Comic #63 : Indrajal Comics(Bengali) : No.122(Mandrake) :8-er Khoppore(৮-এর খপ্পরে)

A Mandrake story this time,from a 1971 Indrajal,with that vicious gang of world-wide criminals "league of 8(৮-এর দল)" in it. [The English version was 'The Mysterious Eight'(#144)].
You will never experience a single dull moment in any of the early "8" stories,with so much action & thrill these will offer.The introductory story(#77 - The Treacherous Gang) itself was a classic!! I do believe that Indrajal readers were/are fortunate enough to have ALL of the best "sign of 8" adventures published in these books.After Ijc's cancellation,the remaining "8" stories were published in Diamond's Mandrake Digest(DMD) but I have hardly enjoyed those!

For a more detailed reading on "8",visit these links of few old posts & forum's thread:
The league of 8(from Xanadu)
Mysterious Island of "8"(A old blog-post)
No.77 - The Treacherous Gang(Forum's Thread)

Enjoy!
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Now,this story was reprinted later,on 1985(V22 N47 : মরণের ডাক) but that '85 version was heavily edited with Lothar's get-up had been redrawn(by ToI's artist!!) - just in order to 'fit' him in the modern look - was one of those stupidest things done by them, that eventually ruined the vintage art of Fred Fredricks!! [You just have to check #122(Eng #144) & V22 N47 side-by-side to understand this(see the following panels)]

There are few more stories(with such treatment) aswell and probably the worst example is V23 N26(দূর-আকাশের তারা) - a reprint of #150/সংখ্যা ১২৮!
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 Now,about the cover-art,this is one of the best Indrajal covers with Mandrake stories inside.Once again,B.Govind did a splendid job!About the Bengali titles,those are simply awesome with the number '8'(৮) mentioned in all of the first 3 stories related with this vicious gang,something that English titles lack!Those were "রহস্যময় ৮(সংখ্যা ৫৫/ #77)","৮-এর খপ্পরে(সংখ্যা ১২২/ #144)" and "আবার ৮-এর খপ্পরে(সংখ্যা ১৪১/ #163)".

When Mandrake takes some break,he reads comic!!wow!Then he is not any of those gimmickry super-heroes but rather a chilled-out person..only with some legendary power of illusion! :))

But there are the moments when he suspects something from a slight hunch,and that means end of his vacation(evenif that makes Narda quite furious)! Like when he saw that number 8 on the collar!!

"Hamara dhande mein ek galti ko maaf karna usse bada galti hein!(In our business,to forgive one mistake is the bigger mistake itself!)" - remember this most (in)famous dialogue by that under-world leader - Malik - in the 2002 Bollywood block-buster : Company ?? It seems that he took this idea from the "league of 8" itself as they also never forgive a mistake or failure and like Malik, allow only one thing : penalty-of-death("৮-এর যা রেওয়াজ")!

Now,read the whole story...

Download সংখ্যা ১২২

The Mysterious Island of ... The League of "8"!!

The League of "8" or simply the "8" - this very description means a lot to any seasoned Mandrake fan & that too rightfully as "8" signifies the one-of-the most dreaded crime-organisation readers experienced in ANY of the comic-strips! They were(or are?) unique on many aspects,,,from their 800-year long crime history which started in the medieval era or those mysterious hide-outs(they had 8 arms around the world like Octopus) up to their chief ,the mysterious 'Octon' who controlled every move of this secret crooked organisation....everything is truly fascinating!! :o)

Mandrake & Co. were accidentally introduced wid this gang way back in the 1965,curtsy Narda's study on ancient history where she stumbles upon clues of an ancient crime-gang ,which everybody thought extinct by now,the league of "8" and she got enough clues indicating that this gang is still alive,,only their pattern-of-crime has been changed over these years!!

To make it short,in this way Mandrake/Lothar introduced with a crime-gang and eventually became their MOST dreaded enemy ...
After 1965,M/L duo found many other secret hide-outs of "8" and as their rule,Octon always destroyed their arm(s) when that failed to nab their enemies(precisely M/L!) .In this way the first hand had been destroyed when their members were failed to kill Mandrake & his companions,in the mysterious Island of 8 !!

That was 1968,when a English criminologist,Dr.Dell, visited Xanadu to see mandrake's famous Rouge's gallery and eventually hooked with the description of The League of "8" ...Later she mentioned her knowledge on "8" in one of her seminars & soon kidnapped as like Mandrake once said "after Police - the thing '8' hated most is - publicity" .In order to find out what happened wid their beautiful friend,M/L were also kidnapped & brought in a mysterious island of this secret crime organisation!

Now it's the first time where one can see the mysterious island of 8 where everything,from the castle to the garden,is in the shape of their crime-sign i.e. "8" !! This headquarter,the 7th of their arms,was a 8 shaped castle and was filled with the 8 symbols. With help from Inter Intel Mandrake,Lothar & Dr.Dell succeeded to escape from the headquarter ,i.e. the 7th. arm of the league of 8, just in time before their mysterious chief 'Octon' blew the whole headquarter !








In the several other encounters with the league of '8',most of their hide-outs were based on cities/localities ,unlike this hidden mysterious island and eventually this particular encounter(D136:Dr.Dell & '8' ;1968) is MOST thrilling among the '8'-series on this account. In short,a special island of this mysterious-n-ancient crime gang,where everything bears their unique symbol,is more fascinating and also matched with their mysterious attitude in very move!

* Trivia: The panels are mostly taken from a French version of that Daily:D136 ,which published in Indrajal twice as 'Gigantic Octopus(#226)' and 'The Hideous Underworld(V23 N10)' ....Anyway,you will see some panels in this French version which were 'edited' in Ijc wid needless to mention :the awesome coloring used in this strip! :)

Mandrake Cover Project #4 :The League of "8" special

UPDATE: A couple of *NEW* Polls has been added at this Blog! Visitors may cast their votes,and while for the 1st Poll,you can vote for ONLY one option, multiple-voting option has been enabled for the 2nd one!! :-)
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Friends,in this NEW post,I'm presenting some great covers of "The League of 8" stories were published in Indrajal Comics!

The first ever introduction with Mandrake Co. with this deadly ancient and secret crime-gang was way back in 1965 in the story "The treacherous gang" as No.77,when Narda accidentally discovered the existence of this Medieval gang in modern days..during her research in History!!

Next,it was amazing tale "The Trail of 8" (IJC No.144)" followed by "Dr.Dell and 8 (D136;1968)"- a very late publication in IJC as the 'Giant Octopus (No.226;1976) n republished in Vol.23 No.10'.....
But,his crime gang was much more deadly & wold-wide than Mandrake and Chief could imagined. They made their return once again in "The Bribe (D141)" published in IJC as 'False Will' (No.163).
[One "8" story,'The test of magician' was published as 2-part back-up story with Phantom ,No.327 n 328;1979]

Since then,with regular intervals, Mandrake/Lothar had fought against "8" and Octon -the mysterious leader,destroyed each time a more 'arm ' among their world-wide eight arms!!

The LAST '8' appeared in IJC as "The claws of Treasury(Vol.25 No.30 & 31; 1988)"....

P.S.- The LAST Mandrake Daily published in IJC was D202(secret invention; Vol.27 No.4) and the very next one,D203 was another splendid adventure on this crime-gang,"The gift of 8"..which we majority missed!! :-(
Wait!!.... it was NOT the end,one can witnessed the climax of these thriller series only in D211(The Book of Criminals;1992) & D217(Secret Place;1994) ,in later one,Octon was revealed and HE WAS NONE OTHER THAN...guess???.....COBRA aka Lucifer!!..the evil bro of Mandrake!!!
Thus,with that strip, this legendary secret crime-gang was apparently finished,though Falk was initiated to telling another tale on "8" ,but couldn't complete due to his illness followed by his death in March,1999......Later,it was completed by Fredricks with a complete different angle.It was the LAST Falk-Mandrake Daily: D231(The secret Mission) .
You can d/l it from HERE!!