Mandrake the Magician and his best friend and crimefighting companion Lothar.The syndicated newspap
Mandrake the Magician and his best friend and crimefighting companion Lothar.The syndicated newspaper comic strip Mandrake the Magician was created by Lee Falk in 1934, before he created The Phantom. Phil Davis soon took over as the strip’s illustrator, while Falk continued to script. Davis worked on the strip until his death in 1964, when Falk recruited artist Fred Fredericks. With Falk’s death in 1999, Fredericks became both writer and artist. The Sunday Mandrake strip ended December 29, 2002. The daily strip ended mid-story on July 6, 2013 when Fred Fredericks retired. Mandrake is regarded by some comics historians as the first comics’ first superhero. -- source link