By Tom Tully, Tom Kerr, Colin Page, Francisco Solano López, Eric Bradbury Ted Kearon, Rex Archer & various (Rebellion)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-869-2 (TPB/Digital edition)
British comics had a strange and extended love affair with what can only be described as “unconventional” (for which feel free to substitute “creepy”) heroes. So many of the stars and potential role models of our serials and strips were just plain “off”: self-righteous, moody voyeurs-turned vigilantes like Jason Hyde, sinister masterminds like The Dwarf, deranged geniuses like Eric Dolmann, so many reformed criminals like The Spider or just outright racist supermen like Captain Hurricane…
…And don’t get me started on our legion of lethally anarchic comedy icons or that our most successful symbol of justice is the Eagle-bedecked jack-booted poster boy for a fascist state. Perhaps that explains why these days we can’t even imagine or envision what a proper leader looks like and keep on electing clowns, crooks and oblivious privileged simpletons…
All joking aside, British comics are unlike any other kind and simply have to be seen to be believed and enjoyed. One of the most revered stars of the medium has finally begun to be collected in archival editions, and perfectly encapsulates our odd relationship with heroism, villainy and particularly the murky grey area bridging them…
Until the 1980s, comics in the UK were based on an anthological model, offering variety of genre, theme and character on a weekly – or sometimes fortnightly – basis. Humorous periodicals like The Beano were leavened by thrillers like Billy the Cat or General Jumbo and adventure papers like Lion or Valiant always included gag strips such as The Nutts, Grimly Feendish, Mowser and a wealth of similar quick laugh treats.
Thunder and Jet were amongst the last of this fading model. Fleetway particularly was shifting to themed anthologies like Shoot, Action and Battle, whilst venerable veterans like Lion, Valiant and Buster hung on and stayed fresh by absorbing failing titles. Thunder ran for 22 weeks before merging into Lion & Thunder, bringing with it Black Max, The Steel Commando, The Spooks of Saint Luke’s and Adam Eterno. With Steel Commando, Adam would survive and thrive, as the comic later merged into Valiant & Lion (June 1974) until 1976. He also appeared in numerous Annuals and Specials thereafter.
Eterno was initially devised by Thunder assistant editor Chris Lowder and editor Jack Legrand, with top flight artist Tom Kerr (Monty Carstairs, Rip Kerrigan, Kelly’s Eye, Charlie Peace, Captain Hurricane, Steel Claw, Kraken, Mary-Jo, Tara King/The Avengers, Billy’s Boots) initially designing and visualising the frankly spooky antihero and drawing the first episode.
The feature was scripted by equally adept and astoundingly prolific old hand Tom Tully (Roy of the Rovers, Heros the Spartan, Janus Stark, Dan Dare, The Wild Wonders, Johnny Red, The Leopard from Lime Street) but after he left in 1976 Kerr, Donne Avenell, Scott Goddall and Ted Cowan would write Adam’s later adventures for star turns like Joe Colquhoun, John Catchpole, Eric Bradbury, Page, Carlos Cruz and others to illustrate.
Gathering the debut and all episodes from Thunder (October 17th 1970 – 13th March 1971 plus material from Thunder Annual 1972, 1973 & 1974, the chronal calamities and dark doings are preceded by ‘A Hero in Time’: an editorial reminiscence by artist Colin Page.
Delivered in stark, moody monochome, and further illustrated by Page, Francisco Solano López (and his family studio), Bradbury, Ted Kearon and Rex Archer, these tales are the earliest exploits of the tragic immortal chronal-castaway Adam Eterno who began life as a 16th century apprentice to alchemist Erasmus Hemlock…
When his master perfects an immortality serum, headstrong impatient Adam samples the potion against the sage’s command, precipitating the ancient’s death and a fiery conflagration that destroys the house. The alchemist last act is to curse his disobedient student to live forever and “wander the world through the labyrinths of time”. His only surcease would come from a mortal blow struck by a weapon of solid gold…
The curse is truly effective and as centuries pass, Adam becomes a recluse: his unchanging nature driving him away from superstitious mortals and denying him over and over again simple contact with humanity. He fought in all of Britain’s wars, but combat comradeship always ended when a seemingly fatal blow of wound left him unharmed…
Everything changed and the second part of the alchemist’s curse came true in 1970 when the traumatised, barely sane 421-year-old tramp staggered into a bullion robbery and was shot by the thieves. Realising their victim is invulnerable, the bandits attempt to use him in a raid on the Bank of England, but when that fails, Adam slowly starts to regain his wits – just in time to be struck by the fully-gold-plated limousine of a speeding millionaire…
The impact would be fatal for any other being, but for Adam Eterno it is the beginning of redemption as the shock hurls him into the time stream to land over and again in different eras…
With Page (D-Day Dawson, Paddy Payne) at the helm, his first jaunt lands Adam on a sailing ship in 1770, inadvertently saving seagoers from murderous pirate Barnaby Shark, before joining the buccaneer to steal his solid gold dagger to end his twice-lived life…
When that ploy fails, Adam is whisked away to rematerialize in Texas. The year is 1872 and the gold rush has ended a decade since, but evil still abounds as local cattle baron Bret Logan seeks to drive settlers away. When Adam sides with them, the rancher hires deadly gunslinger The Yellowstone Kid, a killer with guns of gold. It seems like Adam would finally get his wish, but sadly the bullets are simply lead.
And so it goes: Adam comes tantalisingly close on every arrival, seemingly drawn to terror and injustice with each event linked to some sort of potential auric armageddon. In Victorian London he battles masked madman the Flying Footpad as the villains seeks to steal a golden turban; foils contemporary South American dictator and war criminal General Carlos Cabeza despite the threat of another golden dagger and returns to World War I’s Western Front and confronts seemingly indestructible German General Von Gruber and his golden sabre in extended multi-chapter exploits.
Returning to modern days, Eterno joins treasure-hunting divers facing an apparent ghost guarding a sunken galleon: battling brutal thug dubbed Hammerhand (because of his gold prosthesis). Courtesy of the magnificent Solano López (Kelly’s Eye, Janus Stark, Master of the Marsh, Raven on the Wing), a voyage to Dark Ages England to stave off a Viking invasion, segues into Saxon times (by Colin Page) in the wake of the Norman conquest and a small war against wicked golden knight Baron de Gride before a turning point and further facts on the enigmatic wanderer arrives when he land in a 20th century reconstruction of the house where he served and was cursed by Erasmus Hemlock…
Limned by Solano-López, the tale discloses how modern crooks seek to use the house to swindle a rich American until “dissuaded” by the original occupant, who then fetches up in Africa during the Boer War, with Page detailing how he saves English troops from brutal Afrikaans tactical mastermind The Butcher. This time, the weapon to watch is a gold-tipped bullwhip…
Solano López returns for a Roman holiday as Adam saves a gladiator from assassination and becomes embroiled in a plot by wicked Odius Limpus to make himself even more wealthy. Such a shame it’s happening in Pompeii’s arena in August, 79 AD…
This spectacular yarn closed Adam Eterno’s run and indeed the comic Thunder, but this collection holds more gleaming extras in the form of a quintet of tales from Thunder Annuals. The first is from the 1972 edition, rendered by British national treasure Eric Bradbury who depicts a snowy drama in a German town circa 1598, where “the Old Man of Vartzberg” is again terrorising the populace with his sudden manifestations. In situ – prior to becoming lost in time – is English Witchfinder Adam Eterno, on a personal crusade to wipe out alchemists and other mystic dabblers. When he roots out the wizard he is damned by a prophecy to beware a golden sword… but the crisis point only happens in 1943 when British commando Eterno leads a team against Nazi-held Vartzberg…
Next comes a brace of tales from 1973, beginning with an adventure illustrated by Rex Archer. Here, after Merlin seals the Goblin Crown of the Dark Gods in his Golden Tower, Adam is plucked from Limbo to battle a dragon and duped by vile Sir Mordrac into fetching the artefact out again. Thankfully, King Arthur’s mage had made contingency plans…
In accompaniment is a prose tale with spot illustrations from Ted Kearon, wherein Adam saves enslaved Saxons from Vikings and is forced to prove his unkillable nature over and over again.
The following year Solano-López opened proceedings as the Man Who Could Not Die arrived in the Americas just in time to aid privateer captain Francis Drake in his legendary raid on Panama, but only after Adam clears out a host of giant mutated monsters created by a crazed Spanish Don-turned-alchemist.
Bradbury then added two-toned images (red & black) to another prose saga as Adam arrived in London fog in 1896: avoiding the police whilst tracking a murderous “Leaping Terror” with a strong resemblance to a giant bat…
Closing with biographies on the many creatures featured herein and dotted with covers and teaser visuals, Adam Eterno – A Hero Out of Time is potently thrilling and rewarding romp to delight readers who like their protagonists dark and conflicted and their history in bite-sized bursts.
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, & 2021 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.