[Andrew999]

Happy Birthday, Lee Falk, 109 years old today

[Robb_K]

Happy Birthday, Lee Falk, 109 years old today

Is he still alive?  Or is this just a posthumous birthday acknowledgement?

[misappear]

He died in 1999 I think

[The Australian Panther]

In the current Newspaper Phantom strip - still going strong - Lee Falk now occasionally features as a character who the Phantom passes without noticing as he goes about his business. Falk then makes some comments introducing the current story line.
Same function as a 'Host' in a Horrror comic. 

[Andrew999]

I rather like that - immortality of a sort - I would welcome the idea of being a support character in a long-running strip.

[Andrew999]

As misappear says in a sudden appearance, he died in 1999.

My comment was merely a tip of the hat to a great man

[paw broon]

A great man indeed.  Not only responsible for the magnificent master of magic, Mandrake the Magician, but the creator of arguably the greatest (to me he is the greatest) Masked Mystery Man of all time, The Phantom. Also referred to as Ghost Who Walks; Man who cannot die; Guardian of the Eastern Dark.
Frew published a "Tribute to Lee Falk" in 2006 marking a continuous 70 years of publication of The Phantom.  The tribute features a lovely Sy Barry cover with The Phantom and Mandrake respectfully bowing their heads behind a portrait of the great man.

[Robb_K]

I rather like that - immortality of a sort - I would welcome the idea of being a support character in a long-running strip.

One of my best friends used a cartoony Carl' Barks as a background, secondary character in an Uncle Scrooge story he drew.  Several of my friends used some of our mutual friends as incidental, background characters, by drawing cartoony charicatures of them.

[Andrew999]

My wife says that when she watches The Simpsons, she looks at Homer and thinks, 'There he is....'

[Andrew999]

Today marks the 86th anniversary of the first appearance of Mandrake the Magician, arguably the first comic strip super-hero.

Much overshadowed by the Phantom of course, Mandrake nevertheless provides great entertainment with a range of exotic characters. With the success of the Doc Strange movie, it would be great to see a new Mandrake movie or TV series

[The Australian Panther]

MandraKe peaked in the 50s, When Falk tried to incorporate elements from U.N.C.L.E. and also sent Mandrake off into space the strip was ruined.
Collections of Golden Age Mandrake are worth getting hold of.
The 50's Mandrake was real 'twilight Zone' stuff.     

[Andrew999]

Great news - Mandrake is back from space - well, not exactly.

A new series of Mandrake (entitled Legacy of Mandrake) is launched in October by King Features. This time, the star is Mandy, a young and attractive magician, who may or may not be related to the great man. Sounds intriguing - I'll be first in the queue

https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/classic-pulp-hero-mandrake-the-magician-is-back-as-mandy/

[paw broon]

That sounds good. Perhaps echoes of Zatara and Zatanna?
Admission time, yet again, I do like those sillier Mandrake space, aliens, giant termite stories.  In fact, there aren't many Mandrake adventures that haven't cheered me up.

[The Australian Panther]

Since Mandrake didn't actually have magic powers, [he gestured hypnotically - used sleight of hand] this leaves me cold. If I want Zatanna, I'll read Zatanna. I wonder how much say, Lee
Falk's estate had in this?
Re Zatanna,
on the same site,
What if DC hinted it may kill Zatanna and no one noticed?
https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/what-if-dc-hinted-it-may-kill-zatanna-and-no-one-noticed/

I think he has it wrong tho. In the current storyline, Zatanna is trying to resurrect her father,so to me that wouldn't be a good outcome. Also she is major female character, so likely immune. The deceased is more likely to be Detective Chimp.   

[paw broon]

At the very start of the legend, Mandrake did have "real" magic, but it soon became super hypnotism.
There is an awful lot of Mandrake material on the internet.  Well worth digging for it.

[crashryan]

I remember a funny episode of Little Annie Fanny featuring a Mandrake parody. As in the comics, Manduck "gestures hypnotically" so many times that the captions finally read "Manduck G. H." This being Playboy Magazine, Manduck wants to use his abilities to get Annie into bed. When he finally has her in his power Manduck can't overcome his stage-magician training. Instead of commanding Annie to Do the Deed he makes her cluck like a chicken.

[Andrew999]

Also, there's talk of a Zatanna movie - so now would be a dumb time to kill her off.

[The Australian Panther]

In the Australian section we have Emile Mercier's 'Mudrake' In Australian Jargon we would call it a p.....take. 
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=29678

Mad Magazine, in its glory days also did a memorable Mandrake parody.
CB+ abounds with Golden Age  characters that were based on Lee Falk's 'Mandrake' template.