Category: Adventure

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Battle of Britain War Picture Library


By Ian Kennedy & various (Rebellion/Treasury of British Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-779-4 (HB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Material produced during less enlightened times.

By official reckoning – the UK’s at least – The Battle of Britain (10th July – 31st October 1940), began 83 years ago today. German historians consider it to have kicked off in July 1940: one part of a long, continuous campaign that proceeded from until 11th May 1941 when the Wehrmacht changed their failed tactics.

Whatever your opinion, the aerial operation has become a major touchstone for UK culture – like Boudicca or Abolition of the Monasteries – constantly cited, used and abused by dog whistle demagogues, political hacks, chancers and charlatans, all seeking a rabid reactionary unthinking response or quick debating point scored, pissing on the truth value. It was a time of unified dogged, true heroism under pressure on the entire nation’s part.

It has also become a keystone and foundation of our entertainment fiction: the bedrock and basis of every type of tale from gratifying adventure and shocking fantasy to inspirational romance and cathartic comedy. The Battle of Britain has naturally also been made a crucial core component of British comics. Just like the artist celebrated here…

Born in 1932, Ian Kennedy went to Clepington Primary School and attended Dundee’s Morgan Academy before landing his first job at the town’s major employer – just pipping the city’s Marmalade makers. If you look that up you’ll find I’ve just been absolutely hilarious…

Taken on in 1949 as a trainee illustrator for the art department of DC Thomson & Co, Kennedy always claimed his first work was filling in black squares on crossword puzzles for the publisher’s paper The Sunday Post (home of The Broons and Oor Wullie and many other singular classics). He soon graduated to drawing strips – mostly war and especially air combat stories – and by 1953 was also freelancing for the Scottish company’s major English competitor Amalgamated Press (latterly Odhams/Fleetway/IPC). Kennedy could be seen on serials in weeklies Knockout, Hotspur, Wizard, Buster and others, as well as illustrating longer standalone sagas for both publishers’ digest lines in titles such as Thriller Picture Library and Air Ace Picture Library.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he diversified, favouring fantasy themes and generating many classic science fiction sagas for DCT’s new digest Starblazer, all whilst continuing his historical flights of fancy in Commando (War Stories in Pictures), Fleetway Picture Library, War Picture Library et al. Kennedy also exploited his aviation expertise outside comics from the 1980s, in magazines, books and by producing spectacular covers for RAF Leuchars Air Show programmes, even whilst winning his greatest fame with high profile strips and licensed adaptations in Eagle, Battle Picture Weekly, Wildcat, Star Lord, 2000 A.D. and more. The work included Tiger Taggart, Typhoon Tennyson, Blake’s 7, Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, Time Quake, M.A.S.K., M.A.C.H. 1, Invasion, Ro-Busters and countless others.

Generally uncredited throughout his career in the pages of weeklies like Victor, Buddy and the rest, he was most recognisable for his covers – which graced 2000 A.D., Eagle, Star Lord, Tornado Starblazer and especially Commando (for which he painted over 1600 – many after his official retirement in 1997). Ian Kennedy finally laid down his brushes in February 2022…

Two of his very best tales are on view here, but I sadly can’t be as forthcoming on their writers. Even the editors have no credible data on those anonymous stalwarts instead with the biographies at the back namechecking potential candidates/regular contributors Tom Tully, E.W. Evans, Douglas Leach, Gordon W. Brunt, Edward G. Cowan, V. Stokes, R.P. Clegg, James Hart Higgins, Syd J. Bounds, R. Wilding and A. Carney Allan as potential contributors.

Reprinted here are the contents of Air Ace Picture Library #65 & #182 with Kennedy detailing a brace of ripping yarns set in the skies above Blighty in their finest, most fiery hours.

At the end of the mission are the original covers in a full colour painted ‘Gallery’ with #65’s (August 1961) ‘Steel Bats’ followed by its reprint in AAPL #428 (as ‘Cat’s Eyes’), bolstered by the one-&-only AAPL #182’s original cover sortie from February 1964. Resolved not to spoil the fun I’m finally being brief and saying only that opener ‘Steel Bats’ (Air Ace Picture Library #65, August 1961) follows the trials and travails of pitiful novice fighter pilot Flight-Lieutenant Bill Mitchell from hopeless screwup in ‘Chapter1: The Rebel’ through an ignominious, unwanted ‘Transfer Granted’ to night fighter training school. When personal tragedy forces Mitchell to capitalise on an unsuspected natural advantage, Bill and new pal Gunner Wilton become ‘Two Up!’ and darlings of the Brass, but they also inspire ire in night fighter Squadron Leader Esmond Furness… until ‘Mitch’s Private War’ boils over into the bigger conflict and confirms his value, valour and ultimate victory over the real enemy… the bombers blasting London…

‘“Never Say Die” Wapiti’ is another – and rather more mischievous – fish out of water yarn, first seen in February 1964’s Air Ace Picture Library #182. Here, the poor discipline of young pilots is exemplified by Pilot-Officer Stan Perkins whose excessive eagerness and impatience flying Spitfires during the Battle of Britain results in near-catastrophe and his becoming a ‘Sacked Pilot!’

Summarily banished from operations and speedily transferred to “X planes station”, the despondent flier finds it a veritable aircraft graveyard dubbed “Misery Farm” by the other dangerous failures who explain he’s on a dummy field packed with obsolete kit designed to make “Jerries” waste fuel and ordnance. Stan is even more galled to learn he’s the new Commanding Officer…

Resolved to rejoin the Real War, Perkins and like-minded new friend/accomplice Flynn and hapless scavenging engineer Flight Sergeant Foley convert a discarded but serviceable Great War biplane, rendering it airworthy again. Sadly they only end up ‘Chased by a Bomb!’ on the maiden voyage! ‘Under Arrest!’, Stan believes himself doomed to spend his war on the ground and behind bars, but uncanny circumstances conspire to keep the mavericks flying: absconding with the biplane to perpetrate an ‘Unofficial Air Raid’ over France… just as the most important commando mission of the war is going wrong.

Sparking another apparent disaster, shot down by their own side and having to fight their way back to England beside the French Resistance all appear pointless exercises in the aftermath, but on arrival Perkins and Flynn learn ‘The Escape’ has all been worth the effort…

Clever and captivating, smart and spectacular, these war stories are utterly engaging and perfectly spotlight the astounding gifts of one our art form’s most skilled exponents. Come see for yourself…
© 1961, 1964, 2020 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd.

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The Complete Johnny Future


By Alf Wallace, Luis Bermejo & various (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-758-9 (HB/Digital edition)

Gosh I feel inexplicably optimistic and upbeat this week and can’t imagine why. Let’s continue looking forward and back and explore one of our little industry’s best lost secret: a buried masterpiece of international cooperation that has stood the test of time…

Until relatively recently, Britain never really had a handle on superheroes. Although every reader from the 1950s on can cite a particular favourite fantasy muscle-man or costumed champion – from Thunderbolt Jaxon to Morgyn the Mighty to Marvelman, Gadget Man & Gimmick Kid to The Spider, Tri-Man and Phantom Viking to Red Star Robinson, The Leopard from Lime Street and Billy the Cat (& Katie!) and all worthy stalwarts deserving their own archived revivals! – who have populated our pages, they all somehow ultimately lacked conviction. Well, almost all…

During the heady Swinging Sixties days of “Batmania”, just as Marvel Comics was first infiltrating our collective consciousness, a little-remembered strip graced the pages of a short-lived experimental title. The result being sheer, unbridled magic…

With Scotland’s DC Thomson steadily overtaking the London-based competition (monolithic comics publishing giant Amalgamated Press) during the late 1950s & 1960s, the sheer variety of material the southerners unleashed to compete offered incredible vistas in adventure tales. Thanks to Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid’s defection to AP, they also had a wealth of anarchic comedy material to challenge the likes of The Bash Street Kids, Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and their unruly ilk. During that latter end of the period, the Batman TV show sent the world superhero crazy just as AP finished absorbing all its local rivals such as The Eagle’s Hulton Press to form Fleetway, Odhams and ultimately IPC.

Formerly the biggest player in children’s comics, Amalgamated Press (founded by Alfred Harmsworth at the beginning of the 20th century) had stayed at the forefront of sales by latching onto every fad: keeping their material contemporary, if not always fresh or original. The all-consuming monolith had been reprinting the early successes of Marvel comics for a few years, feeding on the growing fashion for US-style action/adventure which had largely supplanted the rather tired True-Blue Brit style of Dan Dare or DCT’s Wolf of Kabul or the Tough of the Track. A key point at that time was that although both part of the Mirror Group, Fleetway and Odhams were deadly rivals…

Power Comics was a sub-brand used by Odhams to differentiate their periodicals containing reprinted American superhero material from the greater company’s regular blend of sports, war, western adventure and gag comics such as Buster, Valiant, Lion or Tiger. During this period, the strictly monochrome Power weeklies did much to popularise budding Marvel characters and their shared universe in this country, which was still poorly served by distribution of the actual American imports.

The line began with Wham! – but only after the comic was well-established. Originally created by newly-ensconced Baxendale, it had launched on June 20th 1964. Initially, the title was designed as a counter to The Beano, as was Smash! (launching February 5th 1966), but the tone of times soon dictated the hiving off into a more distinctive imprint, which was augmented by the creation of little sister Pow!

Pow! premiered with a cover date of January 31st 1967, combining home-grown funnies like Mike Higgs’ The Cloak, Baxendale’s The Dolls of St Dominic’s, Reid’s Dare-a-Day Davy, Wee Willie Haggis: The Spy from Skye and British originated thrillers such as Jack Magic and The Python with the now ubiquitous resized US strips: in this case Amazing Spider-Man, The Hulk and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The next step was even bolder. Fantastic – and its sister paper Terrific – were notable for not reformatting or resizing the original US artwork whereas in Wham!, Pow! or Smash!, an entire 24-page yarn could be rejigged and squeezed into 10 or 11 pages, and were accompanied by British comedy and adventure strips.

These slick new titles – each with a dynamic back cover pin-up taken from Marvel Comics or created in-house by apprentice comics bods and future superstars Barry Windsor-Smith and Steve Parkhouse (see below) – reprinted US Superhero fare, supplemented by minimal amounts of UK originated filler and editorial.

Fantastic #1 debuted with cover-date February 18th 1967 (but first seen in newsagents on Saturday 11th), revealing the origin stories of Thor, Iron Man and the X-Men, but from the get-go, savvy tykes like me were as engrossed by a short adventure serial also included to fill out the page count. The Missing Link was beautifully drawn and over the following year (February 18th 1967 – February 3rd 1968) would become a truly unique reading experience…

The series began inauspiciously as a homegrown Incredible Hulk knock off. Oddly, editor and writer Alfred “Alf” Wallace crafted for the filler a tone very similar to that adopted by Marvel’s own Green Goliath when he became a small screen star a decade later…

The illustrator was the astoundingly gifted Luis Bermejo Rojo, a star of Spanish comics forced to seek work abroad after the domestic market imploded in 1956. He became a prolific contributor to British strips, working on a succession of moody masterpieces in a variety of genres. These included The Human Guinea Pig, Mann of Battle, Pike Mason, Phantom Force Five and Heros the Spartan, appearing in Girls Crystal, Tina, Tarzan Weekly, Battle Picture Library, Thriller Picture Library The Eagle, Buster, Boys World, Tell Me Why, Look and Learn and many more. Bermejo finally achieved a modicum of his long-deserved acclaim in the 1970s, after joining fellow studio mates José Ortiz, Esteban Maroto and Leopoldo Sanchez working on adult horror stories for Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella.

I’m still a big kid helplessly enmired in nostalgia, but to me his greatest moments were the year spent drawing Johnny Future…

The Missing Link – as the feature was entitled for the first 15 episodes – was disturbingly similar in tone and delivery to television’s Hulk of the 1970s. The strip’s titular protagonist was superhumanly strong, seemingly intellectually challenged and tragically misunderstood. The saga combined human-scaled drama with lost world exoticism in the manner of King Kong, as can be see seen following Steve Holland’s incisive and informative Introduction ‘Welcome to the Future!’, when the drama opens in the wilds of Africa.

A bestial man-beast roams the veldt, swamps and mountains, until great white hunter Bull Belson comes to capture him, accompanied by secretary/photographer Lita Munro. The infamous tracker sees only profit in his quarry: a mute beast who, after much frustratingly destructive behaviour, is lured into captivity by an inexplicable attraction to Miss Munro…

To be fair, she actually has the brute’s interests at heart, attempting to befriend and teach the Link on the slow voyage back to England, but on reaching London Dock, the prospective sideshow attraction is spooked by mocking labourers and shockingly breaks his bonds… and cage.

Brutally rampaging across the city at the heart of the Swinging Sixties, the Link is hunted by the army, but no one realizes that beneath the bestial brow is a cunning brain. Hopping a freight train north, he seeks refuge in an isolated government atomic research laboratory run by Dr. Viktor Kelso and is accidentally dosed with vast amounts of transformative radiation. Unleashed uncanny forces jumpstart an evolutionary leap, turning the primitive beast into a perfect specimen of human manhood, while simultaneously sparking near-catastrophic meltdown in the machinery. It is only averted by the massive instinctive intellect of the new man. Arrested as a terrorist spy, the silent superman is very publicly tried in court and again encounters Lita.

Kelso meanwhile has deduced the true course of events. As the Link uses his prison time to educate himself in the ways of the world, the unstable scientist works on a deadly super-weapon, prompting the Link to escape jail and clear his name. With super-strength and his newly enhanced massive mind, the task is easy but he still needs Lita to complete his plan…

The series cheerfully plundered the tone of the times. The drama seamlessly morphs into and pilfers chilling contemporary science fiction tropes as Kelso’s device brings Britain to a literal standstill, leaving only the evolved outsider to thwart a staggeringly ambitious scheme.

Set on a fresh, bold openly heroic path, and despite still being a hunted fugitive, the Link creates a civilian identity (John Foster) and a costumed persona just as the nation is assaulted by ‘The Animal Man’: a psionic dictator able to control all beasts and creatures. Incredibly, that includes recently ascendant Johnny Future, with the villain only defeated through overextending himself after accidentally awakening a primordial horror from Jurassic times…

In short order, Johnny Future tackles Dr. Jarra and his killer robot; a society of evil world-conquering scientists; invention-plundering shapeshifting aliens; prehistoric giants and deranged science tyrant The Master.

Fully hitting his stride, the tomorrow man overcomes personality warping psychopath Mr. Opposite and defeats the top assassins of the Secret Society of Science – ‘The Brain, The Brute and the Hunter’, prior to saving Earth from marauding living metal and destroying Dr. Plasto’s animated waxwork killers.

… And that was that. Without warning the comic merged with sister publication Terrific and there was no more room for a purely British superhero. Here, however, there’s one final memorable delight: a 14-page, full-colour complete adventure with Johnny battling diabolical primordial revenant Disastro, as first seen in Fantastic Annual 1968, as well as a colour pin-up from Fantastic #30 (September 9th 1967).

Interest in superheroes and fantasy in general were on the wane and British weeklies were diversifying. Some switched back to war, sports and fantasy adventure yarns, whilst – with comedy strips on the rise again – others became largely humour outlets. The Complete Johnny Future is a unique beast: a blend of British B-movie chic with classic monster riffs seen through the same bleakly compelling lens that spawned Doctor Who and Quatermass. It is the social sci fi of John Wyndham trying on glamourous superhero schtick whilst blending the breakneck pace of a weekly serial with the chilling moodiness of kitchen sink crime dramas.

There was never anything quite like this before – or since – and if you love dark edges to your comics escapism you must have this amazing collection far sooner than tomorrow.
™ & © 1967, 1968, & 2020 Rebellion Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays volume 1: 1966-1967


By Whitney Ellsworth, Joe Giella, Sheldon Moldoff, Carmine Infantino, Bob Powell, Werner Roth, Curt Swan & various (Library of American Comics)
ISBN: 987-1-61377-845-6 (HB)

Last century in America the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail all cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers aspired to and hungered for; syndicated across the country and the planet. Always a prime tool of circulation-building, strips won millions of readers and were regarded (in most places) as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books.

They also paid better, and the Holiest of Holies was a full-colour Sunday page, so it was always something of a poisoned chalice if comic book characters became so popular that they swam against the tide and became a syndicated serial strip. After all, weren’t funnybooks invented just to reprint the strips in cheap accessible form?

Both Superman and Wonder Woman made the jump soon after their debuts and many features have done so since. Due to numerous war-time complications, the Batman and Robin newspaper strip was slow getting its shot, but when the Dynamic Duo finally hit the comics section of papers, the feature proved to be one of the best-regarded, highest quality examples of the trend, both in Daily and Sunday formats (and we’ll be covering what collections there are of those landmarks quite soon in this Dark Knight anniversary year).

The 1940s strips never achieved the circulation they deserved, but the Sundays were latterly given a new lease of life when DC began including selected episodes in the 1960s Batman 80-Page Giants and Annuals. Those exceedingly high-quality adventures were ideal short stories, adding an extra cachet of exoticism for youngsters captivated by simply seeing their heroes in tales that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “H”.

Such was not the case as the decade proceeded when, for a relatively brief moment, humanity went bananas for superheroes in general but most especially went “Bat-Mad”…

Comic books’ Silver Age utterly revolutionised a creatively moribund medium cosily snoozing in unchallenging complacency, bringing a modicum of sophistication to the returning genre of masked mystery men. For quite some time the changes instigated by Julius Schwartz in Showcase #4 (October 1956) had rippled out to affect all National/DC Comics’ superhero characters but generally passed by Batman and Robin. Fans buying Detective Comics, Batman, World’s Finest Comics and latterly Justice League of America read exploits that – in look and tone – were largely unchanged from safely anodyne fantasies that had turned the Dark Knight into a mystery-solving, alien-fighting costumed Boy Scout after the 1940s turned into the 1950s.

By the end of 1963, however, Schwartz having – either personally or by example – revived and revitalised the majority of DC’s line (and, by extension and imitation, the entire industry) with his reinvention of the Superhero, was asked to work his magic with the creatively stalled nigh-moribund Caped Crusaders.

Shepherding his usual team of top-notch creators, the Editor stripped down the core-concept, downplaying the ETs, outlandish villains and daft transformations, bringing cool modernity to the capture of criminals and overseeing a streamlining rationalisation of the art style itself. The most apparent change to us kids was a yellow circle around the Bat-symbol but, far more importantly, the stories similarly changed as a subtle aura of genuine menace had crept back in. At the same time Hollywood was in production of a television series based on Batman and, through the sheer karmic insanity that permeates the universe, the studio executives were basing their interpretation upon the addictively daft material DC was emphatically turning its editorial back on rather than the “New Look Batman” currently enthralling readers.

The Batman TV show premiered on January 12th 1966 and ran for three seasons of 120 episodes, airing twice weekly for the first two. It was a monumental, world-wide hit and sparked a wave of imitation. Resulting media hysteria and fan frenzy generated an insane degree of Bat-awareness, no end of spin-offs and merchandise – including a movie – and introduced us all to the phenomenon of overkill. No matter how much we might squeal and foam about it, even 60 years later, to a huge portion of this planet’s population Batman is always going to be that “Zap! Biff! Pow!” buffoonish Boy Scout in a mask…

“Batmania” exploded across the world and almost as quickly became toxic and vanished, but at its height sparked a fresh newspaper strip incarnation. The strip was a huge syndication success and even reached fuddy-duddy Britain, not in our papers and journals but as the cover feature of weekly comic Smash! (with the 20th issue onwards).

Overwhelmingly successful, Batman’s TV show ended in March 1968. As it foundered and faded away, the global fascination with “camp” superheroes – and no, the term had nothing to do with sexual orientation no matter what you and Mel Brooks might suspect about Men in Tights – burst as quickly as it had boomed and the Caped Crusader was left with a hard core of dedicated fans and followers who now wanted their hero back…

From the time when the Gotham Guardians could do no wrong comes this superb collection re-presenting the bright and breezy, intentionally zany cartoon classics, augmented by a wealth of background material, topped up with oodles of unseen scenes and detail to delight the most ardent Baby-boomer nostalgia-freaks.

It opens with an astonishingly informative and astoundingly picture-packed, candidly cool introduction from comics historian Joe Desris entitled ‘A History of the Batman and Robin Newspaper Strip’, stuffed with a wealth of newspaper promotional materials, premiums and giveaways, sketches, comic book covers and the lowdown on how the strip was coordinated to work in conjunction with the regular comic books. The Dailies and Sundays were all scripted by former DC writer/editor – and the company’s Hollywood liaison/producer – Whitney Ellsworth (Tillie the Toiler, Congo Bill) and initially illustrated by Bob Kane’s long-term secret art collaborator Sheldon Moldoff, before inker Joe Giella was tapped by the TV studio to provide a slick, streamlined modern look in the visuals – frequently as penciller but ALWAYS as embellisher.

Since the feature was a 7-day-a-week job, Giella often called in few comicbook buddies to help lay-out and draw the strip; luminaries such as Carmine Infantino, Bob Powell, Werner Roth, Curt Swan and more…

Back then, black-&-white Dailies and full-colour Sundays were usually offered as separate packages with continuity strips often generating different storylines for each. With Batman the strip started out that way, but switched to unified 7-day continuities in December 1966.

For convenience, this collection begins with the Sunday-only yarns. As on TV, the first villain du jour was a certain top-hatted raucous raptor…

‘Penguin Perpetrated a Prank’ (May 29th – July 10th 1966) saw the Fowl Felon and masked moll Beulah go on a rather uninspired crime spree, after which ‘The Nasty Napoleon’ (July 17th – October 16th) introduced a pint-sized plunderer with larcenous intent and delusions of military grandeur. Moldoff was replaced by Giella &Infantino at the end of August, if you were wondering…

Contemporarily “Swinging England” was almost as big a craze as Batman so it was no surprise the Dynamic Duo would hop across The Pond to meet well-meaning but bumbling imitators ‘Batchap and Bobbin’, fighting crime in the sleepy hamlet of Lemon Regis (October 23rd – December 18th) after which the Sundays were incorporated into the working week storylines.

Monochrome Dailies launched on May 30th: Ellsworth & Moldoff kicking off with a healthy dose of sex & violence as ‘Catwoman is a Wily Wench’ (running to July 9th 1966) saw the sultry bandit easily captured only to break out of jail and go on a vengeance-fuelled spree intended to end Batman’s career and life. Next came ‘Two Jokers and a Laughing Girl’ (July 11th – September 24th) wherein the Clown Prince of Crime is paroled into the custody of Bruce Wayne, whilst covertly robbing Gotham blind by employing a body-double. As Giella took over the art chores, it took a guest shot from Superman to iron out that macabre miscreant’s merry muddle.

Claiming to have been robbed of his rightfully stolen loot, the Wily Bird brigand became ‘Penguin the Complainant’ (September 26th – October 8th), demanding his greatest enemies and the Gotham police catch a modern-day pirate plaguing him. That led in turn to a flotilla of fists and foolishness as Batman & Robin began ‘Flying the Jolly Roger’ (October 10th – December 9th), after which Daily and Sunday segments unified as our courteous but severely outmatched Chivalrous Crusaders faced their greatest challenge from a trio of college girls: The Ivy League Dropouts. The co-ed crooks and their floral field commander seen in ‘The Sizzling Saga of Poison Ivy’ (December 10th 1966 – March 17th 1967) were unrelated to the psychotic poisoner created by Robert Kanigher in Batman #181 (June 1966) in all but name…

Like its TV counterpart, the strip began increasingly featuring real-world guest stars and the bad girls’ scheme to plunder hospitality magnate Conrad Hilton‘s latest enterprise – The Batman Hilton – led to comedic cross-dressing hijinks, a doomed affair for Bruce and plenty of publicity for all concerned…

The guest policy was expanded in ‘Jack Benny’s Stolen Stradivarius’ (March 18th – April 30th) as the infamously penny-pinching comedian promised Gotham’s Gangbusters a $1000-an-hour stipend (for charity, of course) to recover his fiddle and insisted on accompanying them everywhere to ensure they worked at top speed…

A major character debuted in ‘Batgirl Ain’t your Sister’ (May 1st – July 9th) with a masked mystery woman prowling the night streets. She was beating up plenty of baddies but their loot never seemed to be recovered…

With no clues and nothing to go on, all Batman & Robin could do was masquerade as crooks and rob places in hopes of being caught by the “Dominoed Daredoll”, but by the time they found each other The Riddler had involved himself, planning to kill everybody and keep all that accumulated loot for himself…

Riding a wave and feeling ambitious, Ellsworth & Giella began their longest saga yet as ‘Shivering Blue Max, “Pretty Boy” Floy and Flo’ (July 10th 1967 – March 18th 1968 and ending in the next book) saw a perpetually hypothermic criminal pilot accidentally down the Batcopter and erroneously claim the underworld’s million dollar bounty on Batman & Robin. The heroes were not dead, but the crash had caused the Caped Crusader to lose his memory. As Robin and faithful manservant Alfred sought to remedy his affliction, Max collected his prize and jetted off for sunnier climes. With Batman missing, neophyte crimebuster Batgirl tracked down the heroes – incidentally learning their secret identities – and was instrumental in restoring him to action… if not quite his full functioning faculties.

When underworld paymaster BG (Big) Trubble heard the heroes had returned he quite understandably instituted procedures to get his money back, forcing Max to return to Gotham where he stupidly fell foul of Pretty Boy before that hip young gunsel and his sister Flo kicked off a murderous scheme to fleece a horoscope-addicted millionaire…

To Be Continued and concluded, Bat-Fans…

Supplementing the parade of guilty pleasures is a copious, comprehensive and fabulously educational section on ‘Notes on Stories in this Volume’ – also generously illustrated with covers, photos and show-&-strip arcana – as well as a fascinating behind-the-scenes display highlighting editorial corrections and alterations to the strips required by those ever-so-fussy TV studio people. Everything then ends for now with a schematic key to ‘The Batman Cast’ as depicted on the back cover.

The stories in this compendium reflect gentler times and an editorial policy focusing as much on broad humour as Batman’s reputation as a manhunter, so the colourful, psychotic costumed super-villains are in a minority here, but if you’re of a certain age or open to fun-over-thrills this a collection well worth your attention.

Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays 1966-1967 was the first of huge (305 x 236 mm) lavish, high-end hardback collections starring the Gotham Gangbusters, and another crucial addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, Bringing Up Father, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and many other cartoon icons. Hopefully one day they will all be available digitally too…

If you love the era, or simply the medium of serial graphic narratives, these stories are great comics reading, and this is a book you must have.
© 2014 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Batman and all related characters and elements ™ & © DC Comics.

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Disciples of the Soil


By B. Mure (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-79-0 (TPB)

Most forms of fiction depend on strong, memorable characters and heaping helpings of tension, suspense and/or action to hold the attention. You need to be really good and quite brave to try anything outside such often-infantile parameters. B. Mure is that good.

The Bristol-based artist and storyteller’s other notable work to date is the remarkable webcomic Boy Comics. You should check that out too.

In 2018, they pulled together threads and ideas from years of planning, dreaming and doodling and began building an epic fantasy saga. It started with Original Graphic Novel Ismyre, introducing an ancient city of song and tired wonders, unsettled by magical eco-terrorists and weaponised flora. Here a sculptor’s works inspired and moved the strangest of folk. This magical city was entering a period of “interesting times”…

It was followed by Terrible Means, which seemingly had little to do with the protagonists of the first, instead taking readers back to a time when wizardly green rebels Niklas, Henriett and Emlyn were simply researchers whose studies divined a growing imbalance in the natural ecosystem…

The Tower in the Sea focused on a different point in time, providing fresh insights to what was shaping up to be something vast and expansively multi-layered. Contemporary Ismyre was more dictatorship than civil metropolis, and for years gifted children had been spirited away from it by a clique of outlaw magicians: taken to a hidden island to be schooled in magical arts. That haven of learning was not proof against intrigue and plots, however, and now unscholarly events were upsetting lots of apple carts…

Fourth volume Methods of Dyeing returned us to the titular  Big City, where educational themes and macabre mysteries stoked potential scandal at staid, stolid Ismyre University. Mere moments before delivery of a much heralded lecture, visiting botanist, textile expert and master dyer Professor Detlef (of rival city-state Belsithan) was murdered. The event manifested the usual journalistic scavengers, but both the Chief of Police and University Dean were suspiciously keen to shut down sordid speculation – and all enquiries – as rapidly as possible.

That prospect was ended by a forceful Belsithan detective assuming jurisdiction and making herself extremely unwelcome in every stratum of college and city life. Her diligent, persistent investigations uncovered many secrets and suspects plus a possible motive: Detlef had accommodated beliefs of the Eco-anarchist movement that was increasingly disrupting Ismyre’s economy and politics…

Now fifth fragment Disciples of the Soil proves again how greed and arrogance lead to disaster, highlighting the perils of unchecked progress, profit motives and how disappointment in those who govern us only lasts until patience runs out.

Commerce has always been embedded in Ismyre’s bones and where there’s money there will always be politics, power and disparity – and those who oppose the abuses that come with them. The city-state is (more or less) at a stage of evolution mirroring our own industrial revolution. There is a thriving airship transport industry utilising lighter than air principles and thaumaturgy, but now a new, purely mechanistic innovation is ready to make major waves. The Prime Minister personally favours a railway service but faces dogged opposition from everywhere on almost every aspect of the iron monstrosity.

In the wilds south of the city, Engineer Ernst, his assistant Frankie and their dedicated crew have their own problems: everything from the shape of the wheels – or if there should even BE wheels! – to the metal in the tracks gouging up the countryside. The labour force are also acting up: lazy, greedily and stubbornly refusing to dig where they’re told for what they’re paid. That last objection might have some serious metaphysics backing it up however, since the regions around Ismyre are still decidedly subject to magical forces and adjacent – if not actually home – to supernatural forces that don’t like being disturbed…

With wizards, workers, gardeners, farmers, educators, naturalists, eco-terrorists and even the nuns of the Sisters of Our Lady Who Slumbers Under the Earth all opposed to the scheme, it’s no surprise the city streets are packed with protesters marching and making a fuss. With reporters poised and hungry to criticise, lampoon and embarrass her, a riot breaks out during a poorly organised press conference, and the PM sends in heavy-handed police, triggering true trouble…

Already angry at the mismanaged economy, low wages and blatant corruption at the heart of government, the plebs are spoiling for a fight and in no mood to tolerate another wasteful public purse vanity project. They kick back hard against police suppression, prompting ordinary citizen-with-a past Faustine and her kids Bram and Lou to visit old friends at the nunnery at the heart of the resistance. Inevitably, all are drawn into plans for a mass protest march that – thanks to another overreaction and “kettling” by security forces – results in terror and tragedy…

… And south of the city, the engineers and overseers finally push the navvies too far and rouse something old, powerful, much worshipped and extremely annoyed…

To Be Continued…

Floridly rendered in pencils and watercolour washes and presaged by a handy chart of ‘The Players’ Disciples of the Soil is an anthropomorphic treasure, set in a luscious, compellingly realised world of wonder. The word “tapestry” is one much overused but really fits the gradual unpicking of layers comprising this imagined history: beautiful images and strands cleverly woven together in small self-contained stories unfolding wherever you start from, yet all part of a greater whole, and promising more and clearer revelations ahead. You must read all these books but (so far) it really doesn’t matter where you start from. So it might as well be here, right?
© B. Mure 2024. All rights reserved.

Disciples of the Soil will be released on July 9th 2024 and is available for pre-order now.

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Captain America Epic Collection volume 5: The Secret Empire 1973-1974


By Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Roy Thomas, Tony Isabella, Sal Buscema, Alan Weiss, John Byrne, Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin, John Verpoorten, Frank Giacoia, John Tartaglione, George Roussos & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4873-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Please be aware this review concerns material with Discriminatory Content.

Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby in an era of ferocious patriotic fervour and carefully-manipulated idealism, Captain America was a dynamic and exceedingly bombastic response to the horrors of Nazism and the threat of Liberty’s loss.

He quickly lost focus and popularity once hostilities ceased: fading away as post-war reconstruction began. He briefly reappeared after the Korean War: a harder, darker sentinel ferreting out monsters, subversives and the “commies” who lurked under every American bed. Then he vanished once more until the burgeoning Marvel Age resurrected him just in time to experience the Land of the Free’s most turbulent and culturally divisive era: one where the Star-Spangled Avenger was in danger of becoming an uncomfortable symbol of a troubled, divided society, split along age lines and with many of the hero’s fans apparently rooting for the wrong side. Now into that turbulent mix crept issues of racial and gender inequality…

This resoundingly resolute full-colour Epic Collection re-presents Captain America and the Falcon #160-179 (spanning cover-dates April 1973 to December 1974) with the former patriotic symbol and full-time crimefighting partner The Falcon (Harlem-based social worker and combat acrobat Sam Wilson) confronting truly troubled times head on. The once convinced and confirmed Sentinel of Liberty was becoming a lost symbol of a divided nation, uncomfortable in his red, white & blue skin and looking to carve himself a new place in the Land of the Free. Sadly, calamitous events were about to put paid to that particular American dream…

Into an already turbulent mix of racial and gender inequality played out against standard Fights ‘n’ Tights villainy came creeping overtones of corruption and betrayal of ideals that were fuelled by shocking real-world events.

Following an informative behind-the-scenes reminiscence the drama begins courtesy of scripter Steve and artists Sal Buscema & Frank McLaughlin as ‘Enter: Solarr!’ offers an old-fashioned clash with a super-powered maniac as the main attraction. However, the real meat is the start of twin sub-plots that would shape the next half-dozen adventures, as the Star-Spangled Avenger’s newfound super-strength increasingly makes his proud partner-in-crimefighting feel like a junior and inferior hindrance, even as Steve Rogers’ long-time romantic interest Sharon Carter leaves him without a word of explanation…

Inked by John Verpoorten, CA&F #161 ramps up the tension between Steve and Sam as they search for Sharon in ‘…If he Loseth His Soul!’, and finds a connection to the girl Cap loved and lost in WWII as part of a deadly psycho-drama overseen by criminal shrink Dr. Faustus. It culminates one month later in a singular lesson in extreme therapy proving ‘This Way Lies Madness!’

CA&F #162’s ‘Beware of Serpents!’ heralded the return of super snakes Viper and Eel, who combine with The Cobra to form a vicious but ultimately unsuccessful Serpent Squad to attack the heroes. Humiliatingly defeated, former ad-exec Jordan Dixon/Viper vengefully begins a media manipulation campaign to destroy the Sentinel of Liberty with the “Big Lie”, weaponised fake news and the worst tactics of Madison Avenue. Although the instigator quickly falls, his scheme rumbles on with slow, inexorable and dire consequences…

Issue #164 offers a stunningly scary episode illustrated by Alan Lee Weiss, introducing faux-coquette mad scientist Deadly Nightshade: a ‘Queen of the Werewolves!’ who infects Sam with her chemical lycanthropy as an audition to enlist in the fearsome forces of one of the planet’s greatest menaces…

The full horror of the situation is only revealed when ‘The Yellow Claw Strikes’ (Englehart, Buscema & McLaughlin); renewing a campaign of terror begun in the 1950s, but this time attacking his former Chinese Communist sponsors and the USA indiscriminately. Giant bugs, deadly slave assassins and reanimated mummies are bad enough, but when the Arcane Immortal’s formidable mind-control dupes Cap into almost beating S.H.I.E.L.D. supremo Nick Fury to death on the ‘Night of the Lurking Dead!’, the blistering final battle results in further tragedy when an old ally perishes in the Frank Giacoia inked ‘Ashes to Ashes’…

A pause for thought: these days we comics apologists keep saying “it was a different era”, but to ignore history is to inevitably repeat it. Even before Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward/Sax Rohmer’s ultimate embodiment of mistrust and suspicion was created, fiction has used racism as a tool for sales. However, it really took off with 1913’s The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu delivering a prime archetype for mad scientists and the remorseless “Yellow Peril” which threatened (white colonial) civilization.

The character spread to stage, screen, airwaves and comics (even appropriating the cover of Detective Comics #1, heralding an interior series that ran until #28), but most importantly, the concept became a visual affirmation and conceptual basis for countless evil “Asiatics”, “Orientals” and “Celestials” who dominated popular fiction for most of the 20th century.

Like most mass entertainment forms comics companies like Marvel employed many “Yellow Peril” knock-offs and personifications (especially after China became communist after WWII) including Wong Chu; Plan Tzu AKA the Yellow – latterly Golden – Claw; Huang Zhu; Silver Samurai; Doctor Sun, the second Viper, ad infinitum: all birds of another colour that are nastily pejorative shades of saffron. These stories, crafted by Marvel’s employees were – and remain – some of the best action comics you’ll ever encounter, but never forget what they’re actually about: distrust of the obviously other; and that needs to be foremost in young minds when reading these old stories.

Comics – Marvel foremost – has sought to sensitively address issues of race and honestly attempt to share non-Christian philosophies and thought in later years. Moreover and most importantly, they were among the first to offer potently powerful role models to kids of Asian origins, and acknowledged these past iniquities.

One of the Star-Spangled Avenger’s most durable foes sort-of resurfaces in tense, action-heavy romp ‘…And a Phoenix Shall Arise!’. Scripted by Roy Thomas & Tony Isabella with inks by John Tartaglione & George Roussos, the simple throwaway yarn has taken on major significance as the soft return of one of Marvel’s most significant villains.

With additional scripting from Mike Friedrich, Englehart’s major storyline resumes as the Viper’s long-laid plans start finally bearing bitter fruit in #169’s ‘When a Legend Dies!’. With anti-Captain America TV spots making people doubt the honesty and sanity of the nation’s greatest hero, Sam and his “Black Power” activist girlfriend Leila Taylor depart for African nation Wakanda to technologically boost The Falcon’s abilities, leaving Cap to battle third-rate villain The Tumbler. In the heat of combat the Avenger seemingly goes too far and the thug dies…

‘J’Accuse!’ (Englehart, Friedrich, Buscema & Vince Colletta) reveals Cap beaten and arrested by too-good-to-be-true neophyte crusader Moonstone, whilst in Africa Leila is kidnapped by exiled Harlem hood Stone-Face, far from home and hungry for some familiar foxy ghetto-style “companionship”…

CA&F #171’s ‘Bust-Out!’ finds Cap forcibly sprung from jail by a mysterious pack of “supporters” as The Black Panther and the newly high-flying Falcon crush Stone-Face prior to a quick dash back to the USA and a reunion with its beleaguered and tarnished American icon. ‘Believe it or Not: The Banshee!’ opens with Captain America and the Falcon beaten by – but narrowly escaping – Moonstone and his obscurely occluded masters, after which the hard-luck heroes trace a lead to Nashville, only to encounter the fugitive mutant Master of Sound and stumble into a clandestine pogrom on American soil.

For many months mutants have been disappearing unnoticed, but now the last remaining X-Men – (Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Charles Xavier – have tracked them down, only to discover Captain America’s problems also stem from ‘The Sins of the Secret Empire!’ whose ultimate goal is the conquest of the nation. Eluding capture by S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve and Sam infiltrate the evil Empire, only to be exposed and confined in ‘It’s Always Darkest!’ before abruptly turning the tables and saving the day in #175’s ‘…Before the Dawn!’, wherein a vile grand plan is revealed, the mutants liberated and the culprits captured.

In a (still) shocking final scene, the ultimate instigator is unmasked and horrifically dispatched within the White House itself…

At this time America was a nation reeling from loss of unity, solidarity and perspective as a result of a torrent of shattering blows such as losing the Vietnam war, political scandals like Watergate and the (partial) exposure of President Nixon’s lies and crimes.

The general decline of idealism and painful public revelations that politicians are generally unpleasant – even possibly ruthless, wicked exploiters – kicked the props out of most citizens who had an incomprehensibly rosy view of their leaders. Thus, a conspiracy that reached into the halls and backrooms of government was extremely controversial yet oddly attractive in those distant, simpler days…

Unable to process the betrayal of all he has held dear, the Star-Spangled Avenger cannot accept this battle has any winner: a feeling that will change his life forever.

Following an attempt by sections of the elected government to undemocratically seize control by deceit and criminal conspiracy (sounds like sheer fantasy these days, doesn’t it?) Captain America can no longer be associated with a tarnished ideal and #176 sees shocked, stunned Steve Rogers search his soul and realise he also cannot be the symbol of such a country. Despite anxious arguments and advice of his Avenging allies Steve decides ‘Captain America Must Die!’ (Englehart, Buscema & Colletta).

Unable to convince him otherwise, staunch ally Sam carries on alone, tackling in the following issue a body-snatching old X-Men foe in ‘Lucifer Be Thy Name’ before wrapping up the threat in ‘If the Falcon Should Fall…!’

Steve meanwhile settles into uncomfortable retirement, as a number of painfully unqualified amateurs try to fill the crimson boots of Captain America – with dire results. Captain America and the Falcon #179 sees unsettled civilian Rogers hunted by a mysterious Golden Archer whose ‘Slings and Arrows!’ convince the ex-hero that even if he can’t be a Star-spangled sentinel of liberty, neither can he abandon the role of do-gooder: leading to a life-changing decision… as you will see in the next volume…

Bonus material in this tome includes John Romita’s cover art for F.O.O.M. #8 (December 1974 and an all Cap special). It precedes the finished 2-tone piece and articles by Roger Stern – ‘Well Come On, All You Big Strong Men…’, ‘Manchild in a Troubled Land’, ‘He Was Only Waiting For This Moment to Rise…’, photo feature ‘Star of the Silver Screen’ and tribute ‘Joe Simon and Jack Kirby – By Their Works Shall Ye Know Them’. The package ends with a back cover from young John Byrne, who also provided the majority of illustrations accompanying the features. One last treat is a preliminary page of pencils by Weiss from CA&F #164.

Any retrospective or historical re-reading is going to turn up some cringe-worthy moments, but these tales of matchless courage and indomitable heroism are fast-paced, action-packed and still carry a knockout conceptual punch. Here Captain America was finally discovering his proper place in a new era and would once more become unmissable, controversial comicbook reading, as we shall see when I get around to reviewing the next volume…
© 2023 MARVEL.

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V for Vendetta/V for Vendetta 30th Anniversary Edition


By Alan Moore & David Lloyd, with Tony Weare, Steve Whitaker, Siobhan Dodds & various (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8500-5 (30th Deluxe HB) 978-1-4012-0841-7 (TPB)

Very few pieces of literature enter public consciousness and fewer still from the relatively young land of graphic narratives. Here’s one of the best that – as my dwindling days go by – looks and feels more and more like poetic prophecy than fantasy fiction…

The serial V for Vendetta began in 1982 in legendary British comics magazine Warrior: back when Britain had a covertly totalitarian, graspingly greedy government that looked like a Peppa Pig birthday party, but were at least marginally efficient and made some trains run on time and in affordable price bands…

The deviously convoluted mystery play describes a highly individualistic resistance campaign conducted by an enigmatic flamboyant and ruthless “anarchist” against a fascistic British government which had stumbled into power after a disaster (a nuclear exchange in this case) destroyed all the bigger countries.

Or does it?

This is just as much a tale of intellectual and political awakening and choosing to take action. Most events are seen (as the escalating situation unravels) through the eyes and experiences of Evey Hammond, a pathetic little nobody rescued from secret policemen – almost as an afterthought – by enigmatic rebel activist “V” during his first highly public exploit.

The sinisterly suspenseful series was originally presented Visually in starkly stunning black & white, every chapter title beginning with a “v” word. Fans of classic British strip art revelled in occasional contributions from the wonderfully gifted Tony Weare (Matt Marriot, Pride of the Circus, Savage Splendour, The Colditz Story and much, much more) who fully illustrated the chapter designated ‘Vincent’ and also assisted master stylist David Lloyd (Sláine: Cauldron of Blood, Night Raven: House of Cards, Aliens: Glass Corridor, Weird War Tales, Gangland, The Horrorist, Marlowe: The Graphic Novel, Hellblazer: Rare Cuts, War Story: J For Jenny, War Story: Nightingale, Kickback and more) in creating a masterpiece of daunting visual atmosphere throughout.

This was no mean feat as V – whilst dismantling with lethal efficiency the machineries of a totalitarian and ever vigilant State that constantly voiced its views that everything was better in the Good Old Days – declared himself the true guardian of lost and/or forgotten National Culture. This demanded a phenomenal amount of research and vital trust that the readership would pick up on some pretty obscure references, both Verbal and Visual…

The then-controversial jump to colour (I, for one, would kill for a fully monochrome director’s cut edition of this saga) following DC’s appropriation of the saga was deftly handled by Lloyd himself, with the hued back-up of much-missed Steve Whitaker and Siobhan Dodds, whilst the relentless and captivating Verbiage of Alan (Providence, Jerusalem, Lost Girls, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Illuminations, Voice of the Fire, A Small Killing, Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Swamp Thing, The Ballad of Halo Jones, Watchmen, D.R. & Quinch ad infinitum…) Moore’s astounding scripts came courtesy of letterers Jenny O’Connor, Steve Craddock & Elitta Fell.

… And yes, pitiless the enigmatic protagonist known only as V generally adopts the seeming of ultimate anti-authoritarian rebel Guido “Guy” Fawkes. His once-common masked vulpine visage was rescued from vintage obscurity for this tale and has subsequently become a global symbol and tool of anonymity for new generations of rebels, resisters, protestors and occupiers…

The subtle shadings of the large cast and the device of telling the tale from the point of view of its villains as much as the protagonists adds vast shades of meaning to this exploration of free will and oppression, and it’s still shocking to realise that the “hero” actions are all too often indistinguishable from those of his opponents: philosophically, morally and especially physically…

The collected book was first released in the early 1990s, re-released to coincide with a (rather disappointing) movie adaptation but remains available in hardback Deluxe, Trade paperback and future-proof digital editions.

Despite temporarily reclaiming the image of good old Guy Fawkes night, this review is actually a paean of praise for our art form’s ultimate resistance tract and I strongly suggest that if you are still uninformed and unentertained, you should experience V for Vendetta as soon as Viable. Messers Moore & Lloyd made a magnificent and mighty beast which should be Viewed in all its glory, before Vile Vehement politics ends us all, and absolutely prior to any forthcoming Plebiscite, Election or Popular Vote.
© 1988, 1989, 1990, 2009, 2018 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Mandrake the Magician: Dailies volume 1 – The Cobra


By Lee Falk & Phil Davis (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1178276-690-2 (HB)

Time for another – belated – Birthday briefing as we celebrate 90 glorious years for another golden Age stalwart…

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.

Falk – as a 19-year old college student – had sold the strip to King Features Syndicate years earlier, but asked the monolithic company to let him finish his studies before dedicating himself to it full time. Schooling done, the 23-year-old born raconteur settled into his life’s work: entertaining millions with astounding tales. Falk also created the first costumed superhero in moodily magnificent generational manhunter The Phantom, whilst spawning an entire comic book subgenre with his first creation. 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 worked on Mandrake and “The Ghost who Walks” until his death in 1999 (even on his deathbed, he was laying out one last story), but also found a few quiet moments to become a renowned playwright, theatre producer and impresario, as well as an inveterate world-traveller.

After drawing those the first few strips Falk united with sublimely polished cartoonist Phil Davis. His sleekly understated renditions took the daily strip, especially that expansive full-page Sunday page (collected in a sister volume), to unparalleled heights of sophistication. Davis’ steadfast, assured realism was the perfect tool to render the Magician’s mounting catalogue of spectacular miracles.

Those in the know are well aware that Mandrake was educated at the fabled College of Magic in Tibet, thereafter becoming a suave globe-trotting troubleshooter, always accompanied by his faithful African friend Lothar and beautiful companion (eventually, in 1997, bride) Princess Narda of Cockaigne, co-operatively solving crimes and fighting evil.

Those days, however, are still to come as a wealth of fact-filled features begins here with college Classics Professor Bob Griffin vividly recalling ‘From Fan to Friend: My Memories of Lee Falk’. Mathematics lecturer and comics historian Rick Norwood traces comic book sorcerers and sources in ‘Mandrake Gestures Hypnotically’ before the strips section of this luxury monochrome landscape hardback opens on the hero’s first case.

A classy twist on contemporary crime dramas and pulp fiction, ‘The Cobra’ (June 11th – November 24th 1934) exhibits the eponymous criminal mastermind menacing the family of US ambassador Vandergriff… until a dapper, haunting figure and his colossal African companion insert themselves into the affair. Initially mistrusted, Mandrake & Lothar guide the embattled diplomat through a globe-girdling vendetta against a human fiend with mystic powers and a loyal terrorist cult. Employing their own miracles, wonders and common sense, the heroes defeat every scheme leading to a ferocious final clash in the orient and the seeming destruction of the wicked evil wizard.

At their ease in Alexandria, Mandrake & Lothar are targeted by criminal mastermind ‘The Hawk’ (November 26th 1934 – February 23rd 1935) and meet distrait socialite Narda of Cockaigne, who employs her every wile to seduce and destroy them. Thwarting each plot, Mandrake learns her actions are dictated by a monstrous stalker blackmailing Narda’s brother Prince Sigrid. With his true enemy revealed, the Mage sets implacably to work to settle the villain’s affairs for good…

With an impending sense of further entanglements to come, the wanderers leave Narda, eventually fetching up in the Carpathians and encountering a lonely, embattled woman tormented by crazed Professor Sorcin and ‘The Monster of Tanov Pass’ (February 25th – June 15th 1935). This time, there’s a fearsomely robust and rational explanation for all the terror and tribulations…

Mandrake & Lothar meet weary policeman Inspector Duffy and clash with a brilliant mimic and master thief in Arabia. ‘Saki, the Clay Camel’ (June 17th – November 2nd 1935) is driving the occupying British authorities to distraction but an offer of mystic assistance brings danger, excitement and a surprise reunion with Narda before the faceless fiend and his army of desperate criminals are defeated…

Heading into the frozen north, magician and strongman encounter persecuted Lora, saving her from her own unscrupulous and cash-crazed family and ‘The Werewolf’ (November 4th 1935 – February 29th 1936) before this first volume concludes with ‘The Return of the Clay Camel’ (March 2nd – July 18th 1936): a rip-roaring romp showing off Falk’s deft gift for comedy…

It begins with our heroes curing a raging, obsessive sportsman of the urge to hunt, before expanding into a baffling mystery as the long vacationing Sir Oswald returns home to England only to discover someone has been perfectly impersonating him for months…

Devolving into a cunning robbery and comedy of mistaken identity, Mandrake and the false faced Saki test wits and determination, but even with the distraction of an impending marriage being hijacked too, its certain that the canny conjuror is going to come out on top…

Closing with ‘The Phil Davis Mandrake the Magician Complete Daily Checklist 1934-1965’ this thrilling tome offers exotic locales, thrilling action, bold belly laughs, spooky chills and sheer elegance in equal measure. Paramount taleteller Falk instinctively knew from the start that the secret of success was strong and – crucially – recurring villains to test and challenge his heroes, and make Mandrake 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 the 21st century blues.
Mandrake the Magician © 2016 King Features Syndicate. All Rights Reserved. All other material © 2016 the respective authors or owners.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks Spider-Man volume 4: The Master Planner


By Stan Lee & Steve Ditko with Sam Rosen & Art Simek (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4899-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Today marks the 6th Anniversary of Steve Ditko’s death. Here’s a reminder of why he’s so revered, in possibly his greatest sequence of stories starring his most unforgettable character.

The Amazing Spider-Man’s founding stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before but this collection of Steve Dito’s greatest moment on the character is part of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These new books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller, about the dimensions of a paperback book. 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.

Marvel is often termed “the House that Jack Built” and King Kirby’s contributions are undeniable and inescapable in the creation of a new kind of comic book storytelling. However, there was another unique visionary toiling at Atlas-Comics-as-was, one whose creativity and philosophy seemed diametrically opposed to the bludgeoning power, vast imaginative scope and clean, gleaming futurism that resulted from Kirby’s ever-expanding search for the external and infinite.

Steve Ditko was quiet and unassuming, diffident to the point of invisibility, but his work was both subtle and striking: innovative and meticulously polished. Always questing for affirming detail, he ever explored the man within. He saw heroism and humour and ultimate evil all contained within the frail but noble confines of humanity. His drawing could be oddly disquieting… and, when he wanted, decidedly creepy.

Crafting extremely well-received monster and mystery tales for and with Stan Lee, Ditko had been rewarded with his own title. Amazing Adventures/Amazing Adult Fantasy featured a subtler brand of yarn than Rampaging Aliens and Furry Underpants Monsters: an ilk which, though individually entertaining, had been slowly losing traction in the world of comics ever since National/DC had successfully reintroduced costumed heroes. Lee & Kirby had responded with The Fantastic Four and so-ahead-of-its-time Incredible Hulk, but there was no indication of the renaissance ahead when officially just-cancelled Amazing Fantasy featured a brand new and rather eerie adventure character…

This compelling compilation reprises the unstoppable climb of the wallcrawler as steered by Ditko and originally seen in Amazing Spider-Man #29-38 (spanning cover-dates October 1965-July 1966). The parable of Peter Parker began when a smart but alienated high schooler was bitten by a radioactive spider on a science trip. Discovering he’d developed arachnid abilities – which he augmented with his own ingenuity and engineering genius – Peter did what any lonely, geeky nerd would when given such a gift… he tried to cash in for girls, fame and money.

Creating a costume to hide his identity in case he made a fool of himself, Parker became a minor celebrity – and a vain, self-important one. To his eternal regret, when a thief fled past him, he didn’t lift a finger to stop the thug, and days later discovered that his Uncle Ben had been murdered by the same criminal…

Vengeance crazed, Parker stalked and captured the assailant who made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known. Since his social irresponsibility led to the death of the man who raised him, the boy swore to always use his powers to help others…

It wasn’t a new story, but the setting was familiar to every kid reading it and the artwork was downright spooky. no gleaming high-tech world of moon-rockets, mammoth monsters and flying cars here… this stuff could happen to anyone…

Sans frills or extras – but graced with pre-edited cover art at the back – Ditko’s Spider-Man culminates herein stories plotted and rendered by the inspired artist/auteur. Although other artists have inked his narratives, Ditko handled all the art on Spider-Man and these glittering gems demonstrate his fluid mastery and just how much of the mesmerising magic came from his pens and brushes…

The potent parables are lettered throughout by unsung superstars Sam Rosen & Art Simek, allowing newcomers and veteran readers to comprehensively relive some of the greatest moments in sequential narrative.

Ditko’s preference for tales of gangersterism drove the stories, but his plots also found plenty of time and room for science fictional fun, compelling supervillain frolics and subplots involving Peter Parker’s disastrous love life and poverty-fuelled medical dramas involving always-on-the-edge-of-death Aunt May…

The wallcrawler was still the whipping boy of publicity-hungry – and eventually clinically obsessed – publisher J. Jonah Jameson, who bombarded the hero with libellous print assaults in his newspaper The Daily Bugle. “Ol’ JJ” was blithely unaware the photos Parker sold him for his scurrilous print attacks were paying Spider-Man’s bills…

In the ever-more popular monthly mag, ASM #29 warned ‘Never Step on a Scorpion!’ as the lab-made larcenous lunatic returned, seeking vengeance on not just the webspinner but also Jameson for initially paying to turn a disreputable seedy private eye into a super-powered monster. Once again, the ungrateful demagogue only lived because his despised target stepped up and stepped in…

That breathtaking Fights ‘n’ Tights clash was followed by #30’s off-beat crime-caper which cannily sowed seeds for future masterpieces. ‘The Claws of the Cat!’ grittily depicted a city-wide hunt for an extremely capable burglar (way more exciting than it sounds, trust me!), whilst introducing an organised gang of thieves working for mysterious menace The Master Planner.

Sadly, by this time of their greatest comics successes, Lee & Ditko were increasingly unable to work together on their greatest creations. Ditko’s off-beat plots and quirky art had reached an accommodation with the slickly potent superhero house-style Kirby had developed (at least as much as such a unique talent ever could). The illustration featured a marked reduction of signature line-feathering and moody backgrounds, plus a lessening of concentration on totemic villains, but – although still very much a Ditko baby – Amazing Spider-Man’s sleek pictorial gloss warred with Lee’s dialogue.

These efforts were comfortably in tune with the times if not his collaborator. Lee’s assessment of the readership was probably the correct one, and disagreements with the artist over editorial direction were still confined to the office and not the pages themselves. However, an indication of growing tensions could be seen once Ditko began being credited as plotter of the stories…

After a period where old-fashioned crime and gangsterism predominated, science fiction themes and costumed crazies returned full force. As the world went gaga for masked mystery men, the creators experimented with longer storylines and protracted subplots. When Ditko abruptly left, the company feared a drastic loss in quality and sales but it didn’t happen. John Romita (senior) considered himself a mere “safe pair of hands” keeping the momentum going until a better artist could be found, but instead blossomed into a major talent in his own right, and the wallcrawler continued his unstoppable rise at an accelerated pace.

Change was in the air everywhere. Included amongst the milestones for the ever-anxious Peter Parker collected here are graduating High School and starting college, meeting first love Gwen Stacy and tragic friend/foe Harry Osborn, plus the introduction of nemesis Norman Osborn. Old friends carried in Parker’s wake included Flash Thompson and Betty Brant who subsequently begin to drift out of his life…

‘If This Be My Destiny…!’ in #31 details a spate of high-tech robberies by the Master Planner, culminating in a spectacular confrontation with Spider-Man. Also on show is that aforementioned college debut, first sight of Harry and Gwen, with Aunt May on the edge of death due to an innocent blood transfusion from her mildly radioactive darling Peter…

This led to indisputably Ditko’s finest and most iconic moments on the series – and perhaps of his entire career. ‘Man on a Rampage!’ (ASM #32) sees Parker pushed to the edge of desperation when the Planner’s men make off with serums that could save May, resulting in an utterly driven, berserk wallcrawler ripping the town apart whilst trying to find them. At the last, trapped in an underwater fortress, pinned under tons of machinery, the hero faces his greatest failure as the clock ticks down the seconds of May’s life…

This in turn generates the most memorable visual sequence in Spidey history as the opening of ‘The Final Chapter!’ luxuriates in 5 full, glorious pages depicting the ultimate triumph of will over circumstance. Freeing himself from tons of fallen debris, Spider-Man gives his absolute all to deliver the medicine May needs, and is rewarded with a rare happy ending…

Russian exile Kraven returns in ‘The Thrill of the Hunt!’, seeking payback for past humiliations by impersonating the webspinner, after which #35 confirms that ‘The Molten Man Regrets…!’: a plot-light, astoundingly action-packed combat classic wherein the gleaming golden bandit foolishly resumes his career of pinching other people’s valuables…

Amazing Spider-Man #36 offers a deliciously off-beat, quasi-comedic turn in ‘When Falls the Meteor!’ with deranged, would-be scientist Norton G. Fester calling himself The Looter to steal extraterrestrial museum exhibits…

In retrospect, these brief, fight-oriented tales, coming after such an intricate, passionate epic as the Master Planner/Nam on a Rampage saga should have indicated something was amiss. However fans had no idea that ‘Once Upon a Time, There Was a Robot…!’ – featuring a beleaguered Norman Osborn targeted by his disgraced ex-partner Mendel Strom, and some eccentrically bizarre murder-machines in #37 and the tragic tale of ‘Just a Guy Named Joe!’ – (Amazing Spider-Man #38, July 1966 and on sale from April 12th) wherein a hapless sad-sack stumblebum boxer gains super-strength and a bad-temper – would be Ditko’s last arachnid adventures.

And thus an era ended…

Full of energy, verve, pathos and laughs, gloriously short of post-modern angst and breast-beating, these fun classics – also available in numerous formats including eBook editions – are quintessential comic book magic constituting the very foundation of everything Marvel became. This classy compendium is an unmissable opportunity for readers of all ages to celebrate the magic and myths of the modern heroic ideal: something no serious fan can be without, and an ideal gift for any curious newcomer or nostalgic aficionado.
© 2023 MARVEL.

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Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather


By Ron Zimmerman, John Severin, Steve Buccellato, Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Wes Abbott & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4362-8 (HB/Digital edition) 978-0-7851-1069-9 (TPB)

For most of the 1960s nobody did superheroes better than Marvel Comics. However, even fully acknowledging the stringencies of the Comics Code Authority, the company’s style for producing their staple genre titles for War, Romance and especially TV-driven Western fans left a lot to be desired. Any hint of sexuality, venality of authority figures, or using guns the way they were intended to be used capitulated to overwhelming caution and a tone that wouldn’t be amiss in kids’ cartoons or pre-Watershed family TV shows. Eventually, however, the reborn company’s boldness and hunger for innovation overwhelmed practicality and common sense. Mercifully for revivals of pre-superhero veterans like Rawhide Kid, the meagre art-pool consisted of master craftsmen such as Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and others…

Technically the Kid is one of the company’s older icons, having debuted in his own title with a March 1955 cover-date. A stock-standard sagebrush centurion clad in a buckskin jacket, his first adventures were illustrated by jobbing cartoonists like Bob Brown and Ayers and the book was one of the first casualties when Atlas’ distribution woes forced the company to cut back to 16 titles a month in the autumn of 1957.

With small screen cowboys ubiquitous and youthful rebellion a hot societal concept in 1960, owner/publisher Martin Goodman – via Stan Lee & Jack Kirby – unleashed a brand new six-gun stalwart little more than a moody teenager and launched him in summer of that year, economically continuing the numbering from the failed 50’s original…

Crucial to remember is that those yarns were not trying to be gritty or authentic: they were accessing a vast miasmic morass of wholesome, homogenised Hollywood mythmaking that generations of mainly white preferred to learning of the grim everyday toil and terror of the real Old West: simplistic Black Hats vs. White Hats delivered with all the bombast and bravura Jack Kirby and his stellar successors could so readily muster…

It all (re) began when Lee, Kirby & Ayers introduced adopted teenaged Johnny Bart who showed all and sundry what he was made of after his retired Texas Ranger Uncle Ben was gunned down by a fame-hungry cheat. After very publicly exercising his right to vengeance, the naive kid fled Rawhide before explanations could be offered, resigned to life as an outlaw.

The Kid was a wandering, straight shootin’ action ace for decades, periodically returning and even joining forces with the Avengers to battle Kang the Conqueror before fading into the sunset.

Then he became a perennial revivalist, enjoying an occasional miniseries encore (beginning with Rawhide Kid volume 2 #1-4 in 1985) whenever creators wanted to test genre waters or craft experimental media mash-ups. Maybe it was because a mean teen the size of Wolverine offers some sort of untapped reader interest? A taste of Team appeal saw Rawhide bundled with fellow western stalwarts in 2000’s Blaze of Glory #1-4, 2002’s sequel Apache Skies #1-4 and 2010’s Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven…

However, his most memorable and controversial stint is what we’re covering today. Between April and June 2003, The Kid fell under the aegis of the mature-reader Marvel Max imprint and the result was a smart and sassy spoof featuring a gay cowboy at the peak of his prowess…

Scripted by Ron Zimmerman, Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather was illustrated by the legendary John Severin: an incredibly gifted illustrator who had split his stunning career between gritty action tales (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, Nick Fury, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, Incredible Hulk, King Kull, The Losers, Semper Fi) and hilarious comedy in parody/lampoon vehicles like Mad, Cracked and Crazy magazines.

His collaborator Zimmerman was a film and TV producer/stand-up comedian and writer who worked on Friday the 13th, Jet Li’s The One and many other shows and movies. His other comic credits included Spider-Man: Get Kraven, Ultimate Adventures, and stints on The Punisher, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and more.

Here, the partnership resulted in some of funniest moments in Marvel’s genre history…

Following a scene-setting faux edition of the Wells Junction News revealing some life history under the banner headlines ‘Rawhide Kid seen in town’, the daft and deceptive drama begin when an infamous outlaw rides into desolate and isolated Plum Springs one quiet fall day.

Like the movie Shane, this tale is seen through the eyes of a young lad who might not be mature enough to glean the subtext of what’s going on…

Toby Morgan is callow and impressionable so when the notorious gunslinger appears, his paw – farmer turned sheriff Matt Morgan – starts reassessing what it means to be a “real man”. The sheriff is already trying to live down being publicly humiliated – and shot as an afterthought – by Cisco Pike and his gang when they stormed the town. Now he has an unsuspecting – and incredibly glamorous and attractive – rival for his son’s admiration…

Matt is keenly aware that’s he’s lost the manhood stakes. Toby is bullied at school and reveals that he too thinks his pa’s a coward whilst the appalling things the ensconced outlaws call him are even echoed by his own friends. When Mayor Walker Bush demands Matt get rid of the increasingly bold and obnoxious owlhoots, Morgan can’t even find a deputy to die with him…

Rawhide’s reputation keeps the Pike gang cowed, even after he refuses to join their number in a classic confrontation, but no-one expected the fearsome Kid to be so well spoken and prissy: worrying about his clothes and hair and manners and such. Why, what with his moisturizers, bathrobes, provocatively shiny chaps, cigarette holders, Canadian Beaver hats, unsolicited fashion and grooming tips he’s practically swishy…

Learning of the Morgan family problems, the Kid offers to help out: setting young Toby straight and urging his advice on stolid, stoic Matt. The sheriff – despite being regularly shot every time the gang appears – momentarily believes things might work out, but is unaware Pike has recruited extra help for the inevitable showdown. These are all ace killers like Thunderclaw, Red Duck, Le Sabre, Chinese ninjas and lethal man-hating Catastrophe Jen. Of course, they need to move pretty fast now or Jen will kill all the guys she’s riding beside…

And then the inescapable showdown happens and Morgan learns who he really is and who his real friends are…

Challenging stereotypes by combining constant outright hilarity with classic wild west tropes, cartoon action and moments of true pathos, Slap Leather plays the originally moody and po-faced gunfighter as a wittily sharp-tongued, out-&-proud gay man in a vibrant tribute to genre-bending – think The Birdcage or In & Out blended with Blazing Saddles or Zorro: The Gay Blade. It also comes packed with a passel of TV in-jokes (schoolmarm Laura Ingulls, ranchers Haus & Little Jo Cartrite, newspaper publisher Lew Grant) and comics sight gags by the masterful and puckish Severin. With covers by Dave Johnson, Kaare Andrews, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson, Darwyn Cooke and J. Scott Campbell, this a jolly and uplifting treat for anyone who likes to see old edifices poked…
© 2018 MARVEL.

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Planet of the Apes Archive volume 1: Terror on the Planet of The Apes


By Doug Moench, Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton, Herb Trimpe, Frank Chiaramonte, Virgil Redondo, Rich Handley & various (Boom! Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-60886-990-9 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-61398-661-5

The most effective and long-lasting exploration of human ambition failing and dystopia resulting is not the last 40 years of global government, but rather a film franchise built upon a seminal French science fiction novel released in 1963 – Peirre’s Boulle’s satirical La Planète des singes. A former secret agent and engineer, Boulle earned major accolades as an author. Your entire family has probable seen his other Oscar-winning blockbuster, never realising semi-autobiographical La Pont de la rivière Kwai was David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai…

Originally translated in 1964 as Monkey Planet, his other epic became – after a major rewrite by screenwriter Rod Serling – 1968 US movie sensation Planet of the Apes. It inspired four sequels and – from September to December 1974 – a television series which lived on in reruns and reedited TV movies for decades to come, an animated series, books toys, games, a home projector pack, records and comics.

… And that’s all before Tim Burton’s 2001 remake and the 2011 reboot of the still ongoing franchise…

There have been many comics adaptations, beginning with two manga interpretations (1968 & 1971); a 1970 Gold Key movie adaptation and assorted international versions. In 1974 – no doubt thanks to the impending TV show – a Marvel Magazine continuation, combining serialised comics adaptations of the movies, features and articles began. When Marvel abruptly cancelled PotA in December 1976 the franchise lay fallow until Malibu Comics picked it up in 1990 (reprints, new stories and franchise mash-up Ape Nation). Other companies also added new material over the years and much of that history is covered in erudite Introduction ‘Gorilla Warfare – and Tales of Terror’ by expert/editor/fan-addict Rich Handley…

This first monster compilation gathers a wholly new addition to the mythos, scripted in entirety by Doug Moench (Batman, Werewolf by Night, Moon Knight, Master of Kung Fu), who alternated these trenchant tales with two other Apes strands: “Future History Chronicles” and expanded comics adaptations of the five original films, which are the subject of a separate, future, review…

When Marvel secured the comics rights (also fully covered in Handley’s prose piece) they undertook to fabulously and fantastically expand upon the premise via a fantastic procession of scenarios. The most significant dealt with the much-strained friendship of two teens: a human named Jason and chimpanzee Alexander. They had grown up together in an idyllic integrated community of apes and humans, guided by benign spiritual leader The Lawgiver, but when the saint vanished on a pilgrimage, the garden of Eden began to rot…

The storyline had been devised by Gerry Conway, but his schedule couldn’t handle the increased workload and Moench took it all on. Initially, Terror on the Planet of The Apes was illustrated by Mike Ploog (Ghost Rider, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, Kull the Destroyer, Frankenstein’s Monster, Weirdworld, The Spirit), who produced some of his very best work up to #19 – his longest continual run on any strip – after which Tom Sutton (Vampirella, Doctor Strange, Western Gunfighters, Grimjack, Star Trek) took over.

Sporting an August 1974 cover-date and on sale from June 25th of that year, Planet of the Apes #1 blended photos and articles with Part 1 (of 6) of an adaptation of the 1968 movie plus all new ape-ventures set at a time when humans were still sapient talkers and lived in notional harmony with equally erudite orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas. That’s where this book – re-presenting Terror on the Planet of The Apes stories from PotA #1-4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 19-20, 23, 26-28 – starts off, following a Photo intro message.

Chapter One ‘The Lawgiver’ introduces best friends Jason and Alexander who witness chief Peacekeeper Brutus (a gorilla chosen by The Lawgiver to safeguard everyone until his return) leading a murderous lynching and burning raid on the human sector. Despite being disguised by hoods and robes (this was a time when the Ku Kux Klan was constantly in the headlines for terrorising African Americans emboldened by Civil Rights successes), the youngsters see gorillas murder Jason’s parents in the opening gambit of a scheme to make their kind the dominant species on Earth. In Chapter Two’s ‘Fugitives on the Planet of the Apes’ the witnesses’ attempts to expose the atrocity lead to Brutus murdering his own wife and framing Jason and Alexander for the deed.

After they spectacularly escape the city, another recapping Photo Intro segues into ‘The Forbidden Zone of Forgotten Horrors!’ as Jason and Alexander spy on Brutus’ terrorist base and are almost caught. This prompts another murder spree that the Peacekeeper blames them for. Wounded and scared, in ‘Lick the Sky Crimson’ they head for the radioactive wastes of the Forbidden Zone in search of The Lawgiver and encounter weird mutants, bizarre machines and monsters. These terrors thrive in a buried city run by a gestalt of giant bottled brains calling themselves The Inheritors. Worst of all, the chimp realises his human friend is becoming a vengeance-hungry savage in many ways the equal of Brutus…

The power of mutual hate is further explored after Photo Intro 3 leads us to ‘Spawn of the Mutant-Pits’ where hideous drone-slaves pursuing them clash with gorillas Brutus has set on Jason’s trail. Inker Frank Chiaramonte supplements Ploog’s inspired pencils as they butcher each other, before Jason & Alexander are captured by the Forbidden Zone’s hidden overlords and despatched to ‘The Abomination Arena!’ to fight fresh terrors beside a surviving gorilla…

Another hairsbreadth escape leads them to the captive Lawgiver and a lucky rescue/breakout in a stolen flying craft before Part 4 details their flight, crash and rendezvous with ‘A River Boat Named Simian’. Here largely film-inspired antics take a big broad pause as we see how other parts of the Planet of the Apes recovered from Armageddon. Brutus strikes a deal with the cerebral Gestalt Commanders: securing futuristic tanks, energy weapons and drone battle fodder in return for destroying the Lawgiver’s city and civilisation. It’s a deal neither side intends to honour but in the interim the fugitives he’s actually intent on eradicating are recuperating thanks to river traders bringing unity to scattered communities.

Daniel Boone-inspired orangutan ‘Gunpowder Julius’, his human pal Steely Dan and a feisty, gloriously rowdy crew of frontiers-folk do much to soothe the poison brewing in Jason’s soul, but the healing halts as soon as Brutus’ forces catch them all celebrating. Launching a devastating assault kills many and instantly reignites the hate in the human’s heart…

Shot from Ploog’s pencils, Part 5 ‘Malagueña Beyond a Zone Forbidden’ sees the survivors encounter a happy band of ape and human Romani with Jason distracted and then beguiled by a beautiful young woman. Jealousy and hot heads might have led to catastrophe and damnation, but the duel for her hand is interrupted by Brutus and his multispecies army in ‘The Planet Inheritors!’, resulting in a deadly stand-off until Julius thrashes Brutus in a vicious personal duel…

With the Peacekeeper a prisoner, Jason, Alexander, their wise patriarch and Malagueña set out for the integrated home city, blithely unaware of how much has deteriorated since they’ve been gone. Now humans are second-class citizens and although many apes are unhappy with the tyranny of gorillas, trouble is brewing and will boil over ‘When The Lawgiver Returns…’

This dramatic point sees the true plans of both Brutus and Gestalt Commanders explosively exposed prior to Terror on the Planet of the Apes Phase 2 opening with the introduction of a new character in ‘The Magick-Man’s Last Gasp Purple Light Show’. Although seemingly defeated, Brutus escapes punishment and flees, with incandescently enraged Jason following him back into the wilderness to extract true justice. Along the way he meets archaeologist/ philosopher Lightning Smith, a human whose pursuit of the secrets of the Ancients has unearthed a stockpile of pre-disaster wonders and a lot of woolly misconceptions about the masters of science who once ruled the planet…

“Lightsmith” and faithful companion Gilbert (a mute but fully sapient gibbon) seek further revelations – including the location of legendary stockpile of lost wonders “the Psycho-drome”. Proselytising technology at every stop, they take Jason under their wing, ultimately bringing him to their secret mountain home in ‘Up the Nose-Tube to Monkey-Trash’. The base is a masterful example of acerbic satire, eventually revealing to us, if not the players, the last days of human hegemony. Meanwhile Alex and Malagueña have been tracking Jason, but sadly catch up just as savage, primitive “Assisimians” attack Lightsmith, leading to a shocking show of salvaged wonders and the obsessive hatred of tribal shaman Maguanus…

Brutus has not been idle: once again duping the Gestalt Commanders and taking their last technological armaments to end Jason and anyone else in the Peacekeeper’s way. The tyrant finally finds him as Maguanus’ minions are besieging them, and a tenuous double-dealing truce drives our beleaguered heroes into new territory to face ‘Demons of the Psychodrome’ (art by Ploog & Tom Sutton).

Tragically, the answers Lightsmith hungers for almost destroy him as the truth of the psycho-drome exposes an extraterrestrial component to the Ancients’ downfall and a terrifyingly patient ‘Society of the Psychodrome’ (Sutton art) waiting for Earth to be pacified for them…

As Jason, Alexander & Malagueña scrape from calamity to clash to catastrophe, Brutus almost claims total victory by stealing enough nuclear missiles to exterminate all humans. Thankfully he doesn’t know how to use them and when Jason once more foils the plot in ‘Messiah of the Monkey Demons’, an atomic inferno apparently ends the alien threat…

However, a new menace appears when The Lawgiver’s devoted young apprentice is co-opted by another technological faction to survive the fall of man. As our stars – safely transported a vast distance away whilst the nukes went up – cavort in snow for the first time, ‘Northlands!’ (art by Herb Trimpe & Virgil Redondo with tones by Rudy Mesina) sees them meet ape Vikings and witness another crime of ignorance and bigotry before heading back south in an ice-riding dragonship…

Waiting for them is seemingly unkillable Brutus, the last remnants of The Inheritors’ forces and new threat The Makers. These human holdovers are kidnapping gorillas to make cyborg slaves and their unleashed ‘Apes of Iron’ seem likely to control the world, However, as seen in last chapter ‘Revolt of the Gorilloids!’ (Trimpe & Virgil Redondo) Jason and his allies won’t go down without a fight…

Frustratingly, the saga stopped there and remains uncompleted, but in postscript ‘Still Apey After all These Years’ Handley offers more information and partial closure with his efforts to share Moench’s unpublished last scripts. He also posits what might have been had the author been allowed to complete the saga abruptly curtailed when the magazine was cancelled without warning. It left three separate story strands… well, stranded…

Also of interest is a section on unique permutations of Marvel UK’s weekly Planet of the Apes iteration (ask your grandad about “Apeslayer” and see the reaction …or just google it).

This first volume closes with a ‘Full colour painted cover gallery’ of issues #3, 4, 13, 17. 19 & 23 by Bob Larkin, #14 & 26 by Malcolm McNeill and #11 by Gray Morrow – all seen sans logos and livery.

In equal parts vivid nostalgia and crucial component of current comics expansion, this compelling and lovely treat is pure whacky fun no film fan or comics devotee should miss… and there’s more to come…
Planet of the Apes ™ & © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Stories and illustration ™ & © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.