Category: Best of British

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The Best of Sugar Jones


By Pat Mills, Rafael Busóm Clùa & various (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-770-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

At first glance British comics prior to the advent of 2000 AD fall into fairly ironclad categories. Back then, you had cosily fantastic preschool whimsy, a large selection of adapted TV and media properties, action, adventure, war and comedy strands, with the occasional dash of mild supernatural horror. Closer scrutiny would confirm a persistent subversive undertone, especially in such antihero series as Dennis the Menace and The Spider, or simply quirky fare like Marney the Fox or His Sporting Lordship.

British comics have always been able to tell big stories in satisfyingly moreish small instalments. Coupled with superior creators and the anthological nature of our publications, this has ensured hundreds of memorable characters and series have seared themselves into the little boy’s psyche inside most adult males. I gather that’s equally true of the stuff girls were reading at the time…

Like most of my comics contemporaries I harbour a secret shame. Growing up, I was well aware of the weeklies produced for girls, but would never admit to willingly reading them. My loss: I now know that they were packed with amazing strips by astounding artists and writers, many of whom were (sadly anonymous) favourites who also drafted sagas of stalwart soldiers, marauding monsters, evil aliens or weird wonders …because all British superheroes were bizarrely off-kilter.

I now know that – in terms of quality and respect for the readership’s intelligence, experience and development – girls’ comics were far more in tune with the sensibilities of their target audience, and I wish I’d paid more broad-minded attention back then. Thus, I’m delighted to share here another peek at superb and oddly sophisticated comics from a publication I never went near, even though it was just as groundbreaking as its later stablemates Action or 2000AD – albeit not as nostalgically revered or referenced nowadays…

Girl’s Juvenile Periodicals always addressed modern social ills and issues, and also embraced those things women needed to be indoctrinated in: Fashion, pop trends, pets, toys, style-consumerism, make-up and more (even cooking, general knowledge and sewing!).

Pink came out of IPC’s girl’s publications division in 1973 and was quite successful before finally merging with Mates in 1980, just as television and teen fashion mags finally supplanted the mix of comics stories and trend journalism foe female audiences. Those girls’ grandkids are now lost in social media and the world turns ever on…

During its mercurial run of 377 issues, Pink offered targeted “news” features, games, puzzles, competitions and a wealth of strip mystery, adventure and particularly romantic fare in serials like Don’t Let him Fool You, Faye!, The Haunting of Jilly Johnson, The Island of Stones, Shadows of Fear, Memories of Mike, Rich Girl, Poor Girl, The Sea People and Remember, Rosanna, Remember!

As years rolled by, it was clear that the editors were gradually shifting the demographic, targeting older teens by developing a saucy, cheeky persona in keeping with a readership getting ready for adult life. One of those editors was Pat Mills – arguably the greatest creative force in British comics.

He began his career at DC Thomson in Dundee, scripting and editing for teen romance title Romeo and others before going freelance. At this time Mills wrote girls comics and humour strips, and moved south to London to join IPC and do the same for them. After editing and writing for Tammy, Pink and Sandy – and starting a small evolution in content and style on Jinty – he moved on and killed posh-comics-for-middle-class-boys (and girls) stone-dead.

After creating Battle Picture Weekly (1975, with John Wagner & Gerry Finley-Day), as well as Action (1976) and 2000AD (1977), Mills launched Misty and Starlord (both 1978). Along the way, he also figured large in junior horror comic Chiller…

As a writer he’s responsible for Ro-Busters, ABC Warriors, Nemesis the Warlock, Slaine, Button Man, Metalzoic, Marshal Law and Requiem Vampire Knight among so many, many others. That especially includes Battle’s extraordinary Charley’s War (with brilliant Joe Colquhoun): the best war strip of all time and one of the top five explorations of the First World War in any artistic medium.

Unable to hide the passions that drive him, Mill’s most controversial work is probably Third World War which he created for bravely experimental comics magazine Crisis. This fiercely socially conscious strip blended his trademark bleak, black humour, violence and anti-authoritarianism with a furious assault on Capitalism, Imperialism and Globalisation. It contained elements of myth, mysticism, religion and neo-paganism – also key elements in his mature work. You should also see his run on Doctor Who Weekly and Serial Killer – his final collaboration with Kev O’Neill…

Mills has always kept a judgemental eye on the now and recognised the power of humour and satire. In 1974 that led to his debuting a new kind of star for Pink. In 1973, the much-maligned and deliberately misunderstood (we call it “gaslighting” these days) “Sexual Revolution” hit a media high.

It was an epoch of “cheesecake” and “girly” strips: a genre stuffy old-fashioned Britain used to excel at and happily venerate. Saucy postcards, Carry-On films, ingenuously innocent smut and a passion for double entendre had for decades obscured and obfuscated genuine concerns like institutionalised gender pay-gaps, unwarranted interest in and control of female reproductive rights and sexual behaviour. There were double standards for men and women’s work and recreational behaviours, and that incomprehensible Mystery of Mysteries: just why men are utterly certain that anything they see automatically fancies them back and is therefore fair game for creepy jollity and unwanted attentions excused as “just having bit of fun” or “paying a compliment”…

After years of feminist agitation and balanced by entrenched institutional male mockery, countless publications and TV shows suddenly boiled at a wave of unexpected militancy. Everywhere women were demanding equal rights, equal pay and fair treatment …and isn’t it simply marvellous that they’ve got all those things now?..

Contraception was becoming more readily – if not quite universally – available and apparently everywhere bras were burning. This meant men actually coming to believe that sex might be less expensive and perhaps even repercussion/responsibility free. It was a reactionary Male Chauvinist Pig’s Dream, and unrepentant, old-school stand-up comedians had a field day. The only changes I can recall were more skin on TV, a wave of female-starring comics strips like Amanda, Scarth, Danielle, Axa and Wicked Wanda (in which each of the titular heroes lost her clothes on a daily basis) and the rise of “Page 3” newspaper nudies…

I’m not sure how many editors of daily and Sunday papers were supporters of the Women’s Liberation movement, or whether they simply found a great excuse to turn the industry’s long tradition of beautifully rendered naked birds on their pages into something at least nominally hip, political and contemporary.

I do know that an awful lot of new features appeared, with aggressive, strident (if not actually liberated), forceful women who nevertheless still had hunky take-charge boyfriends in tow…

In comics, Pat Mills created a rather greedy and generally nasty piece of work who – if not actually a villain – was certainly utterly selfish, shallow and self-absorbed. We Brits love rogues and scoundrels and will forgive them for almost anything – just look at the result of any election in the last 30 years

Thus Sugar Jones expertly capitalised on our national tradition of forgiving appallingly egregious actions and public weakness for inept wickedness: standing legs akimbo at the vanguard of a growing compulsion to slavishly follow what we now call “celebrity culture”. She too spent a lot of time in her underwear or less…

The series was illustrated by Spanish master of style Rafael Busóm Clùa who was a fixture of girls comics from the era. As well as The Island of Stones in Pink, he also limned The Three Wishes serial in Tammy, Two of a Kind in Misty and Warm Love in Oh Boy!

The Best of Sugar Jones features material seen in Pink from 16th October 1974 to 21st May 1977: episodic snippets that are all loving and lavish riffs on a single theme: cruel self-delusion.

Sugar is a beautiful, successful sexy thing. She has her popular TV variety show and knows everyone. She sings, dances, does chat and interviews, opens fetes and sponsors charities. The public all love her… or at least the heavily made-up, cynically manufactured image of the sweet 20-something “fabulous super sex symbol” she unceasingly pretends to be.

Sugar is actually in her 40s: an amalgamated masterpiece of the skills of make-up artists, and art of clothiers, camera technicians and trainers. The enable her to frantically cling on to the illusion of vivacious attainability. She wants everyone to want her, and only her dutiful but increasingly disenchanted and abused assistant Susie Ford knows the plain truth.

Every week Sugar goes through formulaic sitcom motions of another scheme to build the star’s ego, reputation, bank account or bedpost notch count, with Susie forced to assist or secretly sabotage the shameless plot.

It sounds pretty tedious and repetitive, but Mills’ deft scripts and manic plotting, so sublimely rendered by good girl artist Busóm Clùa, make these assorted cheesecake treats absolutely captivating to see. High on glamour, the strips would have made so many pubescent boys rethink their views on girls comics, but thankfully, nobody let us in on the secret…

Here you’ll see the never-long-defeated fame-&-acclaim chaser adopt a hunky jungle man; scupper the careers of up-&-coming rivals; seduce impresarios and showbiz bigwigs; fail to launch a respectable movie/pop/theatrical/dance career; lose many prospective rich husbands or simply sow utter chaos with new and unwise, unsanctioned publicity stunts.

Her plans always fail, but somehow the self-absorbed seductress never really pays for her misdeeds, except in secret shame and frustration. Always, she bounces back with a new notion…

Sugar’s not averse to using her assets to make an illicit buck either, but her financial skulduggery always leaves her poorer in pocket. Even if the oblivious masses can’t get enough of her, whenever she tries to exploit charities, or breaking political crises, Susie’s there to see no one is harmed or suffers hardship…

A wickedly barbed social fantasy and satire on fame, fortune and pride, Sugar Jones presents a truly unique, likably unlovable antihero who’s one step beyond normal role model fare – or even standard raunchy cheesecake classification: someone who also transcends the rather shocking core assumption of that era, which seems to be “women are worthless once they turn 21”…

Exploring fashion, branding, celebrity culture, and the toxic legacy of glamour – on male terms and in a playing field controlled by men – from a time when that “laddish” culture of “banter” and “cheekiness” was even seeping into girls comics and magazines, Sugar Jones affords a totally different view of a woman on top: one any student of sexual politics and legacy of the culture cannot afford to miss…
© 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 & 2020 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Tamsin and the Deep


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Corpse Talk: Groundbreaking Women


By Adam & Lisa Murphy (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-910989-60-9(Digest PB)

The educational power of comic strips has been long understood and acknowledged: if you can make the material memorably enjoyable, there is nothing that can’t be better taught with pictures. The obverse is also true: comics can make any topic or subject come alive… or at least – as in this delightful almanac of inspiration – outrageously, informatively undead…

The comical conceit at play in Corpse Talk is that your scribbling, cartooning host Adam Murphy (ably abetted off-camera by Lisa Murphy) digs up famous personages from the past: all serially exhumed for a chatty, cheeky This Was Your Life talk-show interview that – in Reithian terms – simultaneously “elucidates, educates and entertains”. It also often grosses one out, which is no bad thing for either a kids’ comic or a learning experience…

Another splendid release culled from the annals of British modern wonder The Phoenix (courtesy of those fine saviours of weekly comics at David Fickling Books) this collection -regrettably still unavailable in digital editions – quizzes a selection of famous, infamous and “why-aren’t-they-household names?” women from history, in what would probably be their own – post-mortem – words…

Be warned, as you absorb these hysterical histories, you may say to yourself again and again “but… that’s not FAIR…” over and over again.

Catching up in order of date of demise, our fact-loving host opens these candid cartoon conferences by digging the dirt with ‘Hatshepsut: Pharaoh 1507-1458 BCE’, tracing her reign and achievements …and why her name and face were literally erased from history for millennia.

As ever, each balmy biography is accompanied by a side feature examining some crucial aspect of their lives, such as here where ‘Temple Complex’ diligently details the controversial pharaoh’s astounding and colossal “Holy of Holies”: the Djeser-Djeseru Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.

‘Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician & Philosopher 360s-415’ sketches out the incredible accomplishments, appalling treatment and tragic fate of a brilliant teacher and number-cruncher, supplemented here by a smart lesson in the almost-mystical concept of ‘The Golden Ratio’.

Throughout all civilisations, (mostly male) historians have painted powerful women with extremely unsavoury reputations and nasty natures. Just this once, however, the facts seem to confirm that ‘Irene of Athens: Empress of Byzantium 752-803’ was every bit as bad as detractors described her. Her atrocious acts against friends, foes and her own son Constantine are offset in the attendant fact-feature ‘Spin Class’, revealing how Irene employed religious industrial espionage to break China’s millennial monopoly on silk production, and comes complete with a detailed breakdown of how the Byzantine silk trade worked…

Every comic reader or fantasy fan is familiar with the idea of women warriors, but a real-life prototype for them all was the great-granddaughter of Genghis Khan. ‘Khutulun: Wrestling Princess 1260-1300s’ refused to be married off unless a suitor could defeat her in the Mongolian grappling martial art Bökh. So effective a fighter, archer and strategist was she, that the Khan appointed her his Chief Military Advisor and even nominated her his successor on his deathbed – an honour and can of worms she wisely sidestepped to become a power behind the throne.

Her incredible account is backed-up by an in-depth peek into the ferocious wrestling style she dominated in ‘Mongolian Moves’, after which ‘Joan of Arc: Saint 1412-1431’ explains how it all went wrong for her in asks-&-answers feature ‘How Do You Become a Saint?’

On more traditional and familiar ground, ‘Elizabeth I: Queen of England 1533-1603’ recounts her glorious reign and explains the how and why of her power dressing signature appearance in ‘A Killer Look!’ whilst transplanted near-contemporary ‘Pocahontas: Powhattan Princess 1596-1617’ shares the true story of her life before ‘Sad Ending, Continued…’ discloses the ultimate fate of her tribe at the hands of English Settlers.

Another astonishing character you’ve presumably never heard of is ‘Julie D’Aubigny: Swashbuckler 1670-1707’. She was a hell-raising social misfit who scandalised and terrorised the hidebound French Aristocracy. Daughter of a fencing teacher, she fought duels, broke laws, travelled wherever she wanted to, enjoyed many lovers – male and female – and even sang with the Paris Opera (now that’s a movie biopic I want to see!). What else could she offer as a sidebar but a lesson on duelling for beginners in ‘Question of Honour’?

‘Granny Nanny: Resistance Fighter 1686-1755’ started life as an Ashanti Princess, taken to Jamaica as a slave. However, once there she organised the ragtag runaways known as Maroons into an army of liberation. The workings of her rainforest citadel Nanny Town (now Moore Town) are explored in ‘Fortresses of Freedom’ after which a more sedate battle against oppression is undertaken with the interrogation of ‘Jane Austen: Novelist 1775-1817’, complete with cartoon precis of her subversive masterpiece ‘Pride & Prejudice (The Corpse Talk Version)’…

‘Ching Shih: Pirate Queen 1775-1844’ tells of another woman who beat all the odds but has since faded from male memory: a young girl kidnapped by China Seas pirates who rose to become their leader. Ravaging the Imperial coast, the corsair created an unshakable pirate code that benefitted the poor, outsmarted the Chinese Emperor and ultimately negotiated a pardon for herself and all her men to live happily ever after!

That salty sea saga is accompanied by the lowdown and technical specs on ‘Punks in Junks’ and followed by another bad girl with a good reputation.

‘Princess Caraboo: Con-Artist 1791-1864’ was never the Malayan royal refugee British High Society was captivated by, but rather a Devonshire serving maid who made the most of outrageous fortune via her quick wits. Her story is backed up by a delightful opportunity to forge your own faux identity with ‘Caraboo’s Character Creation Course!’…

Far more potent and worthy exemplars, ‘Harriet Tubman: Abolitionist 1822-1913’ ferried more than 300 of her fellow slaves from Southern oppression to freedom in northern American states and what we now call Canada: supplemented here by a detailed breakdown of ‘The Underground Railway’ before emancipation martyr ‘Emily Wilding Davison: Suffragette 1872-1913’ shares her brief, troubled life and struggle to win women the right to vote and participatory roles in society. The history is backed up by an absolutely unmissable graphic synopsis of the long struggle in ‘A Brief History of Women’s Rights’…

Someone who made every use of those hard-won concessions was ‘Nellie Bly: Journalist 1864-1922’, whose sensational journalistic feats and headline-grabbing stunts made her as newsworthy as her many, many scoops. One of the most impressive was beating Jules Verne’s fictional miracle of modernity by voyaging for ‘72 Days Around the World’ – as seen in the gripping sidebar spread – whereas the career of ‘Amy Johnston: Aviator 1903-1941’ was cut tragically short by bad luck and male intractability. Her flying triumphs are celebrated through a fascinating tutorial on her preferred sky-chariot. The ‘De Havilland Gypsy Moth’.

The short, tragic life of ‘Anne Frank: Journalist 1864-1922’ follows, accompanied by a detailed breakdown of the secret hideout and necessary tactics employed to conceal Anne, her family and friends in ‘The Secret Annex’.

Closing on an emotional high note, the rags to riches/riches to rags to riches account of dancer, comedian, freedom fighter and social activist ‘Josephine Baker: Entertainer 1906-1975’ details the double rollercoaster life of a true star and ends this book on a big finish with her teaching the secrets of how to ‘Dance the Charleston’.

Clever, moving, irreverently funny and formidably factual throughout, Corpse Talk: Ground-Breaking Women cleverly yet unflinchingly handles history’s more tendentious moments: personalising the great, the grim and the good in ways certain to be unforgettable. It is also a fabulously fun read no parent or kid could possibly resist.

Don’t take my word for it though, just ask any reader, spiritualist or dearly departed go-getter…
Text and illustrations © Adam & Lisa Murphy 2018. All rights reserved.

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Von Hoffman’s Invasion Book One


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Be Continued…

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

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

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The Adventures of Gideon Gunn – The Pagan Priest #1: Strange Alchemy


By Daniel Whiston & Andrew Richmond (Richmond Press)

Like so many others, I started out in the publishing biz making minicomics, collaborating on fanzines and concocting stripzines with fellow starry-eyed weirdoes, outcasts and addicts. Seeing the raw stuff of creativity in hand-crafted paper pamphlets – or better yet in professionally printed packages which put the dreamers’ money where their mouths are – still gets me going in ways which endanger my tired old heart.

Ah, the lost joys of copydex, spray mount and cowgum…

These days, in terms of quality and at first glance, there’s very little to distinguish between self-published material and major events from big brands – except maybe movie contracts and a subtle whiff of sheer fun-filled exuberance you just can’t find once telling stories becomes your day job…

With that in mind, here’s a delightful treat sent to me last year and which only just arrived. Still, better late than never, and I’m certain comics this good will always find an appreciative audience… and maybe a movie contract…

As I’ve frequently demonstrated, British comics have always enjoyed odd and/or deeply flawed heroes. To be fair, that quirky affinity doesn’t just apply to paper wonders such as Cursitor Doom, Adam Eterno, Flame o’ the Forest and The Spellbinder – or even Warrior’s Father Shandor – but also to many stars of books, radio, television and films…

There’s a definite nod to that last one in the three tales gathered here: detailing in short sharp vignettes the sacred cause of a conflicted but supremely pragmatic warrior against evil – Holy Heathen Gideon Gunn – the Pagan Priest. A working priest in 18th century Somerset, Gunn takes the eternal war against sin to uncanny extremes…

Reverend Gunn is also a true believer in pagan gods and combines the devotional power of two vastly opposing faiths with the latest in science and weapons technology to hold back the forces of darkness assaulting his flock. This mostly manifests as the rising of primordial goddess Sulis and attendant and subsequent depredations of vampires, warlocks, zombies, mechanical myrmidons, homunculi, the mad natural philosopher whose discoveries inspired Victor Frankenstein, and even the corrupt and debased aristocracy smugly ruling the United Kingdom at this time…

It transpires that all manner of wicked things are seeking to control the unleashed forces of the “Deep Dark Waters”…

Action-packed, tongue-in-cheek and blending faux found documentation with superb art pastiching the feel of its filmic antecedents, these adventures revel in the sheer joy of a tirelessly dedicated hero, devotional vigilante and Man of Gods fighting the Good Fight with every weapon he can lay his hands on…

This first issue also includes an annotated map of ‘Wyrd Bath’ for the clarification and edification of readers…

Cunningly channelling the tone of cult and classic British historical horror tales (like Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan’s Claw or Hammer Films’ Dracula and Frankenstein franchises), Gideon Gunn delivers fearsome fun in self-contained monochrome episodes reminiscent of early 2000 AD or Scream.

Scripter Daniel Whiston (Neroy Sphinx, Judge Dredd Megazine, FutureQuake) and illustrator Andrew Richmond (Aces Weekly, The77, Octobriana, Blazer!) are having a great deal of fun – and so will you…

™ & © 2022 Daniel Whiston and Andrew Richmond. All rights reserved.

Available from Gideon Gunn – Andrew Richmond (andrewrichmondart.com)

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Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set Up


By Peter O’Donnell and Jim Holdaway (Titan Books)
ISBN: 987-1-84023-658-2 (2007) 978-0-90761-037-3 (1985)

The year 1963 was a big one for the world of entertainment. Go look it up.

Comics and strips particularly enjoyed an explosive renaissance and here we’re saying “well done!” to one of the most astounding characters in fiction: one long overdue for another moment to shine. Happy anniversary Modesty (and Willie)!

Infallible super-criminals Modesty Blaise and her lethally charming, compulsively platonic, equally adept partner Willie Garvin gained fearsome reputations whilst heading underworld gang The Network. Then, at the height of their power, they retired young, rich and still healthy. With honour intact and their hands relatively clean, they cut themselves off completely from careers where they made all the money they would ever need and far too many enemies: a situation exacerbated by their heartfelt and – for their professions – controversial conviction that killing was only ever to be used as a last resort.

When devious British Spymaster Sir Gerald Tarrant sought them out, they were slowly dying of boredom in England. That wily old bird offered them a chance to have fun, get back into harness and do a bit of good in the world. They jumped at his offer and began cleaning up the dregs of society in their own unique manner. The self-appointed crusade took decades…

From that tenuous beginning in ‘La Machine’ (the first tale in this collected volume) the dynamic duo went on to crush the world’s vilest villains and most macabre monsters in a perpetual succession of tense suspense and inspirational action that lasted for more than half a century.

The inseparable associates debuted in The Evening Standard on 13th May 1963 and, over the passing decades, went on to star in some of the world’s most memorable crime fiction, all in approximately three panels a day.

Creators Peter O’Donnell & Jim Holdaway (who had previously collaborated on Romeo Brown – another lost strip classic equally as deserving of its own archive albums) crafted a timeless treasure trove of brilliant pictorial escapades until the illustrator’s tragic early death in 1970, whereupon Spanish artist Enric Badia Romero (and occasionally John Burns, Neville Colvin & Pat Wright) assumed the art reins, taking the partners-in-peril to even greater heights.

Holdaway’s version has been cited as a key artistic influence by many comic artists.

The series was syndicated world-wide and Modesty starred in numerous prose novels; short-story collections; several films; a TV series pilot; a radio play; an original American graphic novel from DC; an audio serial on BBC Radio 4 as well as nearly 100 comic adventures.

The strip’s conclusion came in 11th April 2001 edition of The Evening Standard. Many papers around the world immediately began running reprints and further new capers were conceived, but British newspaper readers never saw them. We’re still waiting…

The pair’s astounding exploits comprise a broad blend of hip adventuring, glamorous lifestyle and cool capers: a melange of international espionage, crime, intrigue and even – now and again – plausibly intriguing sci fi or supernaturally-tinged horror genre fare, with ever-unflappable Modesty and Willie the canny, deadly, yet all-too-fallibly human defenders of the helpless and avengers of the wronged…

We have UK publisher Titan Books to thank for collecting the saga of Britain’s Greatest Action Hero (Women’s Division), although they haven’t done so for a while now…

Fist seen in 1985, this initial volume introduced Modesty and her right-hand man, retired super-criminals now bored out of their brains. Enter stiff, by the book spook Sir Gerald Tarrant, head of a nebulous British spy organization who recruits her by offering her excitement and a chance to get some real evil sods. From that tenuous beginning in ‘La Machine’ – where the reinvigorated duo dismantle a global assassination enterprise, the focus moves on to ‘The Long Lever’ as our stars seek to save a Hungarian defector who has been inexplicably abducted by his former bosses.

The drama concludes with the ‘Gabriel Set-up’ as the purely platonic power couple scotch a sinister scheme by a criminal mesmerist…

Also included in this monochrome masterwork are ‘In the Beginning’ – a strip produced in 1966 as an origin and introduction to bring newly subscribing newspapers up to speed on the characters – plus text features ‘Blaise of Glory (part 1)’ by Mike Patterson and ‘Girl Walking’ by O’Donnell himself.

The tales are stylish and engaging spy/crime/thriller fare in the vein of Ian Fleming’s Bond stories (the comic version of which Titan also reprinted) and art fans especially should absorb Holdaway’s beautiful crisp line work, with each panel being something of a masterclass in pacing, composition and plain good, old-fashioned drawing.

The beauty of Modesty Blaise is not simply the timeless excellence of the stories and the captivating wonder of the illustration, but that material such as this can’t fail to attract a broader readership to the medium. Its content could hold its own against the best offerings of television and film. All we have to do is keep the stuff in print…
© 2004-2017 Associated Newspapers/Solo Syndication.

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The Steel Claw: The Cold Trail (Super Picture Library)


By Tom Tully & Jesús Blasco & various (Rebellion)
ISBN: 978-1-78618-659-1 (HB/Digital edition)

Another stunning salvo of graphic wonderment from Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics strand, The Steel Claw: The Cold Trail is a sublimely engaging yarn celebrating an all-but-forgotten sub-strand of the 1960s comics experience.

Until the 1980s, comics in the UK were based on an anthological model, offering variety of genre, theme and character on a weekly – or sometimes fortnightly – basis. Humorous periodicals like DC Thomson’s The Beano were leavened by thrillers like the Q-Bikes, Billy the Cat or General Jumbo whilst rival publisher Amalgamated Press/Fleetway/IPCs comedy comics such as Whizzer and Chips always offered a thriller or two like Wonder Car or Pursuit of the Puzzler.

Similarly, adventure papers like Lion or Valiant always included gag strips such as The Nutts, Grimly Feendish, Mowser and a wealth of similar quick laugh treats. And yes, DCT installed equivalents in The Wizard, Victor, Hotspur and the rest…

Both companies also produced Seasonal Specials, hardcover Annuals and digest-sized anthology publications. DCT still publishes Commando Picture Library and used to sell romance, school dramas and a modern science fiction title (Starblazer) to match their London competitors’ successful paperback book titles.

Those ubiquitous delights included Super Picture Library, War Picture Library, Air Ace Picture Library and Action Picture Library.

These were half-sized, 64-page monochrome booklets with glossy soft-paper covers, but between 1967 and 1968 – at the height of the sixties Spy and Superhero booms – were supplemented by a deluxe, card-cover, 132-page version: The Fleetway Super Library.

As well as the always-popular war option of “Front Line” (starring by turn Maddock’s Marauders or Top-Sergeant Ironside), this line offered a “Secret Agent Series” – alternating cool espionage operatives Johnny Nero and Barracuda – and the “Stupendous” (formerly and briefly “Fantastic”) series which delivered lengthy complete sagas starring either The Spider or The Steel Claw.

These extra exploits came twice a month and ran 13 tales for each, with this spiffy hardback tome replaying the fifth release as crafted by the regular strip creative team of Tom Tully & Jesús Blasco …

British comics had a strange and extended love affair with what can only be described as “unconventional” (for which feel free to substitute “creepy”) heroes. So many of the stars and potential role models of our serials and strips were just plain “off”: self-righteous, moody voyeurs-turned vigilantes like Jason Hyde, sinister masterminds like The Dwarf, deranged geniuses like Eric Dolmann, jingoistic, racist supermen like Captain Hurricane and more often than not (barely) reformed criminals or menaces like Charlie Peace, the morally ambivalent Spider or The Steel Claw…

One of the most fondly-remembered British strips of all time is the eerily beautiful Steel Claw: created by Ken Bulmer & Blasco for the debut issue of weekly anthology Valiant. From 1962 to 1973, the stunningly gifted Blasco and his small studio of family members (plus occasional fill-in guest illustrators) thrilled the nation’s children, illustrating the angst-filled adventures of scientist, adventurer, secret agent and even costumed superhero Louis Crandell.

The majority of the character’s caseload was actually scripted by prolific and versatile comics writer Tom Tully (Roy of the Rovers, Heros the Spartan, Dan Dare, House of Dolmann, Janus Stark, Mytek the Mighty, The Wild Wonders, Nipper, Adam Eterno, Johnny Red, Harlem Heroes, Mean Arena, Football Family Robinson and many more).

He followed the precepts of H.G. Wells’ original unseen adversary which had been laid out by science fiction novelist Bulmer, presenting some modern spin on Victorian classic The Invisible Man.

In the 1960s, however, our protagonist acted with evil intent as soon as he fell out of sight of his fellow humans, but not through innate poor character, but because of wild technology accidentally unleashed…

The thrills of the writing are engrossing enough, but the real star of this feature is the artwork: captivating classicist drawing, moody staging and the sheer pristine beauty of all participants making this an absolute pleasure to look at.

Born in Barcelona in 1919, Jesús Monterde Blasco began his phenomenal career in 1935, drawing for Mickey magazine. Barely known now in the English-speaking world, his vastly varied output included Cuto, Anita Diminuta, Los Tres Inseperables, Los Guerilleros, Paul Foran, Tom Berry, Tex Willer, Tallafero, Capitán Trueno and Une Bible en Bande Dessinée for continental and South American audiences. His many UK strips include the lush and lavish Buffalo Bill, sci-fi chiller The Indestructible Man, Billy the Kid and the first Invasion! serial (2000 AD from #1, 1977). He died in October 1995.

What has gone before: Louis Crandell was an embittered man, presumably due to having lost his right hand in a lab accident. After his recovery and its replacement with an articulated steel prosthetic, he returned to work as assistant to venerable boffin Professor Barringer, who was attempting to create a germ-destroying ray.

When that device exploded, Crandell received a monumental electric shock and was bathed in radiation. Rather than killing him, the incident rendered him totally transparent whilst changing his body chemistry. Although he couldn’t stay unseen forever, the bodily mutation permanently affected him, and subsequent electric shocks caused all but his metal hand to disappear.

These were simpler times and there was far less SCIENCE around so please – Kids Of All Ages – do not try this at home!

Whether venal at heart or temporarily deranged, Crandell went on a rampage of terror, even attempting to blow up New York City before finally coming to his senses. Throughout Crandell’s outrages, guilt-fuelled Barringer was in pursuit, resolved to save or stop his former friend…

After he was caught and cured, the invisible man was so globally well known that he was framed by his own therapist. Whilst treating Crandell, Dr. Deutz was also traumatically exposed to Barringer’s ray but instead of invisibility, he gained the power to transform into a bestial ape-man and turned to crime for thrills. He malevolently placed the blame for his own spectacular robberies and assaults on his notorious patient…

On the run but innocent this time, Crandell was saved by the intervention of Barringer’s niece Terry Gray. After weeks of beast-triggered catastrophe and panic in the streets, the Steel Claw was vindicated and proved himself a hero. Despite that, a quiet life was clearly beyond the unseen celebrity, and while seeking anonymity in the Bahamas, he was embroiled in a modern-day pirate’s attempt to hijack an undersea super-weapon and plunder cruise ships…

A wilful recluse, Crandell underwent a gradual shift from victim to reluctant hero: accepting his powers and an elite if danger-ridden role at the fringe of society after he was recruited by a wing of British Intelligence dubbed “Shadow Squad”. The first thing the spooks did was to fake his death and publicly proclaim the Steel Claw was gone forever…

With them, Crandell foiled a deranged super-genius intent on eradicating human life and fought off an alien invasion for which see The Steel Claw: Reign of the Brain).

Crafted at the height of superspy media frenzy ‘The Steel Claw and the Cold Trail’ opens with a bored and idle Crandell taking stock of an improved metal hand and new abilities in first chapter ‘Hot Property’: fine tuning the new prosthesis before he’s given a crucial new mission.

For obvious operational reasons, Britain’s top four atomic scientists have never been allowed to occupy the same space at the same time. Now, however, they must convene in person for a crucial conference, and Shadow One wants Crandell to handle security, over the gents’ protests that he’s not qualified for this sort of mission…

His misgivings prove fatally correct when despite all precautions, the quartet are attacked and killed: frozen into blocks of ice by an assailant and method unknown to science. Thanks to his new ability to generate electrical shocks and magnetic waves, Crandell spectacularly chases and corners the assassin, but both the killer and his bizarre ray-gun are destroyed in the process…

Furious, frustrated and embittered, Crandell is placed on administrative leave and left to stew but he’s soon recalled in chapter 2 as ‘Deep Freeze’ reveals that three of the frozen corpses have been stolen. With the fourth about to be buried imminently, the super-agent heads for the funeral and arrives just in time to interrupt more distinctively-garbed assassins attacking the cortege and swiping the remains.

Employing his invisibility, Crandell tracks the villains to a cargo ship and sneaks aboard, but is eventually captured. To his amazement he learns that the scientists are still alive and that a cunning and cruel turncoat plans to defrost and sell them to a hostile power…

Left to die in the ship’s freezer, The Steel Claw soon ingeniously escapes and – anticipating by decades the movie Die Hard – methodically picks off the mercenary contingent. When the ship returns to dock, only the top traitor escapes…

The plot explodes into all-out action in ‘Slow Thaw’ as, rather than fleeing or hiding, the villain attempts one last bold assault to recapture his valuable cold cargo, resulting in a death duel with his invisible nemesis…

More than any other comics character, the Steel Claw was a barometer for reading fashions. Starting out as a Quatermass-style science fiction cautionary tale, the strip mimicked the trends of the greater world, evolving into a James Bond-style strip with Crandell eventually augmented by outrageous gadgets – and latterly, a masked and costumed super-doer after TV-triggered “Batmania” gripped the nation and the world. When that bubble burst, he resorted to becoming a freelance adventurer, combating eerie menaces and vicious criminals.

This is sheer addictive nostalgia for my generation, but the stories also hold up against anything made for today’s marketplace. Buy it for the kids and read it too; this is a glorious book, and steel yourself for even better yet to come…
© 1967, 2023 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Doctor Who Graphic Novels volume 13: The Crimson Hand


By Dan McDaid, Martin Geraghty, Jonathan Morris, Mike Collins, David A. Roach, Sean Longcroft, Rob Davis, Paul Grist, Ian Culbard, Roger Langridge & various (Panini Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-451-5 (TPB)

Doctor Who launched on television with the first episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’ on November 23rd 1963. Happy 60th, Time Lord!

Within a year, his decades-long run in TV Comic began with issue #674 and the premier instalment of ‘The Klepton Parasites’.

On 11th October 1979 (although adhering to the US off-sale cover-dating system so it says 17th) Marvel’s UK subsidiary launched Doctor Who Weekly, which became a monthly magazine in September 1980 (#44) and has been with us under various names ever since.

All of which only goes to prove that the Time Lord is a comic hero with an impressive pedigree…

Marvel/Panini spent a lot of effort – and time! – collecting every strip from its archive in a uniform series of over-sized graphic albums, each concentrating on a particular incarnation of the deathless wanderer.

This one gathers stories from Doctor Who Magazine (AKA DWM) issues #394 & 400-420 plus The Doctor Who Storybook 2010 (originally published between 2008 and 2010): all featuring the escapades of the recently re-enlisted David Tennant incarnation of the Galloping Gallifreyan.

This is actually the third and final collection of strips featuring “the Tenth Doctor” and whether that statement made any sense to you largely depends on whether you are an old fan, a new convert or a complete beginner.

None of which is relevant if all you want is a darn good read. All the creators involved have managed the ultimate “Ask” of any strip creator – to produce engaging, thrilling, fun yarns that can be equally enjoyed by the merest beginner and the most slavishly addicted fan.

After an effusive introduction from Russell T. Davies, the full-colour graphic grandeur begins with a one-off romp from 2008 entitled ‘Hotel Historia’ by writer/artist Dan McDaid, wherein the Good Doctor fetches up in a spectacular resort for time-travellers.

Here he first encounters pushily obnoxious corporate raider Majenta Pryce and uses her shoddy and slipshod time-technology to counter a threat from the chronal brigands known as the Graxnix.

This is riotously followed by a delightful clash with ‘Space Vikings’ (by Jonathan Morris, Rob Davis & Ian Culbard, taken from the 2010 Christmas Doctor Who Storybook) wherein slave-taking star-rovers prove to be far less than they appear…

The main body of stories here formed something of an experiment as DWM #400-420 were designed as an extended story-arc leading up to the big change on television wherein Matt Smith would replace Tennant as “The Eleventh Doctor”.

Therefore McDaid was tasked with scripting the entire 21-issue run and began by reintroducing scurrilous money-mad chancer Majenta Pryce in ‘Thinktwice’ (#400-402, illustrated by Martin Geraghty & David A. Roach); an intergalactic penal institution with some decidedly off-kilter ideas on reforming prisoners.

Pryce is a prisoner but has amnesia. So does her cellmate Zed and – in fact – most of the convicts aboard. The supposedly cushy debtor’s prison is actually a horror-house of psychological abuse where suicide is endemic, cunningly maintained by creepy Warden Gripton who is messing with inmates’ memories to satisfy the hungers of something he calls “memeovax”…

Luckily, new prison doctor “John Smith” is a dab hand with a Sonic screwdriver…

With her memory far from restored, wickedly entrepreneurial Majenta becomes the unlikeliest of Companions, demanding that the “legally liable” Doctor makes restitution for all the trouble he’s caused by ferrying her to planet Panacea where she can be properly cured.

As we all know however, the Tardis goes where She wants and at Her own pace…

‘The Stockbridge Child’ (#403-405 and illustrated by Mike Collins & Roach) deposits the unhappy partners to that peaceful English village where three different incarnations of the Time Lord have encountered incredible alien incursions.

When the Doctor is reunited with outcast skywatcher Maxwell Edison they uncover at last the ancient horror beneath the hamlet which has made the place such a magnet for madness and monsters, before finally despatching the brooding anti-dimensional threat of the Lokhus…

Meanwhile Majenta’s big secret hasn’t forgotten her, and is rapidly closing in…

DWM #406-407 featured ‘Mortal Beloved’ – limned by Sean Longcroft – wherein the Doctor and “Madge” arrive at a decrepit asteroid mansion on the edge of the biggest storm in creation.

Amidst the flotsam and jetsam lurk poignant clues to Pryce’s past, as tantalisingly revealed by the robots and holograms left to run the place after a far younger Majenta jilted brilliant playboy industrialist Wesley Sparks. Of course, after such an immense length of time, even the most devoted of loves and programs can falter, doubt and even hate…

‘The Age of Ice’ (#408-411, by McDaid, Geraghty & Roach) brings the Last Time Lord and Lost Executive to Sydney Harbour for a fond reunion with Earth Defence Force UNIT, just as time-distortions begin dumping dinosaurs in the sunny streets, and crystalline knowledge stealers The Skith once more attempt to assimilate all the Doctor’s vast and varied experiences. Majenta too finds an old friend in the shape of her long-lost junior associate Fanson, who admits to wiping her memory. When he becomes part of the huge body-count before revealing why, Madge thinks she would lose what was left of her mind…

‘The Deep Hereafter’ (#412, by Rob Davis with above-and-beyond calligraphy from letterer Roger Langridge) is a scintillating space detective story, pastiching classic Will Eisner Spirit Sunday sections, but still succeeds in advancing the overarching plot as Madge and the Doctor complete the last case of piscine P.I. Johnny Seaview and chase down the threat of the reality warping World Bomb…

DWM #413 (Collins & Roach) exhibits ‘Onomatopoeia’ and pits the reluctant pair against space-rats and out-of-control pest prevention systems in a clever and heart-warming fable told almost exclusively without dialogue.

The superb ‘Ghosts of the Northern Line’ (#414-415) follows with Paul Grist working his compositional magic in a chilling yarn of murderous phantoms slaughtering tube passengers in present day London. Obviously they can’t be spirits, so what is the true cause of the apparitions?

This yarn leads directly into the big payoff as the assembled forces of galactic Law and Order suddenly show up to arrest Majenta, plunging the voyagers into a spectacular epic ending as the stroppy impresario at last regains her memory and acquires the power to reshape all of reality. It’s all the fault of the cosmic consortium known and feared as ‘The Crimson Hand’ (DWM #416-420, by McDaid, Geraghty & Roach)…

This blockbuster rollercoaster epic perfectly ends the saga of Majenta Pryce and signs off the Tenth Doctor in suitable style, but dedicated fans still have a wealth of added value bonuses in the posterior text section, which includes a commentary from editor Tom Spilsbury, the origins of the saga from McDaid, Doctor Who Story Notes, the Majenta Pryce “Pitch” and an annotated story background section: copiously illustrated with behind-the-scenes photos, sketches and production art.

We’ve all got our little joys and hidden passions. Sometimes they overlap and magic is made. This is a superb sequence of strips, starring an undeniable bulwark of British Fantasy. If you’re a fan of only one, this book might make you an addict to both. The Crimson Hand is a fabulous book for casual readers, a fine shelf addition for devotees of the show and a perfect opportunity to cross-promote our particular art-form to anyone minded to give comics another go.

If only someone would get around to getting these tales digitised…
All Doctor Who material © BBCtv. Doctor Who logo © BBC 2009. Tardis image © BBC 1963. Doctor Who, the Tardis and all logos are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. © Marvel. Published 2012 by Panini Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Bunny vs Monkey: Multiverse Mix-Up!


By Jamie Smart & with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-292-2 (Digest PB)

Bunny vs. Monkey has been a staple of The Phoenix from the first issue in 2012: detailing a madcap vendetta gripping animal archenemies amidst an idyllic arcadia masquerading as more-or-less mundane but critically endangered English woodlands.

Concocted with gleefully inspired mania by cartoonist and novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Flember), these trendsetting, mindbending yarns have all the tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy of a uniquely off-kilter magnum opus – not to be confused with the veritable magnificent octopus – although there’s them occasionally popping up too…

It all began yonks ago after an obnoxious little simian slapped down in the wake of a disastrous British space shot. Crashlanding in Crinkle Woods – scant miles from his launch site – lab animal Monkey believed himself the rightful inheritor of a strange new world, despite all efforts from reasonable, sensible, genteel, contemplative forest resident Bunny to dissuade him. For all his patience, propriety and good breeding, the laid-back lepine just could not contain the incorrigible idiot ape, who was – and is – a rude, noise-loving, chaos-creating loutish troublemaker…

Problems are ever-exacerbated by other unconventional Crinkle critters, particularly a skunk – AKA Skunky – who has a mad scientist’s attitude to life and a propensity to build extremely dangerous robots and overly technological super-weapons…

Here – with artistic assistance from design deputy Sammy Borras – the war of nerves and mega-ordnances is rekindled after briefly seeming to be all over. Our unruly assortment of odd bods cluttering up the bucolic paradise had finally picked sides and sorted it all out and – with battles ended – even apparently forgot the ever-encroaching Hyoomanz…

Rather than the traditional opening and tales ranked by changing seasons, this titanic trade paperback archive of insanity offers two massive chapters subdivided into short instalments. The astounding new adventure opens in Part One and ‘Pond Life’ wherein a quiet moment of skating in the chilly evening of a New Year is going so well until our apish antagonist renews old dreams of a planet united under his rule and the banner of “Monkeyopia”.

Sadly, the banner is attached to a staff with a really pointy end… and ice is really brittle…

An epoch of bewildering calamity commences when animal alternates from a parallel universe pop in through a portal. On their home plane everyone is evil but even so, their abduction of pan–universal innocent Pig Piggerton goes terribly wrong: stranding the instigator of the ‘Pig Swap’ on the wrong realm…

Meanwhile, Skunky has temporarily got rid of his annoying Monkey mate with some pointless make-work in ‘Snow Fun’ and ‘Evil Pig’ has introduced himself to the other Crinkle critters. Of course, Monkey must prove he’s the most wicked…

With Skunky, Monkey and the transplanted Pig all menacing and recruiting minions, confused Bunny calls on everyone to again ‘Choose Your Side’, but things get a bit out of hand when Metal Steve, Metal E.V.E. and brain-battered, bewildered former stuntman Action Beaver all join in the party games…

Thankfully, Eve allies with the good guys and Bunny affirms that their prime directive is “protecting the woods at all costs”: ‘A Mammoth Task’ made even harder once Skunky and Monkey unleash giant undergrounds monsters…

Dedicated to doom and destruction, the bad boys try – and ultimately fail – to synthesize Mongolian Death molluscs in ‘With Snails & I’ and try to pluck the ‘Big Moon’ out of the night sky before clashing with Evil Pig…

The transplanted transdimensional then meets his counterpart’s best bud Weenie Squirrel and has ‘A Falling Out’ even as Monkey unleashes exploding duplicates in ‘All A-Clone’ before trying his hand at scary documentary making in ‘The Sand-Witch Project’. All that cloning around comes back to bite him in the form of ‘Monkeysaurus’

Desperate for peace and quiet, Bunny, Eve and superfast Ai seek solace and silence in the river, but find only more mad excitement when evil spies get into difficulties and require their ‘Canoooe’, unaware that temporary allies Evil Pig, Skunky and Monkey were messing with serums and animals and had ‘Gone Batty’…

When Skunky tries to upgrade obsolete robotic oaf Metal Steve, reformed Eve is trapped in his bandwidth and is transformed into ‘Eve 2.0’, whilst Evil Pig – still seeking to win over Weenie – instead subverts Steve into ‘Alan the Unicorn’…

Existence gets truly meta when godlike human beings abruptly intervene, inadvertently sharing a glimpse behind the cosmic curtains of reality and by inflicting a distressing touch of The Matrix in ‘The First Glitch’ offers our quotidian cast of layered realities a hideous glimpse of what reality really means. Thoroughly re-educated, the bad guys then lose control of another experiment, unleashing shapeshifter ‘Polymorph’ on the easily embarrassed denizens of the Woods.

Fearless and stupid, Monkey discovers a sleeping beast and refuses to listen when everyone tells him ‘Don’t Wake the Bear’…

After too long and portentous an interval, the evil doppelgangers return, banishing their counterparts across many ‘Dimensions’ before ending the multiverse itself. Only Bunny escapes and with the unlikeliest of allies begins exploring ‘The Infinite’ and – thanks to a Portable Dimension Hopper – seeks ways to restore reality and rescue his comrades from the Real World.

That means many appalling experiences including ‘Babysitting’ toddler-versions of all his friends and foes, clashing with ghosts, vampires and Halloween Dimension beings before – as ‘Grumpy Bunny’ – saving a cowboy realm from the perils of a ‘Wilder West’. Bridging warring lava and frost dimensions ‘Of Fire and Ice’ that are also infested with familiar variants of everyone he knew, the thankless quest finally pays off in a commerce dimension ruled by an ‘Office Monkey’ only too glad to be rid of the annoying anarchic duplicate pestering his people and threatening his bottom line…

When the idiot ape eats Bunny’s travel tech, the status quo starts to resettle but by then the voyagers have found a dystopian desert where civilisation has gone ‘Mad to the Max’. Happily, Skunky is there to fix the gadget and get them on their way to the Christmas Dimension, and then out of the land of ‘Ho Ho Oh No’: so lovely that no one ever leaves…

The assembled animals ultimately prove that’s not true, but only at the cost of their ship which is badly hit, leaving them ‘Doomed’ to fall between 9.7 billion dimensions until they unselfishly work together in a team up. As a result they touch down at the Very End of Existence Itself! Stuck in a formless void, only Bunny and Skunky seem able to go on and use the lack of working time to recreate useful bits of what’s been eradicated. Once they rerun ‘The Birth of Science’ it’s not too long before they’re ready to fix everything and open a portal… sparking a massive time loop…

Forewarned by déjà vu, the voyagers overreact and reality goes boink! again, dumping everyone into the dimension of excrement and causing a nasty ‘Pooey Christmas’…

It looks like a fresh beginning for all as Part Two opens with ‘A New Start’. The nice animals are having picnics and Skunky and Monkey are building better mecha-weapons, but something’s still not quite right, and when the miscreants unleash transforming terror ‘Octoplops’ the repercussions really aren’t that bad…

Still off his game, cupcake-addicted Monkey is easily exposed as a ‘Thief!’ and Weenie and Pig endure the sheer horror of losing their ‘Ducky’ to a mystery fiend, before an escaped Time Droid goes berserk and generates a ‘Looooooop’ in reality…

Thanks to Transmogrification Pants, Bunny is assaulted by fake friends he never knew in ‘Pants for the Memories’ whilst Skunky, Monkey, the Beaver and Metal Steve are stuck inside their own malfunctioning ‘Chameleotron’: a chaotic debacle that results in Monkey being sucked back into the appalling ‘Poo Dimension’ where he accidentally liberates a fearsome alternate self who is a genuine threat to everyone in Crinkle Woods…

A brief dalliance as superhero ‘Brave Bunny’ quickly palls for our genteel star and ‘Law and Order’ is brutally abused when ultra-efficient Office Monkey begins to modernise and corporatize the green paradise…

Initially set back and hindered by the workforce he has to work with, OM retrenches and debuts his polluting ‘Furps’ engine (don’t ask and don’t breathe in!) before forming a merger with Skunky…

The other critters are all enjoying ‘Lobnut Day!’ and trying to gather the most nuts, but wise up when the apish alternate dimension asset-stripper launches Monkey Corp. and seeks to put all the furry time-wasters ‘To Work’. However, by casually betraying Skunky, Office Monkey has sown the seeds of his own downfall and his ‘Streamlining’ the Woods into a modernistic business park triggers a groundswell of consumer resistance…

After losing a contest and being acclaimed ‘The Worst Inventor’ Skunky joins that rebellion, and ‘Wrong Monkey’ finds him planning to dismantle the corporate stronghold of Monkeytopia, revealing to the astounded woodlanders that the menace is not the annoying idiot they’re used to, but an extradimensional invader…

That said, the mercurial monochrome megamind recruits some alternate selves with his Time-o-tron and he and ‘Father Skunky’ plunge into the vortex void to unmake their current dire situation…

Tragically, all that multiversal mismanagement causes a few ‘Portal Problems’ and an unwise stopover at their starting point (three in one book!) prompts an unexpected self-promotion as  Office Monkey exploits the confusion to become Boss Level and ‘Takeover’ the universe…

Ejected from Reality, archnemesis Bunny is flung into the Poo Dimension where his usual enemy has become ‘King Monkey’. Implausibly, he has a plan to save the day and put everything back the way it was… more or less…

The narrative animal anarchy might have pawsed (not sorry!) for now but there’s more secrets to share thanks to detailed instructions on ‘‘How to Draw Cowboy Monkey!’, ‘How to Draw Hellcage Monkey!’ and ‘How to Draw Office Monkey!’ to wind down from all that angsty parallel peril and future-bending furore…

The zany zenith of absurdist adventure, Bunny vs Monkey is weird, wild wit, brilliantly bonkers 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. This is the kind of comic parents beg kids to read to them. Shouldn’t that be you?
Text and illustrations © Jamie Smart 2023. All rights reserved.

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The Dandy Book 1972


By many & various (D.C. Thomson & Co.)
ISBN: 978-0-85116-043-6 (HB)

For generations of British fans Christmas means The Beano Book, The Broons, Oor Wullie and making every December 25th magical. There used to be many more DC Thomson titles, but the years have gradually winnowed them away. Thankfully, time means nothing here, so this year I’m concentrating on another Thomson Christmas cracker that made me the man wot I am. As usual my knowledge of the creators involved is woefully inadequate but I’m going to hazard a few guesses anyway, in the hope that someone with better knowledge will correct me whenever I err.

The Dandy comic predated The Beano by eight months, utterly revolutionising the way children’s publications looked and – most importantly – how they were read. Over decades it produced a bevy of household names that delighted millions, with end of year celebrations being bumper bonanzas of the weekly stars in magnificent bumper hardback annuals.

Premiering on December 4th December 1937, The Dandy broke the mould of its hidebound British predecessors by utilising word balloons and captions rather than narrative blocks of text under sequential picture frames. A colossal success, it was followed on July 30th 1938 by The Beano. Together they revolutionised children’s publications. Dandy was the third longest running comic in the world (behind Italy’s Il Giornalino – launched in 1924 – and America’s Detective Comics in March 1937).

Over decades the “terrible twins” spawned countless cartoon stars of unforgettable and beloved household names who delighted generations of avid and devoted readers…

The Christmas Annuals were traditionally produced in the wonderful “half-colour” British publishers used to keep costs down whilst bringing a little spark into our drab and gloomy young lives. The process involved printing sections with only two (of potentially 4) plates, such as blue/Cyan and red/Magenta as seen in this majority of this tome. The versatility and palette range provided was astounding. Even now the technique screams “Holidays” to me and my contemporaries, and this volume uses the technique to stunning effect.

As you can see, the fun-filled action begins on the covers and continues on the reverse, with front-&-back covers and Introduction pages occupied by superstar Korky the Cat (by Charlie Grigg) setting the tone with a sequence of splendid seasonal sight gags.

D.C. Thomson were also extremely adept at combining anarchic, clownish comedy with solid fantasy/adventure tales. The eclectic menu truly opens with some topical environmentalism working as drama in Paddy Brennan’s ‘Guardian of the Red Raider’. Such picture thrillers still came in the traditional captioned format, with blocks of typeset text rather than word balloons. Here, bedridden schoolboy Freddy Gibbon “adopts” a vixen and her cubs, secretly safeguarding them from harm until they can fend for themselves.

From there we revert to the cheeky comfort of simpler times as Dirty Dick – by the incredibly engaging Eric Roberts (no, not the actor) – finds our perennially besmudged and befouled boy on his best and cleanest behaviour in anticipation of a visit from his American penfriend. However, in comics good intentions count for nothing…

Appropriately switching to black and blue plates, we next meet eternal enemies Bully Beef and Chips. Drawn by Jimmy Hughes, the thuggish big kid’s antics invariably proved that a weedy underdog’s brain always trumped brutal brawn, as here where little Chips orchestrates well-deserved payback after Bully forces little lads to play with his dangerously-rigged Christmas crackers…

Hugh Morren’s The Smasher was a lad cut from the same mould as Dennis the Menace and in the first of his contributions carves a characteristic swathe of anarchic destruction, when seeking to join a cowboy movie location shoot,

A quick switch to red & black – and all the tones between – signals the advance of hard-pressed squaddie Corporal Clott (by David Sutherland) who again bears the brunt of cruel misfortune and surly Colonel Grumbly when ordered to provide a slap-up feed for a visiting General…

The prolific Roberts always played a huge part in making these annuals work and next up his signature star Winker Watson hosts double-page picture puzzle ‘Catch the Imps!’: testing mind, eye and vocabulary before Shamus O’Doherty’s Bodger the Bookworm is seduced away from his comfortable reading to play football… with catastrophic repercussions…

Back in black & blue, traditional chaotic school hijinks get a cruel and crazy feudal spin in Ron Spencer’s Whacko! before we stay on topic but jump 500 years to the then-present and a different take on the education crisis. Whilst much comics material was based on school as seen by pupils, George Martin’s Greedy Pigg featured a voracious teacher always attempting to confiscate and scoff his pupils’ snacks. This time, he forsakes tuck boxes and extends his reach to the fodder fed to zoo animals – and gets what he deserves after masquerading as a gorilla…

Unforgivably racist but somehow painfully topical, Hughes’ Wun Tun and Too Tun the Chinese Spies traces the misadventures of badly-briefed oriental agents in old Blighty. Here they get lost in and misunderstand the point of sewers, after which Sutherland’s Desperate Dan offers a range of incidents deriving from the sagebrush superman letting his beard grow out of control.

The daftness drifts into more brilliantly entertaining eco-messaging as Peter Potter’s Otters – by Grigg employing his dramatic style – sees a gamekeeper’s son contrive to rescue a family of river-dwelling “pests” from the community seeking to eradicate them…

Jack Edward Oliver’s My Woozy Dog Snoozy proves utterly useless as a security guard, but does usher in green & black tones to welcome back Korky the Cat, whose clash with a fish farm’s “security guards” segues into a doggerel dotted Zany Zoo feature. An examination of The Smasher’s evolutionary forebears heralds a resumption of blue hues as Roberts delivers another classic Winker Watson yarn that is now sadly drenched in controversy and potential offense.

It begins when the Third Form lads of Greytowers School act on their love of the BBC’s Black and White Minstrel Show (look it up, but be prepared to be appalled before realising just how far we’ve come…): adding a blackface minstrel skit to the Christmas Concert. When chastised and rebuffed by form master Mr. Creep, schoolboy grifter Winker institutes a cunning scheme – worthy of Mission Impossible or Leverage – to make the teacher the butt of a joke and star of the show…

The green scene enjoys one last outing for a lengthy police spoof. Created by John Geering and played strictly for laughs, P.C. Big Ears was an overzealous beat copper with outrageous lugholes whose super-hearing and faithful dog Sniffer helped him crush “crime”. Here the dynamic duo are hot on the trail of a truant schoolboy, but pay a irritating price for their dutiful diligence, after which another light-hearted drama ensues, courtesy of Bill Holroyd.

With premium blue & red plates back in play home-made mechanoid Brassneck kicks off an avalanche of trouble after a service by his inventor. Uncle Sam pal warns the robot-boy’s pal Charley Brand that the automaton might be a little fragile for a while but is blithely unaware how rowdy and boisterous school can be. When a couple of unavoidable buffets trigger wild outbursts, Brassneck’s antics close the school, empty the parks and even cause animal escapes from the zoo before order is finally restored…

Desperate Dan then catches cold and almost decimates the environment in his efforts to get warm and stop sneezing before Korky the Cat suffers the downside of camping, and pint-sized hellion Dinah Mite (drawn by Ron Spencer) tests some possible careers should she ever leave school.

Another blue section opens with animal gags in Jokey Jumbo and Winker Watson puzzle feature ‘It’s as Easy as ABC’ before My Woozy Dog Snoozy compounds his worthlessness when a burglar breaks in.

A switch to red and black sees Corporal Clott suckered by a spiv and become the proud new owner of a lethally destructive vacuum cleaner after he replaces the naff motor with a leftover jet engine. Blue tones are back as George Matin’s big-footed klutz Claude Hopper learns why he’s not cut out for a job waiting tables and Korky the Cat wins a fancy dress competition by being extremely cool…

More red & blue pages picture Dirty Dick at his dustily destructive worst before a switch to yellow & black plates finds Greedy Pigg imitating a tramp to get scrumptious handouts before Wun Tun and Too Tun the Chinese Spies return in another distressingly outdated and inappropriate espionage episode.

Rendered in red and black. Sandy Calder powerfully illustrates Scruffy the Bad-Luck Doggie as ordinary kid Danny Dunlop saves a scrappy mutt from bullies trying to drown it, but takes some time and effort – and a few hard knocks – adjusting to being the owner of a semi-feral delinquent dog…

Sentiment surrenders to surreal silliness and yellow hues as Desperate Dan teaches a dog how to be fierce, before Bodger the Bookworm enflames his family by practising matchstick tricks and Korky successfully poaches a fish in more ways than one, after which black & blue tones detail a pretty Darwinian battle for survival and supremacy amongst alley cats as Boss of the Backyards (by Murray Ball – whose wonderful Footrot Flats strips are just crying out for a modern archival edition) sees a tough newcomer challenge a wild moggy in the kingdom of bins and backstreets…

Dirty Dick is tarred by own insolence – and tar – in a very early example of photobombing and My Woozy Dog Snoozy turns the tables on his longsuffering owner, before P.C. Big Ears finds his own hound complicit in apple scrumping. Corporal Clott then dumps the colonel in a frozen river and Korky again profits from his thieving ways…

Another flush of red & blue captures Bully Beef and Chips causing chaos with a doctor’s play set and Greedy Pigg outsmarted by the dog he borrowed to steal food for him, and true blue drama Bold Ben’s Boulder (by Victor Peon?) has a young boy save his uncle’s fortune and life when Burmese bandits go on a kidnapping spree before one final flush of red & black sees Desperate Dan solve a lighting crisis with a little illuminating larceny…

With Puzzle Answers and the aforementioned Korky endpapers wrapping up proceedings, let’s celebrate another tremendously fun book; with so much merriment on offer I can’t believe this book is 51 years old, and still available through second hand outlets.

The only thing better would by curated archive reissues and digital editions…
© D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd, 1971.