Author: NowReadThis

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The Forever People by Jack Kirby


By Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, Don Heck, Mike Royer, Murphy Anderson, Al Plastino & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77950-230-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Monumental Masterpieces… 9/10

Today in 1970 American comic books changed forever. On December 1st newsstands saw Superman meet the counterculture head on courtesy of Jack Kirby in a title like no other ever before. Moreover it was only one crucial component part of a bold experiment that quite honestly failed, but still undid and remade everything. It was Forever People #1…

When Jack Kirby returned to the home of Superman in 1970 he brought with him one of the most powerful concepts in comic book history. The epic grandeur of his Fourth World saga grafted a complete new mythology onto and over the existing DC universe and blew the developing minds of a generation of readers. If only there had been a few more of them…

Starting in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, where he revived his 1940s kid-team The Newsboy Legion, introduced large-scale cloning in the form of The Project and hinted that the city’s gangsters had extraterrestrial connections, Kirby moved on to a main course beginning with The Forever People, intersecting where appropriate with New Gods and Mister Miracle to form an interlinked triptych of finite-length titles that together presented an epic mosaic. Those three groundbreaking titles collectively introduced rival races of gods, dark and light, risen from the ashes of a previous Armageddon to battle forever… and then their conflict spreads to Earth…

Kirby’s concepts, as always, fired and inspired contemporaries and successors. Gods of Apokolips & New Genesis became a crucial keystone of DC continuity and integral foundation of that entire fictional universe, surviving the numerous revisions and retcons which periodically bedevil long-lived comics fans. Many major talents dabbled with the concept over decades and a host of titles have come and gone starring Kirby’s creations. That’s happening now even as I type this…

As previously stated, the herald of all this innovation had been Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, which Kirby had used to lay groundwork since taking it over with #133. There readers first met Darkseid, Intergang, The Evil Project and so much more, but it was also used as an emotional setup for a fascinating notion that had seldom if ever previously troubled the mighty, generally satisfied and well situated Man of Tomorrow…

The Forever People #1’s ‘In Search of a Dream!’ saw Kirby & contractually assigned inker Vince Colletta open with a spectacular and contemporarily astute UFO sighting.

Despite a promise of complete autonomy, the King had surrendered much to get his dream rolling. Crushing deadlines and ridiculous expected monthly page counts were one thing, but his choice of inkers was vetoed, and he had to compromise and accept insulting art edits drawn by regular Superman artists perennially pasted onto Superman’s trademarked face to present something DC demanded. Nevertheless, the work was everything and wonders unfolded when friends of Jimmy Olsen witnessed the arrival of a quartet of weird wild kids on the strangest bike on – or off – Earth. Because they took pictures, Clark Kent’s life changed forever.

He had just completed a bruising interview that made him question his role and purpose on Earth when Jimmsys snapshots of those weird kids offered Superman a glimpse of a place where he could be one guy among equals…

Curiosity and a painful need to find those newcomers drove the Man of Steel to find them, and brought him into first known contact with the absolute embodiment of intellectual and philosophical totalitarianism…

Darkseid was infiltrating our world, quietly seeking a unique mind concealing a metaphysical ultimate weapon. The “Anti-Life Equation” was the instant, irresistible negation of choice and free will and with it the right despot would command all that lives. Darkseid’s obsessive search for it had led him to Earth and now he had kidnapped a psychic youngster from a world called New Genesis. Her name was Beautiful Dreamer…

All this Superman learned later, after being ambushed by Intergang and saved by her friends Big Bear, Vykin the Black, Serifan and Mark Moonrider. They were all from that promised land Superman had glimpsed but had abandoned Eden to “get involved” helping their friend and Earth. They called themselves Forever People…

Apparently benevolent, curious kids open to new experiences and welcoming the myriad choices the future holds, they were also trained to handle trouble. When Darkseid’s forces counterattacked and took out Superman they revealed one final trick, combining into an unbeatable enigmatic being called Infinity Man…

When Darkseid ceded the day, he left a booby trap only Superman could tackle and in return the kids let him travel to Supertown on their fabled paradise planet New Genesis. However, they stressed that any decent right-thinking person’s place was here, fighting evil by facing Darkseid. For the briefest moment, need overwhelmed duty before, inevitably, the Man of Tomorrow turned back and took up the new never-ending battle…

Exuberantly enjoying their dalliance with a primitive culture, the reunited quintet joyously interact with toiling humanity, finding shelter in a mostly deserted slum with disabled kid Donnie and his aging Uncle Willie. The odd youngster’s urge to learn is sadly curtailed when Darkseid steps up his hunt for the equation. His reasoning says abject terror might shake loose the formula from whoever is afflicted with it, and to that effect he orders bug-like behemoth Mantis to declare shattering ‘Super War!’ on humanity.

Arguably marginally less powerful than the Master of Apokolips, Mantis can only be countered by Infinity Man, and the Forever People happily ask mystic computer Mother Box to perform the ritual that will call him and subtract them from existence…

After exploring isolation versus community, introducing outside negation of free will and the concept of terror as addictive sustenance (vile deputy DeSaad feasts on fear and torture), FP #3 tackle’s head-on the series’ core concepts.

‘Life vs. Anti-Life!’ explores conformity, personal freedoms, informed choices, organised bigotry and the tyranny of psychological and physical fascism as the wonder kids are tracked down by Justifiers: human zealots who have willingly surrendered individual autonomy to what appears to be a televangelist telling them what they want to hear. Defeat doubt by surrendering to Anti-Life. It is Good to kill those who are better or weaker than you…

Equipped with terrifying Apokolips weapons, Justifiers burn libraries, attack minorities and even drive the kids out of their tatty home and onto the attack, infiltrating Apokoliptian infiltrator/demagogue Glorious Godfrey’s appalling recruitment rally. Shockingly, when Infinity Man faces Darkseid, the devil defeats the mysterious angel and the traumatised kids are captured…

Forever People #4, horrifically subverts the American dream as fun theme park Happyland is revealed as ‘The Kingdom of the Damned’: a sprawling factory built to mass-produce terror by exploiting whimsy and fantasy. Here DeSaad torments countless human victims while others innocently observe nothing but toys and robots dancing and playing for their pleasure. To this set-up the captured waifs of New Genesis are added and DeSaad feeds, but they have all underestimated the power of Mother Box who seeks aid and finds it in the form of zen wrestler ‘Sonny Sumo’…

With the living computer boosting his remarkable gifts, the pacifist warrior executes a one-man rescue that demonstrates the true horror of the Anti-Life Equation: a battle so fast and furious that even Darkseid is panicked and overreacts…

At this juncture DC comic books expanded to 52 pages and as well as reprints, Kirby’s Korner ran short background vignettes. The lost history of the previous war of pantheons was filled in as here when ‘The Young Gods of Supertown Introducing Lonar’ finds a wandering historian picking through cosmic rubble on New Genesis and uncovering a living, breathing remnant of that cataclysmic conflict

Cover-dated January 1971 FP #6 was inked by Mike Royer and revealed how the Master of Apokolips resorts to his personal ultimate weapon ‘The Omega Effect!!’: scattering Sumo and the triumphant New Genesisians throughout key moments of Earth’s history. All but sensitive Serifan who retreats bereft and shellshocked to their sentient Super-Cycle and a final brutal battle with Godfrey’s Justifiers…

Inked by Colletta, back-up The Young Gods of Supertown’ also focuses on the kid with cosmic cartridges as a sneaky ‘Raid from Apokolips’ ruins his and Big Bear’s meditation moment and makes them unpardonably rude in response…

Time travel travails are sorted in concluding episode ‘I’ll Find You in Yesterday!!’ as on New Genesis, Supreme Leader Highfather puts everyone back where they belong by use of almighty Alpha Bullets, and the kids find out how destiny dealt with their saviour Sonny Sumo. That’s bookended by ‘Lonar of New Genesis and his Battle-Horse Thunderer!!!’ as the survivor of the first fall meets current war god Orion…

Everything Darkseid ransacks humanity’s subconscious for is found in #8 as manipulative human parasite Billion-Dollar Bates reveals he has ‘The Power!’ of the Anti-Life Equation. Every vice readily embraced, he thinks he’s evil incarnate until the Apokolips crowd show up, but Darkseid’s joy turns to ashes as the Forever People rush in and fate takes a hand that even gods cannot turn aside…

The Fourth World was a huge risk and massive gamble for an industry and company that was a watchword for conservatism. It was probably incredibly tough for editors and publishers to stop themselves interfering, and they often didn’t. With numbers low, spooky stories proliferating everywhere and popular wisdom saying character crossovers boosted sales, Kirby eventually caved to pressure and agreed to host another creator’s star in his epic. Thus Forever People #9 hosted (failed) horror hero Boston Brand, AKA Deadman who was made marginally manifest by a seance and another Cosmic Cartridge. The vengeance hunter accepted an artificial body to pursue the man who killed him in an intriguing, action-packed but ultimately ridiculous aside that began by introducing a ‘Monster in the Morgue!’ It rampaged through town before tech bandits ‘The Scavengers’ sought to steal Brand’s new “mobile home”, and drew the wrath of ghost and teen godlings. The yarn actually ended with a plug for Kirby’s forthcoming series The Demon…

After that peculiar and extremely wearisome divertissement the war came for the interstellar innocents with ‘Devilance the Pursuer’. It was the last issue and at least the King had time enough to prepare a narrative pause if not proper conclusion. Simply put, Darkseid’s top killer is despatched to end the pesky brats and is unstoppable. Chased across Earth they appear doomed until the long missing Infinity Man is contacted, returning for one last hurrah that sees the Forever People vanished from the world and human ken…

And that was that. This title and New Gods were axed although Mister Miracle continued on with a definite change of emphasis until time and tastes brought sequels and, at long last, Kirby’s return to craft a proper ending… of sorts.

But that’s a tale for another day…

This handy compendium also offers bonus material including ‘Mother Box Files’ re-presenting dozens of pertinent Kirby characters as revisited by himself and others in various editions of the DC Who’s Who fact files. Here a group treatment of The Forever People augments solo entries for Beautiful Dreamer, Big Bear, DeSaad, Infinity Man, Mantis, Mark Moonrider and The Pursuer by Kirby & Greg Theakston; with Glorious Godfrey inked by Bob Smith, Serifan inked by Gary Martin and Vykin the Black inked by Karl Kesel. Augmenting them are Kirby pin-ups from the original run: the four guys in ‘The Forever People’, ‘Beautiful Dreamer versus Darkseid’ and ‘The Infinity Man’ plus a self-portrait of the King, all from FP #4 and inked by Colletta.

We close with a selection of stunning pencilled pages in ‘The Art of Jack Kirby’, what more do you need to know?
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Lucky Luke creator Morris was born today in 1923, and in 1945 Shazam/Captain Marvel spinoff Hoppy the Marvel Bunny debuted in Funny Animals Comics #1. Five years later cartoonist Gary Panter was born. I’m sure there’s no connection but just in case why not see Jimbo in Paradise.

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Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Jesse Marsh Years Volume Nine


By Gaylord DuBois & Jesse Marsh (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59582-649-7 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Primal fantasy Adventure… 8/10

I don’t know an awful lot about Jesse Marsh, other than that he was born on 27th July 1907 and died far too young: on April 28th 1966 from diabetic complications at the height of a TV Tarzan revival he was in large part responsible for. What I do know, however, is that to my unformed, pre-fanboy, kid’s mentality, his drawings were somehow better than most of the other artists and that every other kid who read comics in my school disagreed with me.

There’s a phrase we used at 2000 AD that summed it up: “Artist’s artist”, which usually meant someone whose fan-mail divided equally into fanatical raves and bile-filled hate-mail. It seems there are some makers of comic strips that many readers simply don’t get.

It isn’t about the basic principles or artistic quality or even anything tangible – although you’ll hear some cracking justifications: “I don’t like his feet” (presumably the way he draws them) and “it just creeps me out” being my two favourites. Never forget in the 1980s DC were told by the Comics Code Authority that Kevin O’Neill’s entire style and manner of Drawing was unacceptable to American readers!

I got Jesse Marsh. He was another Disney animator (beginning in 1939) who moved sideways – in 1945 – to become a full-time narrative illustrator for the studio’s comic book licensee Whitman Publishing. Marsh never looked back and became the go-to guy for other ERB adaptations such as John Carter of Mars.

Situated on the West Coast, Western’s Dell/Gold Key imprints rivalled DC and Marvel at the height of their powers, and the licensee famously never capitulated to the wave of anti-comics hysteria that resulted in the crippling self-censorship of the 1950s. No Dell Comics ever displayed a Comics Code Authority symbol on the cover – they never needed to…

Marsh jobbed around adapted movie properties – mostly westerns like Gene Autry – until 1948 when Dell introduced the first all-new Tarzan comic book. The newspaper strip had run since 1929 and all previous funnybook releases had featured expurgated and modified reprints of those adventures. That all changed with Dell Four Color Comic #134 (February 1947) which featured a lengthy, captivating tale of the Ape-Man scripted by Robert P. Thompson, who also wrote both the Tarzan radio show and the aforementioned syndicated strip (as you can see in Tarzan and the Adventurers).

The comic was very much in the Burroughs tradition: John Clayton, Lord Greystoke and his friend Paul D’Arnot aid a young woman in rescuing her lost father from a hidden tribe ruled over by a monster. The engrossing yarn was made magical by the simple, underplayed magic of a heavy brush line and absolutely unmatched design sense. Marsh was unique in the way he positioned characters in space, using primitivist forms and hidden shapes to augment his backgrounds, and as the man was a fanatical researcher, his trees, rocks, and constructions were 100% accurate. His animals and natives, especially children and women, were all distinct and recognisable; not the blacked-up stock figures in grass skirts even the greatest artists so often resorted to.

He also knew when to draw big and draw small: the internal dynamism of his work is spellbinding. His Africa became mine, and of course the try-out comic book was an instant hit. Marsh and Thompson’s Tarzan returned with two tales in Dell Four Color Comic #161, cover-dated August 1947. This was a remarkable feat: Four Colour was a catch-all title showcasing in rotation literally hundreds of different licensed properties, often as many as ten separate issues per month. So rapid a return engagement meant pretty solid sales figures…

Bolstered by a healthy and extremely popular film franchise and those comics strips, within six months, bimonthly Tarzan #1 was released (January/February 1948). It was a swansong for Thompson, but another unforgettable classic for Marsh – and the first of an unbroken run that would last until 1965: over 150 consecutive issues. Moreover there were also spin-offs featuring other ERB character adaptations and gigantic specials like the Annual that opens this collected volume.

Prior to that, the collection – reprinting material from 1953 from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #44-46 and monumental bonus book Tarzan’s Jungle Annual #2 – opens with Foreword ‘Looking for Jesse Marsh’: a heartfelt appreciation and appraisal of the secretive genius by publisher Dan Nadel, packed with information about the enigmatic master. Then, cover-dated August 1953 and on sale from 16th July, that colossal bonus book delivers a painted cover by Morris Gollub (not featuring then current big screen Tarzan Lex Barker) in advance of a beguiling trip to an Africa that never was…

A monochrome Jungle World frontispiece revels in an idyllic quiet moment for the Ape-Man and faithful pachyderm pal Tantor, before main event ‘Tarzan in the Valley of Towers’ transports the Jungle Lord and pilot/scientist Professor Alexander MacWhirtle to a distant unexplored region in aid of a girl who sent a plea for help in a tiny parachute woven from spider-webs…

As always this yarn (and everything else including puzzles) was written by Gaylord DuBois. Editor and prolific scripter (Lone Ranger, Lost in Space, Turok, Son of Stone, Brothers of the Spear and many more) he was Marsh’s creative collaborator for nearly 20 years.

Flying into the great desert, Tarzan and “Professor Mac” soon find Heather Day laid out as a sacrifice on a towering limestone altar, left for giant carnivorous bats by debased humans who have turned themselves into flying/gliding predators in their image. The battle to overthrow the petty tyrants of the sky takes them from the highest peaks to deepest subterranean depths, but inevitably Tarzan triumphs and returns Hearther to the outer world.

Back then, entertainment was full on and informative, so this Annual was packed with fact and activity features. First up, and still all Marsh in vision, is potted travelogue ‘Jungle Trails’ augmented by a simple method for ‘Making Maps’ and a clever rebus message from Tarzan to his ‘Jungle Village’. Then it’s back to action as ‘Tarzan and the Cannibals of Kando-Mor’ finds the Ape-Man and his Waziri friend Chief Muviro traversing the fearsome Great Swamp when the party is captured by man-eating men. Their escape brings the wanders fully into Burroughs’ rich fantasy-scape as they discover another isolated and embattled outpost of lost land Pal-Ul-Don (introduced in 8th novel Tarzan the Terrible) and befriend the buffalo-worshipping Gallugos. The event is quite timely as the ever-encroaching cannibals have almost completed their extended scheme to eliminate the cow-lovers…

Almost…

Illustrated sheet music provides long-distance lessons for ‘Dancing Feet’ to cavort at a ‘Moonlight Marriage’ ceremony, whilst ‘Happy Warrior’ shares the secrets of kite-making before ‘Boy Stands by a Friend’ offers another intimate peek at the formative years of Greystoke’s African family when Boy – later called Korak – and ape pal Zorok stow away on a riverboat and nearly end up as zoo exhibits. ‘Letters from Boy’ to the readers feature next, as ‘Jungle Hunt’ details how to make an inner tube popgun and water canteens, prior to an adventure with elephants as ‘The Troubles of Tantor’ seen the herd patriarch go to extraordinary lengths to rescue wayward calves captured by angry farmers.

Picture essays detail the secrets of MacWhirtle’s plane and the domain of dinosaurs in ‘Boys Air Adventure to the Valley of Monsters’ after which a touch of old-fashioned racial profiling describes native characteristics in ‘Jungle Tribes’ and ‘Jungle Woman’ before embracing romance as final story ‘Tarzan Trails the Brothers of the Barracuda’ sees the Ape-Man reunite shipwrecked and separated young lovers by hunting down the slave traders who have seized and sought to sell her…

Wrapping up with a load of lexicons, ‘Jungle Language: Swahili-English’ and ‘Jungle Language: Ape-English’ provides illustrated dictionaries that come in handy for the puzzle pages and crossword, before monochrome endpiece ‘Jungle World’ explores the violent existence of bugs and minibeasts.

Cover-dated May 1953, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #44 sees the Jungle Lord enjoying a quiet ride over vast hidden Pal-Ul-Don on his giant eagle Argus when he saves a tiny shepherd from a vulture as big as the mighty raptor Tarzan rides. In ‘Tarzan and the Little Spearmen’ this good deed soon sours. Coro of Saparta is grateful and desperate and happy in turn as the benevolent giant and his equally immense pal Muviro hunt down the ferocious carrion feeders who find living little people more tasty than corpses. Sadly, the interaction sparks civil war between the farming fraternity and now-unemployed spearman clan who used to defend them, especially after Tarzan teaches them the high-tech marvel of archery…

Pathos and nostalgia hit hard in second saga ‘Tarzan and the Strange Balu’ as a she-ape finds a human baby and replaces her own dead newborn with him. Poor, grieving Kalahari will not surrender the infant, leaving the Ape-Man in a double bind: finding the child’s real family and saving the mother surrogate from heartbreak…

The task is made even harder but more gratifying when Tarzan discovers vile slavers have been transporting a white woman to market…

The issue ends with a stunning pinup of Argus and a GIANT-giant vulture and contemporary house ad before ERBT #45 (June 1953) opens with ‘Tarzan and the Haunted Plantations’ wherein the Ape-Man visits old friend Chief Buto and learns his warrior comrade is plagued by devils and ghosts. A little careful investigation then reveals the fields where his people hire out as croppers are coveted by a bandit with knowledge of unexploited resources beneath that fruitful dirt, and Razan devises a sneaky scheme…

‘Boy and the Shamba Raider’ again focuses on the exploits of Korak-to-come as the kid and his pal Dombie take executive action to trap rogue water buffalo raiding crops and attacking workers. They wouldn’t have had to if the adult warriors had listened to them in the first place…

Epic fantasy follows in ‘Tarzan Returns to Cathne’ when the Jungle Man and Waziri’s Pal-Ul-Don explorations bring them into conflict with sabretooth tigers attacking the war-lions of Queen Elaine of Cathne. The staunch friend and ally is a fugitive now as her husband King Jathon is gone and usurper Timon rules. The madman is unstoppable and seeks to conquer sister city Athne, but Tarzan has other ideas and the wits to implement them…

The issues closes with another house ad and ‘Tarzan’s World’ pinup of the Dangina (Cape Hunting Dog) before we segue into final entry Tarzan #46 .

Dated July 1953 it begins with ‘Tarzan Defends a City’ as the Ape-Man and not-dead Jathon (surprise!) trek back to Cathne with super-colossal war lion Goliath, only to find the citadel under siege by crocodile-riding Terribs from the Great Swamp. Things look bleak until the Gallugos – freshly fled from the cannibal Kando-Mors – arrive and turn the muddy tide. All they want in return is land to build their new city…

Back in regular Africa, ‘Boy Faces the Fangs of the Mamba’ after Matusi witchdoctor Ungali – having failed to kill Tarzan – frames his annoying spawn Boy for theft and orchestrates a lethal trial by snake. Sadly for the villain, Ape-Man arrives just in time…

This titanic tome terminates with whimsical mystery ‘Tarzan and the Treasure of the Apes’ as brutal unscrupulous white hunters discover the great apes dubbed “mangani” are all bedecked in priceless jewels. Ruthlessly stalking the vain bedazzled beasts the safari killers even manage to wound Tarzan, before he convinces the apes to surrender their “pretty stones” in favour of something better: something edible.

The Jungle King then delivers a unique judgement that might not look like justice but truly is nothing but…

Although these are tales from a far-off, simpler time they have lost none of their passion, inclusivity and charm, whilst the artistic virtuosity of Jesse Marsh looks better than ever. Perhaps this time a few more people will “get” him…
Edgar Rice Burroughs® Tarzan®: The Jesse Marsh Years volume 9 © 1953, 2011, Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. Tarzan ® Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. All rights reserved.

In 1952 Jack of all comics trades Keith Giffen was born. We haven’t reviewed Ambush Bug, Legion of Super-Heroes or his Doom Patrol yet, so why not recall gleeful glory days with Justice League International volume 1?

In 1978 screen writer and comics luminary Robert Kirkman was born. You probably know him best for Walking Dead volume 1: Days Gone Bye.

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Justice Society of America: A Celebration of 75 Years


By Gardner Fox, Robert Kanigher, John Broome, Denny O’Neil, Paul Levitz, Roy Thomas, Len Strazewski, James Robinson, David Goyer, Geoff Johns, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Dillin, Joe Staton, Rich Buckler, Jerry Ordway, Arvell Jones, Mike Parobeck, William Rosado, Stephen Sadowski, Alex Ross, Dale Eaglesham & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5531-2 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless, Remorseless, Evergreen… 8/10

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – via the Action Comics debut of Superman in June 1938 – the most significant event in our industry’s history was the combination of individual stars into a like-minded 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 1940 utterly changed the shape of the budding industry. Following the runaway success of Superman and Batman (and other stars at other publishers!), both National Comics and its separate-but-equal publishing partner All American Comics went looking for the next big thing in funnybooks whilst frantically concentrating on getting anthology packages into the hands of a hungry readership. Thus All Star Comics was conceived as a joint venture affording characters already in their respective stables an extra push towards winning elusive but lucrative solo titles.

Technically, All Star Comics #3 (cover-dated Winter 1940-1941 and released in November 1940) was the kick-off, but the mystery men featured merely had dinner and recounted recent cases and didn’t actually go on a mission together until #4, which had an April 1941 cover-date and hit newsstands on February 7th.

Although itself a little bit vintage, this superb commemoration from 2015 cannily compiles significant exploits of the pioneering paragons: specifically All–Star Comics #4, 37, 55; Justice League of America #21, 22, 30, 47, 82, 83, 193; Adventure Comics #466; All-Star Squadron #67; Justice Society of America #10; JSA Returns: All–Star Comics #2; JSA #25; Justice Society of America vol. 2 #10 and Earth 2 #6, and – like all these generational tomes – follows a fixed pattern by dividing into chapters curated by contextual essays.

Here Roy Thomas’s history-packed treatise describes how leading characters from National-DC’s Adventure Comics and More Fun Comics and All-Star Publishing’s Flash Comics and All-American Comics were first bundled together in an anthological quarterly. Back then ‘A Message from the Editors’ asked readers to vote on the most popular…

The merits of the marketing project would never be proved: rather than a runaway favourite graduating to their own starring vehicle as a result of the poll, something radically different evolved. For the third issue, prolific scribe Gardner F. Fox apparently had the bright idea of linking all the solo stories by a framing device, with the heroes gathering to chat about their latest exploits. With that simple notion that mighty mystery men hung out together, history was made and it wasn’t long before they started working collaboratively as well as collegiately…

The anniversary amazement opens with Part I 1941-1950: For America and Democracy honing in on those early moments, as All Star #4 eventually unites the costumed community ‘For America and Democracy’ with Fox and artists EE Hibbard, Martin Nodell, Bernard Baily, Howard Sherman, Chad Grothkopf, Sheldon Moldoff & Ben Flinton relating solo cases for Flash, Green Lantern, The Spectre, Hourman, Doctor Fate, The Sandman, The Atom, Hawkman and Johnny Thunder which coincide, converge and result in a concerted attack on Nazi espionage master Fritz Klaver…

Pattern set, the heroes marched on against all foes from petty criminals to social injustice; aliens, mobsters and magical invaders until post-war tastes began shifting the formula…

With post-war tensions abated All Star Comics #37 (1947) introduced ‘The Injustice Society of the World’ (November 1947) in a yarn by Robert Kanigher, Irwin Hasen, Joe Kubert, Alex Toth, Carmine Infantino & John Belfi. This sinister saga sees America almost conquered by a coalition of supervillains before our on-the-ropes mystery men counterattack and triumph.

As superheroes plummeted in popularity, genre themes predominated and it was a stripped-down team (Flash, GL, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Hawkman, Atom and Dr. Mid-Nite) who faced a flying saucer scare in #55: scouring outer space for ‘The Man Who Conquered the Solar System!’ (October/November 1955 by John Broome, Frank Giacoia, Arthur F. Peddy & Bernard Sachs).

Thomas then turns up again for another educational chat as Part II 1963-1970: The Silver Age of Crisis focuses on the era that changed comics forever.

As I’ve frequently stated, I was one of the lucky “Baby Boomer” crowd who grew up with Julie Schwartz, Fox & Broome’s tantalisingly slow reintroduction of Golden Age superheroes during the halcyon, eternally summery days of the early 1960s. To me those fascinating counterpart crusaders from Earth-Two weren’t vague and distant memories rubber-stamped by parents or older brothers – they were cool, beguiling and enigmatically new. Moreover, for some reason the “proper” heroes of Earth-One held them in high regard and treated them with obvious deference…

It all began, naturally enough, in The Flash: trailblazing trendsetter of the Silver Age Comics Revolution. After successfully ushering in the return of the superheroes, the Scarlet Speedster – with Fox & Broome at the writing reins – set an unbelievably high standard for costumed adventure in sharp, witty tales of science and imagination, illustrated with captivating style and clean simplicity by Carmine Infantino.

The epochal epic that forever changed the scope of American comics was Fox’s ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (Flash #123 September 1961 and not included here), establishing the existence of Infinite alternate Earths, multiple versions of costumed crusaders, and – by extension – the multiversal structure of the DCU. Every succeeding, cosmos-shaking annual summer “Crisis” saga grew from it. Fan pressure almost instantly agitated for the return of more “Golden Age Greats” but Editorial bigwigs were hesitant, fearing too many heroes would be silly and unmanageable, or worse yet, put readers off. If they could see us now…

These innovative crossover yarns generated an avalanche of popular and critical approval (big sales figures, too) so inevitably the trans-dimensional tests led to the ultimate team-up in the summer of 1963. A gloriously enthralling string of JLA/JSA convocations and stunning superhero wonderments begin with landmark opening salvoes ‘Crisis on Earth-One’ and ‘Crisis on Earth-Two’ (Justice League of America #21-22, August to September). In combination they comprise one of the most important stories in DC history and arguably one of the most crucial tales in American comics.

Written by Fox and compellingly illustrated by Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs, the yarn sees a team of villains from each Earth plundering at will; meeting and defeating the mighty Justice League before imprisoning them in their own secret mountain HQ. Temporarily helpless “our” heroes contrive a desperate plan to combine forces with champions of another Earth to save the world – both of them – and the result is pure comic book majesty. It’s impossible for me to be totally objective about this saga. I was a drooling kid in short trousers when I first read it and the thrills haven’t diminished with this umpty-first re-reading.

This is what superhero comics are all about!

The second team-up is only represented by the concluding chapter ‘The Most Dangerous Earth of All!’ Justice League of America #30 (September 1964) reprised the team-up of League and Society, after (evil) versions of our heroic champions, and crucially beings from a third alternate Earth, discover the secret of trans-universal travel. Unfortunately, Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick & Power Ring come from a world without heroes and only see the crimebusting JLA and JSA as living practice dummies to sharpen their evil skills upon…

With this cracking thriller the annual summer get-together became entrenched in heroic lore, giving fans endless entertainment for years to come and making the approaching end of school holidays less gloomy than they could have been.

The fourth annual event was a touch different: flavoured by self-indulgent humour as a TV show drove the wider world bats. Veteran inker Bernard Sachs retired before the fourth team-up, leaving the superb Sid Greene to embellish a gloriously whacky saga springing out of the global “Batmania” craze engendered by the twice-weekly Batman series…

A wisecracking campy tone was fully in play, acknowledging the changing audience profile and this time stakes were raised to encompass destruction of both planets in ‘Crisis Between Earth-One and Earth-Two’ (not reprinted here) and ‘The Bridge Between Earths’ (Justice League of America #47, September 1966), wherein a bold but poorly judged continuum-warping experiment drags two Earths towards inexorable hyper-space collision. Meanwhile, making matters worse, an awesome anti-matter entity uses the opportunity to break into and explore our positive matter universe whilst two worlds’ heroes are distracted by destructive rampages of monster-men Blockbuster and Solomon Grundy.

Peppered with wisecracking “hip” dialogue, it’s sometimes difficult to discern what a superb yarn this actually is, but if you can forgive or swallow the dated patter, this is one of the best plotted and illustrated stories in the entire canon. Furthermore, the vastly talented Greene’s expressive subtlety, beguiling texture and whimsical humour add unheard-of depth to Sekowsky’s pencils and Fox’s light & frothy comedic scripts.

The exercise in fantastic nostalgia continues with both chapters of a saga wherein alien property speculators seek to simultaneously raze Earths One and Two in ‘Peril of the Paired Planets’ (#82 August 1970 by O’Neil, Dillin & Joe Giella) and only the ultimate sacrifice by a true hero averts transdimensional disaster in ‘Where Valor Fails… Will Magic Triumph?’ (#83 September)…

Part III: Bronze Age and Beyond 1971-1986 returns to independent status and stories as – following another pertinent briefing from Thomas – we focus on a time when the team was on its second career after decades in retirement. Set on parallel world Earth-2, the veterans are leavened with teen heroes, combined into a contentious, generation-gap fuelled “Super Squad”. Those youngsters included grown up Robin, Sylvester Pemberton – The Star-Spangled Kid (a 1940s teen superhero lost in time for decades) and a busty young thing who quickly became the feisty favourite of a generation of growing boys: Kara Zor-L – AKA Power Girl.

It starts with a little history lesson as Paul Levitz & Joe Staton reveal how and why the JSA went away. In ‘The Defeat of the Justice Society’ (from Adventure Comics #466 December, 1979) they expose the reason why the team vanished at the beginning of the 1950s as the US government cravenly betrays its greatest champions during Joe McCarthy’s witch-hunts: provoking mystery men into voluntarily withdrawing from public heroic life for over a decade… until the costumed stalwarts of Earth-One started the whole Fights ‘n’ Tights scene all over again.

When Roy Thomas left Marvel for DC, he made a lifetime wish come true by writing his dream team… sort of. Justice League of America #193 (August 1981) featured a “Prevue” insert minicomic featuring the ‘All-Star Squadron’. Thomas, Rich Buckler & Jerry Ordway launched a series of new stories set in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, told in real time and integrating previously published Golden Age tales into an overarching continuity. Here the JSA were augmented by contemporaries from other companies acquired by DC over the years – like Plastic Man, Firebrand and Uncle Sam – with minor DC stalwarts like Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick and Robot Man. The prequel tells of December 6th 1941 and how JSA heroes are attacked by villains from their own future as a mastermind seeks to alter history, leaving President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to issue a clarion call to all of Democracy’s other champions.

After an impressive and entertaining 5 year run that skilfully negotiated rewriting much continuity during Crisis on Infinite Earths, the series ended with All-Star Squadron #67 (March 1987) as Thomas, Arvell Jones & Tony DeZuñiga recondition ‘The First Case of the Justice Society of America’ (from All Star #4) revealing how Nazi Fritz Klaver met justice…

Industry insider Ivan Cohen then explains how things changed after the Crisis as a taster for Part IV: The JSA Returns 1992-2007. We open with the last issue of Justice Society of America volume 1 (#10, May 1993) – a series that concentrated on adventures of the aging heroes in modern times. ‘J.S.A. No More?’ by Len Strazewski, Mike Parobeck & Mike Machlan closed a superb, joyously fun run with geriatric wonders polishing off ancient mage Kulak to save humanity from an army of unquiet ghosts and zombies…

The heroes were re-rebooted six years later via a series of one-shots bracketed by a 2-issue miniseries. Here James Robinson, David Goyer, William Rosado, John Dell & Ray Kryssing conclude a WWII-set campaign against mystic marauder Stalker with ‘The JSA Returns, Conclusion: Time’s Arrow’ from JSA Returns: All-Star Comics #2 (Late May 1999).

All that attention led to a spectacular new series, winning new fans for the old soldiers by turning the team into a mentoring service for young superheroes. It must have been hard to select a sample from that era, but here its ‘The Return of Hawkman: Seven Devils’ (JSA #25, August 2001 by Goyer, Geoff Johns, Stephen Sadowski, Michael Bair, Dave Meikis, Paul Neary & Rob Leigh).

But first, a slight digression…

Hawkman is one of the oldest, most revered heroes ever published, premiering in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940). Although created by Fox & Dennis Neville, the most celebrated artists to have drawn the Winged Wonder are Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Kubert, whilst a young Robert Kanigher was justly proud of his later run as writer. Carter Hall was a playboy archaeologist until he uncovered a crystal knife that unlocked submerged memories. He realised that once he had been Prince Khufu of ancient Egypt, and that he and his lover Shiera had been murdered by High Priest Hath-Set. Moreover, with his returned memories came knowledge that his love and his killer were also nearby. Using past life knowledge, Hall fashioned a costume and flying harness, hunting his killer as The Hawkman.

Once his aim was achieved, he and Shiera maintained their Mystery-Man roles to fight modern crime and tyranny with weapons of the past. Disappearing as the Golden Age ended, they were revived by Julie Schwartz’s crack creative team in the 1960s, but after a long career involving numerous revamps and retcons, the Pinioned Paladin “died” in the Zero Hour crisis.

The interconnection between all those iterations is resolved after time-lost Jay The Flash Garrick awakens in ancient Egypt, and learns from Nabu (the Lord of Order who created Doctor Fate, Black Adam and Khufu himself) the true origins of Hawkman. Meanwhile in the 21st century, the modern Hawkgirl discovers connections to alien cop Katar Hol, the Hawkworld of Thanagar and true power of empowering Nth Metal…

When Hawkgirl is abducted to aforementioned Thanagar by its last survivors, desperate to thwart the schemes of insane death-demon Onimar Synn, the JSA frantically follow and Carter Hall makes his dramatic return from beyond to save the day in typical fashion: leading the team to magnificent victory in this concluding chapter…

There had been many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both a highly successful rebooting of the JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter and James Robinson’s seminal but critically favoured modern Starman, that the multi-generational team found a new mission and fan-base big enough to support them. As the century ended the original superteam returned and have been with us in one form or another ever since.

Called to order after Infinite Crisis and Identity Crisis, this JSA saw surviving heroes from WWII as teachers for the latest generation of champions and metahuman “legacy-heroes”: a large, cumbersome but nevertheless captivating assembly of raw talent, uneasy exuberance and weary hard-earned experience. Taken from truly epic storyline ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, Dale Eaglesham, Ruy Jose & Drew Geraci’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ comes from Justice Society of America (vol. 2 #10; November 2007). It expands clarifies and builds on heroes introduced in the landmark 1996 Mark Waid & Alex Ross miniseries Kingdom Come, and belated sequel The Kingdom.

The elder Kal-El from that tragic future dystopia has crossed time and dimensions to stop his world ever forming, and not even awakened god Gog or his new allies will stop him. ‘What a Wonderful World’ sees Tomorrow’s Man of Steel disclose how heroes and their successors almost destroyed the planet (with flashback sequences painted by Ross) before (another) Starman explains his own connection to all the realms of the multiverse. Initially suspicious, the JLA come to accept the elder Man of Steel, but elsewhere, a deadly predator begins eradicating demi-gods and pretenders to divinity throughout the globe…

Having grown too large and unwieldy again, DC’s continuity was again pruned and repatterned in 2011, founding a New 52 as sampled here in concluding segment Part IV: Revamp 2012. Accompanied by another Cohen text briefing, ‘End Times’ (Robinson, Nicola Scott & Trevor Scott) comes from Earth 2 #6 (January 2012) with a recreated JSA operating on a restored alternate Earth, but one where an attack from Apokolips has created a living hell for the survivors of humanity. Only a small group of metahumans such as Flash, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern are keeping humanity alive and free…

With covers by Hibbard, Irwin Hasen, Arthur F. Peddy & Bernard Sachs, Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson, Joe Giella, Neal Adams, Dick Dillin, George Pérez, Tom Grindberg & Tony DeZuñiga, Mike Parobeck, Dave Johnson, Andrew Robinson, Alex Ross, Ivan Reis & Joe Prado, this magnificent celebration of the premiere super-team is a glorious march down memory lane no fan can be without. If you cherish tradition, this titanic tome must be yours…
© 1941, 1947, 1950, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1979, 1981, 1986, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2012, 2015, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1919, Golden Age art star Gill Fox was born, whilst in 1953 strip paragon Milt (Count Screwloose of Tooloose) Gross passed on. You can see his whacky wonderment by checking out He Done Her Wrong.

Scribe supreme Greg Rucka was born in 1969 and this week we love his Stumptown stuff most. Go find Stumptown volume 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took her Shampoo (But Left her Mini) to see why. Lastly, the astounding Fran Hopper died today in 2017, She mostly drew for Fiction House from the industry’s earliest days and cleared a path for so many other women in what so wanted to be a white-boys-only club…

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Captain America Marvel Masterworks volume 3


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Syd Shores, Dan Adkins, Frank Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, George Tuska, Tom Palmer & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2063-6 (HB) 978-0-7851-8803-2 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Pure Superhero Swashbuckling… 10/10

During the Marvel Renaissance of the early 1960’s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby imitated the tactic that had worked so tellingly for DC Comics, but with mixed results. Julie Schwartz had scored an incredible success with his revised versions of the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed natural to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days.

A new Human Torch premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four, and in the fourth issue of that title Sub-Mariner resurfaced after a 20-year amnesiac hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive an “Atlas” superhero line in the mid-1950s). The Torch was promptly given his own solo feature in Strange Tales beginning in #101, and in #114 the flaming teen fought an acrobat pretending to be Captain America.

With reader reaction strong, the “real” thing promptly resurfaced in Avengers #4 and, after a captivating, centre-stage hogging run in that title, the Sentinel of Opportunity was granted his own series as half of “split-book” Tales of Suspense (from #59, cover-dated November 1964).

However, Marvel’s inexorable rise to dominance in the American comic book industry really took hold in 1968 when many of their characters finally got their own full length titles. Prior to that and due to a highly restrictive distribution deal, the company was tied to a limit of 16 publications per month. To circumvent this, Marvel developed those titles with two series per publication, such as Tales of Suspense where original star Iron Man shared honours with Cap. When the division came, Shellhead started afresh with a big deal First Issue, whilst Cap retained the numbering of the original title; thereby premiering with #100.

This resoundingly resolute full-colour collection spanning May 1968 to May 1969 – and available in hardcover, trade paperback and digital editions – re-presents Captain America #101-113 and also includes a fervent Introductory reminiscence from arch-Kirby appreciator John Morrow, plus a fascinating Afterword by industry legend Jim Steranko wherein he meticulously and methodically deconstructs the landmark epic that comprises the end of this titanic tome…

Crafted by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & legendary 1940s Cap illustrator Syd Shores, Captain America #101-102 recount the return of fascist revenant the Red Skull who here deploys yet another appalling Nazi revenge-weapon in ‘When Wakes the Sleeper!’ This results in boatloads of furious action and a classic clash of wills and ideologies in furious finale ‘The Sleeper Strikes!’ It all began as our hero and his trusty support crew Agent 13 & Nick Fury hunt a murderous mechanoid capable of ghosting through solid Earth and blowing up the planet…

Although the immediate threat is quickly quashed, the instigator remains at large and #103 exposes ‘The Weakest Link!’ as the budding romance with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 13 (finally revealed after two years as Sharon Carter) is cruelly interrupted by the nefarious Nazi. The über-fascist’s latest scheme of nuclear blackmail also extends to a second issue, wherein his aging band of war-criminal assassins, The Exiles, sequentially test Cap nigh to destruction on the hidden isle where our hero becomes the ‘Slave of the Skull!’

That issue and following super-villain team-up – wherein Living Laser and The Swordsman ally with another flamboyant Cap foe to battle ‘In the Name of Batroc!’ – feature the loose, flowing inking of Dan Adkins, before Frank Giacoia embellishes all-action, sinister spies-&-devious-doppelgangers romp ‘Cap Goes Wild!’ in #106.

Shores spectacularly returns in #107 embellishing sinister mystery ‘If the Past Be Not Dead…’: a panic-paced-paced psycho-thriller introducing malevolent, mind-bending world-conquering psychiatrist Doctor Faustusâ’…

The Star-Spangled Avenger is once again rescuing Agent 13 – or at least he thinks he is – in breakneck thriller ‘The Snares of the Trapster!’ before Captain America #109 redefines his origin for the Sixties generation with ‘The Hero That Was!’: a blistering and bombastic wrap-up to Kirby’s run on the Sentinel of Liberty… at least for the moment.

Comics phenomenon and one-man sensation Jim Steranko then took over the art – and art direction – with #110 for a far-too-brief stint that was to become everybody’s favourite Star Spangled epic for decades to come.

After a swift and brutal skirmish with the Incredible Hulk, teen appendage Rick Jones becomes the patriotic paladin’s new sidekick in ‘No Longer Alone!’, just in time for the pair to tackle the memorably lascivious, ferociously fetishistic Madame Hydra – and her eerily obedient hordes – in #111’s ‘Tomorrow You Live, Tonight I Die!’ Both are inked by Joe Sinnott in a landmark saga that inspired and galvanised a generation of would-be comics artists.

With the Avenger seemingly killed at the issue’s close, the next month saw a bombastic account of Captain America’s serried career by fill-in superstars Kirby & George Tuska, before Lee, Steranko & Tom Palmer returned to conclude the Hydra affair with ‘The Strange Death of Captain America’ in #113.

This yarn reset the veteran warrior’s character and dictated his heroic trajectory; and led to a whole new career path…

Also on offer are a selection of Kirby’s original art pages and covers, including rejected and unseen pencil versions prior to editing and the draconian interference of the Comics Code Authority…

These are tales of dauntless courage and unmatchable adventure, fast-paced and superbly illustrated, which rightly returned Captain America to the heights that his Golden Age compatriots Human Torch and Sub-Mariner never regained. They are pure escapist magic: glorious treats for the eternally young at heart, and episodes of sheer visual dynamite that cannot be slighted and should not be missed.
© 1968, 1969, 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1914, Timely Marvel founding force Vince Fago was born, as was contemporary universe-builder Jerry Ordway. In 2012 utterly unique commix creator Spain Rodriguez died. He probably saw it coming… and you can learn all you should already know about him by viewing Spain: Rock, Roll, Rumbles, Rebels & Revolution.

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DC Finest Green Lantern (volume 2) – Earth’s Other Green Lantern


By Gardner F. Fox, John Broome, Bob Haney, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Ramona Fradon & Charles Paris, Murphy Anderson, Joe Giella, Frank Giacoia, Sid Greene & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-326-2 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Pure & Superhero Sensationalism… 9/10

After a hugely successful revival and reworking of Golden Age all-star The Flash, DC (National Periodical Publications as they were then) built on a resurgent superhero trend. Cover dated October 1959 and on sale from July 28th, Showcase #22 hit newsstands at the same time as the fourth issue of the new Flash comic book (#108) and once again the guiding lights were Editor Julie Schwartz and writer John Broome. Assigned as illustrator was action ace Gil Kane.

Brash, cocky test pilot Hal Jordan was in California when an alien cop crashed on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his ring – a device which could materialise thoughts – to find a replacement officer: one both honest and without fear. Scanning the planet, the wonder weapon selected Jordan, whisking him to the crash-site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his profession (patrolman of Sector 2814) to the astonished Earthman.

In 6 pages the story established characters, scenario and narrative thrust of a series that would become the spine of all DC continuity. With the concept of the superhero being re-established among the buying public, there was no shortage of gaudily clad competition. Better books thrived by having something a little “extra”. With Green Lantern that was primarily the superb scripts of John Broome & Gardner Fox and astounding ever-evolving drawing of Gil Kane (ably abetted by a string of top inkers) whose dynamic anatomy and dramatic action scenes were maturing with every page he drew. Happily, the concept itself was also a provider of boundless opportunity.

Other heroes had extraterrestrial, other-dimensional and even trans-temporal adventures, but the valiant champion of this series was also a cop: a lawman working for the biggest police force in the entire universe.

This fabulous compilation gathers Green Lantern #40-61 (October 1965 -June 1968) plus contemporary guest appearances in The Flash #168, Detective Comics #350 and The Brave and the Bold #69. It all gets started without fanfare and opens with GL #40 which went on sale on August 26th 1965.

Conceived and delivered by Broome, Kane & Sid Greene (with conceptual input as always from editor Schwartz, ‘The Secret Origin of the Guardians!’ was a landmark second only to game-changing ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (see DC Finest: The Flash – The Human Thunderbolt) as the Emerald Gladiator with his Earth-2 counterpart Alan Scott have to stop obsessed Oan scientist Krona, whose misguided attempts to discover the origins of the universe had introduced evil into our pristine reality billions of years ago. His actions forced his immortal brethren to become protectors of life and civilisation in an unending act of group contrition – the Guardians of the Universe.

Now he was back and still asking the wrong question, with his efforts also endangering a parallel earth. Happily for creation, that world had its own vastly experienced Emerald Avenger, who pitched in, and was so good at crisis management that the Guardians offered him Hal’s job…

Simultaneously high concept and all-action, the tale became a keystone of DC cosmology and a springboard for all those mega-apocalyptic publishing events such as Crisis on Infinite Earths. It has seldom been equalled and never bettered…

Gardner Fox scribed GL #41, spotlighting twisted romance in ‘The Double Life of Star Sapphire!’ as an alien power-gem again compels Jordan’s boss/true love Carol Ferris to subjugate and marry her sometime paramour Green Lantern. Fox also wrote another cracking magical mystery to end the issue as extraterrestrial wizard Myrwhydden triggered ‘The Challenge of the Coin Creatures!’

Next came ‘The Other Side of the World!’ wherein Fox continued a long-running experiment in continuity with a superb tale of time-lost civilisations and an extra-dimensional invasion by the Warlock of Ys co-starring peripatetic quester Zatanna the Magician as perfectly pictured by Kane & Greene.

At that time the top-hatted, fish-netted sorceress appeared in a number of Schwartz-edited titles, hunting her long-missing father Zatarra: a magician-hero in the Mandrake mould who had fought evil in the pages of Action Comics for over a decade, beginning with the very first issue. In true Silver Age “refit” style, Fox concocted a young, equally empowered daughter, promoting and popularising her in guest-team ups with superheroes he was currently scripting. If you’re counting, these tales appeared in Hawkman #4, Atom #19, Green Lantern #42 and an Elongated Man back-up strip in Detective Comics #355 as well as a slick piece of back writing to include the high-profile Caped Crusader via Detective #336. It all concluded after this GL segment in Justice League of America #51. You can enjoy the entire early epic by tracking down Justice League of America: Zatanna’s Search…

The Flash shared the spotlight in #43: a high-energy tussle with a debuting tectonically terrifying new supervillain for Fox’s ‘Catastrophic Crimes of Major Disaster!’ and the next issue provide two tales – an increasing rarity as book-length epics became the action-packed norm.

Second-class postage discounts had for years dictated the format of comic books: to qualify for cheaper rates periodicals had to contain more than one feature, but when the rules were revised single, complete tales not divided into “chapters” soon proliferated. Here though are two reasons to bemoan the switch; Fox’s ‘Evil Star’s Death-Duel Summons’ and Broome’s “Jordan Brothers” adventure ‘Saga of the Millionaire Schemer!’, offering high-intensity alien supervillain action and a heady, witty comedy-of-errors mystery as Hal visits his family and is embroiled in new sister-in-law Sue’s hare-brained scheme to prove that her husband Jim Jordan is actually Green Lantern!

Crossovers were becoming increasingly common as shared continuity expanded and heroes popped up out of their regular jurisdiction. One brilliantly executed example follows…

Back in 1963 Schwartz had assumed editorial control of Batman & Detective Comics, allowing him space for a character who had been lying mostly fallow ever since his debut as a very long-legged walk-on in the April/May 1960 Flash. The Elongated Man was Ralph Dibny: a circus-performer who discovered an additive in popular soft drink Gingold which gave certain rare people increased muscular flexibility. Intrigued, Dibny isolated and refined the chemical and developed a serum granting him the ability to stretch, bend and compress his body to an incredible degree. From Detective #350 (April 1966) comes ‘Green Lantern’s Blackout!’ wherein Hal’s best friend Thomas Kalmaku seeks out the Stretchable Sleuth to solve the riddle of the hero’s abrupt disappearance – an entrancing, action-packed team-up with a future Justice League colleague by Fox & Carmine Infantino.

Scripted by Broome, Earth-2’s ring wielder returns for another power-packed pairing in Green Lantern #45’s fantasy & fisticuffs romance romp ‘Prince Peril’s Power Play’. The author raised the dramatic stakes with the hero’s first continued adventure in the following issue. GL #46 opens with Fox’s delightfully grounded crime-thriller ‘The Jailing of Hal Jordan’, before – preceded by a spectacular Kane pin-up – ‘The End of a Gladiator!’ details the murder of Sector 2814’s GL by old foe Dr. Polaris, concluding with his honour-laden funeral on Oa, home of the Guardians!

Broome was on fire at this time: the following issue and concluding chapter sees the hero’s corpse snatched to the 58th century and revived in time to save his occasional future home from a biological infection of pure evil in the spectacular triumph ‘Green Lantern Lives Again!’ Bizarrely garbed goodies and baddies were common currency at this time of incipient TV-generated Batmania, so when gold-plated mad scientist Keith Kenyon returned it was as a dyed-in-the-wool costumed crazy for Fox’s ‘Goldface’s Grudge Fight Against Green Lantern!’: a brutal clash of opposites. Sadly, Broome’s showbiz scoundrel Dazzler didn’t quite set the world afire in #49’s ‘The Spectacular Robberies of TV’s Master Villain!’ but the yarn was still a shocker, as Hal Jordan quit his job as a Coast City test pilot and went on the first of his vagabond quests across America…

Green Lantern had been the first hero to co-headline with Batman in The Brave and the Bold #59 (April/May 1965): a tale which became the blueprint of the title’s next 20 years as two colleagues joined forces for a specific case. There devious criminal scientist John Starr tricked Bruce Wayne into clearing his name and stole the Emerald Crusader’s power to fuel a chronal assault on Gotham as the Time Commander. Here and now, Win Mortimer joins scripter Bob Haney as Gotham Gangbuster and Green Knight endure a fractious reunion in B&B #69’s ‘War of the Cosmic Avenger’ (December 1966-January 1967) as John Starr repeats his tactic to unleash star-powered golem Cosmo upon the world, utterly unaware that the monster might have its own sinister agenda. Luckily, our heroes are smarter than the brilliant but bad time bandit…

With Green Lantern #50 Kane began inking his own art (probably in preparation for his forthcoming independent publications Savage and Blackmark), lending the proceedings a raw, savage appeal. The fight content in the stories was also ramped up, as seen in Broome’s murder-mystery treasure hunt ‘The Quest for the Wicked Queen of Hearts!’, complimented by an extragalactic smack-fest in Fox’s ‘Thraxton the Powerful vs Green Lantern the Powerless’, prior to Broome bringing the Emerald Crusader back to the 58th century to battle ‘Green Lantern’s Evil Alter Ego!’ in #52. Meanwhile, across the editorial aisle in The Flash #168 (cover-dated March 1967 but on sale from January 19th) Broome delivered a full-length thriller for Infantino & Sid Greene in which the Guardians of the Universe seek out the Scarlet Speedster after finding ‘One of our Green Lanterns is Missing!’ Bafflingly, as the Vizier of Velocity hunts for his missing best buddy, he is constantly distracted and diverted by a gang of third-rate thugs who have somehow acquired futuristic super weapons…

Back in GL #52, Broome & Kane have Alan Scott and comedy sidekick Doiby Dickles pop over from Earth-2 to aid against returning arch nemesis Sinestro in frankly peculiar ‘Our Mastermind, the Car!’, before finding far less outré plot or memorable foe for #53’s ‘Captive of the Evil Eye!’ wherein an alien giant stealing Earth’s atmosphere is ferociously foiled. The same issue sees Infantino & Greene step up to illustrate Broome’s thrillingly comedic Jordan Brothers back-up ‘Two Green Lanterns in the Family!’ as Hal finds employment as an investigator for the Evergreen Insurance company…

Broome & Kane reunite for positively surreal, super-scientific saga ‘Menace in the Iron Lung!’ (GL #54), with a manic shut-in orchestrating a deadly remote war against the Viridian Avenger followed by an all-out attack on the Guardians and their operatives in ‘Cosmic Enemy Number One’. The trans-galactic assassinations conclude in ‘The Green Lanterns’ Fight for Survival!’ and the appointment of a second Earthling to the now depleted Corps.

For #57, Fox scripts a sparkling Fights ‘n’ Tights duel in ‘The Catastrophic Weapons of Major Disaster!’ with the walking extinction event simultaneously tapping into and depowering the power ring before #58’s gripping psycho-thriller ‘Peril of the Powerless Green Lantern’ sees our hero seemingly suffering from debilitating combat fatigue. Sid Greene returned to inking with this yarn, staying on to embellish another continuity landmark.

In Green Lantern (volume 2 #59, March 1968) Broome introduced ‘Earth’s Other Green Lantern!’ in a rip-roaring cosmic epic of what-might-have-been. When dying Abin Sur originally ordered his ring to select a worthy successor Hal Jordan wasn’t the only candidate, but simply the closest of two. Here thanks to Guardian technology Hal sees what would have occurred if the ring had chosen his alternative Guy Gardner instead¦?

Action lovers and fans of fantasy fiction couldn’t find a better example of everything that defines superhero comics, but by the time of these later stories began DC was a company in transition – as indeed was America itself – with new ideas (for which, in comic-book terms, read “new, young writers”) granted greater headway than ever before: in turn generating an influx of new kids unseen since the very start of the industry, when excitable young artists and writers ran wild with imagination. Green Lantern #60 (April 1968), however, was an all-veteran outing as Fox, Kane & Greene introduced a fantastic new foe in ‘Spotlight on the Lamplighter!’, a power-packed, crime-busting morality play inadvertently foreshadowing a spectacular Green team-up classic in the next issue.

We end as we began for the last tale in this collection, wherein Mike Friedrich pens ‘Thoroughly Modern Mayhem!’ Mercifully the story is as wonderful as the title is not, since it cut to the quick of a problem many a kid had posited. If the power ring was so powerful why not just command it to end all evil? When the old and world-weary Emerald Crusader of Earth-2 does just that, it takes both him and his Earth-1 counterpart to remedy the shocking consequences to all of humanity…

Augmented with covers by Kane, Murphy Anderson, Jack Adler, Infantino, Greene & Joe Giella, these costumed drama romps are in themselves a great read for most ages, but when also considered as the building blocks of all DC continuity they become vital fare for any fan keen to make sense of the modern superhero experience. This blockbusting book showcases the imaginative and creative peak of Broome, Fox & Kane: a plot driven plethora of action sagas and masterful thrillers that literally reshaped the DC Universe. If you love superheroes you will never read better…
© 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1908 key comics personage, DC editor, writer and media intermediary Whitney Ellsworth was born, and in 1970 so was Mexican maestro Humberto Ramos who has excelled on everything from Amazing Spider-Man to Young Justice.

You’ve probably never heard of her, but Dorothy Woolfolk shattered a bunch of glass ceilings and was DC’s first woman editor. We lost her today in 2000, but her legacy lives on.

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The Sludge! – 60th Anniversary edition


By E. George Cowan, Bill Lacey, Earnest “Ted” Kearon, with Geoff Campion & various (Rebellon Studios/ treasury of British Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-83786-520-8 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Murkily Macabre Merriment for All… 8/10

British comics always enjoyed an extended love affair with what can only be described as “unconventional” (for which substitute “bizarre” or “creepy”) stars. So many notional role models we grew up reading were outrageous or just plain “off”: self-righteous voyeur/vigilantes like Jason Hyde, sinister foreign masterminds like The Dwarf or Black Max, affable criminals such as Charley Peace, arrogant ex-criminals like The Spider or outright racist Overmen like manic white ideologue Captain Hurricane…

Prior to game changers Action, 2000AD and Misty, our comics fell into fairly ironclad categories. Back then, you had genial and/or fantastic preschool fantasy; many, many licensed entertainment properties; action; adventure; war (especially ones “We” were in or had started); school dramas; sports and straight comedy strands. Closer examination could confirm that there was always a subversive merging, mixing undertone, especially anarchic antiheroes like Dennis the Menace or our rather strained interpretation of costumed crime-busters. Just check out Phantom Viking, Kelly’s Eye or early Steel Claw stories…

Following post-war austerity, the otherwise bleak and restricted 1950s ushered in a comics revolution. With the UK’s printing and paper restrictions gone, a steady stream of titles emerged from companies new and old, aimed at different levels of childish attainment from pre-school to young adult. In April 1950, when Hulton Press launched Eagle the very concept of what weeklies could be changed. However, that oversized prestige package with luxurious photogravure colour was expensive, and beyond the reach of many kids. So, when London’s publishing powerhouse Amalgamated Press retaliated, it was with a far more economical affair. I’m assuming AP only waited so long before the first issue of Lion launched (cover-dated February 23rd 1952) to see if their flashy rival was going to last.

Just like Eagle, Lion mixed prose stories, features and comic strips. It even offered its own cover-featured interstellar-hero: Captain Condor – Space Ship Pilot. Initially edited by Reg Eves, Lion’s 1156 weekly issues ran until 18th May 1974, when it merged with sister-title Valiant. Along the way, as British comics always had, it subsumed weaker-selling titles to keep popular strips going. Like the sticky star featured here, Lion had absorbed Sun in 1959 and Champion in 1966; going on to acquire and ultimately swallow Eagle in April 1969. The result merged with Thunder in 1971. In its capacity as one of the country’s most popular and enduring adventure comics, the last vestiges of Lion finally vanished in 1976 when its devourer Valiant was amalgamated with Battle Picture Weekly.

Despite its mid-70s demise, there were 30 Lion Annuals between 1953 -1982, all targeting the lucrative Christmas market, combining a broad variety of original strips with topical and historical prose adventures; sports, science and general interest features; short humour strips and – increasingly in the 1970s – reformatted reprints from IPC/Fleetway’s vast back catalogue. Originally presenting a cosy façade of genial comedic antics or school follies, cheery cowboys, staunch soldiery and moonlighting light entertainment stars, before long there lurked behind and below the surface dark, often utterly deranged fantasy fare. These included marauding monsters and uncanny events upsetting our comfy status quo. Perhaps it was all just a national shared psychosis triggered by war, rationing, and nightly bombing; never forget that we also smugly rejoiced in NO SUCCESSFUL INVASION SINCE 1066, DAMMIT!

Over and again British oddness would combine with or react to long-standing familiarity with soft oppression, leading to sagas of overwhelming, imminent conquest and worse. With our benighted shores existentially threatened, entertainment sources responded with a procession of doughty resistors facing down doom from the deepest depths of perfidy and menace… especially as churned up by the scary results of foolish modern SCIENCE!

Thanks to economic vagaries and spiralling costs in publishing, the mid 1960s and early 1970s were particularly wild and desperate for comics: inspiring a wave of innovation most fondly remembered for more of those aforementioned darkly off-kilter heroes, beguiling monsters and charismatic villains.

The Sludge pretty much set a blueprint for all that…

Gathering serialised episodes from Lion 13th February to 12th June 1965, material from Lion Annual 1967, and Lion 20th December 1969 – 16th May 1970, this compilation delivers fantastic threats and menaces in a traditional weekly manner, as a pair of doughty white blokes lead humanity’s resistance to an uncanny doomsday scenario. As usual for the context of these times, atomic energy was the initial culprit of all those woes, never depicted with more pant-wettingly oppressive doom zeitgeist than right here…

‘The Sludge’ began its inexplicably vehement war against humanity in glamourous exotic Canada, created by prolific E. – for Edward – George Cowan (Ginger Nutt, The Spider, Saber, King of the Jungle, Smokeman/UFO Agent, Nick Jolly the Flying Highwayman, Paddy Payne, Girls’ Crystal Libraries) with the spooky dramas visually unfolding thanks to Bill Lacey (1917-2000). Back then, he was pretty much The benchmark indicator of a strip’s veracity and a gifted master of easy authenticity able to make the strangest concepts readily accessible. Lacey began his commercial art career as a technical illustrator for the Ministry of Aircraft before segueing neatly into comics.

At Amalgamated Press/ Fleetway he worked on prestigious Mickey Mouse Weekly, Look and Learn, Cowboy Comics Library, Super Detective Library, Battle Picture Weekly, Valiant and a bunch of Lion strips including Mytek the Mighty, Whirlpool of Weed, Sinister Island, Rat Pack and Rick Random, before widening his brief with DC Thomson gigs including Tasker, The Wilde Boys and Q-Bikes.

Back in Canada, an atomic test somehow leads to luxury liner Atlanta being boarded in mid-ocean by something shiny, sticky and incomprehensible. Hours later the utterly deserted off-course, radio-silent vessel smashes into Montreal harbour after neatly avoiding every tug and other maritime measure deployed to stop or at least slow her down. Among those watching are reporter Bill Hanley and cameraman Rick Slade, who notice that the colossal ship seems to be displaying cold, malignant eyes on its sticky, shiny hull…

Nobody listens at first, but eventually as sightings of a man-like mass moving across the city tie-in to inanimate objects – like cargo crates, cars, suspension bridges and air force fighter planes – moving on their own and attacking any human they can reach, Hanley & Slade -always on the thing’s trail – formulate a theory…

Sadly, facts are hard to corroborate. What they do know is that a self-propelled glowing blob makes everyday objects kill people. Also, when this “Sludge” vacates its current host, the solid object dissolves into goo and powder…

From there on it’s a frantic chase across the continent as newsmen chase monster and local authorities try something else to stop the inimical phenomenon. Eventually, Bill realises two things: it’s attracted to all power sources – electrical engines, oil refineries, atomic power stations – and has somehow made the reporters its prime targets for obliteration…

After weeks of spectacular set pieces and hairsbreadth escapes the end comes in traditional manner when the media men discover an unsuspected vulnerability and humanity exploits it to the full. Of course, this B-movie had a sequel in the works…

That came in full painted colour and Lion Annual 1967 where The Return of the Sludge’ sees the tiniest smidgeon of atomic goo gradually rebuild itself for another cataclysmic death spree, enhanced by the fact that it has developed immunity to its personal brand of Kryptonite…

Thankfully Bill & Rick are on the ball and on the case by the time it graduates from buses to an atomic submarine, so humanity can breathe easy again…

Next comes a rare UK comics team-up/crossover. You might want to check out Robot Archie and the World of the Future please link to 13th November 2025 before tackling this, but be assured there are plenty of cues to catch you up if that’s too long to wait. Running in Lion from 20th December 1969 – 31st January 1970, ‘Robot Archie vs The Sludge’ saw the periodical’s most popular, long-lived star testing his hard-wired wits and mechanical might against the undying goop with veteran artist Ernest “Ted” Kearon (Spot the Clue with Zip Nolan, The Day the World Drowned, Steel Commando, DC Thomson’s Morgyn the Mighty) signing on for Cowan’s sequel of sorts…

Robot Archie was for a very long time the greatest achievement of inventor Professor C. R. Ritchie. He gave the bragging ‘bot to nephew Ted Ritchie who, with explorer chum Ken Dale, made themselves useful all over the world wherever trouble happened. The arrogant, smug, self-absorbed yet paternally benevolent mechanoid lost pole position after the Prof left them The Castle. This inhabitable two-storey faux chess piece could take them anywhere in history and even into the future, and inevitably Archie commandeered it and got them all lost in spacetime…

Now – whenever that is – the humans finally think they’ve made it back home when the Castle materialises on a swanky island of rich people. A closer inspection reveals the owners are not home and events soon prove that they are in some kind of future theme park preserve. Worst of all, a ghastly walking mess that can animate objects and machines is right behind them and keen to kill. Moreover, the monster-mess has somehow subjugated a servant race of natives and even much of the flora and fauna wants the interlopers gone…

What follows is a bizarre death chase that culminates in Archie succumbing to the Sludge’s power before defeating the terror and escaping with his pals. But of course, it’s not over…

Returned to the relative peace and quiet of the timestream the trio stumble straight into sequel/continuation ‘Robot Archie – Return of the Sludge’ (in Lion 7th February through 16th May 1970) as scraps of the mucky monstrosity cling to the timeship and run amok when they finally return to their origin point and beloved home (a disused railway station in 196???).

The terror resumes when the sinister splodges are struck by lightning and grow exponentially. Soon Britain is under attack by the Sludge who possesses steam engines, power pylons, cranes, statues, every scary item in Milchester museum – from mummies to stuffed whales and dinosaur remains – and ultimately British Army tanks in its frantic zeal to destroy the robot it clearly hates even more than humanity.

Battling indomitably as always, the trio (and Earth) only survive thanks to another trick of fate…

Closing this spooky spectacular is a potent ‘Covers gallery’ of thrilling colour clashes courtesy of wonder man Geoff Campion, and the usual creator briefings.

For British, Commonwealth and European readers of a certain age and prone to debilitating nostalgia, the comic works gathered in this bombastic B-movie-tribute gig are an exciting, engaging, done-in-one delight that’s undemanding and rewarding; and a rare treat these days. If that appeals, this is what you want. What you really, really want…
© 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970 & 2025 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights reserved.

Today in 1914 Golden Age master Lou Fine was born, followed by another graphic genius in 1922 when Charles M. Schulz began day one of his formative years. That must have been useful when crafting Peanuts in later years. In 2006 superhero superstar Dave Cockrum died.

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The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club


By Bill Tuckey & Francisco de la Mora (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-914224-36-2 (TPB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Family entertainment… 8/10

Are you old enough to remember, books, films and comics aimed at kids who would see players their own age finding a problem and sorting it out themselves? That’s what this fabulous yarn is, only here those plucky protagonists are all kids with conditions the world says renders them even more useless and in fact unable to act or think for themselves at all…

Writer (broadcaster, radio DJ, journalist, editor) Bill Tuckey & artist Francisco de la Mora (Frida Kahlo – Her Life, Her Work, Her Home please link to March 13th 2023) are both parents of children with special needs. Tuckey’s boys have ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and de la Mora’s lad has PVL (Periventricular leukomalacia) and both creators have brought those experiences into a grand adventure that is also a signpost for how you should all behave around those of us that need a little forethought, patience and consideration…

In a city district near a park, 11-year-olds Arthur Ballentine and Finn Gregory are already pals when they first encounter tireless fireball Uma Blanco. She’s 8 and has PVL. It leaves her with speech difficulties and cognitive deficits, but she always knows what she wants and runs rings around Arthur, who has ASD, and Finn, stuck in his wheelchair due to cerebral palsy.

They instantly unite over the way the insensitive folk (“the white people”) around them act and find purpose in the way their favourite space is becoming one huge litter trap. It’s just one aspect of the ongoing neglect slowly ruining the treasured urban green space. It’s getting less fun all the time now, as they learn from embattled park warden “the General”, lumbered with explaining why the latest council cuts mean the disabled toilets are closed from now on…

By June the kids are firm friends and resolved to do something. It begins with just picking up other people’s rubbish every Saturday, but builds before going into extreme overdrive once they discover a quiet, damaged man is living under the trees with a fox called Winchester. He’s buried himself in an underground hideout constructed secretly from other people’s cast offs…

And thus begins a quirky tale of renewal and unlikely friendships which charmingly lead to victory for the idealistic nippers, salvation for sad, strange wild engineer Richard (once the police stop being involved) and even a glorious storybook ending of sorts…

This is not polemic masquerading as entertainment. There’s a clever plot, compelling drama and a profound resolution in the offing. Of course there are plenty of incidents underlining how crap we are as society in taking care of our fellows, but it’s velvet-gloved in a welter of witty incidents and glorious characters studies of the kids and all the adults they impact and gradually convert to a better way of thinking and acting…

I don’t get to use the terms inspirational or heartwarming much when reviewing modern books and comics but when The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club inevitably becomes the next big British indie movie hit (like The Lady in the Van but closer to the kerb and bushes), I’ll be back to say I told you so and to plug the book all over again…
© 2025 Francisco de la Mora/Bill Tuckey. All rights reserved.

Today in 1911 Disney comics artist Paul Murray was born. We last saw his mastery in Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Volume 2: The Diabolical Duck Avenger. In 1950 Chris Claremont was born, and the magnificent Bob Haney died today in 2004. You don’t need me to tell you what they did and where to find their works.

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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…