![]() Audiences were thrilled by tales of the besuited do-gooder and his African assistant, Lothar. His household-name status was cemented by appearances in comic books, a film serial, and a radio serial. When he did, in a 1934 strip written and drawn by Falk and distributed to newspapers by King Features Syndicate (which was also responsible for fellow proto-superheroes the Phantom and Flash Gordon), he became a hit. He was cooked up by cartoonist Lee Falk, allegedly ten years before the character actually saw publication. How did Mandrake first show up and how big a deal was he? So, if you were looking forward to Baron Cohen’s transition into the world of grim-and-brooding leading men: 1. ![]() If it’s played as a superhero flick, it’ll likely be a satirical one in the Deadpool mode. Let’s agree that he is, at the very least, a proto-superhero, much like Doc Savage.īut will this be designed as a superhero movie?Įarly indications point to “no,” or at least “not earnestly.” Etan tweeted a link to news about the movie and commented, “It’s magically comedic!” So it’d appear that we have a wacky adventure on our hands. Nevertheless, there are those - perhaps most notably comics historian Don Markstein - who regard him as the first superhero. But when he debuted in a newspaper comic strip in 1934, the concept of the “superhero” hadn’t been introduced into popular culture - that only happened after the advent of Superman in 1938. That is a matter of debate! Mandrake is a hero, he wears ridiculous clothing in broad daylight, and he has powers beyond those of everyday humans. He’s a tophat-and-tuxedo-wearing, mustachioed magician who fights crime, primarily via hypnotism. ![]() But if you are, somehow, not a historian of pre-war comic strips, it’s highly unlikely that you have any clue who Mandrake is. Now, news has surfaced that Sacha Baron Cohen has been tapped to play Mandrake the Magician in a Warner Bros. First we got confirmation that Dwayne Johnson will be playing pulp hero Doc Savage in a Shane Black–helmed movie. It’s been a bizarre few weeks for fans of eight-decade-old action heroes. Photo: Darwyn Cooke/Dynamite Entertainment
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