Albi grandi avventure - Mandrake

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From 1936 to 1941, following the success of the weekly magazine "L'Avventuroso", Mario Nerbini published a series of separate comics-books, entirely devoted to Mandrake, which were presented as "Albi supplemento a L'Avventuroso" ("Extra issues Albums of L'Avventuroso"). The series received the title of "Albi Grandi Avventure" ("Albums Great Adventures").

History

Original series (1936-1941)

The original series was released in an oblong size of 31.5 x 22.6 cm, a kind of presentation known as the "Italian format. Logically, the inside stories were the first daily strips created by Lee Falk and Phil Davis but, with the breakdown of the relations between the Italian and the American regimes, some of the final part of the series, published in 1941, was Italian creation and the series stopped at the entering of the United States in the war.

Issue overview

Post-War series (1946-1948)

At the end of the war, Nerbini was able to renew his editing activities and the "Albi grandi Avventure" were back again in the newsstands, still in an oblong format but with a little bit smaller size of 27,5 x 19,5 cm. In 1945, an initial series of 4 unnumbered issues was published, followed from 1946 to 1948 by another series of 31 numbered issues. Even if other comics heroes were also represented in this latter series, 31 issues was exclusively consacred to Mandrake), an achievement that clearly demonstrated the continuing popularity of the Lee Falk's character in the readers' favours.

The "Albi Grandi Avventure" (before as well as after the World War II) have always been very researched by collectors as they were adorned with attractive colored covers, even if the inside strips was being printed in black and white.

Issue overview

The first 20 issues was reprinted 1949 in a serie called "Ristampa di grande successo" 1949. The first 20 issues was also reprinted in the 70s.