Harold "Fred" Fredericks, Jr. (August 9, 1929 – March 10, 2015) was an American cartoonist who drew the '' Mandrake the Magician'' comic strip from June 1965, taking over for the late Phil Davis. Creator

Lee Falk Lee Falk (), born Leon Harrison Gross (; April 28, 1911 – March 13, 1999), was an American cartoonist, writer, theater director, and producer, best known as the creator of the comic strips '' Mandrake the Magician'' and ''The Phantom''. At th ...

modernized the comic when Fredericks took over the strip, making it more reality-based by focusing less on

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

, and making Mandrake operate more like a

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

, often helping out the police with cases they could not solve.Dallas, Keith, and Wells, John. ''American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-69''. Raleigh, NC., TwoMorrows Publishing, 2014. (p.56) Fredericks is also well known for inking ''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The char ...

'' Sunday strips 1995 to 2000 (pencilled by George Olesen);

Graham Nolan Graham Nolan (born March 12, 1962) is an American comic book artist, best known for work for DC Comics on Batman-related titles in the 1990s and his work on ''The Phantom'' Sunday strip. He frequently collaborates with writer Chuck Dixon. Biograp ...

succeeded Fredericks when he decided to concentrate fully on Mandrake. He was also known for writing the comic strip "Rebel" for Scholastic Magazine from 1964 to the early 1990s, and for drawing the following comic books: '' Nancy'', ''Boris Karloff'', ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

'', ''Mighty Mouse'', ''

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'', originally ''Take Barney Google, F'rinstance'', is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appearin ...

'', ''O.G. Whiz presents Tubby,'' ''Bullwinkle'', ''Mister Ed'' and ''The Munsters''. Fredericks also inked several comic books for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

and

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, including ''

The Punisher War Journal ''The Punisher War Journal'' or ''Punisher War Journal'' is the title of two Marvel Comics comic book series featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher. The first volume, published from 1988 to 1995, was spun off of a self-ti ...

'', '' Nth Man: the Ultimate Ninja'', ''

Defenders of the Earth ''Defenders of the Earth'' is an American animated television series produced in 1986, featuring characters from three comic strips distributed by King Features Syndicate—Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, and Mandrake's assistan ...

'', '' Daredevil'', '' Quasar'' and ''

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

''. After Mandrake creator Lee Falk died in 1999, Fredericks became responsible for writing the scripts for the Mandrake strip by himself. The Mandrake

Sunday page The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies. The first US newspap ...

continued until the final (187th) story, "Shadows on Devil Road", ending December 29, 2002. In 2013, Fredericks retired, and the Mandrake daily comic strip went into reprints from 1995 beginning on July 8, 2013. He died March 10, 2015.

Legacy

In '' Big Hero 6'', as well as its follow up '' Big Hero 6: The Series'', the comic book loving character of

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

reveals that his full name is Frederick Frederickson IV, most likely a reference to Fred Fredericks.

References

1929 births American comics artists 2015 deaths {{US-cartoonist-stub