Category: Kids – All Ages

Posted on

Pandora in Puzzlevale: The Secret Town (volume 1)


By Paul Duffield, Poqu, Siobhan McKenna & various (Pheonix Comic Books/David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-349-3 (TPB)

These days, kids are more likely to find their formative strip narrative experiences online or in specially tailored graphic novels rather than the anthological, pick ‘n’ mix of pictorial periodicals that defined my long-dead youth. And yet, once upon a time, the comics industry was a commercial colossus that thrived by producing copious amounts of gaudy, flimsy pamphlets in a multitude of subjects and sub-genres, subdivided into a range of successful, self-propagating, seamlessly self-perpetuating age-specific publications.

These eye-catching items generated innumerable tales and immeasurable delight, designed to entertain, inform and educate tightly-defined target demographics including Toddler/Pre-school, Younger & Older Juvenile, Girls, Boys. General and even Young Teens, but today Britain can barely maintain a few paltry out-industry licensed tie-ins and spin-offs for a dwindling younger readership. Where once cheap and prolific, strip magazines in the 21st century are extremely cost-intensive and manufactured for a highly specific niche market, whilst all those beguiling and bombastic genres that originally fed and nurtured comics are more immediately disseminated via TV, movies and interactive media. There are a few venerable, long-lived holdouts like The Beano & 2000 AD, but overall the trend since the 1970s has been downwards and declining.

That seeming inevitability was happily turned on its head in January 2012 when Oxford-based family publisher David Fickling Books launched The Phoenix: a traditional (seeming) anthology comic weekly aimed at girls and boys between 7 and 14, revelling in those good old days of picture-story entertainment Intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in style and Content. It has been generating fun, fantasy, educational episodes and wild adventure for kids ever since, scoring many impressive results whilst lifting the standards of comics literature and quality of graphic novels. Each weekly issue still offers humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy and, in the years since its premiere, the comic has gone from strength to strength. It is, most importantly, big and bold, totally tuned in to its contemporary readership and tremendous fun.

The powers that be at the company also understand the sheer wonder of the creative urge and spend a vast amount of time and energy getting readers to have a go themselves: honing their own comics storytelling skills and making their own characters and stories via various outlets cumulatively designated The Phoenix Comics Club.

You can run that by your preferred search engine or just buy this book and access their portal via the enclosed QR code…

Moreover, as established comics companies seem to give up the ghost (in this country at least), old-school prose publishers embraced the graphic novels that evolved to fill their vacated niche. With a less volatile and tenuous business model and far more sustainable long-term goals, book sellers have prospered from magazine makers’ surrender, and there have never been so many and varied cartoon and comics chronicles, compilations and tomes for readers to enjoy. Happily, many of The Phoenix’s superb serials and series have joined that market, having been superbly repackaged as all-ages graphic albums. There are comedy adventures Bunny Vs Monkey, Mega Robo Bros, Toby and the Pixies, Evil Emperor Penguin, Donut Squad, Looshkin, Star Cat, Long Gone Don, Corpse Talk and fantasy dramas like No Country, Tosh’s Island, Tamsin, Pirates of Pangaea, Lost Tales, Troy Trailblazer, Tales of Fayt and The Adventures of John Blake.

The comic has inspired factual series like the award-winning Martin Brown’s Lesser Spotted Animals sequence and an entrancing and absorbing range of puzzle/activity books including Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey/The Great Air Race, Bunny vs Monkey: The Whopping World of Puzzles! or How to Make Awesome Comics (With Professor Panels & Art Monkey!), and more…

The one we’re looking at today is Pandora in Puzzlevale: The Secret Town, the first of a serial offering a dazzling display of cartoon virtuosity and brain-busting challenges co-composed by writer/art director Paul Duffield, graphic staging scenarist Poqu and illustrator Siobhan McKenna. A comic strip mystery that operates and progresses by solving assorted tests and conundrums, it all begins in ‘Welcome to Puzzlevale’ as aspiring crimebuster and Detective Crow devotee Pandora is dragged from her comic long enough to realise that the tedious drive to their holiday home has been paused. Although the route to the much-anticipated “secrets-themed” village seemed straightforward, the road is long, winding and confusing. Now, heavy mists are falling and the satnav doesn’t seem to work right anymore…

When Mum and Dad pull up at a petrol station to ask directions, Pandora is fully engrossed in her comic, but eventually she looks up and realises she’s all alone. Her parents are gone…

Thus opens the catalogue of confusion and a casebook of ratiocination and logical deduction as the young girl is drawn deeper and deeper into a program apparently designed to test her physical and mental abilities.

For readers the principle is simple: by accessing the book and selecting a choice of action at a critical moment in each episode, you/Pandora are directed to another page to experience the ramifications of that decision. The final objective is to find her folks and learn the nested secrets of Puzzlevale but it’s you who will be doing much of the work…

In-world, there are people in the mist-shrouded hamlet such as fortune tellers, tea shop staff, rambling bystanders and potential witnesses like gossip Granny Garnett and enigmatic rhymer Rita Idyll – but everyone’s motives and accounts are unverifiable and not to be trusted so Pandora is ultimately left to fend for herself. At least in this very strange and mutable place, she occasionally has Detective Crow by her side and leading her on…

Her methodology includes clue finding, location identification, map-making, maze-defeating, symbol deciphering, wordsearch weaving, witness-statement verifying, code-breaking, rune reading, message translating, riddle-solving, character assessing, crossword completing, key & lock retrieving, object unearthing, back-story compiling and comparison testing as well as frequent odd behaviour explanation, with all facts slowly forming a working hypothesis and eventual plan of action in her trusty ever-present notebook…

But there are so many questions, such as why do the buildings seem to shift, and why do so many villagers wear masks and all-concealing costumes?

Pandora’s quest is divided into 26 sequential ‘Mysteries’ undertaken across five chapters – ‘Welcome to Puzzlevale’, ‘The Curious Crow’, ‘The Mysterious Mask’, ‘The Great Escape’, and ‘The Mists of Change’ – each with its own set of tests and challenges contributing to a Big Picture solution, but even after Pandora completes them all, she’s left with much more to solve and a divergent path to follow…

To Be Continued…

Story! Games! Action! Beguiling mystery unravelled in the manner of multiple-choice decisions and all there in the irresistible shape of entertaining pictures. How much cooler can a book get?

Well, quite a lot actually since this premier tome devotes a bunch of pages to related activities in a swathe of features offered under the aegis of the aforementioned Phoenix Comics Club: tips and snippets by Duffield & McKenna on ‘Drawing Pandora’, and how Poqu crafts the buildings, backgrounds and locations of Puzzlevale, as well as how to construct puzzles, draft alphabets and design symbols, before we conclude for now with a full list of mystery solving clues and hints detailing how it all came about in a closing glimpse at ‘Pandora’s Notes’…

Bring paper, pencils and your intellectual A-game, and have the time of your life…
Text and illustrations © The Phoenix Comic, 2025. All rights reserved.

Pandora in Puzzlevale: The Secret Town will be published on June 5th 2025 and is available for pre-order now.

Posted on

Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad: Take Over the World (Book 1)


By Neill Cameron & various (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-340-0 (Digest TPB)

Do You Like Donuts?

Only you can truly answer that question, but if you’re undecided, and dangerously unaware of the ramifications of indecision, rabid raconteur and art fiend Neill Cameron has many arguments you might want to consider before deciding, all jam-packed into a manic new compendium of strips, activities and artificially-sweetened exploits starring a bargain box of comics champions cherrypicked from modern British periodical treasure trove The Phoenix.

Since debuting in 2012 and just like The Beano, Dandy and other perennial childhood treasures, the wonderful weekly has masterfully mixed hilarious comedy with enthralling adventure serials… and frequently in the same scintillating strip. Everybody strapped in? Got your snacks? Then let’s go…

Crafted by Cameron (Mega Robo Bros, Freddy, Tamsin of the Deep, How to Make Awesome Comics, Pirates of Pangea), a unique team of toothsome adventurers convene here as ‘Meet the Squad!!’ cuts down confectionary crusaders dark horse Sprinkles, accident prone Jammyboi, Chalky (the ghost of a murdered Victorian Donut), violent vigilante Justice Donut, nerve-wracked Anxiety Donut, piratical Caramel Jack! (he’s a little bit salty!), Dadnut & Li’l Timmy, and utterly unknowable Spronky! who each individually regale us with short adventures liberally seasoned with lashings of ads for Donut Squad merch like T-shirts, mugs and orbital death-rays. Also probably not really available are fancy dress costumes, hats and giant pants, but you never know…

Although ruggedly individualistic, the assorted vignette stars all seem to work towards a communal conclusion as we explore many ‘Donut Mysteries’, examine ‘Rejected Donut Flavours’ and question the verities of existence in repeated ‘Ask your Father with Dadnut & Li’l Timmy’ episodes. Certainty of a greater world to come is verified via exploits of spectral phenomenon ‘The Cursed Donut’ whilst a reason for living is offered in ‘Meet the Donut Squad Babies! Basically the same but cuter!!’

Life is short and full of surprises so sometimes old friends simply don’t hang around. When Jammyboi shockingly makes his exit, the prospect of cleaner hands and unstained furnishings evaporates with the introduction of much messier messroom treat Choccy-plops – a revelation just crying out for more mirthful merch announcements. Oooh! Tea towels!

With the addition of ‘Sweetum! The Sweetest Donut of all!’ a narrative undercurrent starts carrying all later vignettes in the same direction, starting with ‘New Season! New Donut Flavours’ before Sprinkles details a tasty masterplan at the ‘Secret Donut Squad Meeting!’ outlining his efforts to enlist human converts and enrol them in the ‘Donut Squad Legion of Enthusiasm!’ The program is supplemented by all the latest ‘Conspiracy Theories!’ and the DSLoE ‘Code of Conduct’…

Briefings on ‘Rare Donut Varieties’ are interrupted by an incursion by secret archfoes/sworn enemies the ‘Bagel Battalion’ (Private Plainbagel, Sergeant Sesameseed and Platoon Commander Poppyseed), but before everything gets too heavy we pause to peruse the wonders of ‘Donut Park’.

Sadly, such commercial distractions lead to more subversive assaults by the relentless foe, offering ‘New Bagel Flavours’ and prompting an arms race resulting in retaliatory experiments with ‘New Cheesier Donuts’…

The carb-shot cold war hots up with a wave of ‘Bagel Battalion merchandise’ including ads for themed thermal vests, ties and protractor & compass sets garnishing counterintelligence sallies such as ‘Ask your Bagel father’. Initially wrongfooted, the sweet & sugary contingent can only resort to more theme park ads, even as ‘How to draw donuts’ features are swiftly counterbalanced by ‘How to draw bagels’ until all consumer confidence is shattered…

A public backlash begins, leading to a breaking of the doughy fourth law and some gutter crawling – and sniping – as ‘Anxiety Donut Has to Go on an Adventure!’, circumventing more mesmerising ads, and inadvertently spying on the Bagels before reporting back on their ‘Battle readiness’…

Inevitably war boils over between the baked goods factions. The horrors culminate in the creation of an horrific ‘Bagel Battalion Metabomb’ and, after the deployment of all comestibles, tanks, skateboards and battle dinosaurs, the opposing forces calamitously clash. Cosmic destruction is only narrowly averted and when the powdered sugar settles we learn ‘Hooray! The Donut Squad is Victorious!’ and are not really surprised by a follow-up press release confirming ‘Hooray! The Donut Squad Have Taken Over the World!’…

Smart, witty, laugh out loud weird and utterly bonkers, this seemingly piecemeal treat cunningly connects a whole bunch of stuff kids love without knowing why, but which totally bewilder us oldsters and keeps us in our place. Breezy eccentric and captivating, the sugar rush is counterpointed with a selection of Donut related artistic activities extracted from ‘The Phoenix Comic Club’, including drawing ‘Basic Shapes!’, adding ‘Flavour!’, ‘Personality!’, ‘Expression!’, ‘Poses’, ‘Extras!’, ‘Characters!’ and all aspects of ‘Storytelling!’

This manic missive then closes with a welcome extract from Cameron’s Mega Robo Bros just in case your kid is the only one who hasn’t read it yet. And don’t let anyone read it whilst eating…

Moreover, as all the best books and movies say: DONUT SQUAD WILL RETURN…
Text and illustrations © Neill Cameron 2025. All rights reserved.

Neill Cameron’s Donut Squad: Take Over the World! is scheduled for UK release on May 8th 2025 and is available for pre-order now.

Posted on

Rex Generations


By Ted Rechlin (Rextooth Studios/Sweetgrass Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59512-229-4 (HB)

Got your eggs yet? Some come pretty big…

I’ve never met a kid who didn’t love dinosaurs, and that gleeful fascination doesn’t fade with age or what we laughingly regard as maturity. Ted Rechlin clearly ascribes to that belief too, and has made it his life’s work, whether it’s in his 30+ books (including End of the Ice Age, Jurassic, Epsilon: a Yellowstone Wolf Story, Howl, Comicquest Time Travel Trouble or the award-winning Sharks: A 400 Million Year Journey) or superhero stuff such as freelance commissions for the likes of DC Comics, Dark Horse or Dover Publications.

Rex Generations is an incredibly informative and engaging book about family, rendered with great deftness, gleeful aplomb, and packed with the latest scientific thinking regarding arguably the most famous species of big lizard (or is that bird?) on Earth.

In case you weren’t paying attention, the clan in question is thundering great tyrannosaur Cobalt and his feisty mate Sierra, just getting by in what is nowadays Hell Creek, Montana.

This stunning full-colour hardback, however, opens in the Mesozoic bit of the Cretaceous Period, or approximately 66 million years ago on a very special night. Here our anxious apex predators proudly celebrate the hatching of four eggs, heralding the start of a new generation, after which we’ll closely follow the pack over the next decade or so. The parents teach and provide in a casually lethal environment packed with a wide variety of dangerously capable prey, rival predators and unknown perils of every description.

This is dinosaurs and natural history, not Lady and the Tramp with really big teeth, so brace yourself and your own youngsters with a little spoiler alert: not everybody present at this antediluvian nativity is going to make it…

Compelling, beguilingly educational and splendidly entertaining, T. Rex Generations is a glorious celebration of Earth’s earlier Saurian inhabitants and our enduring love affair with them. Get this read the rest and go wild!
© 2018 Ted Rechlin. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Noggin the Nog


By Oliver Postgate & Peter Firmin (Egmont)
Noggin the King ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8152-2 (HB)
Noggin and the Whale ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8153-9 (HB)
Nogbad Comes Back ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8155-3 (HB)
Noggin and the Dragon ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8154-6 (HB)
Nogbad and the Elephants ISBN 978-1- 4052-8142-3 (HB)
Noggin and the Moon Mouse ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8141-6 (HB)
Noggin and the Storks ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8144-7 (HB)
Noggin and the Money ISBN: 978-1- 4052-8143-0 (HB)

Baby Boomers like me consider our childhoods – no matter how feted or feral, and personally privileged or dire and deprived – to have been a golden age in terms of liberty, agency and especially entertainment. That’s probably due in large part to being exposed to the gentle, life-affirming fantasy worlds of these guys.

Today celebrating a century of being splendid, Richard Oliver Postgate was a writer, puppeteer, animator and unrepentant itinerant storyteller who was born to an extremely prestigious, overachieving and drama-drenched family. He entered the world on April 12th 1925 in Hendon Middlesex and was eventually educated at Woodstock School, Woodhouse Secondary, the legendary Dartington Hall School/College and Kingston College of Art. He joined the Home Guard in 1942 but when at last called up, declared himself a Conscious Objector – just as his father had during the Great War. Court martialled and sentenced to Feltham Prison, Oliver eventually became a land-worker growing crops. After the war he worked for the Red Cross in Occupied Germany. On returning to Britain in 1948, he went to Drama School and drifted from job to job.

In 1957, whilst working as a stage manager for commercial TV company Associated Rediffusion, he observed the appalling quality of children’s programming up close and knew he could do better for the same paltry money offered. Writing Alexander the Mouse he convinced a Central School of Art tutor named Peter Firmin to draw the backgrounds for him. After moving on to short-lived deaf-viewer project The Journey of Master Ho, in 1959 the creators formalised their partnership as independent studio Smallfilms. The rest is history… and fantasy and wonder and charm and devastating nostalgia…

When not shaping the minds of 30-years-worth of kids, Postgate continued trying to save the world and refine its inhabitants. He was active in the CND movement, penning their pamphlet The Writing on the Sky and 1981 book Thinking it Through: The Plain Man’s Guide to the Bomb. In 1986, he created a 15-meter artwork for his latterday romantic partner Naomi Linnell’s book Illumination of the Life and Death of Thomas Beckett, repeating the exercise for The Triumphant Failure (about Christopher Columbus) and triptych A Canterbury Chronicle, which ended up in the city’s Royal Museum Art Gallery and Eliot College Campus…

Working when he pleased, Postgate narrated – in the calm, quietly compelling voice that became hardwired into the brains of millions – radio comedy and documentary shows, more books such as autobiography Seeing Things, and accompanied (arguably) his greatest creation Bagpuss – voted in 1999 the Most Popular Children’s Television Programme of All Time – as the plushly-stuffed purple & white cat accrued awards such as an honorary degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Postgate died – hopefully properly and rightly well-contented – in Broadstairs Kent, on December 8th  2008.

Peter Arthur Firmin was born in Harwich on 11th December 1928. Following training at Colchester School of Art and National Service in the Royal Navy, he attended Central School of Art and Design in London from 1949 to 1952. A creative man of many talents and disciplines, he then worked as a stained-glass designer, jobbing illustrator and lecturer.

Whilst teaching at Central in 1957 he was targeted by audacious, up-and-coming children’s TV writer Oliver Postgate who believed (quite rightly) that clever individuals could produce high-quality kids’ viewing at reasonable cost.

After crafting backgrounds for Postgate’s Alexander the Mouse and The Journey of Master Ho, Firmin became equal partner in new venture Smallfilms, which grew in and out of a shed at the artist’s Canterbury home. The kindred spirits initially produced hand-drawn cartoons and eventually stop motion animation episodes for series including Ivor the Engine, Pingwings, The Saga of Noggin the Nog, Pogle’s Wood/The Pogles, Bagpuss, The Clangers and much more. Postgate wrote, voiced and filmed, whilst Firmin – roping in any family and friends in the immediate vicinity – drew, painted, built sets and made puppets. Their spouses were often dragooned too, if they showed useful talents like sewing or knitting…

During those early days Firmin seemed tireless. In addition to the Smallfilms job he also devised, designed and populated other kids shows such as The Musical Box and Smalltime. In 1962 with Ivan Owen he created a fox puppet for The Three Scampies. That creation soon had his own show and career as Basil Brush…

Throughout his life, Firmin continued his cartooning and illustration career. This included writing and/or illustrating a number of books including Basil Brush Goes Flying, The Winter Diary of a Country Rat, Nina’s Machines and Postgate’s Seeing Things – An Autobiography. Firmin also worked as a printmaker and engraver, designer and educator. In 1994 he was asked to create a British postage stamp and produced a magnificent offering featuring Noggin and the Ice Dragon.

Even at their most productive and overworked, Postgate & Firmin always ensured there was plenty of ancillary product such as Christmas Annuals, comic strips, spin-off books, games and puzzles for their devoted young fans. One of the most charming and enduring was a series of “Starting-to-Read” books released by Kaye & Ward between 1965 and 1973. Postgate & Firmin crafted all 8 books in a kid-friendly format gently sharing the further adventures of the Nicest Norseman of Them All…

In 2016 the octet of all ages, easy-going comedy dramas and gently humorous escapades were rereleased as superb hardcover editions perfect for tiny hands, but are now (at least thus far) out-of-print-&-hard-to-find. Starring the full TV cast and illustrated in a variety of duo-toned line-&-colour tomes, they display all the wit and subtle charm of the irrepressible Firmin whilst Postgate seductively and seditiously showed how much nicer things could be if we all tried a little harder to get on with each other.

This is the Saga of Noggin the Nog… Upon the death of his father, quiet, unassuming Noggin becomes king of the northland Viking tribe known as the Nogs. He rules with understanding and wisdom – generally thanks to his advisors: wife Nooka who hails from the far north (we’d call her an Inuit or Inuuk princess these days), bluff old codger Thor Nogson and wisdom-stuffed talking green cormorant Graculus. Despite many fantastic but necessary adventures, Noggin prefers a quiet home life with his people and his boisterous son Knut…

Noggin the King opens with bucolic pastoral scenes of the Nogs, with the good-hearted sovereign helping his people however he can. However, whilst happily repairing the roof of an old farmer, the ruler dislodges a bird’s nest. Bringing the nest and its occupants back to his castle, he cares for the fledglings and mother, pondering if he is also the King of birds in the Land of Nogs. If he is, then they are his subjects too and thus he is responsible for their safety and welfare. Riven with doubt, the King, with Nooka at his side, sets out on a short quest/ fact-finding mission to confirm his suspicions and is rewarded by the feathered kingdom with a great but grave new honour…

Noggin and the Whale features far more light-hearted aspects of kingship as the mild-mannered monarch celebrates his birthday in the usual manner: doling out gifts to all the children of his realm. This year they all get musical instruments, but when they hold an impromptu concert on a boat in the little walled harbour, the merriment is interrupted by a most insistent whale.

Every time the kids get going the cetacean surges up under the boat and eventually even placid Noggin loss his temper and orders the sea-beast to swim away. Instead it glides over to the open harbour gate and sulkily blocks the way, just as Noggish fishing boats are trying to moor up for the night. Nothing the townsfolk can do will shift the surly creature.

Suddenly Prince Knut has an idea. He realises why the whale has been acting so strangely and, after consulting with his father, commissions Royal Inventor Olaf the Lofty to create a unique present for the morose marine mammal…

Originally released in 1966, Noggin and the Dragon sees little Prince Knut and his chums pestering the royal couple to let them go on a dragon hunt. Noggin and Nooka are reluctant at first – Dragon Valley is no place for little boys and besides, the best thing to do with dragons is give them sweets and make friends – but eventually the proud parents capitulate to pester power. To ensure things go smoothly they insist doughty old warrior Thor Nogson goes with them, but as the unruly boys trek into a gathering storm, no one has any idea of the shocking surprise in store for them all…

From the same year, Nogbad Comes Back highlights the return from exile of Noggin’s wicked usurping uncle, just in time to try and spoil the King’s annual animal and vegetable show. Living up to his name, Nogbad the Bad tries to win the glittering jewel-encrusted cup for best flora and fauna by devious cheating and, when that fails, through simple shameful theft. Thankfully, Nooka is not as forgiving and kind as her husband and has been keeping a close eye on her outlaw in-law…

The next year saw two more tomes: one of which may have been a notional precursor to one of Smallfilms’ most successful franchise creations. Noggin and the Moon Mouse begins with Knut enacting an official ceremony at a water trough. Proceedings are utterly disrupted when a strange silver ball crashes down and a child-sized rodent-like creature emerges. Caught up in the excitement, the prince and his unruly pals give chase… until Queen Nooka takes charge. After admonishing the boys, she and Noggin befriend the strange visitor (who actually comes from another world) helping him gather odd household items he requires to return to the stars.

And yes, a few years later a peculiar band of armoured woolly beasties began communicating with us all in their universally comprehensible pennywhistle pipings in a little show called The Clangers…

Nogbad and the Elephants proves there are many perks to being royal. One is wonderful presents such as the gigantic gem-encrusted, long-nosed big-eared beast presented to Prince Knut by the King of Southland. Sadly, the wonderful creature is perpetually unhappy and falls under the sway of crafty Nogbad who lures it away to steal its jewelled coat. Realising it’s been hoodwinked, the piteous pachyderm takes restorative action in its own unique manner, compelling Knut to make his first grown-up decision…

The last brace of tales originated in 1973, beginning with hilariously anti-capitalist tract Noggin and the Money. Here Court Inventor Olaf the Lofty suffers a setback in his dream to modernise the nation. Nogs have been happily soldiering on using barter and trade as long as anyone can remember, so when the big thinker creates coins as currency, he thinks he’s made life easier for everybody. Thor Nogson soon disagrees after he’s despatched to acquire eggs for the royal breakfast and meets rather a lot of resistance to this new-fangled commerce nonsense…

Wrapping up the fun is Noggin and the Storks as the King sagely deals with a minor ecological crisis. Sooty Storks have nested on the chimneys of the town for decades, using the heat of human cooking fires to warm their eggs. This year, as the birds are particularly numerous, the populace are continually being smoked out of their own homes.

Despite his people angrily petitioning Noggin to let them chase the pests away, as king of birds as well as people, the smooth sovereign seeks another, more equitable solution. Cue Olaf the Lofty, who has an idea involving an old chalk quarry, a stand of hollow trees, masses of convoluted piping, steel sheets and tons of firewood…

Serenely bewitching, engaging and endlessly rewarding (both these books and their much-missed, multi-talented originators) the works of Postgate and Firmin shaped generations of children and parents. If you aren’t among them, do yourself a great favour and track down those DVD box sets, haunt the streaming services and buy these books and anything else with their names on it. You won’t regret it for an instant.
Text © The Estate of Oliver Postgate 1965-1973. Illustrations © Peter Firmin/The Estate of Peter Firmin 1965-1973.

Posted on

Bunny vs Monkey: The Whopping World of Puzzles!


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-350-9 (Digest HB)

Bunny vs Monkey has been the hairy/fuzzy backbone of The Phoenix since the very first issue back in 2012: recounting a madcap vendetta gripping animal arch-enemies in 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, mindbending multi award-winning yarns have been wisely retooled as graphic albums available in digest editions such as this one.

The tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy began yonks ago after an obnoxiously annoying little anthropoid plopped down in some serene British woodland, in the wake of a disastrous local space shot. Crashed down in Crinkle Woods, scant miles from his launch site, lab animal Monkey reckoned himself the rightful owner of a strange new world… despite every effort to dissuade him by reasonable, rational, sensible, genteel, contemplative forest resident Bunny. No amount of patience, propriety or good breeding on the part of the laid-back lepine could curtail, contain or control the incorrigible idiot ape.

A keen rivalry arose between them, as the ape intruder crudely made himself at home, and to this day Monkey remains a rude, noise-loving, chaos-creating, troublemaking lout intent on building his perfect “Monkeyopia” – with or without the aid of evil supergenius ally Skunky or their “henches” Metal Steve and Action Beaver. Problems are exacerbated by other unconventional Crinkle creatures, like Pig, Weenie, Ai, Lucky, Le Fox. Mad scientist Skunky’s intellect and cavalier attitude to life presents as a propensity for building extremely dangerous robots, Brobdingnagian bio-beasts and sundry other super-weapons…

Here the mundane multi-coloured – albeit rendered here in multifarious shades of mystifying monochrome tones – manic war of nerves and mega-munitions is pettishly paused for a session of traditional entertainment and activities as the entire cast amble ‘To the Woods’ and into a fun-filled framing comic tale. Exploring and ending up somewhere never seen before, our cuddly combatants mutually discover and take charge of a ramshackle and abandoned “lost” fun-fair. Their ingrained competitive lunacy sees all involved revive old rides but also -and this is where you come in – refit and revamp games and puzzles stalls, seeking to make it a holiday fun ride for all…

Cue a selection of character-themed quizzes, puzzles, tests of skill and imagination and other pen and paper activities, Part One of which focuses on reconditioned ‘Games Stalls’. We open with the titular attention-seeking simian lout. His odd-one-out conundrum ‘I am Monkey’ leads to self-explanatory ‘Bunny’s Cross Words’ and more esoteric wordplay in ‘Action Beaver’s Bibblesearch’, ‘Weenie’s Wall of Words’, and ‘Ai’s Speedy Wordswitches’ before naughty wordsearch ‘Monkey’s Too Rude!’ brings us to pencil-driven ‘Metal E.V.E.’s Hall of Mirrors’, ‘Spaces for Faces’ and ‘Embiggening for Beginners’…

Riddles and enigmas abound next in ‘Codewords with Le Fox’ after which traversing the ‘Amazing Mud Maze’ will afford a pause to assess ‘Who Will Win? Only You Can Decide’ prior to Part Two commencing with ‘Costume Conundrums!’ and paper-folding foolishness for ‘Fortune-Telling Monkey’ and his ‘Laugh of Truth’ before ‘Bunny’s Would You Rather?’ poses challenging questions in advance of really AARRRRD! stuff in ‘Name That Pirate with Weenie and Pig’ and ‘Talk Like a Pirate’, before again asking ‘Who Will Succeed? Only you can decide!’

Part Three contains culinary calamities and chewy comestibles aplenty, all bedecking assorted ‘FoodStalls’. Learn how to deal with ‘Candyfloss Quiffs’ and identify ‘Weenie’s Cake a Difference’ whilst cowering in glee over ‘Cookery Corner: Wobbleberry Buns’. Having cooked but not burned, we wonder ‘What’s That Smell?’, ‘What’s That Noise?’ and ‘Who’s in the Loo?’ and reassess how ‘Only One Will Succeed!’ before Part Four brings us to a House of Horror uncovering Skunky’s private lab wherein lurks ‘Skunky’s Monster Maker’, ‘House of Horror’, and ‘The All-Seeing Eye!’

Should you need to take breath ‘Skudoku’ and ‘Badgoku’ are available as are ‘Metal E.V.E.’s Hints and Tips’ and ‘Skunky’s Number Puzzle’ just before a barrage of life-challenging decisions await those tackling adventure quiz ‘None of the Fun of the Fair’…

The comic story resumes and concludes in traditional shocking vulgar fashion before the last survivors stagger up to the bit with all the ‘Answers’…

Daft, compulsively addictive, dangerously read-out-loud-able and fearfully unputdownable, this cutting edge retro-treat is the perfect gift for anyone with crayons, paper and too many kids.
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.

Bunny vs Monkey: The Whopping World of Puzzles! will be published on March 27th 2025 and is available for pre-order now.

Posted on

The Complete Peanuts volume 9: 1967-1968


By Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics Books/Canongate Books UK)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-826-8 (US HB) 978-085786-213-6 (UK HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Peanuts is unequivocally the most important comic strip in the history of graphic narrative. It is also the most deeply personal. Cartoonist Charles M Schulz crafted his moodily hilarious, hysterically introspective, shockingly surreal philosophical epic for half a century: 17,897 strips spanning October 2nd 1950 to February 13th 2000. He died – from complications of cancer – the day before his last strip was printed.

At its height, Peanuts ran in 2,600 newspapers, in 21 languages and75 countries. Many of those venues still run it in perpetual reprints, as they have ever since his death. During his lifetime, book collections, a merchandising mountain and television spin-offs had made the publicity-shy doodler an actual billionaire at a time when that really meant something…

None of that matters. Peanuts – a title Schulz loathed, but one the syndicate forced upon him – changed the way comics strips were received and perceived: proving cartoon comedy could have edges and nuance and meaning as well as soon-forgotten pratfalls and punchlines.

We begin with an effusive foreword from film icon John Waters expressing his utter support of the mighty Lucy Van Pelt and all who sail in range of her, drawing references and similarities to actor/personality Divine I never saw before, but now can’t shift…

Notionally, our focus and point of contact remains quintessential, inspirational loser Charlie Brown who, beside fanciful, high-maintenance mutt Snoopy, remains squarely at odds with a mercurial supporting cast, hanging out doing what at first sight seems to be Kids Stuff and an increasingly hostile universe of perverse happenstance.

Always, gags centre on play, varying degrees of musicality, pranks, interpersonal alignments, the mounting pressures of ever-harder education, mass media lensed through young eyes and a selection of sports in their season, leavened by agonising teasing, aroused and crushed hopes, the making of baffled observations and occasionally acting a bit too much like grown-ups. However, in this tome, themes and tropes that define the entire series (especially in the wake of many animated TV specials) become mantra-like yet endlessly variable, but focus less on Charlie Brown and more on those around him. One deliciously powerful constant that remains and grows more abundant is his inability to fly a kite. Here the war with wind, gravity and landscape reaches absurdist proportions, as a certain tree pursues his adored pastime with vicious violent and malicious venom…

Human interactions still find the boy a pitiable outlier. Mean girl Violet, musical prodigy Schroeder, self-taught psychoanalyst and dictator-in-waiting Lucy, her brilliantly off-kilter little brother Linus and dirt-magnet “Pig-Pen” are fixtures honed to generate joke-routines and gag-sequences around their signature foibles, but some early characters have faded away in favour of fresh attention-attracting players joining the mob. Newcomers sidle in and shuffle off without much flurry or fanfare but in our real world the debut of “Minority” characters José Peron of New Mexico and African American Franklin attracted much attention and drew controversy – because, I guess, there will always be gits and arseholes…

A little girl Lila also debuted, but another white kid wasn’t much of shock to the system, even if she shared a fantastic life-changing secret with Snoopy…

At least the Brown boy’s existential crisis/responsibility vector/little sister Sally has grown enough to become just another trigger for relentless self-excoriation. As she grows, pesters librarians, forms opinions and propounds steadfastly authoritarian views, Charlie is relegated to being her dumber, but eternally protective, big brother…

Resigned to – but far from uncomplaining about – life as a loser in the gunsight of cruel and capricious fate, the boy Brown is helpless meat in the clutches of openly sadistic Lucy. When not sabotaging his efforts to kick a football, she monetises her spiteful verve via a 5¢ walk-in psychoanalysis booth (although supply and demand economics also affects this unshakeable standard), ensuring that whether at play, in sports, kite-flying or just brooding, the round-headed kid truly endures the character-building trials of the damned. She’s so good at it that a certain dog opens up a rival concern…

By this time, the beagle is the true star of the show, with his primary quest for more and better food playing out against an increasingly baroque inner life, wild encounters with birds, skateboarding, dance marathons and skating trysts with a “girl-beagle”, philosophical ruminations, and ever-more-popular catchphrases. Here, the burgeoning whimsy leads to constant glimpses of the dog’s WWI other life, peppered with classic dogfights against the accursed Red Baron, but also focuses on his side hustles: running for civic office, competing as arm wrestler The Masked Marvel and brief but intense time as an Olympic ice skater…

Snoopy also indulges in a protracted period impersonating a vulture, but pickings seem to have been quite slim…

As always, timeless episodes of play, peril, peewee psychoanalysis and personal recrimination are beards for some heavy topics. Rendered in marvellous monochrome, there are crucial character introductions, more plot developments and creation of even more traditions we all revere to this day. Of particular note is confirmation of the soft revolution leaving the wonder beagle and Lucy Van Pelt in the driving/pilot’s seat and head of the table/analyst’s couch…

Health and status became increasingly important at this time and the collection opens with a painfully relevant sequence of gags as Linus and Lucy get their measles vaccinations. It was played for laughs then and all ended well, but the way today’s parental moron sector are playing Russian roulette with kids’ lives is still no bloody joke…

Another trenchant continued gag-series follows Lucy attempts to “cure” Linus of his blanket dependency by playing him off against grandma who will give up smoking if he gives up clutching fabric and sucking thumb…

Snoopy is the only force capable of challenging if not actually countering Lucy. Over these two years, her campaign to curb that weird beagle, cure her brother of his comfort blanket addiction and generally reorder reality to her preferences reaches astounding heights and appalling depths, but the dog keeps trying and scores many minor victories. As always volumes open and close with many strips riffing on snow, food, movie-going and television – or the gang’s responses to it – become ever more pervasive. As aways, Lucy constantly and consistently sucks all the joy out of the white wonder stuff and the astounding variety offered by the goggle-box. Perpetually sabotaged, and facing abuse from every female in their life, Brown and Snoopy endure casual grief from smug, attention-seeking Frieda, championing shallow good looks over substance. Linus is still beguiled by the eerie attractions of his teacher Miss Othmar and Lucy’s amatory ambitions for Schroeder grow ever more chilling and substantive…

Schulz established way points in his year: formally celebrating certain calendar occasions – real or invented – as perennial shared events: Mothers and Fathers’ Days, Fourth of July, National Dog Week strips accompanied in their turn yearly milestones like Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween/Great Pumpkin Day and Beethoven’s Birthday were joined this year by a return to another American ritual as many of the cast return to summer camp. This heralds a greater role for old pal Patricia Reichardt AKA tomboy Peppermint Patty (who debuted in the previous collection on August 22nd 1966); this time around, she becomes a counsellor to younger girls, ousts Charlie Brown from his own baseball team and even replaces him as manager with the beagle…

More endless heartbreak ensues as Charlie Brown fruitlessly pursue his ideal inamorata the “little red-haired girl”: a fascination outrageously exploited by others whenever he doesn’t simply sabotage himself. The poor oaf still has no idea how to respond to closer ties with his dream girl or why even Patty cares…

Sports loom large and terrifying as ever, but star athlete Snoopy is more interested in his new passions than boring old baseball or hockey. Even Lucy finds far more absorbing pastimes but still enjoys crushing the spirits of her teammates in whatever endeavour they are failing at. Anxiety-wracked Brown even steps down from the baseball team to ease his life, but being replaced by Linus only intensifies his woes. It also does nothing to help his kite wielding or paper plane folding…

Linus endures more disappointment in two Great Pumpkin seasons and before you know it, there’s the traditional countdown to Christmas and another year filled with weird, wild and wonderful moments…

Neatly interspersed with the daily doses of gloom, the Sunday page first debuted on January 6th 1952: a standard half-page slot offering more measured fare than the 4-panel dailies. Thwarted ambition, sporting failures, crushing frustration – much of it kite/psychoanalysis related – abound, alternating with Snoopy’s inner life of aviation and war stories, star gazing, shooting the breeze with bird buddies, weather woes and food fiascos. These and other signature sorties across the sabbath indulgences afforded Schulz room to be his most imaginative, whimsical and provocative…

Particular tentpole moments to relish include as always, the sharply-cornered romantic triangle involving Lucy, Schroeder & Beethoven; Snoopy v Lucy deathmatches; Charlie Brown’s food feud with the beagle, and assorted night terrors, Lucy’s unique solutions to complex questions; Valentines’ card coup counting, doggy dreams; the power of television; sporting endeavours; and more…

To wrap it all up, Gary Groth celebrates and deconstructs the man and his work in ‘Charles M. Schulz: 1922 to 2000’, preceded by a copious ‘Index’ offering instant access to favourite scenes you’d like to see again…

Readily available in many formats, this volume guarantees total enjoyment: comedy gold and social glue metamorphosing into an epic of spellbinding graphic mastery that still adds joy to billions of lives, and continues to make new fans and devotees long after its maker’s passing.
The Complete Peanuts: 1967-1968 (Volume Nine) © 2008 Peanuts Worldwide, LLC. The Foreword is © 2008, John Waters. “Charles M. Schulz: 1922 to 2000” © 2008 Gary Groth. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Toby and the Pixies: volume 2: Best Frenemies!


By James Turner & Andreas Schuster with Kate Brown, Austin Boechle & Leanna Daphne (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-338-7 (TPB)

Way back in January 2012, Oxford-based David Fickling Books made a rather radical move by launching a traditional anthology comics weekly aimed at under-12s. It revelled in reviving the good old days of picture-story entertainment intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in style and content.

To this day each issue features humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy. The Phoenix has successfully established itself as a potent source of children’s entertainment because, like The Beano and The Dandy, it is equally at home to boys and girls, and mastered the magical trick of mixing amazingly action-packed adventure series with hilarious humour strip serials such as this one. Most of the strips have also become graphic collections just like this one…

Crafted by the astoundingly clever James Turner (Star Cat, Super Animal Adventure Squad, Mameshiba, The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve) and Canadian cartoonist/designer/animator Andreas Schuster (KLARA AND ANTON in PRIMAX Magazine), Toby and the Pixies began in January 2020 (as I Hate Pixies) and, once out of the compost bag of creative wonders, just wouldn’t stop.

Those first forays were remastered and released as Toby and the Pixies: Worst King Ever! where the unwary and unwise learned how one nerdy boy at a Surburbiton high school – 12-year old overachiever Toby Cauldwell – really began fitting in. After all, it was hard enough enduring overbearing popular classmates like smarmy trendy “online influencer” Joe and snarky bully Steph but at least fellow style exile Mo was in the same boat. Everything changed – generally for the worst – after Toby’s electric toaster-obsessed Dad ordered the little wastrel to sort out the unruly back garden…

That’s when Toby discovered the wild, suburban jungle was, unknown to any mortal, a screen for a fabulous fey realm. This ethereal yet rather mucky enclave had endured unseen in the green shambles of the Cauldwell backyard for countless ages. However – due to an inept and inadvertent act of emancipation sparked by Toby kicking an unfortunately placed plaster garden gnome – the status quo forever altered and the reluctant lad was inadvertently elevated to the position of supreme overlord. It was only for a hidden kingdom of magical morons but they were really happy to be shot of their previous mad mean magical master.

As interpreted by the former King’s advisors Mouldwarp (Royal Druid), wise(ish) Gatherwool (Lore Keeper/Potion Master) and Toadflax (she eats stuff); deliberate or not, despatching King Thornpickle made Toby new absolute monarch. Pixie law also stated said ruler could do anything they wanted… a prospect so laden with responsibility that it made Toby weep with terror…

Just coming to terms with magic actually existing and that freaky, anarchic little imps can do it whilst still being absolute idiots and morons was awful enough, without also still having to survive school’s normal and traditional horrors. Thankfully, as the little odds and sods increasingly impinged and impacted on Toby’s life, education and prospects, they also turned school upside on a daily basis, and Toby’s fellow outcast Mo soon discovered the shocking secret. In the short term, it actually made things worse but now, apart from constant teasing and perpetual whining pleas to visit the magic kingdom, there is a fellow human King Toby can moan at.

… And then succession problems kicked off as magic-slime wielding Princess Sugarsnap – daughter of Thornpickle and rightful heir to a job Toby really, really doesn’t want – started her war to take back the throne…

This second commodious compendium opens with a chance to meet key regulars Toby, Mo, Steph, advisors Toadflax, Gatherwool & Mouldwarp and evil usurper-in-waiting Princess Sugarsnap in a comprehensive double page intro. Then it’s back to school and off the deep end in ‘Chapter 1: Bully’ wherein the pestiferous advisors gear up to look (nothing) like a normal person. The plan is to sort out mean girl Steph, but only serves to amplify suspicions she never used to have, leading to revelation and a well-deserved détente. ‘Chapter 2: Steph Meets the Pixies’ sees her forcibly brought up to speed on the incredible truth of Toby’s life when Sugarsnap launches a slime invasion, ensuring the strictly minor league abuser gets a peek at real stinky evil and, maybe, her own potential future…

Now, still obnoxious and bossy but part of the team, Steph helps contain the chaos when Toadflax trades identities with Toby (without asking permission) and inadvertently deals attention-addict Joe a reputation-ruining life lesson in ‘Chapter 3: Body Swap’ prior to an official invitation to the magic kingdom in ‘Chapter 4: Steph Joins the Team’. The state visit gives her and Toby time to bond over a shared passion – TV sleuth Inspector Humps – and even solve a uniquely fairy felony when someone steals Farmer Haydrizzle’s stinkworms…

Idle playground chatter about wasted time and pointless tasks leads to ‘Chapter 5: Double Trouble’ after Gatherwool unleashes a harvest of doppelgangers by sowing a crop of double seeds. The school is pretty used to weirdness by now, and only unlikable geography teacher Mr. Morris doesn’t make it back next day…

Toby’s perpetually disappointed grandmother and grandfather are compelled to expose their long-suppressed true natures after ‘Chapter 6: Grandparent Grumblings’ sees an unwelcome duty go utterly off the rails when the magically tooled-up advisors come along for the ride, after which the reluctant ruler joins Mo on a birthday jaunt to see the animals in ‘Chapter 7: Zoo’s There?’ Typically unwilling to be left behind, the advisors don’t really get the point of “animal prison” and their mystic meddling has lasting repercussions. At least Mo, Steph and Toby get to become their spirit animals in the vain efforts to fix the carnage…

A terrifying human rite of passage comes next as a school landmark looms for Toby and Mo. Maybe the mania and mayhem happened because he admitted liking pretty blonde Deborah, or perhaps it was just the cursed dancing shoes the King stupidly accepted from the advisors that led to leads to ‘Chapter 8: Disco Discombobulation’…

Rampant capitalism hits the magic kingdom hard and without mercy next, as a property boom is manufactured by cunning cove and self-appointed loan-shark/banker Tricksy the Pixie in ‘Chapter 9: Boom and Bust’. It wasn’t so much all the ugly flimsy new builds, rampant unheeding greed of the elfin borrowers or even the million percent interest rates that caused the inevitable collapse as putting their faith in a base currency that was water soluble and biodegradable…

As the King dealt with the fallout of that crisis Mo and Steph applied tried & trusted narrative principles to a potential pixie couple experiencing romantic frustration in ‘Chapter 10: Fairy Fail!’ – with typically revolting results, and a human fancy dress party (plus irate, interfering advisors) triggers a riot of fanciful manifestations in ‘Chapter 11: Princess-pocalypse’ before the magical misery tours stumble to a pause when a day choosing instruments and performers for the school orchestra only generates a spontaneous wave of despondency in ‘Chapter 12: The Glooms!’ Typically, the talent search degenerates into a cacophony of sadness and woe with magically mutagenic effects even young King Cauldwell and his court are affected: all but Steph who has to do something truly unwelcome to save the day…

Wrapping up the fey foolishness is an activity section detailing ‘How to Draw Steph Expressions’ and  ‘Steph’s Body’ and thereafter closing with the now-standard Special Preview feature focusing on what other word-&-picture wonderment awaits in the periodical Phoenix…

Toby and the Pixies is a joyous concatenation of nonsense no lover of laughs and lunacy should deprive themselves of and a feast of yuckky yoks all kids will gleefully consume.
Text and illustrations © The Phoenix Comic 2025. All rights reserved.

Toby and the Pixies: volume 2: Best Frenemies! is published on March 13th 2025 and available for preorder now.

Posted on

Henry Speaks for Himself


By John J. Liney, edited by David Tosh (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-733-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Created by veteran cartoonist Carl Anderson as a silent, pantomimic gag-panel first seen on March 19th 1932, Henry was one of the most venerated and long-lived of US newspaper comics strips. The feature was developed for The Saturday Evening Post before being picked up by legendary strip advocate and proponent William Randolph Hearst. He brought it and the then-69-year-old Anderson to his King Features Syndicate in 1934 after which the first comic strip appeared on December 17th, with a full colour Sunday half-page following on March 10th 1935. The Saturday Evening Post had to content and console itself with a new feature entitled Little Lulu by Marjorie Henderson Buell. I wonder how that worked out?

Being a man of advanced years, Anderson employed Don Trachte to assist with the Sundays whilst John J. Liney performed the same role for the Monday to Saturday black and white iteration. This continued until 1942 when arthritis forced Anderson to retire. Trachte and Liney became de facto creators of the feature – although the originator’s name remained on the masthead for the next twenty years.

Liney (1912-1982) had started as a staff cartoonist on the Philadelphia Evening Ledger and began selling gag ideas to Anderson in 1936 before landing the full-time assistant’s job. After assuming the illustrator’s role in 1942, Liney took over sole writing responsibilities for the daily in 1945, continuing Henry until 1979 when he finally retired. His own name had been adorning the strip since 1970. He was also a passionate teacher and educator on comics and cartooning, with a position at Temple University. Nevertheless, he still found time to write and draw a comic book iteration of the mute and merry masterpiece from 1946 to 1961.

Major licensing monolith Western Publishing/Dell Comics had been successfully producing comic books starring animation characters, film icons and strip heroes since the mid-1930s, and when they launched their Henry – first in Four Color Comics #122 and #155 (October 1946 and July 1947) prior to his own 65 issue title from January 1948 – they successfully argued for a radical change in the boy’s make-up.

The newspaper strip had always been a timeless, nostalgia-fuelled, happily humour-heavy panoply of gags and slapstick situations, wherein the quite frankly weird-looking little bald kid romped and pranked in complete silence, with superb cartooning delivering all the communication nuance its vast international audience needed.

Now though, with children seen as sole consumers, the powers-that-be felt that little lad should be able to speak and make himself understood. Liney easily rose to the challenge and produced a sublime run of jolly, wild, weird if not often utterly surreal, endlessly inventive adventures – many of which approached stream-of-consciousness progressions that perfectly captured the ephemeral nature of kids’ concentration. He also introduced a captivating supporting cast to augment the boy, and his appealingly unattractive, forthright and two-fisted inamorata Henrietta.

This splendid collection gathers some of the very best longer tales from the comic book run in the resplendent flat primary colours that are so evocative of simpler days, beginning after a heartfelt reminiscence in the Foreword by Kim Deitch. Another pause before the comics commence comes from Editor, compiler and devotee David Tosh who outlines the history of the character and his creators in ‘Henry – the Funniest Living American’. He then goes on to explain ‘The Dell Years’ before offering some informative ‘Notes on the Stories’.

The vivid viewing portion of this collection is liberally augmented with stunning cover reproductions; all impressively embracing to the quiet lad’s silent comedy roots, a brace of which precede a beautiful double-page spread detailing the vast and varied cast Liney added to the mix. Then, from #7 (June, 1949), we discover ‘Henry is Thinking Out Loud!’ as the kid keeps his non-existent mouth shut and explores the medium of first person narrative, inner monologues and thought-balloons, all whilst getting into mischief seeking odd jobs to do…

October’s edition, Henry #9, introduced good-natured, cool but increasingly put-upon Officer Yako in ‘You Can’t Beat the Man on the Beat!’ via an escalating succession of brushes with the law, bullies, prospective clients… and darling Henrietta.

That bald boy still hadn’t actually uttered a sound, but by #14 (August 1950) had found his voice, much to the amusement of his layabout Uncle (rather suspiciously, he never had a name) who eavesdropped on the assorted kids comparing their ‘Funny Dreams’. After a quartet of covers, Henry #16 (December 1950) finds Liney playing with words as ‘Rhyme Without Reason’ reveals the entire cast afflicted with doggerel, meter, couplets and all forms poetic, with Liney even drawing himself into the madcap procession of japes and jests, whilst ‘A Slice of Ham’  #22, December 1951) cleverly riffs on Henry’s ambitions to impress Henrietta by becoming an actor. This yarn offers a wealth of Liney caricatures featuring screen immortals such as Chaplin, Gable, Sinatra and more, whilst introducing a potential rival contender for Henry’s affections in cousin Gilda…

In #24 (April 1952) Henry ‘Peeks into the Future’ by outrageously pondering on his possible careers as an adult, before plunging into Flintstone or Alley Oop territory – complete with cave city and dinosaurs – as a result of studying too hard for a history test in ‘The Stone Age Story’ from #29, February 1953.

After four more clever funny covers, growing up again features heavily with ‘Choosing Your Career’ (#45, March 1956) as the little fool road-tests a job as a home-made cab driver and accidentally slips into law enforcement by capturing a bandit. Henry #48 (December 1956) sees him attend a fancy dress party and become ‘The Boy in the Iron Mask’, before this completely charming compilation closes by reprising that sojourn in the Stone Age ‘Rock and Roll’ (#49 March 1957). Concluding the comedy capers is fond personal reminiscence ‘Henry and Me’ by David Tosh; a man justifiably delighted to be able to share his passion with us and hopefully proud that this book gloriously recaptures some of the simple straightforward sheer joy that could be found in comicbooks of yore.

Henry Speaks for Himself is fun, frolicsome and fabulously captivating all-ages cartooning that will enthral anyone with kids or who has the soul of one.
Henry Speaks for Himself © 2014 Fantagraphics Books Inc. All comics and drawings © 2014 King Features, Inc. All other material © its respective creators. This book was produced in cooperation with Heritage Auctions.

Posted on

Famous First Edition C-63: New Fun Comics #1


By Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Charles Flanders, Lloyd Jacquet, Dick Loederer, Adolphe Barreaux, Adolph Shusterman, Joe Archibald, Lyman Anderson, Sheldon Hubert Stark, Lawrence Lariar, Henry Carl Kiefer, Bert Salg/Bertram Nelson, Clem Gretta, Ken Fitch, Jack A. Warren, Bob Weinstein, Tom Cooper, Tom McNamara, John Lindermayer & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0119-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Times of hardship and sustained crisis often trigger moments of inspiration and innovation. That’s no panacea for all the hardship that correspondingly accrues but every silver lining brings a crumb of comfort, no? Perhaps we’ll see more clearly in four years’ time…

In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, print salesman Max “MC” Gaines and editor Harry I. Wildenberg devised promotional premiums for stores to give away: cheaply made small booklets that reprinted some of the era’s hugely popular newspaper strips. By adding a price sticker these freebies were transformed into a mass market fixture as seen in 1934’s newsstand retail release Famous Funnies.

Monumental corporate megalith DC Comics began as National Allied Publications in 1935, another speculative venture conceived by controversial soldier-turned writer Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. He had been writing military non-fiction and pulp adventure stories when he met Gaines and, fired up, took a shot that the new print vehicle had legs. Backing the belief invention with a shoestring venture, he set about mass-producing the print novelty dubbed comic books.

Wheeler-Nicholson’s bold plan was to sidestep large leasing fees charged for established newspaper strip reprints by filling his books with new material. Moreover, with popular strips in limited supply and/or already optioned, his solution to create new characters in all new stories for an entertainment-hungry readership must have seemed a no-brainer.

Cover-dated February 1935, and looking remarkably like any weekly comic anthology ever since, New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 blended humour with action, intrigue and suspense, combining serialized adventure strips with prose fiction, and features. Tabloid sized, and largely scripted by “The Major”, it was edited by Lloyd Jacquet (who would later helm many of DC’s rapidly proliferating imitators and rivals) with pages filled by untried creators and lesser established cartoonist lights. Issue #6 launched the careers of Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster with adventurer Henri Duval and supernatural troubleshooter Doctor Occult. Hopefully we closet comics historians will see those collected for the curious one day….

Despite initially tepid sales, the Major persevered, launching New Comics as 1935 closed. The anthology was renamed New Adventure Comics, before settling on Adventure Comics with #32 in 1938. The company was struggling when Wheeler-Nicholson’s main creditors -printer Harry Donenfeld and accountant Jack L. Liebowitz – moved in, taking more active roles in the running of the enterprise. Within two years the commercially unseasoned Wheeler-Nicholson had been forced out by his more adept business partners, just as Wheeler-Nicholson’s final inspiration neared its debut. Detective Comics was a themed anthology of crime thrillers, and when it launched (cover-dated March 1937) it was the hit the company needed. Its success signalled closure of National Allied and birth of Detective Comics Incorporated. Eventually his company grew into monolithic DC (Detective Comics, get it?) Comics. Surviving a myriad of changes and temporary shifts of identity and aims, it’s still with us – albeit primarily as a vehicle for the breakthrough character who debuted in #27 (May 1939). The Major was retained until 1938. Donenfeld and Liebowitz’s acumen ensured the viability of comic books and their editor Vin Sullivan inadvertently changed the direction of history when he commissioned something entirely new and unconventional by Seigel & Shuster for upcoming release Action Comics #1…

Supplemented by a wealth of ancillary articles and essays, the spark of this particular publishing revolutions is re-presented in full facsimile mode after introductory essay ‘The Start of Something Big’ by the legendary Dr Jerry G. Bails, fully supported by ‘A Second Introduction – This One by Roy Thomas’ and a reproduction of a rare insert letter from Lloyd Jaquet that came with some of the earliest copies printed…

Looking remarkably similar in format to any British weekly anthology from the 1930s to the 1970s, the comic had its first feature playing across the cover as Lyman Anderson depicted cowboy Jack Woods imperilled by a rascally bushwhacker.

Edited by Lloyd Jaquet, the inner front cover declaimed ‘New Fun Hello Everybody: Here’s the New Magazine You’ve Been Waiting For!’ before Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson & Charles Flanders debuted ‘Sandra of the Secret Service’; an elegant socialite in over her head…

The first six single page strips all came with an inbuilt star attraction. As Oswald the Lucky Rabbit an animated lepine tyke had hit cinema screens in 1927, courtesy of bright young men Walt Disney & Ub Iwerks. A year later the creators had been kicked out by Universal Pictures and got revenge by inventing Mickey Mouse. Oswald soldiered on under lesser hands until 1938 and enjoyed a strip of his own. Each 3-panel Oswald The Rabbit “topper” ran under New Fun’s new stuff, forming a sequence about ice skating and probably crafted by Al Stahl, John Lindermayer & Sheldon Hubert Stark.

Teen dating dilemmas plagued ‘Jigger and Ginger’ by Adolph “Schus” Shusterman and PI ‘Barry O’Neill’ (by Lawrence Lariar) faced Tong-&-Triad terrors before Adolphe Barreaux exposed Bobby & Binks to ‘The Magic Crystal of History’ and dumped the inquisitive kids in “4000 BC”, even as deKerosett (Henry Carl Kiefer) blended aviation and Foreign Legion licks in ‘Wing Brady – Soldier of Fortune’.

Oswald bowed out underneath the first instalment of ‘Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott’ courtesy of Wheeler-Nicholson & Flanders before Bert (Salg aka Bertram Nelson) enjoyed some judicial japery with ‘Judge Perkins’ before big sky sci fi kicked off in the Flash Gordon manner thanks to ‘Don Drake on the Planet Saro’ “presented” by Clem Gretta (Joseph Clemens Gretter & Ken Fitch) prior to Jack A. Warren introducing comedy cowpuncher ‘Loco Luke in “Nope He Didn’t Get His Man”’ and Wheeler-Nicholson & Flanders – as “Roger Furlong” – switch to illuminated prose to probe the mystery of ‘Spook Ranch’. It goes without saying, I hope, that many of these groundbreaking yarns are initial chapters of serials so don’t get too invested in what going on…

Joe Archibald taps into the varsity sports scene with comedic basketball titan ‘Scrub Hardy’ whereas Lyman Anderson plays deadly serious with the other, lesser kind of football in ‘Jack Andrews All-American Boy’ prior to the opening of a section of ads and features. Sandy beach-based bodybuilding revelations precede a prose vignette on ‘Bathysphere – A Martian Dream’ and segue into Joe Archibald’s ‘Sports’ review, a heads-up of what’s ‘On the Radio’ and ‘In the Movies’ whilst the secrets of ‘Model Aircraft’ and ‘Aviation’ lead to ‘How to Build a Model of Hendrik Hudson’s “Half Moon”’ …

Comic treats are topped up with Bob Weinstein’s maritime drama ‘Cap’n Erik’ and Tom Cooper taps into frontier history with ‘Buckskin Jim the Trail Blazer’ prior to learning and hobby craft taking over again with ‘Popular Science’, ‘Stamps and Coins’, and something for the little ladies…‘Young Homemakers’.

Tom McNamara heralds another bunch of comics with kiddie caper ‘After School’ and anonymous ‘Cavemen Capers’ take us to Barreaux’s ‘Fun Films 1st Episode: Tad Among the Pirates’ a faux cinema tale inviting readers to grab scissors and make their own stories, before New Fun’s art director Dick Loederer joins the fun with elfin romp ‘Bubby and Beevil’ and provides an untitled bottom strip to literally support a stylish penguin fantasy ‘Pelion and Ossa’ by John Lindermayer. Closing the interior amazement is another “Clem Gretta” wonder – ‘2023 Super-Police’ – leaving ads ‘New easy way to learn aviation’ and a full colour enticement for the ‘Tom Mix’ Ralston Zyp Gun (you absolutely WILL shoot your eye out!) to close the beginning of it all…

Fully supported by detailed biography ‘The Major Who Made Comics’ by granddaughter Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson and comprehensive listing ‘New Fun #1 – the Contributors’ plus reprint series overview ‘A Tabloid Tradition Continued’ and even more memorabilia bits, this is a historical artefact no serious comics fan should be without.
Famous First Edition: New Fun #1, C-63 Compilation and all new material © 2020 DC Comics. © 1935 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Biographical Essays © 2019 Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson.

Posted on

The Beano and The Dandy: Comics in the Classroom


By many & various including Dudley D. Watkins, Leo Baxendale, Eric Roberts, Alan Morley, Chick Gordon, Ron Spencer, A.G. Martin, John K. Geering and more (DC Thomson & Co)
ISBN: 978-1-84535-347-6 (HB)

My current editor informs me that it’s half term (AGAIN!?) so here’s a timeless day out revisiting a classic era of halcyon educational highlights heavy on tuck shop excesses, lethally harmful pranks and state-sponsored beatings for comedic effect – nostalgia at its most pungent and effective. And, as is so often the case in case of what old people cherish, This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Released as part of the 70th Anniversary celebrations of the comics company that has more than any other shaped the psyche of generations of children, this impressive magnificent and still readily available hardback compilation rightly glories in the incredible wealth of quality that has paraded through the flimsy pages of The Beano and The Dandy. This splendidly oversized (299 x 205mm) 144 page hardback compilation takes as its broad theme the antics of characters who have waged an incessant war against boredom and repression amidst the chalk-clouded, grubby corridors of school, risking corporal punishment, exhausted writing hands and ritual humiliation to keep us all amused and rebellious at heart.

Tragically, neither it nor its companion volumes are available digitally yet, but hope springs ever eternal…

Admittedly this book goes through some rather elaborate editing, design and paste-up permutations to editorially explain to modern readers the vast changes to the once-commonplace that’s happened in intervening years. Naturally the process has quietly dodged the more egregious terms and scenarios that wouldn’t sit well with 21st century sensibilities, although to my enlightened sensibilities the concentration on whacking children on the bottom does occur with disturbing frequency – the Bash Street Kids even had their fearfully expectant upraised bums as the strip’s logo for a few years!

However, viewed as a cultural and historical memoire, this is a superb comic commemoration of one of our greatest communal formative forces, with a vast number of strips and stories carefully curated from a hugely transformative period in national history. They’re also superbly timeless examples of cartoon storytelling at its best…

Until it folded, was briefly reborn as a digital publication in 2012, and died again, The Dandy was the third-longest running comic in the world (behind Italy’s Il Giornalino which launched in 1924 and America’s Detective Comics in March 1937). The Dandy premiered on December 4th 1937: breaking the mould of traditional UK predecessors and competitors by using word balloons and captions on some strips, rather than just the narrative blocks of text under the sequential picture frames that had been the industry standard.

A huge success, it was followed on July 30th 1938 by The Beano – and in concert they revolutionised the way children’s publications looked and, most importantly, how they were read. Over many decades the “terrible twins” spawned so many unforgettable and beloved household names who delighted countless avid and devoted readers, and their unmissable end of year celebrations were graced with bumper bonanzas of the comics’ weekly stars in extended stories in magnificent hardback annuals.

During WWII, rationing of paper and ink forced the “children’s papers” into an alternating fortnightly schedule: on September 6th 1941, only The Dandy was published. A week later just The Beano appeared. The rascally rapscallions only returned to normal weekly editions on 30th July 1949, but the restrictions had not hurt sales. In fact, in December 1945, The Beano #272 became the first British comic to sell a million copies, and the post-war period saw more landmarks as the children’s division of DC Thomson blossomed over the ten years, with innovative characters and a profusion of talented cartoonists who would carry it to publishing prominence, even as the story papers died back in advance of more strip anthologies like The Topper (1953) and The Beezer (1956)…

This compilation primarily concentrates via random extracts and selected strips on the development of established 1940s stars – like Biffo the Bear (1948), Lord Snooty (1938), The Smasher (1938, but completely reinvented in 1957), Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan (both 1937), who all survived the winds of change to grow into beloved and long-lived favourites in the new era. They’re highlighted beside the most successful new characters of the fifties -mostly school-aged if not actually school-based – including Dennis the Menace (1951), Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger and Little Plum (all 1953) and The Bash Street Kids (1956 or 1954 if you count prototype When the Bell Rings! as the same).

Nevertheless there’s also a wonderful selection of less well known features on view…

This superb celebration of Celtic creativity is packed literally cover-to-cover with brilliant, breakthrough strips with the mirth starting on the inside front with an outrageous 2-colour Frontispiece tableau by Leo Baxendale of When the Bell Rings! It’s mirrored at the back of the book by a similarly hilarious spread starring Biffo by indisputable cartoonist Dudley D. Watkins…

Within these suitably dog-eared pages you will find cracking examples of Alan Morley’s Old Ma Murphy, Korky the Cat, Hooky’s Magic Bowler Hat (by wonderful Chick Gordon), The Pocket Grandpas (both the 1940’s prose feature and the 1970’s strip drawn by Ron Spencer), Big Eggo, Miss Primm (Morley again), Tough Nellie Duff (“the Strong Arm School Marm”), and Billy Butter the Brainy Goat.

More substantial offerings honour Biffo the Bear (by both Dudley D. Watkins and Leo Baxendale) and Dennis the Menace, Our Teacher’s a Walrus and Lord Snooty (both by incredibly prolific Watkins), as well as Winker Watson and the unforgettable, irrepressible Dirty Dick (both illustrated by the unique Eric Roberts).

Greedy Pigg, Mr Mutt and Jammy the Sammy were all by the indefatigable A.G. Martin whilst Baxendale’s immortal Bash Street Kids, Desperate Dan (by Watkins), Whacko! And Robin Hood’s Schooldays (by Spencer again) are well represented too; but it’s the tantalising glimpses of such minor celebrities as Dopey Dinah, Bamboo Town, and Keyhole Kate that I’d like to see more of sometime.

There’s a raft of bonus features such as an article on long-lost prose stories like Jimmy the Double Dunce, and Through Fire and Flood with Bobby Trent, a complete 8 page full-colour Bananaman strip from 1985 that was given away in schools and dentists, by John K. Geering, and the unpublished final episode (#837 if you’re counting) of the Jocks and the Geordies from the Dandy.

This strip was never completed and is presented as unlettered black line art, with the artist’s script printed below: a fascinating insight for anybody seeking a career in the industry. In fact this book is a treasure trove for the aspiring pro as many strips are reproduced from original camera-ready artwork – with printers’ instructions, editor’s notes and even un-erased pencil lines on show – highly educational for those looking for secrets and details of “the process”.

Notwithstanding all that, the true magic of this collection is the brilliant art and stories by a host of talents that have literally made Britons who they are today, and bravo to DC Thomson for letting them out for a half-day to run amok once again.
© 2008 DC Thomson & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.