Spécial Mandrake (Mondes Mystérieux)
| Mondes Mystérieux Spécial Mandrake | |
 First issue | |
| Country/language: |  France / French
|
|---|---|
| Publishing company: | Editions des Remparts |
| Publishing years: | 1963–1979 |
| Issues: | 99 + 22 |
| Format: | 17×24 < 19×13 cm, b/w & color |
Spécial Mandrake was the title of two French comic series dedicated to "Mandrake".
Issue overview
Regular series
The first series was based on the Italian series Mandrake Super Albo and was published in France by Les Editions des Remparts, a French comics editor based in Lyon, but it was in fact translated and printed in Italy by Fratelli Spada. It was also occasionally distributed in Quebec, Canada by Presses Selection Limitée in Montreal.
99 issues were published from 1963 to 1972, in a larger format than the regular Mandrake series, and was monthly for most of its run. The issues featured dailies and Sundays, from Phil Davis to Fred Fredericks, and occasionally other back-up comics.
Unsold copies were later glued together with a new outer cover and sold as "albums" under two different series : firstly, there were 16 albums, containing issues # 5 to 46, followed by 21 other albums, containing issues # 47 to 97. However, in some of these albums, the inside regular issues have been retaken in an erratic order when not simply missing...
Album
Initial running
Unsold copies of the "Mandrake" and the "Spécial Mandrake" series from 1963 to 1967 were glued together with a new outer cover and sold as "albums", at first in an initial run of at least 16 albums.
Album Fantôme
The similar series with "The Phantom", "Le Fantôme" and "Spécial Le Fantôme", also collected unsold issues into an album series. The fourth issue often have issues 9 and 10 from the "Spécial Le Fantôme" series. In addition the third issue inside is mostly from the "Spécial Mandrake" series; like #5, #11.
There are Mandrake stories in issues 8 and 9 in the regular "Spécial Le Fantôme" series, which is often collected in the fifth album in this series.
New running
The unsold issues from the "Spécial Mandrake" series #47 to #97 were collected into albums. Each album collected 3 issues from the regular "Spécial Mandrake" series, starting with #47-#49.
Since this was unsold issues the publishe now and then did not have enough unsold "Spécial Mandrake" to put into the albums. Then other older issues from the "Spécial Mandrake" series or issues from other series were put into the albums.
Spécial Fantôme Album
The unsold issues from the "Spécial Mandrake" series #98 and #99 were collected into the "Spécial Le Fantôme" album series.
Spécial Mandrake - Nouvelle Série
On the basis of the Italian series "I Quaderni del Fumetto" and "Flash Gordon" Les Editions des Remparts released four new series in 1973: "Spécial Mandrake" Nouvelle Série, "Spécial Le Fantôme" Nouvelle Série, "Parade de la bande dessinée" and "Flash Gordon" Guy l'Eclair. These four series have the same covers and format as the Italian series, but the Mandrake and Phantom issues have other stories inside. Strangly enough, it seems that "Spécial Mandrake" #6 never was printed.
Starting from #7 the "Spécial Mandrake" series printed issues 4 to 19 from the Italian Mandrake Selezione series.
Spécial Mandrake Album
After the last issue of the series issues 7 to 18 was collected into Albums with "new" covers.
See also