Category: Fantasy

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Mercy: Shake the World


By J.M. Dematteis & Paul Johnson (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels)
ISBN: 978-0-486-79905-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

Originally conceived as one of a tranche of titles developed by editor Art Young for the Disney Company’s ambitious but ultimately stillborn Touchmark adult comics imprint (the others being Sebastian O, Enigma and Shadows Fall) in the early 1990s, Mercy was first released as a 64-page one-shot comic book in the initial wave of DC’s Vertigo line in 1993. Thematically at odds with the dark, uncompromising and nihilistic fare of titles such as Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Doom Patrol and even the groundbreaking but bleakly lyrical Sandman, the astounding near-life experiences of Joshua Rose came and went relatively unremarked then, but at last got a fair chance to shine in this resurrected softcover collection packed with fascinating extras and bonus material.

Finally finding a more receptive audience for its still-fresh, immensely innovative spiritual odyssey, the uplifting tale is preceded by an absorbing reunion in print of the creators as transcribed in ‘About Mercy: Shake the World – a conversation between writer J.M. Dematteis and artist Paul Johnson’, prior to the phantasmagorical revelation road unfolding through a cascade of stunning painted visuals that begin in a coldly antiseptic hospital room…

Middle-aged and long-bled of all inner joy, Joshua Rose was almost glad when the stroke put him into a coma.

Jaded, world-weary and bitterly disappointed to his core, Joshua has no illusions about life’s wonders or humanity’s merits. He lies inert in his exorbitantly expensive private clinical cell, impaled on and afflicted by dozens of tubes, needles and machines. Seemingly dead to the world, he is in fact acutely aware of not just his own physical surroundings, but also every inconceivable nook and cranny of universal time and space.

Spurning his wife and his world, Rose’s morose and twisted psyche roams Infinity, despising everything he sees in it, especially the miraculous mute woman glowing blue, and constantly flashing across his consciousness, dragging him to uncountable encounters with people in all their pathetic, pitiful privation, sordid weakness, tawdry injustice and innate inescapable misery. He derisively calls her “Mercy” but as she silently lures him ever onwards to scenes of family discord in London, an agonising personal trial in a primeval South American rainforest and a death-haunted, woe-infested apartment in Brooklyn, Joshua passively observes her tireless confrontations with monsters and worse and, somewhere deep inside, begins at last to change…

Crafted in true collaborative fashion by Dematteis and Johnson, the deeply evocative and astonishingly expressionistic voyage of discovery is deconstructed in a number of extra features beginning with intriguing ‘Excerpts from the Outline’ exploring the writer’s initial plot concepts before being expanded with forensic intensity through illustrator Johnson’s beguiling monochrome ‘Page Layouts’.

Then, augmented by page after page of lavish and lovely full colour ‘Production Art’, character sketches and design roughs, accompanied by the artist’s thoughts on his process in ‘About the Art’, the entire delicious and eccentric delight is finally summed up in original editor Art Young’s laudatory ‘Afterword’, putting to bed one of the most intoxicating and passionate paeans to humble humanity ever crafted in comics form.

Mercy was different then and it’s still different now: an ideal confection for contemplative comics connoisseurs who remain forever bright at heart…
© 2015 dover publications, inc. Introduction © 2015 J.M. Dematteis & Paul Johnson. Art & text © 2015 J.M. Dematteis & Paul Johnson. Afterword © 2015 Art Young. All rights reserved.

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The Scorpion volume 1: The Devil’s Mark


By Stephen Desberg & Enrico Marini, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-62-5 (Album PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times

It’s Easter. Fancy a bit of biblical epic-ness doused with saucy irreverance?

We in the English-speaking world will have to work long and hard to come anywhere near the astonishing breadth of genres present in European comics. Both in scenario and narrative content, our continental cousins have seemingly explored every aspect of time and place to tell tales ranging from comedy to tragedy, drama to farce and most especially encompassing the broad, treasure-laden churches of adventure and romance. Le Scorpion is a graphic series which embraces and accommodates all of these and more…

Belgian writer Stephen Desberg is one of the most popular and bestselling comics authors in the business. Born in Brussels, he is the son of an American lawyer (European distribution agent for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer) who married a French woman. He began studying law at Université Libre de Bruxelles, but dropped out to follow a winding path into the bande dessinée biz.

It began with plots – and eventually scripts – for Willy Maltaite – AKA “Will” – on Tif et Tondu in Le Journal de Spirou, as he grew into a reliable jobbing creator on established strips for younger readers. He ultimately launched his own with Billy the Cat (a funny-animal strip drawn by Stéphane Colman, not DC Thomson’s be-whiskered boy superhero). In quick succession came 421 with Eric Maltaite, Arkel (with Marc Hardy), Jimmy Tousseul (Daniel Desorgher) and many, many more. Throughout the 1980s, Desberg gradually redirected his efforts into material for older readerships (like The Garden of Desire and, in 1999 he originated contemporary thriller IR$, with today’s historical fantasy joining his catalogue of major hits one year later.

Enrico Marini attended the School of Fine Arts in Basle before starting his creative career. Drawn since childhood to comics and manga, he began selling his artistic skills as the 1980s ended. A stint on junior adventure strip Oliver Varèse led to Gypsy (1993-1996), after which he began collaborating with Desberg on western L’Etoile du Desert. Contiguously crafting detective serial Rapaces with Jean Dufaux, Marini teamed again with Desberg in 2000 on Le Scorpion. In 2007, the illustrator added writing to his repertoire with historical drama Les Aigles de Rome and latterly Batman saga Dark Prince Charming.

A complex historical romp in the movie style of Robin Hood, The Three Musketeers and – if you squint right – Dangerous Liaisons and Pirates of the Caribbean, The Scorpion is a devious rollercoaster of sumptuous epic intrigue laced together with cunning factual underpinnings fuelling the frantic fantasy and chilling conspiracy. This first expansive English-language Cinebook translation is available in album-sized paperback and eBook formats, bundling together the first two European tomes – La marque du diable and Le secret du pape as released in October 2000 and October 2001 – into one grand bulging behemoth of literary and pictorial gold.

The fun starts in The Devil’s Mark, opening with a fulsome flashback to the most critical moment in the mighty Roman Empire’s long and bloody history. At a place and time when nine families secretly own and rule everything, a pact is made placing all their resources – if not actual Faith – in the coming thing: an intriguing new religion to be called Christianity. The families will remain in charge and in control, but now the official face and might of Rome will not be short-lived Caesars, but rather divinely guided Popes…

Tumbling forward to the early 18th century, we see roguish conman, historian, tomb-robber and relic retailer Armando Catalano – and capable but constantly carping assistant Hussard – deftly swiping the bones of long-lost Saint Alastor. These affable scoundrels are blithely unaware that elsewhere, malign forces within the Church are mobilising to change the way the world runs, with especial significance for freewheeling faith-exploiting entrepreneurs like themselves…

The current Pope is a well-meaning, unconventional commoner set on a path of reform, but that doesn’t matter to sinister advisor Monsignor Trebaldi. Even though doctrine should make the Pope infallible – literally God’s hand and word on Earth – the militant cleric gives his allegiance to an older belief than Christianity…

“Cardinal Eagle” has decided to reinstate the direct influence of the nine families using the papacy as his tool of statecraft. That means somehow first reuniting the varied clans who have drifted into isolation and bitter rivalry over centuries. The first step has already been accomplished. Cosmopolitan Rome is now heavily policed by the Order of the Knights of Christianity: warrior monks who are the Eagle’s own paramilitary zealots and a militant faction gaining in strength despite every effort of the incumbent Pontiff to reign them in…

Devil-may-care Armando is the son of Magdalena Catalan, an infamous witch burned after “seducing a high-ranking priest away from the one true faith”. As sign and proof of his ill-begotten origins, their son bears upon his shoulder a birthmark of the devil: a scorpion signalling his diabolical origins. The brand has not stopped him becoming well-known to every rich patron desperate to possess holy relics, but now, inexplicably, it makes him Trebaldi’s personal obsession. However, after the Cardinal despatches seductive “gypsy” Mejai to assassinate Armando, her repeated attempts all fail. It is as if her target has the luck of the devil on his side…

Alerted and affronted, Armando retaliates, even breaking into an inviolable palace to have a discussion with the Pontiff, only to discover a previously-hidden connection between Trebaldi and his own long-dead mother, and that an even greater scandal and mystery have been draped around the circumstances of his birth! The war of wills escalates rapidly, and the Scorpion finally confronts the Cardinal… seemingly paying the ultimate price for his indiscretions…

The drama expands and tensions mount in The Pope’s Secret with an hallucinogenic flashback offering even more clues into the astoundingly long-planned conspiracy, via a glimpse at Armando’s early life following Magdalena’s incendiary execution. This ends abruptly as faithful Hussard rouses him from the death-like coma caused by Mejai’s latest attempt to kill them. With the Romi assassin their prisoner, our shabby heroes seek further information regarding which high-ranking churchman was Armando’s debauched father by boldly infiltrating the Eagle’s citadel. They instead discover the Cardinal has appropriated the Secret Files of the Vatican, and plans to kill the Pope and replace him…

The outlaws are horrified at this travesty and assault on reality. They frantically race back to

Rome to halt the abomination.

They almost make it…

To Be Continued…

Effortlessly blending devious plots and beguiling historical conspiracies with riotous swashbuckling adventure and non-stop, breathtaking action, this blistering, bombastic and exotically engaging period thriller gives Game of Thrones, The Name of the Rose and even frothier romps like Da Vinci’s Demons a real run for their money. The twelfth and latest volume – Le Mauvais Augure – arrived in 2019 after far too long a hiatus, so there’s plenty for fans of the genre to catch-up to and adore…
Le Marque du diable & Le Secret du pape © Dargaud Benelux (Dargaud-Lombard SA) 2000, 2001 by Desberg & Marini. All rights reserved. English translation © 2008 Cinebook.

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Noggin the Nog


By Oliver Postgate & Peter Firmin (Egmont)
Noggin the King ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8152-2 (HB)
Noggin and the Whale ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8153-9 (HB)
Nogbad Comes Back ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8155-3 (HB)
Noggin and the Dragon ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8154-6 (HB)
Nogbad and the Elephants ISBN 978-1- 4052-8142-3 (HB)
Noggin and the Moon Mouse ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8141-6 (HB)
Noggin and the Storks ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8144-7 (HB)
Noggin and the Money ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8143-0 (HB)

Baby Boomers like me consider our childhoods – no matter how feted or feral, and personally privileged or dire and deprived – to have been a golden age in terms of liberty, agency and especially entertainment. That’s probably due in large part to being exposed to the gentle, life-affirming fantasy worlds of these guys.

Today celebrating a century of being splendid, Richard Oliver Postgate was a writer, puppeteer, animator and unrepentant itinerant storyteller who was born to an extremely prestigious, overachieving and drama-drenched family. He entered the world on April 12th 1925 in Hendon Middlesex and was eventually educated at Woodstock School, Woodhouse Secondary, the legendary Dartington Hall School/College and Kingston College of Art. He joined the Home Guard in 1942 but when at last called up, declared himself a Conscious Objector – just as his father had during the Great War. Court martialled and sentenced to Feltham Prison, Oliver eventually became a land-worker growing crops. After the war he worked for the Red Cross in Occupied Germany. On returning to Britain in 1948, he went to Drama School and drifted from job to job.

In 1957, whilst working as a stage manager for commercial TV company Associated Rediffusion, he observed the appalling quality of children’s programming up close and knew he could do better for the same paltry money offered. Writing Alexander the Mouse he convinced a Central School of Art tutor named Peter Firmin to draw the backgrounds for him. After moving on to short-lived deaf-viewer project The Journey of Master Ho, in 1959 the creators formalised their partnership as independent studio Smallfilms. The rest is history… and fantasy and wonder and charm and devastating nostalgia…

When not shaping the minds of 30-years-worth of kids, Postgate continued trying to save the world and refine its inhabitants. He was active in the CND movement, penning their pamphlet The Writing on the Sky and 1981 book Thinking it Through: The Plain Man’s Guide to the Bomb. In 1986, he created a 15-meter artwork for his latterday romantic partner Naomi Linnell’s book Illumination of the Life and Death of Thomas Beckett, repeating the exercise for The Triumphant Failure (about Christopher Columbus) and triptych A Canterbury Chronicle, which ended up in the city’s Royal Museum Art Gallery and Eliot College Campus…

Working when he pleased, Postgate narrated – in the calm, quietly compelling voice that became hardwired into the brains of millions – radio comedy and documentary shows, more books such as autobiography Seeing Things, and accompanied (arguably) his greatest creation Bagpuss – voted in 1999 the Most Popular Children’s Television Programme of All Time – as the plushly-stuffed purple & white cat accrued awards such as an honorary degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Postgate died – hopefully properly and rightly well-contented – in Broadstairs Kent, on December 8th  2008.

Peter Arthur Firmin was born in Harwich on 11th December 1928. Following training at Colchester School of Art and National Service in the Royal Navy, he attended Central School of Art and Design in London from 1949 to 1952. A creative man of many talents and disciplines, he then worked as a stained-glass designer, jobbing illustrator and lecturer.

Whilst teaching at Central in 1957 he was targeted by audacious, up-and-coming children’s TV writer Oliver Postgate who believed (quite rightly) that clever individuals could produce high-quality kids’ viewing at reasonable cost.

After crafting backgrounds for Postgate’s Alexander the Mouse and The Journey of Master Ho, Firmin became equal partner in new venture Smallfilms, which grew in and out of a shed at the artist’s Canterbury home. The kindred spirits initially produced hand-drawn cartoons and eventually stop motion animation episodes for series including Ivor the Engine, Pingwings, The Saga of Noggin the Nog, Pogle’s Wood/The Pogles, Bagpuss, The Clangers and much more. Postgate wrote, voiced and filmed, whilst Firmin – roping in any family and friends in the immediate vicinity – drew, painted, built sets and made puppets. Their spouses were often dragooned too, if they showed useful talents like sewing or knitting…

During those early days Firmin seemed tireless. In addition to the Smallfilms job he also devised, designed and populated other kids shows such as The Musical Box and Smalltime. In 1962 with Ivan Owen he created a fox puppet for The Three Scampies. That creation soon had his own show and career as Basil Brush…

Throughout his life, Firmin continued his cartooning and illustration career. This included writing and/or illustrating a number of books including Basil Brush Goes Flying, The Winter Diary of a Country Rat, Nina’s Machines and Postgate’s Seeing Things – An Autobiography. Firmin also worked as a printmaker and engraver, designer and educator. In 1994 he was asked to create a British postage stamp and produced a magnificent offering featuring Noggin and the Ice Dragon.

Even at their most productive and overworked, Postgate & Firmin always ensured there was plenty of ancillary product such as Christmas Annuals, comic strips, spin-off books, games and puzzles for their devoted young fans. One of the most charming and enduring was a series of “Starting-to-Read” books released by Kaye & Ward between 1965 and 1973. Postgate & Firmin crafted all 8 books in a kid-friendly format gently sharing the further adventures of the Nicest Norseman of Them All…

In 2016 the octet of all ages, easy-going comedy dramas and gently humorous escapades were rereleased as superb hardcover editions perfect for tiny hands, but are now (at least thus far) out-of-print-&-hard-to-find. Starring the full TV cast and illustrated in a variety of duo-toned line-&-colour tomes, they display all the wit and subtle charm of the irrepressible Firmin whilst Postgate seductively and seditiously showed how much nicer things could be if we all tried a little harder to get on with each other.

This is the Saga of Noggin the Nog… Upon the death of his father, quiet, unassuming Noggin becomes king of the northland Viking tribe known as the Nogs. He rules with understanding and wisdom – generally thanks to his advisors: wife Nooka who hails from the far north (we’d call her an Inuit or Inuuk princess these days), bluff old codger Thor Nogson and wisdom-stuffed talking green cormorant Graculus. Despite many fantastic but necessary adventures, Noggin prefers a quiet home life with his people and his boisterous son Knut…

Noggin the King opens with bucolic pastoral scenes of the Nogs, with the good-hearted sovereign helping his people however he can. However, whilst happily repairing the roof of an old farmer, the ruler dislodges a bird’s nest. Bringing the nest and its occupants back to his castle, he cares for the fledglings and mother, pondering if he is also the King of birds in the Land of Nogs. If he is, then they are his subjects too and thus he is responsible for their safety and welfare. Riven with doubt, the King, with Nooka at his side, sets out on a short quest/ fact-finding mission to confirm his suspicions and is rewarded by the feathered kingdom with a great but grave new honour…

Noggin and the Whale features far more light-hearted aspects of kingship as the mild-mannered monarch celebrates his birthday in the usual manner: doling out gifts to all the children of his realm. This year they all get musical instruments, but when they hold an impromptu concert on a boat in the little walled harbour, the merriment is interrupted by a most insistent whale.

Every time the kids get going the cetacean surges up under the boat and eventually even placid Noggin loss his temper and orders the sea-beast to swim away. Instead it glides over to the open harbour gate and sulkily blocks the way, just as Noggish fishing boats are trying to moor up for the night. Nothing the townsfolk can do will shift the surly creature.

Suddenly Prince Knut has an idea. He realises why the whale has been acting so strangely and, after consulting with his father, commissions Royal Inventor Olaf the Lofty to create a unique present for the morose marine mammal…

Originally released in 1966, Noggin and the Dragon sees little Prince Knut and his chums pestering the royal couple to let them go on a dragon hunt. Noggin and Nooka are reluctant at first – Dragon Valley is no place for little boys and besides, the best thing to do with dragons is give them sweets and make friends – but eventually the proud parents capitulate to pester power. To ensure things go smoothly they insist doughty old warrior Thor Nogson goes with them, but as the unruly boys trek into a gathering storm, no one has any idea of the shocking surprise in store for them all…

From the same year, Nogbad Comes Back highlights the return from exile of Noggin’s wicked usurping uncle, just in time to try and spoil the King’s annual animal and vegetable show. Living up to his name, Nogbad the Bad tries to win the glittering jewel-encrusted cup for best flora and fauna by devious cheating and, when that fails, through simple shameful theft. Thankfully, Nooka is not as forgiving and kind as her husband and has been keeping a close eye on her outlaw in-law…

The next year saw two more tomes: one of which may have been a notional precursor to one of Smallfilms’ most successful franchise creations. Noggin and the Moon Mouse begins with Knut enacting an official ceremony at a water trough. Proceedings are utterly disrupted when a strange silver ball crashes down and a child-sized rodent-like creature emerges. Caught up in the excitement, the prince and his unruly pals give chase… until Queen Nooka takes charge. After admonishing the boys, she and Noggin befriend the strange visitor (who actually comes from another world) helping him gather odd household items he requires to return to the stars.

And yes, a few years later a peculiar band of armoured woolly beasties began communicating with us all in their universally comprehensible pennywhistle pipings in a little show called The Clangers…

Nogbad and the Elephants proves there are many perks to being royal. One is wonderful presents such as the gigantic gem-encrusted, long-nosed big-eared beast presented to Prince Knut by the King of Southland. Sadly, the wonderful creature is perpetually unhappy and falls under the sway of crafty Nogbad who lures it away to steal its jewelled coat. Realising it’s been hoodwinked, the piteous pachyderm takes restorative action in its own unique manner, compelling Knut to make his first grown-up decision…

The last brace of tales originated in 1973, beginning with hilariously anti-capitalist tract Noggin and the Money. Here Court Inventor Olaf the Lofty suffers a setback in his dream to modernise the nation. Nogs have been happily soldiering on using barter and trade as long as anyone can remember, so when the big thinker creates coins as currency, he thinks he’s made life easier for everybody. Thor Nogson soon disagrees after he’s despatched to acquire eggs for the royal breakfast and meets rather a lot of resistance to this new-fangled commerce nonsense…

Wrapping up the fun is Noggin and the Storks as the King sagely deals with a minor ecological crisis. Sooty Storks have nested on the chimneys of the town for decades, using the heat of human cooking fires to warm their eggs. This year, as the birds are particularly numerous, the populace are continually being smoked out of their own homes.

Despite his people angrily petitioning Noggin to let them chase the pests away, as king of birds as well as people, the smooth sovereign seeks another, more equitable solution. Cue Olaf the Lofty, who has an idea involving an old chalk quarry, a stand of hollow trees, masses of convoluted piping, steel sheets and tons of firewood…

Serenely bewitching, engaging and endlessly rewarding (both these books and their much-missed, multi-talented originators) the works of Postgate and Firmin shaped generations of children and parents. If you aren’t among them, do yourself a great favour and track down those DVD box sets, haunt the streaming services and buy these books and anything else with their names on it. You won’t regret it for an instant.
Text © The Estate of Oliver Postgate 1965-1973. Illustrations © Peter Firmin/The Estate of Peter Firmin 1965-1973.

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Showcase Presents Eclipso


By Bob Haney, Lee Elias, Alex Toth, Jack Sparling, Bernard Baily & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2315-1 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Now that DC have finally launched their line of archival collections celebrating many years, styles and vogues of publication, I expect to be far less proselytising about books like this one not being in print. However, you can never really satisfy an Old Moaner, so until the wide and wonderful new assortment of DC Finest collections are also available digitally, I’ll still have something to whine about. Meanwhile, here’s a reminder about a book I suspect will be a while making the jump to a fresh full-colour edition…

Although it’s generally accepted that everybody loves a good villain, until rather recently they bad guys were  seldom permitted the opportunity of starring in their own series – except in British comics, where for decades the most bizarre and outrageous rogues such as Charlie Peace, Spring-Heeled Jack, Dick Turpin, Von Hoffman, The Dwarf and so many macabre others were seen as far more interesting (or possibly a threat to our jolly old class-strictured status quo) than mere lawmen.

However, when America went superhero crazy in the 1960s (even before the Batman TV show sent the whole world into a wild and garish “High Camp” frenzy), DC converted all its anthology titles into character-driven vehicles. Long-running paranormal investigator Mark Merlin suddenly found himself sharing the cover spot with a costumed but very different kind of co-star.

Breathing new life into the hallowed Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde concept, Bob Haney & Lee Elias debuted ‘Eclipso, The Genius Who Fought Himself’ in House of Secrets #61, cover-dated July-August 1963 and on sale from May 16th. Here began the torturous saga of solar scientist Bruce Gordon who was cursed to become host to a timeless Evil…

Whilst observing a solar eclipse on tropical Diablo Island, Gordon is attacked and wounded by Mophir, a crazed witchdoctor wielding a black diamond. As a result, whenever Gordon is in the locality of an eclipse – natural or artificial – his body is possessed by a demonic, destructive alter ego with incredible powers and malign hyper-intellect. The remainder of the first instalment depicted how the intangible interloper destroyed Gordon’s greatest achievement: a futuristic solar-powered city.

Format and formula established, Gordon, his fiancée Mona Bennett and her father, who was also Gordon’s mentor, pursued and battled the incredible Eclipso and his increasingly astounding schemes all across the world. At least the Demon of Darkness had a handy weakness: sudden exposure to bright lights would propel him back to his cage within Bruce Gordon…

‘Duel of the Divided Man’ saw the helpless scientist attempting to thwart the uncontrollable transformations by submerging to the bottom of the Ocean and exiling himself to space, to no effect, whilst in ‘Eclipso’s Amazing Ally!’ – illustrated by the justifiably-legendary Alex Toth – the malignant presence manifests when an artificial eclipse and lab accident frees him entirely from Gordon’s body. Against the backdrop of a South American war, Gordon and Professor Bennett struggle to contain the liberated horror but all is not as it seems…

HoS #64’s ‘Hideout on Fear Island’ finds Gordon, Mona & Bennett hijacked to a Caribbean nation inundated by giant plants for an incredible clash with giant robots and Nazi scientists. Naturally, when Eclipso breaks out things go from bad to worse. ‘The Man Who Destroyed Eclipso’ has the Photonic Fiend kidnap Mona before a deranged physicist actually separates Eclipso and Gordon as part of his wild scheme to steal a nuclear missile, after which the threat of a terrifying alien omnivore forces heroes and villain to temporarily join forces in ‘The Two Faces of Doom!’

‘Challenge of the Split-Man!’ sees Gordon and Eclipso again at odds as the desperate scientist returns to Mophir’s lair in search of a cure, before inexplicably following the liberated villain to a robot factory in Scotland. Veteran cartoonist Jack Sparling took over the artist’s role with #68, wherein ‘Eclipso’s Deadly Doubles!’ expose Gordon’s latest attempt to effect a cure but which only multiplies his problems, after which ‘Wanted: Eclipso Dead or Alive!’ relates how the beleaguered boffin is hired by Scotland Yard to capture himself – or at least his wicked and still-secret other self – before ‘Bruce Gordon, Eclipso’s Ally!’ returns the long-suffering trio to Latin America where an accident robs Gordon of his memory – but not his curse – leading to the most ironic alliance in comics…

‘The Trial of Eclipso’ has the astronomically-aligned felon finally captured by police and threatening to expose Gordon’s dark secret, after which ‘The Moonstone People’ strand the Bennetts, Gordon and Eclipso on a lost island populated by scientists – or is that “natural philosophers”? – who haven’t aged since their own arrival in 1612…

Even such a talented writer as Bob Haney occasionally strained at the effort of writing a fresh story for a villainous protagonist under Comics Code restrictions, and later tales became increasingly more outlandish. In ‘Eclipso Battles the Sea Titan’, a subsea monster threatens not just the surface world but also Eclipso’s ultimate refuge – Bruce Gordon’s fragile body – after which another attempt to expel or eradicate the horror inside accidentally actualises a far more dangerous enemy in ‘The Negative Eclipso’, whilst a criminal syndicate, fed up with the Photonic Fury’s disruption of their operations, decrees ‘Eclipso Must Die!’ in HoS #75.

It had to happen – so it did – when Mark Merlin (in his new and unwieldy superhero persona of Prince Ra-Man) clashed with his House of Secrets stable-mate in book-length thriller ‘Helio, the Sun Demon!’ (#76), with concluding chapter limned by the inimitable Bernard Baily. Here Eclipso creates a fearsome, fiery solar slave and the Bennetts team with the enigmatic super-sorcerer to free Bruce and save the world from flaming destruction.

All-out fantasy subsumed suspense in the strip’s dying days with aliens and weird creatures abounding, such as ‘The Moon Creatures’ which Eclipso grew from lunar dust to do his wicked bidding, or the hidden treasure of Stonehenge that transformed him into a ‘Monster Eclipso’. Issue #79 saw a return match for Prince Ra-Man in ‘The Master of Yesterday and Tomorrow!’, with Baily again pitching in for an extended epic as Eclipso gets his scurrilous hands on a selection of time-bending trinkets, before #80 (October 1966) ended the series with no fanfare, no warning and no ultimate resolution as ‘The Giant Eclipso!’ pitted the fade-away fiend against mutants, cops and his own colossal doppelganger.

Not everything old is gold and this quirky, exceedingly eccentric collection of comics thrillers certainly won’t appeal to everyone. However, there is a gloriously outré charm and helter-skelter, fanciful delight in these silly but absorbing sagas. If you’re of an open-minded mien and the art of Elias, Toth, Sparling and Baily appeals – as it should to all right-thinking fans – then this old-world casket of bizarre wonders will certainly appeal. In fact the drawing never looked more vibrant or effective than in this crisp and splendid monochrome collection.

Not for him or her or them then, but perhaps this book is for you?
© 1963-1966, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Bob Powell’s Complete Cave Girl


By Gardner Fox & Bob Powell, with James Vance, John Wooley, Mark Schultz & various (Kitchen Sink/Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-700-3 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times

Like every art form, comics can be readily divided into masterpieces and populist pap, but that damning assessment necessarily comes with a bunch of exclusions and codicils. Periodical publications, like pop songs, movies and the entirety of television’s output (barring schools programming), are designed to sell to masses of consumers. As such the product must reflect the target and society at a specific moment in time and perforce quickly adapt and change with every variation in taste or fashion.

The situation is most especially true of comics – especially those created before they had won any kind of credibility: primarily deemed by their creators and publishers as a means of parting youngsters from disposable cash. The fact that so many have been found to possess redeeming literary and artistic merit or social worth is post hoc rationalisation. Those creators striving for better, doing the very best they could because of their inner artistic drives, were being rewarded with just as meagre a financial reward as the shmoes just phoning it in for the paycheck. That sad state of affairs in periodical publication wasn’t helped by the fact that most editors thought they knew what the readership wanted – safe, prurient gratification – and mostly they were right.

Even so, from such swamps gems occasionally emerged…

The entire genre of “Jungle Girls” is one fraught with perils for modern readers. Barely clad, unattainable, (generally) white paragons of feminine pulchritude lording it over superstitious primitives is one that is now pretty hard to digest for most of us hairless apes, but frankly so are most of the attitudes of our grandfathers’ time.

However, ways can be found to accommodate such crystallised or outdated attitudes, especially when reading from a suitably detached historical perspective and even more so when the art is crafted by a master storyteller like Bob Powell. After all, it’s not that big a jump from fictionalised 1950s forests to today’s filmic metropolises where leather armoured (generally white) Adonises with godlike power paternalistically watch over us, telling us lumpy, dumpy, ethnically mixed losers how to live and be happy…

Sorry, I love all comics in all genres from all eras, but sometimes the Guilty Pleasure meter on my conscience just redlines and I can’t stop it. Just remember, it’s not real…

As businessmen or employees of such, editors and publishers always knew what hormonal kids wanted to see and they gave it to them. It’s no different today. Just take a look at any comic shop shelf or cover listings site and see how many fully-clad, small-breasted females you can spot. And how many equivalent male inamoratii there aren’t..

Cave Girl was one of the last entries of the surprisingly long-lived Jungle Queen genre and consequently looks relatively mild in comparison to other titles as regards suggestive or prurient titillation. Here the action-adventure side of the equation was always most heavily stressed and readers of the time could see far more salacious material at every movie house if they needed to. And the pages were so damn well drawn…

End of self-gratifying apologies. Let’s talk about Bob.

Stanley Robert Pawlowski was born in 1916 in Buffalo, New York, and studied at the Pratt Institute in Manhattan before joining one of the earliest comics-packaging outfits: the Eisner-Iger Shop. He was a solid and dependable staple of American comic books’ Golden Age, illustrating a variety of key features. He drew original Jungle Queen Sheena in Jumbo Comics plus other JG featurettes and Spirit of ’76 for Harvey’s Pocket Comics. He handled assorted material for Timely titles such as Captain America in All-Winners Comics, Tough Kid Comics plus such genre material as Gale Allen and the Women’s Space Battalion for anthologies like Planet Comics, Mystery Men Comics and Wonder Comics.

Bob was recently revealed to have co-scripted/created Blackhawk as well as drawing Loops and Banks in Military Comics, as well as so many more now near-forgotten strips: all under a variety of English-sounding pseudonyms, since the tone of the times was rather unforgiving for creative people of minority origins. Eventually the artist settled on S. Bob Powell and had his name legally changed…

Probably his most well-remembered and highly regarded tour of duty was on Mr. Mystic in Will Eisner’s Spirit Section newspaper insert. After serving in WWII, Bob came home and quit to set up his own studio. Eisner never forgave him. Powell – with his assistants Howard Nostrand, Martin Epp & George Siefringer – swiftly established a solid reputation for quality, versatility and reliability: working for Fawcett (Vic Torry & His Flying Saucer, Hot Rod Comics, Lash Larue), Harvey Comics (Man in Black, Adventures in 3-D and True 3-D) and on Street and Smith’s Shadow Comics.

He was particularly prolific in many titles for Magazine Enterprises (ME), including early TV tie-in Bobby Benson’s B-Bar-B Riders, Red Hawk in Straight Arrow, Jet Powers and the short but bombastic run of quasi-superhero Strong Man. Bob easily turned his hand to a vast range of War, Western, Science Fiction, Crime, Comedy and Horror material: consequently generating as by-product some of the best and most glamorous “Good Girl art” of the era (remember, this is pre pornhub and MTV), both in comics and in premiums strip packages for business. In the 1960s he pencilled the infamous Mars Attacks cards, illustrated Bessie Little’s Teena-a-Go-Go and the Bat Masterson newspaper strip, before ending his days drawing Daredevil, Human Torch and Giant-Man for Marvel.

This captivating compilation gathers all the Cave Girl appearances – written by equally gifted and ubiquitous jobbing scripter Gardner F. Fox – from numerous ME publications.

The company employed a truly Byzantine method of numbering their comic books so I’ll cite Thun’da #2-6 (1953), Cave Girl #4 (1953-1954) and Africa, Thrilling Land of Mystery #1 (1955) simply for the sake of brevity and completeness, knowing that it makes no real difference to your enjoyment of what’s to come.

This splendid tome includes a Biography of Bob, an incisive Introduction from Mark (Xenozoic, Superman: Man of Steel, Prince Valiant) Schultz, and an erudite essay – ‘King of the Jungle Queens’– by James Vance & John Wooley, diligently examining the origins of the subgenre (courtesy of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, William Henry Hudson’s novel Green Mansions and a slew of B-movies); its development in publishing; the effect of the phenomenon and Powell’s overall contributions to comics in a far more even-handed and informed way than I can manage…

That done, it’s time to head to an Africa that never existed for action and adventure beyond compare. Cave Girl started as a back-up feature in Thun’da #2: a primeval barbarian saga set in an antediluvian region of the Dark Continent where dinosaurs still lived. In ‘The Ape God of Kor’ the mighty primitive encounters a blonde stranger who can speak to birds and beasts, and helps her escape the unwanted attentions of a bestial tyrant. When that’s not enough to deter the monstrous suitor, Thun’da and Cave Girl have no choice but to topple his empire…

In #3, the wild woman met ‘The Man Who Served Death!’ – a criminal from the outer world whose hunger for gold and savage brutality necessitates his urgent removal from the land of the living. Cave Girl’s beloved animal allies are being wantonly slaughtered to appease ‘The Shadow God of Korchak!’ next, forcing the gorgeous guardian of the green to topple the lost kingdom’s debauched queen, after which the tireless champion tackles a trio of sadistic killers from the civilised world in ‘Death Comes Three Ways!’

A rather demeaning comedy sidekick debuted in ‘The Little Man Who Was All There!’ (Thun’da #6) as pompous “pigmy” (sorry, so sorry!!) bumbler Bobo attaches himself to Cave Girl as her protector. From there the forest monarch sprang into her own title, beginning with Cave Girl #11. ‘The Pool of Life!’ delved back in time to when a scientific expedition was wiped out, leaving little blonde toddler Carol Mantomer to fend for herself. Happily, the child was adopted by Kattu the wolf and grew tall and strong and mighty…

The obligatory origin dispensed with, the story proceeds to reveal how two white explorers broach the lost valley and reap their deserved fate after finding a little lake with mystic properties. Time honoured tables are turned when explorer Luke Hardin deduces Cave Girl’s true identity and convinces the wild child to come with him to Nairobi and claim her inheritance. Already appalled by the gadgets and morass of humanity in ‘The City of Terror!’, Carol’s decision to leave is cemented by her only living relative’s attempts to murder her for said inheritance…

En route home, her wild beauty arouses the desires of millionaire hunter Alan Brandon, but his forceful pursuit and attempted abduction soon teaches him he has a ‘Tiger by the Tail!’ before, her trek done, Cave Girl traverses high mountains and finds Alan and Luke have been captured by beast-like primitives and faces the ‘Spears of the Snowmen’ to save them both.

Even the usually astoundingly high-quality scripting of veteran Gardner Fox couldn’t do much with the formulaic strictures of this subgenre, but he always tried his best, as in Cave Girl #12 which opened with ‘The Devil Boat!’ – a submarine disgorging devious crooks in death-masks intent on plundering archaeological treasures found by Luke. Then when an explorer steals a sacred cache of rubies he learns that even Cave Girl can’t prevent his becoming ‘Prey of the Headhunters!’

Fantastic fantasy replaces crass commercial concerns as ‘The Amazon Assassins’ seeking to expand their empire ravage villages under Cave Girl’s protection. The Women Warriors have no conception of the hornet’s nest they are stirring up…

Cave Girl #13 took its lead tale from newspaper headlines as the jungle defender clashed with ‘The Mau Mau Killers!’ butchering innocents and destabilising the region, after which ‘Altar of the Axe’ features the return of those formerly all-conquering Amazons. They believe they can counter their arch-enemy’s prowess with a battalion of war elephants. Their grievous error then seamlessly segues into a battle with escaped convict Buck Maldin as ‘The Jungle Badman’ who is beaten by Cave Girl but allows greedy buffoon Bobo to claim the reward – and quickly regrets it…

Powell reached a creative zenith illustrating for Cave Girl #14 (1954), his solid linework and enticing composition augmented by a burst of purely decorative design which made ‘The Man Who Conquered Death’ a dramatic tour de force. When a series of murders and resurrections lead Cave Girl to a mad scientist who has found a time machine, she is transformed into an aged crone, but still possesses the force of will to beat the deranged meddler…

A tad more prosaic, ‘The Shining Gods’ sees a rejuvenated Cave Girl (and Luke) stalking thieves swiping tribal relics, only to uncover a Soviet plot to secure Africa’s radium, after which the queen of the jungle is “saved” by well-intentioned rich woman Leona Carter and brought back to civilisation. Happily, after poor Carol endures a catalogue of modern mishaps which equate to ‘Terror in the Town’, Cave Girl is allowed to return to her true home…

Officially the series ended there, but ME had one last issue ready to print and deftly shifted emphasis by re-badging the package as Africa, Thrilling Land of Mystery #1. It appeared in 1955, sporting a Comics Code Authority symbol. Inside, however, was still formulaic but beautifully limned Cave Girl exposing a conniving witch doctor using ‘The Volcano Fury’ to fleece natives, restoring ‘The Lost Juju’ of the devout Wamboolis before foiling a murderous explorer stealing a million dollar gem, and crushing a potential uprising by taking a fateful ride on ‘The Doom Boat’…

And then she was gone.

Like the society it protected from subversion and corruption, the Comics Code Authority frowned on females disporting themselves freely or appearing able to cope without a man, and the next half-decade was one where women were either submissive, domesticated, silly objects of amusement, ornamental prizes or just plain marital manhunters. It would be the 1970s before strong, independent female characters reappeared in comic books…

Whatever your political leanings or social condition, Cave Girl – taken strictly on her own merits – is one of the mostly beautifully rendered characters in pictorial fiction, and a terrific tribute to the talents of Powell and his team. If you love perfect comics storytelling, of its time, but transcending fashion or trendiness, this is a treasure just waiting to be rediscovered.
Bob Powell’s Complete Cave Girl compilation © 2014 Kitchen, Lind and Associates LLC. Cave Girl is a trademark of AC Comics, successors in interest to Magazine Enterprises and is used here with permission of AC Comics. Introduction © 2014 Mark Schultz. “King of the Jungle Queens” essay © 2014 James Vance and John Wooley. All rights reserved.

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Golden Age Doctor Fate Archives volume 1


By Gardner F. Fox, Hal Sherman, Stan Aschmeier, Jon Chester Kozlak & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1308-0 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

There are many comics anniversaries this year. The most significant will be rightly celebrated, but some are going to be unjustly ignored. As a feverish fanboy wedged firmly in the past, I’m still abusing my privileges to revisit another brilliant vintage book, criminally out of print and not slated for revival either physically or in digital formats…

One of the most interesting aspects of DC’s Golden Age superhero pantheon is just how much more they gripped the attention of writers and readers from succeeding generations, even if they didn’t set the world alight during their original “Glory Days”. So many relatively short-lived or genuinely second-string characters with a remarkably short shelf life through the formative years of the industry have, since the Silver Age which began in 1956, seldom been far from our attention: constantly revived, rebooted and resurrected. Some even make it onto the big and small screens…

One of the most revered, revisited and frequently revived is Doctor Fate, who first appeared in 1940, courtesy of writer Gardner F. Fox and the uniquely stylistic Howard Sherman. Although starting strong, Fate was another incredibly powerful man of mystery who failed to capture the imaginations of enough readers to build on the chimeric tone of the times. He underwent radical revision midway through his premier run, but with little effect. Dr. Fate lost his strip even before WWII ended. However, since his Silver Age revival, the good doctor has become a popular and resolute cornerstone of more than one DC Universe and he’s still going strong, albeit via some daringly radical forms.

In this magnificent graphic grimoire, following the historically informative and laudatory Foreword by big-time devotee fan/ Keeper of the Golden Age Flame Roy Thomas, this monumental 400-page full-colour deluxe hardback (representing the entirety of Doctor Fate’s run from More Fun Comics #55-98 (May 1940 to July/August 1944)) introduces the potentate of peril in a 6-page parable wherein he combats ‘The Menace of Wotan’.

For those simpler times, origins and motivations were far less important than plot and action, so this eerie yarn focuses on an eerie blue-skinned Mephistopheles’ scheme to assassinate comely yet enigmatic lady of leisure Inza Cramer and how her forceful golden-helmed protector thwarts the plot. Our hero deals harshly with the nefarious azure mage, barely mentioning in passing that Fate possesses all the lost knowledge and lore of ancient civilisations. That’s probably the biggest difference between the original and today’s Fate: back then, he was no sorcerer but an adept of forgotten science (a distinction cribbed from many Lovecraftian horror tales of the previous two decades of pulp fiction): a hair-splitting difference all but lost on the youthful readers.

Eighty-five years later (MFC #55 was on sale from March 29th 1940) we can enjoy again one of the most sophisticated relationships in comics. Fate’s soon-to-be-inseparable companion in peril – latterly Inza Nelson and Doctor Fate in her own right – was clearly also the thaumic troubleshooter’s paramour and disciple and an active player in all the action. However, she didn’t get to be the lead until the 1990s…

In #56 – which boasted the first of 11 cover spots for the Wielder of Old Wisdoms –‘The Search for Wotan’ sees Fate carry Inza up the Stairs of Judgement to Heaven, where they learn their foe is not dead but actually preparing to blow up Earth. Foiling the plan but unable to permanently despatch the big blue meanie, Fate is forced to bury his enemy alive at the centre of the world. Next issue revealed ‘The Fire Murders’ as certified doom-magnet Inza is targeted by mystic arsonist Mango the Mighty before her guardian Fate swiftly ends his campaign of terror, whilst in #58 a modern mage recovers ‘The Book of Thoth’ from its watery tomb, unleashing a wave of appalling, uncanny phenomena until the Blue-&-Gold Gladiator steps in. The self-appointed bulwark against wicked mysticism levitates out of his comfort zone in More Fun #59 to repel an invasion by ‘The People from Outer Space’ but is firmly back in occult territory one month later to destroy ‘The Little Men’ tasked to crush humanity by a mythic triumvirate of colossal Norns.

Behind #61’s striking Sherman cover, ‘Attack of the Nebula’ pits the Puissant Paladin against a cosmic cloud and wandering planetoid summoned by an Earthly madman to devastate Earth, before detailing the doctor derailing a deranged technologist’s robotic coup in #62’s ‘Menace of the Metal Men’ and saving Inza from petrification by ‘The Sorcerer’ in More Fun #63. Like many of Fox’s very best heroic series, Doctor Fate was actually a romantic partnership, with mysterious Inza (only after a number of surnames did she eventually settle on Cramer) acting as assistant, foil, and so very often, target of many macabre menaces. In #64 she and Fate – who still had no civilian identity – share a pleasure cruise to the Caribbean where a slumbering Mayan God of Evil wants to utilise her unique psychic talents in ‘The Mystery of Mayoor’.

Inza got a brief rest in #65 as Fate soloed in a bombastic battle to repel an invasion of America by ‘The Fish-Men of Nyarl-Amen’, but plays a starring role in the next episode as the Doctor exposes a sadistic crook seeking to drive his wealthy cousin to suicide by convincing her that she is ‘The Leopard Girl’…

A year after his debut, More Fun Comics #67 (May 1941) at last revealed ‘The Origin of Doctor Fate’: depicting how in 1920, American boy Kent Nelson had accompanied his father Sven on an archaeological dig to Ur. Broaching a pre-Chaldean pyramid, the lad awakened a dormant half-million-year-old alien from the planet Cilia, as well as accidentally triggering security systems that kill his father. Out of gratitude and remorse, the being known as Nabu the Wise trained Kent for two decades, teaching him how to harness the hidden forces of the universe – levitation, telekinesis and the secrets of the atom – before sending him out into the world to battle those who used magic and science with evil intent.

That epic sequence only took up three pages, however, and the remainder of the instalment finds time and space for Fate & Inza to repel a ghostly incursion and convince Lord of the Dead Black Negal to stay away from the lands of the living…

Fate had graduated to 10-page tales and claimed the covers of More Fun #68-76, beginning a classic run of spectacular thrillers by firstly crushing a scientific slaughterer who had built an invisible killing field in ‘Murder in Baranga Marsh’, before gaining a deadly archenemy in #69 as deranged physicist Ian Karkull uses a ray to turn his gang into ‘The Shadow Killers’. In #70, the shadow master allies with Fate’s first foe as ‘Wotan and Karkull’ construct an arsenal of doomsday weapons in the arctic. They are still too weak to beat the Master of Cosmic Forces though, whereas rogue solar scientist Igorovich would have successfully blackmailed the entire planet with ‘The Great Drought’ had Inza not dramatically intervened.

With involvement in WWII now clearly inevitable, covers had increasingly become more martial and patriotic in nature, and with More Fun #72 (October 1941) Fate underwent an unexpected and radical change in nature. The full-face helmet was replaced with a gleaming metallic half hood and his powers were diminished. Moreover, the hero was no longer a cold, emotionless force of nature, but a passionate, lusty, two-fisted swashbuckler throwing more punches than pulses of eerie energy. His previous physical invulnerability was countered by revealing that his lungs were merely human and he could be drowned, poisoned or asphyxiated…

The quality and character of his opposition changed too. ‘The Forger’ pits him against a gang of conmen targeting Inza’s family and other farmers: altering intercepted bank documents to pull off cruel swindles. A far more rational and reasonable nemesis debuted in MF #73 when criminal mastermind ‘Mr. Who’ uses his body-morphing, forced-evolution “Solution Z” to perpetrate a series of sensational robberies.

Despite a rather brutal trouncing – and apparent death – the brute returned in #74 in ‘Mr. Who Lives Again’, with the sinister scientist employing his abilities to replace the City Mayor, whilst in #75 ‘The Battle Against Time’ finds Fate racing to locate the killer who framed Inza’s best friend for murder. Underworld chess master Michael Krugor manipulates people like pawns but ‘The King of Crime’ is himself overmatched and outplayed when he tries to use Inza against Fate, after which #77 saw a welcome – if brief – return to the grand old days as ‘Art for Crime’s Sake’ finds the Man of Mystery braving a magical world of monsters within an ancient Chinese painting to save young lovers eldritchly exiled by a greedy art dealer…

MF #78 details how clever bandits disguise themselves as statues of ‘The Wax Museum Killers’, whilst #79’s ‘The Deadly Designs of Mr. Who’ reveal how the metamorphic maniac attempts to impersonate and replace one of the richest men on Earth, before #80’s innovative felon ‘The Octopus’ turns a circus into his playground for High Society plunder. In More Fun #81, cunning crook The Clock exploits radio show ‘Hall of Lost Heirs’ to trawl for fresh victims and easy pickings prior to the next issue finding Fate exposing the schemes of stage magician/conman The Red Sage, who was offering ‘Luck for Sale!’…

‘The Two Fates!’ sees fortune tellers using extortion and murder to bolster their rigged prognostications only to be stopped by the real deal and in #84, the energetic evil-buster braves ‘Crime’s Hobby House!’ to stop thieving special effects wizard Mordaunt Grimm using rich men’s own pastimes to rob them.

Clearly still floundering the series saw big changes for Kent Nelson with #85. Here the stereotyped society idler rapidly and implausibly qualifies as a surgeon and medical doctor, before embarking on a new career of service to humanity. Additionally, his supra-human alter ego ditches the golden cape to become an acrobatic and human – albeit still bulletproof – crimebuster exposing a greedy plastic surgeon helping crooks escape justice as ‘The Man Who Changed Faces!’

Medical themes predominated in these later tales. ‘The Man Who Wanted No Medals’ was a brilliant surgeon who feared a crushing youthful indiscretion would be exposed and #87’s ‘The Mystery of Room 406’ dealt with a hospital cubicle where even the healthiest patients always died. In ‘The Victim of Doctor Fate!’, Nelson suffers crippling self-doubt after failing to save a patient. These only fade after the surgeon’s diligent enquiries reveal the murderous hands of Mad Dog McBain secretly behind the untimely demise…

Charlatan soothsaying scoundrel Krishna Das is exposed by Fate & Inza in #89’s ‘The Case of the Crystal Crimes’, after which ‘The Case of the Healthy Patient!’ pits them against a fraudulent doctor and incurable hypochondriac. Using his chemical conjurations to shrink our hero to doll size in #91’s ‘The Man Who Belittled Fate!’, Mr. Who resurfaces, but is soundly sent packing and – whilst still in jail – the Thief of Time strikes again in More Fun #92 as ‘Fate Turns Back The Clock!’ Next issue, superbly efficient and underrated Hal Sherman ended his long association with the strip in ‘The Legend of Lucky Lane’, wherein an impossibly fortunate felon finally plays the odds once too often…

As the page-count dropped back to 6 pages, Stan Aschmeier illustrated the next two adventures, beginning with 94’s ‘The Destiny of Mr. Coffin!’ as Fate comes to the aid of a fatalistic old soul framed as a fence, whilst ‘Flame in the Night!’ sees a matchbox collector targeted by killers who think he knows too much…

With the end clearly in sight, Jon Chester Kozlak took over the art, beginning with More Fun #96’s ‘Forgotten Magic!’, wherein Fate’s supernal Chaldean sponsor is forced to remove the hero’s remaining superhuman abilities for a day – leaving Kent Nelson to save trapped miners and foil their swindling boss with nothing but wits and courage. The restored champion then exposes the spurious bad luck reputed to plague ‘Pharaoh’s Lamp!’ and ends/suspends his crime-crushing career in #98 by sorting out a case of mistaken identity when a young boy is confused with diminutive Stumpy Small AKA ‘The Bashful King of Crime!’…

With the first age of superheroes coming to a close, the readership were developing new tastes. Fate’s costumed co-stars Green Arrow, Aquaman and Johnny Quick – along with debuting super-successful concept Superboy – all migrated to Adventure Comics, leaving More Fun as an anthology of cartoon comedy features. Initially dark, broodingly exotic and often genuinely spooky, Doctor Fate smoothly switched to the bombastic, boisterous, flamboyant and vividly exuberant post war Fights ‘n’ Tights style but couldn’t escape evolving times and trends. Here and forever, however, both halves of his early career can be seen as a lost treasure trove of pulse-pounding pulp drama, tense suspense, eerie enigmas, spectacular action and fabulous fun: one no lover of Costumed Dramas or sheer comics wonderment can afford to miss. Let’s hope the weird world of movies can pay us old comic geeks a dividend in a new edition sometime soon…
© 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Wendy Project


By Melissa Jane Osborne & Veronica Fish (Super Genius/Papercutz)
ISBN:978-1-62991-769-6 (TPB)

When does a favourite story or plot become an actual artefact of culture accessible to all? What separates last year’s fictional trope (dystopian future oppresses valiant outsider teen; alienated kid courted by supernatural lover; magic exists but the authorities have been covering it up; there are gangs of likable criminals in big cities and such like) from fundamental narrative memes that underpin all aspects of societal development (underprivileged hero overcomes great odds to win a birthright; loss of loved ones leads to path of vengeance; clever child becomes powerful adult by overcoming adversity; somewhere there exists someone who GETS me; if you just keep pushing you can possess a perfect ornamental helpmeet and you get the picture, no?)?

When you read a fantastic and gripping saga of mortal heroes valiantly slaying a marauding dragon, has the author accessed a rich and ancient cultural heritage or just swiped a scene from a currently in-vogue Tolkien tale?

In today’s likes-driven mass entertainment-monopolised world, certain classic stories – such as Romeo and Juliet, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz – have been continually referenced, either overtly or surreptitiously, for numerous commercially sound reasons: assured consumer familiarity, brand awareness or simply that the originals were so masterful that we just don’t want them to end.

In 2015 Emet Comics released a beguilingly fresh riff on J. M. Barrie’s immortal paean to childhood Peter Pan, contrived by actress/writer Melissa Jane Osborne (Oma, Campus Crush) and illustrator Veronica Fish (Spider-Woman, Archie, Slam), marrying inescapably recognisable fantasy landmarks with elements of authentic family tragedy in an often distressing coming-of-age story. In 2017, rereleased via All-Ages and Young Adults graphic novel publisher Papercutz in the US with many foreign editions, The Wendy Project became one of the most beautiful and evocative releases of the year, A year later the book was added to the Yalsa Great Graphic Novels for Teens list.

The entire enchanting emotional rollercoaster ride was available in a sturdy hardcover and compact paperback edition but somehow failed to become a household name in its own right.

Let’s be straight here: this story is the flip side of the coin. The issue at hand is not a fantastic journey to a place of wonders but what happens to the family if children are lost…

One night in New England, 16-year old Wendy Davies is driving her younger brothers home when the car crashes into a lake. As she loses consciousness, the aghast older sister thinks she sees little Michael being carried off into the sky by a flying boy…

An investigation proceeds, but even after leaving hospital Wendy clings to her conviction that her brother is still alive. After all, the police still haven’t found his body. Middle sibling John is no help. He hasn’t spoken since the crash and Wendy just knows he shares her secret…

Deeply traumatised, Wendy’s parents move her to a new school where a therapist cajoles her into starting a journal of words and pictures to help process her grief. Wendy knows what she knows, however. The flying boy is real and has taken Michael, so she must find them and bring her brother home again. As days pass Wendy starts seeing many of the kids at her school in new yet familiar lights. Are they part of the plot to keep Michael from her?

And then, slowly but with escalating frequency and power, the two worlds of New England and Neverland begin to blend and merge…

Mimicking the style of Wendy’s own pencil, pen and crayon recollections and interpretations, Osborne’s “awfully big adventure” is rendered by Veronica Fish in mostly monochrome tones with emphatic, explosive bursts of radiant colour as the fantasy – or is that a greater reality? – intersects with her process of recuperation or acceptance. The conclusion is one no participant is ready for…

So, when is it acceptable and even necessary to stand on the shoulders of narrative giants and play with their magnificent toys? When you can burnish the legend by looking with fresh eyes, add lustre to the original canon and make new wonders for new and old readers. The Wendy Project does just that and is a book you must read.
© 2017 Emet Entertainment LLC. & Melissa Jane Osborne. All Rights Reserved.

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Dolltopia


By Abby Denson (Green Candy Press)
ISBN: 978-1-931160-70-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

Not everybody is comfortable with whom they are and most of us don’t like to be assumed one thing when we’re another. Lulu/IPPY Award winner Abby Denson is a magically subversive cartoonist and journalist with such disparate notches in her belt as graphic novel Tough Love: High School Confidential (relating the Coming Out story of two suburban teens), lifestyle bibles Cool Tokyo Guide, Cool Japan Guide and The City Sweet Tooth: a culinary cartoon column about the New York desserts scene for L Magazine.

An educator (teaching at Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, Eugene Lang College at The New School, Sophia University, Tokyo), her script credits run from Scooby Doo and Power Puff Girls to Spider-Man via Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats, Disney Adventures and The Simpsons.

This entrancing shocking pink parable is an edgy, deceptively naivist fairy tale about gender, place and identity: making telling points in a clandestinely gentle manner via a swingeing attack and dissection of conformity…

Kitty Ballerina is a doll who escapes from The Factory, refusing to be what her makers tell her to be. During her escape she meets Army Jim, another maverick toy who refuses to conform. Together they make their way to the Promised Land of Dolltopia, where you can wear and look like and be whatever you want. With the comradeship and assistance of the cat Mr. M, fashion Divas Candy X and Candy O and slightly off-kilter, self-taught “plastic surgeon” the Doctor, the renegades make themselves at home and truly free…

However, freedom demands effort, vigilance and sacrifice. Some such recently emancipated individuals seem to crave their previous cultural indenture, and raids to liberate more dolls suffer when the apathetic conformists refuse to cast off their social shackles. However, the real threat comes when humans threaten to take away and destroy the hard-won oasis of security these disappointed rebels have strived so long and hard to win…

Charming and cleverly controversial, if perhaps a little heavy-handed at times (sometimes you need fireworks and two-by-fours just to get a mule’s attention!), this eclectic black, pink & white tome – complete with cut-out-&-dress paper dolls – is a winning and culturally crucial addition to the world of adult cartooning and the bigger one you can read it in. You’d be an idiot not to take a good long look – but of course you don’t have to be what I say you are…
© Abby Denson. All right reserved.

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Mimi and the Wolves volume 1


By Albaster Pizzo (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-91039-548-6 (HB/Digital edition)

Alabaster Pizzo is an animator and cartoonist who hails from New York, but makes her living in Los Angeles. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, she’s been intermittently releasing episodes of an epic anthropomorphic post-modern fantasy since 2013. When not animating or storyboarding for major companies you or your kids are quite familiar with, she crafts her own comics such as Ralphie and Jeanie, Hellbound Lifestyle and more of the one under consideration here…

A trio of those early Mimi minicomics were lavishly compiled into a sturdy hardback monochrome tome by the astute powers-that-be of British publisher Avery Hill and comprise the opening salvo in a potent and hopefully long-running allegory for personal empowerment – as all the best fairy tales are…

Preceded by a handy and informative map of the bucolic Hilly City region and a roll call of the major characters, Mimi and The Wolves Act I ‘The Dream’ opens with enigmatic, voyeuristic magician Severine chiding her attendant spirits in snow-draped forests before herbalist Mimi goes gathering plants and herbs for the constructions, concoctions and confections she makes. Times are tough for her and partner Bobo, but they have each other, and good friends in the same boat, so the treehouse they live in is all they really need…

The couple spend a lot of time helping out old farmers Cato and Ceres. Shady Island Farm is getting to be too much for them, so trading toil for food is always a welcome standby option.

Thankfully, Saffron at the general store is always keen to trade for Mimi’s creations and the farm’s dwindling produce output, but the sensitive artisan is painfully aware that the unrelenting strain is getting the better of her fellow workers. Tough but happily idyllic, life would be perfect for Mimi… if only she wasn’t plagued by horrific dreams and terrifying nightmares…

Determined to get to the bottom of her traumas, Mimi distils a brew to provoke a lucid dream and is “rewarded” with an audience: a face-to-face confrontation with an apparent goddess calling herself the Holy Venus. This ethereal visitor tells her to seek out likeminded others and reveals to her a strange symbol by which she will know them. As spring turns to summer, the image obsesses Mimi, even becoming part of her artistic output, much to the growing discomfort and increasing resentment of Bobo. Ever-more distracted, Mimi forages deeper into the woods surrounding the village and one day comes face to face with a huge wolf…

For small woodland creatures like her and Bobo, these giant predators are a constant terror, but this one is different. His name is Ergot and he is a dedicated follower of Holy Venus. In Mimi he sees not lunch, but a fellow congregant. Before long she is invited to join his pack and share knowledge. Hungry for answers – and new experiences – the little artisan slowly falls under Ergot’s sway, and her life changes forever…

Act II ‘The Den’ was included in Best American Comics 2015 and reveals how life has treated Mimi since Bobo turned into an abusive controlling dick before she moved in with the wolves. Ergot and his mate Ivy have been sharing history and doctrine with her, but other than her former lover, Mimi still maintains contact with her other friends in Hilly City. That circle expands when Ceres and Cato take in wandering musician Kiko, and all but implodes when Mimi finally introduces them all to Ergot. Some prejudices are hardwired and cannot be placated or ameliorated…

Life becomes even more bewildering after meeting other wolfpacks. Cobalt, Copper and Opal are friendly enough – although they have unspoken problems with Ergot – but night-dark Nero and Galena live up to every scary stereotype city folk hold dear… and they seem to have an unsettling, unspecified interest in Mimi.

Events take a dark turn in Act III ‘The Howl’ after the revelation that constantly-observing Severine has a foreboding connection to the Holy Venus and is gradually enacting a complex plan. Mimi, however, has been fully inducted into the pack, but is blithely unaware that she is a highly desirable pawn in plans between rival groups who act more like cult families than simple kin. When Nero approaches her, Mimi is so terrified that she flees back to her city friends, but quickly returns to the lupine lair and agrees to attend a large gathering of packs.

… And in the unnoticed background, Kiko quietly observes all…

Joining the Howl is a huge mistake. Nero attacks Mimi and gives her to the Holy Venus as an offering and – although it’s possibly an induced hallucination – in the aftermath allegiances amongst the smaller packs are now twisted and shifted. When Ergot reverts to his true nature, the Goddess makes her move and Mimi comes into her true power…

One common notion of Paradises, Edens and Utopias is that they are always under imminent threat of ending. Life in the allegorical Hilly City and evergreen woods is a rural/small town ideal, but it’s never portrayed as immutable and stable. Amidst the cunning social echoes of Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons – as plain and simple rustic folk eke out a hard but generally rewarding life – comes an implicit awareness that things beyond the group are always disrupting and potentially harmful. Dissent is bad, change is bad, and we trust only ourselves are proven truisms, but they don’t mean a thing if the society harbours – and hinders – a rebel who needs to find their true self…

Bewitching and enticing, this magical mystery tour of self-discovery will charm and reward readers, so why not start your own quest for knowledge by joining this pack?
© Alabaster Pizzo. All rights reserved.

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Toby and the Pixies: volume 2: Best Frenemies!


By James Turner & Andreas Schuster with Kate Brown, Austin Boechle & Leanna Daphne (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-338-7 (TPB)

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

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

Crafted by the astoundingly clever James Turner (Star Cat, Super Animal Adventure Squad, Mameshiba, The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve) and Canadian cartoonist/designer/animator Andreas Schuster (KLARA AND ANTON in PRIMAX Magazine), Toby and the Pixies began in January 2020 (as I Hate Pixies) and, once out of the compost bag of creative wonders, just wouldn’t stop.

Those first forays were remastered and released as Toby and the Pixies: Worst King Ever! where the unwary and unwise learned how one nerdy boy at a Surburbiton high school – 12-year old overachiever Toby Cauldwell – really began fitting in. After all, it was hard enough enduring overbearing popular classmates like smarmy trendy “online influencer” Joe and snarky bully Steph but at least fellow style exile Mo was in the same boat. Everything changed – generally for the worst – after Toby’s electric toaster-obsessed Dad ordered the little wastrel to sort out the unruly back garden…

That’s when Toby discovered the wild, suburban jungle was, unknown to any mortal, a screen for a fabulous fey realm. This ethereal yet rather mucky enclave had endured unseen in the green shambles of the Cauldwell backyard for countless ages. However – due to an inept and inadvertent act of emancipation sparked by Toby kicking an unfortunately placed plaster garden gnome – the status quo forever altered and the reluctant lad was inadvertently elevated to the position of supreme overlord. It was only for a hidden kingdom of magical morons but they were really happy to be shot of their previous mad mean magical master.

As interpreted by the former King’s advisors Mouldwarp (Royal Druid), wise(ish) Gatherwool (Lore Keeper/Potion Master) and Toadflax (she eats stuff); deliberate or not, despatching King Thornpickle made Toby new absolute monarch. Pixie law also stated said ruler could do anything they wanted… a prospect so laden with responsibility that it made Toby weep with terror…

Just coming to terms with magic actually existing and that freaky, anarchic little imps can do it whilst still being absolute idiots and morons was awful enough, without also still having to survive school’s normal and traditional horrors. Thankfully, as the little odds and sods increasingly impinged and impacted on Toby’s life, education and prospects, they also turned school upside on a daily basis, and Toby’s fellow outcast Mo soon discovered the shocking secret. In the short term, it actually made things worse but now, apart from constant teasing and perpetual whining pleas to visit the magic kingdom, there is a fellow human King Toby can moan at.

… And then succession problems kicked off as magic-slime wielding Princess Sugarsnap – daughter of Thornpickle and rightful heir to a job Toby really, really doesn’t want – started her war to take back the throne…

This second commodious compendium opens with a chance to meet key regulars Toby, Mo, Steph, advisors Toadflax, Gatherwool & Mouldwarp and evil usurper-in-waiting Princess Sugarsnap in a comprehensive double page intro. Then it’s back to school and off the deep end in ‘Chapter 1: Bully’ wherein the pestiferous advisors gear up to look (nothing) like a normal person. The plan is to sort out mean girl Steph, but only serves to amplify suspicions she never used to have, leading to revelation and a well-deserved détente. ‘Chapter 2: Steph Meets the Pixies’ sees her forcibly brought up to speed on the incredible truth of Toby’s life when Sugarsnap launches a slime invasion, ensuring the strictly minor league abuser gets a peek at real stinky evil and, maybe, her own potential future…

Now, still obnoxious and bossy but part of the team, Steph helps contain the chaos when Toadflax trades identities with Toby (without asking permission) and inadvertently deals attention-addict Joe a reputation-ruining life lesson in ‘Chapter 3: Body Swap’ prior to an official invitation to the magic kingdom in ‘Chapter 4: Steph Joins the Team’. The state visit gives her and Toby time to bond over a shared passion – TV sleuth Inspector Humps – and even solve a uniquely fairy felony when someone steals Farmer Haydrizzle’s stinkworms…

Idle playground chatter about wasted time and pointless tasks leads to ‘Chapter 5: Double Trouble’ after Gatherwool unleashes a harvest of doppelgangers by sowing a crop of double seeds. The school is pretty used to weirdness by now, and only unlikable geography teacher Mr. Morris doesn’t make it back next day…

Toby’s perpetually disappointed grandmother and grandfather are compelled to expose their long-suppressed true natures after ‘Chapter 6: Grandparent Grumblings’ sees an unwelcome duty go utterly off the rails when the magically tooled-up advisors come along for the ride, after which the reluctant ruler joins Mo on a birthday jaunt to see the animals in ‘Chapter 7: Zoo’s There?’ Typically unwilling to be left behind, the advisors don’t really get the point of “animal prison” and their mystic meddling has lasting repercussions. At least Mo, Steph and Toby get to become their spirit animals in the vain efforts to fix the carnage…

A terrifying human rite of passage comes next as a school landmark looms for Toby and Mo. Maybe the mania and mayhem happened because he admitted liking pretty blonde Deborah, or perhaps it was just the cursed dancing shoes the King stupidly accepted from the advisors that led to leads to ‘Chapter 8: Disco Discombobulation’…

Rampant capitalism hits the magic kingdom hard and without mercy next, as a property boom is manufactured by cunning cove and self-appointed loan-shark/banker Tricksy the Pixie in ‘Chapter 9: Boom and Bust’. It wasn’t so much all the ugly flimsy new builds, rampant unheeding greed of the elfin borrowers or even the million percent interest rates that caused the inevitable collapse as putting their faith in a base currency that was water soluble and biodegradable…

As the King dealt with the fallout of that crisis Mo and Steph applied tried & trusted narrative principles to a potential pixie couple experiencing romantic frustration in ‘Chapter 10: Fairy Fail!’ – with typically revolting results, and a human fancy dress party (plus irate, interfering advisors) triggers a riot of fanciful manifestations in ‘Chapter 11: Princess-pocalypse’ before the magical misery tours stumble to a pause when a day choosing instruments and performers for the school orchestra only generates a spontaneous wave of despondency in ‘Chapter 12: The Glooms!’ Typically, the talent search degenerates into a cacophony of sadness and woe with magically mutagenic effects even young King Cauldwell and his court are affected: all but Steph who has to do something truly unwelcome to save the day…

Wrapping up the fey foolishness is an activity section detailing ‘How to Draw Steph Expressions’ and  ‘Steph’s Body’ and thereafter closing with the now-standard Special Preview feature focusing on what other word-&-picture wonderment awaits in the periodical Phoenix…

Toby and the Pixies is a joyous concatenation of nonsense no lover of laughs and lunacy should deprive themselves of and a feast of yuckky yoks all kids will gleefully consume.
Text and illustrations © The Phoenix Comic 2025. All rights reserved.

Toby and the Pixies: volume 2: Best Frenemies! is published on March 13th 2025 and available for preorder now.