Comic #45 & 46:Mandrake Sundailies:Kraken(S156) & Dollmaker(D100)

Subho Bijoya to all friends,fellow bloggers & visitors!! :-)
Today's Gandhi's birthday and tomorrow we'll celebrate Laxmi puja and in order to celebrate these occasions I'm presenting a couple of mandrake strips for all of you!
#1:Kraken(S156) from 1986 which had already appeared in Indrajal comics and all have read already BUT what I'm posting is Unedited b/w version which appeared in a US magazine 2 decades ago...it covers the 1st strip only.Soon I will post the remaining parts!


#2:Dollmaker(D100) from 1958.A old daily which never appeared in Indrajal or any other Indian comics.I can assure that,once you read this strip,you'll wish to re-read it again!! yeah...a old classic filled with thrill,mystery & adventure in each & every panels where the mystery evolved in a old forgotten town:Gynt!Also,this is one of those rare adventures where Mandrake's half-sister Lenore also involved...(Now,when reading this Dollmaker strip,seasoned Phans will find a very prominent similarity with another Classic Falk-Phantom!Well,that's no big surprise as we all know,he frequently used same basic-plot in both Phantom/Mandrake strips....well,some plots were worthy of that and believe me,this current strip is no exception!:) )


Now about d/l links,actually I've uploaded these 5-6 months back and then completely forgot!!Otherwise these post would had appeared much earlier....but as they said,late better than never,so eNjOy!!:_))))

Download Kraken(S156):
Part-1
Part-2
Part-3

Download Dollmaker(D100)

Some Bengali Phantom/Mandrake Covers & vintage Strips...

These are from my old scans which I did few months back!! Besides some vintage Bengali Phantom/Mandrake Indrajal covers,I'm attaching a couple of pages of Bengali Phantom Sundays from a old magazine.....watch out for the fabulous coloring(despite the books are more than 20 years old & I haven't done any editing!!)

Actually,I have planned to scan more such stuffs but my scanner not working since long...hopefully things will be fixed soon!! :-)

eNjOy!!!

Comic #44:Mandrake Sunday:The Traveller's Tale(S096;1964)

After a long-time posting a strip!! between,a new (& youngest) blogger arrived in our comic-blogging...you can visit his site & encourage him here.....bhalo effort dekhte pabe sobai!! :-)

By the way,this is the LAST Sunday from Falk-Davis combo! :-)

Now let's enjoy this strip..:-)

Download this Sunday

Review of High Seas Hjacker(The Governor and Suzie):A 1943 Phantom Daily

In last few days I was reading many Phantom strips,mostly from Falk's earliest creations, and one SPECIAL of those was D019:High Seas Hijacker(The Governor and Suzie).
Matter of fact,I've heard about these strip among Phans many times,but somehow couldn't find time to read!Now,after finished this strip,only one thing I can say:WHY THIS KINDA STORIES NEVER RE-TOLD IN LATER PART OF FALK's GLORIOUS JOURNEY?? This is worth repeating,in place of many substandard plots!! :-)
Now,this adventure begans in a cargo ship,SS HARVEY,which was planned to hijack in the mid sea.Our Phantom was a passenger in that cargo and whole operation carried out by a couple of ladies,and Suzie was one of them.But they were mere assistants of master-mind, the General who was in fact the Governor of his own country - and secretly a Pirate by profession!!
The story was a fascinating(& long) one where Phantom had to nab the gang in a quite hard way!BUT,the part which made this adventure a pretty special was how Suzie,being one of the members of that hijackers,literally helped Phantom in his mission,well knowing if he nabs the gang,it means severe punishment for her too!! Well,like other girls,she was also madly in love with the Phantom and despite having many chances to help Governor's soldiers to nab the Ghost Who Walks(and also free herself),she couldn't managed ever!
In the climax,Suzie was shot by the Governor as she tried to shield the Ghost Who Walks - in order to save him and that was a fatal shot indeed!! In the whole adventure,from the beginning, she was curious to see Phantom's real face which she couldn't managed until in her last few moments,when she requested him for once last time, Phantom couldn't turned down her last wish. It was one of the rarest moments where Phantom shows his original face to a stranger and what a fitting moment IMHO!!!
In short, a thriller in it's own grade and a fitting climax without much melodrama,I loved this daily from my core!! :))

So buddies, let me know your views AND for your convenience,I'm putting a d/l link which already available in Prabhat's all-Phantom-strip post.Please read it and let us know what you felt.... :-)

Cheers! (and this file is NOT p/w protected...so enjoy!!)
DOWNLOAD D019:Governor and Suzie

Subho Nabo Barsho Post: Comic #42:Mandrake Sunday:Sports of The Magician(S161;1989)

Hello again friends! Wishing you all SUBHO NABO BARSHO,the new year in Bengali(& Hindu) calender,which starts from today,dated 1st Boishak(1416)!! It's a Bengali festival! :))

On this occasion,enjoy a special Mandrake Sunday:The Sports of Magician(S161) which's infact the 1st Sunday strip of MTM from Post-Indrajal era i.e. 6th Part of famous KRAKEN series.The earlier one,part #5(Singing rocks) ,was the last MTM-Sunday appeared in Ijc(V26 N36)! So,while this is a Italian strip,but at least we get the Missing ones in some form!! Hopefully Bala will publish it's English version sooner than later.
And this has been contributed by Peder ...thank you man!:)))
NOTE:I've just edited the strip in order to fit in page-format(from original strip-format!)

ENJOY!!















Download S161

Comic #41:Mandrake Daily:The Employment Agency(D096;1958)

Hello to ALL VISITORS!! after a long time,eh?? :)

Enjoy this strip,which is related to a weird EMPLOYMENT AGENCY!!

It's a FASCINATING THRILLER,WHICH IS ONE OF THE BEST SCRIPTS from great FALK(I will love your tremendous creations in my whole life!! THANK YOU SIR!! :)))))

D/L THIS DAILY

Diamond Mandrake Infos...

UPDATE: Thanks to Srinivas(Bhotla) & Ajay,got info's regarding some DCs,,also Balaji has promised to send 3 DC Info's which he having with him(info's means scans of Covers with 2/3 page-scans of stories for identification!).
Thanks you all,,,will put those scans soon ,,,may be sooner than later we'll complete DC-M Index with support from you guys! :D
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello friends, after a long time,eh!! :-)

From the last few months I am preparing an INDEX of Diamond Mandrake published by DC(Ind) in 1992-2000 era! They had published 86 issues among those 30+ issues were simply re-print of earlier issues. I've prepared a list based on infos from my own collection and other fan's help like Peder,Ajay,Anurag etc and with their help,till now I've managed to collect information of 70+ issues, i.e. only 13/14 are left to be identified!! :-)

My request is ,to ALL those visitors/fans who have these following issues,please come forward and share necessary infos in order to complete the Index!

Those are :DC #72, 75, 78, 79, 82, 83, 85, 86

By the way, in this process,I'd requested some fans who claimed to have some of these missing DCs,,but somehow they are not interested to share even few statistics (i.e. Strip title,number of stories etc)..

I hope there are still some fans who have these books and "willing" to share....

Ajay/Anurag have supplied whatever with them,so I request others to come forward,if have any of those Numbers.... :-)

Thanks in advance....

And finally,here's few DC-Mandrake covers for you enjoyment(scans from Ajay,Anurag & myself)...and Cover-wise I've managed to get 65+ covers scans till now!:-)

Comic #40:Phantom Daily:The Prisoner of the Himalayas(D005) - A fascinating tale....

...from 1938 - published more than 70 years ago!!! :o)

Just read it couple of days back or so(on the 1st day of this new year,in fact! :-)) and WOW!!It's a completely fascinating tale of GWW ,one of those associated in INDIA,a mind-blowing thriller with fabulous scripting from great Falk!!This is that kinda strips which will tell you how great was Mr.Lee Falk !! :-)
I can't stop myself from giving some examples of conversations from this Daily,which in fact,mind blowing in my opinion!! I really missed these kinda tight/dramatic/taut dialogues from late '80s strips(except few),sadly!!

Conversation #1 :Between crook Bart and The Phantom ....









Conversation #2 :Between crook Bart and Prince Gar of Himalaya....










And hey!another amazing trivia,,,in this adventure Phantom had to "snatch" Diana from 'her' weeding ceremony!!yes,,you hear it right!!still amazed?? then see this,,,,arre yaar,,everything is fair in LOVE & WAR!! Don't you know it?? hahahaha...



















NOW ,TO READ THE WHOLE ADVENTURE IN ONE GO,,CLICK HERE

NEW YEAR DHAMAKA!! Comic #39:Mandrake Daily:SSD(Headless Thief;D067) - A 1952 Strip!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!! :-)
Hope you all have enjoyed the last week of 2008 which was,as usual,filled wid festive mood!
And in order to add some more fun here for you a Classic Mandrake Thriller:Silly Stuff Department(Headless Thief) - a 1952 publication as the first post of 2009 in this blog-space! Read it and you will pleasantly find out that the '80s famous strip,The case of Headless Figure(D193; 1986), was inspired from that only,although with better modification and new twists! :-)
By the way,for information,the later one was published in Indrajal as "Headless Figure(V24 N29 & 30)" which eventually published in this blog already!

SO,OLDIES,ENJOY THIS *NEW* ONE AND ALL NEWCOMERS ENJOY BOTH OF THE HEADLESS THIEVES!! :D

CHEERS!!!














DOWNLOAD THIS 1952 STRIP