Number 1739: Warning! Werewolves!

Mandrake the Magician, who seemingly never appeared anywhere without his stage get-up, slicked-back hair, fancy mustache, cape, tuxedo with tails, and top hat, was a popular syndicated newspaper strip. He was also reprinted in comic books from the dawn of comics until a certain point in the fifties, when his appearances became more sporadic. This issue of Harvey Comic Hits (#53, 1951), reprints two Mandrake continuities, and after it Mandrake wasn’t much seen in comic books for a long time. Maybe his top hat was just old hat. I didn’t think of the character that way in the fifties, when I read his adventures daily (along with the Phantom and Flash Gordon, among others) in the Seattle newspaper my parents subscribed to. I always liked the guy, even though I thought his gimmick of wiggling his fingers to cause hallucinations was stretching things.

And this tale of werewolfery pulls out the stops when stretching credulity. Where are the cops when all the loping lycanthropes are menacing innocent folk? And you may also notice the plot is as old as Mandrake’s tux. It appeared in dozens of Western movies...you know, when the bad guy was trying to get all the townspeople to sell out because there was something on their land he wanted...? You remember, don’t you? It makes this story all the more familiar. Written by Lee Falk, and drawn by Phil Davis.

I showed the other story from this Harvey issue back in 2012: Click on the thumbnail:

Number 1341: Jungle Jive Week: The Phantom and the dragon breath death

We have a theme week to end March and begin April: Jungle Jive week. We'll feature four tales this week from the comic book Africa.

First up is the second and final story from Harvey Comic Hits #56 (1952) by Lee Falk and Ray Moore. The Phantom faces a dragon god, in an edited version of the Phantom’s Sunday newspaper continuity from July 6, 1947 to November 16, 1947. Thanks to reader Darci for pointing out where to find that information, and if you’re interested in the Phantom, you can find the website here. The site has not been updated since 2007, but for our purposes it is still a valuable resource.

In “The Dragon-god of Death!” the Phantom rides off alone to fight the dragon menace, telling his girlfriend, Diana, to stay home with the Bandar tribe. He gets himself in a mess so the pygmies and Diana have to ride to his rescue. But it takes the Phantom’s dog, Devil, to save the day. See? It pays to be prepared with back-up. I hope the Phantom learned a lesson.

There’s an ad in the back of the issue promoting one of the most iconic of the “drug menace” comics, Teen-Age Dope Slaves. It’s a very salacious title for a reprint of a sequence from the Rex Morgan, M.D. newspaper comic strip.

The other story from this issue; click on the picture: