Category: Best of British

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Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad: Destiny of the Donuts! (Book 3)


By Neill Cameron & various (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-390-5 (TPB Standard edition), 978-1-78845-436-0 (Waterstones edition)

Had enough to eat yet? Do You Like Donuts?

Only you can truly answer that question, but if you’re undecided, and dangerously unaware of the ramifications of indecision, then rowdy raconteur and inestimable art fiend Neill Cameron has another batch of artisanal, edibly-edifying arguments you might want to consider before deciding. They’re all jam-packed into a manic new compendium of strips, activities and artificially-sweetened exploits starring a bargain box of comics champions cherrypicked from modern British periodical treasure trove The Phoenix. Since debuting in 2012 and just like Beano, Dandy and other perennial childhood treasures, the wonderful weekly has masterfully mixed hilarious comedy with enthralling adventure serials… and frequently in the same scintillating strip.

Everybody braced in? Got your snacks? Napkins? Sick bags? Right then, let’s go…

Crafted by Cameron (Mega Robo Bros, Freddy, Tamsin of the Deep, How to Make Awesome Comics, Pirates of Pangea), a unique team of toothsome adventurers reconvene here in a world much improved by an absence of bagels. As enny fule kno, Bagels are the arch enemy of Donuts and probably all Life, but you won’t see many here as this time we’re threatened by our own suicidal tastes and unwise behaviour. No change there, then…

As always, we open with a temptingly gussied-up menu reintroducing family favourites like Dadnut & Li’l Timmy; DS commander-in-chief Sprinkles; impetuous Jammyboi; Chalky (ghost of a murdered Victorian Donut); nerve-wracked Anxiety Donut; violent vigilante Justice Donut and potty-mouthed piratical Caramel Jack! (he’s a little bit salty!). There are, of course, more and fresher delights to come…

Old treats like new Official Donut Squad merchandise, Great Moments in Donut History, Classics of World Donut Cinema, ‘Donutiquette (Tips for Polite Donut-Eating When Travelling)’, ‘Ask your Father’ abound, garnished by further examples of senseless violence with Justice Donut, cruel pranks by Jammyboi and whatever it is Spronky does. These are supplemented by developing character arcs like Anxiety Donut going on a life & attitude changing extended adventure, with shocking repercussions…

Other items on view include ‘Legends of the Origins of Chalky the Ghost Donut’, new arrivals like Daddy Donuts (the Donut who is Maybe TOO Rich), The Donut Mysteries and Extreme Donut Eating. These accompany a flurry of new (and even New World!) taste sensations – like the ‘Danger Nuts’ – Spikynut!, Explodonut! & Regular Donut (contains a higher level of saturated fats than is optimal for Heart Health!) – or international embassages Matcha Comin’ Atcha!, Takoyakinut!, Double Ultimate Chili Cheese Corndog and/or Medicinut.

As well as the launch of culinary pastime ‘Danger Donut Roulette’, other premiering attractions comprise New Season British Classic Flavours (Rhubarb Crumble!, Jam Roly-Poly! & Toad-in-the-Hole Donuts) and other themed delights; Legends of the Dark Donut; semi-regular outbursts of enigmatic tragicomedic experimental drama Waiting for Godonut and seldom seen sightings of Jean-Pierre and Albert: French-Canadian Vampire Donuts…

Underpinning regular and fresh features is an eponymous saga of vast cosmic import. Peppering the unfolding nonsense is a series of episodes in an overarching plotline inserting itself across sixteen fearful-future feuilletés designated ‘Destiny of the Donuts’. Here we will see how foolish, health-conscious humans will imbue smart gadgets like fit-bits and heart monitors with ruthless sentience and an programmed compulsion to eradicate unhealthy eating and the weaklings who do it or comprise it.

This will lead/has led to a war of extinction across the ages, with mean, nasty robots stopping the consumption of tasty snacks until human civilisation collapsed. Now with the last humans living in the ruins of what they wrought, the final dregs of indulgent humankind strikes back down the timelines, steered by our sugar sweet stalwarts and ferocious saturated fatties in rather random temporal assaults on the already triumphant terror mechs…

The galvanising sweet survivor who has lived through it all and intends to go back and fix all that horrible healthy history is a grizzled veteran warrior who used to be called Anxiety… and he’s brought the chewed up and spat out leftovers of his old squad who will make themselves known in good time…

Whether this is your first bite or a just another heaping helping, please be warned that although the main enemy of Donut Squad are bready brutes the Bagels, the timey-wimey shenanigans of these tick-tock fit-bit terrors are hard to suppress and – even after the regular activity features – the peril has not parked nor gone into reverse. Thus, Cameron’s ‘Phoenix Comic Club’ art classes on How to Draw Donuts are insidiously infiltrated by the old foe and manifest here as ‘How to Draw Bagels’ (including ‘How to Draw Platoon Commander Poppyseed’; ‘…A Sesame Seed Bagel’; ‘…A Plain Bagel’ and ‘…A Slightly Smaller Bagel’ before an anachronistic Bonus Comics section unleashes manic wildcard mild card Spronky to bizarrely interact with Time, bun/bakery mechanics and the page-count of reality one last bunch of times…

Smart, witty, laugh out loud weird and totally bonkers, the seemingly piecemeal treats contained herein define what kids love without knowing why. They also completely bewilder us oldsters and keep us in our place. Devious, eccentric and captivating, sugar rush all round is guaranteed and if you get toothache it’s from laughing not chronal confabulations…

Moreover, just like cucumber, DONUT SQUAD WILL RETURN…
Text and illustrations © Neill Cameron 2026. All rights reserved.

Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad: Destiny of the Donuts! is scheduled for UK release on 10th September 2026 and is available for pre-order now; or wait until next year and get it yesterday while walking off all those donuts and bagels…

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John of the Night


by Darryl Cunningham (Avery Hill)
ISBN: 978-1-917355-33-9 (TPB), 978-1-917355-39-1 (Digital edition)

Multi-skilled raconteur, artist and documentarian Darryl Cunningham was born in 1960, lived a pretty British life (didn’t we all?) and graduated from Leeds College of Art. A regular on the Small Press scene of the 1990s, his early strips appeared in legendary paper-based venues including Fast Fiction, Dead Trees, Inkling, Turn and many others. In 1998, he & Simon Gane crafted Meet John Dark for the much-missed Slab-O-Concrete outfit – and it remains one of my favourite books of the era. You should track it down or agitate for a new edition.

Briefly sidelining comics as the century closed, Cunningham worked on an acute care psychiatric ward: a period informing 2011 graphic novel Psychiatric Tales, a revelatory inquiry into mental illness delivered as cartoon reportage.

As well as crafting web comics for Forbidden Planet and personal projects Uncle Bob Adventures, Super-Sam and John-of-the-Night or The Streets of San Diablo, he’s been consolidating a pole position in the field of graphic investigative reporting; specifically in science history, economics and socio-political journalism with books like Science Tales, Supercrash: How to Hijack the Global Economy, Graphic Science: Seven Journeys of Discovery, The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality and the Financial Crisis, Putin’s Russia: The Rise of a Dictator and Billionaires: The Lives of the Rich and Powerful.

Here, however, in a deeply personal extended project, Cunningham returns to his fantasy drama roots with a tribute to Jack Kirby’s wildest imaginings and cosmic epics: a near therapeutic exercise in personal creativity eked out in the quiet moments of the last three years.

Unleashed here is a visual feast of all-action multiversal mayhem, bound in family ties and comprising a chase to save everything that is. In the way are a maelstrom of philosophical betrayals and endless edge-of-disaster clashes, confrontations and revelations…

It begins in 5025 as coldly emotionless scientist John of the Night observes three millennia of history and notices mounting anomalies rippling out from the 1960s and endangering not one timeline but all the universes in creation. ‘Part One: Bullet from a Gun’ details how he bolts from his station defending multiversal centre point Far Eternity to face fanatical rebirth cult The Perfection after learning that they are manipulating realities to murder God and reboot His flawed creation to replace it with a multiverse more to their own perverse tastes. They had obviously already got to the science sentinel’s immediate supervisor His Infernal Radiance Lord Scarcasticus, so after being told to leave the problem alone, John goes rogue…

His decision is greatly affected by his daughter Ayshea who hands him a message and package: something that he will entrust to her at some future date, and whilst he was/will be wearing his awesome black Warsuit… and that’s when a flotilla of ships materialise to obliterate the orbital Watch Station…

On the run, John & Ayshea translate to a refuge universe which unfortunately alerts her wicked mother Medea the Witch Queen who joins the pursuit, abducts John and sets her warrior goon/current lover Bill on him. The Witch Queen still seeks to possess and sacrifice her own daughter in support of vile plans to live forever, but these are temporally and temporarily thwarted when Ayshea spectacularly shows up to rescue her dad, prior to landing in a random dimension where nobody can find them.

Of course, they were expected…

Taking control of the Golden Bullet cast to kill God, father & daughter take off again, battling every step of the way against soldiers, monsters, brutes and demons in ‘Part Two: Bullet from a Gun’ as we gain insights into the motives of the other side, glimpsing their view of the history of everything that is… but should not be…

The fugitives ultimately recruit untrustworthy Medea and manage to warn God, but his policy on non-interference is so steadfast and ironclad that he will do nothing to help them or himself…

The helter-skelter race against times culminates in cosmic confrontation as ‘Part Three: The Hand of God’ grants devoted science hero John a sight of the true way things are following the arrival of divine assassin Loman The Vengeance whose murder-mission must not succeed. Forced into precipitate action, our technician troubleshooter embraces fully the way of the warrior… and that’s when things get really wild and John finally meets his maker…

Supplemented by text additions Outro and Acknowledgements plus incisive insights and context courtesy of A Q&A with author Darryl Cunningham, this manic and expansive collation was inspired by King Kirby’s grand transgalactic, time-bending sagas: light-heartedly mixing myth, multiversal mayhem and celestial musings with themes of sacrifice, destiny, innate heroism and the indifference of higher powers. A witty, archly humorous sideral odyssey featuring a unique family fiercely finding each other against all odds, John of the Night is reality-rending fun as only comics can deliver.
© Darryl Cunningham 2026. All rights reserved.

John of the Night will be released on September 2nd 2026 and is available for pre-order now

Today in 1929 veteran illustrator Don Perlin (Werewolf by Night, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Solar, Man of the Atom, Bloodshot, Transformers) was born, as was Underground commix artist turned publisher Denis Kitchen (Mom’s Homemade Comics, The Comix Book, The Bugle-American, founder of Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) in 1946 and comic book creator Phil Hester (Green Arrow, Flash, The Wretch, The Crow, Swamp Thing) in 1966. Quintessentially British cartoonist Carl Giles died today in 1995.

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The Count Binface Comic Book


By Nick Abadzis, Krent Able, Steven Appleby, Andrew Attwell, Rachael Ball, Becky Barnicoat, Henny Beaumont, Hannah Berry, Abbigayle Bircham & Bobby Joseph, Paul Ashley Brown, Grazia Caleo & Louis Netter, Darryl Cunningham & Jonathan Edwards, Dix, Kate Evans, Babak Ganjei, Fraser Geesin, ILYA, JAKe Detonator, Rich Johnston, Rebecca K. Jones, Jonesy, Dave McKean, Peter Morey, Rob Murray, Woodrow Phoenix, Anna Readman, Scarlett & Sophie Rickard, Martin Rowson, Mark Stafford, Bryan Talbot, Edward Taylor, Myfanwy Tristram & various (SelfMadeHero)

ISBN: 978-1-914224-58-4 (TPB)

Hey ordinary upstanding voters! Oi, honourable members and professional politicians! Cartoonists are laughing at you, How do you like it?

With entire galaxies to dominate, unruly constellations to effectively administer and all that accumulated rubbish to face, it seems gracious in the extreme for an extraterrestrial overlord to consider the welfare of backward minor satrapies like Clack-Ton and the heilarious (MJ – not a typo) maze-running of human political relations. A benevolent “Greater Galactic” no less puissant than Tharg the Mighty, Count Binface is Britain’s most beloved Recyclon, a staunch defender of common sense and tireless champion of the Lovejoy box set (an entertainment item not an unspecified, unelected elite group).

He is always ready to play a straight game and reap the non-existent rewards of bossing earthlings about and will attempt to cater to their inexpressible usually contradictory whims. Thus, unafraid of hard questions and daft policies and utterly unaware of what five million quid even looks like, he competes in every UK by-election. However, none could stop a bunch of scribblers who think they’re so-ooo funny from compiling this no-holds-barred cartoon expose/briefing dossier, which digs behind the bin – as much as possible – and shows us what there is to know of the only ma humanoid prepared to tell it like it should be.

For expediency’s sake our irrepressible leader in waiting who – as mild-mannered comedian Jon Harvey – was rocketed to Earth from Sigma IX to show us a better way to live – pledges to keep it simple with manifesto promises including “a 99 pence cap on all 99 Flake ice creams (just common sense); to abolish auto-renew on Subscriptions (pure evil and a tax on forgetfulness!) and to build at least one affordable home (just to prove we can!).” If the impact studies are favourable, he would also “nationalise the singer Adele”…

Because pictures am clear & simple to understand, The Count Binface Comic Book is already seditiously at large in some comic shops, even though not officially published until Polling Day/August 13th 2026 (and how come no big shot foreign director has used that title for a summer blockbuster of negligible sense and questionable messaging?). Also, 10% of every sale is donated to British housing charity Shelter via Work for Good. Moreover, each copy reaching human hands will burn like fire as it explodes the pomposity and miscreancy of those weaselly incumbents who think humans will believe any old-beer/milk shake-sodden tosh, just as long as it makes strangers and foreigners look like monsters, flouts maritime law and ignores basic arithmetic…

A cross between good-natured political statement and another display of the British inability to take important stuff seriously, this hot-off-the-presses strip collection rides a local (one bit of one count in one country on one planet!) zeitgeist with a wealth of our best and brightest cartoonists and satirists deconstructing the myth whilst providing The Sun and Daily Telegraph with potential scoops and banner headlines for months to come as it shares (possibly inaccurate) accounts of what else Count Binface does when no one is looking…

Encompassing everything from fashion to prognostication, prophecy and revelation to cosmic combat and the fate of universes – and even a history of activism and election “joke candidates” – this timely tome is a thematic sequel to SelfMadeHero’s 2017 grand political experiment The Corbyn Comic Book and was rush-released out: compacting into 72 pages a barking mad bombardment of cogent crazy cartoon commentary by and from some of Earth’s most exciting comics creators.

These include Nick Abadzis, Krent Able, Steven Appleby, Andrew Attwell, Rachael Ball, Becky Barnicoat, Henny Beaumont, Hannah Berry, Abbigayle Bircham & Bobby Joseph, Paul Ashley Brown, Grazia Caleo & Louis Netter, Darryl Cunningham & Jonathan Edwards, JAKe Detonator, Dix, Kate Evans, Babak Ganjei, Fraser Geesin, ILYA, Rich Johnston, Rebecca K. Jones, Jonesy, Dave McKean, Peter Morey, Rob Murray, Woodrow Phoenix, Anna Readman, Scarlett & Sophie Rickard, Martin Rowson, Mark Stafford, Bryan Talbot, Edward Taylor, Myfanwy Tristram and others.

You can stand up and be counted just by sitting down and scoping out the wonders contained herein, and every sale will remind those who matter that it’s not aliens we worry about, but homegrown spivs, exploitative rabblerousers, greedy rich bastards and unthinking bigots…

WARNING! UNOFFICIAL, UNAUTHORIZED SATIRICAL ANTHOLOGY

This publication has not been prepared, approved, authorized, or licensed by Count Binface or any related entity. The Count Binface Comic Book is available at GOSH (London) from 6th August & on sale at other good bookshops and online in the week leading up to the August 13th by-election.

Today in 1902 saw the arrival of illustrator, cartoonist and comic book pioneer Jack Binder (Daredevil, If…?, The Destroyer, Bulletman, Mary Marvel, Fighting Yank, Ibis the Invincible, Mister Scarlet and Pinky, Captain Battle, Black Owl, Doc Savage, The Shadow), joined by It Never Fails and Mickey Finn artist Morris Weiss in 1915; cartoonist Dik Browne (The Tracy Twins, Hi and Lois, Hägar the Horrible) in 1917 and Swedish creator Rune Andréasson (Bamse, Teddy, Habibu, Brum, Pellefant) in1925. In 1948 horrorist T. Casey Brennan (Eerie, Creepy, Vampirella) was born, sharing the day with Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets, Batman, Loveless, Hellblazer) in 1962; Jim Lee (X-Men, WildC.A.T.s. DC New 52) and letterer Pat Brosseau in in 1964; artist/ghost inker Ryan Winn (Hiding in Time) in 1976 and illustrator Joseph A. Quiñones Jr. (Firefly, Wonder Woman, Teen Titans Go!, Superman/Batman, Thunderbolts) in 1982.

This day in 1959 saw the passing of breakthrough African American artist Matt Baker (Phantom Lady, It Rhymes with Lust, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Canteen Kate, Sky Girl, Charlton and Atlas mystery/horror, westerns and romance anthologies).

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Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey Book 11: Intergalactic Monkey Business! TPB


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras, Paul Duffield & Armin Roshdi (The Phoenix Comic Books/ David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-362-t (TPB), 978-1-78845-416-2 (Tesco Exclusive Edition), 978-1-78845-417-9 (WHSmith Travel Exclusive Team Monkey Edition)

Bunny vs Monkey has been the inspirationally bonkers breakout star of The Phoenix since the first issue back in 2012: cataloguing a madcap vendetta gripping animal archenemies set amidst an idyllic arcadia, masquerading as more-or-less mundane but critically endangered English woodlands. Concocted with gleefully gusto – but increasingly with a cerebral cosmic crescendo in mind – by cartoonist/comics artist/novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Max and Chaffy, Flember, Find Chaffy; Megalomaniacs), these trendsetting, mindbending yarns have been wisely retooled as multi award-winning, bestselling graphic albums available in digest softcover such as this one hardback and sponsored special editions and even as an AUDIOBOOK. Just let that one last one sink in…

All the tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy began yonks ago after an obnoxious little beast plopped down in after a disastrous British space shot. OR DID IT?

Crashlanding in Crinkle Woods – scant miles from his launch site – lab animal Monkey believed himself the rightful owner of a strange new world, despite every effort of genteel, contemplative, reasonably sensible forest resident Bunny to dissuade him. For all his patience, propriety and good breeding, the laid-back lepine could not contain or control the incorrigible idiot ape, who to this moment remains a rude, troublemaking, chaos-causing, noise-loving lout intent on building his perfect “Monkeyopia” and/or being a robot, with or without the aid of evil supergenius Skunky or tagalong useless “henches” Metal Steve & Action Beaver…

Daily wonders and catastrophes were exacerbated by a broad band of unconventional Crinkle creatures, none more so than aforementioned monochrome mad scientist Skunky, whose intellect and cavalier attitude to life presents as a propensity for building dangerous robots, bio-beasts and sundry other super-weapons. He is, at his core, a dangerously inquisitive thinker and tinkerer…

Now the Graphic Novel of the Year of the British Book Awards 2026 is out in time for the summer hols in a nifty paperback edition and will keep everyone stuck in the car or waiting to pass customs suitably amused. Best get a couple though – kids, dads and grandmas do not like to share…

So, what’s going on?

Here, with artistic fiddling about from design deputy Sammy Borras, the unending war of nerves and mega-ordnances resumes as if nothing cosmic or multiverse-changing had ever happened, or any hint of a restart after a cosmic culmination. See, that’s what happens if you let books pile up and don’t read them immediately! Go check out Bunny vs Monkey: The Great Big Glitch! and then come back and we’ll chat some more…

Okay then, new day, new start, same old mega mecha meta nonsense as ‘Clouding Over’ sees a suspiciously low-lying cirrus formation start dumping rain and then increasingly more noisome and noxious substances on the woods-folk in what appear to be targeted strikes. Could there possibly be some kind of intelligence behind the atmospheric attacks?

With propriety and good taste under attack (and soon in full retreat), the sensorial assaults resume in ‘Guts n’ Butts!’ as Monkey & Skunky debate the appalling assets and proposed “improvements” to the weaponised flatulence engine they call Bungamungus with no consideration of those in its path prior to the simian unleashing his own worst nightmare…

The giant ‘MonkeyBot 5000’ is supposed to make life hell for his fluffy white foe, but it appears Bunny can find plenty of uses for a mechanised personal organiser that can bench press trucks, topple buildings, file and colour co-ordinate…

Reality is rocked all over again when Monkey’s ‘Mum and Dad’ pop by for a visit and nice bit of tea, but nature’s innocents Weenie and Pig Piggerton are too busy having adventures with ‘Frogs!’ and their mystical king to really notice, whereas ‘Lucky… The Unluckiest Red Panda in the World!!’ stumbles into unbridled chaos (she’s used to it by now) when Skunky & Monkey decide to go through the forgotten inventions bin. Worried about declining productivity, the sinister science sinner then uses his 3D printer to unleash a horde of ‘Fun-Size Skunkies’ who are anything but, before Bunny learns where all the wreckage, rubbish and remains go when the latest catastrophe has finished unfolding. Sadly, there are good reasons nobody wants to see ‘Binbag Sam’ carry out his nasty but necessary job…

Always seeking peace and serene contemplation, mysterious Le Fox has found a wilderness to dig in, but when Monkey comes by and discovers gold in ‘Them Thar Hills’ that’s another dream dead, but only prelude to planet-shaking events when Skunky’s new signal array test coincides with Monkey’s latest eating challenge. ‘Message in a Butthole’ reveals how – after, inevitably – a monumental foofie erupts across the universe, the consequences will be appalling… but not at all unexpected.

In a fabulous tribute to Chuck Jones cartoons, ‘Monkey vs Ai’ sees the annoying ape test a bunch of inventions that should work “in theory”, before going back to stinky basics with a cheese cannon. Sadly, the anticipated “Cheesepocalyse” is definitively derailed by ‘The Turning of the Pig’ as pacifistic Piggerton reaches a limit and shows the monkey miscreant just what it all feels like…

‘Buzzing Off’ sees Skunky testing ways to end the really annoying fly suit he built for his partner in chaos and then hiding along with everyone else in ‘Who’s Afraid of the Monkey’ when the simian simpleton gets really, really hungry. Eventually sated, the little sod resumes pranks & pestiferations with a giant robot in ‘Close Encounters of the Bird Kind’. Remember that olfactory beacon blasted across infinity? This is the moment something answers that unique clarion call…

Suddenly, in ‘You Looking at Me?’ Crinkle Woods are alive with alien weirdoes, but it’s just Skunky messing about with quantum physics and nothing to do with Monkey, because he’s currently hurtling to the other side of the Universe, testing to destruction the super-high-tech toilets of the extraterrestrials who abducted him…

He can’t be blamed for the astonishing void discovered by Pig and Weenie prompting the chilling question ‘What Lies Inside… the Hole?!’ or sensible but naïve robot Metal E.V.E.’s attempts to balance out Lucky’s cosmic misfortunes in ‘What Luck Befalls’, or even Metal Steve’s crisis of confidence and inexplicable desire to ‘Destroy’ because Monkey is currently spreading his brand of chaos while ‘Hitching a Ride’ on the ship of judgemental civilisation-eradicating superior being Grand Master Nexus…

Meanwhile on Earth, Skunky discovers the missing co-miscreant has left his life unfulfilled and dissatisfied and switches to a copy to serve his unsuspected emotional needs. ‘Little Monkey’ is feral, bitey, uncommunicative, un-potty-trainable and disgusting… such an improvement on the original! Enjoying his fresh start the evil inventor unleashes ‘A Clever Endeavour’ in the compulsive form of a malign puzzle box that baffles and bamboozles everyone – except the mini monkey who might just be the smartest thing in the woods now…

Pig’s penchant for peculiar pets sees the adoption of an odd avian Blue-bummed Bimblebug. Inappropriately dubbed ‘Parpy’, the critter’s 24-hour lifespan brings near-instant woe, and leads to the advent of colossal hermit savant Capybara 5000 whose answers to all the ‘Big Questions’ are unexpectedly violent. That search for truth culminates in sage advice ‘Run!’ before calm returns as Pig explores wild water rafting and Le Fox confronts increasingly sinister Little Monkey in ‘The Happiness of the Kitsune’.

Far away in another beleaguered solar system, Monkey is slowly wearing down Nexus and his minions, before accidentally warping them all back to Earth to enjoy a spontaneous battle of ‘Rather Big Lasers’ with Skunky. When that eradicates the fuzzy mastermind’s secret underground lair all Skunky can think of is ‘Revenge’. With Little Monkey in tow the genius goes ‘On the Hunt’ in a unique battleship, pursuing ‘Space Wars’ even as his hirsute former best baddie buddy seizes control of the Nexus craft and drives it into ‘A Hella Interstellar Yeller’…

Marooned on a muddy morass world, Monkey establishes his dream dictatorship. Sadly, ‘Chutneyopia’ is right next to the equally barren planet Skunky crashed on and war is declared as the newcomer demands an apology that will never be forthcoming. Moreover, when Skunky took off after Monkey, most of Crinkle Wood went with him and as Bunny ruminates on ‘The Intergalactic Adventures of Weenie and Cinnamon Bun Pig!’, plans are underway to terraform the barren planetoid into ‘A New Home’. Unfortunately that’s being undertaken by ‘Even More Skunkies’…

With the enemy busy converting Chutneyopia into his other, better dream of Monkeyopia, ‘A New Plan’ is needed, but the still-active Grand Master finally concedes that its superior mentality and firepower are no match for the annoying Earth ape. With its minions in revolt and resolved to blow up Earth, there nothing left for Monkey to worry about ‘Apart from the Bomb’ that’s going to end his grotty mucky dream world…

What better time for a reconciliation with Skunky?

Back on Earth, other Crinkle Wood critters have briefly but wholeheartedly enjoyed a time of growth and limelight in ‘Not Bunny vs Monkey’ but the likes of Stan Stoat and Randolph Raccoon are helpless when the minions start blasting. As Monkeyopia becomes a vast spaceship, Skunky begins his ‘Race to Save the World’ with his secret weapon Little Monkey, but the outcome is never certain and our heroes all decide they’re ‘Best Off Out of It’, leaving a monumental deus ex machina to sort everything out…

Wrapping up these sidereal shenanigans and cosmic bum gags are related activities offered under the aegis of the Phoenix Comics Club. Bring paper, pencils and yourself to a compact online course in all aspects of comic strip creation supervised by Jamie Smart & Armin Roshdi detailing ‘How to draw King Frog!’, ‘A Bungamungous!’, ‘Capybara 5000!’ and ‘An Alien!’ before closing with an extensive plug for the Phoenix Comics Club website, complete with instant access via a QR code, plus previews of other treats & wonders to be seen in The Phoenix to wind down from all that cosmic kerfuffle…

Another book for your kids to explain to you, Bunny vs Monkey: Intergalactic Monkey Business! is weird wit, wild invention, potent sentiment and superb cartooning all crammed into one eccentrically excellent package. These tails never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. Is that you?
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.

Today in 1923 comics artist and strip cartoonist Dan Barry (Airboy, Doc Savage, Tarzan, Flash Gordon) was born, with British whiz kid Phillip Bond (Wired World, Angel and the Ape, Kill Your Boyfriend, Vimanarama) turning up in 1966 and artist Eric Battle (Kobalt, Hardware, The Spectre) born in 1967.

Today in 1975 author and cartoonist Crockett Johnson (Barnaby, How to Make an Earthquake, Harold and the Purple Crayon) died.

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Jess Bradley’s Squid Bits! : That’s a Nice Hat!


By Jess Bradley with Emily Kimball, Kate Brown & various (DFB/Phoenix)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-395-0 (TPB)

The Phoenix has been the shining saving grace of traditional British kids’ comics since 2012, regaling rabid readers with anthology strips for girls, boys and all points between, offering humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy. Although pretty strong in its action and mystery yarns, the publication is probably best known for its award-winning comedy stylings, and has always offered perplexing pages of puzzles, fun facts and info downloads in cartoon form.

And then there’s Squid Bits.

Concocted by Jess Bradley (Comic Strip Science series, Super Dweeb, A Day in the Life of…), the composite self (un)help feature offers advice, suggestions, recipes, style tips, listicles, little snippets of information and much more by dredging up (more like making up!!!) countless tips from all human knowledge: history to astrology, science to economics, baking to nonsense and beyond. These articles are all purportedly supplied by mystery cartoonist The Squid and THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED!

At the height of the Ritalin* Generation and after years of periodical dis, mis and even hiss information (there’s lots of stuff on lizards and reptiles) across many pages of octopoidal excess, the mix-&-match wonderment and sheer randomised inventiveness – undoubtedly sparked by an excess of imagination and too much tea and confectionary – has been compiled and curated into an almanac of absurdity, unleashed upon the reading public as Jess Bradley’s Squid Bits: That’s a Nice Hat. The perpetrators even have the temerity to threaten more books coming!

The seemingly utilitarian assemblages of pictorial bric-a-brac are manipulated and wrangled on-page by a Greek chorus of stick-figure doodles called “The Doodles” (individually Dog, Cat, Lizard, Rabbit, Mouse & Goat) seeking to please, placate and ingratiate their multi-tentacled Master/Benefactor/Employer. However, as the graffiti gang introduce themselves in an introductory chapter, old rivalries emerge and the linear sextet are consumed by millinery madness. From this point onwards all six lie, cheat, create, purloin, commandeer, otherwise obtain and steal – especially steal – a succession of staggering titfers and chapeaus to impress their unseen overlord.

Amidst and in between all bouts of hat madness and 2-dimensional personal quests for validation, a vast selection of exemplary, data-drenched drawings from the Squid Bits feature bombards your-ever-expanding brainpan, technically making you smarter, but absolutely no use at all in any kind of crisis…

Recurring features within the strip include the life of ‘Red Panda – Nature’s Jerk!’; the lectures of piscine critic ‘Art Shark’; the indescribable ‘Banana!’; ‘The Amazing Lizard Bros!’; ‘Werewolf Problems!’; ‘President Dog!’; ‘Undercover Pigeon!’; ‘Dr. Bacon, M.D.’; ‘Cecil P. Wombat – Expert on Everything!’;‘Adventures in Opposite Land!’ and so very much you never needed or wanted to know about slugs, shopping, fighting, monsters, ghosts, flatulence, vampires or other staples of modern childhood.

Also incrementally improving reader’s lives are such perennial favourites as ‘Totally Real Nature Guide’; ‘Squid Bits Horoscopes’; ‘In the Olden Days’; ‘Squid Bits Weather Report!’ ‘That Escalated Quickly…’; ‘For Sale!’; ‘Squid Bits Homework Help!’; ‘Job Interviews!’; ‘Monster Fashion!’; excerpts from ‘The Adventurer’s Guide’ and the ever-topical and handy “Check List!” of things you probably don’t need for a far better life.

These are counterbalanced by occasional or one-off events such as ‘5th Annual Nudibranch Festival!’, ‘Cut ‘n’ Keep Gentle Reminder!’; a visit to ‘The Evil Forest!’; ‘Stick Insect Romance!’ and ‘Time Travel Foibles’; ‘Too Many Guinea Pigs’ and ‘What Were You Before the Experiment?’…

As always, wrapping up these multi-pronged life-lessons and graphic shenanigans are opportunities to get creative and construct your own Fake News. This timely opportunity appears as activities offered under the aegis of the Phoenix Comics Club. Bring paper, pencils, a ruler, no respect for rules and especially You to a compact online course (QR code provided!), Alternatively, do it in the ancient ways as all aspects of comic strip creation are presented and supervised “in-book” by Bradley herself. The section details ‘How to Draw the Squid Bits Way!’ and individual lessons and topics include the draughting delights of Red Panda, Banana & Art Shark.

Also in view are ‘How to Draw Expressive Doodles’, ‘How to Draw Expressions’, ‘Have Fun With Hairstyles’, ‘Let’s Talk Body Language’, ‘Bringing it All Together’, ‘Lost in a Haunted House’, ‘Blowing Bubbles’, ‘Tentacle Attack’, plus extension specialisms ‘Guinea Pig Balancing Champions’ and – most crucially of all – ‘Sulky Pie Dropper’. Won’t get nowhere sketch-wise without knowing that one, Just ask Art Shark…

Hugely funny, infinitely (for a given value of infinite, of course) inventive and addictively, daftly and deftly drawn, Jess Bradley’s Squid Bits: That’s a Nice Hat is a wondrous “dipping book” and another item that your kids will have to explain to you. Thus, you’d be ill-advised to let your kids have a copy if you’re driving anywhere with them in the back. Otherwise, it’s great and worth your keenest attentions. I tip my hat to it, of course…
Text and Illustrations © Jess Bradley, 2026.

*Other forms of Methylphenidate are available, but should not be considered as a an alternative to study and diligent parenting.

Today in 1949, British all-rounder comics creator John Higgins (Judge Dredd, Watchmen, World Without End, Dr Who, Batman: The Killing Joke, Razorjack) was born, sharing the date with both Underground Commix star Bobby London (Dirty Duck, Air Pirates, Popeye) and writer-turned-producer & Dark Horse Comics founder Mike Richardson (The Mask, Star Wars, Aliens, Predator, Cravan: Mystery Man of the 20th Century, Deep Gravity) in 1950. In 1951 Dean of Disney Duck delights Don Rosa arrived, as did realist comics artist Bo Hampton (Greylore, Viking Glory, Batman: Castle of the Bat) in 1954 and Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, Young Avengers) in 1967.

1985 today saw the last published edition of UK comics bastion Jack and Jill after more than 1640 weekly issues.

Today in 1888, American cartoonist turned Comics pioneer Frank Bellew died, as did immortal legend Steve Ditko in 2018.

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Stabbed in the Front – Post-War General Elections through Political Cartoons


By various, edited by Dr. Alan Mumford (Centre for the Study of Cartoons & Caricature, University of Kent, Canterbury)
ISBN: 978-1-90267-120-8 (Album PB)

I thinks it’s time for another history lesson – or actually the same one. Normal service will be resumed one day.

“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else” – Clarence Darrow

From its earliest inception cartooning was used to sell: initially ideas or values but eventually actual products too. In newspapers, magazines and especially comic books, the sheer power of narrative with its ability to create emotional affinities has been linked to the creation of unforgettable images and characters. When those stories affect the daily lives of generations of readers, the force that they can apply in a commercial or social arena is almost irresistible.

In Britain the cartoonist has held a bizarrely precarious position of power for centuries: a deftly designed bombastic broadside or savagely surgical satirical slice instantly capable of ridiculing, exposing and always deflating the powerfully elevated and apparently untouchable with a simple shaped-charge of scandalous wit and crushingly clear, universally understandable visual metaphor. For this method of concept transmission, literacy or lack of education is no barrier. As the Catholic Church proved millennia ago with the Stations of the Cross, stained glass windows and a pantheon of idealised superhero saints, a picture is absolutely worth a thousand words – and they controlled those if they could. Inner thoughts too. What cruel, cunning maniac came up with “the thought Is the deed”?

More so than work, sport, religion, fighting or even sex, politics has always been the very grist that feeds the pictorial gadfly’s mill. This gloriously informative book (sponsored by the marvellous Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature, University of Kent at Canterbury), offers a fantastic overview of political adaptability and cultural life as Britain moved from Empire to mere Nationhood in the latter half of the 20th century, examined through General Elections and the wealth of cunningly contrived images and pictorial iconography they provoked and inspired. It’s one of my favourite things ever and crucially in need of updating and re-release.

After an effusive Foreword from professional politician and celebrated cartoon aficionado (the Rt. Hon.) Lord Kenneth Baker of Dorking, author Alan Mumford – a specialist in management training – covers the basic semiology and working vocabulary of the medium in his copious Introduction. Designating definitions and terms for his splendid treatise, he subdivides the territory into ‘Origins’; ‘Criteria for Selection’; ‘Newspapers and Magazines’; ‘The Longevity of Political Cartoonists’; ‘References, Symbols and Metaphors’; ‘The Impact of Cartoons on General Elections’ and ‘Savagery in Political Cartoons’ as an effective foundation course in how to best contextualise and appreciate the plethora of carefully crafted mass-market messages which follow.

The format is extremely ergonomic and effective. Thus, Philip Zec’s iconic cartoon and caption/slogan “Here You Are. Don’t Lose it Again!” begins the Great Endeavour with historical background in The Run-up to the General Election of 1945, followed by Election Issues and the 1945 Campaign; Major Personalities of the 1945 General Election; Results of… and finally a nominated “Cartoonist of the Election” whose work most captured the spirit of, or affected the outcome of, a particular contest. This methodology then proceeds to efficiently and comprehensively recreate the tone of each time, augmented whenever possible by a personal interview or remembrance from one of the campaigners involved. Telling vignettes include contributions such mythic personalities as Frank Pakenham/Lord Longford, Barbara Castle, Edward Heath, Denis Healey, Roy Jenkins, Kenneth Baker again, Jim Prior, Jim Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, David Steel, Norman Tebbit, John Major and Tony Blair…

Each fact-packed, picture-filled chapter dissects every succeeding campaign: 1950’s tame ‘Consolidation not Adventure’, which resulted in Labour and Clement Attlee’s second victory by the narrowest – practically unworkable – of margins; Churchill’s resurgence in 1951 as ‘The Grand Old Man Returns’ and a slow steady decline in fortunes and growth of a New Politics after Anthony Eden’s star rose for the 1955 General Election when ‘The Crown Prince Takes Over’…

In an era of international unrest, Harold McMillan eventually became Tory top gun and in 1959 was ‘Supermac Triumphant’, but domestic troubles – race, unionism and the always struggling economy – wore away his energies. In a minor coup he was ousted and Sir Alec Douglas Home took over mid-term, consequently losing to glib, charismatic new Labour leader Harold Wilson. This entire era is one of aged and infirm Big Beasts passing away suddenly with too many lesser lights to succeed them; further complicated by both Labour and Conservative parties riven by infighting and jockeying for position with wannabe upstarts such as the Liberals cruising the room looking to pick up what scraps they could (so it’s not a new thing, OK?).

In 1966 ‘Labour Government Work’ took them to a second term, but social turmoil in the country, with unions demands spiralling out of control, enabled Edward Heath to lead the Conservatives into the most dangerous and turbulent decade in modern British history (this statement might need revising). The General Election of 1970 proved ‘Wilson Complacent, Heath Persistent’…

There were two General Elections in 1974.

The ongoing crisis in industrial relations and growing racial tensions caused by maverick Tory Enoch Powell’s continual cries to “end Immigration or face rivers of blood in the streets” forced Prime Minister Heath to ask in February ‘Who Governs Britain?’ He was informed by the disaffected electorate “Not you, mate.” Even though Wilson and Labour were returned to power, the majority was miniscule and by October the people were compelled to do it all again and ‘Vote for Peace and Quiet’.

Although he’d again narrowly led them to victory, Wilson’s time was done. He abruptly resigned in 1976 to be replaced by deputy Jim Callaghan. The Conspiracy Theorists queue begins on the left…

Heath too was reduced to the ranks and relegated to the Tory Back Benches, replaced by a rising star from Finchley. As Britain staggered under terrifying economic woes in 1979, Callaghan called an election and lost to Margaret Thatcher, who had famously said “No Woman in My Time” would ever be Prime Minister. I believe that was the last time she ever admitted to being wrong. Despite horrifying and sustained assaults on the fabric of British society – and monumental unpopularity – she enjoyed two more election victories: in 1983 – “The Longest Suicide Note in History” – and again in 1987 as ‘Thatcher Moves Forward’ before finally being turned on by her own bullied and harried Cabinet… a tradition that has become the biggest perk in politics…

The best political cartooning comes from outrage, and the Tory administrations of the 1980’s provided one bloated, bile-filled easy mark after another. Just look at TV’s Spitting Image which grew fat and healthy off that government’s peccadilloes, indignities and iniquities (as well as Reagan’s America and the Royal Family) in just the way that millions of unemployed and disenfranchised workers, students and pensioners didn’t. Election cartoons reproduced here from that period come from a largely Tory Press, and whilst contextualised and accurate, do not approach the level of venom she engendered in certain sections. For a more balanced view one should also seek out Plunder Woman Must Go! by Alan Hardman; Drain Pig and the Glow Boys in Critical Mess; You are Maggie Thatcher: a Dole-Playing Game or even Father Kissmass and Mother Claws by Bel Mooney & Gerald Scarfe, not to mention any collection of the magnificent pitiless Steve Bell’s excoriating If…

In 1992, the only thing stopping a Labour landslide was the party itself, which had so dissolved into factional infighting and ideological naval-gazing that not even the fiery oratory of Welsh Wizard Neil Kinnock could pull them together. Once again, the newspapers claimed the credit when Tory consensus/concession leader John Major pulled off a surprising ‘Triumph of the Soapbox?’

That Labour Landslide had to wait until 1997 and the ‘Teeth and Sleaze’ of Tony Blair (although at that time we all thought the latter term only applied to corrupt Tory MPs selling parliamentary time and attention to business interests). That moment of fond memory brings this incredibly appealing tome to a close. I said it before and I’m saying it again: since then a whole lot has happened and I think its long past time for a new, revised and updated edition…

As well as making our subjugation addictively accessible over half a century of venal demagoguery, hard work, murky manipulations, honest good intentions and the efforts of many men and women moved in equal parts by dedication and chicanery, this oversized monochrome tome is also literally stuffed with the best visual work of some of the very best cartoonists ever to work in these Sceptred Isles.

The art, imagination, passion and vitriol of Abu, Steve Bell, Peter Brookes, Dave Brown, Michael Cummings, Eccles, Emmwood, Stanley Franklin, George Gale, Nick Garland, the Davids Gaskill & Ghilchik, Les Gibbard, Charles Griffin, Graham High, Leslie Illingworth, Jak, John Jensen, Jon, Kal, David Low, Mac, Mahood, Norman Mansbridge, Sidney Moon, Bill Papas, Chris Riddell, Paul Rigby, Rodger, Stephen Roth, Martin Rowson, Willie Rushton, Peter Schrank, Ernest Shepard, Ralph Steadman, Sidney Strube, Trog, Vicky, Keith Waite, Zec and Zoke are timeless examples of the political pictorialist’s uncanny power and – as signs of the times – form a surprising affecting gestalt of our never happy nation’s feeling and character…

None of that actually matters now, since these cartoons performed the task they were intended for at the time of deployment: shaping the opinions and intentions of generations of voters. That they have also stood the test of time and remain as beloved relics of a lethal art form is true testament to their power and passion, but – to be honest and whatever your political complexion – isn’t it just a guilty pleasure to see a really great villain get one more good kicking?

Stuffed with astounding images, fascinating lost ephemera and mouth-watering tastes of comic art no fan could resist, this colossal collection is a beautiful piece of cartoon history that will delight and tantalise all who read it.
© 2001. Text © 2001 Alan Mumford. All illustrations © their respective holders or owners. All rights reserved.

Writer/inker Al Gordon (Wildstar, Legion of Super-Heroes, X-Men) arrived today in 1953, with writer/translator Jean-Marc Lofficier (The Airtight Garage: The Elsewhere Prince, Onyx Overlord, Dr. Strange, Arzach) joining one year later, and cartoonist Kevin Fagan (Drabble) arriving in 1956. Artist Bill Jaaska (Jon Sable, Teen Titans) was born in 1961; cartoonist, critic, editor publisher Eric Reynolds in 1972: artist Jae Lee (Namor the Sub-Mariner, The Sentry, Inhumans) in 1972 and Barcelona born illustrator Daniel Sampere (Wonder Woman) in 1985.

In 1984 today, the last TV Comic (of 1696 weekly editions) was published,

Today in 1928 pioneering US comics artist A.B. Frost died, as did French creator Alain Saini-Ogan (Zig et Puce) in 1974 and, in 2001, EC Comics all-star and strip supremo George R. Evans (Terry and the Pirates, Secret Agent X-9, Flash Gordon).

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A Thousand Coloured Castles


By Gareth Brookes (Myriad Editions)
ISBN: 978-0-993563-30-0 (HB)

The world is filled with amazing women passing largely unnoticed by the loud, shouty males with their hands on the tillers of history and chokehold on the media, but seldom a kettle or shopping bag. This amazing tale is broadly based on one of them…

It comes to us from an equally intriguing source. Gareth Brookes is a “capital-A” Artist, printmaker, textile creator and educator who began literally crafting comics in 2015 with his astounding and disturbing epic The Black Project. With A Thousand Coloured Castles, RCA graduate Brookes confirmed a growing reputation for challenging and rewarding graphic narratives of the artisanal kind. Brookes is a deep and slyly humorous thinker with his roots in the Littlest of Englands, and a skewed eye to storytelling. This captivating hardback tome was created solely from dark wit and wax crayons, resulting in a truly tactile and absurdly otherworldly viewing experience…

Myriam is in her declining years: married to a set-in-his-ways old know-it-all curmudgeon, as seen in most traditionally happy families and captured on paper by Raymond Briggs and TV sitcoms starring Richard Wilson.

Fred spends most of his time complaining about everything, which is why it takes a very long time for him to notice that Myriam’s eyesight is fading. It takes even longer for him to grasp that she’s increasingly subject to wild, abstract and absolutely convincing hallucinations: vivid visions and shapes that baffle and bewilder even as they light up her drab, interminable existence.

Of much more concern to Fred is “The Wife’s” increasing fascination with the overgrown, unkempt back garden next door. He’s happy to moan about it in private but doesn’t want to engage in potential suburban hostilities with the woman living there. Myriam, however, keeps seeing a strange bedraggled little boy trapped in there, even though everybody knows that’s not possible.

… All except her toddler grandson Jack, who’s always happy to see things her way…

And thus unfolds a multi-layered observation of social norms and aberrant behaviours, supposition and expectation, declining faculties and domestic evil that is truly magical to behold and impossible to predict.

Despite her condition, Myriam proves that she knows what’s what and what’s right, as events spiral to an inevitable conclusion and all the answers are shockingly forthcoming…

Gentle, genteel and utterly beguiling, this is a masterpiece of British fantasy understatement with a potent underpinning of quietly desperate lives truly lived. Track it down and take a long hard look. You will believe your eyes.
© Gareth Brookes 2017. All rights reserved.

Today in 1912 Finnish comics pioneer Ami Hauhio (Maan mies Marsissa) was born, with master inker George Klein (The Whizzer, Miss America, Superman, Daredevil, The Avengers,) arriving in 1915 (or possibly 1920!) and troubled Golden Age comic book veteran Bob Wood (Target, Silver Streak Comics, Daredevil Comics, Boy Comics, Crime Does Not Pay) born in 1917.

Artist Sam Grainger (The Sentinels, X-Men, Incredible Hulk, Avengers, Ka-Zar) was born today in 1930; Jordi Bernet (The Legend Testers, Jonah Hex, Clara del Noche, Torpedo 1936) in 1944; writer Paul Kupperberg (Supergirl, Phantom Stranger, World of Krypton, Doom Patrol) in 1955 and David Lapham (Warriors of Plasm, Stray Bullets, Batman) in 1970.

This date in 1914 William Donahey’s long-running The Teenie Weenies strip debuted, as did UK weekly Monster Fun in 1975. In 1932 we lost Seattle cartoonist John “Dok” Hager (Dok’s Dippy Duck) and in 2006 Belgian comics megastar Jean Roba (Boule et Bill/Billy and Buddy, La Ribambelle, Spirou and Fantasio).

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The Michael Moorcock Library – Elric: the Eternal Champion Collection


Adapted by James Cawthorn and Philippe Druillet, & various (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78586-955-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Michael Moorcock began his career at age 15; writing and editing classic British comic strips like Dogfight Dixon, Jet Ace Logan, Captain Condor, Olac the Gladiator, Tarzan and many, many other weekly favourites. As the swinging Sixties dawned he made the transition to prose fiction where he single-handedly revitalised a genre via the creation of Elric and the high-concept notion of an Eternal Champion.

Debuting in 1961, Elric is a landmark of fantasy and particularly its Sword & Sorcery subdivision: the foretold, fore-doomed last ruler of pre-human civilisation Melniboné, a race of cruel, nigh-demonic sorcerers. These arrogant, dissolute creatures are at the end of a slow, decadent decline after millennia of dominance over Earth. Albino Elric is physically weak, buoyed up by drugs, blood and dark magic, and of a brooding, philosophical temperament. He cares for little save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, who will die one day whilst he battles her loathsome usurping brother Prince Yyrkoon in service to a manipulative god of Chaos.

In this collection that day is right now as primary and premiere Elric artist Jim Cawthorne limns that final clash in a hugely personal adaptation from 1976, first and privately published by British concern Savoy Books in an edition that never really reached its natural audience…

“White Wolf” Elric doesn’t even want to rule, but it is his duty, and he is the only one of his debased race to see the (comparatively) freshly evolved race of Man as a threat to the Empire. He is owned if not actually possessed by terrible black sword Stormbringer: one of a matched pair of sorcerous weapons that steal the souls of their victims and feed that stolen life and vitality to the wielder…

Elric is a tragic incarnation of the restless Eternal Champion, reincarnated in every time, place and alternate dimension. His life is violence, blood and unending tragedy, exacerbated by dependence on that soul-drinking ebony blade and his sworn – if somewhat compelled and thus reluctant – allegiance to the chimerical Lords of Chaos.

Everybody knows all that, right?

The 13th volume in a proposed complete Michael Moorcock Library of comics adaptations (as well as reissue of the prose works), these yarns – chronologically at least – are the very first pictorial narratives of the doomed king; given an archival polish and pictorial upgrade by way of a brace of Introductions from Moorcock himself and Philippe Druillet. They are bolstered by a substantial contextual essay at the end. First, though, is time for a little history…

A migrated Tynesider lodged surreptitiously and contentedly in Ladbroke Grove at a time of great turmoil in the UK, James Cawthorn was an old friend, comics co-worker and always Moorcock’s preferred illustrator of the Last Emperor. Driven, solitary, universally respected and wedded to his craft, he wrote strips for Lion, Tiger and the UK weekly comics mill, painted murals and probably book covers; made backdrops for theatre productions; private art commissions; decorated apparel and/or instruments for musicians and bands like Hawkwind and Motörhead while toiling laboriously (and far too slowly and meticulously to be commercial) on beloved passion pieces like Stormbringer.

Cawthorne’s unique and potent adaptation of Moorcock’s epic book (a reworking of novellas Dead God’s Homecoming, Black Sword’s Brother, Sad Giant’s Shield and Doomed Lord’s Passing) was his masterpiece: released by admirers at Savoy because its owners Dave Britton & Michael Butterworth were prepared to pay in advance and wait for him to finish according to his own excoriatingly exaction standards. It was worth the wait when that epically huge cardstock album (600 x 430mm – 24 inches by 17!) finally blew away those lucky enough to get a copy. This reproduction gives readers everything they could want, but sadly cannot impart the wonderous sheer bloody size of it in your hands…

It was mostly missed here but hugely popular in German…

The complex convoluted story of that book’s creation holds even more revelations but are Moorcock’s to share, so let’s turn briefly to the tale itself.

Michael Moorcock’s irresistible blend of brooding Faustian tragedy and all-consuming action is (arguably) best enjoyed in his stories of Elric, but that restless imagination crafted many incarnations of his Eternal Champion able to stand on their own bloody merits and constantly shaped and reinterpreted by a vast and varied array of unique artistic visions. Elric is one doom-drenched, tragedy-attracting incarnation of the Eternal Champion, an aspect of a heroic force reincarnated in every time, place and alternate dimension. His specific life is bound to blood and self-torment, exacerbated by his dependence on a soul-drinking black sword and his sworn allegiance to callous and chimerical Lords of Chaos.

Here that angst-filled destiny come crashing around the hero’s head as brief moments of domestic contentment are washed away in blood when the eternal war between the Lords of Chaos and Order leads to the abduction of his human wife Zarozinia and Elric taking up the black blade for the final times. He reunites with old companion Moonglum and hunts down Jagreen Lern, Theocrat of Pan Tang as he attempts to conquer the world for his allies, the Dukes of Hell. The battles are long, savage, brutal and fantastical and result in the end of all that exists. However, it’s never been about when or where one dies but how and why…

Admit it, you should read more books, right?

Counterpointing that epic comics narrative is a contemporaneous appreciation from across the channel, where Europe also caught the cosmic zeitgeist of the era..

In the 1960s Elric’s oeuvre was translated by Moorcock & author Maxim Jakubowski introducing an up and coming illustrator to the world of Heroic Fantasy. Comics and fantasy storytelling took a huge leap forward in 1975 when Gallic comics collective Les Humanoides Associes began publishing groundbreaking magazine Métal Hurlant. However, one of their future visual mainstays had begun breaking borders and boundaries almost a decade earlier.

Photographer/artist Philippe Druillet started his comics career in 1966 with apocalyptic science fiction epic Le Mystère des abîmes (The Mystery of the Abyss) which introduced doom-tainted intergalactic freebooter and nomadic wanderer Lone Sloane in a tale of a far distant tomorrow thematically influenced in equal measure by H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and A.E. Van Vogt. We will get to his other works in the courses of times…

Born in Toulouse in 1944, Druillet was raised in Spain, and his comics work was grandiose, panoramic, deeply baroque and overwhelmingly cosmic in scope. He also pretty much rejected standard formats and panels layouts in favour of boldly shocking graphics. Druillet began working for Pilote in 1969 and revived his star-rover in numerous shorter pieces, initially published together in 1972 as The Six Voyages. This collection, however, focuses on his brief but inspirational dealings with Moorcock’s primary ill-fated cosmic traveller…

After preliminary tentative spreads in Moi Aussi, in 1969, a 21-plate portfolio entitled La Saga d’Elric le Necromancien was published. In 1973 Moorcock’s reworking of Michel Demuth’s text for the portfolio became Elric: The Return to Melniboné as published by Unicorn Bookshop in 1973. Its influence was far-reaching: just ask American creators like Keith Giffen, who repatterned his entire drawing style on what he saw…

Reproduced in its original monochrome, the brief interlude spectacularly and mind-alteringly details how the former Emperor reclaims his throne and position from apparently-ascendant rival Prince Yyrkoon and reacquaints himself with his bride-to-be Cymoril. Elric has no conception that the Lords of Chaos are closely watching and laying their plans for his future…

Closing the arcana and antiquities is ‘Elric and the Artists’ an incisively informative briefing by John Davey, detailing earlier efforts to visualise the Last Emperor, concentrating on his prose debuts, before going on to summarise and scrutinise the long history of graphic novel and comics interpretations.

Moorcock and his visual collaborators changed the comics world forever, This is how that all started…

Adapted from the works of Michael Moorcock related to the character of ELRIC © 2021, Michael & Linda Moorcock. All characters, the distinctive likenesses thereof, and all related indicia are TM & © Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc.
Elric the Return to Melniboné was first published by Unicorn Bookshop, 1973. Stormbringer was first published by Savoy Books in 1976.

EC horror and romance maestro Jack Kamen was born today in 1920, and shares the date with eco-activist cartoonist Larry Marder (Tales of the Beanworld) from 1951; editor and scripter Jim Salicrup in 1957; British comics veteran/educator Nigel Kitching (Sonic the Comic) in 1959 and The Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder in 1974.

Today in 1960 an era ended with the final page published of Warren Tufts’ Lance.

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Garth: The Cloud of Balthus (volume 1)


By Frank Bellamy & Jim Edgar, with John Allard (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-0-90761-034-2 (Album 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, unforgettable visuals for Eagle, TV21, Radio Times (Doctor Who) before taking over The Daily Mirror newspaper strip Garth in 1971. He turned that long-running yet meandering and occasionally lacklustre strip into a magnificent masterpiece of unmissable adventure 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: the Monty Carstairs strip for Mickey Mouse Weekly. From there he moved on to Hulton Press and drew features starring 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 Frank’s 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 and Fraser of Africa debuted in August 1960, a single page per week in the prestigious full-colour centre section. Fraser of Africa was an artistic landmark and Bellamy’s techniques of line and hatching, in conjunction with sensitive, atmospheric colours, and even his staging and layout of pages, led to majestic Heros the Spartan and eventually the bravura creativity displayed in Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet strips for TV21, before he opted for the strictures of monochrome and a single tier of 3-4 panels a day…

British Superman Garth first appeared in The Daily Mirror on Saturday, July 24th 1943, the creation of professional cartoonist Steve Dowling and BBC radio producer Gordon Boshell, at the behest of the editor who wanted an adventure strip to complement their other comic strip features: Buck Ryan, Belinda Blue Eyes, Just Jake and immortal, demi-immoral, morale-boosting Jane.

A blond giant and physical marvel with no memory of who he was, Garth washed up on an island shore and into the arms of a pretty girl… Gala. Nonetheless, he saved the entire populace from a brutal tyrant and a legend began. Boshell never had time to write the series, so Dowling – already producing successful family strip The Ruggles – scripted Garth until a new writer could be found. Don Freeman dumped the amnesia plot in ‘The Seven Ages of Garth’ (which ran from September 18th 1944 until January 20th 1946) by introducing imposing jack-of-all-sciences Professor Lumiere, whose subsequent psychological experiments regressed the burly hero back through some past lives.

In the next tale ‘The Saga of Garth’ (January 22nd 1946 – July 20th 1946) the origin was revealed. As an infant, “Garth” had been found floating in a coracle off the Shetlands and adopted by a kindly old couple. When full grown he became a Navy Captain until he was torpedoed off Tibet in 1943…

Freeman continued as writer until 1952 (‘Flight into the Future’ was his last tale), and was briefly replaced by script editor Hugh McClelland (who only wrote ‘Invasion From Space’) until Peter O’Donnell took over in February 1953 with ‘Warriors of Krull’. O’Donnell penned 28 adventures until resigning in 1966 to devote more time to his own strip: a little something called Modesty Blaise. His place was taken by Jim Edgar; a short-story writer who also scripted such prestigious newspaper strips as Matt Marriott, Wes Slade and Gun Law.

Dowling retired in 1968 and his long-time assistant John Allard took over the strip until a suitable permanent artist could be found. Allard completed ten complete tales until Frank Bellamy began a legendary run with the 13th instalment of ‘Sundance’ (which ran from 28th June to 1 October 11th 1971). Allard remained as background artist and assistant until Bellamy took full control during ‘The Orb of Trimandias’.

One thing Professor Lumiere had discovered and which gave this strip its distinctive appeal even before the fantastic artwork of Bellamy elevated it to dizzying heights of graphic brilliance, was Garth’s involuntary ability to travel through time and re-experience past and future lives. This simple concept lent the strip an unfailing potential for exotic storylines and fantastic exploits, pushing it beyond its humble beginning as a British response to Siegel & Shuster’s American phenomenon Superman.

The tales in this criminally out of print monochrome tome begin with the aforementioned ‘Sundance’ as mighty Garth is drawn back to 1876 to relive his life as an officer of George Custer’s 7th Cavalry on the eve of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

The time-tossed titan has a brief but passionate love affair with Indian maiden Falling Leaf before dying valiantly for his beliefs and their love. It is an evocative, powerful tale that totally captures the bigotry, arrogance and futility of the White Man and the tragic demise of the Indian way of life…

Then eponymous epic ‘The Cloud of Balthus’ shows the potent but simple elegance of the narrative concept sustaining Garth. Whilst vacationing in the Caribbean our hero becomes embroiled in an espionage plot involving freelance super-spies and a US space station, but even that is mere prelude to fantastic adventure and deadly terrors when he and delectable, double-dealing companion Lee Wan are abruptly abducted by nebulous energy beings in a taut, tension-fraught thriller.

‘The Orb of Trimandias’ plunges Garth back in time to Venice of the Borgias, when/where he becomes again English Soldier-of-Fortune Lord Carthewan: a decent man battling an insane and all-powerful madman for the secret of a supernaturally potent holy relic. This gripping, exotic yarn is replete with flamboyant action, historical celebrities, sexy men and women and magnificently stirring locales. It’s a timeless treasure of adventure that has the added fillip of briefly reuniting Garth with his star-crossed true love, ethereal Space Goddess Astra.

This lovely volume (long overdue for re-issue – at least in digital form if no other way is possible) concludes with a high-octane gothic horror story.

‘The Wolfman of Ausensee’ sees Garth as a rather reluctant companion of movie starlet Gloria Delmar on a shoot at the forbidding Austrian schloss (that’s a big ugly castle to you) of a playboy whose family was once cursed by witches. Despite the title giving some of the game away, this is still a sharp and savvy spook-fest comparing well to the best Hammer Horror films that no doubt inspired it, and just gets better with each rereading.

Garth is the quintessential British Action Hero: strong, smart, fast and good-looking with a big heart and nose for trouble. His back-story granted him all of eternity and every genre to play in, and the magnificent art of Frank Bellamy also made his too-brief tenure a stellar one.

Comic-strips seldom get this good, and even though this book and its sequel are still relatively easy (if not cheap) to come by, it is still a crime and an utter mystery that all these wonderful tales have been out of print for so long.
© 1984 Mirror Group Newspapers. All rights reserved.

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Garth: The Women of Galba (volume 2)


By Frank Bellamy & Jim Edgar (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-0-90761-049-6 (Album TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

A bold and daring blond giant and physical marvel, Garth was Britain’s answer to the blockbusting sensations of Superman, with the added advantage that the feature was officially aimed at adults rather than kids of all ages.

Originally released in 1985, this second Titan Books collection of Garth’s Frank Bellamy era spans 7th September 1972 to 25th October 1973 with the artist shown at the absolute peak of his powers, and opens with eerie chiller ‘The People of the Abyss’ wherein Garth and subsea explorer Ed Neilson are taken prisoner by staggeringly beautiful (what other kind are there?) naked women who drag their bathyscaphe to a city at the bottom of the Pacific. The undersea houris are at war with horrendous aquatic monstrosities and urgently need outside assistance, but even that incredible situation is merely prelude to a tragic love affair with Cold War implications…

Next up is eponymous space-opera romp ‘The Women of Galba’, wherein an alien tyrant learns to rue the day he abducted a giant Earthman to fight and die as a gladiator. Exotic locations, spectacular action and oodles more astonishingly beautiful females make this an unforgettable adventure for what the editors of the era still believed was a strip only grown men read…

‘Ghost Town’ is another western tale, and a very special one. When Garth, vacationing in Colorado, rides into abandoned mining outpost “Gopherville”, he is irresistibly drawn back to a past life as Marshal Tom Barratt who lived, loved and died when the town was a hotspot of vice and easily-purloined money. When Bellamy died suddenly in 1976 this tale – long acknowledged as his personal favourite – was rerun until Martin Asbury (who painted both Titan Book album covers here) was ready to take over the strip.

The final adventure re-presented here – ‘The Mask of Atacama’ – sees Garth & Lumiere in Mexico City. Whilst sleeping, the blonde colossus is visited by the spirit of Princess Atacama (also beautiful, of course) who escorts him through time to vanished Aztec city Tenochtitlan where, as the Sun God Axatl, Garth attempts to save their civilisation from the voraciously marauding Conquistadores of Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano (as shortened for these brief 3-panel strip episodes to far more manageable Hernan Cortés)…

Tragically, neither Garth nor the Princess have reckoned on the jealousy of the Sun Priests and their High Priestess Tiahuaca…

Adding extra value to this volume are a draft synopsis and actual scripts for ‘The Women of Galba’, all liberally illustrated.. There has never been a better comic adventure strip than Garth as drawn by Bellamy: a daily rip-roaring romp combining action, suspense, glamour, mystery and the uncanny in a seamless blend of graphic wonderment. In recent years, the comic strip colossus has fallen from memory as well as favour, but I’m still fervently praying that one day, Garth (and while I’m dreaming, Jeff Hawke too) will make the jump to curated complete archive editions. Go on, make on old man happy why don’t you? There’s certainly a grateful, appreciative and vast audience waiting…
© 1985 Mirror Group Newspapers/Syndication International. All Rights Reserved.

This day in 1915 Henry Sunday page illustrator Don Trachte was born, followed two years later by British legend Frank Bellamy (Fraser of Africa, Dan Dare, Garth, Heros the Spartan, Thunderbirds) and Mancunian émigré Lee Elias (Beyond Mars, Black Cat, Flash, Green Arrow, Eclipso, Luke Cage, Human Fly, Goblin, Rook) in 1920.

In 1943 French writer-artist Jean-Claude Fournier (Spirou and Fantasio, Bizu) was born as was writer/publisher Gary Reed (Sherlock Holmes, Deadworld, Saint Germaine, Baker Street, Caliber Comics) in 1956.

We lost pioneering Canadian cartoonist and animator Vital Achille Raoul Barré in 1932 and in 1977 gained a UK animal icon when Gnasher’s Tale (by David Sutherland) began, launching the manky mutt into his own Beano series detailing his life as a puppy before being adopted by Dennis the Menace…