"Independence Day" Release:Comic #33, 34 & 35:TRIPLE BONANZA:Phantom & Mandrake Dailies

For every human being FREEDOM is the 'next' important thing after oxygen i.e. life! And we've earned our much awaited freedom exactly 61 years ago,on this very day:15th August!! :-)

There are 3 Phantom/Mandrake comics for all of you on this VERY SPECIAL occasion,a small token from this friend who's a firm believer of one thing:an out-n-out enemy is FAR BETTER than those 'back-stabbing' friends!

Whatever are happening recently in India,those blasts,those destructions and terrorist activities which are meant to destroy our peace,wealth,life,,IN SHORT EVERYTHING!!And our government is still trying to be friendly with 'those' countries which are the main source/master-minds of these destructions & terrorist activities!!

But if this meant we're going to take these nonsense casually,then they are COMPLETELY wrong!!Truth is ,more they attack us,more we'll be determined to give 'em a tit-for-tat,,,BUT FOR THAT we have to be firmly united 'cos this is NOT a problem of Mumbai/Hyderabad or Kolkata alone,BUT ALL OVER India!It's a deep conspiracy from a few 'well known' enemy agents and instead of aware their 'original' source,we are(read our government) allowing 'em!!

HOPE WE'LL LEARN FROM OUR PAST MISTAKES and will act accordingly!!!

JAI HIND!!!!!
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[1] Mandrake: D229:Aliens(1998) ..one of the Falk-Fredrick's last dailies!

Download D229

[2] Phantom:D166:Rex,Prince of Baronkhan(1989) ....a story of cruel conspiracy against Rex and how our beloved Vetal aka Phantom dealt with that!:-)

Download D166

[3] Mandrake :D235: Return of Clay Camel(2000) ....another 'return' from this well known master-of-disguise who'd appeared very first time in '30s era,now made his first time appearance in Post-Falk period in 2000! A fascinating tale as usual....

D0wnload D235

ENJOY!!!

The Mystery of Hojo!!

Was just re-reading an article on this inherent character of MTM strips,and thought this particular mystery is worthy 'nuff to share in blog,which is quite amazing(& amusing too!). :-)

I'm talking about Hojo- the mysterious chief of Inter-Intel(the world-wide secret secret organisation that collects information’s about crimes all over the world). Hojo's first appearance was in 1967 i.e. just in next year of the introduction of that secret bureau!! Started as Xanadu's chef-come-body guard,later he was 'revealed' as the secret chief of I-I in 1976(md-169:The Mysterious Chief).Except Mandrake ,no body was aware of his 'real' identity,included Jed - head of the NY branch of Inter-Intel !!

Later Lothar also learnt Hojo's real identity,when "8" kidnapped him(md-185:Hojo and 8) unknowing who he was,and Mandrake had to tell Lothar the truth in that moment-of-crisis!!

But,here's a baffling mystery regarding whether Hojo was the "Original" chief of Inter-Intel(i.e. from the beginning) or just a late-entry by Falk??

Probably he was NOT considered as the 'Original' Chief as there's a strip from 1975(md-163:The Thieves) where you can see when some thieves entered in Xanadu & tried to rob the amazing Crystal Cube,Hojo was present at that scene wid Narda & Karma.And at the SAME TIME,Mandrake was in a conference wid the secret chief of I-I!!! [you can see 'that' strip in the left side,which's the French version courtesy Peder]. So,there's two options:either Hojo had a high-tech Robot who can give prompt(& appropriate!) answers to visitors 'any' query in his absence OR Falk was then yet-to-decide a suitable person for that post(more probable!).

Between,another interesting info regarding that strip (md-163:The Thieves)is that,for some unknown reason(s),it NEVER published in either of Ijc/DC,allthough it's continuation part,md-164:Return of the Cube,was very much published by ToI in Ijc #286(Magic mantle) and that's why,Indian Mandrake fans completely missed this 'mystery' ,which you first time heard in Xanadu-site & now here!! :D