Albi grandi avventure - Mandrake

From 1936 to 1941, following the success of the weekly magazine "L'Avventuroso", Mario Nerbini published a series of separate comics-books, entirely devoted to Mandrake, which were presented as "Albi supplemento a L'Avventuroso" ("Extra issues Albums of L'Avventuroso"). The series received the title of "Albi Grandi Avventure" ("Albums Great Adventures").

History

Original series (1936-1941)

The original series was released in an oblong size of 31.5 x 22.6 cm, a kind of presentation known as the "Italian format. Logically, the inside stories were the first daily strips created by Lee Falk and Phil Davis but, with the breakdown of the relations between the Italian and the American regimes, some of the final part of the series, published in 1941, was Italian creation and the series stopped at the entering of the United States in the war.

Note

Narda are named Daran pre 1941.
On the covers Mandrake are named Mandrache post 1940.
In 1975-1976, all 14 issues were reprinted under an identical repeating format, always with the mention "Casa Editrice Nerbini".

Issue overview

Post-War series (1946-1948)

At the end of the war, Nerbini was able to renew his editing activities and the "Albi grandi Avventure" were back again in the newsstands, still in an oblong format but with a little bit smaller size of 27,5 x 19,5 cm. In 1945, an initial series of 4 unnumbered issues was published, followed from 1946 to 1948 by another series of 31 numbered issues. Even if other comics heroes were also represented in this latter series, 31 issues was exclusively consacred to Mandrake), an achievement that clearly demonstrated the continuing popularity of the Lee Falk's character in the readers' favours.

The "Albi Grandi Avventure" (before as well as after the World War II) have always been very researched by collectors as they were adorned with attractive colored covers, even if the inside strips was being printed in black and white.