Visitors from Space

Visitors from Space
Start date:	December 5th, 1938
End date:	February 4th, 1939
# of strips:	54 (9 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"Mandrake in Love"
Followed by:	"The Deep South"

"Visitors from Space" is the 16th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis. This story exists in two variants, one made to span six newspaper columns, the other to span five.

Plot Summary

Visiting Mr. Rocks a huge metal globe was found on a hill of the palatial estate. From the globe comes a tall man in an unfamiliar barbaric dress followed by a beautiful woman with long, flowing, golden hair, wearing a glittering costume. And the mysterious couple say they come from Mars...

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar

One-time characters

• Mr. Rocks, a billionaire.
• Janice Rocks, daughter of Mr. Rocks.
• Prof. Hubert, of the local college.
• M 601, a man from Mars.
• F 390, a woman from Mars.
• Betsy, a horse.
• Kid Glove Kid, a master mind of crime (aka M 601).
• Doris, Kid Glove Kid's girlfriend (aka F 390).
• Steve Wilson, editor of Evening Gazette (?)
• Jones, alias of Kid Glove Kid.
• Joe, a journalist.
• Duke, a journalist.

Locations

• New York
• Pine Forks
  • The big swamp

Behind the scenes

Title

• The title for this story is taken from the strip of December 3, 1938 (Starting Next Week = Visitors from Space)

Signifiant covers

• 
  Brazil
• 
  Brazil
• 
  France
• 
  Italy
• 
  Italy
• 
  Italy
• 
  New Zealand
• 
  Spain
• 
  Turkey

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Brazil

• "Os Viajantes de Marte", Mandrake #56 (1961)
• "Marcianos", Mandrake, o Mágico #4 (1970)

France

• "Les envoyés de Mars", Aventures et Mystère #60 (1948)
• "La sphère martienne", Spécial Mandrake #24 (1965)

French Polynesia

• "La sfera marziana", Mandrake #28 (Comics Stars in the World 1977 or 1978) note: Italian text.

Italy

• "La sfera marziana", Super Albo - Mandrake #92 (1964)
• "La sfera marziana", Mandrake #28 (Comics Stars in the World 1977 or 1978)
• "La sfera marziana", Mandrake - New Comics Now #147 (1985)
• "La sfera marziana", Mandrake 13 (Comic Art) (1992)
• "La sfera marziana", Mandrake il mago Volume 2 (2015)

New Zealand

• "Visitors from Space", Mandrake the Magician #67 and Mandrake the Magician #68 (1954)

Spain

• "La esfera marciana", Grandes Clásicos de los Comics del Pasado #34 - Mandrake #10 (1988)

Turkey

• "Merihli İnsanlar", 1001 Roman - Özel Sayı #16 (1941)

USA

• "no title", Critter #5 (1974)
• "no title", The Official Mandrake #10 (1989)
• "Visitors from Space", Comics Revue #411-412 (2020)
• "Visitors from Space", Volume Three: the complete newspaper dailies 1938-1939 (2025)

Yugoslavia

• "Ljudi s Marsa", Jutarnji list May 17, 1939 – July 18, 1939
• "Мандрак и људи са Марса", (romanized as "Mandrak i ljudi sa Marsa"), Mika Miš #288 – #305 (1939)