Category: Adventure

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Superman: The Golden Age Dailies 1942 to 1944


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Whitney Ellsworth, Wayne Boring & the Superman Studio (IDW/ Library of American Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-383-5 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In this month of romantic anticipation and disillusionment, it’s worth reminding ourselves that every iconic hero of strips and comics has a dutiful, stalwart inamorata waiting ever so patently in the wings for their moment to spoon and swoon or be rescued. Here’s another vintage outing for one of the earliest and most resolute…

The American comic book industry – if it existed at all – would be utterly unrecognisable without Superman. Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s unprecedented invention was first fervidly adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation, and gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form. Spawning an army of imitators and variations within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of breakneck, breathtaking action and wish-fulfilment which epitomised the early Man of Steel grew to encompass cops-&-robbers crimebusting, socially reforming dramas, sci fi fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East sucked in America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters, all dedicated to profit through exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

From the outset, in comic book terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming the shape of the fledgling funnybook biz, the Man of Tomorrow irresistibly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media. Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic invention as epitome and acme of comics creation, the truth is that very soon after his springtime debut in Action Comics #1 the Man of Steel was a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Popeye, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and Mickey Mouse. We parochial and possessive comics fans too often regard our purest and most powerful icons in purely graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, Avengers and their hyperkinetic kind long ago outgrew four-colour origins to become fully mythologized modern media creatures familiar in mass markets, across all platforms and age ranges…

Far more people have seen and heard the Man of Steel than have ever read his comic books. These globally syndicated newspaper strips alone were enjoyed by countless millions, and by the time his 20th anniversary rolled around, at the very start of what we call the Silver Age of Comics, he had been a thrice-weekly radio serial star, headlined 17 astounding animated cartoons, become a novel attraction (written by George Lowther) and helmed two feature films and his first smash 8-season live-action television show. Superman was a perennial sure-fire success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers all over the planet.

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for the majority of the previous century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country – and often the planet – it was seen by millions, if not billions, of readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books. It also paid better, and rightly so. Some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were created to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them grew to be part of a global culture. Mutt and Jeff, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more escaped humble, tawdry newsprint origins to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar. Most still do…

The daily Superman newspaper strip launched on 16th January 1939, augmented by a full-colour Sunday page from November 5th of that year. Originally crafted by luminaries like Siegel & Shuster and their studio (Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, Dennis Neville, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Paul J. Lauretta & Wayne Boring), the mammoth task required additional talents like strip veteran Jack Burnley and writers including Whitney Ellsworth, Jack Schiff & Alvin Schwartz.

The McClure Syndicate feature ran continuously until May 1966, appearing, at its peak, in over 300 daily and 90 Sunday newspapers; a combined readership of more than 20 million. Eventually, Win Mortimer and Curt Swan joined the unflagging Boring & Stan Kaye whilst Bill Finger and Siegel provided stories, telling serial tales largely divorced from comic book continuity throughout years when superheroes were scarcely seen.

This is the first volume of the Library of American Comics collection, which picks up from the Sterling/Kitchen Sing softcover editions which ceased production in 1999. All of the material is long overdue for re-release and digital editions. Here, however, the never-ending battle resumes with Siegel & Shuster and their helpers addressing the world war had just become part of. This superb collection – still not available digitally, despite its superb quality and sublime content – opens with an Introduction by John Wells discussing the Man of Tomorrow’s role of during those days of combat and fear, comprises episodes #20-30, pages 967 through 1814, and publication dates February 16th 1942 to October 28th 1944. It begins with ‘Lair of the Leer’ (February 16 – May 23 1942, #967-1050) as following Pearl Harbor, Clark Kent tries to enlist but fails the physical. In his eagerness, the hero had accidentally activated his super vision and read an eye chart in another room!

Marooned at home, Superman instead counters a wave of sabotage instigated by a murderous maniac dubbed The Leer and addresses Congress, swearing to defend the homeland while America’s brave boys settle the fascists overseas…via a string of Japanese, Italian and German operatives, seeking to destroy government, shipping transport infrastructure and arms plants. As he tirelessly stops these attempts, savvy Lois Lane investigates and soon is in the thick of the action…

The challenge is swiftly taken up by the master spy who mistakenly targets male reporter Clark, but gets snoopy Lois anyway; a mistake that leads to his undoing and his end…

Dialling down fury and spectacle, strips 1051-1115 reveal the secret of ‘The Steel Mill Poet’ (May 25-August 8) as Lois & Clark visit critical war industry site the Canby steel mill where fanciful dowager Mrs Canby believes her cousin’s odes and ditties will uplift the sweaty toilers. With morale plummeting Superman goes looking for her vanished husband, and finds himself playing cupid to two generations of steel tycoons whilst also scotching a sabotage scheme unlike any other…

The naval war features heavily in ‘The Monocle Menace’ (August 10-November 21, #1116-1205) as a new malicious mastermind targets shipping and support services by creating a evil Superman doppelganger, although his real objective is a secret formula. As usual Lois is first on the case and has a ringside seat to an ever-escalating battle of super-powers against super science; even saving her hero when the Man of Steel succumbs to sinister mesmerism and seemingly switches sides!

With Wayne Boring taking more and more of the drawing duties, Seasonal whimsy informs the 23rd exploit as Hitler, Mussolini and General Tojo combine forces to shatter the moral of the world by having ‘Santa Claus Kidnapped’ (November 23-December 19, strips 1206-1229). This compels Superman to go undercover in Berlin, saving Saint Nick and giving the German resistance a big boost before returning to truly nasty business by countering ‘The Villainy of the Voice’ (December 21 1942 to April 17 1943, and 1230-1331). Here an anonymous plotter uses a whispering campaign of insinuation and innuendo to terrorise key workers until Lois and Clark expose the rat and his insidious gang of spying blackmailers and extortionists…

As the Daily Planet’s top reporters are despatched to “war-torn Europe”, Lois &Clark accidentally encounter super spy ‘The Nefarious Noname’ (April 19-June 26, 1332-1391) and are sucked into a Hitchcockian chase around London in pursuit of stolen Allied invasion plans. “Luckily” Superman is also on hand to help them against the freakish, many-eyed psionic mutant terror commanding the enemy agents and a ferocious battle of powers and war of wills ends with the right side victorious again…

Returning safely to America, LL & CK are just in time to see how ‘The Sneer Strikes’ (June 28 – August 21, #1392-1439) as the brother of the Leer targets Japanese Internment Camps in a remarkably even-handed exploration of what we now consider one of the darkest ethical moments in US history. Hopefully that’s not a statement I’ll have amend over the next four years…

Back then though, the reporters’ investigative visits uncover spy schemes and escape plots, forcing the Man of Steel to use his disguise powers to go undercover, infiltrating the Nipponese gang as they attempt to destroy US/Chinese relations and foil a West Coast invasion. The war was slowly turning in the Allies’ favour and reader burnout was growing, so it’s no surprise story #27 moved into solid mystery territory with ‘Where is Lois Lane?’ (August 23 – November 18, #1440-1518) as Clark and Jimmy Olsen realise the woman working at the Daily Planet with them has vanished. Moreover, every aspect of her non-work life – home, neighbours, friends – has been eradicated…

It’s even more confusing when she suddenly reappears, claiming everyone else is crazy. Maybe its because she’s been replaced by an enemy agent wearing her face and form carrying out a bizarre ploy to make Superman her slave and destroy the US economy…

A different kind of whimsy is in play when Lois’s niece – a habitual liar who could shame Baron Munchausen, if not the 47th President – debuts in ‘Little Susie’s Fibs’ (November 19 1943 – February 19 1944, #1519-1598). The fabricating deceiver is an inveterate troublemaker, and when she sees Clark become Superman the scene is set for an avalanche of chaos, after Susie confronts Kent. Of course, he denies everything but cannot find a way to prove he is NOT the Man of Steel telling a lie, and the fantastic hilarity goes into overdrive when ‘The Mischievous Mr. Mxyztplk’ first manifests (February 21 – July 19, #1599-1727). Forewarned by medium Madame Zodia, Lois & Clark are still utterly unprepared for a spate of poltergeist phenomena at the Planet building, heralding the arrival of a fun-addicted magical imp who doesn’t care who gets hurt whilst he’s getting his giggles…

As if his antics aren’t enough to fully occupy the Action Ace, the “Most Beautiful Woman in the World” chooses that moment to stop covering her face, no longer caring about the fights and accidents her looks generate. With men rioting and suiciding everywhere, the imp sets his heart on her too, but Miss Dreamface seeks to steal Superman’s, even though faithful old flame Ted is still chasing her too. The frenzy mounts and peaks in Metropolis, setting the scene for tragedy and disaster, even if true love eventually finds a way to restore order…

Acclaimed favourite of the Superman radio show, the Daily Planet copy boy got his first taste of pictorial fame in concluding sequence #30 ‘King Jimmy Olsen’ (July 20-October 28 1944, #1728-1814). Here the dauntless is lad abducted by hidden super-scientific kingdom Thymaung. The boy is the exact double of ruler Rahma, and a council of usurpers want to replace their noble boy king with a pliable primitive they can control and who will front their campaign to conquer Earth. Unfortunately for them, Superman tracks down his pal, but insists the kid plays along until the Man of Tomorrow can safely liberate the captive king. A whirlwind ride of action, fantasy and first love, it heralds a new era of decreasingly political satire in favour of gender stereotyping and reinforcement masked as a comedic “battle of the sexes”. There will be more of that next time -and all through the “Atomic age” of the 1950s & 1960s…

For now though, these yarns offer timeless wonders and mesmerising excitement for lovers of action and fantasy. The raw-boned early Superman is beyond compare. If you can handle the warts of the era or just crave simpler stories from less angst-wracked times, they are ideal comics reading, and this a book you simply must see.
© 2016 DC Comics. All rights reserved. Superman and all related names, characters and elements are ™ DC Comics.

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Conan Epic Collection volume 5: Of Once and Future Kings (1976-1977)


By Roy Thomas & John Buscema, with John Jakes, Len Wein, Skip Kirkland, Ralph Macchio, Jim Starlin & Al Milgrom, Val Mayerik, Vicente Alcázar, Howard Bender, Marshall Rogers, Neal Adams, Tim Conrad & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 1-84576- (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the 1970’s, America’s comic book industry opened up after more than 15 years of calcified publishing practises promulgated by the censorious, self-inflicted Comics Code Authority: a self-imposed oversight organisation created to police product after the industry suffered its very own McCarthy-style 1950s witch-hunt. The first genre revisited during the literary liberation was Horror/Mystery, and from those changes sprang migrated pulp star Conan.

Sword & Sorcery stories had been undergoing a prose revival in the paperback marketplace since the release of softcover editions of Lord of the Rings in 1954 and, in the 1960s, revivals of the fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, Fritz Lieber and others were making huge inroads into buying patterns across the world. The old masters had also been augmented by many modern writers. Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter and others kick-started their prose careers with contemporary versions of man against mage against monsters. The undisputed overlord of the genre was Robert E. Howard with his 1930s pulp masterpiece Conan of Cimmeria.

Gold Key had notionally opened the field in 1964 with cult hit Mighty Samson, followed by Harvey Comics’ ‘Clawfang the Barbarian’ (1966’s Thrill-O-Rama #2). Both steely warriors dwelt in post-apocalyptic techno-wildernesses, but in 1969 DC dabbled with previously code-proscribed mysticism as Nightmaster came (and went) in Showcase #82-84, following the example of CCA-exempt Warren anthologies Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. Marvel tested the waters with barbarian villain/Conan prototype Arkon the Magnificent in Avengers #76 (April 1970) – the same month they went all-out with short supernatural thriller ‘The Sword and the Sorcerers’ in their own watered-down horror anthology Chamber of Darkness #4.

Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by fresh-faced Barry Smith (a recent Marvel find just breaking free of the company’s still-prevalent, nigh-compulsory Kirby house style) the tale introduced Starr the Slayer… who also bore no small resemblance to our Barbarian-in-waiting…

Conan the Barbarian debuted with an October 1970 cover-date and despite early teething problems (including being cancelled and reinstated in the same month) these strip adventures of Howard’s primal hero were as big a success as the prose yarns they adapted. Conan became a huge hit: a blockbuster brand that prompted new prose tales, movies, TV series, cartoon shows, a newspaper strip and all the other paraphernalia of global superstardom.

However, times changed, sales declined and in 2003 the property moved to another comics publisher. Then in 2019 the brawny brute returned to the aegis of Marvel.

Their first bite of the cherry was retroactively subtitled “the Original Marvel Years” due to the character’s sojourn with Dark Horse Comics and other intellectual rights holders, and this fifth compendium spans cover-dates March 1976 to February 1977. It reprints Conan the Barbarian #60-71, Conan Annual #2-3 plus material from Power Records #31, F.O.O.M. #14 and elsewhere, highlighting a period when the burly brute was very much the darling of the comics crowd, and when artist John Buscema made the hero his very own.

Adaptor Thomas had resolved to follow the character’s narrative timeline as laid out by Howard and successors like L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, expanded and padded out with other adaptions of REH and his contemporaries and – almost as a last resort – all-new adventures. Thus, content was evermore redolent of pulp-oriented episodic action rather than traditional fantasy fiction. As usual, firstly hurtle back in time approximately 12,000 years to a forgotten age of wonders, and follow the now traditional map of ‘The Hyborean Age of Conan’ plus accompanying mandatory establishing quote.

Maybe we’d best pause a moment and say something necessary. Many of the trappings and themes of Sword & Sorcery stories – especially those from the 1970s & 1980s adapting even earlier tales when racism, sexism and the presumed superiority of white males was a given – are not as comfortable – or unchallenged – for modern readers as they were for my generation or its forebears. Many elements here, for all their artistic and narrative excellence, will be hard to swallow for a lot of younger readers.

At least I hope so…

If barely-clad women casually traded as prizes and trophies and brown people waving spears and wearing feathers are a trigger, please don’t read these tales. I’m not making apologies when I say Thomas and his collaborators were actively working to subvert the established paradigm even then, or that these stories are powerful, thrilling and of evolving cultural significance, but, until so very recently, this kind of epic was a diminishing force with dwindling power to supress or denigrate ethnicities and minorities.

Now, with ugly race supremacism, resurgent sexism, and all forms of “othering” on the rise once more, I get the need to call out or shout down things that could warp young or weak minds. Don’t read these if you can’t. They are only comics, but it doesn’t take much to form and fix a bias, does it?

If you’re still with us, the hopefully harmless action nonsense resumes with a riotous romp from CtB #60 introducing ‘Riders of the River-Dragons!’ The Cimmerian wanderer continues as red-handed consort to pirate queen Bêlit, a Shemite orphan raised by a Kushite witch doctor and considered an avatar of his tribe’s death goddess…

Pulp novelette Queen of the Black Coast was originally published in the May 1934 Weird Tales, and obliquely told of Conan’s time as infamous pirate “Amra”: plundering the coasts of Kush (prehistoric Africa) beside his first great love. The brief but tragic tale of bold buccaneer Bêlit was a prose one-off, but Thomas expanded it over years into an epic comics storyline that ran to #100 of the monthly title.

It had all begun in  Conan The Barbarian #58, where Thomas, Buscema & Steve Gan debuted their Queen of the Black Coast! After the fugitive Cimmerian found safe harbour on an outward bound Argossean trading ship. The Northborn outlaw befriended entrepreneurial Captain Tito and settled into the mariner’s life. After visiting many fabulous ports and exotic wild places, Conan’s life changed when the ship encountered the most feared vessel afloat. Only Conan survived the assault of Kushite warriors, but as he prepared to die fighting, their white queen spared his life, and allowed Conan to earn his place by fighting any objectors before settling in as Bêlit’s prize…

As Thomas fleshed out the text tale, eventually Conan learned from shaman/mentor/guardian N’yaga how the warrior woman had remade herself. How a daughter of Asgalun’s king escaped murder by the Stygians who placed her uncle on the suddenly vacant throne, and how she grew up among barbarous tribesmen of the Silver Isles. Trained to best any man and after mastering supernal horrors, she destroyed a jealous chieftain, proving her in the eyes of the tribes an earthly daughter of Death Goddess Derketa: sworn to inflict bloody vengeance on Stygians and all who stand with them. Before long she had trained them as seafaring plunderers building a war chest to retake her throne: her, deadly, merciless devoutly loyal “black Corsairs”…

Conan also realises that he loves Bêlit beyond all else, even if she may not be wholly human…

Here the saga further expands in Thomas, Buscema & Gan’s opening shot where the pirate goddess is captured by crocodile-riding warriors as she visits a vassal coastal tribe, When the dragon riders come again, Conan, his shipmates and the river dwelling Watambis turn the tables on them, forcing captive raiders to lead them to their distant domain and hidden lord: a bestial godlike entity called “Amra”…

Ploughing through foetid forests, the rescue party is hard ‘On the Track of the She-Pirate!’ (#61), but Bêlit has already escaped, only to fall victim to a monstrous Moth creature. Her death is only prevented by the arrival of the brutal ‘Lord of the Lions!’ in #63, who takes a fancy to a woman who is the same colour he is…

In a barbed pastiche of ultimate white god Tarzan, Thomas, Buscema & Gan reveal how a red-haired noble child lost in jungles is reared by lions. On maturity, his physical might and domination of beasts makes him de facto ruler of terrorised local tribes surrounding the ruined lost city he calls home. Sadly, Amra’s fascination with Bêlit drives a previous captive paramour – chief’s daughter Makeda – to jealously retaliate by awakening demonic creatures asleep in the city’s bowels.

By the time Conan arrives to duel his rival and physical equal, the entire region is imperilled as the dead hunt the living and ‘Death Among the Ruins!’ leads to Amra’s defeat and the Cimmerian being hailed as a new Lord of Lions…

Deadlines were always a scourge at this time and #64 pauses the serial to reprint a colorised, toned down tale from mature readers magazine Savage Tales #5 (July 1974). Crafted by Thomas from a John Jakes plot, ‘The Secret of Skull River’ is illustrated Jim Starlin & Al Milgrom, detailing the Cimmerian’s mercenary’s battle against monster-making alchemists Anaximander and Sophos, prior to CtB #65’s ‘Fiends of the Feathered Serpent!’ (inked by the Tribe) returning to the shipboard romance in a canny adaptation of Howard’s The Thunder Rider. Here the Corsairs are driven by a Stygian fleet into uncharted waters, encountering the accursed remains of legendary black slave liberator Ahmaan the Merciless and the sorcerer who finally killed him. Tezcatlipoca is still there, trying to steal the dead man’s magic axe – which has already chosen Conan/Amra as its next host – when Ahmaan comes back to settle unfinished business, with the entire atoll paying the price of that clash…

Still inked by The Tribe, ‘Daggers and Death-Gods!’ brings the corsairs back to Argossean port city Messantia as Bêlit seeks to barter her plunder for Shemite currency to fund her counter-revolution. When shady fence Publio offers a big payout for a special job robbing a temple , it results in a mesmerising priest pitting the lovers against each other after seemingly awakening guardian death deities Derketa and Dagon, The pitiless duel is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Conan’s old sparring partner Red Sonja…

Although based on Robert E. Howard’s Russian war-woman Red Sonya of Rogatine (from 16th century-set thriller The Shadow of the Vulture with a smidgen of Dark Agnes de Chastillon thrown into the mix) the comic book Red Sonja is very much Thomas’ brainchild. She debuted in Conan the Barbarian #23 (in November 1973) and became an unattainable gadfly/lure for the Cimmerian before gaining her own series and creative stable. Thomas returned as scripter to set up a tumultuous extended team-up with Conan and Bêlit that began with CtB #67’s ‘Talons of the Man-Tiger!’ as the Pirate Queen suspiciously eyes her man’s “one that got away” – and who is also after the loot Pulbio wants so badly…

Sonja was commissioned by Karanthes, High Priest of the Ibis God, to secure a page torn from mystic grimoire the Iron-Bound Book of Skelos in demon-haunted Stygia. She’s barely aware of an unending war between ancient deities, or that old colleague and rival Conan of Cimmeria is similarly seeking the arcane artefact. Ignoring his offer to work together, the women set off singly after the artefact, and Conan meets old apprentice Tara of Hanumar, who begs him to rescue her husband Yusef from a castle dungeon guarded by were-panther. By the time he finds Bêlit, Sonja has ridden off with the prize and the lovers give chase…

Prose recap of Marvel Feature #7 ‘The Battle of the Barbarians!’ summarises the other side of the story – and for her exploits see The Adventures of Red Sonja vol. 1. Sonja clashes repeatedly with her rivals and defeats many beasts and terrors, believing she has the upper hand, but there’s more at stake than any doughty warrior might imagine as the players reconvene with Karanthes.

Attacked by a demon bat who steals the page, Sonja, Amra and Bêlit give chase until they discover a strange city in the wastelands. Pencilled & inked by Buscema, CtB #68’s ‘Of Once and Future Kings!’ sees the sorcery of a sinister mastermind bring King Kull and his armies out of the past to conquer Conan’s era in a spectacular crossover conclusion that sets the scene for future forays of the fantastic before the love story takes centre stage once more with ‘The Demon Out of the Deep!’ as Thomas, Val Mayerik & the Tribe adapt REH’s historical horror classic Out of the Deep with the Cimmerian sharing an exploit of his teen years when as a captive of the enemy Vanir tribe he witnessed a sea devil decimate a fishing village before killing the thing with own brawny arms, neatly segueing into a two-part thriller from Conan the Barbarian #70 & 71, freely adapted from Howard’s The Marchers of Valhalla and inked by returning embellisher Ernie Chan.

In ‘The City in the Storm!’ a mighty storm drives the pirates far from recognisable shores and the corsairs’ iron discipline begins the fracture as they reach a welcoming island adorned with a fabulous walled metropolis of gold. With N’Yaga injured the crew head for shore and find glorious women serving a population of near-bestial sub-men. After an inconclusive battle, serving maid Aluna and her priestly master Akkheba negotiate a deal for the corsairs to defend the city – Kelka – from rival Barachan pirates, but there’s double dealing in the contract and soon the Kushites and their queen are captives awaiting sacrifice…

However as Conan discovers in ‘The Secret of Ashtoreth!’, the immortal captive the Kelkans worship and abuse in equal measure is no patron but vengeful victim who only needs a little aid to end their treacherous depredations forever…

The volume pauses Belit’s romance here to conclude with a selection of out-chronology oddments, beginning with 1976’s Conan the Barbarian Annual  #2. Opening with graphic reprise ‘Conan the Cimmerian’ by Thomas, Buscema & Yong Montano, the main event is a much abridged adaptation of ‘The Phoenix on the Sword’ by Thomas, Vicente Alcázar & Yong Montano, as aging King Conan faces sedition, rebellion and usurpation as he rules mighty empire Aquilonia. The thriller is backed up by The Hyborian Page text feature detailing the convoluted path of Howard’s original tale.

One year later, Conan the Barbarian Annual 3 reprinted some of Savage Sword of Conan #3 (December 1974) in a colourised, bowdlerised family friendly form, preceded by framing sequence ‘Conan the Barbarian and King Kull!’. Thomas, Buscema & Pablo Marcos placed General Conan of Khoraja ‘At the Mountain of the Moon-God’ and ‘Where Dark Death Soars’ to foil a scheme to replace the new King Khossus with a puppet of King Strabonus of Koth…

With covers by Gil Kane, John Romita, Rich Buckler, Vince Colletta, Mike Esposito, Dan Adkins, Marcos, Chan, Buscema, Adams & Crusty Bunkers, the regular comics fare is augmented by rare treats, beginning with a genuine rarity. Power Records #31: Conan the Barbarian was part of line of vinyl records packaged with comic adventures. Other titles included Batman, Planet of the Apes and many more, but here – scripted by Len Wein & J.M. DeMatteis and illustrated by Buscema, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano and friends – ‘The Crawler in the Mists!’ offers an old fashioned monster & misjudgement parable as Conan faces the uncanny and comes away far wiser…

House fan mag F.O.O.M. #14 (June 1976) was an all barbarian special and from it liberally-illustrated features ‘The Barbarian and the Bullpen!’, ‘Thomas Speaks!’, ‘Robert E. Howard: The Man Who Created Conan!’, ‘Conan Checklist’, ‘A Marvel Artistic Double-Treat’ and ‘Marvel Writer/Artist Scorecard’ reveal all things Hyborian. Then Conan ‘Marvel Value Stamp’, assorted house ads and pages from Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar (April 1976 by Gil Kane & Tony Isabella) reflect the comics popularity, and a Power Comics Conan promo and sleeve art by Adams leads to incisive article ‘The (Almost) Forgotten Tales of Conan’ by Fred Blosser from SSoC #40, a Romita pencil sketch and original art by Buscema & Gan, many pages of layouts, Tim Conrad pin-up and artwork from 1976’s Marvel Comics Index #2, painted by Conrad.

Stirring, evocative, cathartic and thrilling for all their modern faults and failings, these yarns are deeply satisfying on a primal level, and this is one of the best volumes in a superb series starring a paragon and icon of adventure heroes. This is classic pulp/comic action in all its unashamed exuberance: an honestly guilty pleasure for old time fans and newbies of all persuasion. What more does any red-blooded, action-starved fan need to know?
Conan the Barbarian Published Monthly by MARVEL WORLDWIDE Inc, a subsidiary of MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, LLC. © 2022 Conan Properties International, LLC (“CPI”).

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Luke Cage Epic Collection volume 2: The Fire This Time (1975-1977)


By Tony Isabella, Don McGregor, Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo, Steve Englehart, George Pérez, Ed Hannigan, Roger Slifer, George Tuska, Lee Elias, Ron Wilson, Rich Buckler, Arvell Jones, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins, Marie Severin, Bob Brown, Vince Colletta, Dave Hunt, Al McWilliams, Keith Pollard, the Crusty Bunkers, Frank Springer, Joe Giella, Frank Giacoia, Aubrey Bradford, Jim Mooney, Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, Alex Niño, Bob Smith & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5506-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

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

As is so often the case, it takes bold creative types and radically changing economics to really promote lasting change. In America, with declining comics sales at a time of enhanced social awareness and rising Black Consciousness, cash – if not cashing in – was probably the trigger for “the Next Step” in the evolution of superheroes.

In the early 1970s, contemporary “Blacksploitation” films and novels fired up commercial interests throughout the USA and in that atmosphere of outlandish dialogue, daft outfits and barely concealed – but completely justified – outrage, an angry black man with a shady past and apparently dubious morals debuted as Luke Cage, Hero for Hire in the summer of 1972.

A year later the Black Panther finally got his own series in Jungle Action #5 and Blade: Vampire Hunter debuted in Tomb of Dracula #10.

Cage’s origin was typically bombastic: Lucas, a hard-case inmate at brutal Seagate Prison, always claimed to have been framed and his inflexible, uncompromising attitude made mortal enemies of the racist guards Rackham and Quirt whilst alienating the rest of the prison population like out-&-out bad-guys Shades and Comanche…

The premiere was written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by George Tuska & Billy Graham (with some initial assistance from Roy Thomas & John Romita) detailing how a new warden promised to reform the hell-hole into a proper, legal penal institution. New prison doctor Noah Burstein then convinced Lucas to participate in a radical experiment in exchange for a parole hearing, having heard the desperate con’s tale of woe…

Lucas had grown up in Harlem, a tough kid who’d managed to stay honest even when his best friend Willis Stryker had not. They remained friends despite walking different paths – at least until a woman came between them. To get rid of his romantic rival, Stryker planted drugs and had Lucas shipped off to jail. While he was there his girl Reva – who had never given up on him – was killed by bullets meant for Stryker.

With nothing left to lose Lucas underwent Burstein’s process – an experiment in cell-regeneration – but Rackham sabotaged it, hoping to kill the con before he could expose the illegal treatment of convicts. It all went haywire and something incredible happened. Lucas, now incredibly strong and pain-resistant, punched his way out of the lab and then through the prison walls, only to be killed in hail of gunfire. His body plunged over a cliff and was never recovered. Months later, a vagrant prowling the streets of New York City stumbled into a robbery. Almost casually downing the felon, he accepted a cash reward from the grateful victim, and consequently had a bright idea…

Super-strong, bulletproof, streetwise and honest, Lucas would hide in plain sight while planning revenge on Stryker. Since his only skill was fighting, he became a private paladin. Whilst making allowances for the colourful, often ludicrous dialogue necessitated by the Comics Code’s sanitising of “street-talking Jive” Hero For Hire was probably the edgiest series of Marvel’s early years, but even so, after a time the tense action and peripheral interactions with the greater Marvel Universe led to a minor rethink and the title was altered, if not the basic premise. The private detective motif proved a brilliant stratagem in generating stories for a character perceived as a reluctant champion at best and outright anti-hero by nature. It allowed Cage to maintain an outsider’s edginess but also meant that adventure literally walked through his shabby door every issue.

Cage set up an office over a movie house on 42nd Street and met a young man who became his greatest/only friend: D.W. Griffith – nerd, film geek and plucky white sidekick. Noah Burstein resurfaced, running a rehab clinic on the dirty, deadly streets around Times Square, aided by Dr. Claire Temple. Soon she too was an integral part of Luke’s new life…

This stunning compendium collects Luke Cage Power Man #24-47 and Annual #1: a landmark breakthrough sequence cumulatively spanning April 1975 to October 1977 and opens in full furious flow.

Following a calamitous clash with many of his oldest enemies, most old business was settled and a partial re-branding of America’s premier black crusader began in issue #17. The mercenary aspect was downplayed (at least on covers) as Luke Cage Power Man got another new start when the constant chaos, cruel carnage and non-stop tension eventually sent romantic interest Dr. Claire Temple scurrying for points distant. In Luke Cage Power Man #23, Cage and D.W. went looking for her. That search culminates here in a 2-issue backdoor pilot for another African American superhero after the seekers find Dr. Temple in The Ringmaster’s Circus of Crime as seen in #24’s ‘Among Us Walks… a Black Goliath! (Isabella, Tuska & Hunt)…

Bill Foster was a highly educated black supporting character: a biochemist who worked with scientist-superhero Henry Pym (AKA Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath and Yellowjacket over decades of costumed capers). Foster debuted in Avengers #32 (September 1966), before fading from view after Pym eventually regained his temporarily lost size-changing abilities. Carrying on his own size-shifting research, Foster was now trapped as a giant, unable to attain normal size, and Cage discovered he was also Claire’s former husband. When he became stuck at 15 feet tall, she had rushed back to Bill’s colossal side to help find a cure.

When Luke turned up, passions boiled over, resulting in another classic heroes-clash moment until the mesmeric Ringmaster hypnotised all combatants, intent on using their strength to feather his own three-ring nest. ‘Crime and Circuses’ (Isabella, Bill Mantlo, Ron Wilson & Fred Kida) has the good guys helpless until Claire comes to the rescue, before making her choice and returning to New York with Luke. Foster thereafter won his own short series, becoming Marvel’s fourth African American costumed hero under the heavy handed painfully obvious sobriquet Black Goliath…

Timely spoofing of a popular ’70’s TV show inspired ‘The Night Shocker!’ (Steve Englehart, Tuska & Colletta) as Cage stalks a supposed vampire attacking 42nd Street patrons, after which a touching human drama finds Cage forced to fight a tragically simpleminded super-powered wrestler in ‘Just a Guy Named “X”!’ (by Mantlo, George Pérez & Al McWilliams, paying tribute to Steve Ditko’s classic yarn from Amazing Spider-Man #38).

A new level of sophistication, social commentary and bizarre villainy began in issue 28 as Don McGregor started a run of macabre crime sagas, opening when Cage meets ‘The Man Who Killed Jiminy Cricket!’ (illustrated by Tuska & Vince Colletta). Hired by a chemical company to stop industrial espionage, Luke fails to prevent the murder of his prime suspect and is somehow defeated by feeble but deadly weirdo Cockroach Hamilton (and his beloved shotgun “Josh”).

Left for dead in one of the most outré cliffhanger situations ever seen, Cage took two issues to escape, as the next issue featured a “deadline-doom” fill-in tale. Courtesy of Mantlo, Tuska & Colletta, Luke Cage Power Man #29 revealed why ‘No One Laughs at Mr. Fish!’ (although the temptation is overwhelming) as he fights a fin-faced mutated mobster robbing shipping trucks for organised crime analogue The Maggia, after which the story already in progress resumes in #30 with ‘Look What They’ve Done to Our Lives, Ma!’ (McGregor, Rich Buckler, Arvell Jones & Keith Pollard).

Escaping a deadly deathtrap, Cage hunts down Hamilton, and confronts his erudite, sardonic, steel-fanged boss Piranha Jones just after they succeed in stealing a leaking canister of lethal nerve gas. The dread drama concludes in ‘Over the Years They Murdered the Stars!’ (Sal Buscema & the inking legion of deadline-busting Crusty Bunkers) as Cage saves his city at risk of his life before serving just deserts to the eerie evildoers…

Having successfully rebranded himself, the urban privateer makes ends meet whilst seeking a way to stay under police radar and clear his name. The new level of sophisticated, social commentary and bizarre villainy of McGregor’s run led to Cage saving the entire city in true superhero style as #32 opens with the (still unlicensed) PI in leafy suburbs, hired to protect a black family from literally incendiary racist super-villain Wildfire in ‘The Fire This Time!’ (illustrated by Frank Robbins & Colletta). This self-appointed champion of moral outrage is determined to keep his affluent, decent neighbourhood white, and even Power Man is ultimately unable to prevent a ghastly atrocity from being perpetrated…

Back in the comfort zone of Times Square once again, Cage is in the way when a costumed manic comes looking for Noah Burnstein, and painfully learns ‘Sticks and Stone Will Break Your Bones, But Spears Can Kill You!’ As shady reporters, sleazy lawyers and police detective Quentin Chase all circle, looking to uncover the Hero for Hire’s secret past in ‘Death, Taxes and Springtime Vendettas!’ (Frank Springer inks), Cage’s attention is distracted from Burstein’s stalker by deranged wrestler The Mangler, prompting a savage showdown and near-fatal outcome in ‘Of Memories, Both Vicious and Haunting!’ (plotted by Marv Wolfman, dialogued by McGregor and illustrated by Marie Severin, Joe Giella & Frank Giacoia). Here at last, the reasons for the campaign of terror against the doctor are finally, shockingly exposed…

The 1976 Power Man Annual (#1) follows with ‘Earthshock!’ by Chris Claremont, Lee Elias & Hunt calling Cage to Japan as bodyguard to wealthy Samantha Sheridan. She’s being targeted by munitions magnate and tectonics-warping maniac Moses Magnum, intent on tapping Earth’s magma core, even though the very planet is at risk of destruction. Thankfully, not even his army of mercenaries is enough to stop Cage in full rage…

Next comes the cover for Power Man #36 (cover-dated October 1976) and another casualty of the “Dreaded Deadline Doom”. Although not included here, it reprinted #12 which first debuted the villain featured in #37’s all-new ‘Chemistro is Back! Deadlier Than Ever!’ thanks to Wolfman, Wilson & Aubrey Bradford.

The apparently grudge-bearing recreant attacks Cage at the behest of a mystery mastermind who clarifies his position in follow-up ‘…Big Brother Wants You… Dead!’ (Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, Bob Brown & Jim Mooney). Minions Cheshire Cat and Checkpoint Charlie shadow our increasingly frustrated investigator, before repeated inconclusive and inexplicable clashes with Chemistro lead to a bombastic ‘Battle with the Baron!’ (Klaus Janson inks) – a rival mastermind hoping to corner the market on crime in NYC. The convoluted clash concludes in ‘Rush Hour to Limbo!’ (art by Elias & Giacoia) as one final deathtrap for Cage turns into an explosive last hurrah for Big Brother and his crew…

Inked by Tom Palmer, #41 debuts a new vigilante in ‘Thunderbolt and Goldbug!’ as a super-swift masked hero makes a name for himself cleaning up low-level scum. Simultaneously, Cage is hired by a courier company to protect a bullion shipment, but when the truck is bombed and the guards die, dazed and furious Cage can’t tell villain from vigilante and takes on the wrong guy…

Answers, if not conclusions, are forthcoming in ‘Gold! Gold! Who’s Got the Gold?’ (Alex Niño inks) as Luke learns who his real friends and foes are, only to be suckered into a trap barely escaped in #43’s ‘The Death of Luke Cage!’ In the aftermath, with legal authorities closing in on his fake life, Cage sheds his Power Man persona and flees town. However, even in the teeming masses of Chicago, he can’t escape his past and an old enemy mistakenly assumes he’s been tracked down by the hero he hates most in all the world.

Wolfman plots and Ed Hannigan scripts for Elias & Palmer as ‘Murder is the Man Called Mace!’ sees Luke dragged into the disgraced and dishonoured soldier’s scheme to seize control of America. Despite his best and most violent efforts, Cage is beaten and strapped to a cobalt bomb on ‘The Day Chicago Died!’ (Wolfman & Elias). Sadly, after breaking free of the device, it’s lost in the sewer system, prompting a frantic ‘Chicago Trackdown!’ before another savage showdown with Mace and his paramilitary madmen culminates in a chilling (Roger Slifer scripted) ‘Countdown to Catastrophe!’ as a fame-hungry sniper starts shooting citizens whilst the authorities are preoccupied searching for the missing nuke…

With atomic armageddon averted at the last moment, this collection – and Cage’s old life – end on a well-conceived final charge. With issue #48, Cage’s comic title would be shared with mystic martial artist Danny Rand in the superbly enticing odd couple feature Power Man and Iron Fist, but before that there’s still a ‘Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight!’ courtesy of Claremont, Tuska & Bob Smith, as Chicago is attacked by brain-sucking electrical parasite Zzzax! Thankfully, our steel-skinned stalwart is more than a match for the mind-stealing megawatt monstrosity…

With all covers – by Gil Kane, Wilson, Buckler, Dave Cockrum, Marie Severin, Ernie Chan, Jim Starlin, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Klaus Janson, Dan Adkins, Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott & Pablo Marcos – this street treat is backed up the cover of reprint one-shot Giant-Size Power Man from 1975; House ads and images by Sal Buscema from the Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar (1976) and Wilson & Sinnott’s June 1977 Marvel Comics Memory Album Calendar.

Arguably a little dated now (us in the know prefer the term “retro”), these tales were crucial in breaking down many social barriers across the complacent, intolerant, WASP-flavoured US comics landscape, and their power – if not their initial impact – remains undiminished to this day. These are tales well worth your time and attention.
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Mandrake the Magician: Fred Fredericks Dailies volume 1: The Return of Evil – The Cobra


By Lee Falk & Fred Fredericks (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-691-9 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

In this month of romantic anticipation and disillusionment, it’s worth remarking that every iconic hero of strips and comics has a dutiful, stalwart inamorata waiting ever so patiently in the wings for a moment to spoon and swoon. Here’s another beguiling outing starring one of the earliest and most resolute…

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

Whilst a 19-year old college student Falk had sold the strip to King Features Syndicate years earlier, but asked the monolithic company to let him finish his studies before dedicating himself to it full time. Schooling done, the 23-year-old born raconteur settled into his life’s work, entertaining millions with astounding tales. Falk also created the first costumed superhero – moodily magnificent generational manhunter The Phantom – whilst spawning an entire comic book subgenre with his first inspiration. Most Golden Age publishers boasted at least one (but usually many) nattily attired wizards in their gaudily-garbed pantheons: all roaming the world(s) making miracles and crushing injustice with varying degrees of stage legerdemain or actual sorcery. Characters such as Mr. Mystic, Ibis the Invincible, Sargon the Sorcerer, and an assortment of  “…the Magician” ’s like Zatara, Zanzibar, Kardak proliferated ad infinitum: all borrowing heavily and shamelessly from the uncanny exploits of the elegant, enigmatic man of mystery gracing the world’s newspapers and magazines.

In the Antipodes, Mandrake was a suave stalwart regular of Australian Women’s Weekly and became a cherished icon of adventure in the UK, Australia, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Turkey and across Scandinavia: a major star of page and screen, pervading every aspect of global consciousness.

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

Falk helmed Mandrake and The Phantom until his death in 1999 (even on his deathbed, he was laying out one last story), but also found some few quiet moments to become a renowned playwright, theatre producer and impresario, as well as an inveterate world-traveller. After drawing those the first few strips Falk united with sublimely polished cartoonist Phil Davis (March 4th 1906 -16th December 1964). His sleekly understated renditions took the daily strip, especially the expansive Sunday page to unparalleled heights of sophistication. Davis’ steadfast, assured realism was the perfect tool to render the Magician’s mounting catalogue of spectacular miracles. He rendered and realised Falk’s words until his death by heart attack…

Harold “Fred” Fredericks, Jr. (August 9th 1929 – March 10th 2015) took over – with strips starting in June 1965 – he was also handpicked by Falk who admired his work as both writer and/or illustrator on teen strip Rebel and family comic books such as Nancy, Boris Karloff, The Twilight Zone, The Munsters, Mister Ed, O.G. Whiz presents Tubby, Mighty Mouse, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, and Bullwinkle.

In later years tireless taleteller Fredericks became an inking mainstay at Marvel & DC on titles including New Titans, Catwoman, Robin, Punisher War Journal, Nth Man, Daredevil, Quasar, G.I. Joe and Defenders of the Earth.

Preceded by Roger Langridge’s essay ‘Fred Fredericks – An Appreciation’ and John Preddle’s appraisal ‘Mandrake: The Fred Fredericks Era’, the official changing of the artistic guard comes with a cheeky contemporary mystery…

However, firstly…

Mandrake was educated at the fabled College of Magic in Tibet, thereafter becoming a suave globetrotting troubleshooter, accompanied by his faithful African friend Lothar and eventually enchanting companion (and in 1997, bride) Princess Narda of Cockaigne. They co-operatively solve crimes, fight evil and find trouble and mystery apparently everywhere. Although the African Prince was a component from the start, Narda turned up fashionably late (in 1934) as victim/secret weapon in early escapade ‘The Hawk’ (see Mandrake the Magician: Dailies vol. 1 – The Cobra ): a distrait socialite forced to use her every wile to seduce and destroy the magician and Lothar. Thwarting each attack, Mandrake went after the monstrous stalker blackmailing Narda’s brother Prince Sigrid/Segrid and extorting her, decisively lowering the boom and liberating the embattled aristocrats. Bear all that in mind: it’s going to come in handy later…

Falk and Fredericks started as they meant to go on with ‘Odd Fellow’ (running from May 3rd to August 14th 1965) wherein a puckish little chap ruins a day of quiet contemplation for Narda before going on to peddle incredible inventions to greedy industrialists. By the time Mandrake gets involved, a lethal looking pursuer is hard on their heels and the mounting chaos is explained by the deduction that the jolly leprechaun is actually Roger the Rogue: a conman from the future with a deadly secret agenda but no idea who he’s messing with…

Following an interlude that introduces Mandrake’s palatial super citadel Xanadu, it’s back to basics for the next epic as the Princess goes to college to improve her mind and inadvertently uncovers and exposes a criminal gang embedded in world culture for hundreds of years. With echoes on modern conspiracy thriller 100 Bullets, ‘The Sign of 8’ (August 16th 1965 to February 6th 1966) arise from managed obscurity to discredit, hunt and destroy Narda with increasingly baroque and deadly assaults before falling to the counterattack of the Magician…

Growing contemporary fascination in the supernatural is addressed an capitalised upon in ‘The Witches’ (February 7th – May 28th) as criminal hypnotist Count Diablo and his all-women gang terrorise young heiress “Really” Riley , only to learn to their lasting regret what a master mesmerist can do to punish the wicked…

Another headline fuelled thriller, ‘The UFO’ May 30th – September 17th) sets the trio on the trail of aliens robbing banks with heat rays and escaping in flying saucers. Of course, it’s not long before Mandrake makes the connection between these uncanny events and missing military ordnance hot off the drawing board and takes steps to stop the plunderers from the stars…

In an era of super spies and covert cabals it wasn’t long before our heroes were back on ‘The Trail of the 8’ (September 19th 1966 – January 14th 1967) as Mandrake discovers evidence that the ancient order is still active. Teaming with good-guy agency Inter-Intel, the hunt makes Mandrake a target for repeated assassination attempts but ultimately leads to the organisation’s explosive demise. And yet the magician remains unconvinced…

This titanic tome terminates with a long-anticipated revival as ‘The Return of Evil – The Cobra’ (January 16th to June 3rd 1967) reveals how King Segrid of Cockaigne needs the help of his sister and her boyfriend after a sinister presence buys up tracts of the country and populace: using wealth, influence, chicanery, publicity stunts, blackmail and sheer dominating physical presence to rule the nation from behind the oval office throne. Thankfully, Mandrake and Lothar know just how to deal with the villain once he’s exposed as fatally flawed old foe The Cobra, and foil the fiend’s scheme to steal the nation from its legally-appointed ruler…

Supplemented here by a ‘Fred Fredericks – Biography’ before closing with ‘The Fred Fredericks Mandrake the Magician Complete Daily Checklist 1965-2013’, this thrilling tome offers exotic locales, thrilling action, fantastic fantasy, space age shocks, sinister spycraft, crafty criminality and spooky chills in equal measure. As always, the strip abounds with fantastic imagery from whenever “Mandrake gestures hypnotically” and drips with wry dialogue and bold action. Paramount taleteller Falk instinctively knew from the start that the secret of success was strong and – crucially – recurring villains and uncanny situations to test and challenge his heroes, making Mandrake the Magician an unmissable treat for every daily strip addict. These stories have lost none of their impact and only need you reading them to concoct a perfect cure for 21st century blues.
Mandrake the Magician © 2017 King Features Syndicate. All Rights Reserved. All other material © 2017 the respective authors or owners.

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Mega Robo Bros Book 8: Final Form


By Neill Cameron & various (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-337-0 (Digest TPB)

Mightily momentous in metal and powerfully potent in plastic, here’s the ultimate upgrade of this solid gold all-ages sci fi saga from Neill Cameron (Tamsin of the Deep, Pirates of Pangea, How to Make Awesome Comics, Freddy) as originally published in UK weekly comic The Phoenix. Purpose-built paladins, the mecha-miraculous Mega Robo Bros have previously learned that even they can’t punch out intolerance or growing pains in electronic exploits balancing frantic fun with portents of darker, violent days to come…
One last time then… It’s still The Future!… but maybe not for much longer…

In a London far cooler but just as embattled as ours, Alex and his younger brother Freddy Sharma are still fooling themselves that they are typical kids: boisterous, fractious, perpetually argumentative yet devoted to each other. They’re not too bothered that they’re adopted. It’s really no big deal for them that they were meticulously and covertly constructed by mysterious Dr. Roboticus before he vanished, and are considered by those “in the know” as the most powerful and only fully SENTIENT robots on Earth. Sadly, recent events have severely challenged those notions…

Life in the Sharma household aimed to be normal. Dad is just your average old guy who makes lunch and does a bit of writing (he’s actually an award-winning journalist), but when not being a housewife, Mum is pretty extraordinary herself. Surprisingly famous and renowned robotics boffin Dr. Nita Sharma harbours many shocking secrets all her own. Little Freddy was insufferably exuberant and overconfident, and Alex had reached an age where self-doubt and anxiety hit hard and often.
The family’s other robot rescues were also problematic. Programmed to be dog-ish, baby triceratops Trikey was ok, but eccentric French-speaking ape Monsieur Gorilla could be tres confusing, whilst gloomily annoying, existentialist aquatic waterfowl Stupid Philosophy Penguin ambushed everyone with quotes from dead philosophers…

Crucially, the boys were part-time super-secret agents, but because they weren’t very good at the clandestine bit, almost the entire world knew of them. Nevertheless, the digital duo’s parents loved them, making life as normal as possible: sending them to human school, encouraging human friends as part of their “Mega Robo Routine”, combining dull human activities, actual but rare fun, games-playing, watching TV when not training in the combat caverns under R.A.I.D. HQ. When situations demanded, the lads undertook missions for bossy Baroness Farooq: head of British government agency Robotics Analysis Intelligence and Defence. The boys were told it’s because they were infinitely smarter and more powerful than the Destroyer Mechs and other man-made minions R.A.I.D. utilises. Now though, everything has changed and old lessons are subject to re-examination…

The saga reopens and concludes with the global heroes’ reputations ruined. After defeating menaces like Robot 23 and thwarting a rebellion sparked by artificial life activist The Caretaker, the Bros repeatedly battled monstrous, deadly damaged droid Wolfram and learned he might be their older brother. Eventually, they had to destroy him, leaving Alex traumatised by guilt and wracked by PTSD…

Over the course of that case they learned that fifteen years previously their brilliant young roboticist Mum worked under incomparable but weird genius Dr. Leon Robertus. His astounding discoveries earned him the nickname Dr. Roboticus. Perhaps that’s what initially pushed him away from humanity. Robertus allowed Nita to repurpose individually super-powered prototypes into a rapid-response team for global emergencies. Their Mum had been a superhero, leading manmade The Super Robo Six. Whilst saving lives with them, she met crusading journalist Michael Mokeme. He proudly took her name when they wed…

Robertus was utterly devoid of human empathy but – intrigued by the Seven’s acclaim and human acceptance – created a new kind of autonomous robot. More powerful than any previous construct, Wolfram was equipped with foundational directives allowing him to make choices and develop his own systems. He could think, just like Alex and Freddy can. Only, as it transpired, not quite…
Robertus demoted Nita and made Wolfram leader of a new Super Robo Seven, resulting in an even more effective unit… until Wolfram’s Three Directives clashed during a time-critical mission and millions of humans paid the price for his confusion and hesitation. In the aftermath, R.A.I.D. was formed and they sought to shut down Robertus and decommission Wolfram. When the superbot rejected their judgement, a brutal battle ensued causing Wolfram’s apparent destruction. Roboticus also disappeared…

Ultimately Wolfram returned, attacking vast polar restoration project Jötunn Base. Covering many miles it was carefully rebalancing the world’s climate, when Wolfram took it over: reversing the chilling process to burn Earth and drown humanity. Ordered by Baroness Farooq to stay put, Alex and Freddy rebelled, but by the time the Bros reached Jötunn, Wolfram had crushed a R.A.I.D. force led by their friend Agent Susie Nichols. After also failing to stop the attacker, kind, contemplative Alex found a way to defeat – and perhaps, destroy – his wayward older brother and save humanity…

Their exploit made the Bros global superstars. Freddy revelled in the attention but Alex could not adjust to the acclaim and horrifying new power levels he attained to succeed… and also the apparent onset of robot puberty. As anti-robot hysteria and skilfully orchestrated human intolerance brought violent incidents everywhere, friction between Alex and Freddy grew: petty spats driving a wedge between them. With hate group “Humanity First” agitating to destroy all robots, their spokesman named the Bros a threat to mankind. The Baroness – in a bid to promote inclusivity – ordered the Bros to appear on TV show Mega Robo Warriors -but it was another trap. As Freddy delightedly trashed an army of warbots, his self-control slipped and Alex realised his sibling’s hostile attitudes and violent overreactions had been building for some time…

When a Humanity First protest at Tilbury Port became a full-on meat vs metal riot, Freddy lost control, attacking humans trashing helpless droids. What might have happened next was thankfully forestalled when all the robots – even R.A.I.D.’s police drones – were corrupted by the pernicious “Revolution 23” virus, and Wolfram appeared, offering oppressed machines sanctuary in Steelhaven: a utopia of liberated mechanoids claiming independence from humanity.…

When Alex dodged his troubles for a day to go out with human friends Taia and Mira and – under duress – Freddy, their trip to Camden Lock was spiced up by holographically incommunicado Crown Prince Eustace (Alex’s best pal and next king of Britain). The trip also provided a huge prize when Mira found a junked bot and worked out the secret of Revolution 23 Malware. More importantly, common people began to turn against Humanity First’s fanatics…

Thanks to Mira’s discovery, the battling Bros had a lead on the mastermind behind all their current woes, but Freddy’s emotional problems reached a point where he couldn’t be talked down. Fired by uncontrollable fury, the younger bot hot-headedly streaked into a trap designed by their most cunning and patient foe. Seized by rage and madness, Freddy began razing London, and Alex was forced to stop him…

Now the final chapter opens in The Global Robotics Court, Alexandria, Egypt, where Mum shares her records of rearing the robot babies she adopted after Roboticus first dropped from sight, making an impassioned plea to save her boys from being destroyed. Against all odds she triumphs, but the boys don’t appreciate it. To keep them alive, Nita Sharma is forced to neuter their powers, reducing them to the same physical and intellectual levels as humans of their equivalent ages. Alex is almost relieved, despite an instant increase in bullying from former school classmates, but Freddy is inconsolable and furious. To compound the agony, his mechanical menagerie – even Stupid Philosophy Penguin – are confiscated by R.A.I.D.

Trapped and impotent as Wolfram’s robot refugees square up for war with humanity, the Sharmas retrench and try to make a new life for themselves. It’s helped slightly by Freddy’s new kitten (a real, organic one) and news that Mum is making a human sibling for the Bros, but the loss of powers, pals like Prince Eustace (commanded to stay away from the controversial robot people) and the ability to help anyone in trouble weighs heavily on Alex and increasingly drives Freddy to more violent acts.

As they are at their lowest ebb, the sadistic arch-nemesis who has secretly manipulated them and orchestrated all the Bros’ woes strikes. Capturing the boys, he reveals their true origins and seeking to complete his grand experiment, tortures Alex with words, moral challenges and the death of his parents… and all of London! The fiend has, however, utterly underestimated his victims, and not counted on the fact that his sentient toys have made many true friends in their short lives: beings willing to risk their own organic and/or mechanoid lives for Alex and Freddy…

In the end it’s a battle of wills and ideologies with Alex and Freddy overcoming their origins and programming to defeat true evil and build a better world for everyone and everything to live together in…

Interweaving real world concerns, addressing issues of gender and identity with great subtlety and in a way kids can readily grasp, this epic yarn has always blended fantasy, action and humour with superb effect. Excitement and tension greatly outweigh hilarity here however, with poignant moments of insecurity and introspection resulting in life-altering thrills, chills, and spectacular action scenes. Alex and Freddy are utterly authentic kids, irrespective of their origins, and their antics and anxieties strike exactly the right balance of future shock, family fun and superhero action to capture readers’ hearts and minds. What movies these tales would make – and now the saga is done let’s hope that jump comes soon!
Text and illustrations © Neill Cameron 2024. All rights reserved.

Mega Robo Bros Final Form will be released on February 13th 2025 and is available for pre-order now.

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Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection volumes 10: Big Apple Battleground (1977-1978)


By Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, Archie Goodwin, Scott Edelman, Ross Andru, Don Perlin, John Romita Jr., Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito, Jim Mooney, Frank Giacoia, Tony DeZuñiga, Al Milgrom, Bob McLeod, Gil Kane, & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5526-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The Amazing Spider-Man was a comic book that matured with – or perhaps just slightly ahead of – its fan-base. This epic compendium of chronological webspinning wonderment sees the World’s Most Misunderstood Hero facing even greater and ever-more complex challenges as he slowly recovers from the trauma of losing his true love and greatest enemy in the same horrific debacle. Here you will see all that slow recovery comes unstuck

Once original co-creator Stan Lee replaced himself with young Gerry Conway, scripts acquired a more contemporary tone (which naturally often feels quite outdated from here in the 21st century): purportedly more in tune with the times whilst the emphatic use of soap opera subplots kept older readers glued to the series even when bombastic battle sequences didn’t. Moreover, as a sign of the times, a hint of cynical surrealism also began creeping in…

For newcomers – or those just visiting thanks to Spider-Man movies: super-smart-yet-ultra-alienated orphan Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider during a school outing. Discovering strange superhuman abilities which he augmented with his own natural chemistry, physics and engineering genius, the kid did what any lonely, geeky nerd would do with such newfound prowess: he tried to cash in for girls, fame and money. Making a costume to hide his identity in case he made a fool of himself, Parker became a minor media celebrity – and a criminally vainglorious one. To his eternal regret, when a thief fled past him one night he didn’t lift a finger to stop him, only to find when he returned home that his guardian uncle Ben Parker had been murdered.

Crazed and vengeful, Peter hunted the assailant who’d made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known. He discovered to his horror that it was the self-same felon he had neglected to stop. His irresponsibility had resulted in the death of the man who raised him, and the traumatised boy swore to forevermore use his powers to help others.

Since that night, the wondrous wallcrawler tirelessly battled malefactors, monsters and madmen, with a fickle, ungrateful public usually baying for his blood even as he perpetually saves them. The high school nerd grew up and went to college. Because of his guilt-fuelled double-life he struggles there too but found abiding love with cop’s daughter Gwen Stacy… until she was murdered by Green Goblin Norman Osborn. Now Parker must pick up the pieces of his life and perhaps even find new love…

This compelling compilation reprints Amazing Spider-Man #165-185, Annual #11, snippets of #12 and a crossover from Nova #12: collectively spanning cover-dates February 1977 – October 1978, and confirming an era of astounding introspective drama and captivating creativity wedded to growing science fictional thinking. Stan Lee’s hand-picked successor Gerry Conway had moved on after reaching his creative plateau, giving way (via Archie Goodwin) to fresh authorial steersman Len Wein. Even so, scripts continued to blend contemporary issues – which of course feel quite outdated from here in the 21st century – with soap opera subplots to keep older readers glued to the series as the outrageous adventure and bombastic battle sequences beguiled the youngsters. Thematically, tales moved away from sordid street crime as outlandish villains and monsters took centre stage, but the most sensational advance was an insidious scheme which would reshape the nature of the web-spinner’s adventures to this day.

For all that, the wallcrawler was still indisputably mainstream comics’ voice of youth, defining being a teen for young readers of the 1970s, tackling incredible hardships, fantastic foes and the most pedestrian and debilitating of frustrations. In ASM #165 by Wein, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, ‘Stegron Stalks the City!’ – attempting to revivify fossilised saurian skeletons in the city’s museums. To expedite his plans, the Dinosaur Man blackmails his old boss Dr Curt Connors, but in #166 accidentally unleashes the biologist’s savage alter ego The Lizard, prompting a ‘War of the Reptile-Men!’ Ghastly gadfly J Jonah Jameson then tries again to destroy his personal Bête Noir by hiring unsurprisingly glamourous technologist Dr. Marla Manning to construct an upgraded mechanoid hunter, leaving our hero ‘…Stalked by the Spider-Slayer!’. The arachnid avenger barely notices however, as a new menace distracts him. Eerie ephemeral bandit Will o’ the Wisp is clearly stealing for a monstrous master with a hidden agenda and no mercy, and inevitably hero, Spider-Slayer and deadly twinkly pawn clash in the middle of Manhattan where tragedy is presaged by ‘Murder on the Wind!’

Suspense replaces action in ‘Confrontation’, as obsessive bully Jameson accosts Peter Parker with photographic proof confirming the lad is the hated wallcrawler. The evidence was supplied by a mystery villain but even as our hero seemingly talks his way out of trouble, a new enemy emerges as evil psychologist Doctor Faustus targets Spider-Man with drugs and illusions to prove ‘Madness is All in the Mind!’ (co-inked by Frank Giacoia) before we slip into that aforementioned crossover..

The Man Called Nova was in fact a boy named Richard Rider. The new kid was a working-class teen nebbish in the tradition of Peter Parker – except he was good at sports and bad at learning – who attended Harry S. Truman High School, where his strict dad was the principal. His mom worked as a police dispatcher and he had a younger brother, Robert, who was a bit of a genius. Rider’s life changed forever when a colossal star-ship with a dying alien aboard bequeathed to the lad all the mighty powers of an extraterrestrial peacekeeper and warrior. Centurion Rhomann Dey had been tracking a deadly marauder to Earth. Zorr had already destroyed the warrior’s idyllic homeworld Xandar, but the severely wounded, vengeance-seeking Nova Prime was too near death and could not avenge the genocide.

Trusting to fate, Dey beamed his powers and abilities towards the planet below where Rich is struck by an energy bolt and plunged into a coma. On awakening, the boy realises he has gained awesome powers – and all the responsibilities of the last Nova Centurion…

Here, Nova #12 (August 1977, by Wolfman, Sal Buscema & Giacoia) asks ‘Who is the Man Called Photon?’ by teaming the neophyte hero with the far more experienced webslinger in a fair-play murder mystery, brimming with unsavoury characters and likely killers after Rich’s uncle Dr. Ralph Rider is killed by a costumed thief. However, there are ploys within ploys occurring and, after the mandatory hero head-butting session, the kids join forces and the mystery is dramatically resolved in Amazing Spider-Man #171’s ‘Photon is Another Name For…?’ courtesy of Wein, Andru & Esposito. Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 follows as ‘Spawn of the Spider’ (by Archie Goodwin, Bill Mantlo, Don Perlin & Jim Mooney) pits the webslinger against a disgruntled, deranged movie special effects man who creates a trio of bio-augmented arachnoid monsters to destroy the wallcrawler…

Brief back up ‘Chaos at the Coffee Bean!’ – by Scott Edelman and inker Al Milgrom – details how Peter and Mary Jane Watson are caught in a hostage situation at their college bistro: most noteworthy as the pencilling debut of future superstar creator John Romita Jr.

ASM #172 features ‘The Fiends from the Fire!’ (Wein, Andru & Giacoia) as Spidey trashes idiotic skateboarding super-thief Rocket Racer only to stumble into true opposition when old foe Molten Man attacks, desperately seeking a way to stop himself becoming a blazing post-human funeral pyre. Mooney inked concluding chapter ‘If You Can’t Stand the Heat…!’ as a cure for the blazing villain proves ultimately ineffectual and personally tragic for Parker’s oldest friends, after which #174 declares ‘The Hitman’s Back in Town!’ (with inks by Tony DeZuñiga & Mooney).

This sees still relatively unknown vigilante Frank – The Punisher – Castle hunting a costumed assassin hired to remove Jameson, but experiencing an unusual reticence since the killer is an old army pal who had saved his life in Vietnam. Despite Spider-Man being outfought and outthought in every clash, the tale resolves with the hero somehow triumphant, even though everything ends with a fatality in #175’s Mooney-embellished conclusion ‘Big Apple Battleground!’. An extended epic then sees the return of Spider-Man’s most manic opponent. Illustrated by Andru & DeZuñiga, ‘He Who Laughs Last…!’ features the return of the Green Goblin targeting Parker’s friends and family. When the original villain died, his son Harry Osborn lost his grip on sanity and became a new version, equally determined to destroy Spider-Man. On his defeat, Harry began therapy under the care of psychiatrist Bart Hamilton and seemed to be making a full recovery. Now both patient and doctor are missing…

The assaults on Parker’s inner circle increase in ‘Goblin in the Middle’ (Esposito inks) with the emerald psychopath expanding operations to challenge crime-boss Silvermane for control of New York’s rackets whilst ‘Green Grows the Goblin!’ (Mooney inks) and ‘The Goblin’s Always Greener!’ (Esposito) see devious plots and shocking twists lead to near-death for Aunt May before an astonishing three-way Battle Royale ends the crisis in ‘Who Was That Goblin I Saw You With?’

At this time becoming a star of live action television, Spider-Man’s adventures were downplaying traditional fantasy elements as a transitional moment comes, preceded by #181’s sentiment-soaked recapitulation of all Parker has endured to become who he now is. Crafted by Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Esposito ‘Flashback!’ not only acts a jumping on point but also sets up a major change unfolding over the upcoming months, before soap opera shenanigans and the era’s tacky TV-informed silliness converge as Marv Wolfman takes up the typewriting, and artisans Ross Andru & Mike Esposito reunite as Spidey learns motorised mugger ‘The Rocket Racer’s Back in Town!’ The techno-augmented thief is currently embroiled in a nasty extortion scheme too, which somehow impacts the fast-fading, hospitalised May Parker before bursting into full bloom in #183…

After finally proposing to Mary Jane, Peter is suddenly distracted by more mechanised maniacs (courtesy of a subplot building the role of underworld armourer The Tinkerer) as Bob McLeod inks ‘…And Where the Big Wheel Stops,  Nobody Knows!’ This sees Rocket Racer getting his just deserts and MJ giving Peter an answer he wasn’t expecting…

Old girlfriend and current stranger Betty Brant-Leeds returns with a dying marriage and nostalgic notions next, making Parker’s social life deeply troubling as he prepares to graduate college. Meanwhile, JJ Jameson has another fringe science secret to conceal whilst Peter’s student colleague Phillip Chang reveals a hidden side of his own when Chinese street gangs target him for their flamboyant new lord in ‘White Dragon! Red Death!’, leading to a martial arts showdown with the wallcrawler playing backup in ASM #185’s ‘Spider, Spider, Burning Bright!’ Happily, the ferocious fiery furore is fully finished by the time second feature ‘The Graduation of Peter Parker’ highlights the Parker clan’s big day and reveals why and how it all goes so terribly wrong…

To Be Continued…

Also included in this hefty trade paperback tome are contemporary house ads, John Byrne’s cover to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #12 as well as the framing sequence to the reprint it contained, drawn by star in waiting John Romita Jr. & veteran Frank Giacoia. Those are followed by Kane & Giacoia’s front-&-back covers for Marvel Treasury Edition #14 (The Sensational Spider-Man), plus its frontispiece by Andru; Arnold Sawyer’s painted cover, assorted articles and a Stan Lee interview from F.O.O.M. #17 (March 1977).

That’s backed up with material from Spider-Man special F.O.O.M. #18 (June), including Romita senior’s cover and interview, plus promo features on the then-forthcoming all-Spiderman ‘Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar 1978’,  accompanied by the finished product illustrated by Romita Sr., Al Milgrom, Jack Kirby, John Verpoorten, Paul Gulacy, Pablo Marcos, Larry Lieber, Giacoia, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Gene Colan, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane, George Pérez, Andru & Esposito and Byrne. There’s even more F.O.O.M. fun to follow, taken from #22 (Autumn 1978), highlighting the wallcrawler’s impact in Japan, a meeting with Osamu Tezuka, and Larry Lieber storyboards for a Spider-Man film, before the wonderment pauses with a Kane/Joe Rubinstein pin-up from Marvel Tales #100 and original art.

With covers throughout by Romita Sr., Ed Hannigan, Andru, Esposito, Giacoia, Kane, Joe Sinnott, Ernie Chan, Dave Cockrum, Terry Austin, Byrne, & Milgrom, these yarns confirmed Spider-Man’s growth into a global multi-media brand. Blending cultural veracity with superb art, and making a dramatic virtue of the awkwardness, confusion and imputed powerlessness most of the readers experienced daily, resulted in an irresistibly intoxicating read, delivered in addictive soap-styled instalments, but none of that would be relevant if Spider-Man’s stories weren’t so utterly entertaining. This action-packed collection relives many momentous and crucial periods in the wallcrawler’s astounding life and is one all Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatics must see…
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Lucky Luke volume 44: Lucky Luke vs Pat Poker


By Morris, translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-155-6 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As we know him now, Lucky Luke is a rangy, good-natured, lightning-fast cowboy roaming the fabulously mythic Old West, having light-hearted adventures with his horse Jolly Jumper whilst interacting with a host of historical and legendary figures and icons. His exploits have made him one of the bestselling comic characters in Europe (83 collected books plus around a dozen spin-offs and specials – totalling over 300 million albums in at least 33 languages thus far), with all the usual spin-off toys, computer games, puzzles, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies that come with that kind of popularity.

The simplicity of the spoof cowboy tales means that older stories can generally sit quite comfortably alongside newer material crafted for a more modern readership. That’s certainly the case in this rather ancient and formative brace of yarns from 1953. Lucky Luke was created in 1946 by Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de Bévère AKA Morris. For years Le Journal de Spirou Christmas Annual (L’Almanach Spirou 1947) was cited as the wellspring, before he launched into his first weekly adventure ‘Arizona 1880’ on December 7th 1946, but the feature actually debuted earlier that year in the multinational weekly comic, sans a title banner and only in the edition released in France.

Whilst toiling as a caricaturist for magazine Le Moustique and working at the CBA (Compagnie Belge d’actualités) cartoon studio, Morris met future comics superstars Franquin and Peyo and became one of la Bande des quatre – The Gang of Four – comprising Jijé, Will and old comrade Franquin: leading proponents of a new, loosely free-wheeling artistic style known as the “Marcinelle School” which dominated Le Journal de Spirou in aesthetic contention with the Ligne Claire style used by Hergé, EP Jacobs and other artists associated with Le Journal de Tintin. In 1948 said Gang (excluding Will) visited America, meeting US creators and sightseeing. Morris stayed for six years, meeting fellow traveller René Goscinny, scoring work at newly-formed EC sensation Mad and always making copious notes and sketches of the swiftly vanishing Old West. Morris stayed six years, an “American Period” seeing him chase an outsider’s American Dream while winning fame and acclaim in his own country. That sojourn is carefully unpicked and shared by expert researchers Christelle & Bertrand Pissavy-Yvernault in Lucky Luke: The Complete Collection volume 2 if you require further elucidation…

Working solo (with early script assistance from his brother Louis De Bevere) until 1955, Morris produced nine albums of affectionate sagebrush parody and action before formally uniting with Goscinny, who became the regular wordsmith as Luke attained the dizzying heights of superstardom, commencing with ‘Des rails sur la Prairie’ (Rails on the Prairie)’, which began in Le Journal de Spirou on August 25th 1955.

Here though is a truly wild and woolly delight – originally released in December 1953 as fifth compiled album Contre Pat Poker. It offers a far more boisterous and raw hero in transition, hitting his stride and strutting his stuff by highlighting Morris’ filmic and comics influences and caricaturing gifts following that eventful US sojourn…

Contained herein are ‘Clean-up in Red City’ from LJdS #685-697 (May 31st – August 23rd 1951) and notional sequel ‘Rough and Tumble in Tumbleweed’ with the former detailing via a string of sequential gags and skits how Lucky becomes a sheriff after being embarrassingly robbed. Enduring harsh bullying while assessing the lay of the land as ruled by crooked gambler/saloon owner Pat Poker, the solitary rider eventually kicks out all the gamblers, shysters and ne’er-do-wells led by the sinister conman.
Hard on its heels comes ‘Rough and Tumble in Tumbleweed’ (from LJdS #735-754 spanning May 15th – September 25th 1952) with sheep farmers harassed and imperilled by cattlemen over Luke’s attempts to broker peace. His efforts are especially hindered by shepherd-hating gunslinger Angelface but necessarily escalate to crisis level action after escaped convict Pat Poker slips into town, using his gift for cheating to take over the local saloon. His intent to remove Lucky and leads to an alliance with Angelface to murder their mutual enemy. Sadly for them, even this alliance of evil is insufficient to tame the wily western wonder man…

Morris died in 2001 having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus spin-off yarns of Rantanplan (“dumbest dog in the West” and a winning spoof of cinema canine Rin-Tin-Tin), with Achdé, Laurent Gerra, Benacquista & Pennac, and Jul taking over the franchise, producing many more tales of the immortal indomitable legend of the West.

These youthful forays of an indomitable hero offer grand joys in the tradition of Destry Rides Again and Support Your Local Sheriff, superbly executed by a master storyteller: a wonderful introduction to a unique genre for modern kids who might well have missed the romantic allure of the Wild West that never was…
© Morris/Dupuis, 1949 to 1954 for the first publications in Le Journal de Spirou. © Morris/Dupuis 2017.

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Stingray Comic Albums volumes 1 & 2 – Battle Stations! & …Stand By For Action



Written, edited and compiled by Alan Fennel with Dennis Hooper, illustrated by Ron Embleton, with Steve Kite (Ravette Books/Egmont)
ISBN: 978-1-85304-456-4 (Album TPB #1) 978-1-85304-457-1 (Album TPB #2)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The worlds of Gerry Anderson have provided generations of fans with life-changing, formative puppet-based entertainment since 1957’s The Adventures of Twizzle and 1958’s Torchy the Battery Boy (made with fellow fantasy puppetry pioneer Roberta (Space Patrol) Leigh before they went their separate ways). Anderson’s later TV efforts included Four Feather Gulch, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, and truly bizarre transition to live action feature The Secret Service. As was the nature of the times, these audio-visual delights spawned comics iterations, initially licensed to outside publishes but eventually via an in-house publishing venture created in collaboration with City Magazines (part of the News of the World group).

TV Century 21 (the unwieldy “Century” was eventually dropped) patterned itself on a newspaper – albeit from 100 years into the future – a shared conceit that carried the avid readership into a multimedia wonderland as television and reading matter fed off each other.

Stuffed with high quality art and features, tabloid sized TV21 featured Anderson strips such as Fireball XL5 and Supercar as well as the crack team of aquanauts pitted against a bizarre and malevolent plethora of beings who lived beneath the waves. Even the BBC were represented by a full-colour strip starring The Daleks. In-house crossovers were common and graphic adventures were supplemented with stills from the TV shows (and later, films). A plenitude of photos also graced the text features adding to the unity of one of the industry’s first “Shared Universe” products. The comic also offered features, gags, and other (US) television adaptations such as My Favourite Martian and Burke’s Law.

TV Century 21 #1 launched on January 23rd 1965 – Happy Birthday future-boys! – instantly capturing the hearts and minds of millions of children, and further proving to comics editors the unfailingly profitable relationship between television shows and healthy sales. Filled with high quality art and features, printed in glossy, gleaming photogravure, TV21 featured previous shows in strips including latest hit Stingray, prior to next big draw Thunderbirds beginning on 15th January 1966, and incredibly illustrated by Frank Bellamy. It also ran the adventures of future spy Lady Penelope in advance of her screen debut.

In an attempt to mirror real world situations and be topical, the allegorically Soviet state of Bereznik constantly plotted against the World Government (for which read The West) in a futuristic Cold War to augment aliens, aquatic civilisations, common crooks and cosmic disasters that perpetually threatened the general wellbeing of the populace. Even the BBC’s TV “tomorrows” were represented by a full-colour strip starring The Daleks. In that first year, Fireball XL5, Supercar, Lady Penelope and Anderson’s epic submarine series Stingray captivated fans and catered to their future shocks, with top flight artists including Mike Noble, Eric Eden, Ron Embleton, Don Lawrence and Ron Turner.

These collected comic albums stem from the early 1990s (when many of Anderson’s unforgettable creations enjoyed a popular revival on TV and in comics publishing), each reprinting three unforgettable strip thrillers from the legendary weekly, scripted by editor/writer Alan Fennel (and possibly studio partner Dennis Hooper) and limned by the incredible Ron Embleton (Strongow the Mighty, Wulf the Briton, Wrath of the Gods, Biggles, The Trigan Empire, Oh, Wicked Wanda! and many more, in Mickey Mouse Weekly,  Express Weekly, TV Century 21, Princess, Boys’ World, Look and Learn, Penthouse and others). For TV21, he especially distinguished himself on the Captain Scarlet and Stingray strips.

In September 2024 an epic hardback collection – the Stingray Comic Anthology Vol. 1: Tales from the Depths – was released by Anderson Entertainment: a hefty hardback with no digital edition available yet. That’s a book for another time and if it’s beyond your means at the moment, these paperback tomes are still readily available, remarkably cheap and eminently re-readable…

Although reproduction leaves something to be desired, and chronologically adrift in terms of running order, initial compilation Stingray Comic Album volume 1: Battle Stations delivers weekly undersea action by Fennel, Dennis Hooper & Embleton, collectively covering TV21 #23-44, cover-dated 26th June – 20th November 2065. As part of the conceit, every issue was forward dated by a century, so if you still need help that’s 26th June – 20th November 1965…

Spanning #23 to 30 (26th June – 14th August) ‘The Ghosts of Station Seventeen’ see trusty aquanauts Troy Tempest, Phones Sheridan and Commander Sam Shore investigating a research station no scientist can remain in, uncovering sly skullduggery by aquatic aliens, whilst ‘Aquatraz’ (#31-37, 21st August to 2nd October) offers a gritty yet fantastical prison break yarn as our heroes must spring WASP personnel held by Titan at the bottom of the ocean. The action ends with another calamitous battle bonanza as ‘The Uranium Plant Invasion’ (TV21 #38-44, 9th October 2065 November 20th 1965) sees Titan’s forces steal the secrets of atomic energy from the surface men and upgrade their Terror Fish fleet. The resultant war is spectacular, short, and a near-fatal wake-up call for humanity…

 

Stingray Comic Album volume 2 declares …Stand By for Action and re-presents the earliest episodes of the original run in staggeringly lovely 2-page weekly episodes by Fennel & Embleton as crafted for the incredibly rewarding but notoriously laborious and difficult to master photogravure print process. Throughout, these tales run in landscape format spreads – so read across, not down the page, guys…

Crafted by Fennel & Embleton, ‘The Monster Jellyfish’ (TV21 #1-7, 23rd January – March 6th 1965) sees subsea despot Titan of Titanica attack the World Aquanaut Security Patrol with a mutated sea predator, capable of sinking the most modern aircraft carriers in the fleets. Thankfully Troy, Phones and amphibian ally Marina are on the job and Marineville is saved by the sterling super-sub, before plunging on to face the astounding ‘Curse of the Crustavons’ (#8-14, March 13th – April 24th).

Once the threat of losing all Earth’s capital cities to talking lobster villains is dealt with, the drama descends into far more personal peril as ‘The Atlanta Kidnap Affair’ (#15-21, May 1st – June 12th 1965) sees Commander Shore’s capable daughter made a pawn in the ongoing war. Abducted by Titan’s agents whilst on a painting holiday, the incident incites Troy to go undercover to track her down and rescue her…

These are cracking fantasy rollercoaster rides full of action and drama and illustrated with captivating majesty by the incredible Ron Embleton, who supplemented his lush colour palette and uncanny facility for capturing likenesses with photographic stills from the TV shows. Whether for expediency, artistic reasons tor editorial diktat the effect on impressionable young minds was electric. This made the strips “more real” then and the effect has not diminished with time. These are superb treat for fans of all ages.
© 1992 ITC Entertainment Group Ltd. Licensed by Copyright Promotions Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Captain America volume 3: To Be Reborn


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Syd Shores, Dan Adkins & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5432-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

During the natal years of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby opted to mimic the game-plan which had paid off so successfully for National/DC Comics, albeit with mixed results. Beginning cautiously in 1956, Julie Schwartz had scored incredible, industry-altering hits by re-inventing the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed sensible to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days two decades previously. A new Human Torch had premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four, and in the fourth issue of that title the amnesiac Sub-Mariner resurfaced after a 20-year hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive an “Atlas” superhero line in the mid-1950s). The teen Torch promptly won his own solo lead-feature in Strange Tales (from issue #101 on) where eventually – in #114 – the flaming kid fought a larcenous villain impersonating the nation’s greatest lost hero…

Here’s a quote from the last panel…

“You guessed it! This story was really a test! To see if you too would like Captain America to Return! As usual, your letters will give us the answer!” I guess we all know how that turned out. With reader-reaction strong, the real McCoy was promptly decanted in Avengers #4 (cover dated March but on sale from January 3rd 1964). Marvel’s inexorable rise to dominance of the American comic book industry really took hold in 1968 when most of their characters finally got their own titles. Prior to that and due to a highly restrictive distribution deal the company was tied to a limit of 16 publications per month.

After a captivating, attention-hogging run in Avengers, the Sentinel of Liberty won his own series as half of a “split-book” with fellow Avenger and patriotic barnstormer Iron Man, starting in Tales of Suspense #59. This thrifty third Mighty Marvel Masterworks Captain America collection assembles those last exploits from ToS #95-99 and continuance as Captain America #100-105 of his own title (spanning cover-dates November 1967 to September 1968) in a kid-friendly edition that will charm and delight fans of all vintages…

These stories are timeless and have been published many times before but The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line is designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

Scripted throughout by Lee, Cap’s adventures had been blending high concept espionage thrillers milking the burgeoning spy fad of the mid-Sixties with spectacular superhero shockers after the Star-Spangled Avenger joined superspy Nick Fury in many missions as a (more-or-less) Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here however with Kirby locked-&-loaded into full action mode a portentous change of pace amplifies already frenetic tensions as – in rapid succession – ‘A Time to Die… A Time to Live’ and ‘To Be Reborn!’ see the eternal hero retire and reveal his secret identity to the world, only to jump straight back into the star-spangled saddle for S.H.I.E.L.D. for #97’s ‘And So It Begins…’ after a rash of would-be replacements provoke a campaign of opportunistic assassination attempts from the underworld…

The saga would carry the Sentinel of Liberty back into his own title: a 4-part tale that spectacularly concludes in issue #100, with which number Tales of Suspense became simply Captain America. Guest starring the Black Panther, it recounts the apparent return of long-dead nemesis Baron Zemo and his lethal, world-threatening orbiting Death Ray. ‘The Claws of the Panther!’ was inked by both Joe Sinnott and the great Syd Shores (a Cap illustrator from the 1940s) who became regular embellisher with ‘The Man Who Lived Twice!’ before the premier 100th first issue (how weird is that?) revisited Cap’s origin before climactically closing the superb team-up thriller with ‘This Monster Unmasked!’

Without pause, Lee, Kirby & Shores enacted another epic encounter across Captain America #101-104, featuring fascist revenant The Red Skull and introducing another appalling Nazi revenge-weapon. Opening with ‘When Wakes the Sleeper!’ and furious follow-up ‘The Sleeper Strikes!’, our hero and his support crew Agent 13 and Nick Fury hunt a murderous mechanoid capable of ghosting through solid Earth and blowing up the planet. Although the immediate threat soon seems quashed, the infernal instigator is still at large and #103 reveals ‘The Weakest Link!’ as a budding romance with S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Agent 13 (finally named after two years as Sharon Carter) is interrupted by the nefarious Nazi. The uber-fascist’s new scheme of nuclear blackmail extends to a second issue, wherein his band of war-criminal assassins, The Exiles, test Cap nigh to destruction on the hidden isle where he becomes the ‘Slave of the Skull!’ (with the loose, flowing inking of Dan Adkins) before turning the tables and crushing the plotters.

After that, a period of done-in-one all-action yarns began with ‘In the Name of Batroc!’ (Lee, Kirby & Adkins), a brisk super-villain team-up wherein Living Laser and The Swordsman ally with gallic mercenary Batroc the Leaper to swipe a new superbomb, concluding the patriotic Fight’s ‘n’ Tights fist-fest on an exuberant if nonsensical high note…

To Be Continued…

With covers by Kirby, Frank Giacoia, Gene Colan, John Romita, Sinnott, Shores & Adkins, there’s just enough room for a brace of pencil layouts of unused covers to compliment these tales of dauntless courage and unmatchable adventure, fast-paced and superbly illustrated. These exploits rightly returned Captain America to heights his revamped Golden Age compatriots the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner never regained. Pure escapist magic, these are glorious treats for the eternally young at heart, episodes of sheer visual dynamite that cannot be slighted and must not be missed.
© 2024 MARVEL.

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The Complete Just a Pilgrim


By Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra with Paul Mounts, Ken Wolak, Chris Eliopoulos & various (Dynamite Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-1-60690-003- (HB/Digital edition) 978-1-60690-007-9 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As the entire planet ruminates on what about to happen and ponders how many different kinds of “American Dream” can coexist, let’s go back to a future that never happened – yet – but look less like harmless fiction every day…

Like its troubled protagonist, Just a Pilgrim is a much-travelled item that never sat comfortably anywhere, but still has much to recommend it. Originally miniseries Just a Pilgrim (2001) and sequel Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden (2002), the property started at Blackbull Comics with Britain’s Titan Books releasing trade paperback compilations, before this deluxe hardcover/soft cover/digital edition from Dynamite Entertainment.

Fleetway veterans Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra have a long association with war comics and the apocalyptic visions of alternate lifestyle bible 2000AD, so combining their kindred sensibilities for near-future post-apocalyptic adventures always pays off in visceral hits and giggles. Since the 5-part miniseries spawned an almost immediate follow-up, they must have been more or less correct, but as the volatile state of the comics industry ended many indie companies at that time, this compilation comes to us via media/intellectual property specialists Dynamite…

Moreover, co-creator Ennis stated that even after past works and collaborations with Carlos Ezquerra (such as Bloody Mary and Adventures in the Rifle Brigade) he was keen to push the envelope on the mythology and iconography of the classic movie western hero/antihero.

The black sardonic ironies of Judge Dredd, Preacher, Hellblazer and True Faith are not present in this exploration of Christian indoctrination ascendant produced with veteran combat illustrator Carlos Ezquerra for Black Bull Comics way back in 2001 and 2002.

This treat is garnished and flavoured with all the iconic spaghetti western tropes and themes of Clint Eastwood via traditional “a man’s gotta do…” John Wayne nonsense taken to its outrageous but so logical extremes, but be warned: in this exploration of religious fanaticism there’s not much room (some, not a lot…) for the cruel, ultra-violent gross-out stuff that made Hitman, The Boys and A Train Called Love such guilty pleasures.

Behind that gripping Mark Texiera cover is a yarn steeped in classic western lore and references as an embattled wagon train picks its way through hostile territory and appalling predators. The kid who is our narrator and viewpoint is helplessly drawn to a charismatic stranger his parents fear but cannot survive without, and death is absolutely everywhere…

The saga of this particular Man With No Name happens on a parched Earth that has been subjected to a vast solar flare that dried up the oceans.

Following Mark Waid’s text preamble ‘If You Call This Introduction “Just an Introduction,” I’ll F***ing Kill You’ the story unfolds in little Billy Shepherd’s own diarised words. The kid is 10½ and riding across the dusty Atlantic floor from sunken wreck to sundered bleaching hulk in ‘Anno Domini’ when raiders attack the convoy of migrant families in search of better lives. Thankfully, the sea floor foragers are singlehandedly driven off by a big guy with a strange long gun and crucifix-scarred face.

The newcomer is murderously pious and after despatching the bandits to their final judgement, offers to guide the trekker through the wastes and awful mutant beasts inhabiting the region to possible wetter climes. Sadly, his staunch resistance has made them all the sole concern of obsessive psychotic quadriplegic blind pirate king Castenado, who diverts all his plundered resources and army of “Buckers” to destroying him and the intruders he’s protecting beginning in ‘To Reign in Hell’…

Despite his upstanding Christian values, the Pilgrim terrifies everyone but Billy and as the brutal voyage and attacks continue, he is finally recognised for the monstrous infamous sinner he used to be – a grisly tale told in of cannibalism and redemption recounted in ‘Bloody Baskets’ before the inevitable showdown with Castenado and his horde in ‘Firestarter’ and blistering conclusion in the Alamo-like mouldering ruins of the Titanic in ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’…

One year later Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden sees the wanderer faithfully reading not only the Bible but also Billy’s diary as he discovers a recess in the pacific ocean floor where water still exists; supporting abundant vegetation and a small colony of scientists. The ‘Marianas’ oceanic trench is a staging post where techs seek to fix up a space shuttle to take them all to a new less hostile world. However, under constant insidious assault, and picked off by mutant creatures that reanimate the dead, they are willing to suspend their distrust of the religious maniac if he can stop the killings. It’s an ill-judged compromise as the deaths mount in ‘To the Stars by Hard Ways’ and the colonists are further split by the Pilgrim’s ruthless and sanctimonious safeguarding actions. Most vocal is Dr Christine Page who clashes with him constantly but after he gifts her Billy’s diary she begins to realise how much the fanatic has actually already softened…

When the dead-riders attack in force and torch the garden, little girl Maggy is taken below ground and the Pilgrim leads a doomed rescue party after her. In face of their latest losses, and a most appalling act that has debased them all, the scientists make ready to leave Earth, giving the outcast one last chance to save Maggy and join them in a ‘Last Supper’ that only goes even more wrong. As fate signals the end of humanity’s time on Earth and forces the fanatical zealot to reexamine his beliefs and ask ‘Why Has Thou Forsaken Me?’ the apostle of the apocalypse ends his crusade in the only way he ever could…

If you were wondering, colours come courtesy of Paul Mounts & Ken Wolak, with Chris Eliopoulos lettering this violently engaging, sublimely cathartic and painfully accurate prognostication of what lies in store for us…

Supplementing the iconographic saga is a map of the dry world and travel progress of the Pilgrim, a Cover Gallery of 15 variants by Steve Dillon, Joe Jusko, Mark Texiera, Tim Bradstreet, J.G. Jones, Glenn Fabry, Kevin Nowlan, Bill Sienkiewicz, John McCrea and Dave Gibbons, backed up by an 8-page Pin-Up Gallery from Amanda Conner, McCrea, Nelson, Darick Robertson, Paul Mounts and Jimmy Palmiotti, before closing with a Sketchbook section packed with roughs and character designs by Ezquerra, Jusko and Jones.

Excessively violent, trenchant, savagely satirical, gripping and never less than totally thrilling, this slice of dark, theology shows Ennis and much-missed Ezquerra at their anarchic best, offering an everyman view of all the hell-and-stupidity we can expect.

These are grown-up comics at its very best and long overdue for their rightful place on your bookshelf or in your digital library.
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