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MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN
COMICS IN TURKEY |
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Mandrake's debut, the Turkish edition from B�y�k Gazete no. 30 (13.5.1935) |
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It has long been assumed that Mandrake's Turkish debut came in 1937 in the children's magazine Ate�. However, I recently came across a weekly actuality magazine titled B�y�k Gazete which serialized Mandrake in its back covers beginning with its no. 30 on 13.5.1935 (click here to view the beginning of Mandrake's first adventure from its first Turkish edition), less than a year after the strip's debut in the US. This makes Mandrake's Turkish debut as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, appearance of this hero outside newspapers anywhere in the world. In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the 2nd World War, Tahsin Demiray's T�rkiye Yay�nevi (which had carried Mandrake in its Ate� in 1937) launched 1001 Roman which devoted the majority of its pages, as well as its covers, to comics. Mandrake soon took its place in the pages of this highly popular publication. In addition to the large formated weekly periodical which serialized several, different comics, T�rkiye Yay�nlar� also published medium-sized monthly special issues featuring a single hero in each issue; several of these were devoted to Mandrake. |
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Mandrake's first-ever meeting with Narda, the Turkish edition from Ate� (2nd series) no.2 (6.12.1937) |
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1001 Roman survived throughout the war years, but ironically suffered from interruptions in the ensuing years and finally folded in 1952. Afterwards, Demiray launched a weekly comics periodical simply titled as Haftal�k Alb�m [Weekly Album] along the line of 1001 Roman's 'special issues', which again frequently featured Mandrake. The covers of these weekly 'albums' were illustrated by a Turkish artist.
In the same years, Mandrake also appeared in several other children's/comics magazines in Turkey, usually in traced versions, including 1001 �zel [1001 Special] published by Kemal Uzcan, an apparently pirate publisher. There was also reportedly a one-shot Mandrake album published by Nihat �zcan in the 1950s. In 1962, Ceylan Yay�nlar�, Turkey's largest comics publisher of those years, published a Mandrake comics which lasted only two issues and in 1968, the traced Mandrake comics used as filled space in 1965 in Red Kit, the Turkish edition of Lucky Luke, were reprinted in a seperate Mandrake title. It should also be noted that in the late 1960s, Turkish filmmakers made one Mandrake movie! |
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The high time of Mandrake comics in Turkey would be 1970s when Tay Yay�nlar�, Turkey's leading comics publisher of the decade, would pick them up, with license from Opera Mundi. Tay's Mandrake would begin its weekly run in 1974. The magazine began with strips from a few years back, but as it naturally caught up with the American run of the strip quickly, the backlog of strips stretching back to the previous decades were also used (click here for an index). Part of the credit for the success enjoyed by Tay's publications must be given to covers by Turkish artists, most notably Aslan who illustrated some of Mandrake covers. In 1970s, when the Turkish market was flooded with comics of Italian origin (such as Zagor, Tex, Mister No and the like), Mandrake, together with K�z�lmaske, also from Tay, were arguably the only American-origin comics that managed to take a foothold. Mandrake, lasted until 1979 in the weekly format. Tay repackaged back issues in fours or threes and sold as 'albums'. After the weekly run of the magazine ceased, the albums continued their run with reprints and occasional brand new adventures (including a few short adventures of Italian origin) for several additional years. The weekly format would also be revived briefly in the mid-1980s, which would again give way to an 'album' series, this time called as 'super albums'. Tay would close its shop in the 1990s. |
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Kaya �zkaracalar |
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Info on this site can be used on the condition the author and the site is acknowledged and referenced as source.
Images presented for non-commercial purposes of historical research, with KFS's copyright of the original source acknowledged.
Any usage of the scans of the Turkish editions is expected to carry proper reference to this site. |
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Recommended Mandrake links:
* An informative site on Mandrake
* ATurkish-language site on Mandrake with scans from Turkish editions.
See also this site on Phantom comics in Turkey, this site on Disney comics in Turkey and this page on Smurfs in Turkey and this site on Comics Publishers of Turkey |
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Last updated (with Tay index) on Nov. 12nd, 2007
Previous updates include scans of the beginning of Mandrake's first adventure in its first Turkish edition, image of Turkish film poster, new Turkish debut date for Mandrake in Dec. 2004
Site set up on 24.10.2003 |
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