Mandrake the Magician (Feature Productions)

Mandrake the Magician was a series of Mandrake comics published by Feature Productions in New Zealand.

History

This series can be easily identified by the "FP" logo on the front cover. It reprinted the daily and Sunday newspaper strips serialised with each story usually running over several issues. Each issue have a total of 20 pages with 16 pages of strips in black and white. The inside front and back covers were left completely blank, and the outside back cover usually ran some sort of editorial information.

The series have a landscape format inside with a portrait format cover. From issue 14 the staples were located along the short top edge, so that after looking at the front cover, the reader had to rotate the comic 90° anticlockwise in order to read the story inside.

The issues have no publication dates printed on the cover or inside. Looking at the covers of the series, comparing with the similar The Phantom series and using a calendar it is believed that the first Mandrake issue was sold in October or November 1949.

The series ran as a monthly from 1949 until #42 (April 1953 ?), with a cover price of 6d (#1 to #28), 7d (#29 to #32) or 8d (from #33). They were then published on a fortnightly basis until #80 (September 1954). From #81 (first week of October) the comics were published weekly. Before issue 115 (probably from #89), the series again was published on a fortnightly basis. The cover price increased to 9d from #95 and then 10d from #141 (or #142)

The last issue of the series was #222 (?) in 1961 (?).

Issue overview

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  Mandrake the Magician #1
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  Mandrake the Magician #2
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  Mandrake the Magician #3
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  Mandrake the Magician #4
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  Mandrake the Magician #5
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  Mandrake the Magician #98
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  Mandrake the Magician #99
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  Mandrake the Magician #177