Category: Horror Stories

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A Guest in the House


By Emily Carroll (Faber & Faber)
ISBN: 978-0-571-35545-7 (HB)

It’s perhaps a little odd to be looking at terrifying tales of supernatural darkness at the height of summer, but as Emily Carroll proves here, sunny skies and enticingly gleaming lake waters don’t always equate with idyllic rests and restorative downtimes…

Born in 1983 in London, Ontario, Carroll now hails from Stratford (still Ontario): studying animation before redirecting her talents in 2010. The immediate beneficiaries of the career change are we comics fans and horror devotees, as her webcomic His Face All Red became a hot sensation on Halloween and went – as the kids and their grandparents say – viral.

Since then Carroll has got even better, working her dark magic for video game Gone Home (2013) and assorted publishers whilst contributing to numerous books and anthologies, garnering Ignatz, Eisner and British Fantast Awards among many others for first book Through the Woods – an anthology of scary comics stories.

Throughout she has continued crafting chilling webcomics like The Hole the Fox Did Make, Margot’s Room, Baba Yaga’s Assistant, Speak, When I Arrived at the Castle and Some Other Animal’s Meat (adapted in 2022 as “The Outside” for Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix).

A Guest in the House is her second book and first full novel; and I don’t want to tell you very much about it. Narrated by dowdy, introspective, uninspired Abigail, it plays on the institutionalised uncertainty and self-doubt of women and offers a fantastic, ferocious dreamscape to outline a creepy, uneasy slice of domestic tragedy in what should be an idyllic retreat from care.

Abby lives by a beautiful lake in a sedate town with nice new husband David and Crystal, his daughter by a previous marriage. Abby’s not happy but she is settled, and if her husband seems a bit harsh or intolerant it’s only because he works so hard and his first wife Sheila died so tragically. The biggest bone of contention between them is his extreme reactions to Crystal getting near the lake…

When not working at the Valu-Save, Abby inhabits a rich fantasy life filled with knights, dragons and princesses, but as summer progresses she becomes increasingly concerned about the real-world inconsistencies in David’s stories of vivacious, clever, talented Sheila. Even before one of his work colleagues accidentally reveals how her predecessor really died, Abby starts seeing ghosts and talking to what remains of Sheila…

Whatever you think happens next is probably wrong. Cunning, twisty plotting fuels intense and expressive fantasmagoria blended with powerfully understated, almost documentarian narrative illustration as all concerned – especially the reader – are forced to confront and question everything thus far. Soon the tale heads into unexplored country and comprehension…

In so many ways this story acts as like an inverted take on Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, with an all-powerful past presence not just imprinted but actually working on and communicating with an embattled and distraught protagonist. However, even that’s not what’s really going on in this haunting tale of grief, ghosts, quiet desperation, suspicion and identity – submerged or otherwise. In the end it’s all-beguiling moments clouding the big question: is this materialised internal monologue or actual spiritual infestation?

Chilling and unforgettable, this is a summer storm that demands your full attention.

© Emily Carroll, 2023. All rights reserved.

A Guest in the House is published on August 17th 2023 and available for pre-order now.

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Werewolf by Night Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Roy & Jean Thomas, Mike Ploog, Werner Roth, Ross Andru, & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3346-3 (HB/Digital edition)

Now a star of page and screen, Werewolf by Night could be described as the true start of the Marvel Age of Horror. Now technically supplanted by modern Hopi/Latino lycanthrope Jake Gomez – who’s shared the designation since 2020 – these trials of a turbulent teen wolf opened the floodgates to a stream of Marvel monster stars and horror antiheroes.

Inspiration isn’t everything. In 1970, as Marvel consolidated its new position of market dominance – even after losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby – they did so employing a wave of new young talent, but less by experimentation and more by expanding proven concepts and properties. The only real exception to this was a mass-move into horror titles (or more accurately “monster titles” – the CCA still vetoed “horror”): a response to an industry down-turn in superhero sales, and a move expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

Almost overnight scary monsters became again acceptable fare on four-colour pages and whilst a parade of 1950s pre-code reprints made sound business sense (so they repackaged a bunch of those too), the creative aspect of the revived fascination in supernatural themes was catered to by adapting popular cultural icons before risking whole new concepts on an untested public.

As always, the watchword was fashion: what was hitting big outside comics would be incorporated into the print mix and shared universe mix as readily as possible. When proto-monster Morbius, the Living Vampire debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971) and the sky failed to fall in, Marvel launched a line of sinister superstars – beginning with a werewolf and a vampire…

Werewolf by Night debuted in Marvel Spotlight #2 (preceded by western-era hero Red Wolf in #1, and followed by Ghost Rider). In actuality, the series title, if not the actual character, was recycled from a classic pre-Comics Code short suspense-thriller from Marvel Tales #116, July 1953. Marvel always favoured using old (presumably already copyrighted) names and titles when creating new series and characters. The Hulk, Thor, Magneto, Doctor Strange and many others all got nominal starts as hairy underpants monsters or throwaways in some anthology or other.

Accompanied by an introductory reminiscence from Roy Thomas, this copious compendium collects the early adventures of a young West Coast wild one by re-presenting the contents of Marvel Spotlight #2-4, Werewolf by Night volume 1 #1-8 and a guest-shot from Marvel Team-Up #12 cumulatively covering February 1972 to August 1973.

The moonlit madness begins with that landmark first appearance, introducing teenager Jack Russell, who is suffering some sleepless nights…

Cover-dated February 1972 and on sale as 1971 closed, ‘Werewolf by Night!’ (Marvel Spotlight #2) was written by Gerry Conway and moodily, magnificently illustrated by Mike Ploog in the manner of his old mentor Will Eisner. The character concept came from an outline by Roy & Jeanie Thomas, describing the worst day of Jack’s life – his 18th birthday – which began with nightmares and ends in something far worse.

Jack’s mother and little sister Lissa are everything a fatherless boy could hope for, but new stepdad Philip and creepy chauffeur Grant are another matter. Try as he might, Jack can’t help but see them as self-serving and with hidden agendas…

At his party that evening, Jack has an agonising seizure and flees into the Malibu night, transforming for the first time into a ravening vulpine man-beast. At dawn, he awakes wasted on a beach to learn his mother has been gravely injured in a car crash. Something had happened to her brakes…

Sneaking into her hospital room, the distraught teen hears her relate the story of his birth-father: an Eastern European noble who loved her deeply, but locked himself away three nights every month…

The Russoff line is cursed by the taint of Lycanthropy: every child doomed to become a wolf-thing under the full-moon from the moment they reach 18 years of age. Jack is horrified on realising how soon his sister will reach her own majority…

With her dying breath Laura Russell makes her son promise never to harm his stepfather, no matter what…

Scenario set, with the traumatised wolf-boy uncontrollably transforming three nights every month, the weird, wild wonderment begins in earnest with the beast attacking the creepy chauffeur – who had doctored those car-brakes – but refraining – even in vulpine form – from attacking Philip Russell…

The second chapter sees the reluctant nocturnal predator rescue Lissa from a rowdy biker gang (they were everywhere back then) and narrowly escape the cops, only to be abducted by a sinister dowager seeking knowledge of a magical tome dubbed the Darkhold. This legendary spell-book is the apparent basis of the Russoff curse, but when Jack can’t produce the goods, he’s left to the mercies of ‘The Thing in the Cellar!’…

Surviving more by luck than power, Jack’s third try-out issue fetches him up on an ‘Island of the Damned!’: introducing aging Hollywood screenwriter Buck Cowan, who will become Jack’s best friend and affirming father-figure as they jointly investigate the wolf-boy’s evil stepdad.

Russell had apparently sold off Jack’s inheritance, leaving the kid nothing but an old book. Following a paper trail to find proof Philip had Laura Russell killed leads them to an offshore fortress, a dungeon full of horrors and a ruthless mutant seductress…

The episode ended on a cliffhanger, presumably as an added incentive to buy Werewolf by Night #1 (cover-dated September 1972), wherein Frank Chiaramonte assumed inking duties with ‘Eye of the Beholder!…

Merciless biological freak Marlene Blackgar and her monstrous posse abduct the entire Russell family whilst looking for the Book of Sins, until – once more – a fearsome force of supernature awakes to accidentally save the day as night falls…

With ‘The Hunter… and the Hunted!’ Jack and Buck deposit the trouble-magnet grimoire with Father Joquez, a Christian monk and scholar of ancient texts, but are still hunted because of it. Jack quits the rural wastes of Malibu for a new home in Los Angeles, trading forests and surf for concrete canyons but life is no easier.

In #2, dying scientist Cephalos seeks to harness Jack’s feral life-force to extend his own existence, living just long enough to regret it. Meanwhile, Joquez successfully translates the Darkhold: an accomplishment allowing an ancient horror to possess him in WbN #3, in ‘The Mystery of the Mad Monk!’

Whilst the werewolf is saddened to end such a noble life, he feels far happier dealing with millionaire sportsman Joshua Kane, who craves a truly unique head mounted on the wall of his den in the Franke Bolle inked ‘The Danger Game’. Half-naked, exhausted and soaked to his now hairless skin, Jack must then deal with Kane’s deranged brother, who wants the werewolf for his pet assassin in ‘A Life for a Death!’ (by Len Wein & Ploog) after which ‘Carnival of Fear!’ (Bolle inks again) finds the beast – and Jack, once the sun rises – a pitiful captive of seedy mystic Swami Calliope and his deadly circus of freaks.

The wolf was now the subject of an obsessive police detective too. “Old-school cop” Lou Hackett is an old buddy of trophy-hunter Joshua Kane – and every bit as cruelly savage – but his off-the-books investigation hardly begins before the Swami’s plans fall apart in concluding part ‘Ritual of Blood!’ (inked by Jim Mooney).

The beast is safely(?) roaming loose in the backwoods for #8’s quirky and penultimate monster-mash when an ancient demon possesses a cute little bunny in Wein, Werner Roth & Paul Reinman’s ‘The Lurker Behind the Door!’, after we which we pause for now with a slight but stirring engagement in Marvel Team-Up #12, where Wein, Conway, Ross Andru & Don Perlin expose a ‘Wolf at Bay!’

As webspinning wallcrawler meets wily werewolf, they initially battle each other – and ultimately malevolent mage Moondark – in foggy, fearful San Francisco before Jack heads back to LA for more feral fury in a future issue…

With covers by Neal Adams& Tom Palmer, Ploog, Gil Kane and John Romita, this collection is supplemented with an unused Ploog cover for Marvel Spotlight#4; a gallery of original Ploog art pages and a previous collection cover by Arthur Adams & Jason Keith. A moody masterpiece of macabre menace and all-out animal action, this tome shares some of the most under-appreciated magic moments in Marvel history: tense, suspenseful and solidly compelling chillers to delight any fear fan or drama addict. If you crave a few fun frightmares, go get your paws on this.
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Frankenstein: The Mad Science of Dick Briefer


By Dick Briefer with Bruce Elliott & various (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-688-4 eISBN: 978-1-63008-186-7

The Golden Age of American comic books is usually associated with the blockbusting birth and proliferation of the Superhero, but even at the headiest heights of costumed crusader craziness other fantastic fantasy fashions held their own. Some of the very best – like Jack Cole’s Plastic Man and the unlikely weird warrior under discussion here – managed to merge genres and surmount their origins through astounding graphic craft, a healthy helping of comedic legerdemain and a deft dose of satire…

Richard Briefer was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan on January 9th 1915. He was a pre-Med student who also studied at the Art Student League in New York City and got into the fledgling funnybook business in 1936, working for the Will Eisner/Jerry Iger shop after selling early work to Wow, What a Magazine! and others.

He adapted literary classics like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and – as Dick Hamilton – created early super-team Target and the Targeteers for Novelty Press. Briefer wrote and drew Rex Dexter of Mars, Dynamo, Biff Bannon, Storm Curtis, Crash Parker and more for a range of publishers. For Timely he co-created The Human Top and, as Dick Flood, produced anti-Nazi strip Pinky Rankin for The Daily Worker – the newspaper of the American Communist Party.

Another criminally near-forgotten master craftsman, Briefer is best remembered amongst we fading comics cognoscenti for Frankenstein; a suspense strip that debuted in Prize Comics #7 (cover-dated December 1940) before gradually evolving into a satirical comedy-horror masterpiece offering thrills and chills whilst ferociously sending up post-war America.

A truly unique vision, Briefer’s Frankenstein ran intermittently until 1954 when the toxic paranoiac atmosphere of the anti-communist, anti-comics witch hunt killed it. The author moved into advertising and latterly portraiture and, despite numerous attempts to revive the strip, never published any more of his absurd and acerbic antic…

Dick Briefer died in December 1980.

Here, however, as part of the wonderful and much missed Dark Horse Archives series (please bring ‘em back guys!), you can enjoy the superbly surreal strip in all its manic glory from the horrible heydays…

Re-presented for your delectation are the contents of Frankenstein #1-7 (January 1945-May 1947) with Briefer at the peak of his powers, writing and drawing deliciously demented delights that made him a legend amongst comics creators if not the general public.

After gleaning a few salient facts from appreciative devotee John Arcudi in his Foreword, and relishing some ultra-rare original art from Briefer and Alex Toth, the merry madness begins with #1 as we reveal ‘Frankenstein’s Creation’…

After a bored mad scientist reads an old book, he decides to create his own version of the infamous creature. Sadly, despite scrupulously following the recipe, the malevolent modern Prometheus’ secret formula only manifests a loving, protective nature in his super-strong homunculus, and the hulking “Frankenstein monster” soon becomes a boon to his community and embarrassment to his malignant maker.

Left to his own devices, our artificial Adam is then drawn to the quiet little everytown of Mippyville where the populace are fighting off a supernatural invasion of atrocious arcane predators. ‘Frankenstein and the Ghouls and Vampires’ sees the creature – originally mistaken for a “Bobbysox” pop singer by the town’s screaming teenagers – hilariously clean up the infernal infestation before setting up home in a ramshackle abandoned mansion.

Only one thing is missing to complete his dreams of domestic bliss until a brief dalliance with the local spider saleswoman results in her becoming ‘Frankenstein’s Wife’. The mild man-monster soon learns why a hasty marriage often leads to repentance at leisure…

Mippyville is a place that just attracts weirdness, and the first issue concludes with another mad doctor, as deranged surgeon Professor Hugo von Hoogenblotzen kidnaps Frankie and attempts to graft him to an elephant in ‘Frankenstein and the Manimals’…

The second issue begins with ‘Frankenstein!’ – a quick recap of past events – before our unlikely star tracks down a mad mass-murderer who wants others to suffer for his art in ‘Frankenstein and the Statue Maker’, after which the animal-loving oaf is accidentally mistaken for a mere beast and purchased by a moody millionairess.

She puts him on a leash to one-up her pals in the Exotic Pets Club but ‘Frankenstein’s Job’ soon teaches all and sundry the true value of animal companionship…

Eventually restored to his own home, ‘Frankenstein’s Ark’ finds the towering twit re-enacting the building of the fabled lifeboat to save his animal chums, but still ending up clashing with a hoarding hermit and his mutant allies…

Issue #3 (July/August 1946 and with scripting assistance from Bruce Elliott) introduced ‘Frankenstein’s Family’ as the big guy secures gainful employment as a junk man, whilst his new boss tinkers with salvaged machines from a devil doctor’s lab. This results in an army of molecularly-unstable juvenile duplicates of Frankie and a great deal of gross chaos…

A legion of escaped horrors attack Mippyville in ‘Frankenstein and the Monsters’, only to find the town’s ghastly defender too much to handle before ‘Frankenstein and the Mummies’ affords a quick jaunt to Egypt where the monster befriends a quartet of ancient, entombed pharaohs…

‘Frankenstein and the Time Machine’ apparently sends the credulous colossus into the furious future and perilous past, but all is not as it seems…

The regular cast expanded in the next issue (September/October 1946) as ‘Frankenstein and Awful Annie’ finds the mellow fellow aiding the local purveyor of potions and charms to the city’s supernatural community when her long-lost son wants to come home for a visit. After that debacle, he then makes another odd acquaintance in ‘Frankenstein Meets the (Terrible) Werewolf’ which debuts the gentlest magical man-eater on earth…

Another whirlwind romance goes awry after ‘Frankenstein Sees the Effect of the Youth Restorer’ and makes an amorously ill-advised move on a once-elderly neighbour, before his mystic mates throw the monster a birthday party in ‘Frankenstein and the Sorcerer’ and start a magic war that only subsides after the gentle giant accidentally lands a job as a photographic model…

Briefer was an inveterate tinkerer, always looking for innovative new ways to present mirthful material, and Frankenstein #5 (November/December 1946) trialled a new format of interlinked yarns beginning with ‘Act 1: How I Rehabilitated Maladjusted Ghosts’ as the creature becomes troubleshooter for the restless dead and unmasks a murderer.

In ‘Act 2: How I Had (and Lost) a Pet Dinosaur’, he accidentally hatches an antediluvian egg and manages to switch it with a parade-balloon doppelganger, whilst ‘Act 3: How I Became a Genii in a Magic Bottle’, sees the monster mysteriously abducted by a street-corner hustler before escaping to save the town from a malicious malady in concluding ‘Act 4: How I Conquered a Terrible Plague’. The experiment was dropped for a more traditional anthological format in the sixth (March/April 1947) issue…

Here the madcap merriment opens with ‘The Last Smile’ as Frankie is mistaken for a fugitive murderer and placed on death row, after which he hunts down ‘The Ghostnapper’ who abducts spirits and steals their big white sheets…

The rising cost of funerals informed the riotous case of ‘One Small Bier’ as the monster tries a new career as a mortician before heading into the country to investigate accursed, self-propagating automobiles going on an uncanny ‘Joyride’…

The final issue comes from May/June 1947 #7, opening with ‘Silas Grunch Gets His’ – co-written with Ed Goggin – as a conniving miser tortures kids by building a funfair children can’t get into… until the Big Guy steps in…

The monster plays cupid and brings two bizarre, lonely people together in ‘The Strange Love of Shirley Shmool’ with romance also informing Frankenstein’s laying of ‘The Curse of the Flying Dutchman’ Here the giant goof opens a Lonely Hearts Agency and matches the immortal wandering mariner with the girl of his nightmares! This leads to a clash with atom-age seductress ‘The Lorelei’ and a frankly hideous trading of jobs and gender roles before politics rears its ugly (multiple) heads as Frankenstein is convinced to run for President of the Magician’s Guild and endures the voodoo ‘Pins and Needles’ of a frustrated rival…

A truly unique treat from a singular and utterly eccentric creative force, Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein is remarkable work by a one-of-a-kind creator. If you groove on the grotesque, love to be scared, love to laugh and love comics, this is a book for you…
Frankenstein: The Mad Science of Dick Briefer. Dark Horse Books ® and logos are registered trademarks of Dark Horse Comics, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Jack Kirby Omnibus volume 2 – starring The Super Powers


By Jack Kirby, with Mike Royer, D. Bruce Berry, Wally Wood, Pablo Marcos, Adrian Gonzalez, Greg Theakston, Alex Toth, Vince Colletta, Joe Simon, Denny O’Neil, Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman, Michael Fleisher, Joey Cavalieri, Paul & Alan Kupperberg, Bob Rozakis & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3833-9 (HB)

Famed for larger-than-life characters and gigantic, cosmic imaginings, Jack Kirby was an astute, imaginative, spiritual man who lived through poverty, gangsterism, the Depression, Post-War optimism, Cold War paranoia, political cynicism and the birth and death of peace-seeking counter-cultures. He was open-minded and utterly wedded to the making of comics stories on every imaginable subject. He always believed that sequential narrative was worthy of being published as real books beside mankind’s other literary art forms.

History has proved him right, and showed us just how ahead of the times he always was.

There’s a magnificent abundance of Kirby commemorative collections around these days (though still not all of it, so I remain a partially disgruntled dedicated fan). This particular magnificent hardback compendium re-presents most of the miscellaneous oddments of the “King’s DC Canon”; or at least those the company still retains rights for. The licenses on stuff like his run on pulp adaptation Justice Inc. (and indeed Marvel’s 2001: A Space Odyssey comic) will not be forthcoming any time soon…

Some of the material here is also available in 2019’s absolutely monster DC Universe Bronze Age Omnibus by Jack Kirby, but since it isn’t available digitally either (yet), you’d best have strong wrists and a sturdy desk at hand for that one.

Happily, this less massive tome from 2013 is less of a strain physically or financially. It opens with pages of hyper-kinetic Kirby pencil pages and a moving ‘Introduction by John Morrow’ before hurtling straight into moody mystery with a range of twice told tales.

On returning from WWII, Kirby reconnected with long-term creative partner Joe Simon. National Comics/DC was no longer a welcoming place for the reunited dream team supreme and by 1947 they had formed their own studio. Subsequently enjoying a long and productive relationship with Harvey Comics (Stuntman, Boy’s Ranch, Captain 3-D, Lancelot Strong, The Shield, The Fly, Three Rocketeers and more) the duo generated a stunning variety of genre features for Crestwood/Pines supplied by their “Essankay”/ “Mainline” studio shop.

Triumphs included Justice Traps the Guilty, Fighting American, Bullseye, Police Trap, Foxhole, Headline Comics and especially Young Romance amongst many more: a veritable mountain of mature, challenging strip material in a variety of popular genres.

One was mystery and horror, and amongst the dynamic duo’s Prize Comics concoctions was noir-informed, psychologically-underpinned supernatural anthology Black Magic – and latterly, short-lived yet fascinating companion title Strange World of Your Dreams.

These comics anthologies eschewed traditional gory, heavy-handed morality plays and simplistic cautionary tales for deeper, stranger fare, and – until the EC comics line hit their peak – were far and away the best mystery titles on the market.

When the King quit Marvel for DC in 1970, his new bosses accepted suggestions for a supernatural-themed mature-reading magazine. Spirit World was a superb but poorly received and largely undistributed monochrome magazine. Issue #1 – and only – appeared in the summer of 1971, but editorial cowardice and backsliding scuppered the project before it could get going.

Material from a second, unpublished issue eventually appeared in colour comic books Weird Mystery Tales and Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, but with his ideas misunderstood, ignored or side-lined by the company, Kirby reverted to more traditional fare. Never truly defeated though, he cannily blended his belief in the marketability of the supernatural with flamboyant superheroics to create another unique and lasting mainstay for the DC universe. The Demon only ran a couple of years but was a concept later talents would make a pivotal figure of the company’s continuity.

Jack’s collaborations with fellow industry pioneer Joe Simon always produced dynamite concepts, unforgettable characters, astounding stories and huge sales, no matter what genre avenues they pursued, blazing trails for so many others to follow and always reshaping the very nature of American comics with their innovations and sheer quality.

As with all their endeavours, Simon & Kirby offered stories shaped by their own sensibilities. Identifying a “mature market” gap in the line of magazines they autonomously packaged for publishers Crestwood and Prize, they realised the sales potential of high-quality spooky material. Thus superb, eerily seminal Black Magic debuted with an October/November 1950 cover-date; supplemented in 1952 by boldly obscure psychological drama anthology The Strange World of Your Dreams. This title was inspired by studio-mate Mort Meskin’s vivid and punishing night terrors: dealing with fantastic situations and – too frequently for comfort – unable or unwilling to provide pat conclusions or happy endings. There was no cosmic justice or calming explanations available to avid readers. Sometimes The Unknown just blew up in your face and you survived – or didn’t. No one escaped whole or unchanged…

Thus, this colossal compendium of cult cartoon capers commences with DC’s revival of Black Magic as a cheap, modified and toned down reprint title.

The second #1 launched with an October/November 1973 cover-date, offering crudely re-mastered versions of some astounding classics. Benefitting from far better reproduction technology here is ‘Maniac!’ (originating in Black Magic #32 September/October 1973): an artistic tour de force and a tale much “homaged” by others in later years, detailing how and why a loving brother stops villagers taking his simple-minded sibling away. This is followed by ‘The Head of the Family!’ (BM #30 May/June 1954, by Kirby & Bruno Premiani) exposing the appalling secret shame of a most inbred clan…

DC’s premier outing ended with a disturbing tale first seen in Black Magic #29 (March-April 1954). Specifically cited in 1954’s anti-comic book Senate Hearings, ‘The Greatest Horror of them All!’ told a tragic tale of a freak hiding amongst lesser freaks…

Cover-dated December 1973/January 1974, DC’s second shot opened with ‘Fool’s Paradise!’ (BM #26, September/October 1953) as a petty thug stumbles into a Mephistophelean deal and reveals how ‘The Cat People’ (#27 November/December 1953) mesmerised and forever marked an unwary tourist in rural Spain before ‘Birth After Death’ (#20 January 1953) retold the true tale of how Sir Walter Scott’s mother survived premature burial, and ‘Those Who Are About to Die!’ (#23 April 1953) sketched out how a painter could predict imminent doom…

‘Nasty Little Man!’ (#18 November 1952) fronted DC’s third foray and gets my vote for creepiest horror art job of all time. Here three hobos discover to their everlasting regret why you shouldn’t pick on short old men with Irish accents. ‘The Angel of Death!’ (#15 August 1952) then details an horrific medical mystery far darker than mere mystic menace…

In the 1950s, as their efforts grew in popularity, S & K were stretched thin. Utilising a staff of assistants and crafting fewer stories themselves meant they could keep all their deadlines.

The ‘Cover art for Black Magic #4, June/July 1974’ swiftly segues into ‘Last Second of Life!’(Black Magic volume 1 #1, October-November 1950 and their only narrative contribution to that particular DC issue) wherein a rich man, obsessed over what the dying see at their final breath, soon regrets the unsavoury lengths he went to in finding out…

There were two in the next issue. ‘Strange Old Bird!’(courtesy of Black Magic #25 June/July 1953) is a gently eerie thriller of a little old lady who gets the gift of renewed life from her tatty and extremely flammable feathered old friend and ‘Up There!’ from the landmark 13th issue (June 1952) – the saga of a beguiling siren stalking the upper stratosphere and scaring the bejabbers out of a cool test pilot…

DC issue #6 reprises ‘The Girl Who Walked on Water!’ (BM #11 April 1952), exposing the immense but fragile power of self-belief whilst the ‘Cover art for Black Magic #7, December 1974/January 1975’ (originally #17 October 1952) provides a chilling report on satanic vestment ‘The Cloak!’ (BM #2 December 1950/January 1951) and ‘Freak!’ (also from #17) shares a country doctor’s deepest shame…

DC’s #8 revisited The Strange World of Your Dreams, beginning with “typical insecurity nightmare” ‘The Girl in the Grave!’ (#2, September/October 1952). The Meskin-inspired anthology of oneiric apparitions eschewed cheap shocks, mindless gore and goofy pun-inspired twist-ending yarns in favour of dark, oppressive suspense, soaked in psychological unease and tension over teasing…

Following up with ‘Send Us Your Dreams’ from the same source (requesting readers’ ideas for spokes-parapsychologist Richard Temple to analyse), DC’s vintage fear-fest concludes with # 9 (April/May 1975) and ‘The Woman in the Tower!’ as originally seen in SWoYD #3, (November/December 1952) detailing the symbolism of oppressive illness…

When his Fourth World Saga stalled, Kirby continued creating new material with Kamandi – his only long-running DC success – and explored WWII in The Losers whilst creating the radical, scarily prophetic, utterly magnificent Omac: One Man Army Corps, but still could not achieve the all-important sales the company demanded. Eventually he was lured back to Marvel and new challenges like Black Panther, Captain America, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man and especially The Eternals.

Before that though, he unleashed new concepts and even filled in on established titles. As previously moaned about, however, his 3-issue run on Justice Inc. – adapting 1930s’ licensed pulp star The Avenger – is not included here, but at least his frankly astounding all-action dalliance with martial arts heroics is…

Inked by D. Bruce Berry and debuting in all-new try-out title 1st Issue Special #1 (April 1975), ‘Atlas the Great!’ harked back to the dawn of human civilisation and followed the blockbusting trail of mankind’s first super-powered champion in a blazing Sword & Sorcery yarn.

1st Issue Special #5 (August 1975, Berry) highlighted the passing of a torch as a devout evil-crusher working for an ancient justice-cult retired and tipped his nephew – Public Defender Mark Shaw – to become the latest super-powered ‘Manhunter’, after which a rare but welcome digression into comedy manifested as ‘The Dingbats of Danger Street (1st Issue Special #6, September 1975). With Mike Royer inking, Kirby unleashed a bizarre and hilarious revival of his Kid Gang genre, starring four multi-racial street urchins united for survival and to battle surreal super threats…

Kirby – and Berry – limned the third issue of troubled martial arts series Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter (August/September 1975). Scripted by Denny O’Neil, the savage shocker pits the lone warrior against an army of assassins in ‘Claws of the Dragon!’…

‘Fangs of the Kobra!’ comes from Kobra #1, released with a February/March 1976 cover-date. The tale is strange in both execution and delivery, with Kirby’s original updating of Dumas’ tale The Corsican Brothers reworked by Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman and artists Pablo Marcos & Berry.

It introduces brothers separated at birth. Jason Burr grew up a normal American kid whilst his twin – stolen by an Indian death cult – was reared as Kobra, the most dangerous man alive. Sadly for the super-criminal, young adult Jason is recruited by the authorities because of a psychic connection to the snake lord: a link allowing them to track each other and also feel and experience any harm or hurt the other experiences…

When Simon & Kirby came to National/DC in 1942 one of their earliest projects was revitalising the moribund Sandman strip in Adventure Comics. Their unique blend of atmosphere and dynamism made it one of the most memorable, moody and action-packed series of the period (as you can see by reading their companion volume The Sandman by Simon & Kirby).

The band was brought back together for The Sandman #1 (cover-dated Winter 1974): a one-shot project which kept the name but created a whole new mythology. Scripted by Simon and inked by Royer, ‘General Electric’ revealed how the realm of dreams was policed by a scarlet-&-gold super-crusader dedicated to preventing nightmares escaping into the physical world. With unwilling assistants Glob and Brute, the Sandman also battled real world villains exploiting the unconscious Great Unknown. The heady mix was completed by frail orphan Jed, whose active sleeping imagination seemed to draw trouble to him.

The proposed one-off was a minor hit at a tenuous time in comics publishing, and DC kept it going, even though the originators were not interested. Kirby & Royer did produce the ‘Cover art Sandman #2, April/May 1975’ and ‘Cover art Sandman #3, June/July 1975’ before the King returned to the series with #4.

‘Panic in the Dream Stream’ – August/September 1975 – was scripted by Michael Fleisher, and revealed how a sleepless alien race attempted to conquer Earth through Jed’s fervent dreams: a traumatic channel that also allowed them to invade Sandman’s Dream Realm. The next issue (October/November 1975) heralded an ‘Invasion of the Frog Men!’ into an idyllic parallel dimension whilst the next reunited a classic art team. Wally Wood inked Jack for Fleisher’s ‘The Plot to Destroy Washington D.C.!’. Here mind-bending cyborg Doctor Spider subverted and enslaved Glob and Brute in his eccentric ambition to take over America…

Although Sandman #6 (December 1975/January 1976) was the last published issue, another tale was already completed. It finally appeared in reprint digest Best of DC #22 (March 1982). ‘The Seal Men’s War on Santa Claus’ with Fleisher scripting and Royer handling the brushwork was a sinister seasonal romp with Jed’s wicked foster-family abusing him in classic Scrooge style before the Weaver of Dreams summons him to help save Christmas from bellicose well-armed aquatic mammals…

During the 1980s costumed heroes stopped being an exclusively print cash cow. Many toy companies licensed Fights ‘n’ Tights titans and reaped the benefits of ready-made comic book spin-offs. DC’s most recognizable characters morphed into a top-selling action figure line and were inevitably hived off into a brisk and breezy, fight-frenzied miniseries.

Super Powers launched in July 1984 as a 5-issue miniseries with Kirby covers and his signature characters prominently represented. Jack also plotted the stellar saga with scripter Joey Cavalieri providing dialogue, and Adrian Gonzales & Pablo Marcos illustrating a heady cosmic quest comprising numerous inconclusive battles between agents of Good and Evil.

In ‘Power Beyond Price!’, ultimate nemesis Darkseid despatches four Emissaries of Doom to destroy Earth’s superheroes. Sponsoring Lex Luthor, The Penguin, Brainiac and The Joker the monsters jointly target Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Hawkman…

The combat escalates in #2’s ‘Clash Against Chaos’ with the Man of Steel and Scarlet Speedster tackling Luthor, whilst Aquaman and Green Lantern pummel the Penguin as Dark Knight and Winged Wonder confront a cosmically-enhanced Harlequin of Hate…

With Alan Kupperberg inking, an inconclusive outcome leads to a regrouping of evil and an attack by Brainiac on Paradise Island. With the ‘Amazons at War’ the Justice League rally until Superman is devolved into a brutal beast who attacks his former allies. All-out battle ensues in ‘Earth’s Last Stand’, before Kirby stepped up to write and illustrate the fateful finale: cosmos-shaking conclusion ‘Spaceship Earth – We’re All on It!’  (November 1984, with Greg Theakston suppling inks)…

A bombastic Super Powers Promotional Poster leads into a nostalgic reunion as DC Comics Presents #84 (August 1985) reunited Jack with his first “Fantastic Four”. ‘Give Me Power… Give Me Your World!’ – written by Bob Rozakis, Kirby & Theakston (with additional art by the legendary Alex Toth) – pits Superman and the Challengers of The Unknown against mind-bending Kryptonian villain Zo-Mar, after which the ‘Cover art for Super DC Giant S-25, July/ August 1971’ (inked by Vince Colletta) segues into the Super Powers miniseries, spanning September 1985 to February 1986.

Scripted by Paul Kupperberg the Kirby/Theakston saga ‘Seeds of Doom!’ recounts how deadly Darkseid despatches techno-organic bombs to destroy Earth, requiring practically every DC hero to unite to end the threat.

With squads of Super Powers travelling to England, Rome, New York, Easter Island and Arizona the danger is magnified ‘When Past and Present Meet!’ as the seeds warp time and send Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter back to days of King Arthur…

Issue #3 (November 1985) finds Red Tornado, Hawkman and Green Arrow plunged back 75 million years in ‘Time Upon Time Upon Time!’ even as Doctor Fate, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman are trapped in 1087 AD, battling stony-faced giant aliens on Easter Island.

Superman and Firestorm discover ‘There’s No Place Like Rome!’as they battle Darkseid’s agent Steppenwolf in the first century whilst Batman, Robin and Flash visit a future where Earth is the new Apokolips for #5’s ‘Once Upon Tomorrow’, before Earth’s scattered champions converge on Luna to spectacularly squash the schemes-within-schemes of ‘Darkseid of the Moon!’ …

Rounding out the astounding cavalcade of wonders is a selection of Kirby-crafted Profiles pages from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe 1985-1987: specifically, Ben Boxer, the Boy Commandos, Challengers of the Unknown, Crazy Quilt, Etrigan the Demon, Kamandi, The Newsboy Legion, Sandman (the Dream Stream version from 1974), Sandy, the Golden Boy and Witchboy Klarion.

Kirby was and remains unique and uncompromising. His words and pictures comprise an unparalleled, hearts-and-minds grabbing delight no comics lover can possibly resist. If you’re not a fan or simply not prepared to see for yourself what all the fuss has been about then no words of mine will change your mind.

That doesn’t alter the fact that his life’s work from 1937 to his death in 1994 shaped the entire American comics scene – and indeed the entire comics planet – affecting the lives of billions of readers and thousands of creators in all areas of artistic endeavour for generations and is still winning new fans and apostles every day, from the young and naive to the most cerebral of intellectuals. His work is instantly accessible, irresistibly visceral, deceptively deep and simultaneously mythic and human.

He is the King and will never be supplanted.
© 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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(The Tragedie of) Macbeth


By William Shakespeare, adapted by K. Briggs (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-73-8 (HB)

Depending on how you liken it, William Shakespeare may be one of the most prolific comic scripters in the business. His mighty works have been staged and adapted as graphic narratives for decades in every language you might consider, and frequently allow contemporary artistic collaborators opportunity to be bold, experimental and vibrantly daring.

This is certainly the case with the lovingly crafted vision of American illustrator, performer and educator K. Briggs (Resistance, The New Chapter Tarot) who opts for colour-blind and gender-balanced casting to recount a visually striking and vivid interpretation which makes Scotland itself a player in the mix. Combining the full text with an abundance of mixed media including collage, paints, markers and pure linework, in a procession of nature-informed, magically-motif-ed page designs referencing ancient charts and maps, Illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, Tarot iconography, medical grimoires, nigh-abstract mood-enhancing tableaux and found historical artworks. These function as a moving backdrop to the actors unfolding the tale before your eyes.

What you already know: valiant general Macbeth meets three witches after saving the kingdom of his liege lord Duncan, and comes away with the notion that he will be King instead. Egged on by greed, ambition and his wife, the Thane of Cawdor personally kills the King whilst the monarch graces them with a visit. The red trail includes framing the guards and heirs and then progressively removing all threats to his reign.

However, both he and his Lady cannot escape their own consciences and the witches’ prophecy leads to delusion, disaster, derangement and death, but never glory…

As far as we can tell, Macbeth was first performed in 1606, written for Shakespeare’s patron King James I of England/VI of Scotland. It is an epic tragedy of ill-starred political ambition, the psychological costs of guilt, the consequences of betrayal and inevitability of tyranny, all wrapped up in veneer of supernatural horror.

The story is one of the greatest in world literature, but also a studied hatchet job, with the Bard shamelessly currying favour by ignoring facts and bigging up James’ distant ancestor and antecedent Macduff. The text first appeared in print in the Folio of 1623, but there have been plenty of editions since then.

The immortal story has frequently made it into comics form. If you’re one of the precious few people unfamiliar with the tale in its intended format (firstly, shame on you and secondly, go watch it right now; there are many excellent filmed versions in every possible language), this imaginatively welcoming rendition is extremely enthralling and powerful…

Moreover, the plot lends itself to many eras and milieux. You may even have already enjoyed it in epics as varied as Joe MacBeth (UK 1951), Throne of Blood (Japan 1957), Teenage Gang Debs (USA 1966), Men of Respect (USA 1991), and Mandaar (India 2021), amongst so many more interpretations – or even thematically as Blackadder Season 1…

Maybe you have seen it all before, but this is better….

Or if you will permit, “By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Wicked your way comes…”
© K. Briggs, 2023. All rights reserved.

Macbeth will be published on 23rd July 2023 and is available for pre-order now.

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Pet Peeves


By Nicole Goux (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-72-1 (PB)

Since college, Bobbie has just coasted. Saddled with massive debt, she lives with her lifelong friend and co Ohio U alumnus Clara. She pays her – far less than fair – share of the rent by tending bar in crappy booze-&-music dive The Pig’s Knuckles: beguiled by a lack of professional impetus, and the (constantly never-materialising) promise of a performance slot, someday. There’s late starts and free drinks to offset being harassed by the frat-boy clientele. At least there’s no pressure and plenty of time to work on her songs and it keeps her away from Clara’s ghastly cat Poptart and obnoxious new girlfriend…

Just getting by is bad enough, with manager Richard always stalling her and customers being jerks, but it all gets too much when her ex Carlos comes in with his new trophy trollop and deliberately tries to spoil Bobbie’s day. In response all she can do is drink on the job.

Too smashed to drive – or even hold her keys – Bobbie staggers home and is adopted by the ugliest dog she has ever seen…

She wakes up at home after the strangest dreams, with the mutt happily ensconced and already making trouble.

She calls him Barkley, and he’s an instant wedge between her and Clara, creating utter chaos and revolting messes, tormenting Poptart and somehow taking up so much time that Bobbie even stops writing music. At least he cares about her and always helps alleviate the drudgery and misery of her life…

What Bobbie doesn’t see is how that life is spiralling: slowly changing into something even more petty and desperate…

Eschewing her regular digital process, Eisner-award nominee Nicole Goux (for illustrating DC’s Shadow of the Batgirl) goes old-school and back to pen &-ink basics in Pet Peeves. Unleashing her own narrative notions in a boldly experimental, creepily compelling, itchily abrasive yet understated urban horror story trading marauding monsters for animosity, angst, disappointment and despair, the author presents here a youthful cast who aren’t shallow morons and slasher-fodder in a beastly fable where the protagonist is the victim and the secondary characters slowly turn on each other in a most engaging and appetising way because of an unwelcome new addition to the group…

Deploying imaginative page layouts reminiscent of Ditko’s Mr A and Avenging World, Goux (Forest Hills Bootleg Society, Everyone is Tulip, F*ck Off Squad at Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club) delivers a charming edgy fable about surrendering your dreams that conceals a wicked and chilling shock ending to die for…
© Nicole Goux, 2023. All rights reserved.

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Marvel Visionaries: John Romita, Sr.


By John Romita Sr., with Stan Lee, Roger Stern & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1806-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

We lost one of last giants of the industry this week when John Romita died on Monday. He was 93 and his work is inextricably woven into the Marvel canon: permeating and supporting the entire company’s output from top to tail and from the Sixties to right now… and even before the beginning of the House of Ideas actually began. 

One of the industry’s most polished stylists and a true cornerstone of the Marvel Comics phenomenon, the elder John Romita began his comics career in the late 1940s (ghosting for other artists) before striking out under his own colours. eventually illustrating horror and other anthology tales for Stan Lee at Timely/Atlas.

John Victor Romita was born and bred in Brooklyn, entering the world on January 24th 1930. From Brooklyn Junior High School he moved to the famed Manhattan School of Industrial Art, graduating in 1947. After spending six months creating a medical exhibit for Manhattan General Hospital he moved into comics, in 1949, with work for Famous Funnies. A “day job” working with Forbes Lithograph was abandoned when a friend found him inking and ghosting assignments, until he was drafted in 1951. Showing his portfolio to a US army art director, after boot camp at Fort Dix New Jersey, Romita was promoted to corporal, stationed on Governors Island in New York Bay doing recruitment posters and allowed to live off-base… in Brooklyn. During that period he started doing the rounds and struck up a freelancing acquaintance with Stan Lee at Atlas Comics…

He illustrated horror, science fiction, war stories, westerns, Waku, Prince of the Bantu (in Jungle Tales), a fine run of cowboy adventures starring The Western Kid and 1954’s abortive revival of Captain America, and more, before an industry implosion derailed his – and many other – budding careers. Romita eventually found himself trapped in DC’s romance comics division – a job he hated – before making the reluctant jump again to the resurgent House of Ideas in 1965. As well as steering the career of the wallcrawler and so many other Marvel stars, his greatest influence was felt when he became Art Director in 197. He had a definitive hand in creating or shaping many key characters, such as Mary Jane Watson, Peggy Carter, The Kingpin, The Punisher, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Satana ad infinitum.

This celebratory volume from 2019 re-presents Amazing Spider-Man #39, 40, 42, 50, 108, 109, 365; Captain America & The Falcon #138; Daredevil #16-17; Fantastic Four #105-106; Untold Tales Of Spider-Man #-1; Vampire Tales #2; and material from Strange Tales #4; Menace #6, #11; Young Men #24, 26; Western Kid 12; Tales To Astonish #77; Tales Of Suspense #77 spanning cover-dates December 1951 to July 1997. It opens with a loving Introduction from John Romita Jr., sharing the golden days and anecdotal insights on the “family business”. Not only the second son but also his mother Virginia Romita were key Marvel employees: she was the highly efficient and utterly adored company Traffic Manager for decades.

A chronological cavalcade of wonders begins with official first Marvel masterwork ‘It!’. Possibly scripted by Lee and taken from Strange Tales #4 (December 1951), we share a moment of sheer terror as an alien presence tales over the newest member of a typical suburban family…

Next is verifiable Lee & Romita shocker ‘Flying Saucer!’ (Menace #6, August 1953) and a sneaky invasion attack preceding the first Romita superhero saga as seen in Young Men #24, December 1953.

In the mid-1950s Atlas tried to revive their Timely-era “Big Three” (and super-hero comics in general) on the back of a putative Sub-Mariner television series intended to cash in on the success of The Adventures of Superman show. This led to some impressively creative comics, but no appreciable results or rival in costumed dramas.

Eschewing here the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner segments – and with additional art from Mort Lawrence – ‘Captain America: Back From the Dead’ features a communist Red Skull attacking the UN, with school teacher Steve Rogers and top student Bucky coming out of retirement to tackle the crisis. The Star-Spangled Avenger gets another bite of the cherry in ‘Captain America Turns Traitor’ (Young Men Comics #26, March 1954) with guest shots for Subby and the Torch as the Sentinel of Liberty apparently goes from True Blue to a deadly shade of Red…

Latterly reimagined as one of the modern Agents of Atlas, ‘I, the Robot!’ began as a deadly threat to humanity in Menace #11, and is followed here by a yarn from Romita’s first residency as the wandering hero Tex Dawson and his dauntless dog Lightning and super steed Whirlwind survive sudden stampedes and tackle vile horse butchering killers in a tale from his own eponymous title (Western Kid #12, October 1956)…

Atlas collapsed soon after, due to market conditions when a disastrous distribution decision resulted in their output being reduced to 16 titles per month, distributed by arch rival National Comics/DC. Under those harsh conditions the Marvel revolution started small but soon snowballed, drawing Romita back from ad work and drawing romances for DC.

Romita’s return began with inking and a few short pencilling jobs for the little powerhouse publisher’s split books. Tales To Astonish #77 revealed ‘Bruce Banner is the Hulk!’ (March 1966, written by Lee, laid out by Jack Kirby and finished by the returning prodigal) with the gamma goliath trapped in the future and battling the Asgardian Executioner, whilst in his home era, Rick Jones is pressured into revealing his awful secret…

The Captain America story for May 1966’s Tales of Suspense # 77 added inker Frank Giacoia/Frank Ray to the creative mix for ‘If a Hostage Should Die!’: recounting a moment from the hero’s wartime exploits with a woman he loved and lost. These days we know her as Captain Peggy Carter…

After a brief stint in his preferred role as inker, Romita took over illustrating Daredevil with #12, following a stunning run by Wally Wood & Bob Powell. Initially Kirby provided page layouts to help Romita assimilate the style and pacing of Marvel tales, but soon “Jazzy Johnny” was in full control of his pages. He drew DD until #19, by which time he had been handed the assignment of a lifetime… The Amazing Spider-Man!

A backdoor pilot for that jump came in Daredevil #16-17 (May and June 1996) with ‘Enter… Spider-Man’ wherein criminal mastermind Masked Marauder manipulates the amazing arachnid into attacking the Man Without Fear. The schemer had big plans, the first of which was having DD and the wallcrawler kill each other, but after Spidey almost exposes Matt Murdock’s secret in ‘None are so Blind!’ they mend fences and go after the real foe…

By 1966 Stan Lee and Steve Ditko could no longer work together on their greatest creation. After increasingly fraught months Ditko resigned, leaving Marvel’s second best-selling title without an illustrator. Nervous new guy Romita was handed the ball and told to run. ‘How Green Was My Goblin!’ and ‘Spidey Saves the Day!’ – “Featuring the End of the Green Goblin!” – as it so dubiously proclaimed) was the climactic battle fans had been clamouring for since the viridian villain’s debut. It didn’t disappoint – and still doesn’t today.

Reprinted from issues #39 and 40 (August & September 1966 and inked by old DC colleague Mike Esposito as “Mickey Demeo”), this remains one of the best Spider-Man yarns ever, and heralded a run of classic sagas from the Lee/Romita team that actually saw sales rise, even after the departure of the seemingly irreplaceable Ditko. If you need further convincing, it sees the villain learn Peter Parker’s identity, capture and torture our hero and share his own origins before falling in the first of many final clashes…

Amazing Spider-Man #42 heralded ‘The Birth of a Super-Hero!’, with John Jameson (Jonah’s astronaut son) mutated by space-spores and going on a Manhattan rampage. It’s a solid, entertaining yarn that is only really remembered for the last panel of the final page.

Mary Jane Watson had been a running gag in the series for years: a prospective blind-date arranged by Aunt May who Peter had avoided – and Ditko skilfully never depicted – for the duration of time that our hero had been involved with Betty Brant, Liz Allen, and latterly Gwen Stacy.

Now, in that last frame the gobsmacked young man finally realises that for years he’s been ducking the “hottest chick in New York”! I’m sure we all know how MJ has built her place in the Marvel Universe…

Issue #50 (July 1967) featured the debut of one of Marvel’s greatest villains in the first chapter of a 3-part yarn that saw the first stirrings of romance between Parker and Gwen, the death of a cast regular, and re-established the webslinger’s war on cheap thugs and common criminals. Here it all begins with a crisis of conscience that compels him to quit in ‘Spider-Man No More!’

Romita was clearly considered a safe pair of hands and “go-to-guy” by Stan Lee. When Jack Kirby left to create his incredible Fourth World for DC, Romita was handed the company’s other flagship title – in the middle of an on-going storyline. Here we focus on Fantastic Four #105-106 (December 1970 and January 1971 and both inked with angular, brittle brilliance by John Verpoorten). and ‘The Monster’s Secret’.

Scripted by Lee, they comprise a low-key yet extremely effective suspense thriller played against a resuming subplot of Johnny Storm’s failing romance. When his Inhuman girlfriend Crystal is taken ill – preparatory to writing her out of the series – Reed Richards’ diligent examination reveals a potential method of curing the misshapen Thing of his rocky curse.

Tragically, as Ben Grimm is prepped for the radical process in ‘The Monster in the Streets!’ a mysterious energy-beast begins tearing up Manhattan. By the time ‘The Monster’s Secret!’ is exposed, the team strongman is almost dead and Crystal is gone… seemingly forever.

Romita briefly and regularly returned to the Star-Spangled Avenger in the 1970s and June 1971’s Captain America & The Falcon #138 reveals how ‘It Happens in Harlem!’ sporting a full art job by Romita, Lee’s tale sees new hero The Falcon foolishly try to prove himself by capturing the outlaw Spider-Man, only to be himself kidnapped by gang lord Stoneface. Cue a spectacular three-way team up and just desserts all round…

The Amazing Spider-Man was never far from Romita’s drawing board and in #108 the secret of high school bully Flash Thompson – freshly returned from the ongoing war in Indochina – finally unfolds ‘Vengeance from Vietnam!’ With Romita inking his own pencils, it details how our troubled war hero was connected to an American war atrocity that left a peaceful village devastated and a benign wise man comatose and near-dead. The events consequently set a vengeful cult upon the saddened soldier’s guilt-ridden heels, which all the Arachnid’s best efforts could not deflect or deter.

The campaign of terror is only concluded in #109 as ‘Enter: Dr. Strange!’ sees the Master of the Mystic Arts divine the truth and set things right… but only after an extraordinary amount of unnecessary violence…

Marvel was expanding and experimenting as always and a horror boom saw them move into mature reader monochrome magazines. In Vampire Tales #2 (October 1973), Roy Thomas scripted a short vignette of a woman apparently imperilled who turned out to be anything but. Delivered in moody line and wash, Devil’s Daughter Satana began her predations via Romita before joining the Macabre Marvel Universe. Her debut is supplanted by a house ad…

Commemorating the hero’s 30th anniversary, Amazing Spider-Man 365 (August 1992) carried a bunch of extras including sentimental reverie ‘I Remember Gwen’ (Tom DeFalco, Lee & Romita) before we close with a wild ride from Roger Stern, inked by Al Milgrom.

‘There’s a Man Who Leads a Life of Danger’ comes from July 1997’s Untold Tales Of Spider-Man #minus 1: an adventure of Peter Parker’s parents and part of the Flashback publishing event. It pits the married secret agents against deadly Baroness Adelicia von Krupp and guest-stars a pre-Weapon-X Logan/Wolverine in a delightful spy-romp.

Added extras here include Romita’s unused splash page from Young Men Comics #24, character designs for Robbie Robertson, Mary Jane, Captain Stacy and his daughter Gwen, John Jameson, The Prowler, Wolverine and The Punisher; Fan sketches and doodles; an Amazing Spider-Man poster (painted); the covers of Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 & 2 (ditto) plus original proposal art for the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip. There are also covers for F.O.O.M. #18, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (1987), New Avengers #8 and Mighty Marvel Heroes & Villains (with Alex Ross) and a vintage self-portrait.

This is absolutely one of the most cohesive and satisfactory career compilations available and one no fan should miss.
© 2019 MARVEL.

For a slightly different selection, I’d advise also tracking down Marvel Masters: The art of John Romita Sr (ISBN: 978-1-84653-403-4), although that’s not available in digital formats.

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Misery City


By K. I. Zachopoulos & Vassilis Gogtzilas (Markosia)
ISBN: 978-1-905692-81-1 (TPB)

For purists every literary genre is sacrosanct – unless you can come up with a way to mix or blend them with such style, verve and panache that something new is born which feels like it’s always been one of the gang…

Lurking in the shadows since first released in 2013, Misery City is a dark, bleak and ferociously introspective tale that relates the cases of Max Murray. He’s a dowdy, down-at-heel private eye stalking the meanest streets imaginable, in a vast and ever-changing metropolis situated on the outskirts of Hell – and, no, that’s not poetic license or flowery prose, it’s a satnav instruction…

Following an effusive Foreword from arch-stylist Sam Keith and Introduction from writer J. M. DeMatteis, the first 5 issues of the original comics series unfold in this pocket novel package: a stark, unrelenting procession of grimly trenchant case-files starring a shabby, unshockable shamus just trying to get by uncovering other people’s secrets whilst making some sense of the most pitiless town in creation.

Of course, Max has a few secrets of his own…

The black parade begins on the ‘Night of the Corpse’ when the world-weary peeper is attacked by a giant skeleton and must employ his beloved and handy handgun Fat Betty to end the undead animate. Times are both tough and weird, so he doesn’t give it much thought before retiring to his dingy office to await a new client and case…

When the phone rings it’s that sexy waitress Pakita from The Bar. Max has suffered the serious hots for the hot totty simply forever, but his rising hopes take a dive when the mercurial Mexican only hires him to check up on her cheating boyfriend.

With heavy heart and azure cojones, the gumshoe goes looking, utterly unaware that an old enemy has returned seeking vengeance. Professor Ego was penned in unimaginable torment because of Murray, and now he’s out and wasting no time in sending a plague of devils to secure some payback…

As a host of demonic clowns hunt the private detective, Max finds Pakita’s man. However, catching the faithless dog with another woman drives the PI crazy, and Murray goes ballistic, beating the cheating Dick to a pulp. Appalled and repentant, he then heads over to Pakita’s place to apologise but finds her gone, snatched by his long-forgotten foe.

Answering the ‘Call of Ego’, Max heads for the horror’s Tower hideout and a brutal showdown…

Despite his shoddy appearance, this detective is no dumb palooka. His secret vice is reading, and Max’s unceasing internal monologue is peppered with quotes and allusions from poets like Dante and Tennyson. They’re the only thing comforting him as ‘A Wooden Coffin for Max Murray part I’ sees him taking the Hell train to a surveillance job in the worst part of Misery City.

Horny as always, Max is disappointed to discover what the owner of that so-sexy French voice on the phone really looks like, but nevertheless agrees to check out the abandoned timber-framed family house the tearful widow fears property developers crave…

Maybe he should have been more suspicious, but the client’s stunning daughter Josephine had turned his head and all points south…

Upon entering the ramshackle old pile, a colossal zombie fiend attacks and before he can react, the entire house explodes out of the ground and rockets into orbit. Lost in space and out of options, the gumshoe reveals a few of his own incredible survival secrets, destroying the monster (said client’s vengeful and very angry husband) in ‘A Wooden Coffin for Max Murray part II’ before escaping the timber trap to settle scores with the murderous she-devils. It appears Max is on a first name basis with the Big Boss of the Inferno, and the head man is keen on renewing a satanic acquaintance with the understandably reluctant detective…

These malign mystery yarns conclude with a stunning surprise in ‘The Last Drag of a Pocket God’ with Max dogging a phantom with astounding delusions of grandeur. However, after sending Marty “The Voice” Coronado to his final rest, an uncomfortable conversation with Pakita forces the shamus to confront his own long-suppressed thoughts: examining the illusions that keep him going on the pitiless streets of Misery City…

Potently targeted vulgarity and a brusque, verbally confrontational narrative style gives Kostas (Mister Universe, The Fang, The Cloud) Zachopoulos’ manic scripts a supremely savage edge, whilst the freakish, surreal Horror-Noir milieu is perfectly captured by frequent collaborator/illustrator Vassilis (The Biggest Bang) Gogtzilas’ astoundingly frenetic art, delivered in a melange of assorted styles.

This mean, moody and menacing chronicle is topped off with a host of powerful pin-ups and a cover art gallery to further disquiet and beguile the unwary reader.
Misery City ™ & © 2013 Kostas Zachopoulos, Vassilis Gogtzilas and Markosia Enterprises, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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The Wild Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Volume Two


By Will Murray, illustrated by Gary Carbon, Joe DeVito, Jason C. Eckhardt (Odyssey Publications)
ISBN: 979-8-379327-44-6 (PB/Digital edition)

I’m always saying it, in fact we all are: Something Strange is Going On. Let’s address that situation with a week of detective-themed reviews…

Way back in the days when even the shabbiest waif or emphysema-riddled ragamuffin could read, story periodicals for young and old ruled. Countless stories recounted the exploits of adventurers, do-gooders and especially detectives. None ever matched the cachet and pulling power of Sherlock Holmes. Even today the meta-real household name continues and thrives, both in countless reworkings and adaptations of canonical classics and in new material by and for devoted and dedicated admirers ever-hungry for more…

Holmes wasn’t the first but he is most assuredly the most popular and well known. His success spawned a storm of imitators and tribute acts – some even going on to immortality of their own. In1893, just as The Strand Magazine published the “last Sherlock Holmes story” (The Adventure of the Final Problem – and it nearly was as Conan Doyle held out against incredible pressure from fans, editors and bankers until 1901 when The Hound of the Baskervilles began serialisation) another profoundly British criminologist was beginning his own spectacular multimedia career: Sexton Blake…

As described by physician Arthur Conan Doyle via the narratives of companion and stalwart factotum Dr. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ fictional exploits (54 short stories and 4 novels beginning in 1887) popularised and formulated detective fiction: mythologising the processes of observation, deduction, logical reasoning and forensic science. Britain became a nation of crime fans and Holmes went on to repeat the process for most of the planet…

The first exploit was A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual 1887, with the majority of stories thereafter in The Strand Magazine. Inevitably, the character soon escaped the page to appear in countless, stories, plays, films, television shows, adverts and anything else canny entrepreneurs could think of.

Although graphic adaptations are plentiful, original English language comics have not excelled with regard to the Great Detective: a trio of newspapers strips, brief comic book runs by Charlton (1955) and DC Comics (1975) and some few later miniseries by independent publishers such as Caliber and Moonstone. Holmes is, however, an evergreen guest collaborator: popping up to aid everyone from Batman to The Muppets to The Shadow himself.

If you can find them, Scarlet in Gaslight: An Adventure in Terror and A Case of Blind Fear by Martin Powell & Seppo Makinen would provide resolute pictorialist devotees with a rare and worthwhile treat: showing the Master Ratiocinator testing himself against other literary touchstones of the period – specifically Bram Stoker’s Lord of the Undead in alliance with the truly evil Professor Moriarty and then H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man…

He has also faced such contemporary challengers as The Phantom of the Opera and Mr Hyde in the company of Henry Jekyll, Toulouse L’Autrec and Oscar Wilde…

Writers and fans alike share an oddly perverse but clearly overwhelming desire to “mix and match” favourite literary figures: especially from the Victorian Era, that birthplace of so many facets of popular culture. Holmes is so much a household name that his inclusion in any venture is a virtual guarantee of commercial success, but regrettably often no guarantee of quality. Of course, no one can get too much of a good thing and happily Holmes and Watson have thrived under the aegis of many creative stars ever since Doyle’s death. Writers adding to the oeuvre include Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Anthony Burgess, A.A. Milne, P.G. Wodehouse, John Dickson Carr, Anthony Horowitz and so many more, and today I’m sharing the efforts of another with a well-earned reputation in the field….

Will Murray is something of a classic fiction force of nature. Journalist, editor and author, he produces scholarly histories and critiques on cult characters in the Will Murray Pulp History Series (as seen in today’s other posting) and celebrates the pulp experience in general and especially fading genres via new prose stories for the canon of so many landmark literary characters and concepts. Through print, audio and eBooks, Murray has extended the legends and shelf life of The Shadow, Doc Savage (and Pat Savage), The Spider, King Kong, The Green Lama, The Bat, The Avenger, The Destroyer (Remo Williams), Tarzan and The C’thulu mythos, He is especially adept at crafting combinations: teaming individual stars and concepts in team -up tales such as King Kong vs Tarzan…

You’ll probably want to see – or may already enjoy – Murray’s comics too: gems like prose novel Nick Fury, Agent of S.H. I.E.L.D.: Empyre, and visual delights like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (co-created with Steve Ditko), Spider-Man, Hulk, Secret Six, The Destroyer, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Spider, The Gray Seal, Ant-Man, Green Hornet, Zorro, The Phantom and more…

These stories were originally published in magazines and books from MX Publishing, Thrilling Adventure Yarns and Belanger Books, and are set in various periods of the consulting Detective’s long and prestigious career. This tome is the second and latest of two volumes and I’m happy to confide that I enjoyed it so much when my comp copy arrived that I actually paid with my own money to get the first one too…

Following an effusive and informative ‘Introduction’ discussing how this collection concentrates on stories challenging Holmes’ rational mindset and non-rationalistic encounters, the casebook reopens with ‘The Singular Problem of the Extinguished Wicks’ as the investigator reveals his fascination with Spontaneous Human Combustion and its effect on a particularly gruesome demise, after which ‘The Mystery of the Spectral Shelter’ sees Holmes approached by a Hansom cab driver who has had a decidedly close call with a vanishing café used by his professional compatriots…

The irascible ratiocinator’s perennial problem with mind-numbing boredom is highlighted in ‘The Problem of the Surrey Samson’ and assuaged by a theatrical turn whose seemingly miraculous strength does not endure Holmes’ close scrutiny, whilst ‘The Uncanny Adventure of the Hammersmith Wonder’ exposes a body in incredible circumstance and – once properly pondered – sees the detective solve a long-hidden generational crime…

Weird – but still plausible – science and a truly grotesque murder inform ‘The Repulsive Matter of the Bloodless Banker’ before Murray adds his own choice pick to that army of previously established associates.

A ghost story – or is it? – bringing mysteries of ancient Egypt to Edwardian England, ‘The Adventure of the Abominable Adder’ is set in 1903 and introduces the champion of rational thought to his equally estimable but operationally opposite number. This tale sees Algernon Blackwood’s spiritual detective John Silence – Physician Extraordinary also consulted by a terrified client with both valiant advocates needed to solve the mystery.

Silence was among the best of a wave of “ghost-breaker” heroes from that death-obsessed era, appearing in six stories by the prolific Blackwood (1869-1951), beginning with ‘A Psychical Invasion’ (1908).

A genteel and refined war of world-views having been declared, Mind and Soul met again in ‘The Adventure of the Sorrowing Mudlark’ as Dr. Silence asks the esteemed logician to assist a dead woman trapped in an eternal search, before a mythological mystery manifests when a green-hued lad long ago abducted by fairies abruptly returns to a rustic village in ‘The Adventure of the Emerald Urchin’, with Silence again offering unique insights…

With Holmes assuming the narrator’s role, 1908-set conundrum ‘The Adventure of the Expelled Master’ details how he deduced the manner in which a maths teacher was actually murdered despite his body being observed flying up a chimney and rocketing across the heavens, before this embassage into eerie esoterica concludes with Watson’s already crucial role in the stories expanded. It’s 1915 and whilst involved in the war effort the military doctor seeks to drag his old comrade out of retirement to verify the provenance of an unearthed hoard seemingly minted in fabled Atlantis in ‘The Conundrum of the Questionable Coins’…

Wrapping up the investigations are fulsome biographical dossiers on Murray in ‘About the Author’ and artist Gary Carbon in ‘About the Artist’.

Compelling, rewarding and just plain fun to read, these tales are a delight and a must for any Holmesian follower.
© 2023 by Will Murray. All rights reserved. Front cover image & frontispiece © 2023 by Gary Carbon. All rights reserved. Back cover image © 2023 by Joe DeVito. All rights reserved.

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Shrine of the Morning Mist volume 1


By Hiroki Ugawa, translated & adapted by Jeremiah Bourque & Hope Donovan (TokyoPop)
ISBN: 978-1-59816-343-8 (Tank?bon TPB)

Much manga may be characterised by a fast, raucous and even occasionally choppy style and manner of delivery but the first volume of Hiroki Ugawa’s atmospheric supernatural thriller -a moody saga of young love – takes its time to get all the elements in play rather than simply steaming in all guns blazing.

Set in Hiroshima Prefecture (noted for shrines and beautiful mist-draped landscapes) and specifically the city of Miyoshi, Asagiri no Miko or Shrine of the Morning Mist first appeared serialised in monthly periodical Young King OURS between Match 2000 and April 2013: running eventually to 9 volumes of eerie mystery, romance comedy and demonic action.

The saga opens in traditionally portentous manner and carefully unfolds the story of young Yuzu Hieda, one of 3 sisters who are hereditary “Miko” (a combination of shaman, spirit medium and priestess attached to Shinto shrines and temples) who attend to local places of worship. The siblings are particularly gifted with special powers to combat all the supernatural threats menacing the region.

Little more than a teenager herself, schoolgirl Yuzu is troubled by the reappearance of childhood sweetheart – and cousin – Tadahiro Amatsu. After 5 years away, he has come home only to be immediately targeted by evil forces. Despite being teased by sisters Tama and Kurako, Yuzu accompanies them to the railway station just in time to save the prodigal from a sinister, sorcerous old man obsessed with the boy’s blood.

Invited to stay with the Miko in their home, the withdrawn youngster is disquieted by the teasing and references to his past relationship with Yuzu, even though the father of the house proves to be a far-more unforgiving prospect…

Mystic forces are gathering round the introspective, solitary kid – with repercussions felt as far away as Tokyo – and over their dad’s objections Tadahiro is pressured into staying at the Hieda home where he can be properly safeguarded. However, next morning when the girls are at school, a monolithic, cyclopean demon attacks the house. The assault is instantly perceived by Yuzu who dashes back to save him, only to find her long-absent mother already there, having driven off the dark “kami”. Well, one of them, at least…

Typically even Mother Miyuki thinks Tadahiro and Yuzu are a perfect, predestined couple…

With questions swirling about him, such as “why is everybody so interested in my blood?” and “whatever happened to my parents?”, shell-shocked Tadahiro is blissfully unaware that the Miko are forming a protective Council around him, but even he knows something is up when dark newcomer Koma introduces herself and reveals she knew his long-departed father. Intimately…

To Be Continued…

This uncharacteristically slow-paced, contemplative and almost elegiac tale mystery was partially inspired by a classical tale recorded on the historic Inu Mononoke scroll and Hiroki Ugawa’s beautiful illustration perfectly captures a sense of brooding ancient powers at war, even during the most juvenile set-piece moments of awkward young romance and generational embarrassment comedy.

A slightly off-beat but intriguing tale for older readers, this monochrome volume is currently unavailable in digital editions but still readily available through online vendors.
© 2001 Hiroki Ugawa. All rights reserved. English text © 2006 TokyoPop inc.