Fri Nov 2, 2007 — by Mike Gold

Mandrake Gestures Theatrically

King Henry VIII fits the bill

Lee Falk's Mandrake The Magician – arguably America's first costumed comics superhero – is headed to the big screen at last.

No, the Fellini version isn't being made; Fellini, like Falk, is no longer with us. But director Chuck Russell (The Mask, Scorpion King, Nightmare on Elm Street 3) will be doing one of those reimagining numbers, which probably means King Lothar will not be referring to Mandrake as "master."

More important – certainly more important to my wife and daughter – Mandrake will be played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, star of Match Point and King Henry VIII in The Tudors. He replaces Criss Angel, whose career was seriously set back when he ditched Britney Spears in her time of need at the recent MTV awards. 

Mandrake The Magician continues to be produced for newspapers, written and drawn by long-time Fred Fredericks, who has been drawing the feature since 1965 and assumed the writing chores after Falk's death in 1999.

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