The Atalan Deep

The Atalan Deep
Start date:	June 24th, 1945
End date:	November 4th, 1945
# of strips:	20 (20 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"Kingdom of the Wind"
Followed by:	"The Twins of Karana"

"The Attalan Deep" is the 31st Mandrake Sunday story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis.

Plot Summary

Argus sails over the Atalan deep, then suddenly, before the eyes of our friends, a fishing boat vanishes in a weired light. Investigating the mystery our friends ending up in a dome at the sea bottom.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda

One-time characters

• Blaine
• Alina, Queen of Atalan.
• Toltec (/Toltex), a man in Atalan.

Locations

• South Pacific
  • The Atalan Deep
  • Atalan, a city ten miles under the surface of the sea.

Vehicles

• S.S.Argus, Blaine's yacht.

Behind the scenes

• The title for this story is taken from the strip of June 17 and 24, 1945 (Next Week: The Atalan Deep / Beginning: The Atalan Deep).
• Alina, named after Lee Falk's mother or his stepsister Ailine (Aileen/Arleen).
• It is interesting to see how Queen Alina's dress has been drawn throughout history. She first appears in week nine wearing an outfit resembling a tight-fitting swimsuit with a halter neck and some loosely hanging shoulder straps. A transparent long dress is attached to the suit, and she wears a crown on her head. In the picture of her the following week, the outfit is almost identical, but now the swimsuit is drawn more like a two-piece bikini. The week after that, the outfit is similar to when she was first depicted. In the last week of the story, the loosely hanging shoulder straps have disappeared from her outfit.

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  sample

Signifiant covers

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  Brazil

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  France

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  Italy

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  Italy

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  Italy

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  New Zealand

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  Spain

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  Spain

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  USA

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Argentina

• "El propundo Atalan", Ra-Ta-Plán # 544 to Ra-Ta-Plán #563 (1945/1946)

Brazil

• "A Rainha de Netúnia", Mandrake #63 (1962)

France

• "Dans l'abîme de l'Atlantide", Mandrake #55 (1965)
• "Le gouffre d'Atlantis", Mandrake #419 (1974)
• "Le gouffre de l'Atlantide", Mandrake le Magicien #1 (1980)
• "no title", Le Journal de Mickey #1864 (1988)
• "La faille des Atlantes", Donald Magazine #88-11 (1988)

Italy

• "Negli abissi dell'Atlantide", L'Avventura (1947)
• "Negli abissi di Atlantide", Super Albo #6 (1962)
• "Negli abissi dell'Atlantide", Mandrake #50 (1963)
• "Negli abissi dell'Atlantide", I Classici dell'Avventura #101 (1965)
• "Negli abissi dell'Atlantide", Mandrake #65 (1974)
• "Negli abissi dell'Atlantide", Mandrake - New Comics Now #80 (1983)
• "The Atalan Deep", La raccolta de la grande avventura dei fumetti #2 (1990)
• "Negli abissi dell'Atlantide", Mandrake #1 (1993)
• "no title", Mandrake - La rotta delle meraviglie (2004)

New Zealand

• The Boys' Paper (1947)
• "The Atalan Deep", Mandrake the Magician #125 and Mandrake the Magician #126 (1956 or 1957)

Spain

• "El mar Atalán" & "Combate submarino", Merlin el Mago Moderno #33 & #34 (1947)

USA

• "(no title)", King Comics #129, King Comics #130, King Comics #131, King Comics #132 and King Comics #133 (1947)
• "The Atalan Deep", The Official Mandrake Sundays #1 (1989)

Yugoslavia

• "Atlanske dubine", Biblioteka Nostalgija #13 (1991)