Category: Horror Stories

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My Dad Fights Demons


By Bobby Joseph & Abbigayle Bircham (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-914224-34-8 (TPB)

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

Here’s a short, sweet and sarcastically sharp poke at modern culture’s transient nature, mayfly attention-spans and perennially parlous state, delivered in a delicious ribald and deceptively irreverent tone and stylee (not a typo). The deed is done by street-wizened South Londoner and incumbent Comics Laureate Bobby Joseph (Dazed and Confused, Vice, The Guardian, Skank Magazine, Scotland Yardie) and rising star Abbigayle Bircham (Soaring Penguin Press, The Rat Pack Collective).

Anarchic, subversive and definitely NOT for little kids – unless they live inside the heads of adult-seeming types – here is a potent close-up peep at little Londoner Rye who is navigating the already-too-much-to-bear life of a kid trying to find themselves in a world of constant confliction and change-made-for-profit. The often overwhelmed and undervalued young ’un is just about coping with being vegan, addicted to sprout flavoured vapes, embarrassed by mum and her man, unappreciated by peers and schoolmates and generally not digging life when another body blow lands…

Mum and her manly beau – overly eager for a little intimate alone time – suddenly spring the news that Rye’s biological dad is in town and will be exercising visitation rights for the weekend. That’s when Rye first learns that Mr. Mantriks is not actually deceased (as was previously believed) but is in fact a wizard – “greatest sorcerer in the world” – who has been defending reality from inside a hell dimension for most of Rye’s short life.
Such reunions are always a bit uncomfortable, but this one is more fraught than most as daddy (and his appalling goblin familiar “Gobby”) are criminally unaware of how life has moved on, and are fact only really here to retrieve a lost spell of catastrophically evil potential.

However, like all such odd couple yarns, there’s the promise of reconciliation and a happy ending in store, but only if the long-parted in loco parentis pair – and Rye! – can mend long-ignored fences, avoid waves of disembodied body-parts, the allure of parallel universes (and fried chicken shops), totally solve the mystery of the lost cantrip and foil the cunning convoluted schemes of demonic social influencers who shouldn’t be here and SHOULD know better…

Manic-paced and wildly imaginative, this yarn might be impenetrable to certain ossified sections of the readership were it not for the absolutely indispensable aide memoire ‘Gobby’s Guide to UK Slang!’ Moreover, once an ending is reached, you can learn a little of the how and why thanks to ‘Sketches and development work’ provided by the creators…
Text and images © 2025 Bobby Joseph and Abbigayle Bircham. All rights reserved.

Today in 1911, artist Charles Paris was born. Although he probably inked every great pre-Silver Superman & Batman story you’ve ever read, I’d recommend checking out DC Finest: Metamorpho – The Element Man for a wilder ride.

In 1922, unsung comics icon & secret weapon Roz Kirby entered the world, whilst six years later comic strip pioneer Richard Outcault left it. I’m sure you already know all about him, but just in case why not look at Buster Brown: Early Strips in Full Color?

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Fall Guy for Murder and Other Stories


By Johnny Craig, with Ray Bradbury, Bill Gaines & Al Feldstein (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-658-4 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Forgotten giant Johnny Craig died today in 2001. He was a graphic titan and should be remembered for more than a stellar run on Iron Man in the 1960s – although that alone is worth your attention…

From 1950-1954 EC was the most innovative and influential comic book publisher in America, dominating the genres of crime, horror, adventure, war and science fiction. They even originated an entirely new beast: the satirical funnybook. After a shaky start, following the death of his father (who actually created the modern comic book in 1933), new head honcho William Gaines and his trusty master-of-all-comics trades Al Feldstein turned a slavishly derivative minor venture into a pioneering, groundbreaking enterprise which completely altered the perception of the industry and art form.

As they began co-plotting the bulk of EC’s output together, intent on creating a “New Trend” of stories aimed at older and more discerning readers – and not the mythical 8-year-old comic books ostensibly targeted – they shifted the ailing company’s emphasis towards dark, funny, socially aware and absolutely more adult fare. Their publishing strategy also included hiring some the most gifted writers and artists in the field. One of the very best, most undervalued and least remembered today was writer, artist, editor John Thomas Alexis “Johnny” Craig (1925-2001).

This lavish and eternally appealing monochrome hardcover/digital volume is part of Fantagraphics’ EC Library. It gathers a chilling collection of Craig’s supernatural suspense and especially his superbly Noir-drenched crime stories in a wonderful primer of peril packed with supplementary interviews, features and dissertations, beginning with the informative and picture-packed ‘Brilliant Good Guys, Even More Brilliant Bad Guys’ by lecturer Bill Mason. A parade of classic genre tales begins with ‘One Last Fling!’ from Vault of Horror #21 October/November 1951. Craig was a sublime master of pen-&-ink illustration, and his scripting was just as slick and deceptively, hilariously seductive.

In his initial yarn here, a circus knife-thrower refuses to let the fact that his beloved assistant has become a vampire drive them apart, whilst from Crime SuspenStories #8 (December 1951/January 1952), ‘Out of the Frying Pan…’ is a wry gem of deception and misdirection, with a temporarily blind killer allowing the wrong little old man to plan his escape from hospital for him…

Originating in Vault of Horror #22 (December 1951/January 1952), ‘Fountains of Youth!’ is a straightforward supernatural thriller about a vitality-leeching monster, but ‘Understudy to a Corpse!’ (Crime SuspenStories #9, February/March 1952) offers a brilliantly twisty murder-plot involving a penniless actor who kills his uncle and diverts subsequent police attention by impersonating the victim post mortem. It does not go according to plan…

‘A Stitch in Time!’ (Vault of Horror #23, February/March 1952) is a grotesque classic in which a tyrannical sweatshop boss pays a ghastly price for abusing desperate seamstresses in his employ, before ‘…Rocks in His Head!’ (Crime SuspenStories #10, April/May of the same year) sees a harassed, hard-pressed surgeon with a greedy young wife making a disastrous choice when faced with a jewel-bedecked corpse to autopsy. In that same month prolific Craig graced Vault of Horror #24 with ‘A Bloody Undertaking!’, taking the same theme into supernatural territory when a pretty young thing turns the head of an old country doctor… who really should know better…

Regarded as one of the company’s slowest creators, Craig nevertheless found time to illustrate scripts by Gaines & Feldstein such as ‘…On a Dead Man’s Chest!’ (Haunt of Fear #12, March/April 1952) wherein, after a sordid affair and brutal murder, retribution from beyond the grave seeks out the victim’s wife and philandering brother…

Cover-dated June/July 1952, Crime SuspenStories #11’s ‘Stiff Punishment!’ is all Craig, and again dealt with avaricious ingenues who wed staid old doctors. This time, though, when the medical lecturer finally snaps, his assumption that he’d found the perfect way to hide the body proved utterly erroneous. In ‘Séance!’ (Vault of Horror #25, June/July) a couple of conmen kill a mark who learns too much, but are ultimately undone when his widow consults their own spiritualist for answers, after which Gaines & Feldstein script a shocking tale of gluttony and a vengeful sword-swallower in gloriously macabre fable ‘Fed Up!’ from Haunt of Fear #13 May/June.

The riveting tension of ‘The Execution!’ (Crime SuspenStories #12 August/September 1952) – wherein a death row inmate waits for the witness who could save him from the chair – came from one simple shocking fact. In Craig’s stories the good guys didn’t always win, and justice was frequently derailed and even cheated. ‘Two of a Kind!’ (Vault of Horror #26 August/September 1952) offered a sexually charged love story of the most extreme kind of sacrifice, whilst in ‘Silver Threads Among the Mold!’ (VoH #27 October/November 1952) an avaricious model regrets making a fool of a sculptor who adores and supports her, and ‘Sweet Dreams!’ (CSS #14, December 1952/January 1953) reveals the dire lengths an insomniac will stoop to in search of a little rest.

As first seen in VoH #28 (December 1952/January 1953) ‘Till Death…’ is, for many fans, the ultimate zombie story, as a besotted plantation owner loses his new bride to disease and soon learns to regret using voodoo to restore her to his side, whereas ‘When the Cat’s Away…’ (CSS #15 February/March 1953) is pure undiluted Crime Noir. Here a cuckolded husband attends to his wife and best friend with finesse and grim finality, whilst ‘The Mausoleum!’ (VoH #29, in the same month) sees an English landowner sell his family castle to a ghost-crazy American; lock, stock and damning evidence of the murder he committed to inherit everything…

‘Rendezvous!’ (Crime SuspenStories #16, April/May 1953) brilliantly outlines the sheer dumb luck that scotched a perfect murder/insurance scam, before ‘Split Personality!’ (VoH #30 April/May) details the incredible lengths to which a con artist strives to deprive identical twin sisters of their fortunes. Then, ‘Touch and Go!’ (CSS #17 June/July) delivers Craig’s sublimely paranoiac and compulsive adaptation of the Ray Bradbury vignette about a killer who leaves damning fingerprints whilst in the same month romantic obsession underpins the tragic tale of an artist-turned-mugger who only stole to pay for true love’s medical bills in ‘Easel Kill Ya!’ (VoH #31).

This awesomely addictive compilation concludes with the devilishly convoluted tale of a Private Eye set up to take the blame for a perfect crime. Written by Gaines & Feldstein, eponymous epic ‘Fall Guy for Murder!’ comes from Crime SuspenStories #18 (August/ September 1953) and is the quintessential 1950s crime story: smart, scary, devious and utterly morally ambiguous…

The comics classics are followed by more background revelations via S.C. Ringgenberg’s in-depth personal history in ‘Johnny Craig’ – complete with a stunning selection of Craig’s most eye-catching and controversial covers – and a general heads-up on the short-lived but world-shaking phenomenon in ‘The Ups and Downs of EC Comics: A Short History’ courtesy of author/editor/critic/comics fan Ted White. Also Educating Consumers is comprehensively illuminating feature ‘Behind the Panels: Creator Biographies’ by Mason, Tom Spurgeon & Janice Lee.

The short, sweet but severely limited comics output of EC has been reprinted ad infinitum in the decades since the company died (or was it murdered?). These titanic tales revolutionised not just our industry but also impacted the greater world through film and television and via the millions of dedicated devotees still addicted to New Trend tales.

Fall Guy for Murder was the fifth Fantagraphics compendium highlighting contributions of individual creators, adding a new dimension to aficionados’ enjoyment whilst providing a sound introduction for those lucky souls encountering the material for the very first time.

Whether an aged EC Fan-Addict or the merest neophyte convert, this is a book no comics lover or crime-caper victim should miss…

Fall Guy for Murder and Other Stories © 2013 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All comics stories © 2013 William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., reprinted with permission. All other material © 2013 the respective creators and owners.

Also today in 1982 the legendary Reed Crandall passed away. His presence was seen all over the Golden and Silver Age of Comics, but some of his finest work appeared in Piracy: The Complete Series 1-7 (The EC Archives Library).

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The Tomb of Dracula Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan, Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Gardner F. Fox, Roy Thomas, Vince Colletta, Tom Palmer, Ernie Chan, Jack Abel, Steve Gerber, Rich Buckler & Pablo Marcos, Neal Adams & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2947-3 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Today in 1926 Eugene Jules Colan was born. In a long and illustrious career, this is what most people remember him for, and rightly so as it was always his baby…

At the end of the 1960s American comic books were in turmoil, much like the youth of the nation they targeted. Superheroes had dominated the market and zeitgeist for most of the decade; peaking globally before explosively falling to ennui and overkill. Familiar, trusted genres like horror, westerns and science fiction were resurgent, and fed back into comics thanks to radical trends in moviemaking, where the kids who had grown up with Marvel now pursued the bulk of their young adult entertainment needs.

Inspiration isn’t everything. In fact, as Marvel slowly grew to a position of market dominance in the wake of the losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators, they did so less by experimentation and more by returning to and expanding proven concepts and properties. The only real exception to this was the en masse creation of horror titles: an initial response to that industry downturn in super-hero sales – and a move vastly aided and expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

The switch to supernatural stars had many benefits. Crucially, it particularly brought a new readership to Marvel comics, one attuned to the global revival in spiritualism, Satanism and all things sinisterly spooky. Almost as important, it gave the reprint-crazy company opportunity to finally recycle old 1950s horror stories that had been rendered unprintable and useless since the code’s inception in 1954.

A scant 15 years later Comics Code prohibitions against horror were hastily rewritten – amazing how plunging sales can affect ethics – and scary comics came back in a big way. A fresh crop of supernatural heroes and monsters popped up on newsstands to supplement the ghosts, ghoulies and goblins already infiltrating the once science-only scenarios of the surviving mystery men titles. Crucially, lifting the Code ban resulted in so many horror titles (both new characters and reprints from the massive, multi company horror-boom of 1949-1955) that it undoubtedly caused a few more venerable costumed crusaders to (temporarily, at least) bite the dust.

Almost overnight nasty monsters (and narcotics, but that’s another story) became acceptable fare on four-colour pages and – whilst a parade of pre-code reprints made sound business sense – the creative aspect of the contemporary buzz for bizarre themes was catered to by adapting or incorporating established and still-popular cultural icons before risking whole new concepts on an untested public. As always in entertainment, the watchword was fashion: what was hitting big outside comics must be incorporated into the mix as soon as possible. When science-backed proto-horror Morbius debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (cover-dated October 1971) and the sky failed to fall in, Marvel moved ahead with a line of shocking superstars.

They began with a traditional werewolf and then an already infamous vampire before chancing something new with a haunted biker who tapped into both Easy Rider’s freewheeling motorcycling chic and the prevailing supernatural zeitgeist. Recycling an old western’s title, an all-new Ghost Rider debuted in Marvel Spotlight #5, August 1972. He had been preceded by western hero Red Wolf in #1 and the aforementioned Werewolf by Night in #2-4. From these beginnings, spooky floodgates opened to such an extent there was even room for non-white stars such The Living Mummy, Brother Voodoo and zombie Simon Garth…

This momentously mean & moody compendium collects the neck-nuzzling dark lord’s earliest exploits from a time when he was regarded as an implacable outsider and murderous conquest-obsessed predator. They come from The Tomb of Dracula #1-11, April 1972 – August 1973, and are supported by material from mature-themed, monochrome magazine iteration Dracula Lives! #1-3 which – confusingly for the era – were constantly referenced in the colour comics even if us kids weren’t supposed to have them…

Thus they all lurk at the back of this grimoire of gore rather than unfold chronologically in-world.

Opening with a brace of revelatory, reminiscing Introductions from Roy Thomas and Marv Wolfman we learn the convoluted details and twisty path that led to disinterring the Count for his landmark debut in The Tomb of Dracula #1 cover dated April 1972 but actually on sale from November 16th 1971. By all accounts the simple use of a public domain character was an idea with many owners. Publisher Martin Goodman apparently pushed editor Stan Lee and never originally considered the project as a Marvel colour comic book. Nor was Gene Colan in the frame to draw it. The illustrator thought otherwise and aggressively and successfully campaigned for the job…

Eugene Jules Colan – sometimes AKA Adam Austin – was born in the Bronx and drew comics for almost his entire life. They included countless genre shorts in every conceivable field, plus character s like Daredevil, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Howard the Duck, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, Captain America, The Spectre, Hulk, Avengers, Kid Colt. Outlaw, Brother Voodoo, Star-Lord, Wolverine and more. His co-creations include first African-American superhero The Falcon, Guardians of the Galaxy, two Captain Marvels (Mar-Vell & Carol Danvers), Blade the Vampire Hunter, Dracula’s daughter Lilith, Night Force, Nathaniel Dusk, Silverblade, Detective Inc., Jemm, Son of Saturn, Jughead’s Time Police, Ragamuffins, and much work for Archie, Bongo, Comico, CrossGen, Disney, Fiction House, IDW & and Ziff-Davis Comics.

He also worked on franchises such as Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, Jaws, Meteor, Elvira’s House of Mystery, Little Shop Of Horrors, DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel (#2, 1986 – Robert Silverberg’s Nightwings co-adapted with Cary Bates), Predator, Clive Barker’s The Harrowers: Raiders of the Abyss, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and To Riverdale and Back Again.

Very much the Native New Yorker, Colan was schooled at George Washington High School, Washington Heights before attending the Art Students League of New York and being caught trying to enlist underage in the US Marines. Gene began drawing for pay in 1944 (for Wings Comics). Legitimate military service came quickly enough and he joined the Army Air Corps, but served on the ground in the Philippines until 1946. Thereafter, as a demobbed corporal he quickly found work drawing and lettering for Timely Comics: primarily crime, horror and war shorts… and the last few issues of Captain America Comics.

When the company imploded in 1948, Colan began freelancing for National/DC and Timely’s successor Atlas comics until their subsequent demise. His meticulous, authentic humanist style made him the go-to guy for the surging war comics genre at both companies and led to his first regular gig, illustrating DC licensed property Hopalong Cassidy from 1954-1957. From there he moved into National’s lucrative romance division, contributing regularly to all seven of their titles. Like fellow comics master John Romita and so many others, Colan was lured to Stan Lee’s latest enterprise when the Marvel Phenomenon properly took hold, and became a mainstay on the Man without Fear and literally dozens of other titles. Hedging his bets, at the time of his move he also began working on mature monochrome magazine horror tales for Archie Goodwin at Warren publications, contributing to Eerie and Creepy.

His unique artistic style of fluid motion and moody shadows meant he was always first choice when Marvel tried something off the beaten superhero track, such as Medusa, Doctor Doom and especially Doctor Strange, Howard the Duck (with comics “soulmate” Steve Gerber) and Dracula, but in 1981 increasing tensions between Colan and Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter led to the artist’s return to DC, experiments with the burgeoning Direct Sales marketplace and the most productive and expansive period of his comics career.

He periodically returned to Marvel with an award winning Captain America yarn, a fresh stint on Daredevil, further Tomb of Dracula tales with Marv Wolfman (as well as different Dracula series for Dark Horse) and an epic, revelatory anti-apartheid Black Panther saga penned by preferred collaborator Don McGregor Panthers Quest please link to Black Panther Marvel Masterworks volume 3, 9th August 2021.

In 2009 Captain America #601’s anniversary tale ‘Red, White and Blue-Blood’ (with scripter Ed Brubaker and inker Dave Gutierrez) won Colan an Eisner Award to add to his lifetime of prizes. Despite severe and escalating eyesight problems, Colan worked constantly and – as he had since the 1980s – still found time for gallery shows and teaching the next generation of pictorial storytellers at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts and Fashion Institute of Technology. He died from complications of cancer and liver failure on June 23rd 2011.

For many afficionados, his work on Tomb of Dracula is probably his finest. Colan’s enthusiasm for the character and project were limitless and he survived a merry-go-round of early writers before the series found its feet. It also survived the crash of horror titles as the 1970s closed and carved a unique space for itself in Marvel continuity. It was revived many, many times, treating classic horror themes and tropes with deference, generating new stars and even wedging the Count into superhero crossovers that should not have worked but did. ToD deftly evolved from classic horror comics into a dark soap opera of character-based terror whilst seeking to get inside the mind of a protagonist who literally thought of humanity as food…

Extra-long, inked by Colan himself, and with the illustrator basing his star on the movie star Jack Palance, ‘Dracula’ stemmed from an idea by Lee, and was plotted by Roy Thomas with the final script coming via Gerry Conway & Colan. It introduces bankrupt wastrel Frank Drake, a bone fide descendent of the legendary literary icon. On learning he has inherited the family castle, Drake heads for Transylvania accompanied his new girlfriend Jeanie Ovington. Distressingly they also bring her last boyfriend Clifton Graves along. He’s convinced Frank to turn the foreboding fortress into a theme park and not-so-secretly seeks to reclaim Jeanie…

The villagers are divided between modernity and genuine fear of their “fictitious” Overlord who clearly hasn’t been dead very long…

Marooned in the village, the Americans take refuge in Castle Dracula where an attack by bats, ill-disguised jealousy and mounting tensions force bitter Clifton to explore. When he finds Count Dracula’s actual tomb, he inevitably pulls a stake out of the skeleton’s chest, and the fate of the world is sealed…

Before travelling from London, Frank had “researched” the project by studying Bram Stoker’s novel, but is utterly unprepared for the very real Lord of Vampires who reconstitutes, disposes of Clifton and hungrily attacks Jeanie. The monster is only driven off by his human relative’s new-found knowledge and unanticipated courage. Still weak and ravenous the Count instead descends upon to the village for much-needed liquid sustenance. With another blood-drained corpse in the street and the thought of a renewed campaign of terror, the villagers rise and attack the castle, but not in time to save Jeannie from Dracula’s assault…

Vince Colletta inks second issue continuation ‘The Fear Within!’ as heartbroken Drake explores his fire-gutted inheritance with new companion Gort. When their search uncovers Clifton still alive, they return to London with the monster’s coffin, blithely unaware that the vampire has already begun reactivating his widespread network of slaves and servants. Within a fortnight Dracula stalks the metropolis again, and sets his hungry thrall Jeanie on Drake and Graves whilst he recovers his dissipated energies in slaughter and feeding. However, when he finally attacks the interfering mortals it is Jeanie who pays the price…

Suicidal after losing his fiancée twice, Drake is saved from plunging off Westminster Bridge in ToD #3 by unsuspected allies. Written by Archie Goodwin and inked by Tom Palmer, ‘Who Stalks the Vampire?’ introduces Rachel van Helsing and mute Indian/Sikh Taj Nital, as well as Scotland Yard’s Inspector George Chelm. The lifelong vampire fighters have followed Drake’s actions and now recruit the despondent descendent, but are unable to prevent the undead devil enslaving Clifton, who then helps Dracula recover his much-needed coffin.

The foray is foiled by both police and thieves and the vampire is driven off, leaving behind not only his desperately needed bier but also the millions in gold bullion secreted within it: operating capital that could have helped the undead disappear from official scrutiny. Now forced to ignominiously flee, Dracula arrives at the isolated mansion of mystical collector Ilsa Strangway…

A faded fashion model obsessed with regaining her beauty, Strangway has obtained Dracula’s journal and bargains with him to “turn” her in return for a mystical looking-glass that can open portals into time. However, his voyaging ‘Through a Mirror Darkly!’ (Goodwin, Colan & Palmer) only occurs after a cruel trick played on the decrepit ingenue, one she fully reciprocates before Frank, Rachel and Taj ambush the plotters and in the melee, Dracula slips into the mirror taking Taj with him…

Pulp stylist Gardner F. Fox signed on for two issues beginning with #5 as ‘Death to a Vampire-Slayer!’ found the Count consigned to a demon-dimension and protecting his human companion as his only viable food supply. Eventually another mirror takes them to 19th century Transylvania affording Dracula an opportunity to assassinate Rachel’s grandfather Abraham van Helsing decades before she was conceived…

His plans and veritable orgy of bloodletting are ruined however, when Rachel & Frank solve the mystery of the Strangway’s mirror and arrive in time to drive him off. Frustrated and furious Dracula returns to 1972 with his age-old vampire bride Lenore in tow…

Hotly pursued by Rachel, Frank and Taj, the chase returns them all to the heaths around the Strangway house where the vampire couple’s first kill is saved by ‘The Moorlands Monster!’ This misunderstood, shambling hulk is a family shame and secret covered up by the manorial Deering clan, who are currently hosting Inspector Chelm after he arrived to investigate more blood-loss killings…

The tragic brute also plays a crucial part in saving the vampire fighters when the Count and Lenore ambush them. After turning the tables on the vampires, Dracula is forced to sacrifice his returned love just to save himself…

Following months of fast paced rapidly changing uncertainty, a degree of stability arrived as Marv Wolfman took over scripting with #7’s ‘Night of the Death-Stalkers!’ When Dracula returns to modern-day London, he attacks young Edith Harker but is driven off her wheelchair-bound father and his dog Saint. He is Rachel’s mentor Quincy Harker (son of one of the original 19th century vampire hunters cited in Stoker’s novel) and a man merging knowledge with high tech innovation. After he summons van Helsing, Taj Nital & Drake, Quincy shares his history of battling Dracula, even as the undead lord further abuses Clifton Graves. Done with his foes’ interference Dracula hypnotically recruits an army of children and rats to destroy them but the attack goes wrong and the Count is poisoned by a wooden dart…

With Ernie Chua/Chan inking, the tale steps into high gear as ‘The Hell-Crawlers’ sees the wounded fiend head for another of his sleeper agents even as the vampire-fighters are surrounded by homicidal knife-wielding children. Although the adults initially escape, the kids’ programming is unshakable and pursuit relentless. However, Dracula’s long absence has weakened his control of clandestine bloodsucker Dr Heinrich Mortte – who has faithfully safeguarded a devilish device to raise the dead as vampires – and his servant rebels, battling his master for the doomsday ray.

Although triumphant, Dracula is severely wounded by the clash and loses control of his child death squad. He also falls into the ocean, and – with Colletta inking – resurfaces in quiet fishing village Littlepool which is soon blighted by ‘Death From the Sea!’ after local priest Father William exploits “Mr. Drake”’s miraculous survival to drive a local religious revival. However, as locals – such as biker/future vampiric archfoe Lucas Brand, goodtime girl Gladys and petty thug Corker continue to die, the remaining villagers are forced into the same kind of response that drove Dracula from Transylvania…

The colour chapters of our journey conclude with the introduction of what was frankly a daft idea but which was transformed by later writers in a mega-selling character-concept. Not here but soon, readers discovered a mouthy Jazz musician was immune to vampire bites (yes, I know, how feasible is it to be immune to bleeding to death?) whose mother was killed by a vampire whilst he was being born…

Released at the height of the movie “Blacksploitation” phenomenon, The Tomb of Dracula #10 was cover-dated July 1973 and introduced a hip, cool dude who played sax in nightclubs when not butchering Vamps and Fangers. Inked by Jack Abel, ‘His Name is… Blade!’ sees the wooden-knived wonder save dockside teens from Dracula’s ever-growing legions before rejecting a team-up plea from Harker. The rude refusal is a waste of breath as the object of their lethal desires is long gone, having already joined the sybaritic cruise of billionaire Garbiel Trulaine who has spiced up his voyage of Showing Off To Rival One-percenters with a unique guest and showpiece.

To their horror they all soon realise that money isn’t everything…

All but too late, Blade arrives to destroy Dracula but must settle for Clifton Graves and scuttling the Count’s scheme to swell his ranks and coffers, before we neatly segue into the Abel-embellished tale of ‘The Voodoo-Man!’ wherein Dracula’s desperate attempt to outfly the rising sun and reach a coffin stashed in Surrey Forest(!) gives way to some plot thread laying. Safely ensconced on native soil again, the Count considers further punishing the biker gang of Lucas Brand who had the temerity to attack his betters…

That thug is currently employed by iron-lung-entombed grudge-holder Jason Faust, tasked with torturing and killing three people who thwarted the paralysed potentate. The method is what is most important: Brand must use a hex doll and long sharp needle. However, Fate throws Brand to his own unsuspected tormentor when the proxy-killer attacks Faust’s third and final target… Quincy Harker. Dracula chooses to defer vengeance on his oldest enemy and instead play a cruel jest on the pawn he already has plans for…

Although painfully dated in places and cripplingly afflicted with what Americans thought British (and Transylvanian!) people sounded like, the power of the tales and especially Colan’s clearly inspired visualisations make these early exploits unmissable comics. Fans clearly agreed as the title spawned many, spin-off and guest-shots. Once Colan & Co completed the 70-issue series (plus all those extras) Comics Bulletin (2010) judged the result as #5 on the Top Ten List of 1970s Marvel comics…

As previously stated, an adult-oriented adjunct iteration was launched to capitalise on the comic book’s success. Dracula Lives! #1 coincided with the release of ToD #8, sporting a cover by Boris Vallejo and comprised of articles, photos, new comics and horror reprints.

The Contents page and editorial ‘Dracula is Alive and Well and Living on Madison Avenue!’ here join with house ads, recaptioned monochrome classic movie stills prior to black, white & red comics novella ‘To Walk in Daylight!’ as Steve Gerber, Rich Buckler & Pablo Marcos probe the Count’s past. The result finds Dracula prowling 19th century Vienna in search of an alchemist who claims to have a cure for the Undead’s fatal aversion to sunshine…

A grisly next issue ad precedes a selection from Dracula Lives! #2 with a cover by Penalva.

A Contents page, more funny photos precede a stunning historical yarn by Wolfman & Neal Adams. Set in 1459, ‘That Dracula May Live Again!’ observes how heroic Prince Vlad of Wallachia falls to Turkish invaders and why all-conquering Lord Turac came to regret leaving his broken trophy with vampiric gypsy Lianda. Origin done, more ads herald the contents of Dracula Lives! #3 (October 1973) where another Adams cover, Contents page and Movie Still continues the origin saga, as bereft of family, newborn vampire Vlad meets current king of the Undead Nimrod. Crafted by Wolfman, John Buscema & Syd Shores, ‘Lord of Death… Lord of Hell!’ reveals exactly how the proud noble became ruler of the dark legions, after which one last next issue ad brings the comics to a conclusion.

However, more treasure lies in store. As well as covers throughout by Adams, John Severin, Gil Kane, Palmer, John Romita, John Buscema & Frank Brunner, bonus materials include Thomas’s original plot synopsis for ToD #1; Colan’s try-out submission, 13 pages of original art, covers by Colan and Adams, Kane & Palmer cover #5, plus editorial alterations on this always contentious and worrisome title. There’s also Colan’s 1992 cover for The Savage Return of Dracula and a truly massive biographies section.

Beginning in a rather muddled, undirected and opportunistic manner The Tomb of Dracula developed under the guidance of scripter Wolfman and sublime artist Colan – especially when inked by Tom Palmer – into one the most celebrated and popular comics series of all time: one able to be subtracted from its conjoined continuity to stand alone as a classic of horror fiction. By today’s standards these are oddly coy horror stories for a generation born before “video nasties” and teen-slasher movies, so it’s unlikely that you’ll need a sofa to hide behind…
© 2021 MARVEL.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Magical unrealism… 9/10

Comics master José Ortiz was also born today, in 1932. For more of us on him, you can go to The 10,000 Disasters of Dort or The Thirteenth Floor volume 01.

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Savage Sword of Conan volume 1


By Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, John Jakes, Lin Carter, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Pablo Marcos, Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Jim Starlin & Al Milgrom, Alfredo Alcala, Tony DeZuñiga, Alex Niño, Vince Colletta, Steve Gan, Tim Conrad, Yong Montano, Jess Jodloman, “The Tribe”, Rudy Mesina, Freddie Fernandez, Sonny Trinidad, & various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59307-838-6 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

During the 1970’s the American comic book industry opened up after more than 15 years of cautiously calcified publishing practises that had come about as a reaction to the censorious oversight of the self-inflicted Comics Code Authority: a publishers’ oversight body created to keep the product wholesome after the industry suffered their very own McCarthy-style Witch-hunt during the 1950s. One of the first literary hardy perennials to be revisited was Horror/Mystery comics and from them came the creation of a new comics genre. Sword & Sorcery stories had been undergoing a prose revival in the paperback marketplace since the release of softcover editions of Lord of the Rings in 1954 and, by the 1960s, revivals of the two-fisted fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, Fritz Lieber and so many more were making huge inroads into buying patterns across the world. Moreover, the old masters had been constantly augmented by modern writers. Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter and many others kickstarted their prose careers with contemporary versions of man against mage against monster. Even so, the undisputed overlord of the genre was Robert E. Howard with his 1930s pulp masterpiece Conan of Cimmeria.

Gold Key had notionally opened the field in 1964 – and created a cult hit – with Mighty Samson. Then in 1966 came Clawfang the Barbarian’ in Thrill-O-Rama #2. Both steely warriors battled in post-apocalyptic technological wildernesses, but in 1969 DC dabbled in previously code-proscribed mysticism with Nightmaster (Showcase #82 -84), following on from the example of CCA-exempt Warren horror anthologies Creepy, Eerie & Vampirella. Marvel tested the waters with barbarian villain – and Conan prototype – Arkon in Avengers #76 (April 1970) and the same month went all-out with short supernatural thriller ‘The Sword and the Sorcerers’ in their own watered-down horror anthology Chamber of Darkness #4.

Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by fresh-faced Barry Smith (a recent Marvel find just breaking out of the company’s still-prevalent Kirby house-style), the tale introduced Starr the Slayer – who also bore no small resemblance to the Barbarian-in-waiting…

Conan the Barbarian debuted with an October 1970 cover-date and – despite some early teething problems, including being cancelled and reinstated in the same month – the comic-strip adventures of Howard’s primal hero were as big a success as the prose yarns they adapted. Conan became a huge hit: a pervasive brand that prompted new prose tales, movies, TV series, cartoon shows, a newspaper strip and all the other paraphernalia of global superstardom.

And American comics changed forever.

In May 1971, Marvel moved into Warren’s territory for a second time, after an abortive attempt in 1968 to create an older-readers, non-Comics Code monochrome magazine: Spectacular Spider-Man. Now, Savage Tales offered stories with stronger tone, mature sexual themes, less bowdlerised violence and partial nudity… and no superheroes. It was the perfect place to introduce Futuristic Femizon Thundra and the macabre Man-Thing whilst offering more visceral vignettes starring the company’s resident jungle-man Ka-Zar and red-handed slayer Conan…

The anthology had an eventful reception and the second issue didn’t materialise until October 1973 under the aegis of Marvel’s parent company Curtis Distribution. Conan starred in the first five issues before spinning off into his own adult-oriented monochrome magazine which debuted in August 1974. Free of all Code-mandated restrictions, The Savage Sword of Conan became a haven for mature storytelling, with top flight artists queuing up to flex their creative muscles.

In 2007, after acquiring the license to publish Conan comics, Dark Horse began gathering Marvel’s Savage Sword canon in a series of 500+ page Essentials-style volumes. Today these stories are mostly available in heavy, costly macho-man-testing Omnibus editions too, but still not any kind of digital edition. Why, Crom? Why?

This first titanic tome – also available as an eBook – collects pertinent material from Savage Tales #1-5 and Savage Sword of Conan #1-10: collectively covering May 1971 through February 1976; a period when the unwashed lout was swiftly becoming the darling of the comics world, and chief scribe Roy Thomas was redefining what American comics could say, show and do…

It all starts here with a much-reprinted classic.

‘The Frost Giant’s Daughter’ is a haunting, racy tale written by Howard, originally adapted in line and tone by Barry Smith for Savage Tales #1. It was later coloured – and adulterated – for the all-ages comic book (#16) as it detailed how a lusty young Cimmerian chased a naked nymph into the icy winter and found himself prey in a trap set by gods or monsters…

By the time Savage Tales returned after a two-year hiatus, Barry Windsor-Smith had pretty much left comics but had agreed to illustrate ‘Red Nails’ one day if he could do it his way and at his own pace. The eventual result was an utter revelation, moody, gory, soaked in dark passion and entrancing in its savage beauty. With some all-but-invisible art assistance from Pablo Marcos this journey into the brutal depths of obsession and the decline of empires is the perfect example of how to bow out at the top of one’s creative game.

The adaptation began in ST #2 as Conan and pirate queen Valeria survive a trek through scorching deserts to fetch up in a vast walled city. Stealing inside they find immense riches casually ignored as the last members of the tribes of Tecuhlti and Xotalanc pick each off or wait for the monsters infesting the place to take them. All too soon, the visitors are embroiled in a simmering, oppressive war of extinction. The third issue completed the ghastly epic as the slow conflict between rival branches of a decadent race explodes into a paroxysm of gore and aroused monsters…

Savage Tales #4 (May 1974) held a brace of tales. ‘Night of the Dark God’ was limned by Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Marcos & Vince Colletta from Howard’s tale The Dark Man. It revealed how Conan came hunting abductors of his childhood first love and found them just as a terrify mystery idol began exerting its own malefic influence on a hall full of already-enraged warriors…

‘Dweller in the Dark’ was Smith’s swansong and saw the wandering warrior become a plaything for lascivious Queen Fatima of Corinthia. Her lusts were matched only by her jealousy, however, and it wasn’t long before she had turned against Conan and tried to feed him to the monster lurking below the city…

The fifth and final Conan appearance in Savage Tales was ‘Secret of Skull River’: a wryly laconic yarn Thomas adapted from a John Jakes plot, illustrated by Jim Starlin & Al Milgrom. The barbarian sell-sword is hired to remove a wizard whose experiments are polluting a town. The reward lusty Conan claims for his murderous services surprises everybody…

From there it was only a short jump to his own mature-themed starring vehicle, but although Savage Sword starred Conan it was initially a vehicle for numerous barbarian themed yarns – such as a serialised reprinting of Gil Kane’s epic Blackmark – and other Howard properties such as Bran Mac Morn or Red Sonja. Those aren’t included here, but are well worth searching out too…

The SSOC experience opens with the first issue and ‘Curse of the Undead-Man’ by Thomas, John Buscema & Marcos, adapted from Howard’s short story Mistress of Death. Here Conan encounters old comrade Red Sonja amongst the fleshpots of “The Maul” in Zamora’s City of Thieves before falling foul of sorcerer Costranno: a mage for whom being chopped to mincemeat is only a minor inconvenience…

Thomas wrote all SSOC Conan material included here: blending adaptations of Howard’s stories – Conan’s and his other fearsome fighting men as well – and such successor authors as Lin Carter or L. Sprague de Camp with original tales. A stunning visual tour de force, ‘Black Colossus’ in #2 was illustrated by Buscema & Alfredo Alcala; detailing how antediluvian priest Natohk returns from death to imperil the kingdom of Princess Yasmela… until stalwart general Conan leads her armies to a victory against armed invaders, uncanny occultism and a legion of devils.

SSOC #3 contributed two tales, beginning with Buscema & Marcos’ ‘At the Mountain of the Moon-God’ with Conan high in Yasmela’s court and attempting to head off the kingdom’s annexation from encroaching neighbours and encountering mountain-dwelling bandits and a demon pterosaur. The issue concluded with ‘Demons of the Summit’ – an adaptation of Bjorn Nyberg & de Camp’s People of the Summit – turned into comics by Thomas & Tony DeZuñiga as an encounter with more high-living brigands brings the Cimmerian into conflict with a dying race of wizards who want his latest curvy companion to mother their next generation…

Issue #4 features Howard’s ‘Iron Shadows on the Moon’, realised by Buscema & Alcala. Having lost a war whilst leading a Kozak horde, Conan flees into the Vilayet Sea with escaped slave Olivia after killing enemy general Shah Amurath. On an uncharted island they then encounter ancient statues which come to life at the moon’s touch. The bloodthirsty horrors fall upon a band of pirates watering on the island and after leading them to victory against the supernatural fiends Conan manoeuvres himself into the captain’s role and begins a life of freebooting piracy…

Howard’s ‘A Witch Shall Be Born’ took up most of Savage Sword of Conan #5. Illustrated by Buscema and The Tribe – a loose association of Marvel’s Filipino art contingent (DeZuñiga; Steve Gan; Rudy Mesina; Freddie Fernandez and others) it saw virtuous Queen Taramis replaced by her demonic twin sister Salome, who debauches and ravages the kingdom of Kauran whilst her accomplice Constantius has her guard captain Conan crucified. After (almost) saving himself, the Cimmerian recuperates with desert-raiding Zuagirs, and after ousting their brutal chieftain Olgerd Vladislav returns to save Taramis and revenge himself upon the witch…

The epic is balanced by two shorter tales in the next issue. ‘The Sleeper Beneath the Sands’ is a Thomas original limned by Sonny Trinidad revealing how Olgerd encounters a caravan of clerics en route to pacify an elder god buried since time immemorial beneath the desert. The rejected bandit-lord senses a chance for revenge but soon regrets allowing the beast to wake and luring Conan into its path…

Howard’s Celtic reincarnation thriller ‘People of the Dark’ is radically adapted by Thomas and stunningly illustrated by master stylist Alex Niño next as, in modern times, Jim O’Brien plots to kill rival Richard Brent to win the hand of Eleanor. However, a fall into an ancient cavern transports the would-be killer into antediluvian prehistory where – as Conan – he battles the debased descendants of things which were once men. In that forgotten hell a burden is placed upon him and, once returned to the present, O’Brien faces another monster and pays a millennial debt…

‘The Citadel at the Center of Time’ by Thomas, Buscema & Alcala in #7 finds the Cimmerian leading desert-raiding Zuagirs and attacking a caravan only to be confronted by a sabretooth tiger. After despatching the wanton killer, Conan learns from the surviving merchants of a great ziggurat with vast riches and only attendant priests to guard them. Ever-needful of loot to placate his greedy followers, Conan leads an expedition against the eerie edifice but soon finds himself captured and offered up as a sacrificial tool to time wizard Shamash-Shum-Ukin and battling dinosaurs, beasts and brutes from many ages before finally settling his score with the time-meddler…

SSOC #8 offered many short sharp shockers beginning with ‘The Forever Phial’, illustrated by Tim Conrad doing his best Windsor-Smith riff. Here immortal wizard Ranephi desires to end his interminable existence and manipulates a certain barbarian into helping him out. The main part of the issue continues Thomas & Kane’s adaptation of Howard’s King Conan novel The Hour of the Dragon, which had begun in Giant-Size Conan but foundered as Marvel ended their oversized specials line. Inked by Yong Montano, ‘Corsairs Against Stygia’ resumes the tale with shanghaied King Conan leading a slave revolt on the ship he’s been abducted upon. Back in Aquilonia, a cabal of nobles backed by Stygian wizard Thutothmes has usurped his throne…

Having taking control of the ship Conan opts to infiltrates the evil empire to rescue the stolen talisman known as the Heart of Ahriman and end the conflict…

Wrapping up this segment is Lin Carter’s evocative poem ‘Death Song of Conan the Cimmerian’ adapted by Thomas and Jess Jodloman…

Issue #9 offered another new tale by Thomas & Marcos as Conan’s Zuagirs raid another priest-packed caravan and come under the diabolical influence of a small statue with great power. ‘The Curse of the Cat-Goddess’ corrupts, divides and promises many great things: causing the doom of many brothers in arms before the iron-willed Cimmerian ends its seductive threat. The adaptation of The Hour of the Dragon concludes in this hefty tome’s final chapter as SSOC #10 reveals how ‘Conan the Conqueror’ (rendered by Buscema & The Tribe) sneaks into Stygian capitol Khemi to defeat snake-worshipping priests, immortal vampire queen Akivasha and Thutothmes’ inner circle, before stealing back the Heart of Ahriman and heading home to occupied Aquilonia to destroy wizard king Xaltotun and his human lackeys, and reclaim his stolen throne…

With a painted covers gallery – reproduced only in black-&-white here – by Buscema, Marcos, John Romita, Adams, Boris Vallejo, Mike Kaluta, Niño, Frank Magsino, Frank Brunner & Bob Larkin and pin-up/frontispiece art by Marcos, Adams & Esteban Maroto, this weighty collection provides a truly epic experience for all fans of thundering mystic combat and esoteric adventure.

If the clash of arms, roar of monsters, unwise gloating of connivers and destruction of empires sets your pulse racing and blood rushing, this titanic tome is certainly your cup of mead. There are plenty of Thrones in peril, but this all-action extravaganza of sex, slaughter, snow, sand and steel is no Game. Get it and see what real intrigue and barbarism look like…
Savage Sword of Conan® and © 2007 Conan Properties International, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Helter Skelter Fashion Unfriendly


By Kyoko Okazaki (Vertical)
ISBN: 978-1-93565-483-4 (Tankōbon PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Following her 1983 debut as a producer of erotic material for the men’s markets, Kyoko Okazaki established a reputation for challenging, controversial, contemporary manga tales before gradually shifting her focus to produce stories specifically for and about women (such as Pink, Happy House and River’s Edge), focusing with unflinching intensity on their social issues and the overwhelming pressures of popular culture in modern Japan.

You can find out more about this pioneering creator here.

From 1994-1995, and following her immensely successful strip Tokyo Girls Bravo in mainstream fashion magazine CUTIE, Okazaki created a biting expose of the industry and its casualties for Shodensha’s Feel Young anthology. Heruta Sukeruta took the author’s concerns, inclinations and observations into realms tinged with dark speculation, but individual episodes never seemed too far-fetched or distant from what we all believed models and managers and clients actually experienced…

Liliko is the undisputed top model in Japan. The face and body of “The Lily” are everywhere, selling products and lifestyle to men, women and especially young girls. She is an iconic, unchanging paragon of look & style and has been so for absolutely ages.

In fact, nobody seems to know quite how long… except ruthless model agency president Mama Tada. Moreover, only Liliko’s long-suffering gofer/manager Hada and make-up artist Kin Sawanabe have any inkling of the real person under the gloss, glitz and glamour…

Despite this stellar star status, Lily is incredibly unhappy: bored, paranoid, burned out and increasingly obsessed with her inevitable usurpation by some fresh young “Next Year’s Model”. Knowing her days are numbered, the fragile but hard-as-nails supermodel is frantically chasing singing and acting gigs, and capitalising on her celebrity. Sadly, lacking discernible talent, she’s only getting ahead by sleeping with all the money-men involved…

When not drugged up, stressed out or screaming, Liliko finds a measure of contentment in the arms of Takao, handsome, spoiled heir to the Nanbu department store fortune (and the man she plans to marry) or in degrading and debauching the obsessively devoted Hada. Liliko’s biggest problem is an incredible secret that could shake the nation. All her beauty and success come from a series of cosmetic procedures carried out by a renegade plastic surgeon at an exclusive clinic that caters to the most powerful and influential people in the world.

Long ago a desperate girl with a sordid past met Mama and agreed to a complete, full-body series of operations. Now only her bones and some meat is her – all that glittering skin and surface is fabrication, maintained by constant use of addictive drugs supplied by the dowdy doctor in charge to fight implacable tissue rejection. Now, after years of use even these experimental remedies aren’t as efficient as before and Liliko’s look is breaking down and fragmenting…

She is by no means the clinic’s only client, and following a spate of suspicious deaths and the trail of illegal aborted foetal organ traffickers, police prosecutor Asada has begun putting pieces together. Sadly, even he is not completely immune to the Lily’s allure…

In the face of increasing breakdown, Mama brings Kin up to date and makes him part of the conspiracy, whilst arranging with “The Doctor” to perform still more operations on her fragile star. Liliko’s damaged psyche endures even greater shocks when her fat, dumpy little sister turns up. Having impossibly tracked down her sublime sibling, little Chikako is sent away with stars in her eyes, a dream in her heart and newfound determination to be beautiful too, whatever the cost.

Chemically deranged, paranoid and alternately wildly uncontrollable and practically catatonic, Lily goes off the deep end when Takao admits that he’s marrying an heiress for dynastic reasons but will still, of course, have sex with her in secret…

Having already seduced Hada and her boyfriend in a moment of malicious boredom, Liliko induces them to take revenge for her bruised pride and events soon spiral into an inescapable crescendo of catastrophe that extends far beyond the intangible arenas of image and illusion into the very bedrock of Japanese society…

Harsh, raw, brutal and relentlessly revelatory, the author’s forensic examination of the power of sex, temptations of fame and commoditisation of beauty is a multi-layered, shockingly effective – if occasionally surreal – tale that should alarm every parent who reads it. It is also a superb adult melodrama, tense political thriller and effective crime mystery to delight all broad-minded fans of comics entertainment looking to expand their horizons beyond capes, ghosts and ray-guns…

This cautionary tale was collected into a tankōbon edition in 2003, winning a number of awards including the 2004 Osamu Tezuka Culture Prize, and subsequently adapted into a film shown in Cannes.

Grim, existential and explicit, this is not a book for kids or the squeamish, but it is a dark marvel of graphic narrative and one well deserving of your attention.
© 2003 Kyoko Okazaki. All rights reserved.

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Prince Valiant volumes 1-3 Gift Box Set


By Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1 68396-072-0 (boxed set)

Individual volume ISBNs: 978-1-60699-141-1 (HB vol. 1), 978-1-60699-348-4 (HB vol. 2), 978-1-60699-407-8 (HB vol. 3)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Today, way back in 1892, a god of comics was born. His work will never die.

Rightly reckoned one of the greatest comic strips of all time, the majestic, nigh-mythical saga of a king-in-exile who became one of the greatest warriors in an age of unparalleled heroes is at once fantastically realistic and beautifully, perfectly abstracted – an indisputable paradigm of adventure fiction where anything is possible and justice always prevails. It is the epic we all want to live in. However, on one thing let us be perfectly clear: Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant is not historical. It is far better and more real than that.

Possibly the most successful and evergreen fantasy creation ever conceived, Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur launched on Sunday 13th February 1937, a glorious weekly, full-colour window not onto the past but rather onto a world that should have been. It followed the tempestuous life of a refugee boy driven by invaders from his ancestral homeland of faraway Thule who persevered and, through tenacity, imagination and sheer grit, rose to become one of the mightiest heroes of the age of Camelot.

As depicted by the incomprehensibly gifted Foster, this noble scion would, over decades, grow to mighty manhood in a heady sea of wonderment: roaming the globe and siring a dynasty of equally puissant heroes whilst captivating and influencing generations of readers and thousands of creative types in all the arts. There have been films, cartoon series and all manner of toys, games and collections based on the feature – one of the few newspaper strips to have lasted from the thunderous 1930s to the present day (well over 4600 episodes and STILL counting) and, even in these declining days of newspaper cartooning, it still claims over 300 American papers as its home.

Foster produced the strip, one spectacular page a week until 1971 when, after auditioning such notables as Wally Wood and Gray Morrow, Big Ben Bolt artist John Cullen Murphy was selected to draw the feature. Foster carried on as writer and designer until 1980, after which he fully retired and Murphy’s son took over scripting duties. In 2004 Cullen Murphy also retired (he died a month later on July 2nd) but the strip soldiered on under the extremely talented auspices of artist Gary Gianni and writer Mark Schultz prior to Thomas Yeates settling in and conquering one more exotic land by making it onto the worldwide web.

The first three exquisite oversized hardback volumes (362 x 268mm) are happily still available as a monumental gift set nobody could resist. They reprint, in glorious colour spectacularly restored from Foster’s original printer’s proofs, the princely pristine Sunday pages cumulatively spanning February 1937 to 20th December 1942: six years of formative forays comprising an impressive saga which promised much and delivered so much more than anybody could have suspected during those dim, distant and dangerous days…

Volume 1 opens with editor Brian M. Kane’s informative picture/photo-packed potted history of ‘Harold Rudolf Foster: 1892-1982’, after which Fred Schreiber conducts ‘An Interview with Hal Foster’ as first seen in Nemo: The Classic Comics Magazine (1984). Additionally, after the Arthurian epic exploits of our quintessential swashbuckling hero, this initial tome is rounded off by Kim Thompson’s discourse on the many iterations of reprints over the years and around the world in ‘A History of Valiants’…

The actual action-packed drama commences in distant Scandinavia as the King of Thule, his family and a few faithful retainers dash for a flimsy fishing boat, intent only on escaping the murderous intentions of a usurper’s army. Their voyage carries them to the barbarous coast of Britain and into battle against bands of wild men before they secure a safe point in the gloomy fens of East Anglia. After many hard fights they reach an uneasy détente with the locals and settle into a harsh life as regal exiles. Prince Valiant is but 5 years old when they arrive, and his growing years in a hostile environment toughen the heir, sharpen his wits and give him an insatiable taste for mischief and adventure. He befriends a local shepherd boy and together their escapades include challenging the marauding ancient dinosaurs which infest the swamp, battling a hulking man-brute and bedevilling a local witch. In retaliation the hag Horrit predicts that Val’s life will be long and packed with incredible feats… but always tainted by great sorrow. All that, plus a constant regimen of knightly training and scholarly tuition befitting an exile learning how to reclaim his stolen kingdom, make the lad a veritable hellion…

Everything changes when his mother passes away. After a further year of intense schooling in the arts of battle, Valiant leaves the Fens, and makes his way in the dangerous lands beyond. Whilst sparring with his boyhood companion, he unsuspectingly insults Sir Launcelot who is fortuitously passing by. Although that noble warrior is sanguine about the cheeky lad’s big mouth, his affronted squire attempts to administer a stern punishment… and is rewarded with a thorough drubbing. Indeed, Launcelot has to stop the Scion of Thule from slitting the battered and defeated man’s throat. Moreover, although he has no arms, armour, steed or money, Valiant swears that he too will be a Knight…

Luck is with the Pauper Prince. After spectacularly catching and taming a wild stallion, his journey is interrupted by gregarious paladin Sir Gawain who shares a meal and regales the wide-eyed lad with tales of chivalry and heroism. When their alfresco repast is spoiled by robber knight Sir Negarth – who unfairly strikes the champion of Camelot – Val charges in. Gawain regains consciousness to find the threat ended, with Negarth hogtied and his accomplice skewered…

Taking Val under his wing, wounded Gawain escorts the lad and his prisoner to Camelot, although their journey is delayed by a gigantic dragon. Val kills it too – with the assistance of Negarth – and spends the rest of the trip arguing that the rogue should be freed for his display of gallantry. Val is still stoutly defending the scoundrel at the miscreant’s trial before King Arthur, and is rewarded by being appointed Gawain’s squire. Unfortunately, he responds badly to being teased by the other knights-in-training and soon finds himself locked in a dungeon whilst his tormentors heal and the remaining Knights of the Round Table ride out to deal with an invasion of Northmen…

Whilst the flowers of chivalry are away, a plot is hatched by scheming Sir Osmond and Baron Baldon. To recoup gambling debts, they capture and ransom Gawain, but have not reckoned on the dauntless devotion and ruthless ingenuity of his semi-feral squire. Easily infiltrating the bleak fortress imprisoning the hero, Valiant liberates his mentor through astounding feats of daring and brings the grievously wounded knight to Winchester Heath and Arthur…

As Gawain recuperates, he is approached by a young maiden. Ilene is in need of a champion and – over his squire’s protests – the still gravely unfit knight dutifully complies. Val’s protests might have been better expressed had he not been so tongue-tied by the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. The quest to rescue Ilene’s parents is delayed when an unscrupulous warrior in scarlet challenges them, intent on himself possessing the lovely maiden. Correctly assessing Gawain to be no threat, the Red Knight does not live long enough to revise his opinion of the wild-eyed boy who then attacks him…

Leaving Ilene and re-injured Gawain with a hermit, Valiant continues on alone to Branwyn Castle, recently captured by an “Ogre” who terrorises the countryside. Through guile, force of arms and diabolical tactics the boy ends that threat forever. This is an astonishing tour de force of graphic bravura no fan could ever forget. Aspiring cartoonist Jack Kirby certainly didn’t: he recycled Val’s outlandish outfit used to terrorise the Ogre’s soldiers into the visual basis for his 1972 horror-hero Etrigan the Demon…

Having successfully routed the invaders and freed Ilene’s family, Val begins earnestly courting the grateful girl, but his prophecy of lifelong misery seems assured, however, when her father regretfully informs him that she is promised to Arn, son and heir of the King of Ord. Even before that shock can sink in, Valiant is called away again. Ailing Gawain has been abducted by sorceress Morgan le Fey, who is enamoured of the knight’s manly charms…

When Val confronts her, le Fey drugs him with a potion and the Prince endures uncounted ages in her dungeon before escaping. Weak and desperate, he makes his way to Camelot and enlists Merlin in a last-ditch ploy to defeat the witch and save his adored mentor. In the meantime, events have progressed, and Val’s bold plans to win Ilene are derailed when invitations to her wedding arrive at Camelot. Initially crushed, the resilient youth determines to travel to Ord and challenge Prince Arn for her hand. Their meeting is nothing like Val imagined but, after much annoying interference, he and the rather admirable Arn finally engage in their oft-delayed death-duel, only to be again distracted when news comes that Ilene has been stolen by Viking raiders…

What follows is another unparalleled moment of comics magnificence as Valiant sacrifices everything for honour, gloriously falls to superior forces, wins possession of Flamberge (the legendary Singing Sword which is brother to Excalibur), is captured and then reunited with Ilene… only to lose her again to the cruellest of fates…

After escaping from the Vikings and covering himself with glory at the Lists in Camelot – although he doesn’t even realise it – the heartsick, weary Prince returns to his father in the melancholy Anglian fens, again encountering ghastly Horrit and nearly succumbing to fever. When he recovers months later, he has a new purpose: he and his faithful countrymen will travel to Thule and rescue the nation from the cruel grip of usurper Sligon. Unfortunately, during the preparations, Valiant discovers his region of Britain has been invaded by Saxons and is compelled by his honour to race to Camelot and warn Arthur first…

To Be Continued…


Volume 2 reprints perfectly-restored Sunday pages from January 1st 1939 to 29th December 1940, following Sir Gawain’s extremely capable squire as he rushes to warn Camelot of invasion by rapacious Saxons via vast Anglian Fens. Here Thule’s Royal Family have hidden since being ousted from their Nordic Island Kingdom by the villainous usurper Sligon. After a breathtaking battle which sees Saxons repulsed and the battle-loving boy-warrior knighted upon the field of victory, Valiant begins a period of globe-trotting. This carries him through the fabled lands of Europe just as the last remnants of the Roman Empire are dying in deceit and intrigue.

Firstly, Val revisits Thule and restores his father to the throne, narrowly escaping the alluring wiles of a conniving beauty with an eye to marrying the Heir Apparent. Quickly bored with palaces, peace and plenty, the roving royal wildcat then encounters a time-twisting pair of mystical perils who show him the eventual fate of all mortals. Sobered but not daunted, he makes his way towards Rome, where he will become unwittingly embroiled in the manic machinations of the Last Emperor, Valentinian. Before that, however, Val is distracted by an epic feat that would have struck stunning resonances for the readership at the time. With episode #118 (14th May 1939) Val joins the doomed knights of mountain fortress Andelkrag, who, alone and unaided, hold back the assembled might of the terrifying hordes of Attila the Hun: a terror who is currently decimating the civilisations of Europe and now marshals his forces to wipe out its last vestige.

With Hitler & Mussolini hogging headlines and Modern European war seemingly inevitable, Val shares the Battle of Decency and Right against untrammelled Barbarism. His epic struggle and sole survival comprise one of the greatest episodes of glorious, doom-fated chivalry in literature…

After the fall of the towers of Andelkrag, Valiant makes his way onward to diminished Rome, picking up a wily sidekick in the form of cutpurse vagabond Slith and is once more distracted and delayed by dastardly Huns. The indomitable lad resolves to pay them back in kind, gathering dispossessed victims of Hunnish depredations and forging them into a resistance army of guerrilla-fighters: the Hun-Hunters. Thereafter he liberates vassal city Pandaris, driving back the invaders and their collaborator allies in one spectacular coup after another.

Valiant eventually reunites with equally action-starved Round Table companions Sir Tristram and Sir Gawain to make further fools of the Hun, who have lost heart after the death of their charismatic leader Attila (nothing to do with Val, just a historical fact). When Slith falls for a warrior princess, the Knights leave him to a life of joyous domesticity and move ever on…

An unexpected encounter with a giant and his unconventional army of freaks leads to the heroes inadvertently helping a band of marshland refugees from Hunnish atrocity, before establishing the nation-state of Venice. Then, at long last – and after a side-trip to the fabulous city of Ravenna – the Courtly trio cross the fabled Rubicon and plunge into a hotbed of political tumult. Unjustly implicated in a web of murder and double-dealing, the knights barely escape with their lives and split up to avoid pursuit. Tristan heads back to England and a star-crossed rendezvous with comely Isolde, Gawain takes ship for some fun in Massilia and Valiant, after an excursion to the rim of fiery Vesuvius, boards a pirate scow for Sicily and further adventure.

To Be Continued…


Volume 3 of the most successful and evergreen fantasy creation ever conceived offers the Sunday pages from January 5th 1941 to 20th December 1942, but only after erudite foreword ‘Modestly, Foster’ by Dan Nadel. The illustrated action opens in the shadow of flaming Vesuvius as Val’s vessel is attacked by self-proclaimed Sea-King Angor Wrack. Even the ferocious warrior-prince’s martial might is insufficient against insurmountable odds and the young Lord is captured and enslaved, his fabled Singing Sword confiscated by the victorious pirate.

Thus begins an astonishingly impressive chapter in the hero’s history. Val becomes a galley slave, escapes and washes up, starving and semi-comatose on the lost shores of the Misty Isles. Delirious, he glimpses his future wife Queen Aleta when she re-provisions his boat before casting him back to the sea’s mercies. The Misty Isles are secure only because of their secret location and the noble girl has broken a great taboo by sparing the shipwrecked lad. Replenished but lost, Val drifts helplessly away but resolves that one day he will discover again the Misty Isles and the enigmatic Aleta…

Eventually he is picked up by more pirates, but overwhelms the captain and takes charge. Finding himself in the island paradise of Tambelaine courting the daughters of the aged King Lamorack, Val encounters Angor Wrack again, but fails to recover the Singing Sword, precipitating an extended saga of maritime warfare and spectacular voyaging across the Holy Land from Jaffa to Jerusalem. The vendetta results in both Angor and Val being taken by Arab slavers, but the Prince nobly allows Wrack to escape whilst he battles Bedouin hordes…

Enslaved in Syria, even Val’s indomitable will and terrifying prowess are insufficient to his need so he seduces his owner’s daughter to effect an escape, only to stumble into a marital spat between the region’s greatest necromancer and his tempestuous bride.

Reaching Jerusalem, Val finally regains his beloved sword and settles his scores with Angor Wrack before determining to return to the hidden Misty Isles, but once again falls afoul of the pirates infesting the region. After incredible hardships, he is reunited with Aleta before fate drags them apart once more. Despondent, he departs alone – but not for long though, as on reaching Athens Val meets far-larger-than-life Viking raider Boltar: a Falstaff-like rogue and “honest pirate”. Together they rove across the oceans to the heart of the African jungles. On securing a huge fortune, their Dragonship reaches Gaul and Val is finally reunited with Gawain, and, after settling a succession of generational feuds between knights and defeating a seductive maniac, the paladins at last return to Britain courtesy of Boltar. This is just in time to be dispatched by Arthur to the far North. The King needs to scout Hadrian’s Wall and see if it can still keep belligerent Picts out. Unfortunately, libidinous Gawain abandons Val and the lad is captured by Caledonian wild-men and their new allies – a far nastier breed of Vikings intent on conquering England…

Tortured nigh unto death, the Prince is saved by the ministrations of Julian – a Roman warrior who has seemingly safeguarded the wall for centuries. And when he is recovered, Prince Valiant begins to inflict a terrible and studied revenge upon his tormentors…

To Be Continued…

Rendered in an astoundingly lovely panorama of glowing images, Prince Valiant is a lyrical juggernaut of stirring action, exotic adventure and grand romance; blending realistic fantasy with sardonic wit, and broad humour with unbelievably dark violence. Here closing text feature ‘Too Violent for American Dog Lovers’ reveals censored panels and changes editors around the world inflicted upon the saga during this period.

Beautiful, captivating and utterly awe-inspiring, Foster’s magnum opus is a World Classic of storytelling, something no adventuresome fan can afford to be without.

Volume 1: All comics material © 2009 King Features Syndicate except Tarzan page, © 2009 ERB Inc. All other content and properties © 2009 their respective creators or holders.
Volume 2: © 2009 King Features Syndicate. All other content and properties © 2009 their respective creators or holders.
Volume 3: © 2011 King Features Syndicate. All other content and properties © 2011 their respective creators or holders. All rights reserved throughout.
Gift Set © 2017 King Features Syndicate. Published by Fantagraphics Books.

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The Marquis of Anaon volume 4: The Beast


By Vehlmann & Bonhomme: coloured by Delf and translated by Mark Bence (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-278-2 (PB Album/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content employed for dramatic effect.

In 1972 Fabien Vehlmann entered the world in Mont-de-Marsan. Raised in Savoie, he grew up to study business management before taking a job with a theatre group. His prodigious canon of pro comics work began in 1998 and soon earned him the soubriquet of “Goscinny of the 21st Century”. In 1996, after entering a writing contest in Le Journal de Spirou, he caught the comics bug and two years later – with illustrative collaborator Denis Bodart – crafted mordantly quirky, sophisticated portmanteau period crime comedy Green Manor. From there his triumphs grew to include amongst many others Célestin Speculoos for Circus, Nicotine Goudron in L’Écho des Savanes and a noteworthy stint on major property Spirou and Fantasio…

Scion of an artistic family, Matthieu Bonhomme received his degree in Applied Arts in 1992, before learning the comics trade working in the atelier of western & historical strip specialist Christian Rossi. Published between 2002 and 2008, Le Marquis d’Anaon was Bonhomme’s first regular series, after which he began writing as well as illustrating a variety of tales, from L’Age de Raison, Le Voyage d’Esteban, The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke and much more.

Now, where were we? Imagine The X-Files unfolding in Age of Enlightenment Europe (circa 1720-1730), but played as a solo piece by a young hero reluctantly growing to accept the role of crusading troubleshooter.

With potent overtones of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Fall of the House of Usher and similar gothic romances, it all began in 2001’s L’Isle de Brac: first of 5 albums (available in English-language/digital formats) tracing the development of a true champion of humanity against darkness and venality.

Under-employed middle class merchant’s son Jean-Baptiste Poulain is a scholar, pragmatic philosopher, ardent disciple of Cartesian logic and former medical student. Smart and well educated but impoverished, he accepted a post to tutor the son of the mysterious Baron of Brac. It was a career decision that reshaped the course of his life…

On the storm-battered, isolated island off the Brittany Coast, Poulain experienced fear and outrage, superstition and suspicion before ultimately exposing the appalling secret of the island overlord serfs called “the Ogre”, and bringing justice, finality and closure to all concerned. In the bitter aftermath, Poulain left, but could never outrun the obnoxious title the islanders bestowed upon him in their Bretagne argot: Le Marquis d’Anaon – “the Marquis of Lost Souls”…

Two years later Poulain caught a presumed demonic (but actually faith-based) serial killer (The Black Virgin) before tackling ship-borne plague that demanded the most draconian treatment to save all Europe from annihilation (The Providence) – all without recompense or even enhanced renown or esteem…

La Bête tackles a most traditional challenge from the unknown, as still-struggling, nigh-starveling Poulain is convinced by his beloved cousin Xavier to assist and consult for a company of French Dragoons. A monster is ravaging mountain villages along the border with the Kingdom of Savoy and these doughty non-nonsense warriors have been sent to sort it out.

Their initial scepticism rapidly adjusts to the repeated scenes of carnage and consumption, and Poulain is impressed by the way they can reconstruct events from observing the scattered, battered remains. The accounts of panicked surviving villagers are unreliable, and as the company tracks the animal ever higher into mountainous snowlines, their suppositions begin to affect the soldiers, Soon they too are debating the existence of giant bears and werewolves…

What they do indisputably know is that it’s huge, attacks at dusk, kills wantonly and is unnaturally choosy in what it then eats. One survivor claims it has bulging red, almost human eyes…

After just missing it again Captain Xavier is officially stymied when it crosses into Savoy, before opting to surrender his commission and uniform – but not his gun, shot and powder – to pursue it without creating a diplomatic incident. His most devoted men are just as determined and follow without regimental colours, whilst actual civilian Poulain cannot abandon his hunt for what seems to be malignant proof of supernatural forces…

Sadly, monsters are not the only peril and a clash with smugglers soon makes the hunters into fugitives, allowing Xavier to complete Jean-Baptiste’s schooling by teaching him to shoot…

It’s a wise and fortunate tactic as attrition by weather, environment and the ever-taunting, never seen but constantly heard monster winnows the comrades down to a weary handful. At last a scrap of useful information comes to them in an alpine village where the dwindling populace know well the haunts and tactics of what they call “the Shadow Beast”…

Armed with knowledge, Poulain and Xavier follow the horror higher and higher into its mountain top lair and final battle is joined with truly terrible costs to all…

This gritty derivation of the tales of grendel, krakens and dragons comes to us as another tautly authentic compellingly scripted saga from Vehlmann, depicted via Bonhomme’s densely informative but never obtrusive illustrated realism. As such, it adds a moody, ingenious, utterly enthralling tale of primal endurance to the literary legacy of Man against Monster, perfectly poised on the cusp of societal change from an era of superstition, class separation, burgeoning natural wonder, to one where reason should be ascendant and belief must be verified.

This chilling conundrum of a self-doubting quester barely holding at bay the crippling notion that all his knowledge might be trumped one night by the ever-lurking unknown is utterly compulsive entertainment, making the travails of The Marquis of Anaon mystery milestones no thinking fear fan should miss, and exploits deserving a much greater audience.
Original edition © Dargaud Paris 2006 by Vehlmann & Bonhomme. All rights reserved. English translations © 2016 by Cinebook Ltd.

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The Sky Over the Louvre


By Bernar Yslaire & Jean-Claude Carrière, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM Comics Lit/Louvre: Musée du Louvre Éditions)
ISBN: 978-1-56163-602-0 (HB)

Joyeux 14 juillet! – or if you’re being a leetle pickee – Happy Bastille Day, mes braves!

Well over a decade ago the prestigious Louvre gallery in Paris began an intriguing, extremely rewarding collaboration with the world of comics, resulting in wealth of modern art treasures – translated bande dessinée made available to English readers courtesy of those fine folks at NBM.

The second release was 2012’s Le Ciel Au-Dessus du Louvre which we know as The Sky Over the Louvre – a lush and beautiful, oversized hardback graphic novel exploring the origins and philosophical underpinnings of France’s national art collection, whilst simultaneously peeling back the motivations and ambitions of the twisted visionaries who steered – or maybe simply rode – the human wave of Chaos deemed “the Terror” of the French Revolution: the catalyst for the gallery’s very existence.

These tales were produced in close collaboration with the forward-looking authorities of the Musée du Louvre, but this is no gosh-wow, “Night-at-the-Museum”, or thinly-concealed catalogue of contents from a stuffy edifice of public culture. Rather, here is an intense, informative, insightful and gripping glimpse into the price and power of art as engine of change and agent of obsession.

Jean-Claude Carrière was born on September 17th 1931, studied at the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud and wrote a novel before becoming an actor and one of France’s greatest screen writers. He assisted Jacques Tati and wrote the novelisations of his films, before going on to work with Luis Buñuel (for 19 years), scripting such classics as Diary of a Chambermaid, Belle de Jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, That Obscure Object of Desire and many more. Other notable credits include work with directors such as Milos Forman, Louis Malle, Andrzej Wajda, Nagisa Oshima and others on iconic films like The Tin Drum, Danton, The Return of Martin Guerre, Max, Mon Amour and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, although three generations of British television viewers will probably revere him most for his adaptation of the Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (starring Robert Hoffmann and featuring that iconic theme-tune) which ran on BBC 1 at tea time from 1965 to about 20 minutes ago.

His approximately 80 screenplays, plus essays, fiction, translations and interviews led to countless awards and accolades including two Oscars – in 1963 for Heureux Anniversaire and an Honorary lifetime achievement Academy Award in 2014. Carrière died on February 8th 2021. In his spare time he had also written comics, particularly with legendary clown/gag writer Pierre Étaix and Bernard Yslaire…

Belgian born Bernard Yslaire (AKA Bernard Hislaire, Sylaire) began his career in 1978, drawing kiddie’s strip ‘Bidouille et Violette’ for Le Journal de Spirou before creating historical epic Sambre in 1986. He was one of the first creators to fully embrace the potential of the internet with his online strip Mémoires du XXe ciel / XXe ciel.com (Memories of the XXth Sky). In 2006 he produced the moving doomed romance Sky over Brussels, and since Le Ciel Au-Dessus du Louvre has largely left comics to concentrate on digital projects.

The Sky Over the Louvre compellingly dramatizes history, focussing on revolutionary artist Jacques-Louis David and close associate Maximilien de Robespierre (who dubbed himself “The Incorruptible”) as they plan how to replace religion, monarchy and the Old Art with something unique and truly worthy of their revolution. David and his School (Drouais, Greueze, Girodet and students Serangeli and Gérard) have taken residence in the old Louvre Palace, where past kings left their grandiose aggregation of treasures when they vacated Paris for Versailles. Here the Revolutionary council aspires to create a new aesthetic and new thought for their New Society…

Jules Stern is a 13-year-old wanderer from the Black Sea, roaming Paris’ dangerous streets in search of his mother, and claiming to have an appointment with David. On the 15th Fructidor, Year 1 (8th August 1793 for those of us not wedded to the Republic’s new calendar) the angelic lad confronts the artist just as he is inaugurating the Louvre as the first Museum of the Nation: dedicated to public ownership of art and the notion of beauty as a revolutionary ideal. Later, they meet again and Robespierre forms a hostile opinion of the child, although David is clearly fascinated by the headstrong, beautiful boy…

As high-minded idealism of the Revolution’s early days dissolves into factional in-fighting, Robespierre and David become increasingly concerned with the spiritual and aesthetic, determined to excise and replace every vestige of the old regime and society. They seek images and concepts to embody their cause and plan a festival to the concept of Reason, but all across France backsliding and foreign invasion threaten their progress. In September 1793 the Convention (ruling body and parliament of the Republic) decrees “Terror to be the order of the day”…

Blood, betrayal and horror rule the streets as David, from his apartments in the Louvre, begins work on a brace of pivotal works: The Supreme Being and The Death of Joseph Bara. It is difficult to assess which causes him the most grief and triggers his ultimate downfall…

The Incorruptible is becoming increasingly more arrogant and ruthless, desperate for revolutionary images that will fire and inspire the masses. He presses David to produce the ultimate physical representation of the conceptual spirit of the New France – a vision of its Supreme Being – but as time goes by and no image emerges, one too many people whisper that what Robespierre actually requires is a portrait of himself…

Far less troublesome should be The Death of Joseph Bara: a boy who became First Martyr of the Revolution, and one scheduled to become the nation’s uniting icon. However, David’s obsession with Jules Stern brings more trouble, when Robespierre objects to the boy being selected as the model for Bara the Myth…

Nobody baulks The Incorruptible for long, but the obsessive nature of the creative impulse is insurmountable. Eventually Robespierre can only achieve his ends by sending Jules to the guillotine. Incredibly, not even death separates the artist from his model…

Set solidly in the very heart of a moment of epochal historical importance, this is a stunning, utterly compelling tale of humanity at its wildest extremes, when grand ideals wedded themselves to the basest on bestial impulses, yet from that Yslaire & Carrière have crafted a magnificently realised tale laced with staggering detail and addictive emotion.

With extra features including biographies and a listing of the actual artworks woven seamlessly into the narrative, this is a truly magical book no aficionado of the medium, lover of history or student of human nature should miss…
© 2009 Futuropolis/Musée du Louvre Éditions. © 2011 NBM for the English translation by Joe Johnson. All rights reserved.

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Moon Knight Epic Collection volume 2: Shadows of the Moon


By Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz, with Jack C. Harris, Alan Zelenetz, Denys Cowan, Vicente Alcazar, Jimmy Janes, Greg LaRoque, Klaus Janson, Frank Giacoia, Steve Mitchell, Josef Rubinstein, Armando Gil, John Tartaglione, Bob Camp, Dave Simons, Joe Albelo & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3368-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Moon Knight is probably the most complex and convoluted hero(es) in comics. There’s also a lot of eminently readable strip evidence to support the contention that he’s a certifiable loon. The mercurial champion first appeared during the mid-1970s horror boom: a mercenary Batman knockoff hired by corporate villains to capture a monster. Sparking reader attention, the mercenary spun off into a brace of solo trial issues in Marvel Spotlight and welter of guest shots before securing an exceedingly sophisticated back-up slot in the TV-show-inspired Hulk Magazine and inevitably graduating to the first of many solo series. His origin eventually revealed how multiple-personality-suffering CIA spook-turned-mercenary Marc Spector was murdered by his employer and apparently resurrected by an entombed Egyptian god…

This second colossal compilation re-presents Moon Knight #5-23, transecting March 1981 through September 1982: a period of vast change and experimentation in comics that saw the Lunar Avenger notionally hived off from the greater Marvel Universe to experience far more mature storytelling, via the suddenly blooming Direct Sales comics marketplace…

The saga had begun in Werewolf by Night #32 (August 1975): a fresh strand in an extended plot thread wherein lycanthrope Jack Russell and his sister Lyssa were targets of criminal capitalists the Corporation. The plutocratic cabal believed that by terrorising the public, they could induce them to spend more and sought for months to add werewolves to their army of monsters. Thus Doug Moench & Don Perlin (with assistance from little Howie Perlin) introduced Spector: a rough-&-ready modern warrior hired by plutocratic plunderers and equipped with a silver-armoured costume and weapons to capture Russell or his animal other as ‘…The Stalker Called Moon Knight’. The bombastic battle and its ferocious sequel received an unprecedented response, rapidly rocketing the lunar avenger to prominence as Marvel’s edgy answer to Batman. Within a year the spectral sentinel had returned for a two-part solo mission that fleshed out his characters (yes, plural!) and hinted at a hidden history behind the simple hireling façade (Marvel Spotlight #28-29.

The back-written yarn proved the mercenary to be a well-established clandestine crimebuster with vast financial resources, a dedicated team of assistants including old comrade/pilot “Frenchie” and liaison/lover Marlene Alraune, in-the-know Grant Mansion domestics Nedda & Samuels, plus a wide-ranging network of street informants, a mansion/secret HQ, a ton of cool gadgets… and at least four separate identities. This latter aspect would inform Moon Knight’s entire career as various creators explored where playacting ended and Multiple Personality Disorder – if not outright supernatural possession – began. Thanks to his brush with the werewolf, the vigilante had also gained a partial superpower. As the moon waxed and waned, his physical strength, speed, stamina and resilience also doubled and diminished.

Firstly, however, billionaire Steven Grant, New York cabbie/information gatherer Jake Lockley, repentant gun-for-hire Marc Spector and the mysterious Moon Knight adapted to the lives of an urban vigilante even if occasionally his pasts – especially Spector’s former CIA career and exploits in espionage and terrorism-for-hire – often encroached on his chosen path of redemption. Groundswell took hold and the Moon Knight guested in Defenders #47-#51, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #22-23 & Marvel Two-In-One #52 before landing a back-up slot in adult-adjacent Hulk Magazine #11 (October 1978). The residency and more mature tales led to the advent of artistic debutante Bill Sienkiewicz from #13 (February 1979) and a certain syzygy gelled. The run ended in Hulk Magazine #20 (April 1980) and was followed by monochrome magazine Marvel Preview (#21, Spring 1980), before that chapter in the character’s life apparently closed, leading to the far more complex and conflicted career of a man seeking atonement as the November cover-dated premier solo title exposed the secrets of The Macabre Moon Knight…

Moench & Sienkiewicz were allowed leeway to experiment with the format of lone avengers and revealed how world-weary, burned-out mercenary Spector was working for murderous marauder Raul Bushman but reclaimed his moral compass after his ruthless boss murdered archaeologist Peter Alraune for the contents of a recently excavated Sudanese tomb. His daughter Marlene escaped, as did equally disgusted comrade Frenchie, but when Spector attempted to stop Bushman executing witnesses he was beaten and left to die in the desert.

Dying by degrees, Spector crawled for miles and died just as he entered the tomb of Pharoah Seti, where Marlene and her workers were hiding. Dumped at the feet of a statue of Khonshu – ancient god of the Moon, Guardian of Night’s Travellers and Taker of Vengeance – he inexplicably revived. Clearly deranged, he draped the statue’s white mantle around himself, before going out into the night. By dawn, Bushman’s band are dead and the monster fled…

Skipping forward and hinting at an eventful road to his life as a multi-identity superhero, the origin ended with a fateful showdown with the returned Bushman in his New York lair…

In short order, gritty, edgy but (barely) mainstream stories focused on MK’s pitiful homeless informant Crawley targeted by a bloody butcher hunting bums and indigents, introduced first returning villain/nemesis Anton Mogart/The Midnight Man, and saw the Lunar Avenger stalked by a quintet of specialist assassins.

Without pausing for breath Moench, Sienkiewicz & Klaus Janson open proceedings in this second collection by exploring and spoofing teen horror movies, adopting changing cultural cues of the new era. Here the team barely survive a ‘Ghost Story’ (MK #5 March 1981) after tracking trigger-happy bandits to a notorious murder house in upstate New York. The Reddich place boasts horrific historical murders and attracts attention from bravado-drenched kids and ghost chasers but also masks a hidden history of family madness and ongoing mayhem. Add a hunt for long-lost buried loot and a determined guy draped in a white sheet and terrifying revelations – and an increased body count – are the end result…

One month later, Steven Grant gifts Moon Knight’s intelligence gathering unit – Crawley, diner owner Gena Landers, her teen sons Ricky & Ray and cabbie Jake Lockley – with a Caribbean vacation just in case Marc Spector needs help investigating a voodoo-themed crime wave on the isle of St. Lucien. Spector had been requested to crush the Zuvembie ‘White Angels’ by an old war buddy, but soon exposes a drugs and human trafficking scheme by a local plantation owner…

America’s “War on Drugs” also informed MK #7, as Moench, Sienkiewicz & Janson detail how ruthless miscreants poison Chicago’s water supply with hallucinogens and turn the conurbation into a howling homicidal madhouse. Moon Knight & Co are in town and are just as drenched and deranged by the time ‘The Moon Kings’ ends on a cliffhanger, and following a brief gallery of original art from the preceding stories, spectacularly concludes with Frank Giacoia inking ‘Night of the Wolves’ with the still impaired heroes foiling a cruel blackmail plot and last-ditch chemical revenge strike

Moon Knight #9 sees Sienkiewicz inking himself for ‘Vengeance in Reprise’ as Bushman breaks out of jail just as Anton Mogart steals the statue of Khonshu from Steven Grant’s mansion. Sadly, the artefact is all that stabilises Moon Knight’s splintered personalities and as he tracks down and defeats both his despised foes, ‘Too Many Midnights’ (#10) sees the statue lost and the hero fractured. Happily, Marlene has a solution and the lunar guardian is back in #11 ‘To Catch a Killer’ rampaging through the New Orleans Mardi Gras. The team are there in pursuit of coke dealer Cajun Creed, but Frenchie is dangerously distracted by the unexpected return and sudden murder of his old flame Isabelle Kristel…

A ghastly new foe debuts in #12 as Marlene’s brother Dr. Peter Alraune Jr. endures ‘The Nightmare of Morpheus’. Administered experimental drugs that hideously mutated him and gave him energy-warping powers by the sleep disorder specialist, patient Robert Markam tirelessly tracks Alraune seeking revenge but thankfully Moon Knight is able to put him out, after which a notionally similar ally appeared…

Despite his early career being packed with guest shots, the solo spooky star Moon Knight was a difficult fixture for many Marvel heroes but a somewhat sympatico headset could be seen in Frank Miller’s Daredevil. Thus MK #13 offered ‘The Cream of the Jest’ as the fresh out on parole master of media manipulation unites with former Moon Knight foe Ace Taggert to achieve mutual revenge on their most hated enemies. Sadly, as both heroes monitor the malefactors, differences in style and approach lead to a clash of policy and methods… and then just a clash…

Moench & Sienkiewicz were continually experimenting and reaching a creative peak, and #14’s ‘Stained Glass Scarlet’ (cover-dated December 1981) was a milestone that polarised fans. A classic tragedy, delving deep into dysfunctional families, it saw a mysterious woman in red occupying an abandoned church until her solitude is shattered by Moon Knight’s pursuit of psychotic prison fugitive Joe “Mad Dog” Fasinera. The killer was looking for loot hidden by his equally murderous father, but found his cloaked foe, his mother Scarlett and his just deserts…

Released on October 6th 1981 but cover-dated January 1982, Moon Knight #15 heralded longer even more mature stories as Marvel dropped the ad content and hived off the title from standard newsstand distribution, making it available only through subscription or specialist comic book stores. To prove this was a far harder hero now Moench & Sienkiewicz’s ‘Ruling the World from His Basement’ featured an assassination campaign against foreign dignitaries perpetrated by a crazed white supremacist spouting Nazi ideology. He was also a trusted member of the community and associate of Moon Knight.

And Rats.

Racist killer Xenos employed rodents in a most disquieting manner, so be warned…

The big evolution was marked and celebrated in an illustrated essay by Moench with ‘Shades of Moon Knight’ precising the character(s) of the lone hero and recapitulating on his techniques, methodology and associates.

‘Shadows of the Moon’ by Jack C. Harris & Denys Cowan, inked by Steve Mitchell, Josef Rubinstein & Janson led in MK #16 as a cop who despises vigilantes like Moon Knight is murdered, and his son begs the masked hero to help. with a guest cameo by Ben The Thing Grimm, Spector’s efforts to expose corrupt industrialist Alexander Latimer, lead to brutal battle with philosopher/assassin Blacksmith and barely thwarted nuclear annihilation before justice is served.

The main event was supplemented by ‘Seekers of Stone’, first tale of new feature Spector: Mercenary – The Man Who Will Be Moon Knight with Harris, Jimmy Janes & Armando Gil revealing how the mercenary dealt with a double-crossing Nazi war criminal who hired him to “recover” a mystic trinket…

With Steve Mitchell inking, Moench & Sienkiewicz return with ‘Master Sniper’s Legacy!’ as an extended epic opened to find Spector contacted by old friend Benjamin Abramov. The Israeli agent needs his help to destroy terrorist Nimrod Strange and his fanatical Third World Slayers cult but is gunned down by Strange’s emissary the Master Sniper whilst talking to Spector and Marlene. Once the killer has been dealt with, Spector vows to destroy the Third World Army at any cost…

Moench, Cowan & Rubinstein’s far lighter ancillary tale sees the young(er) Spector south of the border, raiding tombs and learning the folly of indulging in ‘The Worship of False Idols’ before MK #18 resumes the war as Spector deals with ‘The Slayers Elite’ (Moench, Sienkiewicz & Mitchell) sent to make an example of Abramov’s widow, before “Allen” Zelenetz reminds us of earlier team-ups in ‘The Many Phases of Moon Knight’ text feature which neatly segues into #19’s ‘Assault on Island Strange’ by Moench, Sienkiewicz & Mitchell. As Moon Knight punishes operations by the Third World Slayers, Marlene goes undercover as the top terrorist’s bodyguard. Much too close to Nimrod Strange for comfort, her compromises to survive outrage Moon Knight who takes out his aggression on the maniac’s home base. However, his righteous fury is not enough to stop Strange giving himself a lethal munitions upgrade, renaming himself Arsenal and setting off to attack New York with Marlene still beside him…

The saga explosively concludes in #20’s ‘Cut Adrift off the Coast of America’ (Moench, Sienkiewicz & Mitchell) as Arsenal discovers the viper in his deranged bosom and attempts to turn Manhattan Island into a super-colossal bonfire with stolen oil tankers only to finally fail thanks to Moon Knight and a really, really angry Marlene…

Sudden change of pace ‘The Master of Night Earth!’ (Moench, Vicente Alcazar, John Tartaglione & Bob Camp in MK #21 sees the world-weary warrior of shadow encounter genuine supernatural forces after joining Jericho Drumm/Brother Voodoo to foil insurrection and revolution in Haiti, backed up by new bonus feature Tales of Khonshu, wherein Zelenetz, Greg LaRoque & Dave Simons expose ‘Murder by Moonlight’ as a fleeing murderer encounters a museum statue of the lunar god of vengeance and experiences something… uncanny…

Now possessing mind control and illusion-casting powers, maddened angry sleep-deprived Morpheus returns to wreak final vengeance on his tormentor in Moench & Sienkiewicz’s ‘The Dream Demon’ – and so very nearly succeeds before concluding episode ‘Perchance to Scream’ sees further escalating carnage lead to an ultimate sacrifice that seemingly ends Morpheus’ depredations forever…

Dividing those momentous events, Zelenetz, LaRoque & Joe Albelo lighten the mood with WWII titbit ‘Moon Over Alamein’ as British Eighth Army troops take shelter in a certain tomb, and resist every temptation to rob or defile it. Is that perhaps why a spectral apparition later escorts them safely through deadly mine fields? Only Khonshu knows for sure…

With covers by Sienkiewicz, Earl Norem, Frank Miller, Al Milgrom, Ron Wilson & Dave Simons, Steve Mitchell and Joe Jusko, this collection of groundbreaking and innovative tales and on-fire creators finding new envelopes to push wraps up with a House ad for Scarlet in Moonlight, 1981’s Moon Knight portfolio by Sienkiewicz, offering 4 pencil plates and letter page art from #6, 9, 21, 23. There are also  unused covers for #9, 12 &13 and 11 pages of original art/covers (including a painting) all by LaRoque, Sienkiewicz, Cowan & Rubinstein.

Moody, dark, thematically off-kilter and savagely entertaining this second volume sees the “Batman knock-off” fully evolve into a unique example of the line between hero and villain and sinner and saint, all wrapped up in pure electric entertainment for testosterone junkies and suspense lovers.
© 2019 MARVEL.

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Shazam! Family Archives volume 1


By William Woolfolk, Otto Binder, Joe Millard and many unknown authors, C.C. Beck, George Tuska, Mac Raboy, Al Carreño, Mark Swayze & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0779-3 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

One of the most venerated and beloved characters of America’s Golden Age of comic books, Captain Marvel was created in 1940: part of the wave of opportunistic creativity which followed the stunning success of Superman in 1938 and Batman one year later. Although there were many notable similarities in the early months, Fawcett’s champion quickly moved squarely into arenas of light entertainment and even pure comedy, whilst as the years passed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action, drama and suspense.

Homeless orphan and all-around decent kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard named Shazam to utilise the powers of six ancient gods and heroes in a never-ending battle against injustice. Thereafter he could transform from scrawny, precocious kid to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel by speaking aloud the wizard’s acronymic name – invoking the powers of legendary patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.

Publishing house Fawcett had first gained prominence through an immensely well-received magazine for WWI veterans entitled Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang, before branching out into books and general interest magazines. Their most successful publication – at least until the Good Captain hit his stride – was the ubiquitous boy’s building bible Mechanix Illustrated and, as the comicbook decade unfolded, the scientific and engineering discipline and “can-do” demeanour underpinning MI suffused and informed both the art and plots of the Marvel Family titles.

Captain Marvel was the brainchild of writer/editor Bill Parker and brilliant illustrator Charles Clarence Beck who, with his assistant Pete Costanza, handled most of the art for the series throughout its stellar but too brief run. Before eventually evolving his own affable personality the Captain was serious, bluff and taciturn: a rather charmless powerhouse. Always, junior alter ego Billy was the true star: a Horatio Alger archetype of impoverished, boldly self-reliant and resourceful youth overcoming impossible odds through gumption, grit and sheer determination…

After homeless orphan newsboy Billy was granted access to the power of legendary gods and heroes, he won a job as a roaming radio reporter for Amalgamated Broadcasting and first defeated demonic Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, setting a pattern that would captivate readers for the next 14 years…

At the height of his immense popularity Captain Marvel – and many of his fellow Shazam!-powered pals – were published twice monthly and outsold Superman, but as the Furious Forties closed, tastes changed, sales slowed and Fawcett saw the way the wind was blowing. In 1953, they settled an infamous, long-running copyright infringement suit begun by National Comics in 1940 and the “Big Red Cheese” vanished – like so many other superheroes – becoming no more than a fond memory for older fans. Fawcett in full bloom, however, was a true publishing innovator and marketing dynamo – now regarded as inventor of many established comic book sales tactics we all take for granted today. This stunning, lavishly sturdy full-colour hardback compendium gathers magnificent examples of the most effective strategy: spin-off characters linked to the primary star. Fawcett was the company responsible for creating crossover-events and in 1942 they devised a truly unforgettable villain and set him simultaneously loose on their stable of costumed champions whilst using his (temporary) defeat to introduce a new hero to their colourful pantheon.

The epic creation of Captain Marvel Jr. and his originating antithesis Captain Nazi were fully covered in Shazam! Archives volume 4 so feel free to go there first…

This subsidiary collection gathers his subsequent appearances as brand new headliner in Master Comics #23-32 (February to November 4th 1942) plus the first issue of his own solo title (Captain Marvel Jr. #1, cover-dated 18th November 1942) and also includes the debut appearance of mighty Miss Mary Marvel who premiered in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (December 11th 1942). All that and the stunning covers by Beck & Raboy are preceded by an erudite and incisive Foreword from artist, editor, historian – and former student of C.C. Beck – P.C. Hammerlinck, who reveals many secrets of the original comics’ production before the classics commence.

Sadly, although the artists involved are easily recognisable, the identities of these tales’ writers are lost to us but strong possibilities include primarily Rod Reed and Ed “France” Herron (both early editors of Fawcett’s comics line) as well as Bill Parker, Manly Wade Wellman, Joe Millard, Otto Binder and William Woolfolk.

Before the advent of the World’s Mightiest Boy, Bulletman – ably assisted by his companion Bulletgirl – was undoubtedly Fawcett’s runner-up star turn; hogging the covers in monthly Master Comics and carrying his own solo comic title. That all changed with the 21st issue and murderous arrival of Captain Nazi. Hitler’s Übermensch made manifest, the monstrous villain was despatched to America to spread terror and destruction and kill all its superheroes.

The Horrendous Hun stormed in, taking on Bulletman and Captain Marvel who united to stop the Fascist Fiend wrecking New York City. The battle ended inconclusively but restarted when the Nazi nemesis tried to wreck a hydroelectric dam. Foiled again, the monster sought to smash a new fighter plane prototype before Captain Marvel countered him, but was not quick enough to prevent the killer murdering an old man and brutally crushing a young boy.

Freddy Freeman seemed destined to follow his grandfather into eternity, but guilt-plagued Billy brought the dying lad to Shazam’s mystic citadel where the wizard saved his life by granting Freddy access to the power of the ancient gods and heroes. Physically cured – except for a permanently maimed leg – there was a secondary effect: whenever he uttered the phrase “Captain Marvel” Freeman transformed into a superpowered, invulnerable version of his mortal self.

The prototype crossover epic concluded in Master Comics #22 when the teen titan joined Bulletman & Bulletgirl in stopping a string of Captain Nazi-sponsored murders, victoriously concluding with a bold announcement that from the very next issue he would be starring in his own solo adventures. That parade of epic exploits begins in this tome with ‘Captain Nazi’s Assassination Plot’ (Master Comics #23), immaculately rendered by the Alex Raymond-inspired Raboy who would produce for the feature some of the most iconic art of his illustrious career. Sadly, that meant struggling constantly with punishing deadlines and his own impossibly harsh standards. Moreover, the legend abounds that Raboy would rewrite scripts he wasn’t happy with…

Earning a living selling newspapers on street corners, young Freddie spots Captain Nazi again and dogs his corpse-strewn trail as the fascist kills a British agent and attempts to murder President Roosevelt. Then ‘Death by Radio’ introduces sinister serial killer Mr. Macabre who brazenly broadcasts his intention to assassinate former business partners until the young Marvel confronts him. Master Comics #25 sees Freddie investigate a little lad’s broken balloon in Woolfolk & Raboy’s ‘The Case of the Face in the Dark!’, only to stumble upon a cunning plot by the Japanese to invade Alaska. Whereas his senior partner’s tales were always laced with whimsy, Junior’s beautifully depicted exploits were always drenched in angst, tension and explosive action. The climax, which involved the bombastic boy-warrior shredding wave after wave of bombers, is possibly one of the most staggering printed spectacles of the Golden Age…

On a smaller scale, the next issue featured Otto Binder’s ‘The Return of Mr. Macabre!’ as the killer, turned sickly green after a failed suicide attempt, kidnaps a US inventor ferrying vital plans to England. The plot goes well until Macabre’s rendezvous with Captain Nazi in mid-Atlantic is interrupted by Junior, who saves the day by ripping their battleship apart with his bare hands! In a rare display of close continuity, Freddie then carries on to London in MC #27 to counter ‘Captain Nazi and the Blackout Terror’, with the malign master of disguise setting out to neutralise the city’s anti-Blitz protocols. For his service, Freddie is made a special agent for Winston Churchill…

Never captive for long, in the next issue the Hunnish Hauptman spearheads an Atlantic reign of terror and kidnaps America’s chief of War Production, until Junior single-handedly invades ‘Hitler’s Headquarters of Horror’, linking up with a German Resistance movement to free the crucial captive. After such smashing successes it was no surprise that in #29 British Intelligence tapped innocuous Freddie Freeman to infiltrate Hitler’s Fortress Europa and prepare the enslaved populations under ‘The Iron Heel of the Huns’ to rise when the inevitable Allied counterattack came…

MC #30 saw the wonder boy back in the USA, stopping Captain Nazi’s plan to poison an entire military base in ‘Captain Marvel Jr. Saves the Doomed Army’, before malignant Mr. Macabre joins the Japanese to abduct a crucially-placed diplomat in ‘The Case of the Missing Ambassador’ but inevitably tasting frustrating defeat and receiving the sound thrashing he so richly deserves…

With #32, Master Comics became a fortnightly publication, but Freddie barely noticed since he was embroiled in a decidedly domestic atrocity wherein corrupt orphanage officials collected and abused disabled kids to turn a profit in ‘The Cripple Crimes’…

A blockbuster hit, “The Most Sensational Boy in the World” promptly won his own title as 1942 drew to a close, but with Raboy already hard-pressed to draw 14 pages a month to his own exacting standards, Captain Marvel Jr. #1 was illustrated by reliable Al Carreño – a Fawcett regular who had covered almost every character in the company’s stable.

The bumper book – probably scripted by Binder & Joe Millard – began by briefly reprising ‘The Origin of Captain Marvel Jr.’ before depicting ‘Wings of Dazaggar!’ wherein Junior follows Captain Nazi to an occupied West African colony and uncovers a flight of secret super-planes intended to bomb America to dust. After scotching that scheme Freddie is drawn into an eerie murder-mystery as a succession of gangsters and investigative reporters fall victim to ‘The Shadow that Walked!’…

Then, thugs snatching beggars off the street to fuel a fantastically callous insurance scam make their biggest mistake by grabbing lame Freddie Freeman as their next patsy in ‘The Case of the Cripple Kidnappers’, before the soaring sagas conclude on a redemptive note as Captain Marvel Jr. “encourages” ‘The Cracked Safecracker’ to renounce his criminal ways and look after his elderly, ailing and extremely gullible parents…

This superb graphic grab-bag concludes with a landmark from ‘Captain Marvel Introduces Mary Marvel’, as capably rendered by Otto Bonder and Fawcett illustration mainstay Mark Swayze as first seen in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (cover-dated December 11th, 1942). Preceded by a glorious painted cover from Beck of what would become known as The Marvel Family, the story saw boy broadcaster Billy Batson hosting a radio quiz show and finding himself drawn to sweet rich kid Mary Bromfield. During the course of the show – which also includes Freddie Freeman amongst the contestants – Billy is made shockingly aware that Mary is in fact a long-lost twin sister he never knew he had (take that, Luke Skywalker!), but before he can share the knowledge with her, gangsters kidnap her for a hefty ransom. Although Captain Marvel & Junior rescue Mary, they foolishly fall under the sway of the crooks and are astounded when she idly mutters the word “Shazam!”, transforms into the World’s Mightiest Girl and rescues them all…

Crisis over, the trio then quiz the old wizard and learn the secret of Mary’s powers – gifts of a group of goddesses who have endowed the plucky lass with the grace of Selene, strength of Hippolyta, skill of Ariadne, fleetness of Zephyrus, beauty of Aurora (always crucial when battling thugs, brutes and beasts!) and wisdom of Minerva – before welcoming their new companion to a life of unending adventure…

Notwithstanding the acute implied sexism of Mary’s talents coming from goddesses rather the same source as the boys’, her creation was a milestone of progress adding a formidable, unbeatable female role model to the ranks of the almost universally male mystery-man population of comic books.

The original Captain Marvel is a key factor in the development of American comics history and a brilliantly conceived superhero for all ages. These enchanting, compelling tales show why “The Big Red Cheese” and his oddly extended family was such an icon of the industry and proves that such timeless, sublime graphic masterpieces are an ideal introduction to the world of superhero fiction: tales that cannot help but appeal to readers of every age and temperament.
© 1942, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.