Category: Comedy

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Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather


By Ron Zimmerman, John Severin, Steve Buccellato, Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Wes Abbott & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4362-8 (HB/Digital edition) 978-0-7851-1069-9 (TPB)

For most of the 1960s nobody did superheroes better than Marvel Comics. However, even fully acknowledging the stringencies of the Comics Code Authority, the company’s style for producing their staple genre titles for War, Romance and especially TV-driven Western fans left a lot to be desired. Any hint of sexuality, venality of authority figures, or using guns the way they were intended to be used capitulated to overwhelming caution and a tone that wouldn’t be amiss in kids’ cartoons or pre-Watershed family TV shows. Eventually, however, the reborn company’s boldness and hunger for innovation overwhelmed practicality and common sense. Mercifully for revivals of pre-superhero veterans like Rawhide Kid, the meagre art-pool consisted of master craftsmen such as Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and others…

Technically the Kid is one of the company’s older icons, having debuted in his own title with a March 1955 cover-date. A stock-standard sagebrush centurion clad in a buckskin jacket, his first adventures were illustrated by jobbing cartoonists like Bob Brown and Ayers and the book was one of the first casualties when Atlas’ distribution woes forced the company to cut back to 16 titles a month in the autumn of 1957.

With small screen cowboys ubiquitous and youthful rebellion a hot societal concept in 1960, owner/publisher Martin Goodman – via Stan Lee & Jack Kirby – unleashed a brand new six-gun stalwart little more than a moody teenager and launched him in summer of that year, economically continuing the numbering from the failed 50’s original…

Crucial to remember is that those yarns were not trying to be gritty or authentic: they were accessing a vast miasmic morass of wholesome, homogenised Hollywood mythmaking that generations of mainly white preferred to learning of the grim everyday toil and terror of the real Old West: simplistic Black Hats vs. White Hats delivered with all the bombast and bravura Jack Kirby and his stellar successors could so readily muster…

It all (re) began when Lee, Kirby & Ayers introduced adopted teenaged Johnny Bart who showed all and sundry what he was made of after his retired Texas Ranger Uncle Ben was gunned down by a fame-hungry cheat. After very publicly exercising his right to vengeance, the naive kid fled Rawhide before explanations could be offered, resigned to life as an outlaw.

The Kid was a wandering, straight shootin’ action ace for decades, periodically returning and even joining forces with the Avengers to battle Kang the Conqueror before fading into the sunset.

Then he became a perennial revivalist, enjoying an occasional miniseries encore (beginning with Rawhide Kid volume 2 #1-4 in 1985) whenever creators wanted to test genre waters or craft experimental media mash-ups. Maybe it was because a mean teen the size of Wolverine offers some sort of untapped reader interest? A taste of Team appeal saw Rawhide bundled with fellow western stalwarts in 2000’s Blaze of Glory #1-4, 2002’s sequel Apache Skies #1-4 and 2010’s Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven…

However, his most memorable and controversial stint is what we’re covering today. Between April and June 2003, The Kid fell under the aegis of the mature-reader Marvel Max imprint and the result was a smart and sassy spoof featuring a gay cowboy at the peak of his prowess…

Scripted by Ron Zimmerman, Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather was illustrated by the legendary John Severin: an incredibly gifted illustrator who had split his stunning career between gritty action tales (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, Nick Fury, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, Incredible Hulk, King Kull, The Losers, Semper Fi) and hilarious comedy in parody/lampoon vehicles like Mad, Cracked and Crazy magazines.

His collaborator Zimmerman was a film and TV producer/stand-up comedian and writer who worked on Friday the 13th, Jet Li’s The One and many other shows and movies. His other comic credits included Spider-Man: Get Kraven, Ultimate Adventures, and stints on The Punisher, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and more.

Here, the partnership resulted in some of funniest moments in Marvel’s genre history…

Following a scene-setting faux edition of the Wells Junction News revealing some life history under the banner headlines ‘Rawhide Kid seen in town’, the daft and deceptive drama begin when an infamous outlaw rides into desolate and isolated Plum Springs one quiet fall day.

Like the movie Shane, this tale is seen through the eyes of a young lad who might not be mature enough to glean the subtext of what’s going on…

Toby Morgan is callow and impressionable so when the notorious gunslinger appears, his paw – farmer turned sheriff Matt Morgan – starts reassessing what it means to be a “real man”. The sheriff is already trying to live down being publicly humiliated – and shot as an afterthought – by Cisco Pike and his gang when they stormed the town. Now he has an unsuspecting – and incredibly glamorous and attractive – rival for his son’s admiration…

Matt is keenly aware that’s he’s lost the manhood stakes. Toby is bullied at school and reveals that he too thinks his pa’s a coward whilst the appalling things the ensconced outlaws call him are even echoed by his own friends. When Mayor Walker Bush demands Matt get rid of the increasingly bold and obnoxious owlhoots, Morgan can’t even find a deputy to die with him…

Rawhide’s reputation keeps the Pike gang cowed, even after he refuses to join their number in a classic confrontation, but no-one expected the fearsome Kid to be so well spoken and prissy: worrying about his clothes and hair and manners and such. Why, what with his moisturizers, bathrobes, provocatively shiny chaps, cigarette holders, Canadian Beaver hats, unsolicited fashion and grooming tips he’s practically swishy…

Learning of the Morgan family problems, the Kid offers to help out: setting young Toby straight and urging his advice on stolid, stoic Matt. The sheriff – despite being regularly shot every time the gang appears – momentarily believes things might work out, but is unaware Pike has recruited extra help for the inevitable showdown. These are all ace killers like Thunderclaw, Red Duck, Le Sabre, Chinese ninjas and lethal man-hating Catastrophe Jen. Of course, they need to move pretty fast now or Jen will kill all the guys she’s riding beside…

And then the inescapable showdown happens and Morgan learns who he really is and who his real friends are…

Challenging stereotypes by combining constant outright hilarity with classic wild west tropes, cartoon action and moments of true pathos, Slap Leather plays the originally moody and po-faced gunfighter as a wittily sharp-tongued, out-&-proud gay man in a vibrant tribute to genre-bending – think The Birdcage or In & Out blended with Blazing Saddles or Zorro: The Gay Blade. It also comes packed with a passel of TV in-jokes (schoolmarm Laura Ingulls, ranchers Haus & Little Jo Cartrite, newspaper publisher Lew Grant) and comics sight gags by the masterful and puckish Severin. With covers by Dave Johnson, Kaare Andrews, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson, Darwyn Cooke and J. Scott Campbell, this a jolly and uplifting treat for anyone who likes to see old edifices poked…
© 2018 MARVEL.

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Kevin Keller Celebration! Omnibus


By Dan Parent, J. Bone , Paul Kupperberg, Bill Galvan, Pat Kennedy, Tim Kennedy, Fernando Ruiz, Bob Smith, Rich Koslowski, Al Milgrom, Glen Whitmore, Jack Morelli, Gisele Lagace, Derek Charm, Sina Grace, Phil Jimenez, Ryan Jampole, Gary Martin, Digikore Studios & various (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-64576-887-6 (HB/Digital edition)

Following the debut of Superman, MLJ were one of so many publishers to jump on the “mystery-man” bandwagon: concocting their own small but inspired pantheon of gaudily clad crusaders. In November 1939 they launched Blue Ribbon Comics, and swiftly followed up with Top-Notch and Pep Comics. Content was that era’s standard mix of masked heroes, clean-cut two-fisted adventurers, genre prose pieces and gags.

Soon after, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (hence MLJ) spotted a gap in the already overcrowded market. In December 1941 the Fights ‘n’ Tights, heaving He-Man crowd were gently nudged aside by a much less imposing hero: an ordinary teenager in mundane adventures just like the readership, but with the companionable laughs, good times and romance emphasised. Goldwater developed the youthful everyman protagonist concept and tasked writer Vic Bloom & artist Bob Montana with making it all work. Inspired by and referencing the successful Andy Hardy movies (starring Mickey Rooney), their new notion premiered in Pep Comics #22. The unlikely star was a gap-toothed, freckle-faced, red-headed kid obsessed with impressing the pretty blonde next door.

A 6-page untitled tale introduced hapless boob Archie Andrews and wholesomely fetching Betty Cooper. The boy’s wryly unconventional best friend and confidante Jughead Jones also debuted there, as did idyllic small-town utopia Riverdale. It was a huge hit and by the winter of 1942 the kid had won his own series and then a solo-starring title. Archie Comics #1 was MLJ’s first non-anthology magazine and with it began an inexorable transformation of the entire company. With the introduction of ultra-rich, raven-haired Veronica Lodge, all the pieces were in play for the comic book industry’s second Genuine Phenomenon.

By 1946 the kids were totally in charge, and MLJ officially reinvented itself, becoming Archie Comics, retiring most of its costumed characters years before the end of the Golden Age and becoming, to all intents and purposes, a publisher of family-friendly comedies.

The hometown settings and perpetually fruitful premise of an Eternal Romantic Triangle – with girl-hating Jughead to assist or deter and scurrilous love-rat rival Reggie Mantle to test, duel and vex our boy in their own unique ways – the scenario was one that not only resonated with fans but was somehow infinitely fresh and engaging…

Like Superman’s, Archie’s success drove a change in content at every other US publisher (except Gilberton’s Classics Illustrated), creating a culture-shifting multi-media brand encompassing TV, movies, newspaper strips, toys, merchandise, a chain of restaurants and (in the swinging sixties) a pop music sensation when Sugar, Sugar – from one of the many animated TV cartoons – became a global summer smash hit. Clean and decent garage band “The Archies” has been a fixture of the comics ever since…

The eternal triangle has generated thousands of charming, raucous, gentle, frenetic, chiding and even heart-rending humorous dramas ranging from surreal wit to frantic slapstick, with the kids and a constantly expanding cast of friends (boy genius Dilton Doily, genial giant jock Big Moose and occasional guest Sabrina the Teenage Witch amongst so many others), growing into an American institution and part of the American cultural landscape.

The feature thrived by constantly refreshing its core archetypes; boldly and seamlessly adapting to a changing world outside those bright and cheerful pages: shamelessly co-opting youth, pop culture, fashion trends and even topical events into its infallible mix of comedy and young romance. Each and every social revolution has been assimilated into the mix and over decades the company has confronted most social issues affecting youngsters in a manner both even-handed and tasteful.

Constant addition of new characters like African-American Chuck Clayton and girlfriend Nancy Woods, fashion-diva Ginger Lopez, Hispanic couple Frankie Valdez &Maria Rodriguez, student film-maker Raj Patel and spoiled home-wrecker-in-waiting Cheryl Blossom all contributed to a wide and refreshingly broad-minded scenario. In 2010 Archie jumped the final hurdle (until now) – for decades a seemingly insurmountable one for kids’ comic books – when openly gay student Kevin Keller became an adored and admired advocate tackling and dismantling one of the last major taboos of mainstream comics.

Created by writer/artist Dan Parent & inker Rich Koslowski (lettered by Jack Morelli and coloured by Digikore Studios), Kevin debuted in Veronica #202 (September 2010). It was the first comic book in the company’s long, long history to go into a second printing…

This landmark Kickstarter-funded hardback/eBook compendium gathers that delightful debut and the avalanche of tales that followed – specifically from Veronica #202, 205, a 4-issue Kevin Keller miniseries in #207-210; Kevin Keller #1-15, Life with Kevin #1-5; Life With Archie #16, a strip from 2015’s Comic Book Legal Defense Fund #1 and a slew of seldom seen, rare and even all-new material comprising the first decade of the new star..

It all begins with a ‘Foreword’ by creator Dan Parent and context-establishing ‘Introduction – Who is Kevin Keller?’ before the first of many, many covers and variants segues into ‘Chapter One: Isn’t it Bro-Mantic’ (Veronica #202, September 2010), introduces a charming, good-looking and exceedingly-together lad who utterly bowls the flighty heiress over. Veonica Lodge is totally smitten with him, even though he can out-eat human dustbin Jughead and loves sports. Although suave Kevin inexplicably loves hanging out with the ghastly Jones boy Ronnie is determined to make him exclusively hers. Jughead (who clearly possesses fully-functioning gaydar) is totally cool with his new pal, and sees an opportunity to pay Ronnie back for the many mean things she has said and done over the years…

When Kevin finally explains to Veronica why she is wasting her time, she takes it fabulously well and soon they are hanging out as best buds. After all, they have so much in common: chatting, stylish clothes, shopping, boys…

The cover parade alternates with Retro Fashion pages (depicting our star and his new friends in assorted pin-ups detailing styles across the decades) and the first here accompanies the cover of Veronica #205 (March 2011). Immensely popular from the outset, Kevin struck a chord with the readership and returned a few months later in ‘The Buddy System’, with her bombastic dad giving the obviously perfect new guy an all-clear to monopolise his daughter’s time. The following fun-filled days do have one major downside however, as poor Betty is increasingly neglected…

You’d think Archie would be jealous too, but he’s just glad someone “safe” is keeping other guys away from “his” Ronnie. It seems the ideal scenario for everyone but Betty, but when man-hunting, filthy rich, overprivileged, entitled precious princess Cheryl Blossom hits town, it puts everything back into perspective…

A text briefing on Kevin’s own Mini Series precedes the next big step as repeated cameos in Archie titles rapidly evolved into a miniseries, expanding Kevin’s role whilst answering many questions about his past. It started with ‘Meet Kevin Keller!’ (as the new boy took over Veronica #207-10, June – December 2011) wherein we learn he was an army brat, born in Britain but raised all over the world, and now living in Riverdale with his dad (retired and invalided army colonel) Thomas, mum Kathy and feisty sisters Denise and Patty. It also shows Kevin is a typical guy who loves practical jokes as much as food and sports…

Whilst sharing these facts with Betty and Ronnie, he also lets slip some less impressive details: how he was a nerdy, braces-wearing late developer frequently a target of bullies…

‘The Write Stuff’ (#208) is set during the build-up to his dad’s surprise birthday party and discloses how Kevin plans to serve in the army before becoming a journalist, whilst also showing the gentle hero’s darker side after he is compelled to intervene – and end – the persecution of a young Riverdale student by older kids.

‘Let’s Get it Started’ (#209) finds Kevin ambushed and pressganged by his new friends into participating in a scholastic TV quiz show where anxiety and nerves almost get the better of him. Happily, Ronnie inadvertently breaks his paralysing stage fright with a humiliating gaffe, but that’s just a palate cleanser for a potent object lesson in the concluding chapter…

As Kevin steps in to shelter and help one of the kids who used to torment him long ago, ‘Taking the Lead!’ also finds him reluctantly running for Class President at the insistent urging of Ronnie and the gang. It’s not that he wants the position particularly, but when star school quarterback and bigoted jock David Perkins starts a campaign based on intolerance, innuendo and intimidation, Kevin feels someone has to confront the smugly-macho, “real man” who boasts of being the most popular boy in school…

Despite a smear campaign and dirty tactics any Presidential candidate would be proud of, truth, justice and decency win out…

This breezy and engaging collection pauses for ‘An Interview with Kevin Keller’ offering further background direct from the horse’s mouth and segues into a briefing on Kevin’s Ongoing Series as Kevin Keller #1-15 (February 2012 – September 2014) opens with ‘Chapter Seven: There’s a First Time for Everything’ wherein the much-travelled, journalism-obsessed “Army Brat” finally starts to settle in at Riverdale High. In short order he is elected Class President, has his first commercial writing published and reveals a shocking secret…

For all his accomplishments Kevin has never gone on a real date, and when a certain someone asks him out, the Keller kid turns to Betty for some confidence-boosting advice. He isn’t a complete neophyte; there was something like a date once before, but thanks to his catastrophic nervousness it was a major disaster. Unfortunately, Reggie overhears their huddled conversation and the self-proclaimed romance expert elects to give Kevin the benefit of his vast masculine wisdom. Exuberant preparations become a catalogue of horror and, as more well-meaning friends involve themselves, it looks certain Kevin will repeat that horrific initial experience…

Thankfully some stabilising words from lurve-hating Jughead and an eventful morning with remarkably understanding Colonel Keller, mum Kathy and feisty sisters Denise and Patty soon restore some necessary calm and equilibrium.

The next tale moves from straight slapstick to heart-warming empathy as Class President Kevin must organise a prom in ‘May I Have this Dance?’ Only then does he discover that he has a secret admirer. Of course, once Veronica finds out it’s not a secret for long…

As the 70s-themed fashion disaster begins to take shape, further furtive communications reveal the clandestine would-be wooer is someone still not fully at ease with his sexual orientation; forcing Kevin to be at his most understanding and forgiving…

Contentious themes and prejudices surface in #3’s ‘Stranded in Paradise’ when the summer vacation begins and Kevin gets a job as a lifeguard. One beach is the time-honoured hangout of all Riverdale kids, but when Cheryl Blossom and her rich Pembroke School cronies invade the space, sparks fly. The grubby “Townies” are challenged to a surfing contest for sole possession of the sands with Kevin as star competitor and secret weapon for the home team. The fair-minded stalwart has, however, underestimated the vicious tactics of loathsome homophobe Sloan…

Next comes a timely international epic set at the 2012 London Olympics. ‘Games People Play’ sees the Colonel – who has dual British/American citizenship – invited to be a torchbearer. Having been UK born and latterly spending four years in England, Kevin is delighted to be going back for a visit and reconnecting with old mate Brian. He doesn’t even mind when shopping-crazy Veronica inveigles an invite to join the family. Thus, when Dad falls foul of London’s Underground at a crucial moment, Kevin is ready and more-or-less willing to step in for what appears to be the unluckiest and most dangerous section of the entire torch route…

Feeling GLAAD reviews the award KK won prior to ‘Drive Me Crazy!’ (#5, December 2012) hitting the next milestone in a young man’s life as the affable pedestrian finally gains independence with the arrival of his first car. It is, in fact, the old jeep belonging to his dad and the fun really hits high gear after Moose and Dilton offer to spruce it up and make it roadworthy in their own inimitable manner – just in time to play havoc with Kevin’s date with old pal Todd…

A Word from George Takei offers the insights of the actor, author and rights activist in anticipation of his walk-on part in star-studded saga ‘By George!’ (#6, January 2013) wherein a class project about inspirational heroes leads to the kids invading a local comic convention headlined by the Star Trek star. Meanwhile, Mr. Takei surprises all concerned by returning the favour at Riverdale High. If only Kevin wasn’t so distracted by the return of old flame Brian and the promise of new romance…

KK #7 demand ‘Decisions, Decisions!’ as Kevin dates aggressive surly bad boy Devon: a student determined to keep his status as a macho hetero male. Patience, understanding and love only go so far though, and when Kevin convinces Devon to finally come out, the misunderstood lout faces repercussions from his family and friends the Keller kid couldn’t anticipate…

Moreover, piling on the pressure, an old secret admirer who remained anonymous chooses this moment to identify himself to the ever-popular Kevin. Everything boils over in ‘Play by the Rules!’ (#8) as Veronica cons him into starring in her self-penned stage opus Teenagers: The Musical! Kevin’s proximity to former secret admirer Paul drives Devon to jealous stalking, but thankfully in the unavoidable denouement, the only real casualty is Ronnie’s atrocity of a show…

Possibly due to increasingly targeted flack from real world villainous oppressors One Million Moms, the remaining run of Kevin Keller never made the jump to graphic compilations – until now. Here Never Before Collected! gathers them issues beginning with #9 as ‘Chapter Fifteen: The Tag-Alongs’ sees childhood friends William and Wendy (the other two of the “Three Musketeers”) sign up as lifeguards too. The reunion is marred when Ronnie and Devon continually distract the swim sentinels, but it’s as nothing as circumstance conspire to drag all of them – and the rest of the family – on Kevin and the Colonel’s sacrosanct annual father/son fishing trip…

The Kiss details how and why One Million Moms singled out Kevin Keller as a threat to America’s children as the creators sneakily struck back whilst covering the next big landmark in the fictional hero’s life. Kevin Keller #10 (August 2013) saw ‘A Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss!’ share that first moment of commitment with Devon, how one obnoxious woman bystander responded to it and how the rest of Riverdale slapped her down…

Dan Parent remained as penciler when Paul Kupperberg scripted #11’s ‘Charity, Schmarity!’ (ably assisted by inker Rich Koslowski, Jack Morelli on letters and Digikore Studios applying colours) as Kevin and Ronnie go to war after being unable to agree on what kind of fundraiser to organise for the after school Literacy Program, but when New Year’s Eve traditions are pilloried in ‘Resolution Revolution’ (written by Parent), the besties are fondly reunited with Devon acting as a latterday Grinch and ultimately going far too far…

Single again in Kevin Keller #13 (May 2014),Kevin’s woes are lifted when Paul seizes his romantic chance in Kupperberg & Parent’s ‘Elementary, My Dear Kevin!’ As the school is gripped by constant – if not actually always true – “exposés” perpetrated by salacious scandal-mongering gossip “The Riverdale Whisperer”, devoted journalist Kevin determines to unmask the cruel liar…

Because no comic book star can be truly complete without a costume, Kevin Keller #14 and 15 saw our hero suit up as a costumed cavorter. The reasoning is explained in The Equalizer before the last two issues of Kevin’s first solo series changed his life forever. It begins penultimately as in ‘That’s Really Super, Kevin!’ (Parent, Koslowski, Morelli & Glenn Whitmore) as Ronnie uses her wealth to remake her favourite guy into an gadget-geared mystery man after he saves an old lady from a mugger.

Although initially reluctant, the chance to help others and Veronica’s persistent badgering as potential costumed compatriot Power Teen soon sees him prowling Riverdale as clean-cut masked vigilante The Equalizer…

Typically, the reluctant do-gooder is torn between pleasing a pal, helping people in need and not being an embarrassing idiot, and he’s soon distracted and far more concerned with impressing the Lodge’s hunky support staffer Tony than reducing the ludicrously low crime rate of Riverdale. The added pressure of the most popular and well-known teen in town keeping his identity secret from all the people who know him forces a big decision in closing issue #15’s ‘Holding Out For a Hero’…

Life with Kevin textually covers the next chapter as ‘Meet the New Kevin Keller’ details how his solo gig ended but two years later, he was back in a 5-issue miniseries by Parent, inker J. Bone & Jack Morelli, focused what occurred after he finished at Riverdale and graduated from college. Life with Kevin – in a limited but superbly effective palette of black, white and blue – traced his career after moving to Manhattan to join a major metropolitan news outlet…

Cover-dated June 2016 and subtitled Kevin in the City, #1 referenced sitcoms like 30 Rock, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, and begins in ‘Chapter 22: You’re Gonna Make it After All! (Maybe)’ as Keller moves into a grim apartment, meets his interesting neighbours and makes an unforgettable first impression on his new boss at station NYC-TV. Sadly, his views on what constitutes journalism don’t tally with hers in the cutthroat era of clickbait and Twitterstorms. Even more tragically, the fact that the camera loves and viewers adore him means Kevin could be forced into becoming a useless, vapid Screen Celeb himself…

The day ends perfectly when Veronica shows up. On Kevin’s advice, his BFF talked back to daddy and now she’s disinherited, broke and homeless…

‘Room for Change’ picks up a short while later with Kevin finding his love life and dating days seriously curtailed by oblivious roommate Ronnie, who, unsurprisingly, cannot hold on to any job she finds (mostly waitressing) and whose efforts to help inevitably go badly awry…

After building a profile on a dating app and then accidentally outing himself on live TV – a strict policy no-no at NYC-TV – Kevin’s life gets even crazier. In ‘I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can!’ boss Babs is ordered to exploit her camera-shy protégé onscreen as much as legally possible, leading Ronnie to accidentally endanger the mental health of a shy young gay student Kevin is secretly helping through difficult times…

The gathering storm breaks on social media in ‘Past Tense!’ with Bab’s ruthless attempt to capitalise on the personal crisis for ratings compelling Kevin to make a world-changing decision – but only after a chaotic comedy of errors devastates the station’s schedules…

The story pauses for now with ‘Moving Forward!’ (#5, January 2018) as the progression of roommate dramas, two-timing bad boyfriends, family health scares and career calamities lead to Kevin taking charge of his life and choosing the future he wants and deserves despite what everyone else thinks…

Archie Comics were early advocates of alternate reality wherein adult versions of their pantheon explored in great depth unlikely possibilities. The strand saw Archie married to both Betty and Veronica in drama-heavy sagas and even murdered.

As explained in Kevin Marries…, the Keller boy got the same opportunities in Life With Archie #16 (January 2012), much to the ire of those One Millom Mom martinets…

Here ‘Chapter Twenty-Seven: For Better or For Worse’ and ‘Chapter Twenty-Eight: For Richer or For Poorer’ (by Kupperberg, Fernando Ruiz, Bob Smith & Whitmore, and released just as America was legalising gay marriage) saw wounded soldier Kevin fresh back from the Middle East and recuperating from physical and mental wounds. His assigned physical therapist became so much more and – as all the drama and intrigue of the Archie-verse played out around them – Kevin and Clay Walker decided to tie the knot…

As previously mentioned, this epic compilation was funded by friends on Kickstarter. The response also generated new a Parent-tale as ‘Chapter Twenty-Nine: Brand New Story Celebration!!’ takes us on a tour of Riverdale with old friends meeting many of the contributors who stumped up for the book – and new boyfriend Paolo, before ‘Chapter Thirty: Bonus Story ‘Read Between the Lines’ makes a stand for diversity and champions libraries and librarians’ never-ending battle against book-banners, as first seen in Comic Book Legal Defense Fund #1, 2015.

Closing this book are a number of ‘Bonus Features’: pin-ups and a cover gallery including modern masterpieces and remastered classic Archie images retrofitted to suit our 21st century all-star by Parent, Gisele Lagace, J. Bone, Derek Charm, Sina Grace, Phil Jimenez, Dan DeCarlo, Bill Galvan, Ryan Jampole, Steve Downer and more: ‘Bonus promotional Sketches’ and full ‘Backer Credits’.

At once hilarious, enthralling and magically inclusive Kevin Keller: Celebration! is a joyous, miraculously fun collection for you and everyone you know and like to enjoy over and over again.
Kevin Keller Celebration! © 2022 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Bluecoats volume 17: The Draft Riots


By Willy Lambil & Raoul Cauvin, with Leonardo & translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-124-8 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Devised by Louis “Salvé” Salvérius & Raoul Cauvin – who scripted the first 64 volumes until retirement in 2020 – Les Tuniques Bleues (or Dutch iteration De Blauwbloezen) began as the 1960s ended: created to ameliorate the loss of megastar Lucky Luke when that laconic maverick defected from Le Journal de Spirou to rival periodical Pilote.

From the start, the substitute strip was hugely popular: swiftly becoming one of the most popular bande dessinée series in Europe. It is now scribed by Jose-Luis Munuera or the BeKa writing partnership and is up to 67 volumes…

Salvé was a cartoonist in the Gallic big-foot/big-nose humour manner, and after his sudden death in 1972, successor Willy “Lambil” Lambillotte gradually moved towards a more realistic – but still overtly comedic – tone and look. Born in 1936, Lambil is Belgian and, after studying Fine Art in college, joined publishing giant Dupuis in 1952 as a letterer. Arriving on Earth two years later, scripter Cauvin was also Belgian and – prior to entering Dupuis’ animation department in 1960 – studied Lithography. He soon discovered his true calling was comedy and began a glittering, prolific writing career at Le Journal de Spirou. In addition, he scripted dozens of long-running, award winning series including Cédric, Les Femmes en Blanc and Agent 212: clocking up more than 240 separate albums. Les Tuniques Bleues alone has sold over 15 million copies… and counting.

Cauvin died on August 19th 2021, but his vast legacy of barbed laughter remains.

The Bluecoats are long-suffering protagonists Sergeant Cornelius Chesterfield and Corporal Blutch: worthy, honest fools in the manner of Laurel & Hardy; ill-starred US cavalrymen defending a vision of a unified America during the War Between the States – well, at least one of them is…

The original format offered single-page gags set around an Indian-plagued Wild West fort, but from second volume Du Nord au Sud, the sad-sack soldiers were situated back East, perpetually fighting in the American Civil War. Subsequent exploits – despite ranging far beyond traditional environs of the sundered USA and (like today’s tale) taking loads of genuine, thoroughly researched history – are set within the scant timeframe of the Secession conflict.

Blutch is an everyday, whinging little-man-in-the street: work-shy, mouthy, devious and ferociously critical of the army and its inept orchestrators and commanders. Ducking, diving, deserting at every opportunity, he’s you or me – except at his core he’s smart, principled, loyal and even heroic… if no easier option presents itself.

Chesterfield is a big, burly professional fighting man: a proud career soldier of the 22nd Cavalry who devoutly believes in patriotism and esprit-de-corps of The Army. Brave, bold, never shirking his duty and hungry to be a medal-wearing hero, he’s quite naïve and also loves his cynical little pal. Naturally, they quarrel like a married couple, fight like brothers and simply cannot agree on the point and purpose of the horrendous war they are trapped in. That situation again stretches their friendship to breaking point in this cunningly conceived instalment.

Coloured by Vittorio Leonardo, Les Tuniques Bleues tome 45 Émeutes à New York was released continentally in May 2002 and became Cinebook’s 17th translated Bluecoats album. It diverges a little different from the majority of tales, which tread a fine line between comedy and righteous anger, so if you share these books with younger kids, read it first on your own as it explores a shameful moment in US history again highlighting not only divisions and disparities of officers and enlisted men but also of the American class structure – particularly the inherent racism driving the rich and poor players on all sides…

The Draft Riots is another edgy epic based on a true incident, but if you can refrain from looking up the history until you finish, it will be to your benefit. It begins with our surly protagonists blithely unaware of Oval Office deliberations following a drop in recruitment and mounting Union casualties. President Lincoln thus resorts to the deeply flawed conscription system of the 1863 Enrolment Act – listing all eligible white men to fight. In times of need the army would draw names out of that pool in a lottery. However, the greatest point of contention allowed any draftee to buy his way out for $300 – with that “donation” used to hire a replacement. This codicil meant the rich could avoid service whilst the poor could only fight or flee the country…

In this instance the second day of the lottery draw in Manhattan’s Ninth District Provost-Marshall office sparks rowdy protest that escalates into a full-blown riot. Unhappily, Blutch & Chesterfield  are part of the contingent of soldiers ordered to police the draw and when dissent descends into furious violence, the cavalry rapidly retreat leaving our boys stuck on the wrong side of the barricades…

Even after Blutch convinces his outraged disbelieving comrade (how could anyone refuse to fight for their country!?) to ditch their uniforms and pretend to be civilians, the peril is not significantly diminished. Chesterfield keeps trying to reason with the rioters – especially ambitious zealot/opportunistic bigot Patrick Merry, who revels in the bloodshed and destruction his followers are inflicting

Merry is ringleader of the predominantly Irish mobs formed of recent immigrants, and soon graduates to looting and vengeance-taking, especially targeting black New Yorkers. He burns down the Colored Orphan Asylum, destroys black homes and businesses and promulgates the myth that the civil war was caused by negroes…

He also attacks churches, homes of the wealthy – who all fled at the first sign of trouble – and newspaper offices. It’s where the tide finally turns as, while Lincoln diverts overstretched frontline military units to quell this second insurrection, the editor and staff of the New York Times turn their recently supplied gatling guns on the mob. Blutch has been horrified but largely sympathetic (until the harassment of black citizens) but his proto-socialist view takes on his usual tenor of resigned horror as his hopes of using the distraction to get out of the war are dashed. He realises people like Merry must be fought and maybe he’s better off – and definitely safer – in the army…

Having briefly escaped Merry’s spies – who have been watching the oddly-acting couple as they sought to get away from the mob – Chesterfield views the counterattack by army units as a chance to get back to his people… if only they would stop shooting at him and Blutch…

Mining comedy from America’s most awful and costly race riot is a big ask, but the shocking events covered in here are dotted with bleak, black humour – especially whenever the sergeant seeks to reason with rioters and looters – and the brilliant manner in which the duo get back to their rightful place is both ridiculous and completely apt.

Packed with appalling true anecdotes and pointedly seditious polemic with moving moments, The Draft Riots shows how war costs everybody, making moments of shocking verity doubly powerful and hard-hitting. Funny, thrilling, beautifully realised and eminently readable, Bluecoats is the best kind of war-story and Western: appealing to the best, not worst, of the human spirit. And this one is really, really sad…

© Dupuis 2002 by Lambil & Cauvin. All rights reserved. English translation © 2023 Cinebook Ltd.

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Harley Quinn: A Rogue’s Gallery – The Deluxe Cover Art Collection


By Bruce Timm, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Amanda Connor & Paul Mounts, Tim Sale, Jim Lee, Frank Cho, Alex Ross and many & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7423-8 (HB/Digital edition)

Comic books aren’t just stories. So often the cover is as important and thrilling as the contents – if not more so. Let’s face it; we’ve all gone for something for its appearance only to be disappointed by its interior. So it’s a relief and a delight to thoroughly recommend a comic cover-art compilation where the visuals are as extraordinary as the material they were promoting.

Harley Quinn was never supposed to be a star – or even actual comics character. As soon became apparent, however, the manic minx always has her own astoundingly askew and off-kilter ideas on the matter – and any other topic you could name: ethics, friendship, ordnance, coffee, cuddle bunnies…

Created by Paul Dini & Bruce Timm, Batman: The Animated Series aired in the US from September 5th 1992 to September 15th 1995. Ostensibly for kids, the breakthrough television cartoon revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and immediately began feeding back into the print iteration, consequently leading to some of the absolute best comic book tales in the Dark Knight’s many decades of existence.

Employing a timeless visual style dubbed “Dark Deco”, the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power, tone or mood of the premise, reshaped the grim avenger and his extended team into a universally accessible, thematically memorable form even the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding exuberance and panache that only the most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to…

Harley was initially the Clown Prince of Crime’s self-destructive, slavishly adoring, extreme abuse-enduring assistant, as seen in “Joker’s Favor” (airing September 11th 1992). She instantly captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers and began popping up in the incredibly successful licensed comic book. Always stealing the show, Harley soon graduated into mainstream DC continuity. Along the circuitous way, Quinn – AKA Dr. Harleen Quinzel – developed a support network of sorts in living bioweapon Poison Ivy and a bizarre love/hate relationship with some of Gotham’s other female felons…

After a brief period bopping around the DCU, she was re-imagined as part of the company’s vast post-Flashpoint major makeover: subsequently appearing all over comics as cornerstone of a new iteration of the Suicide Squad, in those aforementioned movies and her own adult-oriented animation series. At heart, however, she’s always been a comic glamour-puss, with big, bold, primal emotions and only the merest acknowledgement of how reality works…

Harley Quinn: A Rogue’s Gallery – The Deluxe Cover Art Collection is a giant collection of some of the best comic covers from her first quarter century of existence spanning her first print appearance in Batman Adventures #12 (1993) to 2017: charting her progress from frolicsome cartoon felon to comic book big draw, movie magnate and all around gay icon.

Of course, you could just take my word for it and accept there are gathered here 170 fabulous eye-grabbing images (plus a few bonus sketches and such) by 92 stellar artists – mostly stripped of verbal clutter and text livery – but I suspect many will also study the huge shopping lists of names and numbers assembled below.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THEM – they are for obsessive completists like me, okay?

If you’re still here and not off shopping now, what’s here are the covers from Batman Adventures: Mad Love #1, Batman Adventures #12; Gotham Adventures #12;  Batman: Harley Quinn #1;  Harley and Ivy: Love on the Lam #1; Harley Quinn #1, 3, 4, 9, 11, 13, 19, 38; Batman Adventures #3, 16; Gotham Girls #3; Harley and Ivy#1-3; Detective Comics #831, 837; Batman #613; Joker’s Asylum II: Harley Quinn #1; Gotham City Sirens #1, 5, 15, 20; Gotham City Sirens Book II; Suicide Squad #1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 21; Detective Comics volume 2 #23.2, 39; Harley Quinn volume 2 #0-3, 6-9, 11-13, 15-19, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30; Harley Quinn Invades Comic-Con International: San Diego #1; Harley Quinn Holiday Special #1; Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special #1; Secret Six #5; Action Comics volume 2 #39; Aquaman volume 2 #39; Batgirl volume 4 #39; Batman volume 2 #39; Batman and Robin volume 2 #39; Batman/Superman #19; Catwoman volume 4 #39; The Flash volume 4 #39, 47; Grayson #7; Green Lantern volume 5 #39, 47; Green Lantern Corps volume 3 #39; Justice League volume 2 #39, 47; Justice League Dark volume 1 #39; Justice League United #9; Sinestro #10; Supergirl volume 6 #39; Superman volume 3 #39, 47, Superman/Wonder Woman #19; Teen Titans volume 4 #7; Wonder Woman volume 4 #39, 47; New Suicide Squad #4, 22; Green Arrow volume 5 #47; Justice League of America volume 3 #6; Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad: April Fool’s Special #1; Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad: April Fool’s Special #1; Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys #1; DC Comics Bombshells #27, 32; Harley Quinn volume 4 #1, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 17-19, 21, 22; Harley’s Greatest Hits; Harley Quinn Volume 1: Die Laughing; Justice League Vs Suicide Squad #1, 3; Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1 and Suicide Squad volume 7 #1-2, 4, 8, 13, 16, 20.

These are chronologically delivered, fully listed and accredited on the contents pages, so I’m also going to list the creators in case someone’s a particular favourite. Represented here by single images or many bites of the cheery cherry are Bruce Timm, Mike Parobeck & Rick Burchett, Alex Ross, Shane Glines, Joe Chiodo, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson, Tim Sale, Scott Morse, Kelsey Shannon, Simone Biachi, Jim Lee & Scott Williams, Claudio Castellini, Guillem March, Ryan Benjamin, Paul Renaud, Ivan Reis, Eber Ferreira & Rod Reis, Greg Capullo & FCO Plascencia, Ken Lashley & Matt Yackley, Jason Pearson, Chris Burnham & Nathan Fairbairn, Amanda Connor & Paul Mounts, Dave Johnson, Alex Sinclair, Stephane Roux, Adam Hughes, Clay Mann, Tommy Lee Edwards, Mike Allred & Laura Allred, Ant Lucia, Darwin Cooke, Dan Panosian, Eduardo Risso, Ben Caldwell, Emanuela Lupacchino & Tomeu Morey, Chad Hardin, Neal Adams, Ryan Sook, Jeromy Cox, John Timms, Nicola Scott, Danny Miki, Cliff Chiang, Jill Thompson, J.G. Jones, Jim Balent, Mike McKone & Dave McCaig, Marco D’Alfonso, Dustin Nguyen, Joe Quinones, Mikel Janin, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, Joe Benitez, Peter Steigerwald, Francis Manapul, Sean Galloway, Phil Jimenez & Hi-Fi, Jeremy Roberts, Juan Ferreyra, Brennan Wagner, Joe Madureira, Nei Ruffino, Lee Bermejo, Frank Cho, Mirka Andolfo, Joseph Michael Linsner, Minjue Helen Chen, Tony S. Daniel, Jason Fabok, Babs Tarr, Rafael Albuquerque, Yanick Paquette, Paul Pope & Lovern Kindzierski, Tyler Kirkham, Jae Lee & June Chung, Ed Benes & Dinei Ribeiro, Aaron Lopresti, Tom Raney & Gina Going, Khary Randoph & Emilio Lopez, Michael Turner, Carlos D’Anda, Laura Martin, Sabine Rich, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ashley Witter, Dawn McTeigue, Jonboy Myers, Sunny Gho, Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion, Paul Pelletier & Sandra Hope, Joshua Middleton. Liam Sharp, Billy Tucci, John Romita Jr & Dean White, and Otto Schmidt.

This collection is exciting, lovely to look upon, deliriously daft, happily hilarious and will provide hours of delighted deliberation as we all dip in, reminisce and ultimately disagree on what should and shouldn’t be included. Enjoy, Art-lovers, Bat-Fans and proud Harley-queens!

If you are utterly absorbed and crave still more, you might want to also see companion volume The Art of Harley Quinn by Andrew Farago.
© 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Leonard & Larry 3: Extracts From the Ring Cycle at Royal Albert Hall


By Tim Barela (Palliard Press)
ISBN: 978-1-88456-805-3 (Album PB)

We live in an era where Pride events are world-wide and commonplace: where acceptance of LGBTQIA+ citizens is a given… at least in all the civilised countries where dog-whistle politicians, populist “hard men” totalitarian dictators (I’m laughing at a private dirty joke right now) and sundry organised religions are kept in their generally law-abiding places by their hunger for profitable acceptance and desperation to stay tax-exempt, scandal-free, rich and powerful.

There’s still too many places where it’s not so good to be Gay but at least Queer themes and scenes are no longer universally illegal and can be ubiquitously seen in entertainment media of all types and age ranges… and even on the streets of most cities. For all the injustices and oppressions, we’ve still come a long, long way and it’s and simply No Big Deal anymore. Let’s affirm that victory and all work harder to keep it that way…

Such was not always the case and, to be honest, the other team (with religions proudly egging them on and backing them up) are fighting hard and dirty to reclaim all the intolerant high ground they’ve lost thus far.

Incredibly, all that change and counteraction happened within the span of living memory (mine, in this case). For English-language comics, the shift from illicit pornography to homosexual inclusion in all drama, comedy, adventure and other genres started as late as the 1970s and matured in the 1980s – despite resistance from most western governments – thanks to the efforts of editors like Robert Triptow and Andy Mangels and cartoonists like Howard Cruse, Vaughn Bode, Trina Robbins, Lee Marrs. Gerard P. Donelan, Roberta Gregory, Touko Valio Laaksonen/“Tom of Finland” and Tim Barela.

A native of Los Angeles, Barela was born in 1954, and became a fundamentalist Christian in High School. He loved motorbikes and had dreams of becoming a cartoonist. He was also a gay kid struggling to come to terms with what was still judged illegal, wilfully mind-altering psychosis and perversion – if not actual genetic deviancy – and an appalling sin by his theological peers and close family…

In 1976, Barela began an untitled comic strip about working in a bike shop for Cycle News. Some characters then reappeared in later efforts Just Puttin (Biker, 1977-1978); Short Strokes (Cycle World, 1977-1979); Hard Tale (Choppers, 1978-1979) plus The Adventures of Rickie Racer, and cooking strip (!) The Puttin Gourmet… America’s Favorite Low-Life Epicurean in Biker Lifestyle and FTW News. Four years later, the cartoonist unsuccessfully pitched a domestic (AKA “family”) strip called Ozone to LGBTQA news periodical The Advocate. Among its proposed quotidian cast were literal and metaphorical straight man Rodger and openly gay Leonard Goldman… who had a “roommate” named Larry Evans…

Gay Comix was an irregularly published anthology, edited at that time by Underground star Robert Triptow (Strip AIDs U.S.A.; Class Photo). He advised Barela to ditch the restrictive newspaper strip format in favour of longer complete episodes, and printed the first of these in Gay Comix #5 in 1984. The remodelled new feature was a huge success, included in many successive issues and became the solo star of Gay Comix Special #1 in 1992.

Leonard & Larry also showed up in prestigious benefit comic Strip AIDs U.S.A. before triumphantly relocating to The Advocate in 1988, and – from 1990 – to its rival publication Frontiers. The lads even moved into live drama in 1994: adapted by Theatre Rhinoceros of San Francisco as part of stage show Out of the Inkwell. In the 1990s their episodic exploits were gathered in a quartet of wonderfully oversized (220 x 280 mm) monochrome albums which gained a modicum of international stardom and some glittering prizes. This third compendium compiled by Palliard Press between 1996 -2000, follows Domesticity Isn’t Pretty and Kurt Cobain & Mozart Are Both Dead, whilst paving the way for last volume (to date) How Real Men Do It.

As previously stated, as well as featuring a multi-generational cast, Leonard & Larry is a strip that progressed in real time, with characters all aging and developing accordingly. The strips are not and never have been about sex – except in that the subject is a constant generator of hilarious jokes and outrageously embarrassing situations. Triumphantly skewering hypocrisy and rebuking ignorance with dry wit and superb drawing, episodes cover various couples’ home and work lives, constant parties, physical deterioration, social gaffes, rows, family revelations, holidays and even events like earthquakes and fanciful prognostications.

Following an Introduction from Animation historian Charles Solomon and Lief Wauters potted history of the strip ‘The Life and Times of Leonard & Larry’, a ‘Leonard & Larry Timeline’ provides a crucial curated recap in copious detail, including reintroducing the vast Byzantine, deftly interwoven cast, with past highlights and low points and reminds readers that this strip passes in real time and the players are aging just like we are…

Star couple Leonard Goldman and Larry Evans live together despite vast family circles and friend groups all apparently at odds with each other. The feature also prominently and increasing plays with fantasy as dream manifestations – or are they actual ghosts? – of composers Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his bitter frenemy Johannes Brahms plague cast members: acting as a vanguard for even odder occurrences to come…

This family saga is primarily a comedy of manners, played out against social prejudices and grudging gradual popular acceptances, but it also has shocking moments of drama and tension and whole bunches of heartwarming sentiment set in and around West Hollywood.

The extensive Leonard & Larry clan comprise the former’s formidable unaccepting mother Esther – who still ambushes him with blind dates and nice Jewish girls – and the latter’s ex-wife Sharon and the sons of their 18-yeat marriage Richard and David. Teenaged Richard recently knocked up and wed equally school-aged Debbie, making the scrappy couple unwilling grandparents years (decades even!) before they were ready. The oldsters adore baby Lauren but didn’t need to relive all that aging trauma when Debbie announced there would soon be an older sister…

Maternal grandparents Phil and Barbra Dunbarton are ultra conservative and stridently Christian, spending a lot of time fretting over Debbie and Lauren’s souls and their own social standing. They’re particularly concerned over role models and what horrors she and her brother Michael are being exposed to whenever the gay guys babysit. Their appearances are always some of funniest and most satisfying as the deviant clan expands exponentially in this volume…

David Evans is as Queer as his dad, and works in Larry’s leather/fetish boutique store on Melrose Avenue. That iconic venue provides loads of quick, easy laughs and many edgy moments thanks to local developer/predatory expansionist Lillian Lynch who still wants the store at any cost. It’s also the meeting point for many other couples in Leonard & Larry’s eccentric orbit. Their friends/clients enjoy greater roles this time, offering other perspectives on LA life.

Flamboyant former aerospace engineer Frank Freeman lives with acclaimed concert pianist Bob Mendez and is saddled with an compulsive yen for uniforms. It comes in handy again when Bob’s sex-crazed celebrity stalker Fiona Birkenstock breaks jail to re-kidnap him – at least until she switches affection to a certain celebrity judge sentencing her…

Larry’s other employee is Jim Buchanan whose alarming dating history stabilised when he met a genuine cowboy at one of L & L’s parties. Merle Oberon was a newly “out” Texan trucker who added romance and stability to Jim’s lonely life. Sadly, it got complicated in other ways once Merle became a Hollywood soap star and his agents, managers and co-star convinced him his career needed Oberon back in that closet…

Jim, by the way, is the original and central focus of the overly-critical dead composers’ puckish visits…

Also catching attention this time are heated discussions on the supernatural as the ghost composers graduate from dream-based plot device to active participants, playing pranks on many more of the minor cast members. Their games re balanced with ever-kvetching aging-averse Larry painfully adapting to being a doting grandad/perennial babysitter. Jim and Merle meanwhile engage a psychic to exorcise their haunt housemates, blithely unaware that she’s an undercover tabloid hack looking for a juicy exposé…

Younger players take centre stage, offering the author opportunity to spike not just anti-gay bigots but take on good old-fashioned racism too, even delivering a gleefully potent poke at American fundamentalism when the “Christian Coalition” relentlessly pursues good old white, Texan celebrity Merle to be the face of their next “decency campaign” and just won’t take no for an answer…

A surprisingly hard-hitting – if deviously velvet-gloved – storyline sees Jim discovering he was adopted: in fact the child of an unwed catholic girl exploited by the Irish Church’s baby-selling scandal (you really should look up Ireland’s Mother & Baby Homes). Reeling and despondent, his downward spiral is resolved by Merle who secretly arranges a trip to Ireland and a family reunion no-one wanted but everyone benefitted from…

David is Larry’s gay son and not expected to cause chaos and consternation, but that ends when he and his bestie Collin help their lesbian roommate Nat get pregnant and our freaked out oldster contemplates becoming a grandfather yet again…

That hilariously potent arc is compounded when ex-wife Sharon attends one of their frequent dinner parties and gets off with the still-sore former spouse’s only straight acquaintance (classical violinist Gene Slatkin). The liaison sparks incomprehensible jealousy and primeval macho ownership behaviour in Larry, but it’s so much worse when he learns the result is geriatric pregnancy and his becoming an unpaid baby sitter for another family addition…

Extended saga ‘The Baby Shower’ finds the entire conflicted and in many parts intolerant extended family in one room and scoring points As first Sharon and then Nat go into labour it sparks fourth wall shenanigans as Larry again has a meltdown and flees from the hospital, archenemy Mike the midwife, all semblance of parental responsibility and general biological “ickiness”.

The feature provides plenty of moments of wild abandon too, such as when Larry loses a friend’s beloved dog and finds an enormous python with a very full stomach, fun with tarantulas and a startling dream sequence wherein grandkids (7-year-old Lauren and 3-year-old Michael) take over “creating” strip a few times, ultimately confirming grampy’s crazed conviction that he’s nothing but a character in a comic strip crafted by a sadist. Further hallucinogenic riffs – including cowboy antics and a rebellion of Barbie dolls – leads finally to a major emotional growth spurt and Larry’s return to the hospital just in time to join the happy events…

Leonard & Larry is a traditionally domestic marital sitcom/soap opera with Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz – or more aptly, Dick Van Dyke & Mary Tyler Moore – replaced by a hulking bearded “bear” with biker, cowboy and leather fetishes and a stylishly moustachioed, no-nonsense fashion photographer. Taken in total, it’s a love story about growing old together, but not gracefully or with any dignity. Populated by adorable, appetising fully fleshed out characters, Leonard & Larry was always about finding and then being yourself and remains an irresistible slice of gentle whimsy to nourish the spirit and beguile the jaded. If you feel like taking a Walk on the Mild Side now this tome is still at large through internet vendors. So why don’t you?
Excerpts from the Ring Cycle in Royal Albert Hall © 2000 Palliard Press. All artwork and strips © 2000 Tim Barela. All rights reserved The Life and Times of Leonard & Larry © 2000 Lief Wauters.

After decades of waiting, the entire ensemble is available again courtesy of Rattling Good Yarns Press. Sublimely hefty hardback uber-compilation Finally! The Complete Leonard & Larry Collection was released in 2021, reprinting the entire saga – including rare as hens’ teats last book How Real Men Do It (978-1955826051). It’s a little smaller in page dimensions (216 x280mm) and far harder to lift, but it’s Out There if you want it…

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Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Brittle Mastery of Donald Duck


By Carl Barks (Gladstone Comic Album #7)
ISBN: 978-0-94459-906-8 (Album PB)

Although experts quibble over the details of Donald Duck’s debut (I cleave to the notion we should use the premier of The Wise Little Hen on 3rd May rather than the June 9th US general release date), everybody agrees 1934 was the year and that the magnificent mallard is 90 this year. In honour of that achievement, here’s a lovely old book starring Disney’s top cartoon star that you might be lucky enough to find. Even if you can’t, the stories are scattered throughout Fantagraphics’ magnificent Carl Barks library editions which we will continue sporadically reviewing and which you really should already own…

Donald Duck ranks among a small group of fictional characters to have transcended the bounds of reality and become – like Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Popeye and James Bond -meta-real. As such, his origins are complex and convoluted. His official birthday is June 9th 1934: a dancing, nautically-themed bit-player in the Silly Symphony cartoon short The Wise Little Hen.

The animated cartoon was adapted by Ted Osborne & Al Taliaferro for the Silly Symphonies Sunday newspaper strip and thus classified by historians as Donald’s official debut in Disney comics. Controversially, he was also reported to have pre-originated in The Adventures of Mickey Mouse strip which began 1931. Thus the Duck has more “birthdays” than he knows what to do with, which presumably explains why he’s such a bad-tempered cuss.

Visually, Donald Fauntleroy Duck was largely the result of animator Dick Lundy’s efforts, and, with partner-in-fun Mickey Mouse, is one of TV Guide’s 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time. The Duck has his own star on the Hollywood walk of fame and has appeared in more films than any other Disney player. Throughout the 1930s, his screen career grew from background and supporting roles via a team act with Mickey and Goofy to a series of solo cartoons beginning with 1937’s Don Donald. That one also introduced love interest Daisy Duck and the irrepressible nephews Huey, Louie and Dewey…

By 1938 The Duck was officially more popular than corporate icon Mickey Mouse, and even more so after his national service as a propaganda warrior in a series of animated morale boosters and information features during WWII. The merely magnificent Der Fuehrer’s Face garnered the 1942 Academy Award for Animated Short Film…

Crucially for our purposes, Donald is also planet Earth’s most-published non-superhero comics character, and blessed with some of the greatest writers and illustrators ever to punch a keyboard or pick up a pen or brush. A publishing phenomenon and megastar across Europe – particularly Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland – Donald (& Co) have spawned countless original stories and many immortal characters. Sales are stratospheric across all age groups there and in upwards of 45 other countries they export to. Japan’s manga publishers have their own iteration too…

The aforementioned Silly Symphonies adaptation and Mickey strip guest shots were trumped in 1937 when Italian publisher Mondadori launched an 18-page comic book story crafted by Federico Pedrocchi. It was quickly followed by a regular serial in Britain’s Mickey Mouse Weekly (a comic produced under license by Willbank Publications/Odhams Press that ran from 8th February 1936 to 28th December 1957). Issue #67 (May 15th 1937) premiered Donald and Donna – a prototype Daisy Duck girlfriend – drawn by William A. Ward. Running for 15 weeks, it was followed by Donald and Mac before ultimately settling as Donald Duck – a fixture until the magazine folded. The feature inspired similar Disney-themed publications across Europe, with Donald regularly appearing beside company mascot Mickey…

In the USA, a daily Donald Duck newspaper strip launched on February 2nd 1938, with a colour Sunday strip added in 1939. Writer Ted Karp joined Taliaferro in expanding the duck cast and history: adding a signature automobile, pet dog Bolivar, goofy cousin Gus Goose, and grandmother Elvira Coot whilst expanding the roles of both Donna and Daisy. In 1942, his comic book life began with October cover-dated Dell Four Color Comics Series II #9: AKA Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold. It was conceived by Homer Brightman & Harry Reeves, scripted by Karp and illustrated by Disney Studios employees Carl Barks & Jack Hannah. That was the moment everything changed…

Carl Barks was born in Merrill, Oregon in 1901, and raised in rural areas of the West during some of the leanest times in American history. He tried his hand at many jobs before settling into the profession that chose him. His early life is well-documented elsewhere if you need detail, but briefly, Barks was a cartoonist, then an animator before quitting the Studio in 1942 to work in the new-fangled field of comic books. From then until his retirement in the mid-1960s (he officially downed tools in 1966 but was cajoled into scripting stories well into 1968), Barks worked in self-imposed seclusion: writing, drawing and devising a vast array of adventure comedies, gags, yarns and covers that gelled into a Duck Universe of memorable and highly bankable characters like Gladstone Gander (1948), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Magica De Spell (1961) and the nefarious Beagle Boys (1951) to supplement the Studio’s stable of cartoon actors.

His greatest creation was crusty, energetic, paternalistic, money-mad giga-gazillionaire Scrooge McDuck: the World’s wealthiest winged nonagenarian and frequent spur/gadfly and reluctant sugar daddy to the adventuresome youngsters…

Whilst producing all that landmark material Barks was also just a working guy, generating cover art, drawing other people’s scripts as asked, and always adding stories to a burgeoning international canon of Duck Lore. Only after Gladstone Publishing began re-packaging Barks material in books like this during the 1980s, did he discover the well-earned appreciation he never imagined existed. Media Historian Leonard Maltin called Barks “the most popular and widely read artist/writer in the world”…

So potent were Barks’ creations that they fed back into Disney’s overarching animation output, despite all his brilliant comic work being for Dell/Gold Key and not the studio. The greatest tribute was undoubtedly animated series Duck Tales, based on his classic Uncle Scrooge adventures. Barks was a fan of wholesome action, unsolved mysteries and epics of exploration, and this led to him perfecting the art and technique of the blockbuster tale: blending wit, history, plucky bravado and sheer wide-eyed wonder into rollicking rollercoaster romps that utterly captivated readers of every age and vintage. Without the Barks expeditions there would never have been an Indiana Jones…

During his working life Barks was utterly unaware that his work – uncredited due to company policy, as was all Disney’s comics output – had been recognised by a rabid and discerning public as “the Good Duck Artist”. When some of his most dedicated fans finally tracked him down, belated celebrity began.

In 2013, Fantagraphics Books began chronologically collecting Barks’ Duck stuff in curated archival volumes, tracing his output year-by-year in hardback tomes and digital editions that finally did justice to the quiet creator. These will eventually comprise the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. Physical copies are sturdy and luxurious albums – 193 x 260mm – to grace any bookshelf.

Gladstone Publishing began re-releasing Barks material and sundry other Disney strips in the late-1980s and this album is one of their best. Printed in the European oversized format (278mm x 223mm) this joyous compendium collects an occasional series of similarly-themed yarns: some of the best and funniest Duck tales ever crafted.

The “Brittle Master” series is the name given by devotees to a group of stories wherein the perennial failing, fiery-tempered and eternally put-upon everyman Donald displays an excellence in some unique skill or service, winning the approval and veneration of all and sundry – only to have his own smug hubris bring about his ultimate humiliation and downfall.

The first untitled tale, from Walt Disney Comics and Stories #156 (1953) sees Donald as an airplane-piloting, cloud-sculpting Master Rainmaker catering to increasingly outrageous requests from his adoring public. This leads him inevitably to disaster – in this case the creation of a full-blown, devastating Ice-storm…

Next, from WDC&S #222 (1959) comes the tale of the Master Mover, as Donald displays an uncanny ability to transport anything anywhere, only to come a crushing cropper when he guarantees to shift an entire zoo to a mountaintop in one afternoon!

From Donald Duck #68 (also from 1959) ‘The Master Glasser’ (we’d call him a glazier) is a wickedly satirical glimpse at small-town America as the arrogant artificer at the height of his fame attempts to repair the aged fascia of Duckburg’s giant clock. Perhaps he shouldn’t have tried to do it live on TV?

The fourth tale is one where I suspect Donald actually found his true calling. The ‘Master Wrecker’ (WDC&S #26, 1962) is the go-to-duck if you need something demolished with no muss or fuss, and even in this hilarious yarn Donald doesn’t actually fail. The target is utterly razed: it’s just not the one he was supposed to demolish…

This delightful collection ends with the satisfyingly sharp ‘Spare That Hair’ (WDC&S #272, 1963) as Donald the Master Barber finally wins one for a change, even though he mistakenly shaves a gorilla and inspires the ire of a rowdy circus ringmaster…

Barks was as adept with quick-fire gag stories as epic adventures; blending humour with drama and charm with action, and even if you can’t find this particular volume, most of his unforgettable work is readily accessible through a number of publications and outlets and in many languages. So if you seek to become a Master Reader, you know what you need to do…
© 1988, 1963, 1962, 1959, 1953 The Walt Disney Company. All Rights Reserved.

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Anarchy Comics – The Complete Collection


By Jay Kinney, Paul Mavrides, Clifford Harper, Gerhard Seyfried, Spain Rodriguez, Melinda Gebbie, Gilbert Shelton, Épistolier, Volny, Michel Troblin, John R. Burnham, Ruby Ray, Steve Stiles, Sharon Rudahl, Peter Pontiac, Guy Colwell, Matt Feazell, Gary Panter, Donald Rooum, Albo Helm, Adam Cornford, Norman Dog, Greg Irons, Steve Lafler, David Lester, brooke Lydbrooke, Pepe Moreno, Harry S. Robins, R. Diggs, S. Zorca, Byron Werner, & various, compiled and edited by Kinney (PM Press)
ISBN: 978-1-60486-531-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

During the “anything goes” 1960s and early1970s issues of personal freedom, sexual liberation, mind-altering self-exploration, questioning of authority and a general rejection of the old ways gripped the young and terrified the establishment. Artists and cartoonists especially began creating the kind of comics and art they wanted and an “Underground Commix movement” became the forefront for “radicalisation” (that’s “The Man’s” terms not mine) of many young intellectuals in America and throughout the world. It consequently led to the rise of and acceptance of comics narrative for adults.

Whenever anybody discusses the history and influence of the Underground and Counter-Culture movements, focus is generally on the exuberant and often racially or sexually offensive expressions of comedic or violent excess – especially in regard to sex and drugs – but that’s a rather cruel and biased oversimplification. The whole phenomenon stemmed from rebellion and the exercise of new-found freedoms. Equally apparent was a striving for new ways of living one’s life – and that’s Politics, Baby, pure and simple…

By 1978 that unchecked artistic flourishing had died back in every sphere – especially the wholesale creation of comics – and the mainstream world, having assimilated what it liked of the explosively fresh thought and deeds, appropriated or adopted some of the tone and tenets of the movement before getting back to making money and suppressing masses in a “new normal”…

However, once creative passions have been aroused and stoked they are hard to suppress. There is no more powerful medium of expression or tool of social change than graphic narrative – although music and poetry come close – and some kids found it harder to surrender their ideals than others. In 1977, as Disco, indolence, hedonism and the pursuit of money increasingly obsessed media and populace, a bunch of left-leaning liberal intellectual cartoonists got together in San Francisco. They wanted to create a comics anthology dedicated to propounding ideals of willing co-operation, personal responsibility and a rejection of unwanted oppressive authority – governmental, religious or corporate. By entertaining and educating through cartoons they intended to highlight issues of inequality and iniquity: in short, they went to bat for Anarchy…

Just as the global Punk movement began to take hold in a new generation of angry, powerless and disenfranchised Youth, West Coast cartoonist, satirist designer, editor and socialist political activist Jay Kinney – who had co-created the seminal underground title Young Lust (and yes that was a pun; so sue me!) – reached out to like-minded old associates like Paul Mavrides with the intention of creating an international comic book to promulgate their world view.

Kinney had been corresponding with British Anarchist artist Clifford Harper (Class War Comics) and had similarly-inclined West German cartoonist Gerhard Seyfried kipping on his floor at that time, so the idea of a forum for graphic expression of political ideas must have seemed like a no-brainer…

Of course, there’s no such thing as slavish doctrinaire consensus in Anarchist idealism – that’s pretty much the whole point – and the comic was envisioned more as a platform to present wide-ranging Left-Libertarian ideas through satire and historical reportage as a basis for further debate.

How the project developed from there and its ultimate effects and influence is fully described in author/historian Paul Buhle’s ‘Anarchy Comics Revisited’ and Kinney’s own expansive, evocative ‘Introduction’ before the entire 4-issue, 9-year run is re-presented in all its monochrome glory. beginning with Anarchy Comics #1 from 1978. It sports a witty cover by Kinney and deliciously wry intro page Inside Cover by Kinney & Seyfried. The editor then opened the attack with ‘Too Real’: using collage images from comic book ads to spoof the American Dream of prosperity and suburban bliss, after which counterculture legend Spain Rodriguez recounts the story of ‘Nestor Makhno’ whose fight for independence led to his betrayal by his Soviet allies in the early days of their Revolution.

Kinney’s ‘Smarmy Comics’ presents a decade of strip spoofs dedicated to exposing ‘Fascism: the Power to Finance Capital Itself’, after which the amazing Melinda Gebbie constructs a strident feminist call to arms against female oppression in educational diatribe ‘The Quilting Bee’ before Spain returns with a brutal true tale of the Spanish Civil War ‘Blood and Sky’ and an Underground superstar offers a frightening prognostication in ‘Gilbert Shelton’s Advanced International Motoring Tips’…

For someone with no appreciable budget or resources, Kinney was astonishingly successful in securing international contributions. From France’s L’echo Des Savannes #29 came a translated tale of more Bolshevik perfidy in ‘Liberty Through the Ages: Kronstadt’ by Épistolier (Yves Frémion) & Volny (Françoise Dupuy) wherein a local dispute escalates into an horrific early instance of merciless repression in the People’s Paradise, before Bay area cartoonist John R. Burnham challenges the future with his polemical ‘What’s the Difference?’

True Brit Clifford Harper offers a moving and witty account of grass roots resistance in the tale of ‘Owd Nancy’s Petticoat’ (set in the aftermath of the Peterloo Massacre), after which Kinney delivers wry Comic Strip parodies ‘Safehouse’, ‘On Contradiction’ and ‘Today’s Rhetoric’ – complete with faux ad – before Mavrides hilariously attacks the utopian/dystopian debate with ‘Some Straight Talk about Anarchy’. The issue ends with a stylish ad for like-minded publications from Kinney & Seyfried, which last also crafted a humorous depiction of a mass anarchist demonstration in Tiananmen Square 11 years before the tragic, monstrous real thing…

Issue #2 didn’t appear until 1979 and opened with a photographic punk cover by Ruby Ray & Kinney, with the latter & Seyfried collaborating on another hilarious introductory page before the fireworks kicked off with Steve Stiles’ chilling account of his brush with Military Intelligence. Once the brass realised he might have had associations with turn-of-the-century Labour Movement The Industrial Workers of the World, the baffled soldier-boy found himself suspected of crimes he didn’t know existed. How the ‘Wobblies!’ could subvert a hapless GI in 1967 is still unclear to the author of this smart but scary tale…

‘Believe It!’ by Sharon Rudahl exposes true but crazy beliefs from history whilst

‘Kultur Dokuments’ (Kinney & Mavrides) brilliantly blends styles and metaphors to harangue the working world in a clever tale that starts as pictograms and ends as a vicious swipe at Archie Comics. Harper then adapts “Bert” Brecht’s grim ballad ‘The Black Freighter’ (perhaps better known in English as “Pirate Jenny” via Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera), Spain details the life of Civil War freedom-fighter Buenaventura ‘Durruti’ and Dutch artist Peter Pontiac exposes sexual fantasy and other anti-spontaneity heresies in ‘Romantic! Anarchy’ before Kinney dryly restores order with spoof talk-show ‘Radical Reflections’.

Épistolier & Michel Trublin relate how radicals Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman changed the smugly complacent nature of Wall Street in ‘Liberty Through the Ages: The Yippies at the Exchange’ before Gebbie potently limns illustrated ‘Quotes from Red Emma’ (Goldman) after which ‘The Bizarre yet Familiar World of Commodity Fetishism!’ (Kinney) embellishes a Seyfried Inside back-cover ad with the glorious whole finished off in a painted Black Velvet portrait of Chairman Mao by Mavrides.

Anarchy Comics #3 arrived in 1981, sporting a traditional anarchic rampaging rogue by Pontiac & Guy Colwell and – after a clever introduction by Kinney & Mavrides – proceeds with the duo’s hilariously dark time-travel tale ‘No Exit’ showing how even the perfect future can’t please some activists. Next is Épistolier & Trublin’s trenchant examination of Church repression of workers in ‘Anarchy in the Alsace: The Revolt of the Rustauds’ and a welcome appearance for Donald Rooum’s iconic feline thought-experiment Wildcat.

Rooum was a spectacularly talented, gentle, fiercely pacifist freedom-fighter, educator and eternal knowledge seeker who contributed brilliant cartoons to British comics, magazines and the Anarchist press for over 60 years. His Wildcat cartoons have been collected continually and are a must have item whatever your political leaning…

The merriment continues in ‘The Act of Creation According to Bakunin’ by Dutch cartoonist Albo Helm, giving the genesis myth a thorough re-evaluation, after which Harper interprets French politician/philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s pointed ‘What is Government?’ with telling graphic savagery.

More of Kinney’s ‘Radical Reflections’ follow before Spain (with Adam Cornford & Kinney) examines the rise of the Red Brigade through Italian labour agitation and student unrest via ‘Roman Spring’, whilst Steve Laffler restores much-needed absurdity through deployment of rude, anti-Capitalist superhero the ‘Naked Avenger’.

Seyfried crafts a sharp display of police mentality in ‘Walkie Talkie’ before then relative newcomer Gary Panter plays with traditional bomb-throwing view of anarchists in his vicious comedy ‘Awake, Purox, Awake!’, whilst Gebbie & Cornford collaborate on a psychedelic tribute to ‘Benjamin Peret: Poet as Revolutionary and Rudahl supplies a slyly effective castigation of workers’ children-turned-capitalists in ‘The Treasure of Cabo Santiago’.

Comix iconoclast Greg Irons is represented here with moodily scary tale ‘Who’s in Charge Here?’ and Canadian cartoonist David Lester tackles sexual politics and the New Man in ‘Men Strips: Men March On’, ‘The Amazing Colossal Men’ and ‘The March of Men’ before Marian (now just brooke) Lydbrooke spoofs marital oppression in ‘At Home With…’ with Kinney exploring similar territory in ‘New Age Politics’.

Matt (Amazing Cynicalman) Feazell debuted here with an impressive bug-eyed view of class warfare and divisive manipulation by the bosses in the excellent ‘Pest Control’ before Kinney & Seyfried cobble together an inside back-cover ‘Bulletin Board’ and the garrulous German ends the issue with a classy spoof ad touting ‘New! Improved! Anarchy’ to end all our global pest woes…

After this issue Kinney’s time was increasingly taken up with other projects, and it wasn’t until 1987 that new editor Mavrides released Anarchy Comics #4, with both cover and introduction page products of his sublimely prolific satirist’s pen. He nonetheless joined with Kinney on apocalyptic parody on the End of Days ‘Armageddon Outahere! before the always challenging Harper contributes a terrifyingly true case regarding British poet Jimmy Heather-Hayes’ death in police custody at Ashford Prison, Kent ‘On the Night of March 3, 1982’.

Norman Dog creates a choose-your-own-ending role-playing strip in ‘You Rule the World!’ and Spain details the fall of Emperor Napoleon III, the entire Franco-Prussian War and the meteoric coming and going of the Communards in ‘1871’, after which Gebbie relates her own clash with British censorship in magically metaphoric fable ‘Public Enemy’.

‘Mr. Helpful’ is a more traditional cartoon quandary posed by Norman Dog whilst S. Zorca’s prose vignette ‘Executive Terrorism’ take a hefty swipe at Presidential Privilege and R. Diggs goes for the jugular in his logical extension of economic Darwinism ‘Korporate-Rex’.

The final issue closes with Harry S. Robins tapped into his Church of the SubGenius roots, addressing the apparent dichotomy of the philosophy in ‘Anarchy = Panarchy’ before Byron Werner’s ‘One-page strip’ suggests the only way we can rationally deal with intelligent extraterrestrial life, Mavrides & Kinney clashwith the Military-Industrial Complex in ‘Cover-up Lowdown’ and a final Back Cover offers a photo of Hiroshima after all the dust settled…

As you’d expect, this fabulous collection doesn’t stick to tradition, and after a standard section of contributing Cartoonist Biographies, and a sumptuous colour section including all covers, Outtakes, Sketches Roughs and a fulsome photographic Anarchy Comics Family Album, a New Comix addendum features a stunning new strip which would certainly have been in a fifth issue… if there had been one.

‘The Amazing Tale of Victoria Woodhull’ by Rudahl depicts the life of the most incredible woman you’ve never heard of: a libertine, suffragette, opportunist and crusader for women’s rights and female emancipation who started out as an American white trash huckster and died the wife of a British aristocrat.

This is followed by Sketchbook Drawings and Outtakes from Kinney, revealing abortive ideas and graphic dead ends such as Anarchy Chic, Shoot-Out at the Circle A Ranch, Revolt, Sectarianism, Marx my Words, spoof political mags, the Amazing Rhetoric Translator and the marvellous Oppressive Dichotomies – all strips that might well have found fans… if…

A stunning reminiscence of a time when we thought the world could still be changed and, hopefully, a stark example for the current generation who just won’t take it anymore, Anarchy Comics is still, funny, powerful, inspirational and out there.

And that’s not up for debate…
© 2013 Jay Kinney, Paul Mavrides and respective writers & artists. All rights reserved.

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Toby and the Pixies: Worst King Ever!


By James Turner & Andreas Schuster with Kate Brown & Austin Boechle (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-296-0 (TPB)

Way back in January 2012, Oxford-based David Fickling Books made a rather radical move by launching a traditional anthology comics weekly aimed at under-12s. It revelled in reviving the good old days of picture-story entertainment intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in style and content.

To this day each issue features humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy. The Phoenix has successfully established itself as a potent source of children’s entertainment because, like The Beano and The Dandy, it is equally at home to boys and girls, and mastered the magical trick of mixing amazingly action-packed adventure series with hilarious humour strip serials such as this one. Most of the strips have also become graphic collections just like this one…

Crafted by the astoundingly clever James Turner (Star Cat, Super Animal Adventure Squad, Mameshiba, The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve) and Canadian cartoonist/designer/animator Andreas Schuster, Toby and the Pixies began in January 2020 (as I Hate Pixies) and those first forays are remastered right here, right now, beginning with ‘Chapter 1: Meet Toby’ as – at Suburbiton high school – nerdly 12-year old overachiever (what in my cruel school days was deemed a “swot”) is trying to fit in. It’s already hard enough enduring overbearing popular classmates like smarmy trendy “online influencer” Joe and snarky bully Steph but at least fellow style exile Mo is in the same boat, as evidenced by their idea to become acceptable by playing football turns out…

Reality reasserts itself when Toby is ordered by his electric toaster-obsessed Dad to tidy the garden before vanishing forever when the grumbling kid accidentally kills gleefully sadistic pixie tyrant King Thornpickle in ‘Chapter 2: Long Live the King’.

Unknown to any human, a fabulous fey realm has thrived in the green shambles of the Cauldwell backyard for the longest time, and now – due to an inept and inadvertent act of emancipation sparked by Toby kicking an unfortunately placed plaster garden gnome – the reluctant boy finds himself new ruler of a hidden kingdom of magical morons…

Thanks to pixie law – as interpreted by the former King’s advisors Mouldwarp (Royal Druid), wise(ish) Gatherwool (Lore Keeper/Potion Master) and Toadflax (she eats stuff) – killing Thornpickle makes Toby the new absolute monarch. Pixie law also states the ruler can do anything they want… a prospect so laden with responsibility it makes Toby weep with terror…

Just coming to terms with the thought of magic actually existing and that freaky, anarchic little imps can do it whilst still being absolute idiots and morons is bad enough, but young Cauldwell quickly learns just how awful it can be ‘Living the Dream’ as the advisors pester and bedevil him to give in and take on the job…

With dad increasingly obsessed with making the perfect, ultimate piece of toast and bonkers goblins infesting his home Toby heads for the relative sanctuary of school only to find the pixies waiting for him still insistent he take charge. Granting them liberty and autonomy proves disastrous in ‘Free Period’ and turns unto chaos when ravenous magic mushrooms maraud through classrooms until he capitulates and in chapter 5 dispenses ‘The Wisdom of Toby’…

Thanks to the mystic mooncalves’ utter literal-mindedness, the task is like herding floodwater, and the reluctant despot retreats for a bit of quiet time playing videogame ‘Camel Calamity’ with Mo. With the demanding pixies around, though, peace cannot be guaranteed and after the “bathtub badger crisis” and Mo’s being magicked into a bird, Toby takes his only friend into his confidence, spilling all. The response is not what the unhappy king expects…

Another shock follows the morning Toby is forced into dire state duty and compelled to become the groom at a ‘Royal Wedding’. The bride isn’t even human-shaped and his potential father in law even worse, but just this once fate seems to be on the boy’s side…

Going to school is also inescapable – and Toby’s only real joy – but royal duties increasingly encroach. Mystic meddling with his beloved ‘Homework’ results in embarrassment and ultimately a rampaging water sprite wrecking the adored institute of learning, after which Mo is kidnapped by the vengeful daughter of dead King Thornpickle.

Princess Sugarsnap is as mean as her dad and wants her inheritance – which Toby is happy to give to her – but of course it isn’t that easy to abdicate and instead the new King has to undertake a Royal Quest and face her “Army of Slimes”. Luckily, his faithful dachshund Digby goes along on the ‘Rescue Mission’…

The exploit leads to ‘Mo’s First Trip to Pixieland’, but being mistaken for the King’s jester – and worse – is just a prelude. Trouble really kicks off when jealous Toadflax challenges him for the position and Sugarsnap ambushes everybody before the pixies discover what Mo’s terrifying cell phone camera can really do…

As King’s Champion, his best pal also offers a real service by stepping in as ‘King Mo’ to give Toby a break. Sadly, he’s suckered into a day of questing that has lasting and laughable repercussions, prior to human life reasserting itself when Mo and Toby at last and unhappily become school sports stars thanks to being dragooned into ‘The Big Match’. Fair play is not on the cards though, as the pixie advisors secretly augment Toby’s kit with magic slugs…

The resultant humiliation leads to one final calamity as Chapter 13 ‘Falling Out’ sees Mo ostracised and banished after apparently cheating during a boardgame: a situation the three advisors are quick to capitalise on…

The premise of pixie promise is instantly and eternally engaging, and will further confound and beguile in a forthcoming volume…

Wrapping up the fey foolishness is an activity section detailing ‘How to Draw Toby’ with supplemental instruction on his ‘Expressions’, ‘Toby’s Body’ and thereafter ‘How to Draw Mo’, plus his ‘Expressions’ and ‘Body’ as well as graphic gen for rendering ‘Gatherwool’ ‘Mouldwarp’ and ‘Toadflax’ before closing with the now-standard Special Preview feature focusing on what other wonders await in the periodical Phoenix…

Toby and the Pixies is a gloriously daft and hilarious comic treasure: surreal, ingenious and fabulously fun. No laugh-loving LARPER, junior gamer, comedy connoisseur or devotee of madcap magical mayhem should miss this pixilated picture postcard from beyond.
Text and illustrations © The Phoenix Comic 2024. All rights reserved.

Toby and the Pixies: Worst King Ever! is published on June 6th 2024 and available for pre-order now.

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Lucky Luke volume 22 – Emperor Smith


By Goscinny & Morris, translated by Jerome Sanicantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-026-9 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Far be it for me to publish a book recommendation that somehow impacts upon current events or hints at the fallibility of popular leaders, but…

Doughty, dashing and dependable cowboy “good guy” Lucky Luke is a rangy, implacably even-tempered do-gooder able to “draw faster than his own shadow”. He amiably ambles around the mythic Old West, having light-hearted adventures on his petulant and rather sarcastic wonder-horse Jolly Jumper. For nearly 80 years, his exploits have made him one of the top-ranking comic characters in the world, generating upwards of 85 individual albums and spin-off series like Kid Lucky and Ran-Tan-Plan, with sales thus far totalling upwards of 300 million in 30 languages. That renown has translated into a mountain of merchandise, toys, games, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies and even commemorative exhibitions. No theme park yet, but you never know…

Originally the brainchild of Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de Bévère (AKA “Morris”) and officially first seen in Le Journal de Spirou’s seasonal Annual L’Almanach Spirou 1947, Luke actually sprang to (un-titled) laconic life in mid-1946 in the popular periodical before ambling into his first weekly adventure ‘Arizona 1880’ on December 7th of that year.

Morris was one of “la Bande des quatre”– The Gang of Four – also comprising Jijé, Will and Franquin: leading proponents of a fresh, loosely free-wheeling artistic style known as the “Marcinelle School”. The compelling cartoon vision came to dominate Le Journal de Spirou in aesthetic contention with the “Ligne Claire” style favoured by Hergé, E.P. Jacobs and other artists in rival publication Le Journal de Tintin. In 1948 said Gang (all but Will) visited America, meeting US creators and sightseeing. Morris stayed for six years, befriended René Goscinny, scored some work at newly-formed EC sensation Mad and constantly, copiously noted and sketched a swiftly disappearing Old West.

Working solo until 1955 (with early script assistance from his brother Louis De Bevere), Morris crafted nine albums – of which today’s was #7 – of affectionate sagebrush spoofery before teaming with old pal and fellow transatlantic émigré Goscinny. With him as regular wordsmith, Luke attained dizzying, legendary heights starting with Des rails sur la Prairie (Rails on the Prairie) which began serialisation on August 25th 1955.

In 1967, the six-gun straight-shooter switched sides, joining Goscinny’s own magazine Pilote in La Diligence (The Stagecoach). Goscinny co-created 45 albums with Morris before his untimely death, whereupon Morris soldiered on both singly and with other collaborators. He went to the Last Roundup in 2001, having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus numerous sidebar sagebrush sagas crafted with Achdé & Laurent Gerra, Benacquista & Pennac, Xavier Fauche, Jean Léturgie, Jacques Pessis and more, all taking their own shot at the venerable vigilante.

Lucky Luke has a long history in Britain, having first pseudonymously amused and enthralled young readers during the late 1950s, syndicated to weekly anthology Film Fun. He later rode back into comics-town in 1967 for comedy paper Giggle, using nom de plume Buck Bingo. And that’s not counting the many attempts to establish him as a book star starting with Brockhampton Press in 1972 and continuing via Knight Books, Hodder Dargaud UK, Ravette Books and Glo’Worm, until Cinebook finally found the right path in 2006.

As so often seen the taciturn trailblazer regularly interacts with historical and legendary figures as well as even odder fictional folk in tales drawn from key themes of classic cowboy films – as well as some uniquely European notions, and interpretations. That principle is smartly utilised to sublime effect in Emperor Smith (first seen au continent in1976 as 45th tome Lucky Luke: L’Empereur Smith) which became Cinebook’s 22nd album in 2010.

Since Europeans take their comics seriously – especially the funny ones (and you know I mean the strips not the readers!) – they aren’t afraid to be bold or brave in content. This riotous romp cheekily employs some creative anachronism to carry an edged – if not actually barbed – account of whimsy and pride going before a fall and why people with vision should really be careful of who they share them with or make their advisors…

One day, as the lone rider is pleasantly roaming, he encounters a fancy foreign army battalion escorting a royal coach and just has to know what’s going on. Hot pursuit brings him to typical frontier hamlet Grass Town, Texas, where he learns its citizens are making a mint by humouring local rancher Dean Smith. The magnate’s head was turned by sudden immense wealth, and he anointed himself Emperor of the United States, rehiring his cattle workers and other toilers as an extremely highly paid army, cabinet and personal staff.

Decked out in swishy colourful gold braided uniforms, sparkly medals, big hats with feathers and titles like Baron of Abilene or Duke of Fort Worth, and huge regular wages it’s not surprising they all play along. Some of the bigger wigs of the court even had their heads turned too…

The story is inspired by famed historical San Francisco eccentric Joshua Abraham Norton (1818-1880) who in 1859 declared himself “Norton I, Emperor of the United States” and (in 1863) “Protector of Mexico”, but here the fable offers a funnier and far darker extrapolation of what the world saw…

Lucky catches up to the cortege just as the royal party enter the town saloon, and sees a succession of normal folk bow and kowtow to a fancily attired little man. The situation is explained by local Judge Barney but overheard by villainous drifter Buck Ritchie who thinks he can have a little fun by baiting the looney. Sadly, he underestimates Lucky’s tolerance for gunplay and bullying and is humiliated and forcibly ejected…

The act deeply impresses the Emperor – if not his obsequious former cook “Colonel” Gates – and the genial gunslinger is summoned by decree to visit the palace. As a reward for foiling an assassination attempt…

After complying and again graciously declining joining the Court or being made Grand Officer of the Golden Buffalo, Marshall of the Empire, Prince of the Rio Grande and Duke of Houston, Lucky comes away a little shaken. Smith might be harmlessly crazy, with an unhealthy admiration for Napoleon Bonaparte, a loyal private army and enough cannon and other military ordinance to conquer the state if not the country, and seems content to play his games and write letters to all the other monarchs in the world, but the same isn’t necessarily true of Gates and the other inner courtiers…

Matters take a deep downturn when Lucky shares his experiences with Judge Barney, newspaper editor Whitman and Sheriff Linen. Eavesdropping, Buck Ritchie hears of the big guns and soon bamboozles the Emperor into invading Grass Town and razing it… because they don’t really believe he’s an Emperor…

Promoted to Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prince of Phoenix, Duke of Tucson, and Imperial Plenipotentiary, Ritchie just wants the contents of the bank and whatever cash he can grab, but finds himself unable to stop – or escape – the stampede of war and idiocy he has started. With Grass Town equal parts cowed and embracing aristocratic madness, curfews in place and grand balls at the saloon, Smith makes the hamlet his capital and lays plans to oust Grant and the rebels in Washington DC, impose direct imperil rule and Make America His Again…

Convicted of treason, Lucky and Barney escape and make their own plans to restore order. All they need do is to kidnap Smith, scuttle his useless, greedy hangers-on, wage financial war on the hirelings and have a little showdown with Buck. Of course, now the desperado is packing artillery as well as a six-gun…

Wry, savvy and heavy on action, this is another wildly entertaining all-ages confection by unparalleled comics masters, affording an enticing glimpse into a unique genre for today’s readers who might well have missed the romantic allure of an all-pervasive Wild West that never was…
© Dargaud Editeur Paris 1976 by Goscinny & Morris. © Lucky Comics. English translation © 2010 Cinebook Ltd.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection volume 1


By Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird, Steve Lavigne & various (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-61377-007-8 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-62302-298-3

FORTY(!!!) years ago this month an indie comic by a pair of cannily adroit wannabe creators began making waves and soon sparked a revolution. The guys were Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird and their work did remarkably well, interesting companies outside our traditionally cautious insular industry and garnering a few merchandising deals. Thanks to TTE (the Telescoping Time Effect that renders the passage of many years between adulthood and the grave to the blink of an eye), my comics generation still regard these upstart critters as parvenu newcomers.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in May 1984, bombastically occupying an oversized, self-published black-&-white parody mag. Eastman & Laird were huge fans of Ditko and Kirby, and so set up Mirage Studios so they could control their efforts, having great fun telling pastiche adventures notionally derived and inspired by contemporary superhero fare.

They especially honed in on the US marketplace’s obsession with Frank Miller’s reinterpretations of manga stars Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima: particularly Lone Wolf & Cub. There were also smart pokes at and conceptual themes poached from other top trends as inspired by The X-Men, New Teen Titans and outsider icon Howard the Duck. This was at a time when the US industry was experiencing an explosive boom in do-it-yourself comics: one that changed forever the very nature of the industry and destroyed the virtual monopoly od DC and Marvel.

Eastman & Laird’s quirky concept became the paradigm of Getting Rich Quick: a template for many others and – in their case at least – an ideal example of beneficial exploitation. Their creation expanded to encompass toys, movies, games, food, apparel, general merchandising and especially television cartoons. In 1987 it became – and remains – a globally potent franchise. There’s probably another movie on the go even as I type this…

None of that matters here as I want to look at the actual comics that started everything and there’s no better way than with this carefully curated edition chronologically covering the primal tales and offering commentaries and reminiscences from the guys who were there…

Just as Los Bros Hernadez had done with Love and Rockets in 1981, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted as a self-published (print run of 3000 copies), self-financed one-shot that was swiftly picked up by a legion of independent comics shops run by fans for fans. Word of mouth and frantic demand generated a wave of reprintings and much speculative imitation. The rest is history…

This book – re-presenting issues #1-7 and one-shot Raphael Micro-Series – was the first of a sequence of collections published a dozen years ago by licensing specialists IDW. By that time the original creators had long sold the rights and moved well on, to the extent of even occasionally revisiting their baby through nostalgia, but here their fevered passion in their creation and the sheer joy of having fun by learning was at its intoxicating height.

Drafted with verve, gusto and no respect for “the rules”, the saga of ‘Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ opens with four outlandish humanoids fighting for their lives in a dingy alley. The enemy are thugs and street scum and – once they’re emphatically taken care of – with victory assured, the bizarre heroes retreat into the sewers…

Here they greet a giant rat dressed as a sensei and discuss their origins and goals. You all already know the tale – or just don’t care – but briefly: the pet rat of martial artist Yoshi absorbed kung fu skills and concepts of honour and duty by observation. He also witnessed romantic rivals become arch foes. The losing suitor’s brother subsequently destroys the lovers (even after they fled to New York) and is now leader of ninja clan The Foot.

The youngster – Oroku Saki but known as The Shredder – pursued his warped obsession in the New World and murdered the lovers, even as nearby a boy saved an old one from being hit by a truck carry toxic material. The kid was blinded when the cannister hit his eyes, but as he was carted off to his own comics destiny, the canister that hit him broke, leaking mutagens into sewers where an uncaring owner had dumped somebaby turtles and where Yoshi’s escaped pet was hiding…

Over years exposure changed them all. The rat called Splinter became a sagacious humanoid rodent who diligently trained four brilliant, rapidly growing reptiles in the skills he had observed with his master. Splinter named them Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael and at last deemed them sufficiently advanced to obtain vengeance for his murdered master.

Called to battle, the villain employs all his minions but nevertheless falls to turtle justice…

Fast-paced and action-packed, the tale delivers a sure no-frills punch and – as revealed in the commentary ‘Annotations’ section that follows – left the creators with a rare dilemma: overnight success, demands for reprints and readers demanding more of the same…

Each issue’s bonus section also provides background, insights and developmental drawings but the meat is contained in the stories as the debutantes quickly gained confidence and ran wild. The second issue introduced insufferable mad scientist Baxter Stockman who unleashes robot rat-hunters (“Mousers”) in a scheme to get rich by cleaning up the sewers. In fact, he is also using them to rob from below and when his assistant April O’Neil finds out he frames and tries to kill her. Thankfully the turtles step in to save her and New York…

The third episode reveals heroism comes at a cost: when they return to their underground lair, the Turtles discover it devastated, with Mouser fragments and rat blood everywhere… but no Master Splinter…

When April offers them shelter, relocation turns into a major headache as the strange, heavily shrouded quartet are mistaken for burglars, triggering a massive police car chase through the streets. The spectacular road riot is appended by an ‘Epilogue’ revealing exactly what happened to Splinter, leading to major plot developments in #4, as mystery company TCRI are revealed as the creators of the mutagen and far more than they seem.

Before that though, the Raphael Micro-Series offers all-action romp ‘Me, Myself and I’ as the moody, anger-management-challenged young warrior loses control whilst sparring and flees the team in shame. Sadly, Raphael seeks to calm down by prowling the streets and encounters well-meaning street vigilante Casey Jones thrashing a gang of molesters. Of course, a violent misunderstanding ensues…

In TMNT #4, the search for Splinter is interrupted by an army of Foot ninjas, but the ambush drops our heroes right into TCRI HQ. With the corporate logo from that fateful cannister blazoned across a skyscraper, priorities shift and the turtles retrench. When they infiltrate the building, the shock of finding Splinter is instantly erased by finding out just what they’re facing, but it is as nothing to the trauma of being teleported to another universe…

The fifth issue came out in November 1985, the first to sport a full colour cover and used to expand a phenomenon into a merchandisable continuity universe by guest-starring another, subsequent Eastman & Laird creation – Fugitoid. The little droid was a (non-Terran) human teleportation scientist whose discoveries made him a target of the local military dictatorships on a world packed with hundreds of different sentient species. When Honeycutt was killed, his mind was trapped in a small mechanoid and his plight intersected that of the shanghaied shellbacks. They join forces to thwart evil tyrant General Blanque and an army of secretly invading “Triceratons”, all whilst Honeycutt finds a way to send them home…

Sadly, that route leads directly to an orbiting Triceraton war base in #6 and magnifies the manic mayhem and martial arts magic as the Turtles battle every creature imaginable and still end up as interstellar gladiators before another transmat glitch sends them, Fugitoid and some Triceratons back to Earth and the heart of TCRI.

Of course, in the interim, the building has been surrounded by America’s military and the robotic-augmented Kraangs who run the place are in full battle mode. Cue much more ray gun shenanigans and sword-filled fists of fury as TMNT #7 offers conflict, contusions, confusions, conclusion, explanations and a long-awaited reunion…

To Be Continued…

Fast, furious, fun-filled and funny, but with all sharp edges prominently featured (so nervous parents might want to pre-assess the material before giving this book to true youngsters) this debut saga of the shell-backed sentinels of the sewers offers a superb slice of excitement and enjoyment that will keep kids and adults alike bouncing off the walls with eager appreciation.
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