Mandrake - Il Vascello

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Mandrake - Il Vascello was the regular series of Mandrake comic books published by the Italian publisher Fratelli Spada. Being the direct continuation of a similar series previously released by the (La Freccia) publications, with a total of 474 issues released from 1962 to 1980. Although it was essentially the same publication for the entire run, it was relaunched with restarted numbering several times, dividing the run into four distinctive series.

History

First series (1962-1967)

The first issue is dated January 5, 1962 and the last (#140) February 19, 1967. The format was 15 × 21.5 cm for generally 32 pages but some issues had 80 pages.

Mandrake being written predominantly as the main title but the numbering are for the subtitle Il Vascello. The with a new layout for the covers for issue 27 the sub-title changed to Albi de Il Vascello. The layout for the covers changes once more from issue 129, but the sub-tile was still Albi de Il Vascello. The material was mainly composed of stories drawn by Italian artists but American reprinted material was also published. A large part of the painted color covers are works by Mario Caria.

Issue overview

1962 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26  
1963 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52  
1964 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78  
1965 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104  
1966 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136
1967 137 138 139 140  

Second series (1967-1971)

The first issue of this specific is dated March 4, 1967. The cover layout and format size was kept but the numbering restarted from #1, now with the sub-title Albi de Il Vascello - nouvo serie. The number of pages was also 36 until issue #100. It increased to 56 pages from issue #100 to 110, before having 68 pages for the rest of the series. The sub-title once again changes from issue 171; Albi de Il Vascello. The series ended with the issue #206 dated April 18, 1971. Once again, it was mainly composed of stories drawn by Italian artists with some stories already published in the previous series. The covers sometimes represented others comic characters than the Mandrake and were less often painted. Unsold copies were later glued together and given new covers and sold as Raccolta Mandrake. During this time one also find some Mandrake issues in a series named Busta Spada.

Issue overview

1967 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44  
1968 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96
1969 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144  
1970 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192  
1971 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206  

Third series (1971-1972)

Beginning on May 9, 1971 with an issue numbered #1, it stopped on March 15, 1972 with the issue #32. This time the format size was reduced. The sub-title was Il Vascello - nuova serie and below the main title Mandrake one now find e le avventure Flash Gordon.

Issue overview

1971 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
1972 26 27 28 29 30 31 32  

Fourth series (1972-1980)

On April 16, 1972, this new start was founded on a larger format size and with sub-title Albi del Vascello – Serie Cronologica. The Serie Cronologica issues 1 to 8 had a dual numbering; Serie Cronologica #1 was also Mandrake #33, continuing the numbering of the previous third series. From issue 77 the sub-title for the series was renamed to Albi del Vascello and the series continued until #96 on January 1, 1980.

Unsold copies were glued together and given new covers and sold as Raccolta Super Mandrake.

Issues 1 to 40 had a separate folded supplement of 8 pages included which reproduced the Sunday stories in chronological order. In 1973 the inserts were collected into two hardcover books, both with loose index pages and supplement. In 1980 the Sunday inserts were reprinted and glued together to form the four books named L'epoca d'oro di Mandrake.


Issue overview

1972 1 / 33 2 / 34 3 / 35 4 / 36 5 / 37 6 / 38 7 / 39 8 / 40 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
1973 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60  
1974 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70  
1975 71 72 73 74  
1976 75 76  
1977 77 78 79 80 81 82  
1978 83 84 85 86 87 88  
1979 89 90 91 92 93 94 95  
1980 96