Most comic book magicians, if not all, are descended from Mandrake the Magician, a very popular newspaper strip. Mandrake used hypnotism. Okay, the results of his hypnotic spells were more-or-less magic, but I digress.
Warlock the Wizard has a golden hand which he uses to combat evil. He also has a thing about strangulation, which as far as a super magician hero goes, seems weird. Or is it? According to various dictionaries I checked, a warlock is a male witch, and uses black magic for evil. Warlock the Wizard as a name seems redundant, but snappy with its alliteration. Warlock lasted for seven issues of Nickel Comics. Nickel Comics lasted one more issue after that. This episode appeared in Nickel Comics #2 (1940).
Grand Comics Database doesn't know who wrote or drew the story. I will guess Bill Parker for the script, because of his annoying use of captions which explain what we are already seeing. The artwork I don’t recognize.
Here is a Bulletman story written by Parker and drawn by Ed Smalle, and more of my kvetching about captions, also from Nickel Comics #2. Just click on the thumbnail.
For years I've envisioned a PD comic book wizards collection entitled SONS OF MANDRAKE but I've bene told there's no market for it. :(
ReplyDeleteSteve, there have been some attempts to revive Mandrake (I'm thinking specifically of the animated series of King Features heroes some years ago), but I think magicians in the comics from an earlier era have lost appeal; they've also been superseded by Harry Potter.
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