Master of Magic

Master of Magic
Start date:	August 5, 1963
End date:	December 7, 1963
# of strips:	108 (18 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"The Giant Toothache"
Followed by:	"The Disturber"

"Master of Magic" is the 122th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis.

Plot Summary

Narda interupt Mandrake's "long-distance call" and Mandrake fainted. When he woke up he telling Narda the secret of the Crystall Ball and the College of Magic. Concentrating on the crystall both Mandrake and Narda went on a mental visit to Theron a distant hidden valley in far-off Tibet. But the country are invaded and enemy plane ataccing. When a bomb hit the temple, the crystall stop glowing, the replica inside was damaged and the contakt broken.

Mandrake and Lothar went aboard a plane and reach the border of Tibet. Wearing parachutes they jump out in the remote mountainous Tibet, landing nearby the pass to the hidden vally.

Then a snow leopard atac, some Tibetanian nomads heard the shot. When they found that Mandrake was one of the "enchanted" they gave him horses and supplies for help going to CM. They reach the CM, finding the invaders encamped in the ruins, the natives enslaved in the fields and Theron temporally blinded due the bombing.

They manage to escape. Moving a hidden doorhandle a cave mouth opened. Inside a vast cavern, a glowning place, fountains, gardens - a copy of the College of Magic.

Theron get rid of the invaders at the old CM by post-hypnotic suggestion, "set off" by the rising sun. The old CM dissapear and the invaders left in a hurry - a crazy place.

In ten second, using mental transmission Mandrake and Lothar was back in New York.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda
• Theron
• Derek

One-time characters

• Mandrake's father

Locations

• New York
• College of Magic

Objects

• The Crystal Cube

Behind the scenes

• The title for the story taken from the strip of August 5, 1963 (Beginning: Master of Magic).
• The Crystall Ball may be older than the pyramides.
• The legend says the Crystall Ball was left by men from the sky (an alian spaceship ?)
• "Inside the Crystal Ball there is a tiny modell, it first inspired an ancient architect to build the first Greek temple, later the College of Magic was build as a copy of the modell.
• The Crystall Ball was a gift from Theron when Mandrake left the College of Magic
• When Mandrake wish to "reach" Theron by telepaty, he focus on the Crystal Ball, and in a sense enter the crystal mentally.
• In old times wizards made wondrous magic. They carried on secrets of ancient Egypt, magic of ancient China and others. When the hordes of Genghis Khan swept the eastern world most of the wizards and their lore were destroyed. A few escaped and in the remote Himalayas they build the College of Magic.
• Once a decade, out of thousands of applicants, they selected one youth to teach.
• Mandrake was twelve and his brother Derek ten when their father took them to the College of Magic.
• Mandrake was a student for ten years while Derek only seven.
• Mandrake speaking a Tibetian dialect, learned in his childhood.
• The College of Magic are in a cave, inside a mountain.
• They get their power from a generator, operated by mental power.
• Someone from CM wrote E=MC2 on the Einstein's board.

Signifiant covers

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  USA

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Argentina

• "Maestro de la Magia", Libro de Oro - Mandrake el Mago #13 (1965)

Australia

• no title, Mandrake the Magician #32 (1964 (?))

Brazil

• "O Colégio de Mágica", Mandrake #95 (1964)
• "Colégio de Mágicas", Mandrake #235 (1975)
• "O Colégio", Mandrake #278 (1979)
• "O Colégio de Mágicas", Mandrake Especial #7 (1987)
• "O Colégio de Mágica", Mandrake #1 (2013)

France

• "Les maîtres de l'illusion", Spécial Mandrake #70, Spécial Mandrake #71 & Spécial Mandrake #72 (1969)

India

• "The College of Magic", Indrajal Comics #241 (1975)

Italy

• "I maestri dell'illusione", Super Albo - Mandrake #70 (1964)
• "I maestri dell’illusione", Mandrake - New Comics Now #165 (1986)

Spain

• "El templo de la magia" and "Aventura en el Tibet", Coleccion Héroes Modernos #65c and #66c (1964)
• "El templo de la magia" and "Aventura en el Tibet", Coleccion Héroes Modernos Album de Rip Kirby (1964)
• "El templo de la magia" and "Aventura en el Tibet", Biblioteca Eterna - Coleccion Héroes Modernos #13C and #14C (1970)

Turkey

• "Esrarlı Tibet", Mandrake #192 & #193 & #194 & #195 (1978)
• "Esrarlı Tibet", Mandrake Albüm #62 & #63 (1978)
• "Esrarlı Tibet", Mandrake Albüm #170 & #171

United Kingdom

• "Master of Magic", Action Series #6 (1964)

USA

• "Master of Magic", The Classic Mandrake Series (second series)/ Episode: "Master of Magic - Part I" (Pacific Comics Club) and The Classic Mandrake Series (second series)/ Episode: "Master of Magic - Part II" (Pacific Comics Club) (2020)