Mystery Taxi

Mystery Taxi
Start date:	October 3rd, 1949
End date:	November 26th, 1949
# of strips:	48 (8 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"Lady Ermine"
Followed by:	"Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch"

"Mystery Taxi" is the 53rd Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis. This story exists in three variants, one made to span three newspaper columns, one to span four and one to span five. Compared to the four-column variant the five-column variant is cropped in the lower part. The three column variant is cropped less in the lower part and the panels are made wider by adding extra ink. The copyright line is almost always placed differently in the strip, as is the date. In addition, the shape and placement of the speech bubble can be different.

Plot Summary

A mysterious taxi driving around with a dummy driver.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda
• The Police Chief

One-time characters

• Mr. F, a mechanical engineer.
• Todo, Mr. F's deafmute servant.

Locations

• New York
• Compo

Behind the scenes

• The title for this story is taken from the plot.
• 20 Compo, Narda's address ?

Signifiant covers

• 

  Australia

• 

  Brazil

• 

  Italy

• 

  Turkey

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Argentina

• "Robos electrónicos", El Libro de la Historieta #13 (1956)

Australia

• "Mystery Taxi", Mandrake Comic #12 (1954)

Brazil

• "O Senhor G", Mandrake, o Mágico #26 (1974)
• "O Golpe do Taxi", Mandrake #272 (1978)

Denmark

• "no title", Fantomet #167 (1981)

Finland

• "Outo taksimies", Mustanaamio #12 (1976)

France

• "Le taxi fantôme", Roy Rogers #05 – Roy Rogers #07 (1953 )
• "Le taxi du mystère", Spécial Mandrake #66 (1969)
• "Le taxi du mystère", Mandrake le Magicien - L'intégrale 1 (Soleil) (1993)

Italy

• "Sciarada giallo-rosa", Super Albo - Mandrake #80 (1964)
• "Sciarada giallo-rosa", Mandrake - New Comics Now #261 (1991)
• "Sciarada giallo-rosa", Mandrake 44 (Comic Art) (1995)
• "no title", Libretti a fumetti - Le avventure di Mandrake (1) (1996)

Mexico

• "Los robos electronicos", Paquito #11002 (1952)

New Zealand

• "Mystery Taxi", Mandrake the Magician #23 and Mandrake the Magician #24 (1951)

Norway

• "Taxi-mysteriet", Fantomet #20 (1984)

Sweden

• "Geniet mr F", Mandrake #3 (1963)
• "Taximysteriet", Fantomen #18 (1975)

Turkey

• "Esrarengiz Taksi", Haftalık Albüm #14 (1952)
• "Esrarengiz Taksi", 1001 Özel #234 (1957)
• "Esrarengiz Taksi", Güneş #3 (1968)

United Kingdom

• "The Fat Man", Mandrake the Magician #7 (1960)