Category: Horror Stories

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Mermaid Saga VIZ Signature Edition volume 1


By Rumiko Takahashi, translated by Rachel Thorn & lettered by Joanna Estep (VIZ Media)
ISBN: 978-1-97471-857-3 (Tankobon TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Rumiko Takahashi is one of the most successful and globally lauded comics creators of all time and indisputably the best-selling woman in the field (as of 2017, over 200 million volumes – and always rising – of her assorted inventions in print) with countless accolades and awards to her name. That makes the recent unavailability of her works in translation – in print or pixels – utterly incomprehensible to me. At least at last that situation is being remedied…

Born in 1957, she enrolled in a manga school whilst at university and began producing Doujinshi (self-published stories) in 1975, under the tutelage of Manga genius Kazuo Koike. She sold her first professional story 3 years later: award-winning science fiction comedy Urusei Yatsura (34 volumes). Her next big series was rom-com Maison Ikkoku (15 volumes) and she continued both series simultaneously until 1987, whilst also producing a vast array of extremely popular short stories and mini-series.

In 1984, she tried something new: an occasional sequence of interlinked gothic-love horror short-stories that would become known as the Mermaid Saga – appearing at uneven intervals over the next decade. Ten years later, Viz Communications began collecting and translating the nine graphic novelettes for the English speaking world, and this volume (from 2020) re-presents and remasters the first three fishy tales in a stunning display of visual virtuosity and macabre menace as part of a paired and glorious Viz Signature Edition.

‘A Mermaid Never Smiles’ (Parts 1 & 2) begins in a remote rural village in modern Japan as beautiful maiden Mana calls out petulantly to her servants. Meanwhile miles away, a derelict young man wanders aimlessly, searching for something. His name is Yuta and there’s something odd about him…

Mana’s attendants are all women and they are waiting for something. When one performs a unique sacrifice the assembled harridans decree Mana is ready at last for her great purpose…

When Yuta stumbles into the village he is swiftly killed by the old ladies… but doesn’t stay dead for long. Escaping from his grave, Yuta confronts the women and rescues far-from-grateful Mana, who has no idea she has been farmed like a veal calf by her “servants” with but one purpose…

On the run, Yuta explains the legend of Mermaids: eating their flesh can, if one is fortunate, impart immortality and invulnerability. More common is a slow transformation into ghastly monsters, called “Lost Souls”. Most likely, though, is a swift, exceedingly painful death from the malignant meat…

Years previously, Yuta had unwittingly consumed mermaid flesh and has spent half a lonely millennium seeking a cure to his lonely un-aging existence. An old wise woman told him the only solution was to find a live mermaid and ask her for a method to end his interminable life. However, he has cause to regret his wish when he discovers that all the old women here are aged and near-decrepit mermaids and that poor Mana has been bred for years as a means by which they can regain lost youth.

Horrified and reluctantly heroic, Yuta knows he must foil the plan at all costs – but it won’t be easy or pretty…

Also divided into Parts 1 & 2, second story ‘The Village of the Fighting Fish’ takes us back centuries to Feudal Japan and two island communities at war. Eking out their harsh existence with occasional piracy, the fisher-folk of Toba are being slowly squeezed by their ruthless rivals on Sakagami Island. Moreover, the Tobans’ headman is dying and his valiant daughter O-Rin is having difficulty filling his sandals and continuing his legacy and leadership…

She thinks nothing of it when a dead body washes up: that’s just a sign of the times, but when the corpse comes back to life, the sinister, manipulative wife of the Sakagami chieftain seeks him out. It appears she, too, is hunting for a mermaid, just like un-killable stranger Yuta…

With a ruthless agenda of her own, Isago stirs the bubbling pot of tension until war is inevitable, just as restless wander Yuta dares to dream that he might risk loving again, but once more the terrible lure of mermaid flesh and supernatural longevity prove to be more curse than blessing and horrifying bloodshed is the inevitable result…

We return to more-or-less contemporary Japan as Mana & Yuta find an isolated village near deep woods and stop their incessant wandering for one night. However, the naive lass is utterly unaware of the modern world and walks into a near fatal accident. Rushed to the local cottage hospital, the severely injured girl mysteriously goes missing, and when Yuta discovers the woodland called the ‘Mermaid Forest’ he fears the worst. His frantic investigations uncover yet another tragic family destroyed by the mermaid mystique which has tainted so many lives…

Kindly old Dr. Shiina has kept a sinister secret for decades and now, through captive undying Mana, hopes to correct an ancient wrong. Sadly, no-one who has tasted mermaid flesh ever exists or even ends happily, and as Yuta hopelessly battles yet more Lost Soul horrors, our undying hero knows that this time will be no different…

In the aftermath he restless wanderers Yuta & Mana move on, only to stumble into another toxic immortality trap as ‘Dream’s End’ leaves them in the middle of a 40-year duel between a colossal monster mutated by tasting sea-siren flesh and an aging hunter maimed by the beast and rabid for revenge. To world-weary Yuta the case seems clear-cut, but when rampaging Big-eyes shows Mana a softer side, the positions of stalker and prey look far less cut and dried…

Closing this tome is two-part drama ‘Mermaid’s Promise’ as the immortal man comes again to Misaki village to find a sprawling growing metropolis. When he was last here he loved – and left – a maid in dire straits: a broken vow that still plagues him. Tragically, his betrayal turns out to be wasted tears as abandoned Nae is still alive… sort of.

As Mana & Yuta roam the bustling city dubbed Crimson Valley, they are targeted by the big boss of the region, a man with many dark secrets – and loyal thugs – who has also changed a great deal since he vied with Yuta for Nae’s hand sixty decades previously. Killing his rival, ancient Eijiro continues his project of excavating the entire surrounding hills and forests, seeking the ashes of a mermaid. They once enabled his “fiancée” to stay Nae fresh, young, vital. Hopefully another dose will stop her being soullessly, murderously psychotic…

These bleak supernatural tales of jealousy, twisted love and dark devotion are brooding and oppressive epics of understated horror, beautifully realised and movingly effective. One of the best mature manga series ever produced, it can – and should – be read by kids too, but please be aware Japanese social conventions regarding casual nudity are not the same as ours and if you don’t want them seeing naked bodies you should read something else.
TAKAHASHI RUMIKO NINGYO SERIES Vol. 1, 2 © 2003 Rumiko TAKAHASHI. All rights reserved.

Today in 1930 Leo Baxendale was born. We did him just recently, so scroll back to October 20th.

In 1948 master of horror and Swamp Thing co-creator Bernie Wrightson joined the world. You can learn all about him through Frankenstein Alive, Alive – The Complete Collection.

And in 1990 the last issue of UK laughter generator Whizzer and Chips – which had begun the fun way back in 1969 – hit the shelves and spinner racks. You can still get a taste of it all (mostly toffees, liniment, perished rubber and sweaty feet) via Whizzer and Chips Annual 1979.

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Chas Addams™ Half-Baked Cookbook: Culinary Cartoons for the Humorously Famished


By Charles Addams (Simon & Schuster)
ISBN: ?978-0-7432-6775-5 (PB) eISBN: 978-1-439-10386-9

This boos includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. It also uses Discriminatory Content included for comedic and satirical effect.

Cartoonist Charles Samuel Addams (1912-1988) was a distant descendant of two American Presidents (John Adams & John Quincy Adams). He compounded that hereditary infamy by perpetually making his real life as extraordinary as his dark, mordantly funny drawings.

Born into a successful family in Westfield, New Jersey, the precocious, prankish, constantly drawing child was educated at the town High School, Colgate University, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York City’s Grand Central School of Art, and apparently spent the entire time producing cartoons and illustrations for a raft of institutional publications.

In 1932 he became a designer for True Detective magazine – “retouching photos of corpses” – and soon after started selling drawings to The New Yorker. In 1937, at the peak of popular fascination in cinematic and literary horror stories, he began a ghoulish if not outright macabre sequence of family portraits that ultimately became his signature creation. However, during WWII, he toned down the terror and served with the US Signal Corps Photographic Center, devising animated training films for the military.

Whether Addams artfully manufactured his biography to enhance his value to feature writers or was genuinely a warped and wickedly wacky individual is irrelevant, although it makes for great reading – especially the stuff about his wives – and, as always, the internet is eager to be your informative friend…

What is important is that in all the years he drew and painted those creepily sardonic, gruesome gags and illustrations for The New Yorker, Colliers, TV Guide and so many others, he managed to beguile and enthral his audience with a devilish mind and a soft, gentle approach that made him a household name long before television turned his characters into a hit and generated a juvenile craze for monsters and grotesques that lasts to this day. That eminence was only magnified once the big screen iterations debuted. And now we have streaming fun too. He would have loved the sheer terrifying inescapability of it all…

As he worked on unto death, Addams got even wackier: marrying his third wife in a pet cemetery, spending a fortune collecting weapons and torture devices – “for reference” – and inventing… recipes…

In a legendary career dedicated to being odd, the sudden swerve into crafting and compiling an actual cookbook garnished with macabre cartoon japery is a fabulous affirmation of all the unharnessed unpredictability man stood for, and one which constantly delivers treat after tasty treat…

The compendium commences with introduction ‘Café Styx’ from culinary author Allen S. Weiss, after which a bundle of gags – many starring Addams Family stalwarts – brings us to the secrets of making mouthwatering ‘Mushrooms Fester’. Always be sure when cooking this where you sourced your fungi from – and what you need them to do…

The pattern repeats throughout in chapters divided into ‘Platters’: soundly sinister laughs and gruesomely gustatory giggles peppered with rather tasty recipes. You can see for yourself the quality of the cartooning here so I’ll be brief for a change and simply menu the other olfactory and tongue-tangling taste-bombs included.

The next is utterly self-explanatory ‘Macaroni and Oysters’, ending the first course prior to commencing the ‘Second Platter’ – specifically ‘Black Puddings’ (Yanks call them “blood puddings” and they’re not wrong) and ‘Transparent Pie’ with ‘Boiled Salad of Fiddleheads’ (that’s newly sprouted ferns)…

Pausing for a delicious ‘Intermezzo’ of home-made (for who could sell them?) ‘Dandelion Beer’ and ‘Influenza Punch’ accompanied by ‘Stewed Pigeons’, ‘Potted Woodland Squirrel’ & ‘Fried Locusts’ sagaciously catered to with helpful ‘Hints for the Ill’, we eventually come to what all gastrophiles, gastronomes (and gastrophobes!) have been waiting for: the triumphant ‘Third Platter’ and subsequent ‘Digestifs’…

Here the drawings are in their prime and perfectly piquant whilst consumers are advised on how to tackle ‘Hearts Stuffed for Valentine’s Day’ (with a most special Stuffing mix); ‘Ostrich Eggs’ and ‘Reindeer Rice Curry’. Of course, as with all comedy, acquiescence and acceptance in adversity might mean modern kitchen scullions might need to replace the odd ingredient for all these GENUINE early American recipes collected by Chas and Tee Addams over decades, but what really matters is that gradually older collections of the Addams oeuvre are being unearthed and this one’s truly scrumptious; or perhaps just an acquired taste…

For clarity and pure knowledge this volume closes with a full biography of the auteur and full list of ‘Credits’ for the recipes included.

Should you not be as familiar with his actual cartoons as with the big and small screen legacy Addams unleashed, you really owe it to yourself to see the uncensored brilliance of one of America’s greatest humourists. It’s very appetising and dead funny…

© 2005 by Tee and Charles Addams Foundation. All rights reserved.

Today was a biggie for Comics. In 1764, grand master and originator of mean drawing William Hogarth died. In 1931 Stan’s brother (the one who could write AND Draw) Larry Lieber was born. Among his many unsung triumphs was Rawhide Kid, co creating Iron Man and writing most of the stories in Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor volume 1: The Vengeance of Loki.

In 1941 Belgian Bob De Groot was born. You really should read one of his many light adventure gems such as Clifton volume 5: Jade.

In 1970, two US strips launched today one was Mel Lazarus’ venerable Momma, and the other was by Gary Trudeau. Go see and worship some more with the fabulous Yuge! – 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump.

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Heritage Comics Presents Spellbound: Damian Darke & I Don’t Want To Be a Witch!


By Daniel McGachey & Lauren Knight, Georgia Standen Battle, Brian Lewis,
Du Feu & Francisco Cueto, Alan Hebden & Patrick Wright, Kek W. & Jaume Forns, &Vicente Alcazar, & various (Heritage Comics/DC Thomson & Co.)

ISBN: 978-1-91743641-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

DC Thomson is probably the most influential comics publisher in British history. In the 1930s The Dandy and The Beano revolutionised children’s comedy comics, whilst newspaper strips Oor Wullie and The Broons (both created by writer/Editor R. D. Low and Dudley D. Watkins) have become a genetic marker for Scottishness. The company uniquely portrayed the occasional toff, decent British blokes and working-class heroes who grew from the prose-packed pages of Adventure, Rover, Wizard, Skipper, Hotspur and latterly “strip picture papers” like Victor and Warlord. They also cannily followed wider-world trends and capitalised – as much as any tasteful, all-ages publishing house could – on global interests that filtered down to juvenile consumers.

Their Girls Papers line especially shaped successive generations and, whenever cited, examples still evoke passionate memories. Don’t take my word for it either; just ask your mum or grandmother about Judy, Bunty, Diana, Mandy and the rest…

And that goes double for the spooky sagas in Spellbound…

Kids have always delighted in scary stories but the 1970s horror bubble presented lots of problems for comics publishers. With parents and watch groups always readily on hand to complain or kick up a fuss, how to cater to a genuine demand without incurring another 1950s style comics panic was uppermost in every comic editor’s mind. The answer, obviously is with style, imagination and caution…

Predating Fleetway’s fantasy icon Misty by a couple of years, Spellbound – “the all-new mystery story paper for girls”- launched from DC Thompson’s haunted mansion on September 25th 1976.

Opening in plenty of time for Halloween, it ran for 69 issues before merging in January 1978 with generally-school-&-fashion-themed title Debbie. In its time Spellbound recounted horror-tinged fantasy tales along traditional lines, mixed with school scenarios and, as always, supplemented by text features, activities, and general interest snippets. Its true rewards and achievements rested in the roster of stellar creators associated with its solo strips and serials: artisans including Brian Lewis, Estaban Maroto, Edmond Ripoll, Enrique Badía Romero, Jésus Redondo, Adolfo Usero, Jordi Franch, Norman Lee and others for material including ‘When the Mummy Walks’, ‘The Secret of Silver Star’, ‘Supercats’, ‘The Haunting of Laura Lee’, ‘Peril on Paradise Island’ and more.

DCT is constantly looking for better ways to reach fresh audiences and recently moved into digital publishing of vintage and original new stories in a big way. Backing up their Commando war stories and Starblazer science fiction reprint projects comes this initially digital-only treat: a timely compilation of supernatural sagas is an ideal way to expand their Heritage Comics imprint (expect more reviews in coming months).

This blockbuster tome collects many magnificently understated macabre moments from the periodical, focussing at first on short stories narrated by Master of Mystery Damian Darke before closing with a complete serial from Spellbound #1-15. Throughout, the monochrome lore is littered with those aforementioned prose featurettes and the occasional full colour cover reproduction, and the entire fear fest is festooned with new stuff such as informative

opening letter to the readers ‘Spellbinding Tales…’

Then comes a new introductory spooky strip by Daniel McGachey & Lauren Knight, as wayward teens Gwen & MacKenzie – who really should know better – break into an old abandoned house and discover the world is not what they thought it was…

The cover of #46 (August 6th 1977) leads to our introduction to the Man of Mystery from Spellbound #1, as Damian Darke describes the events of a judicial ‘Spectre from the Flame’ returning to punish evildoers from beyond the grave in a superb chiller limned by Brian Lewis. Next, Jenny & Denise experience a ‘Journey into Fear’ (#19) when they are lost in a storm on the Yorkshire Dales and fetch up at an old edifice that is absolutely not the youth hostel they’re looking for…

That’s augmented with prose potted ghost story ‘Spellbound Special Feature: Poor Little Rich Boy’ from #4, before Lewis strikes again with ‘The Warning’ (#46) wherein hikers Joan & Babs meet a little girl who literally isn’t there (anymore…) whilst from Spellbound #2, “biker chick” Lindsay Gordon inadvertently survives a very close encounter with Cumbrian legend the ‘Ghost Rider’ before ‘Spellbound Special Feature: Get Friendly with Your Phantom’ (#12) textually tells of how to act if one gets too close to the dead-&-not-gone…

Haunted objects ‘The Preston Figurines’ (#36) move heaven and earth to be reunited when sold separately at an antique shop, after which – from #7 – Darke details how a mean miserly usurer gets his just deserts in the ‘Swamp of Evil’: a period piece neatly bookended by text tract ‘Spinning Spectres’ from #13.

Spectral salvation and revelatory redemption come when lost voyager Judy Rose survives a snowstorm thanks to ‘The Cavalier’s Cloak’ (#37) even as in #35 horse lover Kathy King is saved from certain swampy death by ‘The Ghost of Whitefire’ – a modern myth bolstered by prose historical pointers in #17’s ‘Spellbound Special Feature: Milady Greensleeves’…

From Spellbound #21, ‘Mystery at Howlen Hall’ revisits classic gothic literature as a sister searches for a lost sibling at a creaky old manse and only finds madness and worse, whilst Lewis shines in a sentimental scare-fest involving a valiant dead puppy and an ‘Echo on the Wind’ (#4) prior to prose ‘Special Feature: Mr Nobody’ taking a peep at people who aren’t there…

Murder from beyond and a most unquiet landlady garnish a florid tale of perilous ‘Poison Ivy’ (#48), whilst Victorian vignette ‘The House of Palgrave’ (#3 by Lewis) explores a Cornish dwelling that is in no way welcoming to its owner’s new bride, all before auction-going flatmates Sue & Carol get more than they bargained for after buying ‘A Spoonful of Evil…’ (#43). This brings Darke’s delightful diatribes to a halt for the present, allowing a ‘Spellbound Special Feature: The Housemaid’s Revenge’ (#28) and the cover to #8 (November 13th 1976) to usher in a classic serial…

Illustrated by Norman Lee (When the Mummy Walks, The Shop at Shudder Corner, most Spellbound covers) ‘I Don’t Want to Be a Witch!’ is reprinted from Spellbound #1-15, and blends traditional outsider-at-boarding-school comedy drama with a hefty dose of wyrd warfare. However, here, 13-year-old Celia Winters perpetually foils the many schemes of her high witch aunt Armida who strives to make the teenager her vassal and mystic acolyte, but first must get her out of the infernal normal school she loves and away from all her friends at St. Ann’s…

For three action- and imagination-packed months, Celia, best pal Anne and pet Myna bird Merlin duck & dodge & dive, craftily utilising the hidden magic grotto on school grounds (“normal life” huh?) to foil Auntie’s every incredible ploy. Constant chaos and bewildered teachers cannot quell the madness, nor will her feline familiar Lucifer and spiteful tattle-tale mean girl Ruth Narkle hold back as they seek to squash Celia’s every effort to stay nice and normal. Eventually the escalating arcane pot boiler inevitably bubbles over…

‘I Don’t Want to Be a Witch!’ may have ended but is here revived in a creepy continuance by Georgia Standen Battle & Anna Morozova who introduce a fresh new generation to close this tome…

Rounding out the nostalgia chills is a final cover gallery – seven more scary front pages – accompanied by one last yarn: another illustrated prose poser from the first issue suitably entitled ‘Nightmare’…

Short sharp stories of solidly spooky standing superbly rendered make this a horror fan’s delight and a welcome doorway into more inviting times. Why not climb aboard this coachload of chillers and see what used to make our spines shudder and shake?
© DC Thomson & Co., Ltd. 2019.

Today in 1922 Maurice Dodd was born. We love him for one of the world’s greatest comedy strips. So will you if you scope out The Perishers Spectacolour.

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Graveslinger


By Shannon Eric Denton, Jeff Mariotte, John Cboins, Nima Sorat & various (IDW Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-60010-364-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The iconography and intrinsic philosophy of the western is so strong that it will readily mix-&-match with any other narrative genre.

Space Cowboys? Done.

Murder mystery? War? Romance? Hell, Yeah!

Culture clash; political thriller; buddy movie; coming-of-age-drama; epic quest? All covered in landmark cowboy books and/or film tales.

However – probably due to the brutal nature and subtext of the Wild West mythos – the most effective genre-mash-ups have always involved broad humour or supernatural shock. An intriguing case in point is this short, sharp saga scripted by Shannon Eric Denton (The Revenant) & Jeff Mariotte (Desperadoes), beguilingly brought to un-life by illustrators John Cboins & Nima Sorat, with the whole chilling confection coloured by Chris Wood & Carlos Badilla. That thar fancy letterin’ comes courtesy of Ed Dukeshire.

Originally released in 2009 as a 4-issue miniseries, the tale is by no means an original one, but is stylishly undertaken (that’s a freebie from a veteran punslinger, folks), rattling along at a breakneck pace to its gory conclusion…

The drama begins in ‘The Devil’s Playground’ as a strangely gaunt man closes in on a night-time campfire. With little ceremony the top-hatted old timer despatches the man-like things basking in the fire’s glow and dumps them unceremoniously in the coffin on the wagon pulled by his trusty mule Lucifer…

In the growing daylight Frank Timmons meets some riders whilst crossing spartan cattle country and learns of a range war brewing between independent ranchers and merciless cattle-baron Harvey Newell. Frank has no time for their petty problems as he is involved in a relentless pursuit. He used to be the undertaker at Gila Flats Territorial Prison and, after a recent incident, has been tasked with tracking down some very dangerous escapees…

As Timmons heads on, one of the cowboys joins him. Will Saylor already suspects something nasty is occurring and, since the manhunter’s course is in a direct line for his own stead – where his wife and daughters are waiting – Will thinks he ought to be heading home…

As they near the ranch Will’s worst suspicions are confirmed. Timmons is no normal bounty killer and the things threatening his family stopped breathing a long time ago. They also seem immune to his bullets and crave living human flesh…

The old man does have some advantages of his own, though, and before long has the dead men on the run and the women-folk back with horrified Will. Sadly, the hunter’s problems grow in ‘The Undertaker’s Lament’ as Frank shares a few more unwholesome truths with Saylor, even as miles distant, the bulk of the risen dead Timmons has been following introduce themselves to local tyrant Newell. Timmons was not a good man when he worked at Gila Flats: abusing his position for profit and living the high life with a local woman named Dorothy. Things started to go bad in 1878 when Frank was cursed by hardened killer Bart Bevard as he fought the noose around his neck.

They then got much worse when Frank desecrated the corpse of Mexican witch-man El Brujo to steal the shaman’s fancy amulet.

That night 117 corpses dug themselves out of the Boneyard and went on a ravenous killing spree, slaughtering an entire town… including poor Dorothy. And that’s when something truly diabolical spoke to Frank: offering him a deal that could not be refused. Hell wanted its escaped souls back and, if Frank delivered them, he just might be reunited with Dorothy…

As Frank and Will reach the local town to spread a warning, they are caught in a lethal ambush. It isn’t Bevard’s corpse gang but Newell’s bully boys gunning for them and, faced with ‘The Good, the Bad, & the Undead’ Frank needs to make a quick decision about temporarily abandoning his unholy mission…

After a horrific gun battle he convinces a few cowed survivors to join him in a raid on Newell’s ranch for a showdown with the human monster before his own final apocalyptic confrontation with Bevard and ‘The Malevolent Six’ zombies he still commands…

When the shooting stops Frank and Lucifer the mule head for the sunset, painfully aware that they still have 107 more soiled souls to send to the inferno before they can rest…

Simple, straightforward, eerily evocative and leavened with just the right amount of gallows humour, Graveslinger was quickly optioned for eventual movie glory – although to me it smacks more of numerous TV episodes rather than 120-odd minutes of supernatural shoot-outs. Sadly, the original comic book inspiration has all but vanished from sight, despite its welcoming premise, solid action ethic and vast gallery of guest art (three dozen potent and powerful pieces by the likes of Adam Archer, Bloodworth, Francesco Francavilla, Michael Geiger, Phil Noto, Tom Mandrake and others) that came with this collected edition.

If you’re in the mood for spooky six-gun thrills, Graveslinger is well worth tracking down in either printed or digital editions.
© 2009 Shannon Eric Denton and Jeff Mariotte. All rights reserved.

To all of you who asked why we try to post even in the throes of plague tempest and torment. Thanks for asking. It turns out that I’m very old and much confused, and I thought that if I didn’t post a review every day or as often as possible, the specific hole in the Interweb we use would heal up. Turns out that’s not the case. We might post less often from now unless I see something I like…

Sorry, did I just say that?

Today in 1934 Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates first launched. Nuff said. In 1954 bon vivant George McManus died having made Bringing Up Father a global phenomenon. Our favourite collection is still Jiggs is Back so why not see why?

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Leo Baxendale’s Sweeny Toddler


By Leo Baxendale & others (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-726-8 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Utterly Bonkers, Inspired Lunacy… 10/10

If you know British Comics, you know Leo Baxendale.

Long ago and still right now, Baxendale (27th October 1930 – 23rd April 2017) was the epitome of rebellious, youth-oriented artistic prodigies who, largely unsung but definitely much noticed, went about seditiously transforming British Comics: entertaining millions and inspiring uncounted numbers of those readers to become cartoonists too.

Joseph Leo Baxendale was educated at Preston Catholic College, served in the RAF and was born on 27th, October 1930, in Whittle-le-Woods, Lancashire – but not necessarily in that order. Like Spike Milligan and so many brilliant others, his response to privation, injustice, war and the post war era was being funny in an absurd way. If you’re quick, you can track down some of his stuff – of which far too little has been archivally published – and celebrate his 95th anniversary in an appropriate manner.

Baxendale’s first paid artistic efforts were drawing ads and cartoons for The Lancashire Evening Post but his life – and the entire British comics scene – changed in 1952 when he began freelancing for DC Thomson’s top weekly The Beano. He assumed creative control of moribund Lord Snooty and his Pals and originated anarchically surreal strips Little Plum, Minnie the Minx, The Three Bears and When the Bell Rings. That last strip then rapidly metamorphosed into legendary, lurgy-packed anarchic icon The Bash Street Kids, thereby altering the daily realities and lifetime sensibilities of millions of readers and generations of kids.

Baxendale also contributed heavily to the creation of comics tabloid The Beezer in 1956 but, following editorial and financial disputes with his editors, migrated in 1962 to London-based, Harmsworth-owned conglomerate Odhams/Fleetway/IPC. South of the border, his initial humorous creations included Grimly Feendish, General Nitt and his Barmy Army, Bad Penny and a horrid horde of similarly revoltingly, uncannily engaging oiks, yobs and weirdoes who cumulatively made the company’s “Power Comics” experiment such a joy to behold.

During the 1970s he devised more remarkable cartoon star turns which, whilst not perhaps as seditiously groundbreaking as Plum, Minnie, or The Bash Street Kids, nor as subversively enticing as Wham, Smash and Pow creations such as Eagle Eye, Junior Spy, The Swots and the Blots and The Tiddlers (or indeed, as garishly outlandish as George’s Germs or Sam’s Spook), remained part of the nation’s junior landscape for decades after.

The main body of his later creations appeared in mighty anthology Buster: features such as The Cave Kids, Big Chief Pow Wow, Clever Dick and Snooper. Baxendale latterly foisted Willy the Kid upon the world before creating his own publishing imprint Reaper Books.

He also sued DCT for rights to his innovative inky inventions: a 7-year struggle that was eventually settled out of court. Other notable graphic landmarks include pantomimic vision THRRP!, his biography A Very Funny Business: 40 Years of Comics and the strip I Love You, Baby Basil which ran in The Guardian during the early 1990s.

Signature stinker Sweeny Toddler debuted in Shiver and Shake in 1973, unsurprisingly surviving repeated mergers – with Whoopee! and Whizzer and Chips – before settling in at the seemingly unsinkable Buster.

This stunning hardback (and eBook) celebration – hopefully the first of many gathering the entire run and Baxendale’s IPC/Fleetway oeuvre – is another crucial addition to Rebellion’s ever-expanding Treasury of British Comics. It gathers the episodes from Shiver and Shake spanning March 10th 1973 to 5th October 1974, plus the first nappy-load from Whoopee!, from 23rd November 1974 until 7th June 1975.

The potent package is suitably accompanied by an appreciative, informative and responsible Introduction by his son Martin (who drew the Bad Boy’s adventures after Baxendale senior moved into publishing) and offers a magnificent exercise in manic misrule starring the absolute worst baby in the world… outside of a democratically elected government.

In a simple terrace house with the legend “Tremble wiv fear, Sweeny livs here” scrawled all over it, lives a spotty (occasionally be-stubbled) mono-fanged tyke who is disturbingly fast and strong with a physiognomy that can sour milk. He is precociously able to read – after a fashion – and that, coupled with a lethally low tolerance for boredom and obedience, means the nasty nipper always finds new and distressing ways to amuse himself at someone else’s expense…

With or without faithful dog and eager abettor Hairy Henry, Sweeny turns every pram ride into a pulse-pounding rollercoaster adventure for his poor benighted mum and grandad; every visit to park, shop or museum into a heart-stopping chase and every cuddlesome interlude with ill-advised adults into an exhausting episode in psychological and physical torture.

At least six strips re-presented here are not by Baxendale, but record-keeping is sadly incomplete. Chances are they’re drawn by Tom Paterson, who eventually took over the feature (or possibly Roy Nixon?) but they are all deliciously weird and wonderful: a blend of unbeatable whacky wordplay, explosive slapstick and bizarre situations, garnished by Baxendale’s unique and evocative sound effects: once read, never forgotten…

Briefly retitled Help! It’s Sweeny Toddler in experimental pages that feature second stories starring monstrous beasts living in the borders and margins of the panel dividers, later episodes never lost the eccentric impetus of the first, with the baby from hell, as ever, mugging old ladies, postmen, schoolboys and other unwary visitors; creating his own zoo, attempting to sneak into X films (maybe get granddad to explain those?) and totally tormenting anyone who treats him like a child…

As well as straight strips, this collection also offers ‘Sweeny Toddler’s Beat the Bully Guide’ and graphic game ‘Sweeny Toddler’s Fifty Frightful Faces!’, proving the vile versatility of the manky mite.

Leo Baxendale was one-of-a-kind: a hugely influential, much-imitated master of pictorial comedy and noxious gross-out escapades whose work deeply affected (some would say warped) generations of British and Commonwealth kids. We’ll not see his like again, but these astoundingly engrossing comedy classics are a perfect example of his resolutely British humorous sensibilities – absurdly anarchic, explosively whimsical, outrageously aggressive, crazily confrontational and gleefully grotesque – starring an unremittingly rebellious force of nature with no impulse control.

Sweeny Toddler says and does whatever he wants as soon as he thinks of it, albeit usually to his own detriment and great regret: a rare gift, usually only employed by madmen and foreign Presidents.

These cartoon capers are amongst the most memorable and re-readable exploits in all UK comics history: smart, eternal, existentially funny and immaculately rendered. This a treasure-trove of laughs that spans generations and must be in every family bookcase.
© 1973, 1974, 1975 & 2019 Rebellion Publishing Ltd. Sweeny Toddler is ™ & © Rebellion Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1920 artistic icon Nicholas Vicardi AKA Nick Cardy was born. We last admired his mastery in DC Finest: Aquaman – The King of Atlantis.

In 1935 today, cartoon pioneer Sidney Smith died way too soon. You would already know that if you’d listened and looked up Sidney Smith’s The Gumps like we told you to last week.

In 1993 unsung legend Gaylord Dubois died. He wrote and edited dozens of key features, supplying thousands of stories to comics legends. We are particularly partial to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Jesse Marsh Years Omnibus volume two.

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Misty featuring Moonchild & The Four Faces of Eve (volume 1)


By Pat Mills, Malcolm Shaw, John Armstrong, Brian Delaney, Shirley Bellwood & various (Rebellion)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-452-6 (album TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Spooky Treats for Every Stocking… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Like most of my comics contemporaries I harbour a secret shame. Growing up, I was well aware of the weeklies produced for girls but would never admit to reading them.

My loss: I now know that they were packed with some great strips by astounding artists and writers, many of them personal favourites when they were drawing stalwart soldiers, evil aliens, marauding monsters or strange superheroes (all British superheroes were weird and off-kilter…).

I believe – in terms of quality and respect for the readership’s intelligence, experience and development – “girls’ periodicals” were far more in tune with the sensibilities of the target audience. I absolutely wish I’d paid more attention to Misty back then…

Thus, I’m overjoyed to re-recommend this superb first collection from what originating editor Pat Mills reveals in his Foreword was intended to be as iconoclastic and groundbreaking a publication as his previous creation.

You know the one: 2000 AD…

Despite never living up to his expectations – for all the traditional self-sabotaging editorial reasons that have scuppered bold visions since the days of Caxton – Misty was nothing like any other comic in the British marketplace: a Girls’ Juvenile periodical addressing modern issues through a lens of urban horror, science fictional and historical mysteries couched in terms of tense suspenseful dramas. It was also one of the best drawn comics ever seen and featured stunningly beguiling covers by unsung legend Shirley Bellwood: a veteran illustrator who ought to be a household name because we’ve all admired her work in comics and books since the 1950s even if we’ve never been privileged to see her by-line…

Unlike most weeklies, Misty was created with specific themes in mind – fantasy, horror and mystery – and over its too-short existence introduced numerous self-contained features serialised like today’s graphic novels, rather than continuing adventures of star characters.

Although adulterated from Mill’s original design, the comic launched on February 4th 1978 and ran until January 1980 whereupon it merged with the division’s lead title Tammy, thus extending its lifeline until 1984. As was often the case, the brand also continued through Annuals and Specials, running from 1979 until 1986.

The first of a series working under the umbrella of The Treasury of British Comics, this compact monochrome softcover compilation offers two complete part-work novellas from the comic’s canon of nearly 70 strip sagas, starting with the gripping history of the Moonchild.

Written by Mills and illustrated by John Armstrong (Bella in Tammy; The Secret Gymnast in Bunty; Grange Hill), the eerie adventure was based on Stephen King’s Carrie, and ran as lead feature in issues #1-13. It traced the turbulent coming-of-age of abused and confused schoolgirl Rosemary Black: born into a family afflicted with an apparent curse. All women who bore a hereditary crescent birthmark on their foreheads were eventually consumed by psychokinetic powers…

Rosemary’s mother brutally and zealously tries to suppress her daughter’s burgeoning abilities but with sociopathic mean girls Norma, Dawn & Freda making her their constant target for bullying and humiliation, the force inside Rosemary keeps expressing itself in ever more violent manner. Moreover, when school physician Doctor Armstrong realises the truth about the girl so often sent to see him, he sees nothing but an opportunity to be exploited…

When Norma’s bullies embark on their most ambitious scheme to torture Rosemary, sheer disaster is barely averted after the Moonchild’s long missing grandmother suddenly appears with a shocking secret to share…

Following a handy hints feature – how to make a Witch’s Hat – The Four Faces of Eve carries on the chilling bewilderment.

Created by Malcolm Shaw (Misty’s editor and writer of dozens of strips in Britain and Europe) & Brian Delaney (Hart to Hart; Grange Hill; The Professionals) this marvel of malign medical malpractice ran in #20-31, tracing the seemingly paranoid path of Eve Marshall, recently discharged from hospital but still suffering partial amnesia. Despite returning to her home and high-powered scientist parents, Eve remains troubled, especially by horrifically vivid dreams of other girls who died painful, violent deaths…

Inconsolable and increasingly suspicious, Eve snoops around a house she doesn’t remember and discovers mounting evidence that the Marshalls are not her real parents. When the house is later burgled, the police forensics team uncover another impossible anomaly: Eve’s fingerprints match a thief who died months ago…

Scared and haunted by traumatic dreams, Eve runs away and hides in a circus, only to be tracked down and dragged back home by her faux parents. However, pieces are inexorably falling into place and she soon must face the appalling truth she has deduced about herself and the monsters she lives with…

Also including a fulsome tribute to ‘Shirley Bellwood – An Unsung Heroine of British Comics’, creator biographies and one final activity page (‘Misty Says… Be a Devil – and Here’s How’) this supremely engaging tome is a glorious celebration of a uniquely compelling phenomenon of British comics and one that has stood the test of time. Don’t miss this second chance to get in on something truly special and splendidly entertaining
Misty © Egmont UK Limited 1978. All rights reserved.

Today in 1955 René Goscinny & André Franquin debuted humour strip Modeste et Pompom in Le Journal de Tintin – a fact and feature that has still singularly not impressed any English-language comics publishers.

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You Are Maggie Thatcher: A Dole-Playing Game


By Pat Mills & Hunt Emerson (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-85286-011-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times, and for comedic and satirical effect.

With the recent anniversary hagiographic whitewashing of “the Greatest Prime Minister we’ve ever had”, fond reminiscences of those truly grim times and policies by the still-privileged and renewed assaults on the poor and unwelcome in Britain, why don’t we proles also indulge in bit of comforting nostalgia for the good old days?

The most successful comic strips depend more on the right villain than any hero or combination of protagonists, so this quirky oddment was better placed than most for success. Created by British comics legends Pat Mills & Hunt Emerson at a time when our industry was at its most politically active, this strident, polemical satire put the proletarian boot in on the appalling tactics and philosophies of the third term Thatcher government with savagely hilarious art and stunningly biting writing.

Illo 1 here please


The concept is simple now but groundbreaking in 1987. The reader is to be Prime Minister Maggie who, by reading sections of the book and selecting a choice of action at the end of each chapter is directed to another page to experience the ramifications of that decision. The objective is to win another election (ah the wonderful irony!) and the method is to make only vote-winning decisions – hence the multiple-choice page-endings. The intention is not to win the game, obviously. What kind of monster are you?!

This powerful piece of graphic propaganda may have dated on some levels but the home truths are still as pertinent. Even as Maggie and her demented pack of lap-dogs wriggled and squirmed on Mills & Emerson’s pen-points, their legacy of personal gain was supplanting both personal and communal responsibility to become the new norm. More than ever, today’s Britain is their fault and this still readily available book reminds us of a struggle too few joined and a fight we should have won, but didn’t.

It’s still really, really funny too.
Text and concept © 1987 Pat Mills. Illustrations © 1987 Hunt Emerson. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1969 anarchic weekly British treasure trove Whizzer and Chips began its three-decade rampage of fun. You could get a flavour of it all (mostly toffees, liniment, perished rubber and sweaty feet) by seeing Whizzer and Chips Annual 1979.

In 1973 cartoonist Walt Kelly finally had enough of our petulant crap and passed over. You can pay your respects at Pogo – The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips volume 3: Evidence to the Contrary. 

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Hellboy: Weird Tales


By Mike Mignola, Fabian Nicieza, John Cassaday, Eric Powell, Tom Sniegoski, Tommy Lee Edwards, Randy Stradley, Joe Casey, Sara Ryan, Ron Marz, J. H. Williams III, Jim Pascoe & Tom Fassbender, Will Pfeifer, John Arcudi, Matt Hollingsworth, Jill Thompson, Alex Maleev, Jason Pearson, Scott Morse, Akira Yoshida & Kia Asamiya, Doug Petrie, Bob Fingerman, Evan Dorkin, Andi Watson, Mark Ricketts, Kev Walker, Craig Thompson, Guy Davis, Stefano Raffaele, Ovi Nedelcu, Seung Kim, Steve Parkhouse, Steve Lieber, Jim Starlin, P. Craig Russell, Simeon Wilkins, Gene Colan, Roger Langridge, Eric Wright, Dave Stewart, Clem Robins & various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-510-8 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-63008-121-8 (digital) 978-1506733845 (2022 Omnibus TPB)

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

After the establishment of the comic book direct market system, there was a huge outburst of independent publishers in America and, as with all booms, a lot of them went bust. Some few, however, were more than flash-in-the-pans and grew to become major players in the new world order.

Arguably, the most successful was Dark Horse Comics who fully embraced the shocking new concept of creator ownership (amongst other radical ideas). This concept – and professional outlook and attitude – drew many big-name creators to the new company and in 1994 Frank Miller & John Byrne formally instituted sub-imprint Legend for those projects major creators wanted to produce their own way and at their own pace. Over the next four years the brand counted Mike Mignola, Art Adams, Mike Allred, Paul Chadwick, Dave Gibbons and Geof Darrow amongst its ranks; generating superbly entertaining and groundbreaking series and concepts. Unquestionably the most impressive, popular and long-lived was Mignola’s supernatural thriller Hellboy.

The hulking monster-hunter debuted in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (August 1993) before formally launching in 4-issue miniseries Seed of Destruction (with Byrne scripting Mignola’s plot & art). Colourist Mark Chiarello added layers of mood with his understated hues. Once the fans saw what was on offer there was no going back…

What You Need to Know: on December 23rd 1944 American Patriotic Superhero Torch of Liberty and a squad of US Rangers intercepted and – almost – foiled a satanic ceremony predicted by Allied parapsychologist Professors Trevor Bruttenholm and Malcolm Frost. They were working in conjunction with influential medium Lady Cynthia Eden-Jones. Those stalwarts were waiting at a ruined church in East Bromwich, England when a demon baby with a huge stone right hand appeared in a fireball. The startled soldiers took the infernal yet seemingly innocent waif into custody.

Far, far further north, off the Scottish Coast on Tarmagant Island, a cabal of Nazi Sorcerers roundly berated ancient wizard Grigori Rasputin whose Project Ragna Rok ritual seemed to have failed. The Russian was unfazed. Events were unfolding as he wished…

Five decades later, the baby had grown into a mighty warrior engaging in a never-ending secret war: the world’s most successful paranormal investigator. Bruttenholm spent years lovingly raising the weird foundling whilst forming an organisation to destroy unnatural threats and supernatural monsters – The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. “Hellboy” quickly became its lead agent.

As the decades of his career unfolded, Hellboy gleaned tantalising snatches of his origins, hints that he was an infernal creature of dark portent: born a demonic messiah, somehow destined to destroy the world and bring back ancient powers of evil. It is a fate he despises and utterly rejects, even though the universe keeps inexorably and relentlessly moving him towards it.

Hellboy earned the status of ‘actual legend’ in the comics world, starting as the particular vision of a single creator and, by judicious selection of assistants and deputies, cementing a solid take on the character in the hearts of the public. That’s just how it worked for Superman, Batman and Spider-Man (except for the whole “owning the fruits of your own labours” thing) and a big part of the same phenomenon was the eagerness of fellow creators to play in the same universe. Just how that and this collection came about is detailed in Editor Scott Allie’s Introduction preceding a blazing welter of strange and bizarre entertainment…

Originally an 8-part comics series wherein a star-studded cast of creators tell their own stories in their own varied styles under the watchful supervision of the big cheese himself in his unique infernal playground, Hellboy’s Weird Tales was gathered into a 2-volume set in 2004. This luxurious hardback and digital reissue originated in 2014, supplementing the original miniseries with back-up stories from Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #2-4.

Dramas that add to the canon nestle alongside bizarre and humorous vignettes that simply live for the moment and begin with ‘How Koschei Became Deathless’ crafted by Mignola, Guy Davis, Dave Stewart & Clem Robins. The filler from Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #2 & 3 details the valiant trials of a noble warrior and the bad bargain he made, after which a crafty man turns the tables on the world’s wickedest witch in ‘Baba Yaga’s Feast’ (H:TWH #4).

The mother of monsters returns in Fabian Nicieza & Stefano Raffaele’s ‘The Children of the Black Mound’ wherein a future soviet dictator has his own youthful, life-altering encounter with the queen of magic.

John Cassaday spoofs classic newspaper strips with rollicking pulp science hero in ‘Lobster Johnson: Action Detective Adventure’ after which Nazi-bashing nonsense, Eric Powell explores Hellboy’s childhood and early monster-mashing in ‘Midnight Cowboy’ whilst Tom Sniegoski & Ovi Nedelcu raise our spirits with an older ghostbuster failing to tackle a playful posse of spooks in ‘Haunted’…

A classical doomed East/West war romance ghost tragedy is settled by Tommy Lee Edwards & Don Cameron in ‘A Love Story’, setting a scene for more Japanese myth busting in Randy Stradley & Seung Kim’s ‘Hot’ wherein the B.P.R.D. star clashes with an unhappy Tengu (water spirit) inhabiting a mountain hot spring…

Joe Casey & Steve Parkhouse celebrate the glory days of test pilots and the right stuff in ‘Flight Risk’ when Hellboy is involved in a competition to see who’s got the best jetpack, after which ‘Family Story’ (Sara Ryan & Steve Lieber) sees him acting as counsellor to the mum and dad of a rather diabolical kid, before we slip into all-out arcane action to retrieve a time bending artefact from a Guatemalan temple in ‘Shattered’ by Ron Marz & Jim Starlin.

A stakeout with an over-amorous fellow agent leads to unanticipated consequences in J. H. Williams III’s ‘Love is Scarier than Death’, whilst Will Pfeifer & P. Craig Russell’s dalliance with an undying theatre troupe traps our hellish hero in a ‘Command Performance’ and the entertainment motif continues in John Cassaday’s ‘Big-Top-Hell-Boy’ as the B.P.R.D. try to exorcise a mass-murderous circus in Germany before Hellboy and aquatic investigator Abe Sapien battle zombies in the ‘Theatre of the Dead’ courtesy of scripters Jim Pascoe & Tom Fassbender, as illustrated by Simeon Wilkins.

Thanks to John Arcudi & Roger Langridge, the undersea avenger sort of stars in comedic daydream ‘Abe Sapien: Star of the B.P.R.D.’, after which Jill Thompson takes ‘Fifteen Minutes’ to offer us the other side’s view of the eternal struggle, whilst Matt Hollingsworth & Alex Maleev show us the struggle against evil starts before we’re even legally alive in ‘Still Born’. Indomitable psychic Firestarter Liz Sherman acknowledges personal loss and the dreadful cost of the job in Jason Pearson’s ‘The Dread Within’ before Scott Morse conjures up a calmer moment for Hellboy in ‘Cool Your Head’ and Akira Yoshida & Kia Asamiya return us to ghost-riddled Japan for an unconventional duel with childish spirits in ‘Toy Soldier’…

Bob Fingerman’s ‘Downtime’ pits the cream of the B.P.R.D. against the vexatious thing inhabiting the office vending machine, after which Doug Petrie & Gene Colan follow Liz and Abe on a typical ‘Friday’, even as artificial hero Roger the Homunculus foolishly seeks ‘Professional Help’ during a devious demonic assault (as recorded by Evan Dorkin). Andi Watson tackles Hellboy’s infernal heritage and possible future during a social function where he is – as always – the ‘Party Pooper’, after which team leader/psychologist Kate Corrigan endures an acrimonious reunion with her dead-but-still-dreadful mother in ‘Curse of the Haunted Dolly’ (Mark Ricketts & Eric Wright), whilst Kev Walker pits bodiless spirit Johann Krauss against a thing from outer space in ‘Long Distance Caller’.

The narrative portion of this stellar fear & fun fest rightly focuses on Hellboy himself as Craig Thompson takes the weird warrior on an extended tour of the underworld in ‘My Vacation in Hell’ and there’s still a wealth of wonder to enjoy with Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Weird Tales Gallery offering a selection of potent images by Cameron Stewart, Maleev, Dave Stevens with Dave Stewart, Steve Purcell, William Stout, Leinil Francis Yu, Phil Noto, Gary Fields with Michelle Madsen, J. H. Williams III, Rick Cortes with Anjin, Galen Showman with Michelle Madsen, Ben Templesmith, Frank Cho with Dave Stewart, Michael Wm. Kaluta, Lee Bermejo with Dave Stewart and Scott Morse.

Baroque, grandiose, scary, hilarious and even deeply moving, these vignettes alternate suspenseful slow-boil tension with explosive catharsis, and trenchant absurdity, proving Hellboy to be a fully rounded character who can mix apocalyptic revelation with astounding adventure to enthral horror addicts and action junkies alike or enthral jaded fun-lovers in search of a momentary chuckle. This is a classic compendium of dark delights you simply must have.

™ & © 2003, 2009, 2014 Mike Mignola. Weird Tales is ® Weird Tales, Ltd.

Today in 1932 Francis Burr Opper’s landmark strip And Her Name Was Maud ended. If only someone would release a definitive archive I certainly review it!

Also today, the amazing and astounding Otto Binder died in 1974. He wrote everything from Superman to Captain Marvel to Mighty Samson so go seek him out too for a grand old time…

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Melusine volume 5: Tales of the Full Moon


By Clarke & Gilson, coloured by Cerise; translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)

ISBN: 978-1-84918-212-6 (album TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Historically, whenever we used to feel out of sorts we’d consult the wise women to pull our fat out of the fire. Thus as we’re still sick and I’m out of pre-completed reviews here’s a sample of that and me being too clever for my own good.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings…

Witches – especially cute, sassy and/or teenaged ones – have a surprisingly long pedigree in all branches of fiction, and one of the most seductively engaging first appeared in venerable Belgian comic Le Journal de Spirou way back in 1992.

Mélusine is actually a sprightly (119 years old) neophyte sorceress diligently studying to perfect her craft at Witches’ School. To make ends meet she spends her off-duty moments working as au pair/general dogsbody to a shockingly disreputable family of haunts & horrors inhabiting and/or infesting a vast, monster-packed, ghost-afflicted chateau during some chronologically adrift, anachronistically awry time in the Middle-ish Ages…

Episodes of the much-loved feature are presented in every format from one-page gag strips to full-length comedy tales; each and all riffing wickedly on supernatural themes and detailing Melusine’s rather fraught existence. Our magical maid’s life is filled with daily indignities: skivvying, studying, catering to the appalling and outrageous domestic demands of the master and mistress of the castle and – far too occasionally – schmoozing with a large and ever-increasing circle of exceedingly peculiar family and friends.

The strip was devised by writer Françoise Gilson (Rebecca, Cactus Club, Garage Isidore) and cartoon humourist Frédéric Seron – AKA Clarke – whose numerous features for all-ages LJdS and acerbic adult humour Fluide Glacial include Rebecca, Les Cambrioleurs, Durant les Travaux, l’Exposition Continué… and Le Miracle de la Vie. Under the pseudonym Valda, Seron also created Les Babysitters and as “Bluttwurst” Les Enqu?tes de l’Inspecteur Archibaldo Massicotti, Mister President and P.38 et Bas Nylo.

A former fashion illustrator and nephew of comics veteran Pierre Seron, Clarke is one of those insufferable guys who just draws non-stop and is unremittingly funny. He also doubles up as a creator of historical & genre pieces like Cosa Nostra, Les Histoires de France, Luna Almaden and Nocturnes. He was obviously cursed by some sorceress and can no longer enjoy the surcease of sleep…

Collected Mélusine editions began appearing annually or better from 1995 onwards, with the 27th published in 2019. Thus far thanks to Cinebook, five of those have shape-shifted into English translations, but there have been ads for a sixth…

Continentally released in October 2002, Contes de la pleine lune was the 10th groovy grimoire of mystic mirth and is again most welcoming: primarily comprised of single or 2-page gags starring the enticing enchantress and delightfully eschewing continuity for the sake of new readers’ instant approbation. When brittle, moody, over-stressed Melusine isn’t being bullied for her inept cleaning skills by the matriarchal ghost-duchess who runs the castle; ducking cat-eating monster Winston; dodging frisky vampire The Count or avoiding unwelcome and often hostile attentions of horny peasants and over-zealous witch-hunting priests, the wily witchlette can usually be found practising spells or consoling/coaching inept, un-improvable and lethally unskilled classmate Cancrelune.

Unlike Mel, this sorry sorceress-in-training is a real basket case: her transformation spells go appallingly awry; she can’t remember incantations and her broomstick-riding makes her a menace to herself, any unfortunate observers… and even the terrain and buildings around her.

As the translated title suggests, Tales of the Full Moon dwells on demolishing fairy fables and bedevilling bedtime stories but also gives proper introduction to Mel’s best friend Krapella: a rowdy, roistering, mischievous and disruptive classmate who is the very image of what boys want in a “bad” witch…

This tantalising tome is filled with narrative nostrums featuring the traditional melange of slick sight gags and pun-ishing pranks highlighting how our legerdemainic lass finds a little heart’s ease by picturing how one day she’ll have her very own Prince Charming. Sadly, every dream ends – usually because there’s something sticky that needs cleaning up – but Melusine absolutely draws the line when Cancrelune (and even her own sweetness-&-light Fairy cousin Melisande!) start hijacking her daydreams…

This fusillade of fanciful forays concludes with eponymously titled, extended episode Tales of the Full Moon wherein Melusine is ordered to read a bedtime story to the Count’s cousin’s son: obnoxiously rambunctious junior vampire Globule, who insists on twisting her lovely lines about princesses and princes into something warped and Gothic… and even that’s before Cancrelune starts chipping in with her own weird, wild suggestions and interjections…

Wacky, wry, sly, infinitely inventive and uproariously funny, this arty arcana of arcane antics is a terrific taste of Continental comics wonderment: a beguiling delight for all lovers of the cartoonist’s art. Read well before bedtime – or you’ll be up laughing all night…
Original edition © Dupuis, 2002 by Clarke & Gilson. All rights reserved. English translation 2014 © Cinebook Ltd.

Speaking of Dark Nights, today in 1915 Bob Kane was born. Whatever happened to him?
Today in 1906 Golden Age comics scripter Joe Samachson was born. He’s all over this blog so just initiate a little search dialogue action to know more.

And in 1938 the inimitable E.C. “Elzie” Segar died. We last worshipped at his salty feet with Popeye: The E.C. Segar Popeye Sundays volume 4: Swea’Pea and Eugene the Jeep (February 1936 – October 1938); so should you as soon as possible.

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Chas Addams Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of You


By Charles Addams (Simon & Schuster)
ISBN: 978-1-43910-356-2 (PB/Digital edition)

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

Cartoonist Charles Samuel Addams (1912-1988) was a distant descendant of two American Presidents (John Adams & John Quincy Adams). He compounded that hereditary infamy by perpetually making his real life as extraordinary as his dark, mordantly funny drawings.

Born into a successful family in Westfield, New Jersey, the precocious, prankish, constantly drawing child was educated at the town High School, Colgate University, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York City’s Grand Central School of Art, and apparently spent the entire time producing cartoons and illustrations for a raft of institutional publications.

In 1932 he became a designer for True Detective magazine – “retouching photos of corpses” – and soon after started selling drawings to The New Yorker. In 1937, at the peak of popular fascination in cinematic and literary horror stories, he began a ghoulish if not outright macabre sequence of family portraits that ultimately became his signature creation. However, during WWII, he toned down the terror and served with the US Signal Corps Photographic Center, devising animated training films for the military.

Whether Addams artfully manufactured his biography to enhance his value to feature writers or was genuinely a warped and wickedly wacky individual is irrelevant, although it makes for great reading – especially the stuff about his wives – and, as always, the internet is eager to be your informative friend…

What is important is that in all the years he drew and painted those creepily sardonic, gruesome gags and illustrations for The New Yorker, Colliers, TV Guide and so many others, he beguiled and enthralled his audience with a devilish mind and a soft, gentle approach that made him a household name long before television turned his characters into a hit. This was a substantial part of what generated the craze for monsters and grotesques that lasts to this day. That eminence was only magnified once the big screen iterations debuted. And now we have streaming fun too. He would have loved the sheer terrifying inescapability of it all…

As he worked on unto death, Addams got even wackier: marrying his third wife in a pet cemetery, spending an absolute fortune collecting weapons and torture devices – “for reference don’cha know” – and inventing… recipes…

There will be more on that last one another time but what really matters is that older collections of his oeuvre are finally being unearthed. This one – compiled from Addams’s personal archive, with many previously unpublished gems, explores the widest gamut of emotion, from ecstatic love to disappointed affection to murderous obsession. It’s a creepy corker demonstrating that love really does hurt…

Chas Addams Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of You opens in full scholar mode with ‘Chas Addams’ a photo-essay appreciation by H. Kevin Miserocchi, backed up by an explanation of the work of the ‘Tee and Charles Addams Foundation’ – remembering of course that the Tee here is his truly kindred spirit third wife Marilyn Matthews Miller-Addams (1926–2002).

Then the cartoon carnival commences with early works as ‘In the Beginning’ sets the cultural scene with crime, terror, murder and the ever-lurking supernatural before the remainder of the perilous pictorium offers insights into what used to be called “the war of the sexes”. This socially sensitive selection judiciously deals even handedly with ‘His Side’ and ‘Her Side’ before going on to test ‘His Resolve’ and ‘Her Resolve’…

The matter is naturally settled in revelatory style with ‘The Final Score’…

For clarity and pure knowledge this hilariously judgemental tome closes with a full list of ‘Dates of First Publication’ and the happy confirmation that a goodly proportion of the gags are new/unpublished until this time.

Should you not be as familiar with his actual cartoons as with the big and small screen legacy Addams unleashed, you really owe it to yourself to see the uncensored brilliance of one of America’s greatest humourists. It’s dead funny…
© 2006 by Tee and Charles Addams Foundation. All rights reserved.

Today in 1897 English writer & cartoonist Charles Henry Ross died. He’s one of the chaps accused of inventing comics with his disreputable rogue Ally Sloper. The closest we’ve got yet to exposing that rapscallion was in Great British Comics.