Category: Kids – All Ages

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The Beano Book 1974


By various (DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.)
Retroactively awarded ISBN: 978-0-85116-077-1

For many British readers – whether comics fans or not – fans, the Holiday Season can only mean The Beano Book, so I’ve once more highlighted another of the venerable, beloved tomes as particularly representative of the time of year.

Way back when, many annuals were produced in a wonderful “half-colour” which British publishers used to keep costs down. This was done by printing sections or “Signatures” of the books with only two plates, such as Cyan (Blue) and Magenta (Red) or Yellow and Black.

The sheer versatility and colour range provided was simply astounding. Even now this technique inescapably screams “Holiday Extras” for me and my aging contemporaries and none more than in this spectacular example which would have hit shop shelves in September of 1963.

As is so often the case, my knowledge of the creators involved is appallingly sub-standard, but I’ll hazard my usual wild guesses in the hope that someone with more substantial information will correct me when I err …

This anarchically rousing compilation kicks off with a double-page splash of ‘Peculiar Pets’ Picture Gallery’ (by Robert Nixon, I think) displaying a number of comics stars and their companion animals of choice, after which Minnie the Minx (Jim Petrie) and a few chums and latterly Biffo the Bear with human pal Buster (by David Sutherland) introduce this year’s annual before Ron Spencer’s Baby-Face Finlayson (“The Cutest Bandit in the West”) imagines life as a giant and not a pipsqueak…

“Fastest Boy on Earth” Billy Whizz (drawn superbly as ever by Malcolm Judge) then learns to respect the power of traffic signs – in his house – before the crafty campaigns of ‘The Nibblers’ (John Sherwood) wins them a grand Christmas nosh-up and sanctuary from the seasonal snows.

Back then The Beano still had the odd adventure strip and perhaps the greatest of these was boy superhero Billy the Cat. Sutherland next proves his astounding visual versatility in The Bash Street Kids where the pupils plump for pop and resist the calming charms of classical music – leading to a camera-shattering pinup of ugly mug Plug – before switching to action mode as the acrobatic champion – now teamed with his cousin as Billie the Cat and Katie – jointly recapture an escaped convict and preserve their secret identities from curious school chums in a splendid rollercoaster romp.

Petrie’s Minnie the Minx then painfully learns that she’s not cut out for pony riding, after which Nixon panoramically maps out ‘A Funny Look at “Beano-Town”‘ whilst Bob McGrath details the sub-zero antics of The Three Bears as they try to find fuel to heat their chilly cave.

Also ably illustrated by the tireless Sutherland, Biffo and Buster return as rivals clashing in a man-powered flight competition, after his Pin-up Pup! of Dennis the Menace’s perilous pooch Gnasher leads into a custard-coloured clash between his master and simpering swot Walter.

Spencer’s Little Plum experiences a mysterious clean-up whilst sleepwalking before Nixon’s Lord Snooty and his snowballing pals at Bunkerton Castle get some startling help from the estate’s star stag Angus even as elsewhere – and keeping up the Hibernian humour – Haggis hunters The McTickles (by Vic Neill?) fall foul of their canny shaggy prey…

Pup Parade starring the Bash Street Pups (Gordon Bell) finds the mini-mutts (eventually) enjoying an old dinosaur bone before a dedicated and extended niche chapter from Nixon. Here in an expansive section of his own, Roger the Dodger’s Special Mini-Book offers the rollicking tale of the ‘Disappearing Dodger’, a pin-up, his hilarious, historically inaccurate ‘Family Tree’, ‘A Dodger’s Outfit’, and an informative peek at ‘A Dodger’s Den’ before closing with the final pin-up ‘Dreaming of Dodges’…

Biffo’s back – and points south – endure a battering due to the bear’s interest in buttercups (Sutherland) before Nixon reveals how the obstreperous Grandpa still catastrophically refuses to act his age and The Nibblers (Sherwood) again overcome malicious moggy Whiskers to fill their bellies with purloined goodies.

The riddle of Billy Whizz’ footwear replacement is solved in a quick-fire yarn by Judge before Bell’s Pup Parade starring the Bash Street Pups tale discloses the secret of their unlikely alliance with a very big cat…

Heading out West, The Three Bears (McGrath) find – and lose – a mountain of gold, The McTickles lose a skirmish with the wily Stilt-legged McHaggises, and Baby-Face Finlayson rewrites a few favourite nursery rhymes before Teacher and even Head have another go at civilising the Bash Street Kids with music – appended with a stomach-churning pin-up of Cuthbert Cringeworthy in Teacher’s Pet’s Picture Gallery…

Ron Spencer stretches his artistic muscles providing ghastly genealogical ‘Fun with the Finlayson Family’ and illustrating how Little Plum gets into big trouble trying to recapture girlfriend Little Peach‘s pet parrot, before Billy the Cat and Katie swing back into action, turning on the town’s Christmas lights and tracking down a hold-up gang (Sutherland).

Another gloriously funny Lord Snooty strip from Robert Nixon segues into Minnie the Minx’s hilarious crush on an American boy-band – and older readers will cringe with mirth at Jim Petrie’s hilarious spoof of then-sensation Donny Osmond – before Nixon strikes back with a Grandpa yarn involving the old codger’s inability to stay clean…

Beano star Dennis the Menace was only slightly involved in the Annuals of this period as he had his own Christmas Bumper book to run riot in, but he closes this tumultuous tome with an funny educational strip that’s a thinly disguised advert for his solo venture before the merriment closes here with another superb dose of Nixon’s ‘Peculiar Pets’ Picture Gallery’ …

This is supremely entertaining book, and even without legendary contributors Dudley Watkins, Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid there’s still an abundance of satisfyingly madcap, infectious insanity. With so much merriment on offer I can’t believe this 40-year old book is still sprightlier and more entertaining than most of my surviving friends and relatives. If ever anything needed to be issued as commemorative collections it’s these fabulous DC Thomson annuals…

Divorcing the sheer quality of this brilliant book from nostalgia may be a healthy exercise – perhaps impossible, but I’m quite happy to luxuriously wallow in the potent emotions this annual still stirs. It’s a fabulous laugh-and-thrill-packed read from a magical time, and turning those stiffened two-colour pages is always an unmatchable Christmas experience, happily still relatively easy to find these days.
© 1973 DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.

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Pow! Annual 1970


By various (Odhams Books)
ASIN: B003VUO2SC

This splendidly intriguing item is one of my favourite childhood delights: addictively captivating at the time and these days a fascinating indicator of the perceived tastes of Britain’s kids. Most importantly it’s still a surprisingly qualitative read with its blend of American adventure strips playing well with a selection of steadfastly English and wickedly surreal comedy material.

With Scotland’s DC Thomson steadily overtaking their London-based competitors throughout the 1960s, the sheer variety of material the southerners unleashed to compete offered incredible vistas in adventure material and – thanks especially to the defection of Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid to monolithic comics publishing giant Amalgamated Press (created by Alfred Harmsworth at the beginning of the twentieth century) – had finally found a wealth of anarchic comedy material to challenge the likes of the Bash Street Kids, Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and their unruly ilk.

During that latter end of the period the Batman TV show sent the entire world superhero crazy and Amalgamated had almost finished absorbing all its rivals such as Eagle‘s Hulton Press to form Fleetway/Odhams/IPC.

Formerly the biggest player in children’s comics, Amalgamated had stayed at the forefront of sales by latching onto every fad: keeping their material contemporary, if not fresh. The all-consuming company had been reprinting the early successes of Marvel comics for a few years; feeding on the growing fashion for US style adventure which had largely supplanted the rather tired True Blue Brit style of Dan Dare or DC Thompson’s Wolf of Kabul.

“Power Comics” was a sub-brand used by Odhams to differentiate those periodicals which contained reprinted American superhero material from the company’s regular blend of sports, war, western adventure and gag comics – such as Buster, Lion or Tiger. During the Swinging Sixties these ubiquitous weeklies did much to popularise the budding Marvel characters and universe in this country, which was still poorly served by distribution of the actual American imports. Fantastic and its sister paper Terrific were notable for not reformatting or resizing the original artwork whilst in Wham!, Pow! or Smash!, an entire 24-page yarn could be resized and squeezed into 10 or 11 pages over two weeks…

Pow! launched with a cover date of January 31st 1967, combining home-grown funnies such as Mike Higgs’ The Cloak, Baxendale’s The Dolls of St Dominic’s, Reid’s Dare-a-Day Davy, Wee Willie Haggis: The Spy from Skye and many others, British originated thrillers such as Jack Magic and The Python and resized US strips Spider-Man and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

After 53 weekly issues the title merged with Wham!, that combination running until #86 when it was absorbed into Smash! Nevertheless, the title generated a number of annuals, even though, by 1969 when this annual was released, the trend generated by TV Batmania was dying.

Interest in superheroes and fantasy in general were on the wane and British weeklies were diversifying. Some switched back to war, sports and adventure stories whilst with comedy strips on the rise again, others became largely humour outlets.

This was one of the last Odhams Christmas compendia to feature imported Marvel material: from then on the Americans would handle their own Seasonal books rather than franchise out their classics to mingle with the Empire’s motley, anarchic rabble.

The content is eclectic and amazingly broad, beginning with a complete but compacted retelling of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #5 by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby from January 1964.

The full-colour WWII tale found the doughty warrior ‘At the Mercy of Baron Strucker’; beaten and humiliated in a duel with an Aryan nobleman. Soon filmed footage was used as a Nazi propaganda tool and Fury hero was a broken man – until one of his men realised the nonplussed noncom had fallen for the oldest trick in Hollywood’s playbook. The riotous rematch went rather better…

This was followed by a welter of gag strips beginning with an outing for Graham Allen’s The Nervs (revolting creatures that lived inside and piloted unlovely schoolboy Fatty) after which The Swots and the Blots (probably drawn by Mike Lacey) ushered in the economical 2-colour section with another Darwinian example of schoolboy Good vs. Evil and an unnamed substitute for Mike Higgs rendered the comedy caper The Cloak vs. Cloakwoman…

Next up is a short Marvel sci fi thriller as ‘Escape into Space!’ (from Tales of Suspense #42 June 1963 by Lee, Larry Lieber & Matt Fox) sees a convict escape to freedom into the void – or does he…? – before Wee Willie Haggis – the Spy from Skye scotches a plot to nobble Scotland’s prime (in)edible export and Percy’s Pets finds the obsessed animal enthusiast in deep water after getting hold of a hyena and crocodile…

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #5 provides a factual page devoted to ‘Weapons of War: Light Machine Guns of World War II’ to restart the full colour fun, which continues with another Swots and the Blots romp ‘n’ riot after which idiot espionage continues with The Cloak vs. Blubberman…

Back then to red-&-black for the not-resized Amazing Spider-Man #36 (May 1966, by Lee and Steve Ditko) as the Wallcrawler faces deranged super strong thief the Looter in ‘When Falls the Meteor!’

The magnificently strange comic villain Grimly Feendish then fails in another bid to get rich nefariously before tiny terror Sammy Shrink restarts a final segment of full-colour wonders with more boyish pranks, after which the reformatted ‘Death of a Hero’ (Fantastic Four #32, November 1964, by Lee, Kirby & Chic Stone) uncovers the secret of Sue and Johnny Storm‘s father: a convict who gains incredible power as the rampaging Invincible Man…

This is a strange and beloved book for me and these are all great little adventures, even though I suspect it’s more nostalgia for a brilliant childhood rather than any intrinsic merit. Feel perfectly free to track this down and contradict me if you like though…
© 1969 The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited.

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Superboy Annual 1964-1965


By various (Atlas Publishing/K.G. Murray)
No ISBN:

Before DC Comics and other American publishers began exporting directly into the UK in 1959 our exposure to their unique brand of fantasy fun came from licensed reprints. British publishers/printers like Len Miller, Alan Class and bought material  from the USA – and occasionally, Canada – to fill 68-page monochrome anthologies – many of which recycled the same stories for decades.

Less common were (strangely) coloured pamphlets produced by Australian outfit K.G. Murray and exported here in a rather sporadic manner. The company also produced sturdy and substantial Christmas Annuals which had a huge impact on my earliest years (I strongly suspect my adoration of black-&-white artwork stems from seeing supreme stylists like Curt Swan, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson uncluttered by flat colour).

This particular tome of was of the last licensed UK DC comics compilations before the Batman TV show turned the entire planet Camp-Crazed and Bat-Manic, and therefore offers a delightfully eclectic mix of material far more in keeping with the traditionally perceived interests of British boys than the suited-&-booted masked madness that was soon to follow in the Caped Crusader’s scalloped wake.

Of course this collection was still produced in the cheap and quirky mix of monochrome, dual-hued and weirdly full-coloured pages which made the Christmas books such a bizarrely beloved treat.

The sublime suspense and joyous adventuring begins with a rare treat as ‘The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team!’ (by Jerry Coleman & George Papp from Adventure Comics #275, August 1960) offers an alternate view of the Dark Knight.

Teenaged Bruce Wayne was sneaking out on his still-living parents to fight crime as the Flying Fox and the Boy of Steel undertook to give some pre-heroic training after seeing their future partnership in a time scanner.

The task was made simple after the Waynes moved to Smallville but soon an odd rivalry developed…

British books always preferred to alternate action with short gag strips and the Murray publications depended heavily on the amazing DC output of cartoonist Henry Boltinoff. Here a jungle jape starring explorer ‘Shorty’ and a court appearance for ‘Casey the Cop’ herald the start of the duo-colour section (blue and red) before ‘Superboy’s First Day at School’ (Otto Binder & Papp from Superboy #75, September 1959) reveals how another attempt by Lana Lang to prove Clark Kent was the Boy of Steel prompts the lads Super-Recall and reveals how, on their first day in primary school, he inadvertently displayed his powers to her several times…

A big hit during the 1950s, Rex the Wonder Dog featured a supremely capable German Shepherd – and his owners – experience a wide variety of incredible escapades. Here ‘The Valley of the Thunder King!’ by John Broome, Gil Kane & Bernard Sachs from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #14 March-April 1954, finds the dog and soldier Major Danny Dennis discover a lost tribe of Aztecs in Mexico just as a volcano erupts…

‘How Luthor Met Superboy!’ (by Jerry Siegel & Al Plastino from Adventure Comics #271, April 1960) revealed how young scientist Lex and Superboy became friends, and how the genius became deranged after a laboratory fire extinguished by the Teen Titan caused him to lose his hair. Enraged beyond limit, the boy inventor turned his talents to crime…

Boltinoff’s ET gag strip ‘On the Planet Og’ temporarily terminates the two-tone tales and leads into a black-&-white section wherein Rex’s support feature Detective Chimp takes over.

Bobo was the pet, partner and deputy of Sheriff Chase of Oscaloosa County, Florida: a chimpanzee who foiled crimes and here experienced ‘Death Walks the High Wire!’ (Broome, Irwin Hasen & Joe Giella from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #8 March-April 1953), solving the murder of a circus trapeze artist.

The amazing hound then became ‘Rex, Dinosaur Destroyer!’ (Robert Kanigher, Kane & Sy Barry, from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #11-September-October 1953) after an atomic test blast opened a subterranean rift packed with survivors from another age…

‘Little Pete’ and another ‘Casey the Cop’ by Boltinoff augur a return to red and blue tones and an epic 2-part Superboy tale as ‘The Mystery of Mighty Boy! and ‘Superboy’s Lost Friend!’ (Binder & Papp; Superboy #85, December 1960) see the Boy of Steel travel to distant planet Zumoor and a teen hero whose life closely mirrors his own. They quickly become firm friends, but Superboy soon finds good reason to abandon Mighty Boy forever…

Comedy courtesy of Boltinoff’s ‘Professor Eureka’ leads into ‘Superboy’s Nightmare Dream House’ (Superboy #70, January 1959 by Alvin Schwartz & John Sikela) which finds the Teen of Tomorrow teaching a swindler a life-changing lesson before ‘Peter Puptent’ and ‘Casey the Cop’, after which Detective Chimp uncovers ‘Monkey Business on the Briny Deep!’ (Broome, Hasen & Giella, The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #10 July-August 1953) whilst Rex and Danny Dennis Jr. head out west to climb a mountain for charity and brave the perils of ‘The Eagle Hunter!’ (Kanigher, Kane & Barry from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #14 March-April 1954).

This thrilling collection returns to full-colour for one last Boltinoff ‘Doctor Rocket’ funny before ‘The Super Star of Hollywood’ (Siegel & Papp Adventure Comics #272, May 1960) reveals how super-dog Krypto becomes spoiled and big-headed after starring in a Hollywood movie – until Superboy applies a little clandestine reality check…
© National Periodical Publications, Inc. Published by arrangement with the K.G. Murray Publishing Company, Pty. Ltd., Sydney.

These Christmas Chronicles are lavish and laudatory celebrations of good times and great storytelling but at least they’re not lost or forgotten, and should you care to try them out the internet and a credit card are all you’ll need.

Merry Christmas, a fruitful New Year and Happy Reading from Everybody at Now Read This!

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Archie 1000 Page Comics Jamboree


By many and various (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-80-8

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: the Holidays all wrapped up in one big  book… 10/10

Following the debut of Superman, MLJ were one of many publishers to jump on the “mystery-man” bandwagon, concocting their own small but inspired pantheon of gaudily clad crusaders. In November 1939 they launched Blue Ribbon Comics, promptly following up with Top-Notch and Pep Comics. The content was the standard mix of masked champions, two-fisted adventurers, prose pieces and gags.

Not long after, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (hence MLJ) saw a gap in the blossoming but crowded market and in December 1941 the Fights ‘n’ Tights, He-Man crowd were gently nudged aside by a far from imposing hero, an ordinary teenager who would have ordinary adventures just like the readers, but with the laughs, good times, romance and slapstick emphasised.

Goldwater developed the concept of a youthful everyman protagonist and tasked writer Vic Bloom & artist Bob Montana with the job of making it work and, inspired by the popular Andy Hardy movies, their new notion premiered in Pep Comics #22. The unlikely star was a gap-toothed, freckle-faced red-headed kid obsessed with impressing the pretty blonde next door.

A 6-page untitled tale introduced hapless boob Archie Andrews and wholesomely pretty Betty Cooper. The boy’s unconventional best friend and confidante Jughead Jones also debuted in the first story as did idyllic small-town utopia Riverdale. It was a huge hit and by the winter of 1942 the kid had won his own title. Archie Comics #1 was MLJ’s first non-anthology magazine and with it began a slow transformation of the entire company. With the introduction of ultra-rich, raven-haired Veronica Lodge, all the pieces were in play for the industry’s second Genuine Phenomenon…

By 1946 the kids were in charge, so MLJ became Archie Comics, retiring most of its costumed characters years before the end of the Golden Age and becoming, to all intents and purposes, a publisher of family-friendly comedies. The hometown settings and perpetually fruitful premise of an Eternal Romantic Triangle – with girl-hating best bud Jughead and scurrilous rival Reggie Mantle to test, duel and vex our boy in their own unique ways, the scenario was one that not only resonated with the readership but was infinitely fresh…

Archie’s success, like Superman’s, forced a change in content at every other publisher (except perhaps Gilberton’s Classics Illustrated) and led to a multi-media brand which encompassed TV, movies, newspaper strips, toys and merchandise, a chain of restaurants and, in the swinging sixties, a pop music sensation when Sugar, Sugar – from the animated TV cartoon – became a global smash.

Clean and decent garage band “The Archies” has been a fixture of the comics ever since…

Archie is good-hearted, impetuous and lacking common sense, Betty his sensible, pretty girl next door who loves the ginger goof, and Veronica is rich, exotic and glamorous: only settling for our boy if there’s nobody better around. She might actually love him too, though. Archie, of course, is utterly unable to choose who or what he wants…

The unconventional, food-crazy Jughead is Mercutio to Archie’s Romeo, providing rationality and a reader’s voice, as well as being a powerful catalyst of events in his own right. That charming triangle (and annexe) has been the rock-solid foundation for seven decades of funnybook magic. Moreover the concept is eternally self-renewing…

This perennial eternal triangle has generated thousands of charming, raucous, gentle, frenetic, chiding and even heart-rending humorous dramas ranging from surreal wit to frantic slapstick, with the kids and a constantly expanding cast of friends (boy genius Dilton Doily, genial giant jock Big Moose and aspiring comicbook cartoonist Chuck amongst many others), growing into an American institution and part of the American Cultural landscape.

The feature has thrived by constantly refreshing its core archetypes; seamlessly adapting to the changing world outside its bright, flimsy pages, shamelessly co-opting youth, pop culture and fashion trends into its infallible mix of slapstick and young romance.

Each and every social revolution has been painlessly assimilated into the mix and over the decades the company has confronted most social issues affecting youngsters in a manner both even-handed and tasteful.

Constant addition of new characters such as African-American Chuck and his girlfriend Nancy, fashion-diva Ginger, Hispanic couple Frankie and Maria and spoiled home-wrecker-in-waiting Cheryl Blossom contribute to a wide and refreshingly broad-minded scenario. In 2010 Archie jumped the final hurdle when openly gay Kevin Keller became an admirable advocate capably tackling and dismantling the last major taboo in mainstream kids comics.

As well as forward thinking in content, the company was always quick to embrace innovations in format and Archie 1000 Page Comics Jamboree is another awesome but enjoyable paper brick of comics: pocket-digest-sized (as long as your pockets are both deep and strong), containing over 100 full-colour stories starring all the cast and characters. So fun-filled is this titanic tome that I’m again compelled to compromise my principles with a rather truncated and abbreviated review…

With so much to read in this mammoth, meaty, mirth-filled monolith it might seem that by specifically mentioning a few I’m saying some are better than others. That’s simply not so. They’re uniformly fabulous but there are only 24 hours in a day and my hands are old and increasingly feeble…

This Jamboree is especially timely as a goodly portion of the tales included here are Christmas episodes culled from the company’s wonderful archive of Seasonal classics: stories such as the epic ‘A Tree Grows in Riverdale’ and ‘The Last Resort’ by George Gladir, Stan Goldberg & Mike Esposito, ‘Santa’s Helper’ (inked by John Lowe) and Jughead’s typically unconventional reaction to ‘The Holiday Season’, illustrated by Tim Kennedy & Jim Amash.

There are surprises galore in store with vintage 1950’s tales from “the Vault” (including much spectacular and formative material from Archie’s Pals n’ Gals #4 by George Frese, Terry Szenics and Bill Vigoda plus covers reproductions in a selection entitled Archie’s Christmas Stocking…

Amongst the other Christmas treats Dick Malmgren & Jon D’Agostino give us ‘Here Comes Santa Clause’ and ‘Past-Present and Future’, Fernando Ruiz & Al Nickerson uncover an ‘X-Mas Mix-Up’, Frank Doyle & Vigoda relate ‘Not Even a Moose’, whilst Goldberg & Rudy Lapick investigate ‘The Swinging Santa’, Betty & Veronica are ‘Treed’ by Sugar Plum the Christmas Fairy (Kathleen Webb, Jeff Shultz & Al Milgrom) and enjoy a ‘Label Lullaby’ thanks to Gladir, Dan DeCarlo & Lapick, after which Al Hartley & D’Agostino unleash the ‘Holiday Joy-Boy’…

It’s not just a cool Yule rule though, and amongst the torrent of long tales, short stories, spoofs, parodies, ½ and single page gags, fashion pages, games, puzzles and so much more are year-round comedies, fantasies and love stories plus genre tinted tales: sci fi shockers such as ‘The Teenage Bulk‘‘ and ‘Destination Riverdale’, spooky thrillers like ‘Chiller’, ‘Midnight Madness!’, ‘The Ghost of Spirit Lake’ and ‘Drawing on Experience’, captivating crime capers like ‘Monkey Seize’, ‘Four Wheels to Wickedness’ or ‘A Smashing Success’ and less-definable outrageous episodes such as ‘The Kissing Bandit’, ‘Flip-Flop’, ‘Culture Shock’, ‘Fame Game’, ‘Pie á la Mountain’ and ‘The Heavenly Body’…

Moreover the school faculty and families of our stars also feature heavily. Archie’s dad relives his own musically cool days in ‘Ol’ Sax’ (Gladir, Goldberg & Lapick), and you’d be amazed at the antics of the dubious dinner lady Miss Beazley in ‘The Pies Have It’ or the long-suffering Principal Mr. Weatherbee in ‘Flight of the Bumble!’ and ‘Just One of the Boys’…

There are also solo outings for Ginger Lopez in ‘Fit as a Fiddle’, Dilton in ‘Kiss and Tell’, Nancy in ‘A Cat’s Tale’ and even manic mutt Hot Dog in ‘Smart Pet Tricks’ and other stalwarts from the old gang.

With contributions from Bob Bolling, George Gladir, Bill Vigoda, Harry Lucey, Samm Schwartz, Bill Golliher, Stan Goldberg, Jim Ruth, Frank Doyle, Greg Ehrbar, Jon D’Agostino, Fernando Ruiz, Bob Smith, Joe Edwards, Bill Galvan, Angelo DeCesare, Susan Solomon, Al Milgrom, Henry Scarpelli, Al Hartley, Rich Margopoulos, Barbara Slate, Ed Berdej, Al Nickerson, Mike Esposito, Tim & Pat Kennedy, Holly G!, Greg Crosby, Chic Stone, Gene Colan, Hal Smith, Dan Parent, Jeff Shultz, Rudy Lapick, Kathleen Webb, Jim Amash, Mike Pellowski, Bob White, Doug Crane, Rich Koslowski, Craig Boldman, Rex Lindsey, Allison Flood, Dick Malmgren, a dynasty of DeCarlos and many more, this is a true gem of perfectly crafted all-ages fun.

This is another ideal book for you, your kids and grandparents to enjoy over and over again…
© 2013 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Archie’s Even Funnier Kid’s Joke Book


By various Archie Superstars (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-67-9

Your Last-Minute Christmas Dilemmas Solved: the ideal keep-’em-quiet stocking stuffer.

As you probably know by now Archie Andrews has been around for more than seventy years: chasing both the gloriously attainable Betty Cooper and wildly out-of-his-league Veronica Lodge whilst best friend Jughead Jones alternately mocks and abets his romantic endeavours.

As crafted by the legion of writers and artists who’ve crafted the stories of teenage antics in and around the idyllic, utopian small town of Riverdale over the decades, these are timeless tales of the most wholesome Kids in America which have captivated successive generations of readers and entertained millions worldwide.

To keep all that accumulated attention riveted, the Company has often supplanted and expanded upon their storytelling brief with short gags, pin-ups and cartoons, jokes and puzzles and Archie’s Even Funnier Kid’s Joke Book has bundled scads of the very best of these brief diversions – starring the full capacious coterie of companions and hangers-on as well as few guest-stars – into a captivating compilation guaranteed to engross and amuse young and old alike.

Duty and sincere respect compel me to tell you that all the vignettes, cartoons, appalling puns, “guess the gag” games, crazy comebacks, silly riddles, visual extracts and “write your own caption” material re-presented in the 192 big, big pages here are the result of sheer hard work and inspiration from Bob Montana, Frank Doyle, Bill Vigoda, George Gladir, Al Hartley, Bill Golliher, Hy Eisman, Dick Malmgren, Bob Bolling, Samm Schwartz, Stan Goldberg, Dan Parent, Fernando Ruiz, Harry Lucey, Dan DeCarlo (Senior and Junior), Jeff Shultz, Joe Edwards, Rudy Lapick, Rich Koslowski, Bob Smith, Terry Austin, Barry Grossman, Tito Pena, Joe Morciglio, Jon D’Agostino, Bill Yoshida & Jack Morelli.

Common sense then informs me that you’ll have immeasurable fun inwardly digesting all the superbly silly stuff culled from more than seven masterful decades of madcap mirth…

Spoiled Sports gets us underway by providing 26 pages of iconic and hilarious gags and strips celebrating football, baseball, golf, skiing, hockey and all those other strenuous pastimes kids enjoy, after which What’s So Funny? abstracts 50 panels so amusing that they don’t need any context – or the rest of their stories they originally came from – and all liberally augmented with marginal riddles and brainteasers…

Ever-hungry Jughead plays a big part in chapter 3 as Food For Thought gathers 22 pages worth of nosh-themed material, whilst the accumulated and unsavoury staff of Riverdale High looms large in the 24 page Faculty Funnies chapter which uproariously follows, before Mixed Nuts offers 28 sides of crazy situations and mad laughter starring just about everybody and their friends…

Archie always played well at and pulled out all the stops for Christmas issues and here Holiday Hijinks repeats some the best festive moments in a bumper section which too soon swiftly segues into an appreciation of the eternal struggle for romantic bliss in Rabid Rivals or Love and War…

This stunning collection of gags and good times then ends with a tumult of audience participation as Say What? offers 23 pages of classic strips and pin-ups with all the word balloons emptied for you to fill in with your own brilliant bon mots and sassy comebacks…

Hilarious, absorbing and way more fun than a Christmas cracker, Archie’s Even Funnier Kid’s Joke Book is an addictively enticing treat no family should be without…
© 2013 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Archie Comics Spectacular – It’s a Date


By Archie Superstars (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-70-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Another amazing example of pure comicbook magic… 9/10

Since comicbooks were invented in 1933, Superheroes have become the genre most closely associated with the four-colour format. Nevertheless other forms of sequentially illustrated fiction have held their own periodically and the one which has maintained a unique position over the years (although almost completely abandoned by most publishers and picked up by television) is the teen-comedy genre begun by and still synonymous with a ginger-headed freckled lad named Archie Andrews.

He began his rise to glory when second-string publisher MLJ added a strip based on the Andy Hardy matinee movies to the line-up of costumed mystery men they’d created after Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938.

In 1939 MLJ launched Blue Ribbon Comics, Top-Notch and Pep Comics filled with the now mandatory blend of masked heroes, two-fisted adventurers strips and one-off gags. Pep actually made a little history with its lead feature The Shield – the USA’s first superhero draped in the American flag – but generally MLJ were followers not innovators.

That changed at the end of 1941 when Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (MLJ, geddit?) spotted a gap in their blossoming market. In December their Fights ‘n’ Tights pantheon was extended to include a wholesome, hometown hero: an “average teen” whose invitingly human-scaled adventures might happen to any of the readers, but with the laughs, good times, romance and slapstick heavily emphasised.

Pep Comics #22 introduced the gap-toothed, red-headed goof, already showing off to the pretty blonde next door. Goldwater had developed the concept of a boyish everyman, and left writer Vic Bloom & artist Bob Montana alone to fill in the details and make it all work it work.

And it did. So effective and all-pervasive was the impact and reassuring message which the new kid offered to the boys “over there” and those scared folk left behind on the Home Front that Archie and his familiar, beloved, secure milieu immortalised in Riverdale and its inhabitants gang represented, that one might consider them the most effective Patriotic Propaganda weapon in comics history…

It all started with an innocuous 6-pager introducing Archie, cute girl-next-door Betty Cooper, the boy’s quirky best friend and confidante Forsythe P. “Jughead” Jones and the small-town utopia they lived in.

The premise was an instant hit and in 1942 Archie graduated to his own title. Archie Comics #1 was MLJ’s first non-anthology magazine and began the inexorable transformation of the company. With the introduction of rich, raven-haired Veronica Lodge all the pieces were in play for the industry’s second Landmark Phenomenon (after Superman).

By May 1946 the kids had taken over. MLJ became Archie Comics, benching its costumed heroes years before the Golden Age ended and becoming to all intents and purposes a publisher of family comedies. This overwhelming success, just like the Man of Steel’s, compelled a change in the content of every other publisher’s titles and was the genesis of a multi-media industry which included toys, games, merchandise, newspaper strips, TV shows, movies, pop-songs and even a chain of restaurants.

Why does it work? Archie is a splendidly ordinary, good-hearted kid, not too smart, a bit impulsive and unthinking and generally lacking common sense – just like we were – whilst Betty – pretty, sensible, capable and devoted is the quintessential Girl Next Door, with everything that entails.

She loves the ridiculous redhead but is also best friends with her own great rival. Ronnie is spoiled, exotic, quixotic and glamorous but seemingly only settles for our boy if there’s nobody better around… except she might actually love him too…

Archie just can’t decide who or what he wants. Even with these two alluring archetypes always around he still gets distracted every time a pretty new girl sashays past…

This engaging and never-tawdry eternal triangle has been the solid basis of more than seventy years of charmingly raucous, gently preposterous, frenetic, chiding and even heart-rending comedy, encompassing everything from surreal wit to frantic slapstick, as the kids and an ever-increasing cast of friends grew into an American institution.

Adapting seamlessly to every trend and fad, perfectly in tone with and mirroring the growth of teen culture, the host of writers and artists who’ve crafted the stories over the decades have made the denizens of Riverdale a benchmark for youth and a visual barometer of growing up American.

The unconventional Jughead is Mercutio to Archie’s Romeo, generally providing rationality and a reader’s voice, as well as being a powerful and mischievous catalyst of events in his own right. There’s even a likeably reprehensible Tybalt analogue in the cocky crafty shape of Reggie Mantle – who first popped up to cause mischief in Jackpot Comics #5 (Spring 1942) – to act as spur, foil and rival and keep the tension ticking over.

This beguiling triangle (plus annexe and outhouse) has been the rock-solid foundation for decades of comics magic and even though the concept is perpetually self-renewing, Archie has thrived by constantly reinventing and refining these core characters, adapting them to the changing world outside the bright, flimsy pages and shamelessly co-opting youth, pop culture, sport, gadgets and fashion trends into its infallible mix of slapstick and young romance.

Each and every social revolution has been painlessly assimilated into the mix with the editors tastefully confronting a number of social issues affecting the young in a manner both even-handed and tasteful over the years.

Most importantly, the quotidian supporting cast – from affable jock Moose to plain Jane Big Ethel or boy genius Dilton Doily, School Principal Mr. Weatherbee or Ronnie’s irascible dad – is always expanding, with constant addition of new characters such as African-American aspiring cartoonist Chuck and his girlfriend Nancy, fashion-diva Ginger, Hispanic couple Frankie & Maria and a host of others.

There are frequent new additions in the opposition too, like spoiled home-wrecker-in-waiting Cheryl Blossom, all contributing to the wide and surprisingly broad-minded scenario.

In 2010 Archie even jumped the final social repressive hurdle when Kevin Keller, an openly gay young man and clear-headed advocate, joined the cast, capably tackling and dismantling the last major taboo in mainstream comics.

Of course the major component of the company’s success has always been the superbly enticing artwork and charming, funny stories by a small army of creative superstars, and this digest-sized spectacular gathers a treasure trove of their very best efforts into a romantically-themed collection which teasingly opens with ‘The Big Decision’ by Barbara Slate, Tim Kennedy & Jon D’Agostino, wherein the red-headed rascal finally chooses his eventual life-mate… for about three seconds…

Betty & Veronica then star in ‘Foot Sore’ (George Gladir, Dan DeCarlo Jr. & Jimmy DeCarlo) as the girlish slaves to fashion lose out to primitive male obduracy after which ‘Root of All Evil’ by Frank Doyle and the astounding Harry Lucey finds Archie desperate to prove Ronnie’s money means nothing to him…

In ‘Muscle Main Man’ (Jim Pellowski, Dan Parent &Jim Amash) the Lodges find that inept Archie is not the worst boyfriend Veronica might pick, whilst in ‘Suspicion’ (Jim Ruth, Chic Stone & D’Agostino) the green-eyed monster drives our hero to make an especially big fool of himself before ‘Inflation Elation’ (Gladir, Bob Bolling & Bob Smith) sees Betty turn the boy’s pennypinching ways to her advantage…

Betty & Veronica take the spotlight in ‘Three’s A Crowd’ (Kathleen Webb, Parent & Rich Koslowski) when one of them horns in on the other’s date night, whilst in ‘Match Play’ (Gladir, Jeff Shultz & Al Milgrom) a computer-dating service proves no help when faced with Ronnie’s picky criteria…

The Lodge lass’s callous nature deposits her at the base of ‘The Infernal Triangle’ (Frank Doyle, Dan DeCarlo & Vince DeCarlo) when she tries to meddle with Betty’s love-life after which Ronnie finds a new beau in ‘By George!’ (Dan DeCarlo & Rudy Lapick). although they soon make-up – sort of – enough to try the dubious tactic of a ‘Dress Down Date’ (Doyle, Dan DeCarlo & Lapick) on cash-poor Betty…

Webb, Bolling & Lapick then detail Ronnie’s very temporary bout of maturity (i.e. sharing) in ‘Growing Pains’, after which ‘Well Placed Point’ – a fifties classic by Bill Vigoda – sees Archie give in to a challenge from Reggie which inevitably draws the wrath of Ronnie down upon his dim ginger head and ‘Chivalrous Chumps’ (John Albano, Dan DeCarlo Jr. & James DeCarlo) finds both laddish rivals’ heads simultaneously turned by some new girls in town…

A formal event allows Reg an opportunity to palm Arch off with a Magician’s rigged tuxedo in ‘Borrowed Trouble’ by Pellowski, Bolling & Smith, after which ‘Fun Daze Together’ (Webb, Doug Crane & Lapick) provides a rare chance for Betty to get her guy, before a garbled phone message taken by Archie’s dad leads to a happy outcome for someone in ‘Dial a Date’ (by Gladir & Stone).

‘Happy Days’ (Ruth & Stone) finds Archie and Betty frantically trying to save their old trysting tree whilst 2-part saga ‘The Search!’ (Parent & Amash) has Ronnie’s parents foolishly attempting to find far more suitable boyfriends – and living to regret it…

Lesser lights Big Moose and Midge star in ‘Don’t Be a Sport’ (Pellowski & Kennedy), learning to their surprise just what really keeps them together, whilst Chuck and Nancy almost split up in ‘Bowl Brummel’ (Gladir, Bolling & Lapick) after his slovenly attires enflame her ire…

To their bemused sorrow, Archie & the entire gang become embroiled in boy genius Dilton‘s ‘Rate-a-Mate’ (Parent & Koslowski) romance program before arrogant self-proclaimed gift to women Reggie tries his slickest moves on the wrong woman in ‘The Lawbreaker’ (Dick Malmgren) and the whole amorous kit and caboodle then culminates and closes with a brace of half-page howlers as ‘Betty in Up to Dates!’ and ‘Archie in Auto Know Better’ both reveal the pervasive appeal of Riverdale’s richest debutante…

Mesmerising, breathtaking graphic wonderment, fun-fuelled family entertainment and enticing pop art masterpieces; these comic confections always capture the joyous spirit of intoxicating youthful vitality which changed the comic industry forever and comprise an essential example of artistic excellence no lover of narrative art should miss.

© 2013 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Betty and Veronica’s Princess Storybook – Archie and Friends All-Stars volume 21


By Dan Parent, Jeff Schultz, Rich Koslowski & various (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-71-6

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Charming stories for kids of all ages… 8/10

Archie Andrews has been around for more than seventy years: a good-hearted lad lacking in common sense whilst Betty Cooper, the pretty, sensible girl next door – with all that entails – waits ardently nearby, loving the great ginger goof. Veronica Lodge is a rich, exotic and glamorous debutante who only settles for our boy if there’s nobody better around. She might actually love him too, though.

Despite their rivalry, Betty and Veronica are firm friends. Archie, of course, can’t decide who or what he wants…

Archie’s unconventional best friend Jughead Jones is Mercutio to Archie’s Romeo, providing rationality and a reader’s voice, as well as being a powerful catalyst of events in his own right. That charming triangle (+ one) has been the basis for decades of funnybook magic and the concept is eternally self-renewing…

Adapting seamlessly to every trend and fad of youth culture since before there even was such a thing, the host of writers and artists who’ve crafted the stories over the decades have made the “everyteen” characters of utopian Riverdale a benchmark for childhood development and a visual barometer of growing up.

In this collection, reprinting stories from 2013, the warring gal-pals and extended cast of the small-town American Follies are again plunged deep into whimsy and fable as writer Dan Parent tweaks and reinvents more classic fairytales like a New World Yonderland or venerable Christmas Panto (and boy, will those references bewilder the un-British and/or under thirties out there), providing sharp, smart and frequently uproarious spoofs on the eternal nature and magic of young love…

Augmented with informative, history-packed text features on the original prose stories, incisive creator commentary and a cover-&-variants gallery by Parent, Jill Thompson, Renee De Liz, Alitha Martinez, Gisele & Stephanie Buscema as well as a Foreword and Afterword by the scripter, this bright and breezy, full-colour chronicle begins with ‘The Story of the Rapunzels’ before ‘Bad Hair Daze’ takes the much-told tale into strange new territory.

Here a devoted childless couple is “blessed” with a happy event after promising a witch their firstborn, but the crone can only lay claim to one of the twins girls that result… Choosing blonde Betty and rejecting raven-tressed Veronica, the hag isolates the golden child in a tall tower for years, but completely underestimates the power of sibling love – and rivalry – when Ronnie finds her sister and Prince Archie finds them both…

Next is ‘Betty and the Beast’, wherein sorceress Veronica curses haughty Prince Archibald to a life of hideous isolation after he refuses to go steady with her. The lonely, angry, repentant monstrosity only begins to change without and within after dutiful daughter Betty moves in to save her doddery old dad from the monster’s ill-tempered predations…

The tale is further complicated when vain Lothario Reginald sets out to rescue poor Betty but finds the seductive sorceress more to his taste…

‘Snow White and the Riverdale Dwarves’ once more casts Ronnie as the villain (with potential home-wrecker Cheryl Blossom as her snippy magic mirror), jealous of Betty’s buxom beauty and determined to commit appalling deeds to remain the “hottest in the land”…

Thankfully a bizarre bunch of diminutive forest dwellers are ready to take the golden girl in and aid the rather ineffectual Prince Archibald in saving the day and getting the girl…

The next classic revision stars our girls as ‘The Little Mermaids’ who both sacrifice their tails and beautiful voices for a chance to spend three mute days in the surface world trying to win the love of a certain ginger royal scion.

The determined rivals hadn’t reckoned on Cheryl the Sea Witch cheating on the compact of course, but the surprise twist in this tale comes from Archie’s final choice and the girls’ prompt reaction…

Closing this enormously entertaining second showing of an irresistible idea is the outrageously amusing ‘Reggiestiltskin’ with Ronnie and Betty BFFs until that annoying Prince Archie sees and wants them both.

Sadly they both desire him too, which enchantress Princess Cheryl can’t allow. She wants the kingdom and will even marry the idiot Prince to get it and so employs wily gold-hungry goblin trickster Reggiestiltskin to get the girls out of the way.

However, even cunning witch-queens can underestimate the conniving nature of gold-grabbing goblins…

Co-starring all the adorable supporting characters we know and love (Jughead as Betty’s sharp-tongued fish-pal Forsythe is a sight once seen, never forgotten), these smartly beguiling skits are a marvellous example of just why Archie has been unsurpassed in this genre for generations: providing decades of family-friendly fun and wholesome teen entertainment…

And they were all read and re-read happily ever after…
© 2013 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Quick and Flupke: Fasten Your Seat Belts


By Hergé, translated by David Radzinowicz (Egmont UK)
ISBN: 978-1-4052-4742-9

Georges Prosper Remi, known all over the world as Hergé, created a genuine masterpiece of graphic literature with his tales of a plucky boy reporter and his entourage of iconic associates. Singly, and later with assistants including Edgar P. Jacobs, Bob de Moor and other supreme stylists of the select Hergé Studio, he created 23 splendid volumes (originally produced in brief instalments for a variety of periodicals) which have since grown beyond their popular culture roots and attained the status of High Art.

Globally renowned for his magnificent Tintin adventures, Hergé also did much to return comics to the arena of mass entertainment, a position largely lost after the advent of television, video-recording and computer games.

However the bold boy and his opinionated dog were by no means his only creation. The author was a prodigious jobbing cartoonist in the years before Tintin finally assured him immortality and produced a minor pantheon of other topical strips and features such as Tim the Squirrel in the Far West, The Amiable Mr. Mops, Tom and Millie and Popol Out West.

Among the best of the rest were the tales of Jo and Zette Legrand and their chimpanzee Jocko – in much the same wholesome action vein as Tintin – and the episodic, all-ages shenanigans of a pair of mischievous ragamuffins in pre-WWII Belgium.

In 2005 Egmont translated three escapades of Jo, Zette and Jocko into English (although there are more just sitting out there, all foreign and unreadable by potential fans too lazy to learn French or any of a dozen other civilised languages…) and in 2009 tried again with two collections of the Master’s second most successful creation: the rambunctiously subversive, trouble-making working-class rapscallions Quick and Flupke.

The two scallywags (precursors and thematic contemporaries of such beloved British boy acts as The Bash Street Kids, Winker Watson, Roger the Dodger et. al.) had for more than a decade – January 1930 to May 1940 – rivalled the utterly irresistible Tintin in popularity and almost certainly acted as a rehearsal room for all the humorous graphic and slapstick elements which became so much a part of future Tintin tales.

In 2009 Egmont had a brief stab at reviving the likely lads and it was only the general public’s deplorable lack of taste and good sense which stopped the kids from taking off again…

On leaving school in 1925 Hergé began working for the Catholic newspaper Le XXe Siécle where fell under the influence of its Svengali-like editor Abbot Norbert Wallez. A dedicated boy-scout himself, Remi produced his first strip series The Adventures of Totor for Boy Scouts of Belgium monthly magazine the following year, and by 1928 he was in charge of producing the contents of Le XXe Siécle‘s children’s weekly supplement Le Petit Vingtiéme.

He was unhappily illustrating The Adventures of Flup, Nénesse, Poussette and Cochonette, written by the staff sports reporter, when Abbot Wallez asked him to create a new adventure series. Perhaps a young reporter who would travel the world, doing good whilst displaying solid Catholic values and virtues?

Having recently discovered the word balloon in imported newspaper strips, Remi decided to incorporate the innovation into his own work. He would produce a strip both modern and action-packed – and most importantly heavily anti-communist. Beginning January 10th 1929, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets appeared in weekly instalments in Le Petit Vingtiéme running until May 8th 1930.

At about this time the cartoonist also began crafting weekly 2-page gag strips starring a pair of working class rascals in Brussels who played pranks, got into good-natured trouble and even ventured into the heady realms of slapstick and surrealism: the sort of yarns any reader of Dennis the Menace (ours, not the Americans’) would find fascinatingly familiar.

Originally running in black and white in Le Petit Vingtiéme the lads larked about for over a decade until the war and mounting pressures of producing Tintin meant they had to go. They were rediscovered in 1985 and their collected adventures ran to a dozen best-selling albums.

Fasten Your Seat Belts contains a superbly riotous celebration of boyish high spirits beginning with hose-pipe pranks in ‘The Big Clean’, before a rare good deed leads to strife with ‘A Poor Defenceless Woman’ and a day ‘At the Seaside’ ends up in another round of boyish fisticuffs whilst their arch-foe the policeman succumbs to the irresistible temptations of a catapult in ‘Everyone Gets a Turn’.

Quick – the tall one in the beret – then learns to his cost ‘How Music Calms the Nerves’ and discovers the drawback of ‘Pacifism’, whilst portly Flupke tries tennis and finds himself far from ‘Unbeatable’.

‘Advertising’ then proves to be a dangerous game and an annoying insect meets its end in ‘Instructions for Use’ after which ‘Quick the Clock Repairer’, proves to be something of an overstatement and ‘Football’ just another reason for the pals to fall out…

Although unwelcome ‘At the Car Showroom’, some Eskimos seem happy to share in ‘A Weird Story’ whist Hergé himself turns up in ‘A Serious Turn of Events’, even as the kids are disastrously ‘At Odds’ over a funny smell.

Then ‘Quick the Music Lover’ cleverly deals with a annoying neighbour, Flupke goes Christmas Skiing in ‘That’s How It Is’ and another good turn goes bad in ‘All Innocence’ before a sibling spat gets sorted through ‘Children’s Rights’ and Quick cocks up cuisine with ‘The Recipe’…

A ‘Yo-yo’ causes traffic chaos and a milk run goes spectacularly awry in a buttery ‘Metamorphosis’ before this magical blast from the past concludes with cleverly appealing ‘Tale Without a Tail’.

Still happily available, this book and the simple, perfect gags it contains show another side to the supreme artistry and sheer addictiveness of Hergé – and no lover of comics should consider his life complete without a well-thumbed copy of their own…

Now we’ve got them, available for folk too lazy to learn French (or Dutch or German or…) in a glorious full-colour make-over and they are the perfect light read for kids of all ages.
© Hergé – Exclusivity Editions Casterman 1991. All Rights Reserved. English translation © 2009 Egmont UK Limited. All rights reserved.

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Spirou & Fantasio volume 4: Valley of the Exiles


By Tome & Janry, colour by Stephane De Becker & translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-157-0

For the majority of English-speaking comic fans Spirou might be Europe’s biggest secret. The phenomenally long-lived character is a rough contemporary – and shrewdly calculated commercial response – to Hergé’s iconic Tintin, whilst the comic he has headlined for decades is only beaten in sheer longevity and manic creativity by our own Beano.

Conceived in 1936 at Belgian Printing House Éditions Dupuis by boss-man Jean Dupuis, his proposed new magazine targeted juvenile audiences and launched on April 21st 1938; neatly bracketed in the UK by DC Thomson’s The Dandy (4th December 1937) and The Beano (July 30th 1938). In America a small comicbook publisher was preparing to release a new anthology entitled Action Comics…

Spirou was to be edited by 19 year-old Charles Dupuis and derived its name from the lead feature, which described the improbable adventures of a plucky Bellboy/lift operator employed at the glamorous Moustique Hotel (a sly reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique).

Spirou the hero – whose name translates as both “squirrel” and “mischievous” in the Walloon language – was realised by French cartoonist François Robert Velter under his pen-name Rob-Vel for his Belgian bosses in response to the phenomenal success of Hergé’s carrot-topped boy reporter Tintin – a guaranteed money-spinning phenomenon for rival publisher Casterman.

The eponymous magazine launched with the plucky Bellboy (and his pet squirrel Spip) as the leads in an anthology weekly which bears his name to this day; featuring fast-paced, improbable cases which gradually evolved into astonishingly addictive high-flying surreal comedy dramas.

Spirou and his pals have reigned supreme in the magazine for most of its life, with a phalanx of truly impressive creators continuing Velter’s work – beginning with his wife Blanche “Davine” Dumoulin, who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939. She was aided by Belgian artist Luc Lafnet until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the feature, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (“Jijé”) took over, introducing current co-star and foil Fantasio to the mix.

Somewhere along the way Spirou & Fantasio switched to journalism, becoming globe-trotting reporter and photographer, continuing their weekly exploits in unbroken four-colour glory. In 1946 Jijé’s assistant André Franquin assumed the creative reins, adding a phenomenally popular magic animal dubbed Marsupilami to the cast (first seen in Spirou et les héritiers in 1952 and now a solo-star of screen, plush toy store, console games and albums all his own), crafting increasingly fantastic tales until 1969.

Franquin was in turn succeeded by Jean-Claude Fournier who updated the feature over nine stirring adventures which tapped into the rebellious, relevant zeitgeist of the times with tales of environmental concern, nuclear energy, drug cartels and repressive regimes.

Even so, by the 1980s the boy Spirou seemed outdated and without direction; three different creative teams began alternating on the serial, until it was at last revitalised by the authors of the adventure under review here.

Philippe Vandevelde – writing as Tome – and artist Jean-Richard Geurts, best known to lovers of Bande dessinées as Janry, revisited, adapted and referenced the beloved Franquin era, reviving the feature’s fortunes and resulting in fourteen wonderful albums between 1984 and 1998. This one, from 1989 and originally entitled La vallée des bannis – ‘Valley of the Banished’ – was their ninth (and the 41st chronological collection of the evergreen adventurers).

Once their tenure concluded Tome & Janry’s departed and both Lewis Trondheim and the team of Jean-Davide Morvan & Jose-Luis Munuera took over, bringing the official album tally to fifty (there also are a bunch of specials, spin-offs and one-shots, official and otherwise) before in 2009 Fabien Vehlmann & Yoann (Yoann Chivard) were announced as the new “Keepers of the Flame”…

Valley of the Exiles! concludes the excellent two-part escapade (which began in Running Scared) with the roving reporters retracing the steps and uncovering the whereabouts of two explorers who had vanished in 1938 whilst attempting to climb a mountain and discover a legendary lost valley in the inscrutable, isolated Himalayan nation of Yurmaheesun-shan…

Since 1950 that tiny nation had been subject to repeated invasions by rival super-powers and was currently a hotbed of rebellion, insurgency and civil war, but Spirou and Fantasio were utterly determined to solve the ancient mystery.

Thus they linked up with renowned eccentric Dr. Placebo: world renowned authority on medical condition Spasmodia Maligna and a man convinced that the only cure for the condition – prolonged, sustained and life-threatening synchronous diaphragmatic flutters (hiccups to you and me) – is to be scared out of one’s wits.

He sponsored a “medical” mission to find the lost valley and thus the lads, Spip and five disparate, desperate perpetual hiccup-sufferers crept across the Nepalese border despite the most diligent attentions of military overlord Captain Yi.

That formidable martinet was tasked with keeping all foreigners – especially journalists – out of the occupied country as it underwent enforced pacification and re-education, but thanks to native translator Gorpah (a wily veteran guide who once proved invaluable to another red-headed reporter, his little white dog and a foul mouthed-sea captain!) the daring band were soon deep in-country.

Only minutes behind were Yi’s troops in tanks, armoured cars and attack helicopters – which naturally provided plenty of opportunities for the annoyingly obnoxious singultus flutterers to be satisfactorily terrified – but there was still little evidence of a breakthrough cure…

Just as the fugitives found their first clue as to the site of the lost valley they were taken captive by native rebels. With still no hiccup cure found the beleaguered explorers attempted a daring later escape, but even as they all piled into a lorry a monumental storm broke out…

When one of their pursuer’s vehicles plunged over a cliff, the valiant escapees formed a human chain to rescue the driver but Spirou and Fantasio were washed away and lost in the raging flash flood …

In The Valley of the Exiles! the story resumes with the battered, weary duo entombed deep within a Himalayan mountain. Slowly, blindly they grope their way towards a faint light and emerge through ancient, barbaric idol’s head into the very place they’ve been seeking…

Utterly enclosed by peaks the Valley is an idyllic paradise, but its very isolation has led to the development of a number of truly unique species of flora and fauna. There are colossal carnivorous water lily-pads, ferociously determined man-eating turtles, electric geckoes, the seductive Hammock Flytrap and many more bizarre and potentially lethal creatures.

The one that most imperils the lost boys however is the diminutive Manic Midgie – a mosquito-like bug that carries the disease “raging hostiliasis”. Not long after one bites Fantasio, poor Spirou realises that his best friend has become a homicidal maniac determined to kill him and everything else in range…

The deranged lad soon goes completely off the deep end, and only luck and a handy itching-powder boxing glove plant prevents the reporter’s gory demise…

Wounded, hunted by his best friend and perhaps the only human in the apparently inescapable enclosed wilderness, near-despondent Spirou and Spip begin to explore their incredible prison and find a rough shack: proof that at some time other humans had been there.

Further investigation reveals it to be the last resting place of the lost explorers Siegfried and Maginot. The mystery of the 1938 expedition is solved – even though Spirou has no way of filing this scoop!

More worryingly, Maginot’s copious notes on the creatures of the valley offer some grim hypotheses as to the nature of the nature in this fantastic hidden gorge: creatures inimical to both the body and mind of man. Plants that cast illusions, murderous mammals that mimic harmless life, bugs whose bite produces madness…

Crazed beyond imagining – and burbling hilarious, fourth-wall breaking nonsense – Fantasio is determinedly hunting his old friend and the frantic chase drives the limping hero deep into a hidden temple where he uncovers the secret of a fantastic lost civilisation of Backik: a race banished by Mongol conquerors /to this distant valley. The reluctant settlers lived just enough for the manic-midgies to bring their unlucky lives crashing down into doom and disaster…

As Spirou lurches through the eerie tombs of the fallen Backiks Fantasio ambushes him and is ready to finish off his former friend when a mysterious figure attacks…

Some time later Spirou awakens in the warming sunlight of the valley, with deranged Fantasio securely bound beside him. Resolved to escape this fantastic trap and get his crazy pal back to civilisation and medical assistance, our red-headed hero begins to explore his best options only to feel the terrifying sting of a mosquito…

Packed with oodles of action and a host of incredible surprises and revelations, Valley of the Exiles is a truly splendid escapade, with thrills, chills, spills, a mountain of choice comedy moments and eccentric, surreal mysteries to keep readers spellbound.

This refreshingly engaging, lightly-barbed, action-adventure is a breath of fresh air in a marketplace far too full of adults-only carnage, sordid cheesecake titillation, testosterone-fuelled breast-beating, teen-romance monsters and cloying barbarian fantasy. Easily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with all the beguiling style and seductively enticing élan which makes Asterix, Lucky Luke, The Bluecoats and Iznogoud so compelling, this is another cracking read every bit as deserving of household name-hood as those series… yes, even that other red-headed kid with the white dog…
Original edition © Dupuis, 1989 by Tome & Janry. All rights reserved. English translation 2013 © Cinebook Ltd.

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The Art of Archie: the Covers


By various, edited by Victor Gorelick & Craig Yoe (Archie Books)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-79-2

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A perfect celebration of the magic of comicbooks… 10/10

For most of us, comics mean buff men and women in capes and tights hitting each other, lobbing trees about, or stark, nihilistic genre thrillers aimed at an extremely mature and sophisticated readership of confirmed fans – and indeed that has been the prolific norm for nearly twenty years.

However, over the decades since comicbooks were invented in 1933, other forms of sequential illustrated fiction genres have held their own. One that has maintained a unique position over the years – although almost now completely transferred to television – is the teen-comedy genre begun by and synonymous with a carrot topped, homely (at first just plain ugly) kid named Archie Andrews.

MLJ were a small outfit which jumped wholeheartedly onto the superhero bandwagon following the debut of Superman. In November 1939 they launched Blue Ribbon Comics, promptly following with Top-Notch and Pep Comics. The content was the accepted blend of costumed heroes, two-fisted adventure strips and one-off gags. Pep made history with its lead feature The Shield – the industry’s first superhero clad in the American flag – but generally MLJ were followers not innovators.

That all changed at the end of 1941. Even while profiting from the Fights ‘N’ Tights phalanx, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (hence MLJ) spotted a gap in their blossoming market and in December the action strips were joined by a wholesome, ordinary hero; an “average teen” who had invitingly human-scaled adventures that might happen to the readers, but with the laughs, good times, romance and slapstick heavily emphasised.

Pep Comics #22 introduced a gap-toothed, freckle-faced, red-headed goof showing off to the pretty blonde next door. Taking his lead from the popular Andy Hardy movies starring Mickey Rooney, Goldwater developed the concept of a youthful everyman, tasking writer Vic Bloom & artist Bob Montana with the job of making it work.

So effective and all-pervasive was the impact and comforting message the new kid offered to the boys “over there” and those left behind on the Home Front that Archie Andrews and the wholesome image of familiar, beloved, secure Americana he and the Riverdale gang represented, one could consider them the greatest and most effective Patriotic/Propaganda weapon in comics history…

It all started with an innocuous 6-page tale entitled ‘Archie’ which introduced the future star and pretty girl-next-door Betty Cooper. Archie’s unconventional best friend and confidante Forsythe P. “Jughead” Jones also debuted in that first story as did the small-town utopia they lived in.

The premise was an instant hit and in 1942 the feature graduated to its own title. Archie Comics #1 was the company’s first non-anthology magazine and began an inexorable transformation of the entire company. With the introduction of rich, raven-haired Veronica Lodge, all the pieces were in play for the industry’s second Phenomenon (Superman being the first).

By May 1946 the kids had taken over and, retiring its heroic characters years before the end of the Golden Age, MLJ renamed itself Archie Comics, becoming to all intents and purposes a publisher of family comedies. This overwhelming success, like the Man of Tomorrow’s, forced a change in the content of every other publisher’s titles and led to a multi-media industry including a newspaper strip, TV, movies, pop-songs and even a chain of restaurants.

Intermittently the costumed cut-ups have returned on occasion but Archie Comics now seems content to specialise in what they do uniquely best.

The eponymous high-schooler is a good-hearted lad lacking common sense and Betty – pretty, sensible, devoted girl next door, with all that entails – loves the ridiculous redhead. Ronnie is spoiled, exotic and glamorous and only settles for our boy if there’s nobody better around. She might actually love him too, though. Archie, of course, can’t decide who or what he wants…

This never-tawdry eternal triangle has been the basis of seventy years of charmingly raucous, gently preposterous, frenetic, chiding and even heart-rending comedy encompassing everything from surreal wit to frantic slapstick, as the kids and an increasing cast of friends grew into an American institution.

Adapting seamlessly to every trend and fad, perfectly in tone with and mirroring the growth of teen culture, the host of writers and artists who’ve crafted the stories over the decades have made the archetypal characters of Riverdale a benchmark for youth and a visual barometer of growing up American.

Archie’s unconventional best friend Jughead is Mercutio to Archie’s Romeo, providing rationality and a reader’s voice, as well as being a powerful catalyst of events in his own right. There’s even a likeably reprehensible Tybalt figure in the crafty form of Reggie Mantle – who first popped up to cause mischief in Jackpot Comics #5 (Spring 1942).

This beguiling triangle (plus annexe and outhouse) has been the rock-solid foundation for decades of comics magic. …And the concept is eternally self-renewing…

Archie has thrived by constantly reinventing its core characters, seamlessly adapting to the changing world outside the bright, flimsy pages, shamelessly co-opting youth, pop culture and fashion trends into its infallible mix of slapstick and young romance.

Each and every social revolution has been painlessly assimilated into the mix with the editors tastefully confronting a number of social issues affecting the young in a manner both even-handed and tasteful over the years.

The cast is always growing and the constant addition of new characters such as African-American Chuck – an aspiring cartoonist – his girlfriend Nancy, fashion-diva Ginger, Hispanic couple Frankie & Maria and a host of others like spoiled home-wrecker-in-waiting Cheryl Blossom all contribute to a wide and refreshingly broad-minded scenario. In 2010 Archie even jumped the final social repressive hurdle when Kevin Keller, an openly gay young man and clear-headed advocate, joined the cast, capably tackling and dismantling the last major taboo in mainstream comics.

A major component of the company’s success has been the superbly enticing artwork and especially the unmistakable impact afforded via the assorted titles’ captivating covers. This spectacular compilation (a companion to 2010s Betty & Veronica collection) traces the history and evolution of the wholesome phenomenon through many incredible examples from every decade. Augmented by scads of original art, fine art and commercial recreations, printer’s proofs and a host of other rare examples and graphic surprises no fan of the medium could possibly resist, this huge hardback (312 x 235mm) re-presents hundreds of funny, charming, gloriously intriguing and occasionally controversial images plus background and biographies on the many talented artists responsible for creating them.

Moreover, also included are many original artworks – gleaned from the private collections of fans – scripts, sketches, gag-roughs, production ephemera from the art-to-finished-cover process, plus an extensive, educational introductory commentary section stuffed with fascinating reminiscences and behind-the-scenes anecdotes.

The picture parade begins with some thoughts from the brains behind the fun as ‘It’s a Gift’ by current Publisher/Co-CEO Jon Goldwater, ‘You Can Judge a Book by its Cover!’ – Editor-in-Chief/Co-President Victor Gorelick – and ‘On the Covers’ from cartoonist and Comics Historian Craig Yoe take us to the 1940s where ‘In the Beginning…’ details the story of Archie with relevant covers and the first of a recurring feature highlighting how later generations of artists have recycled and reinterpreted classic designs.

‘A Matchless Cover’ leads into the first Artist Profile – ‘Bob Montana’ – and a wealth of cracking Golden Age images in ‘Who’s on First!’ before chapters on specific themes and motifs commence with a celebration of beach scenes with ‘In the Swim’ after which artist ‘Bill Vigoda’ steps out from behind his easel and into the spotlight.

‘Déjà Vu All Over Again’ further explores the recapitulation of certain cover ideas before ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll!’ examines decades of pop music and “guest” stars such as the Beatles, whilst ‘Archie’s Mechanically Inclined’ examines a short-lived dalliance with an early form of home DIY magazines. The life of veteran illustrator ‘Al Fagaly’ leads into a selection of ‘Fan Faves’ ancient and modern and the biography of ‘Harry Sahle’ then segues neatly into a selection of cheerleading covers in ‘Let’s Hear It for The Boy!’

It wasn’t long after the birth of modern pop music that the Riverdale gang formed their own band and ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, The Archies!’ focuses on those ever-evolving musical prodigies with scenes from the Swinging Sixties to the turbulent Rap-ridden 21st century after which the history of artist ‘Joe Edwards’ leads into a barrage of smoochy snogging scenes in ‘XOXOXO!’

Always a keen follower of fads and fashions the Archie crowd embraced many popular trends and ‘Monster Bash!’ concentrates on kids’ love of horror and recurring periods of supernatural thrills after which a bio of ‘Dan Parent’ leads unerringly to more ‘Celebrity Spotting!’ with covers featuring the likes of George (Sulu) Takei, Michael Jackson, Simon Cowell, J-Lo, Kiss, the casts of Glee and Twilight, and even President Barack Obama all eagerly appearing amongst so very many others.

‘Art for Archie’s Sake’ dwells on the myriad expressions of junior painting and sculpture and, after the life story of the sublimely gifted ‘Harry Lucey’, ‘The Time Archie was Pinked Out!’ details the thinking behind the signature logo colour schemes used during the company’s pre-computer days.

‘Life with Archie’s a Beach!’ takes another look at the rise of teenage sand and surf culture through the medium of beautifully rendered, scantily clad girls, whilst after the lowdown on writer/artist ‘Fernando Ruiz’, ‘Dance! Dance! Dance!’ follows those crazy kids from Jitterbug to Frug, Twisting through Disco and ever onwards…

‘The Happiest of Holidays’ highlights the horde of magical Christmas covers Archie, Betty and Ronnie have starred on whilst ‘Rhyme Time’ reveals the odd tradition of poetry spouting sessions that have been used to get fans interested and keep them amused.

A history of the inimitable ‘Samm Schwartz’ precedes a look at classroom moments in ‘Readin’ Writin’ an’ Archie’ – with a separate section on organised games entitled ‘Good Sports!’ – after which the life of legendary artist ‘Dan DeCarlo’ neatly leads to another selection of fad-based fun as ‘That’s Just Super!’ recalls the Sixties costumed hero craze as well as a few other forays into Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy…

‘Let’s Get this Party Started’ features covers with strips rather than single images and is followed by a biography of ‘Bob Bolling’ before ‘A Little Goes a Long Way!’ concentrates on the assorted iterations of pre-teen Little Archie comics. This is then capped by the eye-popping enigma of teen taste as visualised in the many outfits du jour revealing ‘A Passion for Fashion’…

‘Come as You Aren’t!’ is devoted to the theme of fancy dress parties after which the modern appetite for variant covers is celebrated in ‘Alternate Realities’ (with stunning examples from Fiona Staples, Tim Seeley and Walter Simonson amongst others) all wrapped up by the gen on artistic mainstay ‘Bob White’.

The entire kit and caboodle then happily concludes with an assortment of surreal, mindblowing covers that defy categorisation or explanation in ‘And Now, For Something Completely Different’, proving that comics are still the only true home of untrammelled imagination: featuring scenes that literally have to be seen to be believed…

Mesmerising, breathtaking graphic wonderment, fun-fuelled family entertainment and enticing pop art masterpieces; these unforgettable cartoon confections truly express the joyous spirit of intoxicating youthful vitality which changed the comic industry forever and comprise an essential example of artistic excellence no lover of narrative art should miss.

Spanning the entire history of American comicbooks and featuring vintage images, landmark material and up-to-the-minute modern masterpieces, this is a terrific tome for anybody interested in the history of comics, eternally evergreen light laughs and the acceptable happy face of the American Dream.
™ & © 2013 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.