Mandrain the Magician (Roy Thomas/Wally Wood) - Topps Crazy Little Comics -1967 - 8 pages

Leon Harrison Gross (1911-1999) aka Lee Falk created the newspaper comic strip Mandrake the Magician in 1934.  He also created The Phantom in 1936.  Mandrake and Phantom were among the first "comic super heroes" to appear in print.  By comparison, Superman first appeared in 1938 and Batman in 1939.  Falk continued to write both series until his death in 1999.

In the Thomas/Wood parody, "Mandrain" and "Loather" are fighting evil aliens on a "far-off world."  The magician creates an invisible shield, then takes both of them to "Fairyland" and then New York City.  However, Loather reminds Mandrain that his magic gestures only create the illusion of travel and that in fact, they are both still on the planet of the lizard people.  The last scene shows an embarrassed Mandrain with his assistant in a giant vat of "Camel's Cream of Magician Soup" that is being stirred by a female lizard alien wearing hair curlers and wielding a salt shaker. 

The last page is an ad parody for "Murry Arthur Studios" promising dance lessons from trained gunslingers for ten dollars.  [JAM 3/13/2010]