Category: Kids – All Ages

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Bunny vs Monkey: Machine Mayhem!


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-285-4 (Digest HB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Madcap Mega-Meta Magnificence… 10/10

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), his trendsetting, mind-bending yarns have been wisely retooled as graphic albums available in remastered, double-length digest editions such as this one.

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

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

Here – with artistic assistance from design deputy Sammy Borras – the war of nerves and mega-ordnances appears to be over. The unruly assortment of odd critters cluttering up the bucolic paradise had finally picked sides and the battles ended. They even seemingly forgot the ever-encroaching Hyoomanz…

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

As the animals all gather to help Bunny repair his much-abused house, universal innocents Weenie squirrel and Pig Piggerton are more keen than skilled, with no idea 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 anarchic ape went away and Ai 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…’

It isn’t long before Skunky is back too and everyone’s fleeing for their lives from deadly underground tentacles, but life quickly resumes its old pattern until obsolescence rears its ugly head and cyborg gator Metal Steve is pronounced ‘Out of Warranty’ and 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 the mercurial monochrome megamind constructs a replacement for the gone gator and triggers a ‘Robot Rampage’ when infinitely superior mechanoid Metal E.V.E. decides to lay down her 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 Weenie and Pig going on ‘A Dangerous Voyage’ as pirates, before Monkey endures his own Fantastic Voyage. Skunky is “The Most Brilliant Animal in the Woods” and convinces his erstwhile ally to shrink down and explore the inner cerebellum of brain-battered, bewildered former stuntman Action Beaver in search of ‘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’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?’ whilst the forgotten stuntman stumbles onto his ancestral homeland in ‘Beaverville’ with catastrophic consequences even as Monkey 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 and creates little golden minions, but his ‘Gloobs’ prove too smart for servitude, so he 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 and 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 eventful season concludes as Metal E.V.E. gets ahead by installing some crucial ‘Upgrades’ and inadvertently making contact with an unsuspected predecessor just as Autumn opens with ‘Bumblesnatch’ as the pig and squirrel enjoy some super-powers-inducing chewing gum and Crinkle Woods is catapulted into a different kind of chaos when broached by pet dog ‘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 and hopeless old ally as Metal Steve runs amok with nano-bots and spawns the unlikely armageddon beast ‘Pig-Kira!’

Once that menace vanishes into vapour, the mostly organic animals unite and formulate ‘Some Kind of Plan’ to fight E.V.E. – except ‘Nurse Monkey’ who’s keen to explore other lifestyles – until reenlisting in ‘Roll Up! Roll Up!’ with a barmy spinning machine which 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 starts 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 obvious response is 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 night time campfire, the crisis enters a new phase when the ghost of local legend Fantastic Le Fox, manifests, even as the manic simian is captured and 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 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’ after which the end gets nigher in a wave of robotic attacks triggered by ‘Metal Mania’. Yet again everything pauses as Christmas gives the heroes 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: unwittingly changing the course of history in the woods, and leaving only some ‘Tidying Up’ to restore everything to what passes for normal in the sylvan glade…

The animal anarchy might have ended for now 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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Walt’ Disney’s Donald Duck by Carl Barks volume 13: Trick or Treat


By Carl Barks & various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-874-8 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: The Utter Acme of All-Ages Entertainment… 10/10

Donald Duck ranks among a small group of fictional characters to have transcended the bounds of reality and become – like Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Popeye and James Bond -meta-real. As such, his origins are complex and convoluted. His official birthday is June 9th 1934: a dancing, nautically-themed bit-player in the Silly Symphony cartoon short The Wise Little Hen.

The animated cartoon was adapted by Ted Osborne & Al Taliaferro for the Silly Symphonies Sunday newspaper strip and thus classified by historians as Donald’s official debut in Disney comics. Controversially, he was also reported to have originated in The Adventures of Mickey Mouse strip which began 1931. Thus the Duck has more “birthdays” than he knows what to do with, which presumably explains why he’s such a bad-tempered cuss.

Visually, Donald Fauntleroy Duck was largely the result of animator Dick Lundy’s efforts, and, with partner-in-fun Mickey Mouse, is one of TV Guide’s 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time. The Duck has his own star on the Hollywood walk of fame and has appeared in more films than any other Disney player.

Throughout the 1930s, his screen career grew from background and supporting roles via a team act with Mickey and Goofy to a series of solo cartoons which began with 1937’s Don Donald. That one also introduced love interest Daisy Duck and the irrepressible nephews Huey, Louie and Dewey…

By 1938 Donald was officially more popular than corporate icon Mickey Mouse, and even more so after his national service as a propaganda warrior in a series of animated morale boosters and information features during WWII. The merely magnificent Der Fuehrer’s Face garnered the 1942 Academy Award for Animated Short Film…

Crucially for our purposes, Donald is also planet Earth’s most-published non-superhero comics character, and has been blessed with some of the greatest writers and illustrators ever to punch a keyboard or pick up a pen or brush. A publishing phenomenon and megastar across Europe – particularly Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland – Donald (& Co) have spawned countless original stories and many immortal characters. Sales are stratospheric across all age groups there and in upwards of 45 other countries they export to. Japan’s manga publishers have their own iteration too…

The aforementioned Silly Symphonies adaptation and Mickey strip guest shots were trumped in 1937 when Italian publisher Mondadori launched an 18-page comic book story crafted by Federico Pedrocchi. It was quickly followed by a regular serial in Britain’s Mickey Mouse Weekly (a comic produced under license by Willbank Publications/Odhams Press that ran from 8th February 1936 to 28th December 1957).

Issue #67 (May 15th 1937) premiered Donald and Donna – a prototype Daisy Duck girlfriend – drawn by William A. Ward. Running for 15 weeks, it was followed by Donald and Mac before ultimately settling as Donald Duck – a fixture until the magazine folded. The feature inspired similar Disney-themed publications across Europe, with Donald regularly appearing beside company mascot Mickey…

In the USA, a daily Donald Duck newspaper strip launched on February 2nd 1938, with a colour Sunday strip added in 1939. Writer Ted Karp joined Taliaferro in expanding the duck cast and history: adding a signature automobile, pet dog Bolivar, goofy cousin Gus Goose, grandmother Elvira Coot whilst expanding the roles of both Donna and Daisy…

In 1942, his comic book life began with October cover-dated Dell Four Color Comics Series II #9: AKA Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold. It was conceived by Homer Brightman & Harry Reeves, scripted by Karp with the illustration by Disney Studios employees Carl Barks & Jack Hannah. That was the moment everything changed…

Carl Barks was born in Merrill, Oregon in 1901, and raised in rural areas of the West during some of the leanest times in American history. He tried his hand at many jobs before settling into the profession that chose him. His early life is well-documented elsewhere if you need detail, but briefly, Barks was a cartoonist, then an animator before quitting the Studio in 1942 to work in the new-fangled field of comic books.

From then until his retirement in the mid-1960s (he officially downed tools in 1966 but was cajoled into scripting stories well into 1968), Barks operated in self-imposed seclusion: writing, drawing and devising a vast array of adventure comedies, gags, yarns and covers that gelled into a Duck Universe of memorable and highly bankable characters like Gladstone Gander (1948), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Magica De Spell (1961) and the nefarious Beagle Boys (1951) to supplement the Studio’s stable of cartoon actors.

His greatest creation was undoubtedly crusty, energetic, paternalistic, money-mad giga-gazillionaire Scrooge McDuck: the World’s wealthiest winged nonagenarian and frequent spur/gadfly and reluctant sugar daddy to the adventuresome youngsters…

Whilst producing all that landmark material Barks was also just a working guy, generating cover art, illustrating other people’s scripts when asked, adding stories to a burgeoning international canon of Duck Lore. Only after Gladstone Publishing began re-packaging Barks material in the 1980s, did he discover the well-earned appreciation he never imagined existed. Media Historian Leonard Maltin called Barks “the most popular and widely read artist/writer in the world”…

So potent were Barks’ creations that they fed back into Disney’s overarching animation output, despite all his brilliant comic work being for Dell/Gold Key and not the studio. The greatest tribute was undoubtedly animated series Duck Tales, based on his classic Uncle Scrooge adventures.

Barks was a fan of wholesome action, unsolved mysteries and epics of exploration, and this led to him perfecting the art and technique of the blockbuster tale: blending wit, history, plucky bravado and sheer wide-eyed wonder into rollicking rollercoaster romps that utterly captivated readers of every age and vintage. Without the Barks expeditions there would never have been an Indiana Jones…

During his working life Barks was utterly unaware that his work – uncredited due to company policy, as was all Disney’s comics output – had been recognised by a rabid and discerning public as “the Good Duck Artist”. When some of his most dedicated fans finally tracked him down, belated celebrity began.

In 2013, Fantagraphics Books began chronologically collecting Barks’ Duck stuff in curated archival volumes, tracing his output year-by-year in hardback tomes and digital editions that finally did justice to the quiet creator. These will eventually comprise the Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. Physical copies are sturdy and luxurious albums – 193 x 260 mm – to grace any bookshelf, with volume 13 here resurrecting works spanning May 1952-November 1953 which includes a wealth of material from a landmark spooky seasonal release…

Everything here is written and drawn by Barks, but these comics inclusions come from a quite distant and very different time, so please be aware that – despite his diligent research and sensitive storytelling – some modern readers might be upset by occasionally outdated depictions and characterisations originally and innocently intended to generate thrills and laughs…

I should also not that the contents are not re-presented in strictly chronological order, but honestly do you really care as long they’re good?

It begins eponymously with ‘Trick or Treat’, which was the lead story in Donald Duck #26. Cover-dated November 1952, it was an unofficial Halloween special that proved quite controversial in its own way.

The story was an adaptation of a current cinema release, and Barks’ faithful interpretation of what was clearly acceptable to moviegoers surprisingly fell foul of his comics editor, who had him cut, excise and redraw much of the saga to make it less scary and more palatable. The full story of the story and its repercussions for the artist are discussed in the text sections of this collection and both Bark’s versions of ‘Trick or Treat’ are re-presented here so readers can judge for themselves…

The tale as Barks intended opens with a witch flying over a spooky old graveyard. Hazel is up for mischief and finds plenty when she teams up with Donald’s nephews who are seeking candied loot in the time-honoured tradition. However, when Donald meanly refuses to play along, it sparks a war of pranks, that escalates into a mystical duel that unleashes a most animated parade of ghosts and terrifying multi-limbed magical monster Smorgasdbord…

From the same issue ‘Hobblin’ Goblins’ sees The Nephews embroiled in inventor Gyro Gearloose’s latest crisis, with his highly dubious “Goblin Foiler” setting them on a catastrophic path of zany stunts to save Halloween whilst all the other kids are having fun with pumpkins and fancy dress, after which ‘A Prank Above’ sees the canny Junior Woodchucks actually outsmarted in their tricking by a crafty antiques dealer…

Barks was as adept with single-image and quick-fire gag vignettes as epic adventures: easily blending humour with drama and charm with action and captivating ideas. This book sees many of his best. At this time, Barks’ main gig was covers and mid-length (10 page) Donald yarns in flagship monthly anthology Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. The following duck tales come from WDC&S #145 through #158 (October 1952-November 1953): a sequence of rapid fire romps that begin with ‘The Hypno-Gun’, as the Loco parentis confiscates an annoying toy and manages to self-delude himself into a “mesmerised” state. Believing himself tough and forceful, he’s easy prey for Uncle Scrooge, who makes him his bad debt collector…

WDC&S ##146 (November 1952) then reveals the story of scenic town ‘Omelet’ as Donald explains to Daisy how he once dabbled in chicken rearing – with outlandishly catastrophic consequences for the entire area…

This surreal disaster saga was purportedly based on Barks’ own recent attempts to make a little extra cash through some backyard farming, but I doubt similar origins sparked the tale that follows as super-lucky Gladstone Gander becomes an undeserving recipient of a social program run by Daisy. The worst part is that Donald is burdened with helping his smarmy cousin in ‘A Charitable Chore’…

Christmas hit hard in WDC&S 148 (cover-dated January 1953) as ultra-organised Donald sorted everything early only to find he’d forgotten to arrange his own seasonal feast. Determined not to do without he resolves to fool Uncle Scrooge to pay for it in ‘Turkey with All the Schemings’ but has not factored in his opponent’s mean nature and determination to save a penny…

A month later ‘Flip Decision’ saw Donald fall for a flim-flam man’s hokum and begin making every life decision on the basis of a coin-toss, whilst ‘My Lucky Valentine’ follows Donald’s heroic exploits as mailman in a major blizzard. His valiant record is only threatened once he realises his last delivery a romantic missive from Gladstone Gander to Daisy…

Issue #151 celebrated another seasonal highpoint as Donald is shortlisted for Grand Marshal of the forthcoming big parade. With Gladstone as the only other contender much politicking chicanery and bribery ensues but when he shockingly wins ‘The Easter Election’, Donald realises too late that no one can beat his rival’s supernatural fortune…

The May 1953 WDC&S (#152) is a vicious lampoon of gameshows as Donald tries many manic stunts to get on one and make a thousand bucks, even as the Nephews badger, pester and eventually provide a potential solution to his money worries by adopting ‘The Talking Dog’…

A big fishing contest descends into chaos when Donald switches to bait created by Gyro. In ‘Worm Weary’, the entire angling community is outraged and terrified by Don’s powerfully programmed and cooperative wrigglers who dive in and extract all the fish without human intervention, and soon our star is facing a fishy lynch mob…

Working as a realtor, Donald alienates everyone by seeking to sell an old pile currently used by the Nephews as a clubhouse in ‘Much Ado About Quackly Hall’, after which Scrooge adapts the Parable of the Talents to his succession planning and tests Donald, Gladstone and Huey, Dewey & Louie to determine who will eventually inherit and safeguard his money in ‘Some Heir Over the Rainbow’

The Brittle Master series is the name fans use to describe an occasionally-occurring group of stories wherein the perennially self-sabotaging, fiery-tempered and eternally put-upon everyman Duck displayed an astounding excellence in some unique skill, winning the approval and veneration of all and sundry – only to have his own smug hubris bring about ultimate humiliation and downfall.

It began with this tale from Walt Disney Comics & Stories #156 (September 1953) which showed Donald as ‘The Master Rainmaker’: a crop-dusting pilot and cloud-sculpting artiste delivering nigh-magical service to farmers and event-organisers. However, increasingly outrageous requests from his adoring public and his own bellicose nature lead Donald inevitably to disaster when jealousy over Gladstone’s monopoly of Daisy leads to the weather wizard’s accidental creation of a full-blown, devastating ice-storm.

A quirky change of pace came in the October issue where ‘The Money Stairs’ pitted Donald’s youth, fitness and determination against Scrooge’s limitless wealth in an escalating series of physical tasks that seemed too much to believe before #158 (November 1953) pauses the run for now with a manic moment as the boys build an apiary in the backyard that soon shuts down all of Duckburg in ‘Bee Bumbles’…

We end as we began with another strip from that contentious Halloween issue – DD #26 – as Barks successfully recycles a very old gag with Donald trying to scare Daisy in ‘Frightful Face’…

The comics are augmented by a sublime ‘Carl Barks Cover Gallery’ proving the Master’s gift for visual one-liners with a selection of frontages from Four Color (volume II) 394 & 450, Donald Duck #26-30 and Walt Disney Comics & Stories #145-158.

The visual verve over, we move on to validation with ‘Story Notes’ offering context and commentary for each Duck tale here, including the background battle of ‘Trick or Treat’ which is re-visited by Jared Gardner and expanded upon in ‘The Cutting Room Floor’, after which Donald Ault details ‘Carl Barks: Life Among the Ducks’.

‘Contributors’ introduces the commentators Ault, Alberto Beccatini, James Robert Cowles, R, Fiore, Craig Fischer, Gardner, Leonardo Gori, Thad Komorowski, Rich Kreiner, Bill Mason, Stefano Priarone and Francesco “Frank” Stajano and why they’re saying all those nice and informative things. We close as ever with an examination of provenance as ‘Where Did These Duck Stories First Appear?’ clarify the rather byzantine publishing schedules of Dell Comics and the chronology of this collection’s treats. No tricks, honest!

Carl Barks was one of the greatest exponents of comic art the world has ever seen, with almost all his work featuring Disney’s Duck characters: reaching and affecting untold billions across the world. You might be late to the party but don’t be scared: it’s never too late to climb aboard the Barks Express.
Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Trick or Treat © 2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All contents © 2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter Digital Omnibus


By Mark Ellerby, with additional colours by Adam Cadwell (Great Beast Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-285-4 (Digest HB)

When the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted, its mix of sassy teen culture, wry humour, scary adventure, soap opera group dynamics and supremely quotable zingers utterly revolutionised popular entertainment – but not as much as the kick-ass star who proved once and for all that girls could be action heroes.

In the wake of the phenomenon, cartoonist Marc Ellerby (Love the Way You Love, Phonogram: The Singles Club, Ellerbisms, Rick and Morty, Regular Show, Doctor Who) deployed the sarcastic whimsical contrariness we Brits are so grievously afflicted with and belatedly devised a wry riposte to the saga of the mystically superpowered American “Chosen One” and her dedicated team of troubleshooters…

Between 2009 and 2014, Ellerby self-published five issues (and a few extra bits) of Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter – the sublimely daft exploits of a plucky, determined and utterly normal girl who splits her time between going to college and holding back the malign forces of darkness lurking all around us.

In 2012, the majority of these Kitchen Sink/School Daze/Eldritch Exploits were coloured and gathered in a Digital Omnibus. Here you can comfortably enjoy a jolly jump back in time and space to see how the nuts and bolts of saving humanity works with hilarious hits from Chloe Noonan #1-4, Chloe Noonan Halloween Special 2012, Chloe Noonan Christmas Special 2012 and material from Paper Science #5 and Solipsistic Pop #2-3.

The preternatural perils are preceded by ‘Just a quick word! An introduction from the author’ wherein we learn the origins of the feature and how and why it was remastered, before we finally meet the snarky, sarky, brittle “plain Jane” B-lister who’s nobody’s first choice to save the world…

As well as benefitting from added colour, these terror tales have been chronologically adjusted so keep your wits about you as Chapter 1/ Chloe Noonan #1 takes us to a chip shop in Raven Dale where two students are chatting. Chloe is reluctantly revealing she’s in a band to ingenuous hottie Zoe Fox, when the dowdy, meek-seeming redhead gets an urgent call. For reasons she cannot understand, Noonan suddenly breaks protocol – and her oath of secrecy – and invites Zoe to come along as she tackles a rampaging monster. Her duty is onerous, unpaid and voluntary, so they have to take the bus…

It’s a long ride, made truly interminable by having to disabuse her new friend of ridiculous TV-fuelled notions of the job’s glamour, innate magic powers and skill with ancient weaponry, but eventually they locate the beastly Dahgul. It is not willing to come along quietly…

Forced to consult irascible mentor Professor Lemon Barley, the increasingly pissed off Chloe resorts to her favourite solution – nets and really big bombs – but is then stuck babysitting the beast while she plays a gig with the band…

Issue #2 opened with an inconclusive clash against drunken lobster-horror Pinchy, before another tedious day at Raven’s Dale College commences. Watching guys – especially cute but gormless Doug Stonebridge – hitting on Zoe does nothing to lift her mood, especially after her new self-elected BFF blurts out Cloonan’s monster-hunting sideline. More grief about her failures from Barley follows, and the absolute end comes when Pinchy – AKA Skaldjur – invades the college looking for girls, booze and a rematch and sparking a riot. Chloe might be merely human – and not very fit – but the brute has turned up just when she really needed to hit something and gets just what he deserves…

She’s barely regained her composure when the top secret clean-up crew show up, delivering pat disinformation and trying to impress pretty little Zoe…

Chapter 3 comes from Paper Science #5: a brief encounter with band nerds and ice creams, before Chloe Noonan #3 reveals how bandmate Zach pilfers arcane lore from Chloe’s bag and enhances the latest gig by summoning arcane armageddon in the form of an awakened Kraken…

Thankfully, a full-on angry rant seems to be Chloe’s private superpower…

A brace of shorts from Solipsistic Pop #3 and #2 reveals how Chloe & Zoe deal with a gang of monster-seeming Chavs and annoying girl band Pozzy Pops before chapter 7 presents the full-length fun of Chloe Noonan #4 with the “Nooners”, Zoe and Doug spending an unpleasant night clubbing, only to find that even supernal haunts crave a good time, cheap drinks and ear-splitting beats. However, when Chloe tries to lay down the law, she gets an unlikely schooling in monster politics…

Chloe Noonan #3 delivers the next instalment as drunken Doug falls foul of supernatural Chavs (think Devil-Moomins) in a deserted playground, and Zoe drags her “Nooners” out of a well-earned sleep to save his undeserving ass after which ‘Trick or Treat’ (from Chloe Noonan Halloween Special 2012) sees awestruck Zoe dressing up as her hero for a spot of fancy-dress, door-to-door begging on October 31st. Of course, prowling darkened streets with a happier, prettier, sexier version of herself is everything Chloe dreaded it would be, and she’s in no mood to dick about when the real monsters turn up to celebrate “their” special day…

Wrapping up the spooky selection is the Chloe Noonan Christmas Special 2012 with the surly supernaturalist and Professor Barley dutifully and pointlessly hunting an unknown antagonist and enduring ‘A Very Noony Christmas’ whilst everybody else is getting outrageously inebriated at a major college party…

Accompanying the morose mirth is a ‘Cover Gallery’ (fronts and backs!) including a spiffy art print; a selection of ‘Fan Art’ by Will Kirkby, Tom Humberstone, Liz Prince and Luke Pearson and a fulsome (29 pages) and fascinating dip into the author’s ‘Annotated Sketchbook’ as well as a ‘Biography’ of the creator.

Fun, funny, fiercely foolish and fabulously entertaining, this ancient arcane artefact is as fresh and festive as it ever was. Forget the Chosen One and just choose Chloe Noonan.
™ & © 2009-2012, 2020 Marc Ellerby. All rights reserved.

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Evil Emperor Penguin: Antics in Antarctica


By Laura Ellen Anderson, with Kate Brown (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-282-3 (Digest PB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Outrageous Acts and Brilliant Buffoonery… 8/10

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

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

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

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

The Penguin appointed the hairy, bizarrely inventive tyke his Top Minion, but somehow never managed to instil him with the proper degree of evilness. He is, however, a dab-hand with spaghetti hoops, so it’s not a total loss…

Following a pin-up of the ‘Fridge of Evil’ and an info-packed double-page map of the Evil Underground Headquarters disclosing all you’ll need to know, an assortment of vile vignettes begins with ‘A Stitch in Time’ wherein the cape-draped malcontent megalomaniac unleashes his Evil Emperor-bot of Icy Doom at the annual World Leaders’ Picnic.

Unfortunately, due to a totally typical cock-up with the plans by oafish underlings, the titanic tin-can terror’s ice-laser eyes have somehow been replaced by instant knitting machines…

The next nasty invention doesn’t even get out of the lab before malfunctioning. ‘Have No Fear’ finds a dire device that manifests personal terrors running amok in the lab, unleashing EEP’s domineering mother and sweet Eugene’s incredible, ghastly secret phobia before the inventors can reach the Emergency Self-Destruct Button…

‘Cat-astrophe’ introduces a terrifying rival in the Word Domination stakes who infiltrates the bad bird’s base as a cute and fluffy feline pet for Number 8…

When EEP’s giant spider robot immobilises the entire Earth in its ‘World-Wide-Web’, even Evil Cat is caught off guard, and only Eugene’s incomprehensible preoccupation with shiny, sparkly unicorns prevents total disaster.

The top-hatted, moustachioed, perfidious puss then attempts amnesty in ‘The Truce’ but the fuzzy fiend is, of course, shamming friendship. The floral gift he proffers is actually a deadly animated booby-trap which is only just defeated thanks to Eugene’s inherent ineptitude.

Would-be World Dictators are not a particularly forgiving bunch and when the fuzzy tyke accidentally unleashes the full force of EEP’s Ferocious And Really Terrible machine, ‘The Stinking Truth’ is released in a Nuclear Stench Cloud and prompting the penguin peril to fire his Top Minion. EEP’s loss is Evil Cat’s gain though, and Eugene soon settles in with a Malign Master who really appreciates him.

‘Please Alight for the Domination Station’ finds them quashing the chilly Caped Fiend’s scheme to transform Britain’s seat of government into the Houses of Penguinment (which I’m pretty sure we’d all vote for this week), but a pitched battle between super-science cat and ghastly gadget bird swiftly escalates beneath London streets before Eugene’s cuteness-filled ultimate weapon sadly takes out his new boss by mistake…

As a result of that debacle, the little snowman is briefly evaporated by Evil Cat and ends up floating wistfully over Antarctica as a ‘Head in the Clouds’ even as Evil Emperor Penguin faces his greatest challenge when his little sister Ruth – she prefers “Ruth-less” – pays a visit, sees what big bro is up to and decides that she too is going to rule the world in ‘Sibling Rivalry’…

Things get even worse after Evil Cat interferes, holding Ruth-less hostage until everybody involved has foolishly forgotten that tiny turncoat Eugene is afflicted with niceness and a powerful conscience…

The exploration of  cartoon evil and daft depravity amplifies and intensifies in an epic exploit detailing ‘The Return’ when sweet-natured Eugene’s continual bodges at last force Evil Cat to fire him with extreme prejudice. Hopeless, homeless and homesick, the shaggy savant is on his last legs when he’s adopted by jolly unicorn Keith, who nurses him back to health and flies him to Antarctica just in time for them both to become embroiled in a final fateful clash between Penguin and Cat.

Naturally such devoted do-gooders can only get stuck in and engineer some marvellously magical reconciliation…

More nefarious nonsense unfolds in extended thriller-chiller ‘I Will Crèche You’ wherein EEP’s incredible De-Ageifying “Youth Juice” wreaks the now-customary havoc after insidious rival Evil Cat breaks into the citadel and everybody gets a rejuvenating soaking…

Undaunted, the Penguin of Perfidy attempts to increase his own stature with a growth ray but doesn’t consider that his top menial might wander in and accidentally become ‘Hugene’…

More trouble arrives when the Barmy Bird decides to digitise and upload himself into the global data net via his Super Computer of Evil. Believing supreme power is in his feathered grasp once he becomes ultimate virus ‘X-Treme Evil’, EEP is ambushed in virtual reality by digital demon virus Trojan the Hunk. Luckily, Eugene is a dab paw with computer games and comes to his master’s rescue… sort of…

Back in the physical world once again the Emperor is next subjected to a terrifying surreal assault by feathered scavengers and finds himself ‘Pigeon Holed’…

Everybody loves cute kittens, which is what Evil Cat’s cousin Debra counts on when she uses soppy Eugene to infiltrate the fortress and steal all the Spaghetti Hoops in ‘What’s New Pussycat’. With the team – even Evil Cat – trapped and helpless, they must surrender all pride and dignity and call on jolly unicorn Keith to save them…

Without their favourite food, Christmas seems drab and dreary for the entire ice-bound army but when Eugene finds ‘The One Hoop’ it unleashes a torrent of unexpected emotion to tide the Evil Emperor over, even though it ultimately leads to deprivation mania in ‘A New Hoop’…

Deranged and desperate, EEP is only saved after Eugene and Number 8 track down Debra and steal back the vast cache of spaghetti tins. Good thing too, as she wasn’t planning on eating them but needed them to power her world-destroying machine…

After all that drama, ‘Eugene’s Day Off’ is an unremitting stream of great experiences for the faithful servitor, but for the Penguin Potentate – forced to put up with substandard substitute Neill – a string of catastrophic and painful disasters. Thus, it’s no surprise and a total tragedy when EEP’s top flunky is lost on a melting ’berg after watching the pretty sunset ‘On Thin Ice’…

Happily, the unthinkable occurs as the cape-clad malcontent megalomaniac teams up with scintillating Keith the Unicorn to save Eugene from dire deep sea doom…

‘Pop Goes the Easel’ finds the putrid penguin planning an attack on world leaders through the medium of art, but sadly, turning his victims into paintings proves to be a double-edged sword with unexpected repercussions, especially after Eugene tries to help…

This gag-filled grimoire of bird-based bombast concludes in high style as a sinister scheme to flood the world with scented candles of distilled Ultimate Evil is thwarted once ‘Essence of Eugene’ is added to the wax mixer, resulting in a global outpouring of warm, fuzzy euphoria…

Rocket-paced, hilariously inventive, wickedly arch and utterly determined to be silly when it most counts, this tome of terror also has educational merit as it offers lessons on ‘How to Draw Eugene’. Evil Emperor Penguin: Antics in Antarctica is a captivating cascade of smart, witty funny adventure, which will delight readers of all ages.
Text and illustrations © Laura Ellen Anderson 2022. All rights reserved.

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Black Panther Adventures


By Jeff Parker, Marc Sumerak, Christopher Yost, Elliot Kalan, Roy Thomas, Manuel Garcia, Ig Guara, Scott Wegener, Christopher Jones, Chris Giarusso, John Buscema & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1034-1 (Digest PB/Digital edition)

From its earliest days, Marvel always courted and accommodated young comic book consumers, often through separates titles and imprints. In 2003, the company instituted the Marvel Age line to reframe classic original tales by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others for a fresh-faced 21st century readership.

The experiment was tweaked in 2005, becoming Marvel Adventures. The tone of all the tales was very much that of the company’s burgeoning TV animation franchises, in execution if not name. Titles bearing the Marvel Adventures brand included Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and The Avengers and ran until 2010 when they were all cancelled and replaced by new volumes of Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man.

Most of those comic book yarns have since been collected in digest-sized compilations such as this one, gathering a quartet of all-ages Black Panther tales but also including a brace of early1960s episodes from his first stint in mainstream MU series The Avengers.

Acclaimed as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first debuted as a character in Fantastic Four #52.

In that 1966 landmark the cat king attacked Marvel’s First Family as part of his extended scheme to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father, before eventually teaming up with them to defeat malign master of sound Klaw.

This eclectic compilation – comprising Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #10, Marvel Adventures The Avengers #22, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1, Marvel Universe Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #8, plus Silver Age epics from Avengers #52 and 62 – begins by broadly reimagining that initial FF encounter in ‘Law of the Jungle’ by Jeff Parker, Manuel Garcia & Scott Koblish (from Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #10; May 2006) wherein the quixotic quartet are suckered into buying smuggled Vibranium.

The miracle mineral is Wakanda’s only export and the illegal sale quickly brings the duped heroes into savage conflict with a mysterious cat-garbed super-warrior. Tracking the Black Panther back to his super-scientific jungle kingdom, the team  eventually convince the king of their innocence and good intentions before teaming up to tackle the true villains…

Two years later Marvel Adventures The Avengers #22 (May 2008 and by Marc Sumerak, Ig Guara & Jay Leisten) revealed the ‘Wakanda Wild Side’ as sightings of murderous mutant Sabretooth in Africa draws Wolverine, Storm, Captain America, Spider-Man, Giant-Girl and the Hulk into an uncharted kingdom. They needn’t have bothered: Wakanda’s Panther chieftain is more than equal to the task of taking down the savage invader…

Following a page of comedic Marvel Mini Classics by Chris Giarusso, a short vignette from Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1 (November 2010) as Christopher Yost & Scott Wegener reveal how rival heroes T’Challa and Hawkeye work out their ‘Trust’ issues whilst battling crazed villain Whiplash.

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 collected stories are still an amazingly entertaining and superbly accessible means of introducing characters and concepts to kids born sometimes three generations or more away from the originating events. They’re also pretty good fun for us old lags too…

Another short tale – this time from Marvel Universe Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #8 (November 2012) – unites the Panther with the Hulk. Crafted by Elliott Kalan, Christopher Jones & Pond Scum, ‘Mayhem of the Madbomb!’ finds Green Goliath and Cat King furiously fighting Hydra to prevent he detonation of an insanity-inducing WMD stashed in the Empire State Building…

Wrapping up the action are a brace of classic exploits from Roy Thomas & John Buscema.

On Captain America’s recommendation the Black Panther joined the Avengers in #52’s ‘Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes!’ (May 1968, inked by Vince Colletta): a fast-paced murder mystery which also saw the advent of obsessive super-psycho The Grim Reaper who tried to frame the freshly-arrived-in-America T’Challa for the murder of Goliath, The Wasp and Hawkeye.

Then ‘The Monarch and the Man-Ape!’ (Avengers #62, March 1969, and inked by George Klein) offered Marvel fans the first real view of hidden Wakanda – and a brutal exploration of T’Challa’s history and rivals – as his trusted regent seeks to usurp the kingdom and overturn the state religion after declaring himself to be ‘M’Baku the Man-Ape!’…

Augmented by a cover gallery from Carlo Pagulayan & Chris Sotomayor, Leonard Kirk & Val Staples, Scott Wegener & Jean- François Beaulieu, Khoi Pham & Edgar Delgado and John Buscema, these ferociously enthralling riotous mini-epics are extremely enjoyable and engaging, but parents should note that some of the themes and certainly the level of violence might not be what everybody considers “All-Ages Super Hero Action”…
© 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur volume one: BFF


By Brandon Montclare, Amy Reeder, Natacha Bustos, Tamra Bonvillain & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0005-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

The Marvel Universe is absolutely stuffed with astounding young geniuses but Lunella Lafayette is probably the most memorable you’ll ever meet. Very young, very gifted and proudly black, she lives with her parents on Manhattan’s Lower East Side when not attending Public School 20 Anna Silver on Essex Street.

Thanks to her obsessive interest in astronomy and alien races the other kids mockingly call her “Moon Girl” whilst the brilliant, bored 4th grader’s teachers universally despair because she already knows so much more than they do…

It’s a hassle, but Lunella actually has bigger problems. Time is running out and her numerous applications to specialist schools such as the Fantastic Four’s Future Foundation have all gone unanswered. The situation needs resolving as it’s pretty important and urgent. Lunella has – correctly – deduced that she carries dormant Inhuman genes, and the constantly moving mutagenic Terrigen Cloud recently released into Earth’s atmosphere (see both the Infinity and Inhumanity events) could transform her into a monster at any windswept moment…

Thanks to her investigations, she’s an expert in advanced and extraterrestrial technology, and her quest for a cure or Terrigen-deterrence procedure sees her perpetually sneaking out past bedtime in search of gadgets and detritus left behind after frequent superhero clashes around town…

That impetus reaches its hope-filled climax when her handmade detectors locate a discarded Kree Omni-Wave Projector in opening chapter ‘Repeat After Me’…

At some unspecified time in Earth’s distant prehistory, various emergent species of hominids eked out a perilous existence beside the last of the great lizards and other primordial giants. At one particular key moment, a wide-eyed innocent of the timid yet clever Small Folk saved a baby tyrannosaur from ruthless pre-human hunters the Killer Folk.

They had already slaughtered its mother and siblings with cunning snares and were merrily torturing the little lizard with blazing firebrands – which turned its scorched hide a livid, blazing red – before Moon Boy intervened…

Under the roaring light of a blazing volcano, boy and beast bonded, becoming inseparable companions. It was soon apparent the scarlet saurian was no ordinary reptile: blessed with uncanny intelligence and unmatchable ferocity, Devil became an equal partner in a relationship never before seen in the world. It did not, however, prevent the duo becoming targets for ruthless Killer Folk leader Thorn-Teeth who now slaughters and sacrifices beasts and Small Folk to a mystic “Nightstone”. A more advanced observer might remark on how much it resembles a Kree Omni-Wave Projector…

When Moon-Boy steals the dread talisman, he is savagely beaten near to death even as – in a gym class on Essex Street – Coach Hrbek confiscates and accidentally activates a fancy doodad Lunella’s been playing with instead of paying attention to getting fit.

Lights flash, time shreds and universes collide. A hole opens in space and a pack of bizarre monkey men shamble into modern New York. Arriving too late in the antediluvian valley, Devil Dinosaur thunders straight through the portal, intent on avenging his dying comrade…

Arriving in an impossibly confusing new world, Devil understandably panics. After causing much chaos and carnage, the bombastic beast sniffs little Lunella and snatches her up…

A mad chase ensues in ‘Old Dogs and New Tricks’ as deeply confused Devil marauds through Manhattan with outraged Lunella unable to escape or control the ferocious thunder lizard.

Meanwhile, the Killer Folk rapidly adapt to the new environment. Hiding out and observing everything occurring in the Yancy Street Subway Station, they soon prove the old adage about primitive not meaning stupid. Within days they have grasped the fundamentals of English and new concepts like money and clothes, as well as the  trickier notions of “gangs” and “protection rackets”…

Most importantly, Thorn-Teeth remembers that when they arrived, one of the hairless Small Folk was holding his Nightstone…

In ‘Out of the Frying Pan’, Moon Girl is having little luck ditching the overly-attentive, attention-attracting Torrid T-Rex. Tragically, when she finally does, the Killer Folk grab her and the Omni-Wave…

Their triumph is short-lived, since the lizard’s superior sense of smell summons Devil to the rescue, although, in the resulting melee, the precious device is lost. Growing grudgingly fond of the colossal critter, Lunella stashes Devil in her super-secret lab underneath PS 20, but when a spot of student arson sets the school ablaze, her hideaway is exposed and Devil bursts up through the ground to rescue kids trapped on an upper floor…

The fracas also unfortunately attracts the kind of superhero response Lunella has been dreading. ‘Hulk + Devil Dinosaur – ‘Nuff Said’ sees smug, teenaged Gamma-powered Avenger Amadeus Cho butt in with his bulging muscles and inability to listen to reason…

Poor Devil is no match for the Totally Awesome Hulk, forcing Moon Girl to intervene with some her own inventions. Across town, the Killer Folk – proudly carrying the Nightstone – deal with the last obstacle to their supremacy in the Yancy Street criminal underworld…

The Battle of PS 20 reaches its inevitable conclusion and Cho confiscates Devil Dinosaur, leaving Lunella thoroughly grounded and (apparently) behaving like a normal little girl in ‘Know How’.

Of course, it’s all a trick and as soon as everybody is lulled into complacency Moon Girl kits herself out with more devious gadgetry and busts Devil out of the Top Secret Wing of the Natural History Museum. She’s on a tight deadline now: her weather-monitoring gear confirms the Terrigen Cloud is rolling back towards Manhattan…

The spectacular jailbreak results in a ‘Eureka!’ moment coinciding with the Killer Folk consolidating their grip on the streets and using the Omni-Wave to capture Moon Girl. It also results in Lunella’s mother discovering who broke a dinosaur out of jail, and she furiously heads to the school for a reckoning with her wayward child…

The final conflict sees our little warrior at last victorious over the Killer Folk, albeit too late. As Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur roar in triumph on the rooftops, Lunella realises she is trapped outside with the Terrigen cloud descending. Her time and opportunity to create a cure has come and gone…

To Be Continued…

Collecting Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1-6 from January to June 2016, this compelling, immensely entertaining romp is crafted by writers Brandon Montclare & Amy Reeder, with art from Natacha Bustos, colours by Tamra Bonvillain and letters from Travis Lanham. With a cover and variants gallery from Trevor Von Eeden, Pascal Campton, Paul Pope, Jeffrey Veregge & Pia Guerra, this addictively engaging yarn affords non-stop fun: a wonderful all-ages Marvel saga that is as fresh, thrilling, moving and hilariously funny now as it ever was.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: BFF is the kind of tale to lure youngsters into the comics habit and a perfect tool to seduce jaded older fans back into the fold…
© 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Benny Breakiron volume 4: Uncle Placid


By Peyo & Gos with backgrounds by François Walthéry: translated by Joe Johnson (Papercutz/NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-59707-717-0 (HB Album/Digital edition)

Let’s just clear up something here. Although they are both magnificent producers of comics past and present – and either singly or in collaboration – Belgium and France are not “the same”. Shared cultural mores and language, interlinked history and adjacent geographies have may have generated superficial similarities but the inventors of international icons Tintin and Asterix have always been as much defined by their unique views as mutual visions. All of which is my blathering brain-fodder to introduce a Belgian “superhero” today and a very different French one tomorrow…

In 1928, Pierre Culliford was born in Belgium to a family of British origin dwelling in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels. An admirer of the works of Hergé and the American comics licensed to Le Journal de Mickey, Robinson and Hurrah!, the lad honed his own artistic skills but the war and family bereavement forced him to forgo further education and get a job…

After working as a cinema projectionist, in 1945 Culliford joined C.B.A. animation studios, where he met future comics megastars André Franquin, Maurice De Bevere – who would become Morris – and Eddy Paape. When the studio closed, Pierre briefly studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts before moving full-time into graphic advertising. In his spare time, he began submitting strips to the burgeoning post-war comics publishers.

His first sale was in April 1946. Pied-Tendre was a tale of American Indians that landed in Riquet, the comics supplement to the daily L’Occident newspaper. Further sales to other venues followed and in 1952 his knight Johan found a permanent spot in Le Journal de Spirou. Retitled Johan et Pirlout, the strip prospered and in 1958 introduced a strange bunch of blue woodland gnomes into the ongoing tale. They were called Les Schtroumpfs.

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

In December 1960, Benoît Brisefer – AKA Benedict Ironbreaker and/or (in Dutch) Steven Sterk – debuted in Le Journal de Spirou #1183. With some sly tips of the hat to Siegel & Shuster’s Superman – and Superboy – these wryly bucolic adventures celebrated a small boy with superhuman strength, speed, durability and vitality living in a generally quiet and unassuming little Belgian town.

Quiet, well-mannered, gentle and a bit lonely, Benny just happens to be 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 fatal and peculiarly ubiquitous weakness is that his astounding strength deserts him whenever he catches the slightest hint of a cold…

Most kids avoid him. It’s hard to make friends or play games when the merest kick pops a football like a balloon or a shrug can topple trees…

Benny seldom seeks to conceal his abilities – in fact he informs anyone who will listen – but other than startled crooks and bad guys, somehow no adults ever believe or catch on. They usually think he’s telling fibs or boasting and whenever he attempts to prove his claims, the unlucky lad gets another dose of galloping sniffles…

Well-past-it Brits of my vintage might remember him from weekly comics in the 1960’s. As Tammy Tuff – The Strongest Boy on Earth – and latterly as Benny Breakiron or Steven Strong, our beret-wearing champion 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 Benoît/Benny. Years passed and Will (Willy Maltaite), Gos (Roland Goossens), Yvan Delporte, François Walthéry and Albert Blesteau all pitched in, with Jean Roba crafting many eye-catching Spirou covers, but by 1978 the demands of the Smurfs were all-consuming and all the studio’s other strips were retired.

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

Thanks to the efforts of US publisher Papercutz, the first four (promised fifth release Bodoni Circus still languishes in limbo, but we can always hope…) gloriously genteel, outrageously engaging power fantasies are available to English-language readers. This yarn was originally collected in 1968 as 4th album Tonton Placide, with Peyo, co-writer Walthéry & co-artist Gos tapping into the global spy trend with marvellous aplomb.

It begins in sedate Vivejoie-la-Grande, where the sweet kid goes about his well-meaning, somewhat solitary life: doing good deeds in secret (like quietly popping a piano up to the fifth floor of an apartment block whilst weary delivery men are having a refreshing bevvy in a bar), respecting his elders and being as good a boy as he can…

At school, Prize Day closes and we learn that Benny’s true weakness is maths, although he did win a Good Conduct award and came top in Gym. The happily liberated kids trade tales of the holidays ahead of them and the titanic tyke reveals he’s spending his vacation with his uncle who works for P.O.O.T. Benny explains that his temporary guardian is a civil servant at the Department of “Protection Of Officials Travelling”… an actual armed bodyguard…

Disembarking later at a rural train station, the boy is greeted a by boisterous hulking blonde Adonis and quickly settles into a perfect country idyl, but the rest is ruined the next morning – initially by Uncle Placid’s workout and machine gun practise – but soon after by an urgent visit from the operative’s boss. The colonel needs a capable escort for the Finance Minister of the Principality of Fürengrootsbadenschtein when he collects his nation’s currency printing plates.

It’s such a simple, risk-free job that the Colonel even suggests the bodyguard could bring his current “babysitting assignment” along for the ride. Nobody has any inkling that a ruthless gang know of the potentially lucrative transfer and has begun a complex operation to secure the means of printing their own money…

Dutiful Placid reluctantly agrees, bringing the eager lad along to his Central Bank rendezvous with prickly, obnoxious Minister Mr. Chnik and straight into a complex ambush! With the adults all gassed by a disguised cleaning lady, Benny is completely unobserved when he foils the robbery by plucking her and an observation helicopter out of the sky and wrecking her sportscar-driving backup team.

Listening in from his secret lair, the sinister mastermind behind the plot cannot understand what he’s hearing…

By the time Benny brings the plates back to the bank, everybody is blearily regaining consciousness. As usual, nobody believes his story – or his polite claims that he’s really strong for his size – but the job is reassessed as highly risky. A police convoy is despatched, but the immediacy of the crisis means the little boy has to stay with Placid – which is fine with Benny…

As the plates, Mr. Chnik, Placid and Benny set out on a fraught drive to the Principality, they are dogged by cautious observers: career criminals who are having their own problems acclimatising to modern innovations like guns and shoes that double as radio communicators and tracking devices. Their reticence and ineptitude does nothing for the Boss’ manners or patience…

The covert reconnaissance leads to a massive, spectacular multi-vehicle highway ambush, and Placid cannot understand how they all survive the barrage of bullets and car crash. He does not believe it was Benny’s incredible intervention or that the kid subsequently clobbered a small army of thugs and armoured ATVs…

Now on high alert, Placid opts for subterfuge, taking his charges undercover and getting ever closer to Fürengrootsbadenschtein by commercial plane, trains and automobiles. At every stage, progress is stymied by the Boss and his ubiquitous operatives, with the villains winnowed down by the incredible – unseen – actions of the weird kid in the black beret…

Ultimately, however, the mastermind succeeds in capturing his targets, only to meet his match at his moment of triumph when Benny at last loses his temper…

A masterpiece of timing and breakneck pace, and deliciously informed by the 1960s pop culture espionage fad, Uncle Placid delivers daft delights via bombastic bouts of uproarious slapstick comedy action. A superbly stirring spoof with echoes of classic comedies such as Carry on Spying, The Intelligence Men or The Spy with a Cold Nose, it displays the wonder boy’s resolute dynamism, helpful nature and need to be a good citizen: blending deft wit with hilarious stunts. Here is another fabulously winning fantasy of childhood agency and validation, offering a distinctly Old-World spin to the notion of superheroes by providing adventure and chortles for all.
© Peyo™ 2014 – licensed through Lafig Belgium. English translation © 2014 by Papercutz All rights reserved.

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Gentleman Jim


By Raymond Briggs (Jonathan Cape/Drawn & Quarterly)
ISBN: 978-0-22408-524-3 (HB, Jonathan Cape) 978-1-8972-9936-4 (PB, D&Q edition)

Once again a master of comics art has been taken from us, and this time it’s one of the greatest in our medium’s history: a hugely gifted maverick who worked largely outside the established industry, but whose decades of work truly turned sequential graphic narrative into an art form.

Cartoonist, political satirist, philosopher, social commentator and delighter of children of all ages, Raymond Redvers Briggs CBE (18th January 1934 – 9th August 2022) never forgot that kids aren’t fools. Many of his books – ostensibly targeting the young – revel in the target audience’s fascination with all things gross and disgusting and the artist never underestimated an “unformed” mind’s capacity for empathy and understanding. Moreover, unlike so many working in the children’s book industry, he wasn’t afraid to be morose or even sad…

The comic book industry always wilfully neglected and sidelined Briggs’s graphic narratives – which nevertheless reached more hearts and minds than Spider-Man or Dennis the Menace ever will. Briggs’ books remain among the most powerful and important in the entire field.

Deservedly famous works such as Father Christmas, The Snowman, When the Wind Blows, Fungus the Bogeyman, The Bear, Ethel and Earnest, Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age and Time for Lights Out are but the tip of an astoundingly impressive, remarkably wide-ranging and quintessentially British iceberg of dry, mordant wit, cheeky sarcasm and poignant fellow-feeling for even the most ghastly and graceless of his unlikely protagonists…

After studying at Wimbledon School of Art, Central and The Slade – and completing a stint of National Service in Catterick – Briggs started working as an illustrator in 1958. He produced dozens of books, ranging from illuminating other creators’ poetry and stories to crafting his own dingily fabulous yarns such as this slyly seditious treatise on self-betterment that first appeared in 1980.

One of his most charmingly bittersweet and contemplative efforts, Gentleman Jim is a mesmerising affectionate portrait of one of life’s always-dreaming no-hoper’s, published just as Thatcherite dogma began to bite and tear into Britain’s already reeling social structures.

Jim Bloggs is a middle-aged bloke who mans a Council-run public toilet or “Gentleman’s Convenience” in Birmingham: diligently and uncomplainingly cleaning and maintaining his subterranean office whilst constantly dreaming of bigger, better, bolder things.

There’s nothing wrong with the job; it’s just that Jim feels he was meant for greater challenges…

At every quiet moment, Jim scans the job section of the newspaper, imagining himself a hero of the Royal Marines or a tail-gunner in a fighter-bomber or an artist or even a doorman in a fancy uniform. It’s never too late…

Jim’s problem is education: he hasn’t any and all these vacant situations want people with “The Levels”… O’s and A’s and whatnot…

At home with his wife Hilda, Jim discusses a change of direction. Inspired by a late film on television, he decides to become a cowboy, maybe even a sheriff. A quick bit of research convinces him that the start-up costs for cowboying are beyond his means and the paperwork would be a nightmare, but after popping into the second-hand bookshop Jim realises that what he really wants to be is a Highwayman…

Even here though, money is a problem. Great black chargers or even plain old valiant steeds cost thousands of pounds. However, when the local Donkey Sanctuary lets him have one of their older ones for free, Jim’s off and running in his new career and living his dream…

Sublimely low key and gentle, the fall into arrant criminality of this ambitious dreamer is a sheer, understated masterpiece of sardonic whimsy to enthral and delight older kids as well as all us adults who never quite made it. Yet…

Raymond Briggs was the human turning point in the evolution of comics from tawdry waste of time to esteemed art form and his books will live forever. If you’re not a fan yet, you inevitably will be …once you start reading them.
© 1980, 2008 Raymond Briggs. All Rights Reserved.

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Moomin: The complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip volume 4


By Tove and Lars Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)
ISBN: 978-1-897299-78-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-77046-551-0

If Tove Jansson was alive today she’d still be amazing and fascinating and also 108 years old. Sadly, she isn’t, but her immortal menagerie of bizarre and introspective characters are still going strong and all her best material is readily available for anyone wanting to politely, respectfully and belatedly join in all the dreamy fun…

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.

Tove Marika Jansson was born into an artistic, intellectual and practically bohemian Swedish family in Helsinki, Finland on August 9th 1914. Father Viktor was a sculptor, her mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson a successful illustrator, graphic designer and commercial artist. Tove’s brothers Lars and Per Olov became a cartoonist/writer and photographer respectively. 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 act in.

After 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), shebecame a successful exhibiting artist through the troubled period of the Second World War.

Intensely 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): a whimsical epic of gentle, inclusive, accepting, understanding, bohemian, misfit trolls and their strange friends…

A youthful over-achiever, from 1930-1953 Tove worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish satirical magazine Garm, achieving some measure of notoriety with an infamous political sketch of Hitler in nappies that lampooned the Appeasement policies of Chamberlain and other European leaders in the build-up to World War II. She was also an in-demand illustrator 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, gently adventurous big-eyed 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 about Immanuel Kant with her brother.

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.

The Moomins and the Great Flood didn’t make much of an initial impact but Jansson persisted, probably as much for her own edification as any other reason, and in 1946 the second book Kometjakten (Comet in Moominland) was published. Many commentators have reckoned the terrifying tale a skilfully compelling allegory of Nuclear Armageddon.

When it and her third illustrated novel Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll or occasionally The Happy Moomins) were translated into English in 1952 to great acclaim, it 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 about 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 Jansson 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 sagas which promptly captivated 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 took over, continuing the feature until its end in 1975. His official tenure as writer will begin in the next volume: stay tuned…

Liberated from the strip, she returned to painting, writing and other creative pursuits, generating 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 consider this: how many modern artists – let alone comics creators – get their faces on the national currency?

Her Moomin comic strips have long been available in Scandinavian volumes and the discerning folk at Drawn & Quarterly have translated her and Lars’ efforts into English for our sheer delight and delectation.

Moomintrolls are easy-going free spirits, bohemians untroubled by hidebound domestic mores and most societal pressures. Moominmama is warm and capable but overly concerned with propriety and appearances whilst Moominpappa spends most of his time trying to rekindle his adventurous youth or dreaming of fantastic journeys. Their son Moomin is a meek, dreamy boy who adores their permanent houseguest the Snorkmaiden – although that impressionable, flighty gamin prefers to play things slowly whilst waiting for somebody potentially better…

The forth oversized (312 x 222mm) monochrome hardback compilation gathers the 14-18th strip sagas and is a particular favourite, comprising a range of fanciful exploits and a rather bleak and a scary reworking of Comet in Moominland that must have had kids and their parents stocking the bomb-shelters back when it was released as a daily chapter play…

Fantasy fills the page in ‘Moomin Goes Wild West’ after Moominpapa’s annoying tinkering ruin a perfectly good clock and Moominmama’s sewing machine, whilst his attempt at repair accidentally results in a time machine. Following a distressing episode wherein Moomintroll meddles and the family meet their rather upset future selves, it is suggested that everyone go on a small holiday. The women’s rather staid suggestions are naturally overruled by the adventurous males and the machine summarily deposits them all in the land of cowboys.

It is nothing like they imagined and a very good thing that were armed with water pistols and not regulation firearms…

Sadder but no wiser after their extended tribulations in the Big Country, the assembled and not at all rested Moomins submit to suggestions of a little historical romance and travel back to 18th century France in ‘Snorkmaiden Goes Rococo’. Once again, lack of diligent research and an overdependence on popular fiction leads to misunderstanding and mischance as “the Age of Reason” proves to be anything but, and Snorkmaiden’s dreams of passionate folly are continually thwarted.

She does however score an invitation to the King’s Dinner, only to learn how badly the odds are stacked against the poor, and is promptly impelled to experiment with revolution…

Back where they all belong at last, the return of self-sufficient drop-out Snufkin heralds a visit from a representative of the League of Conscience and Duty exhorting the easy-going, but dutiful nonconformists (some unpleasant modern people say “workshy”) to dedicate their lives to personal industry and privation in service of a greater good.

‘The Conscientious Moomins’ certainly try their hardest – pursuing jobs they’re no good at, indulging in entrepreneurialism and seeking to improve character through self-help books and courses – but are just not suited to such new-fangled ideas. Ultimately, nature and good sense lead them back to their bohemian true selves just in time for one of the scariest adventures of their lives…

Comet in Moominland was first translated into English in 1951, and was a familiar text for many children and parents. Here in ‘Moomin and the Comet’ the allegory of nuclear armageddon is subtly reshaped over 86 daily instalments: modernised with the emphasis shifted from narrow escape to inescapable destruction leading to unexpected rebirth.

When a light gradually grows in the sky, the Moomins and their friends can only observe the world’s peoples’ increasing turmoil and riot. As the planet slowly alters in advance of imminent catastrophe and growing heat evaporates the oceans, spiteful Little My acts as Greek Chorus and commentator as everything makes it peace with oblivion. She’s also on hand to witness and announce the miracle that saves them all…

A parable of pride and caution closes this volume as ‘Moomin and the Golden Tail’ reveals how Moomintroll’s fear of premature baldness in this nether appendage prompts unwise exploration of remedial quackery, quasi-science and old family sorcery.

The result is a lush, luxuriant tail of gold, that makes him the world’s most fashionable person and pointless celebrity. All too soon that chic lustre fades and the sad lad is hunting ways to stop being famous and go back to his old look, negligent of how his beloved Snork maiden has reshaped herself to match his gleaming fame…

Especially excoriating are the lawyers and managers who hound him seeking to lock down the marketing rights to his golden fleece, but in the end a way is found to return him to his normal, anxious, insecure, anonymous self…

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 are an international treasure and no fan of the medium – or carbon-based lifeform with even a hint of heart and soul – can afford to be without them.
© 2009, 2021 Solo/Bulls. All other material © its creators. All rights reserved.

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Popeye Classics volume 7: “Nothing” and More


By Bud Sagendorf, edited and designed by Craig Yoe (Yoe Books/IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-447-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-62302-786-5

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 a grizzled, bluff, uneducated, visually impaired old sailor with a speech impediment is possibly the most well-known of that select 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 by most in the know today 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 and Cole Oyl; their lanky, highly-strung daughter Olive; diminutive-but-pushy son Castor; and the homely ingenue’s plain and (very) simple occasional boyfriend Horace Hamgravy (latterly, just Ham Gravy). Thimble Theatre had successfully 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 stubborn cantankerous walk-on would reach…

In 1924 Segar created a second daily strip. The 5:15 was a surreal domestic comedy featuring weedy commuter and would-be inventor John Sappo and his formidable wife Myrtle. This one endured – in one form or another – as a topper/footer-feature accompanying the main Sunday page throughout the author’s career, and even survived his untimely death, eventually becoming 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.

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

On debut, Popeye was a rude, crude brawler: a gambling, cheating, uncivilised ne’er-do-well. He was soon exposed as the ultimate working-class hero: raw and rough-hewn, practical, but 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” – and 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 not in Sagendorf’s yarns…

Collected in this superb full-colour hardback/digital edition are Popeye #30-34, crafted by irrepressible “Bud”: collectively spanning September/November 1954 to October/December 1955. Stunning, nigh stream-of-consciousness slapstick sagas are preceded by an effusively appreciative ‘Society of Sagendorks’ briefing by inspired aficionado, historian and publisher Craig Yoe, offering a mirthful mission statement.

Augmenting that is another tantalising display of ephemera and merchandise in ‘A Bud Sagendorf Scrapbook’ presenting Coca-Cola Company-funded comic strip themed postcards distributed to WWII servicemen; original art, tin toys; a Popeye Chalkboard; Get Well Soon and Birthday card art plus images on cups and mugs.

We rejoin the ceaseless parade of laughs, surreal imagination and thrills with quarterly comic book #30, opening with text tale ‘The Bigger They Are -’ detailing, across the inside front-&-back covers, the story of Throckmorton …biggest tomcat in the world!

Another wild ride in begins in ‘Desert Pirates (a story of Evil Haggery)’ as Popeye’s ruthless nemesis The Sea Hag uses witchcraft, seduction, brainwashing and principally hamburgers to turn Wimpy into her weapon against the old sea salt. Naturally, when the hero blunders into her arid ambush, the scurvy faithless traitor then betrays her to Popeye – it’s just his nature…

An engaging Micawber-like coward, cad and conman, the insatiably ravenous J. Wellington Wimpy debuted in the newspaper strip on May 3rd 1931: 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 gradually 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 simple action hero and increasingly stole the entire show… and anything else unless it was very heavy or extremely well nailed down…

Follow-up yarn ‘Popeye An’ Swee’Pea in “Danger, Lunch!”’ resorts to tireless domestic themes as a quiet meal with Olive becomes an assault course after the anarchic and precocious “infink” gets bored and amuses himself with a hammer and chemistry set…

Smartly acknowledging a contemporary trend for sci fi fun, Sagendorf had introduced ‘Axle and Cam on the Planet Meco’ in #26: a robotic father and son indulging in wild romps on other worlds. Here they observe Earth television shows and the lads decides what his world needs is beanie hats, sidewalk refreshment stands and fun with dragons…

Cover-dated January/March 1955, #31 also opens and closes with a prose yarn adorning inside front and back. ‘Apple Vote!’ exposes the shocking behaviour of a retired racehorse with a sweet tooth after which ‘Thimble Theatre Presents Popeye An’ Swee’Pea in “Mud!”’ finds unconventional family unit Popeye, Swee’Pea and villainous reprobate Poopdeck Pappy deemed dysfunctional by Olive. Her eccentric efforts to save the kid and make him a gentleman are resisted by all involved with extreme vigour…

Just as the sailor man idly daydreams of being a monarch, the wacky ruler of Spinachovia returns in ‘Popeye and King Blozo in “Exile!” or “Bein’ King is Fer de Boids!!!”’ with the maritime marvel unwisely trading cap for crown  and learning a salutary lesson about people in general and being careful of what you wish for, after which ‘Axle and Cam on the Planet Meco’ sees the mechanical moppet pay a fraught and frightening visit to Earth…

The issue concludes with a back cover strip starring ‘Popeye and Swee’Pea’ inspired by baby pictures…

Popeye #32 (April/June) opens with epic thrill-fest ‘Alone! or Hey! Where is Everybody? or Peoples is All Gone!’ as humans are abducted from all over the coast, leading the sailor man into another ferocious battle with evil machines and his most persistent enemy, after which our stars swap sea-voyages for western climes in “a tale of gold and cactus” entitled ‘Lorst!’

Set some years previously, the story reveals how Popeye made his fortune prospecting – despite and ultimately because of a little trouble with his newly adopted kid…

Sagendorf was a smart guy in tune with popular trends and fashions as well as understanding how kids’ minds worked. His tales are timeless in approach and delivery. As television exponential expanded, cowboys were king, with westerns dominating both large and small screens and plenty of comics. Thus, many episodes saw Popeye as a horse-riding sagebrush wanderer who ran a desert railroad when he wasn’t prospecting or exploring. I don’t think he ever carried a gun though…

The changing times dictated a shift in back-up features and the final ‘Axle and Cam on the Planet Meco’ exploit saw their world in chaos after Cam tried to transplant the human fashion for lawns to his own planet. Text tale ‘Catfish! detailed a meeting between fish feline and mutt and a wordless desert inspired back cover strip starring ‘Popeye and Swee’Pea’ wrapped thigs up.

The next issue (#33 July/September) offered a monochrome ‘Popeye and Swee’Pea’ house-wrecking short before main feature ‘Trouble-Shooter’ sees the tireless “hoomanitarian” set up as a helping hand for folk with troubles. Sadly, the gesture attracts some real nuts like cowardly King Hinkle of Moola who needs a patsy to fight rival ruler the King of Boola…

Returning to western deserts, Popeye and Swee’Pea swap sea-voyages for arid plains in ‘Monskers!’ and encounter a gigantic dinosaur which is not what it seems…

The replacement back-up feature was actually a return of Segar-spawned old favourites. Sappo was now hapless landlord to world’s worst lodger Professor O.G. Wotasnozzle, who callously inflicts the brunt of his genius on the poor schmuck. In ‘I’m the Smartest Man in the World!’, the lunatic fringe scientist decides to end late payment harassment by uninventing money…

A prose vignette reveals the fate of cowboy pony George who has ‘A Long Tail!’, before the fun pauses with a back-cover baseball gag starring Popeye An’ Swee’Pea.

The year and this archive close with #34, starting with more ‘Popeye An’ Swee’Pea’ baseball exploits on the monochrome inside front cover before Thimble Theatre Presents sailor man, Olive, Wimpy and the kid who endure a nautical nightmare storm that leaves our cast castaway on an island of irascible, invisible folk in eponymous saga ‘Nothing!’

Next, Popeye An’ Swee’Pea revisit western deserts to dig in the dirt and face ‘Uprising! or The Red Man Strikes Back! or Birds of a Feather!’ as the kid contends with and eventually befriends Indian infant Big Chief Thunder Eagle Jr. Sadly their play war on the white man is misunderstood by Wimpy who calls in not the cavalry but the US Army…

The manic mirth multiplies exponentially when Professor O.G. Wotasnozzle proves his insane ingenuity and dangerous lack of perspective in ‘Stop Thief!! or Please Halt! or Burglarproof House!’ before the fun concludes with one last text treat in transformative tale ‘Fish Fly!’ and a back cover gag proving why adults like Popeye should listen to kids like Swee’Pea…

Outrageous and side-splitting, these all-ages yarns are evergreen examples of narrative cartooning at its most surreal and inspirational. Over the last nine decades Thimble Theatre’s most successful son has unfailingly 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 7 © 2015 Gussoni-Yoe Studio, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Popeye © 2015 King Features Syndicate. ™ Heart Holdings Inc.