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Mad Cave's new Defenders of the Earth #1 wonderfully subverts the Saturday morning cartoon formula with a dark twist. The original characters from King Features Syndicate, such as Flash Gordon, are back in an engaging new series. Defenders of the Earth #1 combines nostalgia with subversion, making it a must-read for old and new fans alike.

Warning: contains spoilers for Defenders of the Earth #1!

Mad Caves new Defenders of the Earth, series, starring Flash Gordon, wonderfully subverts the Saturday morning cartoon formula. Mad Cave recently acquired the rights to characters from the legendary King Features Syndicate, including Flash Gordon. Mad Cave released Flash Gordon #1 to great acclaim, and they continue the expansion of the line with Defenders of the Earth #1. Based on the classic Saturday morning cartoon, the new series takes bold risks with the formula.

Defenders of the Earth writer Dan Didio is the former executive editor at DC Comics.

Defenders of the Earth...

Red 5 Comics' "Legacy Of Mandrake The Magician" #2, available November 4, 2020 is written by Erica Schultz and illustrated by Diego Giribaldi, Juan Pablo Massa, with a cover by Amelia Vidal:

"...after taking over the mantle of the great 'Mandrake The Magician', 'Mandy' finally has control over her mystical abilities. Her life is great, her confidence is boosting... but something seems off. Why can't she enjoy her new life? Why is it that everything good must come with a price?..."

"...'Mandy Paz' is by all appearances an ordinary teenager just trying to make her way through high school. If she seems like she's going out of her way to avoid attention, that's because she's hiding a big secret -- she has powerful magical talents. So, when strange and sinister things start happening in her small town, Mandy decides to take action. And on her quest to chase down the root...

Red 5 Comics' "Legacy of Mandrake the Magician", available October 2020, is written by Erica Schultz and illustrated by Diego Giribaldi:

"...'Mandy Paz' is by all appearances an ordinary teenager just trying to make her way through high school. If she seems like she's going out of her way to avoid attention, that's because she's hiding a big secret -- she has powerful magical talents. So, when strange and sinister things start happening in her small town, Mandy decides to take action. And on her quest to chase down the root of the town's trouble she just might discover the truth about her own legacy..."

The inspiration for Marvel Comics "Doctor Strange", the original 'Mandrake The Magician' was created by Lee Falk  as a newspaper comic strip character.

Created in 1934, 'Mandrake' was an illusionist whose work was based on hypnotic technique. When Mandrake "...gestured hypnotically..." he could induce anyone to hallucinate.

Stu Rosen, best known for his work as the creator of “Dusty’s Treehouse,” died Sunday after a battle with cancer, his cousin Donna Siegel confirmed on Facebook. He was 80.

“This is a very sad day for my family and I. My wonderful, colorful, fantastic cousin, Stu Rosen died this morning,” she wrote. “My heart is broken and I’m sure anyone who has ever met him feels the same way. What a character he was… I will always have a special place in my heart for this fabulous man. Rest in peace my special cousin.”

Rosen first entered the entertainment industry as a production assistant for Kcet, before pitching “Dusty’s Treehouse” to CBS in 1965. He would end up working on the show for ten years, starring as the eponymous Dusty himself alongside a number of puppet animal costars. “Dusty’s Treehouse” would also go on to win eight...

Even though the worlds of film and TV are converging more than ever before, it’s interesting to note just how many of the people behind the biggest films of the year have tried their hand at TV work in the past.

“Get Out” director Jordan Peele never officially directed an episode of his long-running Comedy Central sketch show “Key & Peele,” but his debut film currently sits at No. 7 on the year’s domestic box office list. Go up and down the rest of that chart and you’ll find movies from directors who’ve made valuable contributions to TV comedies and dramas alike.

Most of these episodes were pilots or season premieres, ways for directors to help establish a template or shorthand for what governs life in front of and behind the camera for the duration of these series. While some of these filmmakers took multiple opportunities in the TV director’s seat,...

Andrew Younger Sep 2, 2016

Tarzan, Space Sentinels, The New Adventures Of Batman, Flash Gordon, Bravestarr and more, as we salute Filmation...

For a child of the 1970s and 80s, nothing readied you for a half hour of quality entertainment quite like the Filmation logo. Immortalised by their phenomenal success with He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe, and its spin off She-Ra: Princess Of Power, Filmation produced some of the most fondly remembered animated series to grace the small screen.

Over a period of 26 years - in tandem with classic Doctor Who funnily enough - the company's writers, artists and producers delivered a staggering amount of programming. While naysayers point to Filmation's penchant for reusing a stockpile of rotoscoped body movements, or the heavy handedness of its moralising and educational content - children on the other hand, thrilled to an irresistible mixture of action, adventure and superhuman heroes.

Now something of a lost art form,...

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Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is to play Mandrake The Magician in a new adaptation of the 30s comic...

Grimsby may not have gone down as well as actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen had hoped, but there’s a chance his first foray into comic book territory will fare better. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cohen’s set to produce and star in Mandrake The Magician, an adaptation of the 30s strip created by Lee Falk.

Mandrake’s director is said to be Etan Cohen, the Tropic Thunder writer who made his directorial debut with the flaccid Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard last year. The combination of the two Cohens suggests that we might be in for a tongue-in-cheek take on Mandrake, whose abilities include hypnosis, teleportation and invisibility.

This won’t be the first time Mandrake’s had a brush with the big screen,...

As many of you know, Nancy Reagan recently passed away at the age of 94. Her legacy, as well as her husband’s, invoke incredibly powerful emotions from both ends of the political spectrum. We’ve been reminded of that this past Friday. Some of you reading this may not be aware of Nancy Reagan’s connection to comics. It’s a very loose connection, don’t get me wrong, but it’s there. I’ll try not to embellish this connection to avoid having the townspeople show up at my doorstep with pitchforks and torches in hand.

Anyone aware of the Reagan’s and life in America in the 80s knows of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign, which, ironically is my stance on the Republican Party today. What you might not be aware of is back in September of 1986, Nancy Reagan was greeted by members of the Defenders of the Earth...

Sneak Peek the origins of "Mandrake The Magician", currently in development as a 'contemporary adventure' feature, based on creator Lee Falk's 1930's newspaper comic strip character:

Created in 1934, 'Mandrake' was an illusionist whose work was based on hypnotic technique. When Mandrake "...gestured hypnotically..." he could induce anyone to hallucinate.

In 1939, Columbia produced a 12-part "Mandrake the Magician" movie serial, starring actor Warren Hull as Mandrake and Al Kikume as his sidekick 'Lothar'.

NBC produced a "Mandrake" TV pilot in 1954, starring stage magician Coe Norton as Mandrake and Woody Strode ("Spartacus") as Lothar.

Actor Anthony Herrera starred in the 1979 TV movie "Mandrake" with Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Lothar.

In the animated TV series "Defenders of the Earth", Mandrake teamed up with fellow King Features characters 'Flash Gordon' and 'The Phantom'.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Mandrake The Magician"...

From Bananaman to Grange Hill, join us in a spot of TV nostalgia as we celebrate 50 great 1980s kids' TV theme songs...

There comes a time to turn away from the horrors of the world and retreat underneath the soft, comforting duvet of nostalgia. That time is Friday. That metaphorical duvet is below.

Here are fifty of the best kids’ TV theme songs (spread over two pages and in arbitrary order) of the 1980s. Some, like Alan Hawkshaw’s distinctive Grange Hill intro, are unarguable classics of the era, while others, like Mike Harding's Count Duckula, only started in the late-eighties and spent the rest of their run in the next decade.

Obviously, there being only 50 on this list, we may have missed out your favourite (deliberately or otherwise). Let us know if so, but remember that links may take a while to appear in the comments thread because...

Legendary comics artist Fred Fredericks died this week.

After attending New York’s School of Visual Arts in the period following the Korean War, Fredericks started drawing historical comics that attracted the attention of comic book editors. Before long, Fred was a regular at Western Publishing (Dell, Gold Key), where he drew such titles as The Twilight Zone, The Munsters, Mighty Mouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mister Ed, Nancy, and Snuffy Smith. After working on several short-lived Civil War newspaper strips, Fredericks created the comics feature Rebel for Scholastic Scope, which ran for 30 years.

In 1965, the year following the start of Rebel, Fred was selected by writer / playwright Lee Falk to take over the art chores on his daily and Sunday Mandrake The Magician newspaper strip. Fred drew Mandrake until the Sundays ended in 2002, but he continued drawing the daily feature until his retirement in 2013. Fredericks took over the writing chores...

News Simon Brew 1 May 2014 - 06:24

The Ghost That Walks, The Phantom himself, is heading back to the big screen. Without Billy Zane, we're guessing.

Ah, Billy Zane must look at this and wonder how things could have turned out differently. In a time when comic book and superhero movies weren't the dominant force at the box office - that'd be 1996 - he took on the role of The Phantom in Simon Wincer's big screen take on the character. Things did not go to plan, the film wasn't greatly received, and whatever plans were in place for a franchise were swiftly dumped when the box office numbers came in. We don't enough know if Mr Zane got to keep the costume.

However, The Phantom's big screen days may not be numbered. A recent television take on the character called upon the power of few viewers, and thus came...

Following in the footsteps of Transformers and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, early '90s animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers is the latest classic cartoon being eyed for a big-screen reboot.

Upon hearing this news, two thoughts immediately sprung into the Week in Geek's mind; 1) Ian Somerhalder's a shoo-in for Captain Planet, surely? - and 2) Which other classic kids cartoons from the '80s and '90s would make for decent blockbusters?

Join us as we pop on our rose-tinted specs, wallow in nostalgia and consider which of our TV favourites could make the trip to the multiplexes unscathed...

Week in Geek - Superman on TV: Best and worst of the Man of Steel on the small screen

Week in Geek - Arrow season two: Will we see Superman, Batman & the Justice League?

Bananaman

What with a never-ending stream of superhero movies coming our way, maybe it's...

"There's no point in being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes," Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor once said - and it would appear that the vast majority of you lot agree.

Online media outlet LoveFilm has just reported a massive surge in popularity for classic animated series - we're talking '80s and '90s vintage here - on its online streaming service - the likes of The Real Ghostbusters (1986-1991), X-Men (1992-1997) and He-Man: Masters of the Universe (1983-1988) have all leapt up the charts.

> Super Mario, X-Men lead '80s, '90s animated revival on LoveFilm

This week's Week in Geek is all about paying tribute to those classic kids' cartoons of yesteryear - the kind of animated gems you just don't get on telly anymore. So pop on your rose-tinted spectacles and prepare to take a warm dip in a bath full of nostalgia juice...

> Week in Geek - Hulk,...

Kids TV classic Danger Mouse could potentially be getting a reboot for the Twitter generation. Good grief Penfold!

The news has had the Digital Spy office chatting all day about our own favourite kids TV classics from the '80s and '90s from the silliness of Fun House and Bananaman to the action of Defenders of the Earth and Dungeons & Dragons.

From the japes of Count Duckula and Defenders of the Earth to the teen angst of Saved By The Bell and California Dreams, we've been talking wistfully about the days of vintage children's telly when '80s power ballad theme tunes, gunge tanks and Pat Sharp's mullet were all acceptable entertainment.

But we want to know, what were your all-time favourite kids TV classics? What show would you most like to get a reboot? We've picked out five suggestions below, let us know your own at the bottom of the page.

Kids TV classic Danger Mouse could potentially be getting a reboot for the Twitter generation. Good grief Penfold!

The news has had the Digital Spy office chatting all day about our own favourite kids TV classics from the '80s and '90s from the silliness of Fun House and Bananaman to the action of Defenders of the Earth and Dungeons & Dragons.

From the japes of Count Duckula and Defenders of the Earth to the teen angst of Saved By The Bell and California Dreams, we've been talking wistfully about the days of vintage children's telly when '80s power ballad theme tunes, gunge tanks and Pat Sharp's mullet were all acceptable entertainment.

But we want to know, what were your all-time favourite kids TV classics? What show would you most like to get a reboot? We've picked out five suggestions below, let us know your own at the bottom of the page.

It’s Monday, so we all know what that means! Yes, it’s time for another rundown of DVDs and Blu-ray’s hitting stores online and offline this week. It’s a very light week this week, so let us breakdown the new releases and highlight what you should – and shouldn’t – be buying from today, February 18th 2013.

Pick Of The Week

White Collar: The Complete Second Season (DVD)

Compelling characters and intricate plot twists make this riveting crime drama one of television’s slickest, sexiest shows. Matt Bomer returns as sophisticated conman Neal Caffrey, who teams up with FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) to investigate an intriguing array of crimes ranging from extortion to murder. Now, reeling from the death of his girlfriend, Neal struggles to unlock the secret behind a mysterious music box and find Kate’s killer, even as his partnership with Peter begins to crumble.

In development since Sneak Peek first reported on it in 2007, Warner Brothers have now acquired King Features' "Mandrake The Magician", to adapt as a 'contemporary adventure' feature, based on creator Lee Falk's 1930's newspaper comic strip character.

The film will be in direct competition with Disney's developing "Dr. Strange" ("Master Of The Mystic Arts') feature, based on the Marvel Comics character (which in turn was based on "Mandrake").

Created in 1934, 'Mandrake' was an illusionist whose work was based on hypnotic technique. When Mandrake "...gestured hypnotically..." he could induce anyone to hallucinate.

In 1939, Columbia produced a 12-part "Mandrake the Magician" movie serial, starring actor Warren Hull as Mandrake and Al Kikume as his sidekick 'Lothar'.

NBC produced a "Mandrake" TV pilot in 1954, starring stage magician Coe Norton as Mandrake and Woody Strode ("Spartacus") as Lothar.

Actor Anthony Herrera starred in the 1979 TV movie "Mandrake" with Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Lothar.

The guys at the GeekCast Radio Network have been bashing IGN’s list of the Top 100 Animated Series for and they’ve finally decided to put their money where their mouth is by compiling their own list of the Top 100 Animated Series Of All Time – and they’ve got a little help! The GeekCast Radio Network has teamed with This Week In Geek, Chicken Pop Pod, The Pop Culture Network, Behind the Voice Actors and… us!

Yes, we here at Blogomatic3000 (well, when I say we I mean me) have compiled our own Top 100 list and that will be combined with the the lists from all the other participating sites to create The definitive Top 100 Animated Series List. As a pre-cursor to the unveiling of the combined list on the Gcrn Podcast we’re running down our Top 100 in two parts: 100-51 yesterday and 50-1 right now!

So without further ado,...

Comic strip legends Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, and the Phantom team up in Defenders of the Earth, a 1986 animated television series. The heroes battle super villains, marauding aliens, destructive demons and sultry enchantresses in order to protect mankind in the year 2015.

In the TV show, the exciting battle between good and evil begins when Flash Gordon returns to help Earth battle against the evil Emperor Ming. Flash quickly finds that his talents alone will not be enough to battle the mastermind's plotting and he teams up with his son, fellow heroes and their proteges to battle evildoers from the past, present and future.

Principal voices Defenders of the Earth include Lou Richards, Peter Mark Richman, Peter Renaday, Buster Jones, Loren Lester, Sarah Partridge, Adam Carl, Diane Pershing, William Callaway, Ron Feinberg, and Hal Rayle.

Defenders of the...

Whilst Marvel and DC enjoy the fruits of their filmic labours, there are still plenty of classic superheroes who have fallen by the wayside, like “The Ghost Who Walks” himself, The Phantom!

The Phantom has had a chequered Hollywood history: there was the mediocre movie in 1996, along with a good cartoon, a bad videogame and a guest starring role in Defenders of the Earth. The character has now been adapted into a Syfy TV mini-series (which is also a backdoor pilot for a possible ongoing series) set in the modern day and looks like no other Phantom I’ve ever seen. According to the official synopsis:

The legendary superhero returns in this modern-day and action packed miniseries event. When Kit Walker (Ryan Carnes) learns of his father’s death, the adventurous young man inherits the mantle of his superhero father. As the new Phantom, the 21st in the Walker line,...

Sperm collector pouches! So tops can cum a lot more!

Ok, now that I have your attention, I’d like to talk about Sci-Fi in Portugal. I’ll get to the sperm pouches ahead.

There is no imagination in Portugal. No dreams, no aspirations, no Sci-Fi... Nothing. The only dreams here are only earning money and be on Morangos com Açúcar (a very very very bad teen show). Every time my country develops new groundbreaking technologies, suddenly we never hear from them again... It’s almost as if there is a conspiracy to keep them silent... In the news, we rarely see the new advancements in Science, and when they do appear, it’s only for a 1 minute report.

I am the only Portuguese doorQ here...

I am proud of being Portuguese, but not proud of belonging to these imagination less people.

I was born in Beja, in Alentejo (lower half of Portugal). There,...