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Mighty Thor Omnibus volume 3


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Larry Leiber, Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Neal Adams, Vince Colletta, Joe Sinnott, George Klein, Bill Everett, John Verpoorten, Sam Grainger, Jim Mooney, Sal Buscema, John Romita Sr., Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0381-7 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Epic Jewel of Historic Import… 9/10

We all still love superheroes right? Here’s another bunch of yarns thou shouldst not miss…

The Mighty Thor was the title in which Jack Kirby’s restless fascination with all things Cosmic was honed and refined via dazzling graphics and captivating concepts. The King’s career-defining string of signature superheroic fantasies and power-packed pantheons all stemmed from a modest little fantasy/monster title called Journey into Mystery where – in the summer of 1962 – a tried-&-true comic book concept (feeble mortal remade as god-like hero) was revisited by fledgling Marvel Comics to add a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers.

It is lettered throughout by unsung superstars Art Simek &Sam Rosen, and hued by an unjustly anonymous band of colourists. As well as a monolithic assortment of nostalgic treats at the back, this mammoth tome is dotted throughout with recycled Introductions – ‘God and Mangog’ by Arlen Schumer, ‘The Beginning of the End’ by Jon B. Cooke, ‘Legendary Tales’ by Will Murray and ‘Asgard Forever!’ by Stan Lee, from previous Marvel Masterworks editions, and also includes editorial announcements and ‘The Hammer Strikes!’ news and letters pages for each original issue to enhance overall historical experience…

This blockbusting era-defining, full-colour third tome offers Asgardian exploits from Thor #153-194, collectively covering June 1968 to December 1971 as the Universe Jack built slowly began to succumb to the weight and stricture of Marvel’s abiding continuity, and the King sought ever more challenging innovation and spectacle…

Once upon a time lonely, lamed American doctor Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway only to encounter the vanguard of an alien invasion. Entombed in a cave, Blake found a gnarled old walking stick, which, when struck against the ground, turned him into the Norse God of Thunder! Without any hesitation or preamble the reborn godling was soon defending the weak and smiting the wicked. Months swiftly passed and rapacious extra-terrestrials, Commie dictators, costumed crazies and cheap thugs gradually gave way to a vast panoply of fantastic worlds and incredible, mythic menaces. Eventually the magnificent warrior’s ever-expanding world of Asgard was a regular feature and mesmerising milieu for the hero’s earlier adventures, heralding a fresh era of cosmic fantasy to run almost tangentially to the company’s signature superhero sagas.

The action begins here with the conclusion of another calamitous clash involving wicked stepbrother Loki. In the wilds of Asgard, Ulik the Troll had attacked Karnilla, Queen of the Norns and brave lovestruck god Balder offered to be her champion if she freed Thor’s beloved Sif from the awesome Destroyer armour her spirit was trapped in, and which had forced her to kill her briefly de-powered beloved.

Resurrected and triumphant, Thor united with his lost companions against Ulik, only to lose his newly re-energised hammer to Loki, who fled to Earth with it. In hot pursuit, the heroes followed and Sif was gravely wounded…

Now in ‘…But Dr. Blake Can Die!’ the Thunderer reverts to his mortal guise to surgically operate on the dying goddess – an opportunity for further mayhem that Loki cannot resist, but which our hero’s courage and ingenuity manage to frustrate…

Vanquished and hurled into an inter-dimensionally bottomless pit, furious Ulik saves himself whilst accidentally releasing an ancient unstoppable beast in #154’s ‘…To Wake the Mangog!’ A creature imprisoned by Odin in his ancient prime, the monster – embodying the power and spirit of a billion, billion predatory warriors – emerges incandescent at his long incarceration and, brutally laying waste to everything in its path, rampages towards the heart of Asgard to trigger Ragnarok in ‘Now Ends the Universe!’ All of the Golden Realm’s martial resources are unable to slow the deadly march to doom in ‘The Hammer and the Holocaust!’ but their valiant delaying tactics, depicted in unimaginably powerful battles scenes from a genius on fire Kirby resulted in a last-minute save in #157’s ‘Behind Him… Ragnarok!’

Although short on plot development, the astounding struggle to save Asgard is a masterful expression of the artist’s hunger for bigger stories, and might well have underpinned his later Fourth World series at DC…

The peculiarities of the Blake/Thor relationship were examined and finally clarified next; beginning with ‘The Way it Was!’ – a framing sequence by regular creative team Stan Lee, Kirby & Vince Colletta – that book-ended a reprint of the Thor debut story from Journey into Mystery #83, ‘The Stone Men of Saturn’ (scripted by Larry Leiber and inked by Joe Sinnott). This memory moment neatly segues into ‘The Answer at Last!’ taking the immortal hero back to his long-distant youth to reveal Blake as an Odinian construct designed to teach the Thunderer humility and compassion by living amongst mortals as one of them…

With his true nature re-established, Thor answers a call from the galaxy-roving Colonisers of Rigel, plunging into the depths of space to face a cosmic menace. ‘And Now… Galactus!’ reintroduced old AI companion The Recorder whilst pitting the Devourer of Worlds against living planet Ego: a clash concluded with the Thunderer’s heavy-handed aid in ‘Shall a God Prevail?’ The cosmic wonderment then escalates in ‘Galactus is Born!’ as Asgardian magic finally reveals a tantalising fragment of the terrifying space god’s origins…

Pausing briefly for text interlude ‘The Beginning of the End’ by Jon B. Cooke, we then storm onwards into a sci-fi-fuelled two-parter. In #163 & 164 Thor is summarily despatched to Earth to battle an invasion from a ghastly dystopian future. ‘Where Demons Dwell!’ sees his lover Lady Sif investigating a bizarre energy vortex until captured by Mutate monsters led by rogue Greek god Pluto. The reunited Asgardians decimate the horrors from tomorrow ‘Lest Mankind Fall!’ and as valiant comrade Balder rejoins them in cataclysmic combat, a mysterious cocoon hatches a man-made god…

‘Him!’ (Thor #165) and its conclusion ‘A God Berserk!’ see the creature created by evil scientists to conquer mankind – and who would eventually evolve into tragic cosmic saviour Adam Warlock – wake amidst the turmoil of the battle and, seeing Sif, decide it is time he took a mate…

Trailing the naive artificial superman across space and assorted dimensions with the outraged Thor, Balder witnesses his gentle comrade’s descent into brutal “warrior-madness”, resulting in a savage beating of Him. By the time the Thunderer regains his equilibrium, he is a shaken, penitent and guilt-ridden hero, eager to pay penance for his unaccustomed savagery.

In ‘This World Renounced!’ (sporting a cover by John Romita: the first ever not drawn by Kirby) almighty Odin punishes his son for succumbing to Warrior Madness by exiling him to deep space, where he must atone by locating enigmatic world-devourer Galactus. However, just before departure, the Prince of Asgard clears up some outstanding old business, including another confrontation with his stepbrother Loki…

Superb George Klein came aboard as inker for ‘Galactus Found!’ with Balder and the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun & Volstagg) babysitting Earth as Thor roams the heavens on his lonely mission. By the time a new threat emerges in Red China, in the deep unknown Galactus meets to Thor to disclose ‘The Awesome Answer!’ to his origins: a dose of pure Kirby Kosmology of truly staggering proportions. Meanwhile back home, the terrifying Thermal Man is making things far too hot for both his Chinese creators and the Lands of the Free…

With comics legend Bill Everett assuming inking chores, Thor #170’s ‘The Thunder God and the Thermal Man’ finds the star-lost hero on Earth with mission accomplished, to discover New York besieged by a walking atomic nightmare. Tumbling straight into cataclysmic combat beside his Asgardian comrades against the unstoppable mechanoid menace, Thor is suddenly deprived of his allies at the height of the struggle when Balder, Hogun, Fandral & Volstagg are arcanely abducted to Asgard by Loki and the Norn Queen. Nevertheless, the turbulent Thunder God triumphs…

Alone on Earth, Thor next faces a series of single-issue situations: confronting ‘The Wrath of The Wrecker!’ to crush the Norn-empowered bandit before foiling the body-swapping plot of billionaire Kronin Krask in ‘The Immortal and the Mind-Slave!’ after which Will Murray’s text treatise on ‘Legendary Tales’ offers a breather prior to our godly hero overcoming the earthbound fury of ‘Ulik Unleashed!’ after the titanic troll succumbs to the mesmeric wiles of old Thor adversaries The Circus of Crime…

The Thunderer continues punching down after a strength-stealing robot runs amok in ‘The Carnage of the Crypto-Man!’ before the last great epic of the Kirby-era begins, behind a Marie Severin cover as ‘The Fall of Asgard!’ (Lee, Kirby & Everett) sees valiant Balder and the Warriors Three barely escape the clutches of lovestruck Karnilla to confront the assembled hordes of giants and trolls marching on the Home of the Gods. With All-Father Odin incapacitated by his annual Great Sleep, perfidious Loki has seized the throne, forcing war-goddess Sif to summon Thor home for perhaps the Last Battle…

Inked by Colletta, ‘Inferno!’ reveals the usurper’s folly as fire-demon Surtur sunders his ancient Odinian captivity to instigate his pre-ordained task of burning down the universe. With everything appearing ‘To End in Flames!’, Loki flees to Earth, having first hidden Odin’s comatose form in the life-inimical Sea of Eternal Night. As Thor leads a heroic Horatian last stand, Balder penetrates the Dimension of Death to rescue the All-Father just as Surtur fires up for his fulminating final foray. It’s a close call but is not yet the end…

Thor #178 (July 1970) was a shock and is a landmark: the first issue without Jack Kirby since the strip’s formative days. Clearly a try-out or hasty fill-in yarn, ‘Death is a Stranger’ – by Lee, John Buscema & Colletta – sees the Thunderer snatched away from Asgard by the nefarious Abomination and duped into clashing with the Stranger: an extra-galactic alien powerhouse who collects unique beings for scientific study…

Inked by John Verpoorten, the interrupted epic riotously resumed in #179 with ‘No More the Thunder God!’ as Thor, Sif & Balder are sent to Earth to arrest fugitive Loki. The issue was Kirby’s last: he left the entire vast unfolding new mythology on a monumental cliffhanger just as the Thunder God is ambushed by his wicked step-brother. Using arcane magic, the Lord of Evil switches bodies with his noble sibling and gains safety and the power of the Storm whilst Thor is doomed to endure whatever punishment Odin decrees…

More than any other Marvel strip Thor was the feature where Kirby’s creative brilliance matched his questing exploration of an Infinite Imaginative Cosmos: dreaming, extrapolating and honing a dazzling new kind of storytelling graphics with soul-searching, mind-boggling concepts of Man’s place in the universe.

Although what followed contained the trappings and even spirit of that incredible marriage, the heart, soul and soaring, unfettered wonderment just were not there any longer: nor would they truly return until 1983 when Walt Simonson assumed creative control with #337.

Here, then ‘When Gods Go Mad!’ introduces the radically different style of hot property Neal Adams, inked by comfortably familiar Joe Sinnott, as the true Thunderer is sent to Hell and the tender mercies of Mephisto, whilst on Earth Loki uses his brother’s body to terrorise the UN Assembly and declare himself Master of the World. In #181’s ‘One God Must Fall’ Sif leads the Warriors Three on a rescue mission to the Infernal Realm as Balder struggles to combat the power of Thor merged with the magic and malice of Loki until Mephisto is thwarted. Then, a cataclysmic battle of brothers on Earth subsequently sets the world to rights…

The new Post-Kirby era truly began with Thor #182, as John Buscema took up the artistic reins and began his own epic run as illustrator with ‘The Prisoner… The Power… and… Dr. Doom!’ Here the Storm Lord becomes entangled in Earthly politics when a young girl entreats him to rescue her father from the deadly Iron Monarch of Latveria. The godling cannot refuse, especially as the missing parent is an expert on missile technology and capable of making Doom the master of ICBM warfare…

The decidedly down-to-Earth and rather mismatched melodrama concludes with Don Blake ‘Trapped in Doomsland!’ until Thor can retrieve his recently misappropriated mallet, but even after his deadly mission of mercy is accomplished, tragedy is his only reward…

Preceded by Stan Lee’s text piece ‘Asgard Forever!’ the first epic of the new age sees Lee, Buscema & Joe Sinnott crafting their own ambitious cosmic saga, opening with #184, exploring ‘The World Beyond!’ wherein an implacable, sinister force devours the outer galaxies, with psychic reverberations of the horrific events impacting and unravelling life on Earth and in Asgard. With all creation imperilled, Odin departs to combat the enigmatic threat alone…

Sam Grainger inked ‘In the Grip of Infinity!’, as universal calamity intensifies and the All-Father falls to an enigmatic, seemingly all-consuming invader before ‘Worlds at War!’ exposes a hidden architect behind the encroaching armageddon. That revelation leads to a desperate last-ditch ploy, uniting the forces of Good and Evil in ‘The World is Lost!’ before one final clash – inked by Jim Mooney – answers all the questions before celebrating ‘The End of Infinity!’ Although vast in scope and drenched in powerful moments highlighting the human side of the gods in extremis, this tale suffers from an excess of repetitive padding and a rather erratic pace. Without pause, though, we plunge on as Thor #189 sees sepulchral goddess Hela come calling, demanding Thor feel ‘The Icy Touch of Death!’ to pay for all the souls she didn’t get in the recent sidereal showdown…

After a big chase around planet Earth she is finally dissuaded in ‘…And So, To Die!’, but the distraction has meanwhile allowed ever-opportunistic Loki to seize the Throne of Asgard and unleash ‘A Time of Evil!’ This typically tyrannical behaviour results in the deranged despot using Odin’s stolen power to manifest an unstoppable artificial hunter/killer dubbed Durok the Demolisher. Unleashing his merciless engine of destruction on Earth, Loki gloats at the ‘Conflagration!’ (Grainger inks) he has callously instigated…

Completing the retiring of the Old Guard, Gerry Conway came aboard as writer for double-length tale ‘What Power Unleashed?’ (#193, with Sal Buscema augmenting & inking brother John) to conclude the epic tale. Prevented by vows from taking up arms against Loki’s puppet, Balder and Sif sagely enlist the Silver Surfer to aid the embattled Thunderer as Asgard totters on the brink of total destruction. Free to act against the real enemy, Thor then retaliates with staggering power and ‘This Fatal Fury!’: occupying the usurper’s full and furious attention until All-Father Odin finally resumes his rightful place.

To be Continued…

Kirby’s Thor will always be a high point in graphic fantasy, all the more impressive for the sheer imagination and timeless readability of the tales. With his departure the series foundered for the longest time before finding a new identity, yet even so the stories in this volume still offer intrigue and action, magnificently rendered by illustrators who, whilst not possessing Kirby’s vaulting visionary passion, were every inch his equal in craft and dedication.

With covers by Kirby, Colletta, Romita, John & Sal Buscema, Everett, Klein, Severin, Adams, Sinnott & Chic Stone, this book also includes the covers to Thor Annuals #3 & 4, pertinent house ads and a huge selection of original artwork plus unedited and unused images and story pages by Kirby, Buscema, Everett, Verpoorten, Grainger, and Mooney. Also on view are the covers to Tales of Asgard #1 (1968 by Kirby) and the 1984 re-release with a Simonson frontage, as well as Super-Villain Classics #1 (Bob Layton) recycling Galactus’ origins as seen in Thor between #160 &168… and it’s 1996 re-release with Steve Epting on the cover.

Other potent pictures include interlocking covers by Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales & Laura Martin from the 2009 Tales of Asgard series, re-re-re-printing Lee & Kirby’s Asgardian back-ups.

This is unmissable fantasy action and an absolute must for all fans of the medium, and all disciples of the modern Norse gods.
© 2022 MARVEL.

Today in 1916 stellar DC inker Stan Kaye was born. Two years later Frank King’s Gasoline Alley began – the longest-running current strip in US, and second-longest running strip of all time. It certainly outlasted Ham Fisher’s boxing strip Joe Palooka, which began in 1930 and ended today in 1984. Two years later, Al Smith died. He had inherited and sustained Bud Fisher’s Mutt and Jeff from 1932 to 1980.

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Lobey’s The Wee Boy! – Five Lobey Dosser Adventures by Bud Neill


By Bud Neill, compiled by Ranald MacColl (Mainstream Publishing)
ISBN: 1-85158-405-6 (PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Get it! Get It! GET IT! …10/10

A wee while ago we covered Desperate Dan and I bravely questioned what is it with the Scots and Cowboys. Graciously ignoring any subsequent comments since, I’m just going to point to this out now…

Nobody’s ever accused me of being sensitive to the tone of the times, but with a cold snap on and all thoughts directed north of the border for now, I’m focussing on this superbly fitting dose of Celtic (more properly Glaswegian) cartoon magic today. It’s the work of a tragically near-forgotten genius of pen & brush who should rightly be a household name wherever people like to laugh and ponder the absurdity of existence, no matter what flag they fly.

William Neill – forever immortalised as “Bud” – was Partick-born in 1911, just before the family moved to Troon in Ayrshire. He was a typical kid and fell in love with the brash wonder of silent movies – most especially the rambunctious westerns of William S. Hart. His other great drive was a love of horses, and he could always be found hanging around stables, trading odd jobs for the chance of a few minutes’ riding…

After being done with school the young artistic star won a place at Glasgow School of Art and, in the late 1930s, briefly emigrated. Bud worked in Canada and deftly absorbed the still-developing tricks of America’s greatest newspaper cartoonists during their creative heyday. He then served as a gunner in WWII before being invalided out and ending up a bus driver. These varied experiences led to his creating a series of pocket cartoons starring the “Caurs & Clippies” of Glasgow’s tramcar system.

By 1944 Bud was drawing for the Glasgow Evening Times: sharp, wry observational pieces starring the city and its inhabitants, characterised by devastating, instantly enchanting use of the iconic rhythms, vernacular and argot everyone shared. In January 1949, The Evening News began running the uniquely surreal escapades of his greatest creation.

Sheriff Lobey Dosser of Calton Creek was a brilliant, magnificent inspiration: the ongoing adventures of a canny wee lawman in a hauntingly typical western town but populated exclusively by Scots (from Glasgow’s Calton district, presumably) all living an outrageously domestic, hilariously apt inner-city life and tricked out in cowboy hats and with six-guns.

Delving deep into the venerable, anarchic, often surreal material of pantomime and music hall, Bud crafted a supremely odd, anachronistically familiar, bizarrely inviting world of inviting solecism masquerading as local events and exotic adventure. The series transferred to The Sunday Mail in 1956, supported by previous, complete strip adventures collected as instant sell-out, one shilling landscape booklets (all incredibly sought after collectors’ items these days).

Neill died in 1970, but his work steadily continued to garner fans and acquire a mythical status, so by the middle of the decade Glasgow artist and sculptor Ranald MacColl began work on a biography. That in turn led to a series of graphic collections such as this one and eventually belated recognition for Neill and his most memorable creations. Bud was celebrated in exhibitions, galleries and – following Glasgow’s becoming European City of Culture in 1990 – two separate bronze statues (Lobey, Rank Bajin and noble steed Elfie in Woodlands Road and, in Homecoming Year 2009, The G.I. Bride and her “Wean” at Partick Station), funded by public donations, Strathclyde Passenger Transport and private sponsors.

Hard to find but so worth the effort, Lobey’s The Wee Boy! gathers five of those shilling collections in a sensibly narrative chronological – not publication or even creation – order, and is packed with informative extras. These include MacColl’s fascinating historical and atmospheric Introduction and a hilarious Prologue by Bud himself from 1958, before the astonishing origin of the champion of Calton Creek is revealed in ‘Lobey Dosser: His Life Story’. On a rare quiet day the grizzled sheriff recounts his early life to a jail full of impressionable young’uns…

Once upon a time in auld Glesca, a mother had one bairn too many. One day, to spare her further hardship, the precocious tyke put his possessions in a hanky on a stick and headed off to make his way in the world. Although but a few months old, he rejected being fostered out to his mean Auntie Mabel and joined a merchant ship under tyrannical Captain Blackswite, unaware that the big shouty blackguard was a pirate…

After many exciting years at sea Lobey jumped ship and was befriended by cannibals and their erudite chief Hannibal which led to more exploring, meeting monsters and other strange things before encountering a race of Oxbridge-educated white savages and happily acquiring a rare two-legged horse. El Fideldo would become his greatest friend and inseparable companion.

Together they made their way to Mexico where the wee wanderer discovered an unsuspected talent for upholding the law and keeping the peace. After cleaning out a nest of vicious banditos, the restless pair headed north and fetched up in Laredo, Texas where a disastrous love affair with Adoda, formidable daughter of wealthy Whisk E. Glorr led to a clash with rustlers led by scurrilous Watts Koakin…

His heart broken – even though he had cleaned up the range – Dosser & Elfie kept heading west until they reached Arizona and first met future archnemesis Rank Bajin selling out the wagon train he was guiding to the local Sioux. Rescuing the embattled settlers, Lobey opted to stay with the Scots expats as they built a town in the wilderness. They called it Calton Creek…

Wild, imaginative and with every daily episode fully loaded with sight gags, striking slapstick, punishing puns, cartoon in-jokes and intoxicating vernacular, each Lobey Dosser tale was a non-stop carnival of graphic mirth. This terrific tome continues in fine fettle with ‘The Mail Robbery’ wherein nefarious Bajin attempts to incite an Indian uprising amongst the Pawnee of Chief Toffy Teeth, and at one point leaves the little lawman to die of thirst in the searing deserts. Moreover, as the scorched sheriff struggles and strives to survive, the naive citizens are left to adapt to a protective occupation by flash Yankee G.I.s and airmen…

Sardonic and satirically cutting, the yarn also sports one of the best – and daftest – horseback chases in entertainment history…

Romance and mystery abound in ‘The Secret of Hickory Hollow’ as that Bajin scoundrel buys up the mortgage on Vinegar Hill’s farm and attempts to evict and kick out the old coot and his substantial niece Honey Perz. The villain has gotten wind of a mineral resource on the property that would make a man as wealthy as the Maharaja of Baroda, or perhaps even a regional Deputy Superintendent of the Coal Board…

When Lobey organises the cash needed to pay off the outstanding loan, Bajin reluctantly resorts to the last resort and begins romancing sweet, innocent, hulking Honey. It all looks bleak for justice until the sheriff befriends an astoundingly good-looking and wholesome uranium prospector named Hart O’Gold who quickly tickles Honey’s fickle fancy. However nobody – including ghostly guardian Rid Skwerr – is prepared for the Soviet spies behind the entire affair to jump in and take over…

Ultimately it needs the timely intervention of mystic imp Fairy Nuff to save everyone’s accumulated hash before the Dosser can finally expose the viper in the nest…

The local natives are always up to mischief and ‘The Indian War’ kicks off when the Railroad tries to lay track through Pawnee territory just as Chief Rubber Lugs of the Blackfeet Tribe revisits an old and outstanding grudge with counterpart commander Toffy Teeth. Ineffectual Captain Goodenough arrives with a division of cavalry to safeguard the white citizenry but matters soon worsen, painfully exacerbated when the folk of Calton Creek take advantage of Lobey’s absence (he’s trying to negotiate with both bunches of bellicose braves) to run Bajin out of town. Instead, the hooded hoodlum starts freely peddling weapons to all sides…

… And then Bajin kills Lobey and takes over the town.

… And then…

The final yarn in this masterful monochrome tome of tall tales is the most incredible of all as ‘The “Reform” of Rank Bajin’ sees the vile villain scooting around Calton Creek doing good deeds and selling off his astounding arsenal of wicked weapons and cunning contraband. Baffled, perplexed, confused and not sure what’s going on, Lobey asks Boot Hill-haunter Rid Skwerr to spy on the no-longer-reprehensible Rank. Even love-struck Fairy Nuff gets in on the act before the astounding truth finally emerges.

Bajin has a boy who is growing up honest, so is selling up and returning to the family he deserted in Borstal Bluffs, Iowa to sort the shameful lad out. Knowing the tremendous vacuum his absence will leave in Calton’s exciting landscape, he has, however, a recommendation for a locum archenemy for his archenemy…

Can this possibly all be true or is the beastly Bajin executing his most sinister scheme yet?

Cunningly absurdist, socially aware, humorously harnessed insanity in the manner of Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine and the immortal Goon Show, the adventures of Lobey Dosser are a brilliant example of comic strips perfectly tailored to a specific time, place and audience: targeted treats which can magically transcend their origins to become masterpieces of the art form.

It’s also side-splitting, laugh-out-loud, Irn Bru spit-take hilarious and really needs to be recollected for today’s audiences.

And of course that’s what I really want: a complete reprinting of these sublimely perfect spoofs.

Trust me Pal: once you read some so will you… even if you ain’t no Scottisher…
© Ranald MacColl 1992. All rights reserved.

Today in 1959 Argentine artist Eduardo Risso was born. Sure, you’ve seen 100 Bullets, Sgt. Rock and Batman, but have you checked out Red Moon?
In 1986 unsung legend Norman Maurer died. When someone published stuff by the co-originator of 3D comics, the Three Stooges comics and much more, we’ll cover it.
In 2003, Berke Breathed’s Bloom County & Outland star began his own eponymous Sunday strip. Naturally. Opus soon fluffed it all up…
If you’re American, you probably wouldn’t be reading this or any strip stuff if it wasn’t for “father of comics fandom” Dr. Jerry Bails, who died today in 2006 with his job so very well done.

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The JSA All Stars Archives volume 1


By John Wentworth, Ken Fitch, Bill O’Connor, Sheldon Mayer, Charles Reizenstein, Bill Finger, Stan Aschmeier, Bernard Baily, Ben Flinton & Leonard Sansone, Howard Purcell, Hal Sharp, Irwin Hasen & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1472-2 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Golden Aged but Evergreen Enjoyment …8/10

In the JSA’s anniversary year, here’s yet another DC classic collection long overdue for revival and digital return. Until then – and if you can find it – this hardback will make a perfect present for you or yours…

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – indisputably Action Comics’ debut of Superman in June 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s history was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven: consumers couldn’t get enough of garishly-hued mystery men and combining a multitude of characters inevitably increases readership. Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one… or one-and-a-half if there’s a sidekick involved…

The creation of the Justice Society of America in 1941 (with copies of All-Star Comics #3 going on sale today waaay back then) utterly changed the shape of the budding business. However, before that team could unite they had to be popular enough to qualify, and this superb hardcover sampler gathers the debut adventures of a septet of beloved champions who never quite made it into the first rank but nonetheless scored enough to join the big team and maintain their own solo spots for much of the Golden Age of American Comics.

Whilst most favoured 1940s stalwarts all won their own DC Archive collections (some even making it into digital modern editions this century), this particular tome bundles a bunch of lesser lights – or at least those who never found as much favour with modern fans and revivalists – and features the first 5 appearances of 7 of the JSA‘s “secondary” mystery men: all solid supporting acts in their own anthology homes but who were potentially so much more…

Gathered here are short, sharp, stirring tales from Flash Comics #1-5; Adventure Comics #48-52; All-American Comics #19-29 and Sensation Comics #1-5, collectively spanning January 1940 to May 1942. They are preceded a sparkling, informative and appreciative Foreword by Golden Age aficionado and advocate Roy Thomas… himself enjoying an anniversary today so a very happy 85th birthday to you, sir!

The vintage vim & vigour begins with a character equally adored and reviled in modern times. Johnny Thunderbolt – as he was originally dubbed – was an honest, well-meaning, courageous soul who was also a grade A idiot. However, what he lacked in smarts he made up for with sheer luck, unfailing pluck and the unconscious (at least at first) control of an irresistible magic force.

The series was played for action-packed laughs, but there was no getting away from it: Johnny was, quite frankly, a simpleton in oblivious control of an ultimate weapon. At least his electric genie was more plausible than an egomaniacal orange-toned cretin in control of America’s nuclear arsenal…

John Wentworth & Stan Aschmeier introduced the happy sap in ‘The Kidnapping of Johnny Thunder’ from January 1940’s Flash Comics #1: a fantastic origin detailing how, decades previously, the infant seventh son of a seventh son in America was abducted by priests from mystical island Badhnisia. The child was to be raised as the long-foretold wielder of a fantastic magical weapon, all by voicing the eldritch command “Cei-U” – which sounds to western ears awfully like “say, you”…

However, ancient enemies on neighbouring isle Agolea started a war before ceremonial indoctrination could be completed and at age seven the lad, through that incomprehensible luck, returned to his parents to be raised in relative normality of the Bronx. Everything was fine until Johnny’s 17th birthday, when the rite finally came to fruition and – amid bizarre weather conditions – Badhnisians cultists intensified the search for their living weapon.

By the time they tracked him down, he was working in a department store and had recently picked up the habit of blurting out the phrase “say you.” It generally resulted in something very strange happening. One example being a bunch of strange “Asiatics” attacking him and being blown away by a mysterious pink tornado…

Pattern set, each month Johnny looked for gainful employment, stumbled into a crime or crisis where his voluble temperament resulted in an inexplicable unnatural phenomenon that solved the problem but left him no better off. It was a winning theme that lasted until 1947, by which time the Force had resolved into a wisecracking thunderbolt-shaped humanoid genie, while Johnny was ousted from his own strip by sexy new crimebuster Black Canary.

Flash Comics #2 featured ‘Johnny Becomes a Boxer’. Upon stepping in to save a girl from bullies, Johnny somehow convinces vivacious Daisy Darling to be his girlfriend. He then becomes Heavyweight Champion, leading to his implausibly winning a fixed bout in #3’s ‘Johnny versus Gunpowder Glantz’. Only now, Daisy refuses to marry a brute who lives by hitting others. The solution came in ‘Johnny Law’ when kidnappers attempt to abduct Daisy’s dad. Following his sound thrashing of the thugs, and at his babe’s urging, Johnny then joins the FBI. This tantalising taste of times past concludes with ‘G-Man Johnny’ (#5 May 1940) as the kid’s first case involves him in a bank raid and results in his own dad being taken hostage…

Although he eventually joined the JSA, and despite affable, good-hearted bumbling carrying him through the war, shifting peace-time fashions found no room for a hapless hero anymore, and when he encountered a sultry masked female Robin Hood who stole from crooks, the writing was on the wall. Nevertheless, fortuitously imbecilic (and remarkably Millennial in outlook and prospects) Johnny Thunder is fondly regarded by many modern fans, still having much to say and a decidedly different way of saying it…

Ken Fitch & Bernard Baily’s Hourman was a far more serious proposition. He actually had a shot at stardom and began by supplanting The Sandman as cover feature in Adventure Comics #48 (March 1940). Here, his exploits run through #52 (July) establishing the unique and gripping methodology which made him such a favourite of later, more sophisticated fans.

In an era where origins were never as important as action, mood and spectacle, ‘Presenting Tick-Tock Tyler, the Hour-Man’ begins with a strange classified ad offering assistance to any person in need. Chemist Rex Tyler had invented Miraclo: a drug super-energising him for 60 minutes at a time, and his first case sees him help a wife whose man is being dragged back into criminal endeavours by poverty and bad friends. Then ‘The Disappearance of Dr. Drew’ finds Tyler locating a missing scientist kidnapped by thugs before ‘The Dark Horse’ has the Man of the Hour crush a crooked, murderous bookie who swipes both horse and owner before a key race. Mad science and a crazy doctor employing ‘The Wax-Double Killers’ adds scary thrills and supervillain cachet for our timely hero to handle, and ‘The Counterfeit Hour-Man’ concludes the offerings here as he again defeats Dr. Snegg in a scurrilous scheme to frame the hooded hero.

Hourman always looked great and his adventures developed into tight and compulsive affairs, but as simply another strong, fast, tough masked guy, he never caught on and eventually timed out at the beginning of 1943 with Adventure #83.

Our third second string star is Calvin College student Al Pratt: a diminutive but determined kid fed up with being bullied by jocks. Al remade himself by effort and willpower into a pint-sized, two-fisted mystery man ready for anything. One of the longest lasting Golden Age greats, The Mighty Atom was created by writer Bill O’Connor and rendered by Ben Flinton & Leonard Sansone. He debuted in All-American Comics #19 and, after an impressive run there, transferred to Flash Comics in February 1947. The Atom sporadically appeared until the last issue – #104, cover-dated February 1949 – and made his final bow in the last JSA tale (All Star Comics #57) in 1951.

The cases here span AAC #19-23 (October 1940 – February 1941), beginning by ‘Introducing the Mighty Atom’ as the bullied scholar hooks up with down-&-out trainer Joe Morgan, whose radical methods soon have the kid at the very peak of physical condition and well able to take care of himself. However, when Al’s hoped-for girlfriend Mary is kidnapped, the lad eschews fame and potential sporting fortune to bust her loose, thereafter opting for clandestine extracurricular activities….

The Atom sported a costume for his second adventure, going into ‘Action at the College Ball’ to foil a hold-up before tackling ‘The Monsters from the Mine’ – actually enslaved victims of a scientific maniac intent on conquest. The college environment offered plentiful plot opportunities and in ‘Truckers War’ the hero crushes hijackers who bankrupt a fellow student and football star’s father. These episodes conclude with ‘Joe’s Appointment’ as Al’s trainer is framed for spying by enemy agents and needs a little atomic assistance…

Although we think of the Golden Age as a superhero wonderland, the true watchword was variety. Flagship anthology All-American Comics offered everything from slapstick comedy to aviation adventure on its four-colour pages and one of the very best humour strips featured semi-autobiographical exploits of Scribbly Jibbet: a boy who wanted to draw.

Created by actual comics wonderboy Sheldon Mayer, Scribbly: Midget Cartoonist debuted in AAC #1 (April 1939) and built a sterling rep for himself beside star reprint features including Mutt and Jeff and all-new adventure serial Hop Harrigan, Ace of the Airways. However, when contemporary fashions demanded a humorous look at mystery men, in #20 (November 1940) Mayer’s comedy feature evolved into a delicious spoof of the trend as Scribbly’s formidable landlady Ma Hunkel decided to do something about crime in her neighbourhood… so she dressed up as a husky male masked hero.

‘The Coming of the Red Tornado’ sees her don cape, woollen longjohns and a saucepan for aN identity-obscuring helmet to crush gangster/kidnapper Tubb Torponi. The mobster had made the mistake of snatching Ma’s terrible nipper Sisty and Scribbly’s little brother Dinky (who would later become her masked sidekicks), so Ma was determined to see justice done…

An ongoing serial rather than specific episodes, the dramedy concluded in ‘The Red Tornado to the Rescue’, with irate, inept cops deciding to pursue the mysterious new vigilante, with the ‘Search for the Red Tornado’ only making them look (more) stupid. With the scene set for outrageous parody ‘The Red Tornado Goes Ape’ pits the parochial masked manhunter against a zoo full of critters before the superb, sublime silly selection ends with ‘Neither Man nor Mouse’ (All-American Comics #24) with the hero apparently retiring and crime resurging – until Dinky & Sisty become crime- crunching duo The Cyclone Kids…

A far more serious and sustainable contender debuted in the next AAC issue, joining the growing horde of grim masked avengers. Delivered by Charles Reizenstein & Aschmeier in All-American Comics #25 (April 1941), ‘Dr. Mid-Nite: How He Began’ reveals how surgeon Charles McNider is blinded by criminals but subsequently discovers he can see perfectly in darkness. Becoming an outspoken criminologist, the maimed medico devises blackout bombs and other night paraphernalia to also wage secret war on gangsters, aided only by his new pet owl Hooty…

After bringing his own assailant to justice, the good doctor smashes river pirates protected by corrupt politicians in ‘The Waterfront Mystery’ and rescues innocent men blackmailed into serving criminals’ sentences in jail in ‘Prisoners by Choice’ (#27, illustrated by Howard Purcell). With Aschmeier’s return, Mid-Nite crushes aerial wreckers using ‘The Mysterious Beacon’ to down bullion planes and then smashes ‘The Menace of King Cobra’: a secret society leader lording it over copper mine workers.

The Master of Darkness also lasted until the era’s end and appeared in that last JSA story. Since his 1960s return he’s become one of the most resilient and mutable characters in DC’s pantheon of Golden Age revivals, whereas the next nearly-star was an almost forgotten man for decades. Of course his nineties reboot successor is a big shot screen star now…

When Sensation Comics launched (on sale from November 5th 1941) all eyes were rightly glued to uniquely eye-catching Wonder Woman who hogged all the covers and unleashed a wealth of unconventional adventures every month. However, like all anthologies of the era, her exploits were balanced by other features. Sensation #1-5 (cover-dates January to May 1942) also featured a pugnacious fighter who was the quintessence of manly prowess and a quiet, sedate fellow problem-solver who was literally a master of all trades.

Crafted by Reizenstein & Hal Sharp, ‘Who is Mr. Terrific?’ introduced physical and mental prodigy Terry Sloane who so excelled at everything he touched, that by the time of the opening tale he was planning his own suicide to escape terminal boredom. Happily, on a very high bridge he found Wanda Wilson, a girl with the same idea. By saving her, Sloane found purpose: crushing the kinds of criminals who had driven her to such despair…

Actively seeking out villainy of every sort, he performs ‘The One-Man Benefit Show’ after thugs sabotage performers, travels to the republic of Santa Flora to expose ‘The Phony Presidente’ and helps a rookie cop pinch an “untouchable” gang boss in ‘Dapper Joe’s Comeuppance’. Sloan’s last showing here sees him at his very best, carefully rooting out political corruption and exposing ‘The Two Faces of Caspar Crunch’…

Closing out this stunning hardback extravaganza is another quintet from Sensation #1-5, this time by Bill Finger & Irwin Hasen: already established stars for their work on Batman and Green Lantern.

‘This is the Story of Wildcat’ premieres one the era’s most impressive lost treasures and a genuine comic book classic in the tale of Ted Grant: a boxer framed for the murder of his best friend. Inspired by a kid’s hero-worship of Green Lantern, Grant clears his name by donning a feline mask and costume and ferociously stalking the true killers. Finger & Hasen captured everything which made for perfect rollercoaster adventure in their explosive sports-informed yarns. Mystery, drama and action unfolded unabated in sequel ‘Who is Wildcat?’ as Ted retires his masked identity to compete for the vacant world boxing title, but cannot let innocents suffer as crime and corruption befoul the city. ‘The Case of the Phantom Killers’ sees Wildcat stalk mobsters seemingly striking from beyond the grave, before his adventures alter forever with the introduction of hard-hitting hillbilly hayseed ‘Stretch Skinner, Dee-teca-tif!’ He came to the big city to be a private eye and instead became Grant’s foil, manager and crimebusting partner. The capsule comic craziness then concludes for now with a rousing case of mistaken identity and old-fashioned framing, as Wildcat saves his new pal from a murdering gambler in ‘Chips Carder’s Big Fix’…

These eccentric early adventures might not suit some modern fans’ tastes but they stand as an impressive and joyous introduction to the fantastic worlds and exploits of the World’s oldest if not always greatest superheroes. If you have an interest in the way things were or just hanker for simpler times, less complicated and angsty fun, this may well be a book you’ll cherish forever…
© 1940, 1941, 1942, 2007 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Also Today, in 1901 Roy Crane was born. His Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer all shaped the way comics evolved and deserve your attention. In 1923 Belgian cartoonist Paul (Corentin) Cuvelier was born. You can celebrate the birthday of Marjane Satrapi who joined the world in 1969 by checking out Persepolis – The Story of a Childhood & Persepolis 2 – The Story of a Return or recall the wonders of C.C. Beck who died today in 1989 just by heading to The Shazam! Archives volume 1. Better yet, you could skip my blather and just read the actual books I’m plugging…

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Lucky Luke: The Complete Collection volume 4


By Morris & René Goscinny, with Christelle & Bertram Pissavy-Yvernault: translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-169-9 (Album HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Family Thrills and Frolics No Movie Can Match… 8/10

On the Continent, the populace has a mature relationship with comics: according them academic and scholarly standing as well as meritorious nostalgic value and the validation of acceptance as an art form. Whilst tracing the lost origins of a true global phenomenon, this hardback and digital compilation celebrates the formulative early triumphs of a fictional hero who is certainly a national treasure for both Belgium and France, and it’s also timely in that this worldwide western wonder celebrates his 80th anniversary next year.

As we know him now, Lucky Luke is a rangy, good-natured, lightning-fast cowboy roaming the fabulously mythic Old West, having light-hearted adventures with his horse Jolly Jumper and interacting with archetypes, historical figures and mythic icons. His ongoing exploits have made him one of the best-selling comic characters in Europe (83 collected books plus around a dozen spin-offs and specials, totalling over 300 million albums in at least 33 languages thus far). That has generated all the usual spin-off toys, computer games, puzzles, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies that come with that kind of popularity. It has also spurred a bunch of academicians to steer studies his way and garnered a lot of learned words. Some of those you can read here, if you’re keen…

Lucky debuted in 1946, courtesy of Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de Bévère (“Morris”). For decades we all believed his first appearance was in autumn release Le Journal de Spirou Christmas Annual (L’Almanach Spirou 1947) prior to being catapulted into his first weekly adventure ‘Arizona 1880’ on December 7th 1946. However, the initial volume in this superb archival series proved the value of scholarship by revealing that the strip actually premiered earlier that year in the multinational weekly comic, albeit sans title banner and only in the edition released in France.

This fourth curated outing presents – in strict chronological order – strips published between February 2nd 1956 through September 1957 with all the art and pages fully restored, rejiggled and remastered to achieve maximum contemporary authenticity and synchronicity with the original weekly serialisation. Those stories were subsequently gathered as albums The Bluefeet are Coming!, Lucky Luke vs Joss Jamon and The Dalton Cousins and there’s even a few little extras scattered about for fascinated completists.

Before all that, though, there’s a wealth of background and unseen other works to enjoy, beginning with a lost cartoon gem as an old goldminer waggishly details ‘The Thousand Uses… of a Hat’…

A precocious, westerns-addicted, art-mad kid, well off and educated by Jesuits, Maurice de Bevere was born on December 1st 1923 in Kortrijk, Belgium. A far from illustrious or noteworthy scholar – except in all the ways teachers despise – Maurice sought artistic expression in his early working life via forays into film animation before settling into his true vocation. While working at the CBA (Compagnie Belge d’Actualitiés) animation studio, “Morris” met future comics superstars Franquin & Peyo, and worked as a caricaturist for weekly magazine Le Moustique. Morris quickly became one of la Bande des quatre (Gang of Four) comprising Jijé, Will and old comrade Franquin. Each was a leading proponent of a loose, free-wheeling artistic style known as the “Marcinelle School” which came to dominate Le journal de Spirou in aesthetic contention with the “Ligne Claire” style of Hergé, E.P. Jacobs and others in Le Journal de Tintin.

Previous volumes detailed Morris’s life, career, and achievements, and here Christelle & Bertram Pissavy-Yvernault augment past pictorial essays with ‘Wanted: Lucky Luke’ exploring life after returning to Belgium after his American holiday. It was May 1955 and the artist and his family had been gone for seven years…

Back home and back at work, Morris added to his output by illustrating novels, adding editorial content like quizzes to his Lucky workload and tasting new styles with a vast range of magazine covers, an inordinate number of which were ‘Sappy Moments’ for romance magazines and periodicals…

For Flemish readers he did cartoon sports columns and generally traded as a jobbing commercial artist, but all the while, he was still watching westerns and producing cowboy wonders and other comics stuff, such as the ‘Wild West Journalism’ article he wrote and included here in full. He was also constantly chatting with one of the Europeans he’d met in the US: cartoonist and scripter René Goscinny…

Accompanied by published cartoons, covers, script pages, contemporary ads, family photos and tons of original art, the in-depth treatise focuses on artistic development and the team building that resulted in one of comics’ most fruitful double acts Goscinny.

Morris had taken nearly a decade to craft nine albums of affectionate sagebrush parody and action. Now, with Goscinny as regular wordsmith, Luke would attain dizzying heights of super swift superstardom, commencing with Des rails sur la Prairie (Rails on the Prairie), in Le Journal de Spirou in August 1955. Before that though we enjoy a lost treat that first appeared in Risque Tout #11 (February 2nd 1956) prior to inclusion in Under A Western Sky. ‘Androcles’ details animal lover Luke’s interactions with a mistreated circus bear and proves that western justice applies equally to all…

Then the main event begins with all-Morris action as originally serialised in LJdS #938-957 (April 5th – August 16th and released in 1958 as Alerte aux Pied-Bleus/The Bluefeet are Coming!) It’s seen here with original French cover, editorial material and even ads.

A procession of linked gags sees Morris pile on and kick hard familiar themes and scenarios as the town of Rattlesnake Valley welcomes wanderer Lucky. The lone rider is just in time to save super-superstitious sheriff Jerry Grindstone from sneaky gambler/professional card cheat Pedro Cucaracha. His plans to fleece the old codger result in his painful and shameful eviction from civilisation; so naturally, the scoundrel tries to rob and blow up the bank on his way out. Chased into the surrounding desert, the scurvy Mexican then gulls the alcoholic Great Chief of the local Bluefeet Indians into laying siege to the town, tempting the old warrior with promises of unlimited booze…

Old Parched Bear is happy to oblige, and soon the town is forming a militia, telegraphing for the cavalry and erecting barricades. As food and water grow scarce profiteering proliferates, with Lucky and Jerry battening down the hatches and bolstering morale for a protracted and perilous defence of their lives and loved ones…

Against that framework of classic movie moments there are rich slapstick pickings as spies, crossdressers, raids & counter-raids and devious secret weapons all build to a bombastic finale, with Pedro and Parched Bear attempting all manner of nefarious invention to get respectively vengeance and more “firewater”…

… And then, when it’s almost too late, the Cavalry arrive… just after the deployment of late arriving support from Greenfeet and Yellowfeet branches of the family of First Nations. It can only end in catastrophe unless Lucky can contrive a solution…

Daft and Spectacular in equal amounts, this is perhaps a tale for older kids who have gained a bit of historical perspective and social understanding, although the action and slapstick situations are no more contentious than any old movie – as if that’s any help or comfort…

Rushing right on, Le Journal de Spirou #966-989 (October 18th 1956 – March 28th 1957) offered an uncredited Goscinny script as La bande de Joss Jamon and/or Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon pitted our laconically lanky hero against a very different kind of bad guy. Again on view with original cover and ads, what we know as Lucky Luke vs Joss Jamon finds our happy wanderer facing guns, lynching, slander, a diabolical frame-up and political office, after Confederate soldiers turn their wartime skills to garnering personal profit in the years of Reconstruction that followed the American Civil War.

However, as vile as sly conman Pete the Wishy-washy, brutish Jack the Muscle, murderous Indian Joe, ruthless trickster Sam the Farmer and cardsharp Bill the Cheater may be, their combined villainy cannot match that of their ambitious scheming leader Joss Jamon. He has a dream of running the state if not the country and enough drive to make it happen…

How that doesn’t happen sees Luke battle them singly and in a wild bunch as Jamon moves into Los Palitos and frames Luke for robbery. Barely escaping the neck-stretching, Luke swears to bring back the real culprits in six months or surrender himself for the waiting noose…

The trail finds Jamon in bustling metropolis Frontier City where, after taking over businesses by making offers nobody dares to refuse, Jamon is running for Mayor. Despite physically a match for his enemies, Luke now needs to change tactics to unseat the entrenched plutocrat. That means a menace-packed war of nerves and even running as a rival candidate…

Even though election day is the farce you’d expect, and Lucky is branded an outlaw, he has one last card to play… civil dissatisfaction and unrest…

Witty, wry and cynical, this yarn is actually more socially relevant mow than it ever was when politicians at least feared the repercussions of being caught doing wrong…

Still anonymous, Goscinny also wrote closing inclusion. The Dalton Cousins was first enjoyed in LJdS #992-1013 (April 18th to September 12th 1957) and reappears here with original cover and ads. For this manic mirth-fest Goscinny performed a much-demanded act of necromancy, resurrecting a quartet of killers Lucky had already dealt with, but whom readers want not dead but alive…

Published back in December 1954 Hors-la-loi was Morris’ 6th album and included a strip which saw our hero meet and beat Emmett Bill, Grat & Bob Dalton: real life badmen who had plagued the west during the 1890s. On those funny pages, Lucky was hired by railroad companies to end the depredations of the desperados who had been imported into the strip, but given a comedic, yet still vicious spin. A cat & mouse chase across the wildest of wests saw Luke constantly frustrated by close calls and narrow escapes in superbly gripping movie set-pieces until, inevitably, justice claimed the killers. At the close, Morris had Lucky end the gang forever, but they and the story itself were insanely popular with fans. These owlhoots were comedy gold and ideal foils, so eventually they returned in the form of their own cousins…

From the response to that tale eventually came this aforementioned revival, as Goscinny’s third collaboration. When this iteration of the appalling Dalton Brothers – now and forever after Averell, Jack, William & devious, slyly psychotic, tyrannical diminutive brother Joe – showed up, the course of the strip altered forever…

It opens on a remote farm in Arizona where four brothers mourn the loss of the murderous bandits they resemble and are related to. They know they aren’t nearly good enough to fill the dead men’s boots or kill their killer Lucky Luke… but they are willing to try their hardest to change all that…

The replacement Daltons’ first attempt to settle the score is frankly embarrassing, but fortune and persistence gradually harden and hone them. They even at one stage have the happy wanderer train them…

Ultimately, however, after they besiege a town and regularly succeed in theft and terrorism, Lucky is forced to take action before they become as great a menace as their dearly departed favourites ever were…

Sadly, he leaves it too late and is forced to resort to tricky tactics of dividing to conquer. It either that or be hunted down like a dog: a role he’s just not suited for…

As much thriller as comedy romp, this yarn proved how crucial great villains are to any hero and started a western showdown that fruitfully persists and thrives to this day…

Graced with biographies of Morris and Goscinny and peppered with contemporaneous extras this is perfect for kids with a smidgen of historical perspective and social understanding, although the action and slapstick situations are no more contentious than any Laurel and Hardy film – perfectly understandable as Morris was a huge fan of the duo. These formative forays are a grand old hoot in the tradition of Destry Rides Again or Support Your Local Sheriff, superbly executed by master storytellers, and a wonderful introduction to a unique genre for anyone who might well have missed the romantic allure of the Wild West that never was…
Original edition © Lucky Comics 2022. English translation © 2025 Cinebook Ltd.
All pages & illustrations relating to The Thousand Uses of a Hat, Androcles and The Bluefeet are Coming! © Morris/Goscinny/Dupuis 2022.
All pages & illustrations relating to Horse Thieves, Lucky Luke vs Joss Jamon and The Dalton Cousins © Morris/Goscinny/Dupuis 2022.
All documents relating to Morris are © Morris/Dupuis 2022.
All documents relating to René Goscinny are © Anne Goscinny 2022 barring cited exceptions.

Today in 1948 Underground Commix cartoonist and proud pornographer Larry Welz (Yellow Dog, Captain Guts, Cherry PopTart) was born, whilst in 1992 epically long-running UK adventure weekly The Victor published its last issue.

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DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories


By Otto Binder, Bill Finger, Jerry Siegel, John Broome, Leo Dorfman, Edmond Hamilton, Jim Shooter, C.C. Beck, Dick Sprang, Kurt Schaffenberger, Curt Swan, Carmine Infantino, Bob Kane & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0534-8 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Purely Addictive Comics Madness… 9/10

Alan Moore’s infamous epigram notwithstanding, not all comics tales are “Imaginary Stories”.

When DC Editor Mort Weisinger was expanding the Superman continuity and building the legend, he realised that each new tale was an event that added to a nigh-sacred canon: that what was written and drawn mattered to the readers. But, as a big concept guy, he wasn’t going to let that aggregated “history” stifle a good idea, nor would he allow his eager yet sophisticated audience to endure clichéd deus ex machina cop-outs to mar the sheer enjoyment of a captivating concept. The mantra known to every baby-boomer fan was “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not a Robot!” boldly emblazoned on covers depicting scenes that couldn’t possibly be true… as a way of exploring non-continuity deviations, plots and scenarios devised at a time when editors believed entertainment trumped consistency and knew that every comic read was somebody’s first… or potentially last.

This jolly little compilation – long overdue for revival and expansion – celebrates the time when whimsy and imagination were king but somewhat stretches the point by leading with a fanciful tale of the World’s Mightiest Mortal. Courtesy of Otto Binder & CC Beck, ‘Captain Marvel and the Atomic War’ (Captain Marvel Adventures #66, October 1946) actually hoaxes the public through a demonstration of how the world might end in the new era of Nuclear Proliferation.

‘The Second Life of Batman’ (Bill Finger, Dick Sprang & Charles Paris in Batman #127, October 1959) doesn’t really fit the strict definition either, but the tale of a device that predicts how Bruce Wayne’s life would have run if his parents had not been killed is superb and engaging all the same. In contrast, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Superman) Kent!’ (Jerry Siegel & brilliant Kurt Schaffenberger) was the first of an occasional series that began in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #19 (August 1960). Far more apropos, it depicts the laughter and tears that might result if the plucky news-hen secretly marries the Man of Steel.

From an era uncomfortably parochial and patronising to women, there’s actually plenty of genuine heart and understanding in this tale and a minimum of snide sniping about “silly, empty-headed girls”…

Eventually the concepts became so bold that Imaginary Stories could command book-length status. ‘Lex Luthor, Hero!’ (Superman #149, November 1961) by Siegel, Curt Swan & Sheldon Moldoff details the mad scientist’s greatest master-plan and ultimate victory in a tale as powerful now as it ever was. In many ways this is what the whole concept was made for! No prizes for guessing what ‘Jimmy Olsen Marries Supergirl!’ (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #57, December 1961) is about, but the story is truly a charming delight, beautifully realized by Siegel, Swan & Stan Kaye.

Once more stretching a point ‘The Origin of Flash’s Masked Identity!’ (John Broome, Carmine Infantino & Joe Giella in The Flash# 128, May 1962) although highly entertaining, is more an enthusiastic day-dream than alternate reality and, I suspect, is added to bring variety to the mix – as is the intriguing ‘Batman’s New Secret Identity’ (Batman #151, November 1961, by Finger, Bob Kane & Paris).

‘The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!’ (Superman #162, July 1963) is possibly the most influential tale of this entire subgenre. Written by Leo Dorfman with art from Swan & George Klein, this startling utopian classic was so well-received that decades later it still influences and flavours Superman continuity. The plot involves the Action Ace being divided into two equal wonder men who promptly solve all universal problems and even the love rivalry between Lois Lane and Lana Lang!

Siegel & Schaffenberger’s ‘The Three Wives of Superman!’ is an enchanting tragedy of missed chances from SGLL #51 (August 1964) clearing the palate for ‘The Fantastic Story of Superman’s Sons’ (by Edmond Hamilton, Swan & Klein in Superman #166, November 1964): a solid thriller built on a tragic premise (what if only one of Superman’s children inherited his powers?), and this bright and breezy book closes with the stirring, hard-hitting ‘Superman and Batman… Brothers!’, wherein orphaned Bruce Wayne is adopted by the Kents, but cannot escape a destiny of tragedy and darkness. Written by Jim Shooter, with art from Swan & Klein for World’s Finest Comics #172 (cover-dated December 1967) this moody thriller in many ways signalled the end of carefree days and the beginning of a grittier, more cohesive DC universe for a less whimsical, fan-based audience.

This collection is a glorious slice of fancy, augmented by an informative introduction from columnist Craig Shutt, bolstered with mini-cover reproductions of many tales that tragically never made it into the collection, but I do have one minor quibble: No other type of tale was more dependent on an eye-catching, conceptually intriguing cover, so why couldn’t those belonging to these collected classics have been included here, too?

Surely, it’s time for a re-issue in either print or digital format with all those arresting covers included. Yes, it is… and don’t call me Shirley.
© 1946, 1959-1964, 1967, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1900 Chester Gould was born. No help from me here, deduct who he was.

Happy birthday British arts icon Rian Hughes, arrived today in 1963, joined three years after by Jill Thompson and Guy Davis. Them also you should seek out here or in their own books…

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Incredible Hulk Epic Collection volume 1: Man or Monster? (1962-1964)


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Paul Reinman, Dick Ayers, George Roussos, Chic Stone & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9600-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless Monster Madness Masterpieces… 10/10

We all still like superheroes right? Here’s a bunch of yarns thou shouldst not miss…

Chronologically collecting the Jade Juggernaut’s earliest appearances, this titanic tome (available as a hefty paperback and relatively weightless digital edition) gathers Incredible Hulk #1-6; Fantastic Four #2 & 25-26; Avengers #1-3 & 5, Amazing Spider-Man #14; Tales to Astonish #59 and an unforgettable clash with Thor from Journey into Mystery #112: cumulatively spanning early 1962 to the end of 1964.

The Incredible Hulk was new-born Marvel’s second new superhero title, despite Henry Pym technically debuting earlier in a one-off yarn from Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962). However, Hank didn’t become a costumed hero until the autumn, by which time Ol’ Greenskin was not-so-firmly established.

The Hulk smashed right into his own bi-monthly comic and, after some classic romps by Young Marvel’s finest creators, crashed right out again. After six issues the series was cancelled and Lee retrenched, making the Gruff Green Giant a perennial guest-star in other titles until such time as they could restart the drama in their new “Split-Book” format in TtA where Ant/Giant-Man was rapidly proving to be a character who had outlived his time.

Cover-dated May 1962, Incredible Hulk #1 finds puny atomic scientist Bruce Banner sequestered on a secret military base in the desert, perpetually bullied by bombastic boss General “Thunderbolt” Ross, even as the clock counts down to the World’s first Gamma Bomb test.

Besotted with Ross’s daughter Betty, Banner endures the General’s constant jibes as the timer ticks on and tension increases, but at the final moment the boffin sees a teenager lollygagging at Ground Zero. As he frantically rushes to the site to drag the boy away, unknown to all, the assistant he’s entrusted to delay the countdown has an agenda of his own…

Rick Jones is a wayward but good-hearted kid. After initial resistance he lets himself be pushed into a safety trench, but just as Banner prepares to join him The Bomb detonates…

Somehow surviving the blast, Banner and the boy are secured by soldiers, but that evening as the sun sets the scientist undergoes a monstrous transformation. He grows larger; his skin turns a stony grey…

In six simple pages that’s how it all starts, and no matter what any number of TV or movie reworkings or comicbook retcons and psycho-babble re-evaluations would have you believe that’s still the best and most primal take on the origin. A good man, an unobtainable girl, a foolish kid, an unknown enemy and the horrible power of destructive science unchecked…

Written by Stan Lee, drawn by Jack Kirby with inking by Paul Reinman, ‘The Coming of the Hulk’ barrels along as the man-monster & Jones are kidnapped by Banner’s Soviet counterpart The Gargoyle for a rousing round of espionage and Commie-busting. He soon sees the (green) light, though…

In the second issue the plot concerns invading aliens, and the Banner/Jones relationship settles into a traumatic nightly ordeal where the good doctor transforms and is locked into an escape-proof cell whilst the boy stands watch helplessly. Neither ever considers telling the government of their predicament…

‘The Terror of the Toad Men’ is formulaic but viscerally, visually captivating as Steve Ditko inks Kirby; imparting a genuinely eerie sense of unease to the artwork. Incidentally, this is the story where the Hulk inexplicably changed to his more accustomed Green persona…

Although back-written years later as a continuing mutation, the plain truth is that grey tones caused all manner of problems for production colourists so it was arbitrarily changed to the simple and more traditional colour of monsters.

The third issue presented a departure in format as chaptered epics gave way to complete short stories. Dick Ayers inked Kirby in the transitional ‘Banished to Outer Space’ which radically altered the relationship of Jones and the rage-beast, with the story thus far reprised in 3-page vignette ‘The Origin of the Hulk’. Marvel mainstay of villainy the Circus of Crime debuts at the end in ‘The Ringmaster’ whilst in #4 The Hulk goes on an urban rampage for first tale ‘The Monster and the Machine’ prior to aliens and Commies combining in second escapade ‘The Gladiator from Outer Space!’

The Incredible Hulk #5 is a joyous classic of Kirby action, introducing immortal despot Tyrannus and his underworld empire in ‘The Beauty and the Beast!’, after which those pesky Commies came in for another pasting when the Jolly Green freedom-fighter crushes the invasion of Lhasa in ‘The Hordes of General Fang!’

Lee grasped early on the commercial impact of cross-pollination and – presumably aware of disappointing sales – inserted the Green Gargantuan into his top selling title next. Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963) featured an early crossover as the team were asked to help the US army capture ‘The Incredible Hulk’: a tale from Lee, Kirby & Ayers packed with intrigue, action and bitter irony. It begins with a series of spectacularly destructive sabotage incidents putting the heroes on the trail of a monster when they should have been looking at spies… Despite the sheer verve and bravura of these simplistic classics – some of the greatest, most rewarding comics nonsense ever produced – the Hulk series was not doing well. Kirby moved on to more appreciated arenas and Steve Ditko stepped up to handle art chores for #6: another full-length epic and an extremely engaging one.

‘The Incredible Hulk Vs the Metal Master’ has astounding action, slyly subtle sub-plots and a thinking man’s resolution, but nonetheless the title died with the issue, also dated March. Another comic debuted that month and offered a lifeline to the floundering Emerald Outcast. ‘The Coming of the Avengers’ offers one of the cannier origin tales in comics. Instead of starting at a zero point and acting as if the reader knew nothing, creators Lee, Kirby & Ayers assumed interested parties had at least a passing familiarity with Marvel’s other titles, and wasted little time or energy on introductions in the premiere issue.

In Asgard Loki, god of evil, is imprisoned on a dank islet but still craves vengeance on his step-brother Thor. Observing Earth, the villain sees the monstrous Hulk and engineers a situation wherein the man-brute goes on a rampage, hoping to trick the Thunder God into battling the bludgeoning brute. When sidekick Rick Jones radios the Fantastic Four for assistance, Loki diverts the transmission so they cannot hear it and expects his mischief to quickly blossom. However, other heroes pick up the SOS – namely Iron Man, Ant-Man & the Wasp – and as the costumed champions converge on the desert in search of the Hulk, they realize something’s amiss…

This terse and compelling yarn is Lee & Kirby at their absolute best, and one of the greatest stories of the Silver Age, here promptly followed by ‘The Space Phantom’ (Lee, Kirby & Reinman): another unforgettable epic, in which an alien shape-stealer almost destroys the group from within. The tale ends with the volatile Hulk quitting the team only to return in #3 as a villain in partnership with ‘Sub-Mariner!’: a globetrotting romp delivering high energy thrills and one of the best battle scenes in comics history.

Three months later, Fantastic Four #25 featured a cataclysmic clash that had young heads spinning in 1964… and pretty much ever since. Inked by George Roussos, ‘The Hulk Vs The Thing’ and concluding saga ‘The Avengers Take Over!’ in FF #26 offered a fast-paced, all-out Battle Royale as the disgruntled man-monster comes to New York in search of sidekick Rick, with only an injury-wracked FF in the way of his destructive rampage.

A definitive moment in the character development of The Thing, the action accelerates and amplifies when a rather stiff-necked, officious Avengers team horns in claiming jurisdictional rights on “Bob” Banner and his Jaded Alter Ego. This tale is plagued with pesky continuity errors which would haunt Lee for decades, but notwithstanding the bloopers, this is one of Marvel’s key moments and still a vivid, vital read.

Over in Avengers #5, ‘The Invasion of the Lava Men!’ (Lee, Kirby & Reinman) resulted in another incredible romp as Earth’s Mightiest battled superheated, superhuman subterraneans and a lethally radioactive mutating mountain with the unwilling assistance of the Hulk. It would be his last appearance there for many months…

However, the next cameo came in Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964): an absolute milestone as a hidden criminal mastermind debuted; manipulating a Hollywood studio into making a movie about the wall-crawler. Even with guest-star opponents such as the Enforcers the Incredible Hulk steals all the limelight in ‘The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin’ (Lee & Ditko) which is only otherwise notable for introducing Spider-Man’s most perfidious and flamboyant enemy (sarcasm alert!).

The second stage of the man-brute’s career was about to take off and Tales to Astonish #59 (September) offered a pulse-pounding prologue as ‘Enter: The Hulk!’ (Lee, Ayers & Reinman) sees the Avengers inadvertently provoking Giant-Man to hunt down the Green Goliath. Although The Human Top devilishly engineered that blockbusting battle, Lee was the real mastermind, as with the next issue The Hulk debuted in his own series – and on the covers – whilst Giant-Man’s adventures shrank back to a dozen or so pages.

This wonderfully economical compendium of classic wonders closes with the lead story from Journey into Mystery #112 (January 1965). ‘The Mighty Thor Battles the Incredible Hulk!’ is a glorious gift to all those fans who can’t help but ask “Who’s stronger?”

Arguably Kirby & Chic Stone’s finest artistic moment together, it details the private duel between these two super-humans that occurred during the free-for-all between Earth’s Mightiest, Sub-Mariner and Ol’ Greenskin back in Avengers #3. The sheer raw power of that tale is a perfect exemplar of what makes the Hulk work (and one that inspired that fight in the Thor: Ragnarok movie) and would be an ideal place to close proceedings.

Happily, however, fans and art lovers can enjoy further treats in the form of assorted House Ads; original artwork by Kirby & Ditko; a gallery of classic Kirby covers modified by painter Dean White (originally seen on assorted Marvel Masterworks editions) plus reproduced Essentials collection and Omnibus covers by Bruce Timm and Alex Ross…

Hulk Smash! He always was and with material like this he always will be.
© 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1923 the magnificently quirky Mike Sekowsky was born. We all know about his Justice League, Adam Strange, Metal Men and Inhumans stuff but have you seen Diana Prince, Wonder Woman volume 1?

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Bone Broth


By Alex Taylor (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-91422-432-4 (TPB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Tasty Treats for Comics Fan-Addicts… 9/10

Here’s a quick, short review of a big, utterly fulfilling, extremely entertaining new confection from queer visual artist Alex Taylor. Winner of the First Graphic Novel Award for 2023, Bone Broth is set in contemporary London – literally underneath the arches! – and compellingly addresses modern living via the oldest traditions of mystery thriller writing…

Ash ia young transmaculine artist who almost nearly properly grown up. All that’s missing is to make enough money to pay rent, buy supplies and secure the meds supporting still- ongoing surgeries. That ideal opportunity knocks when crusty old coot/ramen sensei Bug adds the weedy-seeming new guy to the remarkable staff at his traditional noodle bar.

That highly popular haven of exotic eats and affordable takeouts is located off a dingy alley with trains roaring and clattering above at all times. It reminds me of Brixton, but of course, other rail lines, vibrant cross-cultural districts and eateries are available…

Business is brisk and Ash gets acquainted with floor maneger Honey, Sock, Blue, and burly Japanese broth-engineer Creamy – who philosophically monitors and stirs the industrial scale tonkotsu that is basis of all the dishes – whilst scrambling to learn the ropes. The work is intense, fast, complicated, relentless and – just like in any specialist enteprise (like a comic shop for instance ) – sticky, clammy, cloying and jampacked with weirdoes individualists on both sides of the till.

Nevertheless, Ash is immediatly part of the family, trading history and opinions, sharing moments and learning to live with the miasmic funk of entire pig carcasses perpetually becoming soup 24/7. It’s the kind of toil that quickly builds bonds that feel decades old so it’s no wonder everybody kicks back for celebratory drinks occaiosnally. Like the End-of-Year staff do when Bug drinks so much that he just goes to sleep on the floor and everybody took selfies with him.

Of course, Bug wasn’t unconcious and they all have to try and make rational decisions whilst being that drunk. Deleting recents posts is easy and logical but voting to lose the sensei in the body-rending broth doesn’t seem like such a great idea now…

Draped in biological hues and mired in literally organic imagery, Bone Broth’s motifs accentuate an unfolding comedy of errors: deftly mirroring the surgical progress of changing gender whilst reflecting on whatever beneficial butchery is involved in resculpting and crafting a human form with secret knowledge is exposed to those willing to look and think instead of react and revolt. This is a tale that some people will never countenance and that’s sad for them, because its also great stuff demanding second helpings…

Wryly subversive, tantalisingly warming and definitely NOT for little kids, this potent parable is seasoned with buddy film tropes and garnished with a delicious twist that will hit the spot for anyone with a taste for the out-of-the-ordinary fodder. Also included are a heartfelt ‘Thanks’ section and look at the artist’s ‘Process’ to deliver a multi-layered trifle you’d be fool to turn your nose up at.
Text and images © 2025 Alex Taylor. All rights reserved.

Today in 1951 Bob Smith (Super Friends, Superman, Plastic Man, Archie Comics) was born, as was Northampton’s Finest Alan Moore two years later. In 1985 Bill Watterson’s enfant terrible et big buddy Calvin and Hobbes launched. 1991 today saw UK comics stalwart Reg Parlett leave us. All of these optical miracles should be scrutinised at great length, so please go do that…

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Yoko Tsuno volume 7 – The Curious Trio


By Roger Leloup (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-127-3 (PB Album)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Rollercoaster, Role Model Wonderment for All… 8/10

Today in 1933 master craftsman and raconteur Roger Leloup was born. Bon anniversaire and many more, mate…

On September 24th 1970, “electronics engineer” Yoko Tsuno began her troubleshooting career as an indomitable intellectual adventurer. Her debut in Le Journal de Spirou came in “Marcinelle style” 8 page short ‘Hold-up en hi-fi’, and although she is still delighting readers and making new fans today, for a while it looked as if she wasn’t going anywhere soon. Thankfully, her astonishing, astoundingly accessible exploits were revised as she quickly evolved into a paragon of peril: helming pseudo-realistic fantasies numbering amongst the most intoxicating, absorbing and broad-ranging comics thrillers ever created. Her globe-girdling mystery cases and space-&-time-spanning epics are the brainchild of Belgian maestro Roger Leloup. He launched his own solo career in 1953 whilst working as studio assistant and technical artist on Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin.

Compellingly told, sublimely imaginative and – no matter how implausible the premise of any individual yarn – always firmly grounded in hyper-authentic settings underpinned by solidly constructed, unshakably believable technology and unswerving scientific principles, Leloup’s illustrated escapades were at the vanguard of a wave of strips revolutionising European comics. Early in the journey, he switched from loose cartooning to mesmerising, nigh-photo realistic illustration that has become a series signature. The long-overdue sea-change in gender roles and stereotyping he led heralded a torrent of clever, competent, brave, formidable women taking their rightful places as heroic protagonists, not romantic lures. That consequently elevated Continental comics in the process. Such endeavours are as engaging and empowering now as they ever were, none more so than the travails of masterful Miss Tsuno.

Her first outings (oft-aforementioned, STILL unavailable Hold-up en hi-fi, and co-sequels La belle et la bête and Cap 351) were mere introductory vignettes prior to epic authenticity taking a grip in 1971 when the unflappable problem solver met valiant but lesser (male) pals Pol and Vic. Instantly hitting her stride in premier full-length saga Le trio de l’étrange (LJdS’s May 13th edition), from then on, Yoko’s efforts encompassed explosive exploits in exotic corners of our world, spy and crime capers, time-travelling jaunts and sinister deep-space sagas such as this one. There are 31 bande dessinée albums to date, with 21 translated into English thus far, albeit – and ironically – none available as digital books…

The series has a complex history in English. Comcat previously released a few adventures – sadly, poorly translated and adapted – before British-based Cinebook acquired the franchise and opened a comprehensive and entrancing sequence in 2007 with 1976’s (seventh) saga On the Edge of Life.

Translated as The Curious Trio, Le trio de l’étrange was actually the 7th chronicle released by Cinebook and opens in a busy TV studio at midnight (back when actual humans pushed, pulled and focussed the clunky paraphernalia). Young Director Vic Van Steen loses his rag with best pal Pol Paris for falling asleep on his camera. Later, still smarting from another fractious tiff, the pair walk home past a deserted construction site and witness what looks like an elegantly brilliant burglary…

The quietly flamboyant break-in is, in fact, a pre-arranged test by sleekly capable freelance Japanese electrical engineer Yoko Tsuno. She’s been hired by a major company to test their new security. After apologising for nearly ruining her trial with well-intentioned interference, the lads invite the enigmatic tech-bod to join their film crew as sound engineer on a proposed outside shoot.

The gig is to explore flooded caves for a documentary and before the week ends the new friends are hauling equipment to a spectacular cavern, keen to work out the technical details. No sooner do they begin, however, than something goes terribly wrong and the trio are dragged deep underground by irresistible, swirling waters…

From here the achingly realistic, rationalist strip takes a huge leap into the uncanny as their subterranean submersion dumps them into a huge metal-shod vault where they are seized by blue-skinned humanoids. The colossal complex is of incredible size, and the captives are bundled into a fantastic vessel which runs on rails via magnetic levitation. Driven even deeper underground, a handy translation helmet enables the only friendly-seeming stranger to explain. She is Khany and her race, the Vineans, have been sleeping deep beneath the Earth for almost half a million years.

However, since recently awakening, internecine strife has disrupted the colonists’ lives. Ambitious militaristic martinet Karpan constantly manoeuvres to seize power from vast electronic complex The Centre, which regulates the lives of the awakened colonists. The humans’ first meeting with the blustering bully does not go well. When he attempts to beat Khany, martial artist Yoko delivers a humiliating and well-deserved thrashing…

Infuriated, Karpan tries to disintegrate them but is pulled away by security forces. As the newcomers resume their voyage to The Centre, he secretly follows their magneto-carrier, resolved to destroy them. With the maglev ship hurtling to unimaginable depths, Khany introduces the humans to a stowaway – her young daughter Poky – while relating the astounding tale of the Vinean escape from planetary doom and two-million-light-year trip to Earth. Accustomed to subterranean living, on arrival the Vineans hollowed out a mountain and dug down even further.

The history lesson is interrupted by Karpan’s murderous attack, which is thwarted by Yoko’s quick thinking and her companions’ near-insane bravery…

Eventually, after another, far subtler murder attempt, the damaged magneto-carrier reaches its destination and the astonished visitors are brought before a stupendous computer to plead their case and expose Karpan’s indiscretions. The vast calculator controls every aspect of the colony’s life and will deliver judgement on the human invaders’ ultimate fate. After mind-scanning Yoko The Centre’s pronouncement is dire: the strangers must be placed in eternal hibernation…

When Pol plays his long-hidden trump card and threatens to destroy the machine with a stolen disintegrator, diplomatic Khany proposes a solution; suggesting simply waiting until they can all confront still-absent Karpan. Yoko is still deeply suspicious and not convinced Karpan is responsible for every attempt on their lives. That “night”, while Yoko rests, Poky sneaks into her habitation chamber and takes her on an illicit tour of the underside and innards of the impossibly huge complex. The jaunt verifies the engineer’s suspicions with a ghastly revelation. What they expose is a horrific threat not just to the Vineans – Karpan included – but to every human on the surface of Earth…

The eerie mystery then explodes into spectacular action and a third act finale worthy of any  Bond blockbuster as Tsuno’s dramatic duel with an incredible malign menace settles the fate of two species…

Absorbing, rocket-paced and captivatingly combining tense suspense with bombastic thrills, spills & chills, this is a terrific introduction to a world of rationalist mystery and humanist imagination with one of the most unsung female action heroes of all… and one you’ve waited far too long to meet…
Original edition © Dupuis, 1979 by Roger Leloup. All rights reserved. English translation 2012 © Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1916 DC Golden/Silver age and newspaper strip scripter Alvin Schwartz was born, followed 11 years later by Belgian author Maurice Rosy, whose art direction made Spirou what it is.

In 1928 Don Lawrence was born. You can go look back at his Trigan Empire stuff, but why not also enjoy Maroc the Mighty like we just did…

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The Legend of Desperate Dan – 60 Years of Classic Cartoon Art


By Dudley D. Watkins, with Charles Grigg, Ken Harrison & various (DC Thomson & Co)
ISBN: 978-0-85116-657-5 (tabloid HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

It needs to be said. Scotland is an ancient and proud nation steeped in unique history, character and culture, and one that has enriched the entire world. That having been said, they all seem to have a rather odd and frequently disturbing fascination with the notion of cowboys…

A timeless case in point is an icon of action and hilarity who began life as a mere half-page feature in the very first issue of The Dandy. The rowdy roughneck (and chin, and chest and…) was first seen fleeing town on December 4th 1937, but has since mellowed, found a family and settled down, He’s still the Strongest Man on Earth and always in trouble because he doesn’t know his own strength…

As seen in the eponymous opening historical section of this colossal tome, ‘The Legend of Desperate Dan’ predates Superman’s debut and owes more to Elzie Segar’s maritime masterpiece Popeye (as seen back then in Thimble Theatre) by way of a countless stampede of Saturday morning movie two-reelers. However Desperate Dan didn’t roam too long on the range and swiftly garnered a family including formidable Aunt Aggie, super-tough nephew Danny, niece Katey, the hard-pressed Mayor, Sheriff and so forth… and lots of put-upon, shell-shocked neighbours usually caught in the catastrophic aftermath of Dan’s latest efforts to help…

Like so many of DC Thompson’s most memorable stars, the Big Guy was the brainchild of Dudley D. Watkins (1907-1969) at his most imaginative and culturally adroit. A tireless and prolific illustrator equally adept at comedy, adventure, educational and drama storytelling, Watkins’ style more than any other shaped the pre and especially postwar look and form of the Scottish publishing giant’s comics output. Yes, the company AND the cowboy…

Watkins started life in Manchester and Nottingham as an artistic prodigy prior to entering Glasgow College of Art in 1924. Before long he was advised to get a job at expanding, Dundee-based Thomson’s, where a 6-month trial period illustrating prose “Boys’ Papers” stories led to comic strip specials and some original cartoon creations. Percy Vere and His Trying Tricks and Wandering Willie, The Wily Explorer made him the only contender for both lead strips in a bold new project conceived by Robert Duncan Low (1895-1980). Managing Editor of Children’s Publication. Between 1921 – 1933, Low launched the company’s “Big Five” story papers for boys: Adventure, The Rover, The Wizard, The Skipper and The Hotspur. In 1936, he created the “Fun Section”: a landmark 8-page comic strip supplement for national newspaper The Sunday Post. This illustrated accessory – prototype and blueprint for every comic the company subsequently released – was launched on 8th March. From the outset, The Broons and Oor Wullie were the uncontested headliners… and both illustrated by Watkins. The other features included Chic Gordon’s Auchentogle, Allan Morley’s Nero and Zero, Nosey Parker and others. These pioneering comics laid the groundwork for the company’s next great leap. In December 1937 Low launched DC Thomson’s first weekly all-picture strip comic, The Dandy. Amidst the serried rank of funsters was a half-page western gag strip. It related the riotous outrages of a mean desperado dubbed Dan…

Dan was extremely popular and in 1939 briefly enjoyed taking up 75% of a page before expanding onto the star status of a full one. Famously, Dandy editor Alber Barnes – who hired Watkins and was the comic’s boss until 1982 – was the model for that unmissable chin. Almost everything else was made up…

This collation offers a wealth of strips, beginning with those calamity-stuffed half-pagers, filled with mighty gaffes, massive consumption and appalling comedic animal cruelty, all preceding the inevitable war contributions as the officially neutral US citizen kept finding ways to bugger up Hitler and Goebbels’ plans for Britain. Another cautionary note: back then smoking tobacco was MANLY, so Dan did it in vast and generally competitive amounts. Be warned and wary…

Monochrome trips about eating, fighting, shaving, Dan’s Girlfriend Lizzie, eating, fighting some more and getting even pause for a colour featurette on ‘The Dandy Monster Comic’ as Dan hoved further westward into Books and Annuals before the strips concentrate on the ‘War years’ with Cactusville slowly morphing in all but name into a fair-sized Scottish town as Dan inflicted ever more outlandish punishments on the weary, wary Wehrmacht…

Feature on firsts follows with ‘Desperate Dan’ shouting out to his ever expanding cast, after which post-war tales encompass a momentous trip to the North Pole; jobs; cow pie; sweet rationing; clothing for the bigger man; bank robbers; cow pie; how feeble modern buildings are; toothache for tough guys and how meat rationing impacts on the mightiest appetite ever known. Once again it’s some pretty hard sledding for us wimpy modern animal-lovers…

Covers, strips and other treats from the Christmas tomes explore Dan’s unstoppable progress and includes a spread on ‘Back Covers on Annuals’ – the cowboy’s sole province from 1954 to 1965 – before segueing into a 1950s selection as Britain, Empire & Commonwealth and Dandy underwent dramatic revision and change…

The Watkins-limned prose yarn ‘Two Desperate Tiddley-Winkers’ leads to more fifties fun with Dan no longer in any way intentionally dangerous in strips covering the star’s invulnerable hair & bristles, coal mining in the High Street; cow pie; and Dan’s utterly unique pedal bike (take one steamroller and three parts tractor…) before closing on a momentous moment of history as Dan voyages to London to see the Queen’s coronation as originally published in Dandy dated June 6th 1953…

‘The Desperate Dan Song’ – sorry, just words & pictures so you’ll need to wrangle up your own tune – leads into more strips with enhanced roles for Danny & Katey, prior to the Sixties revivals opening with ‘Annual features’ including a glance at Dan’s primordial forebear Desprit Jake.

With contemporary strips coming thick & fast the fun is closely followed by two-colour Annual larks involving li’l Dan’s photo-day at ‘Cactusville School’ whilst – happily mining a fresh seam – ‘Desperate Dan’s Schooldays’ (as illustrated by Charles Grigg and first published in the Desperate Dan Annual 1979) gives readers another bucket of whimsical back-story from the big man boyhood as the end approaches.

In 1984, the Biggest Yin made it to the front – and back – of the weekly Dandy covers, displacing Grigg’s Korky the Cat after five straight decades. Here a full colour spread celebrates an anniversary year with a quartet (octet?) of images shouting out fifty years of Desperate astonishment wonder before we unsaddle for the moment with final modern colour feature ‘The Hobbies of Desperate Dan’ as seen in the 1994 Dandy Annual and showing what the term “extreme sports” really means…

Timeless, hilarious and not nearly as tame as you thought, Desperate Dan is a pure paradigm of our lengthy comics glory – and disregard for other people’s culture. Here is a book that – if you’re properly braced and forewarned – will delight and warm your secret, stifled cartoon coloniser’s heart.
© D.C. Thomson & Co Ltd 1997.

Today in 1913 Golden Age artist Charles (Spy Smasher, et al) Sultan was born. In 1943, Metabarons artist Juan Giménez was born. You might also want to peek at A Matter of Time, before celebrating that in 1962 Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier, Batman: Ego, Parker) joined us for far too short a time.

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Fearless Fosdick


By Al Capp (Kitchen Sink Press)
ISBN: 978-0-87816-108-9 (TPB)

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

Al Capp’s Li’l Abner is rightly considered one of the greatest comic strips ever created, a devastatingly satirical, superbly illustrated, downright brilliant comedic masterwork which lampooned anything and everything America held dear and literally reshaped their popular culture. Generations of readers took Capp’s outrageous inventions and graphic invectives to their hearts. Many of the strips best lines and terms entered the language, as did the role-reversing college bacchanal known as Sadie Hawkins Day. Some fictional shticks even became licensed and therefore “real” – just Google “Shmoo” and “Kickapoo Joy-juice” to see what I mean.

Apart from the satirical and funny bits you can say pretty much the same about Chester Gould’s legendary lawman Dick Tracy – a landmark creation which has influenced all popular fiction, not simply comics. Baroque villains, outrageous crimes and fiendish death-traps have pollinated the work of numerous strips, shows and movies since then, but the indomitable Tracy’s studied use – and startlingly accurate predictions – of crime fighting technology and techniques gave the world a taste of cop thrillers, police procedurals and forensic mysteries such as CSI decades before our current fascination took hold.

In August 1942 Alfred Gerald Caplin, as he didn’t prefer to be known, took a studied potshot at the cartooning game, joyously biting the hand that fed him (grudgingly and far from enough) when he introduced a frantic, barbed parody of Tracy into Li’l Abner.

As depicted by cartoonist-within-a-cartoon “Lester Gooch”, Fearless Fosdick was a deadpan, compulsively honest, straight-laced cop who worked for a pittance in a corrupt, venal crime-plagued city, controlled by shifty, ungrateful authorities – i.e. typical bosses. Fosdick slavishly followed the exact letter of the law, if not the spirit: always over-reacting, and often shooting litterbugs or Jaywalkers whilst letting bandits and murderers escape.

The extended gag began as a sly poke at strip cartoonists and syndicates whom Capp portrayed as slavering maniacs and befuddled psychotics manipulated by ruthless, shameless, rapacious exploiters. It became so popular on its own admittedly bizarre merits that Fosdick’s sporadic appearances quickly generated licensed toys and games, a TV puppet show and a phenomenally popular advertising deal for Wildroot Cream-Oil hair tonic.

The hard-hitting, obtuse he-man hero was impulsive Abner’s “Ideel” and whenever the crime-crusher appeared as a strip within the strip, the big goof aped his behaviour to outlandish degree. When Fosdick married as part of a bizarre plot, Abner finally capitulated to devoted girlfriend Daisy Mae’s matrimonial aspirations and “married up” too… even though he didn’t really want to!

Fosdick made the jump to comic books when edited reprints of the strip appeared from Toby Press, and a promotional comic – ‘Fearless Fosdick and the Case of the Red Feather’ – followed. Thus in 1956 Simon and Shuster published Al Capp’s Fearless Fosdick: His Life and Deaths which forms the basis of the classy Kitchen Sink softcover under review here.

Prefaced with an absorbing and informative introduction by award-winning crime and comics writer Max Allan Collins – who took over Dick Tracy when Gould retired – this outrageous tome relates five of the very best felonious fiascos and forensic farces beginning with ‘Introducing: AnyFace!’ from 1947, wherein Abner is hired to protect cartoonist Lester Gooch as he crafts the tale of a crook with a plastic face. The fiend is un-catchable since he can mimic anybody, constantly fooling Fosdick into shooting the wrong guy. Eventually the cop starts killing people pre-emptively – just in case – but in the “real” world as Abner gets more engrossed in the serial, Gooch, always as bonkers as a bag of badgers (because only certified loons create comics strips), is suddenly cured, casting the conclusion into desperate doubt! Confused? Good: that’s the point!

From 1950 comes ‘The Case of the Poisoned Beans’ in which madman Elmer Schlmpf randomly contaminates a tin of “Old Faithful” – the city’s most popular brand of beans. So popular are they that most shops and restaurants refuse to take them off sale and the populace won’t stop buying them. As no panic ensues and indifference rages, Fosdick begins shooting citizens who won’t stop eating the beans. Better a safe, clean police bullet than a nasty case of poison…

‘Sidney the Crooked Parrot’ (1953) was once Fosdick’s faithful pet, but living with the obsessive do-gooder turned the bird into a vengeance-crazed criminal genius. Cunningly causing Fearless to lose his job, the bird then organises a campaign of terror, but even humiliated, derelict and starving, the unswerving righteousness of the super-cop finds a way to triumph…

‘The Case of the Atom Bum’ (1951) finds the dapper detective helpless to halt depredations of a radioactive hobo who robs with impunity since the slightest wound might cause him to detonate like a thermonuclear bomb. Forced to ignore and even – shudder!! – abet the ne’er-do-well, Fosdick is going even more insane with frustrated justice – and then he snaps!

This manic monochrome monument to the Bad Old Days concludes with 1948’s utterly surreal ‘Case of the Chippendale Chair’, which begins only after certifiably cured and sane Lester Gooch is kidnapped by thugs working for the syndicate who torture him until he is crazy enough to produce Fearless Fosdick cartoons once more…

Once more demented, Gooch sets to delivering a startling saga of murder, theft and general scofflawing to sate the nation’s desire for graphic gang-busting with a new mastermind ravaging the palaces of the rich. Who can possibly be behind such brilliant crimes? (The clue is in the title…) and as Fosdick ineptly yet unerringly closes in on the culprit, collateral casualties mount. Still, isn’t justice worth a few sacrifices?

Madcap, cynical and hilariously ultra-violent, these eccentric yarns are credited with inspiring Harvey Kurtzman to create Mad comic books and the magazine it became. Capp’s creations clearly shaped decades of American comics comedy. Fosdick kept on turning up until 1972, leavening all the hillbilly high-jinks, satire and social commentary and defanging Capp’s increasingly reactionary stance and declining popularity with healthy, recreational slapstick slaughter, justifiable homicides and anticipatory cold-case clean-up. Moreover, if you’re British, you will see quite a few antecedents of our own utterly rational and reasonable supercop Judge Dredd…

If you have a taste for over-the-top hilarity and stunning draughtsmanship this is a book you must track down. Consider it a constabulary duty to be done…
Strip material © 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1990 Capp Enterprises, Inc. Introduction © 1990 Max Allan Collins. Entire Contents © 1990 Kitchen Sink Press, Inc.

Today in 1907, the first Mutt and Jeff strips by Bud Fisher were published. We already told you that in Forever Nuts: The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff (Classic Screwball Strips). In 1915 Green Lantern originator Martin Nodell was born, whilst comics presence, writer, editor and The Beat blogger Heidi MacDonald joined us in 1961, as did comics colour artist Lee Loughridge (Batman Adventures, Stumptown) in 1969.