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DC Finest: The Flash – The Fastest Man Dead


By Robert Kanigher, Mike Friedrich, Steve Skeates, Dennis O’Neill, Bob Haney, Len Wein, Cary Bates, Gil Kane, Irv Novick, Don Heck, Dick Dillin, Bob Brown, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano, Joe Giella, Nick Cardy, Frank McLaughlin, Tex Blaisdell, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, Jack Adler, Tatjana Wood, John Costanza & various (DC Comics)

ISBN: 978-1-77952-836-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Here’s another compelling DC Finest edition: chronologically curated paperback archives (generally around 600 pages) highlighting past glories. Whilst primarily concentrating on the superhero pantheon, there are genre selections including horror, sci fi, western and war books, but sadly none yet available digitally. However, we live in hope…

The Silver Age of US comics is formally and forever tied to Showcase #4 and the rebirth of The Flash. That epochal issue was released in the late summer of 1956 and from it stems all today’s print, animation, games, collector cards, cosplay and TV/movie wonderment. No matter which way you look at it, the renaissance began with The Flash, but it’s an unjust yet true fact that being first is not enough: it also helps to be best and people have to notice. MLJ’s The Shield beat Captain America to the news-stands by over a year yet the former is all but forgotten today. I mention that here as it pertains to this collection, which sees the advent of original Shield co-creator Irv Novick (Bob Phantom; Hangman; Steel Sterling; Silent Knight; Robin Hood, all DC war books, Captain Storm; Sea Devils; Batman, The Joker; Lois Lane; Tomahawk and more) as the Scarlet Speedster’s regular illustrator; a run (oh. Ha-Ha.) spanning Flash #200-270 and close to a full 10-year stretch with him only absent for #205, 213-214 & 264…

For the early trendsetting sagas and situations you should catch DC Finest: The Flash – The Human Thunderbolt and take as read that here the (second) Flash is Barry Allen, a police forensic scientist simultaneously struck by lightning and bathed in exploding chemicals from his lab. Supercharged by the accident, Barry (a lifelong fan of comic books) took his superhero identity from his favourite childhood reading – and eventually his acknowledged alternately Earth predecessor. Once upon a time there was a “fictional” scientist named Jay Garrick who was exposed to the mutagenic fumes of Hard Water and promptly became the “fastest man alive”…

Wearing a sleek, streamlined, tricked-out bodysuit (courtesy of  Carmine Infantino – a major talent approaching his artistic and creative peak), Barry was point man for the spectacular revival of a genre and an entire industry. He also became a renowned intergalactic champion, wholesome family man and paternalistic elder statesman of the superhero set after marrying his longtime fiancée Iris West…

With Infantino safely elevated to DC’s current publisher, this splendidly tempting full colour paperback of Seventies hits displays the glorious work of the last replacement illustrators before the Flash landed in Novick’s hands, just as changing tastes rejected the previously paramount, rationalistic science fiction worlds touched by the Vizier of Velocity. Now high speed action involved issues of social relevance and themes of supernatural horror and makes for some weird moments as this copious compendium covers The Flash #197-229 (May 1970 – October 1974) plus guest shots in World’s Finest Comics #198-199 (November & December 1970) and The Brave and the Bold #99 (December 1971/January 1972).

Gil Kane & Vince Colletta capture all the fun and thrills of Mike Friedrich’s ‘Four-Star Super-Hero’ in the opening yarn of Flash #197 as a sharp cop spots a private communication tic only shared with his lab partner Barry Allen. Attempts to save a secret identity and convince Charlie Conwell otherwise are further hampered by blizzard conditions in Central City, canny crooks with jetpacks and skis, a flu epidemic and Barry’s dedication to Amateur Dramatics, which see him take time out to play every part in the local presentation of Hamlet. All’s well that ends well and after that show goes on, it’s back to cosmic basics with Robert Kanigher’s ‘To the Nth Degree’ showing the Crimson Comet catapulted across the universe to save fire-beings on an exploding planet, courtesy of another wild invention of his father-in-law Professor Ira West…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta open #198 where ‘No Sad Songs for a Scarlet Speedster!’ has three orphan kids aid a gun-shot and temporarily brain-damaged Flash regain his lost mojo before neophyte superhero Zatanna guests in ‘Call it …Magic’ (by Friedrich, Don Heck & Colletta) and requires swift rescue after being abducted across arcane dimensions by macabre body-snatcher Xarkon…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta’s ‘Flash? Death Calling!’ in #199 focuses on the ordeals of scientist Dr Hollister who dons the scarlet skin-tights to punish himself after apparently accidentally killing the hero. However that guilt also saves the day and resurrect the speedster – just in time for Flash to meet superspy Colonel K (of US-IN-T Agency) and stop a Chinese energy missile smashing into ‘The Explosive Heart of America!’ (Kanigher, Kane & Colletta)

Novick and inker Murphy Anderson join Kanigher for anniversary celebration ‘Count 200 – and Die!’ as the Monarch of Motion succumbs to mind manipulation and is manoeuvred by sinister siren Dr. Lu into  assassinating the US President. Thankfully our hero (Flash of course, not PotUS!) is faster than his own fired gunshot and is back in all-American action for #201, enduring Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘Million-Dollar Dream!’ and applying tough love to wheelchair bound sports star Pablo Hernandez. The treatment restores the player but that’s only fair as the hero was responsible for initially crippling the kid…

Many issues offered second stories at this time, and the policy of guest shots for other Flash-family favourites was solidly in place. Here Kanigher, Novick & Anderson take us to Earth Two and swift encore for an old villain as Jay Garrick produces – eventually – the ‘Finale for a Fiddler!’

Although costumed hero capers were waning in general appeal, Flash was still hugely popular. Thus when World’s Finest Comics began a run of Superman team-ups with #198, the Red Runner was the clear first choice and allowed editors to return to a thorny topic which had bedevilled fans for years.

The comic book experience is littered with eternal, unanswerable questions. The most common and most passionately asked always begin “who would win if” or “who’s strongest/smartest/fastest…” Here, crafted by Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella, ‘Race to Save the Universe!’ and concluding instalment ‘Race to Save Time’ (WFC #198-199) upped the stakes on two previous competitions as our high-speed heroes are conscripted by the Guardians of the Universe to circumnavigate the entire cosmos at their greatest velocities to reverse the rampage of the mysterious Anachronids: faster-than-light creatures whose pell-mell course throughout galaxies is actually unwinding time itself and unravelling the fabric of creation. Little does anybody suspect that Superman’s oldest enemies were behind the entire appalling scheme, but the battle was swiftly won and reality saved in the end…

It was a far more grounded but no less chilling situation in Flash #202 where Kanigher, Novick & Anderson despatch reporter Iris Allen to Hollywood where she is kidnapped by murderous cultist creeps ‘The Satan Circle’ and her frantic husband confronts the unknown and the worst aspects of human nature to save her. Kid Flash then endures his own eldritch overload as ‘The Accusation!’ (by Steve Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) finds college-age comet Wally West tormented by visons of impending death that come appallingly true…

With Kanigher, Novick & Anderson at the helm #203 augured a huge change in the cosy domestic set-up as ‘The Flash’s Wife is a Two-Timer!’ reveals that Iris is actually a foundling sent through time to escape atomic armageddon and only the adopted child of scatterbrained super-genius Ira West. When the process reverses itself and she is dragged back to the future – Central City 2970 AD – The Flash follows and is caught up in a war that has been all but won by oppressive East-bloc tyrant Sirik the Supreme. Of course his intervention is enough to reset the scales before he returns baffled bride Iris Russell (née West)-Allen to her immigrant time period.

Once there though, repercussions of the revelation continue as a recovered 30th century keepsake turns her into an uncontrollable, secret-exposing blabbermouth in #204’s ‘The Great Secret Identity Exposé!’ with the Justice League understandably irate that Flash talks in his sleep and his wife knows all their civilian identities…

Back up tale ‘The Mind-Trap’ (Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) then sees Kid Flash chasing a body-stealing Egyptian pharaoh’s ghost to end the issue on a lighter note…

The Flash #205 was another hugely popular reprint collection of the era, sporting a cover by Dick Giordano (and included here) before it was back to spooky business in #206 for Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘24 Hours of Immortality!’ as haughty alien superbeings resurrect a recently killed surgeon and young mother to attend to unfinished business, but for the most mean-spirited motives – until Flash intervenes with a lesson all could benefit from.

With the supernatural now fully unleashed at DC, Flash #207 led with Friedrich, Novick & Anderson’s ‘The Evil Sound of Music!’, as former mystic hero Sargon the Sorcerer exploits his own family and rock ‘n’ roll-loving kids to restore his lost powers, before confronting the Scarlet Speedster, his own inner demons and rapacious external devils on the path back to the light. Grounding that journey to hell, Kid Flash then faces ‘The Phantom of the Cafeteria!’ ending the depredations of a superfast, hyper-hungry alien in a quick but satisfying yarn from Skeates, Dillin & Giordano.

In #208, Kanigher, Novick & Anderson exposed ‘A Kind of Miracle in Central City’ as wayward kids exploited by drug pushers are saved by prayer, the timely intervention of nuns and invisible superspeed before Flash #209 debuted new regular writer Cary Bates. He would run with the Vizier of Velocity for the rest of the series, only missing #213-214, 217, 293, 306 and 313 between 1970 through 1985.

Fresh from the starting blocks, Bates, Novick & Giordano took the speedster into higher, weirder realms ‘Beyond the Speed of Life!’ where Flash and reality shielding Sentinel stopped existence from being devoured. Meanwhile, on mundane Earth old Rogues Trickster, Captain Boomerang and Gorilla Grodd squabbled over bragging rights for who had finally killed the hero. At the back, Kid Flash saved a student troubled by gangsters in ‘Coincidence Can Kill!’ courtesy of Skeates, Dillin, Giordano.

A visit to 2971 came with #210 as Bates, Novick & Giordano expanded the Earth East-Earth West “warm” war in ‘An Earth Divided!’ with Flash seeking to save man-made President Abraham Lincoln (II) from belligerent occidental tyrant Bekor. Science fiction surrendered to spooky tales next as Flash teamed up with Batman in Brave and the Bold #99. Here Bob Haney, Bob Brown, & Nick Cardy revealed how an attempt to resurrect Bruce Wayne’s parents opened the door to the Dark Knight’s possession by an unquiet spirit. ‘The Man Who Murdered the Past!’ almost ensured an invasion of angry ghosts until superspeed and smart thinking saved the day…

Comics were always about popular trends, and in Flash #211 Bates, Novick & Giordano contrived alien invaders who used the fad of rolling derby to fuel the destruction of Earth via constantly ‘Flashing Wheels!’ However, Kid Flash was on far more stable ground as he exposed corrupt officials covering up toxic dumping in ‘Is This Poison Legal?’ by Skeates, Dillin & Giordano. Equally bold and topical the next issue saw ‘The Flash in Cartoon Land!’ with Novick & Giordano depicting how manic 64th century magician Abra Kadabra trapped the hero and a little lad Barry Allen was babysitting in a graphic madhouse where scientific rules did not apply.

The next two issues – #213 & 214 – were reprint specials represented here with the original covers by Neal Adams & Cardy before #215 saw Bates, Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano detail the ‘Death of an Immortal!’ The eons are catching up with undying villain Vandal Savage who attempts to trick Barry Allen and Jay Garrick into remedying the crisis for him. However their mission is intercepted by chronal cop Tempus and the end is not what Savage anticipated…

For Bates at least, Flash was all about his signature Rogues Gallery and in #216 the writer revealed the shocking truth about multiple personality villain Al Desmond/Dr. Alchemy/Mr. Element. Seemingly cured and reformed, Desmond was afflicted by ‘The Curse of the Dragon’s Eye!’ (Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano), astrally connected to an unstable star in the constellation Draco and vacillating between manic and passive, and Good and Evil as it built to cataclysmic detonation. Now that time had come and Flash had to save his friend and hopefully prevent him destroying Earth when his patron star died. Its counterbalanced by Skeates & Dillin’s Kid Flash fable ‘2D?’ as Kid Flash goes after extradimensional slavers abducting workers who stare at certain paintings for too long…

Hard times for superheroes saw Green Lantern take up residence in the anterior pages of The Flash from #217 and shorter tales began with a fill-in from Len Wein for Novick & McLoughlin. ‘The Flash Times Five is Fatal!’ saw the hero attacked by a rogue AI built by Ira West. It preferred sabotage, reality warping and murder to rescinding its categoric statement that no one as fast as the Scarlet Speedster could possibly exist…

Bates and the Pied Piper returned in #218 as a cunning sonic ambush was foiled by speed vibrations generating ‘The Flash of 1,000 Faces!’ whilst in #219 (with Joe Giella inking) ‘The Million Dollar Deathtrap’ saw the hero targeted by wagering rivals Mirror Master and The Top and only triumphing after applying the proven principle of “divide and conquer”…

Flash literally and grotesquely joined protégé Kid Flash in #220 as The Turtle (Barry’s very first super-foe) returned to alter Earth’s internal vibrations and cure ‘The Slowest Man on Earth’ of his unique condition no matter the cost to everyone else. Thankfully two heads proved better than one in this instance and the shaking shakedown was averted.

Co-scripter John Warner joined Bates, Novick & McLoughlin for #221’s ‘Time-Schedule For Disaster!’ as techno-bandit Cipher attempts – and ultimately fails – to harvest Flash’s speed vibrations to power his weapons before #222’s ‘The Heart That Attacked the World!’ (Novick, McLoughlin & Giordano) offers a full-length team up with Green Lantern as Weather Wizard and Sinestro join forces to end their enemies. Sadly, born betrayer Sinestro secretly linked the Speedster’s racing heartbeat to the continued existence of Earth…

In #223, Bates, Novick & Giordano ‘Make Way for the Speed-Demons!’ as another old enemy rigs races between Flash and three mechanical racers of land sea and air, with the expressed intention of humiliating the speedster whilst hiding his true intentions, before #224 introduces ‘The Fastest Man Dead!’ after Barry’s friend and mentor Charlie Conwell is murdered. That doesn’t stop the veteran helping Flash close the last case on his docket and save his pal Barry one last time…

Another Scarlet-Emerald team-up sees Flash again battle Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash before discovering  ‘Green Lantern, Master Criminal of the 25th Century!’ (#225, Bates, Novick & Giordano) is the villain’s unwilling slave. Of course, it all plays out successfully in time, after which Captain Cold and Heatwave embroil Barry Allen in their psycho-drama rivalry, thereby inadvertently subjecting Flash to ‘The Hot-Cold War in Central City!’ (inked by Giordano & McLoughlin). Immediately afterwards (with McLoughlin inking) #227 reveals ‘Flash – This is Your Death!’ as Captain Boomerang ( and his dad!) rerun past fast & furious clashes whilst seeking to end the hero’s career and existence forever, before Tex Blaisdell inks #228’s ‘The Day I saved the Life of the Flash!’ Here Bates injects himself into the story as a comic book writer from Earth-Prime accidentally slips across dimensional divides; arriving on Earth-One in time to aid the “fictional” speedster he scripts in a deadly duel with the Trickster…

This compendium closes with the pertinent original material from 100-Page Spectacular Flash #229 which led with a Golden Age Flash team up as ‘The Rag Doll Runs Wild!’ Here Bates, Novick, Giordano & McLoughlin detail how a seeming resurgent rampage by a 1940s thieving contortionist is merely a mask for a far more sinister scheme perpetrated by a hidden vengeful mastermind. Closing proceedings are two teaser treats from that giant compendium: specifically a ‘Flash Puzzle’ by Bob Rozakis, Infantino & Anderson and an unattributed ‘Flash Trivia Quiz and Answers’…

With covers by Kane, Infantino, Anderson, Neal Adams, Colletta Giordano, Jack Adler, Cardy and Tatjana Wood, this splendid selection is a must-read item for anybody in love with the world of words-in-pictures and fast-paced fantasy fables. Ready. Steady, Go get it!
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1906 was the birth date of cartoonist Dale Messick (Brenda Starr, Reporter) followed ten years later by comic book/ad exec Irv Novick, and author Peter O’Donnell (Modesty Blaise, James Bond, Romeo Jones) in 1920. In 1954 Jamie Delano (Captain Britain, Doctor Who, Hellblazer, Animal Man) joined the party as did Matt Kindt (Poppy and the Lost Lagoon, Dept. H, MIND MGMT, BRZRKR) in 1973.

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The Pass


By Katriona Chapman (Fantagraphics Books, Inc)
ISBN: 979-8-8750-0065-2 (HB)

There are so very many graphic novels these days. Some are awful, many are so-so and the rest I endeavour to share with you. Of that remaining fraction, most can be summarised, plot-pointed and précised to give you a notion about what you might be buying if I’ve done my job right. Sometimes, however, all that fuss and blather is not only irrelevant but will actually impede your eventual enjoyment. This is one of those times so my advice is just to stop now, buy the book and render your own judgement…

Katriona Chapman is a fantastically observant story-maker based in London, from where she crafts superbly sublime tales for Small Press titles like Tiny Pencil (which she-cofounded), Comic Book Slumber Party, Ink & Paper, Save Our Souls, Deep Space Canine and her award-winning Katzine. Chapman draws beautifully and subtly, with a deep knowledge of tone and appreciation of hue, concentrating on people in the background as much as all the attention-grabbers we’re accustomed to and increasingly afflicted by in social interactions.

She hasn’t spent all her life in the Smoke, as revealed in her award-winning debut graphic travel memoir Follow Me In, or moody exploration of age and loneliness Breakwater. Her longer stories are about places around people. Chapman knows how to quietly sneak up and stage a scene perfectly before grabbing your undivided attention and never letting go. Locations don’t have to be expansive or impressive to become playing characters in the dramas they support, and that’s compellingly proved here.

Most tellingly, Chapman utterly and implicitly understands the mechanisms and value of calligraphic silence on a page: letting images do the work, shape reader emotion and tell the tale. Our art form is jampacked with the explosive, eccentric and exotic: stories and depictions of the ultra-extraordinary, but life isn’t like that. Life for most of us is like The Pass…

The demands of friends and expectations of family are a real pressure cooker for thirty-something Claudia Durand. Fiercely independent child of a internationally celebrated (but rather officious, controlling and overbearing) Chef and a helicopter mother, the daughter’s dream of being an enterprising restaurateur and food innovator in her own right seems to be coming true at last.

Never good with emotional conflict, asking for help or meddling interference, “Claude” has nonetheless opened her own up-&-coming bistro – The Alley – in insalubrious Southwark. Ignoring unsought parental guidance throughout, after five long years she is making waves: catching the favourable attention of Food Critics and enjoying commercial progress despite the economic situation, fickle tastes, self-doubt and that ever-present unwanted family oversight.

Naturally, she couldn’t have done it without the collaboration of her team: best friend/sous chef Lisa Turner – with her brother Jack doing the accounts and skivvying – and new barman/botanically adept experimental mixologist Ben readily adapting to working with them. Not to mention core server Adrienne and all the rest elbows-deep in the cut & thrust hurly-burly of the modern fashionable bistro experience….

With everything starting to gel and come together over Christmas, Claudia can’t really understand why – in a moment of giddy euphoria and media encouragement – she opts to pile on more pressure by finally entering the Chef of the Year competition…

Then, as if day-to-day business stresses were not bad enough and as self-inflicted anxieties over the contest grow nigh-intolerable, her pot boils over when in a moment of exhaustion-fuelled intimacy and need, she kisses someone she really shouldn’t have. Now everything has to change…

Food as fashion and entertainment has become a compelling arena for modern drama in recent years and this powerfully engaging exploration of the struggles that come with the smiles and piles of fodder is a potent blend of transitional growing experiences and how other people live, meeting challenging crises head on and all-out.

Love, duty, betrayal, loyalty, self-expression, search for identity and ambition drive us all and here are carefully mixed and presented for your delectation. You would be churlish to refuse a taste and should actually demand a second heaping helping.
All characters, stories and artwork © 2025 Katriona Chapman. This edition of The Pass © 2026 Fantagraphics Books, Inc All rights reserved.

Today in 1927, pioneering US cartoonist Brumsic Brandon Jr. (Luther) was born, just like Belgian strip artist René Follet in 1931 and French comics scripter Jacques de Loustal in 1956. Artist Scott Hampton arrived in 1959 and Canadian comics visionary Bill Marks in 1962. In 1988 Bill Amend’s still-unfolding science-y soap opera strip FoxTrot began, and in 2004 we lost the astounding cartoonist Chester Commodore.

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DC Finest: Justice League of America – Starro the Conqueror


By Gardner F. Fox, Mike Sekowsy, Carmine Infantino, Bernard Sachs, Murphy Anderson, Joe Giella & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-773-4 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – by which we mean the launch of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s progress was to combine individual sales-points into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was irrefutably proven: a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces. Plus, of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is far cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick…

Thus the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comic books and – when Julius Schwartz began reviving and revitalising the nigh-defunct superhero genre in 1956 – the next key moment would come a few years with the inevitable teaming of reconfigured mystery men. The League launched in The Brave and the Bold #28 (cover-dated March 1960 but actually on sale from December 29th 1959) and cemented the growth and validity of the revived subgenre, triggering an explosion of new characters at every company producing comic books; even spreading to the rest of the world as the 1960s progressed.

Spanning March 1960 to May 1963, this full-colour paperback collection of timeless classics re-presents The Brave and the Bold #28-30, issues #1-19 of the epochal first series of Justice League of America and a crucial early cross-branding event from Mystery in Space #75, with scripter Gardner Fox and illustrators Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs – with the support of Joe Giella, Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson – seemingly able to do no wrong. That moment that changed everything for us baby-boomers came in The Brave and the Bold #28, a classical adventure title that had recently become a try-out magazine like Showcase. Just in time for Christmas 1959 ads began running…

“Just Imagine! The mightiest heroes of our time… have banded together as the Justice League of America to stamp out the forces of evil wherever and whenever they appear!…”

When it came that first tale was written by the indefatigable Gardner Fox and illustrated by quirky, understated virtuoso Mike Sekowsky, and inked by Bernard Sachs, Joe Giella & Murphy Anderson. ‘Starro the Conqueror!’ saw Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, J’onn J’onzz – Manhunter from Mars and recent debutante Green Lantern defeat a marauding alien starfish whilst Superman and Batman stood by as a reserve. In those naive days, editors feared their top characters could be “over-exposed” and consequently lose popularity. The team also picked up an average American kid as a mascot. “Typical teenager” Snapper Carr would prove a focus of fan controversy for decades to come, and the yarn was/is supplanted by fact page ‘The “Starfish” Family!’ crafted by clever persons currently unknown…

Confident of his material and the superhero genre’s fresh appeal, Schwartz had two more thrillers ready for the following issues. B&B #29 saw the team defeat a marauder from the future who apparently had history on his side in ‘The Challenge of the Weapons Master!’ (inks by Sachs and Giella) whilst #30 saw the debut of the team’s first mad-scientist archvillain in the form of Professor Ivo who employed and his super android Amazo in ‘The Case of the Stolen Super Powers’ (Fox, Sekowsky & Sachs) to  end the try-out run. Three months later a new bi-monthly title debuted…

Perhaps somewhat sedate by histrionic modern standards, the JLA was revolutionary in a comics marketplace where less than 10% of all sales featured costumed adventurers. Not only consumer imagination was struck by hero teams either. Stan Lee was apparently given a copy of Justice League by his boss Martin Goodman and told to do something similar for the tottering comics company he ran… and look what came of that…

Justice League of America #1 offered a voyage to ‘The World of No Return’, in the insalubrious company of trans-dimensional tour-guide and tawdry tyrant Despero who bedevilled the World’s Greatest Heroes until, once again, plucky Snapper Carr became the key to defeating the villain and saving the day. As previously mentioned, although Superman and Batman were included in the membership their participation was strictly limited as editorial diktat at the start to avoid possible reader ennui and saturation from over-exposure. That ended from this point forward as they joined the regulars in all their games.

The second issue’s ‘Secret of the Sinister Sorcerers!’ presented an astounding conundrum as the villains of Magic-Land sneakily transposed the location of their dimension with Earth’s, causing the Laws of Science to be replaced with the Lore of Mysticism. The true mettle of the costumed heroes (with Superman & Batman fully participating in the proceedings) was shown when they had to use ingenuity rather than their powers to defeat fearsome foes and set two worlds to rights.

JLA #3 introduced despicable despot and slimy sentient trafficker Kanjar Ro who attempted to turn the team into his personal army in ‘The Slave Ship of Space!’, before the next episode was the first of many to feature a new member joining the team. Green Arrow saved the day in science-fiction thriller ‘Doom of the Star Diamond’, but was almost kicked out in #5 as the insidious evil genius Doctor Destiny inadvertently framed him ‘When Gravity Went Wild!’

The glory days of full-on “costumed crazies” was still in the future and most tales of this period involved extraterrestrial or fringe technology-triggered emergencies such as the mad scientist who encountered them next. ‘The Wheel of Misfortune!’ saw the debut of pernicious and persistent master of wild science Professor Amos Fortune, who weaponised luck to challenge the masked marvels, whilst #7 was another alien invasion plot (Agellaxians this time) who used an amusement park as a live-weapons lab, using humans to beta test their tech and eerily transform the swiftly-investigating heroes infiltrating ‘The Cosmic Fun-House!’

Organised crime then collided with cruel happenstance in January 1962’s JLA #8. ‘For Sale… the Justice League!’ offered a smart gangster caper wherein cheap hood Pete Rickets finds a prototype teaching tool and misuses it as mind-control weapon to enslave the superhero team before simple Snapper once again saves the day.

As often remarked, back then origins and character background were not as important as delivering solid entertaining stories and it was not until Justice League of America #9 (cover-dated February 1962 and on sale from December 21st 1961) that the group shared its motivating first case with enthralled readers via the narrative engine of curious Snapper Carr. Nigh-mythic now and oft-recounted. ‘The Origin of the Justice League’ recounts the circumstances of the team’s birth in an alien invasion saga as mighty space warriors seeking to use Earth as a gladiatorial arena in which to decide the future ruler of their distant world Appellax…

It’s followed by the series’ first continued story. ‘The Fantastic Fingers of Felix Faust!’ finds the World’s Greatest Superheroes already battling a marauder from the future – the Lord of Time – when they’re spellbound by a vile sorcerer. Faust has awoken three antediluvian demons (Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast) and sold them the world in exchange for 100 years of unlimited power. Although the heroes eventually outwit and defeat Faust they have no idea that the demons are loose…

Although chronologically and sequentially adrift, next up is  Mystery in Space #75 (May 1962), wherein the worlds-beating team guest-star in a full-length thriller in Adam Strange’s ongoing, off-world epic adventures. Strange is an Earth archaeologist who regularly teleports to a planet circling Alpha Centauri where his wits and ingenuity saved the citizens of Rann from all manner of interplanetary threats and menaces. In ‘The Planet that came to a Standstill!’, Kanjar Ro attempts to conquer Strange’s adopted home, and our gallant hero must enlist the aid of the JLA before once again saving the day himself. This classic team-up was written by Fox, and illustrated by Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson.

Then, back in JLA #11 (also cover-dated May 1962) concluding chronological conundrum ‘One Hour to Doomsday!’ sees the JLA pursue and capture initial target The Lord of Time, before becoming trapped a century from their home-era by the awakened, re-empowered demons. This level of plot complexity hadn’t been seen in comics since the closure of EC Comics, and never before in a superhero tale. It was a profound acknowledgement by the creators that the readership was no longer simply little kids – if indeed it ever had been…

Perennial archvillain Doctor Light debuted in #12, attempting a pre-emptive strike on the team by transporting them to carefully selected sidereal worlds where their abilities would be useless, but ‘The Last Case of the Justice League’ proved to be anything but, and in the next issue the heroes saved our entire reality by solving ‘The Riddle of the Robot Justice League’: sinister simulacra created to stop the champions from halting the theft of our life-energy by agents of another cosmic realm. Then ‘The Menace of the “Atom” Bomb!’ in #14 proved to be  a neat way of introducing latest inductee The Atom whilst showing a fresh side to an old villain masquerading as new nemesis Mister Memory…

‘Challenge of the Untouchable Aliens’ in JLA #15 added some fresh texture to the formulaic plot of extra-dimensional invaders out for our destruction before ‘The Cavern of Deadly Spheres’ delivered a deceptive change-of-pace tale with a narrative technique that just couldn’t be used on today’s oh-so-sophisticated audience, but still has the power to grip a reader. Ever challenging and always universal continuity building, more links between heroes were formed in #17’s ‘Triumph of the Tornado Tyrant!’ Here a sentient cyclone that had once battled indomitable Adam Strange (in Mystery in Space #61) set up housekeeping on an desolate world and ponder the very nature of Good and Evil and even roleplay out its deliberations. It soon realised that it needed the help of the Justice League to reach a survivable conclusion…

Teaser Alert: As well being a cracking yarn, this story is pivotal in the development of the android hero Red Tornado…

JLA #18 found the heroes forcibly summoned to a subatomic universe by three planetary champions whose continued existence now threatened to destroy the very world they were designed to protect. ‘Journey to the Micro-World’ found the JLA compelled to defeat opponents who were literally unbeatable and discovering yet again that Batman’s brains were a super power no force could thwart…

One final perplexing puzzle was posed in ‘The Super-Exiles of Earth’ after unstoppable duplicates of the heroes go on a crime-spree, forcing global governments to banish the League into space. Breaking rules and laws whilst battling undercover in their civilian identities, the team prove too much for the mystery mastermind behind the plot and return to public acclaim in a stellar wrap-up to another fabulous feast of four-colour fun.

With iconic covers by Sekowsky, Infantino and Anderson, these tales are a perfect example of all that was best and purest about US comics’ Silver Age: combining optimism and ingenuity with bonhomie and adventure. This slice of better times also has the benefit of cherishing wonderment whilst actually being historically valid for any fan of our medium. Best of all the stories here are still captivating and enthralling transports of delight.

These classical compendia are a dedicated fan’s delight: an absolute gift for modern fans who desperately need to catch up without going bankrupt. They are also perfect to give to youngsters as an introduction into a fabulous world of adventure and magic…
© 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1883 trailblazing strip creator Frank King (Gasoline Alley) was born, as was trendsetting illustrator Mac Raboy (Captain Marvel Junior, Green Lama, Flash Gordon) in 1914; German comics legend Rolf Kauka (Dagobert, Fix und Foxi) in 1917 and Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy, Doom Patrol, some music and TV and movies ‘n’ stuff) in 1977.

In 1978, DC’s The World’s Greatest Superheroes newspaper strip premiered.

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Emmie Arbel: The Colour of Memory


By Barbara Yelin: translated by Helge R. Dascher & edited by Charlotte Schallié and Alexander Korb (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-91422-442-3 (HB)

With the world once again on the brink of extinction and hate, and what looks to me and so many others like actual clinical madness gripping every pious yet greedy soul alive, what better time than right now to explore the memories and postwar experiences of a Shoah survivor?

Released in February (and produced thanks to the assistance of the  Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives Project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) this epic tome is an engrossing expansion of 2022’s visual essay in But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust. Through gentle conversations and via thoughtful consideration it pictorially processes the memories of a remarkable, and remarkably tight-lipped, woman who survived the last breakout of extermination madness in the 1930s and 1940s, She kept on living against crushing odds and circumstances, making a life for herself and with her remaining family. Of course, that was only the beginning of the story. Here, in beautiful languid episodes framed in mood-altering hues and tones, is some of what she did once the actual shooting had stopped…

One of three acknowledged survivors of a Dutch family handed over to Nazis when they conquered Holland, a four-year old girl and her mother were despatched to Eastern European death camps. Seven-year old Emmie Arbel was finally orphaned at Ravensbruck and Bergen-Belsen, but “saved” by the Allies when the camp was liberated. Clerically decreed a Displaced Person, she was soon reunited with her brothers, but suffered appalling betrayal, sexual abuse, illness-induced isolation and benign neglect from those entrusted with her care and rearing. Even being bounced across newly-liberated Europe before being bundled off to new homeland Israel only reinforced the conviction that Promised Lands came with conditions and were not for everybody…

Deeply traumatized, but fortified by selective recall and an indomitable poker face, Emmie grew up and turned inward, living life at a distance until making friends with a German artist and storyteller who wanted to show a different truth…

As much about getting a reluctant hostile witness to open up and share sights and scares of the life lived, The Colour of Memories unfolds in slices and snippets: a deft, non-linear, emotionally turbulent potpourri sparked by recollection, rather than chronologically steered or directed. This softly shocking, wandering ramble shows how the mass-produced, institutionalised terrors of war and pogrom were only prelude to the rest of Emmie Arbel’s life, and that the bad times were not over just because no one was actively trying to kill her…

The tale is as much about a growing friendship and mutually acceptable narrative, with graphic novelist Barbara Yelin injecting much of her process into the compelling mix. Born in 1977 Munich, Yelin studied illustration at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences before breaking into France’s Bande Dessinée market in 2004 with Le Visiteur. Successive works include Le Retard; Gift; Riekes Notizen (in daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau); The Summer of Her Life and, in 2016, Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel Irmina.

A feast of revelatory growth and paean to adaptability, this dossier on survival comes with supplemental materials including a list of ‘The People in This Book’; a ‘Glossary of Hebrew Words’; a timeline ‘About Emmie Arbel’; documentarian Yelin’s incisive afterword and process deconstruction ‘This is Her Story’ and Alexander Korb & Dienke Hondius’ statement of intent ‘The Aftermath of Survival: Emmie Arbel’s Experiences After the Holocaust’. These are supported by photos, maps, diagrams and closing addendum ‘Wartime and Postwar Routes of the Arbel Family’ before editors Charlotte Schallié & Korb’s ethical dilemmas and the solutions needed to facilitate a non-harmful processing of the unthinkable are discussed in essay ‘About this Book’.
Text and images © Barbara Yelin and Reprodukt. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1843 pioneering Brazilian cartoonist and comics artist Angelo Agostini was born and we lost French cartoonist comic star Jean Cézard (Arthur le fantôme justicier) in 1977, legendary Lee Elias (Green Arrow, Beyond Mars, The Rook, Luke Cage) in 1998 and the magnificent Alfredo Alcala (Voltar, Batman, Man-Thing, Planet of the Apes, Swamp Thing, Arak, Son of Thunder, Kong the Untamed, Conan) in 2000.

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Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dennis O’Neil, Roy Thomas, John Severin, Joe Sinnott, Don Heck, Howard Purcell, Ogden Whitney, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito, Jim Steranko & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2686-7 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Veteran war-hero and superspy Nick Fury debuted in Fantastic Four #21 (cover-dated December 1963): a grizzled, world-weary and cunning (but innately Good) CIA Colonel at the periphery of the really big adventures in a fast-changing world.

What was odd about that? Well, the gruff, crudely capable combat everyman was already the star of the reemergent publisher’s only war comic, set twenty years earlier in – depending on whether you were American or European – the beginning or middle of World War II. Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos was an improbable, decidedly over-the-top and raucous combat comics series, similar in tone to later movies such as The Wild Bunch or The Dirty Dozen and had launched in May of that year.

Nevertheless, Fury’s latterday self became a big-name star as espionage yarns continued guiding a global zeitgeist in the wake of popular TV sensations like Danger Man and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Bond movies (and many imitators) so the contemporary iteration was granted a second series. It began in Strange Tales #135 (cover-dated August 1965).

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. combined Cold War tensions with sinister schemes of World Conquest by a subversive, all-encompassing, hidden enemy organisation. The ever-unfolding saga came with captivating Kirby-designed super-science gadgetry and – eventually – iconic, game-changing imagineering from Jim Steranko, whose visually groundbreaking graphic narratives took the comics art form to a whole new level…

For those few brief years with Steranko in charge, the S.H.I.E.L.D. series was one of the best strips in America (if not the world) but when the writer/artist left just as the global spy-fad was giving way to supernatural mystery and horror stories, the whole concept faded into the fundamental background architecture of the Marvel Universe…

This astounding full-colour compendium (available in hardcover and digital editions) deals with the outrageous, groundbreaking, but still notionally wedded-to-mundane-reality iteration which set the scene.

Here Jack Kirby’s genius for graphic wizardry and gift for dramatic staging mixed with Stan Lee’s manic melodrama to create a tough and tense series which the new writers and veteran artists that followed turned into a non-stop riot of action and suspense, with Steranko’s late arrival only hinting at the magic to come…

These epic early days of spycraft encompass Strange Tales #135-153 and Tales of Suspense #78, collectively covering August 1965 – February 1967 and guaranteeing timeless thrills for lovers of adventure and intrigue. Following a history lesson from Kirby scholar John Morrow in his Introduction, the main event starts in at full pelt in ST #135 as the Human Torch solo feature was summarily replaced by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which back then stood for Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division). In the rocket-paced first episode, Fury is asked to volunteer for the most dangerous job in the world: leading a new counter-intelligence agency dedicated to stopping secretive subversive super-science organisation Hydra. With assassins dogging his every move, the Take-Charge Guy with the Can-Do Attitude quickly proves he is ‘The Man for the Job!’ in a potent 12-page thriller from Lee, Kirby and inker Dick Ayers.

Even an artist and plotter of Kirby’s calibre couldn’t handle another strip at that busiest of times, so from the next issue “The King” cut back to laying out episodes, allowing a variety of superb draughtsmen to flesh out the adventures. Happily, however, there’s probably a stunning invention or cool concept on almost every page that follows so the Kirby Touch was fully upon the unfolding suspense and intrigue. ‘Find Fury or Die!’ brought veteran draughtsman John Severin back to the company that used to be Atlas. He pencilled and inked Jack’s blueprints as – aided and abetted by full-on patriotic weaponsmith Tony Stark – the new Director of the latest spy-agency becomes the target of incessant assassination attempts as we meet mysterious masked maniac the Supreme Hydra…

The tension ramps up for the next instalment as a number of contenders are introduced – any of whom might be the obscured overlord of evil – even as S.H.I.E.L.D. strives mightily but fails to stop Hydra launching its deadly Betatron Bomb in ‘The Prize is… Earth!’ Despite the restrictions of the Comics Code, these early S.H.I.E.L.D. stories were bleakly grim and frequently carried a heavy body count. Four valiant agents died in quick succession in #137 and the next issue underscored the point in ‘Sometimes the Good Guys Lose!’, with further revelations of Hydra’s inner workings.

Fury and fellow WWII era Howling Commando stalwarts Dum-Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones meanwhile played catch-up after Hydra assassins invade S.H.I.E.L.D., almost eliminating Fury and Stark – the only man capable of destroying an atomic sword of Damocles hanging over the world. Although Fury saves the munitions genius, he is captured in the process…

Tortured by Hydra in #139’s ‘The Brave Die Hard!’ (with Joe Sinnott replacing Severin as finisher), Fury latches on to an unlikely ally in Laura Brown, the Supreme Hydra’s daughter and a young woman bitterly opposed to her father’s megalomaniacal madness. Even with only half a comic book per month to tell a tale, creators didn’t hang around in those halcyon days, and #140 promised ‘The End of Hydra!’ (Don Heck & Sinnott over Kirby) as a S.H.I.E.L.D. squad invades the enemy’s inner sanctum to rescue the already-free-&-making-mayhem Fury. In the meantime, Stark travels into space to remove the orbiting Betatron Bomb with his robotic Braino-Saur system. The end result leaves Hydra temporarily headless…

Strange Tales #141 sees Kirby return to full pencils (inked by pseudonymous Frank Giacoia, moonlighting as Frank Ray) for the mop-up, prior to ‘Operation: Brain Blast!’ introducing Mentallo – a mutant and career criminal renegade from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ESP division. He joins technological savant The Fixer to assail the organisation as their first step in an ambitious scheme to rule Earth. The momentous raid begins in ‘Who Strikes at… S.H.I.E.L.D.?’ (illustrated by Kirby & Mike Demeo – AKA Mike Esposito) with the ruthless rogues hitting hard and fast: seizing and mind-controlling Fury before strapping him to a mini H-bomb. With Howard Purcell & Esposito embellishing Kirby’s layouts, Dum-Dum and the boys come blasting in ‘To Free a Brain Slave’ in #143. A new and deadly threat emerges in #144’s ‘The Day of the Druid!’ as a mystic-seeming charlatan targets Fury and his agents with murderous flying techno-ovoids. Happily, new S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit Jasper Sitwell is on hand to augment the triumphant fightback in ‘Lo! The Eggs Shall Hatch!’ (finished by Heck & Esposito).

As Marvel continuity grew evermore interlinked, ‘Them!’ details a Captain America team-up for Fury in the first of the Star-Spangled Avenger’s many adventures as a (more-or-less) Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Taken from Tales of Suspense #78 (June 1966): scripted by Lee with Kirby on full pencils and Giacoia inking, the story depicts the WWII wonders battling an artificial assassin with incredible chemical capabilities, after which Nick seeks the creature’s mysterious makers in ST #146, ‘When the Unliving Strike!’(Kirby, Heck & Esposito).

Proclaiming themselves a technological Special Interests group, Advanced Idea Mechanics courts S.H.I.E.L.D.’s governmental and military masters (and contracts), promising potent and incredible new weapons if only they would sack that barbaric slob Fury. However, the surly supremo is getting close to exposing A.I.M.’s connection to “Them” …and an old enemy thought long gone.

A concerted whispering campaign and briefing-against seemingly sees Fury ousted in ‘The Enemy Within!’, before being put on trial in ‘Death Before Dishonor!’ (scripted by Kirby with Heck & Esposito finishing his layouts), but it’s all part of a cunning counterplan which delivers a shattering conclusion and ‘The End of A.I.M.!’ (ST #149, dialogued by Denny O’Neil with art by Kirby & Ogden Whitney). Then, revealed by Lee, Kirby, John Buscema & Giacoia, a malign, devilishly subtle plan is finally exposed in Strange Tales #150 as Fury’s team compares clues from all the year’s past clashes to come to one terrifying conclusion… ‘Hydra Lives!’

The shocking secret also hints at great events to come as newcomer Steranko assumes the finisher’s role over Lee & Kirby for ‘Overkill!’ with Fury targeted by the new – true – Supreme Hydra who devises a cunning scheme to infiltrate America’s top security agency and use his enemy as the means of triggering global Armageddon…

Although the Good Guys seemingly thwart that scheme, ‘The Power of S.H.I.E.L.D.!’ is actually helpless to discern the villain’s real intent as this initial dossier of doom pauses on a cliffhanger after ‘The Hiding Place!’ (ST #153, scripted by Roy Thomas) closes with the archvillain comfortably ensconced in Fury’s inner circle and ready to destroy the organisation from within.

To Be Continued…

Although the S.H.I.E.L.D. saga stops here, there’s an added bonus still to enjoy: the aforementioned FF #21. This depicted Fury as a wily CIA agent seeking the team’s aid against a sinister demagogue ‘The Hate-Monger’ (Lee & Kirby, inked by George Roussos, under protective nom-de-plume George Bell) just as the 1960s espionage vogue was taking off. Here Fury craftily manipulates Marvel’s First Family into invading a sovereign nation reeling in the throes of revolution in a yarn crackling with tension and action…

Fast, furious and fantastically entertaining, these high-octane vintage yarns from a time when the US were global Good Guys and “World Police” are a superb snapshot of early Marvel Comics at their creative peak and should be part of every fanboy’s shelf of beloved favourites.

Don’t Yield! Back S.H.I.E.L.D.!

© 1965, 1966, 1967, 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1907, Belgian artist Jacques Laudy (Le Journal de Tintin) was born, as was occasional Green Lantern scripter Henry Kuttner in 1915 and Canadian cartoonist Jacques Boivin (Melody) in 1952. In 2007, B,C. creator Johnny Hart died.

Today in 1935 Dr. Seuss launched his short lived but influential strip Hejji and, in 1992, Art Spiegelman received a Special Pulitzer Prize for Maus.

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Green Lantern: The Silver Age volume 1


By John Broome, Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky, Carmine Infantino, Ross Andru, Joe Giella, Murphy Anderson & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6348-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Today marks the centenary of Eli Katz, who, as Gil Kane, worked from the Golden Age until his death (on January 31st 2000) to make comics the art form it is today. Diligent, resolute and always challenging himself, Kane was a trendsetting pioneer in style, in form and in comics philosophy. He was also a visual architect of the superhero revival in the Silver Age and a key component in the evolution of the Graphic Novel.

Gil Kane worked as an artist, and an ever-more effective and influential one, drawing – and writing – for many companies since his 1940s debut: on superheroes, action, war, mystery, romance, movie adaptations and, perhaps most importantly, Westerns and Science Fiction tales. In the late 1950s Kane was one of editor Julius Schwartz’s go-to artists for regenerating the superhero. Yet by 1968, at the top of his (admittedly much denigrated) profession, this relentlessly revolutionary and creative man felt so confined by juvenile strictures of the industry that he struck out on new ventures, jettisoning editorial and format bounds of comic books for new visions and media.

His Name Is Savage was an adult-oriented monochrome magazine about a cold and ruthless super-spy in the James Bond/Man Called Flint mould, co-written by friend & collaborator Archie Goodwin. It was very much a precursor in tone, treatment and subject matter to many of today’s adventure titles. The other venture, Blackmark (also with Goodwin), not only ushered in an era of comic book Sword & Sorcery, but became one of the first Graphic Novels. Technically, as the series was commissioned by publisher Ballantine as eight volumes, it was also America’s first comic Limited Series. Volume 1 launched in January 1971, with volume 2 just completed when the publisher killed the project. Albeit a generation Kane’s junior, long term seasoned collaborator Roy Thomas reprinted those tales in Marvel’s Savage Sword of Conan and Marvel Preview, with artwork rejigged to accommodate a different page format.

In comic books Kane’s milieux included Boy Commandos, Young Allies & Newsboy Legion, Johnny Thunder, Jimmy Wakely, Hopalong Cassidy, Rex the Wonder Dog, The Atom, Plastic Man, Robin, Batgirl, Batman, Superman, Flash, Hawk and Dove, Captain Action, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent, plus hundreds of genre yarns – romance, war, sci fi, western and horror – before landing at Marvel Comics to reinvent Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Ka-Zar and Captain Marvel, co-creating Adam Warlock, Morbius, Iron Fist. He adapted John Carter, Warlord of Mars and other adventure fantasy properties and reinvigorated dozens of horror-hero and superhero stalwarts, all while filling in on seemingly every character and cover going…

Restless and craving what the medium could still achieve, he created newspaper strip Star Hawks (in 1977 with Ron Goulart) and numerous special projects like Jason Drum for Le Journal de Tintin and The Ring of the Nibelung. Also working as Gil Stack, Scott Edward, Stack Til, Stacktil, Pen Star and Phil Martell, Kane was a foundation stone of comics and remains a vivid, vital inspiration to future generations of creators and readers.

With all that in mind let’s revisit a character he co-created and who will be forever associated with Kane: the Silver Age Emerald Gladiator…

After their hugely successful revival and reworking of The Flash, DC (or National Comics as they were) were keen to build on the resurgent superhero trend. Showcase #22 hit the stands at the same time as the fourth issue of the new Flash comic book – #108 – and once again the guiding lights were Editor Julie Schwartz & writer John Broome. Assigned as illustrator was action ace Gil Kane, generally inked by Joe Giella.

This fabulous paperback compilation gathers Showcase #22-24 (September/October 1959 to January/February 1960) and Green Lantern #1-9 (July/August 1960-November 1961) and reveals how a Space Age reconfiguration of the Golden-Age superhero with a magic ring replaced mysticism with super-science.

Hal Jordan was a young test pilot in California when an alien policeman crashed his spaceship on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his ring – a device which could materialise thoughts – to seek out a replacement officer, honest and without fear. Scanning the planet it selected Jordan and brought him to the crash-site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, the lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his profession to the astonished Earthman.

In six pages ‘S.O.S Green Lantern’ established characters, scenario and narrative thrust of a series that would increasingly become the spine of DC continuity, leaving room for another two adventures in that premiere issue. ‘Secret of the Flaming Spear!’ and ‘Menace of the Runaway Missile!’ were both contemporary thrillers set against the backdrop of the aviation industry at a time when the Cold War was at its height. Unlike Flash’s debut, the publishers were now confident of their ground. The next two issues of Showcase carried the new hero into even greater and more fantastic exploits. ‘Summons from Space’ sent Green Lantern to another world: saving an emerging race from a deadly threat at the behest of the as-yet-unnamed leaders of the Green Lantern Corps, whilst ‘The Invisible Destroyer’ pitted the neophyte Emerald Gladiator against earthbound eerie menace – a psychic marauder that lived on atomic radiation.

Showcase #24 (January/February 1960) featured another spy-ring in ‘The Secret of the Black Museum!’ but Jordan’s complex social life took centre-stage in ‘The Creature That Couldn’t Die!’ when the threat of an unstoppable monster paled before the insufferable stress of being his own rival. Hal’s boss Carol Ferris, controversially left in charge of her father’s aviation company (an utterly radical concept in 1960 when most women were still considered fainting-fodder fluff), won’t date an employee, but is deliriously happy for him to set her up with glamorous, mysterious GL…

Six months later Green Lantern #1 was released. All previous tales had been dynamically drawn by Kane & Giella, in a visually arresting and exciting manner, but the lead tale here, ‘Planet of Doomed Men’ was inked by the astoundingly multi-talented Murphy Anderson, and his fine line-work elevated the tale (more emergent humans in need of rescue from another monster) to the status of a minor classic. Giella returned for the second tale, ‘Menace of the Giant Puppet!’, in which GL fought his first – albeit rather lame – supervillain, the Puppet Master.

The next issue originated a concept that would be pivotal to the future of DC continuity. ‘The Secret of the Golden Thunderbolts!’ featured an Antimatter Universe and the diabolical Weaponers of Qward: a twisted race who worshipped Evil, and whose criminals (i.e. people who wouldn’t lie, cheat, steal or kill) wanted asylum on Earth. Also inked by Anderson, this is an early highpoint of tragic melodrama from an era where emotionalism was actively downplayed in comics. The second story ‘Riddle of the Frozen Ghost Town! is a crime thriller highlighting the developing relationship between the hero and his Inuit (then “Eskimo”) mechanic Tom “Pieface”Kalmaku.

The Qwardians returned in the all-Giella-inked #3, leading with ‘The Amazing Theft of the Power Lamp!’ before Jordan’s love life again spun out of control in ‘The Leap Year Menace!’, whilst GL #4 saw the hero trapped in the antimatter universe in ‘The Diabolical Missile from Qward!’ (Anderson inks) nicely balanced by light-&-frothy mistaken-identity caper ‘Secret of Green Lantern’s Mask!’ This last was apparently crafted by a veritable round-robin raft of pencillers including Kane, Giella, Carmine Infantino, Mike Sekowsky and Ross Andru…

Issue #5 was a full-length thriller introducing Hector Hammond, GL’s second official recurring super-foe in ‘The Power Ring that Vanished!’: a saga of romantic intrigue, mistaken identity and evolution gone wild. This was followed by another pure science fiction puzzler ‘The World of Living Phantoms!’ (Kane & Giella), debuting avian Green Lantern Tomar Re and opening up the entire universe to avid readers.

Having shown us other GLs, Broome immediately excelled himself in the next episode. ‘The Day 100,000 People Vanished!’ brought the Guardians of the Universe into the open to warn of their greatest error: renegade Green Lantern Sinestro who, in league with Qwardians, had become a threat to the entire universe. This taut, tense shocker introduced one of the most charismatic and intriguing villains in the DCU, and the issue still had room for a dryly amusing, whimsical drama introducing Tom Kalmaku’s fiancée Terga in ‘Wings of Destiny’.

In the early 1960s DC production wizard Jack Adler devised a process to add enhancing tone to cover illustrations. The finished result was eye-catching and mind-blowing, but sadly, examples such as the cover of #8 here really don’t work with the glossy pages and digitised colour-tints of modern reproduction. Never mind, though, since contents ‘The Challenge from 5700 AD!’ comprise a fantasy tour de force as the Emerald Gladiator is shanghaied through time to save the future from an invasion of mutant lizards…

Sinestro returned in the next issue – the last in this astounding cosmic collection – with his own super-weapon in ‘The Battle of the Power Rings!’ (with Anderson again substituting for Giella) but the real gold is ‘Green Lantern’s Brother Act’, with the revelation of Hal’s two brothers and a snoopy girl reporter convinced young Jim Jordan is secretly the ring-slinging superhero. This wry poke at DC’s house plot-device shows just how sophisticated Schwartz & Broome believed their audiences to be.

In those long ago days costumed villains were always third choice in a writer’s armoury: clever bad-guys and aliens always seemed more believable to creators back then. If you were doing something naughty would you want to call attention to yourself? Nowadays the visual impact of buff men in tights dictates the type of foe more than the crimes committed, which is why these glorious adventures of simpler yet somehow better days are such an unalloyed delight. These Fights ‘n’ Tights romps are in themselves a great read for most ages, but when also considered as the building blocks of all DC continuity they become vital fare for any fan keen to make sense of the modern superhero experience.

Judged solely on their own merit, these are snappy and awe-inspiring; beautifully illustrated by a rapidly evolving graphic narrative superstar in ascendance: captivatingly clever thrillers that amuse, amaze and enthral both new readers and old devotees. This collection is a must-read item for anybody in love with our art-form and especially for anyone just now encountering the hero for the first time through his TV incarnation.
© 1959, 1960, 1961, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1882 Spanish creator Salvador Bartolozzi (weekly Pinocchio) was born, with The New Yorker cartoonist Chon Day arriving in 1907, Levi Katz in 1926 and crusading Filipino cartoonist Pol Medina Jr. (Pugad Baboy) in 1960. In 1980 Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button, New School, The Unclothed Man In the 35th Century A.D., Courier) joined that august grouping.

In 1936 Frank Leonard’s Mickey Finn strip debuted, and ran until 10th September 1977.

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The Phantom – the complete newspaper dailies: volume Five 1943-1944


By Lee Falk & Wilson McCoy: introduction by Ed Rhoades (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-61345-030-7 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Born Leon Harrison Gross, Lee Falk created the Ghost Who Walks at the request of his King Features Syndicate employers who were already making history, public headway and loads of money with his first strip sensation Mandrake the Magician. Although technically not the first ever costumed champion in comics, The Phantom became the prototype paladin to wear a skin-tight body-stocking and the first wearing a mask with opaque eye-slits…

The undying, generational champion debuted on February 17th 1936, in an extended sequence pitting him against an ancient global confederation of pirates. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first two weeks before handing over illustration to artist Ray Moore. The equally enthralling, hugely influential Sunday feature began on May 28th 1939. Both are still running.

For such a long-lived, influential series, in terms of compendia or graphic collections, “the Ghost Who Walks” was quite poorly served in the English language market (except in the Antipodes, where he’s always been accorded the status of a pop culture god). Lots of companies have sought to collect strips from one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history, but in no systematic or chronological order and never with any sustained success. That has been mostly rectified recently by archival specialists Hermes Press who launched curated collections in 2010, making nearly all the various canonical iterations accessible to the devoted.

This fifth landscape Dailies edition is currently only available digitally. Released in 2013, its pages are stuffed with sumptuous visual goodies like panel and logo close-ups, covers and lots of original art, and opens with ‘Introduction: Passing the Torch’: a memories-rich text feature stuffed with sumptuous visual goodies from much-missed uber-fan Ed Rhoades, after which we resume the never-ending story in progress…

Previously – and in a volume STILL agonisingly unavailable: a colossal war campaign in the African jungles catapulted the reclusive do-gooder into global headlines as the “masked commander of Bengali” and the triumphant “Hero of The Oolan”: unwanted attention which made The Phantom an unhappy but extremely well known heroic public figure. During the siege his adored Significant Other Diana Palmer was gravely wounded. As she recuperates in the USA, attended by faithful failed-suitor Captain Byron, the Ghost who walks is being flown to the Land of the (currently) Free for pointless military bombast and tedious morale-boosting backslapping. It’s a situation he plans on escaping ASAP …

The vintage blood-&-thunder fun begins with brooding, tension-packed thriller ‘Bent Beak Broder’ (originally running Mondays to Saturdays, January 11th to May 22nd 1943) wherein Phantom – and faithful wonder-wolf companion Devil – duck the escorts and parades to head for Diana’s home and sickbed. It involves a tedious cross country hitchhiking stint and lands the hero-in-mufti in the middle of a prison break. When ruthless rogue Bent Beak kidnaps a young girl and goes on a rampage, our seasoned crimebuster is duty-bound to postpone his romantic reunion and hunt down the monstrous malcontents in a stunning display of psychological warfare and thundering fists, leaving the convicts mentally scarred for life and marked with the Phantom’s signature Death’s Head ring brand…

Neatly segueing into soap opera romance with a side order of comedy, ‘The Phantom’s Engagement’ (24th May – 24th July) at last finds him at her doorstep and bedside just as Byron makes one more play for her heart. Gently rebuffed and at last accepting that she will never be his, the captain prepares to leave. However, pushed by Diana’s family – and especially her Uncle Dave – the uncharacteristically nervous masked marvel girds himself to propose but is briefly distracted by the arrival of terrifying African emissary Prince Karna of the Ismani and a religious rite that cannot be deferred. Renewal rite wrapped up, The Phantom perseveres and pops the question.

Everything seems fine (and funny to all observing) until Diana, who initially accepts his proposal to extend the Phantom line unto a another generation, abruptly changes her mind and turns him down, saying that she is promised to Byron. Baffled and broken, The Phantom is unaware that Diana mistakenly believes herself unable to walk ever again…

Upon learning that her paralysis was temporary, Diana tries to follow The Phantom back to Africa, with the reluctant but big-hearted help of Byron, but by now “Kit Walker” and Devil are far out at sea and facing the opening gambits of epic yarn ‘High Seas Hijackers’ (26th July 1943 – 26th February 1944). Here the Jungle Judge renews his eternal war on pirates against a wicked band employing a diabolical new gimmick…

Across oceans still wary of submarine attacks, glamorous, eye-catching agent provocateur/fifth columnist Suzie is fascinated by enigmatic never-seen fellow passenger Mr. Walker. Not so much her snooty superior Mrs J who isn’t, but won’t let it stop them preparing the freighter conveying them all – the S.S. Harvey – for capture by sea marauders. Not far away, the sinister General has devised a tactic for scaring away crews and taking ships without a struggle, but this stratagem almost founders when a masked maniac is found haunting the current target. Eventually, The Phantom is captured and the General, a pirate to his core, recognizes the undying nemesis of his kind. As he starts to unravel, Suzie interrogates the prisoner and finds her own merciless worldview shifting, but cannot stop her terrified boss throwing the captive overboard tied to tons of machinery…

His escape and subsequent pursuit brings him to a tropical island nation where the villainous General is actually the richest, most respected and second most powerful man there. However with Suzie switching sides The Phantom and Suzie dismantle his powerbase as Governor, before exposing him to the far distant politically isolated President. This involves a sustained struggle employing a war of nerves, guerilla tactics and sheer fortitude after the villain sets the entire military on their trail… all to no avail. In the end justice is served but the cost is shockingly high and deeply personal…

Saddened by his loss, The Ghost Who Walks decides on one last (secret) glimpse of Diana before losing himself in the Jungles of Bengali and returns to America just in time to become embroiled in ‘The Spy Game’ (28th February – 20th May). Byron and Diana are “Just good friends” now, and when the Captain is ordered by Uncle Dave (a big deal in US Military Intelligence) to courier a briefcase of secrets to a specific location at a certain time, Diana adds cover as his wife. Unfortunately the couple are under surveillance already, by a deadly ring of spies: a certain masked hero and his wolf who get the wrong idea. When Kit Walker notices their other shadows, he gets involved behind the scenes, safeguarding them on a spectacular and mindbending Hitchcock-like odyssey of peril and intrigue involving planes, trains and automobiles, and non-stop action, that ends with The Phantom and Diana reunited and engaged again. However Byron, already despatched on another mission, has extracted a promise that she will marry no one else until his return…

It’s back to crime and the public’s growing fascination with gangsterism for closing adventure ‘The Crooner’ (22nd May – 26th August 1944). This felonious mastermind’s grand idea is to frame the Phantom by committing brutal crimes all “signed” with his Death’s Head mark, but soon learns the power of that symbol when the hero dismantles his operation with chilling efficiency…

Short on actual jungle tales but stuffed with chases, cruises, air clashes, assorted fights, torture, action antics, daredevil stunts and many a misapprehension in the-then modern milieu of America and a war-torn contemporary world, this is sheer pulp-era excitement that still packs a breathtaking punch and many sly laughs. Rollercoaster thrills delivered at rocket pace, these pared-down, gripping episodes display artist Wilson McCoy developing his craft and honing skills on every panel, making the strip visually his until his untimely death in 1961, after which Carmine Infantino and Bill Lignante filled in until Sy Barry took over.
© 2013 King Features Syndicate, Inc.: ® Hearst Holdings, Inc.; reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Yesterday in 1902 British cartoonist Brian White was born. His greatest contrition to world peace and global morale was Nipper. Just as important – to me at least – are the arrivals of letterer Sam Rosen in 1922, and multitasking comics maestro Joe Orlando in1927. Barely less important, scripter, editor and “DC Answer Man” Bob Rozakis arrived in 1951 as did cover artist Dave Johnson in 1966.

In 1991 we lost legendary EC horror and romance artist Graham Ingels, whilst 1997 saw the passing of trailblazing African American comics creator Billy Graham (Vampirella, Eerie, Creepy, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Sabre).

Today in 1916, writer/artist/editor/publisher Bernard Baily (The Spectre, Hourman, Gilda Gay, Frankenstein) was born, and in 1941 so was Archie Comics mainstay Victor Gorelick. Mangaka Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) arrived in 1955; cartoonist Dan Perkins – AKA Tom Tomorrow (This Modern World) – in 1961 and “Legend”-ary creator Art Adams (Longshot, X-Men, Superman, Batman, Monkeyman & O’Brien, Gumby and practically everyone else) in 1963.

And also today in 2005 we lost glass-ceiling shattering cartoonist Dale Messick, first woman to create her own syndicated newspaper strip: Brenda Starr, Reporter.

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The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime


By Ted Cowan, Jerry Siegel & Reg Bunn (Rebellion)
ISBN 978-1-78108-905-7 (Album TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As religions, faiths and nations all over the world celebrate their apparently God-given right to kill each other in monumental numbers and vile ways, I’m again retreating into childhood days and safely fictional conflicts this Easter.

At least the adventures of the macabre and malevolent Spider and his personal redemption arc are as engrossing and enjoyable as I always recalled and will provide the newest, most contemporary reader with a huge hit of superb artwork, compelling, caper-style cops ‘n’ robbers fantasy, and thrill-a-minute adventure with no threat to soul or sanity.

Part of Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics strand, The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime was the opening salvo of (hopefully) a full and complete reprinting of arachnid amazements. It gathers material from peerless weekly anthology Lion, spanning June 26th 1965 – June 18th 1966 and that year’s Lion Annual which for laborious reasons is designated 1967.

What’s it all about? The Spider is a mysterious super-scientist whose goal is to be the greatest criminal of all time. As conceived by writer/editor Ted Cowan – who among many venerable triumphs created the much-revered Robot Archie feature and also scripted Ginger Nutt, Paddy Payne, Adam Eterno, and more – the flamboyantly wicked narcissist begins his public career by recruiting crime specialists. With moronic master safecracker Roy Ordini and evil inventor Professor Pelham he then attempts a massive gem-theft from a thinly veiled New York’s World Fair. This introduces Gilmore and Trask, the two crack police detectives cursed with the task of capturing the arrogant archvillain.

A major factor in the eerily eccentric strip’s success and reason for the reverence with which it is held is the captivating – not to say downright creepy – artwork of William Reginald Bunn. His intensely hatched linework was perfect for towering establishing shots, arcane angle views and catastrophic chases… and nobody ever drew moodier webbing or more believable weird weapons and monsters. Bunn was an absolute master of his field and much beloved. His work in comics (such as Robin Hood, Buck Jones, Black Hood, Captain Kid and Clip McCord) spanned 1949 to his death in 1971: once the industry found him, he was never without work. He died on the job and is still much missed. For The Spider there was the ultimate accolade as, after opening on two pages per episode, the feature kept winning a bigger page count. Even so, a lot had to happen in pretty short order and Bunn never stinted or short-changed his audience…

Similarly scripted by Cowan, second adventure ‘The Return of the Spider’ sets the tone for the rest of the strip’s run, as the unbelievably colossal vanity of the Spider is assaulted by a pretender to his title. The Mirror Man is a swaggering arrogant super-criminal who uses lethally credible optical illusions to carry out his crimes, and the Spider must crush him to keep the number one most wanted spot – and to satisfy his own vanity. Moreover, pitifully outmatched Gilmore & Trask return to chase the Spider, but must settle for his defeated rival after weeks of devious plotting, bold banditry and spectacular serialized thrills and chills.

‘Dr. Mysterioso’ is the first adventure penned by Jerry Siegel, who was forced to look elsewhere for work after an infamous falling out with DC Comics over the rights to the Man of Steel.

The aforementioned evil genius/criminal scientist of the title is another contender for the Spider’s crown. Their extended battle – paused repeatedly by a crafty subplot wherein the arachnid mastermind’s treacherous, newly-expanded gang of thugs (The Syndicate of Crime) seek to abscond with his stockpiled loot whenever he appears to have been killed – is a retro/camp masterpiece of arcane dialogue, insane devices and rollercoaster antics.

By the time of the final serialised saga here – ‘The Spider v. The Android Emperor’– the page count was up to 4 a week (and now included occasional cover slots): packed with fabulous fantasy and increasingly surreal exploits as the Arachnid Archvillain battles the super science of a monster-making maniac who might (maybe, perhaps?) have survived the sinking of Atlantis, but somehow gets his fun from baiting and tormenting the self-styled king of crime. Big mistake…

Thos initial curated commemoration concludes with a short yarn from the 1967 Lion Annual. ‘Cobra Island’ gives Bunn a chance to show off his skill with brushes and washes as the piece was originally printed in the double-tone format (in this case black and red on white) that was a hallmark of British annuals. It finds the mighty Spider and Pelham drawn to an exotic island where plantation workers are falling under the spell of a demonic lizard being – but all is not as it seems and the very real danger is more prosaic than paranormal…

With an introduction from Paul Grist and full creator biographies, this collection confirmed that the Lord of modern misrule was back at last and should find a home in every kid’s heart and mind, no matter how young they might be, or threaten to remain. Bizarre, baroque and often simply bonkers, The Spider proves that although crime does not pay, it always provides a huge amount of white-knuckle fun…
© 1965, 1966, 1967 & 2021 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1885, Mutt and Jeff originator Bud Fisher was born, just like Dylan Dog author Tiziano Sclavi in 1953; auteur Yves Chaland (Spirou, Freddy Lombard) in 1957 and Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl) in 1968.

The Little King creator Otto Soglow died on this date in 1975, but the day did give us comics-packed youth supplement ‘t Kapoentje’t in Flemish newspaper Het Volk in 1947 whilst later signalling the end of UK weekly Smash! in 1971.

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Acid Box


By Sarah Kenney, James Devlin, Emma Vieceli, Ria Grix, Sophie Dodgson, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou & various (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-917355-05-6 (HB/Digital edition)

The entirety of all worlds and each and every time is readily available to any open-minded comics connoisseur. Here’s a fun extrapolation on an old plot, with plenty of twisty raucous fun fully baked in for anyone with an open mind. A working knowledge of recent history (yes, I know that’s a relative term!) and breadth of musical tastes won’t be wasted if you can lay your hands on that too…

Most importantly, if you can remember the Nineties, you might well have been there, but probably a bit too far from the speaker-stacks…

In that context, the term Acid (noun: PRO: “Ass-SEeeeed”) denotes a popular youth culture movement concerned with music, recreational drugs, dancing and wandering about trying to find where the action was happening. It also had lots to do with a specific bit of clever kit called a Roland TB-303 Bass Line (AKA the “303”) that became instrumental in electronic music movements such as “techno”, “Chicago-house” and “acid house”…

At this moment of now in opening chapter ‘Fully Munted’, it’s 2026 in Glasgow and cleaner/presumed orphan Jade Nyo is hoping to forget the shitty world, crap prospects of survival and especially younger brother Rory’s persistent tortured nightmares of tsunamis and global collapse, as personified in recurring images of a big angry sod he calls “AngryMan” leading the inundations.

There’s not a lot she can use to get out and away – and so much to get away from – but her abiding fascination with dance music history tops the list, so soon she’s necked an “E” at local club Tempus and is living in the beats and sweat and non-stop motion. Rory’s there too but his crutches and callipers aren’t really rave-conducive…

Life gets worse and better all at once when three really weird skanky women drag her and Rory into a rather tacky corner that didn’t used to be there, and make an outrageous request/demand. Apparently, Yemaya, Angie and Tracey are “Liminals” commanding the forces of time, space, matter and energy and they have an urgent job that needs doing: restoring order to the geological continuum… or else…

Soon – while disbelieving every minute of it – Jade is jaunting all over infinity, drawn to key and crucial rave moments and beat history milestones chasing vibrations and saving the universe with the aid of a handy little widget dubbed (sorry! Sorry!!) an Acid Box. This one is missing three dials that Jade just must restore to it… or Earth will shake itself to dust within three days. Moreover, AngryMan is very real and resolved to make that big finish happen…

First stop, once all the “yeah, but”-ing is done with, is Berlin in 1994 (devotees of musical culture will soon comprehend what these key moments in time travel mean, and the rest of us can just revel in the pacy action and extremely effective character-play from here on…) as Jade musters some allies – such as tough local-time operators Fizzy & Rhonda – and faces increasing grief and terror in successive, potentially self-explanatory escalating episodes ‘Make Techno Not Friends’, ‘The Fear’ and ‘Go Hard or Go Home’.

The chase exposes family skeletons, loads of closets and repeatedly lands her in 1994 – somehow simultaneously in Detroit, Bradford, Berlin again, Johannesburg, Mysore and Hyde Park, London – gathering allies for an environmental showdown in at La Palma volcano in 2026, supplanted by ten-yearly confrontations in 2034, 2044 and 2054 all round the imperilled world until the big is done… one way or another…

Packed with and augmented by utterly absorbing sidebar bonus material, this is a sublimely absorbing romp embroidered with true love of the period and source music material that will no doubt make a fabulous and funny film one day. The primary creators are led by Sarah Kenney (Surgeon X, She Could Fly, Planet Divoc-91) who writes socially informed speculative fiction (the other, accurate, term for Science Fiction) and works as a scripter, producer and director for the Games industry and television. Her visual collaborator on  Surgeon X and Planet Divoc-91 is Glasgow-based James Devlin (Tomorrow, LaGuardia) who here joins multidisciplinary performance artist Emma Vieceli (Life is Strange, BREAKS) and illustrator Ria Grix (The Anomalous Adventures of Viola Holm and Kotiin).

This macroscopic, musically-inclined peregrination includes further input and compelling comics fare culled from an international workshop group about comics, music, science culture and planet Earth run by Kenney & Kirsten Murray. That resulted in compelling essays and graphic sorties all packed in here too, all stage-set by an accommodatingly informative ‘Afterword’ by Kenney.

The textual thoughts comprise ‘Happy Place by Sarah Zad’; ‘Fund, Marry, Chill: The Ultimate Guide to Guaranteed Creative Success by Adrian Saredia-Brayley’; ‘Research and Discussion of the potential benefits of MDMA on PTSD sufferers by Bobby Gunasekara’; ‘Reviving Rave Roots Resurgence of Clean Rave Culture by Sevitha ’Vadlamudi’; ‘Fact and Fiction by Sarah Zad’ and ‘The Lens of Life… Storytelling and facilitating change through art by Whitney Love’. These are followed by a selection of ‘Youth Workshop Comics’ beginning with eco-chiller ‘We Can’t Stay Here Any Longer’ by Adrian Saredia-Brayley and followed by Ben Avey-Edwards cyber-thriller ‘Vibe’ (lettered by Rob Jones).

ShyWhy shares the joys of ‘Mind Travel’ and Lara Sloane depicts ‘A Housewives Revolution’ before ‘Dancing On My Own’ – scripted by Nyla Ahmad with art by Adrian Saredia-Brayley – carries us to Lucy Porte’s ‘Bad Trip’ after which Paula Karanja brings ‘A Gift to Share’. Rounding out the jam session, Saredia-Brayley limns Phelisa Sikwata’s ‘Sinking HomeS’ and Hannah Maclennan closes the show with ‘Hurry Up! Our Song is Playing!’
© Wowbagger Productions 2025. All rights reserved.

Today in 1929 US Golden Age artist Joe Gallagher was born, as was James Vance (Kings in Disguise, Omaha the Cat Dancer, Aliens, Predator) in 1953, and Todd Nauck (Young Justice, Spider-Man) in 1971.

In1867 Britain and the world lost pioneering cartoonist/caricaturist/political commentator Charles H. Bennett, and in 2002 Stan Pitt (officially the first Australian artist with original material published US  comic books – The Witching Hour #14 & Boris Karloff – Tales of Mystery # 33!) who ghosted Al Williamson’s Secret Agent Corrigan in 1969 and 1972. Also, in 2009 we lost the great unsung Frank Springer (Secret Six, Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, Phoebe Zeit-Geist, The Dazzler, Friday Foster, Rex Morgan M.D., Mary Perkins on Stage, The Incredible Hulk newspaper strip).

In 1958 Goscinny & Uderzo’s Oumpah-pah debuted in Le Journal de Tintin.

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Megalomaniacs: The Invasion Begins!


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras, coloured by John Cullen (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-384-4 (PB)

Everybody loves rampaging monsters right? So what happens when someone too clever for his own good wants a go at the old traditional yarn-spinning and combines thrills and chills with manic intervention, all-ages cheeky vulgarity and excessive invention?

That’s right, kids – you get Megalomaniacs!

The Next Big Thing (that’s irony there, but you won’t get it yet) from multi award-winning cartoon wizard, comics artist and old-fashioned novelist Jamie Smart (Bunny vs. Monkey, Flember Looshkin – the Adventures of the Maddest Cat in the World!!, Max & Chaffy, Fish Head Steve!, Corporate Skull, Space Raoul, and many brilliant strips for The Beano, Dandy and others) is vividly vibrant, compellingly contagious comics nonsense in the grand manner which feels sublimely nostalgic to old attention-stunted duffers like me, who also demand constant engagement and entertainment… and bright shiny colours…

Yet another magnificent graduate of UK kids periodical The Phoenix, this unsavoury-starred silly saga thematically resembles the wonder years of fantasy yarns: delivering a series of wicked spoofs of Silver Age superhero comics liberally ladled with classic B-movie sci fi schmutter…

In the dark of night over go-getting metropolis Bobbletown, the sky is lit with sinister sky-fire as a rain of asteroids delivers fiercely competitive monsters and mechanoids to menace our already-embattled planet. Constantly-warring rival conquerors irregularly arrive, all intent on making our world theirs. The assorted fiercely combative rivals are fantastically powerful beasts, boggles, robots, devils and worse… but are also unfortunately quite teeny-weeny and have some trouble making themselves feared, obeyed or even noticed… at first…

Rendered as complete insert minicomics – complete with dramatically deceptive covers! – the legend of the Megalomaniacs opens with super special prologue chapter ‘They Came From Outer Spaaace!’ and features an “Idiot Human” and “Some Pigs” who become spectators/victims/participants in the advent of our future overlords. Primary peril is laser-emitting, mesmerising Queen Eyeball arriving mere moments before her despised archfoe Lord Skull and who immediately does battle with the mystical space vampire… until rowdy robot ravager Crusher crashes to Earth and joins the fight.

These marauding terrors from beyond the stars are insanely single-minded and awesomely powerful and just keep coming, as seen in ‘Welcome to the Town of Bobbletown’ wherein catastrophically cute Cyber Kitten joins the ever-expanding melee, but is equally unprepared for the beguiled response of the cretinous colossi stomping about and “aww cu-uuute”…

The witless humans are less sanguine when another meteor delivers bug bloodsucker Mozzz who pillages their plasma in ‘Prangs for the Memory!’ prior to icily animated gruesome gelato taste-treat Mister Scoopy bending minds through the massed morons’ tastebuds in ‘Oh, What a Meltdown!’ after which extraterrestrial oik/bovver boy from beyond The Fist belts Lord Skull and late-arriving literal hottie Sun-Girl in ‘Who Will Escape… the Hand of Fate?’

Tiny tyrants trying to topple Earth, the invaders experience ‘A Bad Case of the Sniffles!’ when ambulatory ambulance-filler The Sickness plagues the already-engaged Megalomaniacs in beleaguered Bobbletown, before the beaches disgorge diminutive diabolist demon of the depths K-Thulu in ‘The Wet Terror!’ after which human resistance is mustered by school nerds the Bobbletown Science Club (Rosie, Debbie & Fibius). They contest Crusher, whose plan to ‘Destroy All Science!’ is proved to be a non-starter…

‘Stay Cool!’ sees star-borne snowball Chillax mutate into a so-far-from-massive marauding  snowman after which the duelling dilemmas detail ‘The (Not So) Great Escape!’ as the already entrenched  old foes meet hirsute newcomer The Hound prior to a petite pause as Bonus comic ‘A Wheel-y Good Idea’ sees Lord Skull find a better way to keep his cumbersome coffin close before we segue into ‘Unicool vs The Fist’ wherein a new pointy headed horsey horror who’s good with rainbows blasts down to kick up a fuss…

‘A Beautiful Day on the Farm!’ introduces spoiled-brat smarty-pants Riley who thinks the invaders are perfect pets… until Grandpa becomes the latest meat-chariot for Queen Eyeball.

As alliances form, shift and inevitably shatter, ‘What a Hot-Head!’ greets explosive new guy Bombybo who scuppers his own bid for stardom by making a fireworks shop his lair even as Cyber Kitten and The Hound endure a rematch in ‘The Fur and the Fury!’ and the mechanical misanthrope gets a bizarre, gender-challenging upgrade into deadly debutante Posh Crusher! in ‘How Delightful!’ whilst ‘Bob, the Invisible Blob!’ debuts and almost bows out when Chillax ambushes him…

Things get nasty in ‘Slime for a Bite!’ as Zombie Mary stumbles into town in search of new – but necessarily living – fwends: an offer Lord Skull and Chillax are delighted to decline, before the star voyagers discover the delights of go karts in ‘Mega Racers’ and the Mayor of Bobbletown gets organised enough to mount a resistance effort…

Things get really dicey in ‘How My Invasion Began by The Goofy Carrot!’ when the smartest vegetable in the universe co-opts the local observatory, whilst ‘Sun-Girl!’ stops humanity’s mass-escape to Croydon but still finds ‘Time to Shine!’ after barbarous oaf Gurf literally hits town and Zombie Mary shambles back still craving ‘Fwends!’ to boss about in the local human school.

Still keen to corner the paralyzing fear concession, Lord Skull overdoes things with his ‘Spooky Scheming!’ and is overwhelmed when the Mayor retaliates in ‘Bobbletown Fights Back!’ With an astronomer doing science-y things with lasers, the advent of astral interloper The Sandwich is missed by most, but not the hairy space horror Terry Beard who determines that ‘Everyone Looks Better… With a Beard!’ His Megalomaniac cohort disagree but what do they know, really?

The closest thing to space Satan surfaces next as corrupting conjuror Shazm-o! goes to birthday party and confirms the sense of the adage ‘Don’t Try This At Home!’

‘The Pigeon’s Barely in the Episode!’ – but Riley is – and observes Eyeball’s elevation to bad beast Oculus (the All-Seeing Eye!) in time to team up with other, lesser alien outcasts, prompting ‘A Brief Recap – Riley, Saviour of the World!’ as the united contestants war against the peepy blinder. Sadly, they soon learn ‘None Shall Escape… the All-Seeing Eye of Oculus!’ and it’s all up to Riley and her favourite heavy kitchen utensil to save the day and the world…

The crisis may have passed but there are still tales to tell such as late-maturing saga ‘If You Cheese!’ as Riley and her chastened new pals meet animated fearsome fromage Stink-o just before Halloween Special ‘What Spooks the Spooksters?’ sees all concerned, very concerned indeed, when deadly drop-in Pumkinella starts marshalling her arcane forces, after which the terrors temporarily terminate in ‘Meanwhile, Back on the Farm!’ as body-hogging Queen Eyeball (nee Oculus) merges with Grandpa again to form the mesmerising Meatbag, but forgets to stay away from the pigs at feeding time…

As always, wrapping up these sidereal shenanigans and cosmic contumely are opportunities to gt involved via activities offered under the aegis of the Phoenix Comics Club. Bring paper, pencils and you to a compact online course in all aspects of comic strip creation supervised by Jamie Smart detailing ‘How to draw Lord Skull’, ‘Zombie Mary’ and ‘The Goofy Carrot’ , before closing with an extensive plug for the aforementioned Phoenix Comics Club website complete with instant access via a QR code, plus previews of other treats and wonders available from M Smart and The Phoenix, to wind down from all that cosmic furore…

Another book for your kids to explain to you, Megalomaniacs is a zany zenith of absurdist all-ages (and species) cage-fighting delight, whacked up on weird wit, brilliant invention and superb cartooning, all crammed into one eccentrically excellent package. Make your move now if you think you’re hard to please enough…
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.

Today in 1917, certified comics genius Sheldon Mayer (Sugar and Spike, all things DC) was born as were Doggyguard creator Michel Rodrigue in 1961, Mark (Northguard) Shainblum and James (London’s Dark, Starman) Robinson in 1963, and Brad (Identity Crisis) Meltzer in 1971.

Reading wise, in 1961 Eric Roberts’ Winker Watson debuted today in The Dandy, David Sutherland’s Billie the Cat launched in 1967’s weekly Beano, and TV Action (the reboot of Countdown) began in 1972. In 1973, Zach Mosely’s The Adventures of Smilin’ Jack ended today, followed one year later by Go Nagai’s final instalment of robot revenge manga Cutey Honey. In 1997, 46 US strip creators traded places for a day in the unbelievably tricky but cool publishing event Comic Strip Switcheroo (AKA  the Great April Fools’ Day Comics Switcheroonie)…