The Secret Mission

The Secret Mission
(Re-released in 2016)
Start date:	February 15th, 1999
End date:	July 3rd, 1999
# of strips:	120 (20 weeks)
Writer:	Fred Fredericks
Artist:	Fred Fredericks
Preceded by:	"The Fisherman"
Followed by:	"Siege at Xanadu"

"The Secret Mission" is the 231st Mandrake daily story. The story was written and drawn by Fred Fredericks.

Plot Summary

In New York City, two murders are committed and an old calling card is left at the crime scene - the old signature "8" in bullet holes. The Police Chief calling Mandrake to warn him that the dreaded gang may "8" have returned. Mandrake is actually on his way to a cruise that he, Narda, Lothar and Karma are going on, but he promises that he will check in to see if there might be something to the fact that 8 has reappeared. After investigating the case, he concludes that this is an internal gang settlement where someone has used the 8 symbol to intimidate the other party. With the mystery solved, Mandrake boards the yachts where Lothar, Narda and Karma are waiting and they set the course to a secret mission. Phandrake, the great yacht sails south past Washington, the Carolinas, Miami, through the Panama Canal and out into the Pacific.

They pass a place where Narda remembers that she years ago was an involuntary guest of a people who lived their whole lives on rafts.

The reason why Mandrake was on the yacht was that Inter Intel had asked him to join a secret mission, but they had not mentioned what the mission was about. Mandrake thought that the time had now come for the captain of the yacht to reveal the purpose of the mission. Captain Hooker explained that his mission was to land a squad of Marines on Klipper Island and that Mandrake's mission was to help the marine squad get back alive. The Klipper Island was own by Benbova, a big international criminal and mystery man. He used the Klipper Island to train terrorists and used it as a base for drug smuggeling. Captain Hooker revealed that there might be sometthing far more dangerous on the island, a missing U.S. stealthe submarine with the crew still alive. So their secret mission was to find out if the submarine was on the island, if so to bring it back. And Mandrake the Magician on a large yacht with his magic props for a giant stage illusion are their cover to be able to dock on the island.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda
• Karma
• Hojo, at Xanadu only
• The Police Chief

One-time characters

• Captain Hooker, vice admiral in the navy.
• The Raft People
• The old sailor
• Benbova, drug smuggler and terrorist trainer.
• Kabal, Benbova's assistant.
• Gunny, a marine.
• Corporal Skilling, a marine.

Locations

• New York
  • Xanadu
• Panama Canal
• South Pacific
  • Klipper Island, owned by Benbova.

Organizations

• 8
• Inter-Intel, mentioned by Mandrake.

Vehicles

• Phandrake, a giant navy yacht.

Behind the scenes

Title

• At the deepwoods.org index the title for this story is "The Secret Mission", which is lifted from the plot.

Related stories

• Narda is retelling the Sunday story The Raft People from 1948.

Easter Eggs

• Phandrake, named after The Phantom and Mandrake.

• 
  13 Mar, 1999

Re-released story in 2016

• Start date: 25 July 2016 / End date: 10 December 2016

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

India

• Mandrake the Magician #3 (2022)

Turkey

• "Gizil gören", Sihirbaz Mandrake ve Abdullah (2009)