Category: DC Archives

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Robin Archives volume 1


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Win Mortimer, Jim Mooney & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0415-0

Robin the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940), created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson and introduced a juvenile circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mob boss. The story of how Batman took the orphaned Dick Grayson under his scalloped wing and trained him to fight crime has been told, retold and revised many times over the decades and still regularly undergoes tweaking to this day.

In the comics continuity Grayson fought beside Batman until 1970 when, as an indicator of those turbulent times, he flew the nest, becoming a Teen Wonder college student and eventually leader of a team of fellow sidekicks and young justice seeker – the Teen Titans.

He graduated to his own featured solo spot in the back of Detective Comics from the end of the 1960s, which he alternated and shared with Batgirl, and held a similar spot throughout the 1970s in Batman and won a starring feature in the anthology comic Batman Family and the run of Giant Detective Comics Dollar Comics. During the 1980s he led the New Teen Titans, first in his original costumed identity but eventually in the reinvented guise of Nightwing, re-establishing a turbulent working relationship with his mentor Batman.

His creation as a junior hero for younger readers to identify with has inspired an incomprehensible number of costumed kid crusaders, and Grayson continues in similar innovative vein for the older, more worldly-wise readership ofAmerica’s increasingly rebellious contemporary youth culture… but his star potential was first realised much earlier in his halcyon career…

From 1947 to 1952, (issues #65-130) Robin the Boy Wonder had his own solo series and regular cover spot in Star Spangled Comics at a time when the first superhero boom was fading to be replaced by more traditional genres such as crime, westerns and boys’ adventure stories. The stories blended in-continuity action capers with more youth-oriented fare with adults Batman and Alfred reduced to minor roles or entirely absent, allowing the kid crusader to display not just his physical skills but also his brains, ingenuity and guts.

This stellar deluxe hardback Archive compilation gathers together the first 21 tales from Star Spangled #65-85 covering February 1947 to October 1948, recapturing the bold, verve and universal appeal of one of fantasy literature’s greatest youth icons, opening with a fascinating Foreword by Roy Thomas, who discusses the origins and merits of boy heroes and the history of the venerable anthology title before offering some insightful guesses as to the identity of the generally un-named writers of the Robin strip.

Although almost universally unrecorded, most historians consider Batman co-creator Bill Finger to be the author of most if not all of the stories in this volume and I’m going to happily concur here with that assessment until informed otherwise…

Star Spangled Comics #65 started the ball rolling with ‘The Teen-Age Terrors’ illustrated by regular artist Win Mortimer (with the inking misattributed to Charles Paris) in which the Caped Crusaders’ faithful butler happens across an unknown trophy and is regaled with Dick’s tale of the time he infiltrated a Reform School to discover who inside was releasing the incarcerated kids to commit crimes on the outside…

That tale segues seamlessly into ‘The No-Face Crimes’ wherein the Boy Wonder acted as stand-in to a timid young movie star targeted by a ruthless killer, whilst #67 revealed ‘The Case of the Boy Wonders’ which saw our hero as part of a trio of boy geniuses kidnapped for the craziest of reasons…

An outrageously flamboyant killing in #68 resulted in the pre-teen titan shipping out on a schooner as a cabin and spending ‘Four Days Before the Mast’ to catch the murderer, after which modern terror took hold when Robin was the only one capable of tracking down ‘The Stolen Atom Bomb’ in a bombastically explosive contemporary spy thriller.

Star Spangled Comics #70 introduced an arch-villain all his own as ‘Clocks of Doom’ saw the debut of an anonymous criminal time-and-motion expert forced into the limelight once his face was caught on film. The Clock‘s desperate attempts to sabotage the movie Robin was consulting on inevitably led to hard time in this delightful romp (this one might possibly be scripted by Don Cameron)…

Chronal explorer Professor Carter Nichols succumbed to persistent pressure and sent Dick Grayson back to the dawn of history in #71’s ‘Perils of the Stone Age’ – a deliciously anachronistic cavemen and dinosaurs epic which saw Robin kick-start freedom and democracy, after which the Boy Wonder crashed the Batplane on a desert island and encountered a boatload of escaped Nazi submariners in ‘Robin Crusoe’ in a full-on thriller illustrated by Curt Swan & John Fischetti.

In #73 the so-very tractable Professor Nichols dispatched Dick to revolutionary France where Robin battled Count Cagliostro, ‘The Black Magician’, in a stirring saga drawn by Jack Burnley & Jim Mooney, after which the Timepiece Terror busted out of jail determined to have his revenge in ‘The Clock Strikes’, illustrated in full by Mooney who would soon become the series’ sole artist.

However Bob Kane & Charles Paris stepped in for the tense courtroom drama in #75 as ‘Dick Grayson for the Defense’ found the millionaire’s ward fighting for the rights of a schoolboy unjustly accused of theft, after which cunning career criminal The Fence came a cropper when he tried to steal 25 free bikes given as prizes to Gotham’s city’s best students in ‘A Bicycle Built for Loot’ (Finger & Mooney).

Prodigy and richest kid on Earth, Bert Beem was sheer hell to buy gifts for, but since the lad dreamed of being a detective, the offer of a large charitable donation secured the Boy Wonder’s cooperation in a little harmless role play. However when real bandits replaced the actors and Santa, ‘The Boy Who Wanted Robin for Christmas’ enjoyed the impromptu adventure of a lifetime…

Another rich kid was equally inspired in #78 and became the Boy Wonder of India, but soon needed the aid of the original when a Thuggee murder-cult tried to destroy ‘Rajah Robin’, whilst in ‘Zero Hour’ (illustrated by Mooney & John Giunta) The Clock struck one more with a spate of regularly-scheduled time crimes before Star Spangled #80 saw Dick Grayson become ‘The Boy Disc Jockey’, only to discover that the station was broadcasting clever instructions to commit robberies in its cryptically cunning commercials…

Robin was temporarily blinded in #81 whilst investigating the bizarre theft of guide dogs, but quickly adapted to his own canine companion and solved the mystery of ‘The Seeing-Eye Dog Crimes’, but had a far tougher time as a camp counsellor for ghetto kids after meeting ‘The Boy Who Hated Robin’. It took grit, determination and a couple of escaped convicts before the kids learned to adapt and accept…

A radio contest led to danger and death before one smart lad earned the prize for discovering who ‘Who is Mr. Mystery?’ in #83, after which Robin tried to discover the causes of juvenile delinquency by going undercover as a notorious new recruit to ‘The Third Street Gang’, and this initial outing ends on a spectacular high as the Boy Wonder sacrifices himself to save Batman and ends up marooned in the Arctic. Even whilst the distraught Caped Crusader is searching for his partner’s body, Robin has responded to the Call of the Wild, joined an Inuit tribe and captured a fugitive from American justice in #85’s ‘Peril at the Pole’…

Beautifully illustrated, wittily scripted and captivatingly addictive, these stirring all-ages traditional superhero hi-jinks are a perfect antidote to teen-angst and the strident, overblown, self-absorbed whining of contemporary comicbook kids. Fast, furious and ferociously fun, these are superb tales no Fights ‘n’ Tights fan will want to miss…
© 1947, 1948, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman Archives volume 6


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Don Cameron, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Win Mortimer, Jack & Ray Burnley, Jim Mooney, Charles Paris & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-4012-0409-0

Debuting a year after Superman, “The Bat-Man” (joined eventually by Robin, the Boy Wonder) cemented National Comics as the market and genre leader of the burgeoning comicbook industry, and the dashing derring-do and strictly human-scaled adventures of the Dynamic Duo rapidly became the swashbuckling benchmark by which all other four-colour crimebusters were judged.

By the time of this the tales in this superb sixth deluxe hardback compilation (collecting the Batman adventures from Detective Comics #120-135, spanning cover-dates February 1947-May 1948) the Dynamic Duo were inescapably a co-operative effort with a large and ever-changing creative team crafting increasingly varied and captivating escapades for the heroes. One further note: many of the tales in this tome carry no writer’s credit but are most likely the work of pulp writer Edmond Hamilton, so apologies for the less than usually clear attributions throughout…

As discussed in the Foreword by celebrated critic and historian Bill Schelly, the post-war years saw a careful repositioning and reformatting of the heroes, as the publishers cautiously proceeded to tone down outlandish violence and nightmarishly macabre villains in favour of a wide variety of more mundane mobsters, gangsters and petty criminals, plus a few of the most irrepressibly popular favourites such as Penguin and The Joker.

Even so the former felon even gets cover billing in the opening costumed drama, reproduced in full from Detective #120; another riotous romp co-starring the rakish, rotund rogue indulging in ‘Fowl Play!’

Illustrated by Win Mortimer, this yarn describes how the pompous Penguin responds after an ornithologist is cited as America’s Greatest Bird Expert, leading to a campaign of fresh feather-themed crimes before the Dynamic Duo once again caged the crafty crook.

In #121 Hamilton & Howard Sherman take a rare look at corruption when Gotham’s top cop is forced from office by blackmailers exerting pressure on the Mayor. However, even whilst ‘Commissioner Gordon Walks a Beat’ Batman and Robin are tracking down the true cause of all the city’s woes…

Bob Kane & Charles Paris limned the uncredited (but probably Hamilton) case of ‘The Black Cat Crimes’ in the next issue as the sinisterly sultry Catwoman busted out of jail and ruthlessly, spectacularly exploited superstitions to plunder the city, whilst with Ray Burnley on inking in #123 ‘The Dawn Patrol Crimes’ saw a trio of aged pioneer pilots fall prey to the insidious schemes of a criminal mastermind in their fevered desperation to fly again. Happily the sinister Shiner had not reckoned on the Batman’s keen detective ability or the indomitable true grit of the patsy pilots…

The Joker returned in #124 as ‘The Crime Parade’ (Hamilton, Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz & George Roussos) found the Mountebank of Mirth turn a radio chart show into his own private wishing well of inspired brazen banditry, after which ‘The Citadel of Crime’ (scripted by Bill Finger in #125) saw the Caped Crimebuster infiltrate a fortress where reformed crooks were imprisoned by a deranged maniac dubbed the Thinker and forced to build deadly weapons for a criminal army. Although credited here to Dick Sprang, this is actually one of the last art strips by the superb Jack Burnley, ably inked by his brother Ray and Charles Paris.

Detective Comics #126’s ‘Case of the Silent Songbirds’, by Hamilton(?) & Jim Mooney, again found The Penguin purveying his particular brand of peril and perfidy by stealing the voices of nightclub singers as part of the world’s most incredible protection racket until Batman stepped in, whilst #127’s ‘Pigmies in Giantland’ – featuring a rare pencil and ink outing for Charles Paris – saw the outrageous Dr. Agar shrink his wealthy victims to the size of dolls until the Dynamic Duo unravelled the impossible truth…

Only The Joker could conceive of ‘Crime in Reverse’ (Hamilton, Kane & Ray Burnley) as he proceeded to once again attempt to bamboozle Batman and Boy Wonder, whilst in

Detective #129 Finger, Jack Burnley & Paris took our heroes to ‘The Isle of Yesterday’ where a rich eccentric had turned back time to the carefree 1890s for all the bemused but unstressed inhabitants. Such a pity then that a mob of modern crooks were using the idyllic spot as a hideout… but not for long…

In #130 Finger, Kane & Paris described the horrific fate of a string of greedy crooks who tried to open ‘The Box’ but it took Batman’s razor-keen intellect to finally solve the decades-long mystery behind the trail of bodies left in its wake, after which Don Cameron, Kane, Sayre Swartz & Paris examined the tragic lives of two brothers doomed by dire destiny: one a callous racketeer and the other a good man forced by family ties to become ‘The Underworld Surgeon’…

In #132 esteemed escapologist Paul Bodin retired to raise his daughter, but within months ‘The Human Key’ began robbing vaults using all the master’s tricks. Only Batman could see through the open-and-shut case to discern the truth in a powerful human interest tale illustrated by Mooney & Paris, whilst ‘The Man Who Could See the Future’ (Hamilton, Kane, Sayre Schwartz & Paris) offered a moody counterpoint as the Gotham Gangbusters exposed an unscrupulous charlatan clairvoyant whose uncanny predictions always led to shocking disasters and missing valuables.

The Penguin opened ‘The Umbrellas of Crime’ in Detective #134 (Finger, Mooney & Paris) but his innovative inventions couldn’t stop Batman closing down his latest crime spree, and this blockbusting barrage of vintage Bat-tales comes to a blistering climax with #135’s ‘The True Story of Frankenstein’ (Hamilton, Sayre Swartz & Paris) as the Caped Crusaders were drawn back in time by Professor Carter Nichols to save a rural village from an incredible monster and the brute he manipulated into acts of evil…

With stunning covers by Jack Burnley, Paris, Mortimer, Kane & Sayre Schwartz, Mooney and Dick Sprang, and full creator biographies included, this supremely thrilling, bombastic action-packed compilation provides another perfect snapshot of the Batman’s amazing range from bleak moody avenger to suave swashbuckler, from remorseless Agent of Justice and best pal to sophisticated Devil-May-Care Detective, in timeless tales which have never lost their edge or their power to enthral and enrapture. Moreover, these sublimely sturdy Archive Editions are without doubt the most luxuriously satisfying way to enjoy them over and over again.
© 1947-1948, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman Archives volume 6


By Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Don Cameron, Jack Burnley, Fred Ray, Ed Dobrotka, John Sikela, Leo Nowak, George Roussos, Pete Riss, Sam Citron & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-602-8

I sometimes think – like many others I know – that superhero comics were never more apt or effective than when they were whole-heartedly combating fascism with explosive, improbable excitement and mysterious masked marvel men. All the most evocative visceral moments of the genre seem to come when gaudy gladiators soundly thrashed – and please forgive the offensive contemporary colloquialism – “Nips and Nazis”.  However, even in those long-ago dark days, comics creators were wise enough to augment their tales of espionage and imminent invasion with a barrage of gentler and more whimsical four-colour fare…

This sixth classic hardcover Superman compendium – collecting #21-24 (March/April to September/October 1943) of the World’s Premier Superhero own solo title – revisits the height of those war years with the indomitable Man of Tomorrow a thrilling, vibrant, vital role model whose sensational exploits spawned a host of imitators, a genre and an industry. His startling abilities and take-charge, can-do attitude had won the hearts of the public at home and he was embraced as a patriotic tonic for the troops across the war-torn world.

Behind stunning, morale-boosting covers by Fred Ray and Jack Burnley depicting Superman thrashing scurrilous Axis War-mongers, reminding readers what we were all fighting for and even having a gentle, stress-relieving laugh with us, scripter Jerry Siegel was producing some of the best stories of his career, showing the Man of Steel in all his ebullient glory, thrashing thugs, spies and masters of bad science whilst America kicked the fascists in the pants…

However at this time of this collection the call of armed duty caught up with the writer and Don Cameron was hired to fill the authorial void. Co-creator Joe Shuster however, exempt from military service due to his rapidly failing eyesight, was still fully involved in the creative process, despite being plagued by crushing deadlines on the syndicated newspaper strip iteration. In the comicbooks he could only manage the occasional story and was forced to merely oversee the illustration production line: drawing character faces whenever possible, but leaving the lion’s share to the burgeoning talent pool of the “Superman Studio”…

Following the fulsome Foreword ‘A Short Flight and a Long Journey’ by distribution and retail guru Stephen A. Geppi, the all-star, full-colour action begins with the splendid, all-Siegel contents of Superman #21 starting with ‘X-Alloy’, drawn by Ed Dobrotka & John Sikela, wherein a virtual secret army of Nazi infiltrators and fifth columnists stole American industrial secrets and would have conquered the nation from within if not for the ever vigilant Man of Steel.

It was Clark Kent rather than his flamboyant alter ego who really cracked the Leo Nowak-limned case of ‘The Four Gangleaders’ who had declared war on each other, whilst in ‘The Robber Knight’ (illustrated by Shuster & George Roussos) Lois Lane was accused of shoplifting after an armour-suited Robin Hood began giving pretty women “presents” from the department store he plundered. Once again it took a real steel hero to sort things out before ‘The Ghost of Superman!’ (with Pete Riss art) saw the Action Ace play dead to trick a confession out of a cheap killer defying justice…

Light-hearted yet barbed whimsy led in the Siegel-scripted issue #22 as ‘Meet the Squiffles!’ (Riss) found Adolf Hitler approached by the king of a nefarious band of pixies who offered to sabotage all of America’s mighty weapons. Neither nefarious rogue had factored Superman – or patriotic US gremlins – into their schemes though…

A philanthropic, well-beloved gambler was framed by unscrupulous stockbrokers, but with the Man of Tomorrow’s assistance eventually regained ‘The Luck of O’Grady!’ (Sikela), after which ‘The Great ABC Panic!’ (Dobrotka) featured the return of the perfidious Prankster who almost succeeded in patenting the English language until his greatest enemy intervened, and Riss’ ‘A Modern Robin Hood’ saw the inevitable tragic end to a well-intentioned, altruistic thief who could handle Superman but not actual mobsters and gunsels…

Superman #23 opened with a Don Cameron script illustrated by Sam Citron. ‘America’s Secret Weapon!’ was a rousing paean to American military might as Clark and Lois reported on cadet manoeuvres and the Man of Steel became an inspiration to the demoralised troops in training. Siegel then wrote the rest of the issue beginning with ‘Habitual Homicide’ (Roussos art): a crime-caper worthy of Batman which began when a co-ed rebuffed her tutor’s amorous advances, prompting the unstable scholar to frame her boyfriend for murder. Unfortunately for Superman and the staff of Spurdyke University, once Professor Raymond Lock started killing he found that he really liked it…

Then ‘Fashions in Crime!’ (Riss) found Lois and Clark plunged into the world of Haute Couture and designer knock-offs, accidentally uncovering a lethally lucrative business run by a masked swell dubbed The Dude, whilst the Sikela-illustrated ‘Danger on the Diamond!’ once more combined sports action with gambling skulduggery as Superman saved the career of an on-the-skids Baseball player and cleaned up the game… again.

Cameron wrote all but one tale in issue #24, starting with a surreal Dobrotka fantasy which eschewed rational continuity to relocate the entire Superman cast back to the 1890s, where our hero saved his chaste intended from ‘Perils of Poor Lois!’

Siegel & Riss then revealed ‘The King of Crackpot Lane’ – a Marx Brothers-inspired romp which introduced whacky mute inventor Louie Dolan of the Army’s Department of Constructive Theories whose impossible gadgets made a lot of trouble for both the Man of Tomorrow and America’s enemies…

Cameron, Dobrotka & Roussos close this collection with a couple of stirring adventure yarns; first with ‘Surprise for Superman!’ which saw the Metropolis Marvel plagued by an inventive impostor who even fooled Lois, after which ‘Suicide Voyage!’  ends everything on an exuberant high as Clark – and stowaway Lois – visit the Arctic as part of a mission to rescue downed American aviators. Of course nobody was expecting a secret invasion by combined Nazi and Japanese forces, but Superman and a patriotic polar bear were grateful for the resultant bracing exercise…

Ageless and evergreen, endlessly re-readable, these epic hardback Archive Editions fabulously frame some of the greatest and most influential comics tales ever created, and taken in unison form a perfect permanent record of breathtaking wonder and groundbreaking excitement. How can any dedicated fan resist them?
© 1943, 2003 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman Archives volume 5


By Bob Kane, Alvin Schwartz, Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Dick Sprang, Win Mortimer & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-725-3

Debuting a year after Superman, “The Bat-Man” (and later Robin, the Boy Wonder) cemented National Comics as the market and genre leader of the burgeoning comicbook industry, and the dashing derring-do and strictly human-scaled adventures of the Dynamic Duo rapidly became the swashbuckling benchmark by which all other four-colour crimebusters were judged.

This fifth fantastic deluxe hardback compilation collects the Batman yarns from Detective Comics #103-119 (spanning cover-dates September 1945-December 1947) and safely saw the indefatigable icons delete Nazi spies and saboteurs from their daily itineraries. From this point onward, the stalwarts would again concentrate on home-grown mobsters, monsters, menaces and their ever-active and growing rogues’ gallery of vile villains as the vicissitudes of war were replaced by the never-ending travails of black-hearted crooks and domestic killers…

After a spirited discussion of the days after peace broke out from celebrated bat-scribe Dennis O’Neil in the Foreword, the costumed dramas begin to unfold in #103’s ‘Trouble Incorporated!’ written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Jack Burnley & Charles Paris. Herein a well-meaning retired college Professor set up a free advice service and inadvertently gave the thugs next door a hotline to illicit gain until Batman and Robin offered their own bombastic expertise: also gratis and extremely educational for the eavesdropping creeps…

In Detective #104 Schwartz & Dick Sprang’s ‘The Battle of the Billboards!’ proved a breathtaking and imaginative yarn with blackmail racketeers using prominent signs to publicise the secret crimes and peccadilloes of Gotham’s elite – unless the victims paid off by hiring the signage space themselves.

With no laws broken, the Dynamic Duo were forced to take bold action to end the unique protection scam…

When Bruce Wayne‘s accountant and treasurer embezzled all the company funds in #105 the fallout had appalling consequences for Gotham. ‘The Batman Goes Broke!’ by Don Cameron & the marvellous J. Winslow “Win” Mortimer, saw the heroes reduced to penury and forced to sell their crime-busting possessions and even obtain menial jobs so that they could complete their last case…

Happily the financial absconders were caught – by regular cops – and the Wayne fortunes restored. ‘The Phantom of the Library!’ eerily stalked retired law officials who foolishly visited the city’s repository of knowledge: in search of vengeance on those who had long ago sentenced him to death for murder. Cameron’s run of ingenious crime dramas continued after this spooky mystery by Bob Kane & Ray Burnley, after which a crafty charlatan who preyed on greedy, superstitious businessmen debuted in Detective Comics #107. The wicked Scorpio believed himself above the law and beyond all harm until Batman and Robin invaded his sinister citadel on ‘The Mountain of the Moon!’ – illustrated by Mortimer who had the lion’s share of drawing at this time.

Police officer Ed Gregory was framed by crooks and became ‘The Goat of Gotham City!’ in a moving thriller by limned by Sprang, but as always the Gotham Gangbusters were able to deduce the truth before taking down the villains in a spectacular airplane duel.

A perennial Prince of Plunder returned in #109 as the manic Joker went on a crime spree that lured Dark Knight and Boy Wonder to a deadly purpose-built trap inside ‘The House that Jokes Built!’.

Faithful butler Alfred had a starring role in #110 as ‘Batman and Robin in Scotland Yard!’ found the Masked Manhunters in London to help capture an incredible modern-day Moriarty, after which a trip to ‘Coaltown, U.S.A.’ saw the Caped Crusaders convince a miserly mine owner to listen to his striking workers and modernise the death trap he operated…

Detective #112 riffed delightfully on the classic film The Shop Around the Corner as a small family business was torn apart by the theft of $99. Embroiled in the melodrama was customer Bruce Wayne whose covert investigations uncovered four culprits all eager to confess in Schwartz & Mortimer’s heart-warming tale of ‘The Case Without a Crime!’

Plundering pirates and sinister smugglers were the bad-guys in ‘Crime on the Half-Shell!’ by Bill Finger, Sprang & Gene McDonald, but the story really centred on the tragedy of a blind oyster boat captain and the feisty daughter who took over his “man’s work”, whilst #114 saw the Joker again test Batman’s wits and patience in a sharp puzzler that turned Gotham into the ‘Acrostic of Crime!’ (by Cameron & Mortimer).

‘The Man Who Lived in a Glass House!’ by the same creative team found the Dynamic Duo aiding an inventor against an unscrupulous rival determined to sabotage his life’s work, after which Bruce’s old friend Professor Carter Nichols used his time travelling hypnosis trick to send Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson to Feudal England. Oddly however it was Batman and Robin who came to ‘The Rescue of Robin Hood!’ in a properly swashbuckling romp by Cameron & Mortimer in #116, whilst that writer’s contemporary research made ‘Steeplejack’s Showdown!’ (Kane & Ray Burnley) and the heroes’ campaign against a ring of sky-high bandits a grippingly authentic thriller worthy of Hitchcock…

Issue #118, by Schwartz & Howard Sherman, offered one last hurrah for the Harlequin of Hate as the Joker again attempted to trump the Dark-Knight Detective with The Royal Flush Crimes!’ only to go bust in the wilds of the cowboy West, before this classic collection of seldom-seen tales concludes with Finger, Sprang & McDonald’s gloriously madcap excursion ‘The Case of the Famous Foes!’ wherein a cunning crook recruited George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln to mastermind his crime campaign – straight out of Gotham Sanitarium and into blazing battle against the mystified manhunters…

These evocative, bombastic and action-stuffed yarns provide a perfect snapshot of the Batman’s amazing range from bleak moody avenger to suave swashbuckler, from remorseless Agent of Justice and best pal to sophisticated Devil-May-Care Detective, in timeless tales which have never lost their edge or their power to enthral and enrapture. Moreover, this supremely sturdy Archive Edition is indubitably the most luxurious and satisfying way to enjoy them over and over again.
© 1945-1947, 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: the Action Comics Archives volume 5


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Don Cameron, Ed Dobrotka, Sam Citron, Ira Yarbrough, John Sikela & others (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1188-2

It’s almost incontrovertible: the American comicbook industry – if it existed at all – would be an utterly unrecognisable thing without the invention of Superman. His unprecedented adoption by a desperate and joy-starved generation quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form.

Within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of eye-popping action and social wish-fulfilment which hallmarked the early Man of Steel had grown to encompass cops-and-robbers crime-busting, socially reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East embroiled America, patriotic relevance.

In comicbook terms at least Superman was master of the world, and had already utterly changed the shape of the fledgling industry. There was the phenomenally popular newspaper strip, a thrice-weekly radio serial, games, toys, as much global syndication as the war would allow and the perennially re-run Fleischer studio’s astounding animated cartoons.

The Golden Age greats herein reprinted from issues #69-85 of the groundbreaking anthology Action Comics begin their mind-warping wonderment after a fond Foreword reminiscence from Silver Age scribe and comicbook International Treasure Roy Thomas

Co-creator Jerry Siegel was finally called up in 1943 and his prodigious script output was curtailed, necessitating greater contributions from the ingenious and multi-faceted Don Cameron and others, whilst Joe Shuster – increasingly debilitated by failing eyesight and tied up producing the far more prestigious newspaper strip – had to leave the bulk of the artwork in the hands of the trusty, ever-changing stalwarts of the Superman Studio who were drawing most of the comicbook output at this time.

By this time though the quality of the source material began to suffer slightly as Siegel & Shuster’s rotating band of artistic stand-ins were themselves continually called away to serve in the armed forces, but the three magazines supplying the Metropolis Marvel’s core readership (Action Comics, Superman and World’s Finest Comics) always adapted and always came through with more and greater spectacular thrills, spills and chills to cope with the relentless demands of the growing legion of fans.

Superman was definitely every kid’s hero, as confirmed yet again in this classic compendium which saw the Man of Tomorrow and the avid audiences through the last weary days of World War II.

Due to the exigencies of periodical publishing, although the terrific tales collected in this fabulous fifth hardback tome putatively take the Man of Steel from February 1944 to June 1945, since cover-dates described return-by, not on-sale dates they were all prepared well in advance, and real-world events and reactions took a little time to filter through to the furious four-colour pages, so some of the stories have a tinge of uncertainty and foreboding that was swiftly fading from the minds of the public as the far more immediate movie-newsreels showed an inexorable turning of the tide in the Allies’ favour.

As the months rolled by however, mention of the conflict declined as the characters got on with the business of battling for Truth, Justice and the American Way, unencumbered by the dwindling threat of real-world monsters and tyrants…

There’s no greater evidence of that fact than the simple realisation that only one of the stunning covers included in this compilation (#76, by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye) has a war theme – and that’s directly pertinent to the tale within – whilst the rest by Boring, Kaye, Jack Burnley, Joe Shuster & John Sikela, all feature more general themes of calamity, comedy and criminality, augmented by the then-new notion of using the first image seen by readers to actually highlight the Superman story inside…

Action Comics #69 offered ‘The Lost-and-Found Mystery!’ (credited here to Sam Citron but more likely Ed Dobrotka illustrating a Siegel script) wherein pernicious plunderer The Prankster returned with a wily wrangle that involved using bogus small ads to extort money from prominent people with something to hide.

Issue #70 saw ‘Superman Takes a Holiday!’ (Cameron & Citron) when a criminal spree by the brilliantly insidious Thinker proved the villain had the Action Ace’s number. However the Gangster Genius couldn’t outwit merely mortal crimebuster Clark Kent, whilst a calamitous comedy of errors in #71’s ‘Valentine Villainy!’ (Cameron & Ira Yarbrough) saw Kent, Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and a bold jewel thief all collide and inadvertently trade their lovers’ lagniappes with heartbreaking, hilarious, catastrophic and near catastrophic results.

Although Action #72 saw the Man of Steel uncover Nazi spies in ‘Superman and the Super-Movers!’ by Siegel, Shuster & George Roussos, they were merely a throwaway sidebar to the gripping tale of a construction company performing big jobs for a clandestine criminal purpose, after which ‘The Hobby Robbers!’ (#73 by Siegel, Citron & Roussos) predicted today’s modern-day collector mania in an astute tale about the lengths enthusiasts will go to if their treasured possessions are pilfered. Oddly comicbooks were not one of the collections under threat…

Even today the authors of many early tales are still unknown to us, as with the delightfully daft romance illustrated by Yarbrough in #74. ‘The Courtship of Adelbert Dribble!’ saw a Jack Benny look-alike wimp lure the Man of Tomorrow into an ingenious trap simply so the sap could play Superman for a day and woo his far-from fair maid. Of course it all went awry but the Metropolis Marvel was eventually there to save the day and see true love victorious.

Also anonymous are the Yarbrough-limned ‘Aesop’s Modern Fables’ which pitted the Man of Steel against a cunning gangster who planned his capers along classical Greek lines, and the unconventional Dobrotka chiller ‘A Voyage to Destiny!’ wherein Superman’s early days were revisited as a spoiled trust-fund brat became a reluctant sailor in 1939, shipping out solely to secure his inheritance. However, after battling thugs and confronting Japanese soldiers – with the covert assistance of a Kryptonian Guardian Angel – wastrel Roger Carson had become a man Superman could be proud of, and a credit to the US Navy…

Action #77 – credited to Cameron & Dobrotka but possibly scripted by Siegel – saw the Prankster on his uppers until the rotund reprobate began scamming greedy but technically honest citizens with ‘The Headline Hoax!’ Happily Superman showed everybody the error of their ways before aiding ‘The Chef of Bohemia!’ (by Alvin Schwartz & Yarbrough in #78) whose simple diner supported many starving artists but stood in the way of murderous property speculators…

Micawber-like conman Wilbur J. Wolfingham reared his unscrupulous head in #79’s ‘The Golden Fleece!’ by Cameron & Yarbrough, attempting to con sheep-farmers into re-purchasing their own gold-salted properties until Lois and Superman again proved honesty was his best policy, after which zany pixy and madcap mystical gadfly ‘Mr. Mxyztplk Returns!’ found the aggravating elf driving Superman batty in a brilliantly bonkers yarn from Cameron & Yarbrough.

Action #81’s seasonal thriller ‘Fairyland Isle!’ (the first of two anonymous tales drawn by Yarbrough) saw Superman and a millionaire Santa Claus join forces to give deprived kids a free holiday, despite the worst efforts of two of the rich man’s greedy nephews, whilst a small town with big plans was plagued by a seemingly supernatural killer called ‘The Water Sprite!’ determined to scotch plans for an artificial lake until Lois and Clark did a little digging of their own in issue #82.

Siegel & Shuster reunited in #83 to introduce a team they clearly had high hopes for. ‘Hocus and Pocus… Magicians by Accident!’ saw affable chumps Doc and Flannelhead, mistakenly believing themselves to have gained magical powers, threatened into committing miraculous crimes: luckily an ever-vigilant Man of Tomorrow was invisibly at their sides to set things right… Hocus and Pocus – and their indomitable bunny pal Moiton – set themselves up as consulting detectives at the end and would return to complicate Superman’s life again and again…

Joe Greene & John Sikela concocted the crafty crime tale ‘Tommy Gets a Zero!’ wherein a lovelorn little boy writes a report on gangsters for school and accidentally becomes Superman’s sidekick. Of course his teacher didn’t believe him but Tommy had a higher authority to appeal to…

This stellar collection concludes with the reappearance of another lethal old lag as the mercilessly murderous Toyman resurfaced, attacking apparently poor targets whilst secretly attempting to solve ‘The Puzzle in Jade!’ (by Cameron & Dobrotka). Happily Superman was there to keep casualties to a minimum and put the Ghastly Gamesman back in his prison box…

These vintage vignettes offer irresistible and priceless enjoyment at an affordable price and this superbly robust and colourful format has inestimably advanced the prestige and social standing of the medium itself as well as preserving a vital part of American popular culture.

Still some of the very best action adventures any fan could ever find, these tales belong on your bookshelf in a place of easily accessible honour you can reach for over and over again…
© 1944, 1945, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: the Action Comics Archives volume 4


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Don Cameron, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Sam Citron, Ira Yarbrough, Jack Burnley & Stan Kaye (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-710-5

Without doubt the creation of Superman and his unprecedented adoption by a desperate and joy-starved generation quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form.

Within three years of his 1938 debut the intoxicating blend of eye-popping action and social wish-fulfilment which hallmarked the early exploits of the Man of Tomorrow had grown to encompass cops-and-robbers crime-busting, reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy and even whimsical comedy, but once the war in Europe and the East snared America’s consciousness, combat themes and patriotic imagery dominated most comicbook covers if not interiors.

In comic book terms at least Superman was master of the world, and had already utterly changed the shape of the fledgling industry. There was the popular newspaper strip, a thrice-weekly radio serial, games, toys, foreign and overseas syndication and the Fleischer studio’s astounding animated cartoons.

Thankfully the quality of the source material was increasing with every four-colour release and the energy and enthusiasm of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had informed and infected the burgeoning studio that grew around them to cope with the relentless demand.

Superman was definitely every kid’s hero, as confirmed in this classic compendium, and the raw, untutored yet captivating episodes reprinted here had also been completely embraced by the wider public, as comicbooks became a vital tonic for the troops and all the ones they had left behind…

Due to the exigencies of periodical publishing, although the terrific tales collected in this fourth hardback tome putatively take the Man of Steel to January 1944, since cover-dates described return-by, not on-sale dates they were all prepared well in advance, and real-world events and reactions took a little time to filter through to the furious four-colour pages, so many of the stories have a tinge of uncertainty and foreboding that was swiftly fading from the minds of the public as the far more immediate movie-newsreels showed an inexorable turning of the tide in the Allies’ favour…

Nevertheless since invaders, spies and saboteurs had long been a tried-and-true part of the narrative currency of the times, patriotic covers – which had been appearing on many comicbooks since the end of 1940 – piled on the galvanising pressure and resulted here in some of the most striking imagery in Superman’s entire history.

Spanning October 1942 to January 1944, this fourth delicious deluxe hardcover collection of the Man of Tomorrow’s exploits reprints the lead strip from issues #53-68 of totemic, groundbreaking anthology Action Comics, following the never-ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way to a point where War’s end was perhaps in sight and readers could begin considering a life without potential invasion and subjugation, seen here by an almost imperceptible shift from a war footing to stories of home-grown domestic dooms and even some whimsically fun moments…

Co-creator Jerry Siegel was finally called up in 1943 and his prodigious scripting output was somewhat curtailed, necessitating more and more contributions from the ingenious and multi-faceted Don Cameron and with Shuster – increasingly debilitated by failing eyesight and tied up in producing the newspaper strip, the trusty, ever-changing stalwarts of the Superman Studio were drawing most of the comicbook output at this time. Following a fulsome Foreword from publisher and long-time fan Bill Schelly the wonderment commences with Action Comics #53 and Siegel & John Sikela’s fantastic thriller ‘The Man Who put Out the Sun!’ wherein bird-themed menace Night-Owl uses “black light” technology and ruthless gangsters to plunder at will until the Man of Steel takes charge. In #54 ‘The Pirate of Pleasure Island!’ followed the foredoomed career of upstanding citizen Stanley Finchcomb, a seemingly civilised descendent of ruthless buccaneers, who succumbed to madness and became a ruthless marine marauder. Or perhaps he truly was possessed by the merciless spirit of his ancestor Captain Ironfist in this enchanting supernatural thriller by Siegel & Sikela…

Ed Dobrotka stepped in to ink the whimsical Li’l Abner spoof ‘A Goof named Tiny Rufe’ as the desperate cartoonist Slapstick Sam began to plagiarise – and ruin – the simple lives of a couple of naïve hillbillies until Superman interceded, whilst ‘Design for Doom!’ in Action #56, by Siegel & Sikela, pitted the Man of Tomorrow against a deranged architect who created global, city-wrecking catastrophes simply to prove the superiority of his own creations.

Superman was pitifully short on returning villains in the early days so #57’s return of the Prankster as ‘Crime’s Comedy King’ made a welcome addition to the Rogues Gallery, especially as the Macabre Madcap seemed to have turned over a new philanthropic leaf. Of course there was malevolence and a big con at the heart of his transformation, after which the Action Ace stepped into Batman territory for #58’s gruesome drama ‘The Face of Adonis!’ (illustrated by Sam Citron & the Superman Studio) which saw a rogue plastic surgeon transform an aging movie star into a grisly grotesque, holding his face hostage and turning the celluloid hero into his personal thief. Even Superman could not prevent this dark drama from ending in tragedy…

Sheer fanciful fantasy featured in 59#s ‘Cinderella – a la Superman’ (Sikela) as in an early experiment in continuity-busting, Clark Kent had to babysit Lois’ niece Susie Tomkins and dreamed his heroic alter ego into becoming the Fairy Godmother in a witty and imaginative re-enactment of the classic tale. Susie would return over and again as a pestiferous foil for both Clark and Superman…

A different kind of prototype Imaginary Tale was seen in #60 with ‘Lois Lane – Superwoman!’ wherein the hospitalised and concussed go-getter dreamed that she developed abilities equal to the Metropolis Marvel’s after a blood transfusion from the Man of Steel. Despite proving her worth over and again as a costumed crusader, in the end Lois fell into cliché by cornering Superman and demanding they marry…

Siegel & Sikela ended their Action Comics partnership in #61 with ‘The Man they Wouldn’t Believe!’ as Lois seemingly fell for a flamboyant playboy and Clark was panicked into revealing his secret identity in a vain attempt to win her back. Typically she refused to believe him and every effort Kent made to prove his Kryptonian mettle ended in humiliating disaster. How fortunate, since Lois was playing a part to expose a ruthless criminal…

Don Cameron took over as scripter with #62, kicking off a fine run with the utopian future shocker ‘There’ll Always be a Superman!’ (with art by Dobrotka) as an aged sage in 2143AD regaled his grandchildren with tales of how the ancient Man of Tomorrow polished off Nazis who had enslaved their ancestor as part of a plan to build U-Boat bases under America – an old sea yarn confirmed by the storyteller’s other houseguest, Superman himself…

Shifting gears to nail-biting suspense, Action #63 revealed ‘When Stars Collide!’ (Cameron & Ira Yarbrough), the cosmic calamity that caused Superman to lose his memory and fall under the sway of devious and manipulative crooks. As if that wasn’t enough, the debris from the stellar smash was falling inexorably to Earth and the only man who could save us had no idea what to do until Lois shook his wits clear…

Another returning villain debuted in #64 in the Dobrotka- illustrated classic ‘The Terrible Toyman’, wherein an elderly inventor of children’s novelties and knick-knacks began a spectacular spree of high-profile and potentially murderous robberies, with Lois as his unwilling muse and accessory after which ‘The Million-Dollar Marathon!’ purloined the venerable plot of George Barr McCutcheon’s 1902 novel Brewster’s Millions (and filmed four times – 1915, 1921, 1926 & 1935 – before Action Comics #65 made it the subject of the October 1943 issue) to show Superman helping a poor doctor spend $1,000,000 in twenty-four hours to inherit twice that amount for a children’s hospital. Trying to queer the deal was the poor medic’s rascally cousin and a pack of very violent thugs…

Heartstrings were further tugged in #66 when an elderly blind millionaire was reunited with his long-lost grandson in ‘The Boy who Came Back!’ Even after Superman reluctantly exposed the cruel scam there was still a shocking (and still surprising today) twist in the tale, whilst ‘Make Way for Fate!’ (#67 and illustrated by Citron) saw the Man of Steel turn back time and reunite stubborn lovers separated for decades as part of a larger plan to build a new Officer Training School in Metropolis…

This spectacular collection closes with ‘Superman Meets Susie!’ (Yarbrough & Stan Kaye) as little Miss Tomkins returned as a teller of huge fibs, which the Man of Tomorrow undertook to make real, all in an attempt to teach Lois a little patience. However the incorrigible brat goes too far when she starts reporting her fantasies to the papers and crooks take advantage…

The main bulk of the stunning covers in this collection were by Jack Burnley and almost exclusively war-themed (excluding The Prankster on #57) until the Toyman’s launch in #64, after which the overseas struggle quickly gave way to scenes of homeland crime and fantastic adventure, with artists John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka & Stan Kaye generally taking that lead spot.

These Golden Age tales offer irresistible and priceless enjoyment at an absurdly affordable price and this superbly robust and colourful format has inestimably advanced the prestige and social standing of the medium itself as well as preserving a vital part of American popular culture.

Still some of the very best Fights ‘n’ Tights any fan could ever find, these tales belong on your bookshelf in a prideful place you can easily reach for over and over again.
© 1942, 1943, 1944, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Plastic Man Archives volume 1


By Jack Cole (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-468-8

Jack Cole was one of the most uniquely gifted talents of American Comics’ Golden Age, crafting landmark tales in horror, true crime, war, adventure and especially superhero genres. His incredible humour-hero Plastic Man remains an unsurpassed benchmark of screwball costumed hi-jinks: frequently copied but never equalled. As the Golden Age faded, Cole could see the writing on the wall and famously jumped into gag and glamour cartooning, becoming a household name when his brilliant watercolour gags and stunningly saucy pictures began running in Playboy with the fifth issue. Ever-restless, Cole eventually moved into the lofty realms of newspaper strips and, in May 1958, achieved his life-long ambition by launching a syndicated newspaper strip, the domestic comedy Betsy and Me.

On August 13th 1958 at the moment of his biggest break he took his own life.

The unexplained reasons for his death are not as important as the triumphs of Cole’s artistic life and this captivating paperback (reprinting a rare hardback compilation from 2004) provides a fascinating insight into a transitional moment in his artistic development.

Without doubt – and despite great successes with other heroic characters as well as in the crime and horror genres – Cole’s greatest creation was the zany, malleable Plastic Man who quickly grew from a minor B-character into one of the most memorable and popular heroes of the Golden Age and seemed to be the perfect fantastic embodiment of the sheer energy, verve and creativity of that era when anything went and comics-makers were prepared to try out every outlandish idea…

This premier deluxe hardback collection reprints the first twenty episodes of the Stretchable Sleuth’s astounding exploits from anthology title Police Comics covering the period August 1941- June 1943, culled from a time when nobody really knew the rules, creators, publishers and readers were prepared to try literally anything and by sheer Darwinian processes the cream of the crop always rose to the top…

After a fulsome Foreword by legendary comics genius Will Eisner and the appreciative Introduction ‘Plastic Man and Jack Cole’, the magic begins with the first of twenty stories, most of which originally appeared without individual titles.

The debut and origin of Plastic Man happened in the middle of Police Comics #1, a brief but beguiling six-pager which introduced mobster Eel O’Brian, shot during a factory robbery, soaked by a vat of acid and instantly, callously, abandoned by his partners in crime. Crawling away, Eel was found by a monk who nursed him back to health and proved to the hardened thug that the world was not just filled with brutes and vicious chisellers all after a fast buck.

His entire outlook altered and somehow gifted with incredible malleability (he surmises it was the chemical bath mingling with his bullet wounds), Eel decides to put his new powers to use cleaning up the scum he used to run with. Creating the identity of Plastic Man he thrashes his own gang and begins his stormy association with the New York City cops…

Police #2 saw Plas apply for a job with the cops and only to be told he could join up if he accomplished the impossible task of capturing the notorious and slippery Eel O’Brian, currently the Most Wanted crook in eight states… Ever wily, the Rubber-Band Man bided his time and won the position anyway by cracking an international dope racket (that’s illegal narcotics, kids) reaching from Canada to Chinatown, whilst in #3 he fully capitalised on his underworld reputation and connections to bust up a Pinball Racket led by a cunning crook with ears inside the Police Department itself.

‘Madame Brawn’s Crime School for Delinquent Girls’ pitted the Silly Putty Paladin against a brutal babe intent on taking over the City’s mobs, and despite getting a thorough trouncing she and her gang of gal gorillas returned in the next issue, having turned her burly hand to a spot of piracy.

Police Comics #5 (December 1942) also marked a major turning point for Plastic Man as with that issue he took the cover-spot away from fellow adventurer and failed superstar Firebrand, a position he would hold until costumed heroes faded from popularity at the end of the 1940s.

In issue #6 Plas’ burgeoning popularity was graphically reflected in a spooky mystery involving murderous disembodied hands, in #7 – as Eel – he infiltrated and dismantled the massed forces of the ‘United Crooks of America!’ whilst #8 found the hero seriously outmatched but still triumphant when he battled a colossal, city-crushing giant ‘Eight Ball!’ and its decidedly deranged inventor, and #9 reached an early peak of macabre malevolence as Plastic Man foiled a traitorous little mutant dubbed Hairy Arms in ‘Satan’s Son Sells Out to the Japs!’, a darkly bizarre thriller which saw the regular story-length jump from six to nine pages.

The carnival of cartoon grotesques continued in #10 as hayseed wannabe-cop Omar McGootch accidentally involved the Malleable Mystery-man in a Nazi plot to steal a new secret weapon, whilst #11 found Plastic Man in mortal combat with the spirit of a 17th century London alchemist whose brain was unearthed and accidentally transplanted into a wounded spitfire pilot, suddenly gaining incredible mystic powers in the process…

In Police #11 a desperate blackmailer joined forces with a criminal astrologer who predicted perpetual failure unless Plastic Man was killed, before Cole introduced his second most memorable character in #13’s ‘The Man Who Can’t be Harmed’…

Woozy Winks was an indolent slob who accidentally saved a wizard’s life and was gifted in return with a gift of invulnerability: all the forces of nature would henceforth protect him from injury or death. Flipping a coin the oaf decided to get rich quick with his power. Unable to stop him Plas was forced to appeal to his sentimentality and better nature and, once Woozy repented, was compelled to keep him around in case he strayed again…

Unlike Omar, Woozy Winks – equal parts Artful Dodger and Mr. Micawber, with the verbal skills and intellect of Lou Costello’s screen persona – would prove to be a perfect foil for Plastic Man: the lazy, venal, ethically fluid reprobate with sticky fingers who got all the best lines, possessed an inexplicable charm and had a habit of finding trouble. It was the perfect marriage of inconvenience…

As the page count jumped to 13, they were soon on the trail of Eel O’Brian himself in issue #14, but during the chase Woozy stumbled onto a slavery racket which soon foundered against his insane luck and Plastic Man’s ingenuity. In a hilarious twist Plas then let Woozy arrest him, but then escaped from under the smug cops’ very noses…

When war scientists investigated Plastic Man and Woozy’s uncanny abilities in #15 it led to murder, a hot pursuit to Mexico City and almost a new Ice Age, whilst in #16 disgruntled Native Americans organised a ‘Revolt against the USA’ and a movie cast succumbed one by one to a murderous madman in #17 before the hilarious #18 revealed what happened after ‘Plastic Man is Drafted’…

The blockbusting dilemma of all branches of the Armed Services fighting to recruit him was only solved when the President seconded Plas to the FBI, and his first case – with Woozy in tow – found the Stretchable Sleuth investigating ‘The Forest of Fear!’ in a 15 page terror-tale involving a cabal of killers and an army of animated oaks.

This initial deluxe outing ends with #20 and the ‘Woozy Winks Detective Agency’ as, with Plastic Man temporarily laid up wounded, the rotund rascal took centre stage to solve a robbery in a frantic, madcap and surreal extravaganza reminiscent of the screwball antics of the movie Hellzapoppin’ and the anarchic shtick of the Marx Brothers…

Exciting, innovative, thrilling, funny, scary and still visually intoxicating over seven decades later, Jack Cole’s Plastic Man is a truly unique creation that has only grown in stature and appeal. This is a pure comics experience that no fans should deny themselves.
© 1941, 1942, 1943, 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman Archive volume 5


By Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Fred Ray John Sikela & Leo Nowak, Ed Dobrotka & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-602-8

By the time of the tales re-presented in this fifth classic hardcover compendium (collecting Superman #17-20, July/August 1942 to January/February 1943), the Man of Tomorrow had evolved into a thrilling and vibrant media icon and spawned a host of imitators, a genre and an industry. His antics and take-charge can-do attitude had won the hearts of the public at home and he was embraced as a patriotic tonic for the troops across the war-torn world.

Behind the stunning covers by Fred Ray and Jack Burnley – depicting Superman thrashing scurrilous Axis War-mongers and reminding readers what we were all fighting for – scripter Jerry Siegel was producing some of the best stories of his career, showing the Man of Steel in all his morale-boosting glory, thrashing thugs, spies and masters of bad science whilst America kicked the fascists in the pants…

Co-creator Joe Shuster, although plagued by crushing deadlines and rapidly failing eyesight, was still fully involved in the process, overseeing the stories and drawing character faces whenever possible, but as the months passed the talent pool of the “Superman Studio” increasingly took the lead as the demands of the media superstar grew and grew…

Following a fulsome Foreword by scribe/editor Mike Carlin describing the lengthy list of “Firsts” ascribed to the ever-growing heroic legend, the action begins with the splendid contents of Superman #17 and ‘Man or Superman?’ illustrated by John Sikela, wherein Lois Lane began to put snippets of evidence together, at last sensing that Clark Kent might be hiding a Super-secret whilst the subject of her researches tangled with sinister saboteur The Talon, after which in ‘The Human Bomb’, with art from Leo Nowak, a criminal hypnotist turned innocent citizens into walking landmines until the Action Ace scotched his wicked racket.

In ‘Muscles for Sale!’ the Fortress of Solitude and Trophy Room debuted as the Man of Steel battled another mad mesmerist who turned ordinary men into dangerously overconfident louts, bullies and thieves whilst ‘When Titans Clash!‘ saw a frantic and spectacular duel of wits and incredible super-strength when Luthor regained the mystic Power Stone and became Superman’s physical master (both illustrated by Sikela)…

Issue #18 led with Sikela’s ‘The Conquest of a City’ wherein Nazi infiltrators used a civil defence drill to infiltrate the National Guard and conquer Metropolis in the Fuehrer’s name until Superman single-handedly led the counter-attack, whilst in Nowak’s ‘The Heat Horror’ an artificial asteroid threatened to burn the city to ashes until the Metropolis Marvel defeated its ingenious master.

‘The Man with the Kane’ provided a grand old-fashioned and highly entertaining espionage murder mystery for Ed Dobrotka & Sikela to illustrate before Superman battled his first fully costumed super-villain as ‘The Snake’ perpetrated a string of murders during construction of a river tunnel in a moody masterpiece drawn by Nowak.

A classic (and much reprinted) fantasy shocker opened Superman #19 as the ‘Case of the Funny Paper Crimes’ (by Dobrotka & Sikela) saw the bizarre Funnyface bring the larger-than-life villains of the Daily Planet’s comics page to terrifying life in a grab for loot and power, after which ‘Superman’s Amazing Adventure’ (Nowak) found him battling incredible creatures in an incredible extra-dimensional realm – but all was not as it seemed…

Some of the city’s most vicious criminals were commanded to kill a stray dog by the infamous Mr. Z in ‘The Canine and the Crooks’ (Nowak again) and it took all of Clark and Lois’ detective skills to ascertain why before ‘Superman, Matinee Idol’ broke the fourth wall for readers when the reporters went to the cinema to see a Superman cartoon in a shameless but exceedingly inventive and thrilling “infomercial” plug for the Fleischer Bros cartoons then currently astounding movie-goers, perfectly limned by the marvellous Dobrotka & Sikela.

That sterling art team drew all but one story in issue #20, starting with ‘Superman’s Secret Revealed!’ as Lois plays a joke on Clark and her fake headline accidentally exposes the Man of Steel’s alter ego to the World. Forced to extraordinary measures to fix the problem, Superman even manages to capture a gang of robbers, and this sharp and witty face-saving yarn also includes the first cameo appearance of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson…

Hitler himself ordered the dastardly Herr Fange to unleash an armada of marine monstrosities on Allied shipping and coastal towns in the blistering ‘Destroyers from the Depths’, but they proved no match for the mighty Man of Steel, whilst the Sikela illustrated ‘Lair of the Leopard!’ pitted our hero against a feline themed criminal genius, whilst his attention was distracted by a buffoonish but well-intentioned copycat dubbed Herman the Heroic…

This volume concludes with a genuinely chilling murder spree as old foe The Puzzler returns in ‘Not in the Cards’, by Dobrotka & Sikela, to fiendishly slaughter gamesmen and champions who had the temerity to beat him in competition, with the Action Ace forced into playing a deadly game of catch-up…

Ageless and evergreen, endlessly re-readable, these epic hardback Archive Editions fabulously frame some of the greatest and most influential comics stories ever created, and taken in unison form a perfect permanent record of breathtaking wonder and groundbreaking excitement. How can any dedicated fan resist them?
© 1942, 1943, 2000 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman Archives volume 4


By Bill Finger, Don Cameron, Joseph Greene, Dick Sprang & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-414-9

Debuting a year after Superman, “The Bat-Man” (and later Robin, the Boy Wonder) cemented National Comics as the market and genre leader of the nascent comicbook industry, becoming the epitome of swashbuckling derring-do and keen human-scaled adventure.

This fourth scintillating deluxe hardback chronicles Batman yarns from Detective Comics #87-102 (cover-dated May 1944-August 1945) and is particularly special since it almost exclusively features the artwork of unsung genius Dick Sprang, revealing how he slowly developed into the character’s primary and most well-regarded illustrator during a period when most superhero features experienced a gradual downturn and eventual – albeit temporary – extinction.

Sprang even drew the lion’s share of the stunning covers reproduced here – the remainder being divided between Jerry Robinson, Bob Kane, Jack Burnley and inker George Roussos…

No less crucial to the Dynamic Duo’s ever-burgeoning popularity were the sensitive, witty, imaginative and just plain thrilling stories from an exceedingly talented stable of scripters such as Joe Greene, Don Cameron, Edmund Hamilton, Mort Weisinger, Alvin Schwartz and original co-creator Bill Finger: all diligently contributing as Batman and Robin grew into a hugely successful media franchise.

One final point of possible interest: Sprang actually began drawing Batman tales in 1941 and editor Whitney Ellsworth, cognizant of his new find’s talent and the exigencies of the war effort, had the 26-year old former Pulp illustrator frantically drawing as many stories as he could handle, which were then stockpiled against the possibility of one, some or all of his artists being called up.

Thus many yarns were published “out of order”, and when read now it might seem as if Sprang’s style occasionally advanced and regressed. It’s no big deal – I just thought you’d like to know…

Sprang pencilled, inked, lettered and coloured most of his assignments during this period, aided and abetted by his wife Lora, who used the professional pseudonym Pat Gordon for her many lettering and colouring jobs on Superboy, Superman and Batman stories.

After a fond reminiscence from Sprang himself in the Foreword, the dramas begin to unfold in Detective #87’s ‘The Man of a Thousand Umbrellas’ written by Joseph Greene.

The Penguin had a bizarre appeal and the Wicked Old Bird had his own cover banner whenever he resurfaced, as in this beguiling crime-spree highlighting his uncanny arsenal of weaponised parasols, brollies and bumbershoots.

As World War II staggered to a close and home-front fears subsided, spies gradually gave way to more home-grown threats and menaces. Issue #88 offered a nasty glimpse at true villainy when ‘The Merchants of Misery’ – also by Greene – pitted the Dynamic Duo against merciless and murderous loan sharks preying on poverty-stricken families, whilst ‘Laboratory Loot!’ by Don Cameron in #89, saw the return of flamboyant crime enthusiast The Cavalier, forced to join temporarily forces with Batman to thwart petty gangsters stealing loot he’d earmarked as his own…

Detective Comics #90 featured ‘Crime Between the Acts!’ (Greene) as the Caped Crusaders followed a Mississippi Riverboat full of crooked carnival performers from one plundered town to another, before Edmond Hamilton scripted a terrifically twisty tale in ‘The Case of the Practical Joker’, wherein some crazy and wisely anonymous prankster began pulling stunts and have fun at the Harlequin of Hate’s expense.

Greene revealed ‘Crime’s Manhunt’ in #92, with a particularly nasty band of bandits turning to bounty hunting and turning in all their friends and associates for hefty rewards. Once they’d run out of pals to betray they simply organised jailbreaks to provide more crooks to catch: a measure the Dark Knight took extreme umbrage with…

Bill Finger scripted the next two issues beginning with ‘One Night of Crime!’ in #93. Ed Kressy laid out the art – which leads me to suspect that this was one of the earlier Sprang inventory tales – and the story itself is a cracker: a portmanteau human interest yarn in actuality starring the ordinary folk who got on a Gotham Tour Bus just before it was hijacked by brutally casual killers. Cue Batman and Robin…

‘No One Must Know!’ in #94 was another poignant and moving melodrama with the Gotham Gangbusters tracking a pack of thugs to the little hamlet of Meadowvale, where they recognised the village’s most decent, beloved and respected patriarch as an escaped convict…

Next comes an originally untitled yarn here dubbed ‘The Blaze’, written by Mort Weisinger and outlining the short and fantastically impressive career of a brilliant criminal mastermind who organised all Gotham’s gangsters and almost outsmarted Batman. Almost…

In #96 Cameron and Sprang showed their flair for light comedy with ‘Alfred, Private Detective!’ as Bruce Wayne’s dedicated manservant finally realised his ambition to set up as a crime-busting Private Eye – with bombastically mixed success – whilst in #97 ‘The Secret of the Switch!’, by Greene, offered a baffling mystery when a dead criminal confessed from beyond the grave and led the Caped Crusaders into a deadly trap.

A bored banker tried to become an idle philanthropist in #98’s ‘The King of the Hoboes!’ (Cameron) but found that his money was too big a lure for a couple of crafty conmen – until Batman stepped – in whilst the perfidious Penguin’s cool, cruel and preposterous scheme to commit ‘The Temporary Murders!’ (#99 and Cameron again) proved once more that the Darknight Detective was far too slick for him…

Issue #100 featured ‘The Crow’s Nest Mystery!’ by Cameron, Jack Burnley & Charles Paris (although the art seems more reminiscent of young Winslow Mortimer to me) with Batman and Robin exposing a cunning smuggling scam in a spooky old house, after which a desperate mother left her appallingly badly-behaved babies with Bruce and Dick in ‘The Tyrannical Twins!’

The hilarious result was the exposure and capture of a gang of ruthless jewel thieves and a near nervous breakdown for long-suffering babysitter Alfred in a wry cracker from Cameron and Sprang before the Joker returned to close this volume on a spectacular high note in #102’s ‘The House that was Held for Ransom!’ (written by Alvin Schwartz) wherein the Clown Prince of Crime astoundingly abducted a recluse’s mansion, lock stock and barrel, and led Batman a merry chase to near disaster before his eventual, inevitable defeat…

These spectacular yarns provide a perfect snapshot of the Batman’s amazing range from bleak moody avenger to suave swashbuckler, from remorseless Agent of Justice to best pal to sophisticated Devil-may-care Detective in timeless tales which have never lost their edge or their power to enthral and beguile. Moreover, this supremely sturdy Archive Edition is indubitably the most luxurious and satisfying way to enjoy them over and over again.
© 1944, 1945, 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Wonder Woman Archive Editions volume 2


By Charles Moulton (William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter) & Frank Godwin (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-594-3

Wonder Woman was conceived by polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter in an attempt to offer girls a positive and forceful role model. She debuted as a special feature All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), before springing into her own series and the cover-spot of new anthology title Sensation Comics a month later. An instant hit the Amazing Amazon quickly won her own eponymous supplemental title in late Spring of that year (cover-dated Summer 1942).

Once upon a time on a hidden island of immortal super-women, an American aviator crashed to Earth. Near death, Steve Trevor of US Army Intelligence was nursed back to health by young Princess Diana. Fearing her growing obsession with the man, her mother Queen Hippolyte revealed the hidden history of the Amazons: how they were seduced and betrayed by men but rescued by the goddess Aphrodite on condition that they isolated themselves from the rest of the world and devoted their eternal lives to becoming ideal, perfect creatures.

When goddesses Athena and Aphrodite instructed Hippolyte to send an Amazon warrior back with the American to fight for freedom and liberty, Diana overcame all other candidates and became the emissary Wonder Woman. On arriving in America she bought the identity and credentials of love-lorn Army nurse Diana Prince, elegantly allowing the Amazon to be close to Steve whilst enabling the heartsick medic to join her own fiancé in South America. Soon Diana also gained a position with Army Intelligence General Darnell as his secretary to ensure that she would always be close to her beloved. She little suspected that, although the painfully shallow Steve only had eyes for the dazzling Amazon superwoman, the General had fallen for the mousy but superbly competent Diana Prince…

Using the nom de plume Charles Moulton, Marston scripted all the Amazing Amazon’s many and fabulous adventures until his death in 1947, whereupon Robert Kanigher took over the writer’s role whilst venerable veteran co-creator H.G. Peter illustrated almost every WW tale until his own death in 1958.

This second superb full-colour deluxe hardback edition collects her every groundbreaking adventure from Wonder Woman #2-4 and Sensation Comics #13-17 from Fall 1942 to April 1943, and commences, after an appreciative Foreword from star comics editor Diane Schutz, with the epochal Wonder Woman #2.

After a photo-feature about ‘The Men Behind Wonder Woman’ and an illustrated prose piece about ‘The God of War’, a four-part epic introduces the Amazing Amazon’s greatest enemy in ‘Mars, God of War’ who instigated the World War from his HQ on the distant red planet and was chafing at the lack of progress since Wonder Woman entered the fray on the side of the peace-loving allies. Now he decides to take direct action rather than trust his earthly pawns Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito…

When Steve went missing Diana allowed herself to be captured and transported to Mars where she began to disrupt the efficient working of the war-god’s regime and fomented unrest amongst the slave population, before rescuing Steve and heading home to Earth.  ‘The Earl of Greed’, one of Mars’ trio of trusted subordinates, took centre stage in the second chapter with orders to recapture Steve and Diana at all costs.

As the bold duo attempt to infiltrate Berlin, Greed used his influence on Hitler to surreptitiously direct the German war effort, using Gestapo forces to steal all the USA’s gold reserves.

When Steve was gravely injured, the Amazon returned to America and whilst her paramour recuperated she uncovered and foiled the Ethereal Earl’s machinations to prevent much-needed operating funds from reaching Holliday College where young girls learned to be independent free-thinkers…

With Greed thwarted, Mars next dispatched ‘The Duke of Deception’ to Earth where the spindly phantom impersonated Wonder Woman and framed her for murder. Easily escaping from prison the Princess of Power not only cleared her name but also found time to foil a Deception-inspired invasion of Hawaii, leaving only ‘The Count of Conquest’ free to carry out Mars’ orders.

His scheme was simple: through his personal puppet Mussolini, the Count attempted to physically overpower the Hellenic Heroine with a brutal giant boxing champion whilst Italian Lothario Count Crafti tried to woo and seduce her. The latter’s wiles actually worked too, but capturing and keeping the Amazing Amazon were two different things entirely and after breaking free on the Red Planet, Diana delivered a devastating blow to the war-machine of Mars…

This issue then ends with a sparkling double page patriotic plea when ‘Wonder Woman Campaigns for War Bonds’…

Sensation Comics #13 (January 1943) follows with ‘Wonder Woman is Dead’ as a corpse wearing the Amazon’s uniform was discovered and the astounded Diana Prince discovered her alter ego’s clothes and the irreplaceable magic lasso were missing…

The trail led to a cunning spy-ring working out of General Darnell’s office and an explosive confrontation in a bowling alley, whilst ‘The Story of Fir Balsam’ in Sensation #14 offered a seasonal tale concerning lost children, an abused mother and escaped German aviators which was all happily resolved around a lonely pine tree…

Wonder Woman #3 dedicated its entirety to the return of an old foe and began with ‘A Spy on Paradise Island’ as the plucky fun-loving gals of the Holliday College for Women and their chubby, chocolate-gorging Beeta Lamda sorority chief Etta Candy were initiated into some pretty wild Amazon rites on Paradise Island, inadvertently allowing an infiltrator to gain access and pave the way for an invasion by Japanese troops.

Naturally Wonder Woman and the Amazon prevailed on the day but the sinister mastermind behind it all was revealed and quickly struck back in ‘The Devilish Devices of Baroness Paula von Gunther.’

Whilst the on-guard Amazons built a women’s prison that would be known as “Reform Island”, acting on information received by the new inmates, Wonder Woman trailed Paula and was in time to crush her latest scientific terror – an invisibility ray…

‘The Secret of Baroness von Gunther’ offered a rare peek at a villain’s motivation as the captured super-spy reveals how her little daughter Gerta had been a hostage of the Nazis for years and a goad to ensure total dedication to the German cause. Naturally, the Amazing Amazon instantly determined to reunite mother and child at all costs after which ‘Ordeal by Fire’ found the Baroness aiding Diana and Steve in dismantling the spy network and slave-ring the Nazis had spent so long building in America, but only at great personal and physical cost to the repentant Paula…

Over in Sensation #15 (March 1943) ‘Victory at Sea’ pitted Diana and Steve against murderous saboteurs determined to halt military production and working with shady lawyers whilst in #16 ‘The Masked Menace’ was one of very few stories not illustrated by H.G. Peter but the work of illustrator and strip cartoonist Frank Godwin, stepping in as the crushing workload of an extra 64-page comicbook every couple of months piled the pressure on WW’s artistic director.

The tale saw steadfast Texan Etta about to elope with slick and sleazy Euro-trash Prince Goulash, until Diana and Steve crashed the wedding party to uncover spies infiltrating across the Mexican border and a plot to blow up the invaluable Candy family oil-wells…

The inescapable war-fervour was tinged with incredible fantasy in Wonder Woman #4 which opened with ‘Man-Hating Madness!’ wherein a Chinese refugee from a Japanese torture camp reached America and drew the Amazon into a terrifying plan to use biological weapons on the American Home-Front after which cruel and misogynistic ‘Mole Men of the Underworld’ kidnapped the Holliday girls and Diana and the reformed and recuperated Paula rescued them, freed a race of female slaves and secured America’s deepest border from attack.

Then ‘The Rubber Barons’ provided a rousing, romp which saw greedy corporate profiteers attempt to hold the Government and war effort to ransom with a new rubber manufacturing process in a high-tech tale involving mind-control, gender role-reversal and behaviour modification as only a trained and passionate psychologist could promote them…

The issue but not this book then concluded with an untitled saga as Paula, now fully accepted into Amazon society, was attacked by Mavis, one of her erstwhile spy-slaves. The traumatised victim then abducted her ex-mistress’ little Gerta and Wonder Woman, burdened with responsibility, was compelled to hunt her down…

This sterling deluxe book of nostalgic delights ends with a famed classic in Sensation #17’s ‘Riddle of the Talking Lion’ (also probably drawn by Godwin) wherein Diana Prince visited an ailing friend and discovered that Sally’s kids had overheard a Zoo lion speaking – and revealing strange secrets…

Although Steve and Diana dismissed the tall tale, things take a peculiar turn when the beast is stolen and the trail leads to Egypt and a plot by ambitious Nazi collaborator Princess Yasmini…

Too few people seem able to move beyond the posited subtexts and definite imagery of bondage and subjugation in Marston’s tales – and frankly there really are a lot of scenes with girls tied up, chained or about to be whipped – but I just don’t care what his intentions might have been: I’m more impressed with the skilful drama and incredible imaginative story-elements that are always wonderfully, intriguingly present: I mean, just where do such concepts as giant battle kangaroo steeds or sentient Christmas trees stem from…?

Exotic, baroque, beguiling and uniquely exciting these Golden Age adventures of the World’s Most Famous female superhero are timeless and pivotal classics in the development of comics books and still provide lashings of fun and thrills for anyone looking for a great nostalgic read.
© 1942, 1943, 2000 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.