Mandrake the Magician: The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers (Sundays 1935–37)

With his magic powers, tuxedo costume, and crime-fighting mission, there's a strong argument that the debonair Mandrake, introduced in daily newspaper strips in June 1934, was comics' first superhero. Created by Falk (The Phantom), with artist Davis, Mandrake starred in a 1939 movie serial and a 1980s cartoon (Defenders of the Earth) and inspired a host of imitators, including DC's Sargon the Sorcerer and Zatara. In this oversized, full-color hardcover (originally announced for 2012), Titan collects the earliest Sunday strips. Mandrake travels widely here, righting wrongs and smoothing the course of many a true love, accompanied by his superstrong African sidekick Lothar (who speaks broken English and wears a fez and a lion skin). The magician's ostensibly hypnotism-based abilities stretch to encompass levitation, teleportation, and other skills as circumstances require. The stories and artwork are similar to, though not as polished as, those in Mandrake's contemporary Flash Gordon, featuring exotic locales, damsels in distress, even unknown races and sf. Reproduction and color restoration of the strips are variable in style but solid.