Category: Comedy

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Totally Mad – 60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity and Stupidity


By “The Usual Gang of Idiots” & edited by John Ficarra (Time Home Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-1-61893-030-9 (HB)

The world has become a measurably less smart and infinitely less funny place over the last month or so, due to the loss of three cartooning giants many of you have probably never heard of.

As it’s unforgivably crass to bundle them all up together – especially because so little of their incredible output is readily accessible to modern readers – I’m celebrating their amazing achievements and acknowledging my personal debt to them over the next few days with items that can still be easily sourced and the heartfelt advice that if you like to laugh and have a surreal bent, these are comedy craftsmen you need to know.

We’re kicking off with the unsung god of cunningly contrived chortles…

Eldest of 4 sons, Abraham Jaffee was born in Savannah, Georgia on March 13th 1921. A successfully transplanted New Yorker, he died in the Big Apple on April 10th 2023, after three years of retirement. For 74 years – 65 of them as an invaluable and unmissable regular contributor to Mad Magazine – he had been paid to make people laugh and think…

Jaffee garnered many awards, inspired millions – including Steven Colbert, John Stewart and generations of other satirists like Gary Larson, Matt Groening and Ted Rall – and he holds the Guinness World Record for longest career as a comics artist. The writer/artist officially retired in 2020 aged 99, and between April 1964 and April 2013 appeared in all but one issue of Mad. And that’s only consecutively – he also joined earlier than you think and carried on after he quit.

Those facts barely scrape the surface of an incredible career…

Jaffee’s early life was troubled: a succession of brief stays in Savannah, Far Rockaway, Queens and Zarasai, Lithuania, resulted from his mother arbitrarily and repeatedly returning to the Old Country with her sons. Eventually he and they at last escaped domestic turmoil to settle in New York.

For escape, he read comic strips (primarily those by Harold Foster, Milton Caniff, Noel Sickles, Otto Soglow, Alex Raymond and Rube Goldberg) and devised ingenious little contraptions from rubbish and junk – a habit that served him well during his later Mad days on the long running Crazy Inventions feature…

During the 1930s, he studied at the NYC High School of Music and Art. That institution also tutored his troubled brother/lifelong assistant Harry Jaffee and future co-workers Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, John Severin and Al Feldstein…

Abraham was a brilliantly innovative writer and gifted, multi-disciplined artist who officially started work in late 1942: acting as an illustrator for Timely’s Joker Comics. Soon he was an editor too, all whilst creating features such as Super Rabbit and Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal – originally two singles who became a knockout double act.

In truth, Jaffee had begun selling comedy a year earlier: working for a “Studio Shop” and inventing spoof hero Inferior Man, who debuted in Quality Comics’ Military Comics #7 (cover-dated February 1942 and on sale from December 10th 1941). When his own call-up time came, Jaffee’s war service involved working at the Pentagon as a military draughtsman. He found his first wife there and used the Service’s name-change facility to become Allan “Al” Jaffee…

Returned to civvy street in 1946, he hooked up with Stan Lee again at Timely/Atlas, and became editor of the hugely popular teen division headlined by Patsy Walker Comics.

Al was apparently tireless, freelancing all over even whilst in his ascendancy at Mad. He first worked there in 1955, on the second issue after conversion from colour comic book to monochrome magazine). His school pal Kurtzman was editor then and quit three months later in a fractious dispute with owner Bill Gaines. Al went with him and worked on Kurtzman’s retaliatory rival satire magazines Trump and Humbug. Only when the later closed in 1958 did Jaffee head back to Mad to formally become one of “The Usual Gang of Idiots”.

Between 1957-1963, he wrote and drew 2200 episodes of internationally syndicated strip Tall Tales for the New York Herald Tribune, before ghosting Frank Bolle’s soap opera melodrama Debbie Deere from 1966-1969 and Jason between 1971-1974. From 1984 Jaffee produced kids strip The Shpy for The Moshiac Times. He was an illustrator for Boy’s Life for 25 years and a stalwart of World’s Best Science Fiction (1977) and Ghoulish Book of Weird Records (1979).

Between 1963-1964, Al co-ghosted Kurtzman & Elder’s legendary adult satire Little Annie Fanny for Playboy: a tenure that surely inspired his most memorable Mad creation – the “Fold-In”. Hugh Hefner’s men’s magazine was infamous for its nude “fold-outs”, revealing even more pulchritudinous flesh than other skin mags, so what could be more potent and fitting than a graphic creation that exposed an uncomfortable truth by covering up an innocuous image?

Jaffee’s first fold-in appeared in Mad #86 (April 1964) and became one its most popular and immortal features. Other Jaffee landmarks include Vietnam-war era strip Hawks and Doves, Don’t You Hate…, Scenes We’d Like to See, Mad Inventions, Crazy Gadgets and Fake Ads, assorted covers, movie and TV parodies and utterly irresistible Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. Many of these have been seen in countless Mad Paperback collections released since the mid-Sixties…

I’ll hopefully get around to his Tall Tales strip collection soon, or maybe some of his Mad paperbacks or even 4-volume HB Boxed set The Mad Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010, but don’t wait for me: buy them if you see them…

For now, however, here’s a great big compendium jam-packed with Jaffe goodness showing him amongst his kind and playing in his natural environment… the world’s greatest humourists…

 

Totally Mad – 60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity and Stupidity

EC Comics began in 1944 when comicbook pioneer Max Gaines sold the superhero properties of his All-American Comics company to half-sister National/DC, retaining only Picture Stories from the Bible. His plan was to produce a line of Educational Comics with schools and church groups as the major target market.

Gaines augmented this core title with Picture Stories from American History, Picture Stories from Science and Picture Stories from World History, but the so-worthy notion was already struggling when he died in a boating accident in 1947. With disaster looming, son William was dragged into the family business and with much support and encouragement from unsung hero Sol Cohen – who held the company together until the initially unwilling Bill Gaines abandoned his dreams of a career in chemistry – transformed the ailing enterprise into Entertaining Comics…

After a few tentative false starts and abortive experiments, Gaines and his multi-talented associate Al Feldstein settled into a bold, fresh publishing strategy, utilising the most gifted illustrators in the field to tell a “New Trend” of stories aimed at an older and more discerning readership. From 1950 to 1954 EC was the most innovative, influential publisher in America, dominating the genres of crime, horror, war and science fiction, spawning a host of cash-in imitations and, under the auspices of writer, artist and editor Harvey Kurtzman, the inventor of an entirely new beast: the satirical comic book…

Mad also inspired dozens of knock-offs and even a controversial sister publication, Panic.

Kurtzman was a cartoon genius and probably the most important cartoonist of the last half of the 20th century. His early triumphs in the fledgling field of comicbooks (Mad, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat) would be enough for most creators to lean back on, but Kurtzman was a force in newspaper strips (See Flash Gordon Complete Daily Strips 1951-1953) and a restless innovator, a commentator and social explorer who kept on looking at folk and their doings: a man with exacting standards who just couldn’t stop creating.

By inventing a whole new format he gave the USA Populist Satire: transforming highly distasteful, disgraceful, highly successful colour comic Mad into a mainstream monochrome magazine, safely distancing the outrageously comedic publication from fall-out caused by the 1950s socio-political witch-hunt that eventually killed all EC’s other titles, and bringing the now more socially acceptable publication to a far wider, broader audience. Kurtzman wasn’t around for long…

He then pursued his unique brand of thoughtfully outré comedy and social satire in Trump, Humbug and Help!, all the while conceiving challenging and powerfully effective humour strips like Little Annie Fannie (in Playboy), The Jungle Book, Nutz, Goodman Beaver, and Betsy and her Buddies. Seemingly tireless, he inspired a new generation through his creations on Sesame Street and by teaching cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He died far too early in 1993.

… And he was just one of the astonishingly gifted creators who made Mad an international franchise, a staggeringly influential cultural phenomenon and a global brand in the years that followed…

Totally Mad -and we’re long overdue for an updated edition, y’all – reviews the rise and rise of the magazine, with tantalising snippets of gags and features accompanied by big excerpts and illustrations from many brilliant creators to have contributed to its success.

Be Warned: this is not a “best of” collection – it would be impossible to choose, and there are hundreds of reprint compilations and websites for that. This is a joyous celebration of past glories and a compulsive taster for further exploration, albeit with few complete stories…

At 256 pages, this luxuriously huge (312x235mm) compendium is regrettably only on sale in physical form but does include historical articles, amazingly funny art and cleverly barbed observations, all divided by decade and augmented by many full-colour, iconic cover reproductions. The minimal text references favourite features such as Spy vs Spy (both by originator Antonio Prohias and successor Peter Kuper), Dave Berg’s The Lighter Side of…, Mad Mini-Posters, Film and TV parodies including ‘Gunsmoked’, ‘My Fair Ad-Man’, ‘East Side Story’, ‘Flawrence of Arabia’, ‘Star Blecch’, ‘Jaw’d’, ‘Saturday Night Feeble’, ‘LA Lewd’, ‘Dorky Dancing’, and assorted mega-movie franchises ad infinitum as well as sterling examples of Jaffee’s uniquely barbed ‘Mad Fold-Ins, ‘Scenes We’d Like to See’ and ‘Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions’.

Whatever your period, and whichever is your most dearly revered, it’s probably sampled and trammelled here…

Following an eccentric and loving Introduction from Stephen Colbert and Eric Drysdale -ably illustrated by Sam Viviano – veteran contributor Frank Jacobs provides a photo-packed profile of Mad’s unique father-figure by asking – and answering – ‘Who Was Bill Gaines?’ after which ‘Mad in the 1950s’ recalls the Kurtzman era with brightly-hued extracts from giant ape spoof ‘Ping Pong!’, ‘Superduperman!’, ‘Lone Stranger Rides Again!’, ‘Sound Effects!’, ‘Melvin of the Apes!’, ‘Mad Reader!’, ‘Bringing Back Father!’ and ‘Starchie’. These highlight the talents of Will Elder, Wallace Wood, Jack Davis, John Severin, Basil Wolverton & Bernie Krigstein before moving into the magazine phase via spoof advertising and popular pastimes such as ‘Readers Disgust’, ‘What Makes a Glass of Beer Taste so Good?’ and more.

Arch-caricaturist Mort Drucker began a stellar run at this time, as did mildly maniacal Don Martin, whilst comics legends Joe Orlando, Wood, Davis and George Woodbridge reached astonishing peaks of artistic excellence as seen via a parade of stunning covers and end-pages with additional contributions by Kurtzman, Kelly Freas, Norman Mingo and others…

In ‘Who is Alfred E. Neuman?’, Jacobs recounts the twisted, turbulent origins of the iconic gap-toothed-idiot company mascot, after which ‘Mad in the 1960s’ highlights the rise of Television and the counter-culture before ‘Was Mad Ever Sued?’ sees Jacobs testify to some truly daft and troubling moments in the mag’s life…

Many of the very best bits of ‘Mad in the 1970s’ is followed by the conclusion of ‘Who Was Bill Gaines?’ prior to Davis, Dick DeBartolo & Jacobs’ iconic ‘Raiders of the Lost Art skit heralding ‘Mad in the 1980s’ wherein patriotism, movie blockbusters, Hip-hop and computer games seized the public’s collective imagination…

‘What Were the Mad Trips?’ explores a grand tradition of company holidays, after which ‘Mad in the 1990s’ covers Rap music, the rise of celeb culture and the magazine’s frenzied forays into a rapidly changing world. Then comes ‘Mad After Gaines’, detailing internal adjustments necessitated by the death of its hands-on, larger-than life publisher in 1992. ‘Mad in the 2000s’ details the brand’s shift into the digital world, with exemplars from creators old and new spoofing medicines, newspaper strips, elections, religion, dead phrases, celebrity causes, cell-phones, man-boobs, war in Iraq, obesity, satirical competitor ‘The Bunion’, contemporary Racism and media sensations Donald Trump (Who He?): all accompanied by parodies including ‘Bored of the Rings’, ‘Sluts in the City’, ‘Spider-Sham’, and more…

Editor John Ficarra offers his Afterword and this magnificent tome also includes a poster pack of a dozen of the very best covers from Mad’s epochal run.

Most of you can happily stop now, but if you’re into shopping lists, here’s a small portion of other contributing “idiots” making Mad a national institution… like graft, perjury, prison and pimples:

Sergio Aragonés is represented throughout with Mad Marginals and many masterful cartoons and pastiches, whilst guest writers include Vic Cohen, Tom Koch, Larry Siegel, Nick Meglin, Earl Doud, Lou Silverstone, Jacobs, DeBartolo, Arnie Kogen, Chevy Chase, Max Brandel, Stan Hart, Marylyn Ippolito, Billy Doherty, Barry Liebman, Desmond Devlin, Russ Cooper, Joe Raiola, Charlie Kadau, Robert Bramble, Michael Gallagher, and Butch D’Ambrosio.

All-rounders both scripting and scribbling include Berg, Aragonés, Martin, Kuper, John Caldwell, Drew Friedman, Paul Peter Porges, Don “Duck” Edwing, Tom Cheney, Feggo, Christopher Baldwin and the incomparable Mister Jaffee.

There are also star artists making a rare splash amongst these venerable veterans. These include Frank Frazetta, John Cullen Murphy, Angelo Torres, Bill Wray, Mark Frederickson, Bob Clarke, Gary Belkin, Paul Coker Jr., Mutz, Jack Rickard, Irving Schild, Gerry Gersten, Rick Tulka, Harry North, Richard Williams, Tom Bunk, Steve Brodner, Mark Stutzman, Tom Richmond, and Gary Hallgren… Heck! – the list is nigh endless.

Wrist-wreckingly huge, eye-poppingly great and mind-bogglingly fun, this is one to treasure and pore through… and probably fight over…
© 2012 E.C. Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Gomer Goof volume 6: Gomer: Gofer, Loafer


By Franquin, with Michel, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-535-6 (PB Album/Digital edition)

Like so much in Franco-Belgian comics, it all started with Le Journal de Spirou, which debuted on April 2nd 1938, with its iconic lead strip created by François Robert Velter AKA Rob-Vel. In 1943, publisher Dupuis purchased all rights to the comic and its titular star, and comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jijé) took the helm for the redheaded kid’s further exploits as the magazine gradually became a cornerstone of European culture.

In 1946, Jijé’s assistant André Franquin was handed creative control. Slowly moving from gag vignettes to extended adventure serials, Franquin introduced a broad and engaging supporting cast of regulars as well as phenomenally popular wonder beast The Marsupilami. Debuting in 1952 (in Spirou et les héritiers) that critter eventually became a spin-off star of screen, plush toys, console games and albums in his own right.

Franquin crafted increasingly fantastic and absorbing Spirou sagas until a final resignation in 1969. Over two decades he had enlarged the feature’s scope and horizons, until it became purely his own. In almost every episode, fans met startling and memorable new characters like comrade/rival Fantasio, crackpot inventor Count of Champignac and even supervillains. Spirou & Fantasio evolved into globetrotting journalists visiting exotic places, exposing crimes, exploring the incredible and clashing with bizarre and exotic arch-enemies.

Throughout it all, Fantasio remained a full-fledged – albeit fictional – Le Journal de Spirou reporter who had to pop into the office between cases. Sadly, lurking there was an accident-prone, big-headed junior in charge of minor jobs and dogs-bodying. He was Gaston Lagaffe – Franquin’s other immortal creation…

There’s a long tradition of comics personalising fictitiously mysterious creatives and the arcane processes they indulge in, whether it’s the Marvel Bullpen or DC Thomson’s lugubrious Editor and underlings at The Beano and Dandy – it’s a truly international practise.

Occasional asides on text pages featured well-meaning foul-up/office gofer “Gaston” (who debuted in #985, February 28th 1957). He grew to be one of the most popular and perennial components of the comic, whether as a guest in Spirou’s cases or his own short illustrated strips and faux editorial reports on the editorial pages.

In terms of actual schtick and delivery, older readers will recognise favourite beats and timeless elements of well-intentioned self-delusion as seen in Benny Hill and Jacques Tati and recognise recurring situations from Some Mothers Do Have ’Em or Mr Bean. It’s slapstick, paralysing puns, infernal ingenuity and invention, pomposity lampooned and no good deed going noticed, rewarded or unpunished…

As previously stated, Gaston/Gomer draws a regular pay check (let’s not dignify or mis-categorise what he does as “work”) from Spirou’s editorial offices: reporting to journalist Fantasio, or complicating the lives of office manager Léon Prunelle and other, more diligent staffers, all whilst effectively ignoring those minor jobs he’s paid to handle. These include page paste-up, posting (initially fragile) packages and editing readers’ letters… and that’s the official reason why fans’ requests and suggestions are never answered…

Gomer is lazy, peckish, opinionated, ever-ravenous, impetuous, underfed, forgetful and eternally hungry, with his most manic moments all stemming from cutting work corners and stashing or illicitly consuming contraband food in the office…

This leads to constant clashes with police officer Longsnoot and fireman Captain Morwater, yet our office oaf remains eternally easy-going and incorrigible. Only three questions are really important here: why everyone keeps giving him one last chance, what can gentle, lovelorn Miss Jeanne possible see in the self-opinionated idiot and will angry capitalist/ever-outraged financier De Mesmaeker ever get his perennial, pestiferous contracts signed?

From a reformatted edition of earlier strips that were remastered in 1987, Gaston – Le repos du Gaffeur becomes Cinebook’s sixth translated compilation: again focussing on non-stop all-Franquin comics gags in single-page bursts.

Here our well-meaning, overly helpful know-it-all/office hindrance invents more stuff that makes life unnecessarily dangerous (such as super-sticky plastic floor wax, “handchairs”, hyper-elastic paddleball bats, an anti-burglary system or his own Marsupilami onesie) and proves that even when he actually does his job – like tidying the office or bringing papers – the gods and his own ill-fortune ensure the result is chaos and calamity…

There are further catastrophic developments in the evolution of his Instrument of Musical Destruction – the truly terrifying Brontosaurophone/Goofophone. In celebration of the magazine’s 600th issue it is electrified and “improved” by modern amplifiers and features ponderously in the boy’s new band – with shocking consequences. Other G-phone inclusions vex the military and pauperise anyone with windows, watches or glasses…

We experience first-hand the appalling fallout of Gomer’s new hobby, as enraged and often wounded beachgoers are caught in the blast radius of his kite-flying, leading to the return of opposite number Jules-from-Smith’s-across-the-street.

This office junior is a like-minded soul and born accomplice, always eager to slope off for a chat: a confirmed devotee of Gomer’s methods of passing the time whilst at work. He even collaborates on any retaliations Gomer inflicts on officer Longsnoot, but here regrets becoming a guinea pig for his inventive pal’s anti-moth deterrent. Moreover, at least one bug spray delivery system finds greater purpose as a means of aerial transportation…

As summer progresses towards Christmas, there are many holiday moments, but Gomer spends most of them tinkering with his infernal congestion-powered pride-&-joy. Many strips feature his doomed love affair with and manic efforts to modify and mollify the accursed motorised atrocity he calls his car. Sadly, the decrepit, dilapidated Fiat 509 is more in need of a merciful execution than his many desperately well-meant engineering interventions to counter its lethal road pollution and failure to function…

The remainder of the volume’s picture strip pandemonium encapsulates the imbecile’s numerous clashes with a bowling ball that clearly despises him; office culinary near-misses (dubbed by lucky survivor Lebrac as “horror-cuisine”) ranging from arson-in-the-raw to political assassination attempts, as well as dabbling with radio-controlled model planes, attempts at getting rid of minor illnesses, ailments and new office innovations.

The lad does try a few moonlighting jobs, but security guard in a China shop, musical backing vocalist and personal plumber are never going to work out, whilst attempts to save and replace the Christmas turkey with crepes are equally ambitious-but-doomed…

In the recurrent saga of office and interpersonal politics, the Goof finds himself the target of increasingly arcane and ingenious pranks, and naturally retaliates in good spirit. Of course, it all gets out of hand when Lebrac introduces termites to the Goofophone and they reject it in favour of tastier fare …like bricks and mortar.

Benighted industrialist De Mesmaeker learns a hard lesson when he foolishly invests in a goof gadget and Gomer increasingly shows his softer side by adopting new pets to keep his goldfish company. Of course, wild mice, a surly blacked-headed gull and the feral cat from behind the building wouldn’t be most people’s first choices, but as they settle in the office staff quickly learn to steer clear of them…

Far better enjoyed than précised or described, these strips allowed Franquin and occasional co-scenarists Michel, Yvan Delporte & Jidéhem (AKA Jean De Mesmaeker – just one of many in-joke analogues who populate the strip) to flex their whimsical muscles and even subversively sneak in some satirical support for their beliefs in pacifism, environmentalism and animal rights. These gags remain supreme examples of all-ages comedy: wholesome, barbed, daft and incrementally funnier with every re-reading.

Why haven’t you Goofed off yet?
© Dupuis, Dargaud-Lombard s.a. 2009 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation © 2020 Cinebook Ltd.

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Bizarro Comics! – The Deluxe Edition


By a big bunch of very funny people AKA Jessica Abel, Todd Alcott, Rick Altergott, Peter Bagge, Kyle Baker, Gregory Benton, Charles Berberian, Aaron Bergeron, Nick Bertozzi, Ariel Bordeaux, Rand & David Borden, Ivan Brunetti, Eddie Campbell, Jim Campbell, Dave Cooper, Leela Corman, Mark Crilley, Jef Czekaj, Farel Dalrymple, Brian David-Marshall, Paul Dini, Paul Di Filippo, D’Israeli, Evan Dorkin, Mike Doughty, Eric Drysdale, Ben Dunn, Philippe Dupuy, Sarah Dyer, Phil Elliott, Hunt Emerson, Maggie Estep, Bob Fingerman, Abe Foreu, Ellen Forney, Liz Glass, Paul Grist, Matt Groening, Tom Hart, Dean Haglund, Tomer & Asaf Hanuka, Dean Haspiel, Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Matt Hollingsworth, Paul Hornschemeier, Dylan Horrocks, Nathan Kane, John Kerschbaum, Chip Kidd, Derek Kirk Kim, James Kochalka, John Krewson, Michael Kupperbaum, Tim Lane, Roger Langridge, Carol Lay, Jason Little, Lee Loughridge, Matt Madden, Tom McCraw, Pat McEown, Andy Merrill, Scott Morse, Peter Murrietta, Tony Millionaire, Jason Paulos, Harvey Pekar, Will Pfeifer, Paul Pope, Patton Oswalt, Brian Ralph, Dave Roman, Johnny Ryan, Alvin Schwartz, Marie Severin, R. Sikoryak, Don Simpson, Jeff Smith, Jay Stephens, Rick Taylor, Raina Telgermeier, Craig Thompson, Jill Thompson, M. Wartella, Andi Watson, Steven Weissman, Mo Willems, Kurt Wolfgang, Bill Wray, Jason Yungbluth, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-1012-9 (HB/Digital)

Here am big, dull shopping list of top-ranking cartoonists from beginning of twenty-oneth century. Bunch of names not very entertaining, but what they draw and write am, especially when taking loving pot-shots at beloved DC Comics icons and moments…

I’ll happily go on record and say that practically all of the fun and true creativity in comics has come out of the ‘alternative’ or non-mainstream writers and artists these days. To prove my point I’d list a bunch of things, and very near the top of that list would be this book -actually two older, smaller books sensibly nailed together in 2021.

In its near 90 years of comics publishing, DC Comics has produced many of the most memorable, most engaging and most peculiar comic characters and concepts you could imagine. For all that, they also managed to stir echoes and forge a deep and abiding affection in the hearts and minds of some of the most creative people on the planet.

As I’ve already said, the material in this titanic tome of titters (sorry, apparently I’m channelling my inner Frankie Howerd today) first emerged in a brace of cartoon anthology volumes: Bizarro Comics and Bizarro World in 2001 and 2005, disrespectively.

They delivered fast and furious skits, sketches and gags by profoundly engaged – often deeply disturbed – fans turned pros. There was a heavy dependence on small-press and self-published creators all used to having complete control of their work…

It was all meant to make you laugh and feel longing for simpler whackier times, and the Introduction by Kyle Baker should be all you need to steer you through what follows.

If I were you, I’d stop here and just buy the book, but just in case you’re a stubborn holdout, I’m going to add to my editor and proof-reader’s many woes by listing exactly who is in the thing, what they did and even add a few critical comments, just to earn my keep.

Then I’ll make my poor staff read the book too, just to cheer them up after all my word salad…

Following Matt Groening’s Bizarro Comics cover (which you get here for free) lurks a hilarious framing sequence, as a monstrous unbeatable creature attempts to conquer Mr Mxyzptlk’s 5th dimensional home. Chris Duffy & Stephen DeStefano – aided by legendary cartoonist and colourist Marie Severin – tell a weird and wonderful tale of outlandish failed Superman clone Bizarro that begins in ‘Bizarre Wars Part One’ and diverges into a wonderland of individual battles against cosmic games player A.

As the appointed defender of the entire endangered dimension, Bizarro resorts to a heretofore unsuspected ultimate power: producing comic strips featuring unfamiliar adventures of DC’s most recognizable heroes that come to life …ish.

Cue a veritable Who’s Who of the cool and wonderful of modern comics creating a plethora of wacky, dreamy, funny, wistful and just plain un-put-downable strips that would delight any kid who read comics but then accidentally grew up.

In rapid rollercoaster fashion and Fighting the Goof Fight for reality come ‘Bizarro-X-Ray One’ by Gregory Benton, Bizarro-X-Ray Two’ by John Kerschbaum and Bizarro-X-Ray Three’ by Gilbert Hernandez – all coloured by Tom McCraw. Sam Henderson & Bob Fingerman reconvene the ‘Super-Pets’ whilst Duffy & Craig Thompson expose Green Lantern in ‘The Afterthoughts’. Chip Kidd & Tony Millionaire revisit early days of ‘The Bat-Man’ in stylish monochrome before Henderson, Dean Haspiel, Bill Oakley & Matt Madden recount the silly charm-packed saga of ‘Captain Marvel and the Sham Shazam’…

Baker & Elizabeth Glass test the mettle of ‘Letitia Lerner, Superman’s Babysitter!’ and Aquaman endures double trouble as Evan Dorkin, Brian David-Marshall, Bill Wray & Matt Hollingsworth draw attention to ‘Silence of the Fishes’ before Andy Merrill & Jason Little douse the Sea King in ‘Porcine Panic!’

Fingerman, Pat McEown, Oakley & Hollingsworth inflict ‘The Tinnocchio Syndrome’ on The Metal Men before Andi Watson, Mark Crilley & Lee Loughridge orchestrate ‘Wonder Girl vs Wonder Tot’ and James Kochalka, Dylan Horrocks & Abe Foreau pit Hawkman against ‘The Egg-Napper!’, even as ‘The GL Corps: The Few, The Proud’ glean more story glory courtesy due to Will Pfeifer, Jill Thompson, Clem Robins, Rick Taylor & Digital Chameleon.

Horrocks, Jessica Abel & Madden then see Supergirl and Mary Marvel have a moment in ‘The Clubhouse of Solitude’ whilst Nick Bertozzi & Tom Hart tune in to ‘Kamandi: The Last Band on Earth!’ before Jeff Smith, Paul Pope & Loughridge depict Bizarro demanding ‘Help! Superman!’ as Jef Czekaj & Brian Ralph confront Aquaman with ‘The Man Who Cried Fish!’ in advance of Wonder Woman pondering ‘One-Piece, Two-Piece, Red-Piece, Blue-Piece’ on a shopping trip organised by Fingerman & Dave Cooper.

Ellen Forney, Ariel Bordeaux & Madden probe a young girl’s ‘Bats Out of Heck’ and Eddie Campbell, Hunt Emerson, Rick Taylor & Digital Chameleon went full-on Batmaniacal in ‘Who Erased the Eraser’ before Crilley & Watson negotiate a shocking ‘First Contact’ with The Atom, after which The Batman invites us ‘Inside the Batcave’ with Pope & Jay Stephens as tour guides.

Dorkin, D’Israeli & Digital Chameleon expose ‘Solomon Grundy: Bored on a Monday’ before Alvin Schwartz, Roger Langridge & Loughridge debut ‘The Most Bizarre Bizarro of All’ and Ivan Brunetti, Dorkin & Sarah Dyer reveal ‘That’s Really Super, Superman!’ to The World’s Finest Team whilst Dorkin, Carol Lay, Tom McCraw & Digital Chameleon invite everyone to ‘The J’onn J’onzz Celebrity Roast’ before Bordeaux, Forney & Madden share ‘Wonder Woman’s Day Off’…

The initial volume and that framing Mxyzptlk yarn are coming to a close as Dorkin, Wray, John Costanza & Hollingsworth craft ‘Unknown Challenges of the Challengers of the Unknown’ and Dorkin, Steven Weissman & Dyer go to bat for all the forgotten creature sidekicks in ‘Without You, I’m Nothing’ before Duffy, DeStefano, Phil Felix, Severin & Digital C reunite for the climactic conclusion of ‘Bizarre Wars – Part Two’…

If you haven’t heard of anybody on that overwhelming list then get Googling. Then get this book and get enjoying.

No? that’s okay… There’s More…

The turn of this century was a particularly fraught time – aren’t they always? – and one of the best ways to combat the impending travail was to make people laugh. A follow up to the remarkably successful Bizarro Comics again invited a coterie of alternative comics creators (and guests!) to make sport of various hallowed DC icons. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and all the lesser gods were dragooned into more tales humorous, dolorous and just plain peculiar, drawn in an eye-wrenching range of styles. Many of those involved continued to display a disturbing knowledge of, if not respect for, the DC continuity of the 1960s whilst others seem to centre on the TV and Movie interpretations, but the fondness for times gone by was readily apparent throughout.

Behind a Bizarro World cover from Jaime Hernandez, Rian Hughes & Coco Shinomiya is unsurprisingly story ‘Bizarro World’ by Duffy, Scott Morse, Rob Leigh & Dave Stewart as a couple of unwary kids fall into a universe stuffed to overflowing with everyday super people…

Answers come from a crusty reporter with extensive files and notes from many stringers…

Kidd, Millionaire & Jim Campbell review ‘Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder’ and Merrill, Langridge & Madden get seasonally silly in ‘Jing Kal-El’, whilst Mo Willems, Forney & Madden reveal ‘The Wonder of it All’ for the youthful feminist before Foreu, Kochalka & Madden have shapeshifter Chameleon Boy ask ‘Where’s Proty?’

Nostalgia and childish wish-fulfilment masterfully merge in pants-wettingly funny ‘Batman Smells’ by American National Treasures Patton Oswalt, Fingerman & Stewart, whilst Duffy & Craig Thompson channel ‘The Spectre’ and Jasons Yungbluth & Paulos confirm with Hal Jordan that ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’ even as Aaron Bergeron & Kerschbaum revel in ‘The Power of Positive Batman’…

Mike Doughty & Danny Hellman’s Fish-out-of-water ‘Aquaman’ segues into another true Stand Out story: ‘Batman: Upgrade 5.0’ by Dean Haglund & Peter Murrieta, illustrated by Don Simpson, before comics bad boy John Ryan joins Dave Cooper to explore being ‘Super-Dumped’ via the sad story of Clark and Diana…

Elsewhere, Dorkin & M. Wartella retroactively introduce Batman to ‘Monkey, the Monkey Wonder’ whilst comics verité legends Harvey Pekar & Dean Haspiel declare ‘Bizarro Shmizarro’ just as Dylan Horrocks, Farel Dalrymple & Paul Hornschemeier proposition ‘Dear Superman’ on behalf of a youngster with a secret…

‘The Red Bee Returns’ courtesy of Peter Bagge, Gilbert Hernandez & Madden, after which Eric Drysdale, Tim Lane, Oakley & Madden organise ‘The Break’ for the JLA. Dorkin & Watson then find The Legion of Super-Heroes ‘Out with the In Crowd’ just as Todd Alcott, Michael Kupperman & Ken Lopez detail the ‘Ultimate Crisis of the Justice League’…

Tomer & Asaf Hanuka join Lopez & Campbell to define ‘Batman’ whilst Paul Dini & Carol Lay have the very last word on ‘Krypto the Superdog’ and Ariel Bordeaux & Rick Altergott unwisely launch ‘Legion.com’ before mercurial Harvey Dent enjoys a ‘Dinner for Two’ thanks to Dorkin & Iva Brunetti…

Maggie Estep & Horrocks take on ‘Supergirl’ and her horsey history before Leela Corman & Tom Hart steer a ‘Power Trip’ for Batgirl, Wonder Woman and the Girl of Steel, whilst Eddie Campbell, Paul Grist & Phil Elliott schedule ‘A Day in the Life in the Flash’ before hilariously reprising their manic madness via ‘The Batman Operetta’…

Bizarro returns in an activity page from his ‘Daily Htrae’ – by Dorkin & R. Sikoryak – and the GL Corps turn Japanese in ‘Lantern Sentai’ from Rand & David Borden of Studio Kaiju, manifested by multi-talented Benn Dunn. Philippe Dupuy & Charles Berberian then offer a continental touch in ‘Batman of Paris’, Kurt Wolfgang & Brian Ralph have fun with ‘The Demon’ and John Krewson, Dorkin & Dyer expose ‘Kamandi, The Laziest Boy on Earth’.

Despite all the craziness, the best has wisely been left until last and end begins with The Justice League of America regretting ‘Take Your Kids to Work Day’ (by Dave Roman & Raina Telgemeier) whilst ultimate manservant Alfred Pennyworth conducts his master’s business as a “Personal Shopper” thanks to Kyle Baker & Elizabeth Glass, before we finish with Deadman who learns with horror – from Paul Di Filippo & Derek Kirk Kim – that ‘Good Girls Go to Heaven. Bad Girls Go Everywhere’…

What do you get if you give a whole bunch of vets and alternative comics creators carte blanche and a broad brief? You should get this.
© 2001, 2005, 2021 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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The Best of Sugar Jones


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Corpse Talk: Groundbreaking Women


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fruit of Knowledge – The Vulva vs. The Patriarchy


By Liv Strömquist, translated by Melissa Bowers (Virago)
ISBN: 978-0-349-01072-4 (B/Digital edition)

We’re going to be using grown-up words today and there’s stuff discussed and depicted here that many strident, officious (and mostly male) people simultaneously deny, deny access to, denigrate and demonise. They even dare to police how actual possessors & users of these body parts may employ or maintain them. Those guys won’t like this book at all.

If that’s you, Go Away. There’s nothing for you to see here and you’ll only get upset. If that’s not you, but you know where they live or hang out, there’s no law that prevents you from buying a copy and sending it to them. Just a thought…

If you know anything about female anatomy, all this will be funny, frightening, glaringly obvious and even enlightening. However, if you’re male – or really, really repressed and/or religious to a fundamental degree – you might want to stop here and pretend this book doesn’t exist.

Wars are fought with intolerant attitudes, economics and misinformation far more than with guns, bombs, knives or deadly chemicals. Oddly enough, that latter arsenal has been used far more than you might imagine: by an ostensibly well-meaning parochial and explicitly patriarchal establishment intent on suppressing women in every walk of life.

In 1978, Liv Strömquist was born in Lund, Sweden. After studying political science, she rekindled an early interest in comics and fanzines to explore topics that gripped her. A cartoonist and radio presenter, she is dogged, diligent, meticulous and devastatingly hilarious when exploring themes important to her. Her first graphic enquiry was 2005’s Hundra procent fett (Hundred Percent Fat) and she’s since followed up with another 10 books, as well as articles and features for newspapers, magazines, assorted media platforms …and comics. She leans left, despises hypocrisy and champions socio-political iniquities like income inequality and gender-determined disempowerment. She does it with scrupulously researched facts translated into cruelly hilarious satirical cartoons.

A ferocious truth-speaker incensed by injustice, in 2014 Strömquist released Kunskapens frukt, an historical exploration of taboos surrounding women’s bodies. It was a global sensation translated into a dozen languages and arrived in English as Fruit of Knowledge.

In a string of carefully constructed comic polemics, she explores, elucidates upon and demystifies the biology of women, how power-seeking groups and individuals have suppressed female autonomy, how male-led societies suppress knowledge, stifle debate, and use shame and gaslighting techniques to keep females downtrodden, destabilised and totally dependent at every level. We’ve even twisted science and history to the cause: excising the very terms needed to efficiently debate the problem…

Guided by a curating avatar, a journey of rediscovery begins with Chapter 1: a history lesson discussing the quirks, insane beliefs and perpetrated atrocities of ‘Men Who Have been Too Interested in the Female Genitalia’…

A staggering listicle of ignorance, arrogance and criminal callousness, this section details beliefs and actions of prominent personages who dictated how women should be. I’m staying vague on detail for reasons of taste, but our countdown begins with the socially-applauded misdeeds of John Harvey Kellog and Dr. Isaac Baker Brown before spending lots of time with mega-misogynist St. Augustine.

The shocking influence of “sexologist” John Money is outdone by the combined results of the instigators of Europe and America’s witch trials (including an outrageous game of “hunt the devil’s teat/clitoris”), before aristo fetish slaver Baron George Cuvier mixes kink with racism to a degree that shaped decades of followers. Top dishonours go to those who exhumed Queen Christina of Sweden’s 300-year old corpse in an attempt to prove that the incredibly effective and pioneering monarch had been a “pseudo-hermaphrodite” – AKA Man – all along…

The appalling litany of deranged anti-female delusion is not simply cited for comedic effect (much of it is actually stomach churning to read) but is used to prove Strömquist’s argument that the aggregated efforts of “Men” shaped today’s unjust system: from toxic medical attitudes regarding “women’s issues” to the nonsense-&-prejudice minefield of gender attribution/reassignment policies to the eternal verity that women only exist for men’s use…

Crushing pressure to conform and excel is tackled in ‘Upside-Down Rooster Comb’: showing how women and girls are deprived of knowledge of themselves and groomed to believe their most intimate parts are sub-standard, ugly, unhygienic, freakish and utterly unacceptable.

In discussing a rise in labial plastic surgery, we see how men from every walk of life dictate what women must look like. There is special, prolonged, recurring an hilarious focus on how NASA airbrushed out a human vulva in images on the 1972 Pioneer space probe, and how successive male experts “proved” the female state of being (and attendant reduced self-esteem) was subordinate and dependent on male primacy…

The philosophical, negativistic macho clap trap of Jean-Paul Sartre, Stig Larsson and others is balanced by the views of psychologist Harriet Lerner, but in the end science and school books confirm that the world believes women are there for men to put things in…

It wasn’t always so though, and Strömquist’s masterstroke is a formal lesson on anatomy, supported by thousands of years of art proudly “putting the Vulva on display.” Starting with the Greek myth of Demeter, an almost sidelined fuller history of civilisation follows, citing how women “exposing” themselves remained a component of life everywhere well into the 1800s…

Because there aren’t shocks enough yet, ‘AAH HAA’ re-examines female orgasm, revealing how much even the most supportive and in-tune bloke has been misinformed and misled, and how that elusive “Big O” was cynically reclassified and deemphasised. God and his earthly representatives don’t do well in this chapter, and there’s a stunning parade of quotes from medical men down the ages showing how we all slowly switched from “did the earth move?” to “what’s wrong with you?”…

Throughout, but especially here, historical anecdotes back up the argument. If the thought of woman after woman being maimed or killed by male intransigence is likely to upset you, suck it up: it’s the least anyone can do to expiate centuries of accumulated and unwarranted sexual privilege…

A whimsical peek at a potential matriarchy and more revelatory biology regarding the clitoris heralds a full colour reworking of the Judaeo-Christian creation story in ‘Feeling Eve – or: In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens’. Interview excerpts illustrate women’s eternal concerns: uncovering intimate moments of shame, fear, guilt, menstruation, masturbation, assault, body image and general ego-sabotage…

The book confronts head-on the uncomfortable occurrence we’ve all been programmed to shy away from in ‘Blood Mountain’: challenging adamant yet unshakably coy assumptions that make period products so gosh-darned profitable via some inspired role swapping, targeted historical trawling, a catalogue of nasty myths, modern psychoanalytic theories, episodic exposés of the magic power of blood from “down there”, reports of male PMS from ancient Greece, the revolting habits of Sigmund Freud and fellow period fan Dr. Wilhelm Fliess and examples and depictions of the “red flowering” from as far back as 15,000 years ago…

All that climaxes with a hard look at manufacturers’ obsession with “freshness” and “cleanliness” and how many of their “hygiene” products are killing the planet, all backed up by evaluations of fairy tales through the lens of menstruation rituals…

Fierce, funny and thoroughly thought-provoking, Fruit of Knowledge is acute, astute and magnificently uplifting: challenging and negating centuries of divisive bias and propaganda by asking women to be their own person. This is a book to arm and unite everyone everywhere in accepting that women’s biology and sexuality has never been the business of any man or organisation.
© Liv Strömquist. Original Swedish edition 2014 Ordfront/Galago. Translation © 2018 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved.

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Krazy & Ignatz 1916-1918: The George Herriman Library volume 1


By George Herriman (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-68396-255-7 (HB/Digital edition)

In a field positively brimming with magnificent and eternally evergreen achievements, Krazy Kat is – for most cartoon cognoscenti – the pinnacle of pictorial narrative innovation: a singular and hugely influential body of work which shaped the early days of the comics industry whilst elevating itself to the level of a treasure of world literature.

Krazy & Ignatz, as it is dubbed in these gloriously addictive archival tomes from Fantagraphics, is a creation which must always be appreciated on its own terms. Over the decades the strip developed a unique language – simultaneously visual and verbal – whilst delineating the immeasurable variety of human experience, foibles and peccadilloes with unfaltering warmth and understanding…and without ever offending anybody. Baffled millions certainly, but offended? …No.

It certainly went over the heads and around the hearts of many, but Krazy Kat was never a strip for dull, slow or unimaginative people: those who can’t or simply won’t appreciate complex, multilayered verbal and cartoon whimsy, absurdist philosophy or seamless blending of sardonic slapstick with arcane joshing. It is still the closest thing to pure poesy narrative art has ever produced.

Think of it as Dylan Thomas and Edward Lear playing “I Spy” with James Joyce amongst beautifully harsh, barren cactus fields whilst Gabriel García Márquez types up shorthand notes and keeps score…

George Joseph Herriman (August 22, 1880-April 25, 1944) was already a successful cartoonist and journalist in 1913 when a cat and mouse who’d been noodling about at the edges of his domestic comedy strip The Dingbat Family/The Family Upstairs graduated to their own feature.

Mildly intoxicating and gently scene-stealing, Krazy Kat debuted in William Randolph Hearst’s New York Evening Journal on Oct 28th 1913: a 5-day-a-week monochrome comedy strip. By sheer dint of the overbearing publishing magnate’s enrapt adoration and direct influence and interference, it gradually and inexorably spread throughout his vast stable of papers.

Although Hearst and a host of the period’s artistic and literary intelligentsia (such as Frank Capra, e.e. Cummings, Willem de Kooning, H.L. Mencken and more) adored the strip, many local and regional editors did not; taking every potentially career-ending opportunity to drop it from those circulation-crucial comics sections designed to entice Joe Public and the general populace.

The feature found its true home and sanctuary in the Arts and Drama section of Hearst’s papers, protected there by the publisher’s unshakable patronage. Eventually enhanced (in 1935) with the cachet of enticing colour, Kat & Ko. flourished unhampered by editorial interference or fleeting fashion, running generally unmolested until Herriman’s death on April 25th 1944 from cirrhosis caused by Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Eschewing standard industry policy of finding a substitute creator, Hearst decreed Krazy Kat would die with its originator and sole ambassador.

The premise is simple: Krazy is an effeminate, dreamy, sensitive and romantic feline of variable gender, hopelessly smitten with venal, toxically masculine everyman Ignatz Mouse. A spousal abuser and delinquent father, the little guy is rude, crude, brutal, mendacious and thoroughly scurrilous.

Ignatz is a proudly unreconstructed male and early forerunner of the men’s rights movement: drinking, stealing, fighting, conniving, constantly neglecting his wife and many children and always responding to Krazy’s genteel advances of friendship (…or more) by clobbering the Kat with a well-aimed brick. These he obtains singly or in bulk from local brick-maker Kolin Kelly. The smitten kitten always misidentifies these gritty gifts as tokens of equally recondite affection, showered upon him/her/they in the manner of Cupid’s fabled arrows…

Even in these earliest tales, it’s not even a response, except perhaps a conditioned one: the mouse spends the majority of his time, energy and ingenuity (when not indulging in crime or philandering) launching missiles at the mild moggy’s mug. He can’t help himself, and Krazy’s day is bleak and unfulfilled if the adored, anticipated assault fails to happen.

The final critical element completing an anthropomorphic emotional triangle is lawman Offissa Bull Pupp. He’s utterly besotted with Krazy, professionally aware of the Mouse’s true nature, but hamstrung by his own amorous timidity and sense of honour from permanently removing his devilish rival for the foolish feline’s affections. Krazy is – of course – blithely oblivious to the perennially “Friend-Zoned” Pupp’s dolorous dilemma…

Secondarily populating the mutable stage are a large, ever-changing supporting cast of inspired bit players including relentless deliverer of unplanned babies Joe Stork; unsavoury Hispanic huckster Don Kiyoti, hobo Bum Bill Bee, self-aggrandizing Walter Cephus Austridge, inscrutable, barely intelligible (and outrageously unreconstructed by modern standards!) Chinese mallard Mock Duck, portraitist Michael O’Kobalt, dozy Joe Turtil and snoopy sagacious fowl Mrs. Kwakk Wakk, often augmented by a host of audacious animal crackers – such as Krazy’s niece Ketrina – all equally capable of stealing the limelight and supporting their own features…

The exotic, quixotic episodes occur in and around the Painted Desert environs of Coconino (patterned on the artist’s vacation retreat in Coconino County, Arizona) where surreal playfulness and the fluid ambiguity of the flora and landscape are perhaps the most important member of the cast.

The strips themselves are a masterful mélange of unique experimental art, cunningly designed, wildly expressionistic (often referencing Navajo art forms) whilst graphically utilising sheer unbridled imagination and delightfully evocative lettering and language. This last is particularly effective in these later tales: alliterative, phonetically, onomatopoeically joyous with a compellingly melodious musical force and delicious whimsy (“Ignatz Ainjil” or “I’m a heppy, heppy ket!”).

Yet for all our high-fallutin’ intellectualism, these comic adventures are poetic, satirical, timely, timeless, bittersweet, self-referential, fourth-wall bending, eerily idiosyncratic, outrageously hilarious escapades encompassing every aspect of humour from painfully punning shaggy dog stories to riotous, violent slapstick. Herriman was also a master of action: indulging in dialogue-free escapades as captivating as any Keystone Kop or Charlie Chaplin 2-reeler. Kids of any age will delight in them as much as any pompous old git like me and you…

Collected in a comfortably hefty (257 x 350 mm) hardcover edition – and available as a suitably serendipitous digital edition, this cartoon wonderment is bulked up with a veritable treasure trove of unique artefacts: plenty of candid photos, correspondence, original strip art and astounding examples of Herriman’s personalised gifts and commissions (gorgeous hand-coloured artworks featuring the cast and settings), as well as a section on the rare merchandising tie-ins and unofficial bootleg items.

These marvels are supported by fascinating insights and crucial history in Bill Blackbeard’s essay ‘The Kat’s Kreation’: detailing the crackers critters’ development and their creators’ circuitous path to Coconino, via strips Lariat Pete, Bud Smith, The Boy Who Does Stunts, Rosy’s Mama, Zoo Zoo, Daniel and Pansy, Alexander, Baron Mooch and key stepping stone The Dingbat Family…

From there we hie straight into the romantic imbroglio with ‘The Complete Krazy Kat Sunday Strips of 1916’ beginning with the full-page (17 panels!) episode for April 23rd wherein the Kat rudely absconds from a picnic to carry out a secret mission of mercy and sweet sentiment…

The peculiar proceedings were delivered – much like Joe Stork’s bundles of joy and responsibility – every seven days, ending that first year on December 31st. Across that period, as war raged in Europe and with America edging inexorably closer to joining in the Global Armageddon, the residents of Coconino sported and wiled away their days in careless abandon: utterly embroiled within their own – and their neighbours’ – personal dramas.

Big hearted Krazy adopts orphan kitties, accidentally goes boating and ballooning, saves baby birds from predatory mice and rats, survives pirate attacks and energy crises, constantly endures assault and affectionate attempted murder and does lots of nothing in an utterly addictive, idyllic and eccentric way. We see nature repeat itself with the introduction of our star’s extended family in “Kousins” Krazy Katbird and Krazy Katfish…

Always our benighted star gets hit with bricks: many, variegated, heavy and forever evoking joyous, grateful raptures and transports of delight from the heartsore, hard-headed recipient…

Often Herriman simply let nature takes its odd course: allowing surreal slapstick chases, weird physics and convoluted climate carry the action, but gradually an unshakeable character dynamic was forming involving love and pain, crime and punishment and – always – forgiveness, redemption and another chance for all transgressors and malefactors…

In ‘The Complete Krazy Kat Sunday Strips of 1917’ – specifically January 7th to December 30th – the eternal game plays out as usual and with an infinite variety of twists, quirks and reversals. However, there are also increasingly intriguing diversions to flesh out the picayune proceedings, such as recurring explorations of terrifying trees, grim ghosts, two-headed snakes and obnoxious Ouija Boards. Amidst hat-stealing winds, grudge-bearing stormy weather, Kiyote chicanery and tributes to Kipling we discover why the snake rattles and meet Ignatz’s aquatic cousins, observe an extended invasion of Mexican Jumping Beans and a plague of measles, discover the maritime and birthday cake value of “glowerms”, learn who is behind a brilliant brick-stealing campaign, graphically reconstruct brick assaults, encounter early “talkies” technology, indulge in “U-Boat diplomacy”, uniquely celebrate Halloween and at last see Krazy become the “brick-er” and not “brickee”…

With strips running from January 6th to December 29th, ‘The Complete Krazy Kat Sunday Strips of 1918’ finds Herriman fully in control of his medium, and kicking into poetic high gear as America finally entered the War to End All Wars.

As uncanny brick apparitions scotch someone’s New Year’s resolutions, cantankerous automobiles began disrupting the desert days, fun of a sort is had with boomerangs and moving picture mavens begin haunting the region. There are more deeply strange interactions with weather events, the first mentions of a “Spenish Influenza”, and a plague of bandit mice alternately led by or victimizing Ignatz. Music is made, jails are built and broken, Mrs Hedge-Hogg almost become a widow and criminal pig Sancho Pansy makes much trouble. Occasional extended storylines begin with the saga of an aberrant Kookoo Klock/avian refuge and invasive species of bean and “ko-ko-nutts”, and Krazy visits the Norths and Souths poles, foot specialist Dr. Poodil and Madame Kamouflage’s Beauty Parlor…

More surreal voyages are undertaken but over and again it’s seen that there is literally no place like Krazy & Ignatz’s home. There was only one acknowledgement of Kaiser Bill and it was left to the missile-chucking mouse to deliver it with style, stunning accuracy and full-blooded venom…

And then it was Christmas and a new year and volume lay ahead…

To complete the illustrious experience and explore an ever-shifting sense of reality amidst the constant visual virtuosity and verbal verve we end with splendidly informative bonus material.

Curated by Blackbeard, ‘The Ignatz Mouse Debaffler Page’ provides pertinent facts, snippets of contextual content and necessary notes for the young, potentially perplexed and historically harassed. Michael Tisserand’s ‘“The Early Romance between George Herriman’s Krazy Kat and William Randolph Hearst’s ‘City Life”’ explores the strip’s growing influence on the world around him, and it’s supported by an article of the period.

‘A Genius of the Comic Page’ is an appreciation and loving deconstruction of the strip – with illustrations from Herriman – by astoundingly perspicacious and erudite critic Summerfield Baldwin and originated in Cartoons Magazine (June 1917) and is followed by Blackbeard’s biography of the reclusive creator in ‘George Herriman 1880-1944’.

Herriman’s epochal classic is a genuine Treasure of World Art and Literature. These strips shaped our industry, galvanised comics creators, inspired auteurs in fields as disparate as prose fiction, film, sculpture, dance, animation and jazz and musical theatre whilst always delivering delight and delectation to generations of devoted, wonder-starved fans.

If however, you are one of Them and not Us, or if you still haven’t experienced the gleeful graphic assault on the sensorium, mental equilibrium and emotional lexicon carefully thrown together by Herriman from the dawn of the 20th century until the dog days of World War II, this glorious parade of cartoon masterpieces may be your last chance to become a Human before you die…

That was harsh, I know: not everybody gets it and some of them aren’t even stupid or soulless – they’re just unfortunate…

Still, for lovers of whimsy and whimsical lovers “There Is A Heppy Lend Furfur A-Waay” if only you know where and how to look…
© 2019 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All contents © 2019 Fantagraphics Books, Inc., unless otherwise noted. “The Kat’s Kreation”, “The Ignatz Mouse Debaffler Page”, and Herriman biography © 2019 Bill Blackbeard. “The Early Romance between George Herriman’s Krazy Kat and William Randolph Hearst’s ‘City Life”’ © 2019 Michael Tisserand. All other images and text © 2019 their respective copyright holders. All rights reserved.

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The Batman Adventures: Mad Love Deluxe Edition


By Paul Dini & Bruce Timm, with Rick Taylor, Tim Harkins & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5512-1 (HB/Digital edition)

Harley Quinn wasn’t supposed to be a star… or even an actual comic book 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, true love…

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, leading to some of the absolute best comic book yarns in the hero’s many decades of existence.

Employing a timeless, all-embracing 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 the extended team around him into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and panache only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to…

Harley was first seen as the Clown Prince of Crime’s slavishly adoring, extreme abuse-enduring assistant in Joker’s Favor, which aired on September 11th 1992. She instantly captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers.

From then on she began popping up in the incredibly successful licensed comic book and – always stealing the show – soon graduated into mainstream DC continuity.

After a period bopping around the DCU, she was re-imagined as part of the company’s vast post-Flashpoint major makeover: regularly appearing as part of a new, gritty-but-still-crazy iteration of the Suicide Squad. However, at heart she’s always been a cartoon glamour-puss, with big, bold, primal emotions and only the merest acknowledgement of how reality works…

Re-presenting the 1994 one-shot Batman Adventures: Mad Love, this slight and breezy hardcover is made up of mostly recycled material – including writer Paul Dini’s comfortably inviting Foreword and co-plotter/illustrator Bruce Timm’s effusive and candidly informative ‘Mad Love Afterword’.

However, a truly unmissable bonus treat for art-lovers and all those seeking technical insight (perhaps with a view to making comics or animation their day job) is the illustrator’s full monochrome ‘Original Layouts for The Batman Adventures: Mad Love’: displaying how the story materialised page by page. There’s even previous and variant covers to earlier editions and unused painted back cover art plus highly detailed, fully-annotated colour guides for the complete story, offering a perfect “How To”  lesson for aspiring creators…

All that being said though, what we want most is a great story, and that magnificently madcap mayhem commences after Police Commissioner James Gordon heads to the dentist. When Batman easily foils the Joker’s latest manic murder attempt, the mountebank of Mirth pettishly realises he’s lost his inspirational spark.

He’s therefore in no mood for lasciviously whining lapdog Harley’s words of comfort or flirtatious pep talks…

As the Dark Knight reviews his files on the Joker’s girlfriend and ponders on how Harleen Frances Quinzel breezed through college and came away with a psychology degree that bought her a staff position at Arkham Asylum, in the now, the larcenous lady in question has gone too far in the Joker’s lair. The trigger is comforting sympathy and telling her “precious pudden” how his baroque murder schemes could be improved…

Kicked out and almost killed (again), Harleen harks back to her first meeting with the devilishly desirable crazy clown and how they instantly clicked. She fondly recalls how her original plan to psychoanalyse the Joker and write a profitable tell-all book was forgotten the moment she fell under his malign spell. In that moment she became his adoring, willing and despised slave…

She also realises that Batman too-quickly scotched their budding eternal love by capturing the grinning psycho-killer she secretly aided and abetted, both before and after she created her own costumed alter ego…

In fact, Batman always spoils her dreams and brutalises her adored “Mistah J”. It’s long past time she took care of him once and for all…

Driven by desperation and fuelled by passion, Harley Quinn appropriates one of the Joker’s abortive schemes and tweaks it.

Before long, the Gotham Gangbuster is duped, doped, bound and destined for certain doom. Sadly, the triumphant Little Woman hasn’t reckoned on how her barmy beloved will react to learning she has done in mere hours what he’s failed to accomplish over many bitter years…

Coloured by Rick Taylor and lettered by Tim Harkins, the classy, classically staged main feature plays very much like a 1940s noir blend of morbid melodrama and cunning crime caper – albeit with outrageous over-the-top gags, sharply biting lines of dialogue and a blend of black humour and bombastic action. This story easily qualifies as one of the top five bat-tales of all time.

A frantic, laugh-packed, action-driven hoot that manages to be daring, deranged and demure by turns, Mad Love is an absolute delight, well worth the price of admission and an irresistible treasure to be enjoyed over and over again.
© 1994, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars


By Jamie S. Rich &Megan Levens, lettered by Crank! (Oni Press)
ISBN: 978-1-62010-208-4 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-62010-209-1

It might be hard to believe for people like us, but not all love stories are about hunting the villain who murdered your “Only One” or fighting dragons, or even seeking out the ghosts of those who are gone. Sometimes it’s just mutual attraction, Meet-cutes, Getting-to-know-you’s and taking some chances…

Author, editor, comics scripter and film fan Jamie S. Rich (12 Reasons Why I Love Her, You Have Killed Me, Cut My Hair, Lady Killer, Archer Coe and the Way to Dusty Death, It Girl and the Atomics, A Boy and a Girl, Justice League: Endless Winter) is a big fan of classic romance and film fiction and here unites with his collaborator on Madame Frankenstein to celebrate the genre and all its trappings. Best yet it’s all drenched in the heady miasma of modern life in Hollywood…

This tale was a breakthrough venture for Megan Levens, who went on to score big with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, Spell on Wheels, Mysticons, Wonder Woman: Black and Gold and more…

The similarities with cinematic RomComs are both deliberate and delightfully effective as we meet successful Tinseltown divorce lawyer Will Ares: a dedicated singleton doing his job well but paying for it through the malicious and destructively vindictive acts of a mystery stalker targeting his car, home and private life…

As a result, his dating profile is bleak and his love life is non-existent but he clings to the dream that somehow somewhere love conquers all…

The client taking up most of his time these days is legendary (and geriatric) Producer/serial romantic Evans Beatty. Ares handles all his divorces and is currently deeply involved in the necessary legal motions to accommodate his next walk up the aisle – with recently matured & legal former child-star Carrie Cartwright.

All that remains for Will to do is finalise Beatty’s split from extremely unhappy wife #4 Eileen. She, however, is not playing ball…

The impending bride-to-be is sweet but tough. Raised in Hollywood, she’s trying to be everyone’s friend, but in the unblinking spotlight of Hollywood’s news cycle, her only real ally at this moment is jaded yet ultra-competent wedding planner Gigi Averelle who owns Goddess of Love Nuptials.

Averelle’s really good at her job, but the daily grind and manufactured dream game has convinced her that there’s truly no such thing as Love. When marital mastermind and legal beagle meet and clash in Beatty’s office, all the wrong sort of sparks fly…

Will’s barely-acknowledged interest in the tough-cookie facilitator is soon sidelined as the targeted vandalism escalates and completely forgotten by the time Evans drunkenly reveals that he’s already secretly wed Carrie – despite still being tethered to Eileen…

With his client’s entire fortune and now liberty at stake, Will frantically strives to crisis-manage a catastrophe, whilst Gigi continues orchestrating an utterly unnecessary but so fabulously flashy Hollywood glamour-fest. Interest in the affair reaches fever-pitch when news breaks that Carrie’s next movie role will be as ingenue in classic fantasy Crown Princess…

The forthcoming blockbuster’s lead is Allison Queen and the salivating press-pack clearly anticipate fireworks aplenty with the next Mrs. Beatty picked to play second fiddle on set to Evans’ formidable, star-powered and apparently happily-divorced second wife…

Repeatedly forced into close contact, Will and Gigi witness the worst that LaLa Land’s scandal mill can generate, and as speculation, malicious rumour, misinformation, unvetted and illegal photo-scoops and ex-wife mischief mounts, the love-wary professionals foolishly contrive an ill-considered wager…

Arguing that the outcome will validate one or the others’ ideals, they bet on whether the upcoming wedding will actually happen. Fixing the prize/penalty as a date with the lawyer if Will wins and his having to publish a full accounting in the papers of every marriage he’s ruined if Gigi gets it right…

Forced into close proximity, both sides warm and mellow, and before long that penalty is watered down to Averelle rebuilding Ares’ online dating profile if she wins. Of course, she’s still unaware that the process is completely sham as Carrie and Evans are already hitched…

As the big day approaches, all hell repeatedly breaks loose with rogue reporters, spies, runaway brides and a tissue of lies drawing the distanced, smugly aloof and superior-feeling outsiders ever closer, even before “The Date” can happen. Then, when Carrie Cartwright delivers a shocking bombshell announcement, Gigi and Will are forced to reassess their opinions…

Wry and playful, this appalling yarn has engaging echoes of movies like Destination Wedding or the 1950 Father of the Bride, gently prodding all the established accoutrements of an evergreen plot and genre. It’s undemanding and might well give your comics-indulgent significant other an unexpected treat – or at least a brief break from Batman and Star Wars.

Bonus material includes a faux Trailer for Crown Princess, an appreciative Afterword from Jacque Nodell of romance comics site Sequentialcrush.com and a rundown of the full art process from script to final pages.

There’s also a previously unseen vignette by Rich & Levens about disentanglement. Short and sweet, it involves bridges, potential strangers, relationship insecurities and the eternal war between cyclists and pedestrians: all prime fantasy fodder for mismatched marital mayhem. ‘Two Wheels, Two Feet’ plays out here with subtlety and whimsical wit, proving love is all around…
Ares & Aphrodite is ™ & © Jamie S. Rich and Megan Levens 2015. All rights reserved.

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E-Man – The Early Years


By Nicola Cuti & Joe Staton & various (First Comics Inc.)
ISBN: 978-1-61855-000-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

In 1973, superheroes were in a severe decline and the few surviving publishers in the industry were making most of their money from genre fare like war, westerns, kids cartoon and licensed titles (if they could secure them) and particularly horror stories. Such was certainly the case at Charlton Comics: a self-confessed “little company” which nevertheless always punched above its weight.

That was particularly true in terms of talent discovery, with the likes of Dick Giordano, Sam Glanzman, Steve Ditko, Roy Thomas, Denny O’Neil, Jim Aparo, Sam Grainger, Sanho Kim, Wayne Howard, Tom Sutton, Don Newton, Mike Zeck, Roger Stern, Roger Slifer, Bob Layton and John Byrne making a mark there before moving onwards and upwards.

Another major discovery was ultra-versatile cartoonist Joe Staton. He was quickly becoming a fan favourite and shared an off-kilter sense of humour with a Charlton sub-editor who moonlighted as a writer of horror and fantasy for the company’s anthologies…

Nicola “Nick” Cuti (Moonchild, Cannon, Sally Forth, Creepy, Moonie the Starbabe, The Creeper, Spanner’s Galaxy, Captain Cosmos, Starflake the Cosmic Sprite) was born on October 29th 1944. Since then, he’s been an “Underground Comix” cartoonist, animator, film maker, magazine illustrator, movie backdrop designer, novelist, editor and comics scripter.

Between 1972 and 1976 he was assistant to award-winning cartoonist – and Charlton’s general editor – George Wildman (Popeye) who wanted to test the murky waters with a new superhero. He tapped Cuti to write something a bit different and used the experimental vehicle to try-out a succession of features at the back: crafted by creators like Sutton (The Knight), Ditko (Killjoy, Liberty Belle) and Byrne (Rog-2000). Cuti wrote many of them too…

Born January 19th 1948, Joe Staton (Primus, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, The Six Million Dollar Man, Space 1999, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Silver Surfer, Green Lantern Corps, Guy Gardner, Legion of Super-Heroes, Millennium, All Star Comics, Power Girl, Metal Men, Doom Patrol, Plastic Man, Mike Danger and more) is a writer and incredibly versatile artist/inker who has been an integral part of American comic books since the early 1970s.

He has worked for dozens of companies, co-creating The Huntress, Killowog, The New Guardians and The Omega Men and in later years made kids comics his metier. During a spectacular run on licensed classic Scooby Doo, he and series scripter Mike Curtis (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Shanda the Panda) discovered a mutual love for Dick Tracy and – mostly for their own amusement – created tribute strip Major Crime Squad.

That led to them being invited to handle the prestigious Dick Tracy strip (from 2011 to October 2021) but throughout that epic and varied career, Staton regularly re-partnered with Cuti on further adventures of his first triumph…

A pioneering masterpiece of superhero whimsy, E-Man tells the convoluted love story of a alien lifeform and a wonderfully capable and smart earth girl, and the weird life they make for themselves. It all began in 1973 (Happy Golden Anniversary!) in a 10-issue run that was barely noticed by the readership but which affected how many future comics creators remade the medium.

This cheerful and charming collection gathers the E-Man moments from that initial run and includes technically unpublished tales from said run, plus covers and other material from the hero’s revival as part of the Independents Publishing revolution of the 1980s.

We begin with a brace of Introductions as ‘Finding the Right Words for Joe, Nick and Alec Tronn’ by Jon B. Cooke and ‘E-Man: His Beginnings’ by Cuti contextually set the scene for an extraordinary meeting…

Cover-dated October 1973, “Collector’s Item! First Edition!!” E-Man #1 starts at ‘The Beginning’ revealing how, millions of years ago, a star exploded and released a packet of energy that had spontaneous sentience, immense curiosity and no knowledge at all. The bundle of wonder floated across the galaxies seeking intelligence but encountering none until arriving near our world just as a star-ship from Sirius attempts to attain orbit around Pluto.

Infiltrating the vessel, the energy being converts into matter, duplicating one of the robots serving the giant Brain commanding the mission and overhears how the warlike cyborg is here to test an experimental ultra-weapon on the frozen target. Sadly, curiosity proves fatal and the sudden weight increase sends the ship careening out of control and ultimately into the atmosphere of the blue-green planet third out from the sun…

Some time later, college student Katrinka Colchnzski is just finishing her evening job. She is a tough, brilliant, capable and proudly independent: paying for her degree as burlesque dancer Nova Kane when one of the lightbulbs in her dressing room begs her for help.

Freeing the energy creature and quickly striking up a friendship with the naïve, affably clueless being – who has unselfconsciously turned into a real stud-muffin by human standards – she is abruptly drawn into a world of insane danger when her landlord tries to kill her. It transpires that in ‘The Brain and the Bomb’ the super cerebral invader has also survived the crash and is vengefully testing hate-gas on the inhabitants…

Without hesitation Nova and the stranger seek out and stop the plot…

These tales were originally quite quirkily coloured by Wendy Fiore and are reconstructed here by Matt Webb, who also shades the cover to Original E-Man #1: a reprint series released by First Comics in October 1985 to supplement their revival of the hero. That book also revisited the second escapade of guileless alien visitor Alec Tronn as first seen in E-Man #2’s ‘The Entropy Twins’ (December 1973). Here, the Brain from Sirius unleashes a second super-weapon against E-Man and Nova: an artificially-bred loving couple who can casually manipulate the forces of order and chaos.

Stalking and befriending the childlike hero and his charming cohabitator, Michael and Juno cause catastrophic accidents which almost kill Nova, only to learn that her special friend Alec is as vengeful as any child when the things he loves are threatened…

An unused cover from 1974 accompanies article ‘The Energy and Paper Crisis’, explaining how a global power shortage both inspired and derailed a comic response. The upshot was that the story intended for the fourth issue ended up in #3, and the third followed after. The chronological anomaly is corrected here with E-Man #4 going first.

Cover-dated August 1974, ‘City in the Sand’ sees the odd couple in Egypt with exotic dancer Nova showing belly dancers how it’s done at night and pursuing her archaeological studies during the day. With Alec in tow, she unearths an ancient mystery and – thanks to E-Man – functional time machine: propelling them back millennia to uncover a link between the pharaohs and a lost colony of aliens afflicted with mad militarism and a sinister plague…

December 1985’s cover of Original E-Man and Michael Mauser #3 precedes June 1974’s E-Man #3, wherein ‘The Energy Crisis!’ blacking out America and the world leads oil baron Samuel Boar to unleash a robotic Battery to kidnap useless, over-abundant humans and turn them into a new fuel source.

When Nova vanishes, E-Man stops powering up hospitals to go looking for her. He is unaware that Nova had already engaged seedy private eye Michael – “don’t call me Mickey” – Mauser to find her fellow dancer Rosie Rhedd after she was sucked into a brick wall…

The sordid shamus became a fixture and even won his own series in Vengeance Squad….

The invasion of Boar’s citadel and clash with ‘The Battery’ is fast and furious and leads to the villain’s capture but would have shocking consequences in the fullness of time…

The tale ends with a direct plea to readers to protect the environment and “save the Earth!”. It’s a shame more kids didn’t buy this comic back then and avoid the mess we’re all in now…

Staton had been growing in skill and confidence and by this story had taken to adding what we now call easter eggs to his art. Backgrounds, minor characters and especially posters and newspapers provided a rich source of added whimsy, commentary and fun. They are a sheer delight to this day…

The Original E-Man #2 cover from October 1985 leads into November 1974’s #5 as ‘The City Swallower’ sees a day at the beach devolve into a transdimensional excursion. When Alec follows a hippy mermaid (based on contemporary and legendary fandom icon Heidi Saha) back to her realm he’s just in time to spearhead a war against a beast that consumed helpless conurbations, after which January 1986’s Original E-Man and Michael Mauser #4 cover leads to monster madness in E-Man #6.

‘Wunder-world’ – cover-dated January 1975 – sees an old enemy resurface when Alec and Nova visit a theme park, using robots, movie horrors, war machines and psychological warfare to attack the unlikely couple…

A full, illustrated list of ‘E-Man and Nova – Other Appearances’ is followed by #7’s ‘TV Man’ (March 1975) as another old enemy uses the airwaves and super-science to turn the energy- man into Nova’s worst nightmares and Mauser reappears to save the day. It’s followed by Original E-Man and Michael Mauser #5’s cover (February 1986) and heralds a really big change…

With #8’s full-length epic ‘The Inner Sun’ (May 1975) the creators brilliantly exploit the capricious, functionally implausible nature of comics books to deliver a superb slice of nonsense that begins when a giant jungle girl attacks New York. When she then busts into Mauser’s office…

Her trail leads to Samuel Boar and a primeval world under the North Pole…

Unless I’ve already convinced you to seek this book out, be warned that there’s a major spoiler ahead. Stop here if you’re going to read the actual stories. Or not. It’s your choice.

By the time E-Man gets there though, the villain has kidnapped Nova and triggered a disaster that kills her. It’s not anything to worry about as – through typically miraculous circumstances – she reconstitutes herself with the same powers as boyfriend Alec and begins her own crime crushing career…

March 1986’s cover to Original E-Man and Michael Mauser #6 is accompanied by text feature ‘Other Appearances by Michael Mauser’ before E-Man #9 (July 1975) unleashes ‘The Genius Plant’ which is foreshadow by brief ‘Prologue! History of E-Man and Nova’…

Accompanied by new cast member Teddy – a reformed evil koala – the hot couple stumble into a plot by a cabal of scientists to hyper-enhance their intellects and rule the world. After they foil that, one final cover – Original E-Man and Michael Mauser #7 (April 1986) – segues into E-Man #10 (September 1975) as Nova meets the first girl Alec met when he landed on Earth. Although initially jealous, after meeting Maisy-June Bragg, she’s with her beau all the way when what appear to be unnatural forces reduce the gentle rural bombshell into ‘The Witch of Hog Hollow’ who really needs her old “genie” to save her…

E-Man was simultaneously Charlton’s worst selling retail title but its best via direct subscription, which kept it going long after Wildman should have killed it, but at last the axe fell. When it died, there were a couple of tales still in the pipeline which eventually saw print in the company’s in-house fanzine – which was edited by Bob Layton.

Coloured by Webb, Staton’s cover for Charlton Bullseye #2 (1975) and Charlton Bullseye #4 (March/April 1976) here precede ‘…And Why the Sea is Boiling Hot’ (colour by Webb & Michael Watkins) wherein the energy-beings investigate missing shipping and discover that a ghost galleon is actually an alien artefact.

One final story – starring Nova Kane – details a stunning truth. When that exploding sun detonated way back when, it spawned more than one sentient energy-being – and courtesy of FIRST COMICS INC. – Alec’s opposite number ‘Vamfire’ finally arrives on Earth in a scary yarn coloured by Alex Wald. This frenzied female aspect is a ravenous power leech but Nova and E-Man soon find a way to dispel her “hanger-pangs”…

Biographies of Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton close this archive of sheer escapist delight: capping a glorious revisitation of sharper, smarter, funnier days in comics. However it’s not too late to tune in and get turned on to E-Man and Nova.
© 1973-1974 Charlton Comics, reprinted in Original E-Man and Mauser #1-7 © 1985-1986, First Comics, Inc. All new material © 2011, Joe Staton/First Comics, Inc.). All Rights Reserved.