Inter-Intel
| Inter-Intel | |
| |
| First appearance: | "The Cobra Returns" |
|---|---|
| Created by: | Lee Falk and Fred Fredericks |
Inter-Intel is an organization that pools criminal information for police world-wide. It is a non-profit organization that is supported and used by every country.
Fictional history
Creation
Inter-Intel was founded[1] early 1960's as an international pool of information for law agencies of many nations. The founder[2] also became Inter-Intel's secret top chief and only the board of directors knew his identity. In order to prevent criminal attacks at the headquarters, many different secret entrances were created.
Organizational structure
In the beginning[2] Lee Falk described Inter-Intel similar to a news agency, with a combined local bureau and headquarters in the big city. Around the world, there were other local bureaus with field agents collecting information and sending it to the headquarters. At this main office Jed became[2] the bureau head. At the same location Inter-Intel's mysterious and secret chief has his office, behind a door with alarm[3].
Early 1970's Jed said[4] that about 2000 people worked in Inter-Intel, without specifying whether all worked at the headquarters. A few years later he said[5] that Inter-Intel has about 5000 employees.
Mid 1980's Inter-Intel seems[6] to have been reorganized with the main focus on the headquarters, without mentioning any sub-agency elsewhere. Inter-Intel was now led[6] by the secret chief and with Jed as the deputy director.
Chief of Inter-Intel
The first[footnotes 1] chief of Inter-Intel was the same person who founded[2] the organization. His office is located at Inter-Intel's headquarters, behind a door marked with "Chief". In the beginning he spoke[4] through a computer[footnotes 2] inside his office, with written messages and orders.
Later[7] the chief speaks through a robot, sitting behind a desk at his office. When Mandrake finally[8] realized that the secret chief of Inter-Intel was identical with Hojo, he learned that the chief had a private elevator up to a hidden private office behind his official office.
Mandrake got to know that it was[8] the huge computer at Inter-Intel that had chosen the chief. 1000 names were fed into the computer and it picked the best one. The computer even called Hojo and told him that he was chosen as chief of Inter-Intel.
Entrances and exits
The headquarters has several secret entrances and exits, that is constantly changing.
The principle is that the entrance is via something completely ordinary, such as a car wash garage, a service station, a phone booth, a meat shop, an elevator in a building and on. Then, via a ladder or a slide down one moves below ground level into a tunnel with a speeding sidewalk. At the end of the tunnel there is a high escalator or a swift elevator that brings people up to the floor of the skyscraper where Intel-Intel has its offices.
The entrances make people lose their sense of place, so no one knows exactly where and in which building Inter-Intel is located.
Notable appearances
Inter-Intel has appeared in these stories:
| Title | Writer | Artist | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Cobra Returns" | Falk | Fredericks | First appearance |
| "The Underworld vs. Inter-Intel" | Falk | Fredericks | Secret chief, hidden entrance |
| "The Mystery of Inter-Intel" | Falk | Fredericks | Secret chief speaking through the voice of a robot |
Note
- ↑ Hojo cannot be identical to the founder of Inter-Intel due to some stories. Like as in The Thieves, where he is fighting some thieves at Xanadu, at same time Mandrake is talking with the secret robot chief at the Inter-Intel headquarters.
- ↑ looks like the gigantic computer which is usually located in a central room at the headquarters