Category: Humour

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Spirou and Fantasio volume 11: The Wrong Head


By André Franquin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-313-0 (Album PB/Digital edition)

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

André Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924 and died on January 5th 1997. In between there were good times and bad, which he offset by creating the most incredible characters and stories, and by making people laugh and think – but mostly laugh. This is one of the very best you can find translated into English.

Adventure-seeking Spirou headlined the magazine he was named for from the first issue (dated April 21st 1938). He was created by French cartoonist Françoise Robert Velter using his pen-name Rob-Vel for Belgian publisher Éditions Dupuis. This was in direct response to the success of Hergé’s Tintin for rival outfit Casterman.

Originally a plucky bellboy/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel (a sly reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique), his improbable exploits with pet squirrel Spip gradually grew into high-flying, far-reaching, surreal comedy dramas. That evolution was mainly thanks to Velter’s wife Blanche “Davine” Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939 and Belgian artist/assistant Luc Lafnet… at least until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jijé) took the helm.

Our interest really begins when Jijé handed his own trainee assistant complete responsibility for the flagship strip part-way through Spirou et la maison préfabriqué (Le Journal de Spirou #427, June 20th 1946). André Franquin ran with it for two decades; enlarging the scope and horizons until it became purely his own. Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters such as comrade/rival Fantasio or crackpot inventor and Merlin of mushroom mechanics the Count of Champignac. Spirou and Fantasio became globe-trotting journalists, travelling to exotic places, uncovering crimes, exploring the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub and Fantasio’s unsavoury cousin Zantafio.

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, passed away in 1997 but his legacy remains; a vast body of work which reshaped the landscape of European comics.

Here then as originally serialised in LJdS #840-869 in 1954 and subsequently released on the continent in 1957 as hardcover album Spirou et Fantasio 8 – La Mauvaise Tête, this sinister yarn begins as Spirou visits short-tempered pal Fantasio and finds the house a shambles. The intrepid investigator has ransacked his own home in search of missing passport photos with his insensate fury only abating (a bit!) after Spirou convinces him to come play paddleball.

Later, whilst looking for a lost ball in the woods, Spirou finds one of the missing photos but thinks nothing of it…

That evening strange events begin: Spirou sees Fantasio acting oddly in town and when a jeweller is robbed, the brutalised merchant identifies Fantasio as the smash-and-grab thief…

More seeds of suspicion are sown and Spirou doesn’t know what to think when a solid gold Egyptian mask is stolen on live TV. The bandit is clearly seen to be his best pal…

Spirou is still seeking to reason with Fantasio when the cops arrive and, with nobody believing the reporter’s ridiculous story of being in Paris on a spurious tip, watches with helpless astonishment as the accused makes a bold escape bid…

Still astounded, Spirou wanders to the ramshackle house where he found the missing photo and finds a strange set-up: a plaster cast of Fantasio and weird plastic goo in a mixing bowl…

His snooping is suddenly disturbed by screams and sounds of a struggle. Chasing the cacophony, he finds one man holding the stolen gold mask and another on the floor. The standing man is too quick to catch and drives away with a third stranger, but as Spirou questions the beaten victim he learns that the loser of the fight is a sculptor who was hired to make astounding life-like masks of some journalist…

Soon Spirou is hot on the trail of the criminal confederates, uncovering a diabolical scheme to destroy Fantasio by an old enemy they had both discounted and almost forgotten. He has not forgotten them, however, and soon everything is up in the air and beyond belief. Even the nation’s sacrosanct sport of cycle racing is not beyond the scope of the vile manipulator’s brazen scheming…

Fast-paced, compellingly convoluted and perfectly blending helter-skelter excitement with keen suspense and outrageous slapstick humour, the search for The Wrong Head is an utterly compelling romp to delight devotees of easy-going adventure.

As if criminal capers and a spectacular courtroom drama climax is not enough, this tome also includes a sweet early solo outing for the marvellous Marsupilami as ‘Paws off the Robins’ finds the plastic pro-simian electing himself guardian of a nest of newborn hatchlings in Count Champignac’s copious gardens, and resolved to defend the chicks from a marauding cat at all costs…

Stuffed with fabulously fun, riotous chases and gallons of gags, this exuberant tome is a joyous example of angst-free action, thrills and spills. Readily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with beguiling style and seductively wholesome élan, this is pure cartoon gold: an enduring comics treat, destined to be as much a British household name as that other kid reporter and his dog…
Original edition © Dupuis, 1957 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2016 © Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1897 British illustrator and cartoonist Edgar Henry Banger was born, as was our graphic comedy god Dudley D. Watkins in 1907. In the US, Norm (Batman) Breyfogle and Jeff (Bone) Smith arrived in 1960, and Andy Kubert in 1962.

Big day for departures too, with “Father of Turkish Comics” Cemal Nadir leaving in 1947; Bill Everett in 1973; Italy’s Carlo (Sor Pampurio) Bisi in 1982 and both Bill (Smokey Stover) Holman and Darrell Craig MacClure (Little Annie Rooney) in 1987.

Achievement-wise, UK pre-school comic Jack and Jill began its 1600+ week run today in 1954.

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Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days (Artifacts and Bone Fragments)


By Al Columbia (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 9781-60699-304-0 (HB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Al Columbia is an incredibly innovative creator who has been pushing the boundaries of what we call narrative art since his earliest days in the industry, and one who has always seemed to generate the wrong kind of press. From the days when he assisted and then succeeded Bill Sienkiewicz on Alan Moore’s experimental and unfinished Big Numbers, through Doghead, From Beyonde and the astonishing The Biologic Show, Columbia sought out new ways to tell stories and never shied away from potentially controversial scenes, imagery and even styles of working. He was equally conversant with highly observed photorealism and the eccentric, economical symbolism of vintage animated film. He has rather unfairly been unable to escape a reputation for not finishing what he’s started.

Later works, especially as seen in this oddly disturbing cartoon collection, are clearly based on the early cinematic imagery that is periodically in vogue with the West Coast art movement known alternatively as Lowbrow or Pop Surrealism, but although the content may appear similar the intent is radically different. The line & design similarities to landmark Fleischer Brothers cartoons here create a subtle sense of trusted familiarity that the antics and situations expressly and terrifyingly contradict and overwhelm.

Just So’s You Know: Pim and Francie are pixy-ish waifs resident in a 1920s jarring yet halcyon neverland – think Rudolph Dirks and the Katzenjammer Kids. They first appeared in the chilling short story ‘Tar Frogs’ (originally published in Britain’s ’90’s lifestyle driven Deadline magazine and were then retooled for The Biologic Show #0 in 1994). They resurfaced in Peloria Part One (The Biologic Show #1 in 1995) and then in comic arts anthology Mome #9 (Fall 2007). You should also urgently seek out ‘I Was Killing When Killing Wasn’t Cool’ (Zero Zero #4) and ‘The Trumpets They Play!’ (Blab! #10 in 1998) and 2018’s Amnesia: The Lost Films of Francis D. Longfellow Supplementary Newsletter No. 1…

In a collection that appears more sketchbook than story, and which calls itself a “broken jigsaw puzzle”, grisly, grotesque images and characters cavort and proceed through a familiar wonderland of fairytale Americana, but look more closely and you can see a story unfolding: a tale of two rascals and perils beyond imagining…

Columbia’s nightmarish, recondite scenario hints at a deeper profundity but his beautiful, clear, dark drawings are open, simple and fiendishly accessible to even the youngest reader; so beware who you expose to these amazing astonishing adventures. Appetising, intriguing and addictively profane, this is a delightful excursion to a very wrong place.

See you there…
© 2009, 2017 Al Columbia. All Rights Reserved.

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Lost at Sea


By Brian Lee O’Malley (Oni Press)
ISBN: 978-0-932664-16-4 (PB); 978-1-62010-113-1 (10th Anniversary Edition HB)

You’ve no doubt heard that appallingly clichéd phrase “it’s about the journey”?

Well, sometimes it actually is.

This moody, enticingly sensitive and charming not-coming-of-age road-trip argosy is by Bryan Lee O’Malley, whose Scott Pilgrim tales of an adorable boy-idol idle slacker seemed to encapsulate the tone and tenor of the last-but-one generation to have invented sex and music and growing up confused…

Lost at Sea is a lovely languid and lyrical look at a self-confessed outsider, couched in terms of a quasi-mystical mystery and rendered in an utterly captivating, boldly simple style simultaneously redolent of childhood misgivings and anticipatory tales of horror and imagination.

High School senior Raleigh is a passenger in a car slowly meandering its way back to Vancouver from California. She doesn’t really know Stephanie or the boys Dave & Ian. She only met them because dippy Stephanie never deletes any numbers from her phone and pocket-dialled her by coincidental accident, just moments after Raleigh missed her train home. She had been enduring an unfortunate visit with her dad and his latest woman near San Francisco. As the Canadian kids had a car and were heading back north, somehow, although a social misfit and practical stranger, Raleigh ended up travelling homeward with them…

Even though they all go to the same school – Sturton Academy – these kids are not really like her. They weren’t hot-housed or sent to “gifted” classes… and they still have their souls…

Raleigh lives with her mum and really misses her best friend, who she hasn’t seen in four years, six months and 24 days. Raleigh also has a secret internet boyfriend in California (the real reason for visiting Dad and his new lady) and is very confused and lonely after travelling to meet darling Stillman.

Raleigh lost her soul in Ninth Grade when her mother sold it to Satan in return for being successful, but the girl can’t quite remember why it was put into a cat. Ever since then, cats seem to crop up everywhere she goes, even following her, and she can’t tell if she’s crazy or imagining it all.

Naturally, Raleigh is violently allergic to cats…

However, when she finally loosens up and tells Stephanie her satanic secret, the boisterous wild child admits to seeing them too and suggests they should catch them and see if they can be made to cough up that stolen soul. Dave & Ian are game too…

Expressionistic, impressionistic, existential, self-absorbed, vastly compassionate, deeply introspective and phenomenally evocative of that monstrous ball of confusion that is the End of Adolescence, Lost at Sea is a graphic marvel which seems, from my admittedly far-distant perspective, the perfect description of that so-human rite of passage we all endured and mostly survived.

There was a 10th Anniversary edition, but as far as I can tell no digital edition (yet) but that’s still plenty to be going on with, right? Buy it for your teenagers, read it to rekindle your own memories and cherish it because it’s wonderful.

™ & © 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008 Bryan Lee O’Malley. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1948, Doug Moench (Batman, Moon Knight, Planet of The Apes, Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu) was born and we lost the amazing, under-adored Don Heck (Iron Man, Avengers, Batgirl, everybody) in 1995. Reading-wise, 1913 saw the launch of Gus Mager’s Hawkshaw the Detective in 1913, Marge’s Little Lulu in 1935 and Britain’s Lion weekly in 1952. It was also the last episode of Makoto Yukimura’s Planetes in 2004.

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Harvey Kurtzman’s Strange Adventures


By Harvey Kurtzman, Art Spiegelman, Moebius, R. Crumb, Eric Palma, William Stout, Sergio Aragonés & Tom Luth, Tomas Bunk, Rick Geary, Dave Gibbons, Sarah Downs & various (Epic Comics/A Byron Preiss Book
ISBN: 978-0-87135-675-8 (Album HB)

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for satirical and dramatic effect.

Creative genius Harvey Kurtzman is probably the most important cartoonist of the latter half of the last century – even more so than Jules Feiffer, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert or Will Eisner. His early triumphs in the fledgling field of comicbooks (Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and especially the groundbreaking, game-changing Mad comic book) would be enough for most creators to lean back on, but Kurtzman was also a force in newspaper strips (Flash Gordon Complete 1951-1953) and a restless innovator, commentator and social critic who kept on looking at folk and their doings. He just couldn’t stop making art or sharing his conclusions…

Kurtzman invented a whole new format when he converted the highly successful colour comic book Mad into a monochrome magazine, safely distancing the brilliant satirical publication from the fallout caused by the 1950s comics witch-hunt which eventually killed EC’s other titles. He then pursued comedy and social satire further with newsstand magazines Trump (no relation to any orange tossers!), Humbug and Help! – all the while creating challenging and powerfully effective humour strips like Little Annie Fanny (for Playboy), Nutz, Goodman Beaver, Betsy and her Buddies and many more. He died far too soon, far too young today in 1993.

Utterly unavailable in digital editions, this intriguing oddment from 1990 saw the Great Observer return to his comic roots to spoof and lambaste strip characters, classic cinema and contemporary sentiments in a series of vignettes illustrated by some of the biggest names of the day. Following a captivating introduction from ex-student Art Spiegelman, a stunning pin-up from Moebius and an overview from project coordinator Byron Preiss, the fun begins with a typically upbeat cartoon appreciation from R. Crumb: ‘Ode to Harvey Kurtzman’ which was coloured by Eric Palma, after which the Harvey-fest begins in earnest…

‘Shmegeggi of the Cave Men’ visually revives the author’s legendary Goodman Beaver, dislocating him to that mythic antediluvian land of dim brutes, hot babes in fur bikinis and marauding dinosaurs, to take a look at how little sexual politics has progressed in a million years – all exquisitely painted by cartoonist, movie artist and paleontological illustrator William Stout, after which Sergio Aragonés adds his inimitable mania to the stirring piratical shenanigans of the dashing ‘Captain Bleed’ (with striking hues supplied by Groo accomplice Tom Luth).

Western parody ‘Drums Along the Shmohawk’ is an all-Kurtzman affair as the scribe picks up his pens and felt-tips to describe how the sheriff and his stooge paid a little visit to the local tribe…

Cartoonist, fine artist and illustrator Tomas Bunk contributes a classically underground and exuberant job depicting ‘A Vampire Named Mel’ whilst arch-stylist Rick Geary helps update the most famous canine star in history with ‘Sassy, Come Home’. Limey Living Legend Dave Gibbons utilises his too-seldom-seen gift for comedy by aiding and abetting in what we Brits term “a good kicking” to the superhero genre in the outrageous romp ‘The Silver Surfer’ before the cartoon buffoonery concludes with Kurtzman and long-time associate Sarah Downs smacking a good genre while it’s down and dirty in ‘Halloween, or the Legend of Creepy Hollow’.

But wait, there’s more…

This seductive oversized hardback also has an abundant section devoted to creator biographies supplemented with pages and pages of Kurtzman’s uniquely wonderful pencil rough script pages – almost like having the stories printed twice.

Fun, philosophical fantasy and fabulous famous, artist folk: what more do you need to know – other than that SOMEone should re-release tis ASAP?
© 1990 by Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. Each strip © 1990 Harvey Kurtzman and the respective artist. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1922 British comics artist (Bennie & Barley Bottom) and social redeemer Derek Chittock was born, with Belgian comics maven René Hausman (Laïyna), following in 1936 and fantasy illustrator Frank (Doctor Strange, Howard the Duck, Creepy) Brunner arriving in 1949. In 1963 manhua creator Khoo Fuk Lung (Saint) was born, with comics/screenwriter Christopher Yost coming in 1973 and Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim, Seconds, Snotgirl) in 1979.

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Adulthood is a Myth – A “Sarah’s Scribbles” Collection


By Sarah Andersen (Andrews McMeel)
ISBN: 978-1-44947-419-5 (PB/Digital edition)

Scary times need radical solutions, but in lieu of that and considering how helpless we all are, all I can suggest is burying yourself in a book (gallows pun not intended). Here’s one that is both funny and incisive and is available online either in physical form or digitally. Moreover, as it’s about – and by – a Millennial, all us old sods who lived through a few crises can chortle and feel smugly superior in the knowledge that problems such as these in here are transitory and shall also pass. That one was deliberate…

Sarah’s Scribbles started in 2013 as a webcomic (first on Tumblr, and latterly Facebook, Instagram and Line Webtoon) before going legit in 2016 in as a book from Andrews McMeel. Adulthood is a Myth was followed by Big Mushy Happy Lump in 2017, Herding Cats in 2018 and Oddball in 2021. Every collection won that year’s Goodreads Choice Award. That’s because the strips and lead character are accessible, personable, relatable and fetchingly funny.

Autobiographical to a degree I’m unqualified to assess and distressed to acknowledge, what you get are pithy observational comedy gag strips with a semi-surreal undertone about the thoughts and (mostly) inactions of an arty student who lives with an exceptionally critical but ultimately supportive rabbit. Think of it as pictorial inner monologue from a very nervous and unconfident teen, roaring and giddy with hormones and expectations she can’t possibly hope to meet and indoctrinated with standards she can’t let go of…

As well as casual interactions with her peers, major causes of cartoon comment include projections of her eventual senility and decrepitude (‘Me in the Future’), social anxiety, body issues, relationships, housework, fashion, awkwardness, bingeing and attraction through episodes with such enticing titles as ‘Nightmares for Introverts’, ‘When to Change/Wash’, ‘Things I Know’, ‘Habits of the Common Bookworm’, ‘Getting Drunk (For Beginners)’, ‘Social Media in Real Life’, ‘What I Eat on a Typical Day’, ‘5 Phrases that make My Blood Run Colder than Ice’, ‘Watching Stuff’, ‘Things that make me Feel Safe’ and ‘Benefits of Stealing Boys’ Hoodies’.

On less excoriating days you’ll share her views on ‘Normal People’ versus ‘Me’, ‘How Graduating Feels’, ‘Internet Comment Threads’, ‘Folding Laundry’, ‘The Introvert’s Brain’, ‘How to know Your Partner is Serious about the Future’, and the potential of ‘The Future’, so that’s pretty much a view on everything to deal with…

Sarah Andersen was a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art before this took over her life so she knows the value of Extra Credits. That’s why this tome includes lots of strips created specifically for the collection so if you’ve been following her on the interwebs, you’ll still miss some good stuff if you don’t get this delirious delight.
© 2016 by Sarah Andersen. All rights reserved.

Born today in 1887: cartoonist and animator Paul Terry (Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle), and DC’s ubiquitous cartoonist Henry Boltinoff in 1914. In 1944 writer/director Don Glut (The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor, Tragg and the Sky Gods, Captain America, The Invaders, Star Wars, Vampirella) appeared, as did William Messner-Loebs (Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine MacAlistaire, Wonder Woman, The Flash) in 1949, with Gerry Shamray (American Splendor) popping by in 1957.

In 2000 we lost mega-talented multi-skilled miracle worker George Roussos (Batman, Air Wave, Fantastic Four, every comic at Marvel and DC in the 1980s).

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Daredevil Epic Collection volume 8: To Dare the Devil (1978-1981)


By Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, David Micheline, Jo Duffy, Michael Fleischer, Mike W. Barr, Frank Robbins, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Klaus Janson, Frank Springer, Josef Rubinstein & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-60537 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, making him an astonishing acrobat, formidable fighter and living lie-detector. He also developed a kind of biological radar, granting him complete awareness of his immediate environment. A second-string hero for much of his early career, Daredevil was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due mostly to the captivatingly humanistic art of Gene Colan. DD fought gangsters, super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion, quipping his way through life and life-threatening combat, utterly unlike the grim, moody, quasi-religious metaphor of justice and retribution that he became.

Under the auspices of Jim Shooter, Roger McKenzie and finally Frank Miller & Klaus Janson, the character transformed into a grimly modern figure, but here we find him navigating choppy relationship waters. After a disastrous on-again, off-again relationship with his secretary Karen Page, Murdock took up with Russian émigré Natasha Romanoff, infamous and notorious former soviet spy Black Widow, but their similarities and incompatibilities led to her leaving and Matt taking up with flighty, fun-loving trouble-magnet heiress Heather Glenn…

Spanning cover-dates November 1978 to October 1981, this crucial compilation comprises relevant material from Daredevil #155-176, plus spin-off material generated for a readership that simply could not get enough of their newly darkened avenging devil and his secret paramour, as first seen in What If? #28 & Bizarre Adventures #28. The visual tumult and tension begin sans any delay or debate…

Heroic endeavours resume with writer Roger McKenzie describing the repercussions of a massive ambush on the hero by his worst enemies. Guest-starring Black Widow, Hercules and The Avengers, aftermath episode ‘The Man Without Fear?’ is illustrated by Frank Robbins & Frank Springer, wherein a brain-damaged Murdock repeatedly attacks innocent bystanders and his allies before collapsing. Keenly observing, macabre mystery menace Death-Stalker spots an opportunity and follows the hospitalised hero into #156’s ‘Ring of Death!’ (McKenzie, Colan & Klaus Janson). As DD undergoes surgery and suffers deadly delusions of fighting himself, the teleporting terror with a death-touch seeks to end the scarlet swashbuckler’s meddling forever, but finds the Avengers almost too much to handle…

The assault ends in DD #157’s ‘The Ungrateful Dead’, with Mary Jo Duffy scripting from McKenzie’s plot. Now, after frustrating the vanishing villain, Matt is cruelly kidnapped by a new squad of the Ani-Men (Ape-Man, Cat-Man & Bird-Man) all leading to Miller’s debut as penciller in #158’s ‘A Grave Mistake!’ With McKenzie writing and Janson inking, all plot threads regarding Death-Stalker spectacularly conclude as the monster gloatingly shares his true origins and reasons for haunting the Sightless Swashbuckler for so long. As always, Villain underestimates Hero and the stunning final fight in a graveyard became one of the most iconic duels in superhero history…

From this point on, Daredevil was increasingly repositioned as an outcast urban defender and compulsive vengeance-taker: a tortured demon dipped in blood. The character makeover was carried on initially by McKenzie from his predecessor Jim Shooter, and fully manifested in collaboration with Miller until the latter fully took control to deliver audacious, shocking, groundbreakingly compelling dark delights, making Daredevil one of comics’ most momentous, unmissable, “must-read” series.

That revitalisation resumes with ‘Marked for Murder!’ (McKenzie, Miller & Janson) wherein infallible assassin-broker Eric Slaughter comes out of retirement for a very special hit on the hero of Hell’s Kitchen. Meanwhile elsewhere, veteran Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich works a nagging hunch: slowly piecing together dusty news snippets that indicate a certain sight-impaired attorney might be far more than he seems……

The spectacular showdown between the Crimson Crimebuster and Slaughter’s hit-man army inevitably compels his covert client to eventually do his own dirty work: brutally ambushing and abducting former flame Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow…

After a single-page fact-feature on ‘Daredevil’s Billy Club!’, the saga continues in #160 with our hero having no choice but to place himself ‘In the Hands of Bullseye!’ – a stratagem culminating in a devastating duel and shocking defeat for the villain in cataclysmic conclusion ‘To Dare the Devil!’

Next issue offered a fill-in tale by Michael Fleisher & Steve Ditko wherein another radiation accident impairs our hero’s abilities and induces amnesia just as a figure from his father’s pugilistic past resurfaces. Becoming a boxer for crooked promoter Mr. Hyle, Murdock unknowingly relives his murdered dad’s last days in ‘Requiem for a Pug!’… until his own memories return and justice is served…

Stunning David & Goliath action belatedly comes in #163 as the merely mortal Man Without Fear battles The Incredible Hulk in ‘Blind Alley’ (McKenzie & Miller, inked by Josef Rubenstein & Janson) wherein Murdock’s innate compassion for hounded Bruce Banner inadvertently endangers Manhattan and triggers a desperate, bone-breaking, but ultimately doomed attempt to save his beloved city…

In #164 McKenzie, Miller & Janson deliver an evocative ‘Exposé’, retelling the origin saga as meticulous, dogged Urich confronts the hospitalised hero with inescapable conclusions from his diligent research and a turning point is reached…

The landmark tale is followed by accompanied by Miller’s unused cover for Ditko’s fill-in yarn, and precedes a mean-&-moody modern makeover for a moribund and over-exposed Spider-Man villain. DD #165 finds the Scarlet Swashbuckler in the ‘Arms of the Octopus’ when Murdock’s millionaire girlfriend Heather is kidnapped by Dr. Otto Octavius. Her company can – and do – rebuild his mechanical tentacles with Adamantium, but “Doc Ock” stupidly underestimates both his hostage and the seemingly powerless Man Without Fear…

A long-running plot thread of Matt’s best pal Foggy Nelson’s oft-delayed wedding finally culminates with some much-needed comedy in #166’s ‘Till Death Do Us Part!’, with true tragedy coming along too as old enemy Gladiator has a breakdown and kidnaps his parole officer. With visions of Roman arenas driving him, tormented killer Melvin Potter only needs to see Daredevil to go completely over the top…

David Michelinie wrote #167 for Miller & Janson, with a cruelly wronged employee of tech company the Cord Conglomerate stealing super-armour to become ‘…The Mauler!’ and exact personal justice. Constantly drawn into the conflict, DD finds his sense of justice and respect for the law at odds when another avoidable tragedy results…

The tale is backed up by an info feature revealing the ‘Dark Secrets’ of DD’s everyday life before segueing neatly into the story that changed everything.

With Daredevil #168 Miller took over the writing and with Janson’s art contributions increasing in each issue, rewired the history of Matt Murdock to open an era of noir-tinged, pulp-fuelled, Eisner-inspired innovation. It begins when Daredevil encounters a new bounty hunter in town which prompts recall of lost college-days first love. Back then, diplomat’s daughter Elektra Natchios shared his secrets – until her father was kidnapped and murdered before her eyes, partly due to Matt’s hasty actions. She left him and vanished, apparently becoming a ninja assassin, but is now tearing up the town hunting Eric Slaughter. Matt cannot help but get involved…

When Daredevil last defeated Bullseye, the psycho-killer was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and in #169 escapes from hospital to enact another murder spree. He is deep in a delusional state where everyone he sees are horn-headed scarlet-draped ‘Devils’. A frenetic chase and brutal battle results in countless civilian casualties and great anxiety as Daredevil has a chance to let the manic die… but doesn’t.

Yet another landmark resurrection of a tired villain begins in DD #170 as Miller & Janson decree ‘The Kingpin Must Die’. The former crimelord of New York had faded into serene retirement in Japan by impassioned request of his wife Vanessa, until this triptych of terror sees him return, more powerful and resourceful than ever. It all begins when the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen hears rumours the syndicate that replaced Wilson Fisk are trying to kill their old boss. Apparently, he has offered all his old records to the Feds…

When Vanessa hires Nelson & Murdock to broker the deal, all hell breaks loose, assassins attack and Mrs Fisk goes missing. Further complicating matters, having survived brain surgery, Bullseye now offers his services to the syndicate, mercenary killer Elektra senses a big business opportunity and a murderously resolute Kingpin sneaks back into the country resolved to save his Vanessa at any cost…

The title at last returned to monthly schedule with #171 as the city erupted into sporadic violence with civilians caught in the crossfire. DD dons a disguise and goes undercover but is soon ‘In the Kingpin’s Clutches’, and seemingly sent to a watery grave prior to Fisk gambling and losing everything.

The saga ends in all-out ‘Gangwar!’ as, with Vanessa lost and presumed dead, Wilson Fisk destroys the in situ Syndicate and takes back control of New York’s underworld. At least Daredevil scores a small-yet-toxic victory by apprehending the Kingpin’s assassin, all the while aware that every death since Bullseye’s operation has been because Murdock was not strong enough to let the monster die…

… And deep in the bowels of the city, an amnesiac woman wanders, a future trigger for much death and destruction to come…

With the city increasingly awash in mobsters, monsters, assassins and deviants, Daredevil 173 returns to the difficult, painful redemption of mentally-ill former foe The Gladiator. Having suffered an emotional crisis Melvin Potter prays his violent old life is over, but when a woman is brutalised in the streets, she identifies the anxious supervillain as her attacker. Murdock begins a stout defence of the ‘Lady Killer’, but despite his truth-sensing abilities, even his confidence takes a battering when his own assistant Becky Blake reveals Potter is the man who put her in a wheelchair years previously. Shocked and betrayed on all sides, Matt lets DD take charge and exposes a world of horror and abuse while tracking down a cunning, opportunistic human beast who tortures women just for kicks…

Elektra co-stars in #174 as her former master The Jonin demands ‘The Assassination of Matt Murdock’, introducing resurrecting zombie ninja cult The Hand just when the Potter trial is going badly and faithful partner Foggy Nelson has abandoned him. The cult’s expansion into America is lethally and effectively countered by Elektra, but when Daredevil joins the fight he is wounded and loses his greatest supersense, leaving him to depend on her and Melvin reluctantly returned to his Gladiator persona…

Now targeted by immortal super ninja Kirigi, Elektra goes after Jonin in ‘Gantlet’ and leaves DD to his own devices prior to ‘Hunters’, showing severely impaired Matt hunting for the old guy who first taught him to use his super senses. He rattles his old foes and street sources so badly that even Z-grade thugs Turk and Grotto are scared enough to steal a super-armour suit and settle with the Scarlet Swashbuckler for good…

To Be Continued…

Here, however, the events sparked a number of ancillary delights represented here by What If? #28’s ‘Matt Murdock, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ (by Mike W. Barr, Miller & Janson, and cover-dated August 1981), seeing what might have been had Anthony Stark and Nick Fury been nearby when young Matt was hit by that senses-altering radioactive cannister. That’s followed by spectacular monochrome prequel ‘Elektra’, crafted by Miller for Bizarre Adventures #28 (October 1981) with the hired killer going off-book after she finds out an unsavoury truth about her client.

Supplementing throughout with the covers by Colan, Springer, Janson, Rubinstein, Al Milgrom, Miller, Ditko, Bob McLeod, George Roussos and Bob Larkin, this roster depicting the resurgent rise in comics form is further bedecked and bedazzled with contemporary house ads; the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page heralding Miller’s debut; original art and Miller’s full Daredevil character bible, written in 1980 as he prepared to take over the writing. Also on view are Miller & Janson’s pages from Marvel Comics 20th Anniversary Calendar 1981 (June) and their Spider-Man vs DD plate from Marvel Team-Up Portfolio One. Those are supplemented by Miller covers & frontispieces for Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller volume 1 & 2 (with Steve Buccellato) before closing with M&J’s iconic Amazing Heroes #4 cover from September 1981.

As the decade closed, these gritty tales set the scene for truly mature forthcoming dramas, promising the true potential of Daredevil was finally in reach. Their narrative energy and exuberant excitement are dashing delights no action fan will care to miss.

… And the next volume heads full on into darker shadows, the grimmest of territory and the breaking of many more boundaries…
© MARVEL 2025.

In 1958 horror artist John Totleben was born, as was Italy’s Antonio Serra (Nathan Never) in 1963, Tim Bradstreet in 1967 and Warren Ellis one year later.

We lost letterer/colourist/comics artist/animator Frank Engli in 1977 but we can still enjoy Popeye, Betty Boop, Terry and the Pirates, Male Call, Steve Canyon, Scorchy Smith and his own creations On the Wing and Rocky the Stone Age Kid. Don’t you want to go look him up now?

In 1963 UK standby Knockout finally lay down after 24 years and in1980 Nutty launched with the debut of Bananaman. And in 2017 dutchman designer Dick Bruna died, having introduced us all to his bunny star Miffy way back in 1955.

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HM Bateman: The Man Who… and Other Drawings


By H.M. Bateman; edited by John Jensen (Methuen 1983)
ISBN: 978-0-41332-360-9 (Album PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times but also emphasised for comedic effect.

On February 15th in 1887, Henry Mayo Bateman was born in New South Wales. He was however, raised in England, attending Forest Hill House School and Goldsmith’s College (Institute, as was). He also studied with John Hassall and later at the Charles Van Havenmaet Studio from 1904-07. He was a great fan of Comic Cuts and Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, and his first cartoons were published in 1903 in Scraps. Bateman was skilled and gifted in both illustrative and comedic drawing and agonised over his career path before choosing humour. Mercifully, he was too frail for military service in 1914 and so his gifts were preserved for us all to share. He died in Gozo, Malta on February 11th 1970, having spent his final years in steadfast (often hilarious) battle with the Inland Revenue…

Bateman’s most memorable series of cartoons was ‘The Man Who…’ These were lavish set pieces, published as full colour double-page spreads in The Tatler, perpetually lampooning the English Manner by way of frenzied character reactions to a gaffe or inappropriate action from a blithely oblivious central participant. Bateman’s unique strength came from extending his training as a caricaturist into all his humorous work, a working philosophy that the artist equated with drawing people as they felt rather than how they looked.

He was also a British pioneer of cartoons without text, depending on beautifully rendered yet powerfully energetic and vivacious interpretations of people and environment to make his always funny point. He was a master of presenting a complete narrative in a single image.

In reviewing the 14 collections published during his lifetime and such collections as the volume at hand, or the excellent The Best Of H M Bateman 1922-1926: The Tatler Cartoons (1987), I was particularly struck by the topicality of the work as well as the sheer wonder of the draughtsmanship. Find if you can ‘The Man Who asked for a second helping at a City Company Dinner’, wherein 107 fully realised Diners and waiters, all in full view, have 107 different and recognizable reactions to that gauche request. It is an absolute masterpiece of comic art – as are all the rest. In a world where the next fad is always the most important, it is vital that creators such as Bateman remain unforgettable and unforgotten. I pray to the cartoon gods that somewhere soon some museum retrospective on British culture will rescue this genius from ill-deserved (temporary) obscurity and generate one last curated collection for us to revel in…
Text ©.1983 John Jensen/Methuen. Illustrations © 1982, 2007 Estate of H M Bateman.

For further explorations and illumination please check out HM Bateman – Official Cartoons & Artwork.

Also today, Golden Age comics artist Nina Albright (Miss Victory, Black Venus) was born, as was Belgian star Willy Vandersteen (Spike and Suzy) in 1913 and Disney Duck artist William Van Horn in 1939.

Art Spiegelman was born in 1948, and Marc Hansen (Ralph Snart, Weird Melvin, Doctor Gorpon) in 1963, whilst in 1965, Morrie Turner launched Wee Pals, America’s first strip with a racially diverse cast. In 1987, Walt Disney’s Treasury of Classic Tales ended a run begun in the early 1950s. We also lost today veteran Canadian artist Jack Sparling in 1997, and two Italian Bonelli/Tex Willer stalwarts: Vincenzo Monti in 2002 and Fabrizio Busticchi in 2017.

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Stuff about Sex for Guys Who Are Not Like, Total Idiots


By David Mellon (Top Shelf Productions)
No ISBN ASIN: B01BMV519A (pamphlet)

Utterly unavailable – and how like most men today is THAT? – here’s a tiny treat that’s educational and well worth tracking down. You might even agitate for its revival and expansion and return…

Whilst not actually a graphic novel, I couldn’t resist adding this outrageous little comic book essay to my St. Valentines Day celebrations, and wholeheartedly recommend it to any oldster who likes a gentle, knowing laugh or any young man in need of an understanding non-judgemental pep talk before setting out to find a mate… either for a night, a little while or a lifetime.

In the manner of a relatively non-judgemental older sibling, David Mellon (The Boogieman, Silent) expresses, frankly and in the most simple of terms, how to start having sex. He covers the onset of adult relationships; dispelling myths, addressing if not positively coddling neuroses and especially bestowing actual useful advice (yes, really! Wash often and wear clean clothes!) to help nervous neophytes meet women (or consensual alternatives) and not nauseate them.

Beautifully rendered in accessible monochrome cartoons, Mellon takes us through the initial obstacle of ‘Shame!’, arguing that ‘It’s the Same for Everybody’ and claiming ‘Everybody Wants to Drop that Mask!’…

Nothing is held back as the author sensibly deals with ‘Personal Hygiene’ and tackles issues such as ‘Premature Ejaculation’ and ‘Masturbation’, the pros and cons of ‘Virginity’ and even asks the big question…‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?’

Even the great imponderables get a look in as we examine ‘Normal’ and discuss ‘What Women Want’…

Smart, sensible, unflinching but never harsh or mean, Mellon’s mature approach to an age-old traumatic experience and rite of passage should be mandatory reading in schools (but won’t be because of all the naked men and women he’s drawn here) as a serious and earnest contrition to sex education.
Stuff about Sex™ & © 2012 David Mellon. All rights reserved.

Today in 1865 Henry creator Carl Thomas Anderson was born, and so was civil rights champion/political cartoonist Oliver Harrington in 1912, followed four years later by writer/editor/MLJ and Archie Comics co-founder John Goldwater. In 1967 the world became a better place with the birth of New Zealand’s greatest comic export Roger Langridge.

In 1962 we lost Korky the Cat creator James Crighton, the world bid adieu to comics star turned Hanna-Barbera animator Alex Lovyin 1992 and in 2007 Germany said farewell to artist/animator Willy Moese.

In 1904, Jimmy Swinnerton’s strip Little Jimmy debuted while UK comics changed forever in 1976 when Fleetway’s astoundingly controversial weekly Action launched.

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A Sea of Love


By Wilfrid Lupano & Grégory Panaccione (Lion Forge/The Magnetic Collection)
ISBN: 978-1-942367-45-1 (HB/Digital edition)

The sheer breadth, variety and creative ambition of comics regularly renders me breathless. It feels like there’s no subject or blend thereof; no tone or trope; no limits and absolutely no style or admixture that talented individuals can’t turn into heartrending, hilarious, thrilling, educational, evocative, uplifting and/or infuriating stories.

This completely silent saga from prolific French writer Wilfrid Lupano (Old Geezers; Azimut; Blanc Autour; Le Loup; Valerian spin-off Shingouzlooz Inc. and so many more) with illustrator Grégory Panaccione (Someone to Talk To; Toby Mon Ami; Match; Âme) somehow offers all of those in one delicious hardback or digital package.

Originally seen au continent as Un Océan d’amour in 2014, this wordless yet universally comprehensible pantomime is an unforgettable saga celebrating the timeless resilience of mature love. Here it is craftily concealed yet constantly displayed in a tale of tetchy devotion between an aged diminutive fisherman and his quiet, timid, overly-flappable but formidably indomitable wife.

Every morning before the sun lights their rustic hovel, she makes him a wonderful breakfast before he heads out into the big ocean in a little boat. They have their fractious moments and he can be a trial sometimes, but their relationship is rock solid and never-ending.

This particular morning, however, the old coot finally falls foul of a changing world, when his little vessel is snagged in the nets of a vast trawler factory ship. Saving his idiot apprentice, the old git is soon swallowed up and gone…

At least, that’s what the sole survivor believes when he washes up ashore. However, the matronly new widow refuses to accept that and – disregarding decades of homey domestic programming – goes looking for him.

Oh, the incredible adventures she has and the people she meets…

He, meanwhile, is still very much alive. Stranded on his little tub, with nothing but tinned sardines and memories to sustain him, he is washed uncontrollably across the world. Befriended by a sardine-loving gull, he experiences first hand and close up the way we’ve befouled the seas and meets a wide variety of people he’s casually misjudged all his life, before eventually fighting his way back to his little cottage and the faithful one who’s waiting for him. At least, he complacently assumed she is…

Epic, hilarious, terrifying, shocking and sublimely satisfying, this is masterpiece of graphic narrative with so very much to say. Why not give your eyes a treat and have a good listen?
A Sea of Love © 2018 Editions Delcourt. All rights reserved.

Today in 1917 Sidney Smith’s landmark strip The Gumps began, as in his own way did Belgian narrative artist Even (Balthazar de groene steenvreter) Meulen/Eddy Vermeulen in 1946.

In 1962 cartoonist and pioneering conservationist Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling died, as did Charles M. Schulz (no clues from me here!) in 2000. Master illustrator, war comics wonder and funny, funny cartoon guy John Severin left it to 2012 to leave us for the last time.

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Bluecoats volume 19 Drummer Boy


By Willy Lambil & Raoul Cauvin, with Leonardo; translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-177-4 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times but also emphasised for dramatic and comedic effect.

Devised by Louis “Salvé” Salvérius & Raoul Cauvin – who scripted the first 64 volumes until retirement in 2020 – Les Tuniques Bleues (or Dutch iteration De Blauwbloezen) began as the 1960s ended: created to soften the blow of losing Lucky Luke when that mild-mannered maverick megastar defected from Le Journal de Spirou to arch-rival periodical Pilote. From the start, the substitute strip was popular: swiftly becoming one of the most-consumed bande dessinée series in Europe. After stints by the Jose-Luis Munuera/BeKa writing partnership, it is now scribed by Kris and up to 68 volumes…

Salvé was a cartoonist in the Gallic big-foot/big-nose humour manner, and after his sudden death in 1972, successor Willy “Lambil” Lambillotte gradually moved towards a more realistic – but still overtly comedic – tone and look. Born in 1936, Lambil is Belgian and, after studying Fine Art in college, joined publishing giant Dupuis in 1952 as a letterer. Arriving on Earth two years later, scripter Cauvin was also Belgian and (prior to joining Dupuis’ animation department in 1960) studied Lithography. He soon discovered his true calling was comedy and began a glittering, prolific writing career at LJdS. In addition, he scripted dozens of long-running, award winning series including Cédric, Les Femmes en Blanc and Agent 212: clocking up more than 240 separate albums. Les Tuniques Bleues alone has sold over 15 million copies… and counting.

Cauvin died on August 19th 2021, but his vast legacy of barbed laughter remains and – as of ten minutes ago – Lambril, at 87, is still drawing the Boys in Blue…

The Bluecoats are long-suffering protagonists Sergeant Cornelius Chesterfield and Corporal Blutch: worthy, honest fools in the manner of Laurel & Hardy; ill-starred US cavalrymen defending a vision of a unified America during the War Between the States – well, at least one of them is…

The original format offered single-page gags set around an Indian-plagued Wild West fort, but from second volume Du Nord au Sud, the sad-sack soldiers were situated back East, perpetually fighting in the American Civil War. Subsequent exploits are set within the scant timeframe of the Secession conflict, but – like today’s tale – occasionally range far beyond the traditional environs of the sundered USA, dipping into and embracing actual events (also like today’s tale), tackling genuine, thoroughly researched moments of history…

Blutch is an everyday, whinging little-man-in-the street: work-shy, mouthy, devious and ferociously critical of the army and its inept orchestrators and commanders. Ducking, diving, deserting at every opportunity, he’s you or me – except at his core he’s smart, principled, loyal and even heroic… if no easier option presents itself. Chesterfield is a big, burly professional fighting man: a proud career soldier of the 22nd Cavalry who devoutly believes in patriotism and esprit-de-corps of The Army. Brave, bold, never shirking his duty and hungry to be a medal-wearing hero, he’s quite naïve and also loves his cynical little pal. Naturally, they quarrel like a married couple, fight like brothers and simply cannot agree on the point and purpose of the horrendous war they are trapped in. That situation again stretches their friendship to breaking point in this cunningly conceived instalment, in which both find themselves pretty much fish out of water…

On offer this time is a rather more straightforward and trenchant outing with characters rather than settings providing most of the humour. Coloured as ever by Vittorio Leonardo, Les Tuniques Bleues – Drummer Boy was serialised continentally in Le Journal de Spirou #2720-2730, before becoming the 31st album in 1990, and now Cinebook’s 19th translated Bluecoats book.

As already hinted, it differs somewhat from the majority of tales, which tread a fine line between comedy and righteous anger, so if you share these books with younger kids, best read it first. However, biting wit and sardonic comedy are curbed for a mostly moving message here as a battlefield policy decision divides the old comrades and unleashes calamity and catastrophe. It begins in polemical mode as the aftermath of another battle leaves corpses and cripples underfoot (on both sides) and colonels and generals (ditto) unable to ascertain why their great plans and bold strategies just don’t work.

As always the casualty lists provoke a drive for new recruits, the one area where Union forces can outdo the Confederacy. As Chesterfield & Blutch indulge a rare quiet moment in a nearby town, they dispassionately watch the hundreds of poor folk, recent immigrants, unemployed men and thirsty ne’er-do-wells signing up, but only until Blutch spots a very young boy in the queue. Chesterfield cannot understand his pal’s towering outrage as Blutch tries everything to get the so-determined kid out of the line and away from the meatgrinder of imminent slaughter. What lands the little rebel in the guardhouse, however, is the patriotic Sergeant “taking care” of the problem by rushing the waif to the front of the line and personally signing him up.

At war with each other for the rest of the tale, Blutch – as chuck wagon commissary server – provides most of the laughs from this point on, as even the madmen running the 22nd Cavalry and Union top brass can find no suitably bellicose role for the plucky orphan in their ranks. Thus little Pucky Potts is made company drummer boy as both sides build up for the next – deciding – pitched battle.

Only that’s not quite how things work out, as the Rebs somehow anticipate every move and stratagem before delivering a stinging defeat. It keeps happening and eventually even the Generals work out what Blutch has already deduced. Pucky is a spy for the other side…

Refusing to let any child be killed for this stupidity, the corporal pulls out all the stops and even makes up with his old ally to ensure that the travesty of an underage execution will not happen. First, though, he has to stop being thrown in the guardhouse and get Chesterfield to talk to him…

Again highlighting not only divisions and disparities of officers and enlisted men but also of the American class structure – particularly the inherent racism driving rich and poor players on all sides – Drummer Boy is another disturbingly edgy epic that makes fun from the very worst of human endeavour. Shocking, powerful and hard-hitting as well as funny, thrilling, beautifully realised and eminently readable, this is one of finest Bluecoats yarns in the entire canon and best kind of war-story/Western. it appeals to the best, not worst, of the human spirit and hopefully that means you. © Dupuis 1990 by Lambil & Cauvin. All rights reserved. English translation © 2025 Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1912 Mexican cartoonist German Butze (The Supersabios) was born, with Bringing up Father follow-up artist Zeke Zekley arriving three years later, and Danish multi-talented Peter Snejbjerg not joining us until 1963.

In 1977 Us cartoonist Ben Batsford (Billy’s Uncle; Doings of the Duffs; Little Annie Rooney; Frankie Doodle; Mortimer and Charlie) died, as did gekiga mangaka Jiro Taniguchi (Icaro; A Distant Neighorhood; The Summit of the Gods; A Journal of My Father) in 2017.