Category: Fantasy

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Ka-Zar Marvel Masterworks volume 2


By Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber, Carol Seuling, Ross Andru, Don Heck, Dan Adkins, Jim Starlin, Marie Severin, Werner Roth, George Tuska, Paul Reinman, Mike Royer, Bob Brown, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0966-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

There are quite a few comics anniversaries this year. Some of the most significant will be rightly celebrated, but a few are going to be unjustly ignored. As a feverish fanboy wedged firmly in the past, I’m again abusing my privileges and advising an encounter with something old, nigh forgotten but definitely worth a soupçon of your time and energies…

IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE! …and apparently everywhere else, too…

Retconned from a pulp hero and latterly comics B-Lister from the early days of Timely comics, primal white jungle god Ka-Zar most accurately stems from 1965 where he stole the show in a dinosaurs & mutants yarn in X-Men #10.

Beginning as a cheeky Tarzan tribute act relocated to a lost world in a realm of swamp-men and dinosaurs, Ka-Zar eventually evolved into one of Marvel’s more complex – if variable – characters. Fabulously wealthy heir to one of Britain’s oldest noble families, his bestest friend is “sabretooth tiger” Zabu and his wife is feisty environmental-crusader Shanna the She-Devil. His dad was apparently a mad scientist, his brother a homicidal super-scientific modern day pirate. Kevin Reginald, Lord Plunder is perpetually torn between the clean life-or-death simplicity of the wilds and bewildering constant compromises of modern civilisation.

The primordial paragon is arguably Marvel’s oldest star, having begun life as a prose star, boasting three issues of his own pulp magazine between October 1936 and June 1937. They were authored by Bob Byrd – a pseudonym for publisher Martin Goodman or one of his retinue of staff writers. Goodman latterly shoehorned him into his speculative venture: new-fangled comic book Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), where he lurked alongside fellow pulp line graduate The Angel, Masked Raider, Human Torch and Sub-Mariner…

In the sixties, when Ka-Zar reappeared he was all rowdy, reimagined and renovated by Jack Kirby for X-Men #10 (cover-dated March but actually on sale from January 5th), and it was clear the uncrowned Sovereign of the Savage Land was destined for bigger and better things. However, for years all we got was guest shots as a misunderstood foe du jour for Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Spider-Man, and The Hulk.

In 1969 he got his shot as a lone wolf starring in Marvel Super-Heroes. Later that year – after Roy Thomas & Neal Adams used him so effectively in their X-Men run (issues #62-63) – Ka-Zar was awarded his own giant-sized title, reprinting most of his previous appearances. However, the reruns oddly bracketed all-new stories of Hercules and The Angel (the new one from X-Men not the costumed detective of the 1940s). That same month, his first solo series began in a split book entitled Astonishing Tales…

Gathering material from Astonishing Tales #17-20, Shanna the She-Devil #1-5, Ka-Zar (volume 2) #1-5 and Daredevil #110-112, spanning cover-dates December 1972 through August 1974, this sequel compilation volume begins with reminiscences from Mike Friedrich and Carole Petersen-Sueling in two separate (but equal) Introductions.

Previously, Ka-Zar & Zabu’s idyllically brutal lives hunting dinosaurs and battling aliens, gods, wizards and lost civilisations in the Savage Land had been turned on its head with the arrival of apparently irresistible S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbra “Bobbi” Morse (who becomes costumed spy/Avenger Mockingbird many years from now) and aging biologist Dr. Wilma Calvin. Their quest for a Super-soldier formula dragged the wild man across continents to Florida and into conflict with Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), the Man-Thing, super-mercenary Gemini and, on reaching New York City, drug lord dope peddler The Pusher…

Increasingly enamoured of Morse, Ka-Zar opts to give the modern world another go, but increasingly comes to despise the greed, the dirt, the greed, the callous brutality and the sheer greed of civilisation, especially after encountering the drug crisis first hand…

Culture clash conflict resumes with ‘Target: Ka-Zar!’ as crafted by Friedrich, Dan Adkins & Frank Chiaramonte for April 1973’s Astonishing Tales #17. Here, the Jungle Lord’s impatience and discontent are magnified when AIM again tries to snatch Calvin’s prototype serum, employing gunmen on the ground and ultimately super-mercenary Gemini to humiliatingly grab the formula from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s helicarrier and making Ka-Zar and Zabu look like idiots in the process…

Pride stung and mad as hell, the wild man follows Gemini to earth and falls into an ambush laid by his brother Parnival and backed up by his pet alien monster. Hired by AIM to secure the serum the Plunderer has the upper hand when ‘Gog Cometh!’ since the childlike colossus is lethally loyal and can teleport on command. He/it is also growing larger every minute…

The saga spirals out of control as Ka-Zar wins a rematch with Gemini but loses the serum sample to The Plunderer who heads for Manhattan whilst in Land’s End, England, another strand of the search for super-soldiers culminates with AIM scientist Professor Victor Conrad surviving a gun battle with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents by taking his own medicine…

Back in the USA, late-arriving Bobbi Morse and Zabu give the blonde barbarian a lift to Manhattan in time to channel the end of King Kong, as the ever-enlarging Gog runs amok with the local landmarks before confronting its destiny on top of the city’s tallest building, even as, far below, the strictly human clashes result in triumph for the forces of right and wonders of chemistry…

With the serum recovered and his honour upheld, the Noble Savage realises that – other than Bobbi – there is nothing about civilisation that please him, but as he ponders that and pines for the Savage Land, one last loose thread needs tying off as a new threat seizes control of AIM and seeks redress for past sins. Inked by Jack Abel, and with Jim Starlin stepping in to complete the episode begun by Adkins, AT #19 reveals ‘…And Men Shall Name Him… Victorius!’ as Conrad abducts agent Morse to obtain S.H.I.E.L.D.’s version of the formula that made him an unstoppable warrior. When Ka-Zar & Zabu track him down he rejects taking the serum himself and attacks the scientist, Gemini and brother Parnival in all his purely human might and main…

Marie Severin, Werner Roth & Frank Giacoia wrap up the run as Astonishing Tales # 20 (October 1973) depicts ‘The Final Battle!’ before Ka-Zar returns to his (un)natural environment and a new solo title, pausing only to crush his assembled foes turn down a job with Nick Fury and briefly regret losing Bobbi to the Big City….

Before that new beginning though, there’s a slight chronological sidestep to introduce a soon-to-be-crucial character who came and went with little fanfare a few months previously. As the costumed cohort craze subsided with the close of the Sixties, Stan Lee & Roy Thomas looked into creating a girl-friendly boutique of female stars written by women.

Opening shots in this act of liberation were Claws of the Cat by Linda Fite, Marie Severin & Wally Wood (who at least knew how to draw them) and Night Nurse by Jean Thomas & Win Mortimer. Both #1’s were cover-dated November 1972 and despite impressive creative teams none of these fascinating experiments lasted beyond a fifth issue, although a third shot was kept from limbo by some judicious teamwork. The caregiver vanished for decades and the feline fury mutated into Tigra, the Were-Woman in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), and even though their experimental comrade stuck around, the general editorial position was upheld… “books starring chicks don’t sell…”

Contemporary jungle queen – possibly the last hurrah of an extremely popular genre subset in Fifties comic books – Shanna the She-Devil #1 was created by Carole Seuling, Steve Gerber & George Tuska, and on sale from 29th August with a December 1972 cover date.

Inked by Vince Colletta, Shanna the She-Devil #1 debuted in a touching and troubled tale, detailing how the gun-hating daughter of Africa-based American game warden Gerald O’Hara became a vet in Manhattan. Wrapped in a contemporary framing sequence, ‘Shanna the She-Devil!’ recalls her origin whilst stalking ruthless poachers ravaging a game preserve in modern-day Africa.

The clash and her capture prompt memories of how, decades previously, she had fled that verdant world of casual slaughter to save lives… and how a moment of casual atrocity by “fun-loving” American gun nuts in the zoo where she worked led to the death of all its big cats bar two panther cubs she saved and fled to Africa with…

Recreating herself as guardian of nature, rearing the kittens Ina & Biri and training her body to the peak of physical readiness and unarmed combat prowess, Shanna O’Hara became a legend to the local peoples, a trusted and valuable ally to game warden Patrick McShane and a nemesis to all interlopers endangering the balance of nature or disrupting its uncompromising harmony…

Two months later Sueling, Ross Andru & Colletta exposed ‘The Sahara Connection!’ as Shanna acquiesces to the desperate requests of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jakuna Singh and uses her gifts and cats to crush drug-peddling human traffickers El Montano and Abdullah after which ‘The Moon of the Fear-Bulls!’ finds her fighting the murderous thralls of a lost Minoan colony sacrificing entire African villages to their lost gods and current chief Phobotauros: a maniac with an unsavoury secret…

Gerber scripted Seuling’s plot for #4 as ‘Cry… Mandrill!’ introduced one of Marvel’s wildest mutants. Searching for her vanished father, Shanna inadvertently unravels a conquest plot to subjugate three emerging African nations by the ape-visaged maniac with the power to control women – except apparently Shanna… usurped and captured, Mandrill scores one minor victory by admitting Gerald O’Hara is his hostage…

The series abruptly folded with #5 cover-dated August 1973, but as we’ll see here later, the She-Devil carried on via judicious team-ups and eventually scored a continuance of solo sagas in matured-themed monochrome magazine Savage Tales.

Here and now, Gerber, Andru & Colletta reveal ‘Where Nekra Walks – Death Must Follow!’ as Jakuna Singh, S.H.I.E.L.D. and FBI agent Amos Duncan request Shanna’s participation in dismantling the still-active organisation of Mandrill’s enthralled women: a task necessitating a quick consult with mutant advisor Professor Charles Xavier…

The trail then leads to barbarous ceremonies held by the villain’s top subordinate, a brutal superstrong mutant who stokes hatred to feed on the emotion and augment her powers. Directing all her loathing at Shanna makes Nekra physically unbeatable, but being angry all the time is no help if your opponent can stay calm and clear-headed…

Cover dated January 1974, Ka-Zar #1, (volume 2, and on sale from September 25th 1973) boasted the adventurer’s ‘Return to the Savage Land!’, courtesy of Friedrich, Paul Reinman & Mike Royer, and teasingly saw Shanna in a cameo as the victim du jour.

Being parachuted in by S.H.I.E.L.D. was the last modern convenience Kevin Plunder would stomach. Within minutes he was back battling behemoths in his furry underwear and announcing his return to all the primitive tribes, but Ka-Zar was blithely unaware that a new menace lurked. Evil necromancer Malgato, the Red Wizard sought power and control and used the Jungle Lord’s most despised enemy Maa-Gor the Man-Ape to carry out his schemes. These almost come together after a brief history of Ka-Zar’s kingdom, when a pteranosaur ambush leads to our stalwart hero being held for sacrifice beside a strikingly beautiful red-headed woman in a leopard-skin bikini…

Don Heck & Jack Abel limned the catastrophic conclusion and ‘The Fall of the Red Wizard!’ as faithful Zabu comes to the rescue, unleashing utter chaos, routing the wizard and latterly proving the mage and his mission were never what they seemed…

Issue #3 played out on the ‘Night of the Man-God!’ as Maa-Gor, humiliated again by the puny human, undertakes a trek to the mutagenic Region of Mists and gets boosted far up the evolutionary ladder. Transformed into a telepathic wonder, he still clings to his hatred of Ka-Zar and psychically connects to old X-Men villain El Tigre, drawing him to the Savage Land to trap his foe. The ambush succeeds, but only until Bobbi Morse shows up intent on settling unresolved issues. Battling the villains and stopping Man-God’s plans to despoil the wild sanctuary is a welcome break for both unhappy lovers but the battle carries over into #4, albeit broken here by a fabulous maps section entitled ‘Ka-Zar Presents The Savage Land’…

Plotted by “Bullpen West”, written by Friedrich and illustrated by Heck & Royer, ‘Into the Shadows of Chaos!’ sees Ka-Zar and all his allies crushed as the Man-God broadcasts global threats of extinction, before distracting himself by resurrecting his dead Man-Ape kin to destroy his most despised foe. The issue concludes with a Royer pin-up of ‘Ka-Zar’s Lair!’ before Mike Esposito inks the epic downfall of the monster in #5’s ‘A Man-God Unleashed!’ wherein a desperate Jungle monarch – and Bobbi – trash the anthropoidal zombies and Maa-Gor falls victim to his own doubts…

Ka-Zar would soon experience a complete change of outlook and genre, but the saga of Shanna and Mandrill carried on in series scripted by Gerber. Here, an excerpt from Daredevil #109 and longer extract from Marvel Two-in-One #3, bring DD, Black Widow, The Thing and, briefly, Captain America into the ongoing war with a sinister terrorist group…

In DD #109 (by Gerber, Bob Brown & Heck), Foggy Nelson’s radical student sister Candace tells Matt Murdock of a plot by criminal gang Black Spectre to steal government printing plates. En route to stop the raid the Scarlet Swashbuckler is intercepted by The Beetle and this brutal interference allows the sinister plotters to abscond with the prize. Even as the exoskeleton-clad thugs break away in Manhattan, in San Francisco Natasha Romanova is attacked by Nekra, Priestess of Darkness, who tries to forcibly recruit her into Black Spectre.

After defeating the Beetle, DD meets Africa-based champion Shanna O’Hara, unaware the fiery American ex-pat is seeking bloody vengeance against enemies who have attacked Foggy, Natasha and the US economy… and murdered her father…

Marvel Two-in-One #3 (Gerber, Sal Buscema & Joe Sinnott) peeped ‘Inside Black Spectre!’ as destabilising attacks on prosperity and culture foment riot in the streets of the beleaguered nation. Following separate clue trails, Ben Grimm joins the Man Without Fear to invade the cabal’s aerial HQ, before they are improbably overcome soon after discovering the Black Widow has defected to the rebels…

Reprinted in full, DD #110 (Gerber, Gene Colan & Frank Chiaramonte) sees perfidious plot ‘Birthright!’ expose Black Spectre as an exclusively female-staffed group, personally led by pheromone-emitting male mutant Jerome Beechman AKA Mandrill. One of the earliest “Children of the Atom”, he endured years of appalling abuse and rejection until he met equally ostracised Nekra. Once they realised their combined power, they swore to make America pay…

Brown & Jim Mooney drew ‘Sword of the Samurai!’ in #111, with DD & Shanna attacked by a formidable Japanese warrior, even as the She-Devil discloses her tragic reasons for hunting Nekra and Mandrill. When she too is taken by Black Spectre – who want to dissect her to discover how she can resist Mandrill’s influence – DD is attacked again by an outrageously powerful sword-wielding Silver Samurai…

Triumphing over impossible odds, the Man Without Fear infiltrates the cabal’s flying fortress in #112 to spectacularly conclude the insurrection in ‘Death of a Nation?’ (Colan & Frank Giacoia), which finds the mutant duo seemingly achieving their ultimate goal by desecrating the White House and temporarily taking (symbolic) control of America… But only until Shanna, freshly-liberated Natasha and the fighting mad Man Without Fear marshal their utmost resources…

With covers throughout by Adkins, John Romita, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Frank Brunner, Frank Giacoia, Jim Steranko, Joe Sinnott, Ron Wilson and Colan, this remarkably collegiate collection concludes with tantalising treats including house ads, cover sketches by Romita, original art by Brunner, Heck, Abel and Royer plus a truly copious creator biographies section…

Boldly bombastic if sometimes madly muddled, brilliantly escapist and crafted by some of the biggest and best in comics, these wild rides and riotous romps are timeless fun from the borderlands of Marvel’s endless universe: a fabulous excursion to forgotten worlds you’ll want to treasure forever…
© 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Superman: The Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude


By Jerry Siegel, Jerry Coleman, Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, Mark Schultz, Geoff Johns & Richard Donner, John Sikela, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye, Ross Andru & Romeo Tanghal, John Statema, George Peréz, Mike Mignola, Curt Swan, Brett Breeding, Doug Mahnke & Tom Nguyen, Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3423-2 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Superman is comics’ champion crusader: the hero who heralded and defined a genre. In the decades since his spectacular launch in April 1938 (cover-dated June), one who has survived every kind of menace imaginable. With this in mind it’s tempting and very rewarding to gather up whole swathes of his prodigious back-catalogue and re-present them in specifically-themed collections, such as this fun but far from comprehensive chronicling of someone who’s become his latter-day Kryptonian antithesis: a monstrous militaristic madman with the same abilities but far more sinister values and motivations.

For fans and creators alike, continuity can be a harsh mistress. These days, when maintaining a faux-historical cloak of rational integrity for the made-up worlds we inhabit is paramount, the greatest casualty of the semi-regular sweeping changes, rationalisations and reboots is those terrific tales which suddenly “never happened”.

The most painful example of this – for me at least – was a wholesale loss of the entire charm-drenched mythology which had evolved around Superman’s birthworld in the wonder years between 1948 and 1986. Happily, DC post Future State/Infinite Frontier/other recent publishing events are far more inclusive, all-encompassing and history-embracing…

Silver Age readers buying Superman, Action Comics, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, World’s Finest Comics and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (not forgetting Superboy and Adventure Comics) would delight every time some fascinating snippet of information was revealed. We spent our rainy days filling in the incredible blanks about the lost world through the delightful and thrilling tales from those halcyon publications.

Thankfully DC was never as slavishly wedded to continuity as its readership and understood that a good story is worth cherishing. This captivating compilation gathers material from

Superman #17: Action Comics #241 & 261; Action Comics Annual #2; Superman Man of Steel #100 and Superman and His Incredible Fortress of Solitude All New Collector’s Edition/DC Special Series #26 spanning 1942 to 2000, and focusing on landmark, rare, and notionally non-canonical tales of his astounding home-away-from-home/Super Mancave: all crafted by some of the countless gifted writers and artists to have contributed to the mythology of the Man of Tomorrow over the years.

Without preamble we open with Jerry Siegel & John Sikela’s ‘Muscles for Sale!’ (from Superman #17, cover-dated July/August 1942) which offered the very first revelation that the ultra-busy champion of the weak had built himself a little retreat. Here, located in a remote US mountain, the Action Ace enjoyed some Me-time in his new “Secret Citadel”, exercising, letting off super-steam and wandering about his Trophy Room before battling a mad mesmerist turning ordinary citizens into dangerously overconfident louts, bullies and thieves…

Then, an era later and after the Metropolis Marvel had become a small screen star, the Silver Age officially began with Action Comics #241 cover-dated June 1958. Scripted by Jerry Coleman and limned by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye ‘The Super-Key to Fort Superman’ is a fascinating, clever puzzle-play guest-featuring Batman as an impossible intruder vexes, taunts and baffles the Man of Steel in his most sacrosanct sanctuary: a place packed with fascinating wonders for Space Age kids…

February 1960 offered a classic return to the icy palace in ‘Superman’s Fortress of Solitude!’ (Action Comics #261 by Siegel, Boring & Kaye) as linked but previously untold anecdotes detail the secret history of the citadel of wonders to foil a cunning criminal plot against the indomitable hero…

Next, from 1981 and in its 64-pages + covers entirety, is an epic time travel excursion catered and curated by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru & Romeo Tanghal, and only previously seen in film-inspired oversized tabloid treat Superman and His Incredible Fortress of Solitude All New Collectors Edition (DC Special Series #26). A cunning excuse to revisit past stories and glories and enjoy a room-by-room meander, ‘Fortress of Fear!’ finds the Man of Steel scouring his vast domicile for a clue to prevent the imminent explosive demise – 59 minutes and counting! – of his second homeworld! He’s also planning on thoroughly chastising mystery villain Dominus for risking all of humanity for simple vengeance…

Co-crafted by Jerry Ordway, John Statema, George Peréz, Mike Mignola, Roger Stern, Curt Swan & Brett Breeding, ‘Memories of Krypton’s Past’ (Action Comics Annual #2 1989) was a way-station moment in an absolutely epic endeavour wherein the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman finally learned why he was the last and only Kryptonian.

Previously. when trapped in a pocket dimension he had been forced to execute three super-criminals who had killed every living thing on their Earth and were determined to do the same to ours. Although given no choice, Superman’s actions plagued him, and on his return his subconscious caused him to stalk the streets in a fugue-state dealing out brutal justice to criminals in the guise of Gangbuster. When finally made aware of his schizophrenic state, Kal-El banished himself before he could do any lasting harm to Earth.

For months the exile roamed space, losing his abilities (deprived of Sol’s rays his powers quickly fade), before being enslaved by tyrant Mongul and forced into gladiatorial games on giant battle-planet Warworld…

Not seen here is the aftermath of those revelations wherein Superman overthrows the despot, liberates the hordes of the Warworld and returns to Earth with the most powerful device in Kryptonian history…

Closing the vacation trips comes the last chapter of another extended epic as first seen in Superman: Man of Steel #100 (May 2000). In Mark Schultz, Doug Mahnke & Tom Nguyen’s ‘Creation Story’, semi-retired inventor hero John Henry Irons AKA Steel and his brilliant niece Natasha continue their battle against electronic packrat cult the Cybermoths: foiling the theft of future tech. Their efforts and resultant struggle happily lead to a brand new extra-dimensional opportunity for the astounded and late-arriving Caped Kryptonian as a freshly discovered pocket dimension discovered by Steel is filled and repurposed with the last Kryptonian remnants of the original Fortress of Solitude. Sadly, the astounding architectural feat draws rapacious Cybermoths and their anarchic queen Luna into action again, with neither Superman nor his engineering associates aware that a horrifying old enemy is behind her repeated attempts to seize this new citadel in a “Phantom Zone”…

No trip is complete without a little keepsake, and here we finish with double page cutaway diagram spread ‘Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude’ by Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning, taken from Action Comics Annual #10 in 2007. Be assured, should you ever get lost in the astounding arctic sanctuary, this should keep you out of the Interplanetary Zoo and well away from the Phantom Zone portal.

You’re welcome…
Copyright 1942, 1958, 1960, 1981, 1989, 2000, 2007, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Finest: Team-Ups: Chase to the End of Time


By Bob Haney, Cary Burkett, Martin Pasko, Dave Michelinie, Len Wein, Cary Bates, Steve Englehart, Paul Levitz, Jim Aparo, José Luis García-López, Murphy Anderson, Curt Swan, Dick Dillin, Joe Staton, Rich Buckler, Don Newton, Romeo Tanghal, Frank McLaughlin, Frank Chiaramonte, Dick Giordano, Jack Abel, Bob Smith & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-082-7 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times

Here’s another stunning and timely compilation comprising the best of vintage comics; one more astounding and epic DC Finest edition. These weighty, full colour treasure troves are chronologically curated themed tomes highlighting past glories from the company that invented superheroes and so much more. Sadly, they’re not yet available digitally, as were the last decade’s Bronze, Silver and Golden Age collections, but we live in hope…

As you’ve probably noticed, a big part of superhero fiction involves interacting – if not always uniting – with other costumed stars. Every producer, purveyor and publisher of Fights ‘n’ Tights fare employs and exploits the concept of allied action and chums in conflict, with apparently every consumer insatiably coveting them and more of the same. With The Man of Steel and a whole bunch of super-suited & booted associates happily and profitably cavorting across big screens everywhere now, let’s look at a few of his past collaborations… and while we’re at it, peek at some of his best pal’s other playmates at the same time…

From the moment a kid first sees his second superhero the only thing he/she wants is to observe how the new gaudy gladiator stacks up against the first. From the earliest days of the comics industry – and according to DC Comics Presents first editor Julie Schwartz, it was the same with the pulps and dime novels that preceded it – we’ve wanted our idols to meet, associate, battle together (and if you follow the Timely/Marvel model, that means against each other) far more than we want to see them trounce their archenemies in a united front…

The concept of team-up comic books – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with less well-selling company characters – was far from new when DC awarded their then-biggest gun (it was the publicity-drenched weeks before the release of Superman: The Movie and Tim Burton’s Batman was over a decade away) a regular arena to share adventures with other stars of their firmament, just as Batman had been doing since the middle of the 1960s.

The Brave and the Bold began in 1955 as an anthology adventure comic featuring short tales of period heroes: a format mirroring contemporary movie fascination with historical dramas. Written by Bob Kanigher, issue #1 led with Golden Gladiator, the Silent Knight and Joe Kubert’s now legendary Viking Prince. From #5 the Gladiator was increasingly alternated with Robin Hood, and manly, mainly mainstream romps carried the title until the end of the decade when the burgeoning costumed character revival saw B&B transform into a try-out vehicle like sister publication Showcase.

Brave and the Bold #25 (August/September 1959) debuted Task Force X: Suicide Squad, followed by Justice League of America (#28), Cave Carson (#31) and Hawkman (#34). Since only the JLA hit first time out, there were return engagements for the Squad, Carson and Hawkman. Something truly different appeared in #45-49 with science fictional Strange Sports Stories before B&B #50 triggered a new concept that once again truly caught reader imaginations.

It paired superheroes Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter in a one-off team-up, as did succeeding issues: Aquaman and Hawkman in #51, WWII wonders Sgt. Rock, Captain Cloud, Mme. Marie and the Haunted Tank in #52 and Atom with Flash in #53. The next team-up – Robin, Aqualad & Kid Flash – swiftly evolved into the Teen Titans. After Metal Men/the Atom and Flash/Martian Manhunter, new hero Metamorpho, the Element Man debuted in #57-58. Then it was back to superhero pairings with #59, and although no one realised it at the time this particular conjunction (Batman & Green Lantern) would be particularly significant. Soon the book would become a vehicle for Batman team-ups…

With the 1978 release of Superman The Movie it was time to reward the Man of Tomorrow with a similar dedicated publication, although in truth, the Action Ace had already enjoyed the sharing experience once before, when World’s Finest Comics briefly ejected the Caped Crusader and Superman paired with a coterie of heroes including Flash, Robin, Aquaman, Teen Titans, Vigilante, Dr. Fate and others (i#198-214; cover-dated November 1970 to October/November 1972) before the traditional status quo was re-established.

This superb all action collection intriguingly re-presents the first 14 star-studded monthly DC Comics Presents releases and the equivalent contemporary issues of The Brave and the Bold – #141-155). These together collectively span May/June 1978 through October 1979. We open with B&B and resident creators Bob Haney & Jim Aparo, so before the off here’s some background.

Robert Gilbert Haney, Jr. was born on 15th March 1926, growing up in Philadelphia listening to radio dramas and serials, and reading newspaper strips like Prince Valiant and Flash Gordon. Higher education at Swathmore College led to service in the US Navy. He was one of the lucky ones to survive The Battle of Okinawa relatively unscathed.

Follow up studies at Columbia University led to a Master’s degree, after which Haney began a prolific storytelling career by writing a slew of popular novels under a number of noms de plume. In 1947, he moved sideways into comic books, beginning with racy tale ‘College for Murder’ in Harvey Comics’ Black Cat #9 (cover-dated January 1948). From then until 1955 he freelanced for various publishers like Fawcett, Hillman, Standard and St. John on genre tales packed with action, grit and wit.

When anti-comics witch-hunts in the 1950s led to a bowdlerising, self-inflicted Comics Code, Haney shifted gears and began an almost exclusive position as a scripter at DC/National Comics, initially for the war comic division. His first sale was ‘Frogmen’s Secret’ in All American Men of War #17 (January 1955), and he scripted the very first Sgt Rock story in 1959, and countless more for all the combat titles.

Immensely versatile, he wrote for every genre division from licensed to humour, western to superhero and for titles including Blackhawk, Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog, Sea Devils, Tomahawk, Challengers of the Unknown, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, My Greatest Adventure, Doom Patrol, Aquaman, Hawkman, Space Ranger, Green Arrow, Deadman, The Unknown Soldier, and the very first Batman team-up in The Brave and the Bold #59. For decades the book would be his personal playground and where he delivered his take on most of the company’s vast pantheon…

Haney co-created the Teen Titans, Metamorpho, Eclipso, Enchantress (in Strange Adventures), Aquagirl, Cain of The House of Mystery and the Super-Sons, but ultimately his style began to clash with DC’s changing teen demographic. Happily, he had also been working in animation since the mid-1960s, scripting episodes of The New Adventures of Superman and The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure TV shows; and in the 1980s, DC’s loss was cartoon kids’ gain. Haney worked extensively on new shows including Karate Kat, Silverhawks and ThunderCats, as well as producing books of general fiction and consumer journalism. Ultimately, rapprochement with a new DC management saw Haney return to comics for nostalgia-tinged titles including Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1 (August 1999); Silver Age: The Brave and the Bold #1 (July 2000); and – posthumously published –Teen Titans Lost Annual #1 (March 2008).

Haney died on November 25th 2004, in La Mesa, California.

Taking his cues from news headlines, popular films and proven genre-sources, Haney continually produced gripping yarns that thrilled and enticed, with no need for more than a cursory nod to an ever-more-onerous continuity. Anybody could pick up an issue of B&B and be sucked into a world of wonder. Consequently, these tales are just as fresh and welcoming today, their themes and premises just as immediate now as then. Moreover, Jim Aparo’s magnificent art is still as compelling and engrossing as it always was.

James N. Aparo (August 24th 1932 – July 19th 2005) was a true but quiet giant of comic books. Self-taught, he grew up in New Britain Connecticut, and, after failing to join EC Comics whilst in his 20s, slipped easily into advertising, newspaper and fashion illustration. Even after finally becoming a comics artist he assiduously maintained his links with his first career. For most of his career he was a triple-threat, pencilling, inking and lettering his pages. In 1963 he began drawing Ralph Kanna’s newspaper strip Stern Wheeler, and three years later was working on a wide range of features for go-getting visionary editor Dick Giordano at Charlton Comics. Aparo especially shone on the minor company’s licensed top gun The Phantom. In 1968 when Giordano was lured away to National/DC he brought his top performers (primarily Steve Ditko, Steve Skeates and Aparo) with him. Aparo began a life-long association with the company where legends live illustrating and reinvigorating moribund title Aquaman – although he also continued with The Phantom until his duties grew with the addition of numerous short stories for the monolith’s burgeoning horror anthologies and revived 1950s supernatural champion The Phantom Stranger.

Aparo went on to become a multi award-winning mainstay of DC’s artistic arsenal, with stellar runs on The Spectre, The Outsiders and Green Arrow, but his star was always and forever linked to Batman’s.

In B&B #141’s ‘Pay – Or Die!’ that relationship and the artist’s versatility shines as Black Canary helps Batman quash The Joker’s byzantine extortion scheme.

Fast-paced, straightforward, done-in-one dramas almost by definition, these quick treats were perfect introducer tales and seldom carried over, but in #142, ‘Enigma of the Death-Ship!’ sees Aquaman and wife Mera battle the Dark Knight to suppress a family secret, before the sordid trail of a covert Gotham drug lord leads to the most respected man in America in the next issue, with Cary Burkett collaborating with Haney for conclusion ‘Cast the First Stone’ as manic crime-crusher The Creeper confronts his mentor and finds even the most esteemed hero can have feet of clay…

The brave, bold portion of our entertainment pauses here to allow the Metropolis Marvel his moment to shine with a debut 2-part thriller from DC Comics Presents #1 & 2 (July/August & September/October 1978), featuring Silver Age Flash Barry Allen, who had also been Superman’s first co-star in that aforementioned World’s Finest Comics run. ‘Chase to the End of Time!’ and ‘Race to the End of Time!’ by scripter Marty Pasko & utterly astounding José Luis García-López inked by Dan Adkins, rather reprises that selfsame WF tale. Here warring alien races trick both heroes into speeding relentlessly through the time-stream to prevent Earth’s history from being corrupted and destroyed. As if that isn’t dangerous enough, nobody could predict the deadly intervention of the Scarlet Speedster’s most dangerous foe, Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash, but the heroes sort it all out in the end…

In B&B #144 Haney& Aparo deliver a magical mystery tale of ‘The Arrow of Eternity’ as Caped Crusader and Emerald Archer head back in time to Agincourt and foil a wicked plot by time-tamperer the Gargoyle, whilst in DCCP #3, David Michelinie’s tantalising pastiche of classic Adam Strange/Mystery in Space thrillers results in a modern masterpiece for García-López to draw and ink in ‘The Riddle of Little Earth Lost’. Here Man of Two Worlds and Man of Steel foil the diabolical cosmic catastrophe scheme of deranged ex-tyrant Kaskor to transpose, subjugate and/or destroy Earth and light-years distant planet Rann.

Courtesy of Haney & Aparo, The Phantom Stranger and Batman face ‘A Choice of Dooms!’ pursuing voodoo crime lord Kaluu in B&B #145 whilst DCCP #4 welcomed Len Wein to script the superb ‘Sun-Stroke!’ for García-López, as Man of Steel and madly-malleable Metal Men join forces to thwart solar-fuelled genius I.Q. and toxic elemental menace Chemo after an ill-considered plan to enhance Earth’s solar radiation exposure provokes a cataclysmic solar-flare…

Haney and guest artists Romeo Tanghal & Frank McLaughlin switch worlds and times in B&B #146 as the Batman of World War II assists faceless superspy the Unknown Soldier in stopping Nazi assassin Count von Stauffen from murdering America’s top brass and greatest scientists to sabotage the nation’s most secret weapon project, whereas modern day Sea King Aquaman is embroiled in ‘The War of the Undersea Cities’ (by Wein, Paul Levitz & Murphy Anderson) in DCCP #5.

This time, Superman must step in after Aquaman’s subjects in Poseidonis re-open ancient hostilities with the mer-folk of undersea neighbour Tritonis, home of the caped Kryptonian’s college girlfriend Lori Lemaris. Fortunately, cooler heads prevail when the deadly Ocean Master is revealed to be meddling in their sub-sea politics…

Supergirl enjoyed her first ever B&B Bat team-up. She had previously paired with Wonder Woman in #63, in the outrageously-dated and utterly indefensible ‘Revolt of the Super-Chicks!’ but here in #147 however, Burkett & Aparo’s ‘Death-Scream from the Sky!’ sees her and the Gotham Guardian save the world from extermination by satellite and shady surprise super villain Dr. Light…

A DCCP two-parter opens with ‘The Fantastic Fall of Green Lantern’ (Levitz, Curt Swan & Francisco Chiaramonte) in #6 which sees the Man of Steel briefly inherit the awesome power ring after Hal Jordan falls in battle against his female antithesis Star Sapphire. Although triumphant against her, “Green Superman” is subsequently ambushed by warriors from antimatter universe Qward leading to ‘The Paralyzed Planet Peril!’ (#7 by Levitz, Dick Dillin & Chiaramonte) wherein those bellicose aliens seek to colonise Earth… until robotic AI hero Red Tornado swirls in to the rescue.

Back in B&B, Good Cheer mingles with Drama as ‘The Night the Mob Stole X-Mas!’ delivers seasonal fluff by Haney pencilled by Joe Staton, with Aparo applying his overpowering inks to a tale of cigarette smugglers and aging mafioso, with Plastic Man helping to provide a mandatory Christmas miracle. The disbanded Teen Titans briefly reform in #149 for Haney & Aparo’s ‘Look Homeward, Runaway!’ to help Batman hunt and redeem a kid gang moving from petty crime to the big leagues after which in DCCP #8, ‘The Sixty Deaths of Solomon Grundy’ (Steve Englehart & Murphy Anderson) teams Swamp Thing with Action Ace. At this time the bog-beast still believed he was a transformed human and not an enhanced plant, and Alec Holland searches the sewers of Metropolis for a cure to his condition, only to stumble onto a battle between the Man of Steel and the mystic zombie who was “born on a Monday”…

Anniversary event The Brave and the Bold #150 was celebrated with a pairing that was both old hat and never seen before. Haney & Aparo’s ‘Today Gotham… Tomorrow the World!’ commemorates the landmark anniversary with an extended tale of Bruce Wayne’s abduction by terrorists and the undercover superhero who secretly shadows him. No hints here from me…

In that other caped crimebuster’s book, Pasko returns to script Staton & Jack Abel’s ‘Invasion of the Ice People!’ in #9, wherein Wonder Woman assists in repelling an arctic assault by malign disembodied intellects whist in B&B #151, The Flash becomes prey and appetiser for a predatory haunt feeding off patrons at Gotham’s hippest nightspot… and Batman barely breaks the spell at the ‘Disco of Death’ (Haney & Aparo). Another 2-part tale commences with DCCP #10’s ‘The Miracle Man of Easy Company’ (Cary Bates, Staton & Abel), as a super-bomb blasts Superman back to WWII and a momentous if amnesia-tainted meeting with indomitable everyman soldier Sgt. Rock. However before the Caped Kryptonian returns home to battle a brainwashed and power-amplified Hawkman in #11’s ‘Murder by Starlight!’ (Bates, Staton & Chiaramonte) there’s an intriguing interruption. B&B #152 splits the saga as Haney & Aparo reveal ‘Death Has a Golden Grab!’. Here mighty mite The Atom helping the Gotham Gangbuster stop a deadly bullion theft.  Chronologically #153 – courtesy of Burkett, Don Newton & Bob Smith – then sees Red Tornado help Batman survive old school greed and the hi-tech ‘Menace of the Murder Machines’ before DCCP #12 arranged a duel between the Man of Steel and New God Mister Miracle in ‘Winner Take Metropolis’ by Englehart, Richard Buckler & Dick Giordano.


B&B #154 finds Element Man Metamorpho treading ‘The Pathway of Doom…’ to save former girlfriend Sapphire Stagg and help Batman disconnect a middle eastern smuggling pipeline, prior to the brave, bold portion of our entertainment coming to a close with #155’s ‘Fugitive from Two Worlds!’ as Haney & Aparo detail Green Lantern Hal Jordan clashing with the Dark Knight over jurisdiction rights regarding an earthshaking alien criminal.

Closing this perfectly curated portion of comics history is another two-part tale spanning centuries as Levitz scripts an ambitious epic limned by Dillin & Giordano that begins with ‘To Live in Peace… Nevermore!’ When the Legion of Super-Heroes visit the 20th century they must prevent Superman saving a little boy from alien abduction to preserve the integrity of the time-line. It doesn’t help that the lad is Jon Ross, son of Clark Kent’s oldest friend and most trusted confidante. Furious and deranged by loss, Pete Ross risks the destruction of reality itself by enlisting the aid of Superboy to battle his older self in ‘Judge, Jury… and No Justice!’, but achieves only stalemate and a promise from the Man of Tomorrow to somehow make things right…

This titanic tome offers a tantalising snapshot of combined A-lister capers and demonstrates the breadth of DC’s roster of lesser stars in punchy, pithy adventures acting as a perfect shop window and catalogue of legendary fascinating characters – and creators. It also delivers a delightful variety of self-contained, satisfying entertainments ranging from the merely excellent all the way to utterly unmissable. DC Finest: Team-Ups is an ideal introduction to the DC Universe for every kid of any age and passport to Costumed Dramas of a simpler, more inviting time.
© 1978, 1979, 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: The Many Worlds of Krypton


By E. Nelson Bridwell, Denny O’Neil, Cary Bates, Marv Wolfman, Elliot S. Maggin, Paul Kupperberg, John Byrne, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano, Gray Morrow, Michael Kaluta, Dave Cockrum, Dick Dillin, Marshall Rogers, Howard Chaykin, Paul Kupperberg, Mike Mignola, Rick Bryant, Carlos Garzon & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7889-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

For fans and comics creators alike, continuity can be a harsh mistress. These days, maintaining a faux-historical cloak of rational integrity for the made-up worlds we inhabit is paramount, and the worst casualty of the semi-regular sweeping changes, rationalisations and reboots is great stories that suddenly “never happened”. A most painful example of this – for me at least – was the wholesale loss of the entire charm-drenched mythology that had evolved around Superman’s birthworld in the wonder years between 1948 and 1985.

Silver Age readers avidly consuming Superman, Action Comics, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, World’s Finest Comics and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (not forgetting Superboy and Adventure Comics) would delight every time some fascinating snippet of information leaked out. We spent our rainy days filling in incredible blanks about the lost world through the tantalising and thrilling tales from those halcyon publications.

Throughout the 1970s, The Fabulous World of Krypton was a back-up feature in Superman specifically revealing intriguing glimpses from the history of that lost world. But during Crisis on Infinite Earths and it’s in its wake that was all unmade. Happily, however, these days a far wiser DC has opened the doors to all those lost moments with a more inviting and inclusive definition of continuity, so a “yay them” all around!

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s – and an issue of giant-sized anthology Superman Family – the peripatetic feature delivered 27 “Untold Tales of Superman’s Native Planet” (and is long overdue for a complete archival collection; perhaps as a DC Finest edition?) by a host of the industry’s greatest talents all further exploring that defunct wonderland. A far-too-small selection of those are re-presented in this beguiling commemoration, taken from Superman #233, 236, 238, 240, 248, 257, 266 and Superman Family #182, to augment a brace of miniseries World of Krypton #1-3 and World of Krypton (vol. 2) #1-4. These collectively span 1971-1988 and, following enticing scene-setting introduction ‘The World (of Krypton) According to Paul (Kupperberg)’, kick off Chapter 1: Fabulous World of Krypton with E. Nelson Bridwell (always the go-to guy for any detail of fact, or trivia concerning the company’s vast comics output) & Murphy Anderson’s trendsetting, groundbreaking yarn ‘Jor-El’s Golden Folly’.

Follow-up tales would alternate between glimpses of historical or mythological moments in the development of the Kryptonians and tales of the House of El, such as this astoundingly concise and tension-soaked drama which in seven pages introduces Superman’s father, traces his scholastic graduation and early triumphs in anti-gravity physics & rocketry and reveals how he met his bride-to-be, trainee astronaut Lara Lor-Van. The story also reveals how she stows away on a test rocket, crashes on the (luckily) habitable moon Wegthor and survives until her infatuated suitor finds a way to rescue her…

This a superb adventure in its own right and, set against what we fans already knew about the doomed planet, augured well what was to follow…

The remaining tales in this section concentrate on non-Jor-El episodes – presumably in lieu of what follows – so the next fable comes from Superman #236 with Green Arrow & Black Canary hearing their Justice League colleague recount the story of ‘The Doomsayer’ (by Denny O’Neil & Dick Giordano). This eco-terror tale reveals how scientist Mo-De detected mounting tectonic pressures at the planet’s core but was silenced by modern day lotus eaters who didn’t want to hear any unpleasant truths…

In the guise of a Kryptonian kindergarten class story time session, Cary Bates & Gray Morrow devised a hard science creation myth for Superman #238 as ‘A Name is Born’ details how two marooned – and initially mutually antagonistic – aliens crashed on the primeval planet and joined to birth a new race together…

Bates & Michael Kaluta united in #240 for a cunning, irony-drenched murder mystery as ‘The Man Who Cheated Time’ details the unexpected consequences of an ambitious scientist who stole from and slaughtered his rivals only to pay for his crimes in a most unexpected manner. Then, Kryptonian archaeologists unearth a lost moment in planetary history as ‘All in the Mind’ (Marv Wolfman & Dave Cockrum from #248) discloses how war between ancient city states Erkol and Xan resulted in a generation of mutants. If only the parents had been more understanding and less intolerant, those super-kids could have saved their forebears from extinction…

Superman #257 (October 1972) generated a timeless instant classic wherein Elliot S! Maggin and illustrators Dick Dillin & Giordano celebrated ‘The Greatest Green Lantern of All’. Here avian GL Tomar-Re reports his tragic failure in preventing Krypton’s detonation, unaware that the Guardians of the Universe had a plan to preserve and use that world’s greatest bloodline – or at least its last son…

Maggin, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella then emphasised a long-hidden connection between Earth and Krypton in #266 as ‘The Face on the Falling Star’ reveals how, in eons past, two Kryptonian children were saved from doom by a strange device fallen from the sky: a machine sent from a lost civilisation on pre-historic Terra…

Wrapping up this section is Paul Kupperberg, Marshall Rogers & Frank Springer’s ‘The Stranger’ as first seen in Superman Family #182: an analogue Christmas fable explaining how four millennia past a holy man named Jo-Mon sacrificed his life to liberate the people and end the depredations of tyrannical despot Al-Nei…

The second section – Chapter 2: The Life of Jor-El – reprints a pioneering miniseries that referenced many of those 27 vignettes, as well as the key Krypton-focussed yarns of the Superman franchise. In 1979 – when the first Superman movie had made the hero a global sensation once more – scripter Paul Kupperberg and artist Howard Chaykin (assisted and ghost-pencilled by Alan Kupperberg) plus inkers Murphy Anderson & Frank Chiaramonte, synthesised many scattered back-story details into DC’s first limited series World of Krypton.

Although never collected into a graphic novel, this glorious indulgence was resized into a monochrome pocket paperback book in 1982, supervised by and with an introduction from much-missed, multi-talented official DC memory E. Nelson Bridwell. That enchanting, magical celebration of life on the best of all fictional worlds remains a grand old slice of comics fun and forms the spine of the new composite compilation.

It opens on ‘The Jor-El Story’ with Superman reviewing a tape-diary found on Earth’s moon: a record from his long-deceased father detailing the scientist’s life, career and struggle with nay-saying political authorities whose inaction doomed the Kryptonian race to near-extinction. As the Man of Steel listens, he hears how Jor-El wooed and won his mother Lara Lor-Van despite sinister and aberrant efforts of the planetary marriage computer to frustrate them; how his sire discovered anti-gravity and invented the Phantom Zone ray; uncovered lost technology of a dead race that provided the basis of Kal-El’s escape rocket, and learns his father’s take on Superman’s many time-twisting trips to Krypton…

In ‘This Planet is Doomed’ the troubled orphan feels his father’s pain when android marauder Brainiac steals the city of Kandor, reels as rogue scientist Jax-Ur blows up inhabited moon Wegthor, and is revolted as civil war almost crushes civilisation thanks to deranged militarist General Zod – and how and when his own cousin Kru-El forever disgraced the noble House of El. The countdown to disaster continues until ‘The Last Days of Krypton’, as political intrigue and exhaustion overwhelm the distraught scientist and – all avenues closed to him – Jor-El takes drastic action…

Heavily referencing immortal classics such as ‘Superman’s Return to Krypton’ (Superman vol. 1 #141, November 1960), Fabulous World of Krypton mini-epics ‘Jor-El’s Golden Folly’, ‘Moon-Crossed Love’, ‘Marriage, Kryptonian Style’ and a host of others, this epochal saga from simpler and more wondrous times is still a sheer delight for any fan tired of unremitting angst and non-stop crises…

Final section Chapter 3: The World of Krypton is John Byrne, Mike Mignola, Rick Bryant & Carlos Garzon’s dark reworking of the myth, depicting a radically different planet which came with the reordering of reality. In 1985, when DC decided to rationalise, reconstruct and reinvigorate their continuity via Crisis on Infinite Earths, they used the event to regenerate key properties at the same time. The biggest gun they had was Superman and it’s hard to argue that the change was not before time. This new Superman repurposed the hero into a harsher, more uncompromising hero who might be alien in physicality but completely human in terms of feelings and attitudes. As seen in Man of Steel #1 (not included here), ‘From Out of the Green Dawn’ traced the child’s voyage in a self-propelled birthing matrix to a primitive but vital and vibrant world. He had escaped from a cold, sterile, soulless and emotionally barren planet barely glimpsed before it was gone in a cosmic flash.

As the reconfigured hero’s new adventures became a sensational success, his creators felt compelled to revisit his bleakly dystopian birthworld. It was however, now conceived of as a far darker and more forbidding place and 1987’s 4-issue miniseries opted to reveal how that transformation came about.

Scripted by Byrne, it all begins in ‘Pieces’ (art by Mignola & Bryant) as an indolent hedonistic scientific paradise comes crashing into ruin after the age’s greatest moral dilemma boils over into global civil war. For 10 thousand generations, Kryptonians enjoyed virtual immortality thanks to the constant cultivation of clones to use for medical spare parts. The rights of the clones had been debated for centuries, but recently resulted in sporadic violence. The situation changes after ultra-privileged Nyra is exposed as having stolen one of her supposedly braindead clones for an act of shockingly aberrant social abomination. Her exposure leads to murder, suicide and a rapidly escalating collapse of social cohesion…

Centuries ‘After the Fall’, technologist Van-L wanders a planet shattered by devastating war technologies, surviving only because of his nurturing war suit. The grand planetary society is gone, replaced by constantly warring pockets of humanity, but Van needs allies, be they former lovers or despised foes. He has learned that the original instigator of the collapse still lives and plans to assuage accumulated shame and guilt by blowing up the planet…

For the third issue, the scene shifts to millennia later as young scholar Jor-El immerses himself in a traumatic ‘History Lesson’. This distant descendant of Van-L obsessively probes the last days of the conflict and the nuclear annihilation scheme of terrorist cell Black Zero, but his compulsion causes him to almost miss a crucial social obligation: meeting his father and the grandparent of Lara, selected by The Masters of the Gestation Chamber as his ideal DNA co-contributor to what will be the first Kryptonian allowed to be born in centuries…

Carlos Garzon steps in to finish Mignola’s pencils for concluding chapter ‘Family History’ as, in contemporary times, Superman agrees to an interview with Daily Plant reporter Lois Lane. The subject is how Krypton died, and why…

Recapping the intervening millennia of history and stagnation, the Last Son of Krypton reveals how his own birth-father uncovered a shocking secret, rebelled against his moribund, morbid and repressed culture, and found brief comfort with perhaps the last kindred spirit on his world. Kal-El then tells of how they ensured his survival at the cost of their own…

Celebrating the many and varied Worlds of Krypton, this is a magnificent tribute to the imagination of many creators and the power of modern mythology: the ever-changing evolution of a world we all wanted to live on back in the heady Days of Yore(-El)…
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1987, 2008, 2018 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Maroc the Mighty


By an unknown author & Don Lawrence with Alfredo Marculeta (Rebellion Studios/ Treasury of UK Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-83786-517-8 (TPB/Digital edition) 978-1-83786-518-5 (Webshop Edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

For British, commonwealth and European readers of a certain age and prone to debilitating nostalgia, the comic works of Don Lawrence (17th November 1928 – 29th December 2003) are a treat that never pales and always satisfies. His lavish painted-narrative illustration was only ever about two things: boyish wish-fulfilment and staggeringly beautiful images.

Beginning in the 1950s, Lawrence (Marvelman, Wells Fargo, Billy the Kid, Fireball XL5, Olac the Gladiator, The Adventures of Tarzan, The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, adult comedy strip Carrie and multi-volume Dutch magnum opus Storm), inspired a host of artists like Brian Bolland and Dave Gibbons. However, as Lawrence worked into the 1990s, his eyesight was increasingly impaired by cataracts, and he took on and diligently trained apprentices like modern stars Chris Weston and Liam Sharp who collaborated with the venerable mentor on his last Storm stories.

Although magnificent painted fantasies are Don’s everlasting legacy, he was also a supremely gifted master of monochrome illumination and gritty realism. Astoundingly, in Britain most of those pre-colour comics remained unreprinted until relatively recently. Now a regular and recognised wellspring for Rebellion Studios’ Treasury of UK Comics, two volumes of his Karl the Viking have been augmented by a true lost classic: a historical but engagingly daft fantasy that Lawrence was plucked from in midstream to begin the Trigan Empire opus…

The extraordinary adventures of a valiant and benevolent wandering Devonshire yeoman making his way back to England after the Third Crusade never actually carried the hero’s name in the weeklies where it was serialised, but ever since the feature – long mis-attributed to writer Michael Moorcock, but now officially devoid of a credited author – has been called by fans Maroc the Mighty…

This brief but bombastic movie-influenced (particularly Ray Harryhausen) skein of sword & Sorcery sagas was first seen in Lion: a triptych of tales spanning 3rd October 1964 to 6th February 1965 (The Hand of Zar); 13th February – May 1st (The Red Knights of Morda) and then May 8th to 3rd July 1965 (The Gigantos), augmented by a short escapade from Lion Annual 1967 as originally released in the autumn of 1966.

Following an enthusiastic and informative Introduction from historian Steve Holland ‘The Hand of Zar’ introduces John Maroc: a doughty English fighter serving the Lords and Nobles of militant Christendom, who now the defeated Christian warriors flee the Holy Land. Sadly, the term “noble” never really applied to aristocratic leader Sir Guy who uses the retreat to pillage and plunder, and when his depredations threaten a helpless Arab boy, outraged Maroc leaps to his defence and must battle his way out with young Ahmid. Fleeing to the mountains they meet an old man who gives the Englishman a golden wrist bracer. The Hand of Zar originally belonged to an ancient “Sun warrior” who fought for justice, and will make Maroc “a giant among men”. It gets the chance almost immediately as Sir Guy’s men ambush them and overwhelm them… until John discovers he has strength enough to snap chains and topple stone pillars…

Over ensuing weeks Maroc and Ahmid thwart Sir Guy’s schemes despite quickly discovering that although the relict imparts incomprehensible strength – and a little enhanced stamina and durability – it only does so as long as it remains in direct sunlight. If clouds appear or night arrives, Maroc is reduced to his ordinary self…

The clashes eventually attract the attention of Richard the Lionheart, who values and admires the efforts of the peasant warrior, but must follow the codes of chivalry and shun him for fighting against his betters, no matter how scurrilous they might be. To make matters worse, Sir Guy accuses the lowly hero of treason and settles a death sentence upon his head…

Their flight across the middle east brings them into extended conflict with all-conquering Warlord Kalin and his war elephants, wicked mountain wizards and dinosaurs, marine slavers, shark packs and reivers, and embroils Maroc and Ahmid in a deadly quest for a mystic artifact – the Stone of Aolath – fighting antediluvian primitives inhabiting The City of the Clouds. Ultimately the legacy of Zar proves unconquerable and the wandering heroes part ways…

One week later, the Englishman abroad reached Spain as The Red Knights of Morda plunged into more of the episodic same. In mountainous, arid Morda Maroc encounters a band of rogue paladins steadily eroding established rule and bleeding the coffers of true local sovereign Don Miguel Y Cipriano. When Maroc befriends the Baron’s son Carlos and charming scoundrel “Ramon the Gypsy”, it begins a brutal, bloody fightback to restore order and justice. The real enemy is a secret society led by evil genius mastermind Satana, and encompasses defeating his colossal enforcer Khala the Strong and legions of fanatical killers, bad knights, huge swamp lizards and more war elephants…

The final Lawrence exploit began in colour on the cover of Lion’s May 8th 1965 issue, with the wanderer still trudging through Spain and abruptly ambushed by archers. Falling victim to the assault he sees with amazement that none of his attackers are over four feet tall…

Explanations by the Minimas lead to the Englishman enlisting to aid the “dwarf folk” against a determined foe sworn to enslave them for their mines – ‘The Gigantos’. Nominative determinism was a major factor at this time in comics and their oppressors are a tribe of oversized tyrants misusing their strength and exploiting equally prodigious wildlife – like giant eagles and bears – to tyrannise the Minimas, but all their might, diabolical traps and the wiles of their leader Pesado – and the active volcano they live in – are insufficient to deter Maroc when he finds injustice festering…

… And that was it for Lawrence’s most superheroic star since Marvelman. From September 18th 1965 fans were periodically gobsmacked and enthralled by The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire – and never really looked back. Editors, however, are callous pragmatic folk and established name brand Maroc returned via Lion Annual 1967 in another anonymously scripted, done-in-one tale illustrated by UK comics mainstay Alfredo Marculeta. He was a regular of the era’s weeklies probably most recognisable today for The Rubber Man, a superhero knock-off of Jack Cole’s Plastic Man written by Ken Mennell and running in Smash from #15.

I can’t find out much about him, but his work and overall style look remarkably similar to that of Spanish political exile, cartoonist, caricaturist and comics illustrator Edmundo Marculeta (6th April 1923 – 3rd May 1989 and AKA “Marcouleta”, “Marcouletta”, “Marcou”, “Tony Cranach” & “Boris Tunder”) who worked in Europe and the UK in the 1960s & 1970s on everything from all-ages westerns and historical adventures to adult comics.

Here, those gifts are employed depicting how mighty Maroc is tramping through Germany’s Black Forest and attacked. Losing and winning back the armlet of Zar, he joins ousted prince Johann of Grunde, helping him regain his birthright from usurping murderer Baron Grimm, a tyrant obsessed with gladiatorial contests and animal cruelty…

Based in equal part on cinematic Sword & Sandal and Knight & Ladies epics and a long-cherished movie genre of manly blockbusters to construct a vast sprawling serial of heroic vigilantism, two-fisted warriors, wild beasts, deadly monsters and even occasionally the odd female (very, very occasionally in this instance!) Maroc the Mighty is the quintessential 5-minute read, but with visuals every boy I knew spent hours staring at. Some – who shall remain nameless – might even have traced or copied many of the panels and tableaux for art and history projects, Hem Hem…

Incorporating a tantalising teaser for the next volume and creator biographies, this truly spectacular visual triumph is a monument to British Comics creativity, simultaneously pushing memory buttons for old folk whilst offering a light but beautiful straightforward epic readily accessible to the curious and genre inquisitive alike or anyone who actually saw the latest William Tell movie…

Is that you or someone you know?
Maroc the Mighty is ™ Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. © 1964, 1965, 1966 & 2025 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime vs The Crime Genie (volume 3)


By Jerry Siegel & Reg Bunn, with Geoff Campion, David Sque, Jesús Blasco & various (Rebellion)
ISBN 978-1-83786-173-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

I once again find myself in a quandary. When seriously reviewing something you must always keep a weather eye on your critical criteria. For me, the biggest danger when looking at comic collections is to ensure the removal of the nostalgia-tinted spectacles of the excitable, uncritical scruffy little kid who adored and devoured the source material every week in the long ago and long-missed.

However, after thoroughly scrutinising myself – no pleasant task, as you can imagine – I can honestly say that not only are the adventures of the macabre and malevolent Spider as engrossing and enjoyable as I remember, but will also provide the newest, most contemporary reader with a huge hit of superb artwork, compelling, caper-style cops ‘n’ robbers fantasy and thrill-a-minute adventure. After all, the strip usually ran two (later three) pages per episode, so a lot had to happen in pretty short order.

A triumphant beacon of Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics line, The Spider’s Syndicate of Crime vs. The Crime Genie is the latest offering in what I hope will be a complete revival of the UK’s most marvellous vintage comics fantasies (bring on Smoke Man, Tri Man, Gadget Man & Gimmick Kid – we can take it!). Gathering material from peerless weekly anthology Lion and Champion spanning February 4th 1967- May 20th 1967, plus pertinent extracts from Lion Annual 1968 and 1969.

Mystery criminal genius and eventual superhero The Spider debuted on June 26th 1965 and reigned supreme until April 26th 1969. He has periodically returned in reprint form and occasional new stories ever since. As first introduced by Ted Cowan (Ginger Nutt, Paddy Payne, Adam Eterno, Robot Archie) & Reg Bunn (Robin Hood, Buck Jones, Captain Kid, Clip McCord), the moody malcontent was an enigmatic super-scientist whose goal was to be acclaimed the greatest criminal of all time. The flamboyantly wicked narcissist began his public career by recruiting crime specialists – safecracker Roy Ordini and genteelly evil genius inventor Professor Pelham – prior to a massive gem-theft from America’s greatest city. He was foiled by cruel luck and resolute cops Gilmore and Trask: crack detectives cursed with the task of capturing the arachnid arch-villain.

Cowan scripted the first two serialised sagas before handing over to comics royalty: Jerry Siegel (Superman, Superboy, The Spectre, Doctor Occult, Slam Bradley, Funnyman, The Mighty Crusaders, Starling), who had been forced to look elsewhere for work after an infamous dispute with DC Comics over the rights to the Man of Steel. His supervision of UK arachnid amazement began just as Britain and the entire, but less fab & groovy world succumbed to “Batmania”. In case you’re not old, the term covers a period of global hysteria sparked by the 1966 Batman TV show, as the planet went crazy for superheroes and an era dubbed “camp” saw humour, satire, and fantastic psychedelic whimsy infect all categories of entertainment. It was a time of peace, love, wild music and radical change, and I believe there were lots of drugs being experimented with at the time…

British comics were not immune, and a host of more conventional costumed crusaders sprang up in our traditionally unconventional pages. Scripted by the godfather of the genre – and an inveterate humourist – The Spider skilfully shifted gears without a squeak and became a superhero, battling in rapid succession The Exterminator, Crime Incorporated, The Silhouette, Dr. Mysterioso, The Android Emperor, The Infernal Gadgeteer, and The Crook From Outer Space…

Played out for months at breakneck rollercoaster pace, each monochrome story positively bulged with imaginative ingenuity, manic combats and crazy inventions peppering wide-eyed British kids with a bizarre conception of the USA. The strip grew ever more popular and by the time of this epic encounter demanded a full 5 pagers per episode, in a periodical where one or two pages a week was the norm. At the height of its creativity The Spider embraced full on surrealism in the tale as petty convict and recently escaped fugitive from a chain gang Steve Gurko finds a bottle with a djinn inside and strikes the deal of a lifetime…

Gifted with unlimited wishes, Gurko and the Genie go on a crime rampage and draw The Spider’s attention, leading to a protracted war of fantastic creatures against the arrogant hero’s ingenuity and inventions. A masterpiece of illustrative wonderment displaying Reg Bunn’s incredible gift for visualisation, the lengthy campaign finds The Spider, Pelham & Ordini facing hyper-enlarged insects, banishment to other eras, ancient warriors, terrible titans, wicked wizards, an army of modern mobsters, monstrous disembodied limbs, legions of trolls and giants, swarms of flying “stingers”, invading transdimensional “monstrogs”, erupting volcanoes, rampaging dinosaurs, missing links and Gurko himself willingly transformed into a super-heated “Sun-Man”…

Eventually, when he’s fed up with Gurko’s insipid uninspired ideas, the immortal genie turns on his Master and sets out to punish the infernal humans who have constantly escaped and humiliated him, and then the war gets really wild. Ultimately however, The Spider’s brain proves too much for ancient mystical brawn, especially after the increasing incensed apparition angers fellow mystical immortal Queen Lana of Valley of the Doomed…

It could have all ended there, but for the haughty Spider rebuffing her amorous advances and offers of alliance…

The climax comes when the retrenching genie mind controls the police as his new army and sets colossal arachnids on the hero, only to fall for a slick piece of conceptual sleight of hand and return to his own specialised “glass house”…

The months-long miracle war concluded, there’s still space for some extras, beginning with comic romp ‘The Spider and the Stone of Venus’. Illustrated by David Sque (The Skid Kids, Roy of the Rovers, Scorer) for Lion Annual 1968 and set when the Spider was seeking to shed his villainous, past it sees rival arch fiend Mister Mastermind frame him for a jewel theft and regret his folly very much indeed…

A year later an untitled Spider text story – lavishly adorned with Geoff (Battler Britton, Captain Condor, Typhoon Tracy, The Spellbinder, Captain Hurricane, D-Day Dawson) Campion illustrations – revealed how an army of assassins play on their enemy’s immense ego and successfully invade his castle as a film crew seeking to record his greatness for history. Sadly for them, even the Spider isn’t that vain…

Also from Lion Annual 1969, a second treat sees comics master Jesús Blasco (Steel Claw, Tex Willer, Buffalo Bill, Cuto, Capitán Trueno) limn a brutal war of wills and inventions as a fascistic tyrant threatens civilisation with his super weapons only to fall to the Spider’s boldness and amazing arachnid arsenal…

Completing the vintage treats is a full colour cover gallery, a Crime Syndicate pinup by Campion from Lion Summer Special 1968 and creator biographies. This compilation of retro/camp masterpieces is jam-packed with arcane dialogue, insane devices and outrageous antics that are perhaps an acquired taste. However, no one with functioning eyes can fail to be astounded by the artwork of Reg “crosshatch king” Bunn which handles mood, spectacle, action and Siegel’s frankly unbelievable script demands with captivating aplomb.

This titanic tome confirms that the King is back at last and should find a home in every kid’s heart and mind, no matter how young they might be, or threaten to remain. Batty, baroque and often simply bonkers, The Spider proves that although crime does not pay, it always provides a huge amount of white-knuckle fun…
© 1967, 1968, 1969, 2024 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung



Adapted by P. Craig Russell, translated by Patrick Mason, with Lovern Kindzierski & Galen Showman (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-401-9 (HB) eISBN 978-1-63008-154-6

This book includes some Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

If you’re planning on being in Germany next month, music lovers are reminded that THE BAYREUTH FESTIVAL is performing Wagner’s superhero-inspiring RING CYCLE (Das Rheingold:26 July – Schwarz/Young, Die Walküre: 27 July – Schwarz/Young, Parsifal: 28 July – Scheib/Heras-Casado and Siegfried: 29 July – Schwarz/Young. If you check out or even take this tasty tome along, you may achieve a far greater understanding of the text and even certain leitmotif…  but probably not most of the prevailing attitudes, bad manners and big fancy hats…

  1. Craig Russell began his illustrious career in comics during the early 1970s: coming to fame early for a groundbreaking run on science fiction adventure series Killraven, Warrior of the Worlds.

Russell’s fanciful, meticulous classicist style was derived from the great illustrators of Victorian/Edwardian heroic fantasy and was greatly at odds with the sausage-factory deadlines and sensibilities of the mainstream comic book industry. By the 1980s he had largely retired from the merciless daily grind, preferring to work on his own projects (mostly adapting operas and plays into sequential narratives) whilst undertaking occasional high-profile Special Projects for the majors – such as Dr. Strange Annual 1976 (totally reworked and re-released as the magnificent Dr. Strange: What Is It that Disturbs You, Stephen? in 1996) or Batman: Robin 3000.

As the industry grew up and a fantasy boom began, he returned to comics with 1982’s Marvel Graphic Novel: Elric, further adapting Michael Moorcock’s iconic sword-&-sorcery star in the magazine Epic Illustrated and elsewhere. Russell’s stage-arts adaptations had begun appearing in 1978: firstly in groundbreaking independent Star*Reach specials Night Music and Parsifal and then, from 1984, at Eclipse Comics where the revived Night Music became an anthological series showcasing his earlier experimental adaptations: not only the operatic dramas but also tales from Kipling’s Jungle Books and other sources.

As mainstream comics rapidly matured, his stylings were seen in Vertigo titles like The Sandman and Mike Mignola’s Hellboy titles. He never, however, abandoned his love of operatic drama. In 2003 Canadian publisher NBM began a prodigious program to collect all those music-based masterpieces into The P. Craig Russell Library of Opera Adaptations, but just before that, the artist took a couple of years (2000 – 2001) to complete a passion project. Originally released as a procession of linked miniseries – The Ring of the Nibelung: The Rhinegold #1-4, The Ring of the Nibelung: The Valkyrie #1-3, The Ring of the Nibelung: Siegfried #1-3 and The Ring of the Nibelung: Götterdämmerung #1-4 – Russell and his regular collaborator Lovern Kindzierski adapted Richard Wagner’s masterpiece to comics. His wasn’t the first, but it’s most certainly the best.

Collected in a stunning single volume the Teutonic saga is augmented by a Preface from music critic and scholar Michael Kennedy, an Introduction by comics star Matt (no relation) Wagner, and is followed by Russell’s fascinating, heavily-illustrated essay ‘What is an Adaptation?’: describing his thinking, creative process and philosophy in the crafting of this epic, whilst offering an intimate peek into how the magic was made along via a range of pencil, ink and/or fully-coloured sketches and art studies as well as the entire gallery of covers from the original comics.

The four operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (or Twilight of the Gods if you’re less pompous or well-travelled than me) is a classic distillation of Germano-Norse myth and the poems collected as the Icelandic Eddas. Over 26 years the master of German music distilled them into a cycle of staggering power, which people either love or hate. Great tunes, too.

Doesn’t absolutely everybody love the brilliant animated tribute-come-distillation starring Bugs Bunny entitled ‘What’s Opera, Doc?’ They probably refer to it as “Kill the Wabbit!” though. Joking aside, the Ring Cycle is a true masterpiece of Western Culture and immortal inspiration to purveyors of drama and historic fiction. In 1989 and 1990 long-time fans and comics superstars Roy Thomas (who’d already integrated the plot into the canon of Marvel’s Mighty Thor) and Gil Kane produced a 4-part, prestige-format miniseries that adapted the events into comic strip form. That’s superbly impressive, but trust me, Russell’s is in a league of its own…

Bold, bright, glittering and tightly adhering to the rhythms and staging of the theatre version – thanks to translator Patrick Mason’s deft contribution – it all begins with the creation of the world…

At some time later, Alberich the Nibelung is a hideous troglodytic Dwarf shunned by all, but smart enough to outwit the three haughty Rhine Maidens. Commanded to guard an accursed treasure horde even the Gods cannot tame, the river nymphs reveal the secret to the glib intruder. Whoever casts The Rhinegold into a ring will have all the wealth and power of the world, but must forever forswear love and joy. Never having known either, greedy Alberich readily and scornfully forsakes these dubious emotional necessities and seizes the treasure even All-Father Voton feared to touch.

Meanwhile, wily Logé has convinced Voton to promise giants Fasolt and Fafnir anything they wish if they build the great castle Valhalla to house the world’s heroes. Assured that the trickster god can free him from his promise to the giants, the All-Father and Preserver of Oaths accepts their price, but on completion the giants demand possession of Freia; goddess of the apples of immortality.

Bound by their Lord’s sworn oath, the gods must surrender Freia, but malicious Logé suggests that Alberich’s stolen gold – now reshaped into a finger-ring – can be used by any other possessor without abandoning love. The brothers then demand the world-conquering trinket as a replacement fee… and no god can sway or deter them. The course is set to disaster!

Second miniseries The Valkyrie sees an earthly warrior calling himself “Woeful” as the sole survivor of a blood-feud. Fleeing, he claims Right of Hospitality from a beautiful woman in a remote cottage. However, when her husband Hunding returns, they all discover that he belongs to the clan Woeful recently slaughtered so many of…

Secure for the night under the sacrosanct bond of Hospitality, Woeful realises he must fight for his life in the morning when the sacred truce expires. Without weapons, he counts little for his chances until the woman reveals to him a magic sword embedded in the giant Ash tree that supports the house. Unfortunately, the gods have already decreed that there can be no happy ending to be won, only further sin and shame and the fall of Voton’s most beloved servant Brunhildé…

Sixteen years later, Siegfried is the child of an illicit union, raised by malicious, cunning Mime: a blacksmith who knows the secrets of the Nibelung. No loving parent, the metal-shaper wants the indomitable wild boy to kill a dragon (Fafnir, who was once a giant) and steal the magical golden horde the monster so jealously guards. Of course, the young hero has his own heroic dreams and faces the fearsome firedrake for his own reasons: glory, fame, pride and because he wishes to awaken an otherworldly maiden who slumbers eternally behind a wall of fire!

Years of plotting and treachery and the inescapable onerous burden of fate culminate in Götterdämmerung as all the machinations, faithlessness and oath-breaking of truly flawed divinities lead to their ultimate destruction. Siegfried has won his beauteous Brunhildé from the flames but their happiness is not to be. False friends Hagen and Gunther drug him to steal his beloved, simultaneously betrothing the befuddled hero to a woman he does not love. Final betrayal by a comrade – whose father was Alberich – leads to his death and the inevitable fall of all that is!

If you know the operas you know how much more remains to enjoy in this quartet of tales, and the scintillating passion and glowing beauty the art magnificently captures the grandeur and tragedy of it all. This primal epic is visual poetry and no fan should be without it.
© 2000, 2001, 2014 P. Craig Russell. All rights reserved.

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Mighty Thor Marvel Masterworks volume 18


By Roy Thomas, Don Glut, Don Thompson, Maggie Thompson, Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, Walter Simonson, Alan Kupperberg, Wayne Boring, Arvell Jones, Pablo Marcos, Tom Palmer, Chic Stone, Ernie Chan, Tony DeZuñiga & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1821-7 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Once upon a time, disabled physician Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway, only to stumble into an alien invasion. Trapped in a cave, he found an ancient walking stick which, when struck against the ground, turned him into the Norse God of Thunder! Within moments, he was defending the weak and smiting the wicked. Months swiftly passed, with the Lord of Storms tackling rapacious extraterrestrials, Commie dictators, costumed crazies and cheap thugs, but these soon gave way to a vast kaleidoscope of fantastic worlds and incredible, mythic menaces, usually tackled with an ever-changing cast of stalwart immortal warriors at his side…

As the ever-expanding Marvel Universe grew increasingly interconnected and matured through its first decade – with characters literally tripping over each other in New York City – Thor’s Asgardian heritage and the soaring imagination of Jack Kirby most often drew the Thunderer away from mortal realms into stunning, unique landscapes and scenarios. Now as the King prepared to leave Marvel again and mostly mainstream comics entirely behind, his successors had room to play with his creations…

Spanning cover-dates January to December 1979, this power-packed compilation re-presents The Mighty Thor #279-290 and Thor Annual #7 & 8. By blending stints on Midgard with cosmic doom and whilst playing with established prophecy, inspired scribe Roy Thomas opens this tome with an engaging Introduction detailing his interest and relationship with Kirby’s other, other Marvel pantheon and discussing The King’s last great contributory concept to the House of Ideas…

Then the comics catastrophes and revelations resume with Thomas, Walt Simonson & Ernie Chan using the extra page count of Thor Annual #7 (cover-dated September 1978 and on sale from June 20th) to detail a forgotten “first contact” moment. After Balder is killed by Loki’s machinations in an attempt to trigger Ragnarok (Thor Marvel Masterworks #17), the Thunder God reluctantly consults hostile prophet Mimir. The flaming seer of the Well of Wisdom instead emphasises how untrustworthy Odin is by telling of an event Thor cannot remember even though it was one of his most significant exploits…

Tale within a tale ‘And Ever …The Eternals!’ reviews the creation of and war between Asgardian and Greek pantheons – which Thor readily recalled – before going on to disclose how the proud prince had continued seeking new mortal worshippers. Roaming Midgard doing heroic deeds, he had encountered and barely defeated a monstrous mind-controlling horror dubbed Dromedan. Moving on, in what would be later called Central America he meets another – unsuspected – god-like race: Polar Eternals Ajak, Druig, Valkin and Virako.

Thor then reexperiences how he learned Midgard was a laboratory preserve of incredible super-gods from space: “Celestials” who had genetically modified proto-hominids to create humanity, Eternals and horrific predatory Deviants. These subspecies had battled for ownership of Earth in wars spanning the length of human existence…

Confronted by such sheer heresy and baffled by obvious nonsense, Thor learns now that his new friends were as treacherous as any god or mortal, with all knowledge of Celestials excised after he and the Eternals defeated a resurgent Dromedan and horde of Deviants and Mutates. Mindwiped, he returned to Asgard, oblivious to the fact that Space Gods would periodically return to judge the progress of their three-pronged project… as indeed they were doing at that very moment under a colossal gleaming dome in Earth’s Andes mountains…

When Kirby’s series debuted in 1976, we met anthropologist Professor Daniel Damien and daughter Margo, whose explorations revealed giant aliens had visited Earth in ages past: sculpting hominid beasts into distinct sentient species – Human Beings; genetically unstable Deviants and god-like superbeings who called themselves Eternals. Moreover, those Space Gods had occasionally returned to check up on their experiment.

Over 19 issues and an Annual, the series avoided true contact with Marvel continuity as modern mankind’s military and moneyed movers-&-shakers dealt with the politics and panic of a world-shattering event. Ikaris (son of Valkin and Virako), Margo, Ajak, Sersi, Makkari, Zuras, Thena, Sprite and Druig fought and foiled Deviants Kro, Brother Tode, Dromedan, Ransak and Karkas with humanity terrified in the background and under the microscope as The Fourth Host of Celestials hovered above the world in a city-sized ship, pondering final judgement: a process that would take 50 years.

Never a comfortable fit with the rest of the Marvel Universe – only S.H.I.E.L.D. ever really got involved – The Eternals further embodied Kirby’s fascination with Deities, the immensity of Space and potential of Supernature through the lens of very human observers. Once the series ended, Kirby moved on and other creators eagerly co-opted his concepts (with mixed success) into the company’s mainstream continuity…

In Mighty Thor #279 (cover-dated January 1978) the new quest is briefly diverted as Don Glut, Alan Kupperberg & Pablo Marcos detail how the Thunderer’s latest exile to Earth results in more reminiscing and “untold tale” ‘A Hammer in Hades!’ After a chance encounter with first love Jane Foster led to her imprisonment in the underworld, Thor flew right into an ambush organised by Loki, Grecian death god Pluto and super-troll Ulik, but proved more than even that trio of terror could handle…

Still preparing to confront the Fourth Host, Thor is again forestalled in #280 where Thomas, Wayne Boring & Tom Palmer pastiche DC’s Annual JLA/JSA summer team-ups with ‘Crisis on Twin Earths!’ after Superman-analogue Mark Milton/Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme requests Thor’s assistance on his own alternate Earth. Sadly, the evil Hyperion of the Squadron Sinister manages to replace his goody-goody doppelganger and a shattering battle erupts before order and dimensional stability is restored…

One last digression came in #281 as Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Keith Pollard & Marcos probe continuity in ‘This Hammer Lost!’ Thor prepares for his confrontation with the Celestials by time-travelling to the moment the First Host arrived. However, en route Mjolnir is snatched from him and the Thunderer ends up trapped in Limbo, confronting old foes like the Space Phantom and other chronally adrift threats before he can recover his mallet…

Ambushed and embattled, Thor then faces Time Lord Immortus and temporal tyrant Tempus before escaping in #282’s ‘Rites of Passage’, but only at the cost of one of the greatest weapons in his armoury…

Cover-dated May 1979 (and on sale from February 6th) The Mighty Thor #283 at last proclaims ‘Suddenly… the Celestials!’ as John Buscema & Chic Stone return to art duties for the opening shots of the long-anticipated clash. After a brief, crime-crushing stopover in Mexico City and another savage argument with All-Father Odin, Thor accepts that his sire is somehow complicit in the Celestials’ schemes and presses on to confront them on his own…

When the Andean dome proves utterly impenetrable fortune seems to desert the Asgardian when 2000ft tall Gammenon the Gatherer attacks him whilst seizing a circling passenger jet…

Apparently destroyed in #284, the deity has given way to Dr. Don Blake who sneaks aboard the captured pane and surreptitiously enters ‘The City of the Space Gods!’ Blake befriends Dr. Damien and constant companion Ajak who have observed the Space Gods’ mysterious works for three years now. None are aware the jet also carries an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and legendary Deviant warrior queen Ereshkigal, who has tormented humans for centuries as Hecate…

Back in Manhattan and unaware of a brutal three-way firefight under the Fourth Host Dome, Ikaris, Margo and Sersi fear the truce they had brokered between the three species is unravelling, even as Thor manages to rescue the jet and its passengers. The effort leaves them all locked outside the Dome as ‘Deviants and Doormen!’ (#285 by Buscema & Stone) opens with Thor back in New York and battling philosopher/poet/gladiator Karkas – a Deviant Mutate who switched allegiance to the Eternals. The misunderstanding is quickly settled, and the warriors unite to track down missing allies Ikaris, Margo, Thena, Ransak & Sersi: a trail taking them deep below the city to an ancient Deviant citadel.

After a ferocious clash with the forces of Warlord Kro and Brother Tode in #286’s ‘Mayhem under Manhattan!’ (Thomas, Stone and new regular penciler Keith Pollard) the citadel is destroyed. Deprived of Asgardian allies, Thor travels with his new friends to the mountain home of the Eternals in hopes of finding someone to help repel the space gods and end their threatened judgement…

With additional material by Gruenwald & Macchio, ‘Assault on Olympia!’ sees Thor very much a stranger in paradise, and challenged by deviously-manipulated Eternal outlaw The Forgotten One, even as many realms away, Sif and Warriors Three Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun undertake a perilous mission for Odin, one bringing them into the deadly grip of abominable dragon Fafnir…

In Olympia the duel escalates into vast brawl involving most of the Eternals, but at its height, Thor and the Forgotten One vanish to reappear miles above at the feet of prime Celestial The One Above All…

Unable and unwilling to stop fighting, the ‘Fury of the Forgotten Hero!’ is only stilled when Thor downs him, but such tactics have no effect on the space god who shows the Prince of Asgard a shocking image: Odin in eons past kneeling in submission before the Third Host…

And in the Nine Realms, Sif and her allies draw closer to the All-Father’s objective, working to complete a scheme none but Odin are aware of…

Shattered by revelations of betrayal Thor is swifty banished by The One Above All, rematerialising in Olympia with The Forgotten One as the tempers begin to cool all around. Meanwhile, Odin voyages to other pantheons to call in old markers in his grand plan and Sif takes control of Asgard’s ultimate Doomsday weapon to defeat and despatch her beloved Thor when the incensed hero tries to storm the Rainbow Bridge in #289’s ‘Look Homeward, Asgardian!’ before Arvel Jones pencils the final chapter of the ongoing epic as ‘Ring Around the Red Bull!’ sees the Thunderer fortuitously crash down in Hollywood in time to save Luchador (costumed Lucha Libre wrestler) Vampiro from ruthless sadistic opponent El Toro Rojo. It’s not as simple as it sounds: the former is an Eternal and Red Bull is a brutal Deviant methodically removing long-lived immortal second stringers from the world before the final battle against the Celestials begins…

Happily Thor is enough to rebalance the odds…

To Be Continued…

Although the unfolding epic pauses here, there’s one last legendary call to battle as The Mighty Thor Annual #8 (1979) depicts ‘Thunder Over Troy!’ as Thomas, Buscema & Tony DeZuñiga (with the help of consultants Don & Maggie Thompson) bring you a refresher course in the classics – specifically The Illiad/Trojan War with a touch of the Aeneid thrown in – as young Thor and Loki are again hurled through time to ancient Greece, with the Thunderer allying with the besieged Trojans whilst his wily stepbrother played it cool as an advisor to cunning strategist Odysseus…

Repeatedly unable to save any of his newfound comrades, the callow arrogant storm god futilely attacks Zeus himself, but it’s a war of Thunder he has no chance of winning.

Augmenting this volume is a full cover gallery by Simonson, Dave Cockrum, Joe Sinnott, Pollard, Palmer, Marcos, Buscema, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, Bob Layton & Stone; Thomas’ editorials from The Mighty Thor Annual #7 & 8 and seven fabulous pages of original art and covers from Simonson, Chan, Sinnott, Boring, Palmer, Cockrum & McLeod.

The tales gathered here may lack the sheer punch and verve of the early years but fans of ferocious Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy will find this tome still stuffed with intrigue and action, magnificently rendered by artists who, whilst not possessing Kirby’s vaulting visionary passion, were every inch his equal in craft and dedication, making this a definite and decidedly economical must-read for all fans of the character and the genre.
© 2019 MARVEL.

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Leonard & Larry 4: How Real Men Do It


By Tim Barela (Palliard Press)
ISBN: 978-1884568060 (Album PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content employed for comedic and dramatic effect.

We live in an era where Pride events are world-wide and commonplace: where acceptance of LGBTQIA+ citizens is a given… at least in all the civilised countries where dog-whistle politicians, populist “hard men” totalitarian dictators (I’m laughing at a private dirty joke right now) and sundry organised religions are kept in their generally law-aware-if-not-actually-abiding places by their hunger for profitable acceptance and desperation to stay tax-exempt, scandal-free, rich and powerful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leonard & Larry also showed up in prestigious benefit comic Strip AIDs U.S.A. before triumphantly relocating to The Advocate in 1988, and from 1990 to rival publication Frontiers. The lovely lads even moved into live drama in 1994: adapted by Theatre Rhinoceros of San Francisco as part of stage show Out of the Inkwell. In the 1990s their episodic exploits were gathered in a quartet of wonderfully oversized (220 x 280 mm) monochrome albums which gained a modicum of international stardom and some glittering prizes. Final compendium How Real Men Do It was released by Palliard Press in 2003, and follows the convoluted, constantly crossing paths of the vast cast until the strip’s painfully abrupt demise…

As previously stated, as well as featuring a multi-generational cast, Leonard & Larry was a strip that progressed in real time, with characters all aging and developing accordingly. The episodes were never about sex – except in that the subject is a constant generator of hilarious jokes and outrageously embarrassing situations. Triumphantly skewering hypocrisy and rebuking ignorance with dry wit and superb drawing, instalments and extended sequences cover various couples’ home and work lives, perpetual parties, physical deterioration, social gaffes, rows, family revelations, holidays and even events like earthquakes and ever imminent anti-gay legislation and even fanciful prognostications.

Following an Introduction from Ron Jackson Suresha and the standard recaps, the highly strung hilarity continues much as it always has…

Leonard Goldman and Larry Evans live together in relatively calm, happily and expressively snide happiness, despite vast family circles and friend groups all at odds with each other. As well as an overwhelming panoply of real life travails and traumas, their existences are complicated by redoubling dreams, weird events and increasingly odd fantasy and dream manifestations, such the ghosts of composers Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his bitter frenemy Johannes Brahms who plague many cast members: acting always as the vanguard of even odder occurrences to come…

The interwoven family tapestry is primarily a comedy of manners, played out against social prejudices and changing attitudes to gay life, but also delivers shocking moments of drama and tension and heartwarming sentiment set in and around West Hollywood. The extensive L&L clan comprise Goldman’s formidable, eternally unaccepting mother Esther – who still ambushes him with blind dates and nice Jewish girls – and Mr. Evans’ ex-wife Sharon: mother of Richard and David (the sons of their 18-year marriage).

Whilst still in school Richard knocked up and wed classmate Debbie, making the scrappy loco parentals and Leonard unwilling grandparents years (decades even!) before they were ready. By this stage the oldsters equally adore baby Lauren and little brother Michael…

Maternal grandparents Phil and Barbra Dunbarton are ultra conservative and stridently Christian, spending much time fretting over all those unsaved souls… and their own social standing. They’re particularly concerned over role models and whatever horrors the grandkids are exposed to whenever the gay guys babysit. Their appearances are always some of funniest and most satisfying as the deviant clan expands exponentially, as in this edition when some of Phil’s own youthful indiscretions are exposed, thanks to one of Larry’s cherished and long hoarded 1970’s gay porn magazines that he refused to throw away…

David Evans is as queer as his dad, and works in Larry’s leather/fetish boutique store on Melrose Avenue. That iconic venue provides loads of quick, easy laughs and many edgy moments, thanks to local developer/predatory expansionist Lillian Lynch who still wants the store at any cost and passing trade who all carry secrets of their own.

David also adds to grandparental burden after he and his bestie Collin help their lesbian roommate Nat get pregnant with the net result that our freaked out oldsters become grandfathers yet again…

The store is also the meeting point for many other couples in Leonard & Larry’s eccentric orbit. Close friend and flamboyant former aerospace engineer Frank Freeman lives with acclaimed concert pianist Bob Mendez and is saddled with a compulsive yen for uniforms. It’s previously come in handy whenever Bob’s sex-crazed celebrity stalker Fiona Birkenstock breaks jail to re-kidnap him, but almost every acquaintance brings fresh wonders to the mix.

L&L’s friends and clients all enjoy expanded roles this time, offering other perspectives on LA life, as the cast broadens ever wider, to include a wave of faded starlets, B-movie actors, workmen, contractors and ever more aggressive anti-gay activists…

Larry’s other store employee is Jim Buchanan whose alarming dating history stabilised when he met a genuine cowboy at one of L&L’s parties. Merle Oberon was a newly “out” Texan trucker who added romance and stability to Jim’s lonely life. Sadly, it got complicated in other ways once Merle became a Hollywood soap star and his agents, managers and co-star convinced him his career needed Oberon back in that closet. That extremely long-running plot thread comes to a most satisfactory conclusion here after Merle comes out in the most spectacular stunt TV sitcoms have ever seen, but also brings fresh perils when Merle’s scheming PA Vicky decides to add poor timid Jim to the list of gay men she’s attempted to cure with her bodily allure and ruthless manipulations…

Jim, by the way, was the original and central focus of the overly-critical dead composers’ puckish visits, but now has to share them with so many others. He’s not sorry about that…

As the demanding ghost composers play pranks on more of the minor cast members, their wild games and snarky comments are always balanced by the slow panic of ever-kvetching aging-averse Larry who is painfully refusing to adapt to being a doting grandad/perennial babysitter while observing his failing facilities. Even the local Gym for “his people” don’t want him: apparently hairy men are so last decade. Larry does, however, find some new lease on life when Leonard has the kitchen redone and he meets the burly contractors toiling hard and stripped down to their skivvies in the fierce Melrose summer heat…

Ex-wife Sharon remains a prime source of hilarious woe having been recently “knocked up” at one of Leonard & Larry’s frequent dinner parties thanks to fine wine and their only straight acquaintance (classical violinist Gene Slatkin). Their brief encounter originally sparked incomprehensible jealousy and primeval macho ownership behaviour in Larry, but now his nights attending her geriatric pregnancy have made him an unpaid babysitter for yet another family addition…

As the Millennium approaches, Larry gets extremely house proud and increasingly voyeuristic, but all hopes for “easy eyefuls” and schemes to arrange for good-looking, similarly minded pretty men to move in next door are disasters, leading to shame, humiliation, Leonard’s sustained mockery, minor injury and the world’s worst case of manifest “be careful what you wish for”…

After losing his safe comfy show, Texan star Merle joins the cast of a Sesame Street knock-off where he learns puppets, puppeteers and kids’ entertainers are a breed unto themselves…

With younger players taking centre stage, the author takes every opportunity to spike not just anti-gay bigots but take on good old-fashioned racism and dated ideas too, such as granddaughter Lauren’s inappropriate underwear moment or via gleefully potent pokes at American fundamentalism, as when the “Christian Coalition” relentlessly pursue anti-gay marriage legislation Proposition 22 and seeks to “turn” Larry’s Lauren into a propaganda spouting angel of good…

The series ended on an accidental cliffhanger as Good God-fearing Christians bought the building complex David lived in and started evicting tenants. Just the ones with same-sex roommates of course…

That was where it all ended back then, but see below for an update…

Leonard & Larry was a traditional domestic marital sitcom/soap opera with Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz – or more aptly, Dick Van Dyke & Mary Tyler Moore – replaced by a hulking bearded “bear” with biker, cowboy and leather fetishes and a stylishly moustachioed, no-nonsense fashion photographer. Taken in total, it’s a love story about growing old together, but not gracefully or with any semblance of dignity. Populated by adorable, appetisingly fully fleshed out characters, the strip was always about finding and then being yourself. It remains an irresistible slice of gentle whimsy to nourish the spirit and beguile the jaded palate. If you feel like taking a Walk on the Mild Side now this tome is still at large through internet vendors. So why don’t you?
How Real Men Do It © 2002, 2004 Palliard Press. All artwork and strips © 2002-2004 Tim Barela. All rights reserved Introduction © 2003 Ron Jackson Suresha.


After decades of waiting, the entire ensemble epic was made available again courtesy of Rattling Good Yarns Press. Hefty hardback uber-compilation Finally! The Complete Leonard & Larry Collection (ISBN: 978-1-955826-05-1) was released in 2021, reprinting the entire saga – including cartoon afterword ‘…Meanwhile Twenty Years Later’ to catch readers up on what happened when the strip shut down. It’s a little smaller in page dimensions (216 x 280mm) and far harder to lift, but it’s Out There if you want it…

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The Fox: Freak Magnet


By Dean Haspiel, Mark Waid, JM DeMatteis, Mike Cavallaro, Terry Austin & various (Red Circle Comics/Archie)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-93-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

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

In the early days of the US comicbook biz, just after Superman and Batman had ushered in a new genre of storytelling, a rash of publishers jumped onto the bandwagon and made their own bids for cash and glory. Many thrived and many more didn’t, relished only as trivia by sad old blokes like me. Some few made it to an amorphous middle-ground: not forgotten, but certainly not household names either…

MLJ were one of the quickest outfits to pump out a mystery-man pantheon, following the spectacular successes of the Man of Tomorrow and Darknight Detective with their own small but inspirational pantheon of gaudily clad crusaders.

It all began in November 1939 (one month after a little game-changer entitled Marvel Comics #1) with Blue Ribbon Comics #1: content comprising the standard blend of two-fisted adventure strips, prose pieces and gag panels and, from #2 on, costumed heroes. They rapidly followed up with Top-Notch and Pep Comics. However, after only a few years Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (hence MLJ) spotted a gap in the blossoming market and in December 1941 nudged aside their masked heroes and action strips to make room for a far less imposing hero; an “average teen” who would have ordinary adventures like the readers, but with triumphs, romance and slapstick emphasised.

Pep #22 (December 1941) featured a gap-toothed, freckle-faced, red-headed goof taking his lead from the popular Andy Hardy movies starring Mickey Rooney. Goldwater developed the concept of a youthful everyman protagonist, tasking writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana with the job of making the concept work. A 6-page tale introduced Archie Andrews and pretty girl-next-door Betty Cooper plus an unconventional best friend/confidante Jughead Jones; all growing up in a small-town utopia called Riverdale.

The feature was an instant hit and by the winter of 1942 had migrated to its own title. Archie Comics #1 was the company’s first solo-star magazine and with it began a metamorphosis of the entire company. With the introduction of rich, raven-haired Veronica Lodge, all the pieces were in play for the comic book industry’s second Genuine Phenomenon (as influential, if not so all-pervasive, as Superman)…

By 1946 the kids had taken over, and MLJ – renamed Archie Comics – retired its heroic characters years before the end of the Golden Age, becoming, to all intents and purposes, a publisher of family comedies. Its success, like Superman’s, changed the content of every other publisher’s titles, and led to a multi-media industry including TV shows, movies, and a chain of restaurants. In the swinging sixties the pop hit Sugar, Sugar (a tune from their animated show) became a global smash, and their wholesome garage band The Archies has been a fixture of the comics ever since.

Nonetheless the company had by this stage also blazed through a rather impressive legion of costumed champions (such as The Shield who predated Captain America by 13 months) who would form the backbone of numerous future superhero revivals, most notably during the High-Camp/Marvel Explosion/Batman TV show-frenzied mid-60’s…

The heroes impressively resurfaced in the 1980s under the company’s Red Circle banner but again failed to catch enough public attention. Archie let them lie fallow – except for occasional revivals and intermittent guest-shots in regular Archie titles – until 1991, when the company licensed its heroes to superhero specialists DC for a magically fun, all-ages iteration (and where’s that star-studded curated collection, huh?!).

Impact Comics was a vibrant, engaging and fun all-ages rethink that really should have been a huge hit but was again incomprehensibly unsuccessful. When the Impact line folded in 1993 the characters returned to limbo until the company had one more crack at them in 2008, briefly and boldly incorporating Mighty Crusaders & Co into DC’s own maturely angst-ridden, stridently dark continuity… with the usual overwhelming lack of success.

In 2012 the company began restoring their superhero credentials with a series of online adventures under the aegis of a revived Red Circle subdivision. They began with The Mighty Crusaders (reinforced by traditional monthly print versions six months later): new costumed capers emphasising fun and action equally welcoming to inveterate fanboys and eager newcomers alike…

Moreover…

One of the company’s most tantalising and oddly appealing Golden Age second stringers was a notional Batman knockoff dubbed The Fox. Debuting in Blue Ribbon #4 (cover dated June 1940, but on sale from March 28th) the feature followed ambitious, go-getting young photojournalist Paul Patton, who initially dressed up as a costumed crusader to get exclusive scoops before inevitably and properly catching the hero-bug and doing his thing for the Right Reasons.

Running until #22 – March 1943 – the first Fox strips were scripted by Joe Blair and drawn by Irwin Hasen (who recycled the timelessly elegant costume design for DC/All American’s pugilistic powerhouse Wildcat in January 1942’s Sensation Comics #1). The dark detective vanished in the wave of Archie’s ascent, until revived as a walk-on in Mighty Crusaders #4 (April 1966). He was particularly well-served during a subsequent 1980s revival when visual narrative genius Alex Toth illustrated many of his new adventures. In 2013 the character – or rather his son – was singled out for solo stardom in the most recent (and mainly digital) Red Circle resurrection.

This superbly riotous collection collects the first story-arc and a few cool on-line extras published in 2013 as the sublimely witty and engaging action-romp The Fox: Freak Magnet #1-5. There was also a second miniseries/sequel collection that we’ll get to in the fullness of time…

As seen in New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes, this Earth’s masked heroes were generally enjoying a well-deserved retirement in the ideal little city of Red Circle, until tracked down and murdered by old foe The Brain Emperor. Only elderly Joe Higgins was left to save their children and heirs. He shepherded them to safety thanks to a long-established and practised escape plan devised by the Mighty Crusaders and tutored the instant orphans to the eventual attainment of their true potential as heroes in their own right…

Higgins was a lucky choice: the world’s first masked superman and a trusty Shield against all evil and injustice…

At first, all that has very little to do with Paul Patton Jr., who has voluntarily followed in his own father’s footsteps both as a photojournalist and masked mystery man – and for the same venal petty reasons – only to discover that both jobs come at an inescapable price. In his case trouble and insanity always finds him, so he might as well be dressed and ready for the occasions…

Following a Foreword by Mike Allred, the further adventures of The Fox – as imagined by plotter/artist Dean Haspiel and scripter/dialoguer Mark Waid – begin with ‘Freak Magnet part 1: Public Face’ as the reluctant champion accidentally exposes the shady secrets of the world’s most beautiful social media tycoon whilst on a cushy photo assignment. Magnificent Lucy Fur seems to have everything going for her, but the Fox’s infallible gift for stumbling into unfortunate situations soon “outs” the beautiful siren as manic murder-monster Madame Satan…

No sooner has our Roguish Reynard despatched her and caught a breath than he’s accosted by an extradimensional princess in distress, desperately seeking a few good men in ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’. The frantic Queen of Diamonds has already shanghaied some of Earth’s greatest champions, sending them to save her beloved husband from wicked menace the Druid who has transformed hubby into a ravening monster. Now, however, as her power to fight back – and options – dwindle, she finally arrives at merely mortal but weirdly lucky Patton…

Given no chance to refuse, the fed-up Fox is soon questing through a bizarre world, enduring horrific hallucinations (including his not-so-understanding wife Mae who infrequently suits-up as the savage She-Fox) and a succession of marauding man-things. After he defeats a particularly big beast, it reverts to the battered form of missing pulp hero Bob Phantom…

That issue also began a back-up serial by JM DeMatteis, Mike Cavallaro & Terry Austin, included here as ‘Shield: The Face of Hate part 1 – A Very Cold War’ which finds aged but still vital Joe Higgins in a bar, recounting one of his WWII exploits…

Debuting way back when in Pep Comics #1, Higgins was an FBI scientist who devised a suit which gave him enhanced strength, speed and durability, battling the USA’s enemies as The Shield in the days before America entered WWII. He also devised a serum which enhanced those powers, smashing spies, saboteurs, subversives and every threat to Democracy and decency. This particular old soldier’s yarn concerns a 1944 mission in Antarctica to crush an Axis super-weapon, but which found him facing not just a legion of monsters but also his Nazi and Japanese counterparts Master Race and Hachiman…

Chapter three of Freak Magnet resumed with Haspiel & Waid’s lucky lad wandering through ‘Hell’s Half Acre’ like a Lycra-draped Indiana Jones in Dante’s Inferno; en route defeating and curing lost hero/mutated monster Inferno, the Flame Breather prior to rescuing gun-toting pulp-era vigilante The Marvel from a macabre torture chamber. Unfortunately, once released, the Scourge of Gangland is a wee bit traumatised and can no longer tell friend from foe…

Meanwhile back in World War II, ‘The Face of Hate part 2 – The Enemy of My Enemy’ (DeMatteis, Cavallaro & Austin) sees the sworn enemies’ 3-way battle boil over into berserker rage… until a grotesque horror jumps all three of them…

In the Diamond Dimension of today, whilst Inferno tackles a maddened Marvel, Fox must face the Queen’s ensorcelled husband in ‘The Voodoo You Do’ (Haspiel & Waid), until the nigh-omnipotent Druid takes a personal hand. Happily, at that moment the more-or-less dutiful wives appear, the power of love and sparkly expensive engagement rings having allowed the Queen and Mae to cross the dimensional divide and tip the scales. With the Druid blasted to chunks, Patton believe the madness has subsided for a while… until the Diamond Ruler blasts the Earthlings home and Patton arrives alone in Antarctica, dumped into another insanely dangerous situation…

‘Shield: The Face of Hate part 3 – A Mind of Shattered Glass’ (DeMatteis, Cavallaro & Austin) saw the hate-filled human foes swallow their feelings to unite in combat against an incredible predatory horror which has grown from a fragment of a far greater being destroyed in antiquity and scattered throughout the universe. This entity fed on hate and planned to transform Earth into a world of monsters, but just as it completes its evolution into a new, much more malign and menacing Druid, a black clad, long-eared and annoyingly familiar figure materialises…

The time-tossed twin sagas combine for the epic conclusion ‘Freak Magnet: Future’s End’ (by DeMatteis & Haspiel) as Fox, Shield, Hachiman and Master Race team up: striving together to save humanity and finding themselves forever changed by the cosmic experience.

A fulsome ‘Afterword by Dean Haspiel’ follows and is augmented by one more comics treat as our effulgent everyman crafts a delicious and hilariously thrilling short yarn starring Paul Patten Jr., explaining his choice of cameras in ‘Epilogue: A Picture Lasts Forever’…

This delightful exercise in reviving the fun-filled excitement of comics that don’t think they’re Shakespeare or Orwell also includes such extra inducements as a covers-&-variants gallery (23 in total) from Haspiel and guests Darwyn Cooke, Fiona Staples, Mike Norton, Allen Passalaqua, Paul Pope, Mike & Laura Allred, David Mack, Howard Chaykin, Jesus Aburto, Mike Cavallaro & Alex Toth, as well as a fact-packed ‘Special Feature’ section revealing some of ‘The Fox Files’.

Beginning with the lowdown on the cagy crusaders in ‘Origin of the Freak Magnet’ and ‘She-Fox: The Vivacious Vixen’, there’s even room for bonus featurette ‘Red Circle Heroes: Extra Pulp’, offering character insights and publication histories for ‘Bob Phantom’, ‘Inferno’ and ‘The Marvel’.

… And best yet, there’s a great big tantalising “To Be Continued…”

Full of vim & vigour, this phenomenal Will Eisner-inspired romp delivers no-nonsense, outrageously emphatic superhero hijinks drenched in slick, smart, tried-&-true comic book bombast and outrageous action which manages to feel brand-new whilst simultaneously remaining faithful to all the past iterations and re-imaginings of the assorted superheroes.

Fast, fulfilling and immediately addictive, The Fox should always have been Archie’s long-awaited superhero superstar… and might just yet be the one…

If you yearn for all the uncomplicated fantastic Fights ‘n’ Tights furore of your youth – whenever that was – this is a book you must not miss.
THE FOX ™ & © RED CIRCLE COMICS ® ACP, Inc. The individual characters; names and likenesses are the exclusive trademarks of Archie Comics Publications, Inc. © 2014 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.