The Astro Pirates

The Astro Pirates
Start date:	August 14th, 1966
End date:	December 25th, 1966
# of strips:	20 (20 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Fred Fredericks
Preceded by:	"The Underworld vs. Inter-Intel"
Followed by:	"The Blackout Caper"

"The Astro Pirates" is the 99th Mandrake Sunday story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Fred Fredericks.

This story exist in three variations. Fredericks drew the strips with three rows in landscape format which scaled down to fit half a newspaper page. By cutting the top row, the strip fills a third of a newspaper page. By rearranging the panels to portrait format, the strip fit a tabloid page.

Plot Summary

Narda is going home for a visit, but the departure date is Friday the 13th, a black cat walking under a ladder and she spilled salt. And onboard PO 112, astro-pirates land atop the ocean-spanning plane 35 000 feet above the sea.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda
• Jed

One-time characters

• Ned, man aboard a cruise ship.
• Mr. Marks, head of a company that insures most big jewel shipments.
• Axel, private secretary of Mr. Marks.
• Max, an Astro Pirate.

Locations

• New York City
  • Xanadu

Organizations

• Inter-Intel

Behind the scenes

• The story title is from the strip of August 14th, 1966 (Beginning: The Astro-Pirates!).

Signifiant covers

• 
  Argentina
• 
  Brazil
• 
  Italy
• 
  Portugal

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Argentina

• "Los astropiratas", Impacto #85 (1967)
• "??", Fantasía Suplemento #114 (1969)

Brazil

• "Os Piratas do Ar", Almanaque do Mandrake (1968)

Finland

• "Ilmarosvot pitävät jalokivistä", Taika-Jim #5 (1971)

France

• "Les pirates de l'espace", Mandrake #414 (1974)
• "Les astropirates", Le Journal de Mickey #1164 to #1173

Italy

• "Gli astropirati", I Giganti #14 (1967)
• "Gli astropirati", Mandrake #60 (1973)
• "Gli astro-pirati", Tavole domenicali 1965–1969 (2022)

Portugal

• "Os Astro-Piratas", Mundo de Aventuras #1168 (1972)

Sweden

• "Stratosfärpirater", Blixt Gordon #1/1969

Spain

• "Los astropiratas", Mandrake el Mago: Sundays pages 1965–1968 (Dolmen Editorial) (2018)

Turkey

• "Hava Korsanları", Mandrake #47 & #48 & #49 (1975)
• "Hava Korsanları", Mandrake Albüm #16 & #17
• "Hava Korsanları", Mandrake Albüm #86
• "Hava Korsanları", Mandrake #16 & #17
• "Hava Korsanları", Mandrake Süper Albüm #4 & #5
• "Hava Korsanları", Mandrake Süper Albüm #39 & #40
• "Hava Korsanları", Mandrake Süper Albüm #24

United Kingdom

• "The Astro Pirates", Mandrake the Magician - The Sundays Volume 1: The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar (2018)

Yugoslavia

• "Astro-pirati", Plavi Vjesnik #682 to Plavi Vjesnik #701 (1967-1968)
• "Astro-pirati", Super EKS Almanah #40 (1983)
• "Astro-pirati", Mandrakov magazin #21 (1990)