The Frame-Up

The Frame-Up
Start date:	November 17th, 1975
End date:	February 14th, 1976
# of strips:	78 (13 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Fred Fredericks
Preceded by:	"Super Shark"
Followed by:	"The Evil Twin"

"The Frame-Up" is the 162nd Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Fred Fredericks.

Plot Summary

The Mayor honored Mandrake and Lothar with the highest citizens' award for their help with the Super Shark. Mr. Fatts now have seen six of his buddies put away by Mandrake and Lothar and decided it now was time to put away Mandrake and Lothar.

Fatts managed to obtain mandrake's fingerprints on a wet paper, asking for an autograph after a show. And he managed to fool Mandrake into a dark wharf without witnesses, pretending Derek needed help.

Then he did a brutal jewel robbery, where one of the band members were disguised as Mandrake, and left Mandrake's fingerprints all over the crime scene. A perfect frame-up...

At the end Mandrake thougt the frame-up was too perfect to come from Fatts. Fatts told him that he got his orders like in a dream, from a man wearing a silver mask....

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda
• Hojo, at Xanadu only.
• The Police Chief
• Derek, on phone only.

One-time characters

• Mr. Fatts, a small-time racketeer.
• Lily,
• Tom, a clerk in a jewel store.
• Stan, a man in a bar.
• The Cobra,

Locations

• New York
• Xanadu
• Resturant Francaiso, Mandrake's favourite restaurant.

Behind the scenes

• There is no "Next week: New adventure" or "Beginning:.." indicating that the previous history ended and a new started.
• The title for the story is lifted from the plot.

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Finland

• "Ansa", Mustanaamio #18 (1987)

France

• "Les empreintes de Mandrake", Spécial Mandrake #12 (1978)
• "Çà chauffe pour Mandrake", Janus Stark #129 and #130 (1989)

India

• "The Trickster", Indrajal Comics #290 (1977)

Italy

• "Il cubo di cristallo", Mandrake Selezione #9 (1978)

Spain

• "Falsas Huellas", Mandrake - Merlin el Mago #8 and #9 (1981)

Sweden

• "Fällen", Fantomen #7 (1987)

Turkey

• "İftira", Mandrake #94 #95 #96 (1976)
• "İftira", Mandrake Albüm #32
• "İftira", Mandrake #66 #27
• "İftira", Mandrake Süper Albüm #7 #8
• "İftira", Mandrake Süper Albüm #43 #44

USA

• "The Frame-Up", The Menomonee Falls Gazette from #207 to #219 (1975/1976)

Yugoslavia

• "Nameštena igra", Super EKS Almanah #23 (1981)
• "Nameštena igra", Mandrak magazin #3 (1989)