The Rocketeer & The Spirit: Pulp Friction

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Team-ups are part-and-parcel of comics extravaganzas and both heroes have had their share of cataclysmic and catastrophic clashes with the valiant giants of the period and the industry.

This yarn however – collecting a 4-issue miniseries by Mark Waid which ran from July to December 2013 – concentrates as much on humour as bombastic action and begins on the East Coast in February 1941 where business executives and government meet to decide the future of the Next Big Thingâ€¦

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

Mere hours later an early morning fashion shoot on a California beach is ruined when beautiful Betty finds the idealistic politician’s mangled corpseâ€¦

When the stiff is identified as Cunningham, Commissioner Dolan and Spirit are baffled. How could the victim have travelled more than 3000 miles in one night? Determined to investigate, they book passage on a trans-continental plane, having reluctantly crumbled before the forceful Ellen who demands to join them and see Hollywoodâ€¦

In Los Angeles, Cliff Secord is again being ignored by the traumatised Betty. He mopes dejectedly until his grizzled old mechanic Peevy points out that whoever killed the Alderman might also want to silence the girl who found the bodyâ€¦

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

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

After a spectacular battle, Ellen finally manages to convince the two testosterone-soaked mutton heads they are on the same side, and a tentative alliance is formedâ€¦ at least until Spirit interviews Betty and the flighty starlet finds she’s in love or thereabouts with the hunky masked copâ€¦

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

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

With J Bone stepping in to limn the final two chapters the high-octane tale ramps up into top gear as Cliff travels back to Central City with Spirit and the Dolans to find Betty, expose the sinister scheme of Trask and the Octopus, uncover the crooks’ treacherous connections to a certain Fascist foreign power, prevent America’s airwaves from being subverted and even save President Roosevelt from being assassinated by television in a rocket-paced, breathtaking rollercoaster ride that delivers non-stop thrills and chillsâ€¦

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

April 14, 2016April 13, 2016

New Crusaders Legacy

By Rich Buckler, Ian Flynn, Robert Kanigher, Stan Timmons, Alex Toth, Carmine Infantino, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Gray Morrow, Alec NiÃ±o, Tony DeZuÃ±iga, Jerry Gaylord, Ben Bates, Alitha Martinez & many more (Red Circle/Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-22-8

In the dawning days of the comic book business, just after Superman and Batman began creating a new genre of storytelling, many publishers jumped onto the bandwagon and made their own bids for cash and glory. Many thrived and many more didn’t; now relished only as trivia by sad old blokes like me. Some few made it to an amorphous middle-ground: not forgotten, but certainly not household names eitherâ€¦

MLJ were one of the quickest publishers to jump on the Mystery-Man bandwagon, following the spectacular successes of the Man of Tomorrow with their own small yet inspirational pantheon of gaudily clad costumed crusaders, beginning in November 1939 with Blue Ribbon Comics. Soon followed by Top-Notch and Pep Comics, their content was the standard blend of two-fisted adventure strips, prose pieces and gag panels and, from #2 on, superheroesâ€¦

However, after only a few years Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater spotted a gap in the blossoming market and in December 1941 nudged aside their masked heroes and action strips to make room for a far less imposing hero; an â€œaverage teenâ€ who would have ordinary adventures like the readers, but with triumphs, romance and slapstick emphasised.

Pep Comics #22 featured a gap-toothed, freckle-faced, red-headed goof who clearly took his lead from Mickey Rooney’s popular Andy Hardy matinee movies. Goldwater developed the concept of a youthful everyman protagonist, tasking writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana with the job of making it work. A 6-page tale introduced Archie Andrews and pretty girl-next-door Betty Cooper as well as his unconventional best friend and confidante Jughead Jones in their small-town utopia of Riverdale.

The feature was an instant hit and by the winter of 1942 had won its own title. Archie Comics #1 was the company’s first solo-starring magazine and with it began the gradual transformation of the entire company. With the introduction of wealthy, raven-haired Veronica Lodge, all the pieces were in play for the comicbook industry’s second Genuine Phenomenon (Superman being the first)â€¦

By 1946 the kids had taken over, so MLJ renamed itself Archie Comics; retiring its heroic characters years before the end of the Golden Age and becoming, to all intents and purposes, a publisher of family comedies. Its success, like Superman’s, changed the content of every other publisher’s titles, and led to a multi-media industry including TV shows, movies, a chain of restaurants and even a global pop hit â€œSugar, Sugarâ€ (a tune from their animated show).

Nonetheless, the company had by this stage blazed through a rather impressive pantheon of mystery-men who would form the backbone of numerous future superhero revivals, most notably in the High-Camp/Marvel Explosion/Batman TV show-frenzied mid-60’s eraâ€¦

The heroes impressively resurfaced under the company’s Red Circle imprint during the early days of the Direct Sales revolution of the 1980s, but after a strong initial showing, again failed to sustain the public’s attention. Archie let them lie fallow (except for occasional revivals and intermittent guest-shots in Archie titles) until 1991, when the company licensed its heroes to superhero specialists DC for a magically fun, all-ages iteration (and where’s that star-studded trade paperback collection, huh?!). Impact Comics was a vibrant, engaging and fun all-ages rethink that really should have been a huge hit but was again cruelly unsuccessfulâ€¦

When the line folded in 1993 the characters returned to limbo until DC had one more crack at them in 2008, attempting to incorporate the Mighty Crusaders & Co into their own maturely angst-ridden and stridently dark continuity – with the usual overwhelming lack of success.

Recently the wanderers returned home to Archie for a superbly simplistic and winningly straightforward revival aimed squarely at old nostalgics and young kids reared on highly charged action/adventure cartoon shows: brimming with all the exuberant verve and wide-eyed honest ingenuity you’d expect from an outfit which has been pleasing kids for nearly seventy years.

Released initially online in May 2012 – followed by a traditional monthly print version that September – the first story-arc made it to full legitimacy with a thrill-packed trade paperback collection, equally welcoming to inveterate fanboys and eager newcomers alike.

The series introduced a new generation of legacy heroes rising from the ashes of their parents’ and guardians’ murders to become a team of teenaged gladiators carrying on the fight as the New Crusaders.

This collection supplements and follows on from that magical makeover: having new team mentor The Shield train the potential-filled juniors through the records of their predecessors. The stories included here come from those aforementioned 1980s Red Circle episodes; culled from the pages of Mighty Crusaders #1, 8, 9, The Fly #2, 4, 6, Blue Ribbon #3, 8, 14, The Comet #1 and Black Hood #2, spanning 1983-1985â€¦

Following an engaging reintroduction and recap, current creative team Ian Flynn, Jerry Gaylord, Ben Bates & Alitha Martinez reveal how the grizzled, flag-draped veteran has trouble reaching his teenaged students until he begins treating them as individuals, and sharing past Crusaders’ cases.

Starting with personal recollections of his own early days as America’s first Patriotic superhero in ‘The Shield’ (from Mighty Crusaders #8, Marty Greim, Dick Ayers & Rich Buckler), Joe Higgins explains his active presence in the 21^st century, leading into a recapitulation of the first Red Circle yarn.

‘Atlantis Rising’ comes from Mighty Crusaders #1, by Buckler & Frank Giacoia, which found psionic plunderer Brain Emperor and immortal antediluvian Eterno the Conqueror launching a multi-pronged attack on the world. They were countered by an army of costumed champions including the Golden Age Shield, Lancelot Strong the (other) Shield (for a while there were three different ones active at once), Fly and Fly-Girl, Jaguar, The Web, Black Hood and The Comet, who communally countered a global crime-wave and clobbered the villains’ giant killer robotsâ€¦

This is followed by a modern interlude plus pin-up and data pages on Ralph Hardy AKA ‘The Jaguar’ before a potent vignette by Chas Ward & Carlos Vicatan from The Fly #4 reviews the animal-master’s Aztec origins and rebirth in ‘Renewal’â€¦

‘The Web’ offers the same data-page update for masked detective and criminologist John Raymond before ‘The Killing Hour’ (Blue Ribbon #14, by Stan Timmons, Lou Manna, Rex Lindsey & Chic Stone) sees the merely mortal manhunter join his brother-in-law the Jaguar in foiling a nuclear terrorism plotâ€¦

More modern pin-ups and data-pages reintroduce ‘The Comet’ before Bill DuBay, Jr., Carmine Infantino & Alec NiÃ±o reworked the original 1940’s origin tale by Jack Cole from Pep Comics #1 in 1940.

Reproduced from 1984’s The Comet #1, this chilling yarn detailed how an idealistic scientist became the most bloodthirsty hero of the Golden Age, with a body-count which made the Punisher look like a pantywaistâ€¦

The infomercial for ‘Steel Sterling’ precedes a wild and whimsical origin-retelling of the star-struck, super-strong â€œMan of Steelâ€ by his 1940s scripter Robert Kanigher, illustrated with superb style by Louis Barreto & Tony DeZuÃ±iga from Blue Ribbon #3, after which ‘Fly Girl’ gets star treatment in a brace of tales, augmented as always by the ubiquitous fact-folio.

‘A Woman’s Place’ by Buckler, Timmons, Adrian Gonzales & Ricardo Villagran (from The Fly #2) clears up an exceedingly sexist old-school extortion ring whilst ‘Faithfully Yours’ (Fly #6) saw her movie-star alter ego Kim Brand subjected to a chilling campaign of terror from a fan. Timmons, Buckler, Steve Ditko & Alan Kupperberg took just the right tone in what might be the first incidence of stalking in US comicsâ€¦

‘Black Hood’ has no modern iteration in the New Crusaders. Still active in contemporary times, he did encounter the kids during their debut exploit and is phenomenally cool, so he gets a place here. Following the customary introductory lesson he appears in a gritty, Dirty Harry themed adventure (from Blue Ribbon #8 by Gray Morrow) as undercover cop – and latest convert – Kip Burland who sidesteps Due Process to save a kidnapped girl and ensure the conviction of crooks hiding behind the law. The gripping yarn also discloses the centuries-long justice-seeking tradition of â€œThe Man of Mysteryâ€ â€¦

That’s followed by a snippet from Rich Margopoulos, Kupperberg & Giacoia entitled ‘A Hero’s Rage’ wherein Kip discovers his uncle Matt (the Golden Age Black Hood) has been murdered and ditches his leather jacket and ski-mask in favour of the traditional costume before joining the Mighty Crusadersâ€¦

Without doubt the most engaging reprint in this collection and by itself well worth the price of admission is ‘The Fox’ from Black Hood #2. Written and drawn by the inimitable Alex Toth, this scintillating light-hearted period comedy-drama finds the devilish do-gooder in Morocco in 1948, embroiled with wealthy expatriate ex-boxer Cosmo Gilly who has no idea he’s become the target for assassinationâ€¦

The recondite recollections surge to a climax with ‘Old Legends Never Die’ (Mighty Crusaders #9, by David M. Singer, Buckler & Ayers) as the first Shield is accused of excessive force and manslaughter when his 1940’s crime-fighting style seemingly results in the death of a thief he most forcefully apprehended. With Joe Higgins’ costumed friends in support but out of their depth in a courtroom, the convoluted history of the three heroes bearing his codename are unpicked during ‘The Trial of the Shield’ before the uncannily sinister truth is finally exposedâ€¦

Supplemented by a plentiful cover gallery and packed with the kind of ephemera that sends old Fights ‘n’ Tights fans into paroxysms of delight, I fear this is probably a book only the wide-eyed young and dedicated aged nostalgists could handle, but it is such a perfect artefact of the superhero genre I strongly urge anyone with a hankering for masked adventure and craving Costumed Dramas to give it a long look.
NEW CRUSADERS and RED CIRCLE COMICS Â® ACP, Inc. Â© 2013 Archie Comics Publications. All rights reserved.

April 4, 2016April 3, 2016

Gil Kane’s UNDERSEA Agent

By Gil Kane, Steve Skeates, Gardner Fox & various (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-444-3

The 1960s was the era when all the assorted facets of â€œcool-for-kidsâ€ finally started to coalesce into a comprehensive assault on our minds and our parents’ pockets. TV, movies, comics, bubble-gum cards and toys all began concertedly feeding off each other, building a unified and combined fantasy-land no kid could resist.

The history of Wally Wood’s legendary comics Camelot is convoluted, and once the mayfly-like lifetime of the Tower Comics line folded, not especially pretty: wrapped up in legal wrangling and lots of petty back-biting. None of that, however, diminishes the fact that the far-too brief run of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was a benchmark of quality and sheer bravura fun for fans of both the still-reawakening superhero genre and the popular media’s spy-chic obsession.

In the early 1960s James Bond movie mania was going from strength to strength, with action and glamour utterly transforming the formerly understated espionage vehicle. The buzz was infectious: soon A Man like Flint and Matt Helm were carving out their own piece of the action, even as television shanghaied the entire trope with the irresistible Man from U.N.C.L.E. (which premiered in September 1964), bringing the genre into living rooms across the world.

Before long, wildly creative cartooning maverick Wood was approached by veteran MLJ/Archie Comics editor Harry Shorten to create a line of characters for a new distribution-chain funded publishing outfit – Tower Comics.

Woody called on some of the biggest names in the industry to produce material in the broad range of genres requested (as well as T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, its spin-offs Dynamo and NoMan and associate title U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent, there was the magnificent war-comic Fight the Enemy and youth-oriented comedy Tippy Teen).

Samm Schwartz and Dan DeCarlo handled the comedy book â€“ which outlasted all the others â€“ whilst Wood, Larry Ivie, Len Brown and more crafted landmark and benchmark tales for the industry’s top talents to illustrate in truly innovative style. It didn’t hurt that all Tower titles were in the beloved-but-rarely-seen 80 Page Giant format: there was a huge amount to read in every issue!

Tapping into the Swinging Sixties’ twin entertainment zeitgeists – sub-sea adventure and spy sagas – Tower supplemented their highly popular acronymic star-turn, The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) with a United Nations Department of Experiment and Research Systems Established at Atlantis: an aquatic vehicle employing U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent against crooks, aliens, monsters, enemy agents and the inimical forces of the environment they operated in.

Unlike the dry-land series, however, U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent began with their strong, solid stories (by D. J. Arneson, Steve Skeates and Don Segall) being illustrated in a traditional manner by industry veteran Ray Bailey – plus occasional stints from Mike Sekowsky, Joe Giella, Frank Giacoia, John Giunta, Frank Bolle, Manny Stallman and Sheldon Mayer.

According to this collection’s appreciative Foreword by Greg Goldstein and reiterated in Michael Uslan’s fact-filled Introduction, that old school stuff didn’t sit well with the kids and in issue #3 Gil Kane moved over from T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AgentsÂ and came aboard to inject his unique, hyper-energetic human dynamism to the watered-down project.

Just a personal aside here: Although I bow to no one in my admiration for Kane and applaud this superb hardback compilation of his U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent contributions, I also adore the other stuff – especially Bailey’s workmanlike, Caniff-inspired renditions – and eagerly anticipate the day someone finally gathers the entirety of the six-issue run in one commemorative tomeâ€¦

This superb book however – compiled to celebrate the astounding transformation in Kane’s own artistic endeavours which sprang from his brief time at Tower â€“ reprints the breakthrough material which led to his sudden maturation into a world-class Auteur.

Kane was then a top-rated illustrator but would soon become one of the pivotal players in the development of the American comics industry, and indeed the art form itself. Working as an artist and, after this, an increasingly more effective and influential one, he has drawn for many companies since the 1940s, on superheroes, action, war, mystery, romance, movie adaptations and most importantly perhaps, Westerns and Science-Fiction tales.

In the late 1950s he was one of editor Julius Schwartz’s key artists in regenerating the superhero. Yet by the mid 1960s, at the top of his profession, this relentlessly revolutionary and creative man felt so confined by the juvenile strictures of the industry that he dreamed of bold new ventures which would jettison the editorial and format bondage of comicbooks for new visions and media.

In U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent #3-6 (spanning June 1966 to March 1967) he was allowed to ink his own pencils for the first time in decades and encouraged to experiment with form, composition and layout â€“ and write too – and Kane discovered a graphic freedom which opened up the way he told stories and led directly to his independent masterpieces His Name is Savage and Blackmarkâ€¦

(His Name Is Savage was an adult-oriented black-&-white magazine about a cold and ruthless super-spy in the Bond/Helm/Flint mould; a precursor in tone, treatment and subject matter of many of today’s adventure titles. Blackmark not only ushered in the comic book age of Sword and Sorcery, but also became one of the first Graphic Novels. Technically, as the series was commissioned by fantasy publisher Ballantine as eight volumes, it was also envisioned as America’s first comics Limited Series.)

So what have we here? Lieutenant Davy Jones is the U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent, a skilled diver who, whilst working at the international science lab Atlantis, had an accident which gave him magnetic powers that had to be controlled and contained by a hi-tech belt. His boss was affably brilliant boffin Professor Weston and Jones had a young, impetuous apprentice seaman as sidekick.

Skooby Doolittle joined him in tackling monsters, amok experiments and a remarkable number of crooks, mad masterminds and spies who thought pickings were easier under the seaâ€¦

Kane’s contributions commence with ‘The Will Warp’ – from UA #3 and written by Skeates â€“ wherein our dashing heroes have to contend with the diabolical Dr. Malevolent who has perfected a ray that controls minds. Soon the vile villain has taken over Atlantis but has not reckoned on the speed of reaction and sheer determination of Jones and Doolittleâ€¦

Skeates also scripted Kane’s tale in #4 wherein Skooby has an unfortunate lab accident and is transformed into a colossal ravening reptilian. Amidst a storm of destruction and with his best friend now an actual danger to shipping, Davy is forced to extreme measures ‘To Save a Monster’â€¦

‘Born is a Warrior’ (#5 and written by Kane’s long-time collaborator Gardner Fox) sees hero and partner go above and beyond in their efforts to overthrow an undersea invasion by aliens, before the astounding adventures conclude with a potent, extra-length tale of triumph and tragedy.

‘Doomsday in the Depths’ (#6, by Fox) finds Jones lost at sea and swept into a utopia beneath the sea floor. Trapped forever in the paradise of Antor, he finds solace in his one true love: the sumptuous scientist Elysse. Sadly, Davy is forced to abandon the miracle city and girl of his dreams to save them all from a horrific monster. Although ultimately victorious, he cannot find his way backâ€¦

A glorious cascade of scintillating fantasy action; these yarns – accompanied by a cover gallery by Kane â€“ hark back to a perfect time of primal and winningly uncomplicated action adventure. This is a book to astound and delight comics fans of any stripe or vintage.
Gil Kane’s UNDERSEA Agent Â© 2015: UNDERSEA Agent Â© 2015 Radiant Assets LLC. All rights reserved.

December 17, 2015December 16, 2015

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Archives volume 2

By Wally Wood, Steve Ditko, Dan Adkins, John Giunta, Gil Kane, Reed Crandall, Mike Sekowsky, Steve Skeates & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-970-6

The history of Wally Wood’s immortal comics masterpiece is convoluted, and once the mayfly-like lifetime of the Tower Comics line folded, not especially pretty: wrapped up in legal wrangling and lots of petty back-biting. None of that, however, diminishes the fact that the far-too brief run of The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves was a benchmark of quality and sheer bravura fun for fans of both the still-reawakening superhero genre and the popular media’s spy-chic obsession.

In the early 1960s the James Bond movie franchise was going from strength to strength, with action and glamour utterly transforming the formerly understated espionage vehicle. The buzz was infectious: soon A Man like Flint and Matt Helm were carving out their own piece of the action even as television shanghaied the entire bandwagon with the irresistible Man from U.N.C.L.E. (which premiered in September 1964), bringing the whole genre inescapably into living rooms across the world.

Before long wildly creative cartooning maverick Wally Wood was approached by veteran MLJ/Archie Comics editor Harry Shorten to create a line of characters for a new distribution-chain funded publishing outfit – Tower Comics. Woody called on some of the biggest names in the industry to produce material in the broad range of genres the company requested (as well as T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and its spin-offs Undersea Agent, Dynamo and NoMan, there was the magnificent war-comic Fight the Enemy and the youth-comedy Tippy Teen).

Samm Schwartz and Dan DeCarlo handled the funny book – which outlasted all the others – whilst Wood, Larry Ivie, Len Brown, Bill Pearson, Steve Skeates, Dan Adkins, Russ Jones, Gil Kane and Ralph Reese all contributed scripts for themselves and the industry’s top talents to illustrate on the assorted adventure series.

With such a ravenous public appetite for super-spies and costumed heroes steadily rising in comic-book popularity the idea of blending the two concepts seems a no-brainer now, but those were far more conservative times, and when T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 appeared with no fanfare or pre-publicity on newsstands in August 1965, thrill-hungry readers were blown away.

It didn’t hurt either that all Tower titles were in the beloved-but-rarely-seen 80 Page Giant format: there was a huge amount to read in every issue!

All that being said the tales would not be so adored by us baby-boomer fans if they hadn’t been so superbly crafted. As well as Wood, the art accompanying the compelling, far more mature stories was by some of the greatest talents in comics: Reed Crandall, Kane, George Tuska, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Ayers, Joe Orlando, Frank Giacoia, John Giunta, Steve Ditko and others.

This second lush and lustrous hardback compilation collects T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5-7 and the first blockbusting issue of spin-off title Dynamo – from June to August 1966 – with the superbly cool concept and characters going from strength to strength.

Following a positively passionate and insider-fact packed Foreword by Robert Klein and Michael Uslan, the stunning all-star action blast off like a rocketâ€¦

For those who came in late: When brilliant Professor Emil Jennings was attacked by the forces of the mysterious Warlord, the savant perished but UN troops salvaged some of his greatest inventions. These included a belt that increased the density of the wearer’s body until it becomes as hard as steel, a cloak of invisibility and a brain-amplifier helmet.

The prototypes were divided between several agents to create a unit of super-operatives to counter increasingly bold attacks of many global terror threats such as the aforementioned Warlord.

First chosen was affable, honest but far from brilliant file clerk Len Brown who was, to everyone’s surprise, assigned the belt and codename Dynamo. Contributing scripter Len Brown had no idea illustrator/editor Wood had puckishly changed the hero’s civilian name as a last-minute gag until the comic rolled off the pressesâ€¦

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent NoMan was once aged Dr. Anthony Dunn who chose to have his mind transferred into an android body and was then gifted with the invisibility cape. If his artificial body was destroyed Dunn’s consciousness could transfer to another android body. As long as he had a spare ready, he could never dieâ€¦

John Janus seemed the perfect UN employee: a mental and physical marvel who easily passed all the tests necessary to wear the Jennings helmet. Sadly, he was also a deep cover mole for the Warlord, poised to betray T.H.U.N.D.E.R. at the earliest opportunity. All plans went awry once he donned the helmet and became Menthor. The device awakened his mind’s full potential, granting him telepathy, telekinesis and mind-reading powers, but it also drove all evil from his mind. When the Warlord attacked with a small army and a giant monster, Menthor was compelled by his own costume to defeat the assault. What a dilemma for a traitor to be inâ€¦

A fourth super-spy was added when Guy Gilbert of the crack Mission: Impossible style T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad was required to beta-test an experimental super-speed suit. The gung-ho hyper-fast Lightning was proud to do so, even if every use of the hyper-acceleration gimmick shortened his life-spanâ€¦

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5 again gloriously pandered to every kid’s dream as the nice guy with the power to smash was pinpointed as the weak link of the agency and subjected to a three-pronged attack by Warlord and his subterranean race in ‘Dynamo and the Golem’ by a sadly unrecorded writer with art from Crandall, Wood & Adkins. The stupendous underground duel with the monstrous mechanical was even augmented by guest walk-ons (a rare treat in the mid-1960s when most editors feared over-exposing their heroes) by other T.H.U.N.D.E.R. starsâ€¦

The modern master of a tribe of primordial men returned as ‘NoMan: In the Caverns of Demo’ (by Bill Pearson, Gil Kane, Wood & Tony Coleman) saw the invisible agent lured into a trap and temporarily lose his wonder cape. After a gloriously panoramic ‘Lightning Pin-up’ by Adkins, Steve Skeates, Mike Sekowsky & Frank Giacoia then reveal how a Nazi scientist blackmails a trusted engineer and wrecks new planes for the agency with his deadly â€œslow-downâ€ dust in ‘Lightning: Return of Baron Von Kampf’â€¦

The author of ‘Menthor vs. The Entrancer’ is unknown but the unmistakable John Giunta limns the dark tale of the mind master’s duel with a petty thief who steals a magic gem and almost conquers a country before the concluding ‘T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents: Double For Dynamo’ (Skeates, Wood, Adkins & Coleman) sees the entire team unite to tackle another plot by duplicate maker Mastermind to place his felonious android facsimiles in positions of powerâ€¦

Issue #6 opened with ‘Dynamo and the Sinister Agents of the Red Star’ (author unknown, Wood & Adkins) as the sinister Sino-spymaster introduced a devastating judo expert who could use the human powerhouse’s strength against him. Len had to use his brain (for a change) to stop the brazen theft of America’s newest super-submarineâ€¦

Skeates, Sekowsky & Giacoia had fun with a teleporting criminal in ‘Lightning: The Origin of the Warp Wizard’ and shockingly let the villain win whilst in ‘T.H.U.N.D.E.R. vs. Demo’ – illustrated by Giunta, Wood & Adkins – the vile plotter ambushed NoMan and used his stolen cape to gather tons of cash and the other Jennings devices.

The arrogant thug’s big mistake was trusting his sultry sidekick Satana, who oddly bore a grudge for that time he abandoned her to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. and the copsâ€¦

‘Menthor: The Carnival of Death’ with art by Giunta & Carl Hubbell pitted the agent against a spy who was a natural telepath. Despite tremendous odds Janus foiled an insidious assassination attempt but lost his helmet in the processâ€¦

The best tale in this issue – and probably the entire book – is ‘NoMan: To Fight Alone’ by Skeates & Ditko wherein the immortal agent is the only one capable of defying anti-democratic demagogue Mr. Image who has the power to control any and all living beings in his vicinity. Of course, NoMan is only â€œlivingâ€ is a strictly technical senseâ€¦

The final T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents inclusion is #7; a true landmark which opens with Dynamo in ‘Wanted: Leonard Brown, Code Name â€œDynamoâ€ Suspicion of Treason’ (illustrated by Wood, Adkins & Ralph Reese) with the hero on the run. Gullible Brown has been framed by the delectable Rusty (revealed as the svelte and sinister Iron Maiden; a vivacious villainess clad in figure-hugging steel who was the probable puberty trigger for an entire generation of boysâ€¦) but still manages – as much by charm and luck as skill or wit – to turn the tables and vindicate himself, after which a frantic showdown leaves Lightning possibly crippled for life after enduring ‘The Warp Wizard’s Revenge’ (Skeates, Sekowsky & Giacoia).

The years-long secret war against invaders from Earth’s core came closer to final resolution in ‘T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents: Subterranean Showdown’ – art by George Tuska – as a council of Warlords’ abduction of Dynamo leads to a shattering battle they ultimately fail to win, whilst, after a pulse-pounding Wood & Adkins ‘Iron Maiden: Pin-up’, NoMan suffers a psychological breakdown in ‘To Be or Not To Be’ by Pearson, Giunta & Sal Trapani.

Although Dr. Dunn is now a thing of plastic and wire, he is still susceptible to feminine allure and the unresolved dilemma almost costs him – and Earth – everythingâ€¦

The issue ended with a tale which blew the mind of most kids reading it in the summer of 1966. ‘Menthor: A Matter of Life and Death’ written by Adkins, with art by Ditko & Wood was an utter shock to readers who had never seen a hero die before (we were so sheltered back then; cowboys and cops only ever shot guns out of owlhoots’ hands)â€¦

When a super-agent is shanghaied to Subterraneana as bait for a trap, he does what any hero would do rather than betray his friendsâ€¦

This cathartic fun-fest concludes with the contents of Dynamo #1 as the Tower’s top draw was the first hero to get his own solo title. It began with sheer sci fi spectacle as T.H.U.N.D.E.R. spots a staging post on Luna and sends Len on what might be a one-way trip (it’s three years before the Apollo moon shots, remember?) to scotch a potential invasion from space in ‘Menace From the Moon’ by Wood & Adkins.

That astounding blockbuster is followed by a deliciously wry romp as ‘A Day in the Life of Dynamo’ (Sekowsky & Giacoia) finds the invulnerable operative harried around the world from pillar to post in pursuit of the elusive Red Dragon, the wicked Warlords, rampaging giant robotsâ€¦ and a date with the boss’ assistant Aliceâ€¦

Then Crandall, Wood & Adkins seemingly take Dynamo ‘Back to the Stone Age’: revealing the secret of Demo’s stock of cavemen and dinosaurs after the devilish villain breaks out of jail with Mastermind in tow, after which Ditko, Wood & Adkins craft another mini-masterpiece as ‘Dynamo Meets the Amazing Andor’.

Decades ago the so-very-patient Warlords stole a human baby and spent long years turning the waif into a biological superman devoid of sentiment or compassion. Sadly, when they finally unleashed their Andor on the surface civilisations, although they anticipated the dogged resistance of humanity and even the newly-constituted T.H.U.N.D.E.R., the subterranean geniuses hadn’t factored in their living weapon’s reaction to the first woman he had ever seenâ€¦

The tongue-in-cheek dramas wrap up with a bright breezy spoof as ‘Wonder Weed, Super Hero’ illustrated by Giunta, reveals how merely mortal – and mildly jealous – agent William â€œWeedâ€ Wylie is tricked by a magician/enemy agent into thinking he has powers too. Of course Weed is gullible and avaricious but nobody’s foolâ€¦

With stories all shaded in favour of fast pace, sparse dialogue, explosive action and big visuals, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was decades ahead of its time and certainly informed everything in Fights ‘n’ Tights comics which came after it. These are truly timeless comic classics which improve with every reading, and there’s never been a better time to add these landmark superhero sagas to your collection of favourites.
Â© 1966 John Carbonaro. All rights reserved. This edition Â© 2003 DC Comics.

November 8, 2015November 8, 2015

Small Press Sunday

I started out in this game just before the pyramids were built, making minicomics, collaborating on fanzines and concocting stripzines with fellow weirdoes, outcasts and comics addicts. Even today, seeing the raw stuff of creativity in hand-crafted paper pamphlets â€“ or better yet professionally printed packages which put dreamers’ money where their mouths are â€“ still gets me going in ways that threaten my tired old heartâ€¦

With that in mind here’s a quartet of little gems and treats that have landed in my review tray recentlyâ€¦

App-1 #1

By Jim Alexander, Eva Holder, Conor Boyle, iella & various (Planet Jimbot)

As well as stunning graphic novels, independent publisher Planet Jimbot (likely lads Jim Alexander & Jim Campbell and an ever-shifting pool of burgeoning talent) also deliver proper comicbooks, and recently added to the simple superb Wolf Country and assorted anthologies was this wryly off-kilter full-colour entry into the world of superhuman adventurersâ€¦

Comprised of interconnected vignettes it all begins with ‘Tongue Lasher’ by Alexander, illustrator Eva (Bad Tooth) Holder & letterer Campbell who introduce an Earth under the scaly domination of nasty lizard men dubbed â€œThe Bogeysâ€ where curfew-breaking kids cower in fear until they meet an old dosser who tells them of the world’s greatest hero: a perfect superman now mysteriously vanished and forgottenâ€¦

However uttering aloud the forbidden name â€œApp-1â€ carries fatal consequencesâ€¦

Harking back to earlier, happier times ‘Above Us Only Sky: Part 1’ (Alexander, Conor (Dead Roots) Boyle & Campbell) reveals the superman in all his puissant glory after which ‘The Scorch App-1 Interview’ allows inside his head for some character-revealing intimate moments before ‘Above Us Only Sky: Part 2’ finds the hero nonplussed when a deadly meteor turns out to be occupied with something from â€œout thereâ€ before the first answers to all our questions are covered in ‘Scout’ Alexander, iella (The Ugly Duckling) & Campbell when a learned professor offers the hero a solution to unsuspected night terrors and performance anxieties. Of course sometimes it’s best to let such things aloneâ€¦

With pin-ups and design sketches by Holder and Fin Cramb, this cheery, all-ages snappy Sci Fi superhero romp is the tantalising start of what promises to become a firm fan favourite in years to comeâ€¦

App-1 #1 is available to buy at the Planet Jimbot shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/241056959/app-11

Assassin’s Creed: Trial by Fire #1

By Anthony Del Col, Conor McCreery, Neil Edwards & various (UbiSoft/Titan Comics)

I don’t normally cover actual comic issues but since somebody asked very politely, just this once I’m going to break my own rules. Although it’s not strictly small-press or self-published there’s nowhere else I can cover this first issue, so here goesâ€¦

Assassin’s Creed is a historical fiction action-adventure open world stealth video game, comprising, as of right now, nine main games and the usual wealth of multi-media supporting stuff. The games are available on almost every type of platform and are rather popular.

Apparently the core concept is derived from the 1938 anti-fascist historical/allegorical novel Alamut by Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol and incorporates concepts from the Prince of Persia series. Broadly speaking, the game concept details the eternal battle between two ancient secret societies: The Brotherhood of Assassins and The Templars.

This lends itself to an infinite variety of scenarios for all-action tales such as this one from Titan Comics in which bored and idle conspiracy theorist Charlotte de la Cruz suddenly finds herself in the middle of one, thanks to her unsuspected genetic inheritance coming to the fore after playing a certain video game for too long and too wellâ€¦

All too soon she’s thigh deep in death and danger thanks to her sharing the scary gift of many members of the Brotherhood: the ability to tap the memories of past lives.

Now, with an awful lot of people trying to kill her in spectacular fashion, The Brotherhood have specifically recruited her because something in her head (from an ancestor who endured the horrific Salem Witch Trials in 1692) holds clues to a threat very much active in the present.

And of course it’s a secret an awful lot of people want to kill her to keepâ€¦

There’s little more I can disclose without spoiling it for you but it’s all slickly engaging – courtesy of writers Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery (Kill Shakespeare) and illustrator Neil Edwards (Doctor Who: Four Doctors) – as it races along and will certainly please fans of the game and the genre. I think I’ll wait until the book compilation comes out thoughâ€¦

May 19, 2015May 18, 2015

Empowered Unchained volume 1

By Adam Warren with Emily Warren, Ryan Kinnaird, John Staton, Takeshi Miyazawa, Brandon Graham & various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-580-1

The trappings and minutiae of superheroes have finally become part of the contemporary conceptual consciousness, just as science fiction did in the 1960s and 1970s. As such the genre has finally laid itself open to the kind of loving ridicule and jocund spoofery which resulted in movies such as Galaxy Quest, Evolution, Mars Attacks, Woody Allen’s Sleeper or The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Whilst superhero films haven’t quite reached those raucous heights (although Mystery Men and British TV’s Misfits come damn close) the social democratisation of the once niche – or perhaps ghetto – genre’s core concepts have at least resulted in a few tellingly effective and fondly outrageous comicbook series in recent years.

Indubitably one of the best and most engaging is Empowered, which details in excruciating detail the misadventures of haplessly charming hero-nerd Elissa Megan Powers, who, through events I’ll save for a later review, came into possession of an alien super-suit and quite naturally opted to join the ranks of the world’s already overcrowded super-champion communityâ€¦

Although incredibly powerful, the hypermembrane outfit is shockingly skin-tight – which does nothing for her punishing body-image issues – and, despite being (eventually) self-repairing, tears at the slightest shock before taking its own sweet time to fix the gaping and revealing holes costumed combat regularly result in.

Moreover, since the dratted rag constantly malfunctions, â€œEmpâ€ all too often ends up beaten, bound and saucily posted in humiliatingly revealing positions on social media by smirking villains.

Consequently she’s been saddled with a â€œD-listâ€ rating and a tawdry reputation as a bondage icon with a pathetic â€œdamsel-in-distressâ€ problem. In fact even though she generally triumphs in the end, Empowered is considered to be the lamest â€œCapeâ€ in the Masks-&-Tights gameâ€¦

Created and crafted by US manga pioneer Adam Warren (Dirty Pair, Bubblegum Crisis, Gen 13, Livewires) and rendered in his signature â€œAmerimangaâ€ style, the series – which launched in 2007 – soon spawned a number of even more outrageous guest-artist specials, now happily collected in this splendid monochrome and full-colour softcover compilation

Gathering the Empowered Specials: The Wench with a Million Sighs (December 2009), Ten Questions for the Maidman (June 2011), Hell Bent or Heaven Sent (December 2012), Animal Style (June 2013), Nine Beers with Ninjette (September 2013) and Internal Medicine (March 2014), this riotously sly, wickedly wry and extremely sophisticated smutty comedy also offers full biographies of the shameless collaborators, and in ‘Unchained Extras’ pre-colour cover line art plus masses of designs and sketches in pencil, pen, colour and even computer rendering from all the participants.

Of course the true payoff is the stories themselves beginning with ‘The Wench with a Million Sighs’. With a little title-art assistance from Emily Warren (no relation) Adam’s shot-from-pencils black-&-white art reveals how, whilst the pitifully overmatched Empowered is battling – and being ridiculed by – DNA hunting super-villain grave-robbers, safely back home her bodaciously insatiable stud-muffin insignificant-other Thugboy and BFF Kozue Kaburagi – AKA New Jersey hellion Ninjette – are being treated to the low-down on what makes Elissa tickâ€¦

The shameless narrator of the tell-all trivia is certainly the one who knows her best: immortal alien super-devil The Caged Demonwolf has been stuck on the indomitable lass’ coffee table ever since Emp stopped it from destroying Earth by trapping its diabolical essence within an extraterrestrial â€œbondage beltâ€â€¦

Emily Warren graduated to co-illustrator with fifteen pages of colour craziness supplementing Adam’s monochrome sections in ‘Ten Questions for the Maidman’ wherein the Torn Titan’s odd relationship with the most terrifying crusader of the costumed community is examined via a tawdry celebrity chat show.

Blessed with no miraculous powers, what secret allows a mere man clad in a French maid outfit to overcome the mightiest foes and foil every threat to humanity? And why has the Dark-Knight Domestic chosen to break his customary silence on cheesy talk show Superstrong Words with BlitzCraig?

‘Hell Bent or Heaven Sent’ features guest creator Ryan Kinnaird for the colour section as Empowered joins the cleanup after a monumental battle featuring huge alien monsters and is relegated to dumping assorted wrecked remnants of â€œvillainwareâ€ in the legendary off-planet â€œJoint Superteam After-Action Superdebris Storage Vaultâ€ with robotic champions Mechanismo and El Capitan Rivet.

Sadly even Techno-Capes and Cyberbros are just dirty little boys at heart and when a bored metal man’s private â€œsexyfilesâ€ interact with the forbidden trashed tech, a plague of horny little cyber-angels and sensually pliable devil-girls are exported to the real world where their unquenchable chumminess manifests as a rapidly proliferating electronic STDâ€¦

Designer John Staton steps up to craft the lion’s share of manic battles in ‘Animal Style’ when an army of beast-based mecha-malevolents try to rip off the fabulous wonder cars and â€œâ€¦mobilesâ€ from the 20^th Annual International/Interchronal Alternate Timeline Superhero Auto Showâ€¦

Sadly for Terrorpin, Powerpachyderm, Brass Monkey, Cyberian Tiger, Supercobra and Maul Bunny the convention organisers have hired Empowered as a security guard and the cocky crimebots don’t take her seriously enoughâ€¦

Transpacific manga star Takeshi Miyazawa (Lost Planet, Bound Raven, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane) comes aboard for a poignant all-monochrome exploration of Emp’s greatest gal-pal Kozue Kaburagi, detailing the appalling life and secret history of the New Jersey nemesis through ‘Nine Beers with Ninjette’ after which things end with a bunch of bangs as the latest invasion of Earth involves Empowered, Ninjette and a coterie of UberNurses from the Purple Paladin Memorial Hospital struggling to save a dying baby bioship before its excitable xenomorphic mother eradicates everything.

The main problem is that the cosmic infant is afflicted with sentient mites and the soppy heroes can see the pregnant parasites’ momma’s point of view too. Can the flighty girls find a solution that will accommodate both sides in this dire dilemma of ‘Internal Medicine’ (co-crafted by Brandon Graham, late of Prophet, King City and Multiple Warheads)?

Fast, smart, filthily funny in the best possible taste and ferociously action-packed, this is a deliciously immature and superbly addictive treat for all lovers of Fights ‘n’ (laddered) Tights fiction no fan with a secret life can afford to missâ€¦
Â© 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Adam Warren, Empowered, Ninjette, Thugboy and all prominent characters and their distinctive likenesses are trademarks of Adam Warren. All rights reserved.

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015

Department of the Peculiar #1 & 2

By Rol Hirst & Rob Wells
No ISBNs:

In strikingly similar vein from alternative press veterans Rol Hirst and Rob Wells is a splendid mash-up of X-Men and X-Files, given a splendidly seductive British taste and tone.

DotP #1 sees scripter Hirst and illustrator Wells take a laconic look at what ails the world in ‘Sick Day’ where we meet Malcolm Drake: an American metahuman embarrassed by his powers and hiding out in the UK.

His sad life didn’t get any better this side of the pond but suddenly changes forever when he is blackmailed by the ever-vigilant government quango known as the Department of the Peculiar into joining their covert, severely under-funded and cash-poor rapid response team.

Malcolm makes people sick (that’s his power, not his attitude – well, maybe a bit of his attitude too) and when abrasive chief administrator Lisa Cole confronts him in a Manchester shopping centre that is exactly what she needs.

Another â€œPeculiarâ€ has seized control of an office building owned by food conglomerate Matheson-Beaumont. He did it by making people ill and wilfully distributing heart attacks and transfats amongst the security staff.

Threatened with deportation unless he replaces D.O.T.P.’s already-downed field agent, Malcolm reluctantly approaches the hostage building, but discovers that his strange gift can’t protect him from a heart attack eitherâ€¦

The story concludes in #2 with ‘Cure for Cancer’ as Drake provides a life-passing-his-eyes flashback and origin tale whilst aggrieved eco-warrior and nutritionally-abused walking cholesterol bomb Paul Aday carries out his ghastly revenge on the execs who poisoned a nation.

However Malcolm is made of stern stuff and rallies just enough to do the necessaryâ€¦

Gross, scary, funny and wildly beguiling, this is outrageous non-stop spoofery, surreal whimsy, deceptively gritty action and bureaucrat-bashing as only world-wearily laconic Brits can do it, marking this as one of the best indie titles I’ve seen in decadesâ€¦

Comicbook sized in stunningly powerful black & white, Department of the Peculiar #1 & 2 are available from rolhirst.co.uk and you can follow him on Twitter (@rolhirst) whilst these and Rob’s other wonderful canon of cartoon fun can be found via crispbiscuit.co.uk. He can be Twitterstalked on (@robertdwells).

Â© 2012, 2013 Rol Hirst and Rob Wells.
www.facebook.com/departmentofthepeculiar

February 26, 2015February 25, 2015

The Tower Chronicles: DreadStalker

By Matt Wagner & Simon Bisley (Legendary Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-93727-836-6

In The Tower Chronicles: Geisthawk, FBI agent Alicia Hardwicke first encountered a strangely compelling masked bounty hunter named John Tower who filled a rather select niche in the broad spectrum of law-enforcement and peacekeeping services. This odd enigma helped people with highly specialised problems: things cops and feds and government refused to even acknowledge the existence ofâ€¦

After having her eyes opened and seeing what Tower – â€œthe Geisthawkâ€ – did with vampires and ghosts and even stranger supernal threats, Alicia started skipping work and letting her day job slide to join him on his bizarre cases, but she could never crack his carefully guarded faÃ§ade of secrets nor ascertain the reason for his relentless, thankless and generally unrewarding crusade.

The concept was created by Thomas Tull (whose Legendary Pictures is responsible for the latest Batman/Dark Knight movies as well as The Hangover, Man of Steel and 300) and comics veteran Matt Wagner – presumably as a prime concept for the new hero’s own monster-bashing film franchiseâ€¦

This slim and sinister spooky sequel volume collects The Tower Chronicles: DreadStalker #1-6 (spanning August 2014 to January 2015) wherein Wagner, illustrator Simon Bisley and colourist Ryan Brown ramp up the tension whilst revealing a few of the horror-hunter’s darkest secrets.

The saga begins in the frozen wilds of Northern Ontario where a couple of thrill-seeking teenagers stumble upon a very hungry Wendigo. Their immediate gory consumption is narrowly averted by Tower and Hardwicke but, after the rescue and inevitable bloody battle, the FBI agent realises her sullen partner seems more interested in ransacking the beast’s lair that attending to a shellshocked survivorâ€¦

Elsewhere creepy cultists â€œThe Brotherhood of the Roseâ€ know far more about Tower than he would like, and confer on how to deal with the DreadStalker and give the first hints to his true motivations. Apparently magic calls to magic and supernatural terrors tend to confiscate eldritch artefacts. Somewhere there are objects Tower wants and his constant despatching of dire hidden horrors gives him unmatched opportunities to search for such spoilsâ€¦

The Brotherhood also covet such articles and, now that Tower has allied himself with Hardwicke, they believe they have the potential to exert a little leverageâ€¦

In the Washington DC office Alicia is using the Bureau’s vast resources to look into Tower’s past but her investigations are beginning to return impossible results. She is also starting to draw attention from her superiors, and terms like â€œnegligenceâ€, â€œobsessionâ€ and â€œreassignedâ€ are being used by her furious bossâ€¦

In his lonely citadel Tower broods. He is actually centuries old and has carried a grievous wound of the heart for that entire time. All his searching and ransacking of monsters’ dens is for one sublime purpose but his quest seems as far from success now as it always has. â€¦And on the other side of a looking glass, a beautiful, mournful woman waits for himâ€¦ Determined to get some concrete answers, Hardwicke confronts Tower’s elderly lawyer Romulus Barnes and wrangles an incredible story from the attorney of how the taciturn troubleshooter saved a young law student’s son from demonic doom in return for a lifetime of legal servitudeâ€¦

A most insidious villain, Martin Castle spearheads a cabal of entrepreneurs dubbed â€œThe ChÃ¢teau Groupâ€ and, when not selling genetically augmented heirs to shady sheiks, he and they harbour patient dreams of acquiring the world. However, Castle’s machinations mask a vile and increasingly debilitating secretâ€¦

Some answers – for the reader at least – are forthcoming as Tower resurfaces in New Mexico, hunting an avian monstrosity. Scaling the high cliffs to its nest, Jean Latour‘s mind cannot help but wing back to the First Crusade when as one of nine Christian warriors dedicated to liberating the Holy Land he co-founded The Knights Templar in 1119 Anno Domini.

He recalls how the crusaders’ initial vows of piety, poverty, chastity and charity gradually eroded as their ranks grew and their coffers swelled, and how his life changed forever when he rescued the heathen maiden Nadira from Christian soldiers determined to stop her from praying at the mosque they had converted to a barracksâ€¦

In New Mexico Tower’s reveries are curtailed when the appalling Thunderbird attacks, only to fall after an horrific battle to the DreadStalker’s accumulated centuries of martial prowess. The net result is only more disappointment as the slaughtered beast’s nest reveals many artefacts but nothing of any use to the immortal warrior.

When Tower drags his battered, pain-wracked body back to his car, Alicia is waitingâ€¦

Still refusing to share, he drives off and Hardwicke reluctantly goes to plan B, applying the federal screws to another member of Tower’s support network. Raf is the genius who builds the uniquely devastating ordnance employed by the Geisthawk to expunge assorted creatures of the night but his tale of how the un-aging man exorcised his unquiet mother only adds to Alicia’s growing sense of uneaseâ€¦

As Mr. Castle undergoes radical surgery in Austria to alleviate an unpleasant arcane infirmity, further gathered strands at last force Agent Hardwicke to accept the impossible: her silent partner is possibly hundreds of years old and has been holding back a horde of horrors for all that timeâ€¦

The man himself is in Colorado, dealing with a werewolf incursion in a brutally efficient manner before heading on to Ireland. En route he calls Alicia who probably scuppers her own career to join him, blithely unaware that the Brotherhood and Castle are both using her to track Tower. Neither organisation really wants the monster hunter, but they really need the prizes he’s likely to findâ€¦

After a cataclysmic battle with a ghastly Gaestlych, Tower finally relents and shares his story with Alicia, but the revelations give her no joy or satisfactionâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

Fast-paced and astoundingly action-packed, this slight but satisfying romp is tailor-made for transferral to large or small screen as companion or rival to Constantine, True Blood and Supernatural, but The Tower Chronicles primarily offers comics fans a spectacular rollercoaster of straightforward beastie-bashing in the grand traditional manner beloved of Fights ‘n’ Tights enthusiast everywhere.
Â© 2015 Legendary Comics LLC and Matt Wagner. All Rights Reserved.

February 25, 2015February 24, 2015

Kick-Ass 3 â€“ trade paperback edition

By Mark Millar, John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer & various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78329-087-1

Once upon a time, perennial High School no-hoper Dave Lizewski – a pitifully ordinary and unhappy teenager who loved comicbooks – realised that he had no chance of being part of the school â€œin-crowdâ€. He just hung out with the other geeks, nerds and social lepers; talking TV, movies, funnybooks and wishing he could have a perfect life and trophy girlfriend.

Then one day he had his big inspiration – he was going to be a masked superhero. All he needed was a costume and a gimmick. Oh, and a codename tooâ€¦

Clad in a wetsuit bought online and filled with hope, Dave started patrolling the streets and promptly got beaten into a coma by three kids tagging a wallâ€¦

After months in hospital and with three metal plates in his skull, Dave eventually returned to school, but the compulsion had only grown stronger. Soon he was prowling the city again. This time a chance encounter was recorded on witnesses’ camera-phones and uploaded to YouTubeâ€¦

An overnight internet sensation and supremely now overconfident, Dave – or Kick-Ass – inspired a wave of copycats, attracted the extremely unwanted attention of Organised Crime and met the closest thing to real superheroes the world had ever seenâ€¦

Dave’s life went into deadly overdrive when he met diminutive Mindy McCready – AKA Hit-Girl – and her burly, brutish, utterly insane senior partner Big Daddy: cool, efficient ninjas of justice and everything he’d aspired to be but could never approach in a million yearsâ€¦

These armoured, gun-toting urban vigilantes were utter ciphers, stalking and destroying the operations of brutal Mafia boss Johnny Genovese with remorseless efficiency and in complete attention-shunning anonymity. Before long Dave was drawn into their war and met fellow adventurer Red Mist, who turned out to be Genovese’s abused, psychotic son Chris: a bastard maniac in his own right.

Things got really out of hand and lots of people died. Mostly scumbags, but some good people and a few innocent civilians tooâ€¦

The mesmerising saga comes to a cataclysmic climax close as Kick-Ass 3 collects the final 8-part miniseries (originally published through Marvel’s Icon imprint) from Mark Millar, John Romita Jr, Tom Palmer and Dean White in a beguiling full-colour mass market paperback.

As seen previously, Red Mist had evolved into a truly psychotic and blood-drenched super-villain to counter the fannish tidal wave of costumed champions. In the aftermath of a bloody slaughter, superheroes were outlawed in New York, Dave and faithful masked pals Todd and Marty went undercover and the totally OTT Hit-Girl was arrested and sent to prisonâ€¦

The saga resumes now with the lads reviewing a letter from the deadly tyke and planning to bust her out with the aid of a few costumed associates. However, life is not as clear cut as comicbooks and the scheme ignominiously fails.

Life goes on and the boys graduate High School, seeping into dead-end jobs whilst spending nights patrolling and training for their next attempt. Soon, though, tensions begin to rise as skeevy newcomer hero The Juicer takes over their once-communal lair – formerly Mindy’s old tricked-out HQ. The gloating sod even moves in his girlfriendâ€¦

Disgusted, undeterred and resolved not to spoil things, Dave gets back to the streets. When a posse of gangbangers attempt to mug Kick-Ass the battle goes badly wrong before he is rescued by witness – and nurse – Valerie.

Elsewhere, greater events are afoot. Brutally maimed Chris Genovese is stuck in prison hospital awaiting trial when his uncle Rocco pays a visit. With the established hierarchy of organised crime decimated by Hit-Girl, the aged Don has returned from exile in Sicily. He had been shipped off years ago when his deviant tastes and merciless depredations proved to be too much even for the Mafia.

Now he’s back and making a move to unite all the criminals in America under his rule â€“ and he plans to make Chris his heirâ€¦

Self-proclaimed super-villain Chris is a changed boy and wants no part of it, but Rocco has the police force on his payroll. Nobody ever says no to the Donâ€¦

The boy’s mother has had enough too, but when she sneaks into his room determined to execute her crazy child she catches someone else with the same ideaâ€¦

Dave meanwhile has organised another attempt to spring Hit-Girl but even as he preps his motley crew, the lass in question is facing down her latest psychiatrist.

The malevolent tyke has spent the intervening months terrorising and pacifying the entire prison around her, whilst psychologically breaking a long string of mental health professionals assigned to her, but Dr. Alex White is made of sterner stuff. The ruthless, remorseless headshrinker is determined to crush not cure the waif-like homicidal maniac, whatever it takesâ€¦

Dave is a man distracted. Although he has planned a raid on the mob as they fÃªte the recently released Chris, his attention is mostly on Valerie. Thus the consequent attack is a disaster and the badly-scared mystery men barely get away with their livesâ€¦

In the cold light of day the heroes have a bitter falling-out at Justice Forever HQ and Dave adds The Juicer to his growing list of arch enemies. It’s hard to care, though, as he and Val are dating now and he’s having sex regularlyâ€¦

The only thing he hasn’t given up on is Hit-Girl. He will get her out, somehow, somedayâ€¦

He doesn’t know it, but Dave is on a clock. Rocco is firmly in the driving seat now and obsessed with the tiny titan too. He wants her out of jail so that he can smash his treasured golden ice-pick right into her brainâ€¦

As Dr. White plays the latest card in his duplicitous bag of brain-bending tricks, at Vic Gigante‘s place the bent cop – and Rocco’s most influential agent on the NYPD – has an interesting idea. With three trusted pals he’s devised a way to make even more dirty money in a foolproof manner.

Soon a quartet of â€œRobin Hoodâ€ masked heroes are brutally raiding all of Rocco’s places of business; killing mooks and confiscating cash. The Skull & Bones boys claim it’s all being passed on to the poor and naturally everybody believes themâ€¦

Lost in a lustful daze, not even a timely intervention by Todd can shake Dave up enough to get back in costume and on track, but the increasingly bold raids of the Skull & Bones gang is driving Rocco crazy. Only when the deviant Don declares war on every masked hero in the city and despatches hit squads to gun them down wherever they are does Dave finally rouse himself from a besotted haze and get back on the streetsâ€¦

The psychological campaign against Hit-Girl is also beginning to work. The formerly indomitable Mindy is retreating into memories of training with her dad and sharing those episodes with the exultant White.

Unfortunately the cocky doctor overplays his hand and seems to lose everything, but before he can reassess the situation Rocco Genovese has his family’s nemesis abducted from the penitentiary so that he can slaughter her in style.

Ferrying her to a big party at his estate, the Don thinks he’s won but is utterly unprepared for betrayal from within, the incomprehensible inability of Kick-Ass to give up and the sheer determination and total, sociopathic verve which inspires Hit-Girl in her holy mission to eradicate criminal scumâ€¦

Building to a cataclysmic, graphically hyper-violent, ferociously cathartic conclusion, the saga of simple soul Dave and the atrociously foul-mouthed Hit-Girl wraps up in unforgettable manner with plenty of shocking twists and surprises in a blockbusting clash which answers all the questions in a fashion fitting, furious and finalâ€¦

The blackly comedic and ultra-violent comedy quartet of tales which comprise the Kick-Ass saga are the ultimate extension of the modern trend for â€œrealisticâ€ superhero stories whilst simultaneously forming a brilliantly engaging and cynically hilarious examination of boyhood dreams and power fantasies, delivered with dazzling aplomb, studied self-deprecation and spellbinding style.

Here Millar’s mesmeric script skilfully dances on the very edge of possibility and credibility, whilst the stunning art collaboration of John Romita Jr., Tom Palmer and colourist Dean White afford a vision of New York life that ranges from Paradise to Hell on Earth.

Bracketed by a pithy Introduction from screen writer Geoff Wadlow and Afterword Acknowledgements from writer and artist, this majestically wide-screen extravaganza is a sharp, superb and stunning tale not just for comics fans but a genuine treasure for all followers of frantic fun and fantasy in any medium.

Kick-Ass 3 is scheduled for publication on February 27^th

January 1, 2015December 31, 2014

The Mighty Crusaders: Origin of a Super-Team

By Jerry Siegel, Paul Reinman & various (Red Circle Productions/Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-87979-414-6

If you like your superheroes grim, gritty and ultra-serious you won’t like what follows, but honestly in the final analysis it’s not Chekhov or Shakespeare, just people in tights hitting each other, so why not lighten up and have a little funâ€¦?

In the early days of the US comicbook biz, just after Superman and Batman ushered in a new genre of storytelling, a rash of publishers jumped onto the bandwagon and made their own bids for cash and glory. Many thrived and many more didn’t, relished only as trivia by sad old duffers like me. Some few made it to an amorphous middle-ground: not forgotten, but certainly not household names eitherâ€¦

MLJ were one of the quickest outfits to manufacture a mystery-man pantheon, following the spectacular successes of the Man of Tomorrow and Darknight Detective with their own small but inspirational pantheon of gaudily clad crusaders.

Beginning in November 1939 (one month after a little game-changer entitled Marvel Comics #1) with Blue Ribbon Comics #1 the MLJ content comprised a standard blend of two-fisted adventure strips, prose pieces and gag panels before, from #2 on, costumed heroes joined the mix.

The company rapidly followed up with Top-Notch and Pep Comics. â€¦

However, after only a few years Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (hence MLJ) spotted a gap in the blossoming market and in December 1941 nudged aside their masked heroes and action strips to make room for a far less imposing hero; an â€œaverage teenâ€ who would have ordinary adventures like the readers, but with triumphs, romance and slapstick emphasised.

Pep #22 (December 1941) featured a gap-toothed, freckle-faced, red-headed goof who took his lead from the popular Andy Hardy movies starring Mickey Rooney. Goldwater developed the concept of a youthful everyman protagonist, tasking writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana with the job of making it work. The 6-page tale introduced Archie Andrews and pretty girl-next-door Betty Cooper and his unconventional best friend and confidante Jughead Jones in a small-town utopia called Riverdale.

The feature was an instant hit and by the winter of 1942 had won its own title. Archie Comics #1 was the company’s first solo-star magazine and with it began a gradual transformation of the entire company. With the introduction of rich, raven-haired Veronica Lodge, all the pieces were in play for the comicbook industry’s second Genuine Phenomenon (as influential, if not so all-pervasive, as Superman)â€¦

By 1946 the kids had taken over, and MLJ renamed itself Archie Comics; retiring its heroic characters years before the end of the Golden Age and becoming, to all intents and purposes, a publisher of family comedies. Its success, like Superman’s, changed the content of every other publisher’s titles, and led to a multi-media industry including TV shows, movies, and a chain of restaurants. In the swinging sixties the pop hit â€œSugar, Sugarâ€ (a tune from their animated show) became a global smash: their wholesome garage band The Archies has been a fixture of the comics ever since.

Nonetheless the company had by this stage blazed through a rather impressive legion of costumed champions – such as The Shield; America’s first patriotic superhero who predated Captain America by 13 months.

A select core of these lost titans would communally form the backbone of numerous future superhero revivals, most notably during the â€œHigh-Campâ€, â€œMarvel Explosionâ€, â€œBatmaniaâ€ frenzied mid-60’sâ€¦

Archie Comics had tentatively tried a few new characters (Lancelot Strong: The Shield, The Fly and The Jaguar) when DC began bringing back masked mystery men in the late 1950’s with a modicum of success, and used the titles to cautiously revive some of their Golden Age stable in the early 1960s.

However, it wasn’t until superheroes became a Swinging Sixties global craze, fuelled as much by Marvel’s unstoppable rise as the Batman TV sensation, that the company committed to a full return of costumed craziness, albeit by what seemed to be mere slavish imitationâ€¦

They simply couldn’t take the venture seriously though and failed – or perhaps refused – to imbue the revitalised champions with drama and integrity to match the superficial zanyness. I suspect they just didn’t want to.

As harmless adventures for the younger audience the efforts of their â€œRadio Comicsâ€ imprint manifested a manic excitement and uniquely explosive charisma of their own, with the hyperbolic scripting of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel touching just the right note at exactly the right moment for a generation of kidsâ€¦

It all began when The Fly (originally created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby) was renamed Fly-Man to milk the growing camp craze and began incorporating mini-revivals of forgotten heroes such as Shield, Comet and Black Hood in his highly imitative pages.

With the addition of already-well-established sidekick Fly-Girl, an oddly engaging, viable team was formed and for a couple of truly crazy years the company proceeded to rollout their entire defunct pantheon for an exotic effusion of multicoloured mayhem before fading back into obscurityâ€¦

Here, then, is a deliciously indulgent slice of sheer backward-looking bluster and bravado from 2003 when the House of Wholesome Fun compiled a selection of Silver Age appearances into a brace of slim – and still mostly overlooked – compilations.

The Mighty Crusaders: Origin of a Super-Team collects the three tenuous team-ups from Fly-Man #31-33 (May- July 1965) plus the first issue of spin-off Mighty Crusaders (November 1965) which finally launched the extremely quarrelsome champions as an official squad of evil eradicatorsâ€¦

The wacky wonderment begins with a history lesson and loving appreciation in a ‘Foreword by Michael Uslan and Robert Klein’ before those first eccentric inklings of a new sensation are re-revealed in Fly-Man #31.

As previously stated, Jerry Siegel provided baroquely bizarre, verbally florid scripts, deftly parodying contemporary storytelling memes of both Marvel and National/DC: plenty of pace, lots of fighting, a whirlwind of characters and increasingly outrageous expository dialogue.

The artist was veteran illustrator Paul Reinman who had been drawing comics since the dawning moments of the Golden Age. His credits included Green Lantern, Sargon the Sorcerer, Atom, Starman and Wildcat.

He drew The Whizzer, Sub-Mariner and Human Torch at Timely and for MLJ he produced strips in Blue Ribbon Comics, Hangman, Jackpot, Shield-Wizard, Top-Notch and Zip Comics on such early stars as Black Hood, the Hangman and the Wizard. He even found time to illustrate the Tarzan syndicated newspaper comic strip.

Reinman excelled at short genre tales for Atlas in the 1950s and became a key inker for Jack Kirby on the Hulk, Avengers and X-Men as the King irrevocably reshaped the nature of comics storytelling in the early 1960s.

Here he used all that Fights ‘n’ Tights experience to depict ‘The Fly-Man’s Partners in Peril’ as criminal mastermind The Spider (nee Spider Spry) broke out of jail to attack his old enemy, only to have all his cunning traps spoiled by alien-equipped tech-master The Comet and, in second chapter ‘Battle of the Super-Heroes’, by The Shield and man of mystery Black Hood (whose irrepressible sidekick at this time was a miraculous robotic horse dubbed â€œNightmareâ€)â€¦

Caustically christening his foes The Mighty Crusaders, the villain attempted to ensnare them all in ‘The Wicked Web of the Wily Spider!’ but ultimately failed in his plot. The story ended with the heroes hotly debating whether they should formally amalgamate and swearing that whatever occurred they would never call themselves by the name The Spider had coinedâ€¦

Two months later they were back in Fly-Man #32 to battle an incredible psionic dictator from long-sunken Atlantis. With Fly-Girl adding glamour but unable to quell the boys’ argumentative natures, the still un-designated team clashed with the many monstrous manifestations of ‘Eterno the Tyrant’ before confronting the time-tossed terror and banishing him to trans-dimensional doomâ€¦

One final try-out appeared in Fly-Man #33 (September 1965) as boisterous bickering boiled over into outright internecine warfare between ‘Fly-Man’s Treacherous Team-Mates’, all ably assisted by the evil efforts of vile villain The Destructor.

The sort-of team had been recently joined by two further veteran heroes climbing back into the superhero saddle, but both The Hangman and The Wizard subsequently succumbed to rapacious greed as the Fly Guys gathered billions in confiscated loot; trying to steal the ill-gotten gains for themselvesâ€¦

Finally in November 1965 Mighty Crusaders #1 premiered (by Siegel & Reinman with a little inking assistance from Joe Giella or perhaps Frank Giacoia?).

‘The Mighty Crusaders vs. the Brain Emperor’ saw the heroes bowing to the inevitable after a team of incredible aliens attacked at the bilious bidding of an extraterrestrial megamind who could enslave the most determined of individuals with the slightest wrinkling of his see-through brow. However the mental myrmidon was no match for the teamwork of Earth’s most experienced crime-crushersâ€¦

Also included in this captivating chronicle is a splendidly strange cover gallery by Reinman.

The heroes all but vanished in 1967 but impressively resurfaced in the 1980s (albeit as a straight dramatic iteration) under the company’s Red Circle imprint but again failed to catch a big enough share of the reading public’s attention.

Archie let them lie fallow – except for occasional revivals and intermittent guest-shots in regular Archie titles – until 1991, when the company licensed its heroes to superhero specialists DC Comics for a magically fun, all-ages iteration (and where’s that star-studded trade paperback collection, huh?!).

Impact Comics was a vibrant, engaging and fun all-ages rethink that really should have been a huge hit but was again incomprehensibly unsuccessfulâ€¦

When the line folded in 1993 the characters returned to limbo until the company called for one more collaborative crack at the big time in 2008, briefly incorporating Mighty Crusaders & Co into DC’s own maturely angst-ridden and stridently dark continuity – with the usual overwhelming lack of success.

In 2012 Archie began reinventing their superhero credentials with a series of online adventures under the aegis of a revived Red Circle subdivision, beginning with a second generation of The Mighty Crusaders (reinforced by traditional monthly print versions six months later) and latterly The Fox: new costumed capers emphasising fun and action which were equally welcoming to inveterate fanboys and eager newcomers alike, so there’s still hope for the crazy gang to make goodâ€¦

Jerry Siegel’s irreverent, anarchic pastiche of Marvel Comics’ house-style, utilising Archie’s aged pantheon of superheroes is one of the daftest and most entertaining moments of superhero history, and the sentiment and style of these tales has become the basis of much of modern kids animation, from Powerpuff Girls to Batman: Brave and the Bold to Despicable Me. That tells me these yarns urgently need to be reissued because at last the world is finally ready for themâ€¦

Weird, wild and utterly over the top! This is the perfect book for jaded veterans or wide-eyed neophytes in love with the very concept of costumed heroesâ€¦
Â© 1965, 2003 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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App-1 #1 By Jim Alexander, Eva Holder, Conor Boyle, iella & various (Planet Jimbot)

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App-1 #1

By Jim Alexander, Eva Holder, Conor Boyle, iella & various (Planet Jimbot)