Robinson
Robinson was published weekly by the French publisher Opera Mundi from 1936 to 1944. It was mainly a compilation of newspaper American comics characters such as "Mandrake the Magician", "The Phantom", "Flash Gordon", "Brick Bradford" and others.
It ran in two different series, separated by the troubled time of the World War II. The first issue was released on April 26, 1936 and the series lasts until issue #218 on June 30, 1940, an ending in relation with the German army advance in France during the first part of the World War II.
A second series however began some months later when Robinson merged with Hop-là! into a new magazine, entitled Robinson et Hop-là ! réunis (translation : "Robinson and Hop-Là ! Together") and started with a new issue 217 (October 6, 1940) in the southern zone of France – a part of the country then called “The Free zone”. At the time, many pre-war magazines found a “second life” in being still published in this southern zone. Finally, the series ended with issue 395 on July 2, 1944.
So, with the end of the original series and the beginning of the following one, it is worth to notice that there were two issues #217 and two issues #218.
The initial format was 36.5 x 26.5 cms and has changed twice. The magazine contained, depending on the period, 16, 10, 8 or 4 pages.
The Mandrake Sunday pages were in color.
Unsold copies were later glued together with a new outer cover and sold as "albums". ".
Issue overview
Mandrake stories
| Title | US Title | Issues | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Le petit peuple" | "Land of the Little People" | 1939: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 | |
| "Les secrets du cirque" | "The Circus People" | 1936: 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 | |
| "La dimension X" | "Chamber into the X Dimension" | 1937: 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72 | |
| "Le tyran de Dementor" | "Prince Paulo the Tyrant" | 1937: 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 | |
| "La chasse aux trésors" | "The Treasure Hunt" | 1938: 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126 | |
| "Mandrake sur la Lune" | "The Lunar Trip" | 1938: 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152 | |
| "Mandrake à la Foire" | "Mandrake and Lothar at the Carnival" | 1939: 153, 154, 155, 156, 157 | |
| "Le monstre de la montagne" | "The Haunted Range" | 1939: 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166 | |
| "Le pêcheur" | "The Fisherman" | 1939: 167 | |
| "La visite" | "The Visit" | 1939: 168 | |
| "Une bonne leçon" | "The Annoying" | 1939: 169 | |
| "Le fou volant" | "The Flying Pass By" | 1939: 170 | |
| "La boule de cristal" | "The Clairvoyant" | 1939: 171 | |
| "Mandrake dans la ville d'or" | "City of Gold" | 1940: 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197 | |
| "Un méchant" | "The Evil Man" | 1940: 198 | |
| "Pour mesurer sa force" | "Trial of Strenght" | 1940: 199 | |
| "Le remède" | "The Cure" | 1940: 200 | |
| "Lothar à la pêche" | "Lothar go Fishing" | 1940: 101 | |
| "Un boutiquier malhonnête" | "The Dishonest Merchant" | 1940: 102 | |
| "L'ours fantôme" | "The Ghost Bear of Glass Mountain" | 1940: 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117 | |
| "L'incrédule" | "Mandrake and Doubting Thomas" | 1940: 118 |
