The Invisible Bandit

The Invisible Bandit
Start date:	September 22th, 1958
End date:	December 6th, 1958
# of strips:	66 (11 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"Tale of Detru"
Followed by:	"The Dollmaker"

"The Invisible Bandit" is the 99th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis.

Plot Summary

The editor of the great national magazine, World, wants to do a big story on Mandrake. Reading the article made Big Nico want to learn how Mandrake does it. How to walk through walls, become invisible, fly into the air and other magic that would be a dream for racketeers. Mandrake have a suggestion: He can teach Big Nico how to do magic, in exchange Mandrake wants the secret files of all the gangs operations.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda
• The Police Chief

One-time characters

• Jack, a reporter.
• Ed, a reporter.
• Birdy, one of Big Nico's men.
• Big Nico, one of the top racketeers.

Locations

• New York

Behind the scenes

• The title for this story is lifted from the plot. (The strip of September 20, 1958 indicate the title; Next Week: "The Story").
• Mandrake to the reporters: "The story of my magic begins when I was a little boy. My father was a famous stage magician. My twin brother Derek and I traveled all over the world with him." Father had a fatal illness. His time was short. He took us to remote Tibet -- And left us with his friend Theron, master of the mysterious College of Magic. There, under masters, I studied for years -- ordinary sleigh-of-hand-- All the secrets of the Orient-- Finaly, under the master Theron, the greatest art -- instant hypnosis. Growing up in the College of Magic in Tibet, I learned the power of telepathy -- and telepathic projection."

Signifiant covers

• 
  Australia
• 
  Brazil
• 
  Italy
• 
  Italy
• 
  Italy
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  Spain
• 
  Sweden

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Australia

• no title, Mandrake the Magician #12 (1962 (?))

Brazil

• "(no title)", Mandrake #39 (1959)
• "(no title)", Almanaque do Globo Juvenil 1960 (1959)
• "Arquivo Secreto", Mandrake #303 (1981)
• "O Aprendiz de Mago", Mandrake Coleção #32 – #33 (1992)

France

• "Le bandit invisible", Mandrake #347 and #348 (1972)
• " no title given, Mandrake le Magicien (Collection Clair de lune) Volume 3 - 1957 à 1961 (2012)

Italy

• "Il bandito invisibile", Il Vascello #32 (1960)
• "Il bandito invisibile", I Classici dell'Avventura #39 (1963)
• "Il bandito invisibile", Mandrake #25 and #26 (1971-1972)
• "Il bandito invisibile", Mandrake - New Comics Now #347 (1995)

Spain

• "La magia de Merlin", Merlin el Mago Moderno #11 (1959)
• "La magia de Merlin", Merlin el Mago Moderno - Album de Lujo #3 (1959)

Sweden

• "Den osynlige banditten", Serie-pressen #18 (1972)

Yugoslavia

• "Гангстер-мађионичар" ("romanized as "Gangster-mađioničar"), Politikin Zabavnik #1040 (1971)