Category: Environmentalism

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Oracles


By Olivia Sullivan (Avery Hill)
ISBN: 978-1-917355-26-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

Tired? Fed up? Overheated? I might have what you need right here.

Addressing the same inner discontents and travelling the same internal pathways as Clare Scully’s The Wilderness Collection and Lizzy Stewart’s Walking Distance, radical designer surrealist storyteller and visual poet Olivia Sullivan’s pictorial mantra Oracles traces an internal voyage via meaningful personal place-markers through a trip back to solid emotional grounding after a surrender of stability and overwhelming chaos… like deep personal loss…

In the narrative guise of such a loss, our age-shifting narrator offers a step aside and away from communal modern life and a trek to familiar haunts and abandoned notions. Staccato bursts of thought wedded to clear, neutrally informative images are blessed with muted tones and a restricted palette that enhances the patterns, pictures and poesy of an epigrammatic, near-synaesthesic catalogue of visions. Haiku-adjacent listicle-prayers, like an OCD-gripped da Vinci, Whitman or Thoreau count down and tick off their necessities for finding their happy place again.

Looking for something better and happier, we travel back to cheerier venues of a deeply personal past, noting what is still the same, refreshing worn attitudes with mycology miracles, a personal shaman and confirmation of A Good Trip Well Had. The reconnection with a better yesterday and lost mother take us on to a universally connected consciousness shared by all animals until we come to our old new home again…

Unless there is something clinically, certifiably, diagnosably wrong with them, every human being can be caught by a full sensory burst when all cognitive spark plugs fire in a moment when Wonder, Clarity, Appreciation and unleashed Emotion Centres all go bang at once. Sometimes the experience needs to catch you complacently elsewhere and off-guard. Simply opening up to rituals or a certain relaxation of daily processes and safeguards just happens, but whenever it does, the result is magical as everything old is new again – but more so…

That all-encompassing transitional moment of fresh sensation is explored here in a procession of mergers between crystal clear drawing and incisive lyrical descriptions with icons of the natural world great and small attempting to share the woosh of wow and sheer wonder we all get when taken unawares by nature, reality, or each other. Drugs and religion or the right person at the right time can do it too…

Words as pretty as a picture. Heady visions framed (or it that trapped?) in manageable, consumable little boxes all carry the reader like a surfboard on big wave, or leaf in a cataract, providing mental bricks for you to build your own in-head house. In the end you arrive back but is it still you now?

You decide.

The most wondrous thing about comics is their sheer versality. In terms of narrative, exposition, mood-setting and information dissemination, nothing comes close, and the range of visualisations span near-abstract construction to hyper-realism. If the end-consumer is particularly receptive, the author can even dial back on narrative or plot or characterisation and let a succession of carefully-applied images make a story unique to each reader. It’s like jazz for your head and before your very eyes…

In all the most telling ways, we’re still monkeys clinging to rocks. We can’t help but respond viscerally to our environment: cowed or elated by stony heights, drawn to and pacified by pools and gardens, inexplicably moved to fear or joy by forests. It’s in our blood and bones: nobody stands on a mountaintop or looks down into the Grand Canyon and says “meh”…

When someone really talented and truly invested channels such primal responses, the fires of creativity can push right into the hindbrain to our inner primitive. It’s a trip worth taking.

There’s a route map and bag ready right here…
© Olivia Sullivan, 2026. All rights reserved.

Today in 1917 award winning scripter, author and screenwriter Bill Woolfolk (Captain Marvel, Bulletman, Blackhawk, Batman, Superman, Plastic Man, Captain America, Sub-Mariner) was born, whilst two true giants – Alex Toth and Peyo/Pierre Culliford shared the birthday in 1928. In 1953 Jerry Bingham (Beowulf, Batman: Son of the Demon) joined the party.

Today in 1979 Stan Lynde’s western Latigo debuted, whilst in 1990, we saw the last instalment of Katsuhiro Otomo’s epic Akira.

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The Sub-Mariner Marvel Masterworks volume 8


By Steve Gerber, Bill Everett, Howard Chaykin, Marv Wolfman, Steve Skeates, Bill Mantlo, Don Heck, George Tuska, Win Mortimer, Sam Kweskin, Jim Mooney, Dan Adkins, Frank Giacoia, John Sinnott, Syd Shores, Don Perlin, Frank Chiaramonte, Frank Bolle, Vince Colletta, John Romita Sr., Gil Kane & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0962-8 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In his most primal incarnation (other origins are available but may differ due to timeslips, circumstance and screen dimensions) Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the proud, noble and generally upset offspring of the union of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer. That doomed romance resulted in a hybrid being of immense strength and extreme resistance to physical harm, able to fly and thrive above and below the waves. Over decades, a wealth of creators have added to the fishy tale and today’s Namor is hailed as Marvel’s First Mutant as well as the original “bad boy Good Guy”.

He was created by young, talented Bill Everett, for non-starter cinema premium Motion Picture Weekly Funnies: #1 (October 1939) so – technically – Namor predates Marvel, Atlas and Timely Comics. The Marine Miracleman first caught the public’s avid attention as part of an elementally appealing fire vs. water headlining team-up in the October 1939 Marvel Comics #1 (which renamed itself Marvel Mystery Comics from #2 onwards). The amphibian antihero shared honours and top billing with The Human Torch, having debuted (albeit in a truncated, monochrome version) in the aforementioned promotional booklet designed to be handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year.

Our late-starter antihero rapidly emerged as one of the industry’s biggest draws, winning his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated Spring 1941). His appeal was baffling but solid and he was one of the last super-characters to vanish at the end of the first heroic age. In 1954, when Atlas (as the company then was) briefly revived its “Big Three” line-up – the Torch and Captain America being the other two – Everett returned for an extended run of superbly dark, mordantly moody, creepily contemporary fantasy fables. Even so, his input wasn’t sufficient to keep the title afloat and eventually Sub-Mariner sank again.

In 1961, as Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were reinventing superheroes with their Fantastic Four, they revived and reimagined the awesome, all-but-forgotten aquanaut as a troubled, angry semi-amnesiac. Decidedly more bombastic, regal and grandiose, this returnee despised humanity: embittered and broken by the loss of his subsea kingdom… which had been (seemingly) destroyed by American atomic testing. His urge for rightful revenge was infinitely complicated after he became utterly besotted with the FF’s Susan Storm…

Namor knocked around the budding Marvel universe for years, squabbling with star turns such as The Hulk, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil before securing his own series as one half of Tales to Astonish. From there he graduated in 1968 to his own solo title again.

Cumulatively spanning cover-dates June 1972 – April 1973, this eighth and final deluxe subsea compilation of the Swinging Sixties Subby trawls Sub-Mariner #61-72, signalling the end of another era and rising dominance of genre fare in the superhero-saturated market of that period. Also trawled up and tipped in is a tentative attempt to revive his solo star status as seen in Marvel Spotlight #27 (April 1976) just as horror-hero dominance was giving way to superhero resurgences and all of us were unwittingly biding their time for the advent of Star Wars and a wave of Science Fiction space opera titles.

It opens with one last revelatory reminiscence from Roy Thomas’ in his Introduction before

the dry land dramas and thrill soaked yarns recommence…

Previously: Namor had endured escalating horror as old enemies like Prince Byrrah, Warlord Krang, Attuma, Dr. Dorcas and others attacked. They were soundly defeated, but constant battles cost Namor his lifelong companion in bride-to-be Lady Dorma as well as his long-absent human father Leonard McKenzie, murdered by Tiger Shark and sinister shapeshifter Llyra as they constantly assaulted his sunken kingdom. The prince had been betrayed by his most trusted ally and, heartsick, angry and despondent, had abdicated the throne, choosing to pursue the human half of his hybrid heritage as a surface dweller. These wanderings were also wracked with conflict, as, amnesiac again, he faced The Human Torch, A.I.M,. M.OD.O.K., Doctor Doom, Japanese war criminals and more, prior to meeting and adopting his unsuspected cousin Namorita (daughter of WWII ally Namora). Namor battled the Badoon, and reluctantly inevitably returned to Atlantis. Back, but not officially in charge, he became increasingly burdened again. He befriended Hellenic goddess Venus and fought war god Ares; took responsibility for an Atlantean massacre of alien ambassadors; granted asylum to alien survivor Tamara of the Sisterhood; narrowly avoided a global conflagration with the UN and clashed with Thor before at last taking up the mantle of ruler again…

It was an open secret that Bill Everett was dying at this time but his Marvel friends and employers allowed him to work on until he couldn’t. Thus Sub-Mariner #61’s ‘The Prince and the Pirate!’ – credited to Steve Gerber, Everett, Win Mortimer & Jim Mooney – opens with the old master pictorially revealing revelry in the subsea kingdom as Namor’s coronation ends before a new storyline starts with page 4 as Namorita and her human guardian Betty Prentiss are abducted along with an entire passenger plane. The voyagers are victims of deranged geneticist Dr. Hydro who mutates them all – bar already amphibian Nita – into human/merman hybrids to populate his armies of environmental conquest. All too soon Namor tracks the ongoing abductions and invades mobile island Hydrobase to save his cousin, but is soundly defeated by the maniac’s super science. Moreover, the attack inspires Hydro to invade Atlantis and make it his stronghold from which to convert the rest of humanity…

The drama plays out in #62 as Gerber, Sam Kweskin & Frank Giacoia explore ‘A Realm Besieged!’ before Tamara in Atlantis and Nita on Hydrobase thwarts Hydro’s schemes leaving the Sub-Mariner to ponder what to do with the hundreds of innocent, unwilling scaly amphibian freaks that neither Atlanteans or surface-dwellers want anything to do with…

Steve Gerber was a uniquely gifted writer who combined a deep love of Marvel’s continuity minutiae with dark irrepressible wit, incisive introspection, barbed socio-cultural criticism, a barely reigned-in imagination and boundless bizarrely wilful surrealism. His stories were always at the extreme edge of the company’s intellectual canon and never failed to deliver surprise and satisfaction, especially when he couched his sardonic sorties in thinly veiled attacks on burgeoning cultural homogenisation and commercial barbarity.

With critical success Man-Thing he was holding up a mirror to many cordoned-off and taboo subjects and weaving history from scattered snippets of Marvel’s continuity. With his final stint on Sub-Mariner, Gerber expanded that universe exponentially, building by exploring the pre-cataclysm days of Atlantis, aided by Howard Chaykin in anew back-up series dubbed ‘Tales of Atlantis!’ here the first chapter – inked by Joe Sinnott – sees antediluvian, human-built Atlantis losing its war with rival superpower Lemuria and Emperor Kamuu and his bride Zartra prepare for the bloody end…

Over Everett’s posthumous plot, Gerber, Kweskin & Syd Shores produce #63 as ‘…And the Seas Shall Explode!’ sees seemingly dead Dr Hydro return to destroy the Atlanteans by triggering a volcano under their city and compelling Namor to take no chances and offer no mercy to save his subjects once and for all…

Tales of Atlantis resumes as Gerber, Chaykin & Sinnott reveal how the fate of the first Atlantis is sealed by ‘Cataclysm!’ As hand-to-hand combat peaks, the city sinks beneath the seas, but its heritage is saved, carried away by missionary sorceress Zered-Na and her devout disciples (for which you need to scope out Gerber’s other contemporaneous assignments: Son of Satan in Marvel Spotlight and the aforementioned Man-Thing in Adventures into Fear. we’ve covered them I previous post so feel free to scroll away in the search engines…

Here, however, and taking off on a strange tangent Gerber, Don Heck & Don Perlin play with satire and pop culture during #64’s ‘Voyage into Chaos!’ When intolerant Atlanteans intern the aimless, despondent amphibian victims of Dr. Hydro, furious, ashamed Namor responds with a fit of fury, just as cool heads are needed to assess another astounding incursion.

Soon, a quartet of strange visitors from magical dimension Zephyrland – Ariel the Musician, Ibbar the Scolar, Kabal the Wizard & Zargus the Warrior – are petitioning the Sub-Mariner to hop in their Golden Submarine and help them liberate their enslaved homeland from bestial, tone-deaf horror Virago the She-Beast. Willing and even eager to go for many reasons Namor joins them but is ambushed and defeated as soon as arrives in the land of golden meanies…

Third instalment of Tales of Atlantis ‘In the Wake of the Warriors!’ reveals how, five millennia later, nomadic clans of water-breathing Homo Mermanus settle in the ruins of the sunken city-continent and clash constantly, thanks to the enmity of sworn enemies Widow-Queen Elanna and King Stegor. They cannot see waves of destiny pushing their battle-hardened children towards an incredible coalition. Successive chapters ‘The Lurker in the Ruins!’ (Gerber, Mooney & Frank Chiaramonte in #65 and concluding episode ‘The Sword in the Throne!’ inked by Sinnott in #66) ended the series abruptly as those children – destiny- touched Kamuu and Elanna’s daughter Zartra – after meeting ghosts and battling demons, unite the tribes to create the dynasty of sunken Atlantis that will lead to the coming millennia later of Namor…

Back in the now however, the series was struggling and a rapid radical rebrand as Prince Namor, the Savage Sub-Mariner with #65 leads with ‘The Cry of the She-Beast!’ as Gerber, Heck & Perlin detail how Virago crushes resistance at home, physically humiliates Namor and launches an attack across dimensions upon Atlantis. Her departure sparks a successful but so-costly revolution in Zephyrland and (with valiant Namor clinging to her Golden Submarine) provokes a shocking resurrection after splashing down on Earth in #66. ‘Rise, Thou Killer Whale’ by Gerber, Heck & Perlin sees Virago driven away from Atlantis at great cost, only to stumble upon the tomb of defeated – but apparently only dormant – Orka the (humanoid) Killer Whale – who unites with a clearly kindred spirit to devastate the sunken city with an armada of crazed cetaceans…

The catastrophic clash leads to the Sub-Mariner again falling, but this time it is amidst toxic nerve gas dumped by surface dwellers. The chemical poisons fatally alter his body chemistry, making it impossible to breathe air or maintain body moisture. Moreover, as the cloud of death expands currents wash it overs Atlantis, plunging all within the perimeter – Virago and Orka included – into a stasis-like coma in landmark tale ‘Seawinds of Change!’ by Gerber, Heck & Frank Bolle.

Thankfully, although dying Namor heads for the surface where he is found by old ally Triton of The Inhumans, who in turns brings Namor to old enemies the FF. Smartest Man Alive Reed Richards swiftly diagnoses and rapidly constructs a bodysuit to provide constant artificial respiration – over Namor’s churlish and violent protests – and he heads home to finish his fight. Sadly, what he finds in #68 (January 1974, Mooney inks), leaves him ‘On the Brink of Madness!’

Only Tamara, Nita and Hydro’s amphibians have escaped the nerve agent’s effects and now must calm down the bereft and crushed monarch. Convinced to stabilise the crisis, they relocate to the vacant Hydrobase and direct Namor to a human scientist whose research into forcefields might provide a means to protect the dormant Atlanteans from predators and further harm. After seeking spiritual guidance from patron god Father Neptune, Namor sets off, but when the king without a kingdom seeks out Dr Damon Walthers, he discovers the genius’ works stolen by his assistant. Shot from the sky by a neophyte supervillain calling himself Force, their initial clash is inconclusive but does draw the attention of passing student Peter Parker…

Meanwhile in Zephyrland, the war goes badly and the survivors consider calling in Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange…

George Tuska & Vince Colletta illustrate Prince Namor, the Savage Sub-Mariner #69 as Gerber rapidly wraps up his hanging plot threads in anticipation of a sudden cancellation. ‘Two Worlds …and Dark Destiny!’ sees Dr Strange offer aid, a pointless battle between spider hero and fishman and a second and final encounter with Force that leaves Namor victorious, in control of Walthers forcefield tech and Atlantis safely stored “under glass” until a cure can be found… an inauspicious but satisfactory stopping point. Confoundingly the series still had three issues to run with Marv Wolfman, Tuska & Colletta using #70 to depict ‘Namor Unchained!’ whilst adding further safeguards to sleeping Atlantis, until targeted by the now-independent mutated fishmen of Dr. Dorcas under the guidance of an ambitious aquatic atrocity…

The brutal duel culminated in more deaths and butchery as #71 clamours ‘Comes the Pirahna!’ and the series finally sank with #72 (dated September 1974 and on sale from 18th June) as Steve Skeates, Dan Adkins & Colletta catered an alien encounter as Namor faced obnoxious humans and a lost interstellar shapeshifter in ‘From the Void It Came…’

The antihero resurfaced in Giant-Sized Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (cover-dated March 1975), revived as one half of a tag-team with fellow misunderstood autocrat Doctor Doom whilst seeking a cure for his people and his own condition. That sustained momentum led to the last tale here, a solo exploit taken from Marvel Spotlight #27 (April 1976) as Bill Mantlo & Mooney revealed ‘Death is the Symbionic Man!’ Incorporating Prime Earth’s military industrial villain Captain Simon Stryker (of alternate Earth series Deathlok the Demolisher) the pacy yarn saw Sub-Mariner hunted for possible spare parts and powers by the maniac and battling his most deadly killer-cyborg to date…

The bonus section in this final collection includes the covers by Everett, John Romita, Rich Buckler, Larry Lieber, Sinnott, Gil Kane, Giacoia, Mike Esposito & Al Milgrom; House ads; the editorial page from #67 wherein Gerber explained the costume change; Romita’s original designs for the new outfit and a selection of original art by Heck, Perlin & Mooney.

In comics, the best thing about “the Mighty falling” is that so often another time throws up fresh ideas and creators who will regenerate faded concepts. It a cycle as timeless and relentless as the tides. The venerable Sub-Mariner always comes back stronger and more appetising, and you owe it to yourself to be ready for the next wave by getting to know these classics. Many early Marvel Comics are more exuberant than qualitative, but this volume, especially from an story-lover’s point of view, is a wonderful exception: historical treasures with narrative bite and indescribable style and panache that fans will delight in forever.
© 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. (or possibly © 2026 MARVEL.)

Today in 1924 cartoonist Frank Bolle (The Heart of Juliet Jones, Winnie Winkle, Black Phantom, Tim Holt, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom) was born, sharing the date with writer Joss Whedon (Astonishing X-Men, Buffy, Fray) in 1964; artist ChrisCross AKA Christopher Williams (Xero, Blood Syndicate, Justice League) in 1968, and author Becky Cloonan (Demo, American Virgin, Gotham Academy, Conan) in 1980.

Today in 2005, artist Sam Kweskin (Atlas anthologies such as Battlefront & Journey Into Mystery; Kid Colt, Outlaw, Sub-Mariner) died.

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The Phantom – The Complete Series: The Charlton Years Volume Three


By Pat Boyette with Joe Gill & various (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-61345-049-9 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the 17th century a British sailor survived an attack by pirates. Washed ashore on the African coast, he swore on the skull of his murdered father to dedicate his life and that of all his descendants to destroying all pirates and criminals. The Phantom still fights crime and injustice from a base deep in the jungles of Bengali, and throughout the continents is known as the “Ghost Who Walks”. His unchanging appearance and unswerving war against injustice led to his being considered an immortal avenger by the desperate, the credulous and especially the wicked. Down the decades one hero after another has fought and died in an unbroken family line, and the latest wearer of the mask, indistinguishable from the first, continues the never-ending battle.

Lee Falk created the Jungle Justice dealer at the request of his syndicate employers who were already making history, public headway and loads of money with his initial action strip sensation Mandrake the Magician, and although technically not the first ever costumed hero in comics, The Phantom’s astounding popularity wearing later demi-compulsory skintight bodystocking and mask with opaque eye-slits made him the prototype costumed comics paladin. He debuted on February 17th 1936 (Yep! Ninety nonstop years!!) in an extended sequence pitting him against global pirate confederation the Singh Brotherhood. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first two weeks before handing over illustration to artist Ray Moore. A hugely successful Sunday feature began in May 1939. However, for such a long-lived and influential series, in terms of compendia or graphic collections, The Phantom has been very poorly served by the English language market – except in Australia where he has always been accorded the status of a pop culture god.

Numerous companies had begun releasing books of the strips – one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history – but in no systematic or chronological order and never with any sustained success. However, even if only of historical value (or just printed for Australians), surely mysterious Mr. Kit Walker is worthy of a definitive chronological compendium series? Happily, and perhaps because of the tights and mask, his comic book adventures have fared slightly better – especially in recent times. From November 1962 through July 1966, all new adventures were published by West Coast giant Gold Key Comics after which King Features Syndicate dabbled with a comic book line of their biggest stars (including Popeye, Blondie, Flash Gordon, Mandrake and The Phantom) between 1966 and 1967. When they gave up the ghost (Tee. Hee.), plucky dependable, cheap ‘n’ cheerful Charlton Comics were there to pick up the slack…

The Phantom was no stranger to funnybooks, commanding his own title all over the world. Even in the US he had appeared since the Golden Age in titles like Feature Book and Harvey Hits, albeit only as reformatted newspaper strip reprints. Gold Key’s efforts were tailored to a big page and a young readership, a model King Features maintained for their own run, but which was tweaked when Charlton acquired the license. This third full-colour compilation gathers the contents of The Phantom #48-56 (originally released between February 1972 to June 1973) and opens with an historical interview conducted by Spike Barkins and modified here as Introduction ‘Lee Falk: Thoughts About the Ghost Who Walks’, offering insights and a wealth of original art pages by in situ comic book creator Pat Boyette.

San Antonio born on 27th July 1923, Aaron P. Boyette was pure mythical Texan: self-taught in everything that mattered and unstoppably confident. A truly tireless entrepreneur, he was a key component of the development of commercial radio in Texas and a journalist who researched, wrote, broadcast, managed, and presented shows. If you’ve read any Golden Age Green Lantern, it’s everyman hero Alan Scott (who did all the jobs) could have been patterned on Pat…

Boyette forsook burgeoning stardom to become a cryptographer during WWII. Coming out, he performed the same do-it-all trick with early television and later moved into making movies. After anchoring TV news, he abruptly moved sideways again, and took to comics: writing, editing, lettering, painting and illustrating as Pat Boyette, Sam Swell, Alexander Barnes & Bruce Lovelace. Working for Charlton, DC, Warren, Archie, Acclaim; a host of eighties indie outfits and as a self-publisher, Boyette produced newspaper strip Captain Flame; drew prestigious DC title Blackhawk; and found a lasting home at Charlton Comics. He co-created (with Joe Gill) The Peacemaker and assumed creative duties on Pete (“PAM”) Morisi’s Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. As the superhero boom faded, he increasingly contributed to their anthological lines, crafting hundreds of genre short stories for romance, war, western horror, science fiction, fantasy and others. Boyette also handled Charlton’s biggest and most high-profile licensed features including The Six Million Dollar Man; Space: 1999; Korg: 70,000 B.C; Flash Gordon; Jungle Jim and the company’s runaway top seller – The Phantom. Boyette’s work was continually published at Charlton until at least 1986 when the outfit was being wrapped up. He readily adapted to the indie market, with his last work appearing in DC/Paradox Press’s The Big Book of the Weird Wild West in 1998.

Pat Boyette died of oesophageal cancer on January 14th, 2000 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The majority of the bi-monthly yarns here are scripted by Boyette, backed up by Joe Gill in #49, 52 & 54: utterly workmanlike and hitting every expected base. Most issues still offered a pictorial Contents Page teaser, heralding terse, spartan, stripped-back action; mystery yarns with themes and plots readers of newspapers and dyed-in-the-wool superhero fans alike could appreciate equally. There are of mad scientists, aliens, monsters, war criminals, brutal beasts, sadistic potentates, thieves & pirates, misunderstood loners and fringe types aplenty… and so many admiring women… but no costumed villains.

Moreover, with Africa in the contemporary news and “emerging nations” grabbing headlines everywhere, politics was paramount and old standbys of rawhide and grass-kilted natives were vanishing on the pages of the world’s most popular strips jungle strips (Tarzan too!) and as we open with The Phantom #48 and a rare full-length saga, ‘The Man of Destiny!’ follows Bandari prodigy Hokana, sponsored by the Ghost Who Walks to study at western schools and universities. Of course, with learning and independence comes selfish personal desires, decadent ways and lurking Soviet enemies ready to disrupt the Phantom’s Peace but after many struggles, adult Hokana understands the true nature of his greedy fair-weather friends before redeeming himself through right choices and valiant actions…

The anthological format returns with #49 and Joe Gill scripting opening exploit ‘The Hostage!’ Here archaeologist Diana Palmer is kidnapped by vicious ideological guerillas before her masked true love expends herculean effort to rescue her, after which Bandari boy Jelrami is also sent for schooling abroad. His path is just as temptation-tainted, but this time not even the Phantom can save the corrupted child or find ‘A Better Way!’ to save the Bandar people from crime, death and western civilisation…

It’s back in time and into space next as ‘The Intruders!’ reveals how two centuries past an earlier Ghost Who Walked faced and fought off extraterrestrial incursion, whilst #50 opens with a contemporary twist as crash-landed human astronauts are mistaken by barbaric Ashnu tribesmen for ‘The Fire Gods’ of legend. Emboldened by profitable hostages whose safety is by no means assured, they are ready to resist even Phantom force and reputation…

More mundane but no less miraculous, ‘No Gratitude’ sees the masked hero ambushed for his horse and almost murdered by a fleeing felon, before performing a most remarkable act of forgiveness that provokes a life-changing change of heart in his enemy. The issue ends with The Phantom piercing uncharted mountain ranges to face a lost Roman outpost and lead ‘The Lost Legion’ against one last tyrannical Caesar…

With the intro pages sacrificed to increased costs and dwindling page counts, #51 leaps right into ‘A Broken Vow!’ wherein ward-&-heir Rex and his Bandar companion Tomm are targeted by vengeful witchdoctor Leklu. Naturally, his kidnap plot and trained crocodiles prove useless against The Phantom’s way, after which the boys take centre-stage to save an elephant trapped by savage hunters in ‘Captive King’ whilst Diana returns to explore the lost city of Lak and becomes hostage to greedy hunters raiding ‘The Treasure Room’. Of course, they have completely different ideas of what constitutes wealth, but can all agree that the Phantom’s justice is swift, fierce and indisputable…

For #52 Gill scripted opening shot ‘Lost in the Land of the Lost!’ as both Diana and Rex are (briefly) held hostage by fugitive murderer Victor Walsk in the lost temple they have just discovered, after which Boyette places her ‘A World Away!’. Her self-sacrificing gambit to save the Phantom and his Bandar from an insidious poison plot by avaricious billionaire collector finds her dragged all over the world, but not beyond the reach of the Ghost Who Walks. Closing the issue is another Gill-penned piece as new leader Captain Ahmed enacts his ‘Revenge of the Singh Pirates!’ to end four centuries of conflict with cunning plans and the most modern of weapons only to learn his efforts will never be enough…

The next issue starts with ‘The Looters!’ as super-thieves Marcel and Jeanne ambush The hero is his own skull cave and leaving him for dead ferry his greatest treasure back to Paris. They really should have checked his body…

Back in Africa ‘The Phantom meets the… Do Gooders!’ as smug government sociologist Dr. Harrison Pugh attempts to introduce morally-improving consumer capitalism to “poverty-ridden tribes” only to – eventually – learn a painful lesson in practical politicking, after which The Phantom confronts primal force when a rogue bull-elephant ravages the region in ‘The Outlaw’s Herd!’ and sees, as usual, that it’s not the beasts to blame for all the carnage…

In #54 the lead features another plundering of Phantom treasures, setting the Jungle Judge on the trail of British bandit Lord Percy and his lethal assistant Miss Chang. They think they have home advantage thanks to London fogs, but are not the only ‘Killers in the Mist’ (Gill script). With the loot returned Boyette alone handles a magic-tinged war against ‘The Angry Gods!’ after fanatical film director Chico Fitzroy and his apparently-possessed leading lady Regina Shaw despoil ancient temples to make their latest masterpiece, leaving the battered, beguiled Phantom just enough time to ponder the exploits of an ancestor who battled Wazuli an obsessed ‘Master of Evil’ in a war for control of Bandar two centuries past…

Contemporary issues inform the first yarn in The Phantom #55 as our hero discovers illegal oil drilling near Bengali and must take extreme action to prevent ‘The Black Blight!’ destroying every oasis and water source in the area, before notions of romantic mysticism are introduced in ‘A Far-Off Drum!’ Given a hand-drum by the hero that will eternally connect them, Diana soon sees its power when she is abducted in London and the Ghost Who Walks comes running to her side from ten thousand miles away as soon as she taps it…

Closing the penultimate inclusion here is a human interest fable as a trusted member of the Phantom’s inner circle is coerced into raiding Bandar possessions like ‘A Thief in the Night’. Thankfully, the wise hero looks beyond the apparent to track down the true villain behind the betrayals… Gill is back for a dose of ‘Jungle Madness’ in #56 as friendly docile creatures – including wonder horse Hero – become deranged berserkers, much like the Ghost himself once he tracks down the polluters who poisoned the water table for quick profit…

Boyette and his associates often sagely left their time period vague and unconfirmed, allowing creative anachronism to play out in tales that could often be starring earlier Phantoms of the undying dynasty. Here however, the timeframe is solidly identified as 1942 as the incumbent Enforcer of the Jungle Peace deceives a German U-Boat crew on a scouting mission that Hitler had already conquered the primitives through one example of perfect white superiority:‘The Nazi Phantom’. The deception did not last long, but it didn’t have to…

The comic and this classic safari of strip saga closes with another bang of the drum as ‘The Chief Who Went Astray!’ finds Diana and “Kit Walker” enjoying a brief respite in London when the Ghost who Relaxes hears a spectral tympani and dashes back to Bengali and the Bandar. The new impossible task is to shut down illegal mining operations plundering the tribes mineral resources… specifically uranium. It seems that vile Mr Grimek has the full consent of local bigwig Lolomu, but all is not as it seems until the Phantom takes a hand and raises his fists…

Packed throughout with pages of Boyette original art, this is another riotous rip-roaring, nostalgia-drenched delight: stripped down, nonstop rollicking action-adventure which has always been the staple of comics fiction and the Ghost Who Walks. If that sounds like a good time to you, this is a traditional action-fest you must not miss…
The Phantom® © 1972-1973 and 2014 King Features Syndicate, Inc. ® Hearst Holdings, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

In 1916, today saw the birth of Canadian veteran Jack Sparling (Claire Voyant, Six Million Dollar Man, Neutro, Turok, Son of Stone, The Outer Limits, Mission Impossible, Space Man, Challengers of the Unknown, countless genre tales for most US publishers), with New Zealand cartoonist John Kent (Varoomshka) sharing the cake and candles from 1937 onwards.

Cartoonist and author Berkely Breathed (Bloom County, Outland, A Wish For Wings That Work, Flawed Dogs, Mars Needs Moms!) was born today in 1957, as was editor/publisher Gary Carlson (Big Bang Comics, Megaton), with mangaka Gosho Aoyama (Case Closed) arriving in 1963. Horrorists Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Batman: Gotham County Line, Kick-Ass) and Mike Dringenberg (Kelvin Mace, Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters, The Sandman) were both born today in 1965, just like artist Wilfredo Torres (Superman ‘78, The Shadow: Year One Doc Savage: The Spider’s Web) in 1972 and Christopher Hastings (Dr McNinja, Gwenpool) in 1983.

On this date in 1985 Golden Age great Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (Blue Beetle, Sub-Mariner, Blonde Phantom, The Iron Corporal, All-Winners Squad, Nyoka the Jungle Girl, hundreds of genre shorts) died.

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Spirou and Fantasio: The Marsupilami Thieves


By André Franquin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-167-9 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content included for comedic effect.

André Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924 and died on January 5th 1997. In between there were good times and bad, which he handled by creating the most incredible characters and stories, and by making people laugh and think… but mostly laugh. This is one of the very best you can find translated into English.

Adventure-seeking brave lad Spirou headlined the magazine he was named for from the first issue (dated April 21st 1938). He was devised and realised by French cartoonist Françoise Robert Velter using his pen-name Rob-Vel for Belgian publisher Éditions Dupuis in direct response to the success of Hergé’s Tintin over at rival outfit Casterman. Originally a plucky bellboy/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel (a sly reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique), his improbable exploits with pet squirrel Spip gradually but steadily evolved into highflying, far reaching, surreal comedy dramas. That evolution was mainly thanks to Velter’s wife Blanche “Davine” Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939 and Belgian artist/assistant Luc Lafnet… at least until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jijé) took over.

When Jijé handed his own trainee/assistant total responsibility for the flagship feature part-way through serial Spirou et la maison préfabriqué (Le Journal de Spirou #427, June 20th 1946), André Franquin ran with it for the next 20 years, enlarging the scope and expanding its horizons until the feature was purely his own. Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters such as comrade/rival Fantasio or crackpot inventor and Merlin of mushroom mechanics The Count of Champignac. Spirou and Fantasio became globetrotting journalists, travelling to exotic places, uncovering crimes, exploring the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub and Fantasio’s unsavoury cousin Zantafio.

Gradually sidelining short, done-in-one gag vignettes in favour of longer epic adventure serials, Franquin’s growing cast of engaging regulars soon included one of the first strong female characters in European comics (rival journalist Seccotine, renamed Cellophine in the current English translation) and ultimately led to the debut of a scene-stealing, phenomenally popular apparently-magic animal. Marsupilami arrived during 1952’s serial Spirou et les héritiers and never left…

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, died in 1997 but his legacy remains and still grows; a vast body of work which reshaped the landscape of European comics inspiring many others to carry on in his name and manner.

The Marsupilami Thieves was originally serialised in LJdS #729-761 (collected into an album in 1954); a direct sequel to Spirou et les héritiers, in which the valiant inseparable companions encountered an incredible elastic-tailed anthropoid in the rain forests of Palombia before bringing the fabulous, affable creature back to civilisation. Franquin’s follow-up, fleshed out from an idea by fellow cartoonist Jo Almo (Geo Salmon), sees the triumphant journalists visit the vast City Zoo where their latest headline ended up, only to be stricken with guilt and remorse at the poor creature’s sorry state of incarceration.

Resolved to free the poor thing and return him to his jungle home, their plan is foiled when the critter suddenly dies in its cage. Distraught and suspicious, they muscle their way in to see the vet and discover the corpse has gone missing…

Acting quickly, Spirou & Fantasio rouse the authorities. The commotion prevents the body thief escaping and all through the night Keepers and our heroes scour the institution. Thus, in the deadly dark they finally spook the mystery malefactor from his cosy hiding place…

There follows a spectacular and hilarious midnight chase through the zoo, with the lads harrying a dark figure – who must be some kind of athlete – past a panoply of angry animals, hindered more than helped by inept animal custodians. Nevertheless, they almost catch the intruder, but a last burst of furious energy propels the bandit over a back wall, although not before Spirou snatches a paper clue from him…

The precious scrap takes our resolute investigators to the flat of Victor Shanks, where his wife Clementine provides further information. Her man is flying off to the city of Magnana for his new job… and to deliver a package! The lads’ frantic chase to the airport is plagued by manic misfortune and they miss Victor by moments. Undeterred, they borrow a neighbour’s car and attempt to follow overland, leading to a fractious episode of fisticuffs with striking Customs Officers (they’re withholding their labour, not exceptionally attractive…). After a night in jail, the undeterred duo and kvetching Spip eventually fetch up in Magnana and the search begins…

One month later, they are fully frustrated and ready to throw in the towel when Spirou literally runs into Clementine Shanks and trails her to a football stadium where formerly unemployed, desperate Victor is now a star of the local soccer team. Confronting the essentially good-hearted rogue, Fantasio & Spirou force the truth from him. In return for his new job, Victor drugged and swiped the Marsupilami for ruthless showman The Great Zabaglione who sees an irresistible star attraction for his circus and travelling menagerie…

Determined to see the little creature free, the boys try to infiltrate the show but are quickly discovered and forcefully expelled. Then, following a chance meeting with weird science savant the Count of Champignac, they try once more, perfectly disguised as miraculous magic act Cam and Leon…

This time the ruse succeeds, but after a phenomenally outrageous opening performance, brutal but sharp Zabaglione rumbles the reporters. Things look bleak for the lads and the Marsupilami until guilt-wracked Victor steps in to save the day. Once the dust settles, the wondrous beast is freed, but gleefully opts to stay with the lads and share their fun-filled, exciting exploits…

Soaked in superb slapstick comedy and with gallons of gags throughout, this exuberant yarn is packed with angst-free action, thrills and spills and also offers an early ecological message and an always-timely moral regarding the humane treatment of animals. There’s even a fascinating history and creative overview of the timeless wandering heroes in back-up text feature ‘Spirou & Fantasio’s Stories Last Through Generations’.

The Marsupilami Thieves is the kind of lightly-barbed, comedy romp to delight readers fed up with a marketplace far too full of adults-only carnage, testosterone-fuelled breast-beating, teen-romance monsters or sickly-sweet fantasy. Easily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with all the beguiling style and seductive yet wholesome verve and panache which make Asterix, Lucky Luke, and Yakari so compelling, this is a truly enduring landmark tale from a long line of superb exploits, and deserves to be a household name as much as those series… and even that other kid with the white dog…
Original edition © Dupuis, 1954 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2013 © Cinebook Ltd.

Born today in 1934, Mexican artist, cartoonist and political thinker Eduardo Humberto del Río García AKA Ruis (the …for Beginners series) shared the occasion with master of all comics trades John E. Workman (Thor, Star*Reach, Heavy Metal, Eros Comics, Sonic the Hedgehog) from 1950 onwards. So do writer Marc Andreyko (Jinx: Torso, Manhunter) from 1970 and, in 1974, Canadian art ace Karl Kerschl (Adventures of Superman, Majestic, All-Flash, Teen Titans: Year One, Gotham Academy).

The date also saw André Franquin debut as Spirou’s new controlling creator in 1946 (halfway through ongoing serial Spirou et la maison préfabriquée) and, in 1964 the launch of pivotal UK weekly Wham!, as well as the death of Belgian superstar Jijé in 1980.

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DC Finest: Superman – Time and Time Again


By Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, James D. Hudnall, Dave Hoover, Curt Swan, Bob McLeod, Kerry Gammill, Tom Grummett, Ed Hannigan, John Byrne, Brett Breeding, Dennis Janke, Art Thibert, Scott Hanna, José Marzan, Willie Blyberg & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-810-6 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In 1986, after almost 50 years, Superman was re-imagined after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Although controversial at the start, John Byrne’s reboot of the world’s first superhero was rapidly acknowledged as a solid hit and the collaborative teams who complemented and followed him maintained the high quality, ensuring continued success. Over following years a vast, interlocking saga unfolded across a spread of titles which has only sporadically – and far too infrequently – been collected into graphic compilations.

As part of the refit, many of his more miraculous abilities were discarded. Just like his earliest days, Superman was a far from omnipotent hero, more in touch with humanity because he wasn’t so very far above it. One thing that was abandoned was his casual ability to travel through time, and that was spectacularly addressed in a sequence of tales inside the greater unfolding story contained in this collection re-presenting the “Never-Ending Battle”. This time-twisting selection collectively transpires via cover-dates November 1990 through June 1991, gathering key intra-title storylines plus a couple of choice stand-alone solo stories from Action Comics #659-666, Adventures of Superman #472-479 and Superman #49-56, and a crossover component from Starman (volume 1 #28).

No sooner had the Byrne restart stripped away most of the accreted mythology and iconography that had grown around the Strange Visitor from Another World over five glorious decades, than successive teams employed a great deal of time and ingenuity putting much of it back, albeit in terms more accessible and agreeable to a cynical, well-informed audience far more sophisticated than their grandparents ever were.

One such was a notional tip of the hat to so many memorably madcap tales revolving around both an irritating 5th Dimensional Imp and the bizarrely mutagenic mineral from Krypton which peppered and perplexed the Silver Age Superman’s life. However, the story arc here also advanced two overarching plot threads that grew from the soap opera styled stories: the imminent demise of Lex Luthor due to self-inflicted Green K poisoning and a blossoming romance between Clark Kent and dynamic fellow journalist and friendly rival Lois Lane.

The compartmented saga opened in Superman volume 2, #49 with ‘Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite: Part One’ by Jerry Ordway & Dennis Janke, wherein Luthor, following the death of his only “ blood heir” (Perry White Jr.), ponders mortality in a cemetery until a talking red rock bops him on the back of his big, bald head. The incensed billionaire quickly stifles his outrage as the scarlet stone resolves into cruelly devious trickster-sprite Mr. Mxyzptlk. Despite being currently preoccupied with another realm, the malign mischief-maker sees a chance to manufacture more mayhem in Metropolis with the “Red Kryptonite” he has magicked up, and promises Lex it will make Man of Steel and mortal multi-billionaire “physical equals”…

Lex activates the rock expecting to gain the powers of a god – and just possibly a new lease on his rapidly expiring life – and is furious to realise he is still just human. However, across town Superman, having defeated bionic bandit Barrage, is transporting the supervillain to metahuman penitentiary Stryker’s Island when his powers vanish and he plunges into vilely polluted Hobs Bay.

Luthor cries foul and is again visited by Mxyzptlk who pettishly teleports the drowning Action Ace to Lex’s penthouse office where the evil industrialist can see what the spell has actually wrought. After a brutal and strictly human-scaled tussle, a badly beaten, powerless Superman is ejected from Luthor’s HQ and staggers back to Kent’s home where he finds Lois waiting. The normally resolute reporter is badly shaken: Lois’ mother is dying from an apparently fatal illness and Luthor is somehow responsible…

In Adventures of Superman #472, Dan Jurgens & Art Thibert’s ‘Clark Kent… Man of Steel!’ picks up the pace with our simply human hero about to be slaughtered by lethal lummox Mammoth. Kal-El is undergoing tests into the cause of his malady conducted by scientific advisor/confidante Emil Hamilton, but when news of the giant thief’s robbery spree reaches him Superman dashes off to assist, equipped only with a hastily configured force field belt. It’s not nearly enough. In the end wits, raw nerve and a simple bluff save the day, but with no solution in sight the Metropolis Marvel must admit he needs superhuman assistance if he is to survive, but at least on the domestic front his new fragility brings him closer to Lois…

With Roger Stern, Dave Hoover & Scott Hanna in creative mode, the scene switches to Arizona where a recent acquaintance gets a phone call before ‘Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite: Part Two/A: The End of a Legend?’ (Starman vol. 1 #28) sees Stellar Sentinel Will Payton flying to Metropolis for a top secret rendezvous. A sun in human form, Payton had re-energised the Kryptonian’s cells with solar power once before when Superman’s powers were drained, but this time the sun-bath has no effect and almost fries desperate Kal-El during the process. With crime spiking, Starman sticks around to keep the peace, using his shapeshifting powers to perfectly mimic the Man of Steel. He fools Luthor who, confronted by the somehow resurgent “Superman”, furiously throws the useless Red K at him…

With the mineral in Hamilton’s hands, stringent testing proves it is only red rock with no radioactive properties and Superman must think outside the box if he is to protect his city.

… And on Stryker’s Island, another old enemy is laying lethal plans to finally end the Man of Tomorrow…

Tension mounts in ‘Breakout!’ (Action Comics #659, Stern, Bob McLeod & Brett Breeding) as Superman resorts to high-tech battle armour when murderous science-maniac Thaddeus Killgrave frees the inmates and seizes control of Stryker’s, luring Starman-as-Superman into a deadly trap the neophyte hero cannot escape from. Meanwhile, in the highest corridors of financial power, Mxyzptlk personally briefs bewildered Luthor on what’s going on…

Brave but not stupid, Superman calls in back-up for his raid on the penitentiary. Whilst cloned champion Golden Guardian and street vigilante Crimebuster handle rank-&-file felons, the armoured Action Ace heads straight for Killgrave and a blistering confrontation which is only prelude to climactic concluding chapter ‘The Human Factor’.

Superman vol. 2, #50 was a giant special by Ordway & Janke with celebratory anniversary contributions from Byrne, Curt Swan, Kerry Gammill, Breeding & Jurgens, and opens with Clark unceremoniously ejected from Lexcorp Tower, only to stumble upon the billionaire’s personal physician Dr. Gretchen Kelly acting oddly…

Heading home, the powerless hero is saved from a mutant rat by Guardian and, after seeing Crimebuster thrashing street thugs, comes to a painful conclusion. Maybe Superman isn’t necessary any more. Maybe now he can have his own life and even ask Lois to marry him…

First though, there’s a unfinished business and a simple phone call to Luthor gets that ball rolling. Offering to trade the Red K for a story, Clark inadvertently causes Lex to break the terms of his pact with Mxyzptlk, thereby negating the whole power-sapping deal.

Ticked off, petulant and impatient to get back to mischief-making in another universe, the imp makes a personal appearance in monstrous form, but loads the battle in the fully restored Action Ace’s favour just to get out of his self-imposed arcane contract quickly… but not without an astounding amount of collateral damage to Metropolis…

With the crisis over, however, Superman has made a life changing decision. Following the red-tinged resumption of his super status, the Action Ace is joined by a brace of green guest stars in ‘Rings of Fire’ (Jurgens & Thibert in AoS #473). Even as Clark & Lois announce their engagement, Superman is fretting. Unable to tell his intended of his secret life, he is quickly distracted and drawn away when unconventional Green Lantern Guy Gardner hits town looking for missing mentor Hal Jordan. Earth’s “real GL” has been captured by a monolithic alien who has stolen his emerald energies to power a long-delayed return to the distant stars. Of course, implementing that departure will eradicate half of Wyoming…

Thwarting the scheme, freeing a mesmerised Army General and defeating the alien’s thralls Psi-phon & Dreadnaught, Superman and the GLs then craft a far less destructive solution for all parties involved…

In Action Comics #660, Stern, McLeod & Breeding detail the ‘Certain Death’ that ushers in the end of an era. For years Luthor has masqueraded as a billionaire philanthropist whilst dominating Metropolis, the world and the criminal Underworld. Few knew the unsavoury truth and the cunning villain kept Superman literally at arms-length by wearing a ring made from Green Kryptonite.

Previous and subsequent stories revealed Green K radiation had gradually poisoned Luthor, initially causing the loss of his hand and eventually fatally irradiating his entire body. Now as his power and vitality wane, Luthor – knowing that his pitiful condition must inevitably become public knowledge – puts a final desperate plan into operation. During a high profile publicity stunt attempting to set a new air-speed record, the manipulative mogul apparently commits suicide in a spectacular manner: an act of defiance which only marks the beginning of a stupendous 7-year long extended plotline to be seen and resolved elsewhere…

Here a measured preamble to the titular time-bending saga begins innocuously with Ordway & Dennis Janke’s introduction of ‘Mister Z!’ in Superman #51. When an apparent immortal arrives in town and dramatically adds the hero’s mind to his library of historical souls the magical marauder severely underestimates the champion’s strength of will. After dying in combat, he swears to return… Jurgens & Art Thibert then use Adventures of Superman #474 to reveal a life-changing moment in the life of highschooler Clark; an instant of irresponsibility once ended the life of a friend and saddled the hero-in-waiting with decades of crushing guilt. Now everything changes when he comes ‘Face to Face With Yesterday’…

Laughs and thrills in equal measure follow the arrival of Plastic Man & Woozy Winks in Action #661, as Stern, McLeod & Breeding reveal how those valiant but nauseating nitwits enlist Jimmy Olsen, punch-drunk recent lottery millionaire Bibbo Bibbowski and even Superman to save the city from techno mobsters Intergang by ‘Stretching a Point!’

In Superman #52, Ordway, Kerry Gammill & Janke address mounting environmental concerns by reintroducing violent eco-maverick Toby Manning who assures us ‘The Name, Pardners, is Terra-Man…’ before ruthlessly and murderously exposing the true cause of mass toxic contamination and targeting the businesses attempting to whitewash it all…

Courtesy of Jurgens & Thibert, a big guest star bust up fills AoS #475 with ‘Sleaze Factor’ after Intergang’s “Ugly” Bruno Mannheim hires Dr Killgrave and toymaker Winslow Schott to restore and improve debauched theme park Happyland. Only after Superman investigates the increasing number of disappearing visitors does the truth of Apokolyptian terror haunting the park emerge…

Over many years, Lois and Clark had grown beyond rivalry and distanced professionalism into true workplace romance, but always the hero kept his other identity from her. That all changed in Action Comics #662 (cover-dated February 1991 and by Stern & McLeod) as after the Man of Tomorrow narrowly defeated mystic predator Silver Banshee he decided that there would no more ‘Secrets in the Night’ ‘between him and his beloved…

With Lois still reeling from shock and sustained extended deception, Ordway & Janke used Superman #53 to question ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’ as the Caped Kryptonian agrees to escort war criminal General Marlo of Qurac to his judicial come-uppance and consequently ferret out the US military traitors who supported him but now need him silenced…

Finally after months of preparation the main event opened with the modern hero lost to Earth just as Lois needed him most. Formerly he had been able to navigate the chronal corridors with ease, but this new Man of Tomorrow was trapped in a cataclysmic and volatile temporal warp, bounced around from era to era with his abilities constantly diminishing and utterly unable to regain his home and loved ones. The eponymous, epoch-rending epic launched in Adventures of Superman #476 as Jurgens & Breeding’s ‘The Linear Man’ saw a rogue (self-appointed) protector of the Time Stream seek to forcibly return temporal refugee-turned superhero Booster Gold to the 25th century he originated from. When Superman intervenes, the battle sparks a tremendous explosion, causing Kal-El to careen through time whenever he’s caught in another explosion. Initially that’s forward into a disaster-triggered team-up with the teenaged Legion of Super-Heroes…

Each “landing” leaves him in a significant period of Earth’s history, and when a fuel storage centre detonates Superman is blasted backwards arriving in Stern & McLeod’s ‘Lost in the ‘40s Tonight’ (Action #663). Temporarily blinded but stuck in a past he read deeply about, Superman seeks out WWII icons the Justice Society of America, precipitating a meeting with that era’s first mystery men before almighty wraith The Spectre transports him not home but to ‘The Warsaw Ghetto!’ Here he becomes a temporary saviour in a soon to be mythic battle saga by Ordway & Janke in Superman #54. Perversely ending that issue is an unconnected Newsboy Legion short by Karl Kesel wherein the cloned kids, Guardian and Dubbilex seek to save top secret Project Cadmus from the ‘Attack of the D.N.Alien’ and imminent nuclear doom…

Elsewhere in time, only gigantic explosions can launch Superman back into the time stream, and one such occurs in ‘Death Rekindled’ (AoS #477, Jurgens & Breeding) when a trip to the future introduces him to another, later iteration of the Legion needing help to destroy a monstrous Sun Eater. The cataclysmic detonation of that deadly duel deposits him ‘Many Long Years Ago’ (Action #664, Stern & McLeod) to end up a Jurassic castaway until a clash with similarly-marooned time thief Chronos propels him via smallish jumps into the Pleistocene and a chronologically adrift encounter with primordial alien race the H’v’ler’ni (AKA the Host). That tussle tosses him forward to ‘Camelot’ as the Dark Ages begin, battling valiantly but in vain beside eventual All-Star Squadron paladin and Seventh Soldier of Victory Sir Justin The Shining Knight (all-Ordway in Superman #55). That issue contains more Newsboy Legion antics from Kesel as ‘Blaze of Glory!’ sees the lads and “Kirby Kritter” Angry Charlie frustrate the plans of rogue geneticist Dabney Donovan and defer atomic armageddon…

In AoS #478, Jurgens & Breeding deposit Superman with another, later Legion of Super-Heroes to confront deranged, savagely murderous Daxamite Dev-Em (another escapee from the 20th century) in brutal blockbusting finale ‘Moon Rocked’ which resets the time-shenanigans and leads to Clark’s ultimate resolution and reunion with Lois in Action #665’s ‘Wake the Dead!’ by Stern, Tom Grummett & José Marzan, wherein that crucial catching up and calming down is ruined by voodoo villain Baron Sunday unleashing dead felons on the city…

A third and final Kesel Newsboy short ends Superman #56 with a poignant peek at ‘Charlie & Company’ at home, before which James Hudnall, Ed Hannigan & Willie Blyberg had begun one last continued saga. In ‘Red Glass Part One: Breaking Up’ the Action Ace encountered an eerie crystal on the Moon before returning to an Earth endangered by his increasing berserker rages. The catalogue of atrocities mounted in Adventures of Superman #479’s ‘Red Glass Part Two: Falling Apart’ before answers and restoration of the status quo concluded the crises (for now) in Action #666’s visually stunning but conceptually weak wrap-up ‘Red Glass Part Three: Picking Up the Pieces’…

With covers by Ordway, Jurgens, Thibert, Hoover, Gammill, Breeding, Janke, Grummett, Andy Kubert & Glenn Whitmore, this strictly print-only package comprises a hugely enjoyable saga that is highly readable and cheerfully accessible for both returning and first time fans. Thrilling, funny, action-packed and exquisitely entertaining: what more could dedicated Fights ‘n’ Tights followers want?
© 1990, 1991, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Born today in 1911, Golden Age letterer and colourist Pat Gordon made her husband Dick look even better on the page as Lora Sprang. She shared her natal day with For Better of For Worse cartoonist Lynn Johnston who arrived in 1947.

UK mega weekly Buster began its 40-year run today in 1960, closing in 2000 at which moment today Bringing Up Father ended the run begun by George McManus in 1913.

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Can’t Get No


By Rick Veitch (Sun Comics/Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1059-5 (TPB Vertigo),
ISBN: 978-1-7241-3814-9 (TPB/Digital edition Sun Comics remastered second edition)

Born on May 7th 1951, Rick Veitch is a criminally undervalued creator who has lived through post-war(s) America’s many chimeric social revolutions. He has a poet’s sensibilities and a disaffected Flower-Child’s perspectives informing a powerful creative consciousness – and conscience. Can’t Get No is a landmark experiment in both form and content which deserves careful and repeated examination.

The shockwaves from the terrorist atrocity of September 11th 2001 changed the world and in our own small insulated corner, generated a number of graphic narrative responses of varying quality, not to mention deep emotional honesty. Rick Veitch’s 2006 Can’t Get No was as powerful and heartfelt as any, and benefited greatly from the little time and distance that bestowed perspective on raw emotional reactions.

Chad Roe‘s company sold the world’s most permanent and indelible marker pen, the Eter-No-Mark. Everyone involved in selling them was flying high, but then the lawsuits hit all at once. A cheap, utterly irremovable felt-pen is a godsend to street-artists and becomes the most virulent of vandalistic weapons to property owners with nice clean tempting walls…

As his universe collapsed on him, Chad went on a bender, picked up two hippie-artist-chicks in a bar and woke up a human scribble-board, covered literally from head to toe in swirling, organic, totally permanent designs.

Even then he tried so very hard to bounce back. A walking abstract artwork, he was ostracized by mockery, and unable to conceal his obvious “otherness”, and neither self-help philosophies, drugs, or alcohol could make him feel normal anymore. Defeated, reviled and eventually crushed in spirit, he was trapped in a downward spiral. Then Chad met the pen-wielding girls again and found solace and uncomplicated joy in the artist’s world of sex, booze and dope.

Lost to “normal” society, Chad took a road-trip with the women, but they hadn’t even left the city before they were all arrested. This was morning on September 11th and as the girls violently resisted the cops, an airplane flew overhead, straight towards the centre of Manhattan…

With no-one looking at him, just another part of the shocked crowd, Chad watched for an eternity, and then – no longer anything but another stunned mortal – drove away with an Arab family in their mobile home…

And thus began a psychedelic, introspective argosy through US philosophy, symbolism and meta-physicality. With this one act of terrorism forever changing the nation, Chad is forced on a journey of discovery to find an America that is newborn both inside and out. His travels take him through vistas of predictable cruelty and unexpected tolerance, through places both eerily symbolic and terrifyingly plebeian, but by the end of this post-modern Pilgrim’s Progress, both he and the world have adapted, accommodated and accepted.

Black & white in landscape format, and eschewing dialogue and personal monologues for ambient text (no word balloons or descriptive captions, just the words that the characters encounter such as signs, newspapers, faxes etc.) this graphic narrative screams out its great differences to usual comic strip fare, but the truly magical innovation is the “text-track”: a continual fluid, peroration of poetic statements that supply an evocative counterpoint to the visual component.

Satirical, cynical and strident with lyricism deployed for examination and introspection, and perhaps occasionally over-florid, but nonetheless moving and heartfelt free verse and epigrams do not make this an easy read or a simple entertainment. They do make it a piece of work every serious consumer of graphic narrative should experience… before it’s too late for all of us.
© 2006, 2019 Rick Veitch. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1900, Alley Oop originator V.T. Hamlin was born, followed in 1905 Puerta Rico by Golden Age cover maestro Alex Schomburg, whilst in 1957, Classics Illustrated mainstay Henry C. Kiefer died. Franz Frazetta hung on until today in 2010 at which time he was 82 years old.

This date in 1943, Jack Sparling began his newspaper strip Clare Voyant, and in 2004 Jeff Smith apparently drew the final page of Bone.

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Marney the Fox


By Scott M. Goodall & John Stokes (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-598-1 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

At first glance British comics prior to the advent of 2000 A.D., Action and Misty seemingly fell into fairly ironclad categories. Back then, you had genial and fantastic preschool fantasy; a prodigious selection of adapted TV and media properties; action; adventure; war and comedy strands. A closer look, though, would confirm that there was always a subversive undertone, especially in such antihero series as Dennis the Menace, The Spider or the early Steel Claw.

…And then there was Marney the Fox.

Created and scripted by prolific Scott Goodall (Captain Hurricane, Kelly’s Eye, Cursitor Doom, Captain Scarlet and dozens more), the series ran in all-purpose anthology Buster from June 22nd 1974 to September 4th 1976 and – even in a weekly periodical notorious for its broad and seemingly mismatched mix of themes and features – stuck out like a sore thumb.

Not for any lack of quality, of course.

Compellingly scripted by Goodall and set in his beloved Devonshire country, the serial was lavishly, almost hauntingly illustrated by frequent collaborator John Stokes (Black Knight, Father Shandor, Maxwell Hawke, L.E.G.I.O.N., Aliens, Star Wars, The Invisibles), with whom the writer had already crafted for Buster seminal classics Fishboy and The War Children.

Marney the Fox was very much a passion project and a creature of its times. If you look at the ordering descriptions online or even revel in the gorgeous and serene cover embellishing this luxurious hardback/digital compilation, you might conclude it’s a natural history strip or animal adventure along the lines of Lassie or Black Beauty.

Don’t be deceived. The books you should be thinking of here are Ring of Bright Water, Tarka the Otter and A Kestrel for a Knave (or Kes, if you don’t read As Much As You Should, but do watch movies). The deftly-constructed atrocities beautifully limned in every 2-page monochrome instalment were – and remain – brilliant nature propaganda and should be mandatory reading for every person who lives in, near or with the natural environment…

For two years the weekly trials and tribulations of barely-weaned orphaned fox cub Marney the Wandering One were a painfully beautiful, frequently harrowing account of the horrors rural folk – from poachers to soldiers on manoeuvres to roadbuilders to landed gentry and their bloody hounds – all casually inflicted on unwelcome wildlife: ones that must have traumatised and successfully indoctrinated a generation of kids.

From his first encounter with and narrow escape from despicable mankind, young Marney endures a ghastly litany of close shaves, bolstered by far too few happy, peaceful moments as he flees from crisis to crisis until mercifully finding refuge and contentment. I had to put that last bit in because this is a sublime piece of comics wonderment that everybody should read, but the seven-day-cliffhanger cycle and sheer mental and physical abuse the little guy barely survives every week would have Batman, Daredevil and Judge Dredd rushing for Valium and comfort blankies in an instant…

So take it from me: the fox lives happily ever after, okay?

Augmented by an Introduction from John Stokes, this is magical and unique comics entertainment, suitably acid-coating the hard, harsh life of British wildlife and the ignorance and cruelty of many – but not all – people. It’s also a story you must see and will never forget…
™ & © 1974, 1975, 1976, & 2017 Rebellion Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1923 Marvel’s man behind the curtain Sol Brodsky was born, as was writer Steve Englehart in 1947; editorial whirlwind Marie Javins in 1966; British boys Ian Churchill in 1969 and Bryan Hitch one year later.

Today long ago, Machiko Hasegawa’s yonkoma manga Sazae-san began its epic 68-volume run (April 22nd 1946 – February 21st 1974) and in 1990, Scott Stantis began the still-running family strip The Buckets. In 2002 we lost British journeyman illustrator Denis (The Shark, Commando, Buffalo Bill, Wizard) McLoughlin.

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Ant Wars


By Gerry Finley-Day, José Luis Ferrer, Alfonso Azpiri, Luis Bermejo, Lozano, Peña, Simon Spurrier & Cam Kennedy & various (Rebellion/REBCA)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-622-3 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The sun’s out and the sarnies are packed so let’s shamble down memory lane with a bug-beguiling packed lunch for all us oldsters which might, perhaps, offer a fresh, untrodden path for younger fans of the fantastic in search of a typically quirky British comics experience.

This stunning paperback/eBook package provides another knockout nostalgia-punch from Rebellion Studios’ scintillating 2000 A.D. treasure-trove, gathering the 15 weekly episodes of seminal shocker Ant Wars as first seen in Progs #71-85 (July 1st – 7th October 1978). There’s also a later resurgence of creepy creatures, which initially infested The Judge Dredd Megazine (#231-233, May to July 2005).

The strip debuted with ferociously prolific writer Scots Gerry Finley-Day (Ella on Easy Street, The Camp on Candy Island, Rat Pack, The Bootneck Boy, D-Day Dawson, The Sarge, One-Eyed Jack, Hellman of Hammer Force, Sgt. Streetwise, Dredger, Dan Dare, Invasion, Judge Dredd, Harry 20 on the High Rock, The V.C.s, Rogue Trooper, Fiends of the Eastern Front and dozens more) establishing a contemporary scenario to explore human greed and venality against a setting of increased pollution and eco-barbarism in the heart of the Amazon basin. The creepily compelling visuals came via an international tag team of illustrators – beginning with co-creator José Luis Ferrer, and followed by Alfonso Azpiri, Luis Bermejo, Lozano and Peña -who skilfully combined local knowledge of Central/South American locales with old fashioned monster movie riffs to deliver a wicked and wild cautionary tale.

In an era of burgeoning eco-politics, increasing environmental awareness and growing advocacy for Indigenous rights, the saga confronted entrenched corporate greed, Military-Industrial Complex arrogance and political complacency in a rip-roaring, grossly anarchic Doomwatch scenario that revelled in an innate love of irony married to macabre and bloody carnage. It was also pretty cool to see an utter absence of Yanks or Brits casually saving the day…

It begins in the depths of the Brazilian rain forest as helicopter-borne soldiers descend on “wild Indians” they find eating ants. After despatching the disgustingly primitive indigenes, the troops complete their mission, expediting a test of GGS: a new super-insecticide created by a multinational corporation which needs testing without too much oversight…

Some months later captive natives are being forcibly “civilised” by those soldiers in a Reservation Camp. The captives (grudgingly) wear clothes and can speak to their “benefactors” now, but recidivism remains stubbornly high. When one youngster is caught eating ants again, he endures another punishment beating before escaping. Delighted to have something to do, the soldiers board their copters and track him into the verdant hell all around them. That’s when they discover skyscraper-sized anthills and are ambushed by hungry Formicidae the size of buses and far smarter than they are or, indeed, most humans…

The squad are wiped out, but Captain Villa survives, aided by the Indian boy they had disparagingly dubbed “Anteater”. His speed, agility and dexterity with a machete are the only counter to the big bugs – which readily dismember troops and destroy aircraft – so the enemies form a reluctant partnership to escape the ant-controlled jungles and alert humanity to the imminent peril they all face. The boy understands bugs implicitly and his knowledge saves them over and again as they struggle through green hells barely ahead of an endless army of colossal soldier ants apparently intent on eradicating humankind.

After many close calls and stomach-churning hairsbreadth escapes – avoiding the plantation-consuming, outpost-conquering, riverboat-confiscating bugs, Villa and Anteater reach Rio de Janeiro, and at last convince people with actual power and authority of the existential threat, but it is far too late. Ant queens have already established forward bases there and as the humans waste time and resources partying at Carnival, a horrific battle for control of the continent and ultimately the planet begins.

Soon ant colonies are found in Argentina, Bolivia and beyond and the struggle must be decided by humanity’s most unforgivable armaments…

And in the aftermath, there are many profitable opportunities to test even better bug sprays and formulations…

In 2005 the concept was retooled, crafted in tribute to the original by Simon Spurrier & Cam Kennedy. A notional sequel set in the future world of Mega-cities and mass madness where Judges like Joe Dredd were sworn to curtail and control Zancudo was a short serial running across 2000 A.D. spin-off title The Judge Dredd Megazine (issues #231-233). It focused on less-than-upstanding Judges Xavi Ancizar and Sofia Perez as they escort sociopathic “mutie” telepath Fendito “El Bandito” in a medical-supply flyer bound for the penal facility in La Paz. It’s 2171 and they have left sprawling metropolis Cuidad Barranquilla to risk the perils of the Peruvian rainforest, but don’t get far. When the ship is brought down, and even after surviving the crash, their chances diminish every second as they are attacked by giant intelligent mosquitos. They are also blithely unaware that the device neutralising El Bandito’s psionic powers has malfunctioned…

Although Judges are trained to resist, smart giant bugs are easier to handle, and it might have all worked out differently for the mind-thief if they hadn’t stopped to save a little girl and stumbled into Los Zancudo Pichu. This bizarre embattled colony is home to human natives enslaved to Mosquito queens and where all inhabitants – even the big bugs – are slowly expiring of a malarial infection they call The Blight…

Those downed Judge medical supplies promise a cure for the dying city and all its inhabitants, and Fendito is delighted to betray his own (more or less) kind to save his skin, but even corrupted, debased Judges have standards, so their discovery of the original purpose of Zancudo prior to the insects’ triumphal takeover offers a slim chance of atonement if not personal survival…

A grand, old fashioned Mankind vs Monsters yarn dripping with wit and edgy social commentary, Ant Wars is an unreconstructed romp to while away a little time with and a splendid way to prepare for the long hot and possibly few days ahead.
© 1978, 2005 & 2018 Rebellion A/S. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1828 trailblazing cartoonist, caricaturist and author Frank Bellew was born, with Marvel bulwark Carl (Human Torch) Burgos coming along in 1916 and – in 1986 – mainly-Marvel comic book illustrator Paulo Siqueira.

Ken Reid’s Roger the Dodger debuted in The Beano this date in 1953, but we lost British underground star and newspaper cartoonist Edward Barker (International Times, The Largactilites, The Galactilites) in 1997 and Steve Canyon artist Dick Rockwell in 2006.

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DC Finest: The Flash – The Fastest Man Dead


By Robert Kanigher, Mike Friedrich, Steve Skeates, Dennis O’Neill, Bob Haney, Len Wein, Cary Bates, Gil Kane, Irv Novick, Don Heck, Dick Dillin, Bob Brown, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano, Joe Giella, Nick Cardy, Frank McLaughlin, Tex Blaisdell, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, Jack Adler, Tatjana Wood, John Costanza & various (DC Comics)

ISBN: 978-1-77952-836-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Here’s another compelling DC Finest edition: chronologically curated paperback archives (generally around 600 pages) highlighting past glories. Whilst primarily concentrating on the superhero pantheon, there are genre selections including horror, sci fi, western and war books, but sadly none yet available digitally. However, we live in hope…

The Silver Age of US comics is formally and forever tied to Showcase #4 and the rebirth of The Flash. That epochal issue was released in the late summer of 1956 and from it stems all today’s print, animation, games, collector cards, cosplay and TV/movie wonderment. No matter which way you look at it, the renaissance began with The Flash, but it’s an unjust yet true fact that being first is not enough: it also helps to be best and people have to notice. MLJ’s The Shield beat Captain America to the news-stands by over a year yet the former is all but forgotten today. I mention that here as it pertains to this collection, which sees the advent of original Shield co-creator Irv Novick (Bob Phantom; Hangman; Steel Sterling; Silent Knight; Robin Hood, all DC war books, Captain Storm; Sea Devils; Batman, The Joker; Lois Lane; Tomahawk and more) as the Scarlet Speedster’s regular illustrator; a run (oh. Ha-Ha.) spanning Flash #200-270 and close to a full 10-year stretch with him only absent for #205, 213-214 & 264…

For the early trendsetting sagas and situations you should catch DC Finest: The Flash – The Human Thunderbolt and take as read that here the (second) Flash is Barry Allen, a police forensic scientist simultaneously struck by lightning and bathed in exploding chemicals from his lab. Supercharged by the accident, Barry (a lifelong fan of comic books) took his superhero identity from his favourite childhood reading – and eventually his acknowledged alternately Earth predecessor. Once upon a time there was a “fictional” scientist named Jay Garrick who was exposed to the mutagenic fumes of Hard Water and promptly became the “fastest man alive”…

Wearing a sleek, streamlined, tricked-out bodysuit (courtesy of  Carmine Infantino – a major talent approaching his artistic and creative peak), Barry was point man for the spectacular revival of a genre and an entire industry. He also became a renowned intergalactic champion, wholesome family man and paternalistic elder statesman of the superhero set after marrying his longtime fiancée Iris West…

With Infantino safely elevated to DC’s current publisher, this splendidly tempting full colour paperback of Seventies hits displays the glorious work of the last replacement illustrators before the Flash landed in Novick’s hands, just as changing tastes rejected the previously paramount, rationalistic science fiction worlds touched by the Vizier of Velocity. Now high speed action involved issues of social relevance and themes of supernatural horror and makes for some weird moments as this copious compendium covers The Flash #197-229 (May 1970 – October 1974) plus guest shots in World’s Finest Comics #198-199 (November & December 1970) and The Brave and the Bold #99 (December 1971/January 1972).

Gil Kane & Vince Colletta capture all the fun and thrills of Mike Friedrich’s ‘Four-Star Super-Hero’ in the opening yarn of Flash #197 as a sharp cop spots a private communication tic only shared with his lab partner Barry Allen. Attempts to save a secret identity and convince Charlie Conwell otherwise are further hampered by blizzard conditions in Central City, canny crooks with jetpacks and skis, a flu epidemic and Barry’s dedication to Amateur Dramatics, which see him take time out to play every part in the local presentation of Hamlet. All’s well that ends well and after that show goes on, it’s back to cosmic basics with Robert Kanigher’s ‘To the Nth Degree’ showing the Crimson Comet catapulted across the universe to save fire-beings on an exploding planet, courtesy of another wild invention of his father-in-law Professor Ira West…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta open #198 where ‘No Sad Songs for a Scarlet Speedster!’ has three orphan kids aid a gun-shot and temporarily brain-damaged Flash regain his lost mojo before neophyte superhero Zatanna guests in ‘Call it …Magic’ (by Friedrich, Don Heck & Colletta) and requires swift rescue after being abducted across arcane dimensions by macabre body-snatcher Xarkon…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta’s ‘Flash? Death Calling!’ in #199 focuses on the ordeals of scientist Dr Hollister who dons the scarlet skin-tights to punish himself after apparently accidentally killing the hero. However that guilt also saves the day and resurrect the speedster – just in time for Flash to meet superspy Colonel K (of US-IN-T Agency) and stop a Chinese energy missile smashing into ‘The Explosive Heart of America!’ (Kanigher, Kane & Colletta)

Novick and inker Murphy Anderson join Kanigher for anniversary celebration ‘Count 200 – and Die!’ as the Monarch of Motion succumbs to mind manipulation and is manoeuvred by sinister siren Dr. Lu into  assassinating the US President. Thankfully our hero (Flash of course, not PotUS!) is faster than his own fired gunshot and is back in all-American action for #201, enduring Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘Million-Dollar Dream!’ and applying tough love to wheelchair bound sports star Pablo Hernandez. The treatment restores the player but that’s only fair as the hero was responsible for initially crippling the kid…

Many issues offered second stories at this time, and the policy of guest shots for other Flash-family favourites was solidly in place. Here Kanigher, Novick & Anderson take us to Earth Two and swift encore for an old villain as Jay Garrick produces – eventually – the ‘Finale for a Fiddler!’

Although costumed hero capers were waning in general appeal, Flash was still hugely popular. Thus when World’s Finest Comics began a run of Superman team-ups with #198, the Red Runner was the clear first choice and allowed editors to return to a thorny topic which had bedevilled fans for years.

The comic book experience is littered with eternal, unanswerable questions. The most common and most passionately asked always begin “who would win if” or “who’s strongest/smartest/fastest…” Here, crafted by Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella, ‘Race to Save the Universe!’ and concluding instalment ‘Race to Save Time’ (WFC #198-199) upped the stakes on two previous competitions as our high-speed heroes are conscripted by the Guardians of the Universe to circumnavigate the entire cosmos at their greatest velocities to reverse the rampage of the mysterious Anachronids: faster-than-light creatures whose pell-mell course throughout galaxies is actually unwinding time itself and unravelling the fabric of creation. Little does anybody suspect that Superman’s oldest enemies were behind the entire appalling scheme, but the battle was swiftly won and reality saved in the end…

It was a far more grounded but no less chilling situation in Flash #202 where Kanigher, Novick & Anderson despatch reporter Iris Allen to Hollywood where she is kidnapped by murderous cultist creeps ‘The Satan Circle’ and her frantic husband confronts the unknown and the worst aspects of human nature to save her. Kid Flash then endures his own eldritch overload as ‘The Accusation!’ (by Steve Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) finds college-age comet Wally West tormented by visons of impending death that come appallingly true…

With Kanigher, Novick & Anderson at the helm #203 augured a huge change in the cosy domestic set-up as ‘The Flash’s Wife is a Two-Timer!’ reveals that Iris is actually a foundling sent through time to escape atomic armageddon and only the adopted child of scatterbrained super-genius Ira West. When the process reverses itself and she is dragged back to the future – Central City 2970 AD – The Flash follows and is caught up in a war that has been all but won by oppressive East-bloc tyrant Sirik the Supreme. Of course his intervention is enough to reset the scales before he returns baffled bride Iris Russell (née West)-Allen to her immigrant time period.

Once there though, repercussions of the revelation continue as a recovered 30th century keepsake turns her into an uncontrollable, secret-exposing blabbermouth in #204’s ‘The Great Secret Identity Exposé!’ with the Justice League understandably irate that Flash talks in his sleep and his wife knows all their civilian identities…

Back up tale ‘The Mind-Trap’ (Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) then sees Kid Flash chasing a body-stealing Egyptian pharaoh’s ghost to end the issue on a lighter note…

The Flash #205 was another hugely popular reprint collection of the era, sporting a cover by Dick Giordano (and included here) before it was back to spooky business in #206 for Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘24 Hours of Immortality!’ as haughty alien superbeings resurrect a recently killed surgeon and young mother to attend to unfinished business, but for the most mean-spirited motives – until Flash intervenes with a lesson all could benefit from.

With the supernatural now fully unleashed at DC, Flash #207 led with Friedrich, Novick & Anderson’s ‘The Evil Sound of Music!’, as former mystic hero Sargon the Sorcerer exploits his own family and rock ‘n’ roll-loving kids to restore his lost powers, before confronting the Scarlet Speedster, his own inner demons and rapacious external devils on the path back to the light. Grounding that journey to hell, Kid Flash then faces ‘The Phantom of the Cafeteria!’ ending the depredations of a superfast, hyper-hungry alien in a quick but satisfying yarn from Skeates, Dillin & Giordano.

In #208, Kanigher, Novick & Anderson exposed ‘A Kind of Miracle in Central City’ as wayward kids exploited by drug pushers are saved by prayer, the timely intervention of nuns and invisible superspeed before Flash #209 debuted new regular writer Cary Bates. He would run with the Vizier of Velocity for the rest of the series, only missing #213-214, 217, 293, 306 and 313 between 1970 through 1985.

Fresh from the starting blocks, Bates, Novick & Giordano took the speedster into higher, weirder realms ‘Beyond the Speed of Life!’ where Flash and reality shielding Sentinel stopped existence from being devoured. Meanwhile, on mundane Earth old Rogues Trickster, Captain Boomerang and Gorilla Grodd squabbled over bragging rights for who had finally killed the hero. At the back, Kid Flash saved a student troubled by gangsters in ‘Coincidence Can Kill!’ courtesy of Skeates, Dillin, Giordano.

A visit to 2971 came with #210 as Bates, Novick & Giordano expanded the Earth East-Earth West “warm” war in ‘An Earth Divided!’ with Flash seeking to save man-made President Abraham Lincoln (II) from belligerent occidental tyrant Bekor. Science fiction surrendered to spooky tales next as Flash teamed up with Batman in Brave and the Bold #99. Here Bob Haney, Bob Brown, & Nick Cardy revealed how an attempt to resurrect Bruce Wayne’s parents opened the door to the Dark Knight’s possession by an unquiet spirit. ‘The Man Who Murdered the Past!’ almost ensured an invasion of angry ghosts until superspeed and smart thinking saved the day…

Comics were always about popular trends, and in Flash #211 Bates, Novick & Giordano contrived alien invaders who used the fad of rolling derby to fuel the destruction of Earth via constantly ‘Flashing Wheels!’ However, Kid Flash was on far more stable ground as he exposed corrupt officials covering up toxic dumping in ‘Is This Poison Legal?’ by Skeates, Dillin & Giordano. Equally bold and topical the next issue saw ‘The Flash in Cartoon Land!’ with Novick & Giordano depicting how manic 64th century magician Abra Kadabra trapped the hero and a little lad Barry Allen was babysitting in a graphic madhouse where scientific rules did not apply.

The next two issues – #213 & 214 – were reprint specials represented here with the original covers by Neal Adams & Cardy before #215 saw Bates, Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano detail the ‘Death of an Immortal!’ The eons are catching up with undying villain Vandal Savage who attempts to trick Barry Allen and Jay Garrick into remedying the crisis for him. However their mission is intercepted by chronal cop Tempus and the end is not what Savage anticipated…

For Bates at least, Flash was all about his signature Rogues Gallery and in #216 the writer revealed the shocking truth about multiple personality villain Al Desmond/Dr. Alchemy/Mr. Element. Seemingly cured and reformed, Desmond was afflicted by ‘The Curse of the Dragon’s Eye!’ (Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano), astrally connected to an unstable star in the constellation Draco and vacillating between manic and passive, and Good and Evil as it built to cataclysmic detonation. Now that time had come and Flash had to save his friend and hopefully prevent him destroying Earth when his patron star died. Its counterbalanced by Skeates & Dillin’s Kid Flash fable ‘2D?’ as Kid Flash goes after extradimensional slavers abducting workers who stare at certain paintings for too long…

Hard times for superheroes saw Green Lantern take up residence in the anterior pages of The Flash from #217 and shorter tales began with a fill-in from Len Wein for Novick & McLoughlin. ‘The Flash Times Five is Fatal!’ saw the hero attacked by a rogue AI built by Ira West. It preferred sabotage, reality warping and murder to rescinding its categoric statement that no one as fast as the Scarlet Speedster could possibly exist…

Bates and the Pied Piper returned in #218 as a cunning sonic ambush was foiled by speed vibrations generating ‘The Flash of 1,000 Faces!’ whilst in #219 (with Joe Giella inking) ‘The Million Dollar Deathtrap’ saw the hero targeted by wagering rivals Mirror Master and The Top and only triumphing after applying the proven principle of “divide and conquer”…

Flash literally and grotesquely joined protégé Kid Flash in #220 as The Turtle (Barry’s very first super-foe) returned to alter Earth’s internal vibrations and cure ‘The Slowest Man on Earth’ of his unique condition no matter the cost to everyone else. Thankfully two heads proved better than one in this instance and the shaking shakedown was averted.

Co-scripter John Warner joined Bates, Novick & McLoughlin for #221’s ‘Time-Schedule For Disaster!’ as techno-bandit Cipher attempts – and ultimately fails – to harvest Flash’s speed vibrations to power his weapons before #222’s ‘The Heart That Attacked the World!’ (Novick, McLoughlin & Giordano) offers a full-length team up with Green Lantern as Weather Wizard and Sinestro join forces to end their enemies. Sadly, born betrayer Sinestro secretly linked the Speedster’s racing heartbeat to the continued existence of Earth…

In #223, Bates, Novick & Giordano ‘Make Way for the Speed-Demons!’ as another old enemy rigs races between Flash and three mechanical racers of land sea and air, with the expressed intention of humiliating the speedster whilst hiding his true intentions, before #224 introduces ‘The Fastest Man Dead!’ after Barry’s friend and mentor Charlie Conwell is murdered. That doesn’t stop the veteran helping Flash close the last case on his docket and save his pal Barry one last time…

Another Scarlet-Emerald team-up sees Flash again battle Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash before discovering  ‘Green Lantern, Master Criminal of the 25th Century!’ (#225, Bates, Novick & Giordano) is the villain’s unwilling slave. Of course, it all plays out successfully in time, after which Captain Cold and Heatwave embroil Barry Allen in their psycho-drama rivalry, thereby inadvertently subjecting Flash to ‘The Hot-Cold War in Central City!’ (inked by Giordano & McLoughlin). Immediately afterwards (with McLoughlin inking) #227 reveals ‘Flash – This is Your Death!’ as Captain Boomerang ( and his dad!) rerun past fast & furious clashes whilst seeking to end the hero’s career and existence forever, before Tex Blaisdell inks #228’s ‘The Day I saved the Life of the Flash!’ Here Bates injects himself into the story as a comic book writer from Earth-Prime accidentally slips across dimensional divides; arriving on Earth-One in time to aid the “fictional” speedster he scripts in a deadly duel with the Trickster…

This compendium closes with the pertinent original material from 100-Page Spectacular Flash #229 which led with a Golden Age Flash team up as ‘The Rag Doll Runs Wild!’ Here Bates, Novick, Giordano & McLoughlin detail how a seeming resurgent rampage by a 1940s thieving contortionist is merely a mask for a far more sinister scheme perpetrated by a hidden vengeful mastermind. Closing proceedings are two teaser treats from that giant compendium: specifically a ‘Flash Puzzle’ by Bob Rozakis, Infantino & Anderson and an unattributed ‘Flash Trivia Quiz and Answers’…

With covers by Kane, Infantino, Anderson, Neal Adams, Colletta Giordano, Jack Adler, Cardy and Tatjana Wood, this splendid selection is a must-read item for anybody in love with the world of words-in-pictures and fast-paced fantasy fables. Ready. Steady, Go get it!
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1906 was the birth date of cartoonist Dale Messick (Brenda Starr, Reporter) followed ten years later by comic book/ad exec Irv Novick, and author Peter O’Donnell (Modesty Blaise, James Bond, Romeo Jones) in 1920. In 1954 Jamie Delano (Captain Britain, Doctor Who, Hellblazer, Animal Man) joined the party as did Matt Kindt (Poppy and the Lost Lagoon, Dept. H, MIND MGMT, BRZRKR) in 1973.

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Gomer Goof volume 1: Mind the Goof!


By André Franquin, Delporte & Jidéhem: translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-358-1 (Album TPB/digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times and some used for dramatic and comedic effect.

Born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924, André Franquin began his astounding career in the golden age of European cartooning. In 1946, as assistant to Joseph “Jijé” Gillain on top strip Spirou, he inherited sole control of the keynote feature, and creating countless unforgettable characters like Fantasio and The Marsupilami. Over two decades Franquin made the strip purely his, expanding its scope and horizons, as co-stars Spirou & Fantasio – with hairy Greek Chorus Spip the squirrel – became globetrotting troubleshooters visiting exotic places, exposing crimes, exploring the incredible and clashing with bizarre, eccentric arch-enemies. Throughout all that, Fantasio remained a full-fledged – albeit entirely fictional – reporter for Le Journal de Spirou, popping back to base between assignments. Regrettably, ensconced there like a splinter under a fingernail was an arrogant, accident-prone office junior. He was Gaston Lagaffe; Franquin’s other immortal – or peut-être unkillable? – conception…

There’s a hoary tradition of comics personalising fictitiously back-office creatives and the arcane processes they indulge in, whether it’s Marvel’s Bullpen or DC Thomson’s lugubrious Editor and underlings at The Beano and Dandy; it’s a truly international practise. Somehow though, after debuting in LJdS #985 (February 28th 1957), the affable dimwit grew – like one of his own monstrous DIY projects – beyond all control. Whether guesting in Spirou’s sagas or his own strips/faux reports for the editorial pages, Lagaffe became one of the most popular and ubiquitous components of the comic he was supposed to paste up.

In initial cameos or occasional asides on text pages, well-meaning foul-up and ostensible studio gofer Gaston lurked and lounged amidst a crowd of diligent toilers until the workshy slacker employed as a general assistant at LJdS’s head office became a solid immovable fixture. Ultimately the scruffy bit-player shambled into his own star feature…

In terms of schtick and delivery, older readers will recognise favourite beats and elements of well-intentioned helpfulness wedded to irrepressible self-delusion as seen in Benny Hill or Jacques Tati vehicles and recognise recurring riffs from Only Fools and Horses and Mr Bean. It’s blunt-force slapstick, using paralysing puns, fantastic ingenuity and inspired invention to mug smugness, puncture pomposity, lampoon the status quoi? (and that’s British punning, see?) and ensure no good deed goes noticed, rewarded or unpunished…

As previously stated, Gaston/Gomer can be seen (if you’re very quick or extremely patient) toiling at Le Journal de Spirou’s editorial offices. At first he reported to Fantasio, but as pressure of work took the hero away, the Goof instead complicated the lives of office manager Léon Prunelle and other harassed and bewildered staffers, all whilst effectively ignoring any tasks he’s paid to actually handle. These notionally include page paste-up, posting packages, filing, clean-up, collecting stuff inbound from off-site and editing readers’ letters – the reason why fans’ requests/suggestions are never acknowledged or answered…

Gomer is lazy, hyperkinetic, opinionated, ever-ravenous, impetuous, underfed, forgetful and eternally hungry: a passionate sports fan, self-proclaimed musician maestro and animal lover whose most manic moments all stem from cutting work corners, stashing or consuming contraband nosh in the office or inventing the Next Big Thing. This situation leads to constant clashes with colleagues and draws in notionally unaffiliated bystanders like increasingly manic traffic cop Longsnoot and fireman Captain Morwater, plus ordinary passers-by who should know by now to keep away from this street.

Through it all, the obtuse office oaf remains affable, easy-going and incorrigible. Only three questions matter: why everyone keeps giving him one last chance, what does gentle, lovelorn Miss Jeanne see in the self-opinionated idiot, and will perpetually-outraged and accidentally abused capitalist financier De Mesmaeker ever get his perennial, pestiferous contracts signed?

If you’re old, new to this and yet experiencing a dose of déjà vu, it might be because the big idiot appeared in a 1970s Thunderbirds annual, rechristened Cranky Franky. Perhaps they should have kept the original title…

This premier compilation consists of half-page shorts and comedic text story “reports” from the LJdS’s editorial page before ultimately unleashing full episodes of madcap buffoonery. As previously stated Gomer is employed (let’s not dignify his position by calling it “work”) at the Spirou offices, reporting to go-getting Fantasio and foolishly left in charge of minor design jobs like paste-up and reading readers’ letters and general dogs-bodying. He’s lazy, opinionated, forgetful and eternally hungry. Many of his most catastrophic actions revolve around cutting corners and caching illicit food in the office…

Following 26 short, sharp two-tier gag episodes – involving Gomer’s office innovations, his hunt for food, assorted pets and livestock, sporting snafus and his appallingly decrepit and dilapidated Fiat 509 auto(barely)mobile – the first of numerous prose vignettes ‘On the Line’ exposes the fool’s many delusional attempts to become an inventor. Other text forays – punctuated by more pint-sized gag-strips – follow. These comedy briefs include ‘More Than One String to his Bow’, ‘Police Report’, ‘Open Letter to Mr De Mesmaeker’ (Jean De Mesmaeker being the real name of collaborator and background artist Jidéhem and taken for the self-important businessman who became Gomer’s ultimate foil), ‘Winter Stalactites’, ‘Red vs Blue’, ‘Noise Pollution’, ‘Presence of Mind’, ‘Gomer’s stethoscope’, ‘The Firebug Fireman’, ‘Gas-powered bicycle’ and ‘Definitely-not-surreptitious advertising’.

The print then gives way to a long-running procession of half-page strips with our editorial idiot causing a cataclysm of cartoon chaos.

Further prose pieces slip into extended continuity when Fantasio embargoes all canned food (potentially explosive and always a bio-hazard) and Gomer applies all his dubious ingenuity to beating the ban in ‘The tin wars’, ‘Ticking tin bombs’, ‘Diary of a War correspondent’ and ‘Blockade’ before one final strip flurry brings the hilarity to temporary pause…

Far better enjoyed than précised or described, these strips allowed Franquin, fellow scenarist Yvan Delporte and Jidéhem to flex their whimsical muscles and subversively sneak in some satirical support for their political beliefs in pacifism and environmentalism, but at their core remain supreme examples of all-ages comedy: wholesome, barbed, daft and incrementally funnier with every re-reading.

So why not start now?
© Dupuis, Dargaud-Lombard s.a. 2017 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation © 2017 Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1907, comic strip god Milton Caniff was born, as was – in 1913 – John Carter of Mars illustrator John Coleman Burroughs. Ditto Japanese teacher/political cartoonist Taizo Yokoyama (Pu-san, Eheh) in1917. Reading wise, André Franquin’s Gaston Lagaffe debuted in 1957.

If there was a February 29th this year, tomorrow we’d be commemorating the birth of Italian superstar Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri (Druuna) in 1944 and the launch of Bil Keane’s The Family Circus in 1960… but we don’t so we ain’t.