Category: Humour

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Scared to Death volumes 1 & 2: The Vampire From the Marshes & Malevolence and Mandrake


By Mauricet & Vanholme, with Lee Oaks: colours by Laurent Carpentier and translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978- 1-905460-47-2 (Album PB Vampire) 978- 1-905460-77-9 (Album PB Mandrake)

There’s a grand old tradition of scaring, empowering and entertaining kids through carefully crafted horror stories with junior protagonists, and this occasional series is one of the better modern examples.

Conceived and executed by Belgian journalist Virgine Vanholme and youthful-yet-seasoned illustrator Alain Mauricet, the Mort de Trouille series of graphic albums was launched by Casterman in 2000 resulting in five further sinister sorties until everything paused in 2004.

Whilst I’ve not been able to find out much about the author, the artist is well travelled, having worked for CrossGen, Image and DC as well as on a wide variety of features in Europe. He’s also been in David Lloyd’s magnificently wonderful digital delight Aces Weekly.

Born in 1967, Mauricet inherited the comic bug from his parents and, after studying at the Academy of Fine Arts under legendary creator Eddy Paape, began his own career aged 20: another recruit for major magazine Le Journal de Spirou. From spot cartoons he graduated to strips, creating superhero parody Cosmic Patrouille with Jean-Louis Janssens and Les Rastafioles with Sergio Salma. Following the aforementioned stateside sojourn he resumed his Franco-Belgian efforts with the strip under review here, as well as basketball comedy Basket Dunk (with Christophe Cazanove) and Boulard (with Erroc) and others.

A resident of Brussels, he also designs for computer games whilst working on a more personal graphic enterprise entitled Une Bien Belle Nuance de Rouge and in latter days worked for DC on Superman and Batman. In 2021 he released Porchery – On n’attrape pas les cochons avec des saucisses.

Back in early 2000, though, he was detailing the first of a sequence of spooky yarns starring studious Robin Lavigne and boisterous, overly-imaginative Max Mornet: a couple of lads with an infallible instinct for ferreting out the weird and uncanny. Cinebook translated Mort de Trouille: Le vampire des Marais in 2008: inviting British, Antipodean and American kids to solve the mystery of The Vampire from the Marshes, which began when the boys first snuck a peek at forensic scientist Dr. Lavigne‘s locked files…

The well-travelled medic has been called in to examine a body found in rural Deadwater Swamp: a corpse stinking of booze, drained of blood and completely covered in hundreds of tiny triangular bite marks. His son Robin and especially horror-story obsessed Max are fascinated by the case. The latter envisions all manner of ghastly and vivid vampiric scenarios, despite his more prosaic pal’s protestations. All too soon the lads are invading the (still “potential”) crime scene, recording their own findings and suppositions. They are pretty freaked out when they find a strangely slaughtered bird and completely terrified when they disturb a poacher who chases them away with murderous curses. Unbeknownst to all involved, their prying has also alerted and disturbed a clan of far more dangerous and unnatural creatures…

Soon the boys are being shadowed by an uncanny, cloaked figure. He/she/it even breaks into the Lavigne home: striving to preserve anonymity and ancient secrets from the eyes of prying, violent mankind. However, when it is noisily disturbed as it closes in on the boys, they can only thank their lucky stars that the household cat is such a noisy and vicious beast when stepped upon…

Events peak to a cursed crescendo next day after Max falls into his own hastily dug vampire trap and is taken by the noisome Nosferatu. Whilst Robin anxiously and urgently searches for his missing friend, Max is learning the tragic secret history of the bloodsuckers.

His oddly ambivalent abductor is Janus who seems rather reluctant to bleed him as a proper vampire should. The creature has, however, no problem leaving him – and freshly captured Robin when he stumbles upon them – to drown in a deep well…

Next morning, Dr. Lavigne and the cops are frantically but methodically searching the swamp for the missing boys, but only find them thanks to some unknown person leaving Max’s camera on the rim of a well…

As the frightened lads are pulled to safety, Robin’s dad questions them and goes ballistic on learning they’ve been looking through his confidential files. He also utterly trashes their ridiculous theory of vampire killers, patiently explaining the true and rational – if exceedingly grim and grisly – cause of death of the drunk in the swamp.

Chastened but undaunted and sharing an incredible secret no adults will ever believe, the boys are taken home whilst deep in the wooded mire an ancient family of incredible beings pulls up stakes and moves restlessly on to who knows where…

 

With additional art assistance from Lee Oaks, the schoolboy spook-chasers resurfaced in Scared to Death volume 2: Malevolence and Mandrake. Scholarly Robin and rowdy, horror-fan Max are still chasing every implausible rumour and probing unknowns but becoming increasing dependent – though they’d never admit it – on the wit and bravery of Robin’s brilliant little sister Sophie Lavigne…

Cinebook’s second translated selection was actually the third Franco-Belgian chiller chronicle Mort de Trouille: Maléfice et mandragora: suitably set around All Hallows Eve and posing uniquely terrifying problems for the young trouble-magnets…

It begins a little before the much-anticipated night, with Elizabeth Simon Secondary School abuzz with worries over missing student Thomas and the seemingly simultaneous arrival of oddly-attractive, exotic transfer student Emma Corpescu. She comes from Romania and Max is strangely antipathic to her at first. That soon changes, though…

Robin also feels a bit off as the newcomer blatantly insinuates herself into their lives, paying particular attention to Max. Soon, so-savvy Sophie is paying closer attention. Far more so than the idiot boys do…

She’s wise to do so: Emma is soon revealed as an ancient shapeshifting sorceress named Malevolence, who steals the youth of boys to restore her own life force… and to – one day – resurrect her properly dead sister Mandrake…

After doing desperate research online, Sophie arms herself with anti-witch tricks and gadgets and – after discovering the incredible fate of Thomas – eventually convinces her incredulous brother to stalk the wicked enchanter to her lair in Deadwater Swamp and rescue the now officially-missing Max. The poor oaf has fully succumbed to Emma’s wiles and now resides in her lair, transformed into the same uncanny form as Thomas was…

Arriving just in time, the rescuers are set for an incredible clash of wills and powers – especially Sophie, who’s borrowed a few supernatural forces for the ordeal…

Of course, good triumphs in the end, but can such seductive evil truly die?

Deliciously delivered in the manner of Goosebumps and Scooby-Doo – if not Stranger Things – these superb slices of spooky fun work classic kids’ horror tropes and style to enthral and enchant everyone who has suffered from “father knows best” syndrome and loves tall tales with devilish twists. Seamlessly mixing fear with hilarity to enthral and enchant all generations equally, these tales should be resuurected and completed for all of us in need of scary relaxation.
Original edition © Casterman, 2000 and 2003 by Mauricet & Vanholme. English translation © 2008 by Cinebook Ltd.

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Chronicles of Fear – Tales of Woe


By Nathalie Tierce (Indigo Raven)
ISBN: 978-1-7341874-5-8 (PB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Cruel Truths for Crazy Days… 9/10

Allying words to pictures is an ancient, potent and – when done right – irresistibly evocative communications tool: one that can simultaneously tickle like a feather, cut like a scalpel and hit like a steam-hammer. As such, repeated visits to a particular piece of work will even generate different responses depending on the recipient’s mood. If you’re a multi-disciplined, muti-media artist like Nathalie Tierce, fresh challenges must be a hard thing to find, but rewards for successfully breaking new ground are worth the effort… and the viewer’s full attention.

Tierce is a valued and veteran creator across a spectrum of media, triumphing in film and stage production for everyone from the BBC to Disney and Tim Burton to Martin Scorsese. She has crafted music performance designs for Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Rolling Stones, all the while generating a wealth of gallery art, painted commissions and latterly, graphic narratives such as Fairy Tale Remnants and Pulling Weeds From a Cactus Garden.

Perpetually busy, she still finds time to stop and stare; thankfully, human-watching is frequently its own reward, sparking tomes like this slim, enthrallingly revelatory package forensically dissecting human nature in terms of cultural landmarks as scourged by the inescapable mountain of terrors large, small, general and intensely personal.

On show in this portable night gallery are stunning paintings in a range of media, rendered in many styles and manners whilst channelling the artist’s own fear-mongering childhood entertainer-influences. These include Edward Gorey, Maurice Sendak, Heinrich Hoffman (Der Struwwelpeter) and other dark fairy tales, as well as compellingly mature comic creators such as Aline Kominsky Crumb & R. Crumb, Will Eisner and Claire Bretecher.

The artworks explore shades of anxiety, alienation, frustration, longing, disappointment, despondency, hopelessness, instant gratification, loss of confidence, purposelessness, racism, toxic masculinity, neurosis, death and loneliness by suborning cultural touchstones like Popeye, Donald Duck and other Disney icons, mass-media mavens like Bowie and King Kong, beloved childhood toys and even modern lifestyle guru Homer Simpson.

Bracketed by revelatory insights and sharing context in Introduction and Biography, the pictorial allegories When Shock and Horror Collide, Forest Nymph, Capitolina and the Dubious Superhero, The Genie and the Swimmer, Bad Fishing Trip, Slapstick Brawl, Undateable, Crazy Rooster Man, Strange Leader, My Favorite Aliens, The Queen of Hearts Goes Shopping, Acrobat, Fear of Death, Running, What Killed the Dodo?, The Bore, 3am, Pussy Cat, Barfly, Alice in Waitingland (my absolute personal favourite!), Beginning and End, Rascal Dog, Spiraling, Lonely Soldier, Homer Gone Bad, Jittery and utterly appalling endpiece Bathtime, connecting forensic social observation with everyday paranoias we all experience. The result is a mad melange of bêtes noire and unsettled icons du jour, with each condemnatory visual judgement deftly wedded to frankly terrifying texts encapsulating contemporary crisis points, delivered as edgy epigrams and barbed odes.

Chronicles of Fear – Tales of Woe is a mordantly mature message of mirth-masked ministrations exposing the dark underbellies we’re all desperately sucking in and praying no one notices.

A perfect dalliance for thinking bipeds at the end of civilisation, aimed at victims of human nature with a sharp eye and unforgiving temperament – and surely, isn’t that all of us?
© 2023 Indigo Raven. © 2023 Nathalie Tierce. All rights reserved.

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A Spirou and Fantasio Adventure volume 20: The Dark Side of the Z


By Fabien Vehlmann & Yoann, designed by Fred Blanchard, colored by Hubert & translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-103-3 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Boyish hero Spirou (which translates as both “squirrel” and “mischievous” in the Walloon language) was created by French cartoonist Françoise Robert Velter AKA Rob-Vel. This was before the Second World War for Belgian publisher Éditions Dupuis in response to the phenomenal success of Hergé’s Tintin at rival outfit Casterman.

Soon-to-be legendary weekly comic Le Journal de Spirou launched on April 21st 1938 with a rival red-headed lad as lead feature in an anthology which bears his name to this day. The eponymous hero was a plucky bellboy/lift operator employed in the Moustique Hotel – a sly reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique. His improbable adventures with pet squirrel Spip gradually evolved into far-reaching, surreal comedy dramas.

Spirou and his chums have helmed the magazine for most of its life, with a cohort of truly impressive creators carrying on Velter’s work, beginning with his wife Blanche “Davine” Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939. She was assisted by Belgian artist Luc Lafnet until 1943, when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jijé) took the helm. In 1946, his assistant André Franquin assumed the creative reins: gradually ditching the well-seasoned short gag vignettes format in favour of epic adventure serials. He also expanded the cast, introducing a broad band of engaging regulars and eventually creating phenomenally popular magic animal Marsupilami.

Franquin was followed by Jean-Claude Fournier who updated the feature over nine stirring adventures tapping into the rebellious, relevant zeitgeist of the times: offering tales of environmental concern, nuclear energy, drug cartels and repressive regimes.

By the 1980s, however, the series seemed outdated and lacking direction, so three separate creative teams alternated on it. Eventually overhauled and revitalised by Philippe Vandevelde (writing as Tome) and artist Jean-Richard Geurts – AKA Janry – adapting, referencing and in many ways returned to the beloved Franquin era, the strip found its second wind.

Their sterling efforts revived the floundering feature’s fortunes, generating 14 wonderful albums between 1984 and 1998. As the strip diversified into parallel strands (Spirou’s Childhood/Little Spirou and Guest-Creator Specials A Spirou Story By…), the team on the core feature were succeeded by Jean-David Morvan & José-Luis Munuera. Then Yoann & Vehlmann took over the never-ending procession of amazing adventures…

Multi-award-winning French comics author Fabien Vehlman was born in 1972, began his comics career in 1996 and has been favourably likened to René Goscinny. He’s probably still best known for Green Manor (illustrated by Denis Bodart), Seven Psychopaths with Sean Phillips, Seuls (drawn by Bruno Gazzotti and available in English as Alone), Wondertown with Benoit Feroumont and Isle of 1000,000 Graves with Jason.

Yoann Chivard was born in October 1971 and was drawing non-stop by age five. With qualifications in Plastic Arts and a degree in Communication from the Academy of Fine Arts in Angers, he became a poster advertising artist whilst just dabbling in comics. His creations include Phil Kaos and Dark Boris for British Indie publications Deadline and Inkling, Toto l’Ornithorynque, Nini Rezergoude, La Voleuse de Pere-Fauteuil, Ether Glister and Bob Marone and he has contributed to Trondheim & Sfar’s Donjon.

In 2006, Yoann was the first artist to produce a Spirou et Fantasio one shot Special. It was scripted by Vehlmann…

Cinebook have been publishing Spirou & Fantasio’s exploits since 2009, alternating between the various superb reinterpretations of Franquin and earlier efforts from the great man himself.

When Jijé handed Franquin the strip part-way through Spirou et la maison préfabriqué (LJdS #427, June 20th 1946), the new guy ran with it. Over two decades he enlarged the scope and horizons until it became purely his own. Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters like loyal comrade and rival Fantasio or crackpot inventor and Merlin of mushroom mechanics Pacôme Hégésippe Adélard Ladislas de Champignac – The Count of Champignac…

Spirou and Fantasio became globe-trotting journalists, travelling to dangerously exotic places, uncovering crimes, exploring the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Fantasio’s deranged and wicked cousin Zantafio and that maddest of scientists, Zorglub.

This old school chum and implacable rival of Champignac is an outrageous Bond-movie-tinged villain constantly targeting the Count. A brilliant engineer, his incredible machines are far less dangerous than his mind-controlling “Zorglwave” and his apparently unshakable hunger to conquer Earth and dominate the solar system from a base on the Moon…

This tale – originally in 2011 La face cachée du Z – opens with our happily argumentative chums repairing the collaterally damaged Champignac chateau yet again. Exhausted, they go to indoors to sleep… and wake up in a horrific and tawdry casino resort. Compounding the shocks are weird, painfully unpredictable tricks of gravity, as it’s apparently built only for the super-rich and on the moon!

Worst of all, explaining the transition is smugly sanctimonious old enemy Zorglub…

Still agonisingly hungry for his rival’s approval, the evil genius blathers on about his triumphs and his Great Masterwork since last seen (in volume 18’s Attack of the Zordolts): escaping from dirty, dying Earth to the stars with hot Swedish science students Astrid and Lena. Now they’ve gone off together, leaving the science troll to carve out his interplanetary empire alone.

At least, he would be, if certain funding shortfalls hadn’t forced him into bed with One-percenters who think his citadel could be the most exclusive resort off Earth…

Zorglub still needs to be the virtuous Architect of Humanity’s Future, but the people he has are nothing like the ones he wants: bold Fantasio, ingenious Spirou and brilliant ethically pristine Pacôme de Champignac…

That’s why – for the most logical and moral reasons – he drugged and abducted them…

Without question, the lunar outpost is a technological wonder, with advances and advantages even the kidnapped admire, but the beloved holy Science is being increasingly sidelined, for bigger and better gambling rooms, ski slopes, surfing beaches, sports complexes, nature sideshows and glitzy restaurants.

It does not go down well when Spirou points out that Zorglub could have cleaned up and saved Earth for less money and effort…

Further debate is forestalled when a solar flare is announced and Spirou refuses to join everyone else in radiation-shielded shelters until he recovers his wandering wild pal Spip. Locked out, our hero spectacularly finds a way to survive the cosmic storm, but it’s not for a while that we realise it’s come at a severe mutagenic cost…

The pauper lad’s suicide run across the resort’s attractions was televised and has made him a minor celebrity amongst the movie stars like Blythe Prejlowieky (who soon seduces the kid for her own shocking purposes!), overly-competitive sporting gods like Mike Adibox, faceless money-moguls and flagrantly ostentatious oligarchs such as Igor. Not so much impressed as cautious is the investors’ appointed fixer and ultimate mercenary Poppy Bronco. He’s recognized something in the survivor that bodes badly for all…

The sun starts setting on the project after Champignac chides Zorglub for the worthlessness of his achievements and surrendering of his principled dreams. It coincides with a series of potentially lethal sabotage attempts and – defined by true devotion to their precious skins – the one-percenters commandeer the transport back to Earth, with only few such as Blyth and Igor choosing to stay behind with the peons and paid staff…

Finally rid of his annoying paymasters, Zorglub then executes his long-term plans but is completely unprepared for what happens to Spirou when the lunar night begins. Bronco isn’t though and organises a monster-hunt through the abandoned resort and across the moon…

The outcome is tense, gripping unexpected and so very To Be Continued.

Rocket-paced, action-packed, compellingly convoluted and with just the right blend of perfectly blending helter-skelter excitement and sheer daftness, The Dark Side of the Z is a terrific witty romp to delight devotees of easy-going adventure, drawn with beguiling style and seductive energy. This is pure cartoon gold, truly deserving of reaching the widest audience possible.
Original edition © Dupuis, 2011 by Vehlmann & Yoann. All rights reserved. English translation 2023 © Cinebook Ltd.

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Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 3


By Otto Binder, Robert Bernstein, Jerry Siegel, Alvin Schwartz, Bill Finger, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger, Wayne Boring, Dick Sprang, Al Plastino, Stan Kaye, Ray Burnley, John Forte, George Klein, John Giunta & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-812-6 (TPB)

When the groundbreaking Man of Steel debuted in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) he was instantly the centre of attention, but even then the need for a solid supporting cast was apparent and wisely tailored for. Glamorous daredevil girl reporter Lois Lane premiered beside Clark Kent and was a constant companion and foil from the outset.

Although unnamed, a plucky red-headed, be-freckled kid started working for Clark and Lois from Action Comics #6 (November 1938) onwards. His name was used in Superman #13 (November-December 1941), having already been revealed as Jimmy Olsen due to being a major player on The Adventures of Superman radio show from its debut (April 15th 1940).

As somebody the same age as the target audience for the hero to explain stuff to (all for the listeners’ benefit), he was the closest thing to a sidekick the Action Ace ever needed…

When the similarly titled television show launched in the autumn of 1952 – preceded a year earlier by landmark B-movie Superman and the Mole Men – it was another immediate sensation and National Periodicals began cautiously and judiciously expanding their revitalised franchise with new characters and titles.

During the 1950s/early 1960s, being different in America was a Very Bad Thing. Conformity was sacrosanct, even in comicbooks, and everybody and everything was meant to keep to its assigned and intended role: for the Superman family and cast, that meant a highly strictured code of conduct and parameters. Daily Planet Editor Perry White was a stern, shouty elder statesman with a heart of gold, Cub Reporter Jimmy was a brave and impulsive, unseasoned fool – with a heart of gold – with Lois brash, nosy, impetuous and unscrupulous in her obsession to marry Superman although she too was – deep down – another possessor of an Auric aorta. Moreover, although Clark was a Man in a Man’s World, his hidden alter ego meant that he must never act like one…

Yet somehow even with these mandates in place the talented writers and artists assigned to produce their wholesomely uncanny exploits managed to craft tales both beguiling and breathtakingly memorable – and usually as funny as they were exciting.

First to fill a solo title were the gloriously charming, light-hearted escapades of that rash, capable but callow photographer and “cub reporter”. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #1 launched in 1954 with a September-October cover date, the first spin-off star of the Caped Kryptonian’s rapidly expanding multi-media entourage.

As the decade progressed the oh-so-cautious Editors tentatively extended the franchise in 1957 just as the Silver Age of Comics was getting underway, and it seemed that there might be a fresh and sustainable appetite for costumed heroes and their unique brand of spectacular shenanigans. Try-out title Showcase, which had already launched The Flash (#4) and Challengers of the Unknown (#6), followed up with a brace of issues entitled Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane in #9 and 10, before swiftly awarding the “plucky news-hen” a series of her own; in actuality her second, since for a brief while in the mid-1940s she had held a regular solo-spot in Superman.

At this time Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane was one of precious few titles with a female lead and – in the context of today – one that gives many 21st century fans a few uncontrollable qualms of conscience. Within the confines of her series the valiant and capable working woman careered crazily from man-hungry, unscrupulous schemer through ditzy simpleton to indomitable and brilliant hero – often all in the same issue – as the exigencies of entertaining children under the strictures of the Comics Code all too often played up the period’s astonishingly misogynistic attitudes.

The comic was clearly intended to appeal to the family demographic that made I Love Lucy a national phenomenon and Doris Day a ditzy latter day saint, so many stories were played for laughs in that same patriarchal, parochial manner; a “gosh, aren’t women funny?” tone that appals me today – but not as much as the fact that I still love them to bits.

It helps that they’re mostly illustrated by the wonderfully whimsical Kurt Schaffenberger.

Jimmy fared little better: a bright, brave but naive kid making his own way in the world, he was often butt of cruel jokes and impossible circumstances; undervalued and humiliatingly tasked in a variety of slapstick adventures and strange transformations.

This third cunningly conjoined chronologically complete compendium collects the affable, all-ages tales from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #35-44, March 1959-April 1960 and Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #8-16, April 1959-April 1960. It commences with the Man of Steel’s Go-To Guy in three tales drawn by the wonderful Curt Swan.

Probably fuelled by television (syndicated reruns kept the Superman family at the forefront of childish viewing habits) Jimmy’s comic was highly popular for over two decades, blending action, adventure, wacky comedy, fantasy and science fiction in the gently addictive, self-deprecating manner scripter Otto Binder had perfected in the 1940s and early 1950s at Fawcett Comics on the magnificent original Captain Marvel (you can call him Shazam!).

As the feature progressed, one of the most popular plot-themes (and most fondly remembered and referenced today by most Baby-Boomer fans) was the unlucky lad’s appalling talent for being warped, mutated and physically manipulated by fate, aliens and even his friends…

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #35 (March 1959) opened with ‘The Menace of Superman’s Fan Mail!’, by Binder & Swan, inked by Stan Kaye. Here, the cub reporter undertakes to answer the mountain of missives for the Man of Steel: inadvertently supplying a crook with an almost foolproof method of murdering the Metropolis Marvel.

The remaining tales are inked by Ray Burnley, beginning with a rather disingenuous yarn seeing the kid repeatedly causing trouble by wearing a futuristic suit of mechanised super-armour which only made him look like ‘The Robot Jimmy Olsen!’, whilst in ‘Superman’s Enemy!’ the devoted dope overnight turns into a despicable, hero-hating wretch. However, as a veritable plague of altered behaviour afflicts Clark Kent’s friends, the Action Ace soon discerns an underlying pattern…

Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #8 (April 1959) opened with Alvin Schwartz & Kurt Schaffenberger’s ‘The Superwoman of Metropolis’, heavy-handedly turning the tables on our heroine when she develops incredible abilities and took on a costumed identity, and was instantly plagued by a suspicious Clark determined to expose her secret.

‘The Ugly Superman!’ dealt with a costumed wrestler who fell for Lois, giving the Caped Kryptonian another chance for some pretty unpleasant Super-teasing. It was written by Robert Bernstein, who unlike me can use the tenor of the times as his excuse, and pleasingly ameliorated by Schaffenberger delivering another hilarious dose of OTT comedic drama illustration. Following is a far less disturbing fantasy romp: ‘Queen for a Day!’ (Bernstein, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye) found Lois and Clark shipwrecked on an island of Amazons with the plucky lady mistaken for their long-prophesied royal saviour…

Jimmy Olsen #36 began with Binder, Swan & Burnley’s ‘Super-Senor’s Pal!’, with the boy South of the Border in the banana republic of Peccador helping a local rebel fight the dictators by masquerading as a Latino Man of Steel. Kaye inked the momentous debut of ‘Lois Lane’s Sister!’, introducing perky “air-hostess” Lucy as romantic foil and occasionally attainable inamorata for the kid, in a smart, funny tale of hapless puppy love. With Burnley inks the final tale details the cub reporter’s accidental time-trip to Krypton and ‘How Jimmy Olsen First met Superman!’

Although we all think of Siegel & Shuster’s iconic creation as the epitome of comicbook creation, the truth is that very soon after his launch Superman became a multimedia star and far more people have seen or heard the Man of Steel than have ever read him – and yes, that does include the globally syndicated newspaper strip which ran from 1939 to 1966. By the time his 20th anniversary rolled around he had been a regular on radio, starred in a series of astounding animated cartoons and two movies, and just ended his first smash live-action television serial. In his future were many more, a stage musical, a stellar movie career and almost seamless succession of TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since. Even Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

Thus it’s no wonder tales from this Silver Age period should be draped in gaudily wholesome trappings of Tinseltown – even more so than most of celebrity-obsessed America. It didn’t hurt that editor Whitney Ellsworth was a part-time screenwriter, script editor and producer as well as National/DC’s Hollywood point man.

The Man of Tomorrow’s TV presence influenced much of Lois Lane #9: a celebrity-soaked issue scripted by Bernstein which began with artists Dick Sprang & John Forte detailing how performer Pat Boone (who just-coincidentally had his own licensed DC comic at that time) almost exposed Earth’s greatest secret in ‘Superman’s Mystery Song!’

The Silver Screen connection continued in the Schaffenberger-limned ‘The Most Hated Girl in Metropolis’, wherein Lois is framed for exposing that self-same super-secret as a ruse to get her to Hollywood for her own unsuspected This is Your Life special. That issue ended with a welcome return to fantasy/comedy as Schaffenberger introduces a lost valley of leftover dinosaurs and puny caveman Blog – ‘Lois Lane’s Stone-Age Suitor’…

In JO #37 Bill Finger, Swan & John Forte reveal the incredible truth about multi-powered Mysterio in the case of ‘Superman’s Super-Rival’, whilst Binder, Swan & Kaye expose the difficulties of frivolous Lucy Lane having ‘The Jimmy Olsen Signal Watch!’: a timepiece that kept the boy on a constant electronic leash…

This issue closes with a cunning caper wherein resident crackpot genius Professor Phineas Potter concocts a serum enabling Jimmy to reprise his many malleable antics and tangled troublemaking as ‘The Elastic Lad of Metropolis!’ (Binder, Swan & George Klein) – and almost exposing Superman’s secret identity into the bargain.

Records from the period are sadly incomplete but Bernstein probably wrote each tale in Lois Lane #10, beginning with Schaffenberger-limned classic ‘The Cry-Baby of Metropolis’, as Lois – terrified of losing her looks – exposes herself to a youth ray and temporarily turns into a baby, much to the amusement of Superman and arch-rival Lana Lang…

Schaffenberger also illustrated ‘Lois Lane’s Romeo!’ with the constantly spurned reporter finally giving up on her extraterrestrial beau. Typically, she’s then romanced by a slick, romantic European who’s was also a conniving, crooked conman. She rebounds in top crime-busting form for ‘Lois Lane’s Super-Seance!’ (Boring & Kaye): apparently endowed with psychic sight, but actually pulling the wool over the eyes of superstitious crooks.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #38 also tapped TV connection as the lad becomes ‘The MC of the Midnight Scare Theatre!’ (Bernstein, Swan & Forte): uncovering an incredible mystery after his hoary, hokey stage act apparently scares four viewers to death…

Although by the same creators, the broad humour of ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Wedding! to Lucy has a far less ingenious explanation, but at least ‘Olsen’s Super-Supper!’ (Bernstein, Swan & John Giunta) wraps up on a high as the impecunious kid enters an eating contest and allows shady operators to try an experimental appetite-increasing ray on him. Of course, the mad scientists have an ulterior, criminal motive…

A plane crash and head wound transform Lois into a fur-bikinied wild woman in #11 of her own magazine, but – even after being rescued by Superman – ‘The Leopard Girl of the Jungle!’ (Finger & Schaffenberger) has one last task to valiantly undertake. Anonymously authored ‘The Tricks of Lois Lane!’ finds the restored reporter up to her old tricks to expose Clark as Superman, whilst ‘Lois Lane’s Super-Perfume!’ (Bernstein) seems able to turn any man into a love-slave – until the Man of Steel exposes criminal scammers behind it…

Binder, Swan & Forte crafted all of Jimmy Olsen #39, beginning with the lad stuck on another world and quickly seen as ‘The Super-Lad of Space!’, after which, back in Metropolis, his ill-considered antics lose and win and lose him again a fortune in ‘The Million Dollar Mistakes!’ Lastly, ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Super-Signals!’ see him misplace his Superman-summoning watch and forced to spectacularly improvise every time he gets into trouble…

Bernstein wrote LL #12, beginning with two Schaffenberger specials: ‘The Mermaid of Metropolis’ in which an accident dooms Lois to life underwater beside Sea King Aquaman, until Superman cures her piscoid condition, whilst in ‘The Girl Atlas!’ Lana sneakily turns herself into a super-powerhouse to corral the Man of Steel and learns what sneaky means when Lois strikes back…

Al Plastino rendered ‘Lois Lane Loves Clark Kent!’, as the reporter, believing she has incontrovertible proof of Superman’s secret, starts a campaign to entrap her unknowing colleague in wedlock…

Swan & Forte illustrated all of JO #40, beginning with Binder’s ‘The Invisible Life of Jimmy Olsen’ as our hapless chum is enmired in all manner of mischief after a gift from his best pal unexpectedly leaves him unseen but not trouble-free. ‘Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl’s Pal!’ sees the reporter temporarily struck blind, just as a crook with a grudge tries to kill him. With Superman out of touch, the Caped Kryptonian’s secret weapon Supergirl (at this time a newly-arrived, hidden trainee no one except cousin Kal-El and Krypto know of) rushes to the rescue, only to have the feisty lad disbelieve and dispute her very existence.

Bernstein then exposes ‘Jimmy Olsen, Juvenile Delinquent!’ as he goes undercover to break up a street gang and discovers Perry White’s own son is a member…

Bernstein & Schaffenberger led in Lois’ 13th issue, hilariously ‘Introducing… Lois Lane’s Parents!’ Superman had offered her a lift home to the farm of Sam and Ella Lane for a family reunion, but thanks to a concatenation of circumstances, local gossip and super-politeness, the Man of Steel quickly finds himself peer-pressure-press-ganged into a wedding.

Fair Warning: this contains Lois’ first nude scene as a proud father gets out baby albums…

From the same creative team – and in a brilliant pastiche of My Fair Lady – ‘Alias Lois Lane!’ see the indomitable inquirer undercover as sketchy floozie Sadie Blodgett in a plan to snap candid shots of a movie star. It all goes south when “Sadie” is “hired” by crooks to impersonate Superman’s girlfriend in an assassination plot bound to fail!

Next, Finger, Boring & Kaye disclose ‘The Shocking Secret of Lois Lane!’ following a tragically implausible incident forcing the journalist to cover her disfigured head in a lead-lined steel box. Thankfully, the Action Ace is around to deduce what’s really going on…

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #41 opened with Bernstein, Swan & Forte’s ‘The Human Octopus!’, highlighting the lad’s negligent idiocy as he impetuously eats alien fruit and grows six more arms. However, the true effect of the space spud is far more devious…

Binder & Kaye joined Swan for ‘The Robot Reporter!’, with Jimmy using an automaton provided by Superman to do his job as he recuperates from a damaged ankle. Nonetheless, he manages to get into trouble from the comfort of his apartment. Thanks to stupid showing off, he’s then mistaken for a master fencer and catapulted into a Ruritanian adventure as ‘Jimmy Olsen, the Boy Swordsman!’ (Binder, Swan & Forte).

Binder & Schaffenberger opened LL #14 with ‘Three Nights in the Fortress of Solitude!’ as conniving journalist has contrived to isolate herself with Superman long enough to prove how much he needs a woman in his life, only to suffer one disaster after another…

Bernstein scripted ‘Lois Lane’s Soldier Sweetheart!’, revealing her warm and generous side as she helps a lonely GI attain his greatest desire. Jerry Siegel then returned to the character he created (and based on his own wife!) using still-secret Supergirl to catastrophically play cupid in ‘Lois Lane’s Secret Romance!’

Jimmy Olsen #42 started with uncredited story ‘The Big Superman Movie!’ (art by Swan & Forte), wherein the star-struck kid consults on a major motion picture. He would far rather have played himself, much to Lucy’s amusement, but ultimately the sharp apprentice journalist has the last word – and laugh. Bernstein was back for ‘Perry White, Cub Reporter!’ which has Editor and junior trading places, with power only apparently going straight to Olsen’s head, after which ‘Jimmy the Genie!’ sees something similar occur when boy reporter and magical sprite exchange roles in a clever thriller illustrated by Swan & Giunta.

Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #15 featured a landmark mystery in ‘The Super-Family of Steel!’ (Binder & Schaffenberger) which seemingly sees Lois attain her every dream. She and her Kryptonian Crimebuster first become ‘Super-Husband and Wife’, with ‘The Bride Gets Super-Powers’ as a consequence. They even have a brace of super-kids before the astounding ‘Secret of the Super-Family’ is revealed…

In Superman’s Pal #43 TV show 77 Sunset Strip got a name-check as ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Four Fads!’ (Swan & Kaye) finds the kid attempting to create a teen trend to impress Lucy, whilst as ‘Phantom Fingers Olsen!’ (Boring & Kaye) he infiltrates a gang of murderous thieves, before being adopted by ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Private Monster!’ (Siegel, Swan & Forte). After causing no end of embarrassment in Metropolis, the bizarre beast takes Jim to his home dimension where even greater shocks await…

The book’s final Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane is #16 (April 1960) opening with ‘Lois Lane’s Signal-Watch’ with Schaffenberger art on (possibly) a Siegel script. Here the Man of Steel learns to regret ever giving a woman who clearly has no idea what “emergency” means a device to summon him at any moment of day or night…

That slice of scurrilous 1950s propaganda is inexplicably balanced by a brilliant murder thriller displaying all Lois’ resilience and fortitude as she infiltrates and solves (Bernstein’s) ‘The Mystery of Skull Island’, before Siegel authors another cruel dark tragedy wherein Superman tries to cure Lois’ nosy impulses – by tricking his own girlfriend into believing she has a death stare in ‘The Kryptonite Girl!’ Of course, as all couples know, such power develops naturally not long after the honeymoon…

I love these stories, but sometime words just fail me.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #44 completes this third monochrome monolith, starting with Halloween-styled tale ‘The Wolf-Man of Metropolis!’ (Binder, Swan & Kaye) by blending horror, mystery and heart-warming charm in a mini-classic which sees the boy cursed to hairy moon madness. Desperate for surcease his only hope is a willing maiden to cure him with a kiss. That’s followed by Siegel, Swan & Forte’s ‘Jimmy’s Leprechaun Pal!’, a magical imp who made life hell for the cub until human ingenuity outwitted magical pranksterism, after which Bernstein, Swan & Kaye crafted possibly the strangest and most disturbing yarn in this compilation as the boy went undercover as a sexy showgirl to get close to gangster Big Monte in ‘Miss Jimmy Olsen!’

As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling, deeply peculiar and yes, often potentially offensive stories also perfectly capture the changing tone and tastes which reshaped comics from the safe 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more”.

Despite my good-natured cavils from my high horse here in the 21st century (or “the End of Days” as they’re more commonly known), I think these stories have a huge amount to offer funnybook fun-seekers. I strongly urge you to check them out.
© 1959, 1960, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: Peter Parker vs The X-Men


By Paul Tobin, Matteo Lolli, Ben Dewey, Christian Nauck, Terry Pallot & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4116-7 (Digest PB/Digital edition)

In 2003 the House of Ideas instituted a Marvel Age line: an imprint updating classic original tales and characters for a newer, younger readership. The enterprise was modified in 2005, with core titles reduced to Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man. The tone was very much that of the company’s burgeoning TV cartoon franchises, in delivery if not name.

Supplemental series including Super Heroes, The Avengers, Hulk and Iron Man chuntered along merrily until 2010 when they were cancelled. In their place came new volumes of Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man. Most of the re-imagined tales were collected in gleefully inviting digest-sized compilations and digitised like this torrid tome. It re-presents #58-61 – the final four stories – from February to May 2010, and all scripted throughout by Paul (No Romance in Hell, Plants vs Zombies) Tobin.

What You Need to Know: 16-year-old Peter Parker has been the mysterious Spider-Man for little more than six months. In that time, he has constantly prowled the streets and skyscrapers of New York, driven to fight injustice. However, as a kid just learning the ropes, he’s pretty much in over his head all the time.

The most persistent major hassle is the all-pervasive Torino crime-family, whose goombahs and street-thugs perpetually attack the wallcrawler on sight, spurred on by a $500,000 bounty on the kid’s web-covered head…

Peter’s civilian life is pretty complicated too, but of great help and constant comfort is High School classmate Sophia Sanduval – the extremely talented Chat – who can communicate with animals and knows Peter’s secret…

Following a handy introductory recap page, we open with him ‘Wanted’ (illustrated by Matteo Lolli & Terry Pallot) when the protracted vendetta against the Torinos is suddenly punctuated by wanted posters for the webslinger on every tree, fence and lamppost. During another brutal but pointless clash with the mobsters, the harassed hero is aided by a very capable masked woman in a red dress who introduces herself as the Blonde Phantom. She’s behind the find-Spidey posters but only because she wants to offer him a job with her Blonde Phantom Detective Agency…

Cautiously hearing her out, Spidey shares his strange and complex personal life with the sultry sleuth, telling her about Chat and how Gwen Watson claims to be going out on dates with his alter ego, something Peter adamantly denies. He doesn’t even have time for the girlfriend he’s got…

Gwen’s dad is Police Captain George Stacy – who also knows the boy’s secret and allows him to continue his vigilante antics. The senior cop acts as a mentor and sounding board, but has some very hard words concerning anyone taking money for doing good deeds. Peter kind-of agrees with him, but Aunt May is in desperate need of cash to repair the foundations of her house…

Conflicted Peter still hasn’t decided to meet up with Blonde Phantom, but as another band of Torinos jump them, the resulting battle reminds him that the last time he took money for being Spider-Man, Uncle Ben died…

The guilt-ridden kid sadly declines the glamorous gumshoe’s offer but is later astounded when Captain Stacy provides a welcome – and acceptably legitimate – financial solution to May’s money woes.

Blonde Phantom isn’t too disappointed either: she got Chat’s contact details out of Peter before they parted…

Pencilled by Ben Dewey, eponymous epic ‘Peter Parker vs. the X-Men’ finds the wallcrawler and Chat having an earnest heart-to-heart about their relationship – and Gwen’s persistent and insistent claims to still be going out on dates with Peter – when alarmed squirrels warn them that they are being spied on by a stranger with “three big fingers”. A rapid and thorough investigation results in nothing but a strange whiff of sulphur…

After they go their separate ways, the hero is again ambushed by Torinos, but one of them – later revealed as the grandson of The Family’s Big Boss Berto – helps him escape. George Stacy later warns him the increasingly impatient mobsters have finally hired some specialist help: engaging the services of super-assassin Bullseye – the Man who Never Misses…

Bewildered and extremely nervous our hero heads home only to find Wolverine spying on him. When the Arachnid attacks the clawed mutant he is assaulted by a whole squad of X-Men, and only after a frantic fray discovers they’ve come to offer help to a fellow mutant…

When he finally convinces them that he isn’t a Homo Superior kid, the embarrassed outsider heroes realise that mutant detector Cerebro must have been registering the girl he was with… the one who talks to pigeons and squirrels…

With pencils by Christian Nauck, ‘I’ve Got a Badge!’ focuses on the return of teenaged thief/mutant mindbender Silencer as Chat – now in training with the Blonde Phantom Detective Agency – explains to a baffled Peter that she can’t remember being his girlfriend, even though all her animal associates assure her it’s totally true.

Mysteries begin to unravel after Captain Stacy offers Spider-Man a Consultant position with the NYPD, asking him to help apprehend Silencer… who has been robbing the city blind.

Whilst searching for her and dreaming of a life where cops aren’t always after him, young Torino kid Carter takes an opportunity during one more gang hit to warn the wallcrawler Bullseye is after him…

Heading for Chat’s place, Peter finds Silencer in residence and calls in the cops, only to discover the bandit is actually his girlfriend’s BFF Emma Frost…

Choosing to help Emma escape, Peter sacrifices his chance for an easier life, and discovers to his dismay in the concluding chapter Emma is also behind all his romantic woes, meddling with both Gwen and Chat’s minds because she wants the webslinger for herself. Of course, the animals know what’s going on and when they tell Chat the fur – and webbing – flies…

Never the success the company hoped, Marvel Adventures was superseded in 2012 by specific comics tied to Disney XD television shows designated as “Marvel Universe cartoons”, but these collected stories remain an intriguing, amazingly entertaining and more accessible means of introducing the character and concepts to kids born two generations or more away from the originating events.

Fast-paced, enthralling and impressive, these Spidey super stories are intensely enjoyable yarns, although parents should note that some of the themes and certainly the violence might not be what everybody considers “All-Ages Super Hero Action” and might perhaps better suit older youngsters…
© 2009, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Bad Magic – A Skullduggery Pleasant Graphic Novel


By Derek Landy, PJ Holden, Matt Soffe, Rob Jones & Pye Parr (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
ISBN: 978-000-858-5785 (TPB/Digital edition)

Have you heard of Skulduggery Pleasant? What about his biographer Derek Landy?

The latter is an occasional comics writer (All-Out Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America) who moonlights as a best-selling Irish author, thanks mostly to the addictive exploits of the former. Since 2007, Landy has detailed the training of mystic troubleshooter Valkyrie Cain by a veteran spook chooser/animated skeleton calling himself… Skulduggery Pleasant…

Other than my heartfelt recommendation, what more do you need to go get some of that? By my count there’s 15 novels thus far, with another due early next year. Technically, it was all supposed to end after three trilogies, but the only thing that can’t die or be killed is soaring success…

With snippets, novellas, sidebar stories and the like popping up when least expected (surely the best time?) it was inevitable that the haunt-hunters would migrate to comics too, and it’s fair to say that the result is a real cracker…

Scripted by Landy, limned by P.J. Holden (Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd, Warhammer Monthly, The Moon Looked Down and Laughed, coloured by Matt Soffe and lettered by Rob Jones, the story opens in rural Termoncara, a rustic outpost that just happens to be the unsung murder capital of Ireland. Somehow, though, nobody outside seems to notice…

Inside the idyllic enclave of ordinary folk, all is not happy – especially for young Jamie, who truly regrets saying to Ethan what he did. Now Jamie’s despised: kept out of school and accused of killing his best friend. Moreover, he’s become the focus of enough hate, spite, hostility and intolerance to move mountains…

One month later, two flashy strangers arrogantly breeze into town, ruffling feathers, poking under stones and asking questions that better… beings… have died for. Soon, Valkyrie and Skulduggery are baiting and beating up a succession of racist, homophobic louts of all ages. Refusing to learn, these decent folk regularly confront them, but it’s just useful for misdirection as the strangers continue the actual task of finding out what kind of monster has turned a sleepy hamlet into the mystic equivalent of the Somme…

The root cause of all the grief is a deep mystery going back twenty years, and as the eerie investigators probe deeper and dodge multiple mundane and magical murder attempts, it becomes clear that it might be more than even Pleasant can handle…

Sadly, when they do unearth toxic, mystic agent provocateur Mr Friendly and his thuggish thaumaturgic pals, that proves all too true, but this kind of buried trauma can generate unlikely friends as well as appalling foes and in the end it’s all up to Jaimie to make a life- and reality-changing choice…

Fun, thrilling, smartly scripted and powerfully making a stand for diversity and inclusion in the face of intimidation and ignorance, even if this is your first encounter with the worlds of Skulduggery Pleasant, it one you will adore and never forget…
Text © Derek Landy 2023. Art © P.J. Holden 2023. Skulduggery Pleasant™ Derek Landy. Skulduggery Pleasant logo™ HarperCollinsPublishers. All rights reserved.

Bad Magic will be published 28th September 2023 and is available for pre-order now. If you’re of a sociable bent, there is a series of nine meet-&-greet events – such as a signing at Forbidden Planet Megastore London on 28th September and Henley Literary Festival on October 1st – so why not check out www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk for precise details, hmm?

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Superman: The Silver Age Dailies volume 1 – 1959-1961


By Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye, with Otto Binder, Robert Bernstein & Jerry Coleman (IDW Publishing Library of American Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-6137-7666-7 (HB)

It’s indisputable that America’s comic book industry – if it existed at all – would be an utterly unrecognisable thing without Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s Superman. Their unprecedented invention was fervidly adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation and quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form.

Spawning an impossible army of imitators and variations within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of eye-popping action and wish-fulfilment which epitomised the early Man of Steel grew to encompass cops-&-robbers crime-busting, socially reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East dragged in America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters, all dedicated to profit through exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

In comic book terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming the shape of the fledgling funnybook industry, the Man of Tomorrow relentlessly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media.

Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic creation as epitome and acme of comic book creation, the truth is that very soon after his debut in Action Comics #1 Superman pretty much left mere funnybooks behind to become a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and Mickey Mouse.

We parochial and possessive comics fans too often regard our purest and most powerful icons in purely graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, X-Men, Avengers and Superman long ago outgrew their four-colour origins and are now fully mythologized modern media creatures instantly familiar in mass markets, platforms and age ranges.

Far more people have seen or heard the Man of Tomorrow than have ever read his comic books. The globally syndicated newspaper strips alone reached untold millions. By the time his 20th anniversary rolled around at the very start of what we know as the Silver Age of Comics, he had been a thrice-weekly radio serial regular, starred in a series of astounding animated cartoons, two chapter play serials, a movie and a novel by George Lowther.

He was a perennial success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers and had just ended his first smash live-action television serial. In his immediate future even more shows, a stage musical, a franchise of blockbuster movies and an almost seamless succession of games, bubble gum cards and TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since.

Even superdog Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for the majority of the last century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country – and planet – with millions of avid readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books. It also paid better.

Rightly so: some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were created to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them grew to be part of a global culture. Mutt and Jeff, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more escaped humble newsprint origins to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar.

Most still do…

So it was always something of a risky double-edged sword when a comic book character became so popular that they swam against the tide (after all, weren’t the funnybooks invented just to reprint the strips in cheap accessible form?) to become a genuinely mass-entertainment syndicated serial strip.

Superman was the first original comic book character to make that leap – almost as soon as he was created – but only a few have ever successfully followed. Wonder Woman (briefly), Batman (eventually), DC’s aviator Hop Harrigan and groundbreaking teen icon Archie made the jump in the 1940s and only a handful like Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian have done so since.

The daily Superman newspaper comic strip launched on 16th January 1939 and was supplemented by a full-colour Sunday page from November 5th of that year. Originally crafted by such luminaries as Siegel & Shuster and their studio (Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, Dennis Neville, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Paul J. Lauretta & Wayne Boring), the mammoth task soon required the additional talents of Jack Burnley and writers Whitney Ellsworth, Jack Schiff & Alvin Schwartz.

The McClure Syndicate feature ran continuously until May 1966, appearing at its peak in more than 300 daily and 90 Sunday newspapers, boasting a combined readership of more than 20 million. Eventually, artists Win Mortimer and Curt Swan joined unfailing Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye, whilst Bill Finger and Seigel provided stories: serial tales largely separate and divorced from comic book continuity throughout years when superheroes were scarcely seen.

In 1956, Julie Schwartz opened the Silver Age with a new Flash in Showcase #4. Soon costumed crusaders were returning en masse to thrill a new generation. As the trend grew, many companies experimented with the mystery man tradition and the Superman newspaper strip began to slowly adapt: drawing closer to the revolution on the comic book pages.

As the Jet and Atomic Ages gave way to the Space-Age, the Last Son of Krypton was a vibrant yet comfortably familiar icon of domestic modern America: particularly in the constantly evolving, ever-more dramatic and imaginative comic book stories which had received such a terrific creative boost as super heroes began to proliferate once more. Since 1954, and thanks to television, the franchise had been cautiously expanding. In 1959, the Caped Kryptonian could be seen not only in Golden Age survivors Action Comics, Superman, Adventure Comics, World’s Finest Comics and Superboy, but now also in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane and soon Justice League of America. Such increased attention naturally filtered through to the more widely seen newspaper strip and resulted in a rather strange and commercially sound evolution…

After author/educator Tom De Haven’s impassioned Foreword, Sidney Friedfertig’s Introduction explains how and why Jerry Siegel was tasked with turning recently published comic book tales into daily continuities for an apparently more sophisticated and discerning newspaper readership. This meant major rewrites, frequently plot and tone changes and, in some cases, merging two stories into one.

If you’re a comic book fan, don’t be fooled: these stories are not mere rehashes, but variations on an idea for an audience perceived as completely separate from kids’ funnybooks. Even if you are familiar with the source material, the adventures gathered here will read as brand new, especially as they are gloriously illustrated by Curt Swan – and latterly Wayne Boring – at the very peak of their artistic powers.

As an added bonus the covers of the issues those adapted stories came from have been added as a full nostalgia-inducing full-colour gallery…

The astounding everyday entertainment commences with Episode #107 from April 6th to July 11th 1959. ‘Earth’s Super-Idiot!’ by Siegel, Swan & Stan Kaye is a mostly original story that borrows heavily from the author’s own ‘The Trio of Steel’ (Superman #135, February 1960, where it was drawn by Al Plastino). It details the tricks of an unscrupulous super-scientific telepathic alien producer of “Realies” who blackmails the Action Ace into making a fool and villain of himself for extraterrestrial viewers. If the hero doesn’t comply – acting the goat, performing spectacular stunts and torturing his friends – Earth will suffer the consequences…

After eventually getting the better of the UFO sleaze-bag, our hero returns to Earth with a bump and encounters ‘The Ugly Superman’ (July 13th – September 5th). First seen in Lois Lane #8 April 1959, where it was written by Robert Bernstein and illustrated by Kurt Schaffenberger, here eternal spinster Lois agrees to marry a brutish wrestler, and the Man of Tomorrow, for the most spurious of reasons, acts to foil her plans…

Episode #109 ran from September 7th to October 28th 1959, with Superman reluctantly agreeing to make a dying billionaire laugh in return for the miserable misanthrope signing over his entire fortune to charity.

Some of the apparently odd timing discrepancies in publication dates can be explained by the fact that submitted comic book stories often appeared months after they were completed, so their version of Siegel’s ‘The Super-Clown of Metropolis’ didn’t get published until Superman #136 (April 1960) where Plastino took the art in completely different directions…

‘Captive of the Amazons’ – October 29th 1959 to February 6th 1960 – merges two funnybook adventures both originally limned by Boring & Kaye. The eponymous equivalent from Action #266 (Jul 1960) was augmented by Bernstein’s ‘When Superman Lost His Powers’ (Action Comics #262) detailing how super-powered alien queen Jena came to Earth intent on making Superman her husband. On his refused she removed his Kryptonian abilities, subsequently trapping now merely mortal Clark Kent with other Daily Planet staff in a lost valley of monsters where Lois’ suspicions are again aroused…

Episode #111 ran from 8th February to 6th April. ‘The Superman of the Future’ originated in Action #256 (September 1959, by Otto Binder, Swan & Kaye). Both versions seemingly see Superman swap places with a hyper-evolved descendent intent on preventing four catastrophic historical disasters, but the incredible events are actually part of a devious hoax…

Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #10 (July 1959 by Siegel & Schaffenberger) offered up a comedy interlude as ‘The Cry-Baby of Metropolis’ (April 7th – May 28th) sees Lois terrified of losing her looks and exposing herself to a youth ray. Rapidly regenerating into an infant, she provokes much amusement in arch-rival Lana Lang… and that cad Superman…

Episode #113 May 30th – July 2nd features ‘The Super-Servant of Crime’ (Bernstein, from Superman #130, July 1959) as our hero outsmarts a petty crook who has bamboozled the Action Ace into granting him five wishes. Thereafter, ‘The Super-Sword’ (4th July to August 13th and originally by Jerry Coleman & Plastino for Superman #124, September 1958) pits the Kryptonian Crimebuster against an ancient knight with a magic blade that can penetrate his invulnerable skin. Once more, however, all is not as it seems…

Siegel, Boring & Kaye’s comic book classic ‘Superman’s Return to Krypton’ (in Superman #141, November 1960) was first seen in daily instalments from August 15th to November 12th 1960. There it told a subtly different tale of epic love lost as an accident marooned the adoptive Earth hero in the past on his doomed home-world. Reconciled to dying there with his people, Kal-El befriended his own parents and found love with his ideal soul-mate Lyla Lerrol, only to be torn from her side and returned to Earth against his will in a cruel twist of fate.

The strip version here is one of Swan’s most beautiful art jobs ever and, although the comic book saga was a fan favourite for decades thereafter, the restoration of this more mature interpretation might have some rethinking their opinion…

Wayne Boring once more became the premiere Superman strip illustrator with Episode #116 (November 14th – December 31st), reprising his & Siegel’s work on ‘The Lady and the Lion’ from Action #243 (August 1958), wherein the Metropolis Marvel is transformed into an inhuman beast by a Kryptonian exile the ancients called Circe…

Siegel then adapted Bernstein’s ‘The Great Superman Hoax’ and Boring & Kaye redrew their artwork for the episode (January 2nd – February 4th, 1961) from Superman #143 (February 1961). Here, a cunning criminal tries to convince Lois and Clark that he’s actually the Man of Might, blissfully unaware of who he’s failing to fool.

February 6th to March 4th has Superman using brains as well as brawn to thwart an alien invasion in ‘The Duel for Earth’ – originally appearing as a Superboy story in Adventure Comics #277 (October 1960) by Siegel & George Papp.

Superman #114 (July 1957) and scripter Otto Binder provided Siegel with the raw material for a deliciously wry and topical tax-time tale ‘Superman’s Billion-Dollar Debt’ – March 6th to April 8th – wherein an ambitious IRS agent presents the Man of Steel with a bill for unpaid back-taxes, whilst Episode #120 (April 10th – May 13th) introduces ‘The Great Mento’ (from Bernstein & Plastino’s yarn in Superman #147, August 1961): a tawdry showbiz masked mind-reader who blackmails the hero by threatening to expose his precious secret identity…

The final two stories in this premiere collection both come from Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane – issues #24, April and #26, July respectively – both originally crafted by Bernstein & Schaffenberger.

In ‘The Perfect Husband’ (15th May to July 1st) – begun and ended by Boring but with Swan pinch-hitting for 2 weeks in the middle – Lois’ sister Lucy tricks the journalist into going on a TV dating show. Here she meets her ideal man: a millionaire sportsman and war hero who looks just like Clark Kent…

Then ‘The Mad Woman of Metropolis’ sees Lois driven to the edge of sanity by a vengeance-hungry killer: a rare chance to see the reporter and butt of so many shameless male gags show her true mettle by solving a case without the Man of Tomorrow’s avuncular, so-often patronising assistance…

Superman: – The Silver Age Dailies 1959-1961 was the first in a series of huge (305 x 236mm) lavish, high-end hardback collections (frustratingly still not available in digital editions!) starring the Man of Steel and a welcome addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, Bringing Up Father, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and many of the abovementioned cartoon icons.

If you love the era, these stories are great comics reading, and this is a book you simply must have.
Superman ™ & © 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Bunny vs Monkey book 8: The Impossible Pig!


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-300-4 (Digest HB)

Bunny vs Monkey has been the hairy backbone of The Phoenix since the very first issue back in 2012: recounting a madcap vendetta gripping animal arch-enemies set amidst an idyllic arcadia masquerading as more-or-less mundane but critically endangered English woodlands.

Concocted with gleefully gentle mania by cartoonist, comics artist and novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Max and Chaffy, Flember), his trendsetting, mind-bending yarns have been wisely retooled as graphic albums available in remastered, double-length digest editions such as this one.

All the tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy began yonks ago after an obnoxious little beast plopped down in the wake of a disastrous British space shot. Crashlanding in Crinkle Woods – scant miles from his launch site – lab animal Monkey believed himself the rightful owner of a strange new world, despite all efforts from reasonable, sensible, genteel, contemplative forest resident Bunny to dissuade him. For all his patience, propriety and good breeding, the laid-back lepine could not contain or control the incorrigible idiot ape, who to this day remains a rude, noise-loving, chaos-creating, troublemaking lout…

Problems are exacerbated by other unconventional Crinkle creatures, particularly the skunk called Skunky who has a mad scientist’s intellect and attitude to life plus a propensity for building extremely dangerous robots, bio-beasts and sundry other super-weapons…

Here – with artistic assistance from design deputy Sammy Borras – the war of nerves and mega-ordnances resumes even though everybody thought all the battles had ended. They even seemingly forgot the ever-encroaching Hyoomanz…

Divided into seasonal outbursts, this magnificent hardback archive of insanity opens in the traditional manner: starting slowly with a sudden realisation. Probably by using his fingers, Monkey has worked out that Bunny’s side has more good guys (Ai, Pig Piggerton, Weenie, Metal E.V.E. and Le Fox) than his own bad ones! Wisely rejecting Skunky’s offer to make more evildoers, the sinisterly stupid simian seeks to steal some of Bunny’s buddies: making insidious individual approaches in ‘A Big Hole’.

One immediate success goes unnoticed as those worthy stalwarts debate ways to get hapless Pig out of a giant pit before finding the ‘Tunnels’ the sweet simpleton used to get there in the first place…

First contact and a really strange day for all – including a wholly new kind of Crinkle critter – occurs in ‘Jerb-eing Unreasonable’, before Monkey commits carnage in a psychic bodysuit that can literally ‘Imagine That’: opening the doors to another Spring. At this time a certain white rabbit is pilfering carrots from an angry Hyooman, only to be saved by Monkey in the colossal exo-skeletal ‘Spade-O-Matic’, officially opening hostilities between bipeds and beasts…

Meanwhile and maybe later, Bunny experiences ‘Mossy Mayhem’ when Skunky’s latest experiment escapes, even as Metal E.V.E ponders astral reality and rashly asks her friend to explain ‘Pig Science’…

As monkey demands 25% more evil from his crew, he’s distracted by Metal Steve’s latest faux pas – a doomed relationship with ‘Wipey’ – and ‘Sun 2.0’ renders repercussions of Skunky upgrading the source of all light and warmth. Action Beaver is then subject to a ‘Body Swap’ after Monkey covets his apparent immunity to pain and harm. It doesn’t end well…

Once the Great Woodland Bake-off inevitably culminates in ‘Cakes and Bruises’ Monkey use a superstrength serum unwisely. As his bones mend he has a Damascus moment: deducing that being a ‘Good Monkey’ might be less harmful. He gives nobility a go… but it too doesn’t end well…

A fresh face materialises when Pig meets ‘The Visitor’ and inadvertently saves Lucky the Red Panda from atomic discorporation. Sadly, the effect is only temporary and when their memories merge, Lucky is stuck in residence in this dimension with our plucky porcine adrift in the molecular stream of the cosmos…

Trapped on Earth, the stranger tries desperately to convince all and sundry she is ‘Actually Pig’, often assisted by typical distractions like marauding sprout-farting monster ‘Gruntulak!’ and a no-holds-barred campaign to elect ‘President Monkey’.

Skunky starts disassembling woodland residents: harvesting DNA to make endless duplicates in ‘All A-Clone’ but even Skunky’s science can’t handle Lucky…

As Summer starts, mad science wins again. Skunky sets a trap to prove Lucky is ‘Not Pig’ and even finds what happened to the lost one, after which Monkey manages to murder cloud-gazing in ‘Weather or Not’ and Weenie gets a shocking letter in ‘Blackmail’…

With the truth about to out, ‘Pocket Pig’ sees the gentle woodland folk form a torch-waving mob to establish their real friend’s fate, only to find Skunky has already found a way to exploit the situation. However, when he constructs a device to reach the outer realms, Monkey makes a shambles of the ‘Portal Recall’…

When the awful anthropoid gets a mail-order giant robotic Chicken of Darkness, he never anticipated some assembly required and the woods are saved by ‘A Loose Nobble’, allowing good manners and better natures to resurface. Thus, the animals all contribute to ‘Lucky’s Home’: especially Monkey with his goop gun and crushing space-sphere of doom…

Elsewhere, as Metal Steve and Metal E.V.E hold a private contest to decide the best automaton in ‘Who Will Win the War of the Robots’, Skunky’s clumsiness triggers a crop of carnivorous blooms in ‘Chomp!’ Then, as Monkey’s alter ego “Captain Explosives” accidentally uncovers a crop of chronal crystals in ‘Time and Again’ Skunky makes his greatest breakthrough: a remote control for existence with a ‘Freeze Frame’ able to warp and rewind reality…

With everything on pause, ‘The Second Pigging’ heralds the return of a lost friend whose voyage to the cosmos has resulted in Complete Spiritual Enlightenment and manifestation as a Non-Corporeal Vision. Sadly, when nobody cheers, the ultimate Pig pops off in a dudgeon, leaving Lucky to save the day and restore time in ‘Hairy Nearly’: a major turning point that upsets many participants…

In what passes for a return to normality, Monkey is possessed by the ghost of a chicken and triggers an invasion of ‘Zombies!’ just as Autumn begins with Skunky and Monkey unleashing a giant robot that is ‘Turtle-y Ridiculous’…

Former good guy Fantastic Le Fox is also possessed and offers ‘A Warning’ of failure and worse that Monkey immediately reacts badly too, even as transcendent Pig returns to make contact with and elevate ‘Prophet Beaver’. Of course, nobody listens…

Meanwhile, Monkey has been messing with elemental forces and turned the woods into an ‘Expressionistic’ nightmare, before losing patience and challenging Bunny to a duel of ‘Brain Power’. After winning by cheating, the ape learns a painful lesson that is only the beginning of his woes as ‘Double Bunny’ sees a doppelganger emerge who will change the status quo in appalling ways…

Lost and distraught Bunny undertakes a mission for Skunky into the bowels of the earth in search of ‘Long-Lost Flopsy’. Guess how that ends…

The drama intensifies as ‘The Impossible Pig’ returns to reality only to discover that being ‘Disappointingly Mortal’ would be better than life as a power battery for Skunky, and that’s when ‘Lucky’s Fortune’ turns the tide…

Bunny has not been right since meeting the other rabbit and with Metal E.V.E.’s aid ‘The Search is On’ for a boon companion. Only briefly interrupted by realty running wild, the search resumes in ‘Better Luck Next Time!’ and Le Fox’s niece arrives for some rowdy ‘Fennec Fun!’ She’s on the run and another relation isn’t far behind her…

Solitude has bitten our hero hard and nothing Monkey can do will distract ‘A Lonely Bunny’ in his morose meanderings, so the little meany challenges Impossible Pig instead, and learns real suffering in ‘Butt Then…’

When Winter arrives, Lucky sees snow for the first time, enduring cheeky hostiles chucking chilly snowballs until the wonder-pig volunteers as ‘Protector’ and is soon tricked by Skunky who wants to depower the self-promoting saviour ‘At All Costs’…

Now resolved to return to the Molecular Stream, Impossible Pig takes advice from unknowable factor Le Fox, but stumbles into a wild Christmas Party on his way to the fabulous Lake of Eternity. He also meets Lucky who wants to leave this reality just as much, but as they argue over who should take the one-way ride a dear friend and desolate hero is already ‘Jumping the Queue’…

To Be Continued…

The agonised anxiety-addled animal anarchy might have ended for now, but there’s a few more secrets to share, thanks to detailed instructions on ‘How to Draw Lucky’ as well as a handy preview of other treats and wonders available in The Phoenix to wind down from all that angsty furore…

The zany zenith of absurdist adventure, Bunny vs Monkey is weird wit, brilliant invention, potent sentiment and superb cartooning all crammed into one eccentrically excellent package. These tails never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. This is the kind of comic book parents beg kids to read to them. Shouldn’t that be you?
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2023. All rights reserved.

Bunny vs Monkey book 8: The Impossible Pig! will be published on September 28th 2023 and is available for pre-order now.

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The Campbells volume 1: Inferno & volume 2: The Formidable Captain Morgan


By José Luis Munuera, coloured by Sedyas translated by Emma Wilson (Europe Comics)
Digital Editions – No ISBNs:

Arrr an’ Wot Ho! It be anuvver International Talk Like a Pirate Day once morrrre, me Hearties! That gives me license to act like a complete berk whilst plugging a suitably themed graphic yarn. This ‘un be a real cracker, too…

As heavily influenced by a certain Disney movie franchise as continental Europe’s long-standing affection for the genre, and exhibiting a deft hand with the traditions and history of light-hearted freebooting romps, Inferno is the introductory salvo in a convoluted yet engaging family saga about a most unconventional bunch of buccaneers.

Crafted by Andalusian comics veteran José Luis Munuera (No Hay Domingos en el Infierno, Merlin, Walter le Loup, Spirou et Fantasio, P’tit Boule et Bill) who has been delighting readers since his debut in 1996, the epic voyage of discovery commences here with smart, snappy episodes introducing an extremely large cast of roguish characters. First up are devious rapscallion “Captain” Carapepino and his trusty dogsbody Haggins. A very minor player with huge aspirations, this smooth talker is off burying his first chest of treasure on a sun-kissed tropical island when he is ambushed and hijacked by the infamous – and long-missing – Captain Campbell.

Through a most cunning ploy, the pirate’s pirate (with two young daughters at his side) appropriates the gem-strewn chest and smugly paddles away to another paradisiacal atoll…

The next vignette sees the wonder family man at ease in his luxurious haven on Garden Island, patiently watching teenaged Itaca explode again as her obnoxiously bratty sister Genova reads excerpts from someone’s secret – stolen – diary…

Despite always acting out and indulging in outrageous feats of derring-do, the well-educated, ultra-fit kids love each other and desperately miss their mother.

Out in the briny depths, formidably ferocious Captain Inferno terrorises victims and his own men. A man of dark moods and soaring ambition, he is haunted by visions of a dead woman who comes to him often, repeating three horrifying predictions that he cannot escape. His night terrors are suppressed but not abated by the arrival of unctuous Carapepino who shares that encounter with the sea terror’s most despised enemy… and husband of the ghost who plagues him!

The Campbells might be sea-wolves but they are most unconventional ones. Amongst those who love them most are the inhabitants of the Isle of Bakaloo: a leper colony the family regularly visit with supplies of food, books and other life-easing essentials. On this latest jaunt, the canny corsairs bring along the latest chest of valuables: after all, what normal, superstitious rogues would risk their scurvy skins amongst the unclean and diseased?

Some days later, the family visit fiercely neutral township Bahia Cambalanche, Port Franc. Here all hawks of the seas can meet to trade, carouse and fence their stolen booty. Here and now, Itaca and Genova reluctantly attend lessons arranged by their father.

Right here, right now, Carapepino and a press gang provided by Inferno attempt to abduct the girls only to be beaten back by their unbridled fury and the late intervention of gorgeous teenager Blond Luca. Itaca is instantly smitten by the glorious hero, blithely unaware that her saviour is a pawn in a dastardly long con…

The deception blossoms soon after as Garden Island is invaded by Carapepino’s borrowed forces. Nevertheless, the trio of Campbells fight free, humiliate the craven dogs and make a bold escape to a new sanctuary. In the interim, Inferno has not been idle. By ruthless manipulation and scurrilous deals, he has ingratiated himself with English nobility – and Campbell’s oldest enemies – in order to have himself admitted to the top flight of the corrupt aristocracy. Invested as Baron of England, with a warrant to hunt all shipping but British vessels, Inferno moves quickly to consolidate power and replace the crown’s agents with his own people…

The Campbells have relocated to Bakeloo Island where Itaca broods over Luca’s betrayal as her father worries about her unexplained distress. Father is also blithely oblivious to passionate and sustained adoration of indigenous lovely Nutel-La, but the practical islander finally makes a big impression by suggesting that the devoted dad needs to have “the talk” with his manifestly-maturing older daughter…

Having lost yet another ship, Carapepino and his surviving crew at last link up with former employer Baron Inferno, just in time to become his first detainees as the freshly ennobled provincial ruler moves into his new Governor’s Palace.

The interloper eases gracefully to the head of the aristocratic pack, gleaming in fine clothes, sparkling with newfound power and respectability. After all, aren’t these rich privileged fools just another gang of self-proclaimed predators? Especially shockingly blunt and ruthlessly amoral Lady Helvetia, who becomes his boon companion and more…

When the revels end, the Baron’s mind races back decades to the docks of London where he and his bold, inventive, loyal brother picked pockets and sought to escape their monster of a father. How far they have come since then. How far they have drifted apart…

To Be Continued…

Volume 2: The Formidable Captain Morgan

The seagoing saga resumes with more revelations as 2017’s Les Campbell – 2. Le redoutable pirate Morgan arrives to further the fun-filled furore. As Itaca and Genova find fresh ways to perk up their sisterly rivalry, the younger girl asks about the mother she doesn’t remember. That tricky conversation sparks a flashback to when the bold Campbell brothers first tried to recruit a band of cutthroats to serve under them…

Elsewhere, Dad is having similar reveries of the mere slip of girl he met one day and how Nancy was the most capable streetfighter he had ever seen. Sadly, his reminiscences are interrupted by increasingly forward Nutel-La who can also handle herself when not concentrating on him…

Beneath the grandiose and byzantine Piranese Palace, new governor Inferno entertains former allies in his dungeons until impressionable Lady Sophia of Hollowside brings Carapepino what should be his last meal. She’s actually there to spring her wicked lover, but that was before his flunky Haggins ate the key to the cell…

Another flashback sees the brothers prospering as pirates until again encountering premiere privateer “The Formidable Captain Morgan”. That masked worthy has been regularly poaching their prizes and the older Campbell has had enough…

Back in their present, the girls’ father warms to his willing island girl and discovers a lost connection, whilst at the Piranese Palace, Lady Sophia sparks a frantic chase after finally springing Carapepino and Haggins…

Then he recalls how they all first met scurrilous Carapepino who promised them Captain Morgan, and how his brother reacted to seeing Nancy. That was the moment siblings became rivals, and then competitors. Nevertheless, still resolved to destroy mysterious masked marauder Morgan, the Campbell brothers laid a trap…

Today on the Bakeloo, Nutel-La and Itaca trade unhappy stories about the disappointing men in their lives as Baron Governor Inferno starts emptying dungeons and filling gibbets even as Carapepino’s cohort make a most incredible getaway.

Soon after, the Campbell clan cautiously go shopping. As Itaca returns to her beloved bookshop, treacherous guilt-ridden Luca resurfaces and in the resulting confrontation loses something truly precious…

Meanwhile, father Campbell meets an old friend and is ambushed. Despite valiant resistance down he goes, unleashing another memory: how the trap for Captain Morgan proved successful, what he learned and how his life forever changed…

To Be Continued…

Only currently available in English in digital editions, The Campbells is a fabulously engaging rollercoaster of whimsical but ferocious thrills and fun, as good as the first Pirates of the Caribbean film and far more entertaining and satisfying than the rest of that franchise… or most other cinematic corsair fare.

Combining smart and constant laughs with bombastic action, an enticing generational war, murder mystery and heartbreakingly winning characters – goodies and baddies! – the series goes from strength to strength. These first two volumes are captivating from the outset, with hyper-kinetic Marcinelle School-derived art grabbing the attention and dragging readers along as though caught in a bow wave. The raffish gags subtly counterbalance a strong, complex family-based conflict and just the merest hint of supernatural menace lurks in the shadows.

Don’t wait for a print release, scour the electric oceans and salvage these books and the rest of the series…
© DUPUIS – MUNUERA 2017. All rights reserved.

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The Complete Dickie Dare


By Milton Caniff (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 0-93019-322-9 (HB)  978-0-93019-321-8 (PB)

Despite being one of the greatest and most influential cartoonists in world history, Milton Caniff wasn’t an overnight sensation. He worked long and hard before he achieved stellar status in the comic strip firmament, before Terry and the Pirates brought him fame, and Steve Canyon secured his fortune.

The strip which brought him to the attention of legendary Press Baron “Captain” Joseph Patterson – in many ways co-creator of Terry – was an unassuming daily fantasy feature about a little boy who was hungry for adventure…

Caniff was working for The Associated Press as a jobbing cartoonist when a gap opened in their strips department. AP was an organisation that devised and syndicated features for the thousands of regional and small-town newspapers which couldn’t afford to produce cartoons, puzzles, recipes and other fillers that ran between the local headlines and regional sports.

Over a weekend, Caniff came up with Dickie, a studious lad who would read a book and then fantasize himself into the story, taking faithful little dog Wags with him. The editors went for it and Dickie Dare premiered on July 31st, 1933.

Caniff wrote and drew the feature for less than 18 months before moving on, although his excellent but unappreciated replacement Coulton Waugh steered the series until its conclusion two decades later.

The first day-dream was with Robin Hood, followed by a frantic, action-packed visit with Robinson Crusoe and Friday, battling hordes of howling savages and scurvy pirates. Rugged combat gave way to fantastic mystery when the tyke perused Aladdin, resulting in a lavish and exotic trip to a very fabled Far East. This segment closed near Christmas, and when his father read Dickie the story of the Nativity, Caniff began his long personal tradition of creating seasonally topical strips.

A visit to Bethlehem ended on Christmas morning, and one of Dickie’s Christmas presents then triggers his next excursion, when he starts reading of General George Armstrong Custer…

King Arthur next, followed by Captain Kidd the Pirate, but by then Caniff was chafing under the self-imposed limitations of his creation. He believed the strip had become formulaic and there was no real tension or drama in mere dreams. In a creative masterstroke, he revised the strip’s parameters, and by so doing produced the prototype for a masterpiece.

On May 11th, 1934, Dickie met a new uncle: globe-trotting author and two-fisted man-of-action Dan Flynn, and one week later the pair embarked on a Round-the-World trip. Caniff had moved swiftly, crafting a template that would become Terry and the Pirates.

The wide-eyed, nervy All-American Kid with adult pal ultra-capable adventurer, whilst a subject of much controversy and even ill-advised and outright scurrilous modern disparagement, was a literary archetype since before Treasure Island. Adapting that relationship to comic strips was commercially sound: a decision that hit a peak of popularity with the horde of sidekicks/partners who followed in the wake of Robin the Boy Wonder six years later.

No sooner have Dickie & Dan taken ship for Africa than the drama begins, when the restless kid uncovers a hidden cargo of smuggled guns. Aided by feisty Debutante Kim Sheridan and sailor Algy Sparrow, our heroes foil the scheme, but not before Dickie is captured by Kuvo, the Arab chieftain awaiting those weapons.

Pursued by French authorities, Kuvo retreats to a desert fortress where Kim, disguised as a slave-girl, rescues the lad, only to be caught herself. The full-tilt action peaks to a splendid conclusion before the boys, with Algy in tow as their butler, head for Tunis only to stumble across a plot to use a World War I U-Boat for ocean-going piracy…

This long adventure (beginning September 13th) is a thoroughly gripping yarn encompassing much of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, as the boys escape pirates and aid the Navy in hunting them down. There’s buckets of action and an astonishing amount of tension, but the tale ends a tad abruptly when Caniff, lured away by Patterson, simply drops the feature and Coulton Waugh takes over the storyline from the next Monday (3rd December).

With no break in the tale Waugh rapidly (in 14 episodes) wraps up the saga. He even has Dickie home by Christmas.

From the New Year the strip would chart new waters with Waugh at the helm, aided (and briefly replaced whilst he wrote his seminal book on Comics and also when he was producing the strip Hank for the New York magazine PM) by assistant and spouse Odin Burvik.

Dickie Dare eventually ended its run in October 1957 with the now adult adventurer beginning a new career as a US Navy Cadet.

Although usually dismissed as a mere stage on the road to his later mastery – and certainly long before Caniff and sometime studio partner Noel Sickles made their chiaroscurist breakthroughs in line-art that revolutionised the form – these early tales delighted and enthralled readers. Full of easy whimsy and charm, the strip evolved into a rip-roaring, all-ages thriller, full of wit and derring-do, in many ways an American answer to Hergé’s Tintin.

They deserve to be appreciated on their own merits and are long overdue for reappraisal in new collections.

At least this edition is still readily available but Dickie Dare is long overdue for rediscovery by the mass-market – and streaming services! – so while we’re at it, let’s see some of the work that the criminally under-valued Waugh originated too.
Artwork originally © 1933-1934 The Associated Press. Other contents this edition © Richard Marschall All rights reserved.