Category: Adventure

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The Phantom: The Complete Sunday Archive volume Five 1953-1956


By Lee Falk & Wilson McCoy, & various (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-61345-169-4 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Born Leon Harrison Gross, “Lee Falk” created the Ghost Who Walks at the request of his King Features Syndicate employers who were already making history, public headway and loads of money with his first strip sensation Mandrake the Magician. Although technically not the first ever costumed champion in comics, The Phantom was the prototype paladin to wear a skin-tight body-stocking and the first to have a mask with opaque eye-slits…

The generational champion debuted on February 17th 1936, in an extended sequence pitting him against an ancient global confederation of pirates called the Singh Brotherhood. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first fortnight before handing over illustration to artist Ray Moore. The spectacular and hugely influential Sunday feature began in May 1939.

For such a long-lived, influential series, in terms of compendia or graphic collections, The Phantom was quite poorly served in the English language market (except for the Antipodes, where he’s always been accorded the status of a pop culture god). Many companies have sought to collect strips from one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history, but in no systematic or chronological order and never with any sustained success. That began to be rectified when archival specialists Hermes Press launched their curated collections…

This fifth fabulous festival of rain forest romances and jungle action is a landscape hardback (or digital) tome, displaying alternately complete full colour Sunday episodes or crisp monochrome instalments shot from press proofs and digitally remastered. Released in December 2018, its 208 pages are stuffed with sumptuous visual goodies and documentary materials like panel and logo close-ups, comics covers and original art, and opens with publisher Daniel Herman’s Introduction ‘The Phantom Sundays Continue…’.

This recaps all you need to know about the ongoing feature and discloses how reproduction of such an ancient and venerated features offers its own unique problems…

For those who came in late: 400 years ago, a British mariner survived an attack by pirates, and – after washing ashore on the African coast – swore on the skull of his father’s murderer to dedicate his life and that of his descendants to destroying all pirates and criminals. The Phantom fights evil and injustice from his fabulous lair deep in the jungles of Bengali, revered and feared throughout Africa and Asia as the “Ghost Who Walks”…

His unchanging appearance and unswerving war against injustice led to his being considered an immortal avenger by the uneducated, credulous and wicked. Down the decades, one heroic son after another has inherited the task, fought and died in an unbroken family line, with the latest wearer of the mask indistinguishable from the first and proudly continuing the never-ending battle. In his first published exploit, the Phantom met and fell for wealthy American sophisticate Diane Palmer. His passion for her was soon reciprocated and returned and she became a continuing presence in both iterations of the series as ally, partner, sounding board, a means of reader identification and naturally a plot pawn and perennial hostage to fortune. She was also a handy conduit as the hero occasionally shared four centuries of Phantom history, hearing tales of ancestral Ghosts Who Walked in earlier eras. As was the fashion of the feature almost every saga included powerful, capable and remarkably attractive women as both heroes and villains.

However as the ultra-conservative 1950s unfolded, that femme fatale policy was increasingly downplayed. For Falk & Wilson McCoy’s opening tale ‘Madcap Miriam’ (running from (May 31st to October 18th, 1953), that results in a bored multi-millionairess deciding only the “most romantic man of Earth” is good enough for her and sends faithful personal secretary Steve to scour the globe for him. When he at last returns with a photo of the Ghost Who Walks all Miriam’s wealth and wiles are turned upon him…to no effect.

When everything else fails, Miss Miriam tracks him to the jungle and hires thugs to abduct him, before The Phantom loses his patience, crushes her brute squad and makes Miriam his skivvy in the Skull Cave. The miracle of honest toil, being relentlessly bullied and close proximity soon works its unique romantic magic on the captive when Steve arrives to rescue her…

Running October 25th 1953 to January 31st 1954, ‘The Imaginary Playmate’ sees the Jungle Guardian befriend a lonely lad stuck alone on a busy plantation. With his parents too preoccupied to pay attention, Conley Wright is happy to find a fantastic adult willing to indulge in his games and stories. However, as Dad grows more concerned about his boy being lost in fantasy, a gang intent on acquiring the plantation offer incontrovertible proof that the kid’s playmate is all too real and very protective…

February 7th to June 6th 1954 encompassed an epic tale of vengeance as the current Ghost Who Walks finally faced the traitor who betrayed his father when that worthy sought to end the Singh Brotherhood and returned without his equipment, only to die. Now at last The Phantom’s justice lands on mini-tyrant Rama: the villain who killed his father and stole ‘The Belt’. A decade later this yarn was retooled for Gold Key’s Phantom comic book.

The same is true for ‘The Master Spy’ (June 13th – October 10th 1954) which focuses on the Jungle Patrol: a peacekeeping paramilitary force secretly established and run by the Phantom to police the many tribes and intruders seeking to exploit them. When they are approached by “historian” Dr. Heg they have no idea that he is employed by a colonising totalitarian state to undermine the stable society. He benefits greatly from the covert nature of the force, as “The Patrol” are worthy soldiers have truly no idea who their mysterious “Commander” is. When Heg subverts an ambitious but well-meaning new recruit the efficient system goes awry and chaos almost destroys everything until the Phantom takes a firm grip of the situation…

Contemporary politics gives way to timeless fantasy next as ‘Alexander’s Cup’ (October 17th 1954 – February 27th 1955) reveals how History’s greatest treasures are stored in the fabulous Skull Cave. After saving fever-wracked explorer Wells, the Phantom foolishly shows him The Diamond Cup of Alexander the Great (also owned by Xerxes, Jules Caesar and other great men before vanishing from public gaze) and accidentally triggers a greed-fuelled rampage by eager criminals and ambitious chancers like Wells’ explorer colleague Lorgen. Eventually, however, the stolen chalice is restored, but only after one of the most spectacular recovery operations the Ghost Who Walks has ever attempted…

A brief, palate-cleansing all action clash with protection racketeers ‘The Gibs Brothers’ (March 6th – April 3rd) segues into extended warfare against a society of murderers as ‘The Crescent Cult’ sees the Jungle Ghost crushing an assassination gang determined to murder their country’s new Maharani. The assaults are constant and the cult of Kratan is riddled deep in every stratum of the kingdom, so the Phantom’s first move is to kidnap and hold prisoner the intended victim. From there it’s just mopping up, really…

The USA’s rapidly growing dose of UFO fever manifested next as from August 14th through November 6th, a tribal headman teaches the village children of the time when the Ghost Who Walks repelled ‘The Horned Star Demons’. What follows is a wry spin on a classic plot as alien scouts pick The Phantom as the “typical earthling” to test their prowess and superior technology on, prior to deciding to invade or not…

An always fruitful recurring subplot involved Diana Palmer’s stinking rich family continually seeking to discredit her true love and get her married off to money. Now her grandfather had his shot at ending the romance by finding her ‘A Proper Husband’ (November 13th 1955 – February 13th 1956). Bigwig H.H. Palmer’s grand idea is to apply business methods and interview an army of tough guy types, but of course no one measures up and are completely useless when kidnappers join the festivities. Lucky The Phantom and Good Boi Devil aren’t too far away…

Penultimate peril ‘The Jungle Tourneys’ (February 19th – May 20th) then reminds readers that tribal rivalries are settled by Phantom-instituted combat sports days, which culminate with the African last man standing allowed the honour of battling the Ghost Who Walks. Sadly this year an unlucky prison escapee who finds the Phantom’s clothes is stuck fighting a native gladiator in a centuries-old grudge match… and loses.

With legends shattered, the prestige of victory goes to the head of Woban of the Wambesi whose triumph sparks chaos and disruption until the real Phantom restores the status quo of The Phantom’s Peace…

Closing this graphic safari, ‘Pirate Day’ (May 27th – August 19th 1956) finds the port city of Bengali-Town celebrating its own version of trick or treat. Unfortunately, as adults, citizens and kids pick up swag sacks and go marauding like jolly corsairs and buccaneers, real crooks use the festivities to rob a swank ball. When they villains are separated all the loot goes into one sack, and that one is accidentally confused with a candy-stuffed satchel that passed around with astounding frequency, before the Ghost Who Walks settles the matter to everyone’s satisfaction. Well, not the robbers, of course. The Phantom hates pirates…

If the kind of fare you’d encounter in a 1940s Tarzan movie or noir thriller might offend, you should consider carefully before starting this book, but if you’re open to oldies with inherent but honest historical and cultural challenges there’s a lot to be said for these straightforward pioneering thrillers. Finally rediscovered in this hemisphere, these lost gems are especially rewarding as the material is still fresh, entertaining and addictively compelling. However, even if it were only of historical value (or just printed for Australians – manic devotees of the implacable champion from the get-go) surely the Ghost Who Walks and fiancée/wife-who-waits is worthy of a little of your time?

The Phantom® © 1953-1956 and 2018 King Features Syndicate, Inc. ® Hearst Holdings, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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Eagle Classics: Fraser of Africa


By George Beardmore & Frank Bellamy (Hawk Books -1990)
ISBN: 978-0-94824-832-0 (Tabloid TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Frank Alfred Bellamy (21st May 1917 – 5th July 1976) is one of British Comics’ greatest comics artists. In the all-too-brief years of his career he produced magnificent and unforgettable visuals for Eagle, TV21, Radio Times (Doctor Who) before graduating to The Daily Mirror newspaper strip Garth in 1971. He turned that long-running yet lacklustre adventure strip into a magnificent masterpiece of unmissable fantasy, with eye-popping, mind-blowing monochrome art other artists were proud to boast they swiped from. However, after only 17 stories, Bellamy died suddenly in 1976 and it’s absolutely criminal that his work isn’t in galleries, let alone in permanent collected book editions.

Bellamy was born in 1917 but didn’t begin comic strip work until 1953: a strip for Mickey Mouse Weekly. From there he moved on to Hulton Press and drew features starring the Swiss Family Robinson, Robin Hood and King Arthur for Swift – the “junior companion” to Eagle. In 1957, he moved on to the star title, producing standout, innovative work on a variety of strips, beginning with a biography/hagiography of Winston Churchill.

‘The Happy Warrior’ was followed by ‘Montgomery of Alamein’, ‘The Shepherd King – the story of David’, and ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’, from which Bellamy was promptly pulled only a few months in. As Peter Jackson took over the back page historical adventure, Bellamy was on his way to the front cover and The Near Future.

When Hulton were bought by Odhams Press there soon manifested irreconcilable differences between Frank Hampson and the new management. Dan Dare’s creator left his superstar baby and Bellamy was tapped as replacement – although both Don Harley & Keith Watson were retained as his assistants. For a year Bellamy produced “The Pilot of the Future”: redesigning the entire look of the strip at management’s request, before joyfully stepping down to fulfil a lifetime’s ambition.

For his entire life Frank Bellamy had been fascinated – almost obsessed – with Africa. When asked if he would like to draw a big game hunter strip he didn’t think twice. Fraser of Africa debuted in August 1960, a single page per week in the prestigious full-colour centre section. George Beardmore wrote three serials comprising the entire canon, starring Martin Fraser, a rare individual working in modern day Tanganyika’s game reserves.

Bellamy again surpassed himself: consulting with the Hulton Press printers Bemrose over the colours he wanted to use and employing Kenyan farmers as fact & sense checkers to ensure he got everything just right. The result was a new colour palette that burned with the dry, yellow heat of the Veldt and delivered searing authenticity. The strip became the readers’ favourite, knocking Dare from a position previously considered untouchable and unassailable.

Fraser the character is a man out of time. Contrary to modern assumptions, the hunter loved animals, treated “natives” as full equals and had a distinctly 21st century ecological bent. For a Britain blithely rife with institutionalized racism, cheerfully promoting bloodsports and still wondering what happened to The Empire, Fraser’s startlingly “PC” (let’s not say “woke” and ruffle a few gammon feathers…) antics were a thrilling, exotic and salutary experience for us growing lads.

Notwithstanding the high quality and intense drams of the serialised stories, Fraser of Africa is a primarily an artistic landmark. Bellamy’s techniques of line and hatching, in conjunction with sensitive, atmospheric colours, even his staging and layout of pages – which would lead to the majestic Heros the Spartan and eventually the bravura creativity displayed in the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet strips for TV21 – all were derived from the joyous stories of the Dark Continent.

In case you still need convincing to seek this out the three tales appearing here are hopefully pretty self-explanatory, beginning with the recovery in bush of a lost American movie star in ‘Lost Safari’ (Eagle Vol.11, #32-11:53 spanning August 6th 1960 through December 31st 1960, and Vol 12, #1-12 from January 4th 1961 to 28 January 1961). That segues neatly into ‘The Ivory Poachers’ (Eagle Vol.12, #5-12, 4th February to 20th May 1961) and a protracted campaign against callous Eurotrash butchering willy nilly across the endangered dwindling veldt.

The saga ended with ‘The Slavers’ (Eagle Vol.12, #21-2:32 from 27th May to August 12th 1961) as Fraser aids Masai warriors targeted by Arab slavers…
Yet another one to add to the “Why Is This Not In Print” pile…
Fraser of Africa ©1990 Fleetway Publications. Compilation © 1990 Hawk Books.

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The Shield – America’s 1st Patriotic Comic Book Hero


By Irving Novick, Harry Shorten & various (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-87979-408-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

There are numerous comics anniversaries this year. Some of the most significant will be rightly celebrated, but many are going to be unjustly ignored. As a feverish fanboy wedged firmly in the past, I’m still abusing my privileges to revisit another brilliant vintage book, criminally out of print but at least readily obtainable in digital formats…

Happy Birthday US of America! – even the less reasonable bits…

In the dawning days of the comic book business, just after Superman and Batman had ushered in a new genre of storytelling, many publishers jumped onto the bandwagon and made their own bids for cash and glory. Many thrived and many more didn’t, remembered only as trivia by sad blokes like me. Some few made it to an amorphous middle-ground: Not forgotten, but certainly not household names either…

The Shield was FBI scientist Joe Higgins who created a suit and vitamin supplement system bestowing enhanced strength, speed and durability. These advantages he used to battle America’s enemies in the days before the USA entered World War II. Latterly, he also devised a Shield Formula to increase his powers. Beginning with the first issue of Pep Comics (January 1940) he battled spies, saboteurs, subversive organisations and every threat to American security and well-being and was a minor sensation. He is credited with being the industry’s very first Patriotic Hero, predating Marvel’s iconic Captain America in the “draped in the Flag” field.

Collected here in this Golden-Age fan-boy’s dream (barely available as a trade paperback but also more accessible in digital formats) are the lead stories from monthly Pep Comics #1-5 (January – May 1940) plus three solo adventures from hastily assembled spin-off Shield-Wizard Comics #1 (Summer 1940).

Following a Foreword from Robert M. Overstreet and context-providing Introduction from Paul Castiglia the jingoistic wonderment opens with FBI agent Joe Higgins smashing a “Stokonian” spy and sabotage ring in his mystery man identity of The Shield – ‘G-Man Extraordinary’. Only his boss J. Edgar Hoover knows his dark secret and of the incredible scientific process that has made the young daredevil a veritable human powerhouse.

In Pep #2, as American oil tankers begin vanishing at sea, The Shield hunts down the ray gun-wielding rogues responsible and delivers punishing justice before #3 sees mini parachute mines cause devastating destruction in US waters… until the patriotic paragon locates the undersea base of brilliant science-maniac Count Zongarr and deals out some more all-American retribution…

There’s a whiff of prescience or plain military/authorial foresight to the blistering tale from Pep #4 (May 1940) when dirty, devious, diabolical Mosconians perpetrate a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Warned by a clairvoyant vision from new mystery man The Wizard, Higgins hurtles to Hawaii to scotch the plot. When fists and fury aren’t quite enough, the Shield turns an exploding volcano on the murdering backstabbers! Mission accomplished, Higgins takes an ocean liner home in Pep #5, only to have the ship attacked by vengeful Mosconians. After thwarting the sinister ambushers and battling his way home, Joe arrives back in the USA just in time to thwart a tank column attack on Congress!

The blistering pace, energising enthusiasm of the creators and sheer scale, scope and bravura of the Patriotic Paragon’s adventures made him an early hit, and he soon won a second venue for his crusade – the aforementioned Shield-Wizard Comics. The cunningly contrived shared title hit newsstands on June 20th 1940, and opened with the expanded origin for the red, white and blue blockbuster reprinted here.

In 1916 Joe Higgin’s father was a scientist and officer in US Army Intelligence. Whilst working on a formula to make men superhuman, Tom Higgins was attacked by enemy agents and lost his life when they blew up a fleet of ammunition barges. To make matters worse, the innocent dedicated agent was posthumously blamed for the disaster…

Joe grew up with the shame but swore to complete his father’s work and clear his name. By achieving the first – and gaining super-powers – Joe consequently lured out spy master Hans Fritz (who had framed his dad) and accomplished the most crucial component of his crusade: exonerating Tom Higgins. Then, with dad’s old partner J. Edgar as part of the secret, the son joined the FBI and began his work on America’s behalf…

Shield-Wizard #1 contained three complete exploits of the Star-Spangled Centurion, with the second introducing Joe to new partner Ju Ju Watson: a doughty veteran agent dedicated to completing the young operative’s training. Together they investigate a steel mill infiltrated by crooks holding the owner hostage and aiming to purloin the payroll. Young Higgins’ next case involves grisly murder as corpses are found concealed in a floating garbage scow with the trail leading back to vice racketeer Lou Zefke. His ongoing trial is stalling for lack of witnesses, but with only the slimmest of leads and plenty of enthusiasm, The Shield steps in and cleans up the mess…

Raw, primitive and inarguably a little juvenile, these are unadorned, glorious romps from the industry’s exuberant, uncomplicated daw days: Plain-&-simple fun-packed thrills from the gravely under-appreciated Irving Novick (Batman, Flash, Captain Storm, Wonder Woman, countless war comics, The Joker) & Harry Shorten (Archie Comics, Charlton Comics, The Black Hood, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, There Oughta be a Law!) and others whose names are now lost to history.

Despite absolutely not being to everyone’s taste, for dyed-in-the-woollen-tights superhero freaks, these guilty pleasures are worth a look, affording a rapturous tribute to those less complicated times and folk who always saw simple solutions to complex problems…
© 1940, 2002 Archie Publications In. All Rights Reserved.

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Word came yesterday that we’ve lost yet another comics giant. James Charles Shooter (27th September 27th 1951 – 30th June 2025) wrote countless comics stories, from the minor to the most major of major stars, and changed or steered the courses of US comic book stars with landmark tales like Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars, Secret Wars 2, Avengers: The Korvac Saga, The Superman vs. Flash race tradition, and Original Graphic Novels for Dazzler, Thor, the Avengers & X-Men (The Aladdin Effect) and more.

Wikipedia has a very fair assessment of him which you can read here .

Jim Shooter began his creative career at DC, a teenager helping his poorly-paid parents with bills. His submissions impressed editor Murray Boltinoff who bought his early stories, leading to residencies on the Legion of Super-Heroes and most of the Superman family of titles.

Combining his continued education with the stresses of being a jobbing writer, when he moved to Marvel his tales included continuity-changing runs on Daredevil, The Avengers, Super-Villain Team-Up, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man and others. As editor and publisher he created child-friendly imprint Star Comics for younger readers, sanctioned creator-owned venue Epic Comics and created Marvel’s New Universe sub-strand (writing core title Star Brand – some would say as autobiographical wish fulfilment). He pushed moving beyond the company’s established complex-continuity roots, writing “real world” material such as Team America and others. He also forged indelible links with toy and licensing brands that swiftly made Marvel the most profitable comics publisher in the US.

Outspoken, controversial and often ferociously dogmatic, Jim was Business to the bone without ever forgetting his blue-collar, poverty-driven roots. Bluntly, he alienated many key creators, but whatever others thought, did what he considered best. However, his work – he also pencilled many stories – was never dull and never, never, never boring. He was a master of science fiction themes, and understood childlike wonder, loss and comedy moments.

Always championing creator rights, Jim instituted return of artwork to artists and, when ousted from Marvel and setting up his later companies Valiant, Defiant and Broadway Comics, operated a collective writing policy that saw every participant in the incredibly collaborative process of making comics fully credited and remunerated for their contributions. He also always mentored new talent and encouraged everyone to push their own limits.

Jim Shooter was One of Us: a comics fan and story lover who made the jump from consumer to creator, so I’m asking those who care to remember him for his less well known – but often best written – efforts by hunting down and enjoying the items – or any Shooter effort – reviewed here.

The Valiant Era Collection and Warriors of Plasm
By Jim Shooter, Bob Hall, Faye Perozich, Kevin Vanhook, Don Perlin, Steve Ditko, Gonzalo Mayo, Stan Drake, Yvel Guichet, Ted Halsted, John Dixon, Paul Autio & various (Valiant)
No ISBN/ ASIN: B000H2UTEI

During the market-led, gimmick-crazed frenzy of the 1990s, amongst the interminable spin-offs, fads and shiny multiple-cover events a new comics company revived some old characters and proved once more that good story-telling never goes out of fashion. At DC, 14-year-old Shooter wrote epic runs on The Legion of Super-Heroes, Supergirl and Superman, and scripted the company’s first toy tie-in Captain Action, before moving to Marvel in 1976. When he became the Editor-in-Chief, Shooter made Marvel the most profitable and high-profile they had ever been. and, after his departure, used that writing skill and business acumen to transform an almost forgotten Silver-Age character pantheon into contemporary gold.

Western Publishing had been a major player since comics’ earliest days, blending a wealth of licensed titles such as TV and Disney titles, Tarzan, and the Lone Ranger with homegrown hits like Turok, Son of Stone and Space Family Robinson. During the 1960s superhero boom, these adventure titles expanded to include, Brain Boy, M.A.R.S. Patrol – Total War, Magnus, Robot Fighter and in deference to the atomic age of heroes, Nukla and the utterly brilliant Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom. Despite supremely high quality and passionate fan-bases, they never captured the media spotlight of DC or Marvel’s costumed cut-ups. Western shut up their comics division in 1984.

With an agreement to revive some, any or all of these four-colour veterans, Shooter and co-conspirator Bob Layton came to a bold decision and made those earlier adventures part-&-parcel of their refit: acutely aware that older fans don’t like having their childhood favourites bastardized and that revivals need all the support they can get. Thus the old days were canonical: they “happened”…

The company launched with a classy reinterpretation of science fiction icon Magnus, but the key title to the new universe they were building was the broadly super-heroic Solar, Man of the Atom Alpha & Omega and Second Death which launched with an eye to all the gimmicks of the era, but also cleverly realised and realistically drawn.

Hit after hit followed and the roster of heroes expanded until dire market conditions and corporate chicanery ended the company’s stellar expansion. Gradually it fractionated and despite many revivals since, has all but disappeared now…

Here’s another innovation of that idea-packed era – a sampler of hits and one of their earliest graphic novels – from the early days of the format we’re all so familiar with. The Valiant Era Collection, re-presenting Magnus #12, Solar #10-11, Eternal Warrior #4-5 and Shadowman #8 was released in 1994 as an introduction to the new old brand and canny compendium of first appearances from the company’s burgeoning continuity. It gathered a disparate selection of tales which had one thing in common: the debuts of characters that had quickly become “hot”.

In the collector-led era of the early 1990s – before one zillion internet sites and social networking media – many new concepts caught the public’s attention only after publication. The seemingly-savvy snapped up multiple copies of comics they subsequently couldn’t sell and many genuinely popular innovations slipped by unnoticed until too late. This trade paperback from a company that valued storytelling above all else addressed that thorny issue by simply bundling their own hot and hard to find hits in one book…

‘Stone and Steel’ was written by Faye Perozich & Shooter and illustrated by Gonzalo Mayo, and found Robot-Fighting superman Magnus transported to a timeless dimension where dinosaurs and cavemen existed side by side. Once there he became embroiled in a battle for survival against his old enemy Laslo Noel: a rabid anti-technologist not averse to using modern super-weapons to force his point of view.

The Lost Land had other defenders, most notably two Native American warriors named Turok and his young companion Andar. The pair had been a popular Western Publishing mainstay for over a quarter of a century (see Turok, Son of Stone) and their initial (re)appearance here led to their revival in a succession of titles which survived the company’s demise, as well as a series of major computer and video games.

That spectacular, entrancing epic is followed by a 2-part Solar saga introducing an immortal warrior prince and paving the way for the disclosure of the secret history which underpinned the entire Valiant Universe.

Solar was brilliant nuclear physicist Phil Seleski, who designed a new type of fusion reactor and was transformed into an atomic god when he sacrificed his life to prevent it destroying the world. His energized matter, troubled soul, coldly rational demeanour and aversion to violence made him a truly unique hero – but his discovery of hidden meta-humans and a genuine supervillain in the ambitious, mega-maniacal form of ultra psionic Toyo Harada led Solar into a constantly escalating Secret War. Solar #10 – ‘The Man who Killed the World’ by Shooter, Don Perlin, Stan Drake, John Dixon & Paul Autio – introduced a raft of new concepts and characters, beginning with troubled teen Geoffry McHenry – the latest in a long line of Geomancers blessed/cursed with the power to communicate with every atom that comprises our planet. When the world screams that a sun-demon is about to consume it, Geoff tracks down Seleski only to determine that Solar is not unique and the threat is still at large.

Meanwhile, Harada’s Harbinger Foundation has sent all its unnatural resources to destroy the Man of the Atom, supplemented by a mysterious individual named Gilad Anni-Padda: an Eternal Warrior who had been battling evil around the globe for millennia and has worked with a number of Geoff’s predecessors…

Concluding chapter ‘Justifiable Homicides’ (Shooter, Steve Ditko, Ted Halsted & Mayo) finds Geomancer, Gilad and Solar battling for their lives against an army of Harbinger super-warriors. As always with this series, the ending is not one you’ll see coming…

Gilad soon helmed his own series and Eternal Warrior #4-5 introduced his immortal but unnamed undying nemesis in ‘Evil Reincarnate’ (Kevin Vanhook, Yvel Guichet & Dixon), a tale of ancient China which segues neatly into a contemporary clash with a drug-baron who is his latest reborn iteration. Then nanite-enhanced techno-organic wonder warrior Bloodshot explodes onto the scene in ‘The Blood is the Life’ (Vanhook & Dixon): a blockbusting action epic setting up the enhanced assassin’s own bullet-bestrewn series and tangentially, the 40th century Magnus spin-off Rai…

The final debut in this volume was not for another hero but rather the introduction of the Valiant Universe’s most diabolical villain. Shadowman #8 held ‘Death and Resurrection’ (Bob Hall, Guichet & Dixon) and changed the rules of the game throughout the company’s growing line of books.

Jack Boniface was a struggling session saxophonist trying to strike it rich in the Big Easy when he was seduced by Lydia, a mysterious woman he picked up in a club. Her sinister, trysting assault left him unconscious, amnesiac and forever altered by a bite to his neck. Lydia was a Spider Alien: part of a race preying on humanity for uncounted centuries and responsible for creating many of the paranormal humans who secretly inhabit the world.

Her bite forever changes Jack and when darkness falls he becomes agitated, restless and extremely aggressive: forced to roam the Voodoo-haunted streets of New Orleans as the compulsive, impulsive daredevil dubbed Shadowman – violent, driven, manic and hungry for conflict… but only when the sun goes down. This tale examines the deadly criminal drug sub-culture of the city as a new narcotic begins to take its toll. a poison forcing its victims to careen through the streets bleeding from every orifice until they die. Witnesses call them “Blood Runners”…

As Shadowman investigates he is unaware that he is a target of the drug’s creator – ancient sorcerer Master Darque – and that soon the world will no longer be the rational, scientific place he believed. Before long, Jack will have terrifying proof that magic is both real and painfully close and that the Man of Shadow is not a creature of exotic physics and chemistry but something far more arcane and unnerving…

Despite being a little disjointed, these stories are immensely readable and it’s a tragedy that they’re not all readily available, as Valiant’s hostile takeover led to the breaking up of and selling on of various stars…

Still, there are always back issue comics and digital collections and the hope that the new revival might spawn a few trade paperback editions. Until then you can still hunt down this and the precious few other collections via your usual internet and comic retailers, and trust me, you really should…
© 1994 Voyager Communications Inc. and Western Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Warriors of Plasm: The Collected Edition
By Jim Shooter, David Lapham, Mike Witherby, Bob Smith & various (Defiant)
ISBN: 978-1374700000, ASIN: B000R4LMUQ

If the 1980s was the decade where anybody with a pencil and a printer’s phone number could enter the business, the 1990s saw the rapid rise – and very often equally swift fall – of the small corporation publisher. Many businesses opened or acquired a comics division to augment or supplement their core business: like the Nintendo Comics that were packaged by and published in conjunction with Valiant Comics…

Jim Shooter founded Valiant with Bob Layton, and later went on to launch the short-lived but highly impressive Defiant Comics of which this book is – to my knowledge – the only collected edition. That’s a great pity as the range of talent that briefly worked there, as well as the titles themselves, showed immense promise. The legal war of attrition with Marvel that caused their early closure is well documented elsewhere, so I’ll swiftly move on to the product itself.

Flagship title Warriors of Plasm was a powerful alien intervention tale set mostly in an alternate universe where a single race had taken genetic science to such extremes that their homeworld had become a voracious planetary organism continually feeding on the biomass of other worlds.

Society on The Org was hierarchical, imperialistic and ritually sadistic, where the credos of “survival of the fittest” and “evolve or die” had the force of fanatical religion. Ruled by a weak Emperor, the court lived a life of brutal hedonistic luxury, revelling in decadence whilst relentlessly jockeying for advantage.

Lorca is a Seeker, high in the court and charged with finding new worlds for the Org to consume, but something within him defies official doctrine that personality is an aberration and that all bio-matter belongs to the greater whole. Bodies are mulched and recycled whilst individuality is an anti-social aberration, yet all organisms clearly would do absolutely anything not to die.

Spurred on by his corrupt rival Ulnareah, Lorca forms an illegal relationship with Laygen, a girl created without state-approval, and when caught, he is forced to recycle her to preserve his own existence.

Bitter and discontented, he eventually returns to work, but when he discovers Earth beyond the transdimensional veil he sees an opportunity to overthrow the Org and take supreme control. Humans are strong, individualistic, fierce warriors, and – with his tricks of genetic augmentation – could defeat any force the Org might muster. Thus, he teleports 10,000 test subjects to his private vats… but something goes wrong.

Only five humans survive, mutated into superhuman beings, but the Seeker is unaware of this since he’s been arrested by the authorities who never stopped watching him…

How the transformed humans escape and the uneasy alliance they form with unlikely liberator Lorca makes for a refreshingly novel spin on the old plot of revolution and redemption, and Shooter’s dialogue and characterisations of what could so easily have been stock characters add layers of sophistication to a fantasy drama many “adult” comics would kill for even today.

Simultaneously understated and outrageous as inked by Mike Witherby, David Lapham’s incredible art & design captivates and bewilders, adding a moody disorientation to a superb, action-packed thriller, especially in the incredible, climactic 4-page fold-out battle scene.

Originally produced as Warriors of Plasm #1-4, ‘The Sedition Agenda’ was preceded by an issue #0 daringly released only as a set of trading cards and supplemented by a prequel tale outlining the social relevance of gory global sporting phenomenon known as ‘Splatterball’, (written & drawn by Lapham with inks by Bob Smith), and these too are gathered here for your delectation.

Still seen on internet vendors’ sites, I have no idea where else you can find a copy of this terrific little book but I hope you do, just as I wish that some smart publisher would pick up the rights for all the Defiant material and the Broadway Comics Shooter produces after Defiant died: but maybe one day somebody will get the remaining band back together and finish all these lost stories…
© 1994 EEP, L.P. All Rights Reserved.

R.I.P. Jim…

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New Crusaders Legacy


By Rich Buckler, Ian Flynn, Robert Kanigher, Marty Griem, Lou Manna, Rex Lindsey, Stan Timmons, Bill DuBay, Jr., Rich Margopoulos, David M. Singer, Alex Toth, Carmine Infantino, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Gray Morrow, Alec Niño, Tony DeZuñiga, Louis Barreto, Adrian Gonzales, Ricardo Villagran, Frank Giacoia, Alan Kupperberg, Jerry Gaylord, Ben Bates, Alitha Martinez & many more (Red Circle/Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-22-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the dawning days of the comic book business, just after Superman and Batman pioneered a new genre of storytelling, many publishers jumped onto the bandwagon and made their own bids for cash and glory. Many thrived and many more didn’t; now relished only as trivia by sad old blokes like me. Some few made it to an amorphous middle-ground: not forgotten, but certainly not household names either.

MLJ were one of the quickest publishers to jump on the Mystery-Man bandwagon, following the spectacular successes of the Man of Tomorrow with their own small yet inspirational pantheon of gaudily clad costumed crusaders, beginning in November 1939 with Blue Ribbon Comics. Soon followed by Top-Notch and Pep Comics, their content was the standard blend of two-fisted adventure strips, prose pieces and gag panels and, from #2 on, superheroes. However, after only a few years Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater spotted a gap in the blossoming market and in December 1941 nudged aside their masked heroes and action strips to make room for a far less imposing hero; an “average teen” who would have ordinary adventures like the readers, but with triumphs, romance and slapstick emphasised. The teen phenomenon was pure gold and by 1946 the kids had taken over, so MLJ renamed itself Archie Comics; retiring its heroic characters years before the end of the Golden Age and becoming, to all intents and purposes, a publisher of family comedies. Its success, like Superman’s, changed the content of every other publisher’s titles, and led to a multi-media industry including TV shows, movies, a chain of restaurants and even a global pop hit Sugar, Sugar (a tune from their animated show).

By this stage the company had blazed through an impressive pantheon of mystery-men who would form the backbone of numerous future superhero revivals, most notably in the High-Camp/Marvel Explosion/Batman TV show-frenzied mid-60’s era. The heroes impressively resurfaced under the company’s Red Circle imprint during the early days of the Direct Sales revolution of the 1980s, but after a strong initial showing, again failed to sustain the public’s attention.

Archie let them lie fallow (except for occasional revivals and intermittent guest-shots in Archie titles) until 1991, when the company licensed its heroes to superhero specialists DC for a magically fun, all-ages iteration (and where’s that star-studded trade paperback collection, huh?!). Impact Comics was a vibrant, engaging and fun all-ages rethink that really should have been a huge hit but was again cruelly unsuccessful. When the line folded in 1993 the characters returned to limbo. DC had one more crack at them in 2008, incorporating The Mighty Crusaders & Co into their own maturely angst-ridden and stridently dark continuity – with the usual overwhelming lack of success.

Over the last decade the wanderers returned home to Archie in superbly simplistic and winningly straightforward revivals aimed squarely at old nostalgics and young kids reared on action/adventure TV cartoons: brimming with all the exuberant verve and wide-eyed honest ingenuity you’d expect from an outfit which has been pleasing kids for over 80 years.

Released initially online in May 2012 – followed by a traditional monthly print version that September – the first story-arc made it to full legitimacy with a thrill-packed trade paperback collection, equally welcoming to inveterate fanboys and eager newcomers alike. The series introduced a new generation of legacy heroes rising from the ashes of their parents/guardians’ murders to become a team of teenaged gladiators carrying on the fight as New Crusaders.

This collection supplements and follows on from that magical makeover: with mentor The Shield training the potential-filled juniors with the records of their predecessors. The stories included here come from those aforementioned 1980s Red Circle episodes; culled from the

Mighty Crusaders #1, 8, 9; The Fly #2, 4, 6; Blue Ribbon (vol 2) #3, 8, 14; The Comet #1 and Black Hood #2, collectively spanning 1983-1985.

Following an engaging reintroduction and recap, contemporary creative team Ian Flynn, Jerry Gaylord, Ben Bates & Alitha Martinez reveal how the grizzled, flag-draped veteran has trouble reaching his teenaged students until he begins treating them as individuals, and sharing past Crusaders’ cases. Starting with personal recollections of his own early days as America’s first Patriotic superhero in ‘The Shield’ (Mighty Crusaders #8, by Marty Greim, Dick Ayers & Rich Buckler), Joe Higgins explains his active presence in the 21st century, leading into a recapitulation of the first Red Circle yarn.

‘Atlantis Rising’ is from Mighty Crusaders #1, by Buckler & Frank Giacoia, which saw psionic plunderer Brain Emperor and immortal antediluvian Eterno the Conqueror launching a multi-pronged attack on the world. They are countered by an army of costumed champions including the Golden Age Shield, Lancelot Strong – the (other) Shield – and for a while there were three different ones active at once – Fly and Fly-Girl, The Jaguar, The Web, Black Hood and The Comet, who communally countered a global crimewave and clobbered the villains’ giant killer robots…

This is followed by a modern interlude plus pin-up and data pages on Ralph Hardy AKA ‘The Jaguar’ before a potent vignette by Chas Ward & Carlos Vicat. ‘The Web’ offers the same data-page update for masked detective/criminologist John Raymond before ‘The Killing Hour’ (Blue Ribbon #14, by Stan Timmons, Lou Manna, Rex Lindsey & Chic Stone) sees the merely mortal manhunter join his brother-in-law The Jaguar in foiling nuclear terrorism.

Modern pin-ups and data-pages reintroduce ‘The Comet’ before Bill DuBay, Jr., Carmine Infantino & Alec Niño reworked the original 1940’s origin tale by Jack Cole from Pep Comics #1 in (1940). Reproduced from 1984’s The Comet #1, this chilling yarn detailed how an idealistic scientist became the most bloodthirsty hero of the Golden Age, with a body-count which made The Punisher look like a social worker.

The infomercial for ‘Steel Sterling’ precedes a wild and whimsical origin-retelling of the star-struck, super-strong “Man of Steel” by his 1940s scripter Robert Kanigher, illustrated with superb style by Louis Barreto & Tony DeZuñiga from Blue Ribbon #3, after which ‘Fly Girl’ gets star treatment in a brace of tales, augmented as always by the ubiquitous fact-folio.

Buckler, Timmons, Adrian Gonzales & Ricardo Villagran’s ‘A Woman’s Place’ (The Fly #2) clears up an exceedingly sexist old-school extortion ring whilst ‘Faithfully Yours’ (Fly #6) sees her movie-star alter ego Kim Brand subjected to a chilling campaign of terror from a fan. Timmons, Buckler, Steve Ditko & Alan Kupperberg take just the right tone in what might be the first incidence of stalking in US comics…

‘Black Hood’ has no modern iteration in the New Crusaders. Still active in contemporary times, he encountered the kids during their debut exploit and is phenomenally cool, so he gets a place here. Following the customary introductory lesson he appears in a gritty, Dirty Harry styled caper (from Blue Ribbon #8 by Gray Morrow) as undercover cop – and latest convert – Kip Burland, who sidesteps Due Process to save a kidnapped girl and ensure the conviction of crooks hiding behind the law. The gripping yarn also discloses the centuries-long justice-seeking tradition of “The Man of Mystery”…

That’s followed by a snippet from Rich Margopoulos, Kupperberg & Giacoia’s ‘A Hero’s Rage’ wherein Kip discovers his uncle Matt (the Golden Age Black Hood) has been murdered. Ditching his leather jacket and ski-mask in favour of the traditional costume, the bereaved hero suits up and joins the Mighty Crusaders…

Without doubt the most engaging reprint in this collection and by itself well worth the price of admission is ‘The Fox’ from Black Hood #2. Written and drawn by the inimitable Alex Toth, this scintillating light-hearted period comedy-drama finds the devilish do-gooder in Morocco in 1948 and embroiled with wealthy expatriate ex-boxer Cosmo Gilly, who has no idea he’s become the target for assassination…

The recondite recollections surge to a climax with ‘Old Legends Never Die’ (MC#9, by David M. Singer, Buckler & Ayers) as the first Shield is accused of excessive force and manslaughter when his 1940’s crime-fighting style seemingly results in the death of a thief he apprehended. With Joe Higgins’ costumed friends in support but out of their depth in a courtroom, the convoluted history of the three heroes bearing his codename is unpicked during ‘The Trial of the Shield’ before the uncannily sinister truth is exposed…

Supplemented by a plentiful cover gallery and packed with the kind of ephemera that sends old Fights ‘n’ Tights fans into paroxysms of delight, I fear this is probably a book only the wide-eyed young and dedicated still ambulatory old fart nostalgists could handle, but it is such a perfect artefact of the superhero genre I strongly urge anyone with a hankering for masked adventure and craving Costumed Dramas to give it a long look.
NEW CRUSADERS and RED CIRCLE COMICS ® ACP, Inc. © 2013 Archie Comics Publications. All rights reserved.

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Second Shift


By Kit Anderson (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-917355-20-9 (TPB)

The world has gone to crap and work sucks. This is the eternal verity wherever and whenever you are. Not much can be done about the world – except maybe make or find another one – but here’s a way to at least handle the work part of that equation…

Grand Master of short form graphic narratives – you can just call them comics if you want – Kit Anderson (Safer Places) originated in Boulder, Colorado but now lives near Zürich. Ceaselessly making graphic stories long before earning an MFA from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2022 – Anderson’s earlier stuff – can be seen at Parsifal Press and The Rumpus and for greater elucidation and edification you could get check out Comics — Kit Anderson…

Here Anderson dives deep into the contemporary by employing a future setting, exploring our increasingly uncertain/presumed/predicted fate in terms of the proverbial Human Condition – especially our self-destructive, double edged sword capacity to simultaneously doubt and trust – in a tale also exploring memory, imagination, inner worlds, nature, secrets, self-help solutions and isolation…

Pensive, genteel and quietly suspenseful, with action reduced to the participants’ downtime entertainment, Second Shift takes its emotional lead from contemplative classic science fiction movies like Silent Running and Soylent Green by tracing the revelations of live-in labourer Birdie Doran. At a time where human beings are pragmatically honed into useful components for megacorporations, she – like a few “lucky” others – toils for Terracorp, living on a hostile planet shepherding complex machines as they terraform the environment when not harvesting cometary material in mind-numbingly repetitive tasks that one day others will benefit from. It’s a living…

She spends her downtime in ‘Dropout’, indulging in the rich fantasy life provided and recommended by Company Exclusive DreamSpace: an engaging VR/AI environment replacing mundane travails with immersive escape routes (wizard’s worlds, haunted houses, cyber-realities, Knights & Ladies, alien mindscapes, fresh starts). Even when not suspended in economically sensible life stasis, Birdie hardly ever interacts with her human workers, like her brother Heck and standoffish Porter. Most of her conversations are with avatars of monitoring AI algorithm Station… and those are about work and her operating efficiency…

Toil and rest don’t leave much room for stimulating conversation and playing in the Station provided ‘Ruined Castle’ leaves Heck and Birdie increasingly bored and anxious. So, when he picks up an inexplicable ‘Signal’ Station cannot convince Heck to ignore it, and soon Birdie must trek out into the ever-changing icy wilds to fetch him back…

Her trudging trek eventually finds him staring at another – abandoned – station outpost, similar to but also utterly different to the cloying womb they live in. Unable to resist exploring, they discover wonders and eventually the VR menu of whoever worked there. What particularly grips then is something labelled “Wildlife”…

Torn over whether to report what they’ve found, and almost killed on their return journey by an inexplicable and highly suspicious event, the Dorans’ discovery increasingly divides whilst intellectually invigorating the siblings. Soon the shared secret is disrupting their efficiency and they clandestinely ‘Return’ to the lost outpost. It soon it becomes apparent that life for them has forever changed and nothing can stop what lies ahead…

Revelations and realisations come quietly but inescapably as the mystery intensifies in ‘Debris’, ‘Drop-In’ and ‘Payload’ before resolution arrives in ‘Museum Hall’, but can even enhanced awareness and growing knowledge help change this world? Whatever the outcome, it’s one only Birdie alone can achieve…

Beguiling, subversive, intensely absorbing and asking all the right questions on where the world or work is taking us – how do you feel about trading up to guaranteed food, lodging and being coddled and coshed by VR babysitters in return for surrendering liberty and your own opinions and questions? – Second Shift is socially-charged speculative fiction in the grand manner and a sublime, layered read you’ll return to over and again.
© Kit Anderson 2025. All rights reserved.

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A Spirou and Fantasio Adventure: In the Clutches of the Viper (volume 22)


By Yoann & Fabien Vehlmann, designed by Fred Blanchard & coloured by Hubert: translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-162-0 (Album PB/Digital edition)

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

Boyish hero Spirou (which translates as both “squirrel” and “mischievous” in the Walloon language) was created by French cartoonist Françoise Robert Velter AKA Rob-Vel. This was before World War II for Belgian publisher Éditions Dupuis, in response to the phenomenal success of Hergé’s Tintin at rival outfit Casterman. Soon-to-be legendary weekly comic Le Journal de Spirou launched on April 21st 1938 with a rival red-headed lad as lead feature in an anthology which bears his name to this day. The eponymous hero was a plucky bellboy/lift operator employed in the Moustique Hotel – in reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique. The bellboy’s improbable adventures with pet squirrel Spip gradually evolved into far-reaching, surreal comedy dramas.

Spirou and his chums helmed the magazine for most of its life, with a cohort of truly impressive creators carrying on Velter’s work, beginning with his wife Blanche “Davine” Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939. She was assisted by Belgian artist Luc Lafnet until 1943, when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jijé) took the helm. In 1946, his assistant André Franquin assumed the creative reins: gradually ditching the well-seasoned short gag format in favour of epic adventure serials. He also expanded the cast, introducing a broad band of engaging regulars such as reporter Fantasio, phenomenally popular magic animal Marsupilami, master of mushroom Pacôme Hégésippe Adélard Ladislas de Champignac (the Count of Champignac) and one of the first strong female characters in European comics. Renamed Cellophine for Cinebook’s English translations, rival journalist Seccotine – of the tabloid The Moustic – became a regular foil and plays a key role in this very modern thriller…

Franquin was followed by Jean-Claude Fournier who updated the feature over nine stirring sagas tapping into the rebellious, relevant zeitgeist of the times: tales of environmental concern, nuclear energy, drug cartels and repressive regimes. By the 1980s, however, the series seemed outdated and lacking direction, so three separate creative teams alternated on it. Eventually overhauled and revitalised by Philippe Vandevelde (writing as Tome) and artist Jean-Richard Geurts AKA Janry. Adapting, referencing and in many ways returned to the beloved Franquin era and ethos, the strip found its second wind.

Their sterling efforts revived the floundering feature’s fortunes, generating 14 wonderful albums between 1984 and 1998. When the strip diversified into parallel strands (Spirou’s Childhood/Little Spirou and Guest-Creator Specials A Spirou Story By…), the team on the core feature were succeeded by Jean-David Morvan & José-Luis Munuera. Then Yoann & Vehlmann took over the never-ending procession of amazing adventures…

Multi-award-winning French comics author Fabien Vehlman was born in 1972, began his comics career in 1996 and has been favourably likened to René Goscinny. He’s probably still best known for Green Manor (illustrated by Denis Bodart), Seven Psychopaths with Sean Phillips, Seuls (drawn by Bruno Gazzotti and available in English as Alone), Wondertown with Benoit Feroumont and Isle of 1,000,000 Graves with Jason.

Yoann Chivard was born in October 1971 and drawing non-stop by age five. With qualifications in Plastic Arts and a degree in Communication from the Academy of Fine Arts in Angers, he became a poster/advertising artist whilst just dabbling in comics. His creations include Phil Kaos and Dark Boris for British Indie publications Deadline and Inkling, Toto l’Ornithorynque, Nini Rezergoude, La Voleuse de Pere-Fauteuil, Ether Glister and Bob Marone and he has contributed to Trondheim & Sfar’s Donjon. In 2006, Yoann was the first artist to produce a Spirou et Fantasio one shot Special. It was scripted by Vehlmann…

As globe-trotting journalists, Spirou and Fantasio regularly voyage to dangerously exotic places, uncover crimes, explore the fantastic and clash with exotic archenemies like Fantasio’s deranged and wicked cousin Zantafio and maddest of Mad Scientists, Zorglub. In 2011 one adventure (vol. 20 The Dark Side of the Z) saw Zorglub abduct them to the Moon where Spirou became a werewolf in a resort playground for the ultra-super-rich. It’s also – as we see here – where they first met their most insidious, pitiless and realistic supervillain…

As Spirou & Fantasio – dans les griffes de la vipère this cautionary tale from 2013 was the 53rd collected album in a series collectively approaching a landmark 100 volumes…

As Spirou chills out at a collectors market he meets excitable fan Annie: an adventure-hungry child determined to a roving reporter one day. The shy hero’s ego boost soon takes a hard knock however, as news comes that their magazine is being sued for inciting violence in children. The day in court is a disaster as seductive, bellicose lawyer Miss Jones, hired by affronted parents, makes the troubleshooters look like monsters, runs rings around Fantasio’s counsel and wins a million Euros in compensation from the deflated defendants. With ruin staring them in the face, the shocked wanderers wonder what they can do next. Miraculously, Spirou gets a visitation from his greatest hero…

Based on LJdS co-star Jean Valhardi, “Detective-Explorer” Gil Braveheart was downcast Spirou’s inspiration when he was growing up, and has again come to the rescue, offering to find a new investor to save the magazine…

He soon puts S&F in touch with an investment fund that will pay the parents off and fund continued publication, but as the heroes foolishly breeze past all the pages of a vast contract, Spirou sees old frenemy Cellophine being threatened by two very burly men-in-suits. All her efforts though cannot stop the lads signing on with the Viper Corporation…

Now paid incomprehensible amounts of money every month, Spirou and Fantasio initially flounder before simply giving it away to charities and good causes, but soon become bored as exploits and adventures apparently dry up. Soon after, Braveheart invites Spirou to visit Viper’s higher ups in their paradisical Marmalade Islands super resort and at last the canny crusader wises up. He’s blindly strolled into the most devious trap ever devised…

Again confronting one of the idle, petty super-rich magnates he’d met and disrespected on the Moon, Spirou realises all the power of money has been utilised to neutralise his friends and allies, obtrusively surveille his entire life and manipulate him into contractually and legally surrendering all aspects of his own life. He’s a brand of the corporation now and will do what he’s told when he’s told to, just like all the other heroes the top plutocrat has spitefully obtained in his constant search for meaning and validation and to counter his overwhelming boredom…

Trapped in a gilded cage and denied nothing except liberty, autonomy, fresh thrills and fun, Spirou refuses to bow to the admittedly heavenly, sybaritic life. Even sad broken Gil Braveheart’s admonishments can’t stop him making a bid for freedom, evading all the bugging tech and brutal heavies money can buy by recruiting brave Annie to act as his long-distance agent…

And then, after much preparation Spirou makes his break and the chase is on all over the Earth, but as the reporter seeks sanctuary, his flight across the globe and the way Viper treats ordinary people begins to inspire long-corrupted heroes and a way is found to reverse the intolerable situation. It’s not legal but it is unassailable and unstoppable…

Rocket-paced, action-packed, compellingly convoluted and with just the right blend of absurdity and helter-skelter excitement, In the Clutches of the Viper is a wry romp that is also genuinely terrifying, capturing the zeitgeist of modern concerns about the power of unchecked wealth and influence – and lawyers! This is pure cartoon gold, truly deserving of reaching the widest audience possible.
© Dupuis 2013, by Vehlmann, Yoann. All rights reserved. English translation © 2025 Cinebook Ltd.

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The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime vs The Crime Genie (volume 3)


By Jerry Siegel & Reg Bunn, with Geoff Campion, David Sque, Jesús Blasco & various (Rebellion)
ISBN 978-1-83786-173-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

I once again find myself in a quandary. When seriously reviewing something you must always keep a weather eye on your critical criteria. For me, the biggest danger when looking at comic collections is to ensure the removal of the nostalgia-tinted spectacles of the excitable, uncritical scruffy little kid who adored and devoured the source material every week in the long ago and long-missed.

However, after thoroughly scrutinising myself – no pleasant task, as you can imagine – I can honestly say that not only are the adventures of the macabre and malevolent Spider as engrossing and enjoyable as I remember, but will also provide the newest, most contemporary reader with a huge hit of superb artwork, compelling, caper-style cops ‘n’ robbers fantasy and thrill-a-minute adventure. After all, the strip usually ran two (later three) pages per episode, so a lot had to happen in pretty short order.

A triumphant beacon of Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics line, The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime vs. The Crime Genie is the latest offering in what I hope will be a complete revival of the UK’s most marvellous vintage comics fantasies (bring on Smoke Man, Tri Man, Gadget Man & Gimmick Kid – we can take it!). Gathering material from peerless weekly anthology Lion and Champion spanning February 4th 1967- May 20th 1967, plus pertinent extracts from Lion Annual 1968 and 1969.

Mystery criminal genius and eventual superhero The Spider debuted on June 26th 1965 and reigned supreme until April 26th 1969. He has periodically returned in reprint form and occasional new stories ever since. As first introduced by Ted Cowan (Ginger Nutt, Paddy Payne, Adam Eterno, Robot Archie) & Reg Bunn (Robin Hood, Buck Jones, Captain Kid, Clip McCord), the moody malcontent was an enigmatic super-scientist whose goal was to be acclaimed the greatest criminal of all time. The flamboyantly wicked narcissist began his public career by recruiting crime specialists – safecracker Roy Ordini and genteelly evil genius inventor Professor Pelham – prior to a massive gem-theft from America’s greatest city. He was foiled by cruel luck and resolute cops Gilmore and Trask: crack detectives cursed with the task of capturing the arachnid arch-villain.

Cowan scripted the first two serialised sagas before handing over to comics royalty: Jerry Siegel (Superman, Superboy, The Spectre, Doctor Occult, Slam Bradley, Funnyman, The Mighty Crusaders, Starling), who had been forced to look elsewhere for work after an infamous dispute with DC Comics over the rights to the Man of Steel. His supervision of UK arachnid amazement began just as Britain and the entire, but less fab & groovy world succumbed to “Batmania”. In case you’re not old, the term covers a period of global hysteria sparked by the 1966 Batman TV show, as the planet went crazy for superheroes and an era dubbed “camp” saw humour, satire, and fantastic psychedelic whimsy infect all categories of entertainment. It was a time of peace, love, wild music and radical change, and I believe there were lots of drugs being experimented with at the time…

British comics were not immune, and a host of more conventional costumed crusaders sprang up in our traditionally unconventional pages. Scripted by the godfather of the genre – and an inveterate humourist – The Spider skilfully shifted gears without a squeak and became a superhero, battling in rapid succession The Exterminator, Crime Incorporated, The Silhouette, Dr. Mysterioso, The Android Emperor, The Infernal Gadgeteer, and The Crook From Outer Space…

Played out for months at breakneck rollercoaster pace, each monochrome story positively bulged with imaginative ingenuity, manic combats and crazy inventions peppering wide-eyed British kids with a bizarre conception of the USA. The strip grew ever more popular and by the time of this epic encounter demanded a full 5 pagers per episode, in a periodical where one or two pages a week was the norm. At the height of its creativity The Spider embraced full on surrealism in the tale as petty convict and recently escaped fugitive from a chain gang Steve Gurko finds a bottle with a djinn inside and strikes the deal of a lifetime…

Gifted with unlimited wishes, Gurko and the Genie go on a crime rampage and draw The Spider’s attention, leading to a protracted war of fantastic creatures against the arrogant hero’s ingenuity and inventions. A masterpiece of illustrative wonderment displaying Reg Bunn’s incredible gift for visualisation, the lengthy campaign finds The Spider, Pelham & Ordini facing hyper-enlarged insects, banishment to other eras, ancient warriors, terrible titans, wicked wizards, an army of modern mobsters, monstrous disembodied limbs, legions of trolls and giants, swarms of flying “stingers”, invading transdimensional “monstrogs”, erupting volcanoes, rampaging dinosaurs, missing links and Gurko himself willingly transformed into a super-heated “Sun-Man”…

Eventually, when he’s fed up with Gurko’s insipid uninspired ideas, the immortal genie turns on his Master and sets out to punish the infernal humans who have constantly escaped and humiliated him, and then the war gets really wild. Ultimately however, The Spider’s brain proves too much for ancient mystical brawn, especially after the increasing incensed apparition angers fellow mystical immortal Queen Lana of Valley of the Doomed…

It could have all ended there, but for the haughty Spider rebuffing her amorous advances and offers of alliance…

The climax comes when the retrenching genie mind controls the police as his new army and sets colossal arachnids on the hero, only to fall for a slick piece of conceptual sleight of hand and return to his own specialised “glass house”…

The months-long miracle war concluded, there’s still space for some extras, beginning with comic romp ‘The Spider and the Stone of Venus’. Illustrated by David Sque (The Skid Kids, Roy of the Rovers, Scorer) for Lion Annual 1968 and set when the Spider was seeking to shed his villainous, past it sees rival arch fiend Mister Mastermind frame him for a jewel theft and regret his folly very much indeed…

A year later an untitled Spider text story – lavishly adorned with Geoff (Battler Britton, Captain Condor, Typhoon Tracy, The Spellbinder, Captain Hurricane, D-Day Dawson) Campion illustrations – revealed how an army of assassins play on their enemy’s immense ego and successfully invade his castle as a film crew seeking to record his greatness for history. Sadly for them, even the Spider isn’t that vain…

Also from Lion Annual 1969, a second treat sees comics master Jesús Blasco (Steel Claw, Tex Willer, Buffalo Bill, Cuto, Capitán Trueno) limn a brutal war of wills and inventions as a fascistic tyrant threatens civilisation with his super weapons only to fall to the Spider’s boldness and amazing arachnid arsenal…

Completing the vintage treats is a full colour cover gallery, a Crime Syndicate pinup by Campion from Lion Summer Special 1968 and creator biographies. This compilation of retro/camp masterpieces is jam-packed with arcane dialogue, insane devices and outrageous antics that are perhaps an acquired taste. However, no one with functioning eyes can fail to be astounded by the artwork of Reg “crosshatch king” Bunn which handles mood, spectacle, action and Siegel’s frankly unbelievable script demands with captivating aplomb.

This titanic tome confirms that the King is back at last and should find a home in every kid’s heart and mind, no matter how young they might be, or threaten to remain. Batty, baroque and often simply bonkers, The Spider proves that although crime does not pay, it always provides a huge amount of white-knuckle fun…
© 1967, 1968, 1969, 2024 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke


By Matthieu Bonhomme: and translated by Montana Kane/Jerome Saincantin (Europe Comics/Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-063-0 (Cinebook PB Album/Digital edition)

Lucky Luke was created in 1946 by Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de Bévère (AKA “Morris”), first riding out in Le Journal de Spirou that summer sans any title or banner, and only in the French-language edition. His official launch came with Christmas Annual L’Almanach Spirou 1947, before beginning his first weekly serial adventure – ‘Arizona 1880’ – in December 7th 1946’s multinational weekly issue.

Doughty, rangy, and dashingly dependable, the cowboy is an implacably even-tempered do-gooder who can “draw faster than his own shadow”, amiably ambling around a mythic, cinematically realised Old West on his petulant, stingingly sarcastic wonder-horse Jolly Jumper in light-hearted adventures. Ever since that natal moment, his exploits in LJdS – and, from 1967, in rival periodical Pilote – have made the sharpshooter a legend of stories across all media and monument of merchandising.

Working solo with occasional script assistance from his brother Louis, Morris produced 10 albums worth of affectionate and thrilling sagebrush parody before formally uniting with René Goscinny, who became regular wordslinger with Des rails sur la Prairie (Rails on the Prairie), which commenced in LJdS on August 25th 1955. They literarily rode together on another 44 albums whilst Luke attained dizzying heights of superstardom. The partnership continued when the six-gun straight-shooter switched teams, transferring to Goscinny’s own magazine Pilote with La Diligence (The Stagecoach). When Goscinny died, Morris continued both singly and with fresh collaborators. The dream team’s last ride was 1986’s La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires/The Ballad Of The Daltons and Other Stories.

Ultimately the grand originator invited an inspiring passel of legacy creators to step in: luminaries like Achdé & Laurent Gerra, Benacquista & Pennac, Xavier Fauche, Jean Léturgie, Jacques Pessis and more, who all took their own shots at the lovable lone rider. Morris died in 2001, having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus an assortment of sidebar and spin-off sagebrush sagas such as the one we’re scrutinising today. Since 2016 Julien Berjeaut, AKA Jul (Silex and the City) has handled the tall tale telling…

Lucky is one of the top-ranked comic characters in the world, having generated 94 albums (if you count spin-off series like Kid Lucky and Ran-Tan-Plan, and artist’s specials) with sales well north of 300 million in 33 languages. That renown has translated into a mountain of merchandise, toys, games, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies and even commemorative exhibitions. No theme park yet, but you never know…

Our taciturn trailblazer’s travails draw on western history as much as movie mythology and regularly interact with historical and legendary figures as well as even odder fictional folk as he re-explores and refines key themes of classic cowboy films – as well as some uniquely European notions and interpretations. As previously hinted, the happy wanderer is not averse to being a figure of political change and Weapon of Mass Satire …but not in this primal, purely-classic-western-influenced outing. Here the entire premise is played dead straight…

We Brits first encountered Lucky Luke in the late 1950s, syndicated to weekly comic Film Fun, and again in 1967 in Giggle, where he blazed trails as Buck Bingo. In all these venues – as well as in numerous attempts to capitalise on the English-language success of Tintin and Asterix albums from Brockhampton and Knight Books – Luke had a trademark cigarette hanging insouciantly from his lip. In 1983 Morris – no doubt amidst both pained howls and muted mutterings of political correctness gone mad – substituted a piece of straw for the much-travelled dog-end, which garnered him an official tip of the hat from the World Health Organization. The classic snout is notionally back here and plays a large part in how an uncharacteristically grim saga unfolds…

Scion of an artistic family, Matthieu Bonhomme received his degree in Applied Arts in 1992, before learning the comics trade working in the atelier of western and historical comics specialist Christian Rossi. Le Marquis d’Anaon was Bonhomme’s first regular series, running from 2002-2008, after which he began writing as well as illustrating a variety of tales from L’Age de Raison, Le Voyage d’Esteban, and others.

When invited to craft his own take on a comics megastar, in 2016 he delivered L’Homme qui tua Lucky Luke: a wry but strictly serious pastiche of the parody western pioneer that successfully answered the question “what if they dropped all the funny bits and (mostly) played the hero as straight as the classic cinema fare he’s usually spoofing?” The gimmick clearly hit a cord as he was asked back and in 2022 released second shot Wanted: Lucky Luke, which we’ll get to another day…

The result was first translated in 2016 by digital-only comics collective Europe Comics (which I’m referencing here today) but the tale is also available as part of the Cinebook Lucky Luke Library available both on paper and in pixel pictures. The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke is a deliciously enticing drama with notes and references to many US western movies anyone over 40 has seen – usually beside a parent or grandparent – that tips its Stetson to the glory days of shoot-‘em-ups. You can play spot the movie reference on your own time, but yes, it’s notionally based on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, with hints of The Big Country, 1957’s Gunfight at the OK Corral and more…

One cold, wet night, a lone rider ambles into sleazy, dying mining outpost Froggy Town. The dank muddy dump is hardly welcoming, as it still reels from a recent robbery that took away the last of the gold the mines seem to contain, Moreover, the taking of those few nuggets by a mysterious Indian left beloved stagecoach driver Bob dead in the dust…

Tired, hungry and desperate for a smoke, the legendary good-guy gunslinger is inexplicably provoked by incompetent sheriff James Bone and his lethal, brooding brother Anton, and only coughing, slowly expiring veteran shootist Doc Wednesday is able to defuse what might have become another tragedy.

Fed and watered, Luke’s luck seems to be turning, but even the little metropolis can’t supply all his needs. There’s no tobacco to be had at any price since the robbery…

Moreover, the dogged, reputation-obsessed brothers conspire to get Lucky out of the way and Luke, still thwarted in every attempt to get some tobacco, tetchily starts to feel the Bone boys aren’t quite right in the head… and he hasn’t even met big brother Steve yet…

In that diagnosis he’s not wrong, and the assessment is even more true of their miner father. Big shot Pa Bone founded Froggy Town with his first big strike, runs roughshod over the townsfolk, literally rules his sons with a rod of iron and is desperate to save the place from fading away as the precious ore peters out…

Luke’s reputation prompts a citizens committee to appoint him to investigate the robbery/ murder, hoping to catch the enigmatic Indian and recover the gold, but the Bone boys sabotage his every effort, even confiscating his gun and Jolly Jumper and “losing” them… and that’s before old flame Laura Legs shows up, betrothed to Anton…

Distracted, jonesing for a smoke and outwitted at every turn, Luke is even framed for the crime after Pa Bone suddenly saves the town by “finding” more gold, but the tissue of lies is starting to tear. When the old man shoots Luke – in the back – the tragedy sparks a lynch mob and the true finally emerges, but far too late for some…

Not without humour – but not the raucous slapstick Luke’s readers are used to – this is a beguiling tribute to traditional western tales, asking Europe’s most famous cowboy to play against type and the trick works perfectly. If you ever wondered what Lucky would be like as a straight Gallic-framed hero like Blueberry or Red Dust (in Comanche) this is the book for you…
© 2016 – LUCKY COMICS – Bonhomme. All rights reserved. English translation © 2021 Cinebook Ltd.

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DC Finest: Metamorpho – The Element Man


By Bob Haney, Gardner Fox, Ramona Fradon, Joe Orlando, Sal Trapani, Chic Stone, Jack Sparling, Charles Paris, Mike Sekowsky, Jim Aparo, Mike Esposito, Bernard Sachs & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-184-8 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

It’s a big year for comics anniversaries, and we can’t let this special guy go unmentioned – especially as he’s in this years much-debated new Superman blockbuster.

Sadly, most of his far & wide back catalogue is still unavailable even in digital formats, and when the star is as long-lived and media-present as this guy that’s an awful lot of extra appearances for a fan to find. Maybe this book and the film will act as a catalyst for DC to get a move on…

By the time Metamorpho, The Element Man was introduced to an increasingly superhero-obsessed world, the first vestiges of a certifiable boom were just becoming apparent. As such, his light-hearted, nigh-absurdist blue-collar take struck a Right-Time, Right-Place chord, blending far out adventure with tongue-in-cheek comedy. The bold, brash – often positively vulgar – “Man of a Thousand Elements” debuted in The Brave and the Bold #57, cover-dated January 1965 and on sale from October 29th 1964: just in time for Halloween. After a second try-out tale in the next issue, he and his crackers cast catapulted right into a solo title for an eclectic, oddly engaging 17-issue run augmented by plenty of opportunistic guest shots. Sadly, this canny compendium – collecting all those eccentric debut adventures from B&B #57- 58, 66, 68 & 101, Metamorpho, The Element Man #1-17 and Justice League of America #42 – is at present unavailable in digital formats too.

Sans dreary preamble, the action commences immediately with ‘The Origin of Metamorpho’, written by Bob Haney, who created the concept and character and wrote everything here bar the Justice League story. The captivating art is by Ramona Fradon & Charles Paris and introduces glamorous he-man Soldier of Fortune Rex Mason: employed as a globetrotting artefact-procurer and agent for ruthlessly acquisitive scientific genius/business tycoon Simon Stagg. Mason is obnoxious, tough talking and insolent, but his biggest fault as far as the boss is concerned is that the mercenary dares to love – and be loved by – the plutocrat’s only daughter Sapphire…

Determined to rid himself of the impudent “fortune-hunter”, Stagg sends his potential son-in-law to Egypt tasked with retrieving fantastic artefact the Orb of Ra from the lost pyramid of Ahk-Ton. The tomb raider is accompanied only by Java: formerly a fossilised Neanderthal corpse Rex had extracted from a swamp and whom Stagg subsequently restored to life. Mason plans to take his final fabulous fee and whisk Sapphire away from her controlling father forever, but fate and his companion have other plans…

Utterly faithful to the scientific wizard who was his saviour, Java sabotages the mission, leaving Mason to die in the tomb, victim of an ancient, glowing meteor. The man-brute rushes back to his master, carrying the Orb and fully expecting Stagg to honour his promise and give him Sapphire in marriage. Meanwhile, trapped and painfully aware his time has come, Mason swallows a suicide pill as the scorching star-stone rays burn through him…

Instead of death relieving his torment, Rex mutates into a ghastly chemical freak able to shapeshift and transform into any of the elements or compounds that comprised his human body: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, iron, cobalt and so many others…

Hungry for vengeance, Mason returns to confront his betrayers, only to be overcome by alien energies emanating from the Orb of Ra. An uneasy détente is declared as Mason accepts Stagg’s desperate offer to cure him – “if possible”. The senior Stagg is further horrified when Rex reveals his condition to Sapphire and finds she still loves him. Totally unaware of his employer’s depths of duplicity, Mason starts working for the tycoon as metahuman problem-solver Metamorpho, the Element Man…

Brave and the Bold #58 (February-March 1965) reveals more of Stagg’s closeted skeletons when old business partner Maxwell Tremayne kidnaps the Element Man and later abducts Sapphire to ‘The Junkyard of Doom!’ Apparently, the deranged armaments manufacturer was once intimately acquainted with the girl’s mother and never quite got over it…

The test comics an unqualified success, Metamorpho promptly started in his own title, cover-dated July-August 1965 and on sale from May 27th, just as a wildly tongue-in-cheek “High Camp” craze was catching on in all areas of popular culture. This blended ironic vaudevillian kitsch with ancient movie premises as theatrical mad scientists and scurrilous spies began appearing absolutely everywhere…

‘Attack of the Atomic Avenger’ sees nuclear nut-job Kurt Vornak seeking to crush Stagg Industries, only to be turned into a deadly, planet-busting radioactive super-atom, after which fashionably foreboding ‘Terror from the Telstar’ pits our charismatic characters against Nicholas Balkan, a ruthless criminal boss set on sabotaging America’s Space Program. Manic multi-millionaire T.T. Trumbull uses his own daughter Zelda to get to Simon Stagg through his heart, accidentally proving to all that the old goat actually has one. This was part of TT’s attempt to seize control of America in ‘Who Stole the U.S.A.?’ with the ambitious would-be despot backing up the scheme with an incredible robot specifically designed to murder Metamorpho. Happily, Rex Mason’s guts and ingenuity prove more effective than the Element Man’s astonishing powers…

America saved, the dysfunctional family head South of the Border, becoming embroiled in ‘The Awesome Escapades of the Abominable Playboy’ as Stagg schemes to marry Sapphire off to Latino Lothario Cha Cha Chavez. The spoiled, wilful child is simply trying to make Mason jealous and has no idea of Daddy’s true plans whilst Stagg senior has no conception of Chavez’s real intentions… or connections to the local tin-pot dictator…

With this issue gloriously stylish innovator Ramona Fradon left the series, to be replaced by two artists who strove to emulate her unique, gently madcap manner of drawing with varying degrees of success. Luckily, veteran inker Charles Paris stayed on to smooth out rough edges.

Before we see them though, the buzz extended to a quick guest shot in a top mainstream title.

A classic romp written by Gardner Fox and illustated by Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs, Justice League of America #42 (February 1966) sees the reluctant hero joyfully join the World’s Greatest Superheroes to defeat cosmic menace The Unimaginable. The grateful champions instantly offer him membership but are astounded when – and why – ‘Metamorpho Says… No!’:

In Metamorpho #5 the first substitute was E.C. veteran Joe Orlando whose 2-issue tenure began with outrageous doppelganger drama ‘Will the Real Metamorpho Please Stand Up?’ wherein eccentric architect Edifice K. Bulwark wants Mason to lend his abilities to his chemical skyscraper project. When Metamorpho declines, Bulwark and Stagg attempt to create their own Element Man with predictably disastrous consequences. ‘Never Bet Against an Element Man!’ (#6 May-June 1966) then takes the team to the French Riviera as gambling grandee Achille Le Heele snookers Stagg and wins “ownership” of Metamorpho. The Gallic toad’s ultimate goal was stealing the world’s seven greatest wonders (including the Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower) and, somehow, only the Element Man can make that happen…

Elemental entertainment returned to The Brave and the Bold in #66 (June/July 1966) as ‘Wreck the Renegade Robots’ by Haney, Sekowsky & Mike Esposito sees a mad scientist usurp control of the Metal Men just as their creator Will Magnus is preoccupied with a cure to turn Metamorpho back into an ordinary mortal…

Sal Trapani began drawing the regular title with #7’s ‘Terror from Fahrenheit 5,000!’ as the acronymic superspy fad hit hard. Metamorpho is enlisted by the C.I.A. to stop suicidal maniac Otto Von Stuttgart destroying the entire planet by dropping a nuke into the Earth’s core, before costumed villain Doc Dread is countered by an undercover Metamorpho becoming ‘Element Man, Public Enemy!’ in a diabolical caper of doom and double-cross.

B & B #68 (October/November 1966), the still chemically active crimebuster battles popular TV Bat-Baddies The Joker, Penguin and Riddler as well as a fearsomely mutated Caped Crusader in thoroughly bizarre tale ‘Alias the Bat-Hulk!’ – both yarns courtesy of Haney, Mike Sekowsky & Mike Esposito.

Metamorpho #9 shifted to classic fantasy when suave and sinister despot El Mantanzas maroons the cast in ‘The Valley That Time Forgot!’: battling cavemen and antediluvian alien automatons, after which a new catalysing element is added in ‘The Sinister Snares of Stingaree!’ This yarn introduces Urania Blackwell – a secret agent somehow transformed into an Element Girl and sharing all Metamorpho’s incredible abilities. Not only is she dedicated to eradicating evil like criminal cabal Cyclops, but Urania is also the perfect paramour for Rex, who even cancels his wedding to Sapphire to go gangbusting with her…

With a new frisson of sexual chemistry sizzling barely beneath the surface, ‘They Came from Beyond?’ finds a conflicted Element Man confronting an apparent alien invasion whilst ‘The Trap of the Test-Tube Terrors!’ sees another attempt to cure Rex of his unwanted powers. This allows mad scientist Franz Zorb access to Stagg Industry labs long enough to build an army of chemical horrors. The plot thickens with Zorb’s theft of a Nucleonic Moleculizer, prompting continuation in #13 wherein Urania is abducted only to triumphantly experience ‘The Return from Limbo’…

Prior to that, however, the tone of the times dictated the birth of a new – comedic – feature as ‘Meta-Maniacs of the World Unite!’ exposes domestic secrets of the cast. A second dose, ‘Meta-Maniacs of the World Unite… Again??’ closed the issue and even more in-vogue nonsense closed #14 in the form of ‘Meta-Maniacs of the Universe (we’re expanding) Unite… Once More??’

Events and stories grew increasingly outlandish and outrageous as TV’s superhero craze intensified, and ‘Enter the Thunderer!’ (#14, September/October 1967) depicted Rex pulled between Sapphire and Urania whilst marauding extraterrestrial Neutrog terrorises the world in preparation for the arrival of his mighty mutant master. The next instalment augured an ‘Hour of Armageddon!’ as the uniquely menacing Thunderer takes control of Earth until boy genius Billy Barton aids the Elemental defenders in defeating the alien horrors. The drama closed with more silliness and a competition in ‘Meta-Maniacs of the World, This is it… The Big Payola!’

Trapani inked himself for Metamorpho #16: an homage to H. Rider Haggard’s She novels (and the 1965 movie blockbuster) wherein ‘Jezeba, Queen of Fury!’ changes the Element Man’s life forever. When Sapphire marries playboy Wally Bannister, the heartbroken Element Man undertakes a mission to find the lost city of Ma-Phoor and encounters an undying beauty who wants to conquer the world… and who just happens to be Sapphire’s exact double.

Moreover, the immortal empress of a lost civilisation once loved an Element Man of her own: a Roman soldier named Algon who became a chemical warrior 2000 years previously. Believing herself reunited with her lost love, Jezeba finally launches a long-delayed attack on the outside world with disastrous, tragic consequences…

‘Metamaniacs! The Large Payola… Again???’ and a cast pinup by Fradon & Paris stridently underscore the parlous state of play before the oddly appetising series came to a shuddering, unsatisfactory halt with the next issue as the superhero bubble burst. Costumed comic characters suffered their second recession in 15 years and Metamorpho was an early casualty, cancelled just as (or perhaps because) the series was emerging from its quirky comedic shell with the March/April 1968 issue. Illustrated by Jack Sparling, ‘Last Mile for an Element Man!’ sees Mason tried – and executed! – for the murder of Bannister, resurrected by Urania Blackwell and set on the trail of true killer Algon. Consequently, Mason and Element Girl uncover a vast conspiracy and rededicate themselves to defending humanity at all costs. The tale ends on a never-resolved cliffhanger: when Metamorpho was revived as a back-up feature some years later no mention was ever made of these last game-changing issues…

Before that though, one final indigity to endure offers a last look at the cast as‘Meta-Maniacs of East Cupcake (wherever that is), Unite! More Mighty Element Man Contest Winners!’

delivers the last edirorial duties before the lights went out.

The final exploit in this volume as comes from Brave and the Bold #101 (April/May 1972) as, Haney & Jim Aparo close proceedings with a grim and gritty finish for our hero when he assists the World’s Greatest Detective in outrageous murder-mystery ‘Cold-Blood, Hot Gun!’: seeking to save stubborn disinherited Sapphire Stagg from the World’s deadliest hitman.

Individually enticing, always exciting but oddly frustrating in total, this book will delight readers who aren’t too wedded to cloying continuity but simply seek a few moments of casual, fantastic escapism.
© 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.