While he ultimatly became a worthy world reknown Black Superhero, Lothar's initial claim to fame is that he followed around Mandrake the Magician. He gave up the chance to become Prince of a federation of African jungle tribes in order to basically become Mandrake's sidekick. His powers are super strength and maybe some jungle ingenuity. In fact it is claimed that he is the strongest man in the world.
Lothar showed up in a comic strip back in 1934. Initially he could barely speak English and was very much the sidekick, possibly to the point of being a servant. Later, in 1965, he was modernized. At this point he could speak fluent English and he apparently got rid of the fez but even before then, he was recognized by readers as being Mandrake's equal. In fact they are recognized world wide as the first interracial crime fighting duo. The team has been in comic books since the 30's and as recently as 1995 in an uncompleted Marvel Comics miniseries.
The character made it to more than one radio series and even to a TV movie in 1979. Of course the movie was about Mandrake but the two are apparently inseparable. Lothar even made it to an animated series in the 80's called Defenders of the Earth which included Flash Gordon, The Phantom, and of course himself and Mandrake. The series included a next generation of heroes including Lothar's son, LJ. There is apparently a Mandrake feature film in the works but there is no release date yet and it is unknown whether Lothar will be a part of it. Here's the intro for the Defenders of the Earth animated series:
While he ultimatly became a worthy world reknown Black Superhero, Lothar's initial claim to fame is that he followed around Mandrake the Magician. He gave up the chance to become Prince of a federation of African jungle tribes in order to basically become Mandrake's sidekick. His powers are super strength and maybe some jungle ingenuity. In fact it is claimed that he is the strongest man in the world.
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