Category: Humour

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The Rocketeer & The Spirit: Pulp Friction


By Mark Waid, Paul Smith, Loston Wallace, J Bone, Bob Wiacek & various (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-61377-881-4 (HB/Digital edition)

The American comics industry has generated its fair share of immortal heroes. However, whilst everyone is familiar with household names such as Flash Gordon, Superman, Dick Tracy or Popeye, there are also timeless champions who pretty much remain hallowed names only to the in-crowd and cognoscenti: characters who had their shot at global mega-stardom but for some reason never caught on with the masses. Guys like The Spirit and The Rocketeer…

Will Eisner was a pivotal creative force who helped shaped the entire medium of comics. From 1936 to 1938 he worked as a jobbing cartoonist in the studio-stable known as the “Eisner-Eiger Shop”, creating strips for both domestic and foreign markets.

As Willis B. Rensie he created and drew the opening instalments of a huge variety of characters ranging from funny animal to historical sagas, Westerns, Detectives, aviation action thrillers… and superheroes… lots of superheroes.

In 1940, Everett “Busy” Arnold, of Quality Comics, invited Eisner to take on a new challenge. The Register-Tribune newspaper syndicate wanted a 16-page weekly comicbook insert to be given away with the Sunday editions. Eisner created three strips which would initially be handled by him before two were handed off to his talented assistants.

Bob Powell inherited Mr. Mystic whilst distaff detective Lady Luck first fell into the capable hands of Nick Cardy (nee Nicholas Viscardi) and later the inimitable Klaus Nordling.

Eisner kept the lead for himself, and over the next dozen years masked detective The Spirit grew into the most impressive, innovative, imitated and talked-about strip in the business. In 1952, the venture folded and Eisner moved into commercial, instructional and educational comics, working extensively for the US military in manuals and magazines like P*S, the Preventative Maintenance Monthly, and generally left comics books behind.

In the wake of “Batmania” and the 1960s superhero craze, Harvey Comics released two giant-sized reprint editions with some new material from Eisner. These led to a brace of underground compilations and a slow but inexorable rediscovery and revival of the Spirit’s fame and fortune, via black-&-white newsstand reprint magazines.

Warren Publishing collected old stories, occasionally adding painted colour from contemporary luminaries like Rich Corben, but from #17 the title reverted to Kitchen Sink, who had produced those first two underground collections.

Eisner found himself re-enamoured with graphic narrative and discerned that there now existed a willing audience eager for new works. From producing new Spirit covers for the magazine – something the original newspaper insert had never needed – he became increasingly inspired. American comics were evolving into an art-form and the restless creator finally saw a place for the kind of stories he had always wanted to tell.

Eisner subsequently began crafting some of the most telling and impressive work the industry had ever seen: first in limited collector portfolios and, in 1978, with groundbreaking sequential narrative A Contract With God: thereby jumpstarting our modern comics phenomenon of graphic novels…

Although his output was far smaller and life far shorter, Dave Stevens had an equally revolutionary effect on the industry: his lush and lavish illustration style influencing a generation of artists as his signature retro-futurist character The Rocketeer became the first breakout star of the Independent Comics movement that stemmed from the creation of the comic book Direct Sales Market.

Due to Stevens’s legendarily uncompromising artistic vision – and consequent slow page rate – very few of The Rocketeer’s period exploits appeared before the artist’s death from Hairy Cell Leukaemia in 2008. Since then, diverse hands have added to the canon, as with the miniseries collected in this slim but stunning edition.

Just in case these vintage adventurers are new to you, The Spirit used to be Denny Colt: Central City’s greatest detective and criminologist. After apparently dying in battle with a vile master-villain, Colt opted to remain officially dearly departed to battle evil in a semi-official capacity. The masked enigma was covertly aided by girlfriend Ellen Dolan and her father, the Police Commissioner of that crime-ridden metropolis.

Cliff Secord is an itinerant West Coast pilot who – circa 1938 – found a fantastic jetpack outfit and stumbled into a succession of criminal plots and capers. With the eventual permission of the flight engine’s inventor – one of the greatest heroes of that or any other era – Cliff still finds himself regularly battling bad guys as The Rocketeer. When that’s not occupying his time, he’s busy looking for work or being given the run-around by his star-struck, fame-obsessed, trouble-magnet girl Betty…

Team-ups are part-and-parcel of comics and both heroes have had their share of cataclysmic and catastrophic clashes with the valiant giants of the period and the industry. This yarn however – a 4-issue miniseries by Mark Waid originally spanning July to December 2013 – concentrates as much on humour as bombastic action. It begins on the East Coast in February 1941 as business executives and government men meet to decide the future of the Next Big Thing…

Alderman Cunningham is stridently opposed to letting business cartels control the new medium and argues that, just like with radio, public airwaves must not be owned by any individual or corporation seeking to monopolise recently invented Television…

Mere hours later an early morning fashion shoot on a California beach is ruined when beautiful Betty finds the idealistic politician’s mangled corpse. When the stiff is identified as Cunningham, Commissioner Dolan and Spirit are baffled. How could the victim have travelled more than 3000 miles in one night? Determined to investigate, they book passage on a transcontinental plane, having reluctantly crumbled before the forceful Ellen who demands to join them and see Hollywood…

In Los Angeles, Cliff Secord is still ignored by traumatised Betty. He mopes dejectedly until grizzled old mechanic Peevy points out that whoever killed the Alderman might also want to silence the girl who found the body…

Nearby, a very wealthy entrepreneur places a coast-to-coast call to The Spirit’s greatest enemy to discuss his incredible new invention, the pursuance of their plans and how to stop a certain masked interloper from interfering…

Said hero – still wearing his mask – is stiffly staggering off a plane at Chaplin Field with his equally exhausted cross-country companions. In a weary, unguarded moment he mentions Betty. Learning of the “slip”, an already paranoid Cliff panics and, assuming a masked killer has come for his girl, dons his rocket-man suit to attack…

After a spectacular battle, Ellen finally manages to convince both testosterone-soaked mutton heads they are on the same side, and a tentative alliance forms …at least until Spirit interviews Betty and the flighty starlet finds she’s in love – or thereabouts – with the hunky masked cop.

Illustrator Paul Smith gives way to Loston Wallace & Bob Wiacek as chapter two opens with the fractious, clueless allies heading for the LA Morgue and Cunningham’s cadaver. Elsewhere, television wizard Benedict Trask and The Octopus debate how best to get Betty out of the picture and deal with interlopers meddling in their affairs. Their solution is unique and everything would have worked out swell if not for inveterate tinkerer Peevy who has built his own prototype TV receiver and intercepted something he shouldn’t have…

The villains respond in typical manner but their big mistake is believing planes sent to strafe Peevy’s hangar are enough to stop Rocketeer and The Spirit…

With J Bone stepping in for the final two chapters, the high-octane tale ramps up to top gear as Cliff travels to Central City with The Spirit and the Dolans. All they have to do is find Betty, expose Trask and the Octopus’ sinister scheme, uncover their treacherous connections to a certain Fascist foreign power, prevent America’s airwaves being subverted and save President Roosevelt from assassination by television in a rocket-paced, breathtaking rollercoaster ride that delivers non-stop thrills and chills…

Accompanied with an Introduction from Denis Kitchen, filling in all necessary back-story on the characters, and visually embellished by sketches and a large cover gallery by Darwyn Cooke, Smith, Jordie Bellaire, Bone and Chris Samnee, Pulp Friction is a no-nonsense fun-filled frolic to delight lovers of the good old days of Thud and Blunder…
© 2014 The Rocketeer Trust and Will Eisner Studios, Inc. The Rocketeer is a registered trademark of, and all related characters, their distinctive likenesses and indicia are trademarks of The Rocketeer Trust. All Rights Reserved. The Spirit © 2014 Will Eisner Studios, Inc. The Spirit and Will Eisner ™ & © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. ® in the US Patent and Trademark Office. All Rights Reserved.

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The Bluecoats volume 16: Sallie


By Willy Lambil & Raoul Cauvin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook).
ISBN: 978-1-80044-089-0 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Devised by Louis “Salvé” Salvérius & Raoul Cauvin – who scripted the first 64 volumes until his retirement in 2020 – Les Tuniques Bleues (Dutch-language iteration De Blauwbloezen) debuted at the end of the 1960s: created to supplant the irreplaceable Lucky Luke when that laconic maverick defected from weekly anthology Le Journal de Spirou to rival publication Pilote.

From the start, the substitute strip was hugely popular: swiftly becoming one of the most popular bande dessinée series in Europe. It is now scribed by Jose-Luis Munuera and the BeKa writing partnership and up to 66 tomes…

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. Lambil is Belgian, born in 1936 and, after studying Fine Art in college, joined publishing giant Dupuis in 1952 as a letterer.

Born in 1938, scripter Cauvin was also Belgian and – before entering Dupuis’ animation department in 1960 – studied Lithography. He soon discovered his true calling was comedy and began a glittering, prolific writing career at Le Journal de Spirou. In addition, he scripted dozens of long-running, award winning series including Cédric, Les Femmes en Blanc and Agent 212: totalling 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.

Here, designated The Bluecoats, our long-suffering protagonists are Sergeant Cornelius Chesterfield and Corporal Blutch: worthy, honest fools in the manner of Laurel & Hardy; hapless, ill-starred US cavalrymen defending America during the War Between the States.

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.

All subsequent adventures – despite often ranging far beyond the traditional environs of the sundered USA and taking in a lot of genuine and thoroughly researched history – are set within the timeframe of the Secession conflict.

Blutch is your run-of-the-mill, 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 whenever he can, he’s you or me – except at his core he’s smart, principled and even heroic… if no easier option is available.

Chesterfield is big and burly, a professional fighting man and proud career soldier of the 22nd Cavalry who devoutly believes in patriotism and the esprit-de-corps of the Military. He’s brave, never shirking his duty and hungry to be a medal-wearing hero. He also loves his cynical little pal so naturally, they quarrel like a married couple, fight like brothers yet 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. Coloured by Vittorio Leonardo, Les Tuniques Bleues – Sallie was released continentally in 2018 as the 62nd book, and became Cinebook’s 16th translated Bluecoats album. It is not like the majority of these tales, which tread a fine line between comedy and righteous anger, and if you share these books with younger kids, read it first on your own. Preferably with tissues and your comfort-amplifying food or beverage of choice. Sallie is another incident based on a true story of the war, but if you can refrain from looking up Sallie Ann Jarrett until you finish, it will be to your benefit.

It begins with our protagonists again arguing about the war and their part in it. The little man is grooming his wily steed Polka, a horse so smart it has managed to survive the entire conflict and many manic cavalry charges commanded by a callous high command and led by deranged, seemingly bulletproof Captain Stark. It quickly becomes clear that Chesterfield sees the horses and mules – all animals in fact – as nothing more than equipment: expendable, disposable and replaceable…

The northerners are gearing up for another major battle and as they bicker reinforcements arrive, Pennsylvanians of the 11th Infantry Division despatched by General Ulysses Grant himself. They are battle-hardened veterans who proudly march into camp accompanied a dog. It transpires that Sallie has been with them from the start; fighting beside them on many bloody battlefields. She quickly takes a liking to Polka and, as the soldiers all swap stories around campfires, slowly the ice around Chesterfield’s heart begins to thaw…

The Brass have no time for comradeship: they are cloistered in luxury trying to divine Confederate strategy, outguess their tactics and work out exactly where the enemy is. Ultimately, baffled as always, they resort to an old tactic and order a trustworthy man to go out and capture someone from the other side…

Chesterfield heads out at dusk towards the rebel lines, unaware until far too late that his one-man suicide mission is being covertly augmented by Sallie and – far more reluctantly – by Blutch on Polka. Astoundingly, the job is a success and thanks to the intrepid mutt, they capture Southern spy and old acquaintance Cockroach. Dragged back to camp, the enemy combatant is soon made to talk…

The next day, a flurry of activity sees Union armies confidently moving on the unsuspecting opposition and into the jaws of a disinformation-fuelled trap built from their Generals’ own arrogance and inability to improvise. With no other answer than to throw more bodies into the meat grinder, the battle devolves into a massacre and not just human casualties mount…

In the end all our heroes can do is pick themselves up, honour their fallen and reaffirm what they always knew…

Packed with true but daft anecdotes – like the story of Robert E. Lee’s chicken – and pointedly seditious polemic with moving moments, Sallie shows what war truly costs, weaponizing charm and humour, making occasional moments of shocking verity doubly powerful and hard-hitting. Funny, thrilling, beautifully realised and eminently readable, Bluecoats is the best kind of war-story and Western: appealing to the best, not worst, of the human spirit. And this one is really, really sad…
© Dupuis 2018 by Lambil & Cauvin. All rights reserved. English translation © 2022 Cinebook Ltd.

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Hellraisers


By Robert Sellers & JAKe (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-906838-36-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

Here’s a quandary for you. Why are we blessed with and so obsessed by the capacity for self-destruction? Answers on a beermat to…

Robert Sellers used to be a stand-up comedian – so he has his own perspective – before settling as an author and film journalist with prose biographies including Sting, Tom Cruise, Sean Connery and the Monty Python phenomenon to his name. He’s also contributed to periodicals and magazines like The Independent, Total Film, Empire, SFX and Cinema Retro. And he’s also been seen on TV quite a bit.

In 2009 he published a magnificent history of theatrical excellence and brilliant excess in his Life and Inebriated Times of Burton, Harris, O’Toole and Reed. Two years later, he revisited and reformatted the material in collaboration with prestigious illustrator, designer and animator JAKe (How to Speak Wookiee, cartoon series Geekboy, Mighty Book of Boosh, The Prodigy’s Fat of the Land and so much more, both singly and with the studio Detonator which he co-founded). The artist keeps himself to himself and lets his superb artistry do all the talking.

Self-adapted from his prose history of the iconic barnstorming British film and theatre legends Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed and Peter O’Toole, Sellers transformed Hellraisers into a pictorial feast of “why did he do THAT?!” These tales of lurid limelight reveal the unique and incredible lives of a quartet of new wave, working class thespian heroes; each more famed for boozing and brawling than for acting. The result is a masterful parable and celebration of the vital, vibrant creative force of rebellion.

The histories are diligently interpreted with savage, witty style – and with a heaping helping of barely-suppressed admiration – in ferociously addictive and expressive monochrome cartoon and caricature novelettes by the enigmatic JAKe.

Working on the principle that a Hellraiser is “a person who causes trouble by violent, drunken or outrageous behaviour” and cloaked in the guise of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the salutary fables open as another drunken reprobate is thrown out of another pub. It’s Christmas Eve at the Rose & Crown of Broken Dreams and Martin should be home with his wife and son.

After again disgracing himself, and still shaking with DT’s and unexpunged rage, the pathetic drunk staggers back to his loving but scared family, only to pass out. He is awoken by his hellraising father who drank and smoked himself to death seven years previously.

Told that he has one last chance to save himself, Martin is warned that he will be visited by four spirits (no, sadly not that sort) who will regale him with the stories of their lives and fates and failures and triumphs…

What follows is a beguiling journey of bitter self-discovery as Burton, Harris, Reed and O’Toole (still alive at that juncture, but part of the visitation of “spooky buggers” as it’s just a matter of time, my dear boy…) recount their own soused-and-sodden histories, experiences and considerations in an attempt to turn around the piddling lightweight. They’re certainly not that repentant, however, and even proud of the excesses and sheer exuberant manly mythology they’ve made of their lives…

Managing the masterful magic trick of perfectly capturing the sheer charismatic force and personality of these giants of their craft and willing (or helpless?) accomplices in their own downfalls, this superb saga even ends on an upbeat note. However, that’s only after cataloguing the incredible achievements, starry careers, broken relationships, impossibly impressive and frequently hilarious exploits of debauchery, intoxication and affray perpetrated singly and in unison by the departed, unquiet sozzled soul…

Jam-packed with legendary exploits and barroom legends of four astoundingly gifted men who couldn’t stop breaking rules and hearts (especially their own), and blessed/cursed with infinitely unquenchable thirsts for the hard stuff and the aforementioned appetites for self-destruction, this intoxicating, so very tasty tome venerates the myths these unforgettable icons promulgated and built around themselves, but never descends into pious recrimination or laudatory gratification.

It’s just how they were…

Sellers has the gift of forensic language, perfectly channelling the voices and idiom of each star even as JAKe perfectly blends shocking historical reportage with evocative surreal metafiction in this wonderful example of the power of sequential narrative.

Clever, witty and unmissable; isn’t it time you took a little nip to fortify yourself?
© 2010 Robert Sellers and JAKe. All rights reserved.

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Doctor Who volume 11: Cold Day in Hell


By Simon Furman, Mike Collins, Grant Morrison, John Freeman, Dan Abnett, Richard Alan & John Carnell, Alan Grant, John Ridgway, Kev Hopgood, Tim Perkins, Geoff Senior, David Hine, Bryan Hitch, John Higgins, Lee Sullivan, Dougie Braithewaite & Dave Elliott, Andy Lanning, Martin Griffiths & Cam Smith & various (Panini Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-410-2 (TPB)

Despite the volatile vagaries of quantumly entanglementation, if you generally experience reality in a sequential manner, this year remains the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Thus there is/has been/will be a bunch of Timey-Wimey stuff on-going as we periodically celebrate a unique TV and comics institution…

The British love comic strips, adore “characters” and are addicted to celebrity. The history of our homegrown graphic narratives includes an astounding number of comedians, Variety stars and television actors: such disparate legends as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Askey, Charlie Drake and so many more I’ve long forgotten and you’ve likely never heard of.

As much adored and adapted were actual shows and properties like Whacko!, Supercar, Thunderbirds, Pinky and Perky, The Clangers and literally hundreds of others. If folk watched or listened, an enterprising publisher made printed spectacles of them. Hugely popular anthology comics including Radio Fun, Film Fun, TV Fun, Look-In, TV Comic, TV Tornado, and Countdown readily and regularly translated our light entertainment favourites into pictorial joy every week, and it was a pretty poor star or show that couldn’t parley the day job into a licensed strip property…

Doctor Who premiered on black-&-white televisions across Britain on November 23rd 1963 with the premiere episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’. In 1964, a decades-long association with TV Comic began: issue #674 heralding the initial instalment of ‘The Klepton Parasites’.

On 11th October 1979 (although adhering to the US off-sale cover-dating system so it says 17th), Marvel’s UK subsidiary launched Doctor Who Weekly. Turning monthly magazine in September 1980 (#44) it’s been with us – in various names and iterations – ever since. All of which proves the Time Lord is a comic star of impressive pedigree and not to be trifled with.

Panini’s UK division ensured the immortality of the comics feature by collecting all strips of every Time Lord Regeneration in a uniform series of over-sized graphic albums.

Each concentrates on a particular incarnation of the deathless wanderer and this one gathers stories originally published in the early 1990s (from Doctor Who Monthly #130-150): a time when regular illustrator John Ridgway gave way to a succession of rotating creators as part of the company’s urgent drive to cut costs – although there’s no appreciable drop in quality that I can see.

These yarns feature the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy): an all monochrome compendium that kicks off with the eponymous ‘Cold Day in Hell!’ by writer Simon Furman, Ridgway and inker Tim Perkins: a 4-part thriller featuring an attack by Martian Ice Warriors on a tropical resort planet, which leads directly into the moody, single story ‘Redemption!’ care of Furman, Kev Hopgood and Perkins.

At that time and in this book Marvel sanctioned some controversial crossovers with other Marvel UK characters. The first of these is Death’s Head: a robot bounty hunter from the Transformers comic guest-starring in Furman & Geoff Senior’s ‘The Crossroads of Time’ (DWM #135), before it’s back to sounder stuff with freak-filled 3-part Victorian Great Exhibition epic ‘Claws of the Klath!’ (Mike Collins, Hopgood & David Hine).

Fresh-faced scribe Grant Morrison wrote of charmingly different ‘Culture Shock!’ for equally neophytic ascending star Bryan Hitch to draw, before John Higgins limned Furman’s ‘Keepsake’: a classy space opera about an indigent salvage man. John Freeman & Lee Sullivan started a long association with the magazine in 2-parter ‘Planet of the Dead’ (DWM #141-142), featuring an ambitious, spooky team-up of all seven Time Lord regenerations, on a world filled with Companions who had died in their service…

Dan Abnett & Ridgway delivered ‘Echoes of the Mogor!’ (DWM #143-144) – an eerie chiller set on a mining planet where Earth workers are mysteriously dying, whilst ‘Time and Tide’ by Richard Alan & John Carnell, illustrated by Dougie Braithewaite & Dave Elliott (DWM #143-144), maroons the Doctor on a drowning world amongst aliens who don’t seem to care if they live or die…

Carnell wrote the other crossover previously mentioned, a far less well-regarded romp with imbecilic detectives The Sleeze Brothers. ‘Follow that Tardis!‘ was illustrated by Andy Lanning, Higgins, Braithwaite & Elliot, before the strip content concludes with Alan Grant’s 3-part ‘Invaders from Gantac!’, wherein a colony of alien torturers invade 1992 London by mistake in a tale as much comedy as thriller, drawn by Martin Griffiths & Cam Smith.

Supplemented with tons of text features, pin-ups, creator-biographies and commentaries, this is a grand book for casual readers, a fine shelf addition for fans of the show and a perfect opportunity to cross-promote our particular art-form to anyone minded to give comics one more go…
All Doctor Who material © BBCtv. Doctor Who, the Tardis and all logos are trademarks of the British broadcasting corporation and are used under licence. Death’s Head and The Sleeze Brothers © Marvel. Published 2009. All rights reserved.

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Evil Emperor Penguin: The World Will Be Mine!


By Laura Ellen Anderson, with Kate Brown (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-299-1 (Digest PB)

A lifetime ago in 2012 Oxford-based family publisher David Fickling Books launched an “old school” weekly comics anthology aimed at girls and boys between 6 and 12. It revelled in reviving the grand old days of British picture-story entertainment intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in its style and content. This comprised comic strips, humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles, educational material and activity pages in a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy.

In the years since, the periodical has gone from strength to strength, its pantheon of superbly engaging strips generating lines of superbly engaging graphic novel compilations, the latest of which is this riotous romp starring a gloriously malign and inept arch-wizard of scientific wickedness who delights readers with a profound sense of mischief and unbridled imagination…

Conceived and created by illustrator and author Laura Ellen Anderson (Kittens, Snow Babies, My Brother is a Superhero, Amelia Fang!, Rainbow Grey, I Don’t Want…), these are the revived, remastered and extended exploits of Evil Emperor Penguin!

The bad bird lives in a colossal fortress beneath the Antarctic, working ceaselessly towards total world domination, assisted by his stylish and erudite many-tentacled administrative lackey Number 8 and cutely fuzzy, passionately loyal Eugene. The latter is an endlessly inventive little abominable snowman clone. EEP had whipped up a batch of 250, but none of the others are quite like Eugene…

The penguin potentate appointed the hairy, bizarrely inspired tyke Top Minion, but somehow never managed to instil him with the requisite degree of evilness. Still, he is a dab-hand with spaghetti hoops, so it’s not a total loss.

Following an crucially informative  pin-up of ‘the Gang’ and some recurring rivals and foes with an info-packed double-page map of the Evil Underground Headquarters (disclosing all you’ll need to know) another assortment of vile vignettes begins with ‘Quantum EEP’ as a mishap with time travelling commodes send the penguin and his tentacular deputy back in time to meet their younger hippie selves – and make them evil if they want to get home and conquer the world. If only their earlier selves weren’t so seductively content…

Back in the present, Eugene and his substandard substitute assistant Neill are trying to fix the glitch but it’s tricky with chunks of reality fading away as you reach for them.

Ultimately, the wrong real is put right and EEP resumes his plans, leading to exploiting a radical new power source in ‘Pomme de Terror’ – which then evolves into a marauding horror made even worse by arch World Domination rival Evil Cat popping in for a spot of smug mockery…

Eugene’s secret passion for footwear inspires the Bad Bird’s next plan for global enslavement in ‘Shoe-Gene’ and results in the good servant being captured by the moustachioed, top-hatted, perfidious puss whose ‘Big Fat Doom-Button’ seems certain to eradicate the top minion’s benevolent guardian jolly unicorn Keith and all his wondrous kin.

Even an unprecedented team-up of EEP and the horned horsey isn’t enough to quell the crisis and it needs the last-minute intervention of valiant narwhal Norman and his finny chums to end the cat’s plans, but at least the rescue has laid the groundwork for a future romance…

Fully restored and ready for more evil, ‘Marshminion Surprise’ sees EEP attempting to turn humanity into gooey taste treats, but instead transforming Eugene after Evil Cat interferes again. No sooner is abnormality restored than reality television inspires even greater horror when the penguin produces hyper-judgemental talent show ‘The Yay Factor’ before Eugene’s love of a Farmer’s Market leads to EEP’s invention of brain-shrinking fruit in ‘An Epple a Day’. Naturally, nothing goes right and Antarctica soon is imperilled by a giant hairy head…

‘A Penguin’s Christmas Carol’ sees the villain forced to examine his own past present and future in the traditional spoofish yet moving manner before a new year welcomes fresh terror as EEP unleashes carnivorous wheelie-bins in ‘Time to Take Out the Trash’, prior to the debut of the politest murderous minion ever as ‘Flegburt’ introduces himself and Evil Cat’s scheme to destroy the penguin’s beloved Invention Room of Evil. Of course, even good manners can’t compensate for Eugene’s unique charm…

A critical postal cock up triggers ‘The Great Chase’ across the icy continent – consequently disrupting Keith and Norman’s first date – before the status quo between potential world tyrants is restored and EEP attempts to subjugate elected world leaders with genetically modified ‘Flower Power’.

The threat level then drops as the penguin suffers a dearth of inspiration in ‘Evil Block’ and takes out his frustrations on everybody until he builds a relaxation machine and really goes off the deep end. Drenched in chaos and worse, EEP must join with Evil Cat and unknown rival Evil Rat enduing countless terrors and discovering the awful truth about pigeons…

With Flegburt having turned turncoat and now minioning for the Evil Penguin, ‘Plan Poover’ finds young unicorn Colin doing his work experience placement with Number 8, thanks to a recommendation from his uncle Keith. It soon looks like he’ll never get that precious Sparkle Scouts Career Badge after designing the Super Epic Human Rainbow Vacuum…

More upset occurs after the unwary penguin plugs in the ‘Evil Printer’ and reality starts rebelling, even as the discovery of ‘Flegburt’s True Calling’ triggers fashion, shopping and a major career change after which brainwash chemical ‘Shampoogene’ is unleashed. It’s meant to clean humanity’s heads… and brains!… but there’s a little unwelcome side effect…

Eugene’s love of blowing bubbles sparks ‘The Unpoppable Plan’ and almost ends everyone until Keith and Norman intercede, before – with “bubblegeddon” averted – master and servants settle back for ‘A Christmas to Remember’ when the bird decides to steal Santa’s job and position…

Rocket-paced, hilariously inventive, wickedly arch and utterly determined to be silly at all costs, this tome of terror also has educational merit as it offers lessons on ‘How to Draw EEP’.

Evil Emperor Penguin: The World Will Be Mine! is a captivating cascade of smart, witty funny adventure, which will delight readers of all ages.
Text and illustrations © Laura Ellen Anderson 2023. All rights reserved.

Evil Emperor Penguin The World Will Be Mine! will be released (but not for good behaviour) on September 7th 2023 and is available for pre-order now.

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Face Ache volume 1: The First 100 Scrunges


By Ken Reid, with Ian Mennell & various (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-601-8 (HB/Digital edition) 978-1-78108-865-4 (TPB)

Time flies and it’s not long to Halloween now, so if you need a bit of practise making scary faces to extract sweets from suckers, here’s a classic “how-to” manual to get you back up to speed…

If you know British Comics, you’ll know Ken Reid. He was another of those youthful yet rebellious artistic prodigies who, largely unsung, went about transforming British Comics: entertaining millions and inspiring hundreds of those readers to become cartoonists too.

Reid was born in Manchester in 1919 and drew from the moment he could grasp an implement. Aged nine, he was confined to bed for six months with a tubercular hip, and occupied himself with constant scribbling and sketching. Ken left school before his 14th birthday, winning a scholarship to Salford Art School, but never graduated. He was, by all accounts, expelled for cutting classes and hanging about in cafes…

Undaunted he set up as a commercial artist, but floundered until his dad began acting as his agent.

The big break was a blagger’s triumph. He talked his way into an interview with the Art Editor of the Manchester Evening News and came away with a commission for a strip in its new Children’s Section. The Adventures of Fudge the Elf (Stop it! It’s not that sort of strip) launched in 1938 and ran until 1963, with only a single, albeit lengthy, hiatus from 1941 to 1946 when Reid served in the armed forces.

From the late 1940s onwards, Reid dallied with comics periodicals: his work (Super Sam, Billy Boffin, Foxy) were published in Comic Cuts and with submissions to The Eagle, before a fortuitous family connection (Reid’s brother-in-law was Dandy illustrator Bill Holroyd) brought DC Thomson managing editor R.D. Low to his door with a cast-iron offer of work.

On April 18th 1953 Roger the Dodger debuted in The Beano. Reid drew the feature until 1959 and created numerous others including the fabulously mordant doomed mariner Jonah, Ali Ha-Ha and the 40 Thieves, Grandpa and Jinx among many more.

In 1964, Reid and fellow underappreciated superstar Leo Baxendale jumped ship to work for DCT’s arch-rival Odhams Press. This gave Ken greater license to explore his ghoulish side: concentrating on comic horror yarns and grotesque situations in strips like Frankie Stein, and The Nervs in Wham! And Smash! as well as more visually wholesome – but still strikingly surreal – fare as Queen of the Seas and Dare-a-Day Davy.

In 1971, Reid devised Face Ache – arguably his career masterpiece – for debuting weekly Jet. The hilariously horrific strip was popular enough to survive the comic’s demise – after a paltry 22 weeks – and carried over in a merger with stalwart periodical Buster where it thrived until 1987. During that time, Reid continued innovating and creating in a horde of new strips like Creepy Creations, Harry Hammertoe the Soccer Spook, Wanted Posters, Martha’s Monster Makeup, Tom’s Horror World and a dozen others.

Reid died in 1987 from the complications of a stroke he’d suffered on February 2nd, whilst at his drawing board, putting the finishing touches to a Face Ache strip. On his passing the strip was taken over by Frank Diarmid who drew until its cancelation in October 1988.

The astoundingly absorbing comedy classic is a perfect example of resolutely British humorous sensibilities – absurdist, anarchic and gleefully grotesque – and revolves around a typically unruly and unlovely scrofulous schoolboy making great capital out of a unique gift, albeit often to his own detriment and great regret…

Ricky Rubberneck early discovered an appalling (un)natural ability of scrunching (or “scrungeing”) up his face into such ghastly contortions that he can revolt, disgust and terrify anyone who gazes upon him. Over weeks and years, the modern medusa works hard to polish his gifts until his foul fizzog may attain any formation. Eventually his entire body can be reshaped to mimic any creature or form, real or imagined. Naturally, he uses his powers to play pranks, take petty vengeances, turn a temporary profit, deal with bullies and impress his pals.

Just as naturally, those efforts frequently result in the standard late 20th century punishments being dealt out by his dad, teachers and sundry other outraged adults…

Now available in paperback, hardback and digitally this initial celebration is part of Rebellion’s ever-expanding Treasury of British Comics: collecting all 22 Jet episodes (from May 1st to September 29th 1971, plus the remaining 78 weeks’ worth from Buster & Jet, beginning with October 2nd and concluding with March 24th 1973.

The potent package is garnished with an appreciative Introduction by Alan Moore – ‘The Unacceptable Face of British Comics’ – a fondly intimate reminiscence in Antony J. Reid’s ‘My Father Ken Reid’ and a full biography of the great man…

What follows is an outrageous outpouring of raw cartoon creativity as Reid, writing and drawing with inspired effulgence, spins a seemingly infinite skein of comedy gold on his timeless theme of a little boy who makes faces at the world.

Weekly deadlines are a ferocious foe however, and a couple of strips reprinted were written by unsung pro Ian Mennell, whilst – between January & September 1972 – an uncredited fill-in artist (possibly Robert Nixon?) illustrated 16 episodes, presumably as Reid’s other commitments such as Jasper the Grasper, The Nervs or his numerous funny football features in Scorcher & Score mounted.

In these pages though, the accent is on madcap tomfoolery as our plastic-pussed poltroon undergoes a succession of fantastic facial reconfigurations: terrifying teachers, petrifying posh and pushy landowners, mimicking monstrous beasts, outraging officious officialdom and entertaining an army of schoolboy chums and chumps.

Orchards are raided, competitions are entered, plays and school trips are upstaged and aborted and even actual spooks and horrors are afforded the shocks of their unlives as Face Ache gurns his way through an endless parade of hilarious hijinks.

These cartoon capers are amongst the most memorable and re-readable exploits in all of British comics history: smart, eternally funny and beautifully rendered. This a treasure-trove of laughs that spans generations and deserves to be in every family bookcase.
© 1971, 1972, 1973 & 2017 Rebellion Publishing Ltd. Introduction © Alan Moore. Face Ache ™ & © Rebellion Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Doctor Who volume 7: The Flood


By Scott Gray, Gareth Roberts, Roger Langridge, David A. Roach, Mike Collins, Robin Smith, Adrian Salmon, Anthony Williams, Martin Geraghty, Faz Choudhury, Daryl Joyce, John Ross & various (Panini Books)
ISBN 978-1-905239-65-8 (TPB)

This year is the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who so there is/has been/will be a bunch of Timey-Wimey stuff on-going as we periodically celebrate a unique TV and comics institution…

The British love comic strips and they love celebrity and they love “characters.” The history of our homegrown graphic narratives includes a disproportionate number of radio comedians, Variety stars and television actors: such disparate legends as Charlie Chaplin, Flanagan & Allen, Arthur Askey, Winifred Atwell, Max Bygraves, Jimmy Edwards, Charlie Drake and so many more I’ve long forgotten and you’ve likely never heard of.

As much adored and adapted were actual shows and properties like Whacko!, ITMA, Our Gang, Old Mother Riley, Supercar, Thunderbirds, Pinky and Perky, The Clangers and literally hundreds of others. If folk watched or listened, an enterprising publisher would make printed spectacles of them. Hugely popular anthology comics including Radio Fun, Film Fun, TV Fun, Look-In, TV Tornado, TV Comic and Countdown readily translated our light entertainment favourites into pictorial joy every week, and it was a pretty poor star or show that couldn’t parley the day job into a licensed strip property…

Doctor Who premiered on black-&-white televisions across Britain on November 23rd 1963 with the first episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’. In 1964, a decades-long association with TV Comic began: issue #674 heralding the initial instalment of ‘The Klepton Parasites’.

On 11th October 1979 (although adhering to the US off-sale cover-dating system so it says 17th), Marvel’s UK subsidiary launched Doctor Who Weekly. Turning into a monthly magazine in September 1980 (#44) it’s been with us – under various names and iterations – ever since. All of which only goes to prove the Time Lord is a comic star not to trifled with.

Panini’s UK division ensured the immortality of the comics feature by collecting all strips of every Regeneration of the Time Lord in a uniform series of over-sized graphic albums.

This is actually the forth – and final – collection of their strips featuring the Eighth (Paul McGann) Doctor. Whether that statement made any sense to you largely depends on whether you are an old fan, a new convert or even a complete beginner.

None of which is relevant or pertinent if all you want is a darn good read. The creators involved have managed the ultimate ‘Ask’ of any comics creator – producing engaging, thrilling, fun strips that can be equally enjoyed by the merest beginner and the most slavishly dedicated fan.

Writer Scott Gray provides a smart script for Roger Langridge & David A. Roach’s potent art with ‘Where Nobody Knows Your Name’ as the errant Time-Lord fetches up at a bar and meets some old friends, before Gareth Roberts spoofs the entire British Football comics industry in ‘The Nightmare Game’. Pictorial fun and thrills in equal measure are provided by Mike Collins & Robin Smith on this nostalgia-drenched 3-parter.

Gray writes everything else in the book, starting with a short adventure in ancient Egypt. ‘The Power of Thoueris!’ is stylishly illustrated by Adrian Salmon, and is followed by an extended Victorian romp illustrated by Anthony Williams & Roach concerning ‘The Curious Tale of Spring-Heeled Jack’.

‘The Land of Happy Endings’ is a touching and engagingly heartfelt tribute to the days of the TV hero’s earliest strip outings. Writer Gray, penciller Martin Geraghty, inkers Roach and Faz Choudhury with painter/colourists Daryl Joyce & Salmon all tip their collective hats to Neville Main (illustrator of the first graphic adventures of the Doctor beginning in 1964 in TV Comic) in a charming retro-romp, which clears the palate for a horror-fest set in 1875 Dakota.

‘Bad Blood’ has werewolves, shamanism, ghost-towns, cowboys, George Armstrong Custer and Sitting Bull as well as the requisite aliens and evil technology rioting through its five chapters, all ably illustrated by Geraghty, Roach & Salmon in an enthralling thriller leaving the Time Lord with brand new Companion Destrii.

Drawn by John Ross and coloured by Salmon, ‘Sins of the Fathers’ deals with the aftermath of that conflict. The severely wounded Destrii must be rushed to a deep-space hospital just in time for it to be attacked by Zero-G terrorists. Both this 3-parter and follow-up epic ‘The Flood’ have extended endings that had never been published before.

The latter is the real gem of this book; a huge, 8-chapter saga originally intended to conclude the McGann Doctor adventures and bridge the gap to the new TV series with incoming Christopher Eccleston as the new resurgent Time Lord. Just how that all worked out makes for fascinating reading in the wonderful text section at the back, but Gray, Geraghty, Roach, Salmon & Langridge go out with a bang as Cybermen invade Camden on their way to world domination. This is an absolute joy, full of action, suspense, humour and the kind of cameos all fan-boys die for.

We’ve all got our little joys and hidden passions. Sometimes they overlap and magic is made. This is a great set of strips, about a meta-literally immortal and timeless TV hero. If you’re a fan of only one, this book might make you an addict to both.

All Doctor Who material © BBCtv. Doctor Who, the Tardis and all logos are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. Death’s Head and The Sleeze Brothers © Marvel. Published 2007. All rights reserved.

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Ducoboo volume 3: Your answers or your life!


By Godi & Zidrou, coloured by Véronique Grobet & translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-28-1 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Back to school countdown begins now!

School stories and strips of every tone about juvenile fools, devils and rebels are a lynchpin of modern western entertainment and an even larger staple of Japanese comics – where the scenario has spawned its own wild and vibrant subgenres. However, would Dennis the Menace (ours and theirs), Komi Can’t Communicate, Winker Watson, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Power Pack, Cédric or any of the rest be improved or just different if they were created by former teachers rather than ex-kids or current parents?

It’s no surprise the form is evergreen: schooling (and tragically, sometimes, a lack of it) takes up a huge amount of children’s attention no matter how impoverished or privileged they are, and their fictions will naturally address their issues and interests. It’s fascinating to see just how much school stories revolve around humour, but always with huge helpings of drama, terror, romance and an occasional dash of action…

One of the most popular European strips employing those eternal but basic themes and methodology began in the last fraction of the 20th century, courtesy of scripter Zidrou (Benoît Drousie) and illustrator Godi. Drousie is Belgian, born in 1962 and for six years a school teacher prior to changing careers in 1990 to write comics like those he probably used to confiscate in class.

Other mainstream successes in a range of genres include Petit Dagobert, Scott Zombi, La Ribambelle, Le Montreur d’histoires, African Trilogy, Shi, Léonardo, a superb revival of Ric Hochet and many more. However, his most celebrated and beloved stories are the Les Beaux Étés sequence (digitally available in English as Glorious Summers) and 2010’s sublime Lydie, both illustrated by Spanish artist Jordi Lafebre. Zidrou began his comics career with what he knew best: stories about and for kids, including Crannibales, Tamara, Margot et Oscar Pluche and, most significantly, a feature about a (and please forgive the charged term) school dunce: L’Elève Ducobu…

Godi is a Belgian National Treasure, born Bernard Godisiabois in Etterbeek in December 1951. After studying Plastic Arts at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels he became an assistant to comics legend Eddy Paape in 1970, working on the strip Tommy Banco for Le Journal de Tintin whilst freelancing as an illustrator for numerous comics and magazines. He became a Tintin regular three years later, primarily limning C. Blareau’s Comte Lombardi, but also working on gag strip Red Rétro by Vicq, with whom he also produced Cap’tain Anblus McManus and Le Triangle des Bermudes for Le Journal de Spirou in the early 1980s. He also soloed on Diogène Terrier (1981-1983) for Casterman.

Godi moved into advertising cartoons and television, cocreating with Nic Broca the animated TV series Ovide. He only returned to comics in 1991, collaborating with newcomer Zidrou on L’Elève Ducobu for Tremplin magazine. The strip launched in September 1992 before transferring to Le Journal de Mickey, and collected albums began in 1997 – 25 so far in French, Dutch, Turkish and for Indonesian readers.

When not immortalising modern school days for future generations, Godi diversified, co-creating (1995 with Zidrou) comedy feature Suivez le Guide and game page Démon du Jeu with scripter Janssens. The series spawned a live action movie franchise and a dozen pocket books plus all the usual attendant merchandise paraphernalia. English-speakers’ introduction to the series (5 volumes only thus far) came courtesy of Cinebook with 2006’s initial release King of the Dunces – in actuality the 5th European collection L’élève Ducobu – Le roi des cancres.

The unbeatable format comprises short – most often single page – gag strips like you’d see in The Beano, involving a revolving cast -well established albeit also fairly one-dimensional and easy to get a handle on.

Our star is a well-meaning, good natured but terminally lazy young oaf who doesn’t get on with school. He’s sharp, inventive, imaginative, inquisitive, personable and not academical at all. We might today put him on a spectrum or diagnose a disorder like ADHD, but at heart he’s just not interested and can always find better – or at least more interesting – things to do…

Dad is a civil servant and Mum left home when Ducoboo was an infant, but then there’s a lot of that about. Leonie Gratin – the girly brainbox from whom he constantly copies answers to interminable written tests – only has a mum.

Ducoboo and his class colleagues attend Saint Potache School and are mostly taught and tested by ferocious, impatient, mushroom-mad Mr Latouche. He’s something of humourless martinet, and thanks to him, Ducoboo has spent so much time in the corner with a dunce cap on his head that he’s struck up a friendship with the biology skeleton. He (She? They!) answer to Skelly – always ready with a theory or suggestion for fun and frolics…

Released in 1999, Les Réponse ou la vie? was the third collected album: a compendium of classic clowning about that begins with another new term and Ducoboo doing his utmost to not be there.

Tracing a year in the life of all concerned, the skiver’s early antics to get illicit answers include feigning blindness, sleight of hand, outright rebellion, time-bending and stealing the keys to the small safe Leonie keeps her completed exam papers in. The champion cheat even hires private detectives and surveillance teams and tries playing poker with a fixed deck but again underestimates his swotty nemesis…

The brief blessed interlude of Christmas offers little respite before a new term brings an extended crisis. When the classroom is scheduled to get a new sink, the prime position can only be the corner almost permanently occupied by the dunce and Skelly. Appalled to be losing his second home, the boy begins a campaign of resistance. The plumber doesn’t mind: as he keeps reminding everyone, he’s paid by the hour…

With Leonie gleefully reporting ‘News from the Frontline’ the war grinds on for weeks with neither side gaining ground until a diplomatic breakthrough allows the sink to be installed. However, the plumber is still paid by the hour and has inspired Ducoboo with his proficient mien, lack of urgency and dearth of credentials. The boy now has a new dream for his future…

With labours glacially proceeding all term long, some measure of abnormality eventually returns to class, but the workman’s appeal has spread to the normal kids by the time the job is finally done. Moreover, by the time the exorbitant bill arrives, Ducoboo has engineered one last extravagant flourish…

As he and Leonie resume their eternal dance of deception, the regular, always relevant riffs episodically return: museum visits, failed bluffs (focussed on geography lessons), and other imaginative distractions allowing Ducoboo to copy answers, but they are mere preamble to the dawn of a new era as the kids discover simultaneously, the wonders and infinite temptations and potential of laptop computers…

The escalation proves so ferocious and terrible that Leonie even attempts the unthinkable: teaching Ducoboo herself…

Somehow, everyone lives to the end of another year and vacation time beckons, but even here poor Latouche cannot escape the effects of his most difficult pupil…

Wry, witty and whimsical whilst deftly recycling constant and adored childhood themes, Ducuboo is an up-tempo, upbeat addition to the genre every parent or pupil can appreciate and enjoy. If your kids aren’t back from school quite yet, why not anticipate keeping them occupied when that happens with Your answers or your life! and consider that there are kids far more demanding than even yours…
© Les Editions du Lombard (Dargaud- Lombard) 1999 by Godi & Zidrou. English translation © 2008 Cinebook Ltd.

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Tiny Titans volume 1: Welcome to the Clubhouse


By Art Baltazar & Franco (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2207-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

The links between animated features and comic books are long established and, for young consumers, indistinguishable. After all, it’s just entertainment in the end…

For quite some time at the beginning of this century, DC’s Cartoon Network imprint was arguably the last bastion of children’s comics in America and worked to consolidate that link between TV and 2D fun and thrills with stunning interpretations of such television landmarks as Ben 10, Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory and so many other screen gems.

The kids’ comics line also produced some truly exceptional material based on TV iterations of the publisher’s proprietary characters such as Legion of Super Heroes, Batman: Brave and the Bold and Krypto the Super Dog as well as material like Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! which was merely similar in tone and content. Perhaps the line’s finest release was a series ostensibly aimed at early-readers but which quickly became a firm favourite of older fans and a multi-award winner too.

Superbly mirroring the magical wonderland inside a child’s head where everything is happily all smooshed up together, Tiny Titans became a sublime antidote to continuity cops and slavish fan-boy quibbling (all together now: “… erm, uh… I think you’ll find that in…”) by reducing the vast cast of the Teen Titans Go! animated series, the far greater boutique of the mainstream comics – and eventually the entire DC Universe continuity – to little kids and their parents/guardians in a wholesome kindergarten environment.

It’s a scenario spring-loaded with multi-layered in-jokes, sight-gags and the beloved yet gently mocked trappings and paraphernalia generations of strip readers and screen-watchers can never forget…

Collecting issues #1-6 (cover-dated April to September 2008) of a magically madcap, infinitely addictive all-ages mini-masterpiece, this debut volume begins after an as-standard identifying roll-call page at ‘Sidekick City Elementary’ where new Principal Mr. Slade is revealed to be not only Deathstroke the Terminator but also poor little Rose’s dad! How embarrassing…

Art Baltazar and co-creator Franco (Aureliani) pioneered and mastered a witty, bemusingly gentle manner of storytelling that just happily rolls along, with the assorted characters getting by, trying to make sense of the great big world while having “Adventures in Awesomeness”. A primal example is Beast Boy getting a new pet and becoming ‘Man’s Dog’s Best Friend’…

The method generally involves stringing together smaller incidents and moments into an overarching themed portmanteau tale… and it works astoundingly well.

Back in class Robin and Kid Flash tease a fellow student in ‘Speedy Quiz’ whilst ‘Meanwhile in Titans Tower’ (the treehouse of the title) finds Wonder Girl, Bumblebee, Raven and Starfire discussing whether to let Batgirl Barbara Gordon join their circle…

Later everyone meets up and helps scary blob Plasmus cope with an ice cream crisis but shocks still abound at school. Raven’s dad is an antlered crimson devil from another universe, but his most upsetting aspect is as the new substitute teacher!

Happily, however, at the treehouse the kids can forget their worries, as Wonder Girl Cassie’s new casual look – after initial resistance – wins many admirers among the boys…

The original comics were filled with activity pages, puzzles and pin-ups, so ‘Help Best Boy Find his Puppy Friend!’ and awesome group-shot ‘Awwwww Yeah Titans!!!’ offers an arty interlude before shenanigans resume with ‘Ow’ as new girl Terra persists in throwing rocks at the boys yet knows just how to make friends with the girls…

Not so much for the little lads though: they’ve got into another confrontation with mean kids Fearsome Five. Apparently the only way to determine who wins is to keep ‘Just a-Swingin’ – and ignore those bullies…

After teeny-weeny Little Teen Titan Kid Devil finds a delicious new way to use his heat power, Beast Boy becomes besotted by Terra in ‘Shadows of Love’, even though his obvious affection makes him act like an animal. While ‘Easy Bake Cyborg’ saves the day at snack time, the lovesick green kid follows some foolish advice and transforms into a ‘Beast Boy of Steel’…

At least Kid Devil is making friends, providing ‘Charbroiled Goodness’ for a local food vendor, just as the Fearsome Five show up again…

Following a pin-up of the bad kids and a brainteaser to ‘Match the Tiny Titans to their Action Accessories!’, a new school day finds science teacher Doctor Light losing control in ‘Zoology 101’ thanks to Beast Boy’s quick changes, after which ‘Sidekick’s Superheroes’ debate status and origins whilst Rose’s ‘Li’l Bro Jericho’ causes chaos and closes the school for the day.

When Robin brings some pals home, Alfred the Butler is reluctant to let them check out the ‘Batcave Action Playset’. He should have listened to his misgivings: that way there wouldn’t be so much mess or so many penguins…

After Aqualad’s suggestion ‘Let’s Play: Find Fluffy!’ the Boy Wonder has the strangest day, starting with ‘Robin and the Robins’ and culminating in a new costume. Before that though, you can see ‘Beast Boy at the Dentist’, Wonder Girl enduring a ‘Babysittin’ Baby Makeover’, meet ‘Beast Boy’s Prize’ and experience hair gone wild in ‘Do the “Do”’. Eventually, however, ‘It’s a Nightwing Thing’: revisiting the exotic yesteryears of disco mania as new outfits debut to mixed reviews and reactions…

Once done testing your skill with the ‘Tiny Titans Match Game!’ and admiring a ‘Little Tiny Titans Bonus Pin-up’ there are big thrills in store when ‘Playground Invaders’ introduces annoying Titans from the East side of the communal games…

Sadly, Fearsome Five are still around to tease the former Robin in ‘Nightwing on Rye’ even whilst ongoing epic ‘Enigma and Speedy’ sees the Boy Bowman trapped in a very one-sided battle of wits with the Riddler’s daughter…

Robin’s costume crises continue to confuse in ‘May We Take a Bat-Message?’, resulting in a kid capitulation and ‘Back to Basics’ approach to the old look, after which ‘Tiny Titans Joke Time!’ and a ‘Tiny Titans East Bonus Pin-up’ segues neatly into ‘Meet Ya, Greet Ya’ with newcomers Supergirl and Blue Beetle turning up just ahead of a host of wannabee Titans (Power Boy, Zatara, Vulcan Jr., Hawk & Dove, Li’l Barda and Lagoon Boy)…

With the riotous regulars away camping, Raven opens her eyes to a potential daybreak disaster as ‘Home with the Trigons’ finds her dressed by her dad for a change. Meanwhile, ‘Let’s Do Lunch’ finds Blue Beetle losing a very public argument with his backpack, and after the kids bring their super-animal pals in, everything goes horribly wrong. At least they decide that the “First Rule of Pet Club is: We Don’t Talk About Pet Club”…

This insanely addictive initial collection wraps up with visual and word puzzles ‘How Many Beast Boy Alpacas Can You Count?’ and ‘Blue Beetle Backpack Language Translation!’, a huge and inclusive Pin-up of ‘The Tiny Titans of Sidekick City Elementary’ and a hilarious ‘Tiny Titans “Growth Chart” …

Despite ostensibly being aimed at super-juniors and TV kids, these wonderful, wacky yarns – which marvellously marry the heart and spirit of such classic strips as The Perishers or Peanuts with something uniquely mired and marinated in pure American comic-bookery – are outrageously unforgettable yarns and gags no self-respecting fun-fan should miss: accessible, entertaining, and wickedly intoxicating.
© 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Billy & Buddy volume 1: Remember This, Buddy?


By Jean Roba, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-91-5 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Known as Boule et Bill on the Continent (in the French speaking bits – Dutch and Flemish folk call them Bollie en Billie), this evergreen, immensely popular cartoon story of a boy and his dog debuted in the Christmas 1959 edition of multinational anthology Le Journal de Spirou.

It came from Belgian writer-artist Jean Roba (Spirou et Fantasio, La Ribambelle, Gomer Goof) putting his head together with the magazine’s Artistic Director/Ideas Man Maurice Rosy – who had also ghosted art and/or scripts on Jerry Spring, Tif et Tondu, Bobo and Attila during a decades-long, astoundingly productive career with the legendary periodical.

Intended as a European answer to Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, Boule et Bill would quickly go its own way and carve out a unique personality all its own, becoming Rosa’s main occupation for the next 45 years.

He tirelessly crafted more than a thousand gag-strip pages of a beguiling idealised domestic comedy about a little lad and his rather clever Cocker Spaniel before – in 2003 – handing art-chores over to his long-term assistant Laurent Verron. The substitute subsequently took over writing too after Roba died in 2006.

Born in Schaerbeek, Belgium on July 28th 1930 Jean Roba grew up reading mostly US reprint strips. He was particularly partial to Rudolph Dirks and Harold H. Knerr’s Katzenjammer Kids. After the War, he began as a jobbing illustrator before adopting a loose, free-wheeling cartooning style known as the “Marcinelle School” and joining the Spirou crew.

He followed Uderzo on Sa majesté mon mari and perfected his comics craft under Franquin on Spirou et Fantasio before launching Boule et Bill in a mini-récit (32-page, half-sized freebie insert) in the December 24th 1959 LJdS. Like our own Dennis the Menace in The Beano, the strip was incredibly popular from the off and for 25 years held the coveted and prestigious back-cover spot. Older British fanboys might recognise the art as early episodes – retitled It’s a Dog’s Life – ran in Fleetway’s Valiant between 1961- 1965.

A cornerstone of European life, the strip has sparked a live-action movie, animated TV series, computer games, permanent art gallery exhibitions, sculptures and even postage stamps. Like some select immortal Belgian comics stars, Bollie en Billie have a commemorative plaque and a street named after them in Brussels…

Large format album editions began immediately, totalling 21 volumes throughout the 1960s and 1970s. These were completely redesigned and re-released in the 1980s, supplemented by a range of early reader books for the very young. Comics collections have been translated into fourteen languages and sold in excess of 25 million copies of the 32 albums to date.

Renamed Billy and Buddy, the strip debuted en Angleterre in Cinebook compilations from 2009 on: introducing a standard sitcom nuclear family consisting of one bemused and long-suffering father, a warm, compassionate but painfully ditzy mother, a smart son and his genius dog which has a penchant for finding bones, puddles and trouble…

The majority of this book – Tu te rappelles, Bill? – was the sixth original collection before being cut down and reissued as volume 17 in Europe, but here acts as an ideal vehicle to set up the characters and settings for our delight and delectation. Inside you’ll see a non-stop parade of quick-fire quips and jests as 7-year-old Billy enjoys carefree romps with 4-footed friend Buddy: digging up treasure on the beach, chasing cats, learning tricks to be useful around the house and generally baffling and annoying grown-ups.

Buddy is the perfect pet for an imaginative boy, although he’s overly fond of bones and rather protective of them. He also does not understand why everyone is so keen to constantly plunge him into foul-tasting soapy water, but it’s just a sacrifice he’s prepared to make to be with Billy.

Gently-paced and packed with wry wit and potent sentiment, these captivating vignettes range from heart-warming to hilarious: a delightful tribute to and argument for a child for every pet and vice versa. This is a solid, family-oriented collection of comics no one trying to introduce youngsters to the medium should be without.
Original edition © Studio Boule & Bill 2008 by Roba. English translation © 2009 Cinebook Ltd.