Category: Graphic Novels

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Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles volume 1


By Max Allan Collins & Rick Fletcher (Checker Books)
ISBN: 978-0-97416-642-1 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Almost, sort of, Time for another anniversary celebration. Here’s a superb collection crying out for revival in either physical or digital forms. Time to agitate again against the publishing powers-that-be, I think…

Comics have a pretty good track record for creating household names. We could play the game of picking the most well-known fictional characters on Earth – usually topped by Sherlock Holmes, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Batman and Tarzan – and supplement the list with Popeye, Charlie Brown, Tintin, Spider-Man and – not so much now, but once definitely – Dick Tracy…

At the height of the Great Depression cartoonist Chester Gould sought fresh strip ideas. The story goes that as a decent guy incensed by the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone – who monopolised the front pages of contemporary newspapers – the callow scribbler settled upon the only way a normal man could fight thugs: Passion and Public Opinion…

Raised in Oklahoma, Gould was a Chicago resident and hated seeing his town in the grip of such wicked men, with far too many honest citizens beguiled by the gangsters’ charisma. He decided to pictorially get it off his chest with a procedural crime thriller that championed the ordinary cops who protected civilisation. He took his proposal – Plainclothes Tracy – to legendary newspaperman and Strips Svengali Captain Joseph Patterson, whose golden touch had already blessed The Gumps, Gasoline Alley, Little Orphan Annie, Winnie Winkle, Smilin’ Jack, Moon Mullins and Terry and the Pirates among others. Casting his gifted eye on the work, Patterson renamed the hero Dick Tracy, also revising his love interest into steady, steadfast girlfriend Tess Truehart.

The series launched on October 4th 1931 (so 95 and counting in mere months as the strip is still running today) as a Sunday addition to the Detroit Mirror, before spreading via Patterson’s Chicago Tribune Syndicate across the USA. It quickly grew into a monumental hit, with all the attendant media and merchandising hoopla that follows. Amidst toys, games, movies, serials, animated features, TV shows et al, the strip soldiered on, influencing generations of creators (like Bill Finger & Bob Kane) and entertaining millions of fans. Gould unfailingly wrote and drew the strip for decades until retirement in 1977.

The legendary lawman was a landmark creation who influenced not simply comics but the entirety of American popular fiction. Its signature use of baroque villains, outrageous crimes and fiendish death-traps pollinated the work of numerous strips (most notably Batman), shows and movies since then, whilst the indomitable Tracy’s studied, measured use – and startlingly accurate predictions – of crimefighting technology and techniques gave the world a taste of cop thrillers, police procedurals and forensic mysteries such as CSI decades before the modern true crime fascination took hold.

As with many creators in it for the long haul, the revolutionary 1960s were a harsh time for established cartoonists. Along with Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon, Gould’s grizzled gang buster especially foundered in a social climate of radical change where popular slogans included “Never trust anybody over 21” and “Smash the Establishment”.

The strip’s momentum faltered, perhaps as much from the move towards science fiction (Tracy shifted jurisdiction into space and the character Moon Maid was introduced) and even more improbable, Bond-movie style villains as any perceived “old-fashioned” attitudes. Even the introduction of more minority and women characters and hippie cop Groovy Groove couldn’t stop the rot. However, the feature soldiered on regardless…

Max Allen Collins is a hugely prolific and best-selling author of both graphic novels (Road to Perdition, CSI, Batman, Mike Mist, Ms. Tree) and prose thriller series featuring crime-creations Nathan Heller, Quarry, Nolan, Mallory, Krista Larson, Mike Hammer and a veritable pantheon of others. When Gould retired from the Tracy strip, the young author (nearly 30!) won the prestigious role as scripter, and promptly took the series back to its roots for a breathtaking 11-year run, ably assisted by Gould as consultant even as his chief artistic assistant Rick Fletcher was promoted to full illustrator.

This criminally scarce but splendidly enthralling monochrome paperback compilation opens with publisher Mark Thompson’s informative Introduction ‘Flatfoot’, and offers a frankly startling ‘Dick Tracy Timeline’ listing series achievements and innovations from 1931 to 1988 even before the captivating Cops-&-Robbers clashes recommence with Collin’s inaugural adventure.

‘Angeltop’s Last Stand’ (3rd January – March 12th 1978) rapidly sidelined fantastical science fiction trappings (Tracy’s adopted son Junior had previously married aforementioned astral princess Moon Maid) whilst reviving grittily ultra-violent suspense as old friend Vitamin Flintheart is targeted for assassination. With the senior detective’s assistants Sam Catchem and Lizz Worthington on the case, it’s soon clear the assault is part of a scheme to make Tracy suffer. Solid investigation turns up two suspects, relatives of old – and expired – enemies Flattop Jones and The Brow confirming familial revenge is the motive…

Sadly, the Police Department’s resources are inadequate to prevent aggrieved daughter Angeltop Jones and the new Brow from abducting Tracy. Tragically for the vengeful felons, the grizzled crimebuster might be old but is still inventive and indomitable, and a cataclysmic confrontation leads to a fatal conflagration at the place of Flattop’s demise…

The next tale features an original Gould villain making a surprise comeback in the ‘Return of Haf-and-Haf’ (March 13th – June 11th) wherein manic murder-fiend Tulza Tuzon – whose left profile had been hideously scarred with acid – is released from the asylum, seemingly rehabilitated by modern psychology and groundbreaking plastic surgery…

Of course, only his face was fixed and the fiend quickly tries to murder ex-fiancée Zelda – who had betrayed him to the cops a decade previously. Tracy is on hand to save her, but unable to prevent Zelda from enacting grisly retribution on her attacker, leaving Tuzon woefully in need of fresh cosmetic repair. Naturally, the unscrupulous surgeon who fixed him on the State’s dime wants a huge amount of clandestine cash to repeat the procedure and the stage is soon set for doom and tragedy on a Shakespearean scale…

This first Collins collection concludes with an epic minor classic harking back to Tracy’s first published case. ‘Big Boy’s Revenge’ – AKA ‘Big Boy’s Open Contract’ – ran from 12th June 1978 to January 2nd 1979, detailing the unexpected return of the thinly-disguised Al Capone analogue Tracy had sent to prison at the very start of his career.

Decades later Big Boy, still a member of the crime syndicate known as The Apparatus, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wants to take with him the copper who first brought him down. Ignoring and indeed eventually warring with other Apparatus chiefs, the dying Don puts a $1,000,000 contract on Tracy’s head and lies back to watch the fireworks as a horde of hitmen and women zero in on the blithely unaware Senior Detective…

The resulting collateral damage costs the hero one of his nearest and dearest, removes most of the strip’s accumulated sci fi trappings and firmly reset the scenario in the grim and gritty world of contemporary crime. The Good Guys triumph in the end, but the cost is shockingly high for a family strip…

Dick Tracy has always been a fantastically readable feature and this potent return to first principles is a terrific way to ease yourself into his stark, no-nonsense, Tough-Love, Hard Justice world. Comics just don’t get better than this…
© Checker Book Publishing Group 2003, an authorized collection of works © Tribune Media Services, 1978, 1979. All characters and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

Born today in 1888, Canadian cartoonist J.R. Williams (Out Our Way sharing the natal event with iconic European grand master Edgar P. Jacobs (The U Ray, Blake and Mortimer) in 1904, Tex Blaisdell (Superman, Batman, Little Orphan Annie) in 1920 and Raymond Macherot (Clifton, Chlorophylle, Sibylline) in 1924.

In 2008 we lost the ubiquitous and splendid Jim Mooney (Spider-Man, Tommy Tomorrow, Supergirl, Legion of Super-Heroes) whilst in reading matters, today in 1985 saw the 1555th and final issue of UK weekly Tiger come and forever go, as did comedy comic Whoopee! – a prized UK chuckle choice since 1974.

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Mandrake the Magician: The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers – Sundays 1935-1937


By Lee Falk & Phil Davis (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-0-85768-572-8 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Regarded by many as comics’ first superhero, Mandrake the Magician debuted as a daily newspaper strip on June 11th 1934, although creator Lee Falk had sold the strip almost a decade previously. Initially drawing it too, Falk replaced himself as soon as feasible, allowing the early wonderment to materialise through the effective understatement of sublimely solid draughtsman Phil Davis. An instant hit, Mandrake was quickly supplemented by a full-colour Sunday companion page from February 3rd 1935.

Falk – as 19-year-old college student Leon Harrison Gross – had sold the strip to King Features Syndicate years earlier, but asked the monolithic company to let him finish his studies before dedicating himself to it full time. Schooling done, the 23-year-old born raconteur settled into his life’s work, entertaining millions with astounding tales. Falk also created the first costumed superhero in moodily magnificent generational manhunter The Phantom, going on to spawn an entire comic book subgenre with his first creation.

Most Golden Age publishers boasted at least one (and usually many) nattily attired wizards in their gaudily-garbed pantheons: all roaming the world(s) making miracles and crushing injustice with varying degrees of stage legerdemain or actual sorcery – characters like Mr. Mystic, Ibis the Invincible, Sargon the Sorcerer, and an assortment of “…the Magician”’s like Zatara, Zanzibar and Kardak. In the Antipodes, Mandrake was a suave, stalwart of Australian Women’s Weekly and a cherished icon of adventure in the UK, Australia, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Turkey and across Scandinavia: a major star of page and screen, pervading every aspect of global consciousness.

Over many decades he has been a star of radio, movie chapter-serials, a theatrical play, television and animation (as part of series Defenders of the Earth). With all that came the usual merchandising bonanza – games, toys (including magic trick kits), books, comics and more…

Falk worked on Mandrake and “The Ghost who Walks” until his death in 1999 (even on his deathbed, he was laying out one last story), but also found a few quiet moments to become a renowned playwright, theatre producer and impresario, as well as an inveterate world-traveller. A man of many talents, Falk drew the first few weeks himself before uniting with sublimely imaginative cartoonist Phil Davis, whose sleekly understated renditions took the daily strip – and especially these expansive full-page Sunday offerings – to unparalleled heights of sophistication: his steady assured realism the perfect tool to render the Magician’s mounting catalogue of wondrous miracles…

Those in the know are well aware that Mandrake was educated at the fabled College of Magic in Tibet, thereafter becoming a suave globe-trotting troubleshooter, always accompanied by his faithful African partner Lothar and beautiful, feisty companion (and eventually, in 1997 (!), bride) Princess Narda of Cockaigne, solving crimes and fighting evil. Those days, however, are still to come as the comics section opens in this splendidly oversized (315 x 236 mm) full-colour luxury hardback – and digital equivalents – with ‘The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers’ (running from February 3rd to June 2nd 1935) as the eccentrically urbane Prince of Prestidigitation and his herculean companion are approached by members of the international police to help expose a secret society of criminals and killers acting against the civilised world from their own hidden country.

After officer Duval is assassinated, Mandrake and Lothar – accompanied by panther woman Rheeta and surviving cop Pierce – embark upon a multi-continental search which, after many adventures, eventually brings them to a desolate desert region where they are confronted by bloody-handed Bull Ganton, King of Killers. With the master murderer distracted by Rheeta, Mandrake easily infiltrates the odious organisation and quickly begins dismantling a secret society of two million murderers. By the time Ganton wises up and begins a succession of schemes to end Mandrake, it’s far too late…

That deadly drama concluded, Mandrake & Lothar head to India to revisit old haunts and end up playing both peacemaker and cupid in the ‘Land of the Fakirs’ (June 9th – October 6th). When Princess Jana, daughter of Mandrake’s old acquaintance Jehol Khan, is abducted by rival ruler Rajah Indus of Lapore, the Magician ends his mischievous baiting of the street fakirs to intervene. In the meantime, Captain Jorga – who loves Jana despite being of a lower caste – sets off from the Khan’s palace to save her or die in the trying…

After many terrific and protracted struggles, Mandrake, Lothar & Jorga finally unite to defeat the devious duplicitous Rajah before the westerners set about their most difficult and important feat – overturning centuries of tradition so that Jorga and Jana might marry…

Heading north, the peripatetic performers stumble into amazing fantasy after entering the ‘Land of the Little People’ (13th October 1935 – March 1st 1936), encountering a lost race of tiny people embroiled in centuries-long war with brutal cannibalistic adversaries. After saving the proud warriors from obliteration, Mandrake again plays matchmaker, allowing valiant Prince Dano to wed brave and formidable commoner Derina who fought so bravely beside them. With this sequence, illustrator Davis seemed to shake off all prior influences and truly blossomed into an artist with a unique and mesmerising style all his own.

That is perfectly showcased in the loosely knit sequence (8th March to 23rd August 1936) which follows, as Mandrake & Lothar return to civilisation only to narrowly escape death in an horrific train wreck. Crawling from the wreckage, our heroes help ‘The Circus People’ recapture and calm the animals freed by the crash, subsequently sticking around as the close-knit family of nomadic outcasts rebuild. Mighty Lothar has many clashes with jealous bully Zaro the Strongman, culminating in thwarting attempted murder, whilst Mandrake uses his hypnotic hoodoo to teach sadistic animal trainer Almado lessons in how to behave, but primarily the newcomers act as a catalyst, making three slow-burning romances finally burst into roaring passionate life…

Absolutely the best tale in this tome and an imaginative tour de force that inspired many soon-to-be legendary comic book stars, ‘The Chamber into the X Dimension’ (30th August 1936 to March 7th 1937) is a breathtaking, mindbending saga starting when Mandrake & Lothar seek the missing daughter of a scientist whose experiments have sent her literally out of this world. Professor Theobold has discovered a way to pierce the walls between worlds but his beloved Fran never returned from the first live test. Eager to help – and addicted to adventure – Mandrake & Lothar volunteer to go in search of her and find themselves in a bizarre timeless world where the rules of science are warped and races of sentient vegetation, living metal, crystal and even flame war with fleshly humanoids for dominance and survival.

After months of captivity, slavery, exploration and struggle our human heroes finally lead a rebellion of the downtrodden fleshlings and bring the professor the happiest news of his long-missing child…

Concluding this initial conjuror’s compilation is a whimsical tale of judgement and redemption as Mandrake uses his gifts to challenge the mad antics of ‘Prince Paulo the Tyrant’ 14th (March 14th – 29th August 1937). The unhappy usurper had stolen the throne of Ruritanian Dementor and promptly turned the idyllic kingdom into a scientifically created madhouse. Sadly, Paulo had no conception of what true chaos and terror were until the magician exercised his mesmeric talents…

This epic celebration also offers a fulsome, picture-packed and informative introduction to the character – thanks to Magnus Magnuson’s compelling essay ‘Mandrake the Magician Wonder of a Generation’ – plus details on the lives of the creators (‘Lee Falk’ and ‘Phil Davis Biography’ features) plus a marvellous Davis pin-up of the cast to complete an immaculate confection of nostalgic strip wonderment for young and old alike.
Mandrake the Magician © 2016 King Features Syndicate. All Rights Reserved. “Mandrake the Magician Wonder of a Generation” © 2016 by Magnus Magnuson.

MAD day today. Al Jaffee was born in 1921 and Sam Viviano turned up in 1953. In between, Italian creator of Zagor Franco Donatelli was born in 1924 and Spain’s Superlópez creator Jan (Juan López Fernández) arrived in 1939.

As you are already aware today was the Day Lee Falk embarked on his final voyage.

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DC Finest: The Demon – Birth of the Demon


By Jack Kirby with Mike Royer, Bob Haney, Bob Rozakis, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Jim Aparo, John Calnan, Mike Golden, Steve Ditko, José Delbo, Bob McLeod, Dick Giordano, Dave Hunt & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1799507437 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Jack “King” Kirby shaped the very nature of comics narrative. A compulsive storyteller, Jack was an astute, spiritual man who had lived through poverty, gangsterism, the Depression and World War II. He had seen Post-War optimism, Cold War paranoia, political cynicism and the birth and death of peace-seeking counter-cultures. He was open-minded and utterly wedded to the making of comics stories on every imaginable subject. He began at the top of his game, galvanising the comic book scene from its earliest days with long-term creative partner Joe Simon: creating Blue Bolt, drawing Captain Marvel and adding lustre to Timely comics with creations such as Red Raven, Hurricane, Captain America and The Young Allies.

In 1942 Simon & Kirby moved to National/DC and hit even more stellar highs with The Boy Commandos, Newsboy Legion, Manhunter and The Sandman before the call of duty saw them inducted into the American military.

On returning from World War II, they reunited, forming a studio working primarily for the Crestwood/Prize publishing outfit. Here they invented the entire genre of Romance comics. Amongst that dynamic duo’s other concoctions for Prize was a noir-ish, psychologically underpinned supernatural anthology Black Magic and its short-lived but fascinating companion title Strange World of Your Dreams. All their titles eschewed traditional gory, heavy-handed morality plays and simplistic cautionary tales for deeper, stranger fare. Until the EC comics line hit their peak, S&K’s were far and away the best and most mature titles on the market.

Kirby understood the fundamentals of pleasing his audience and always strived diligently to combat the appalling state of prejudice about the comics medium – especially from industry insiders and professionals who despised the “kiddies world” they felt trapped in. When the 1950s anti-comics comics witch hunt devastated the industry, Simon & Kirby parted ways. Jack went back to DC briefly and created newspaper strip Sky Masters of the Space Force before partnering with Stan Lee at what remained of Timely Comics to create the monolith of stars we know as Marvel. After more than a decade there he felt increasingly stifled and side-lined and in 1970 accepted an offer of complete creative freedom at DC. The jump resulted in a root and branch redefinition of superheroes in his quartet of interlinked Fourth World series.

When those controversial, grandiose, groundbreaking titles were cancelled, Kirby looked for other concepts to stimulate his vast creativity and still appeal to an increasingly fickle and divided market. General interest in the Supernatural was peaking, with books and movies exploring the unknown in gripping and stylish new ways, and the Comics Code Authority had already released its censorious choke-hold on mystery and horror titles, thereby saving the entire industry from implosion when the superhero boom of the 1960s fizzled away.

At DC’s suggestion, Kirby had already briefly returned to his supernatural experimentation in a superb but poorly received and largely undistributed monochrome magazine. Spirit World launched in the summer of 1971, but as before, editorial cowardice and back-sliding scuppered the project before it could get going. You can see what might have been in a collected edition re-presenting the sole published issue and material from a second, unreleased sequel in Jack Kirby’s Spirit World…

With most of his ideas misunderstood, ignored or side-lined by the company, Kirby opted for more traditional fare. Never truly defeated though, he cannily blended his belief in the marketability of the mystic unknown with flamboyant super-heroics to create another unique and lasting mainstay for the DC universe: one whom lesser talents would make a pivotal figure of the company’s continuity.

This compilation collects The Demon #1-16 (1972-1973), classic team-ups from The Brave and the Bold #109 & 137 and key appearances from Batman Family #17, Detective Comics #482-485 and Wonder Woman volume 1 #280-282, cumulatively spanning cover dates August/September 1972 through August 1981, providing a comprehensive introduction to one of Kirby’s most broadly reinterpreted and reimagined characters.

Inked by Mike Royer, The Demon #1 introduces a howling, leaping monstrosity (modelled after a 1939 sequence from Hal Foster’s Arthurian epic Prince Valiant) in ‘Unleash the One Who Waits’. This shocking force of un-nature battles beside its master Merlin as Camelot dies in flames, a cataclysmic casualty of the rapacious greed of sorceress Morgaine Le Fey. Out of that apocalyptic destruction, a man arises and wanders off into the mists of history…

In our contemporary world (or at least the last quarter of the 20th century) demonologist and paranormal investigator Jason Blood has a near-death experience with an aged collector of illicit arcana. This culminates in a hideous nightmare about a demonic being and the last stand of Camelot. He has no idea that Le Fey is still alive and has sinister plans for him…

And in distant Moldavia, strange things are stirring in crumbling Castle Branek, wherein lies hidden the lost Tomb of Merlin…

Blood is wealthy, reclusive and partially amnesiac, but one night he agrees to host a small dinner party, entertaining acquaintances Harry Mathews, psychic UN diplomat Randu Singh and his wife Gomali plus their flighty young friend Glenda Mark.

The soiree does not go well. Firstly, there is the painful small talk, and the sorcerous surveillance of Le Fey, but the real problems start when an animated stone giant arrives to “invite” Blood to visit Castle Branek. This shattering voyage leads to Merlin’s last resting place but just as Blood thinks he may find some answers to his enigmatic past, Le Fey pounces. Suddenly he starts to change, transforming into the horrific beast of his dreams…

Issue #2 – ‘My Tomb in Castle Branek!’ – opens with wary villagers observing a terrific battle between a yellow monster and Le Fey’s forces, but when the Demon is defeated and Blood arrested, only the telepathic influence of Randu back in America can help him. Le Fey is old, dying, and needs Merlin’s grimoire, the Eternity Book, to extend her life.

Thus, she manipulates Blood – who has existed for centuries, completely unaware that Merlin’s hellish attack dog the Demon Etrigan is chained inside him – to regain his memories and awaken the slumbering master mage. It looks like the last mistake she will ever make…

Kirby’s tried-&-trusted approach was always to pepper high concepts throughout blazing, breakneck action, and #3 was one of the most imaginative yet. ‘Reincarnators’ finds Blood back in the USA, aware at last of his tormented history, and with a small but devoted circle of friends. Adapting to a less lonely life, he soon encounters a cult able to physically regress people to a prior life… and use those time-lost beings to commit murder. The Demon #4-5 comprise one single exploit, wherein a simple witch and her macabre patron capture the reawakened, semi-divine Merlin. ‘The Creature from Beyond’ and ‘Merlin’s Word’s …Demon’s Wrath!’ introduce cute little monkey Kamara the Fear-Monster (later used with devastating effect by Alan Moore in Saga of the Swamp Thing #26-27) and features another startling “Kirby-Kritter”: Somnambula, the Dream-Beast…

It seems odd in these blasé, anything goes modern times but The Demon was a deeply controversial book in its day – cited as providing the first post-Comics Code depiction of Hell, and one where problems were regularly solved with sudden, extreme violence. ‘The Howler!’ in issue #6 is a truly spooky yarn with Blood hunting a primal entity of rage and brutal terror that transforms victims into murderous lycanthropic killers, whilst #7 debuts a spiteful, malevolent young fugitive from a mystical otherplace.

‘A Witchboy!!’’ introduces Klarion and his cat-familiar Teekl – utterly evil little sociopaths in a time where all comic book politicians were honest, cops only shot to wound and “bad” kids were only misunderstood: thus, another Kirby first…

An extended epic, ‘Phantom of the Sewers’ skilfully combines movie and late-night TV horror motifs in the dark and tragic tale of actor Farley Fairfax, cursed by the witch he once spurned. Unfortunately, Glenda is the spitting image of the departed Galatea, and when, decades later, the demented thespian kidnaps her (in ‘Whatever Happened to Farley Fairfax?!!’) to raise the curse, it could only end in a flurry of destruction, death, consumed souls and ‘The Thing That Screams’…

In case you were wondering: the first musical adaption of The Phantom of the Opera (by Ken Hill) was in 1976, and the one you’re thinking of launched in 1986. The King was always ahead of the curve and subtly influential…

This 3-part thriller is followed by another moody, multi-part masterpiece (The Demon #11-13). ‘Baron von Evilstein’, ‘Rebirth of Evil!’ and ‘The Night of the Demon!’ comprise a powerful parable about worth and appearance, featuring the ultimate mad scientist and the tragic, misunderstood monster he so casually builds. It’s a truth that bears repeating: ugly doesn’t equal bad…

An opportunity to widen the horror-hero’s appeal came next in The Brave and the Bold #109: as Bob Haney & Jim Aparo unship superb supernatural thriller ‘Gotham Bay, Be My Grave!’ wherein the Caped Crusader and Kirby’s Kritter Etrigan the Demon fractiously unite to battle an unquiet spirit determined to avenge his own execution after nearly a century…

Despite the King’s best efforts The Demon was not a monster hit – unlike his science-fiction disaster drama Kamandi – and by #14 it’s clear the book was in its last days. Not because the sheer pace of imagination, excitement and passion diminished – far from it – but because the well-considered, mood-drenched stories were suddenly replaced by rocket-fast, eldritch romps populated with returning villains. First back was Klarion in ‘Return of the Witchboy!’ who creates a deadly doppelganger to replace Jason Blood and kill his friends in ‘The One Who Vanished!!’ (#14-15) before the series succumbed to irresistible economic forces with #16 (cover dated January 1974) in a climactic if hasty showdown with ‘Immortal Enemy’ Morgaine Le Fey…

Etrigan and cohort resurfaced in 1977 and B&B #137 (October) as Haney, John Calnan & Bob McLeod subjected Batman, Jason Blood’s friends and The Demon to war with resurrected Chinese wizard Shahn-Zi at ‘The Hour of the Serpent!’ before in a guest shot led to short revival. In Batman Family #17 (cover-dated April/May 1978), the Man-Bat serial saw Bob Rozakis & Mike Golden celebrate a happy event as the Chiropteran Crusader awaited the natal event of his firstborn child only to learn ‘There’s a Demon Born Every Minute!’ with devil babies infesting the maternity ward the hero welcomes the arrival of Etrigan (eventually) before teaming up to again thwart the diabolical schemes of malign Morgaine Le Fey.

Implicit invite accepted, Gotham resident The Demon took up residence in anthological blockbuster Detective Comics beginning with #482 (February/March 1979). Here Len Wein, Golden & Dick Giordano opened a tense quest for ‘The Eternity Book’ of Merlin. As Steve Ditko added his unique vision to the optics, the chase caught Etrigan clashing with mad mystic academic Baron Tyme in DC #483’s ‘Return to Castle Branek!’ before hurtling to a chaotic, cataclysmic conclusion in #484’s ‘Tyme Has No Secrets!’ and furious finish in #485’s ‘The Fatal Finale!’

The riotous revelries conclude with an often overlooked team-up. For Wonder Woman #280 (volume 1, June 1981), Gerry Conway, José Delbo & Dave Hunt detail how Air Force officers Diana Prince and Steve Trevor investigate the prestigious Delphi Foundation after demon Baal-Satyr abducts their friend Etta Candy. They uncover senatorial corruption and insidious infiltration by witchboy Klarion and use arcane connections to link up with Randu Singh, Blood and his infernal alter ego prior to a rescue raid on ‘The Castle Outside Time!’ (WW #281), enduring more hellish treatment prior to #282’s triumphant, resurgent ‘Return and Redemption’…

With covers by Kirby, Royer, Tatjana Wood, Aparo, Rich Buckler, Ross Andru & Dick Giordano, this is a sublime slice of Right Place, Wrong Time entertainment: a wondrously economical collection every comics fan of today should have and cannot help but enjoy.
© 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today comic strip master Sy Barry arrived in 1928, whilst Graham Nolan didn’t turn up until 1962 and much-missed Italian artist Massimiliano Frezzato (I custodi del Maser, Margot) in 1967.

We lost Barney Baxter cartoonist Frank Miller in 1949, and the amazing Arnold (Deadman, Doom Patrol, Guardians of the Galaxy) Drake in 2007 but could enjoy Treasure Chest comics from 1946 and Hank Ketchum’s (US) Dennis the Menace from 1951.

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Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham


By Mike Mignola, Richard Pace, Troy Nixey, Dennis Janke & Dave Stewart (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-5806-1 (TPB/Digital edition)
This book includes Discriminatory Content produced for dramatic effect.

The origins of the Dark Knight are so well-known now that it’s simple to twist and tweak them to suit almost any tale. It doesn’t hurt that the character has a universal recognition factor that holds up in almost any imaginary scenario…

Released in 2015, available in trade paperback and digital formats and collecting a 3-issue Elseworlds miniseries (from November 2000 – January 2001), The Doom That Came to Gotham was written by horror mood-meister Mike Mignola (Hellboy; duh!) and Richard Pace (Negative Burn; Ashes; Starman; Terror Inc.; Imaginary Fiends), limned by Troy Nixey (Harley Quinn; Trout; Only the End of the World Again; The Matrix Comics), inker Dennis Janke & colourist Dave Stewart.

In case you came in late: During the 1990s, DC regrouped to rebrand its frequent dalliances with alternate reality scenarios under the copious and broad umbrella of a separate imprint. The Elseworlds banner and credo declared heroes would be taken out of their usual settings and put into strange places and times – some that have existed, or might have existed, and others that can’t, couldn’t or shouldn’t exist…

No doubts here, however, as the tale deftly takes us back to Roaring Twenties America, dishing out a daring dose of pulp fiction plumb centre of the ghastly spine-chilling mythos of Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft and their darkly-dementing contemporaries…

It’s 1928 and orphaned Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City two decades after his parents were murdered by a maniac. He’s been roving the world, and recently uncovered the fate of long-lost Professor Cobblepot’s fabled Antarctic expedition. That jaunt resulted in a clash with a naked madman who talked to penguins and a large slab of ice with a creature inside it: a thing that never evolved on this world…

By the time he and his close associates Alfred, Dick, Jason and the rest have docked in his bleakly daunting home town, they have all had more than enough of the vile dreams the thing in the hold has generated…

There are more surprises when he reaches his long-shuttered mansion: a dead man who somehow speaks and a mysterious stranger named Jason Blood who claims he’s been sent to deliver a dire warning. Turning into an actual demon, the visitor warns that to save Gotham, Bruce must cut out its heart. Although shocked, Bruce is ready to act, and dons the bizarre outfit that makes him look like a human bat…

…And thus begins a skilful, macabre pastiche of classic noir horror traditions, as the desperate, driven mystery man haunts the alleys and byways of the city, testing corrupt cops, self-serving officials and outright villains – all with names most comics fans will recognise – uncovering a long-suppressed, centuries-old secret, even as literal Things From Beyond Human Comprehension and the borders of time and space congregate.

Can even a heroic Bat Man triumph against such odds and if so, at what cost…

Taking its title from H.P. Lovecraft’s 1920 novella The Doom That Came to Sarnath and inspired by August Derleth’s 1945 novel The Lurker at the Threshold (written from Lovecraft’s unfinished plot notes), the eldritch epic is complemented by a full cover gallery by Mignola and a hefty sketches & design section featuring pencilled pages by Pace (originally slated to illustrate the tale) and layouts by Nixey.

Bold, compelling, potently stylish and chilling in all the right places, The Doom That Came to Gotham is a supernatural romp to delight and impress: once read and never forgotten. Yes there’s an animated movie released in 2023, but truly that’s just gilding. This dark lily is what you must have…
2000, 2001, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1920 Belgian wonder Eddy Paape (Emmanuel, Valhardi, Luc Orient, Johnny Congo) was born, with Gray Morrow (Man-Thing, Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon) arriving in 1934 and Alan Weiss (Warlock, Batman: the Blue, the Grey and the Bat, Steelgrip Starkey) in 1948. In 1949 Godfather of British Comics Pat Mills was born and in 1967 mangaka marvel Ai Yazaw, (Nana, I’m No Angel, Neighborhood Story, Paradise Kiss) arrived. Two years later Cully Hamner (Down, Green Lantern: Mosaic, Blue Beetle, Red) came along, but it was 1978 before Australian horror star Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) turned up.

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The Phantom – The Complete Series: The Charlton Years volume one


By Dick Wood, Steve Skeates, Bill Harris, D. J. Arneson, Jim Aparo, Frank McLaughlin, Pat Boyette, Bill Lignante, Nick Alascia & various (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-61345-006-2 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the 17th century a British sailor survived an attack by pirates, and, washing ashore on the African coast, swore on the skull of his murdered father to dedicate his life and that of all his descendants to destroying all pirates and criminals. The Phantom fights crime and injustice from a base deep in the jungles of Bengali, and throughout Africa is known as the “Ghost Who Walks”…

His unchanging appearance and unswerving war against injustice have led to him being considered an immortal avenger by the credulous and the wicked. Down the decades one hero after another has fought and died in an unbroken family line, and the latest wearer of the mask, indistinguishable from the first, continues the never-ending battle.

Lee Falk created the Jungle Justice dealer at the request of his syndicate employers who were already making history, public headway and loads of money with his first strip sensation Mandrake the Magician, and although technically not the first ever costumed hero in comics, The Phantom’s astounding popularity made him the prototype paladin: wearing the later demi-compulsory skintight bodystocking and mask with opaque eye-slits.

He debuted on February 17th 1936 in an extended sequence pitting him against a global confederation of pirates called the Singh Brotherhood. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first two weeks before handing over the illustration side to artist Ray Moore. A hugely successful Sunday feature began in May 1939. However, for such a long-lived and influential series, in terms of compendia or graphic novel collections, The Phantom has been very poorly served by the English language market (except in Australia where he has always been accorded the status of a pop culture god).

Various companies have tried to collect the strips – one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history – but in no systematic or chronological order and never with any sustained success. But, even if only of historical value (or just printed for Australians), surely Kit Walker is worthy of a definitive chronological compendium series?

Happily, his comic book adventures have fared slightly better – at least in recent times…

From November 1962 through July 1966 all new adventures were published by West Coast giant Gold Key Comics after which King Features Syndicate dabbled with a comic book line of their biggest stars – including Popeye, Blondie, Flash Gordon, Mandrake and The Phantom – between 1966 and 1967. When they gave up the ghost (see what I did there?), plucky dependable, cheap Charlton Comics were there to pick up the slack…

The Phantom was no stranger to funnybooks, having appeared since the Golden Age in titles like Feature Book and Harvey Hits, but only as reformatted newspaper strip reprints. The Gold Key exploits were tailored to a big page and a young readership, a model King maintained for their own run but which was tweaked when Charlton took on the license.

This splendid full-colour hardcover and/or eBook gathers the contents of The Phantom #30-38 (originally released between February 1969 and June 1970) and opens with an erudite Introduction from Christopher Irving relating all you need to know about ‘The Phantom and Charlton Comics’, compellingly augmented by the first of many pages of original art by Jim Aparo.

As with previous publishers, the majority of the stories are scripted by Dick Wood (with some contributions from Bill Harris and Charlton mainstay Steve Skeates) but the big attraction here is a large body of illustration by then up-&-coming superstar Jim Aparo in his last work for CC before moving to DC.

Opening the Charlton archive are a brace of thrilling escapades by Dick Wood & Frank McLaughlin (with possibly some inking assistance from Sal Trapani?) beginning with ‘The Secret of the Golden Ransom’ as Julie – sister of the Ghost Who Walks – again dons purple long johns to secretly save her brother from a devilish trap, after which the ‘The Living Legend’ sees the jungle juggernaut put the fear of god into a western-educated tribesman who no longer believes in ghosts…

Issue #31 sees an epic full-length tale by Wood & Aparo as ‘The Phantom of Shang-Ri-La’ finds the hero on a rescue mission to the fabled Valley of the Sun to save his best friend from devious crooks masquerading as benevolent immortals. After more original art, #32’s ‘The Pharaoh Phantom’ takes the masked marvel to Egypt and an impossible confrontation with a freshly-revived mummy who claims to be the original and genuine Ghost Who Walks.

Pat Boyette & Nick Alascia limn Wood’s lead story in The Phantom #33 as ‘The Curse of Kallai’ exposes an ancient mystery wherein an Indian death cult returns to plunder Africa, claiming an earlier Phantom was their bound and sworn ally, after which Steve Skeates & Aparo detail how a young native boy is pivotal in reversing ‘The Phantom’s Death’…

Using the nom de plume Norm Dipluhm, D. J. Arneson scripts a brace of tales for Aparo in #34 beginning with ‘The Cliff Kingdom’ as the Phantom destroys a tribe hunting low flying aircraft before going on to defeat far-from supernatural menace ‘The Giant Ape of Tawth’…

Veteran team Bill Harris & Bill Lignante return in #35 to reveal the sinister secret of ‘The Ghost Tribe’ plundering and slave-taking in Bengali, but not before the Phantom infiltrates the marauders’ inner circle and is ‘Trapped’ in an almost inescapable situation. Almost…

Dipluhm & Aparo open #36 with ‘The River That Never Ends’ as the Phantom is drawn into  a subterranean underworld whilst battling merciless modern pirates, and close with a pithy smuggling yarn as the spectral avenger intercepts some ‘Very Special Timber’ to punish a very ingenious evildoer…

In #37 the format changes to shorter stories beginning with ‘Bandar Betrayers’ as a strange blossom warps the minds of the Phantom’s greatest friends and allies whilst ‘Skyjack’ sees him undercover as Kit Walker, flying to America when his plane is attacked by a fanatic, and a last exploit sees him back in Africa as a new commander for the private jungle police force is almost compelled to ‘Disband the Patrol’…

Wrapping up these volatile verdant voyages, #38 starts on ‘The Dying Ground’ as rogue hunters trap the hero in hopes of learning the location of the fable Elephant’s Graveyard before a crisis of conscience and capability is countered by uncanny natural phenomena in ‘The Phantom’s New Faith’ after which Jungle Patrol intel allows The Phantom to save his ever-so-patient intended bride Diana Palmer from murderous art-thieves setting ‘The Trap’…

Packed with original art by Aparo, this is another riveting, nostalgia-drenched triumph: straightforward, captivating rollicking action-adventure that has always been the staple of comics fiction.

If that sounds like a good time to you, this is a traditional action-fest you must not miss…
The Phantom® © 1969-1970 and 2012 King Features Syndicate, Inc. ® Hearst Holdings, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Today in 1922, comics visionary Bill Gaines (EC Comics, Mad) was born, followed two years later by master scripter/screenwriter Arnold (Deadman, Doom Patrol, Guardians of the Galaxy) Drake. Writer/editor/documentarian Joyce (Brought to Light, Real War Stories, American Splendor) Braner came long in 1952, letterer Tom Orzechowski in 1953 and Uruguayan artist Eduardo Barreto (AKA Luis Eduardo Barreto Ferreyra and illustrator of everything from Steel Sterling to Superman) in 1954, with Ed (Deadpool) McGuinness arriving in 1974.

In 1980 we lost the astoundingly diligent Dick Dillin (Blackhawk, Justice League of America, Superman, World’s Finest) and in 1998 the forever-irreplaceable Archie Goodwin. In 2024 Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama died.

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Gomer Goof volume 1: Mind the Goof!


By André Franquin, Delporte & Jidéhem: translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-358-1 (Album TPB/digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times and some used for dramatic and comedic effect.

Born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924, André Franquin began his astounding career in the golden age of European cartooning. In 1946, as assistant to Joseph “Jijé” Gillain on top strip Spirou, he inherited sole control of the keynote feature, and creating countless unforgettable characters like Fantasio and The Marsupilami. Over two decades Franquin made the strip purely his, expanding its scope and horizons, as co-stars Spirou & Fantasio – with hairy Greek Chorus Spip the squirrel – became globetrotting troubleshooters visiting exotic places, exposing crimes, exploring the incredible and clashing with bizarre, eccentric arch-enemies. Throughout all that, Fantasio remained a full-fledged – albeit entirely fictional – reporter for Le Journal de Spirou, popping back to base between assignments. Regrettably, ensconced there like a splinter under a fingernail was an arrogant, accident-prone office junior. He was Gaston Lagaffe; Franquin’s other immortal – or peut-être unkillable? – conception…

There’s a hoary tradition of comics personalising fictitiously back-office creatives and the arcane processes they indulge in, whether it’s Marvel’s Bullpen or DC Thomson’s lugubrious Editor and underlings at The Beano and Dandy; it’s a truly international practise. Somehow though, after debuting in LJdS #985 (February 28th 1957), the affable dimwit grew – like one of his own monstrous DIY projects – beyond all control. Whether guesting in Spirou’s sagas or his own strips/faux reports for the editorial pages, Lagaffe became one of the most popular and ubiquitous components of the comic he was supposed to paste up.

In initial cameos or occasional asides on text pages, well-meaning foul-up and ostensible studio gofer Gaston lurked and lounged amidst a crowd of diligent toilers until the workshy slacker employed as a general assistant at LJdS’s head office became a solid immovable fixture. Ultimately the scruffy bit-player shambled into his own star feature…

In terms of schtick and delivery, older readers will recognise favourite beats and elements of well-intentioned helpfulness wedded to irrepressible self-delusion as seen in Benny Hill or Jacques Tati vehicles and recognise recurring riffs from Only Fools and Horses and Mr Bean. It’s blunt-force slapstick, using paralysing puns, fantastic ingenuity and inspired invention to mug smugness, puncture pomposity, lampoon the status quoi? (and that’s British punning, see?) and ensure no good deed goes noticed, rewarded or unpunished…

As previously stated, Gaston/Gomer can be seen (if you’re very quick or extremely patient) toiling at Le Journal de Spirou’s editorial offices. At first he reported to Fantasio, but as pressure of work took the hero away, the Goof instead complicated the lives of office manager Léon Prunelle and other harassed and bewildered staffers, all whilst effectively ignoring any tasks he’s paid to actually handle. These notionally include page paste-up, posting packages, filing, clean-up, collecting stuff inbound from off-site and editing readers’ letters – the reason why fans’ requests/suggestions are never acknowledged or answered…

Gomer is lazy, hyperkinetic, opinionated, ever-ravenous, impetuous, underfed, forgetful and eternally hungry: a passionate sports fan, self-proclaimed musician maestro and animal lover whose most manic moments all stem from cutting work corners, stashing or consuming contraband nosh in the office or inventing the Next Big Thing. This situation leads to constant clashes with colleagues and draws in notionally unaffiliated bystanders like increasingly manic traffic cop Longsnoot and fireman Captain Morwater, plus ordinary passers-by who should know by now to keep away from this street.

Through it all, the obtuse office oaf remains affable, easy-going and incorrigible. Only three questions matter: why everyone keeps giving him one last chance, what does gentle, lovelorn Miss Jeanne see in the self-opinionated idiot, and will perpetually-outraged and accidentally abused capitalist financier De Mesmaeker ever get his perennial, pestiferous contracts signed?

If you’re old, new to this and yet experiencing a dose of déjà vu, it might be because the big idiot appeared in a 1970s Thunderbirds annual, rechristened Cranky Franky. Perhaps they should have kept the original title…

This premier compilation consists of half-page shorts and comedic text story “reports” from the LJdS’s editorial page before ultimately unleashing full episodes of madcap buffoonery. As previously stated Gomer is employed (let’s not dignify his position by calling it “work”) at the Spirou offices, reporting to go-getting Fantasio and foolishly left in charge of minor design jobs like paste-up and reading readers’ letters and general dogs-bodying. He’s lazy, opinionated, forgetful and eternally hungry. Many of his most catastrophic actions revolve around cutting corners and caching illicit food in the office…

Following 26 short, sharp two-tier gag episodes – involving Gomer’s office innovations, his hunt for food, assorted pets and livestock, sporting snafus and his appallingly decrepit and dilapidated Fiat 509 auto(barely)mobile – the first of numerous prose vignettes ‘On the Line’ exposes the fool’s many delusional attempts to become an inventor. Other text forays – punctuated by more pint-sized gag-strips – follow. These comedy briefs include ‘More Than One String to his Bow’, ‘Police Report’, ‘Open Letter to Mr De Mesmaeker’ (Jean De Mesmaeker being the real name of collaborator and background artist Jidéhem and taken for the self-important businessman who became Gomer’s ultimate foil), ‘Winter Stalactites’, ‘Red vs Blue’, ‘Noise Pollution’, ‘Presence of Mind’, ‘Gomer’s stethoscope’, ‘The Firebug Fireman’, ‘Gas-powered bicycle’ and ‘Definitely-not-surreptitious advertising’.

The print then gives way to a long-running procession of half-page strips with our editorial idiot causing a cataclysm of cartoon chaos.

Further prose pieces slip into extended continuity when Fantasio embargoes all canned food (potentially explosive and always a bio-hazard) and Gomer applies all his dubious ingenuity to beating the ban in ‘The tin wars’, ‘Ticking tin bombs’, ‘Diary of a War correspondent’ and ‘Blockade’ before one final strip flurry brings the hilarity to temporary pause…

Far better enjoyed than précised or described, these strips allowed Franquin, fellow scenarist Yvan Delporte and Jidéhem to flex their whimsical muscles and subversively sneak in some satirical support for their political beliefs in pacifism and environmentalism, but at their core remain supreme examples of all-ages comedy: wholesome, barbed, daft and incrementally funnier with every re-reading.

So why not start now?
© Dupuis, Dargaud-Lombard s.a. 2017 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation © 2017 Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1907, comic strip god Milton Caniff was born, as was – in 1913 – John Carter of Mars illustrator John Coleman Burroughs. Ditto Japanese teacher/political cartoonist Taizo Yokoyama (Pu-san, Eheh) in1917. Reading wise, André Franquin’s Gaston Lagaffe debuted in 1957.

If there was a February 29th this year, tomorrow we’d be commemorating the birth of Italian superstar Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri (Druuna) in 1944 and the launch of Bil Keane’s The Family Circus in 1960… but we don’t so we ain’t.

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Spirou and Fantasio volume 11: The Wrong Head


By André Franquin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-313-0 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content included for comedic effect.

André Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924 and died on January 5th 1997. In between there were good times and bad, which he offset by creating the most incredible characters and stories, and by making people laugh and think – but mostly laugh. This is one of the very best you can find translated into English.

Adventure-seeking Spirou headlined the magazine he was named for from the first issue (dated April 21st 1938). He was created by French cartoonist Françoise Robert Velter using his pen-name Rob-Vel for Belgian publisher Éditions Dupuis. This was in direct response to the success of Hergé’s Tintin for rival outfit Casterman.

Originally a plucky bellboy/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel (a sly reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique), his improbable exploits with pet squirrel Spip gradually grew into high-flying, far-reaching, surreal comedy dramas. That evolution was mainly thanks to Velter’s wife Blanche “Davine” Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939 and Belgian artist/assistant Luc Lafnet… at least until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jijé) took the helm.

Our interest really begins when Jijé handed his own trainee assistant complete responsibility for the flagship strip part-way through Spirou et la maison préfabriqué (Le Journal de Spirou #427, June 20th 1946). André Franquin ran with it for two decades; enlarging the scope and horizons until it became purely his own. Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters such as comrade/rival Fantasio or crackpot inventor and Merlin of mushroom mechanics the Count of Champignac. Spirou and Fantasio became globe-trotting journalists, travelling to exotic places, uncovering crimes, exploring the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub and Fantasio’s unsavoury cousin Zantafio.

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, passed away in 1997 but his legacy remains; a vast body of work which reshaped the landscape of European comics.

Here then as originally serialised in LJdS #840-869 in 1954 and subsequently released on the continent in 1957 as hardcover album Spirou et Fantasio 8 – La Mauvaise Tête, this sinister yarn begins as Spirou visits short-tempered pal Fantasio and finds the house a shambles. The intrepid investigator has ransacked his own home in search of missing passport photos with his insensate fury only abating (a bit!) after Spirou convinces him to come play paddleball.

Later, whilst looking for a lost ball in the woods, Spirou finds one of the missing photos but thinks nothing of it…

That evening strange events begin: Spirou sees Fantasio acting oddly in town and when a jeweller is robbed, the brutalised merchant identifies Fantasio as the smash-and-grab thief…

More seeds of suspicion are sown and Spirou doesn’t know what to think when a solid gold Egyptian mask is stolen on live TV. The bandit is clearly seen to be his best pal…

Spirou is still seeking to reason with Fantasio when the cops arrive and, with nobody believing the reporter’s ridiculous story of being in Paris on a spurious tip, watches with helpless astonishment as the accused makes a bold escape bid…

Still astounded, Spirou wanders to the ramshackle house where he found the missing photo and finds a strange set-up: a plaster cast of Fantasio and weird plastic goo in a mixing bowl…

His snooping is suddenly disturbed by screams and sounds of a struggle. Chasing the cacophony, he finds one man holding the stolen gold mask and another on the floor. The standing man is too quick to catch and drives away with a third stranger, but as Spirou questions the beaten victim he learns that the loser of the fight is a sculptor who was hired to make astounding life-like masks of some journalist…

Soon Spirou is hot on the trail of the criminal confederates, uncovering a diabolical scheme to destroy Fantasio by an old enemy they had both discounted and almost forgotten. He has not forgotten them, however, and soon everything is up in the air and beyond belief. Even the nation’s sacrosanct sport of cycle racing is not beyond the scope of the vile manipulator’s brazen scheming…

Fast-paced, compellingly convoluted and perfectly blending helter-skelter excitement with keen suspense and outrageous slapstick humour, the search for The Wrong Head is an utterly compelling romp to delight devotees of easy-going adventure.

As if criminal capers and a spectacular courtroom drama climax is not enough, this tome also includes a sweet early solo outing for the marvellous Marsupilami as ‘Paws off the Robins’ finds the plastic pro-simian electing himself guardian of a nest of newborn hatchlings in Count Champignac’s copious gardens, and resolved to defend the chicks from a marauding cat at all costs…

Stuffed with fabulously fun, riotous chases and gallons of gags, this exuberant tome is a joyous example of angst-free action, thrills and spills. Readily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with beguiling style and seductively wholesome élan, this is pure cartoon gold: an enduring comics treat, destined to be as much a British household name as that other kid reporter and his dog…
Original edition © Dupuis, 1957 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2016 © Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1897 British illustrator and cartoonist Edgar Henry Banger was born, as was our graphic comedy god Dudley D. Watkins in 1907. In the US, Norm (Batman) Breyfogle and Jeff (Bone) Smith arrived in 1960, and Andy Kubert in 1962.

Big day for departures too, with “Father of Turkish Comics” Cemal Nadir leaving in 1947; Bill Everett in 1973; Italy’s Carlo (Sor Pampurio) Bisi in 1982 and both Bill (Smokey Stover) Holman and Darrell Craig MacClure (Little Annie Rooney) in 1987.

Achievement-wise, UK pre-school comic Jack and Jill began its 1600+ week run today in 1954.

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The Phantom – The Complete Series: The King Years


By Bill Harris, Dick Wood, Pat Fortunato, & Bill Lignante, Giovanni Fiorentini & Senio Pratesi & various (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-61345-009-3 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

In the 17th century a British sailor survived attack by pirates, and, washing ashore in Africa, swore on the skull of his murdered father to dedicate his life and that of all his descendants to destroying all pirates and criminals. The Phantom fights crime and injustice from a lavish lair deep in the jungles of Bengali, and throughout Africa is known as the “Ghost Who Walks”.

This unchanging appearance and unswerving quest for justice led to him being considered an immortal avenger by the credulous and the wicked. Down the decades one hero after another has fought and died in an unbroken family line, and the latest wearer of the mask, indistinguishable from the first, continues the never-ending battle…

Lee Falk created the Jungle Avenger at the request of his 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 hero in comics, The Phantom was the prototype paladin: wearing a skin-tight body-stocking and a mask with opaque eye-slits.

He debuted on February 17th 1936 (Happy 90th anniversary… and a bit!!) in an extended sequence pitting him against a global confederation of pirates dubbed the Singh Brotherhood. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first fortnight before handing over the illustration side to artist Ray Moore. A Sunday feature began in May 1939.

For such a successful, long-lived and influential series, in terms of compendia or graphic novel collections, The Phantom has been very poorly served by the English language market. Various small companies have tried to collect the strips – one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history – but in no systematic or chronological order and never with any sustained success. But, even if it were only of historical value (or just printed for Australians, who have long been manic devotees of the implacable champion) surely Kit Walker is worthy of a definitive chronological compendium series?

Happily, his comic book adventures have fared slightly better – at least in recent times. Between 1966 and 1967 King Features Syndicate dabbled with a comic book line of their biggest stars – Blondie, Popeye, Beetle Bailey, Flash Gordon, Mandrake & The Phantom – developed after the Ghost Who Walks had enjoyed a solo-starring vehicle under the broad and effective aegis of veteran licensed properties publisher Gold Key Comics.

The Phantom was no stranger to funnybooks, having been featured since the Golden Age in titles such as Feature Book and Harvey Hits, but only as straight reformatted strip reprints. The Gold Key exploits were tailored to a big page and a young readership, a model King maintained for their own run.

This superb full-cover hardcover – or eBook for the modern minded – gathers the contents of The Phantom #19-28 (originally released between November 1966 and December 1967) as well as four back-up vignettes from Mandrake #1-4, spanning September 1966 to January 1967. Following fascinating Introduction ‘The Phantom, the King Years’ from fans and scholars Pete Klaus and Howard S. Gesbeck (which includes splendid unseen art and candid photos) the procession of classic wonders resumes.

As with the Gold Key issues, the majority of the stories were scripted by Bill Harris or Dick Wood and (re)drawn in comic book format by Bill Lignante, with covers by or based on images from the daily strip as limned by Sy Barry.

Opening the King archive is a fabulously wry romp as a coterie of crooks inveigles their way into the Phantom’s jungle home, intent on stealing ‘The Treasure of the Skull Cave’. Over the centuries the Ghost Who Walks has amassed the most fantastic hoard of legendary loot and astounding artefacts, but the trio of crooks can’t agree on what is or isn’t valuable and soon pay the price for their folly and genocidal intent…

Issue #19 tapped into the global excitement as America neared its first manned moonshots with ‘The Astronaut and the Pirates’ finding the Phantom hunting seagoing brigands who abduct and ransom an American spaceman after his off-course splashdown lands him in very hot water…

The issue’s second tale relies on more traditional themes with ‘The Masked Emissary’ intervening in a civil war; protecting an ousted democratic leader from a tyrannical despot, until liberty can be restored to the people. The Phantom #20 (cover dated January 1967) led with a bold departure from tradition. Scripted by Pat Fortunato ‘The Adventures of the Girl Phantom’ delved into the meticulous family chronicles to reveal how, a few generations previously, the feisty twin sister of the Ghost Who currently Walked took her brother’s place to police the jungles of Bengali after he was laid low. Counterpointing that radical drama is a moody mad science thriller as the current masked marvel battles old enemy Dr. Krazz and aliens from the Earth’s interior in ‘The Invisible Demon’…

In #21, ‘The Treasure of Bengali Bay’ finds The Phantom battling bandits employing their own fake ghost to secure sunken loot, after which grudge-bearing Indian Prince Taran lures our hero to the subcontinent as fodder for specially trained animal assassin ‘The Terror Tiger’. Then full-length drama ‘The Secret of Magic Mountain’ pits the Immortal Avenger against sly shaman Tuluck who mixes misconceived ancient history and a freshly-active volcano to turn local tribes against The Phantom, whilst in #23 merciless pirate ‘Delilah’ takes the place of a Peace Corps worker to get lethally close to the guardian of the jungle.

However, her devious wiles, brainwashing techniques and super-submarine prove of little use against the dauntless and implacable Ghost Who Walks…

Girl Phantom Julie steals the show again in #24 as she and faithful friend Maru challenge the forces of darkness to defeat a vicious manipulator in ‘The Riddle of the Witch’…

Writer Giovanni Fiorentini and illustrator Senio Pratesi tackle #25 as the modern hero and famous athlete and sportswoman/prospective bride Diana Palmer frustrate slave-taking diamond smugglers intent on subjugating ‘The Cold Fire Worshippers’ before issue #26 marks a return to double story instalments.

Lignante’s ‘The Lost City of Yiango’ sees the Phantom compelled to solve a 50-year-old mystery and prevent a resurgence of tribal warfare, after which he answers a desperate plea to safeguard an irreplaceable treasure and goes undercover to thwart ‘The Pearl Raiders’…

The Phantom #27 reveals the origins of the African Avenger’s wonder-horse as ‘The Story of Hero’ discloses how he once rescued kidnapped Princess Melonie of Kabora and how – following ‘The Long Trip Home’ – he was thanked with a most marvellous equine gift…

The Phantom’s King chronicles concluded in #28 ‘Diana’s Deadly Tour’ as the celebrity embarks on a global exhibition jaunt and is targeted by ruthless spies. Not only must her enigmatic paramour keep her safe but also solve the bewildering mystery of why they keep trying to kill her…

Wrapping up the issue is an ultra-short yarn as a frustrated world champion boxer hunts the Ghost Who Walks determined to prove who’s the toughest guy in ‘The Big Fight’…

As previously mentioned the Phantom guested in vignettes in Mandrake #1-4. Those ‘Back-Up Stories’ round out the comics cavalcade here beginning with ‘SOS Phantom’ as the Guardian Ghost responds to secret drum signals to quell an outbreak of fever, before ‘SOS Phantom: The Pirate Raiders’ finds him answering similar “threat tomtoms” to tackle and terrify superstitious coastal raiders…

Those self-same drums are crucial in thwarting a murderous criminal mastermind intent on penning the Phantom in ‘The Magic Ivory Cage’ and the flurry of little epics ends with another outing for ‘The Girl Phantom’ who here outwits a brutal strongman whose brawn and belligerence are no match for a cool head…

Sprinkled liberally with original art, unused cover designs for never-printed issues #29 and 30, examples from foreign editions and a wealth of original art pages by Jim Aparo (from forthcoming volume The Phantom: The Complete Series: The Charlton Years: volume 1) this is another nostalgia drenched triumph: straightforward, captivating rollicking action-adventure that has always been the staple of comics fiction. If that sounds like a good time to you, this is a traditional action-fest you can’t afford to miss.
The Phantom® © 1966-1967 and 2012 King Features Syndicate, Inc. ® Hearst Holdings, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Today in 1917, master comic illustrator Reed Crandall was born, with animator/artist Pete Alvarado (Roy Rogers, Chip ‘n Dale, Scamp, Tweety & Sylvester, Road Runner, Yogi Bear, Andy Panda) arriving in 1920. Underground commix raconteur Rand Holmes was born in 1942, and Cliff Chiang in 1974.

John Carter of Mars strip artist John Coleman Burroughs died today in 1979, and in 1990 so did South African cartoon legend icon T.O. Honiball (Oom Kaspaas), followed in 2007 by cartoonist Irwin Caplan, creator of The Saturday Evening Post series Famous Last Words.

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Harvey Kurtzman’s Strange Adventures


By Harvey Kurtzman, Art Spiegelman, Moebius, R. Crumb, Eric Palma, William Stout, Sergio Aragonés & Tom Luth, Tomas Bunk, Rick Geary, Dave Gibbons, Sarah Downs & various (Epic Comics/A Byron Preiss Book
ISBN: 978-0-87135-675-8 (Album HB)

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for satirical and dramatic effect.

Creative genius Harvey Kurtzman is probably the most important cartoonist of the latter half of the last century – even more so than Jules Feiffer, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert or Will Eisner. His early triumphs in the fledgling field of comicbooks (Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and especially the groundbreaking, game-changing Mad comic book) would be enough for most creators to lean back on, but Kurtzman was also a force in newspaper strips (Flash Gordon Complete 1951-1953) and a restless innovator, commentator and social critic who kept on looking at folk and their doings. He just couldn’t stop making art or sharing his conclusions…

Kurtzman invented a whole new format when he converted the highly successful colour comic book Mad into a monochrome magazine, safely distancing the brilliant satirical publication from the fallout caused by the 1950s comics witch-hunt which eventually killed EC’s other titles. He then pursued comedy and social satire further with newsstand magazines Trump (no relation to any orange tossers!), Humbug and Help! – all the while creating challenging and powerfully effective humour strips like Little Annie Fanny (for Playboy), Nutz, Goodman Beaver, Betsy and her Buddies and many more. He died far too soon, far too young today in 1993.

Utterly unavailable in digital editions, this intriguing oddment from 1990 saw the Great Observer return to his comic roots to spoof and lambaste strip characters, classic cinema and contemporary sentiments in a series of vignettes illustrated by some of the biggest names of the day. Following a captivating introduction from ex-student Art Spiegelman, a stunning pin-up from Moebius and an overview from project coordinator Byron Preiss, the fun begins with a typically upbeat cartoon appreciation from R. Crumb: ‘Ode to Harvey Kurtzman’ which was coloured by Eric Palma, after which the Harvey-fest begins in earnest…

‘Shmegeggi of the Cave Men’ visually revives the author’s legendary Goodman Beaver, dislocating him to that mythic antediluvian land of dim brutes, hot babes in fur bikinis and marauding dinosaurs, to take a look at how little sexual politics has progressed in a million years – all exquisitely painted by cartoonist, movie artist and paleontological illustrator William Stout, after which Sergio Aragonés adds his inimitable mania to the stirring piratical shenanigans of the dashing ‘Captain Bleed’ (with striking hues supplied by Groo accomplice Tom Luth).

Western parody ‘Drums Along the Shmohawk’ is an all-Kurtzman affair as the scribe picks up his pens and felt-tips to describe how the sheriff and his stooge paid a little visit to the local tribe…

Cartoonist, fine artist and illustrator Tomas Bunk contributes a classically underground and exuberant job depicting ‘A Vampire Named Mel’ whilst arch-stylist Rick Geary helps update the most famous canine star in history with ‘Sassy, Come Home’. Limey Living Legend Dave Gibbons utilises his too-seldom-seen gift for comedy by aiding and abetting in what we Brits term “a good kicking” to the superhero genre in the outrageous romp ‘The Silver Surfer’ before the cartoon buffoonery concludes with Kurtzman and long-time associate Sarah Downs smacking a good genre while it’s down and dirty in ‘Halloween, or the Legend of Creepy Hollow’.

But wait, there’s more…

This seductive oversized hardback also has an abundant section devoted to creator biographies supplemented with pages and pages of Kurtzman’s uniquely wonderful pencil rough script pages – almost like having the stories printed twice.

Fun, philosophical fantasy and fabulous famous, artist folk: what more do you need to know – other than that SOMEone should re-release tis ASAP?
© 1990 by Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. Each strip © 1990 Harvey Kurtzman and the respective artist. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1922 British comics artist (Bennie & Barley Bottom) and social redeemer Derek Chittock was born, with Belgian comics maven René Hausman (Laïyna), following in 1936 and fantasy illustrator Frank (Doctor Strange, Howard the Duck, Creepy) Brunner arriving in 1949. In 1963 manhua creator Khoo Fuk Lung (Saint) was born, with comics/screenwriter Christopher Yost coming in 1973 and Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim, Seconds, Snotgirl) in 1979.