Category: Adventure

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Challengers of the Unknown by Jack Kirby


By Jack Kirby, France “Ed” Herron, Dave Wood, Roz Kirby, George Klein, Bruno Premiani, Marvin Stein, Wally Wood & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7719-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

The Challengers of the Unknown were a bridging concept between the fashionably All-American, verifiably human trouble-shooters who monopolised comic books for the majority of the 1950s and the reimagined costumed mystery men who would soon return to take over the industry.

As superheroes began popping up mid-decade, in 1956 came a super-team – the first of the Silver Age – with no powers, the most basic and utilitarian of uniforms and the most dubious of motives… Suicide by Mystery. Nevertheless their launch was arguably the second most important event of the Silver Age

Crucially, they were a huge hit from the get-go, striking a chord that lasted for over a decade before they finally died… only to rise again and yet again. The very idea of them was stirring enough, but their initial execution made their success inevitable.

Jack Kirby was – and remains – the most important single influence in the history of American comics. There are quite rightly millions of words written about what the man has done and meant (such as Paul Kupperberg’s enthusiastic Introduction and John Morrow’s pithy Afterword in this superb compilation), and you should read those if you are at all interested in our medium.

I’m still going to add a few words to that superabundance here: one of his best and most influential projects which, like so many others, he perfectly constructed before moving on, leaving highly competent but never quite as inspired talents to build upon.

When the comics industry suffered a paranoia-induced, witch-hunt-caused collapse in the mid-50’s, Kirby returned briefly to DC Comics to produce tales of suspense and science fiction for the company’s line of mystery anthologies. In a few episodes, he also revitalised Green Arrow (then simply a back-up strip in Adventure Comics) whilst creating the newspaper strip Sky Masters of the Space Force.

At the same time he also re-packaged for Showcase (the try-out title that launched many Silver Age DC mainstays) an off-kilter team concept that had been kicking around in his head since he and long-time collaborator Joe Simon had closed their innovative but ill-timed Prize/Essankay/Mainline Comics ventures.

After years of working for others, Simon & Kirby finally established their own publishing company: producing comics with a much more sophisticated audience in mind. That happened mere months before an industry-wide sales downturn amidst a changing society awash with public hysteria generated by the anti-comic book pogrom spearheaded by US Senator Estes Kefauver and pop psychologist Dr. Frederic Wertham.

Simon quit the business for advertising, but Kirby soldiered on, taking his skills and ideas to a number of safer, more conservative and less experimental companies.

The Challengers were four ordinary mortals; explorers and adventurers who walked away unscathed from a terrible plane crash. Already obviously what we’d now call “adrenaline junkies”, pilot Ace Morgan, diver Prof Haley, acrobat and mountaineer Red Ryan and wrestler Rocky Davis summarily decided that since they were all living on borrowed time anyway, they would dedicate what remained of their lives to testing themselves and fate. They would risk their lives for Knowledge and, naturally, Justice.

The series launched with ‘The Secrets of the Sorcerer’s Box!’ in Showcase #6 (cover-dated January/February 1957 – so it was on spinner-racks and news-stands in time for Christmas 1956). Kirby and scripter Dave Wood, plus inkers Marvin Stein and Jack’s wife Roz, crafted a spectacularly creepy epic wherein the freshly introduced doom-chasers were commissioned by duplicitous magician Morelian to open an ancient container holding otherworldly secrets and powers.

The story roars along with all the tension and wonder of the B-movie thrillers it emulates and Jack’s awesome drawing resonates with power and dynamism, which grew even greater for the sequel: a science fiction drama instigated after an alliance of leftover Nazi technologists and contemporary American criminals unleashes a terrible robotic threat. ‘Ultivac is Loose!’ (Showcase #7, March/April 1957) introduced a necessary standard appendage of the times and the B-movie genre in the form of brave, capable, brilliant and beautiful-when-she-took-her-labcoat-off boffin Dr. June Robbins, who became the no-nonsense, ultra-capable (if unofficial) fifth Challenger at a time when most funnybook females had returned to a subsidiary status in that so-conventional, repressive era.

The uncanny exploits paused for a sales audit and the team didn’t reappear until Showcase #11 (November/December 1957) allowing The Flash and Lois Lane their respective second shots at the big time. When the Challengers returned, it was in alien invasion epic ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’.

Uniquely engaging comics realist Bruno Premiani (a former associate and employee from Kirby’s Prize Comics days) came aboard to ink a taut doomsday chiller keeping readers on the edge of their seats even today, and in their final Showcase outing (#12, January/February 1958) the Questing Quartet were preparing a move into their own title.

‘The Menace of the Ancient Vials’ was defused by the usual blend of daredevil heroics and inspired ingenuity. The wonderful inking of George Klein adding subtle clarity to a tale of an international criminal who steals ancient weapons that threaten the entire world if misused), but the biggest buzz would come two months later with the first issue of their own magazine.

Written and drawn by Kirby with Stein on inks, Challengers of the Unknown #1 (May 1958) presented two complete stories plus an iconic introductory page that would become almost a signature logo for the team.

‘The Man Who Tampered with Infinity’ pits the heroes against a renegade scientist whose cavalier dabbling unleashes dreadful monsters from the beyond onto our defenceless planet, before the team are actually abducted by aliens in ‘The Human Pets’: forced to win their freedom and a rapid rocket-ship (sphere actually) ride home…

The same team were responsible for both tales in issue #2. ‘The Traitorous Challenger’ is a disturbing monster mystery, with June returning to sabotage a mission in the Australian Outback for the very best of reasons. Then, ‘The Monster Maker’ finds the team seemingly helpless against super-criminal Roc who can conjure and animate solid objects out of his thoughts.

Issue #3 features ‘Secret of the Sorcerer’s Mirror’ with Roz Kirby & Marvin Stein again inking The King’s mesmerising pencils as the fantastic foursome pursue a band of criminals whose magic looking-glass can locate deadly ancient weapons. Undoubtedly, though, the most intriguing tale for fans and historians of the medium is ‘The Menace of the Invincible Challenger’, wherein team strongman Rocky is rocketed into space, only to crash back to Earth with strange, uncanny powers.

For years the obvious similarities of this group – especially this yarn – to the origin of Marvel’s Fantastic Four (#1 cover-dated November 1961) have fuelled fan speculation. In all honesty I simply don’t care. They’re similar but different enough, and equally enjoyable so read both. In fact, read them all.

With #4, the series became visually immaculate as the sheer brilliance of Wally Wood’s inking elevated illustration to unparalleled heights. The scintillant sheen and limpid depth of Woody’s brushwork fostered an abiding authenticity in even the most outrageous of Kirby’s designs and the result is – even now – simply breathtaking.

‘The Wizard of Time’ is a full-length masterpiece that opens with a series of bizarre robberies leading the team to a scientist with a time-machine. By visiting historical oracles, rogue researcher Darius Tiko has divined a path to the far future. When he gets there, he intends to rob it blind, but the Challengers find a way to follow and foil him…

‘The Riddle of the Star-Stone’ (#5) is a full-length contemporary thriller, wherein an archaeologist’s assistant uncovers an alien tablet bestowing various super-powers when different gems are inserted into it. The exotic locales and non-stop action are intoxicating, but Kirby’s solid characterisation and ingenious writing are what make this such a compelling read.

Scripter Dave Wood returned for #6’s first story. ‘Captives of the Space Circus’ sees the team shanghaied from Earth to perform in an interplanetary travelling carnival, before the evil ringmaster is promptly outfoxed and they return for France “Ed” Herron’s mystic saga ‘The Sorceress of Forbidden Valley’. Here, June becomes an amnesiac puppet in a power struggle between a fugitive gangster and a ruthless feudal potentate.

Issue #7 offers another daring double-feature: both scripted by Herron. First comes relatively straightforward alien-safari saga ‘The Beasts from Planet 9’, but it’s followed by a much more intriguing yarn. On the ‘Isle of No Return’, the “Challs” face a super-scientific bandit whose shrinking ray leaves them all mouse-sized….

Concluding Kirby-crafted issue #8 (July 1959) delivers a magnificent finale to a superb run as The King & Wally Wood go out in stunning style with a brace of gripping thrillers – both of which introduce menaces who would return to bedevil the team in future exploits.

Dave Wood, Kirby and the unrelated Wally Wood reveal ‘The Man Who Stole the Future’: introducing evil mastermind Drabny who steals mystic artefacts and conquers a small nation before the team dethrone him. However, although this is a tale of spectacular battles and uncharacteristic, if welcome, comedy, the real gem here is space opera tour-de-force ‘Prisoners of the Robot Planet!’ Written by Kirby (probably with Herron), it sees the human troubleshooters petitioned by a desperate alien, travelling to his distant world to liberate the organic population from bondage to their own robotic servants These have risen in revolt under the command of the fearsome autonomous automaton, Kra in a clear example of fiction foreshadowing fact. Do you know what your AIs do while you’re reading old comics…?

These are classic adventures, told in a classical manner. Kirby developed a brilliantly feasible concept with which to work and heroically archetypical characters. He then tapped into an astounding blend of genres to display their talents and courage in unforgettable exploits that informed and affected every team comic that followed – and absolutely informed his successive landmarks with Stan Lee.

But then Jack was gone…

The Challengers followed the Kirby model until cancellation in 1970, but due to a dispute with Editor Jack Schiff the writer/artist resigned at the height of his powers. The Kirby magic was impossible to match, but as with all The King’s creations, every element was in place for the successors to run with. Challengers of the Unknown #9 (September 1959) saw an increase in those fantasy elements favoured by Schiff, and perhaps an easing of the interpersonal tensions that marked previous issues (Comics Historians take another note: the Challs were bitching, bickering and barking at each other years before Marvel’s Cosmic Quartet ever boarded their fateful rocket-ship).

But that’s meat for another book and review…

Challengers of the Unknown is groundbreaking, wonderful and utterly timeless: sheer escapist thrills no fan of the medium should miss and perfect adventurers in the ideal setting of not-so-long-ago in a simpler, better galaxy than ours.
© 1957, 1958, 1959, 2003, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved

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Superman: The Silver Age Dailies volume 1 – 1959-1961


By Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye, with Otto Binder, Robert Bernstein & Jerry Coleman (IDW Publishing Library of American Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-6137-7666-7 (HB)

It’s indisputable that America’s comic book industry – if it existed at all – would be an utterly unrecognisable thing without Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s Superman. Their unprecedented invention was fervidly adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation and quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form.

Spawning an impossible army of imitators and variations within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of eye-popping action and wish-fulfilment which epitomised the early Man of Steel grew to encompass cops-&-robbers crime-busting, socially reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East dragged in America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters, all dedicated to profit through exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

In comic book terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming the shape of the fledgling funnybook industry, the Man of Tomorrow relentlessly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media.

Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic creation as epitome and acme of comic book creation, the truth is that very soon after his debut in Action Comics #1 Superman pretty much left mere funnybooks behind to become a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and Mickey Mouse.

We parochial and possessive comics fans too often regard our purest and most powerful icons in purely graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, X-Men, Avengers and Superman long ago outgrew their four-colour origins and are now fully mythologized modern media creatures instantly familiar in mass markets, platforms and age ranges.

Far more people have seen or heard the Man of Tomorrow than have ever read his comic books. The globally syndicated newspaper strips alone reached untold millions. By the time his 20th anniversary rolled around at the very start of what we know as the Silver Age of Comics, he had been a thrice-weekly radio serial regular, starred in a series of astounding animated cartoons, two chapter play serials, a movie and a novel by George Lowther.

He was a perennial success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers and had just ended his first smash live-action television serial. In his immediate future even more shows, a stage musical, a franchise of blockbuster movies and an almost seamless succession of games, bubble gum cards and TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since.

Even superdog Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for the majority of the last century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country – and planet – with millions of avid readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books. It also paid better.

Rightly so: some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were created to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them grew to be part of a global culture. Mutt and Jeff, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more escaped humble newsprint origins to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar.

Most still do…

So it was always something of a risky double-edged sword when a comic book character became so popular that they swam against the tide (after all, weren’t the funnybooks invented just to reprint the strips in cheap accessible form?) to become a genuinely mass-entertainment syndicated serial strip.

Superman was the first original comic book character to make that leap – almost as soon as he was created – but only a few have ever successfully followed. Wonder Woman (briefly), Batman (eventually), DC’s aviator Hop Harrigan and groundbreaking teen icon Archie made the jump in the 1940s and only a handful like Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian have done so since.

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

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

In 1956, Julie Schwartz opened the Silver Age with a new Flash in Showcase #4. Soon costumed crusaders were returning en masse to thrill a new generation. As the trend grew, many companies experimented with the mystery man tradition and the Superman newspaper strip began to slowly adapt: drawing closer to the revolution on the comic book pages.

As the Jet and Atomic Ages gave way to the Space-Age, the Last Son of Krypton was a vibrant yet comfortably familiar icon of domestic modern America: particularly in the constantly evolving, ever-more dramatic and imaginative comic book stories which had received such a terrific creative boost as super heroes began to proliferate once more. Since 1954, and thanks to television, the franchise had been cautiously expanding. In 1959, the Caped Kryptonian could be seen not only in Golden Age survivors Action Comics, Superman, Adventure Comics, World’s Finest Comics and Superboy, but now also in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane and soon Justice League of America. Such increased attention naturally filtered through to the more widely seen newspaper strip and resulted in a rather strange and commercially sound evolution…

After author/educator Tom De Haven’s impassioned Foreword, Sidney Friedfertig’s Introduction explains how and why Jerry Siegel was tasked with turning recently published comic book tales into daily continuities for an apparently more sophisticated and discerning newspaper readership. This meant major rewrites, frequently plot and tone changes and, in some cases, merging two stories into one.

If you’re a comic book fan, don’t be fooled: these stories are not mere rehashes, but variations on an idea for an audience perceived as completely separate from kids’ funnybooks. Even if you are familiar with the source material, the adventures gathered here will read as brand new, especially as they are gloriously illustrated by Curt Swan – and latterly Wayne Boring – at the very peak of their artistic powers.

As an added bonus the covers of the issues those adapted stories came from have been added as a full nostalgia-inducing full-colour gallery…

The astounding everyday entertainment commences with Episode #107 from April 6th to July 11th 1959. ‘Earth’s Super-Idiot!’ by Siegel, Swan & Stan Kaye is a mostly original story that borrows heavily from the author’s own ‘The Trio of Steel’ (Superman #135, February 1960, where it was drawn by Al Plastino). It details the tricks of an unscrupulous super-scientific telepathic alien producer of “Realies” who blackmails the Action Ace into making a fool and villain of himself for extraterrestrial viewers. If the hero doesn’t comply – acting the goat, performing spectacular stunts and torturing his friends – Earth will suffer the consequences…

After eventually getting the better of the UFO sleaze-bag, our hero returns to Earth with a bump and encounters ‘The Ugly Superman’ (July 13th – September 5th). First seen in Lois Lane #8 April 1959, where it was written by Robert Bernstein and illustrated by Kurt Schaffenberger, here eternal spinster Lois agrees to marry a brutish wrestler, and the Man of Tomorrow, for the most spurious of reasons, acts to foil her plans…

Episode #109 ran from September 7th to October 28th 1959, with Superman reluctantly agreeing to make a dying billionaire laugh in return for the miserable misanthrope signing over his entire fortune to charity.

Some of the apparently odd timing discrepancies in publication dates can be explained by the fact that submitted comic book stories often appeared months after they were completed, so their version of Siegel’s ‘The Super-Clown of Metropolis’ didn’t get published until Superman #136 (April 1960) where Plastino took the art in completely different directions…

‘Captive of the Amazons’ – October 29th 1959 to February 6th 1960 – merges two funnybook adventures both originally limned by Boring & Kaye. The eponymous equivalent from Action #266 (Jul 1960) was augmented by Bernstein’s ‘When Superman Lost His Powers’ (Action Comics #262) detailing how super-powered alien queen Jena came to Earth intent on making Superman her husband. On his refused she removed his Kryptonian abilities, subsequently trapping now merely mortal Clark Kent with other Daily Planet staff in a lost valley of monsters where Lois’ suspicions are again aroused…

Episode #111 ran from 8th February to 6th April. ‘The Superman of the Future’ originated in Action #256 (September 1959, by Otto Binder, Swan & Kaye). Both versions seemingly see Superman swap places with a hyper-evolved descendent intent on preventing four catastrophic historical disasters, but the incredible events are actually part of a devious hoax…

Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #10 (July 1959 by Siegel & Schaffenberger) offered up a comedy interlude as ‘The Cry-Baby of Metropolis’ (April 7th – May 28th) sees Lois terrified of losing her looks and exposing herself to a youth ray. Rapidly regenerating into an infant, she provokes much amusement in arch-rival Lana Lang… and that cad Superman…

Episode #113 May 30th – July 2nd features ‘The Super-Servant of Crime’ (Bernstein, from Superman #130, July 1959) as our hero outsmarts a petty crook who has bamboozled the Action Ace into granting him five wishes. Thereafter, ‘The Super-Sword’ (4th July to August 13th and originally by Jerry Coleman & Plastino for Superman #124, September 1958) pits the Kryptonian Crimebuster against an ancient knight with a magic blade that can penetrate his invulnerable skin. Once more, however, all is not as it seems…

Siegel, Boring & Kaye’s comic book classic ‘Superman’s Return to Krypton’ (in Superman #141, November 1960) was first seen in daily instalments from August 15th to November 12th 1960. There it told a subtly different tale of epic love lost as an accident marooned the adoptive Earth hero in the past on his doomed home-world. Reconciled to dying there with his people, Kal-El befriended his own parents and found love with his ideal soul-mate Lyla Lerrol, only to be torn from her side and returned to Earth against his will in a cruel twist of fate.

The strip version here is one of Swan’s most beautiful art jobs ever and, although the comic book saga was a fan favourite for decades thereafter, the restoration of this more mature interpretation might have some rethinking their opinion…

Wayne Boring once more became the premiere Superman strip illustrator with Episode #116 (November 14th – December 31st), reprising his & Siegel’s work on ‘The Lady and the Lion’ from Action #243 (August 1958), wherein the Metropolis Marvel is transformed into an inhuman beast by a Kryptonian exile the ancients called Circe…

Siegel then adapted Bernstein’s ‘The Great Superman Hoax’ and Boring & Kaye redrew their artwork for the episode (January 2nd – February 4th, 1961) from Superman #143 (February 1961). Here, a cunning criminal tries to convince Lois and Clark that he’s actually the Man of Might, blissfully unaware of who he’s failing to fool.

February 6th to March 4th has Superman using brains as well as brawn to thwart an alien invasion in ‘The Duel for Earth’ – originally appearing as a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #277 (October 1960) by Siegel & George Papp.

Superman #114 (July 1957) and scripter Otto Binder provided Siegel with the raw material for a deliciously wry and topical tax-time tale ‘Superman’s Billion-Dollar Debt’ – March 6th to April 8th – wherein an ambitious IRS agent presents the Man of Steel with a bill for unpaid back-taxes, whilst Episode #120 (April 10th – May 13th) introduces ‘The Great Mento’ (from Bernstein & Plastino’s yarn in Superman #147, August 1961): a tawdry showbiz masked mind-reader who blackmails the hero by threatening to expose his precious secret identity…

The final two stories in this premiere collection both come from Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane – issues #24, April and #26, July respectively – both originally crafted by Bernstein & Schaffenberger.

In ‘The Perfect Husband’ (15th May to July 1st) – begun and ended by Boring but with Swan pinch-hitting for 2 weeks in the middle – Lois’ sister Lucy tricks the journalist into going on a TV dating show. Here she meets her ideal man: a millionaire sportsman and war hero who looks just like Clark Kent…

Then ‘The Mad Woman of Metropolis’ sees Lois driven to the edge of sanity by a vengeance-hungry killer: a rare chance to see the reporter and butt of so many shameless male gags show her true mettle by solving a case without the Man of Tomorrow’s avuncular, so-often patronising assistance…

Superman: – The Silver Age Dailies 1959-1961 was the first in a series of huge (305 x 236mm) lavish, high-end hardback collections (frustratingly still not available in digital editions!) starring the Man of Steel and a welcome addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, Bringing Up Father, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and many of the abovementioned cartoon icons.

If you love the era, these stories are great comics reading, and this is a book you simply must have.
Superman ™ & © 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Doctor Who Graphic Novels volume 15 – Nemesis of the Daleks


By Richard Starkings, John Tomlinson, John Freeman, Paul Cornell, Dan Abnett, Steve Moore, Simon Jowett, Mike Collins, Andrew Donkin, Graham S. Brand, Ian Rimmer, Tim Robins, Lee Sullivan, John Ridgway, Steve Dillon, David Lloyd, Geoff Senior, Art Wetherell & Dave Harwood, Andy Wildman, John Marshall & Stephen Baskerville, Cam Smith & many and various (Panini Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-531-4 (TPB)

Despite the strangely quarked variety of entangled quantums, if you prefer your reality in a sequential manner, this year will always be the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Thus there is/has been/will be a bunch of Timey-Wimey stuff on-going as we celebrate a unique TV and comics institution in a periodical manner …

The British love comic strips, adore “characters” and are addicted to celebrity. The history of our homegrown graphic narratives includes an astounding number of comedians, Variety stars and television actors: such disparate legends as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Askey, Charlie Drake and so many more I’ve long forgotten and you’ve likely never heard of.

As much adored and adapted were actual shows and properties like Whacko!, Supercar, Pinky and Perky, The Clangers and literally hundreds more. If folk watched or listened, an enterprising publisher made printed spectacles of them. Hugely popular anthology comics including Radio Fun, Film Fun, TV Fun, Look-In, TV Comic, TV Tornado, and Countdown readily and regularly translated our light entertainment favourites into pictorial joy every week, and it was a pretty poor star or show that couldn’t parley the day job into a licensed strip property…

Doctor Who debuted on black-&-white televisions across Britain on November 23rd 1963 with the premiere episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’. In 1964, a decades-long association with TV Comic began: issue #674 heralding the initial instalment of ‘The Klepton Parasites’.

On 11th October 1979, Marvel’s UK subsidiary launched Doctor Who Weekly. Turning monthly magazine in September 1980 (#44) it’s been with us – via various iterations – ever since. All proving the Time Lord is a comic star of impressive pedigree, not to be trifled with.

Panini’s UK division ensured the immortality of the comics feature by collecting all strips of every Time Lord Regeneration in a uniform series of over-sized graphic albums – although we’re still waiting for digital versions. Each time tome focuses on a particular incarnation of the deathless wanderer, with this one gathering stories originally published in Doctor Who Magazine #152-156, 159-162, The Incredible Hulk Presents #1-12, Doctor Who Weekly #17-20, #27-30 and Doctor Who Monthly #44-46 communally spanning 1980-1990) and nominally starring Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy.

Also on show are awesome ancillary stars from the monolithic Time Lord “Whoniverse” including the eponymous trundling terrors of the title, legendary cosmic crusaders The Star Tigers and the long-revered tragic, demented antihero Abslom Daak, Dalek-Killer.

Delivered beauty-contest style in reverse order, the magnificent magic opens with the cataclysmic ‘Nemesis of the Daleks’ (DWM #152-155) as Richard and Steve Alan – AKA Richard Starkings & John Tomlinson – deliver a definitive and classic clash between the nomadic chrononaut and the ultimate foes of life, wherein deadly Daleks enslave a primitive civilisation. This is done by driving the pitiful, primitive Helkans to the brink of extinction in forced labour to construct a Dalek Death Wheel armed with the universe’s most potent and toxic Weapon of Mass Destruction.

Grittily illustrated by Lee Sullivan, the blockbuster opens with the valiant last stand of stellar champions the Star Tigers, before the peripatetic Doctor accidentally arrives in the right place at the wrong time – no surprise there then – joining death-obsessed Abslom Daak in a doomed attempt to stop the Emperor of the Daleks from winning supreme power.

Filled with evocative do-or-die heroics, this is a battle only one being can survive…

In a complete change-of-pace, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ (#156 from January 1990, by John Freeman, Paul Cornell & Gerry Dolan) takes a wry, merrily murderous poke at modern art and the slavish gullibility of its patrons that still holds true now – and probably always will…

The Incredible Hulk Presents was a short-lived reprint weekly from Marvel UK that launched on September 30th 1989. It targeted younger readers with 4 media-fed features. As well as the Big Green TV sensation, it also reprinted American-produced stories of Indiana Jones and GI Joe/Action Force, but the mix was augmented by all-new adventures of the Gallant Gallifreyan crafted by a rotating roster of British creators.

The plan was to eventually reprint the Who stories in DWM – thus maximising the costly outlay of new material at a time in British comics publishing where every penny counted. It didn’t quite go to plan and the comic folded after 12 issues, with only a couple of the far simpler – though no less enjoyable – offerings making it into the mature magazine publication.

It began with ‘Once in a Lifetime’ by Freeman & Geoff Senior, wherein an obnoxious alien reporter learns to his dismay that some stories are too big even for the gutter press, after which issues #2-3 saw Dan Abnett & John Ridgway depict ‘Hunger From the Ends of Time!’ as the Doctor and Foreign Hazard Duty (the future iteration of UNIT) save the Universal Library from creatures who literally consume knowledge.

‘War World!’ by Freeman, Art Wetherell & Dave Harwood finds the irascible time-traveller uncharacteristically fooled by an (un)common foot soldier, whilst in Abnett & Wetherell’s ‘Technical Hitch’ the Doctor saves a lonely spacer from unhappy dreams of paradise…

Freeman & Senior concocted a riotous monster-mash for ‘A Switch in Time!’ whilst ‘The Sentinel!’ (Tomlinson & Andy Wildman) finds the Time Lord helpless before a being beyond the limits of temporal physics. Claiming to have created all life in the universe, he still needs a little something from Gallifrey to finish his latest project…

Another 2-parter in #8-9 declared ‘Who’s That Girl!’, as the Doctor’s latest regeneration apparently results in a female form just as the Time Lord is required to stop inter-dimensional war between malicious macho martial empires. Of course, there’s more than meets the eye going on in a silly but engaging thriller by Simon Furman, John Marshall & Stephen Baskerville.

Simon Jowett & Wildman offered a light-hearted salutary fable as ‘The Enlightenment of Ly-Chee the Wise’ proves some travellers are too much for even the most mellow of meditators to handle, after which Mike Collins, Tim Robins & Senior prove just how dangerous fat-farms can be in ‘Slimmer!’, before The Incredible Hulk Presents ended its foray into time-warping with the portentous ‘Nineveh!’ by Tomlinson & Cam Smith.

There and then, the Tardis is ensnared in the deadly clutches of the Watcher at the End of Time – an impossibly mythical being who harvests Time Lords after their final regeneration…

For most of its run and in all its guises the Doctor Who title suffered from criminally low budgets and restricted access to concepts, images and character-likenesses from the show (many actors, quite rightfully owning their faces, wanted to be paid if they appeared in print! How’s that work today?) but diligent work by successive editors gradually bore fruit and every so often fans got a proper treat…

Crafted by Andrew Donkin, Graham S. Brand & John Ridgway, ‘Train-Flight’ ran in DWM #159-161 (April to June 1990), benefitting from slick editorial wheeler-dealing and the generosity of actor Elizabeth Sladen (who allowed her Sarah Jane Smith character to be used for a pittance) in a chilling tale of alien abductions. Here, a long overdue reunion between The Doctor and his old Companion is derailed when their commuter train is hijacked by marauding carnivorous insects…

‘Doctor Conkerer!’ (#162 by Ian Rimmer & Mike Collins) terminates this tome’s Time Lord travails in a humorous escapade describing the unsuspected origins of that noble game played with horse chestnuts so beloved by British schoolboys (of 40 years or older), assorted aliens and, of course, Vikings of every stripe…

There’s still plenty of high quality action and adventure to enjoy here, however, as the complete saga of ‘Abslom Daak, Dalek-Killer’ follows. A potent collaboration between Steve Moore and artists Steve Dillon & David Lloyd from Doctor Who Weekly #17-20 (February-March 1980; Doctor Who Weekly #27-30 (April 1980) and Doctor Who Monthly #44-46, (December 1980 to February 1981) the epic fills in the blanks on the doomed defenders of organic life everywhere…

In the 26th century the Earth Empire is in a death struggle with voracious Dalek forces, yet still divided and focused on home-grown threats. One such is inveterate, antisocial killer Abslom Daak, who – on sentencing for his many crimes – chooses “Exile D-K”: being beamed into enemy territory to die as a “Dalek Killer”. As such, his life expectancy is less than three hours – and that suits him just fine. Materialising on an alien world, the madman eagerly expects to die but finds an unexpected reason to live until she too is taken from him, leaving only an unquenchable thirst for Dalek destruction…

The initial ferociously action-packed back-up series led to a sequel and ‘Star Tigers’ found the manic marauder winning such improbable allies as a rebel Draconian Prince, a devilish Ice Warrior and the smartest sociopath in Human space, all willing to trade their pointless lives to kill Daleks…

As always, this compilation chronicle is supplemented with lots of text features, and truly avid fans can also enjoy a treasure-trove of background information in the 17-page prose Commentary section at the back: story-by-story background, history and insights from the authors and illustrators, supplemented by scads of sketches, script pages, roughs, designs, production art covers and photos.

This includes full background from former DWM editor/scripter John Freeman on the stories, plus background on the guest stars in ‘Tales from the Daak Side’ by John Tomlinson.

More details and creator-biographies accompany commentaries on The Incredible Hulk Presents tales. and there’s a feature on ‘Hulk meets Who’, explaining that odd publishing alliance, plus reminisces from editor Andy Seddon and even more info on the legendary Dalek killer and his Star Tiger allies to pore and exult over.

None of which is relevant if all you want is a darn good read. However all creators involved have managed the ultimate task of any artisan – to produce engaging, thrilling, fun work which can be equally enjoyed by the merest beginner and the most slavishly dedicated and opinionated fans imaginable.

This is another marvellous book for casual readers, a fine shelf-addition for dedicated fans of the show and a perfect opportunity to cross-promote our particular art-form to anyone minded to give comics one more go.

All Doctor Who material © BBCtv. Doctor Who, the Tardis and all logos are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. Licenced by BBC Worldwide. Tardis image © BBC 1963. Daleks © Terry Nation. All commentaries © 2013 their respective authors. Published 2013 by Panini Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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The Campbells volume 1: Inferno & volume 2: The Formidable Captain Morgan


By José Luis Munuera, coloured by Sedyas translated by Emma Wilson (Europe Comics)
Digital Editions – No ISBNs:

Arrr an’ Wot Ho! It be anuvver International Talk Like a Pirate Day once morrrre, me Hearties! That gives me license to act like a complete berk whilst plugging a suitably themed graphic yarn. This ‘un be a real cracker, too…

As heavily influenced by a certain Disney movie franchise as continental Europe’s long-standing affection for the genre, and exhibiting a deft hand with the traditions and history of light-hearted freebooting romps, Inferno is the introductory salvo in a convoluted yet engaging family saga about a most unconventional bunch of buccaneers.

Crafted by Andalusian comics veteran José Luis Munuera (No Hay Domingos en el Infierno, Merlin, Walter le Loup, Spirou et Fantasio, P’tit Boule et Bill) who has been delighting readers since his debut in 1996, the epic voyage of discovery commences here with smart, snappy episodes introducing an extremely large cast of roguish characters. First up are devious rapscallion “Captain” Carapepino and his trusty dogsbody Haggins. A very minor player with huge aspirations, this smooth talker is off burying his first chest of treasure on a sun-kissed tropical island when he is ambushed and hijacked by the infamous – and long-missing – Captain Campbell.

Through a most cunning ploy, the pirate’s pirate (with two young daughters at his side) appropriates the gem-strewn chest and smugly paddles away to another paradisiacal atoll…

The next vignette sees the wonder family man at ease in his luxurious haven on Garden Island, patiently watching teenaged Itaca explode again as her obnoxiously bratty sister Genova reads excerpts from someone’s secret – stolen – diary…

Despite always acting out and indulging in outrageous feats of derring-do, the well-educated, ultra-fit kids love each other and desperately miss their mother.

Out in the briny depths, formidably ferocious Captain Inferno terrorises victims and his own men. A man of dark moods and soaring ambition, he is haunted by visions of a dead woman who comes to him often, repeating three horrifying predictions that he cannot escape. His night terrors are suppressed but not abated by the arrival of unctuous Carapepino who shares that encounter with the sea terror’s most despised enemy… and husband of the ghost who plagues him!

The Campbells might be sea-wolves but they are most unconventional ones. Amongst those who love them most are the inhabitants of the Isle of Bakaloo: a leper colony the family regularly visit with supplies of food, books and other life-easing essentials. On this latest jaunt, the canny corsairs bring along the latest chest of valuables: after all, what normal, superstitious rogues would risk their scurvy skins amongst the unclean and diseased?

Some days later, the family visit fiercely neutral township Bahia Cambalanche, Port Franc. Here all hawks of the seas can meet to trade, carouse and fence their stolen booty. Here and now, Itaca and Genova reluctantly attend lessons arranged by their father.

Right here, right now, Carapepino and a press gang provided by Inferno attempt to abduct the girls only to be beaten back by their unbridled fury and the late intervention of gorgeous teenager Blond Luca. Itaca is instantly smitten by the glorious hero, blithely unaware that her saviour is a pawn in a dastardly long con…

The deception blossoms soon after as Garden Island is invaded by Carapepino’s borrowed forces. Nevertheless, the trio of Campbells fight free, humiliate the craven dogs and make a bold escape to a new sanctuary. In the interim, Inferno has not been idle. By ruthless manipulation and scurrilous deals, he has ingratiated himself with English nobility – and Campbell’s oldest enemies – in order to have himself admitted to the top flight of the corrupt aristocracy. Invested as Baron of England, with a warrant to hunt all shipping but British vessels, Inferno moves quickly to consolidate power and replace the crown’s agents with his own people…

The Campbells have relocated to Bakeloo Island where Itaca broods over Luca’s betrayal as her father worries about her unexplained distress. Father is also blithely oblivious to passionate and sustained adoration of indigenous lovely Nutel-La, but the practical islander finally makes a big impression by suggesting that the devoted dad needs to have “the talk” with his manifestly-maturing older daughter…

Having lost yet another ship, Carapepino and his surviving crew at last link up with former employer Baron Inferno, just in time to become his first detainees as the freshly ennobled provincial ruler moves into his new Governor’s Palace.

The interloper eases gracefully to the head of the aristocratic pack, gleaming in fine clothes, sparkling with newfound power and respectability. After all, aren’t these rich privileged fools just another gang of self-proclaimed predators? Especially shockingly blunt and ruthlessly amoral Lady Helvetia, who becomes his boon companion and more…

When the revels end, the Baron’s mind races back decades to the docks of London where he and his bold, inventive, loyal brother picked pockets and sought to escape their monster of a father. How far they have come since then. How far they have drifted apart…

To Be Continued…

Volume 2: The Formidable Captain Morgan

The seagoing saga resumes with more revelations as 2017’s Les Campbell – 2. Le redoutable pirate Morgan arrives to further the fun-filled furore. As Itaca and Genova find fresh ways to perk up their sisterly rivalry, the younger girl asks about the mother she doesn’t remember. That tricky conversation sparks a flashback to when the bold Campbell brothers first tried to recruit a band of cutthroats to serve under them…

Elsewhere, Dad is having similar reveries of the mere slip of girl he met one day and how Nancy was the most capable streetfighter he had ever seen. Sadly, his reminiscences are interrupted by increasingly forward Nutel-La who can also handle herself when not concentrating on him…

Beneath the grandiose and byzantine Piranese Palace, new governor Inferno entertains former allies in his dungeons until impressionable Lady Sophia of Hollowside brings Carapepino what should be his last meal. She’s actually there to spring her wicked lover, but that was before his flunky Haggins ate the key to the cell…

Another flashback sees the brothers prospering as pirates until again encountering premiere privateer “The Formidable Captain Morgan”. That masked worthy has been regularly poaching their prizes and the older Campbell has had enough…

Back in their present, the girls’ father warms to his willing island girl and discovers a lost connection, whilst at the Piranese Palace, Lady Sophia sparks a frantic chase after finally springing Carapepino and Haggins…

Then he recalls how they all first met scurrilous Carapepino who promised them Captain Morgan, and how his brother reacted to seeing Nancy. That was the moment siblings became rivals, and then competitors. Nevertheless, still resolved to destroy mysterious masked marauder Morgan, the Campbell brothers laid a trap…

Today on the Bakeloo, Nutel-La and Itaca trade unhappy stories about the disappointing men in their lives as Baron Governor Inferno starts emptying dungeons and filling gibbets even as Carapepino’s cohort make a most incredible getaway.

Soon after, the Campbell clan cautiously go shopping. As Itaca returns to her beloved bookshop, treacherous guilt-ridden Luca resurfaces and in the resulting confrontation loses something truly precious…

Meanwhile, father Campbell meets an old friend and is ambushed. Despite valiant resistance down he goes, unleashing another memory: how the trap for Captain Morgan proved successful, what he learned and how his life forever changed…

To Be Continued…

Only currently available in English in digital editions, The Campbells is a fabulously engaging rollercoaster of whimsical but ferocious thrills and fun, as good as the first Pirates of the Caribbean film and far more entertaining and satisfying than the rest of that franchise… or most other cinematic corsair fare.

Combining smart and constant laughs with bombastic action, an enticing generational war, murder mystery and heartbreakingly winning characters – goodies and baddies! – the series goes from strength to strength. These first two volumes are captivating from the outset, with hyper-kinetic Marcinelle School-derived art grabbing the attention and dragging readers along as though caught in a bow wave. The raffish gags subtly counterbalance a strong, complex family-based conflict and just the merest hint of supernatural menace lurks in the shadows.

Don’t wait for a print release, scour the electric oceans and salvage these books and the rest of the series…
© DUPUIS – MUNUERA 2017. All rights reserved.

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The Complete Dickie Dare


By Milton Caniff (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 0-93019-322-9 (HB)  978-0-93019-321-8 (PB)

Despite being one of the greatest and most influential cartoonists in world history, Milton Caniff wasn’t an overnight sensation. He worked long and hard before he achieved stellar status in the comic strip firmament, before Terry and the Pirates brought him fame, and Steve Canyon secured his fortune.

The strip which brought him to the attention of legendary Press Baron “Captain” Joseph Patterson – in many ways co-creator of Terry – was an unassuming daily fantasy feature about a little boy who was hungry for adventure…

Caniff was working for The Associated Press as a jobbing cartoonist when a gap opened in their strips department. AP was an organisation that devised and syndicated features for the thousands of regional and small-town newspapers which couldn’t afford to produce cartoons, puzzles, recipes and other fillers that ran between the local headlines and regional sports.

Over a weekend, Caniff came up with Dickie, a studious lad who would read a book and then fantasize himself into the story, taking faithful little dog Wags with him. The editors went for it and Dickie Dare premiered on July 31st, 1933.

Caniff wrote and drew the feature for less than 18 months before moving on, although his excellent but unappreciated replacement Coulton Waugh steered the series until its conclusion two decades later.

The first day-dream was with Robin Hood, followed by a frantic, action-packed visit with Robinson Crusoe and Friday, battling hordes of howling savages and scurvy pirates. Rugged combat gave way to fantastic mystery when the tyke perused Aladdin, resulting in a lavish and exotic trip to a very fabled Far East. This segment closed near Christmas, and when his father read Dickie the story of the Nativity, Caniff began his long personal tradition of creating seasonally topical strips.

A visit to Bethlehem ended on Christmas morning, and one of Dickie’s Christmas presents then triggers his next excursion, when he starts reading of General George Armstrong Custer…

King Arthur next, followed by Captain Kidd the Pirate, but by then Caniff was chafing under the self-imposed limitations of his creation. He believed the strip had become formulaic and there was no real tension or drama in mere dreams. In a creative masterstroke, he revised the strip’s parameters, and by so doing produced the prototype for a masterpiece.

On May 11th, 1934, Dickie met a new uncle: globe-trotting author and two-fisted man-of-action Dan Flynn, and one week later the pair embarked on a Round-the-World trip. Caniff had moved swiftly, crafting a template that would become Terry and the Pirates.

The wide-eyed, nervy All-American Kid with adult pal ultra-capable adventurer, whilst a subject of much controversy and even ill-advised and outright scurrilous modern disparagement, was a literary archetype since before Treasure Island. Adapting that relationship to comic strips was commercially sound: a decision that hit a peak of popularity with the horde of sidekicks/partners who followed in the wake of Robin the Boy Wonder six years later.

No sooner have Dickie & Dan taken ship for Africa than the drama begins, when the restless kid uncovers a hidden cargo of smuggled guns. Aided by feisty Debutante Kim Sheridan and sailor Algy Sparrow, our heroes foil the scheme, but not before Dickie is captured by Kuvo, the Arab chieftain awaiting those weapons.

Pursued by French authorities, Kuvo retreats to a desert fortress where Kim, disguised as a slave-girl, rescues the lad, only to be caught herself. The full-tilt action peaks to a splendid conclusion before the boys, with Algy in tow as their butler, head for Tunis only to stumble across a plot to use a World War I U-Boat for ocean-going piracy…

This long adventure (beginning September 13th) is a thoroughly gripping yarn encompassing much of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, as the boys escape pirates and aid the Navy in hunting them down. There’s buckets of action and an astonishing amount of tension, but the tale ends a tad abruptly when Caniff, lured away by Patterson, simply drops the feature and Coulton Waugh takes over the storyline from the next Monday (3rd December).

With no break in the tale Waugh rapidly (in 14 episodes) wraps up the saga. He even has Dickie home by Christmas.

From the New Year the strip would chart new waters with Waugh at the helm, aided (and briefly replaced whilst he wrote his seminal book on Comics and also when he was producing the strip Hank for the New York magazine PM) by assistant and spouse Odin Burvik.

Dickie Dare eventually ended its run in October 1957 with the now adult adventurer beginning a new career as a US Navy Cadet.

Although usually dismissed as a mere stage on the road to his later mastery – and certainly long before Caniff and sometime studio partner Noel Sickles made their chiaroscurist breakthroughs in line-art that revolutionised the form – these early tales delighted and enthralled readers. Full of easy whimsy and charm, the strip evolved into a rip-roaring, all-ages thriller, full of wit and derring-do, in many ways an American answer to Hergé’s Tintin.

They deserve to be appreciated on their own merits and are long overdue for reappraisal in new collections.

At least this edition is still readily available but Dickie Dare is long overdue for rediscovery by the mass-market – and streaming services! – so while we’re at it, let’s see some of the work that the criminally under-valued Waugh originated too.
Artwork originally © 1933-1934 The Associated Press. Other contents this edition © Richard Marschall All rights reserved.

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The Rocketeer & The Spirit: Pulp Friction


By Mark Waid, Paul Smith, Loston Wallace, J Bone, Bob Wiacek & various (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-61377-881-4 (HB/Digital edition)

The American comics industry has generated its fair share of immortal heroes. However, whilst everyone is familiar with household names such as Flash Gordon, Superman, Dick Tracy or Popeye, there are also timeless champions who pretty much remain hallowed names only to the in-crowd and cognoscenti: characters who had their shot at global mega-stardom but for some reason never caught on with the masses. Guys like The Spirit and The Rocketeer…

Will Eisner was a pivotal creative force who helped shaped the entire medium of comics. From 1936 to 1938 he worked as a jobbing cartoonist in the studio-stable known as the “Eisner-Eiger Shop”, creating strips for both domestic and foreign markets.

As Willis B. Rensie he created and drew the opening instalments of a huge variety of characters ranging from funny animal to historical sagas, Westerns, Detectives, aviation action thrillers… and superheroes… lots of superheroes.

In 1940, Everett “Busy” Arnold, of Quality Comics, invited Eisner to take on a new challenge. The Register-Tribune newspaper syndicate wanted a 16-page weekly comicbook insert to be given away with the Sunday editions. Eisner created three strips which would initially be handled by him before two were handed off to his talented assistants.

Bob Powell inherited Mr. Mystic whilst distaff detective Lady Luck first fell into the capable hands of Nick Cardy (nee Nicholas Viscardi) and later the inimitable Klaus Nordling.

Eisner kept the lead for himself, and over the next dozen years masked detective The Spirit grew into the most impressive, innovative, imitated and talked-about strip in the business. In 1952, the venture folded and Eisner moved into commercial, instructional and educational comics, working extensively for the US military in manuals and magazines like P*S, the Preventative Maintenance Monthly, and generally left comics books behind.

In the wake of “Batmania” and the 1960s superhero craze, Harvey Comics released two giant-sized reprint editions with some new material from Eisner. These led to a brace of underground compilations and a slow but inexorable rediscovery and revival of the Spirit’s fame and fortune, via black-&-white newsstand reprint magazines.

Warren Publishing collected old stories, occasionally adding painted colour from contemporary luminaries like Rich Corben, but from #17 the title reverted to Kitchen Sink, who had produced those first two underground collections.

Eisner found himself re-enamoured with graphic narrative and discerned that there now existed a willing audience eager for new works. From producing new Spirit covers for the magazine – something the original newspaper insert had never needed – he became increasingly inspired. American comics were evolving into an art-form and the restless creator finally saw a place for the kind of stories he had always wanted to tell.

Eisner subsequently began crafting some of the most telling and impressive work the industry had ever seen: first in limited collector portfolios and, in 1978, with groundbreaking sequential narrative A Contract With God: thereby jumpstarting our modern comics phenomenon of graphic novels…

Although his output was far smaller and life far shorter, Dave Stevens had an equally revolutionary effect on the industry: his lush and lavish illustration style influencing a generation of artists as his signature retro-futurist character The Rocketeer became the first breakout star of the Independent Comics movement that stemmed from the creation of the comic book Direct Sales Market.

Due to Stevens’s legendarily uncompromising artistic vision – and consequent slow page rate – very few of The Rocketeer’s period exploits appeared before the artist’s death from Hairy Cell Leukaemia in 2008. Since then, diverse hands have added to the canon, as with the miniseries collected in this slim but stunning edition.

Just in case these vintage adventurers are new to you, The Spirit used to be Denny Colt: Central City’s greatest detective and criminologist. After apparently dying in battle with a vile master-villain, Colt opted to remain officially dearly departed to battle evil in a semi-official capacity. The masked enigma was covertly aided by girlfriend Ellen Dolan and her father, the Police Commissioner of that crime-ridden metropolis.

Cliff Secord is an itinerant West Coast pilot who – circa 1938 – found a fantastic jetpack outfit and stumbled into a succession of criminal plots and capers. With the eventual permission of the flight engine’s inventor – one of the greatest heroes of that or any other era – Cliff still finds himself regularly battling bad guys as The Rocketeer. When that’s not occupying his time, he’s busy looking for work or being given the run-around by his star-struck, fame-obsessed, trouble-magnet girl Betty…

Team-ups are part-and-parcel of comics and both heroes have had their share of cataclysmic and catastrophic clashes with the valiant giants of the period and the industry. This yarn however – a 4-issue miniseries by Mark Waid originally spanning July to December 2013 – concentrates as much on humour as bombastic action. It begins on the East Coast in February 1941 as business executives and government men meet to decide the future of the Next Big Thing…

Alderman Cunningham is stridently opposed to letting business cartels control the new medium and argues that, just like with radio, public airwaves must not be owned by any individual or corporation seeking to monopolise recently invented Television…

Mere hours later an early morning fashion shoot on a California beach is ruined when beautiful Betty finds the idealistic politician’s mangled corpse. When the stiff is identified as Cunningham, Commissioner Dolan and Spirit are baffled. How could the victim have travelled more than 3000 miles in one night? Determined to investigate, they book passage on a transcontinental plane, having reluctantly crumbled before the forceful Ellen who demands to join them and see Hollywood…

In Los Angeles, Cliff Secord is still ignored by traumatised Betty. He mopes dejectedly until grizzled old mechanic Peevy points out that whoever killed the Alderman might also want to silence the girl who found the body…

Nearby, a very wealthy entrepreneur places a coast-to-coast call to The Spirit’s greatest enemy to discuss his incredible new invention, the pursuance of their plans and how to stop a certain masked interloper from interfering…

Said hero – still wearing his mask – is stiffly staggering off a plane at Chaplin Field with his equally exhausted cross-country companions. In a weary, unguarded moment he mentions Betty. Learning of the “slip”, an already paranoid Cliff panics and, assuming a masked killer has come for his girl, dons his rocket-man suit to attack…

After a spectacular battle, Ellen finally manages to convince both testosterone-soaked mutton heads they are on the same side, and a tentative alliance forms …at least until Spirit interviews Betty and the flighty starlet finds she’s in love – or thereabouts – with the hunky masked cop.

Illustrator Paul Smith gives way to Loston Wallace & Bob Wiacek as chapter two opens with the fractious, clueless allies heading for the LA Morgue and Cunningham’s cadaver. Elsewhere, television wizard Benedict Trask and The Octopus debate how best to get Betty out of the picture and deal with interlopers meddling in their affairs. Their solution is unique and everything would have worked out swell if not for inveterate tinkerer Peevy who has built his own prototype TV receiver and intercepted something he shouldn’t have…

The villains respond in typical manner but their big mistake is believing planes sent to strafe Peevy’s hangar are enough to stop Rocketeer and The Spirit…

With J Bone stepping in for the final two chapters, the high-octane tale ramps up to top gear as Cliff travels to Central City with The Spirit and the Dolans. All they have to do is find Betty, expose Trask and the Octopus’ sinister scheme, uncover their treacherous connections to a certain Fascist foreign power, prevent America’s airwaves being subverted and save President Roosevelt from assassination by television in a rocket-paced, breathtaking rollercoaster ride that delivers non-stop thrills and chills…

Accompanied with an Introduction from Denis Kitchen, filling in all necessary back-story on the characters, and visually embellished by sketches and a large cover gallery by Darwyn Cooke, Smith, Jordie Bellaire, Bone and Chris Samnee, Pulp Friction is a no-nonsense fun-filled frolic to delight lovers of the good old days of Thud and Blunder…
© 2014 The Rocketeer Trust and Will Eisner Studios, Inc. The Rocketeer is a registered trademark of, and all related characters, their distinctive likenesses and indicia are trademarks of The Rocketeer Trust. All Rights Reserved. The Spirit © 2014 Will Eisner Studios, Inc. The Spirit and Will Eisner ™ & © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. ® in the US Patent and Trademark Office. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: Infinite City


By Mike Kennedy & Carlos Meglia (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1401200664 (DC US TPB) 978-1845760731 (Titan Books UK HB)

This original graphic novel is a lightweight but lovely piece of fluff that sees investigative reporters Mr and Mrs Kent-Lane tracking down the source of a devastating super-gun, only to be sucked into a strange time-warped dimension. There they are embroiled in a civil war between greedy, slimy, power hungry industrialist Jesden Tyme and the robotic Mayor, who turns out to be a download of the consciousness of Superman’s long dead biological father Jor-El…

Lavishly illustrated in the manner of an animated feature film, the European-flavoured stylizations of Argentinean Carlos Meglia (December 11 1957-August 15 2008: Irish Coffee, Bet Your Life, Star Wars) may not be to everyone’s taste but maybe you should just persist and be open to the new…

The plot from Mike Kennedy (Lone Wolf 2100, Star Wars: Underworld and the deeply under-appreciated Ghost/Batgirl, among others) lacks any real punch or originality of its own, relying on clichéd and oft-rehashed tropes, but there’s still bunches of wit and wonder to find over this particular rainbow. Moreover, the dialogue is sharp and effective, and some of the interplay between Lois and Clark is simply delightful. If you want a “done-in-one” delight starring comic books’ oldest power couple, this could be what you’re looking for.

There’s also a hardback British edition available should you want your reading unbending as well as pretty…
© 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Mac Raboy’s Flash Gordon volume 2


By Don Moore & Mac Raboy (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-56971-911-4 (TPB)

By almost every metric, Flash Gordon is the most influential comic strip in the world. When the hero debuted on Sunday January 7th 1934 (with the equally superb Jungle Jim running as a supplementary “topper” strip). It was a slick, sophisticated answer to Philip Nolan & Dick Calkins’ revolutionary, ideas-packed, inspirational, but quirkily clunky Buck Rogers (which had also launched on January 7th – albeit in 1929), two fresh elements were added to the wonderment: Classical Lyricism and Poetic Dynamism. The newcomer became a weekly invitation to stunningly exotic glamour and astonishing beauty.

Where Buck merged traditional adventure with groundbreaking science concepts, Flash reinterpreted fairy tales, hero epics and mythology, draping them in the spectacular trappings of contemporary futurism, with the varying “rays”, “engines” and “motors” of modern pulp sci fi substituting for trusty swords and lances. There were also plenty of those too – and exotic craft and contraptions stood in for galleons, chariots and magic carpets. The narrative trick made the far-fetched satisfactorily familiar – and it was initially continued by Mac Raboy and Don Moore in their run of Sunday strips.

Look closely, though, and you’ll see cowboys, gangsters and of course, flying saucer fetishes adding contemporary flourish to the fanciful fables in this second superb volume which is long overdue for a fresh edition.

Most important of all, the sheer artistic talent of Alex Raymond, his compositional skills, fine linework, eye for clean, concise detail and just plain genius for drawing beautiful people and things, swiftly made this the strip that all young artists swiped from. When original material comic books began a few years later, literally dozens of talented kids used Gordon as their model and ticket to future success in the field of adventure strips. Almost all the others went with Milton Caniff’s expressionist masterpiece Terry and the Pirates (and to see one of his better disciples check out Beyond Mars, limned by wonderful Lee Elias).

Flash Gordon began on present-day Earth (which was 1934, remember?) with a wandering world about to smash into our planet. As global panic ensued, polo player Flash and fellow passenger Dale Arden narrowly escaped disaster when a meteor fragment downed their airliner. They landed on the estate of tormented genius Dr. Hans Zarkov, who imprisoned them in the rocket-ship he had built. His plan? To fly the ship directly at the astral invader and deflect it from Earth by crashing into it!

Thus began a decade of sheer escapist magic in a Ruritanian Neverland: a blend of Camelot, Oz and a hundred other fantasy realms promising paradise yet concealing vipers, ogres and demons, all cloaked in a glimmering sheen of sleek scientific speculation. Worthy adversaries such as utterly evil yet magnetic Ming, emperor of the fantastic wandering planet; myriad exotic races and shattering conflicts offered a fantastic alternative to drab and dangerous reality for millions of avid readers around the world.

With Moore doing the bulk of the scripting, Alex Raymond’s ‘On the Planet Mongo’ ran every Sunday until 1944, when the artist joined the Marines. On his return, he forsook wild imaginings for sober reality: creating gentleman-detective Rip Kirby. The public’s unmissable weekly appointment with wonderment perforce continued under the artistic auspices of Austin Briggs – who had drawn the monochrome daily instalments since 1940.

In 1948, eight years after beginning his career drawing for the Harry A. Chesler production “shop” comic book artist Emmanuel “Mac” Raboy took over illustrating the Sunday page. Moore remained as scripter and began co-writing with the new artist.

Raboy’s sleek, fine-line brush style – heavily influenced by his idol Raymond – had made his work on Captain Marvel Jr., Kid Eternity and especially Green Lama a pinnacle of artistic quality in the early days of the proliferating superhero genre. His seemingly inevitable assumption of Flash Gordon’s extraordinary exploits led to a renaissance of the strip and in a rapidly evolving post-war world, it became once more a benchmark of timeless, hyper-realistic quality escapism which only Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant could match.

This second 260-page paperback volume, produced in landscape format and printed in stark black-&-white (although one or two strips appear to have been scanned from printed colour copies) covers May 17th 1953 to February 23rd 1958, and opens with a scholarly Introduction on ‘Comic Strip Godfathers’ from Bruce Jones before the previous volume’s cliffhanger is addressed…

With a new spaceship, far-flung travellers Flash, Dale and Zarkov set off for Earth but are forced to land on the Moon where a secret human base had been established. For unknown reasons Dr. Stella and her thuggish aide Marc detain and delay them, but after an increasing number of close shaves and mysterious accidents, a little digging by our heroes reveals that they are the unwitting guests of ruthless space pirates…

After expediently dealing with the planetary privateers, our heroes head for Earth, and are promptly seconded to spearhead an urgent exploratory expedition to a newly discovered satellite body. Suitably dutiful, they hurtle off into the void again…

‘(Life on) Titan’ ran from 14th June to September 20th 1953: detailing how the little world is populated by giants. However, after capturing one of the hulking inhabitants, Zarkov concludes that the truth is far stranger than the Earthmen could have imagined…

The tireless boffin then builds a single-seater spaceship and requires Flash to take a test run out to Jupiter’s moon ‘Callisto’ (27th September 1953 to 17th January 1954). A sudden illness causes a crash and Flash awakens in care of elderly hermit Phylo, who cunningly embroils the dauntless troubleshooter in his own struggle against invisible psychic dictator The Mind…

After overthrowing the hidden tyrant, the indomitable Earthman heads home and actually enjoys a little rest before an ancient mystery unfolds in ‘Flash Gordon and the Thanatos’ (17th January-2nd May).

After archaeologist Dr. Sark finds incontrovertible evidence of a prehistoric atomic blast in the Libyan desert, our ever-inquisitive action man uncovers an alien in a bottle but is too late to save Dale from being abducted by the mind-bending survivor of an antediluvian starship crash…

Dashing in pursuit as his beguiled beloved heads off-world, Flash is drawn into the parallel dimension of Cortinus where god-like beings dwell. They welcome intruders from fondly-remembered Earth, but are sadly unaware that one of the visitors carries the malevolent spirit of their outcast brother Loki. Once freed, the villain proudly boasts how he influenced and dominated many bellicose humans such as Alexander, Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan, and now intends ruling two realms for his own benefit and amusement. Sadly, nigh-omnipotent Loki vastly underestimates the ingenuity and resolve of his mortal opponents…

In a ship donated by head deity Zustra, Flash and Dale re-cross the dimensional divide, arriving in deep space to encounter a scene of horrific barbarity at an Observatory Station. When the ‘Outlaw of the Asteroids’ (9th May-25th July) took the outpost’s oxygen, the crew almost died in hibernation. After reviving the deep-frozen scientists, our adventurers set off after the ruthless bandit and discover the reason for his heinous theft was both noble and desperate. The bandit perishes for his sins, but not before leaving young space orphan Pebbles with the only humans he can trust…

By the time Flash, Dale and Pebbles reach Earth the next exploit is already well underway as a seed of ‘The Star Tree’ (1st August-17th October) survives a meteor crash in the Amazon and immediately propagates itself in fertile soil. By the time our bold wanderers accidentally land in the region, it has transformed into an arctic wilderness where a gigantic plant voraciously consumes every living thing its grasping branches can seize…

The vegetable invasion is no accident, and as Flash leads the frozen rain forest’s indigenous inhabitants in spirited resistance, cold-blooded aliens appear. They lived on Earth when it was a giant ice ball and after eons on Pluto want their original world back! They would have succeeded too, had not one of the invaders found his heart warming to the plight of the disputed world’s current tenants…

With that threat ended normality returns, but soon after packing Pebbles off to boarding school Flash, Zarkov and many other unsuspecting Earth folk are shanghaied by eerie metal globes and transported to ‘The Lonely Planet!’ (24th October 1954 to 9th January 1955)…

Here, Herculean extraterrestrial barbarians and wily midgets conspire and compete to find fresh fodder for gladiatorial contests, before, with the aid of a usurped king, Flash upsets the unlikely alliance and overthrows the twisted regime. However, just as the liberated Earthlings enter home orbit, their always-embattled birthworld is attacked by insectoid Antomni who require a fresh colony to exploit. The bug beings expect little resistance as they possess the power of Time Migration…

The invaders travel millions of years ‘Into the Past’ (16th January-27th March) to prevent the evolution of humanity but accidentally catch Flash and Zarkov in their temporal backwash, allowing our heroes to inspire a band of Nearly humans to exterminate the insectoids before returning to their proper time and place…

Restless Zarkov then organises an exploratory expedition to ‘Venus’ (3rd April -19th June) where Flash and Dale find a feudal civilisation in turmoil beneath the planet’s impenetrable cloud layers. Before long, they are assisting scientific prodigy Viko and his fellow exiled “Mistiks” in overturning oppressive, superstition-ruled authorities and introducing rational enlightenment to the Second Planet from the Sun…

Next, Africa is beset by a strange sleeping plague. Investigations reveal the source is escaped gasses from an unsuspected ‘City Within the Earth’ (26th June – 28th August). The accident causes toxic oxygen to contaminate the subterranean metropolis of Centra, and when its bravest warriors surface to investigate, a concatenation of misfortunes compel them to take Flash captive. Imprisoned and soon to become the treasured possession of flamboyant Princess Amara, Gordon is rescued by indomitable Dale who braves the depths and deadly air to save her man and seal off the underworld forever…

‘The Dark Planet’ (4th September – 6th November) has lurked undetected at the edge of the solar system for all of humanity’s history, but that occlusion ends when murderers Stragg, Rust and Tula are exiled from their advanced culture on the distant world of Ur and dumped on the frigid world. When Flash, Dale and Zarkov’s planetary mapping mission brings them to the bleak outpost, they are ambushed by the killers who then steal their ship. The aliens have never encountered human cunning though, and are soon back where they started and engaged in a lethal duel for control of the ship and their liberty…

Human trafficking underpins ‘Station Crossroads’ (13th November 1955 – 15th January 1956) as our heroes stumble upon a scheme to kidnap and sell human technicians to scientifically backward aliens. The vile human mastermind behind the plot operates out of Earth’s most popular orbital rest-stop, but before the slavers are crushed Flash discovers a close friend is deeply involved in the abductions…

When Gordon discovers a hidden base at Earth’s North Pole is being used by aquatic aliens, he is embroiled in an ‘Arctic Adventure’ (22nd January-March 25th) where unscrupulous Earthmen use the freezing waters as a cost-free fish-farm to grow giant monsters for mysterious offworlders to consume…

After a far-distant world experiences an atomic accident, the aftermath produces a voracious ‘Radioactive Man’ (1st April – 3rd June) who can only exist by absorbing deadly fallout. The authorities’ solution is to blast the mutant into the void where, after years of lonely travel, atomic exile Djonn Toth lands on planet Rota just as Flash and Dale pay a visit.

Before long the humans’ vast troubleshooting experience is employed to frustrate Toth’s efforts to enslave the population and consume all their radium.

When the fantastic wonder planet’s eccentric orbit again intersects with Earth, Flash, Dale and Zarkov ‘Return to Mongo’ (10th June 1956- 13th January 1957) after six years. However, their proposed sightseeing trip inevitably involves them in an icily arctic cold war between Wolf Men and Walrus Men, a face-off with would-be supreme tyrant Gant, and clashes with leather-winged Dactyl Men. This leads to capture by arrogant cloud dwellers of Paxora where robot duplicates intent on conquest end Mongo’s most secretive sub-culture.

Upsetting the artificial men’s plan eliminates all but one of the inimical automatons, but ‘Rok’ (13th January – 10th March) is like no android the Earthlings have ever encountered before: patronising protector and unstable enemy in one. Despite safeguarding them through Mongo’s wildest regions, the mechanoid’s ultimate aims remain unclear and his manner of demise most unexpected…

Brought to the edge of civilisation Flash, Dale and Zarkov enter a spaceship race, intent on winning a craft able to take them home to Earth, but the ‘Suicide Run’ (17th March-19th May) almost proves their undoing, as most other competitors indulge in sabotage and subterfuge of every sort to secure the glittering prize…

Eventually victorious, our heroes ‘Escape from Mongo’ only to be lured into ‘The Space Tomb’ (26th May – 14th July) of the Gatherer: a nebula-dwelling desperado who wants to imprison them beside a legion of other valiant explorers in his vast Sargasso of Space.

After outwitting the deranged collector, the humans resume their homeward flight but are again diverted, this time by ‘The Space Genie’ (21st July-1st September): a fearsome yet affable, lethally literal-minded being who brings them to planetary paradise Superba. The inhabitants are not pleased: they only just survived the Genie’s last visit and used all their ingenuity and wish-making ability to get rid of the interstellar pest…

The odyssey home is then interrupted by a string of short interconnected adventures (‘Space Voyage/Strange World/The Wheel Men’: spanning 8th September to 24th November) detailing clashes with space moths, elastic primitives and woman-stealing whirling dervishes engaged in all-out war with sky-residing Gyromen. After brokering a lasting peace between these eccentric extraterrestrials, the humans finally reach Earth in a borrowed flying saucer only to fall prey to ‘The Mystery of the Lonely Crowds!’ (1st December 1957 through January 12th 1958). A telepathic plague of depression and rapidly-spreading isolation has an otherworldly cause but is not intended to be a menace. It still culminates in tragedy, however…

This non-stop rollercoaster ride concludes with the merest start of ‘Missiles from Neptune’ (19th January 1958 to the cliffhanging last page of February 23rd) as the Tyrant of Neptune decides to impress the captive populace. This he does by testing his latest Weapons of Interplanetary Destruction against the Earth, prompting Flash to go and discourage him…

Every week that he toiled on the strip, Mac Raboy produced ever-more expansive artwork filled with distressed damsels, deadly monsters and all sorts of outrageous adventure that continued until the illustrator’s untimely death in 1967.

Perhaps that was a kindness. Raboy was the last great Golden Age romanticist illustrator: his lushly lavish, freely flowing adoration of the perfect human form was beginning to stale in popular taste (the Daily feature had already switched to the solid, chunky, He-Manly burly, realism of Dan Barry and Frank Frazetta) but here at least the last outpost of ethereally beautiful heroism and pretty perils prevailed, and you can visit as easily and often as Flash and Dale popped between planets, just by tracking down this book and the ones which followed…
© 2003 King Features Syndicate Inc. ™ & © Hearst Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Wandering Island


By Kenji Tsuruta, translated by Dana Lewis (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-50670-079-3 eISBN: 978-1-63008-771-5

Kenji Tsuruta was born in 1961 and studied optical science, intending to pursue a career in photography, but instead made the jump to narrative storytelling as manga artist, designer, book illustrator and anime creator. A lifelong fan of “hard science” science fiction authors like Robert A. Heinlein and the comic works of Tetsuya Chiba and Yukinobu Hoshino (Saber Tiger), after years producing self-published doujinshi whilst working as an assistant to established manga stars, 25-year-old Tsuruta began selling his own works in 1986. His short fantasy serial Hiroku te suteki na uch? ja nai ka (What a Big Wonderful Universe It Is) was published in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning magazine.

Soon after, he began Sprits of Wonder: a dazzling scientific romance of gently colliding worlds. It ran in both Weekly Morning and monthly magazine Afternoon between 1987 and 1996, before making a smooth transition to animated features and an award-winning TV series. Dark Horse Comics published the first translated episodes as a 5-issue monochrome miniseries in 1995-6.

After that the artist pretty much moved out of the manga business, to focus on science fiction illustration and character design; a field of endeavour where he won many awards.

Then on July 13th 2010 Wandering Island debuted in Kodansha’s anthological Manga Box AMASIA before being serialised in Afternoon. The first collection was released in October 2011 and Dark Horse began English language editions in July 2016.

The slow-moving, elegiac saga was Mr. Tsuruta’s first major narrative work since the century turned: a beguiling and enticing modern-day mystery set against a fascinating geological backdrop in a fascinating cultural backwater…

Like Great Britain, Japan is composed of numerous islands, many located in areas far beyond commercially viable air routes. To cater to those small communities, independent pilots act as postmen, delivery specialists and rapid freight-hauliers. Freewheeling Mikura Amelia flies an old Fairey Swordfish on her rounds, enjoying a pretty idyllic life as she hops from cetacean research station to trading post to fishing village delivering whatever needs moving for whatever fee she can get.

She used to work with her grandfather Brian Amelia in the family Air Service, but now it’s just her and the cat Endeavour. Her parents moved back to civilisation when the old man died but Mikura loves the freedom of the skies and can’t let go of her grandfather’s great obsession…

Amongst his effects was an undelivered package with her name on it for Is. Electriciteit – which she translated as Electric Island. There are some fables about the place, but most people think it’s a myth…

Mikura, armed with a keen mind, decades of detailed logs and a strange yearning, becomes as obsessed as her mentor with the mystery. Old Brian vanished trying to find the island, but his logs have entries written after he seemingly perished.

… And then one day Mikura actually sees the perpetually shifting, cloud-cloaked atoll – complete with small town – but cracks up trying to land there. She’s rescued by a passing freighter but the frustration of being so close is agonising and unbearable…

Slowly healing, she gets back to work and starts to doubt her own memories, but somehow cannot let go. Eventually she puzzles out its secret: Electric Island moves around the Pacific in a complex and convoluted three-year cycle. The answer only points to more puzzles, especially after she learns of a friend of Brian’s who shared his fixation: her old English teacher who was actually a brilliant geophysicist…

Another quick trip and one last revelatory interview and at long last Mikura is flying off to a long-awaited rendezvous with the unknown…

To be Continued…

Accompanied by text feature ‘Notes on Wandering Island’, detailing the specifics of floating islands, the antecedents of the series and Tsuruta’s history, Wandering Island is a superbly welcoming introduction into what promises to be a sublime treat for every lover of untrammelled wonder…
© 2011 Kenji Tsuruta/Kodansha Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Superman: The Third Kryptonian


By Kurt Busiek, Dwayne McDuffie, Fabian Nicieza, Rick Leonardi, Renato Guedes, José Wilson Magalhaés, Dan Green & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1987-1 (TPB)

After interminable page counts and the preponderant never-ending angst of hyper-mega-ultra-braided multi-part cross-overs, it’s quite nice to pick up an – admittedly slim – endeavour of more modest means and intent: to wit, a book with a couple of stories that actually begin, occur and end.

Collecting Action Comics #847, Superman #668-670 and Superman Annual #13, this tome actually has three yarns to delight, beginning with Kurt Busiek, Rick Leonardi and Dan Green’s mini-epic wherein every survivor of lost Krypton on Earth, including Power Girl, Clark and Lois’ adopted son Chris (don’t fret, it’s all explained in the story) and even Krypto are targeted for destruction by brutal space pirate Amalak, hungry to take vengeance for the misdeeds of the long dead “Kryptonian Empire”.

Imagine how the irate rogue reacts upon discovering that – unbeknownst to all – an actual survivor of that long-dead galactic aggressor-state has been living secretly on Earth for years…

Good old-fashioned romp though it is, the real meat of this tale was an adjustment and rewriting of Kryptonian history for the post-Smallville/Superman Returns generation. As the disparate continuities of TV, Cinema and comic books were massaged closer to overarching homogeneity, the best of the old was retrofitted to the new. This is an uncomplicated adventure thriller with nostalgic overtones that has a lot to recommend it.

‘The Best Day’ (Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, Guedes & José Wilson Magalhaés) offers sheer delight, and beautiful execution. In a quiet moment, Superman and Supergirl take the Kent clan on a picnic to the stars where we get a chance to see beloved characters interact in joy and relaxation, as the skies of a million universes aren’t collapsing around their invulnerable ears. It’s a brave, rewarding return to old ways and I still want to see more of it.

So go no further than ‘Intermezzo’ (McDuffie and Guedes), another introspective segment sliced from a longer epic, short on punching but big on emotional wallop as Jonathan and Martha Kent share secrets and reveal close-held fears as their adopted son struggles off-camera with another “Never-Ending Battle.”

It’s such gentle moments and the emotional beats that give the best adventure fiction its edge, and this book has them in delightful quantities. This is the stuff that made Superman a legend, and in this anniversary year this collection is an ideal argument for stuff like this to stage a comeback.
© 2007, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.