Hojo

Hojo
First appearance:	"The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar"
Created by:	Lee Falk and Fred Fredericks

Hojo is a character from the Mandrake the Magician comic strip that first appeared in "The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar".

Fictional Character Biography

Hojo first appeared as the massive master chef and major domo of Xanadu. Later on he is revealed to have the 10th degree black belt in judo and karate. He often trained with Lothar and Mandrake. He is fluent in 12 languages and can read 8 more, he also studies philosophy and history.

Hojo is a man of mystery, if Narda asks him why is he working as master chef at Xanadu he always says something like; "I like it here". Every morning on working days he sits on his motorcycle and goes down to the city. It was later revealed that he was the secret Chief of the international crimefighting organization Inter-Intel, disguised as a robot. And when he arrives at Inter-Intel he comes and starts with his work as a janitor.

In this way he actually has several secret identities; as the secret Chief of Inter-Intel and as a janitor at Inter-Intel. Even his work at Xanadu is a kind of secret identity, as he said: "Being your (Mandrake's) cook gives me the disguise I need. No one could suspect I head Inter-Intel."

What makes Hojo even more mysterious is that we never got to know any more about his background. Where does he come from, what did he do before he moved into Xanadu, when did he became secret chief of Inter-Intel ? We even do not know if Hojo has any last name, or if Hojo is his last name.

Family

There have been no stories where we have learn about any family of Hojo.

Notable appearances

Hojo has appeared in a majority of the stories featuring Mandrake after his first appearance. Some of the stories where Hojo has featured most prominently are:

Year	Dailies/Sundays	Title	Comments
1970	Dailies	"Hojo's Tale"
1971	Sundays	"The Mystery of Hojo"
1976	Dailies	"The Mysterious Chief"	Chief of Inter Intel
1980	Dailies	"Hojo and 8"	Mandrake tells Lothar that Hojo is the Chief of Inter-Intel.