The Rogues

The Rogues

Start date:	December 20, 1971
End date:	April 1, 1972
# of strips:	90 (15 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Fred Fredericks
Preceded by:	"Magic Man"
Followed by:	"The Mission"

"The Rogues" is the 149th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Fred Fredericks.

Plot Summary

Inside a dark cave halfway around the earth the Cobra making plans to steal the Crystal Cube from Mandrake. Looking through his files of Mandrake's activities for years he found an interestin case, an electronics genious called "The Mole". Soon the warden receive a package, a personalized 3-dimensional tv color set. For helping to put it together he asked the prisoners in 346b, "The Mole" for help. The Mole quickly rebuild his outfit and manage to escape. Outside he was picked up by Udd and the shark looking remote plane of the Cobra.

While Mandrake and Lothar was lured away the weirs troops (The Mole, Udd, Weasel and Krud) of the Cobra manage to break into Xanadu.

When Mandrake and Lothar finally managed to get to back to Xanadu, it was almost too late. Mandrake's study had major damage, the Crystal Cube was exposed and the villains had almost gotten hold of it. During the fight Udd managed to escape, but did not manage to pick up the Crystal Cube.

Appearances

Recurring characters

One-time characters

Weasel, a master thief and the Cobras assistant.
Krud, known as The Strangler or The Executioner and the Cobras assistant.
Dr. R. Bok, (ar--boc, Cobra spelled backwards).

Locations

Xanadu
A Cave, the Cobra's hide-out halfway around the earth.

Objects

The Crystal Cube

Behind the scenes

The title for the story taken from the strip of December 12, 1971 (Beginning: "The Rogues").
An invitation in the strip of February 8, 1971; Conley Hall, Collins rd at Pamet (refering to Lee Falk's summer house near Truro at Cape Cod).
In Mandrake's study; an invisible beam opens a wall panel, a second invisible beam opens a second panel, then a seamless box opening with a verbal command "reveal" and inside the "Crystal Cube". The box closes with "conceal", an other command closes the wall panels and "guard" activates the laser beams protecting the wall.