Who was the first comic superhero? Many would probably say Superman, the iconic 1938 cover of Action Comics #1 coming to mind. Or you may say that it was the Phantom. But years before Kal-El and Kit Walker decided to don spandex and fight the good fight, there was another, more elegantly attired, hero already hard at work.

Mandrake the Magician was first conceived by noted comic creator Lee Falk in 1930 while he was in college. Four years later, Falk, who was both the sole writer and illustrator of his creation, found a publisher who was able to syndicate his work to daily newspapers across the United States. And with that, Mandrake, the master of illusion, became what is considered the first superhero comic strip ever.

First published in 1934, right in the middle of the great depression, Mandrake’s comics were quite a significant departure from the kind of comic characters and stories that were popular at the time. These were primarily adventure comics that featured grizzled cowboys and tough-as-nails detectives out for justice.

Mandrake and Lothar, who is an African prince, represent the first ever bi-racial comic team-up in history. This achievement, however, is severely undercut by the fact that an incredibly strong, magic resistant African royal is content to serve as an assistant and, at least in the earlier stories, a glorified butler to Mandrake.

A key theme of the stories of Mandrake appears to be rooted in his relationship with his family. It is no coincidence that many of Mandrake’s key allies, as well as the villains he faced, were often directly related to him. While his father Theron and half-sister Lenore join in his adventures occasionally, no less than three major villains, including his arch nemesis, are either direct relatives (or a dark reflection of himself).

Although you might expect that choosing between justice and one’s family would be a difficult decision to make, such a sense of internal conflict is unfortunately almost never explored. While it’s easy and perhaps accurate to assume that this relatively simplistic form of storytelling is the result of the original daily comic strip format, such an answer is hardly satisfying.