Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch

Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch
Start date:	November 28th, 1949
End date:	February 11th, 1950
# of strips:	66 (11 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"Mystery Taxi"
Followed by:	"Deadman's Gulch"

"Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch" is the 54th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis.

Plot Summary

At Janet's ranch cattle disappears mysteriously.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• Lothar
• Narda

One-time characters

• Janet, Narda's aunt.
• Cactus, Janet's forman.
• The Sheriff
• Pete, a cattle thief.
• Mac, a pilote and cattle thief.

Locations

• New York
• Mid west
  • Bar-J Ranch

Behind the scenes

• The title for this story is taken from the plot.
  Note: At the deepwoods.org index the title for this story is "Mystery at the Bar T Ranch"
• Janet Squire is the aunt of Lee Falk's wife Constance.

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Australia

• "Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch", Mandrake Comic #5 (1953)

Brazil

• "O vaqueiro de duas cabeças", Novo Gibi #1740 (1950)
• "Mandrake no Oeste", Mandrake, o Mágico #28 (1974)
• "Mandrake no Oeste", Mandrake #254 (1977)

Denmark

• "Kvægtyvene", Fantomet #189 (1982)

France

• (no given title), Roy Rogers #10, Roy Rogers #11 and Roy Rogers #12 (1953 )
• "Le cow-boy à deux têtes", Mandrake #335 and #336 (1971)

Italy

• "Il cowboy con 2 teste", Mandrake #9 and #10 (1971)
• "Il cow-boy con due teste", Mandrake - New Comics Now #261 (1991)
• "Il cow-boy con due teste", Mandrake 45/46 (Comic Art) (1995)

Mexico

• "El rancho Bar J", Paquito #11010 (1952)

New Zealand

• "Mystery at the Bar-J Ranch", Mandrake the Magician #24, Mandrake the Magician #25, and Mandrake the Magician #26 (1951)

Norway

• "Ormebolet", Serie-pocket #75 (1982)
• "Kvegtyvene", Fantomet #16 (1989)

Spain

• "Mandrake en el Rancho", Mandrake #15 (1997)

Sweden

• "Bodskapstjuvarna", Mandrake #3 (1963)
• "Boskapstjuvarna", Fantomen #20 (1976)

Turkey

• "İki Başlı Haydut" (part 1), Haftalık Albüm #25 (1952)
• '"no title"', Güneş #3 and Güneş #4 (?) (1968) following the previous story: "Esrarengiz Taksi"

USA

• "Mystery at the Bar Ranch", The Classic Mandrake Series (second series)/ Episode: "The Ice Lady" (Pacific Comics Club) (2015)

United Kingdom

• "The Vanishing Steers", Mandrake the Magician #8 (1960)