The Sign of 8

The Sign of 8
Start date:	August 16th, 1965
End date:	February 5th, 1966
# of strips:	150 (25 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Fred Fredericks
Preceded by:	"The Odd Fellow"
Followed by:	"The Witches"

"The Sign of 8" is the 129th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Fred Fredericks.

Plot Summary

Adult education is quite the thing now and Narda is back at school. She is doing graduate work in history. By accident, in a footnote, she discovered a medieval gang of thiefs, called "The League of 8". While doing a fascinating report on the 800 years old gang she found clues of the acient gang closer to our time. Then the league of 8 strike....

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda
• The Police Chief

One-time characters

• Antone, Ambassador.
• Andros, president. mention only
• Dr. Ludd, professor in history and Narda's supervisor.
• Miss Percy, a librarian.
• Dan Goon, ganglord and local head of 8.
• Bello, gang member.
• Sgt. Adams, a police woman.
• Q, a quizzer of 8.
• X, a executioner of 8.

Locations

• New York City
  • Xanadu
  • Bartlett Street, where Narda lives.

Organizations

• 8
• Blue Cow Dairy.

Behind the scenes

Title

• The title for this story is taken from the strip of September, 4 (Next Week: Sign of 8)

Mandrake Lore

• This story have a long intro about Mandrake's new home, Xanadu, spanning the first 20 strips.
• Narda lives in Bartlett Street, a real street name in the Broadway Triangle New York.
• The members of 8 wearing cuff links with the sign 8, the X and Q wearing a ring with the sign 8 on their left ringfinger.
• In a hidden place far away is the top unit of 8 and their giant computer, Octo. If they are in doubt about what to do in a case feed the information into the computer, and get a short reply.
• The Police Chief has a private phone at his office. Only three people had this number, one of them was Mandrake.

The artist

• Fredericks has an ink error in the strip from January 6, 1966. The background is shown through an uninked part of the back of Dan Goon's head.

• 
  first panel
  strip of January 6

Signifiant covers

• 
  Brazil
• 
  Brazil
• 
  France
• 
  France
• 
  India
• 
  India
• 
  Italy
• 
  Italy
• 
  Italy
• 
  Norway
• 
  Spain
• 
  Spain
• 
  United Kingdom

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Brazil

• "A Casa dos Sonhos" & "O Signo do Oito", Mandrake #113 and #114 (1966)
• "Xanadu", Mandrake Especial (1974) note: strips from 16 August to 7 September 1965
• "O Signo do 8", As Grandes Aventuras do Mandrake #3 (1986)
• "A Origem de Xanadu", Mandrake Especial #22 (1988)

Denmark

• "Den hemmelige liga: I en dødelig fælde & Forhørslederen", Fantomet #242 and #243 (1984)

Finland

• "Salainen liiga" & "Salainen liiga (II): Kuulustelu", Mustanaamio #14 and #15 (1982)

France

• "La bande du Huit" & "Prisonniers du Huit", Spécial Mandrake #93 and #94 (1971)
• "La ligue des 8", Le Journal de Mickey #1484 to #1502 (1980-1981)
• "La ligue des 8", Mandrake (Les récits du Journal de Mickey) Volume 2 (2015)
• "La ligue des 8", Mandrake, intégrale du journal Mickey (Volume 3) (2017)
• "La ligue des 8", Mandrake the Magician Bandes quotidiennes Volume 1 (2025 / amateur issue only)

India

• "The Treacherous Gang" Indrajal Comics #77 (1969)
• "The Claws of Treachery", Indrajal Comics Vol. 22 No. 39 (1985)
• "The Dangerous Gang" Diamond Comics Digest - Mandrake #4 (1992)
• "The Dangerous Gang" Diamond Comics Digest - Mandrake #51 (1997)

Italy

• "La lega dell’otto" & "Allarme squadra volante", Special Mandrake #183 and #184 (1966)
• "La lega dell’otto", "Allarme squadra volante" & "La lega dell’otto", Mandrake (1972)
• "La lega dell'Otto", Mandrake - New Comics Now #380 (1997)
• "Xanadù", Mandrake (I classici del Fumetto) (1999) - (intro part only)

Norway

• "Den hemmelige ligaen", Fantomet #25 and Fantomet #26 (1985)
• "Den hemmelige ligaen", Mandrake Spesial (1997)

Portugal

• "A Dádiva do Presidente" & "A Misteriosa Liga 8", Mundo de Aventuras #1189 (1972)

Spain

• "Xandu", Héroes Modernos #23 (1967)
• "Xanadú" & "La sociedad secreta del 8", Mandrake #47 (2000)

Sweden

• "Xanadu", Blixt Gordon #7/1969 (note: first part only)
• "Den hemliga ligan: I en dödlig fälla & Förhörsledaren", Fantomen #5 and #6 (1982)

Turkey

• "Dehşet Çetesi", Mandrake #96 & #97 & #98 & #99 & #100 (1976)
• "Dehşet Çetesi", Mandrake Albüm #32 & #33 & #34
• "Dehşet Çetesi", Mandrake Albüm #111 & #112
• "Dehşet Çetesi", Mandrake #31 & #32 & #33
• "Dehşet Çetesi", Mandrake Süper Albüm #9
• "Dehşet Çetesi", Mandrake Süper Albüm #46 & #47

United Kingdom

• "The Sign of 8", Mandrake the Magician #4
• "The Sign of 8", Mandrake the Magician - The Dailies Volume 1: The Return of Evil - The Cobra (2017)

Yugoslavia

• "Liga 8", Stripoteka #368/369 (1976)
• "У знаку Осмице"/"U znaku Osmice", Politikin Zabavnik #1341 (1977)
• "U znaku Osmice", Super EKS Almanah #27 (1982)
• "U znaku Osmice", Mandrak magazin #11 (1990)