Created by: King Features Syndicate
1st appearance: Mandrake the Magician 1934 (comic strip)
Nationality: African
Aliases: Lother Prince of the Seven Nations; Strongest Man in the World
Team Affiliations: Defenders of the Earth
Height: 6’8″ Weight: 250lbs
Eyes: Brown Hair: Bald
Relatives: unknown
Skills and abilities: Skilled Hand to Hand Combatant, Master of Stealth
Powers: Super Strength (can lift up to 7 tons), Invulnerable to “any weapon made by man”, Super Stamina, Impervious to heat and cold,
Biography
Lothar is one of the first black crime-fighting heroes ever appearing in history appearing alongside Mandrake the Magician in his inaugural strip in July of 1934. He is the first black character to be treated with respect instead of the degrading images that came before him although he once was referred to as Mandrake’s “giant black slave” in a 1935 work by King Features Syndicate. In the beginning, Lothar was first being portrayed as wearing small shorts, a red fez, and leopard skin. He spoke very poor English and was there more for his muscle than his mind. Often credited by Mandrake as being “The Strongest Man in the World,” Lothar would live up to this title. He first met Mandrake when the magician was traveling through Africa. Lothar was the “Prince of the Seven Nations,” a great union of tribes. He gave up a chance to be king to travel the globe with Mandrake fighting evil in all its forms. He was modernized in 1965 by artist Fred Fredericks, gaining a change in clothes to now a leopard skin shirt and spoke correct English. It was now that he was portrayed more as Mandrake’s friend, partner, and equal than as a simple manservant. and are one of if not the first interracial crime-fighting teams.
Created by: King Features Syndicate
1st appearance: Mandrake the Magician 1934 (comic strip)
Nationality: Jamaican
Aliases: Caribbean Ninja
Team Affiliations: Defenders of the Earth
Legal Status: Unknown
Height: 6’8″ Weight: 250 lbs
Eyes: Brown Hair: Bald
Relatives: Lothar jr. (son)
Skills and abilities: World class martial artist skilled in armed and unarmed combatant, also adept in stealth.
Powers: Unknown
Weapons: Nunchaku, staff etc.
Biography
Lothar and Mandrake appeared as regular characters in the 80’s cartoon Defenders of the Earth, alongside other King Features characters such as Flash Gordon, The Phantom, and Ming the Merciless in the year 2015. Supporting characters include their children Rick Gordon (son of Flash), L.J. (son of Lothar), Kshin (adopted son of Mandrake), and Jedda Walker (daughter of the Phantom). The show lasted for 65 episodes; there was also a short-lived comic book series published by Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel Comics).
Lothar was voiced by Buster Jones — he is still Mandrake’s assistant and bodyguard, but was now from Jamaica and depicted as a powerful fighter, an able mechanic, and a master tactician. His action figure’s packaging describes Lothar as a “Caribbean Ninja”, though in episode 51 he was definitively stated as Jamaican and had a hospital wing in his hometown of Abbeyville named after him when he came home to investigate a monster of myth attacking ships off the coast.
