Category: Adventure

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Sophie’s World – A Graphic Novel About the History of Philosophy: Volume 1: From Socrates to Galileo


By Jostein Gaarder, adapted by Vincent Zabus & Nicoby, colours by Philippe Ory with Bruno Tatti; translated by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: ?978-1-91422-411-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

It has long been a truism of the creative arts that the most effective, efficient and economical method of instruction and informational training is the comic strip. If you simply consider the medium’s value as a historical recording and narrative system, the process encompasses cave paintings, hieroglyphs, pictograms, oriental prints, Stations of the Cross, the Bayeux Tapestry and so much more: and pretty succinctly covers the history of humanity…

For well over a century and a half, advertising mavens exploited the easy impact of words wedded to evocative pictures, whilst public information materials frequently used sequential narrative to get hard messages over quickly and simply. In a surprisingly short time, the internet and social media restored and enhanced the full universal might of image narratives to transcend language. Who doesn’t “speak” emoji?

Since World War II, carefully crafted strips have been used as training materials for every aspect of adult life from school careers advice to various disciplines of military service – utilising the talents of comics giants as varied as Milton Caniff, Will Eisner (who spent decades producing reams of comic manuals for the US army and other government departments), Kurt Schaffenberger and Neil Adams. The educational value and merit of comics is a given.

The magnificent Larry Gonick in particular uses the strip medium to stuff learning and entertainment in equal amounts into weary brains of jaded students with his webcomic Raw Materials and such seasoned tomes as The Cartoon History of the Universe, The Cartoon History of the United States and The Cartoon Guide to… series (Genetics, Sex, The Environment et al). That’s not even including his crusading satirical strip Commoners for Common Ground, and educational features Science Classics, Kokopelli & Company and pioneering cartoon work with the National Science Foundation…

For decades Japan has employed manga textbooks in schools and universities and has even released government reports and business prospectuses as comic books to get around the public’s apathy towards reading large dreary volumes of public information. So do we and everybody else. I’ve even produced the occasional multi-panel teaching-tract myself. The method has also been frequently used to sublimely and elegantly tackle the greatest and most all-consuming preoccupation and creation of the mind of Man…

Like organised religion, the conceptual discipline dubbed Philosophy has had a tough time relating to modern folk and – just like innumerable vicars in pulpits everywhere – its proponents and followers have sought fresh ways to make eternal questions and subjective verities understandable and palatable to us hoi-polloi and average simpletons.

In 1991 Norwegian teacher Jostein Gaarder found one that became a global sensation. Oslo-born in 1952, he taught Philosophy and the History of Ideas in Bergen until he retired to write a modern prose masterpiece of allegory and symbolism in the guise of a fantastic mystery and quest saga.

In an assortment of languages, Sofies verden became an award-winning bestseller in Europe, before being translated into English in 1994 and – as Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy – metamorphosed into the top-selling book on Earth a year later.

Translated into 59 languages with sales far in excess of forty million copies, it enjoys regular anniversary rereleases, and has been adapted to the large and small screen in many countries, as well as PC and board games, and all the usual merchandising instances of a global sensation…

In 2022, playwright/comics scribe Vincent Zabus (Le Journal de Spirou, Les Ombres, Incroyable!) and prolific, wide-ranging Bande Dessinée illustrator Nicolas Bidet AKA “Nicoby” and “Korkydü” (Ouessantines, Le Manuel de la Jungle, Belle-Île en père, Sang de Sein, Tête de gondola, Poète à Djibouti, C’est la guerre – journal d’une famille confine) joined forces to translate the philosophical phenomenon into words and pictures: deftly embracing the magically realist underpinnings of the tale by fully exploring and exploiting the self-imposed fourth wall (and floors and ceilings) of the “ninth art”…

Big, bold and embracing wonderment head-on, Sophie’s World – A Graphic Novel About the History of Philosophy: Volume 1: From Socrates to Galileo seductively adapts the first half of Gaarder’s masterpiece as 14-year-old Sophie Amundsen and her best friend Colleen anticipate their first protest event. They are fired up about the planet’s imminent demise and ready to fight for its life, but Sophie’s scattershot passions are suddenly derailed and her curiosity enflamed after receiving an anonymous package asking the somehow compulsively significant question ‘Who Are You?’…

The Who and Why of this enigmatic pen pal transaction completely obsess her after the unseen arrival of follow-up question “Where does the world come from”, and as she ponders, she is lured into the first of some frankly weird if not supernatural proceedings…

As Sophie determinedly seeks answers on a range of conceptual levels, further inquiring despatches literally take her on a journey through all of human development, guided at first remotely, but eventually in the shadow and company of a seemingly benign tutor with an agenda all his own.

…And at every moment and juncture – no matter how wild, impossible or magical – the girl learns and grows…

This initial comics session encompasses cunningly targeted and curated visits, affording up-close-&-personal experiences, via the entirety of the evolution of Western history and culture…

However, as bewildering engagements (or at least gripping, interactive syntheses thereof) unfold in ‘Myths and Natural Philosophers’, ‘Atom and Fate’, ‘Athens and Socrates’, ‘Plato’, ‘Aristotle’, ‘Hellenism’, ‘Two Cultures’, ‘St. Augustine, Averroes, St. Thomas’, ‘The Renaissance’, there’s a turning point in ‘The Baroque’ that unlocks and expands Sophie’s understanding whilst addressing a secret tragedy that unconsciously drives her.

Ultimately, the avid teen discovers other forces in play and unknown actors participating in her lessons, as glimpsed in ‘The Dream of Hilde’ and rebellious phase/phrase ‘A Woman is a Man’s Equal’, and before long the seeker is ready to chart her own course…

Completing the educational brief, this opening discourse includes ‘Author Biographies’ of ‘Nicoby’, ‘Vincent Zabus’ and ‘Jostein Gaarder’ and is absolutely To Be Continued…

Rendered in bright, cheerfully inviting colours in the welcoming manner of a children’s book, this vibrant voyage of discovery is mesmerising in its gently mischievous intensity: an outrageously joyous, entertaining rundown of humanity’s evolution and fundamental principles of thought, cunningly disguised as a superb conundrum to rival any detective yarn. Moreover, the seeds have all been laid for a monumental “Big Reveal” in the next volume…
© 2022 Albin Michel. Based on & © Jostein Gaarder’s novel Sophie’s World. English translation © 2022 SelfMadeHero. All rights reserved.

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Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow


By Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Matheus Lopes, Clayton Cowles & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-1568-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

As a rule, superhero comics don’t generally do whimsically thrilling anymore. They especially don’t do short or self-contained. Modern narrative momentum concentrates on continuous extended spectacle, major devastation and relentless terror and trauma. It also helps if you’ve come back from the dead once or twice and wear combat thongs and thigh boots…

Although there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that – other than a certain inappropriateness in striving to adjust wedgies during a life-or-death struggle – sometimes the palate just craves a different flavour…

Once upon a time, angsty in-continuity cataclysm was the rule, not the exception, but ever since DC readmitted all its past epochs into one vastly welcoming expansion multiverse via the Dark Night: Death Metal, Future State and Infinite Frontier mega-events, a spirit of joyous experimentation has resulted in some truly memorable storytelling.

This decidedly backward-looking modern fable harks back to simpler days of clearly defined plots, solid, imaginative characterisation and suspensefully dramatic adventure, by way of an almost alternative take on redoubtable Kara Zor-El, late of Krypton’s Argo City and another illegal alien immigrant on Earth.

Supergirl first gained popularity as a back-up feature in Action Comics: a tag-along (and trademark protection device) to her more illustrious cousin. After years of faithful service, in 1985 she was killed as a sales gimmick in the groundbreaking Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since then, a number of characters have used the name – but none with the class or durability of the original.

This latest incarnation cunningly references much of the original’s trappings, but combines stellar whimsy, dark modern attitudes and an edgier twist, as befits today’s readership. Written by Tom King (Mister Miracle, The Vision, The Sheriff of Babylon, Omega Men, Strange Adventures, Batman) and delightfully illustrated by Brazilian artist Bilquis Evely (Wonder Woman, The Dreaming, Detective Comics, Shaft: a Complicated Man) in a deliriously addictive, retro-futurist pulp style, it examines the concepts of justice and power of reputation through the wide eyes of a worshipful child who is both outraged orphan and lonely sidekick/secret weapon in waiting…

After a few intriguing concept-tweaking test-runs, the first true Girl of Steel debuted as a future star of the ever-expanding Superman pocket universe in Action Comics #252 (cover-dated May 1959). Superman’s cousin had been born on a city-sized fragment of Krypton, hurled intact into space when the planet exploded. Eventually, Argo turned to Kryptonite like the rest of the detonated world’s debris, and Kara’s dying parents, observing Earth through their viewer scopes, sent their daughter to safety even as they apparently perished.

Crashlanding, she immediately and fortuitously met the Metropolis Marvel, who created a cover-identity: hiding “Linda Lee” in an orphanage in bucolic Midvale so that she could adjust to and learn about her new world whilst mastering her powers in secrecy and safety.

…And isolation. At no stage did anyone consider moving the recent orphaned newcomer in with her only surviving family. Kara reached her maturity without the closeness Clark Kent’s human parents provided …although she was eventually adopted by Earth couple Fred and Edna to become Linda Lee Danvers…

Supergirl experienced her own secret double life in the rear of Action Comics: gradually moving from Superman’s covert secret weapon to an independent star turn, and from minor player to acclaimed public celebrity. From the back of the book to the front of the house is always a reason to celebrate, right?

For decades, DC couldn’t make up their minds over Supergirl. I’ve actually lost count of the number of different versions to have cropped up over the years, and never been able to shake a queasy feeling that above all else she’s a concept that was cynically shifted from being a way to get girls to reading comic books to one calculated to ease young male readers over the bumpy patch between sporadic chin-hair outbreaks, voice-breaking and that nervous period of hiding things under your mattress where your mum never, never ever looks…

Her popularity waxed and waned until her attention-grabbing death during Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, in the aftermath – once John Byrne had successfully rebooted the Man of Steel and negated her existence along with all other elements of doomed Krypton – non-Kryptonian iterations began to appear: each accumulating a legion of steadfast fans. Ultimately, early in the 21st century, DC’s Powers-That-Be decided the real Girl of Steel should come back… sort of…

The New 52 company-wide reboot recast her as an angry, obnoxious distrustful teen fresh from Argo, before the 2016 DC: Rebirth event unwrote most of those changes: bringing back much of that original origin material whilst aligning the comic book iteration with the popular TV series broadcast from October 2015 to November 2021. Then under the aegis of the Infinite Frontier revolution, King, Evely, colourist Mat Lopes & letterer Clayton Cowles crafted 8-issue limited series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (cover-dated August 2021-April 2022).

This focussed on a major moment in the hero’s life and how it changed everything…

King was inspired by Charles Portis’ 1968 novel True Grit – and both movie adaptations – to cast Supergirl as mentor to a vengeance-obsessed child: tracing how a united quest/journey reshaped both of them. Employing the latitude afforded by IF’s umbrella premise, he incorporated iconic characters and trappings from various iterations of Kara’s many super-lives. The result is pure magic, made real by Bilquis and her visual collaborators.

Wordy and wondrous, colours and calligraphy are key components of this space opera, which opens with youthful narrator Ruthye Marye Knoll disclosing how she first met an alien voyager after merciless bandit Krem of the Yellow Hills butchered her father…

Intent on rightful retribution, little Ruthye tracks the killer to a tavern in ‘Men, Women, and Dogs’, encountering a violent drunken woman from another world. Supergirl was on this unnamed backwater red sun world with frivolous intent: it was her 21st birthday and she wanted to get really, really drunk…

Things go bad when Supergirl tries to help her get justice. The intergalactic warrior seriously underestimates Krem, and nearly dies when he puts three arrows through her chest, before apparently killing her dog Krypto and stealing her spaceship…

Barely alive, Kara agrees to let Ruthye help her hunt Krem down: travelling so very slowly by commercial starship and encountering the full annoying range of sentient lifeforms – and a deadly space dragon – in ‘Wounded, Stranded, and Impotent’, before finally reaching a region of space where yellow suns can recharge her…

Stranded on tourist trap Coronn for weeks, they jointly expose appalling racist atrocity in ‘Modest, Calm, and Quiet’ and learn the quarry has joined Barbond’s Brigands: a marauding fleet of space plunderers who become Supergirl’s greatest concern after their latest raid exterminates an entire species in ‘Restraint, Endurance, and Passion’.

Repeated close encounters with them result in furious frustration as Krem has mastered a mystic banishment spell that deposits his pursuers all over the cosmos. Slowly, steadily, Supergirl and Ruthye close in, with the latter honing her skills in eager anticipation of bloody revenge, despite anything Kara can say to dissuade her. Repeatedly fighting a succession of colossal lizard beasts, and enduring a slow painful death and resurrection, does nothing to help their moods either in ‘The Lake, the Trees, and the Monsters’…

Finally – reinforced by magical superhorse Comet – the seekers capture Krem and spectacularly engage the brigands in ‘Home Family, and Refuge’ and ‘Hope, Help, and Compassion.’, but the outcome is shockingly unexpected …and tragic.

Final chapter ‘Ruthye, Supergirl, and Krem of the Yellow Hills’ delivers major emotional and conceptual payoffs as antagonists and protagonists take their vendetta to its foregone conclusion. The vengeful child fulfils her quest, but learns some adult truths…

Supplemented by a covers-&-variants gallery by Evely, Lopes, Gary Frank & Alex Sinclair, Lee Weeks, David Mack, Rose Besch, Amy Reeder, Steve Rude, Nicola Scott & Annette Kwok and Janaina Medeiros, this book includes a stunning swathe of character and costume designs, to augment a tale profoundly and consciously mythic in scope and execution.

The apparent maiming and deaths of beloved characters – and animals at that! – and epic transitions and evolutions of the twin leads are potently and evocatively depicted against a universe of inspirational wonders and casual horrors, allowing us to see how heroes are forged, and the device of using a childlike Boswell to define Supergirl’s humanity is both compelling and revelatory.

A cosmic odyssey in the grandly poetic idiom of Jack Vance and Samuel R. Delaney, realised via retro-futuristic visuals reminiscent of Roy G. Krenkel, Jack Katz and Michael William Kaluta, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is a mesmerising mix of space opera and superhero drama exploring the mechanics of myths and power of storytelling on a multitude of levels.

It’s also a sublime rollercoaster ride of vivid, cathartic joy for old fans and newcomers alike: one every fantasy and adventure lover must see.
© 2022 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Tamsin and the Deep


By Neill Cameron & Kate Brown (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-910200-77-3 (TPB)

In January 2012 Oxford-based David Fickling Books launched a traditional anthology comics weekly aimed at under-12s which revelled in reviving the good old days of picture-story entertainment intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in style and content.

Each issue features humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy. Since that launch, The Phoenix has gone from strength to strength, winning praise from the Great and the Good, child literacy experts and the only people who really count – the astoundingly engaged kids and parents who read it…

Like the golden age of The Beano and The Dandy, the magazine is equally at home to boys and girls, mastering the magical trick of mixing hilarious humour strips with potently powerful adventure serials such as this one.

Here a wondrous seaside sorcerous saga with intriguing overtones of The Little Mermaid, by way of the darker works of Alan Garner, sails under the general title of Tamsin and the Days and leaves all the coping and crusading to a brilliantly capable lass who’s a match for any boy…

Written by Neill Cameron (Mega Robo Bros, Freddy, How to Make Awesome Comics, Pirates of Pangea) and beguilingly illustrated by Kate Brown (Manga Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Young Avengers, Fish + Chocolate), our fishy tale opens with a ‘Prologue’ on the Cornish coast as a young girl berates her older brother Morgan.

He promised to teach her how to surf, but is just messing about with his mates, so – fed up and disappointed again – she leaves her dog Pengersek on the sands, swipes a bodyboard and paddles out alone. After all, how hard can it be?

When the big wave hits and she goes down for the final time, she’s sure she feels a grip on her foot and sees a green fishy face…

The story proper starts after ‘Tamsin’ – coughing and gasping – drags herself ashore. Somehow she’s drifted miles down the coast, and with nobody there to help has to make her own way home. Her leg hurts and the bus driver won’t let her on (she’s soaking wet and without cash) but at least she’s still got that old stick to lean on even if she can’t quite recall where she picked it up…

There are more surprises when she finally staggers home. Mum goes absolutely crazy and Morgan is clearly scared. Maybe it’s because their dad was lost at sea nine years ago, but it’s probably the fact that Tamsin vanished a month ago and has been officially declared dead and drowned…

The police have loads of questions she can’t answer, but as far as Tamsin knows she was only gone a few minutes. Eventually life settles back into a normal routine – apart from Morgan acting oddly and her own increasingly nasty dreams.

Things get bad again a few nights later. Awakening from a particularly vivid nightmare, Tamsin discovers she’s clutching that stick and riding a surfboard… hundreds of feet above the town! Moreover, from her shocking vantage point, she can see Morgan. He’s slowly walking into the sea…

Instantly, she zooms into the roaring brine to yank the sleepwalker out, blithely unaware that hostile, piscatorial eyes are angrily watching…

Morgan is shattered. He’s been having nightmares too, and the sleepwalking is not a new phenomenon. It’s probably from guilt but every time he wakes up he’s been heading for the sea…

‘A Nice Day Out’ sees Tamsin taking a little “me time”. Finding a secluded spot to practise flying with the aid of what is clearly a magic stick, she revels in her new gifts, but from high above she notices that Morgan is still unsettled. He’s sworn not to go near the water and has even quit the local surfing competition; and is clearly scared of something. Later, to cheer up her kids, Mum drags them to the beachside amusements where Morgan meets an enigmatic girl. She easily convinces him to re-enter the event…

Tamsin meanwhile has had another strange encounter. After having her ice cream stolen by a pixie thing, she meets a cocky Blackbird (he says he’s a Chough) who snidely and loquaciously tells her the newcomer was an Undine …before warning her to keep Morgan well away from water.

She’s almost too late: Morgan has wiped out in the contest’s early heats and is now being pulled under by a gloating mermaid. Tamsin blasts into the depths on her board, explosively ripping him free of her clawed clutches, and hurling them both high into the sky before landing in a terrified heap on the beach…

With the sorcerous she-wight fuming below the waves and scheming further mischief, in the sunshine Tamsin shares her secret with traumatised big brother before discovering a little ‘Family Mythology’ after that smug bird returns…

Deeper knowledge comes at a steep price, however, and her learning curve involves an awful lot of fighting against many more awful creatures before Tamsin is ready to save Morgan from a dread destiny and horrible fate hundreds of years in the making…

Apprised of a fantastic family heritage and now fully prepared to combat a generational curse that has seen all the males of her line swallowed by ‘The Deep’, Tamsin prepares herself for fantastic battle against a finned demon, but the foe is impatient: launching her own monstrous invasion of the surface-world which quickly reduces the entire town to panic and uproar…

Once the foam settles, triumphant Tamsin tries to ease back into a normal routine but that ill-omened bird returns for an ‘Epilogue’, explaining that she now has a mission for life – protecting Cornwall from all mystic threats – and that the next crisis has already begun…

This yarn is a fabulous blend of scary and fabulous, introducing a splendid new champion for kids of all ages to cheer on, with the certain promise of more to come, beginning with second mission Tamsin and the Dark…

Boisterous, bold and bombastically engaging, this is a rollicking supernatural romp of pure, bright and breezy thrills just the way kids love them, leavened with brash humour and straightforward sentiment to entertain the entire family.
Text © Neill Cameron 2016. Illustrations © Kate Brown 2016.

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The Quest for the Time Bird


By Serge Le Tendre & Régis Loisel, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger (Titan Comics)
ISBN 978-1-78276-362-8 (HB/Digital Edition)

Like much European art and culture, French language comics (I’m controversially including Belgium and Swiss strips in this half-baked, nigh-racist, incomprehensibly sweeping statement) often seem to be a triumph of style over content.

That doesn’t mean they’re bad – far from it – simply that sometimes the writing and plotting isn’t as important to the creators and readers as the way it looks on a page and in a book, and complex characterisation isn’t always afforded the same amount of room that scenery, players, fighting or sex gets.

When you combine that with their reading public’s total refusal to be shocked by nudity or profanity, it becomes clear why so few of the 80-odd years of accumulated, beautifully rendered strips ever got translated into English – until now…

Beginning in the mid-1980s and having exhausted most of the all-ages options like Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke and Iznogoud, there was a concerted effort to bring a selection of the best mature-targeted European comics to an English-speaking (but primarily American) audience, with mixed results. Happily, that paucity of anglicised action and adventure has been relegated to the dust-bin of history in this century and we’ve all wised up a bit since then.

One of the most beguiling and intriguing of those bande dessinée serials was released by NBM between 1983 and 1987 as a quartet of splendidly fanciful fantasy albums (Ramor’s Conch, The Temple Of Oblivion, The Reige Master and The Egg Of Darkness) under the umbrella title Roxanna and the Quest for the Time Bird.

These eye-catching albums merrily married sword-&-sorcery in the manner of Jim Henson’s Dark Crystal with the sly raciness and wry wit of early Carry On films and unmatchable imagination of top-rank artists with no artificial restrictions.

Eventually, the entire saga was retranslated, remastered and re-released in a humongous (246 x 325 mm) full colour hardback packed with pulchritudinous peril, astonishingly exotic locales and vast variety of alien races all mashed together killing time until the end of the world…

That imminently endangered orb is the eccentric realm of Akbar; first glimpsed in French as La Quête de l’oiseau du temps: integrale cycle principal by writer Serge Le Tendre (Les Voyages de Takuan, Mister George, TaDuc) & Régis Loisel (Peter Pan, Le Grand Mort, Magasin General). However, before that there was also a pithy prototype version crafted by the collaborators in 1975 for the magazine Imagine and that’s also included in this splendid compilation in all its stark monochrome glory – but only in the original French so keep your phrase book or translation App handy…

The mystique and mystery open with Ramor’s Conch, introducing us to a land of many cultures, creatures and magics as the astonishingly adept and confidant Pelisse (restored to her original Gallic appellation) struggles through hostile territory to reach and recruit Bragon, the Greatest Knight in the World (and quite possibly her father) to capture the mystically mythic Time-Bird.

Opting to ignore the obviously still sore subject of the affair between the aged warrior and her mother, Pelisse wants to concentrate on preventing the destruction of the planet at the hands of a legendary mad god imprisoned within the Conch. The dark deity is prophesied to escape millennia of imprisonment in nine days’ time but there’s still a chance to save everything…

Crotchety aged Bragon takes a lot of persuading, even though he once loved Pelisse’s mother. Sorceress-Princess Mara is the only chance of holding back onrushing Armageddon. She has a spell from an ancient book that will rebind Ramor but it requires more than nine days to enact. What she needs is more time, and if she can use the fantastic fowl to mystically extend her deadline, all Akbar will be saved.

…But someone has to fetch it for her…

Of course, the noble knight eventually acquiesces, but is utterly unable to prevent the annoying teenager from accompanying him. Whether it’s because she may be his daughter or simply because this rather plain-faced lass has the sexiest body on the planet and the mind of a young girl (which here translates as a devastating blend of ingénue maiden and tart-in-training) and not one whit of a sense of self-preservation, he can’t decide…

Despite and not because of her constant cajoling, he “decides” to keep her with him as they set out on their desperate quest, the first step of which is to steal the Conch itself from a teeming desert city of lusty religious maniacs who haven’t even seen a woman in months.

After much derring-do and snide asides they succeed, acquiring a breast-obsessed inept masked young warrior in the process. It’s a comic, so you’ll probably notice anyway, but Pelisse’s chest is unfeasibly large and inviting and heaves most continually and quite distractingly according to almost everyone she meets…

Even though he’s clearly hopeless, Pelisse has formed a peculiar romantic attachment to him – but only as long as he never shows his face and remains an object of enticing, enigmatic mystery…

Bragon too is keeping a very close eye on him and their surroundings as they have also attracted a relentless stalker in the burly shape of deadly Bulrog: a former squire and pupil of the old knight, employed by fanatical cultists to ensure Ramor is liberated…

Second chapter The Temple of Oblivion sees a rather fraught reunion between Bragon and Mara as the knight deposits the painfully-recovered Conch and takes a party to the aforementioned temple to translate runic clues which will lead to the location of the Time-Bird.

With the chronal creature safely in custody they can literally stop the clock until Mara is able to re-confine the nearly-free mad god, but the arduous trek pushes the questers to their emotional and physical limits and a dark edge creeps into the tale as they again succeed, but only at the cost of their latest companion…

Sorely troubled, Bragon, Pelisse and her masked warrior head to their next destination, with only seven days remaining…

Riga finds them slogging through jungles strikingly similar to French Indo-China, gradually nearing their goal but unknowingly stalked by weird vulture-like beings. The scabrous, rapacious beasts are led by a puissant warrior of indeterminate vintage who has honed his phenomenal combat skills for decades. He has become an obsessive hunter, dedicated to dealing out death as a spiritual experience.

Over the course of four days much is revealed about Bragon and Bulrog – now a (dis)trusted member of the team – and confirmation comes that everything is not as it seems with the irresistible (and so-off-limits) Pelisse or her far-distant, ever-more-impatient mother.

Most worrisome is the fact that strange magical trickster Fol of Dol has attached himself to the group, frustrating everybody with tantalising clues and erratically endangering all their lives whenever the whim takes him…

Of course, there’s an unspoken connection between deadly butcher Riga and Bragon, and their ultimate confrontation is shocking and final. Then, without ever feeling like the creators are treading water, the chapter closes with three days to doomsday, as our weary pilgrims uncomfortably unite with the path to the Time-Bird wide open before them…

The Egg of Darkness plays hob with synchronicity and chronology, opening many years after the events of the previous chapters, with an old man relating these adventures as a bedtime story for his grandchildren. The fantastic action is overtaken by a metaphysical detour and explosive revelations about the quest and participants, providing a spectacular shock-ending.

As with all great myth tales, the heroes triumph and fade but still leave something for imagination to chew at, as well as wiggle-room for a return…

You’ll be delighted to learn – I know I was – that Le Tendre & Loisel did indeed periodically revive their amazing creations and hopefully we’ll be seeing those sagas if time permits…

Although plotted with austere, even spartan simplicity and a dearth of subtext, the stylish worldliness of Loisel & Le Tendre in the sparse and evocative script; the frankly phenomenal illustration and sheer inventiveness of the locales of astonishing Akbar are irresistible lures into a special world of reading magic that every comics lover and fantasy fanatic should experience.

It’s not Tintin, it’s not Asterix, it is foreign and it is very good.

Go questing for it, and offer bounties to whatever gods you favour that someone will re-release, and add to this cosmic canon.
© DARGAUD 2011 by Le Tendre, Loisel.

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Yoko Tsuno volume 15: Wotan’s Fire


By Roger Leloup, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-536-3 (Album PB)

In 1970, indomitable intellectual adventurer and “electronics engineer” Yoko Tsuno began her career in Le Journal de Spirou. She is still delighting readers and making new fans to this day in amazing, action-packed, astoundingly accessible adventures which are amongst the most intoxicating, absorbing and far-ranging comics thrillers ever created.

The globe-girdling, space-&-time-spanning epics were devised by monumentally multi-talented Belgian maestro Roger Leloup, who began his own solo career after working as a studio assistant and technical artist on Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin, beginning in 1953.

Compellingly told, superbly imaginative and – no matter how implausible the premise of any individual yarn may seem – always firmly grounded in hyper-realistic settings underpinned by authentic, unshakably believable technology and scientific principles, Leloup’s illustrated escapades were at the vanguard of a wave of strips revolutionising European comics.

That long-overdue sea-change heralded the rise of competent, clever, brave and formidably capable female protagonists taking their rightful places as heroic ideals; elevating Continental comics in the process. These endeavours are as engaging and empowering now as they ever were, and none more so than the trials and tribulations of Miss Tsuno.

Her first outings (the still unavailable Hold-up en hi-fi, La belle et la bête and Cap 351) were mere introductory vignettes before the unflappable troubleshooter and her valiant if lesser male comrades Pol Paris and Vic Van Steen properly hit their stride with premier full-length saga Le trio de l’étrange in 1971 (Le Journal de Spirou’s May 13th edition)…

Yoko’s cases include explosive exploits in exotic corners of our world, sinister deep-space sagas and even time-travelling jaunts. There are 30 European albums to date but only 16 translated into English thus far, and – ironically – none of them digitally.

First serialised in LJdS #2388-2391, Le feu de Wotan hails from 1984: a compelling science crime thriller that was the 19th astounding album. It reached us Brits as Cinebook’s 15th outing, delivering dark drama, murderous mystery and enthralling intrigue…

It begins as Yoko Tsuno arrives at Eltz Castle near Koblenz. She has returned to West Germany after being contacted by an old pal with a problem. Ingrid Hallberg is one of the world’s most esteemed classical musicians and has been hired by the Richter family to examine and assess their collection of ancient musical instruments. On discovering something extraordinary, she immediately contacted her old partner in peril…

Their first encounter (see The Devil’s Organ) was strange and deadly, and now, surrounded by a daunting team of private security guards and other suspicious characters, Ingrid has called in the freelance electrical engineer to assess the castle’s “acoustic qualities”. It’s a ploy masking the fact that Ingrid has uncovered another superweapon from history…

Sneaking around to avoid the suspiciously constant attention of architecture student Franz Thaler, Ingrid shows Yoko a bizarre futuristic battery erratically emitting electrical charges and a larger, deconstructed device in an attic. When Yoko assembles it, the result looks very like a giant gun…

As a storm builds that night, Yoko learns former resident Hans Richter was an experimental physicist who died in 1930s. He built both mechanisms and it appears the briefcase-sized battery connects to the larger device: a tool that fires bolts of lightning …it’s a Death Ray!

Before they can react, Franz steals the battery and locks them in, but his frantic escape is ended when lightning is seemingly pulled from the turbulent skies into the car he’s driving…

Acting quickly, Ingrid and Yoko recover the unharmed battery from the wreck, exploiting the guards’ uncharacteristic eagerness to cover up the event. Later, searching Franz’s room for clues, Yoko finds a radio and is startled to hear from someone who was giving the dead man orders…

A complex string of anonymised instructions and directions soon leads Yoko and Ingrid across country to Wupperthal and a secret rendezvous on an automated suspended railway train. They are being closely observed and followed…

Splitting up, Ingrid follows the “sky-train” as, in the first carriage, Yoko meets Professor Zimmer: Richter’s supervisor on the “Wotan’s Fire” project. He tells her all about the endeavour and how it ultimately killed Richter. In the course of their discussions they realise that his instructions to her had been intercepted and altered. Both have stumbled into a trap set by an unsuspected third agency…

Confronted by a gunman, Yoko deftly disarms the attacker, but her escape is foiled when everyone disembarks at Oberbarmen and she find two more villains waiting. They are holding a gun to Ingrid’s head…

However, when they trade the battery for her, Yoko retains crucial computer discs. As the thieves flee, she realises it’s all as the aged professor hoped. Allying with him and tech businessman/secret agent Peter Hertzel, Yoko learns the plot was allowed to unfold thus in an effort to locate a full-scale version of Richter’s device and foil plans to terrorise the world for profit…

Hertzel pays her a small fortune to help him stop them and soon she and her trusted comrades Vic Van Steen and Pol Paris are in action again…

After deducing where and how the terrorists will strike, the troubleshooters move rapidly. With Ingrid and Zimmer along for the ride, they are soon repairing the long-abandoned bunker installation Zimmer and Richter used to perfect the original weapon: charging more super-batteries to literally fight fire with fire. It works, but almost costs another life…

The final act opens with Yoko spectacularly boarding an oil supertanker at sea to convince the captain that his vessel is about to be an example and object lesson of ruthless criminals.

Yoko’s plan is risky: using their own death ray to counter the impending attack. However, she’s not so much worried about whose gun is bigger, only that by saving the ship and crew she must kill the crooks. That’s when she risks everything on a suicidal strategy, desperate to save the terrorists from themselves…

Rocket-paced, deviously twisted and terrifying plausible, this race against time and war against greed is a superb and mesmerising thrill ride that shows not just the smarts and combat savvy of our adventuring crusader but also her aiding compassion.

As always, the most potent asset of these edgy dramas is the astonishingly authentic and hyper-realistic settings, benefitting from Leloup’s diligent research and meticulous attention to detail. Tourists could use these pages as an A-Z and never get lost, except in rapturous wonder…

Wotan’s Fire is a magnificently wide-screen thriller, tense and satisfying, and will appeal to any fan of blockbuster action fantasy or breathtaking derring-do.
Original edition © Dupuis, 1984 by Roger Leloup. All rights reserved. English translation 2020 © Cinebook Ltd.

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Wandering Star


By Teri S. Wood (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels)
ISBN: 978-0-486-80162-9 (HB/Digital edition)

The 1980s were an immensely fertile time for English-language comics and creators. In America a whole new industry grew around a boom in specialist shops as dedicated retail outlets sprung up all over the country. Operated by fans, for fans, they encouraged and emboldened a host of new creators and publishers to experiment with format, genre and content, whilst eager readers celebrated the happy coincidence that for the first time in a long time they seemed to have a bit of extra cash to play with.

Consequently, the comics-creating newcomers were soon aggressively competing for the attention and cash of consumers who no longer had to get their sequential art fix from DC, Marvel, Archie and/or Harvey Comics. European and Japanese material started creeping in too, and by 1983 a host of young companies such as WaRP Graphics, Pacific, Eclipse, Capital, Now, Comico, Dark Horse, First and many others had established themselves and were making impressive inroads.

Most importantly, by avoiding traditional family-focussed sales points such as newsstands, and general stores, more grown-up material could be produced: not just increasingly violent or sexually explicit, but also more politically astute and intellectually challenging. And even – just occasionally – addressing classic genres with a simple maturity comic books had not been allowed to express since the Comics Code shut down EC Comics.

New talent, established stars and different thematic takes on old forms converged, finding a thriving forum hungry for something a little different. Small companies and even foreign outfits had a fair shot at the big time and many great publications came – but, almost universally, as quickly went – without getting the attention or success they warranted. The era encouraged many untried creators to take a shot and, although the surge led to a spectacular implosive bust, a few truly impressive series weathered the storm and left their mark.

One such was Wandering Star by Teri S. Wood who soldiered on to create a true epic. After self-publishing for years, in 2016 the entire 21-issue odyssey was collected in a monumental and prestigious hardback edition. We all hoped it would belatedly transform the tale from beloved cult classic to the pioneering trail blazer of comics science fiction it deserves to be. We’re not there yet, but the book is still available if you want to come late to the party…

Resa Challender started out as most cartoon aspirants did back then; selling strips to fan press publications (Amazing Heroes), progressing to a regular series gig at one of the smaller companies (Rhudiprrt: Prince of Fur for MU Press) and all the while looking for a signature concept to cement inevitable stardom.

For Teri/Resa that was proudly self-professed space opera Wandering Star, which she originally self-published in 1988 (Happy 35th, kiddo!) without appreciably troubling the comics-buying masses…

That original exuberant, raw-edged first episode is included in the copious Bonus Material section at the back of this book, accompanying an Afterword from Carla Speed McNeil (and I will get around to covering her fabulous Finder series soon…), plus a 30-page full-colour section displaying a vibrant gallery of covers and promotional prints created during the series’ original run from 1993-1997 …and again Happy Anniversary!!

Nearly 500 pages earlier Maggie Thompson starts the ball rolling with her reminiscence-rich Foreword, recalling the author’s early days and connection to Comics Buyers Guide, which Wood expands upon in her own fact-filled Introduction.

When she was ready, Teri S. Wood returned to her 30-page draft of Wandering Star and severely retooled it. The result then launched through her own Pen and Ink Comics for 11 issues of a loudly touted 12 issue maxi-series, before being picked up Sirius Press who took away all the administrative hassles and let her get on with writing and drawing it until its actual conclusion with #21.

I called this a space opera, and it qualifies in the truest sense of the term. The story of an Earthling stuck at a hostile pan-species university overcoming alien prejudice and – with a small group of allies – becomes instrumental in stopping a vast intergalactic war is the very essence of that particular genre, but Wandering Star was different then and still delights today because it avoids all the easy pit-stops and pitfalls of the trope.

There is an overwhelming threat to universal peace, there is a monstrous and dreadful cosmic personal antagonist (in the form of brutal Commander Narz) and there is a doughty, trusty crew of allies. These include blind psionic powerhouse Madison, energy being Elli, wise old veteran Graikor and hateful bully-turned-staunch-comrade Mekon Dzn Appogand, plus (latterly) fellow human Joey – all frantically hurtling across the cosmos as embattled heroes trying to keep the fugitive vessel Wandering Star out of the clutches of an invading army willing and able to rip the Galactic Alliance to shreds…

From the start Wood favoured emotional involvement rather than over-used and obvious action/spectacle to engage her readership: deftly utilising the serial form to shape cast and characters, and show scary, painful, funny and ultimately intimately revelatory moments.

Stooping to an obvious if rather unfair comparison, it’s something Star Wars movies have never accomplished, and why those players are so wooden and 2-dimensional, whereas TV series like Star Trek (especially Picard and Strange New Worlds), Farscape, Firefly or Killjoys excel at making theirs authentic and believable. They use screen time for interaction, not extra action…

That’s not to say that there isn’t plenty of cataclysmic cosmic conflict and ominous, last-ditch clashing, only that Wood knew from the get-go that people – no matter what shape, colour or construction – are infinitely more interesting than one more exploding planet or looming astral dreadnought. Most importantly, she knew how to use them and when to expend them for maximum impact…

It all begins on peaceful planet Machavia as history student Aldar tracks down celebrated recluse Casandra Andrews and convinces the aged Earther to share the true story of how 30 years ago a bunch of raw kids on the legendary Wandering Star saved the Galactic Alliance from the seemingly invincible, duplicitous and rapacious Bono Kiro Empire…

Potent, powerful, uplifting and breathtaking authentic, this is a war story that deals with consequences rather than simple victories and defeats.

Wandering Star is a true and pure example of sequential narrative as Art. Wood produced it practically as a labour of love; for precious little financial reward or public acclaim. She improved and gained confidence with every page and every issue and she did it because she had a story that wouldn’t let her go until she told it…

And once you read it, it won’t loosen its hold on you, either…
© 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 2016 Teri S. Wood. Foreword © 2016 Maggie Thompson. Afterword © 2016 Carla S. McNeil. All rights reserved.

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Shazam!: The World’s Mightiest Mortal volume 3


By E. Nelson Bridwell & Don Newton, with Gil Kane, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dave Hunt, Joe Giella ,Bob Smith, Steve Mitchell, Frank Chiaramonte, Dan Adkins, Larry Mahlstedt, John Calnan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0946-8 (HB/Digital edition)

One of the most venerated and beloved characters in American comics was devised by Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity that followed the debut of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett Comics character moved swiftly and solidly into the realm of light entertainment – and even broad comedy – whilst, as the 1940s progressed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action and drama.

Homeless orphan and thoroughly good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice: granted the powers of six gods and mythical heroes. By speaking aloud the mage’s name – an acronym for the six patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – Billy transformed from scrawny boy to brawny adult Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity, “the Big Red Cheese” significantly outsold Superman – even being published twice a month. However, as the decade progressed tastes changed and sales slowed. An infamous court case begun in 1941 by National Comics contesting copyright infringement was settled. Like many other superheroes, Cap disappeared, becoming a fond memory for older fans. A big syndication success, he was missed all over the world…

In Britain, where an English reprint line had run for many years, creator/publisher Mick Anglo had an avid audience and no product, and so reimagined the Captain Marvel franchise into atomic age hero Marvelman and Co., continuing to thrill readers well into the 1960s.

Then, as America lived through another superhero boom-&-bust, the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and wide variety of comics genres servicing a base that was increasingly founded on collectors and fans rather than casual or impulse buyers. DC Comics needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unlikely places.

Following a 1953 court settlement with Fawcett, DC ultimately secured the rights to Captain Marvel, his spun-off extended Family and attendant strips and characters. Despite the actual name having been taken by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous route and quirky robotic hero published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the monolithic publishing home of Superman opted for tapping into that discriminating, if aging, fanbase.

In 1971, they licensed the dormant rights to the character stable (only fully buying them out in 1991) and two years later, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in movies, DC resurrected and relaunched the entire beloved cast in their own kinder, weirder, completely segregated and separate universe.

To circumvent intellectual property clashes, they named the new/old title Shazam! (‘With One Magic Word…’): the unforgettable trigger phrase used by the majority of Marvels to transform to and from mortal form and a word that had entered the American language thanks to the success of the franchise (especially an excellent movie serial) the first time around.

Issue #1 carried a February 1973 cover- date and featured ‘In the Beginning’: relating, in a wittily engaging, grand old self-referential style, the classic origin, after which ‘The World’s Wickedest Plan’ related how the Captain, his super-powered family and all the supporting cast had been trapped in a timeless state for 20 years by the invidious Sivana Family… who had subsequently been trapped in their own Suspendium device too.

I can’t think of any better reason for you to grab the first volume of this series, or the second for that matter…

The series received mixed reviews and unconvincing sales results, but was pushed hard by DC. It even briefly scored the big prize in the publisher’s eyes: being adapted to television as live action Saturday morning series Shazam!, which ran for three season (28 episodes) from September 7th 1974 to October 16th 1976…

The comic book continued until #35, June 1978 before commercial pressures killed it – and many other DC titles. Happily, the series had enough fans – in the marketplace and amongst creators and editors – to be thrown a lifeline…

The stories and milieu had already begun course correction by then. Radical change and darker, “more realistic” adventures had started in Shazam! #33, and more mainstream artists heralded a metamorphosis via action and drama-heavy battles against Nuclear robotic menace Mister Atom, sadistic super-fascist Captain Nazi, murderous primordial “Beastman” King Kull and infernal foe Sabbac…

This third stylish compendium spans cover-dates November 1978 to October 1982, collecting material from World’s Finest Comics #253-270 and 272-282, plus one final fling from Adventure Comics #491-492. Mostly unseen since first release, all the stories were ritten by unsung legend E. Nelson Bridwell, and mostly pencilled by supremely gifted, gone-far-too-soon Don Newton. The latter was born in 1934 and came up through the burgeoning fan press of the 1960s and 1970s. In his too-short career, Newton distinguished himself on The Phantom, The Avengers, The New Gods, Star Hunters, Aquaman and especially Batman, but was clearly at his happiest with Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Family – now and forevermore grouped under the electrical umbrella of Shazam!

Newton was a huge fan of the Captain and his clan, having studied under originator C.C. Beck. The gifted prodigy had been drawing Batman since 1978 and his version was well on the way to being the definitive 1980s look, but Newton’s tragically early death by heart attack in 1984 cut short what would surely have been a superlative and stellar career.

Author Bridwell (Super Friends; Secret Six; Inferior Five; Batman; Superman; The Flash; Legion of Super-Heroes and fill-ins absolutely everywhere) was another devout Captain Marvel acolyte. His day job and secret identity was as editorial assistant/continuity coordinator at DC, where – thanks to an astoundingly encyclopaedic knowledge of publishing minutiae and almost every aspect of history, myth, popular trends and general knowledge plus the ability to instantly recall every damn thing! – he was justly famed as Keeper of Lore and top Continuity Cop.

Bridwell & Newton had just begun collaborating on their dream project when the title was cancelled. Happily, the Shazam Family were moved lock, stock and barrel to experimental giant-sized anthology World’s Finest Comics just as tone and content seamlessly shifted from whimsy to harder-edged contemporary superhero stories.

The wonderment resumes here moments after that final Shazam! issue, wherein King Kull tried to reverse history and re-establish his extinct race and empire. In the rubble-strewn aftermath, WFC #253 opens with ‘The Captain and the King!’ wherein Bridwell, Newton & inker Kurt Schaffenberger recount how Billy, his sister Mary Marvel and their teenage ally Freddy Freeman – AKA Captain Marvel Junior – set off after the brute, blithely unaware that an alliance of the Sivana family and Captain Nazi has faltered.

Despite the fascist now acting on his own, he had inadvertently – and unsuspectedly – gained the power of mind control, and accidentally defeated himself by having the Marvels, science-hero Bulletman and villainous Kull and Sivana attack him…

Meanwhile, wicked Ebeneezer Batson (who had embezzled Billy and Mary’s inheritance) had his soul claimed by Satan, prompting an heroic rescue mission to Hell in #254’s ‘The Devil and Capt. Marvel’, after which Mary takes centre stage as the boys and Bulletman join the enslaved army of irresistible sorcerous seductress ‘Dreamdancer’, leaving only his wife Bulletgirl and the Shazam sister to save the city…

A wry change of pace tinged WFC #256 as the Marvels foil the schemes of a time-travelling swindler in ‘The Gamester’s Death Wager!’, before Billy employs the wisdom of Solomon to defeat ‘The Invincible Man’ threatening Earth – and foiling the masterplan of wicked worm Mister Mind – before backing up Junior when he goes after his Aryan archnemesis.

It’s an extremely personal and delicate case since the lovesick monster has abducted Beautia Sivana (a family black sheep who isn’t evil!): subjecting her to ‘The Courtship of Captain Nazi’. Frankly, she really doesn’t need any help stopping the lech, and the beating CM Junior delivers is just an afterthought…

In these yarns Bridwell assiduously filled in backstory and origins of a world largely unfamiliar to new and younger readers, and for WFC #259 focused on the urbane talking tiger who is the Family’s great ally as a scientist solves ‘The Secret of Mr. Tawny’ and derives an evolutionary process to become futurised, enhanced, all-conquering dictator The Superior …until the Captain and the big cat strike back…

Inked by Dave Hunt, ‘There Goes the Neighborhood!’ deposits a delicious dose of whimsy and contemporary politicking as citizens furiously protest weird strangers moving into their area. The immigrant newcomers are mythologicals – satyrs, centaurs, siren, lamia and mermaids – but even Captain Marvel can’t fight human prejudice and nimbyism …until a geological crisis makes allies of everyone…

Mary flies solo in #261, defeating an old foe by solving ‘The Case of the Runaway Sculpture’, before Billy enjoys a revelatory history lesson after meeting ‘The Captain Marvel of 7,000 B.C.’ and helping set the universe on its true cosmic course whilst Freddy again faces octogenarian outlaws when ‘The Greybeard Gang’ unleash a taste of the bad old days…

Fawcett invented big fight stories and multi-part serial epics at the dawn of the Golden Age and for World’s Finest Comics #264 Bridwell, Newton & Hunt celebrated the tradition with Mister Mind getting his old gang back together. ‘The Monster Society Strikes Back!’ sees the alien worm, Sivana, Mr. Atom, King Kull, IBAC (combining the awesome “Evil” of Ivan the Terrible, Borgia, Attila and Caligula in one weedy nerd with his own acronymic magic word), Oggar (“World’s Mightiest Immortal”) and evil antithesis Black Adam united in a scheme to kill the hero kids and conquer everything.

First to strike are Oggar and Adam, but their resurrected Egyptian armies are no match for Mary and Billy, and the focus falls on the human-hating beastman and atomic automaton who trigger ‘The Plot Against the Human Race’ (inked by Frank Chiaramonte) but just can’t outsmart Billy and Freddy…

Joe Giella applied his classical inking to WFC #266’s as murderous mystic malcontent IBAC joins ‘Sivana’s Space Armada’, recruiting aliens from everywhere to attack Earth, yet once again failing to get past mighty Captain Marvel. Bob Smith then inked #267’s concluding chapter as the ghastly gang regroup to perpetrate an ‘Assault on the Rock of Eternity!’, sparking the return of part-timers The Three Lieutenant Marvels to help save creation…

Like Philip Jose Farmer, Bridwell was one of those creators who always sought links between heroes and villains, and he indulged himself via a trick of fortuitous continuity in #268’s ‘A Sleep and the Deep’ (Steve Mitchell inks) as Freddy Freeman’s origins were re-examined via some very nasty nightmares…

In brief: Captain Marvel Jr. and his originating antithesis Captain Nazi sprang out of a crossover experiment in 1942, starting in the Bulletman feature of Master Comics. The Ballistic Wonder was undoubtedly Fawcett’s runner-up attraction: hogging the cover spot there and even winning his own solo comic book. That all changed with #21 and Captain Nazi. Hitler’s unholy Übermensch made manifest, the monstrous villain was despatched to America to spread terror and destruction and kill all its superheroes.

Nazi stormed in, battling Bulletman and Captain Marvel, who naturally united to stop the Fascist Fiend razing New York City. The clash ended inconclusively and restarted in the Captain Marvel portion of Whiz Comics #25 with the Nazi trying to wreck a hydroelectric dam. Foiled again, he sought to smash a fighter plane prototype.

Captain Marvel countered him, but was not quick enough to prevent the Hun killing an old man and brutally crushing the young boy beside him. Freddy Freeman seemed destined to follow his grandfather into eternity, but guilt-plagued Billy brought the dying lad to Shazam and the wizard saved his life by granting him access to the power of the ancient gods and heroes. Physically cured – except for a permanently maimed leg – the process generated a secondary effect: whenever he uttered the phrase “Captain Marvel” Freeman transformed into a super-powered version of his mortal self.

The epic concluded in Master Comics #22 when the teen titan joined the Bullets in stopping Captain Nazi, victoriously concluding with a bold announcement that from the very next issue he would be starring in his own solo adventures…

In our modern age, the net result was that Freddy experienced a portentous dread that the seas which had taken all his family had not done with him and something evil was coming…

Before that though, Bridwell, Newton & Dan Adkins reveal how composite demon host Timothy Karnes (carrying infernal icons Satan, Any, Belial, Beelzebub, Asmodeus & Craeteis) is revealed as the cruel cause of those nightmares in #269’s ‘SABBAC Strikes Back!’ but is unable to survive when CMJ deduces the plot and turns the tables…

It’s smiles all around – eventually – when Billy’s alter ego convinces hideous extraterrestrials to take back their well-meaning gift of transforming his landlady’s offspring into ‘Our Son, the Monster!’ (Larry Mahlstedt inks) whilst Mary Marvel confronts a deadly new foe in #272. As inked by Mitchell, ‘Chain Lightning’ can divert and absorb the magic bolts that bestow godlike power, but she can’t think as quickly as the Shazam girl…

Adkins returned for #273 as the World’s Wickedest Scientist writhes in shame after being awarded ‘Sivana’s Nobel!’ for the discarded and despised benevolent devices he invented before turning evil. To restore his own pride, the batty boffin tries to trigger World War III, but thanks to Captain Marvel only makes himself eligible for next year’s Peace Prize…

Billy Batson steals the show next, solving a baffling murder mystery in the Mahlstedt inked ‘Silence, Please’ and Adkins embellishes a compelling kidnap drama as the Marvel family seek a temporary replacement following ‘The Snatching of Billy Batson!’

Inked by Chiaramonte, weird war and magical mystery inform WFC’s #276 pan-dimensional invasion saga, but the last stand of ‘Magicians and Mercenaries’ – and the Marvel Family – proves but a simple prelude to Junior tackling ‘The Menace of the Moon-Tree!’ when fairy tales come true and magic beans link Earth to Luna…

A glimmer of understanding comes in #278 as satanist Dora Keane accepts ‘The Power of Darkness!’ from Satan, and as Darkling defeats the Shazam- powered champions. Saved by another enigmatic magical manifestation, the heroes are set on the trail of an unknown operator acting anonymously from the shadows…

His identity is revealed in #279 as a ruthless plutocrat blackmails the world into finding a cure for his fatal illness, or else ‘When Bancroft Fisher Dies, Everybody Dies!’…

As the Marvels race to find the global boobytrap endangering life on Earth, they are assisted by beings impossible to believe or comprehend and a boy Freddy recognises…

The truth emerges in ‘The Secret of the Freeman Brothers!’ and the return of Kid Eternity…

Way back in Shazam! #27, Bridwell had revived a Quality Comics character DC had also acquired when the Golden Age ended. The ghostly child and his spiritual advisor (that’s a pun, sons & daughters) fitted perfectly into what Silver Age fans dubbed Earth-S continuity, despite previously only being seen in reprint tales…

Devised by Otto Binder & Sheldon Moldoff, the Kid had debuted in Hit Comics #25 (cover-dated December 1942): an innocent boy machine-gunned by Nazis on a U-Boat, and taken to the heavenly realm of Eternity by a hapless soul collector years before his actual due date. Bureaucracy being the ultimate force of Creation, the lad was unable to simply return to life, but was granted compensation in the ability to temporarily walk the Earth, and power to summon any person, myth or legend from literature or history.

Aided by bumbling but beneficent spirit Mr. Keeper, the Kid fought crime and injustice until all the really good Golden-Age comic books were cancelled, but now was revealed as Freddy’s brother Christopher “Kit” Freeman, who had died on the same day Freddy had been attacked by Captain Nazi and both grandfathers had been killed…

As the boys compare origins it’s revealed that Mr. Keeper’s original mistake was taking Kit instead of Freddy and that the wizard was deeply involved in setting the situation right…

Having at last made contact with his sibling and saving Earth from mystic menaces, Kid and Junior are at the forefront of the next crisis as Mister Mind steals ultimate power in #281 to become ‘The One-Worm Monster Society!’ (John Calnan inks). Once that catastrophe cataclysmically concluded, the spooks silently stuck around, helping scupper the schemes of con artists Silk and Her Highness in the final World’s Finest outing.

Illustrated by Gil Kane, ‘Charity Begins…’ (#282 August 1982) was set in a circus and featured everyone – even charismatic charlatan/honorary Marvel Uncle Dudley – but was not the intended last hurrah. That had been delayed and only appeared in DC Digest-series Adventure Comics #491 & 492 (September and October 1982, illustrated by Newton, Chiaramonte & Calnan).

It began with ‘The Confederation of Hell’ as Satan assembled former failed agents IBAC, Darkling, SABBAC and old Kid Eternity enemy Master Man who attacked the heroes in their human forms, and unleashed primordial deities to do their dirty work. However, with Kit and Keeper turning the tide the Marvels easily won their ‘Battle with the Gods!’ to fade safely into comics limbo until the next reboot…

Although still controversial amongst older fans like me, the 1970’s incarnation of Captain Marvel/Shazam! has a tremendous amount going for it. Gloriously free of breast-beating angst and agony (even at the end) these adventures are beautifully, compellingly illustrated and charmingly scripted: clever, rewarding, funny and wholesome superhero yarns to appeal to any child and positively promote a love of graphic narrative. There’s a horrible dearth of exuberant superhero adventure these days, so isn’t it great that there is still somewhere to go for a little light action?

Just say the word…
© 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Represent!


By Christian Cooper, Jesse J. Holland, Regine Sawyer, Nadira Jamerson, Tara Roberts, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Onyekachi Akalonu, N. Steven Harris, Justin Ellis, Frederick Joseph, Gabe Eltaeb, Dan Liburd, Keah Brown, Camrus Johnson, Alitha E. Martinez, Mark Morales, Doug Braithwaite, Eric Battle, Brittney Williams, Yancey Labat, Valentine De Landro, Travel Foreman, Keron Grant, Koi Turnbull, Don Hudson, Tony Akins, Moritat & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77951-419-6 (HB/Digital)

Originally published digitally in 14 chapters from September 2020 to June 2021, Represent! was – in the words of Executive Editor Marie Javins – “designed to showcase and introduce creators traditionally underrepresented in the mainstream comics book medium.” As such it was part of a greater effort by that mainstream – which contemporaneously sparked a similar project from the House of Ideas that became a string of one-shot anthologies known as Marvel Voices…

Operating in conjunction with writers, artists and other creatives of colour (both In- and especially Out-Industry) allowed greater leeway and by displaying editorial willingness to address issues, themes and opinions – and even formerly entirely-ignored and marginalised sectors of society – the series was not dictated to by commercial economics and a militant fanbase addicted to continuity.

The results were admittedly mixed, but generally the freedom elevated the material to the levels of the best of adult European comics…

Here, the result is an engaging trek through history, studied observation, personal anecdote and even fantasy, with perspectives seldom – if ever – seen in your everyday funnybook. It could not possibly all be to everyone’s taste, but this weary, aged, comfortably privileged-yet broken English white boy found plenty to enjoy and much to ponder…

Exploring all aspects of the non-white American experience, from inner-imaginative landscapes and escapes to personal ideologies, each literary-leaning comics tales comes with a brief bio of the writer (sometimes that’s also the illustrator) and unless stated otherwise is lettered by the tireless Deron Bennett.

Not so Chapter 1:‘It’s a Bird’, which sees Robert Clark put words to a heartwarming tale of family and generational birdwatching written by 1990s comics creator Christian Cooper (Star Trek, The Darkhold, Excalibur and Marvel’s first openly gay writer/editor). The modern day rights activist is here supported by illustrated by Alitha E. Martinez (Heroes, World of Wakanda, Iron Man, Mighty Crusaders, Batgirl) & Emilo Lopez.

Editor, Educator, broadcaster, historian and author Jesse J. Holland (Black Panther: Who is the Black Panther?, Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Finn’s Story, The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House) unites with British born Doug Braithwaite (Hulk, Captain America, Justice, Judge Dredd, The Punisher) & colourist Trish Mulvihill to relate a true tale. In disjointed yet carefully tailored flashbacks, a saga of endurance on a farm in rural Mississippi from 1980 to now unfolds: tracing the lives of the Hollands – a family still working land secured by ancestor and freed slave Conklin Holland in 1899…

‘Food for Thought’ comes courtesy of award-winning writer, small press publisher, essayist and journalist Regine Sawyer, with Eric Battle (Kobalt, Hardware, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Flash, Walking Dead) & Bryan Valenza rendering joyous reminiscences of a daughter shopping, cooking, talking and learning with her father in Queens, NYC, after which journalist Nadira Jamerson joins Brittney Williams (Goldie Vance, Betty & Veronica, Rugrats, Shade the Changing Girl, Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge, Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat) & Andrew Dalhouse on the harrowing, but ultimately triumphant, journey of a black mother fighting a hostile medical system to secure an accurate diagnosis of a mystery ailment. Sometimes, all that’s necessary is to find someone to ‘Believe You’…

Chapter 5 declares ‘My Granny Was a Hero’ as Tara Roberts – educator, writer, editor and fellow of both MIT’s Open Documentary Lab and the National Geographic Storytelling project – unites with Yancey Labat (DC Superhero Girls, Legion of Super-Heroes) & colourist Monica Kubina as a little girl in 1983 changes her idol from Wonder Woman to someone far closer to home after learning how her own family unwillingly “came to America” from Cameroon in 1860…

Coloured by Emilio Lopez, ‘The Lesson’ is otherwise an all-Dominike “Domo” Stanton (Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, Starbrand & Nightmask, Nubia & the Amazons) affair about violent high school days and one crucial path to escape, before writer/journalist Onyekachi Akalonu connects with Valentine De Landro (Bitch Planet, Marvel Knights: 4, X-Factor, Silver Surfer: Ghost Light, Black Manta) & Marissa Louise to offer social context on repressed young black lives by advocating ‘Fight Fires with Spray Cans’…

Coloured by Walt Barna, Chapter 8 stands ‘In Defense of Free Speech’ as 20-year comics veteran N. Steven Harris (Aztek: The Ultimate Man, Batman: Officer Down, Deadpool, X-Force, Generation X, The Wild storm: Michael Cray, Indigo Clan) recalls a time when college lectures on black culture and experience required volunteer security teams to be heard at all…

‘Weight of the World’ – by writer/editor/media producer Justin Ellis (Problem Areas, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, The Cruelty of Nice Folks), Travel Foreman (Cla$$war, Doctor Spectrum, Immortal Iron Fist, Star Wars, Black Cat) & Rex Lokus – explores the pressures family can innocently inflict on a black kid graduating high school… and how the right librarian at the right moment can turn the page on the future…

For ‘The Flightless Bird’, prominent activist, philanthropist and bestselling author Frederick Joseph collaborates with Keron Grant (Fantastic Four, Kaboom, Son of Vulcan, Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus, New Mutants) on a tale of introspection and hope when a young man is diagnosed with a killer disease.

Gabe Eltaeb (Aquaman, Batman, Star Wars) then exposes an ‘American Mongrel’ with middle school kid Abdul learning some painful truths in 1991 as his mixed Hispanic/Iraqi heritage make him an instant and easy target during the first Iraq war. Thankfully, his grampa has seen all this before…

Celebrated sports science specialist Dan Liburd asks Koi Turnbull (Fathom, Wolverine: Dangerous Games, Superman Confidential) & Tony A?ina to join him at ‘The Water’s Edge Within Reach’; exploring the assumed limits of human aspiration and physical achievement via a career in “ironman” eventing, before journalist, actor, screenwriter and author Keah Brown (The Pretty One, Sam’s Super Seats) luxuriates in superhero excess with Don Hudson (Nick Fury/SHIELD, Forever Amber, Scalped, Curse of Brimstone) & Nick Filardi. They enquire ‘Who Hired the Kid?’: debuting a sheer escapist delight in time-travelling, monster-fighting schoolgirl adventurer “The Vet”…

The wonderment concludes by going out big with actor, director, animator and comics writer Camrus Johnson joining Tony Akins (Terminator, Star Wars, Hellblazer: Papa Midnight, Fables, Jack of Fables, House of Mystery, Wonder Woman), Moritat (Harley Quinn, The Spirit, Elephantmen, All Star Western, Hellblazer, Batman, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, Transmetropolitan) & colourist Dee Cunniffe for ‘I’ll Catch up’. It finds the author in painful nostalgia mode, recalling how his big brother Mo used to visit in New York every summer, teaching the kid all the tricks of staying alive and protesting in a white world whilst still making his voice heard and his opinions count…

The stories are augmented by Darran Robinson’s iconic ‘Cover Gallery’ and supplemented by fascinating ‘layouts’ of various stories as crafted by Braithwaite, Harris & Akins…

Visually compelling, extremely well-executed, imaginative, purely poetic and operating with a degree of allegory seldom seen in regular comics whilst offering a wide and disparate use of the medium, Represent! is stunning, intriguing and entertaining but still feels something of a mixed bag… but then, it’s not really meant for me, is it?

If you’re like me, get it read and learn something…
© 2021 DC Comics, All Rights Reserved.

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Von Hoffman’s Invasion Book One


By Tom Tully & Eric Bradbury (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-626-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

In the sixties and seventies the British liked their comics characters weird, wild, utterly amoral, flagrantly inept and invariably corrupt to the core. These days it’s a requirement we only demand from and venerate in our politicians and public servants.

One thing we have adored above all other things is a great, properly flamboyant villain…

British comics have always enjoyed a strange, extended love affair with what can only be described as “unconventional” (for which feel free to substitute “weird” or “creepy”) heroes. So many stars and putative role models of our serials and strips have been outrageous or just plain “off”: self-righteous voyeurs-vigilantes like Jason Hyde, deranged vigilante geniuses like Eric Dolmann, self-absorbed outsiders like Robot Archie, arrogant, morally ambivalent former criminals like The Spider or outright racist supermen such as Captain Hurricane…

We also made much of (barely) reformed criminals like Charlie Peace and sinister masterminds in the manner of The Dwarf, Black Max, Dr. Mesmer, Grimly Feendish, The Snake and this particular Menace to Society…

Until the 1980s, UK periodicals exclusively employed an anthological model: offering variety of genre, theme and character on a weekly – or sometimes fortnightly – basis. Humour comics were leavened by action-heroes, whilst adventure papers always carried some palate-cleansing gag-strips and stars. Buster offered the best of all worlds.

Running 1902 issues from May 28th 1960 to 4th January 2000, it delicately balanced drama, mystery, action and comedy, with its earliest days – thanks to absorbing Radio Fun and Film Fun – heavily dosed with celebrity-licensed material starring media mavens like Charlie Drake, Bruce Forsyth and Benny Hill backing up the eponymous cover star billed as “the son of (newspaper strip icon) Andy Capp”.

Buster became the final resting place of many, many companion papers in its lifetime, including The Big One, Giggle, Cor!, Monster Fun, Jackpot, School Fun, Nipper, Oink!,

Whizzer & Chips and Jet, so its cumulative content was wide, wild and usually wacky…

Jet debuted in 1971 but only lasted 22 weeks at a time when our indigenous periodicals industry struggled to cope with spiralling costs and mass importation of brash, flashy, full-colour comics from America.

A product of the editorial policy described as “Hatch, Match and Dispatch”, similar to US try-out comics, it involved launching whole titles with new features to catch reader attention and mercilessly culling them and harvesting the most popular features into established, proven sellers like Lion, Tiger, Valiant or Buster.

Jet was dedicated to adventure features but also carried humour strips. Only three (out of 14 contenders) survived amalgamation, but for The Kids of Stalag 41 the reprieve was a short one. Long-term, only Ken Reid’s immortal Face Ache and a mad masterpiece of weird science called Von Hoffman’s Invasion proved worthy of our attention. The arcane antagonist and enemy of the people even scored the cover spot of issue #1…

British comics in the 1960s and 1970s were a phantasmagorical playground of bizarre wonders. Recognisably heroic protagonists appeared in war, western and gradually declining crime serials, whilst the most memorable momentum devolved to a hybrid, bastardized mixture of fantasy, horror and science fiction themes to spawn unique stars of a graphic pantheon unlike any other…

Another stunning salvo of baby boomer nostalgia courtesy of Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics strand, this initial collection of Von Hoffman’s Invasion gathers all the material from Jet, spanning May 1st to September 25th 1971 and its continuation in Buster running from October 2nd to February 5th 1972. The home front weird war eventually concluded on October 21st of that year, thanks I’m sure to the sheer quality of its creators, who were undoubtedly drawn away for newer – and potentially more successful – escapades…

I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that this was the mid-Sixties, so racial depictions like the half-sized sumo wrestler-bot last cited were perpetrated “in fun”, and not fairness or good taste…

Von Hoffman’s Invasion was a classic example of the many-stranded uncanny menace genre young Brits thrived upon, blending elements of war stories with super science, seeing evil geniuses thwarted by bold kids and plucky Everymen. It all seemed so incredibly credible thanks to the efforts of two of our industry’s greatest talents…

This inexplicably compelling blend of marauding monster, unjustifiable revenge and scary invasion was scripted by impossibly prolific Glasgow-born Tom Tully. His astoundingly broad output of classic delights included Roy of the Rovers, Heros the Spartan, Dan Dare, Master of the Marsh, The Leopard from Lime Street, Janus Stark, Mytek the Mighty, The Wild Wonders, Nipper, Adam Eterno, The Mind of Wolfie Smith, Johnny Red, Harlem Heroes, Mean Arena, Inferno, The Robo Machines, Football Family Robinson, Buster’s Ghost and many more.

His collaborative co-creator here worked on many of those sagas. The incredibly gripping moody comic art of Eric Bradbury had begun gracing newsagents’ shelves in 1949 in Knockout. Frequently working with studio mate Mike Western, Bradbury drew strips like Our Ernie, Blossom, Lucky Logan, Buffalo Bill, No Hiding Place, The Black Crow and Biggles. He was an “in-demand” illustrator who worked into the 1990s on landmark strips like The Avenger, Cursitor Doom, Phantom Force 5, Maxwell Hawke, Joe Two Beans, Mytek the Mighty, Death Squad, Doomlord, Darkie’s Mob, Crazy Keller, Hook Jaw, The Sarge, Invasion, Invasion 1984, The Mean Arena, The Fists of Jimmy Chang, The Dracula Files, Rogue Trooper, Future Shocks, Tharg the Mighty and so much more…

From the start, Tully & Bradbury delivered intense, claustrophobic tension-drenched, action-packed episodic adventures, opening here with the release after 25 years of a war criminal who was still a fanatical Nazi and faithful servant of the Third Reich.

Doktor von Hoffman had been constructing mechanised moister terror-weapons as WWII ended, and the destruction of his robot centipede tipped him over the edge.

He went to jail sworn to destroy the British, but the only thing he had learned upon his release in 1970 was that biology was more effective than engineering…

In his old lab on the outskirts of Berlin, he created an enlarging chemical that also made those subjected to it slaves to his commands. On reaching the French coast he used it to turn an eel into a colossal animal torpedo and rode it to England, dallying only to sink a cross channel ferry. On beaching in Cornwall, he started his petty campaign of revenge by using the growth gas (concealed in the battered umbrella all evil geniuses carry) to magnify a crab to the size of a house and destroy a fishing village, reinforcing the walking tank with a deadly giant wasp. With local police fearfully outmatched the RAF finally get involved, scoring a rather pyrrhic victory at the cost of an attack helicopter…

Still at large, utterly unsuspected but also deeply paranoid, Von Hoffman continues randomly unleashing destructive colossi – such as giant toads, pigeons, roving dogs and assorted insects – culled from English country gardens until he encounters Barry and Joey Drake. When they are attacked by monsters in the cottage at Little Upton, the young brothers discover one of the serums their scientist dad is working on reverses the effects of the mad doctor’s gas…

It happens when the madman briefly transforms their good dog Major into a marauding beast and an old bottle in the shed saves them and their faithful four-legged friend…

Armed with a solution and plenty of X2FO4, the lads go after the maniac and clash just as Herr Doktor unleashes a massive mole on (or rather under) a British army base. Interrupting a top secret tank test, Von Hoffman ups the ante with a horde of rampaging woodlice that results in a blistering battle between ancient armour and modern ordnance.

It all goes very badly for mankind until Barry and Joey find a way to deploy their dad’s solution…

Thwarted but undaunted, the crazed war criminal then invades a monkey sanctuary where things get really hairy when bad-tempered, behaviourally-challenged chimp Charlie gets a dose of growth gas and goes on a very cinematic rampage…

When that all goes wrong, the boys actually capture the villain, but his umbrella and some rapidly enhanced woodworm serve to extricate Von Hoffman for another assault on Albion: this time augmented by a rampaging rabbit that thumps the army hard. Meanwhile in London, the government is finding it harder and harder to keep a lid on the chaos happening out in the provinces…

The cover-up gets its biggest bashing when aided by a super stag beetle, the Doktor plans to strike a shattering blow to British morale; attacking the nation’s soul by disrupting football’s “Global Cup Final”: a grudge match between England and Germany…

Cue enhanced ants, budgerigars, rats, hedgehogs and spiders, the abduction of England’s captain and the debut of absolutely indescribable pedigreed dog breeder/footy fan Cynthia Fulbright whose help – along with the boys’ serum-filled water pistols – saves the day and cinch the cup for England….

Foiled again and almost out of growth gas, Von Hoffman is on the back foot now, but strikes again with an enlarged coypu that enables to restock his chemical larder by attacking Weldale Research Laboratories whilst building up his forces via the facilities stock of squid and octopi, sparking another battle with the army. Although driven off, the madman is not disheartened: after all, now he has fresh hope, fresh resources and best of all a small army of giant birds and mechanical dinosaurs!

To Be Continued…

Closing this titanic tome is a tempting teaser extract for similarly themed star Black Max so enjoy that too….

Completely bonkers but utterly engaging, this brilliantly wry romp is sheer addictive nostalgia for my generation, but the stories also hold up against anything made for today’s marketplace. Buy it for the kids and read it too. This is a big, bold glorious tale, and brace yourself for even better yet to come…
© 1971, 1972, 2018 Rebellion Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Mighty Samson Archives volume 2


By Otto Binder, Frank Thorne, Jack Sparling, Morris Gollub, George Wilson, Joe Certa, Mike Sekowsky, George Roussos & various (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-59582-659-6 (HB)

These days all the attention in comics circles goes to big-hitters and headline-grabbing ground-breakers, but once upon a time, when funnybooks were cheap as well as plentiful, a kid (whatever their age) could afford to follow the pack and still find time and room to enjoy quirky outliers: B through Z listers, oddly off-kilter concepts and champions falling far short of the accepted parameters of standard super-types…

A classic example of that exuberant freedom of expression was the relatively angst-free dystopian tomorrow of Mighty Samson, who had a sporadic yet extended comics career of 32 issues spanning 1964 to 1982.

Although set in the aftermath of an atomic Armageddon, the story of the survivors was a blend of updated myth, pioneer adventure and superhero shtick, liberally leavened with variations of those incredible creatures and sci fi monsters the industry thrived on back then.

Comics colossus Dell/Gold Key/Whitman had one of the most complicated publishing set-ups in history, but that didn’t matter one iota to kids of all ages who consumed their vastly varied product. Based in Racine, Wisconsin, Whitman had been a crucial component of monolithic Western Publishing and Lithography Company since 1915: drawing upon huge commercial resources and industry connections that came with editorial offices on both coasts. They even boasted a subsidiary printing plant in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Another connection was with fellow Western subsidiary K.K. Publications (named for licensing legend Kay Kamen who facilitated extremely lucrative “license to print money” merchandising deals for Walt Disney Studios between 1933 and 1949). From 1938, the affiliated companies’ comic book output was released under a partnership deal with a “pulps” periodical publisher under the umbrella imprint Dell Comics – and again those creative staff and commercial contacts fed into the line-up of the Big Little, Little Golden and Golden Press books for younger children. This partnership ended in 1962 and Western had to swiftly reinvent its comics division as Gold Key.

Western had been a major player since comics’ earliest days, blending a vast tranche of licensed titles – including newspaper strips (like Nancy and Sluggo, Tarzan and The Lone Ranger), TV tie-in and Disney titles with in-house originations such as Turok, Son of Stone, Brain Boy and Kona: Monarch of Monster Isle.

Dell and Western split just as a comic book resurgence triggered a host of new titles and companies, and a superhero boom. Independent of Dell, new outfit Gold Key launched original adventure titles including Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom; Magnus – Robot Fighter; M.A.R.S. Patrol – Total War; Space Family Robinson and many more.

As a publisher, Gold Key never really “got” the melodramatic, frequently mock-heroic Sturm und Drang of the Silver Age superhero boom – although for many of us, the understated functionality of classics like Magnus and Doctor Solar or crime-fighting iterations of classic movie monsters Dracula, Frankenstein and Werewolf were utterly irresistible. The sheer off-the-wall lunacy of features like Neutro or Dr. Spektor I will reserve for a future occasion…

This second splendid full-colour hardback compilation – printed on a reassuringly sturdy and comforting grainy old-school pulp stock rather than glossy paper – gathers Mighty Samson #7-14 spanning September 1966 to May 1968, and begins with a heady appreciation by Paul Tobin (Plants vs Zombies, The Witcher, Angry Birds, Spider-Man, Bandette) in his reminiscent Foreword…

The post-dystopian wonder warrior had been anonymously created by industry giants Otto Binder & Frank Thorne in 1964. Binder was the quintessential jobbing writer. He and his brother Earl were early fans of science fiction, making their first professional sale to Amazing Stories in 1930. As “Eando Binder” their pulp-fiction and novels output continued well into the 1970s, with Otto rightly famed for his creation of primal robotic hero Adam Link.

From 1939 onwards, Otto was also a prolific comic book scripter, most beloved and revered for the invention and perfection of a humorous blend of spectacular action, self-deprecating humour and gentle whimsy as characterised by the Fawcett Captain Marvel line of titles (and later in DC’s Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen). Binder was also constantly employed by many other publishers and amongst his most memorable inventions and innovations are Timely’s Young Allies, Mr. Mind, Brainiac, Krypto the Super Dog and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

In his later life, he moved into editing, producing factual science books and writing for NASA.

Frank Thorne (June 16th 1930 – March 7th 2021) was one of the most individualistic talents in American comics and the series co-creator’s last issue opens this volume. He began his comics career drawing romance stories for Standard Comics beside legendary draughtsman Alex Toth before graduating to better-paid newspaper strips like Perry Mason for King Features Syndicate. For Dell/Gold Key he drew Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim and The Green Hornet, as well as the first few years of this seminal sci-fi classic.

A DC he did compelling work on Tomahawk and Son of Tomahawk before being hired by Roy Thomas at Marvel to illustrate his belated breakthrough strip Red Sonja. Forever-after connected with feisty, earthy, highly sexualised women, in 1978 Thorne created outrageously bawdy (some say vulgar) swordswoman Ghita of Alizarr for Warren’s adult science fantasy anthology 1984/1994 as well as such adult satirical strips as Moonshine McJugs for Playboy and Danger Rangerette for National Lampoon.

Thorne won a National Cartoonists Award for comic books, an Inkpot Award and a Playboy Editorial Award, but was still a fairly by-the-book illustrator at the time of this collection’s content. In fact, it was on Mighty Samson that he opened up and found his own unique artistic vision: one which would carry him to the forefront of stylists with the satirical and erotic works of his later years.

That’s meat for other reviews, but here he and replacement artist Jack Sparling translate Binder’s imaginings into a beguiling otherworld of action, adventure and drama suitable for most kids of all ages and a milieu perfectly in tune with any Kids TV channel today…

Mighty Samson #1 (July 1964) introduced the bombed-out metropolis of N’Yark: a dismal dangerous region where human primitives clung to the ruins, scattered into rival tribes all striving daily against mutated plants and monsters as well as less easily identified blends somewhere in between…

One day when a toddler was grabbed by a predatory plant he casually tore the terror apart with his podgy little hands. Years passed and the child grew tall and clean-limbed, and it was clear that he too was a mutant: immensely strong, incredibly fast and improbably durable…

Impassioned by his mother’s dying words – “protect the weak from the powerful, the good from the evil” – Samson became the champion of his people; battling beasts and monsters imperilling the city. Sadly, those struggles were not without cost, and when he killed an immense Liobear, it cost the young hero his right eye…

The clash proved a turning point for Samson since his wounds were dressed by a stranger named Sharmaine. She and her father Mindor were voluntary outcasts in the city: shunning contact with superstitious tribes whilst gathering lost secrets of science…

They toiled constantly to bring humanity out of its second stone age and, fired with inspiration, Samson joined their self-appointed mission: defending them from all threats as they carry out their work.

Every issue was augmented by mesmerising painted covers by master illustrators Morris Gollub or George Wilson. These covers were initially reproduced text-free on the back of each issue and probably graced many a kid’s bedroom wall way back when. You get those too, but I’d suggest scanners rather than scissors this time around…

The comics were ad free and inner side of those covers generally held monochrome single-page features supplementing the story with historical context, and the factoids. Sadly many are uncredited but when I know who, so will you…

The Altered World odyssey resumes with #7, cover-dated September 1966. ‘World of Darkness’ saw Thorne off in fine style as shattered skyscrapers in N’Yark began sinking into the ground. Investigating the trackless regions under the city, Samson and his allies encounter many horrific beings before mistakenly accusing the subsurface Undermen of waging war on the light-loving Uppermen like themselves. Before long, however, ‘The Enemy Below’ (with artistic assistance from Mike Sekowsky & George Roussos) is identified as being a threat of a wholly bestial and relentless nature, forcing an alliance and only ended by Mindor’s knowledge of pre-disaster atomic weapons…

The inner covers detail ‘The Underground World’ of 1960s subways, escalators and tunnels and hidden service structures ‘Beneath the City’ before #8 signalled a change of vision.

Drawn by Joe Certa, factual-teaser ‘The Magnetic Pole’ led and fed into Binder’s ‘The Migration Mystery’ and concluding chapter ‘The Mental Battle’ as our heroes – and every other human in N’Yark – are seized by a telepathic force pulling them northwards. Aware but unable to resist, Samson and his friends spend months gravitating towards a mineral formation (a “mental North Pole”) in the arctic: helping many others of the thousands of humans caught in the grip, before at last devising a solution that will allow them all to return home.

This tale signalled the debut of another veteran illustrator who would make the title his own.

John Edmond “Jack” Sparling (June 21st 1916-February 15th 1997) was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba but migrated young to the USA. After studying in New Orleans and at the Corcoran School of Art, he left a cartooning gig at the New Orleans Item-Tribune to create the Hap Hopper, Washington Correspondent strip for United Features Syndicate (1940) superseded in 1943 by Claire Voyant.

That strip ended in 1948 and thereafter Sparling concentrated on comic books, becoming a wandering regular whose work appeared in Classics Illustrated, Dell/Gold Key, Marvel, DC, Charlton and others on strips like Robin Hood, Captain America, Tiger Girl, Space Man, Neuro, Secret Six, Eclipso, The Day after Doomsday, Challengers of The Unknown, Unknown Soldier and more.

Ideally suited for short story and humorous fare, he worked continuously for Gold Key’s horror anthologies and was a key player when DC revived its House of Secrets and House of Mystery titles (co-creating with Bob Haney undying horror-host Cain in HoM #175).

Sparling was particularly adept on licensed properties, illustrating Bomba, Family Affair, Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Welcome Back, Kotter, Adam-12, Microbots, The Outer Limits ad nauseum…

With monsters so popular, the company also debuted the Gold Key Club Comic Monster Art page: inviting readers to create their own creepy critters and send them in for publication. The first examples were dreamed up in-house but for later issues, the beasts and bogles came courtesy of the kids. A scattering of them add loony lustre to this book at intermittent moments…

Another new feature began in the following issue. Illustrated by Sparling, ‘Mighty Samson Mutant Monsters’ offered an ongoing bestiary of horrors as seen in Mindor’s notes, beginning with ‘Stone-Throwing Cactus’ and ‘Lightning Beast’…

Bracketed by fact-features ‘Guide Tour of Washington D.C.’ and ‘Washington D.C.’, #9 (cover-dated March 1967) sees the valiant trio back home long enough to discover a fully automated, still-operational bullet train connected to the nation’s former Capital. Sadly, the astounding delights of pre-collapse culture and technology leads to war with ‘The Renegade Robot’, once they debark in DC…

That’s just in time for old enemy Queen Terra of Jerz to suborn an atom-powered Secret Service mechanical bodyguard…

Ordering ‘The Metal Hercules’ to crush and enslave Samson, Terra finds the robot too much for her but still not tough enough to stop the mutant: a dilemma that drives the automaton totally off the rails…

The issue ends with another Mighty Samson Mutant Monsters moment sharing the unnatural history profile of the ‘Net-Casting Spider’

Mighty Samson #10 opens with more of the same – the ‘Heavy-Matter Eagle’ – before a wave of desperate refugees disrupting N’Yark sends the scientific investigators off exploring formerly isolated Staten Island. The lost colony has become a bizarre dichotomy: with humans living in relative luxury in fully automated skyscrapers but unwilling to go below the first three storeys which has become a vast morass on interlinked monster-filled jungle. It was a paradise until Samson’s enemy Kull invaded, driving the soft tribes-folk away, but the ‘Terror in Tallplace Town’ ends as soon as Samson puts his foot down to oust the treacherous ‘King for a Day’…

More readers’ creations segue into #11, where Mighty Samson Mutant Monster ‘Lightning-Bolt Eel’ leads into a tale of unchecked capitalism as new trader Hulko the Swapper begins price gouging both farmers in the hinterlands and N’Yark’s scavengers who until recently, bartered amicably and honestly their edible produce for the city’s salvaged raw materials like scrap iron and reclaimed tinned luxury goods. The process involved shipping goods through wild territory of the Bronx and Long Island: terra incognita festooned with terrifying carnivorous forests infested with ‘The Swamp Rats’ and even worse perils.

When the profiteer pushes too hard, Samson takes action, reclaiming the concrete pathways of the ancients and providing a smooth “Broadway” for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Hulko and his shipping protectionists are understandably unhappy with the new arrangement, but their sabotage attempts to invoke ‘Terror on the Tradeway’ have no effect on giant hero’s policy of free enterprise…

Queen Terra returns in #12 operating a reclaimed, restored and fully-armed US Coast Guard cutter, leading ‘The River Raiders’ bombarding the shore-dwelling tribes of Manhattan island and demanding to be made their empress. Happily, Samson Sharmaine and Mindor are also au fait with naval salvage and ‘The Battle of N’Yark Bay’ swiftly sinks the queen’s schemes… despite the intervention of a few aroused sea beasts formerly asleep in the deep…

The quest for security is synonymous with the search for food and power sources. In #13 Mindor meets another historical detective skilled in the ways of pre-collapse technologists, but ‘The Prophet of Zomzu’ exploits his knowledge of electricity for another kind of power. Thanks to our brawny hero, cruel science despot Merlyn the Magic Maker is the loser in ‘The Wizard’s Showdown’: liberating a tribe of gullible pawns from a ruthless master…

This second sojourn in a broken tomorrow ends with Mighty Samson #14 (May 1968) as a Mighty Samson Mutant Monster briefing on ‘Rooted Sea Serpents’ segues into a chilling and contemporary fable as fisherfolk on the island of N’Yark are threatened by the ‘Menace from Nowhere’. This is a toxic gooey mass carried by the river, polluting their waters and killing the birds and fish they hunt, as well as infuriating all the monsters in the bay.

When Mindor determines the threat is millions of tons of crude oil being forced upriver, the trio voyage south to Florida and find an abandoned automated drilling rig has recently malfunctioned, constantly pouring black poison into the Gulf Stream.

The atomically-powered station is a danger to everything but when Samson shuts it down, he finds himself trapped ‘Between Beasts and Machines’ and joins post-apocalypse Tuaregs of the trackless Miami desert to destroy the unchecked depredations of automated city Technopolis: a robot metropolis of unimaginable treasures guarded by dinosaurs!

Closing with more Gold Key Club Readers Page monsters and full creator biographies, this mighty tome might be short on logic but absolutely revels in fabulous imagination and non-stop action. These sublime yarns typify a lost era’s devotion to fantastic fun: no-nonsense, brain-boggling yarns at once self-contained, episodic, exciting, enticing and deceptively witty.

Bizarre, brilliantly off-kilter and outrageously bombastic, Binder’s myth of a rationalist Hercules battling atom-spawned Titans and devils offers stunning spectacle and thrill-a-minute wonderment from start to finish. Captivatingly limned by Thorne and Sparling, these lost gems from an era when fun was paramount and entertainment a mandatory requirement are comics the way they were and perhaps might be again…
Mighty Samson ® Volume Two ™ & © 2010 Random House, Inc. Under license to Classic Media LCC. All rights reserved. All other material, unless otherwise specified, © 2010 Dark Horse Comics, Inc. All rights reserved.