise birthday party for Mandrake.

A little later, Lenore was back in Africa, exploring the area around the Witchmen's Peak. She regularly wrote letters to Mandrake, but when they stopped coming, Mandrake became worried and went to see if he could find her. Finally, Mandrake found her captured in the Witchmen's village. He managed to free her and at the same time put an end to the witchmen's evil grip on the jungle.

On a journey through the Carpathian Alps, Lenore stopped in the small village of Gynt. She became interested in an ancient castle iverlooking the village, but all the inhabitants were very reserved and would not answer any questions about the castle or the village.

She discovered that the occupant of the castle was a man called the Dollmaker and that he apparently transformed people into tiny living dolls. Concerned for her safety due to the hostile villagers, she wrote a letter to Mandrake about her discoveries, enclosing a film reel showing the Dollmaker and some of his small living dolls.

Mandrake came to her rescue and found that the Dollmaker previously had a carnival show that used mirrors and optics to display small living dolls. And that he had later found the old castle and used his old carnival show to tyrannize the villagers.

The Fred Fredericks Era

One afternoon, Mandrake told about his childhood and upbringing. He said that he has a twin brother, Derek, and a baby sister, Lenore.

He further tells that their father was a traveling stage magician and that their mother died when the children were small. It was hard for their father to raise them so he entrusted Lenore to a foster home and brought the twins to the College of Magic in Tibet. Their father traveled on, but was seriously ill and died shortly afterwards.

After making a documentary about the Amazon, she attended a film festival and Lenore received an award for her film. At the festival, she met Victor who was very excited about her. He said he wanted to marry her and began pester her.

She soon discovered that Victor was a dangerous man and in an attempt to get away she said she was already married - to Mandrake. And she contacted her brother and told him about the pushy man who would not take no for an answer.

In a flashback to Mandrake's childhood and upbringing, it is mentioned that Lenore is the daughter of Theron and Mandrake's half-sister and that she became a famous explorer. She is also depicted in a family photo taken at the College of Magic with Theron, Luciphor, Derek, and Mandrake.

Behind the scenes

• Eleanora, named after Lee Falk's mother.