Category: Kids – All Ages

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Cedric volume 3: What Got Into Him?


By Laudec & Cauvin with colours by Leonardo & translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-081-8 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Raoul Cauvin (26 September 1938-19 August 2021) was one of Europe’s most successful comics scripters. Born in Antoing, Belgium in 1938, by 1960 he was working in the animation department of publishing giant Dupuis after studying Lithography. Happily, he quickly discovered his true calling was writing funny stories and began a glittering, prolific career at Le Journal de Spirou.

With Salverius, he conceived the astounding successful Bluecoats, and dozens more award-winning series like Sammy, Cupidon, Les Femmes en Blanc, Pauvre, Lampil Boulouloum et Guiliguili, and Agent 212: cumulatively comprising well over 240 separate albums.

His collaborator on superbly witty kid-friendly family strip Cédric was Italian-born, Belgium-raised Tony de Luca, who studied electro-mechanics and toiled as an industrial draughtsman before making his own break into bandes dessinée.

Following fanzine efforts in the late 1970s as “Laudec”, he landed soap-style strip Les Contes de Cure-la-Flute at Le Journal de Spirou in 1979. He traded that for a brace of war-time serials (L’an 40 in 1983 and March Noir et Bottes à Clous in 1985) whilst working his way around the comic’s other strips. In 1987, he joined Cauvin on the first Cédric shorts. From then on it was child’s play…

We have Dennis the Menace (the Americans have their own too, but he’s not the same) whilst the French-speaking world has Cédric: an adorable, lovesick rapscallion with a heart of gold and an irresistible penchant for mischief. He’s also afflicted with raging amour…

Collected albums – 34 thus far – of variable-length strips (ranging from a ½ page to half a dozen) began appearing in 1989, and the lad remains amongst the most popular and best-selling in Europe, as is the animated TV show spun off from the strip.

… A little Word to the Wise: this is not a strip afraid to suspend silly yoks in deference to a little suspense or even near-heartbreak. The bonny boy is crushingly smitten with Chen: a Chinese girl newly arrived in class and so very far out of his league, leading to frequent and painful confrontations and miscommunications.

Harking back to 2011 and first continentally released in 1992 as Cédric 5: Quelle mouche le pique? – this third Cinebook translation opens with ‘A Pebble in the Shoe’: a moving and uplifting generational collaboration as Grandpa tells his daughter’s son stories of a dearly-departed wife that has the eavesdropping household (and you, too, if you have any shred of heart or soul) in emotional tatters…

We return to big laughs as a dose of unwelcome homework results in ‘A Big Fat Zero’ whilst ‘A Lousy Story’ details the pros and cons of a school nit epidemic before pester power is deployed to secure an addition to the household in ‘Man’s Best Friend’.

The crusty elder statesman of the family learns a painful lesson as ‘Grandpa Takes a Turn’ sees the creaky reactionary suckered into chaperoning a school dance, after which little Cedric has a beguiling and potentially life-altering experience when his adored Chen marches through town in the uniform of ‘The Majorettes’…

Grandpa and Cedric unite to shame Dad into purchasing ‘The Board that Skates’ but it’s every man for himself when the kid comes cadging cash in ‘You Wouldn’t Have a 20?’, whilst ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ playfully shows that although the boy’s love for Chen is all-abiding and true, it isn’t necessarily reciprocated…

When Chen’s mother accidentally prangs Dad’s car, Cedric goes violently berserk until the families have demonstrably agreed détente and rapprochement is reached via ‘An Amicable Arrangement’  before the pesky pup accidentally boosts his hard-pressed papa’s earning potential through inadvertent confidence trickery in ‘Business is Business’.

‘Jealousy’ rears its ugly head when Chen begins ballet classes and literally jumps into the arms of Cedric’s bitterly despised romantic rival The Right Honourable Alphonse Andre Jones-Tarrington-Dupree – with catastrophic repercussions for all concerned – whilst ‘Short of Breath’ sees the whole family play a mean but hilarious trick involving Dad’s birthday cake…

‘Solemn Communion’ wastes a much-needed opportunity to salve Cedric’s already-tarnished soul when the boy’s first Catholic sacrament ceremony devolves into a drunken debacle for the attending adults, after which we come full circle as amorous memories are tickled and ‘The Quarrel’ resumes after Cedric inquires how Mum and Dad got together. Happily, everything returns to bittersweet tears when the old man is asked for more reminiscences of Grandma Germaine in moving finale ‘Remember, Gramps…’

Rapid-paced, warmly witty, and not afraid to explore sentiment or loss, the exploits of this painfully keen, bemusingly besotted rascal are a charming example of how all little boys are just the same and infinitely unique. Cedric is a superb family strip perfect for youngsters and old folk alike…
© Dupuis 1992 by Cauvin & Laudec. All rights reserved. English translation © 2011 Cinebook Ltd.

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Marvel Adventures Spider-Man volume 1: Amazing


By Paul Tobin, Matteo Lolli, Scott Koblish & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4118-1 (Digest PB/Digital edition)

Since its earliest days Marvel always courted the youngest audiences. Whether animated tie-ins such as Terrytoons Comics, Mighty Mouse, Super Rabbit Comics, Duckula, assorted Hanna-Barbera and Disney licenses and a myriad others, or original creations such as Tessie the Typist, Millie the Model, Homer the Happy Ghost, Li’l Kids or Calvin, the House of Ideas always understood the necessity of cultivating the next generation of readers.

These days, however, general kids’ interest titles are on the wane and with Marvel’s proprietary characters all over screens large, small, and even portable, the company prefers to create child-friendly versions of its own pantheon, making an eventual hoped-for transition to more mature comics as painless as possible.

In 2003 the company established a Marvel Age line which updated and retold classic original tales by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko all mixed in with remnants of their manga-based Tsunami imprint, also intended for a younger readership. The experiment was tweaked in 2005, becoming Marvel Adventures with the core titles transformed in Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man with reconstituted classics replaced by all new stories. Additional series included Marvel Adventures series Super Heroes, The Avengers and Hulk. These ran until 2010 when all were cancelled and replaced by new – continuity-continuing -volumes of Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man.

This digest-sized collection gathers the first four stories from the 2010 iteration and actually starts in the middle of the action – although writer Paul Tobin and artists Matteo Lolli and Scott Koblish (with inkers Christian Dalla Vecchia, Terry Pallot Koblish & Andrew Hennessy) take great pains to keep the stories as clear as possible.

Sixteen year old Peter Parker has been the mysterious Spider-Man for about six months. In that time he has constantly prowled the streets and skyscrapers of New York, driven to fight injustice. However, as a kid just learning the ropes, he’s pretty much always in over his head…

The opening tale finds him on a crusade against the all-pervasive Torino crime-family, attempting to expose their bought-and-paid-for Judge Clive Baraby, whilst ex-girlfriend and wannabe journalist Gwen dogs his webbed heels and her father Police Captain George Stacy – who knows the boy’s secret but allows him to continue his vigilante antics – picks up all the well-thumped thugs the incensed wall-crawler leaves in his wake.

Even though Spidey can’t touch corrupt Baraby, his campaign of attrition has the Torinos on the ropes, so the Mafioso engage the services of super-assassin Bullseye to kill the Web-spinner. However, the Man who Never Misses is infuriatingly slow to act and soon there’s an open contract on the kid crusader…

Peter’s civilian life is pretty complicated too. Since he and Gwen split, the lad has taken up with schoolmate Sophia Sanduval – an extremely talented lass nicknamed Chat – who also knows Pete’s secret, can communicate with animals and has a part-time job with the Blonde Phantom Detective Agency…

She also pays attention in class and suggests how what they learned in history can be used to trap the untouchable Baraby.

The second story opens with a brutal dognapping and leads inexorably to a clash with merciless mercenary Midnight when the villain invades Peter’s school during a martial arts exhibition by Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Along the way, Chat introduces Pete to new buddy Flapper – a very wise owl indeed – and new kid Carter Torino enrols at the school. How does this troubled new boy know the constantly watching Bullseye?

Before the subplots get too intens,e however, Midnight and his ninjas attack Shang-Chi and Spider-Man joins the fracas, subsequently learning some things from the combat expert – including who to return that stolen dog to…

Whilst close-mouthed gang-prince Carter gets closer to Gwen, Wolverine guest-stars in an third untitled tale as Chat asks her bug-boy beau to help hunt down the wild-haired mutant for a client who wants Logan to model their hair gel. Typically, whenever the Clawed Canadian appears trouble isn’t far behind, and when a gang of Torino goons jumps Wolverine, Spidey is forced to join the carnage. And that’s when Bullseye makes his move…

As conflicted Carter Torino confronts his criminal family, the volume concludes with a savage showdown between Bullseye and the sorely outmatched Spider-Man …and sees the death of one of the supporting cast…

Never the success the company hoped, the Marvel Adventures project was superseded in 2012 by specific comics tied to those Disney XD television shows designated as Marvel Universe Cartoons, but these tales are still an intriguing and more culturally accessible means of introducing character and concepts to kids born generations away from the originating events.

Fast-paced and impressive, these Spidey tales are extremely enjoyable yarns but parents should note that some of the themes and certainly the violence might not be what everybody considers “All-Ages Super Hero Action”…
© 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comics Strips volume 1 – Through the Wild Blue Wonder


By Walt Kelly (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-869-5 (HB/Digital edition)

Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. was born on August 25th 1913 and started his cartooning career whilst still in High School, as both artist and reporter for the Bridgeport Post. Moving to California in 1935, he joined the Disney Studio, working on shorts and features like Dumbo, Fantasia and Pinocchio… until the infamous animators’ strike in 1941.

Refusing to take a side, Kelly moved back East and began drawing comic books – primarily for Dell Comics, who had the Disney funnybook license. Despite his glorious work on such humanistic classics as the movie tie-in Our Gang, Kelly much preferred anthropomorphic animal and children’s fantasy (like Walt Kelly’s Santa Claus Adventures) and created Albert the Alligator and Pogo Possum for Animal Comics #1 (cover-dated December 1942). He sagaciously retained the copyrights in the ongoing tale of two Bayou critters and their young African-American pal Bumbazine. Although the black kid soon vanished, the animal stars stayed on until 1948 when Kelly became art editor and cartoonist for hard hitting, left-leaning liberal newspaper The New York Star.

On October 4th 1948, Pogo, Albert and an ever-expanding cast began their careers on the funny pages, appearing six days a week until the periodical folded in January 1949.

Although a gently humorous kids feature, by the end of its run – included in full at the rear of this magnificent tome – the first glimmers of the increasingly barbed, boldly satirical masterpiece of velvet-pawed social commentary began to be seen…

This first of 12 volumes tracks the ascent of the scintillating, vastly influential strip; don’t believe me, just listen to Gary Trudeau, Berke Breathed, Bill Watterson, Jeff McNally, Bill Holbrook, Mark O’Hare, Alan Moore, Jeff Smith and even Goscinny & Uderzo and our own Maurice Dodd & Dennis Collins, whose wonderful strip The Perishers owes more than a little to the sublime antics of the Okefenokee Swamp citizenry…

After The Star closed, Pogo was picked up for mass distribution by the Post-Hall Syndicate and launched on May 16th 1949. A colour Sunday page debuted January 29th 1950 and both were produced simultaneously by Kelly until his death on October 18th 1973 (and even beyond, courtesy of his talented wife and family…)

At its peak the strip appeared in 500 papers in 14 countries whilst book collections (which began in 1951) number nearly 50 and have collectively sold 30 million copies. This volume includes every Star strip, the Dailies from inception to December 30th 1950, plus the Sundays – in their own full colour section – from January 29th to December 31st 1950, plus supplementary features including a Foreword from columnist Jimmy Breslin, an Introduction by biographer Steve Thompson, a week-by-week highly detailed contents section, useful guide ‘About the Sundays’ by Mark Evanier and an invaluable context and historical notes feature ‘Swamp Talk’ by the amazing R.C. Harvey.

Kelly’s genius and gift was the ability to beautifully, vivaciously draw comedic, tragic, pompous, sympathetic characters of any shape or breed and make them inescapably human and he used that gift to blend hard-hitting observation of our crimes, foibles and peccadilloes with rampaging whimsy, poesy and sheer exuberant joie de vivre. The hairy, scaly, furry, feathered, slimy folk depicted here are inescapably us, elevated by burlesque, slapstick, absurdism and all the glorious joys of wordplay – from puns to malapropisms to raucous accent humour – into a multi-layered hodgepodge of all-ages accessible delight.

In later volumes Kelly set his bestial cast loose on such timid, defenceless victims as Senator Joe McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, the John Birch Society, Richard Nixon and the Ku Klux Clan, but he starts off small here, introducing gently bemused Pogo, boisterous, happily ignorant Albert, dolorous Porkypine, obnoxious turtle Churchy La Femme, lugubrious hound Beauregard Bugleboy, carpet-bagging Seminole Sam Fox, pompous (not) know-it-all Howland Owl and a multitude more in gags and extended epics ranging from assorted fishing trips, building an Adam Bomb, losing and finding other people’s children, electioneering, education, kidnapping, the evil influence of comic books, Baseball season, why folks shouldn’t eat each other, Western cow punchers, cows punching back, New Years Resolutions, public holidays and so much more…

The Sundays also opened with one-off gags but soon evolved into convoluted, mesmeric continued sagas such as the search for the Fountain of Youth, building a school and keeping it filled, Albert elected Queen of the Woodland by elf-like forest fauns – and why that was ultimately a very bad thing indeed…

Timeless and magical, Pogo is a true giant not simply comics, but also of world literature, and this magnificent edition should be the pride of every home’s bookshelf and digital library.
POGO Through the Wild Blue Wonder and all POGO images, including Walt Kelly’s signature © 2011 Okefenokee Glee & Perloo Inc. All other material © 2011 the respective creator and owner. All rights reserved.

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Benny Breakiron volume 1: The Red Taxis


By Peyo, with backgrounds by Will: translated by Joe Johnson (Papercutz/NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-59707-409-4 (HB/Digital edition)

Pierre Culliford was born in Belgium in 1928 to a family of British origin living in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels. An admirer of the works of Hergé and American comics in Mickey, Robinson and Hurrah!, he developed his own artistic skills, but war and family bereavement forced him to forgo further education and find work.

After toiling as a cinema projectionist, in 1945 he joined C.B.A. animation studios, where he met André Franquin, Morris and Eddy Paape. When the studio closed, he briefly studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts before moving full-time into graphic advertising. In his spare time he submitted comic strips to the burgeoning post-war comics publishers. The first sale was in April 1946: Pied-Tendre, a tale of American Indians which saw print in Riquet, the comics supplement to the daily L’Occident newspaper. Further sales to other venues followed and in 1952 his knight found a permanent spot in Le Journal de Spirou. Retitled Johan et Pirlouit, the strip prospered and in 1958 introduced a strange bunch of blue woodland gnomes called Les Schtroumpfs.

Culliford – now using the nom de plume Peyo – would gradually turn those adorable little mites (known to us and most of the world as the Smurfs) into an all-encompassing global empire, but before being sucked onto that relentless treadmill, he still found time to create a few other noteworthy strips such as the titanic tyke on view here today.

In 1960, Benoit Brisefer – AKA Benedict Ironbreaker (Steven Sterk in Dutch) – debuted in LJdS #1183 (December 1960). With some slyly added tips of the beret to Siegel & Shuster’s Superman (check out that cover, fanboys!), what gently unfolds are wry bucolic romps of an extraordinary little lad living a generally quiet life in an unassuming little French – or maybe Belgian? – town.

Quiet, well-mannered and a bit lonely, Benny is the mightiest boy on Earth: able to crush steel or stone in his tiny hands, leap huge distances and run faster than a racing car. He is also generally immune to all physical harm, but his only real weakness is that all his strength deserts him whenever he catches cold… which he does with frightening ease and great frequency…

Benny never tries concealing his powers but somehow the adults never catch on. They usually think he’s telling fibs or boasting, and whenever he tries to prove he can bend steel in his hands the unlucky lad gets another dose of the galloping sniffles!

Most kids avoid him. It’s hard to make friends or play games when a minor kick can pop a football like a soap bubble and a shrug can topple trees...

Well-past-it Brits of my age and vintage might remember the character from weekly comics in the 1960’s. As Tammy Tuff – The Strongest Boy on Earth – and later as both Benny Breakiron and Steven Strong – our beret-wearing wonder appeared in Giggle and other periodicals from 1967 onwards.

With Peyo’s little blue cash-cows taking up ever larger amounts of his concentration and time, other members of his studio assumed greater responsibilities for Benoit as years passed. Willy Maltaite (“Will”), Gos, Yvan Delporte, Françoise Walthéry and Albert Blesteau all pitched in, and Jean Roba created many eye-catching LJdS covers. However, by 1978 the demands of the Smurfs were all consuming and all the studio’s other strips were dropped.

You can’t keep a good super-junior down though and, after Peyo’s death in 1992, his son Thierry Culliford & cartoonist Pascal Garray revived the strip, adding six more volumes to the eight generated by Peyo and Co. between 1960 and 1978.

Thanks to US publisher Papercutz, some – but not yet all! – of the gloriously genteel, outrageously engaging power fantasies are available to English-language readers again, both as robust full-colour hardbacks and eBooks, and this initial exploit begins in sedate micro-metropolis Vivejoie-la-Grande, where the sweet kid goes about his solitary life, doing good deeds in secret and being as good a boy as he can.

However, his sense of fair play is outraged when aging taxi driver Monsieur Dussiflard becomes the target of a dirty tricks campaign by new company Red Taxis. When he and the incensed cabbie challenge the oily company CEO in his flashy high-rise office, Benny is shooed away and the elderly driver vanishes.

Suspicions aroused, Benny investigates and is attacked by thuggish Red Taxi employees. Only after thrashing and humiliating the goons does Benny realise that he still doesn’t know where Dussiflard is, so he retroactively throws the fight…

Just as he is imprisoned with his fellow abductee, the worst happens and the bombastic boy comes down with a stinker of a cold! Helpless as any other 8-year old, he’s stuffed in a crate with the codger cabbie and loaded onto a freighter headed to the Galapagos Islands…

With all opposition ended, the Boss and his Red Taxi stooges begin the final stage of a devilish plot, utterly oblivious to the dogged determination of Benny – who escapes the ship and an alluring tropical paradise, impatiently waits for his cold to clear up and none too soon sets off on a race against time, the elements and his own woefully-lacking knowledge of geography if he is to stop the ruthless criminals…

A superbly sweet and sassy spoof and fabulously winning fantasy of childhood validation and agency, The Red Taxis offers a distinctly Old World spin to the notion of superheroes and provides a wealth of action, thrills and chortles for lovers of astounding adventure and incredible comics excellence.
© Peyo, 2013 – licensed through Lafig Belgium. English translation © 2013 by Papercutz. All rights reserved.

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Superman Adventures volumes 1


By Paul Dini, Scott McCloud, Rick Burchett, Bret Blevins, Mike Manley & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5867-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

At their primal hearts heroes like Batman and Superman appeal directly and powerfully to the little kids in us all, who helplessly rail at forces that boss us around and don’t let us be ourselves. Maybe that’s why the versions ostensibly and specifically made for youngsters are so often the most vivid and rewarding…

Almost a decade after John Byrne re-galvanised, reinvigorated and reinvented the look and feel of the Man of Steel, animator Bruce Timm returned to comicbook country to meld modern sensibility and classic mythology with Superman: The Animated Series.

With Paul Dini, he had already designed and overseen Batman: The Animated Series: a 1993 TV show which captivated young and old alike, breathing vibrant new life into an old concept. In 1996 lightning struck a second time. The show was another masterpiece and led to a tranche of sequels and spin-off including The New Batman/Superman Adventures, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Although the Superman cartoon show (originally airing in the USA from September 6th 1996 to February 12th 2000) never got the airplay it deserved in Britain, it remains a highpoint in the character’s long, long animation history, second only to 17 astounding, groundbreaking shorts produced by the Max Fleischer Studio in the 1940s.

These stylish modern visualisations became the norm, extending to the Teen Titans, Legion of Super Heroes, Young Justice and Brave and the Bold animation series that so successfully followed.

The broad stylisation – dubbed “Ocean Liner Art Deco” – also worked magnificently in static two dimensions for the spin-off comic book produced by DC as seen in this first of four compilations, curating Superman Adventures #1-10 (November 1996-August 1997).

With no further ado, the all-ages action opens with ‘Men of Steel’ by show writer Paul Dini, illustrated with dash and verve by Rick Burchett & Terry Austin. Because they know their audience, the editors wisely treated prior animated episodes and comic releases as equally canonical, and here shady mega-billionaire Lex Luthor is a public hero even whilst covertly organising clandestine criminal deals, international coups and a secret war against the Man of Tomorrow.

The devil’s brew of dark deeds culminates here in the oligarch’s creation of a new secret weapon: a hyper-powerful robot-duplicate of Superman, which he uses to initially discredit and ultimately attack the Caped Kryptonian. If it manages to kill him, Lex can mass-produce them and sell them to warlords around the world…

Comics grand master Scott McCloud came aboard as regular scripter with the second issue as ‘Be Careful What You Wish For…’ sees the return of Kryptonite-powered cyborg Metallo. The mechanical maniac – like the rest of Metropolis – erroneously believes lonely, attention-seeking Kelly to be Superman’s girlfriend, but his sadistic revenge scheme hasn’t factored in how Lois Lane might react to the fraudulent claim…

Computerised Kryptonian relic Brainiac resurfaces in ‘Distant Thunder’, having placed its malign consciousness into Earth artefacts (such as robot cats!) before building a new body to facilitate a renewed assault on the Metropolis Marvel. As ever, Brainiac’s end goal is assimilating data, but Superman quickly realises how to turn that programmed compulsion into a weapon ensuring the computer tyrant’s defeat…

Apprentice photo-journalist Jimmy Olsen’s dreams of success and stardom get a big boost in issue #4’s ‘Eye to Eye’. After Luthor orchestrates another lethal attack on Superman – with an enhanced gravity-weapon – the cub reporter learns his job is as much about grit and guts as being in the right place at the right time…

Bret Blevins pencils ‘Balance of Power’ as electrical villain Livewire awakes from a coma and sets about equalizing gender inequality by taking over the world’s broadcast airwaves. With all male presences edited out thanks to her galvanic gifts, the sparky ideologue returns to her original agenda and attempts to eradicate too-powerful men like Superman and Luthor…

McCloud, Burchett & Austin reunite for the astoundingly gripping ‘Seonimod’ wherein Superman utterly fails to save Metropolis from complete annihilation. All is not lost, however, as Fifth Dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk has trapped the hero in a backwards-spiralling time-loop, allowing the Man of Tomorrow one last chance to track a concatenation of disasters back to the inconsequential event that initially triggered the string of accidents which wiped out everything he cherishes…

‘All Creatures Great and Small part 1’ opens a titanic 2-part tale which sees Krypton’s Phantom Zone villains General Zod and Mala escape a miniaturised prison Superman had incarcerated them in. In the process they also shrink our hero to a few centimetres in height, but the endgame is far more devilish that that.

When scientific savant Professor Hamilton and top cop Dan “Terrible” Turpin join Lois in using a growth ray to restore Superman, Zod intercepts them and transforms himself into a towering colossus of chaos and carnage. Utterly overmatched and without options, the tiny Man of Tomorrow is forced into the most disgusting and risky manoeuvre of his career to bring the gigantic General low in the concluding ‘All Creatures Great and Small part 2’…

Mike Manley pencils Superman Adventures #9 as ‘Return of the Hero’ focuses on an idealistic boy whose two heroes are Superman and Lex Luthor. However, as a series of arson attacks plagues his neighbourhood, Francisco Torres learns some unpleasant truths about the billionaire that shatter his worldview and almost destroy his family. Happily, the Caped Kryptonian proves to be a far more reliable role model…

Wrapping up this first cartoon collection is a classic clash between indomitable hero and deadly maniac, as a twisted techno-terrorist y returns, peddling Superman action figures designed to plunder and rob their owners’ parents. ‘Don’t Try This at Home!’ – by McCloud, Burchett & Austin – once again proves that no amount of devious deviltry can long deter the champion of Truth, Justice and the American Way…

Breathtakingly written and spectacularly illustrated, these stripped-down, hyper-charged rollercoaster-romps are pure, irresistible examples of the most primal kind of comics storytelling, capturing the idealised essence of what every Superman story should be. It’s a treasury every fan of any age and vintage will adore.
© 1996, 1997, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Mega Robo Bros book 6: Carnival Crisis


By Neill Cameron, with Austin Baechle (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-298-4 (TPB)

Mighty in metal and potent in plastic, here’s the latest upgrade in a sterling, solid gold all-ages sci fi saga from Neill (Tamsin of the Deep, Pirates of Pangea, How to Make Awesome Comics, Freddy) Cameron. Perfect purpose-built paladins, the mecha-miraculous Mega Robo Bros find that even they can’t fight punch out intolerance or growing pains in these electronic exploits balancing frantic fun with portents of darker, far more violent days to come…

It’s still the Future!

In a London far cooler but just as embattled as ours, Alex and his younger brother Freddie Sharma are generally typical kids: boisterous, fractious, eternally argumentative yet devoted to each other, and not too bothered that they’re adopted. It’s really no big deal for them that they were meticulously and covertly constructed by the mysterious Dr. Roboticus – before he vanished – and are considered by those in the know as the most powerful – and only fully SENTIENT – robots on Earth.

Dad is just your average old guy who makes lunch and does a bit of writing (he’s actually an award-winning journalist), but when not being a housewife, Mum is pretty extraordinary herself. As surprisingly famous and renowned robotics boffin Dr. Nita Sharma she harbours some shocking secrets of her own…

Life in the Sharma household tries to be normal. Freddie is insufferably exuberant and over-confident, whilst Alex is at the age when self-doubt and anxiety hit hard. Moreover, the household’s other robot rescues can also be problematic…

Programmed as a dog, baby triceratops Trikey is ok, but eccentric French-speaking ape Monsieur Gorilla can be tres confusing, and gloomily annoying, existentialist aquatic waterfowl Stupid Philosophy Penguin hangs around ambushing everyone with quotes from dead philosophers…

The boys have part-time but increasing difficult jobs as super-secret agents, although because they weren’t very good at the clandestine part, almost the entire world now knows of them. Generally, however, it’s enough for the digital duo that their parents love them, even though they are a bit more of a handful than most kids. They all live as normal a life as possible: going to human school, playing with human friends and hating homework. It’s all part of their “Mega Robo Routine”, combining dull human activities, actual but rare fun, games-playing, watching TV and constant training in the combat caverns under R.A.I.D. HQ.

Usually, when a situation demands, the boys carry out missions for bossy Baroness Farooq: head of government agency Robotics Analysis Intelligence and Defence. They still believe it’s because they are infinitely smarter and more powerful than the Destroyer Mechs and other man-made minions she usually utilises.

Originally published in UK weekly comic The Phoenix, this revised, retooled and remastered saga opens with the lads feted as global heroes.

After defeating dangerous villains like Robot 23 and thwarting a robot rebellion sparked by artificial life activist The Caretaker, the Bros battled monstrous, deadly damaged droid Wolfram in the arctic and learned that he might be their older brother. Even so, they had to destroy him and now Alex is increasingly traumatised by the act…

Over the course of that case they learned that fifteen years previously Mum was a brilliant young roboticist working under incomparable (but weird) pioneering genius Dr. Leon Robertus. His astounding discoveries had earned him the unwelcome nickname Dr. Roboticus and perhaps that’s what started pushing him away from humanity…

Robertus had allowed Nita to repurpose his individually superpowered prototypes into a rapid-response team for global emergencies. Mum used to be a superhero, leading manmade Rapid Response team The Super Robo Six!

While saving lives with them she first met crusading journalist/future husband Michael Mokeme who proudly took her name when they eventually wed…

Robertus was utterly devoid of human empathy but – intrigued by the team’s acclaim and global acceptance – created a new kind of autonomous robot. Wolfram was more powerful than any other construct, and equipped with foundational directives allowing him to make choices and develop his own systems. He could think, just like Alex and Freddy can. Only, as it transpired, not quite…

When Robertus demoted Nita and made Wolfram leader of a new Super Robo Seven, the result was an even more effective unit, until the day Wolfram’s Three Directives clashed during a time-critical mission. Millions of humans paid the price for his confusion and hesitation…

In the aftermath, R.A.I.D. was formed. They tried to shut down Robertus and decommission Wolfram, but the superbot rejected their judgement, leading to a brutal battle, the robot’s apparent destruction and Roboticus vanishing…

As the boys absorbed their “Secret Origins” Wolfram returned, attacking polar restoration project Jötunn Base. It covered many miles and was carefully rebalancing the world’s climate, when Wolfram took it over: reversing the chilling process to burn the Earth and drown humanity…

Ordered by Baroness Farooq to stay put and not help, Alex and Freddy rebelled, but by the time the Bros reached Jötunn, Wolfram had crushed a R.A.I.D. force led by their friend Agent Susie Nichols. After also failing to stop the attacker, kind contemplative Alex found a way to defeat – and perhaps, destroy – his wayward older brother and save humanity…

Their exploit made the Bros global superstars and whilst immature Freddy revels in all the attention Alex is having trouble adjusting: not just to the notoriety and acclaim, but also the horrifying new power levels he achieved to succeed and also the apparent onset of robot puberty. It’s afflicted him with PTSD…

A collection of shorter, ominous interlinked exploits, Carnival Crisis opens with a potential disaster in the city as human negligence drives a giant building-bot into overload and a destructive but oddly beautiful rampage. The Bros are quickly on the scene but wild Freddy can’t understand why Alex won’t let him blast the rogue to scrap with his new augmented power-set, and instead rambles on about a peaceful solution. Happily, newlywed R.A.I.D. operatives Susie and Zahra Abdikarim are more amenable to suggestion…

The world gets suddenly more dangerous when a fishing boat and its robot-bashing skipper goes missing in the North Sea. The Bros meanwhile are having extremely different reactions to a TV documentary about them and their defeat of Wolfram.

Freddy’s sheer smug glee can’t be contained, but Alex discovers that not all humans – his classmates included – are robot tolerant or friendly. Many of them already constantly ask if Alex is a boy or a girl and some don’t even consider Alex human at all …

However, as the school prepares for the upcoming London Carnival and unattainable Jamila starts being friendly, his anxiety over being “normal” start to fade… but only until Susie seconds the Bros for an emergency mission to the North Sea.

Unexplained electromagnetic phenomena and missing vessels lead to a scanning dead-zone which is ultimately revealed as a vast sea platform. A hostile encounter with warbots exposes a cloaked robot utopia and sanctuary of liberated mechanoids that has declared independence from humanity. The ambassador communicating with them calls it “Steelhaven”…

With the intruding humans in protective custody, Alex and Freddy meet the inspirational liberator: a completely rational and rebuilt Wolfram. The metal messiah has developed astounding new powers based on the Kerchatov reactors they all share and offers to teach them. All they have to is leave their old home and acknowledge humanity as the eternal enemy of robots…

When the enforced détente between Steelhaven’s peacekeepers and R.A.I.D. commandos breaks down, it’s all Alex can do to broker a ceasefire and get the humans away, but the confrontation has deeply disturbed him…

Even more upset is Baroness Farooq and her bosses, who all know an existential threat to civilisation when they see one. As the Bros debriefing continues, Alex realises how tenuous his own status is as the politicos interrogate him and make plans against “his kind”. When they get home, he also realises just how much he and Freddy are fighting these days and that he’s had a headache for so long it feels normal now.

During a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, Alex struck up an unlikely friendship with equally publicity-shy Crown Prince Eustace, and when his interfering sibling spies on their eChats, the clash that results shatters the house – more than once…

Even when some rapid remodelling gives each Bro a room of their own, more discord follows when they fractiously divide the toys, comics and friends…

Left to his own devices Alex starts practising and soon he’s able to do some of the things the reborn Wolfram can. Tensions peak and events come to head on the day of Carnival. Dad and Grandma are running a refreshment stall – but not keen on using mum’s new cyber-creations Tea-bot and Mr. Donut – when an eerie electronic signal cause all the mechanical and artificial attendees to go berserk. Although immune to the mass-malfunction burst, Alex and Freddy are in agony and can barely protect the terrified humans. Thankfully, tech-savvy classmate Mira tracks the signal to long-gone menace Robot 23 before hacking it, but that only makes the chaos worse and promises imminent and impending “robot revolution”…

R.A.I.D.’s heavy handed response is a blamestorming investigation that further alienates Alex. He’s also found sites of a group called “Humanity First” who advocate quite horrific things to be done to robots. They are growing in popularity so fast…

When mean kid Jamal tauntingly mimics those acts at school, he’s supported by a teacher and Alex storms off in disgust, heading to R.A.I.D. HQ and the hologram Playroom to safely and cathartically express his frustrations. Typically, Freddy is already there and this time the ensuing fight has collateral casualties, damaging the programming of Stupid Philosophy Penguin and provoking the equivalent of a seizure in Alex…

After a week of tests, mum has some answers, but they’re truly scary.

The siblings were designed to grow, adapt and change and now Alex has reached the stage that will determine the final configuration. However – and totally amplifying the feelings of alienation, isolation and abnormality – the elder Robo Bro is confronted with infinite choice including shape, orientation, configuration and especially gender, just when he/she/they/it have never been less certain of who Alex Sharma is or wants to be…

The literally explosive reaction is barely containable, and only foreshadows more strife to come…

Crafted by Cameron and colouring assistant Austin Baechle, this rip-roaring riot isn’t quite over yet. Adding informational illumination are a dossier of R.A.I.D. data files on Alex, Freddy, Susie, Zahra, Mr. Donut, Tea-Bot and Wolfram, plus activity pages on ‘How To Draw Monsieur Gorilla!’ and ‘How To Draw Mr. Donut’, and Bonus Comic! vignettes ‘Trikey the Robot Triceratops! in Trikey Tries to Fit In’ and Alex & Freddy enduring a ‘Mega Robo Blackout’ before helpfully making the drama into a crisis…

Bravely and exceedingly effectively interweaving real world concerns by addressing issues of gender and identity with great subtlety and in a way kids can readily grasp, this collection also and primarily blends action and humour with superb effect. Excitement and hearty hilarity is balanced here with poignant moments of insecurity and introspection, affording thrills, chills, warmth, wit and incredible verve. Alex and Freddy are utterly authentic kids, irrespective of their origins, and their antics strike exactly the right balance of future shock, family fun and superhero action to capture readers’ hearts and minds. What movies these tales would make!
Text and illustrations © Neill Cameron 2023. All rights reserved.

Mega Robo Bros Carnival Crisis will be released on August 3rd 2023 and is available for pre-order now.

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Ducoboo volume 2: In the Corner!


By Godi & Zidrou, coloured by Véronique Grobet & translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-26-7 (Album PB/Digital edition)

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 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 then 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 magazine Tremplin. The strip launched in September 1992 before transferring to Le Journal de Mickey, and collected albums began in 1997 – 27 so far in French and Dutch, with separate editions for Turkish and Indonesian readers.

When not immortalising modern school days for future generations, Godi latterly diversified, co-creating (1995 with Zidrou) comedy feature Suivez le Guide and game page Démon du Jeu with scripter Janssens.

The series has 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 thus far) came courtesy of Cinebook with 2006’s initial release King of the Dunces which was in fact the 5th European collection L’élève Ducobu – Le roi des cancres.

The unbeatable format is loads of short – most often single page – gag strips just like you’d see in The Beano, featuring a revolving cast who are all well established by this point, but 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 just 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 a baby, but then there’s a lot of that about. Leonie Gratin – from whom he constantly copies answers to the interminable tests – only has a mum. As this collection shows the seniors do not get on when it comes to matters of child-rearing, and Madame Gratin believes that stupidity is hereditary and passed on through the male line…

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) answers to Neness and is always ready with a theory or suggestion for fun and frolics…

As L’élève Ducobu – Au Coin! this volume was first released in 1998: the second riotous compilation which begins with the start of a new term and traces a year in the life of all concerned. On view are always relevant riffs on being late and missing class; roll calls and registers; times tales and dictation woes; imaginative ways for Ducoboo to copy answers; writing lines and ways to hack the system; the ultimate futility of bad boys actually working and still being called a cheat and always, always cheating, copying and guessing answers…

Escape – either physically or via various dreams and daydreams – is mixed with actual and frequently surreal human interactions like Leonie bringing ferocious hound Growler to class to guard her test answers or even entombing herself in a concrete blockhouse during exams to keep the arch copier at bay in weekly single instalments. These are counterpoised by extended sequences.

One such is inspired by the boy’s greatest wish come true: contracting an illness that keeps him at home and bedbound. The fool has developed Acute Duncitis, but his sweet relief is short lived as Latouche and gloating Leonie delight in bringing work and punishment assignments home for him to not do…

Christmas comes and goes as do the first snowfalls before another extended run of gags focussing on the class and its weedy teacher enduring mass swimming lessons, where – amidst the usual hijinks and low comedy – a little romance is forestalled by our idiot getting between Latouche and burly, buxom lifeguard Miss Katherina…

Just like your educational memories, days and daftness rapidly pass and as the holidays unleash the youngsters the teachers confront the prospect of weeks of idleness with typical stoic ingenuity…

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 In the Corner! and thank your lucky stars that there are kids far more demanding than yours…?
© Les Editions du Lombard (Dargaud- Lombard) 1998 by Godi & Zidrou. English translation © 2007 Cinebook Ltd.

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Bunny vs Monkey: Machine Mayhem!


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-297-7 (TPB)

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

Concocted with gleefully gentle mania by cartoonist, comics artist and novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Flember), these trendsetting, mind-bending yarns have been wisely retooled as graphic albums available in remastered, double-length digest editions such as this one. Now brilliantly beach-ready comes a handy pocket paperback edition to consult when the surf’s all unsanitary and there’s sand or sandwiches in the Gameboy…

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

Problems are exacerbated by other unconventional Crinkle creatures, particularly a skunk called Skunky who has a mad scientist’s attitude to life and a gift for building robots and super-weapons…

With artistic assistance from design deputy Sammy Borras, the saga resumes with the war of nerves and mega-ordnances apparently over. The unruly assortment of critters cluttering up the bucolic paradise had finally picked sides and the battles at last ended. They even seemingly forgot the ever-encroaching Hyoomanz…

Following a double-page pin-up of the ever-expanding cast, this archive of anarchic insanity opens in the traditional manner: divided into seasonal outbursts, and starting with a querulous teaser tale as Spring begins in ‘D.I.Whyyyy?’

As the animals gather to help Bunny repair his much-abused house, universal innocents Pig Piggerton and Weenie squirrel – more keen than skilled – realise that cheese is not a suitable substitute for wallpaper paste, plaster or cement…

Despite the subsequent collapse, times are good and very peaceful since the awful ape went away and Ai (an Aye-aye) acts quickly to keep it that way when Bunny feels nostalgic for the old days. Sadly, somebody’s listening and brings in a ‘Makeshift Monkey!’ – until the real deal returns in ‘The Little Monkey Who Cried…’

Before long Skunky is back too and everyone’s fleeing for their lives from deadly underground tentacles, but life quickly slips into its old pattern… until obsolescence rears its ugly head and cyborg gator Metal Steve is pronounced ‘Out of Warranty’: left to wither on Skunky’s scrapheap…

Back and still bad, Monkey briefly inflicts himself on Bunny and wrecks the joint again in ‘The Housemate’ after which our mercurial monochrome megamind constructs a replacement for the gone gator: triggering ‘Robot Rampage’ when infinitely superior mechanoid Metal E.V.E. lay down her own law…

Falling foul of another near-lethal prank the silly simian is scientifically resurrected and evolved in ‘Curse of the Monkey’ only to trip on his own incompetence and barely escape a fishy final fate in ‘Toilet Run!’

A close call with humans in ‘Bunny vs Monkey Jellybeans!’ precedes piratical pretenders Weenie and Pig’s ‘A Dangerous Voyage’, before Monkey endures his own Journey into the Unknown. As “The Most Brilliant Animal in the Woods” Skunky convinces his erstwhile ally to shrink down and explore the inner cerebellum of brain-battered, bewildered ex-stuntman Action Beaver for ‘The Lost Memory’ of a misplaced ultimate weapon, which is what probably inspires him to make his own, after entering a competition and prematurely unleashing his ‘Winning Entry’…

Metal E.V.E. is forming her own plans but they have to wait a bit as she’s ‘Keepin’ Busy’ with some domestic chores in Skunky’s lab, but it’s not long until Summer begins and the woods are imperilled by subterranean invasion from new menace ‘Roland T. Mole’…

Hijinks in parallel dimensions herald the arrival of doomsayer ‘Skunky?’ as the forgotten stuntman stumbles with catastrophic consequences into his ancestral homeland in ‘Beaverville’. Monkey meanwhile creates unexpected carnage but precious little terror with super-cute kaiju ‘Rofl Axolotl’ before being painfully reminded how dangerous the woods can be in ‘So Beautiful’…

After a brief and deceptive flirtation with ‘The Dark Arts’, the hairy halfwit returns to science by creating little golden minions, but his ‘Gloobs’ prove too smart for servitude, so instead embraces high fashion in ‘C’est Chic!’ Utterly uncaring, Weenie and Pig go about their business until a ‘A New Friend’ almost breaks up the partnership. The swiftly-developing relationship of ‘Weenie and Winnie’ seems set to end the good old days, but another robotic invasion sets the world to rights in ‘Just Checking’…

A reality-altering beast threatens in ‘Wishful Thinking’ and the entire woods go all French just as aliens invade in ‘L’Honk Honk’ before Monkey & Skunky explore artisanal dining in ‘Eat Up!’, with appalling consequences for their customers, after which Ai and Monkey discover uncanny ‘Night Lights’ in the deep dark woods…

The season concludes with Metal E.V.E. getting ahead by installing crucial ‘Upgrades’ and inadvertently making contact with an unsuspected predecessor just as Autumn opens with ‘Bumblesnatch’ and pig & squirrel enjoying super-powers-inducing chewing gum whilst Crinkle Woods is catapulted into a different kind of chaos when broached by pet pooch ‘Fluffy’…

When ‘The Summoning’ invokes some pretty indifferent forest gods, Skunky lodges with over-accommodating Bunny, who is soon sucked into unwanted adventure ‘Down Below’ and unearths E.V.E.’s brave new world. Hopeless old ally Metal Steve then runs amok with nano-bots and spawns unlikely armageddon beast ‘Pig-Kira!’

Once that menace vanishes into vapour, the mostly organic animals unite to formulate ‘Some Kind of Plan’ for fighting E.V.E. – all except ‘Nurse Monkey’ who’s keen to explore other lifestyles – before reenlisting in ‘Roll Up! Roll Up!’ with a barmy spinning machine. It has no chance of easing their plight but will probably end their lives before she does…

The crusade pauses for Weenie’s birthday and the hunt for ‘The Best Present in the World’, but restarts again when E.V.E. crashes the party with ‘Something to Say’ about the “rise of the machines” and end of all flesh…

Skunky’s response is yet another monster, but giant mecha-hedgehog ‘Thunderball!’ is easily overcome, and as so-distractable Monkey goes wild among the fallen leaves in ‘Leaf it Alone’, the machine rise begins in ‘Nahhhhh!’…

Sadly, Metal E.V.E. makes a big mistake then, spilling Monkey’s drink and kicking the conflict to an unprecedented new level…

Pausing for Weenie, Pig, Ai and Bunny to share some ‘Scary Stories’ around a nighttime campfire, the constant crisis enters a new phase when the ghost of local legend Fantastic Le Fox manifests, even as our ape oaf is transformed into E.V.E.’s ‘Metal Monkey’…

Le Fox is ‘An Old Friend’ resolved to help the animals survive and his strategic advice is welcome, but the turning point comes in ‘Clash of the Robots’ as Metal Monkey and Steve duel, even as their mecha-mistress takes full charge, unleashing DNA-altering microbots that put the fleshy freedom fighters to flight in ‘Uh-Oh-Nano!’

Winter sets in and hostilities suddenly cease as all concerned succumb to the temptation of chucking ‘Snowballs’ and the end gets nigher in a wave of robotic attacks triggered by ‘Metal Mania’. Yet again, everything pauses as Christmas provides a moment to unwrap ‘Presents’ but – drenched in seasonal spirit – ‘An Unlikely Hero’ dares to bring the message of the moment right to the robot queen. The act unwittingly changes the course of history in the woods, leaving only some ‘Tidying Up’ to restore everything to what passes for normal…

The animal anarchy might have ended for now, but there’s more secrets to share thanks to detailed instructions on ‘How to Draw Metal Steve’ and ‘How to Draw Metal E.V.E.’ to wind down from all that angsty furore…

The zany zenith of absurdist adventure, Bunny vs Monkey is weird wit, brilliant invention, potent sentiment and superb cartooning all crammed into one eccentrically excellent package. These tails never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. This is the kind of comic parents beg kids to read to them. Shouldn’t that be you?
Text and illustrations © Jamie Smart 2022. All rights reserved.

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Moomin volume 7 – The Complete Lars Jansson Comic Strip


By Lars Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)
ISBN: 978-1-77046-062-1 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-77046-554-1

Tove Jansson was one of the greatest literary innovators and narrative pioneers of the 20th century: equally adept at shaping words and images to create worlds of wonder. She was especially expressive with basic components like pen and ink, manipulating slim economical lines and patterns to realise sublime realms of fascination, whilst her dexterity made simple forms into incredibly expressive and potent symbols and, as this collection shows, so was her brother…

Tove Marika Jansson was born into an artistic, intellectual, basically bohemian Swedish family in Helsinki, Finland on August 9th 1914. Father Viktor was a sculptor and mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson a successful illustrator, graphic designer and commercial artist. Tove’s brothers Lars – AKA “Lasse” – and Per Olov became respectively an author/cartoonist and art photographer. The family and its close intellectual, eccentric circle of friends seems to have been cast rather than born, with a witty play or challenging sitcom as the piece they were all destined to inhabit.

After extensive and intensive study (from 1930-1938 at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, the Graphic School of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and L’Ecole d’Adrien Holy and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris), Tove became a successful exhibiting artist through the troubled period of the Second World War.

Brilliantly creative across many fields, she published the first fantastic Moomins adventure in 1945. Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Little Trolls and the Great Flood or latterly and more euphoniously The Moomins and the Great Flood) was a whimsical epic of gentle, inclusive, accepting, understanding, bohemian misfit trolls and their strange friends…

A youthful over-achiever, from 1930 to 1953 Tove worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for Swedish satirical magazine Garm: achieving some measure of notoriety with an infamous political sketch lampooning the Appeasement policies of European leaders by depicting Hitler in nappies. She was also highly in-demand for many magazines and children’s books, and had started selling comic strips as early as 1929.

Moomintroll was her signature character. Literally.

The lumpy, big-eyed, gently adventurous romantic goof began life as a spindly sigil next to her name in her political works. She called him “Snork” and claimed she had designed him in a fit of pique as a child – the ugliest thing a precocious little girl could imagine – as a response to losing an argument with her brother about Immanuel Kant.

The term “Moomin” came from her maternal uncle Einar Hammarsten who attempted to stop her pilfering food when she visited, warning her that a Moomintroll guarded the kitchen, creeping up on trespassers and breathing cold air down their necks. Snork/Moomin filled out, became timidly nicer – if a little clingy and insecure – acting as a placid therapy-tool to counteract the grimness of the post-war world.

Initially The Moomins and the Great Flood made little impact, but Jansson persisted – as much for her own edification as any other reason – and in 1946 Kometjakten (Comet in Moominland) was published. Many commentators regard the terrifying tale a skilfully compelling allegory of Nuclear Armageddon. You should read it now… while you still can…

When it and third illustrated novel Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll or occasionally The Happy Moomins) were translated into English in 1952, their instant success prompted British publishing giant Associated Press to commission a newspaper strip about her seductively sweet and sensibly surreal creations.

Jansson had no misgivings or prejudices regarding strip cartoons and had already adapted Comet in Moominland for Swedish/Finnish paper Ny Tid. Mumintrollet och jordens undergäng – Moomintrolls and the End of the World – was a popular feature, so she readily accepted the chance to extend her eclectic family across the world. In 1953, The London Evening News began the first of 21 Moomin strip serials to captivate readers of all ages.

Jansson’s involvement in the cartoon feature ended in 1959, a casualty of its own success and a punishing publication schedule. So great was the strain that towards the end she recruited brother Lars to help. He then took over, continuing the strip until 1975. His tenure as sole creator continues here…

Liberated from the strip’s pressures, Tove returned to painting, writing and other creative pursuits: making plays, murals, public art, stage designs, costumes for dramas and ballets, a Moomin opera and 9 more Moomin-related picture-books and novels, as well as 13 books and short-story collections strictly for grown-ups.

Tove Jansson died on June 27th 2001. Her awards are too numerous to mention, but just consider: how many modern artists get their faces on the national currency?

Lars Fredrik Jansson (October 8th 1926 – July 31st 2000) was just as amazing as his sister. Born into that astounding clan twelve years after Tove, at 16 he started writing – and selling – novels (nine in total). He also taught himself English because there weren’t enough Swedish-language translations of books available for his voracious reading appetite.

In 1956, he began co-scripting the Moomin newspaper strip at his sister’s request: injecting his own brand of witty whimsicality to ‘Moomin Goes Wild West’. He had been Tove’s translator from the start, seamlessly converting her Swedish text into English. When her contract with The London Evening News expired in 1959, Lars Jansson officially took over the feature, having spent the interim period learning to draw and perfectly mimic his sister’s cartooning style. He had done so in secret, with the assistance and tutelage of their mother Signe. From 1961 to the strip’s end in 1974, he was sole steersman of the newspaper iteration of trollish tails.

Lasse was a man of many parts: other careers including writer, translator, aerial photographer and professional gold miner. He was the basis and model for the cast’s cool kid Snufkin…

Lars’ Moomins was subtly sharper than his sister’s version and he was far more in tune with the quirky British sense of humour, but his whimsy and wry sense of wonder was every bit as compelling. In 1990, long after the original series, he began a new career, working with Dennis Livson (designer of Finland’s acclaimed theme park Moomin World) as producers of Japanese anime series The Moomins and – in 1993 with daughter Sophia – on new Moomin strips…

Moomintrolls are easy-going free spirits: natural bohemians untroubled by hidebound domestic mores and most societal pressures. Moominmama is warm, kindly tolerant and capable but perhaps overly concerned with propriety and appearances, whilst devoted spouse Moominpappa spends most of his time trying to rekindle his adventurous youth or dreaming of fantastic exploits.

Their son Moomin is a meek, dreamy boy with confusing ambitions. He adores their permanent houseguest the Snorkmaiden – although that impressionable, flighty gamin much prefers to play things slowly whilst hoping for somebody potentially better to come along…

The seventh oversized (310 x 221 mm) monochrome hardback compilation gathers serial strip sagas #26-29, and opens with Lars firmly in charge and puckishly re-exploring human frailties and foibles via a sophisticate poke at the shifting political climate…

Craftily casting cats among pigeons, 26th escapade ‘Moomin the Colonist’ finds armchair adventurer Moominpappa resenting the advent of the annual hibernation and rashly listening to his bookish boy, who has been reading about colonisation…

Soon he has packed up the family and a few close friends and set out to conquer fresh fields and pastures new. With Mymble and Little My, Mrs Fillyjonk, her daughters and a cow in tow, the eager expansionists head off across the frozen land and don’t stop until they reach a tropical desert island where they start setting up a new civilisation combining the best of the old world with lots of fresh ideas on how society should be run…

Sadly, their neighbours from back home have sneakily copied the Moomin movement and before long the new continent is embroiled in a passive-aggressive, slyly competitive struggle for control, with scurrilous reprobate Stinky and his pals playing the bad guys behind the Palm Tree Curtain…

Following the mutual collapse of colonialism, outrageous satire gives way to wicked sarcasm as ‘Moomin and the Scouts’ recounts how energetic Mr Brisk’s passion for the outdoor life, badges and bossing children envelopes the instinctively sedentary Moomins and unleashes all kinds of disruptive chaos. With scouts running wild amongst the trees it just seems easier to join them rather than seek to beat them and let nature disrupt the movement from within…especially after Moomin starts hanging around with Miss Brisk’s Girl Guides and the generally dismissive Snorkmaiden feels oddly conflicted…

The perils of property and stain of status upsets the orderly life of the clan when Moominpappa unexpectedly comes into a major inheritance in ‘Moomin and the Farm’. Grievously afflicted by a terrible case of noblesse oblige, the family uproot themselves and retire to stately Gobble Manor to perpetuate the line of landed gentry on a modern working arable and pastoral estate.

Adapting to wealth and property is one thing and even accommodating the legion of ancestral ghosts is but another strand of Duty, but the effort of taking on and even perpetuating centuries of unearned privilege proves far too weighty a burden for all concerned… before the increasingly untenable situation typically corrects itself…

Back in their beloved house and rearranging furniture, a dropped chest disgorges an ancient map and triggers another wild dreamers’ quest in ‘Moomin and the Gold-fields’…

Unable to refuse adventure when it’s dangled in front of their exuberant noses, father and son are soon trekking the wilds and digging random holes thanks to the supremely unclear chart, and before long the entire valley is afflicted with gold rush fever.

With law, common decency and even good manners abandoned to greed as the sedate dell becomes a boisterous and sordid boom town, all Moominmama can do is maintain her dignity and wait for the madness to pass…

This deceptively barbed and edgy compilation closes with ‘Lars Jansson: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get to Work’ by family biographer Juhani Tolvanen, extolling his many worthy attributes and more besides…

These are truly magical tales for the young, laced with the devastating observation and razor-sharp mature wit which enhances and elevates only the greatest kids’ stories into classics of literature. These volumes – both Tove and Lars’ – comprise an international treasure trove no fan of the medium – or carbon-based lifeform with even a hint of heart and soul – can afford to be without.
© 2012 Solo/Bulls except “Lars Jansson: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get to Work” © 2011, 2012 Juhani Tolvanen. All rights reserved.

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Popeye Classics volume 9: The Sea Hag’s ‘Magic Flute’ and More!


By Bud Sagendorf, edited and designed by Craig Yoe (Yoe Books/IDW Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-772-7 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68406-092-4

How many cartoon classics can you think of still going after a century? Here’s one…

There are a few fictional personages to enter communal world consciousness – and fewer still from comics – but this grizzled, bluff, uneducated, visually impaired old tar with a speech impediment is possibly the most well-known of that august bunch.

Elzie Crisler Segar was born in Chester, Illinois on 8th December 1894. His father was a general handyman, and the boy’s early life was filled with the solid, dependable blue-collar jobs that typified the formative years of his generation of cartoonists. Segar worked as a decorator, house-painter and also played drums; accompanying vaudeville acts at the local theatre.

When the town got a movie-house, Elzie played silent films, absorbing all the staging, timing and narrative tricks from keen observation of the screen. Those lessons would become his greatest assets as a cartoonist. It was while working as the film projectionist, at age 18, that he decided to become a cartoonist and tell his own stories.

Like so many others in those hard times, he studied art via mail, specifically W.L. Evans’ cartooning correspondence course out of Cleveland, Ohio, before gravitating to Chicago where he was “discovered” by Richard F. Outcault – regarded as the inventor of modern newspaper comic strips with The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown. The celebrated pioneer introduced Segar around at the prestigious Chicago Herald. Still wet behind the ears, the kid’s first strip, Charley Chaplin’s Comedy Capers, debuted on 12th March 1916.

In 1918, Segar married Myrtle Johnson and moved to William Randolph Hearst’s Chicago Evening American to create Looping the Loop, where Managing Editor William Curley foresaw a big future for Segar and promptly packed the newlyweds off to New York: HQ of the mighty King Features Syndicate. Within a year Segar was producing Thimble Theatre, (launching December 19th 1919) in the New York Journal: a smart pastiche of cinema and knock-off of movie-inspired features like Hairbreadth Harry and Midget Movies, with a repertory of stock players acting out comedies, melodramas, comedies, crime-stories, chases and especially comedies for vast daily audiences. It didn’t stay that way for long…

The core cartoon cast included parental pillars Nana & Cole Oyl; their lanky, cranky, highly-strung daughter Olive; diminutive-but-pushy son Castor and the homely ingenue’s plain and (so very) simple occasional boyfriend Horace Hamgravy (latterly, plain Ham Gravy).

Thimble Theatre had already run for a decade when, on January 17th 1929, a brusque, vulgar “sailor man” shambled into the daily ongoing saga of hapless halfwits. Nobody dreamed the giddy heights that stubbornly cantankerous walk-on would reach…

In 1924, Segar created a second daily strip. Surreal domestic comedy The 5:15 featured weedy commuter/aspiring inventor John Sappo and his formidable spouse Myrtle. It endured – in one form or another – as a topper/footer-feature accompanying the main Sunday page throughout Segar’s career, survived his untimely death, and eventually became the trainee-playground of Popeye’s second great humour stylist – Bud Sagendorf.

After Segar’s premature passing in 1938, Doc Winner, Tom Sims, Ralph Stein and Bela Zambouly all took on the strip as the Fleischer Studio’s animated features brought Popeye to the entire world, albeit a slightly variant vision of the old salt of the funny pages. Sadly, none had the eccentric flair and raw inventiveness that had put Thimble Theatre at the forefront of cartoon entertainments. And then, finally, Bud arrived…

Born in 1915, Forrest “Bud” Sagendorf was barely 17 when his sister – who worked in the Santa Monica art store where Segar bought his drawing supplies – introduced the kid to the master cartoonist who became his teacher and employer as well as a father-figure. In 1958, after years on the periphery, Sagendorf finally took over the strip and all the merchandise design, becoming Popeye’s prime originator…

With Sagendorf as main man, his loose, rangy style and breezy scripts brought the strip itself back to the forefront of popularity and made reading it cool and fun all over again. Bud wrote and drew Popeye in every graphic arena for 24 years. When he died in 1994, his successor was controversial “Underground” cartoonist Bobby London.

Bud had been Segar’s assistant and apprentice, and in 1948 became exclusive writer/artist of Popeye’s comic book exploits. That venture launched in February of that year: a regular title published by America’s unassailable king of periodical licensing, Dell Comics.

On his debut, Popeye was a rude, crude brawler: a gambling, cheating, uncivilised ne’er-do-well, but was soon revered as the ultimate working-class hero. Raw and rough-hewn, he was also practical, with an innate, unshakable sense of what’s fair and what’s not: a joker who wanted kids to be themselves – but not necessarily “good”. Above all else he was someone who took no guff from anyone…

Naturally, as his popularity grew, Popeye mellowed somewhat. He was still ready to defend the weak and had absolutely no pretensions or aspirations to rise above his fellows, but the shocking sense of dangerous unpredictability and comedic anarchy he initially provided was sorely missed… except in Sagendorf’s sagas…

Collected here are Popeye #40-44, crafted by irrepressible “Bud” and collectively spanning April-June 1957 to April-June 1958. The stunning, nigh stream-of-consciousness slapstick sagas and nautical nuttiness are preceded by a treasure-stuffed treatise on ‘The Big Guy who Hates Popeye!’, as Fred M. Grandinetti details all you need to know about archetypal “heavy” Bluto. The lecture on the thug of many names is backed up by character and model sheets from animated appearances, comic book covers, and numerous comic excepts. Also emergent are strip precursors and alternate big bullies, original strip art from Sagendorf and London, plus a kind-of guest shot from Jackson Beck – the meaty matelot’s on-screen voice…

Sadly missing the usual ‘Society of Sagendorks’ briefing by inspired aficionado, historian and publisher Craig Yoe, and the ever-tantalising teasers of ephemera and merchandise of ‘Bud Sagendorf Scrapbooks’, we instead plunge straight back into ceaseless sea-savoured voyages of laughter, surreal imagination and explosive thrills with quarterly comic book #40, opening with a monochrome inside front cover gag concerning the sailor’s ward Swee’Pea and his fondness for digging in the dirt, before ‘Thimble Theatre presents Popeye the Sailor in The Mystery of the “Magic Flute!”’ once more pits the mariner marvel against the ghastly and nefarious Sea Hag.

Here she unleashes an army of agents to locate and secure a mystic talisman safeguarded by Popeye. With it, she can rid the world of her great enemy…

With the family house overrun, impetuous elder Poopdeck Pappy unthinkingly hands over the wishing whistle and instantly Popeye is whisked into a pit with lions, thugs and Bluto all lined up to kill him. It doesn’t work out well for any of them…

‘Popeye the Sailor and Eugene the Jeep’ then reintroduces another of Segar’s uniquely wonderful cartoon cryptids. The little marvel had originally debuted on March 20th 1936: a fantastic 4th dimensional beast with incredible powers whom Olive and Wimpy use to get very rich, very quickly. Of course, they quickly lost it all betting on the wrong guy in another of Segar’s classic and hilarious set-piece boxing matches between Popeye and yet another barely-human pugilist…

This time he pops up after Olive and the old salt clash over setting an engagement date, and Wimpey suggests asking the Jeep’s advice. Instantly he materialises, and the question is nervously asked. The response is ambiguous and draws nothing but trouble…

Prose filler ‘Ol’ Blabber Mouth’ tells how a parrot accidentally causes all his friends to be captured by pet trade hunters before we arrive at the ever-changing back-up feature. Sappo – now reduced to gullible foil and hapless landlord to the world’s worst lodger – endured the ethics-free experiments of Professor O.G. Wotasnozzle “The Professor with the Atomic Brain”.

Callously and constantly inflicting the brunt of his genius on the poor schmuck, here the boffin seizes top billing with The Brain of O.G. Wotasnozzle, building a robot replica of his landlord and running rings around the sap in ‘Double Double Who’s Got Trouble’…

The issue ends with an endpaper monochrome gag with Popeye and the precious “infink” disputing bedtimes and a colour back cover jape with them disastrously fishing…

Issue #41 (July-September) opens with ‘Popeye the Sailor in Spinach Soap!’ as the sailor battles Olive’s new beau. He looks just like Bluto, but has one advantage the sailor cannot match …a steady job!

In response, the money-disdaining matelot calls his secret weapon and Wimpey takes charge of Popeye’s savings – a million bucks – all so that he can set up a business to employ the sailor man…

An engaging Micawber-like coward, cad and conman, the insatiably ravenous J. Wellington Wimpy debuted in the newspaper strip on May 3rd 1931 as an unnamed, decidedly partisan referee in one of Popeye’s pugilistic bouts. Scurrilous, aggressively humble and scrupulously polite, the devious oaf struck a chord and Segar made him a fixture. Preternaturally hungry, ever-keen to solicit bribes and a cunning coiner of many immortal catchphrases – such as “I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” and “Let’s you and him fight” – Wimpy was the perfect foil for our straight-shooting action hero and increasingly stole the entire show… and anything else unless it was very heavy or extremely well nailed down.

Full of good intentions but unable to control himself, Wimpey naturally embezzles it all and fobs off his pal with a get-rich-scheme. However when Popeye starts selling his vegetable-based cleanser door to door he soon finds his old tactics are enough to wash that man out of Olive’s hair…

Co-starring Popeye, Swee’Pea and the Jeep!, ‘Sucker Gold!’ sees the cowboy-obsessed kid head for the desert and perilous Apache Mountain to be a prospector. Happily, with Eugene along for the ride his safety and prosperity are assured…

The story of Bradley fills the prose section this revealing how the ‘Horse Student’ was kicked out of human high school, after which O.G. Wotasnozzle! thinks himself into an invulnerable, inert state and the authorities resort to explosives to wake him up, before the back cover finds Popeye giving his kid a (kind-of) haircut…

Cover-dated October-December, Popeye #42 opens with the main event as the entire cast is caught on ‘Trap Island!’ as The Sea Hag and her hefty hench-lout target them from her mobile mechanised islet, before using doppelgangers to lure the sailor into ultimately useless death traps. Even her monster spinach-fuelled gorilla Smash is helpless before the power of spinach inside Popeye…

Popeye then discovers Swee’Pea can get into trouble anywhere, anytime when he sends him to fetch ‘Today’s Paper!’ Through no fault of his own the mighty mite ends up trapped in a weather balloon, a target of the air force, 2300 miles from home in Harbor City, a blood enemy of angry Indian Chief Rock’n’roll and locked in a missile, before dutifully bringing back that pesky periodical…

A duck with a speech impediment finds his purpose in prose yarn ‘Big Toot’ prior to Sappo giving O.G. Wotasnozzle the push. Typically, the toxic tenant terrorises every prospective replacement for his lodgings and the status quo is reluctantly re-established…

Another endpaper monochrome gag sees Popeye and Olive experiencing a little car trouble before Popeye #43 (cover-dated January-March 1958) opens in mono with another dig at Swee’Pea and his shovel whilst main event ‘Mind over Muscles!’ finds Popeye in high spirits and utterly oblivious to Sea Hag’s sinister surveillance. As the sailor eagerly anticipates his annual physical exam, she sends in her Sonny Boy – AKA Bluto disguised as a physician – to undermine his confidence and poison his mind with the notion that spinach is killing him. However, even doctor’s orders can’t make him give up his green cuisine and everyone gets what they deserve in the end…

‘Popeye and Swee’Pea in “The Voyage!”’ finds the sailor man sent on a dangerous mission to an island of “wild savages” with his boy outrageously left behind and babysat by Poopdeck Pappy. The infernal infink’s unhappy state is swiftly shifted by capricious fate though, and his soapbox boat is caught by wind, tide and a welcoming whale. When Popeye finally arrives, there’s a big little surprise awaiting him…

Prose parable ‘Diet!’ reveals what happens when Mrs. Smith declares the family is going vegetarian and pet dog Winky disagrees, after which O.G. Wotasnozzle apparently mends his ways and declares himself ‘“A Friend to Man” or “Be Kind to Sappo Week!”’ Sadly, even his best intentions and domestic inventions are severely hazardous to his landlord’s health – and the town’s wellbeing…

Concluding with an endpaper monochrome gag seeing Popeye severely tested by the kid’s bath time and a spot of gardening brings us to the last happy hurrah as Popeye #44 (April-June 1958) opens with black & white wisdom and Wimpy showing Olive the only way to Popeye’s heart…

Full-colour feature ‘Popeye meets “Orbert”’ embraces a wider-screened, more dynamic illustration style for Sagendorf as occasional amorous arch rival Bluto makes another play for Olive. Whilst he and Popeye enjoy their violent clash, Swee’Pea opens the box Bluto brought and unleashes a strangely alien flying beast. When its odd orbits kayo the blustering brute, Swee’Pea christens it Orbert. Soon they are inseparable and its ability to grant wishes have turned the kid into a bully and tyrant, and it’s time for some stern parenting …and spinach…

Sappo’s détente with O.G. Wotasnozzle is still in play but comes under extreme pressure when the Prof joins a quiet day’s fishing, and starts devising ways to make the pastime more efficient…

‘Specks’ reflects in prose upon the life of short-sighted fish George, before Popeye and Swee’Pea star in self-proclaimed “horrible story” ‘Follow the Leader!’ as spies kidnap the kid and try to make him tell where Popeye’s pirate gold is stashed. The map he eventually draws them only leads to trouble and the issue and this volume wrap up on a monochrome end gag proving Swee’Pea’s punch is a powerful as his wits…

Outrageous and side-splitting, these universally appealing yarns are evergreen examples of narrative cartooning at its most absurd and inspirational. Over the last nine decades Thimble Theatre’s most successful son and his family have delighted readers and viewers around the world. This book is simply one of many, but each is sure-fire, top-tier entertainment for all those who love lunacy, laughter, frantic fantasy and rollicking adventure. If that’s you, add this compendium of wonder to your collection.
Popeye Classics volume 9 © 2016 Gussoni-Yoe Studio, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Popeye © 2016 King Features Syndicate. ™ Heart Holdings Inc.