Category: Mystery

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Spacehawk


By Basil Wolverton with commentary by Monte Wolverton (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-550-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Basil Wolverton was one of a kind: an artist, humourist and wordsmith of unique skill and imagination and one whose controversial works inspired and delighted many whilst utterly revolting others. Born in Central Point, Oregon on July 9th 1909, Wolverton worked as a Vaudeville performer, reporter, illustrator and cartoonist. However, unlike most artistic tyros of his time, he preferred to stay far away from the big city. For most of his life, he mailed in his artistic offerings from the rural wilderness of Vancouver, Washington State.

He made his first national cartoon sale at age 16 and began pitching newspaper strips in the late 1920s. A great fan of fantastic tales and the swiftly-developing science fiction genre, Wolverton sold Marco of Mars to the Independent Syndicate of New York in 1929, but the company ultimately declined to publish it, citing its similarity to the popular Buck Rogers feature they sought to compete with!

Equally at home with comedy, horror and adventure/fantasy material, the young creative dynamo adapted easily to the notion of superheroes, and began working extensively in the new medium of comic books, generating such gems as Spacehawks and Disk-Eyes the Detective for Circus Comics, plus a brace of minor hits and unabashed classics. These included Rockman – Underground Secret Agent for Timely/Marvel’s USA Comics and today’s star: the grimly imaginative (but unrelated) cosmic avenger Spacehawk for Target Comics. Apparently tireless and blessed with unlimited imagination, Wolverton also produced a seemingly endless supply of comedic features, ranging from extended series (like Superman/sports parody Powerhouse Pepper) to double-, single- and half-page gag fillers such as Bedtime Bunk, Culture Quickie and Bedtime Banter.

In 1946, he notoriously won a national competition held by Al Capp – of Li’l Abner fame – to visualise Lena the Hyena, that strip’s “ugliest woman in the world”, and, during the space and horror boom the 1950s, crafted some of the most imaginative short stories comics have ever seen. He also worked for Mad Magazine with staggering effect…

Wolverton became a member of the Radio Church of God in 1941. The organisation was devised by Herbert W. Armstrong: a prototype televangelist of a then-burgeoning Christian fundamentalist movement. In 1956, Wolverton illustrated the founder’s pamphlet 1975 in Prophecy and two years later produced a stunning illustrative interpretation of The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last. Soon after, he began writing and drawing an illustrated 6-volume adaptation of the Old Testament. Entitled The Bible Story: The Story of Man, it was serialised in the sect’s journal The Plain Truth. His association with the Radio Church of God endured for the rest of his life. In 1973 the artist returned to comic books, illustrating more of his memorably comedic grotesques for DC’s Plop!, before suffering a stroke the next year. Basil Wolverton died on December 31st 1978.

His greatest triumph is undoubtedly the WWII-adjacent adventures of a mysterious, solitary steely-jawed he-man known only as Spacehawk. The strip debuted in the June 1940 issue of Target Comics (volume 1, #5) and ran for 30 issues until Wolverton left the company. With his origins only hinted at, Spacehawk initially prowled the star-lanes and outer reaches: a grim, relentless avenger of the persecuted innocent,. The stark, boldly exaggerated but meticulous art served only to highlight the singular appearance of the alien monstrosities and landscapes envisaged by Wolverton and defeated by “the Superhuman Enemy of Crime”. Some kids had nightmares after reading Spacehawk, and many parents wrote complaining letters because of it…

This epic assemblage gathers all those stunning stories in one breathtaking curated outburst, and begins by sharing pertinent background and context regarding the artist and his works in Monte (his son and also a cartoonist) Wolverton’s Introduction “The Lone Wolf of Void”. The heir also provided – from his father’s notes – individual episode names for those yarns that were originally untitled. Thereafter, the entire Spacehawk oeuvre unfolds in blistering force and all its delightfully overwhelming mechanistic totality.

Wolverton senior was clearly an avid follower of the nascent new genre of “scienti-fiction” in the grand Hugo Gernsback manner and his vivid, vibrant pages were bursting with highbrow concepts and images built from Functional Utilitarianism, with every panel crumbling under the weight of assorted tubes or tentacles, rockets, rays and bolts (both kinds) in service to the tale of a solitary, implacable dispenser of pitiless cosmic justice and retribution…

Just remember, this is not “retro”. This is what the term retro is referring to…

In the first episode (from Target Comics volume 1 #5 and cover-dated June 1940) the living enigma prowls the life-packed solar system in an era of constant interplanetary travel and commerce, albeit one plagued by petty regional tyrants and interworld piracy. With nothing but veiled hints of his coming from another system – if not galaxy – Spacehawk was simply a superior being resolved to do good and punish evil: a physical and mental marvel, brilliant beyond measure, and armed with psionic powers and an arsenal of astounding devices he set about righting wrongs wherever he found them. Yes: Doc Savage in space…

Delivered in an eye-popping and baroque style of fantastic imagination, introductory exploit ‘Spacehawk and the Creeping Death from Neptune’ sees the pitiless, mysteriously masked nemesis of evil drawn to the eighth planet to rescue kidnapped humans used as test subjects for sadistic Martian pirate Gorvak who is employing protoplasmic horrors to kill his victims.

With those monsters safely despatched, the still-faceless hero returned in vol. 1 #6 for ‘Spacehawk and the Lost Tribe of Mercury’ to save – through forced evolution – peaceful sea-dwellers on Venus as predatory Mercurians Rogg & Grebo ravage the water-world as they seek to locate, rob and kill refugees from their own fiery world, before #7 details how a beautiful Earth woman unmasks him. Whilst battling bizarre bandits Jark & Zork in ‘Spacehawk and the Perilous Planetoid Trap’ he strives to crush ruthless pirates using ballistic asteroids and gravity waves to plunder stellar shipping, but almost abandons his mission thanks to the charms of a newly-liberated slave girl…

Back to his stolid dedicated self, the Lone Wolf then battles cunning scavengers from his past and another star-system in ‘Spacehawk and the Vulture Men from the Void’ and displays his undercover credentials when he is dragged into the cesspit morass of politics in #9’s ‘Spacehawk and Mayhem at the Martian Election’. In Target Comics #10 ‘Spacehawk and the Pirate City on Venus’ – wherein the vigilante saves interplanetary police from a cosmic corsair citadel by extraordinary trans-species brain surgery – is supplemented by prose vignette ‘The Scratches of Doom – A Spacehawk Adventure’ as the astral avenger uses ancient detective methods to ferret out a cunning but short-sighted murderer. TC #11 finds him back in all his visual magnificence for ‘Spacehawk and the Pirates of Saturn’ as his relentless pursuit of evil briefly reunites him with Galar: another of his own race of supermen but one who has drifted from the path of virtue and valour…

Target #12 (January 1941) ended the first volume by introducing some recurring friends and foes as ‘Spacehawk and the Treachery of Smebar’ sees the hero save Neptune’s Noomite Queen Haba from her lustful, ambitious and usurping chief minister – who sees himself as a potential global overlord – whilst volume 2 #1 sees the Lone Wolf still in the vicinity and the focus of ‘Droon’s Plot Against Spacehawk’. However, the promise of Haba’s vile science advisor to make the enigmatic hero more tractable and amenable to her amorous overtures is foiled in vol. 2 #2’s ‘Spacehawk and the Master Plan of Droon’… just in time for a radical course correction…

Redefined by the designation Defender of America, the remaining Spacehawk tales are all Earth-based, with his mighty mentality and staggering superscience aimed at a contemporary, immediate and local threat. When the US entered the war on December 8th 1941, Wolverton’s editors compelled him to shift his story perspectives. Thus the space ranger took up a close orbit and faced Axis powers Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan (but not Italy) who gave the stellar Sentinel far more trouble than all the devils in the rest of the solar system, thereby further diluting the eerie power of the series but never the astounding illustration. By the end of 1942 (Target Comics volume 3, #10) Wolverton and his interplanetary masterpiece were gone, and headed for less hostile climes and more appreciative bosses.

In the first Terran trial he rapidly ends a Japanese scheme to bomb American cities from an artificial asteroid before vol. 2 #3’s ‘Spacehawk and the Undersea Tank’ sees Democracy’s newest champion spectacularly scuttling a city-sized subsea moving fortress constructed to sink US shipping and destroy the Panama Canal…

Wolverton’s wicked gift for caricature increasingly came into play from now on, and in Spacehawk and the Submarine Attack’ the alien Übermensch abducts grotesque and clownish German dictator “Moosler” and gives him a terrifying taste of battlefield conditions before deploying his mentally-controlled robotmen to wreck another marine masterplan in vol 2. #5’s ‘Spacehawk and the German Submarine Carrier’, after which ‘Spacehawk and the German Snow Airbase’ details how a hidden arctic airfield is destroyed and all its bombers shot down by the Stratospheric Sentinel…

An earthly archenemy manifests next as a sinister mercenary scientist steals many of the Lone Wolf’s secrets (including the ubiquitous and awesome antigravity principles) after our hero is ambushed and tortured in ‘Dr. Gore’s Hidden Lab’. Although his escape is prompt and vengeance terrible, the miscreant is as hard to kill as a cockroach and promptly retaliates in sequel saga ‘Dr. Gore’s Ant-Gravity Villainy’. Thankfully, the hero has enlisted a willing extraterrestrial sidekick in mighty minion Dork, a gleeful but so-homely comedic collaborator set on smashing bad guys and a being happy to maroon Gore on barren Mars once Spacehawk has done with him…

Target Comics vol, 2 #9 introduces another manic and hilariously libellous faux Fuhrer as ‘Nitwitler’s Secret Stratosphere Ships’ finds Spacehawk saving Canada from high-altitude bombardment before ‘Spacehawk and the Disks of Death’ sees him perform similar service, saving San Franciso from propaganda inundation and deadly skyscraper-scything missiles…

A change of pace in v2 #11 has the hero and Dork heading out west to stop subversive Bund leader Herman Vogel building a Fifth Column army in ‘Spacehawk and the Bullet Ship …That Brought Vengeance from the Void’ before the final issue of volume 2 (cover-dated February 1942) explores ‘Spacehawk and the Return of Dr. Gore’. Now, having escaped Mars, the tyrannical technologist wreaks vengeance on American infrastructure using stolen antigravity tricks… until Spacehawk intervenes…

Volume 3 #1 (March 1942) ramps up the patriotic fervour as ‘Spacehawk and the Battling Bullet Ships’ details the Deep Space Duo’s demolition of enemy planes bombing Iceland, before again going undercover to ferret out saboteurs wrecking dam construction in ‘Spacehawk and the Case of the Black Avenger’. Then, madder than ever, Dr. Gore resurfaces in ‘Spacehawk and the Blazing Death’ using an artificial storm cloud to blast US ships after which a turning point is reached…

Vowing to use his science directly for the war effort, the alien ace joins government think tanks in ‘Spacehawk and his Super Divebomber’ (Target vol. 3 #4) building revolutionary aircraft and crushing the wave of saboteurs resolved to destroy them. However, he is soon called away to wipe out a fiendish Japanese super-sub squadron in 5 ‘Spacehawk and the Devil Divers of the Deep’ before going on to Alaska in vol.3 #6 and destroying an invasion force in ‘Spacehawk and the Secret Japanese Base’…

‘Spacehawk and the Mystery of the Green Faces’ finds him recalled to Washington DC to cure a diabolical bio-weapon that turns sufferers into emerald-hued raving fascists. After defeating the archenemy behind the threat he then delves into creating his own weapon of mass destruction in ‘Spacehawk and the Supersonic Siren’…

The foe of fascism was happy to employ their own methodology against them with both bio-weapons and ultimate destruction devices leaping off his drawing board and into action, but he also fought an occasional small battle. In TC v3 #9, Spacehawk and the Case of The Missing Tires’ delivers a wry, light-hearted romp as the Lone Wolf grudgingly helps a feisty motorist made victim of tyre thieves (a grievous and growing felony in those times of war-effort rationing) and finds himself in over his head as left-leaning actress Diana Drean refuses to be patronised, assisted, sidelined or assassinated by the tyre-stealing gangsters…

Sadly that delightful switch in tone was never built upon as vol 3 #10 (December 1942) presented one final exploit in ‘Spacehawk and the Secret Submarine Fuel Depot’ with the space ace uncovering an enemy U-Boat installation in neutral Mexico and taking appropriate definitive action….

And that was that.

Changing times and tastes meant that Wolverton never returned to dramatic serial storytelling but instead went on to master anthological short graphic fiction – especially in the booming post-war fields of horror and science fiction (so stay tuned for those in days to come). This titanic tome also abruptly ends, delivering one last treat in a sublimely pencilled ‘Spacehawk cover sketch’ plus his only front of house appearance in the ‘Spacehawk cover’ on Traget Comic vol. 1 7…

Finally achieving the measure of popular recognition he always deserved, Basil Wolverton was a truly unique visionary and graphic pathfinder who inspired hundreds and entertained millions. This compendium from 2012 gathers all those so-Retro sidereal sagas and is an unmissable example of a creator given latitude and permission to be himself. If you love outré wonder and breathless, breakneck joy in motion, this is a treat you must not miss…
© 2012 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All contents © 2012 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. unless otherwise noted. “The Lone Wolf of the Void” © 2012 Monte Wolverton. All rights reserved.

Today in 1897 pioneering and groundbreaking Russo-Serbian cartoonist Ivan Sensin was born, with Barney Google creator Fred Lasswell arriving in 1916; Archie Comics head honcho Richard Goldwater, coming along in 1936 and Underground legend S. Clay Wilson (Zap Comix, The Checkered Demon) in1941. Italian comics creator Anna Brandoli (Cuba 42, La Strega) was born in 1945 and French artist/raconteur Thierry “Ted” Benoit (Bingo Bongo et son Combo Congolais, Ray Banana, Blake and Mortimer) followed in 1947: as did cartoonist Ray Billingsley (Lookin’ Fine, Curtis) in 1957 and artist/letterer Galen Showman in 1972.

Today in 1887 journalist, playwright, social reformer and Punch co-founder Henry Mayhew died. In 1982 Canadian adventure strip god Hal Foster (Tarzan, Prince Valiant) died too.

Today in 2007 The United States Postal Service introduced Marvel superhero postage stamps.

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Pigeons from Hell


By Robert E. Howard, adapted by Scott Hampton & lettered by Steve Vance (Eclipse Books)
ISBN: 0-913035-69-6 (Limited Edition Album HB), 978-0-91303-568-9 (Album TPB)

This book contains Discriminatory Content commonplace in less enlightened times. This book includes Discriminatory Content used for dramatic effect.

Robert Ervin Howard is justly celebrated for his burly, barbarian sword-&-sorcery creations such as Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn and others but as a successful jobbing writer in the heyday of pulp fiction he also turned his blazing typewriter to most of the other extant genres of the era. Moreover, as aficionados of his blistering fantasy fiction are well aware, he was a dab hand at creating tension, suspense and moody macabre horror.

During the too-brief time of his creative peak he crafted a select pack of chilling spooky supernatural stories set in the evocative southern milieu known as ArkLaTex – a doom- shrouded, decadence-driven Deep South meeting-point of the darkest corners of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and his beloved Texas. Deeply moved and inspired by old stories heard at his grandmother’s knee, Howard transformed oft-told anecdotes into timeless masterpieces of terror such as The Shadow of the Beast, Moon of Zambebwie, Black Hound of Death, Black Canaan and especially the yarn under scrutiny here: a chilling confection described by Stephen King as “one of the finest horror stories of our century”.

The tirelessly prolific Howard took his own life in 1936 and the prose Pigeons from Hell (unsold since its completion in 1932) was published posthumously in the May 1938 edition of premier pulp Weird Tales. It has become a classic not just of the genre but also a notional inclusion of the prestigious Southern Gothic movement of writers including Thomas Wolfe, William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, Tennessee Williams and others.

In 1988 the original text was incorporated into a stunningly lush, lavishly painted deeply faithful adaptation by Scott Hampton and published by West Coast mavericks Eclipse Books, which, despite a later version by Joe R. Lansdale & Nathan Fox in 2008 (published by Dark Horse and reviewed here, remains one of the best horror graphic novels ever produced. This is in no small part due to its being printed on magnificently larger-than-life, glossy square white pages produced in the oversized European Album format of 285 x 220mm rather than the standard US proportions of 258 x 168mm.

Following an impassioned Introduction from Horrorist Supreme Ramsey Campbell the Depression-era exercise in the unnatural opens with ‘The Whistler in the Dark’ as a pair of perambulating New Englanders bumming their way across America on a motoring vacation reach the southlands region of Piney Woods and decide to spend the night in a dark, decrepit, abandoned antebellum plantation house.

Crashing out on the musty floor of the main downstairs room they sink into exhausted sleep, but in the middle of the night Griswell is awakened by bad dreams. They’d begun with replaying their arrival at sunset, discovery of the ramshackle edifice and all the oddly ethereal white birds their presence had disturbed. From there his visions had moved on to their quick, cold repast and weary lapse into slumber before shifting into nightmare feelings of disquiet. When Griswell roused, anxious and disturbed, it was with images of ghostly doves, hidden rooms concealing ancient hanging bodies and a sense that something was hiding just beyond his sight…

Trying to shake himself to full alertness, Griswell suddenly heard an eerie whistling and, helpless, watched his companion John Branner rise – as if sleepwalking – to ascend the grand staircase to the upper storey and into all-enveloping darkness. Incapable of movement, Griswell followed the sounds of Branner’s progress and suddenly, a hideous scream came…

Before he could move, Griswell heard Branner’s slow return. Then moonlight allowed a glimpse of his companion, and the sight was enough to send Griswold screaming helter-skelter into the night…

Reaching their automobile he found the vehicle infested with snakes and kept on running, convinced some unknown beast was at his heels. Careering ever on, he ran straight into a local lawman who instantly emptied his revolver into a shadow that pursued him…

‘Return’ fully introduces capable County Sheriff Kirby Buckner, who surprisingly accepts much of Griswell’s incredible tale and provides historical insight into the woeful tale and sinister reputation of Blassenville Manor as he and the terrified vacationer revisit – in full, comforting daylight – a scene of dreadful slaughter.

Swiftly ruling out the possibility of argument and murder amongst friends, Buckner begins searching the house for the true killer but comes up empty. Furthermore, knowing how bad things would look in a rational courtroom, he invites traumatised Griswell to help him get to the truth, by joining him and spending another night in the house…

‘The Snake’s Brother’ finds them preparing for that horrific prospect by researching the tragic history of the last of the Blassenvilles. In the years following the Civil War, three unwed daughters and a cousin, struggling to maintain the old pile, were eventually joined and chaperoned by their cold, brutal Aunt Celia, who had returned from the West Indies to watch over them.

Celia was a terrifying presence, as harsh with the girls as she was with remaining plantation staff and her own much-maltreated “mulatto” maid Joan…

The legend of the girls’ mysterious and sudden disappearance was common knowledge, but for more details Buckner and Griswold question an aged Negro who used to work on the plantation. When pressed, the still-mortally terrified dotard Jacob reveals a fantastic tale of brutal oppression, serpent worship, voodoo and appalling, unleashed, brooding vengeance… until he is hideously struck down by the power that lurks in the mansion…

Appalled, deeply shaken but more resolved than ever, Buckner and Griswold head for the Manor, mistakenly believing that they have a handle on what unquiet horror haunts the place and how to handle it in final chapter ‘The Call of Zuvembie’. They have jumped to a ghastly and tragic wrong conclusion…

Not only is the original prose work one of the best pieces of horror fiction ever written, but in this rare instance this adaptation – crafted over two long, meticulous years by Hampton – more than matches the power and all-encompassing mood of its source material. This is a classic of graphic narrative and fear fiction no fan will want to miss – but only with all the lights on…
© 1932, 1988 the Estate of Robert E, Howard, Glenn Lord Executor. Adaptation and painting © 1988 Scott Hampton. Introduction © 1988 Ramsey Campbell. Pigeons from Hell © 2008, 2009 Robert E. Howard Properties Inc. (“REHP”). All rights reserved.

Today in 1907 Antonia Yeoman was born: an Australian-Englishwoman cartoonist who became the only female member of Punch’s elite (male only) Toby Club. She shares the date with veteran colourist Gene D’Angelo (The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Blondie, Mandrake the Magician, Beetle Bailey, Superman Family, Action Comics, World’s Finest, Flash, Superboy, Justice League of America), born in 1924; Batman artist Lew Sayre Schwartz in 1926; artist Ricardo Villamonte (Doctor Strange, Saga of Crystar) in 1932; Australian cartoonist, sculptor, caricaturist and satirist Pat Oliphant in 1935. In 1947 Filipino artist Romeo Tanghal (New Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, Men of War) arrived on Earth, joined in 1958 by writer/editor Bob Greenberger (Crisis on Infinite Earths, Doom Patrol, Who’s Who in the DC Universe, Star Trek, Suicide Squad), and one year later by Guyanese American illustrator Trevor Von Eeden (Black Lightning, Batman, Thriller), with Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil, Amazing Spider-Man, The Sandman, Orbiter) coming along in 1963.

British Superman Garth debuted today in 1943, in a Daily Mirror strip by Steve Dowling & John Allard that ran until 1997.

The day also saw the deaths of some major and much-beloved players, such as illustrator Lou Fine (The Ray, Black Condor, The Flame, Uncle Sam, The Spirit, Taylor Woe, Adam Ames) in 1971; All Ages All Star Warren Kremer (Richie Rich, Caspar the Friendly Ghost, Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Little Audrey, Stumbo the Giant, Joe Palooka, Planet Terry, Count Duckula, Ewoks, Royal Roy, Top Dog) in 2003 and in 2012, Chilean cartoonist Themístocles Nazario Lobos Aguirre – AKA “Themo Lobos” – (Máximo Chambónez, Ferrilo, Nick Obre, Alaraco, with his most famous work being Mampato, Cucalón) and Indonesian comics author “R. A.” (Raden Ahmad) Kosasih (Sri Asih, Ramayana, Siti Gahara, Seri Mahabharata, Setan Cebol).

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Murder by Remote Control


By Janwillem van de Wetering & Paul Kirchner Dover Comics & Graphic Novels)

ISBN: 978-0-486-80560-3 (TPB) 978-0-486-81208-3 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Graphic Novels are utterly ubiquitous these days, even though a vast part of the population still can’t – or won’t – differentiate between the big books we insiders mean and the flimsy, pamphlet periodicals comprising the bulk of items on sale.

Can I at least muddy the waters a little more?

Yes I Can.

Something that gathers a selection of previously-published material – strips from newspapers or anthological sources, comic book issues, selected stories on a theme – all used to be deemed an Album, Collection, or even, Gods help us, an Omnibus or Trade Paperback. These included any re-presentation of superhero sagas like Archives or Essentials, themed or curated conglomerations like Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told or Marvel Visionaries or even the groundbreaking Cerebus “phone-book” editions. Anything serialised in periodicals, but intended from conception to be eventually gathered into one unified form, WAS a graphic novel (Maus, Watchmen, Persepolis or Cerebus again). As Bugs Bunny adroitly quipped “confusing… ain’t it?”

Any long-form tale utilising sequential narrative (A Contract with God, Sabre, Pride of Baghdad) released in one big bite is a true Graphic Novel these days called an OGN -Original Graphic Novel, That’s what Will Eisner, Jim Steranko & Neal Adams were getting at when they started using the term in the late 1970s, and it’s what we should mean when lobbing these terms about willy-nilly.

For every person who accepts those categorisations, there are dozens who will violently disagree and can cite at least one package which correctly refutes and defies the definition. And because I’m a wilfully contrary pixie, I’ll just remind you that Charles Dickens published his greatest books as periodical magazine part-works before some avaricious bright spark stitched them all together in single complete editions called novels…

I don’t care: just remember all modern comics publishers crave the cachet of the term graphic novel attached to their product but it is one that has been adopted and most ardently championed by retailers and distributors who, from the moment big books of drawn stories started appearing at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, needed some way to pigeonhole and differentiate them from cookbooks, coffee-table tomes, kids storybooks and other releases packed with pictures.

Murder by Remote Control is a true Graphic Novel – amongst the very first planned and premeditated examples of the form – and after decades in obscurity was granted a second chance to be seen it in all its intended glory…

In the 1980s US comics got a huge creative boost with the advent of high quality pictorial narrative magazines like Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated which showcased adult-oriented material with high quality graphics and formats such as had taken Europe by storm a decade previously. Earlier American experience of such work had been limited to the Underground Comix scene (in terms of content if not production values, at least) and an occasional independent, out-market experiment of such maverick luminaries as Wallace Wood, Steve Ditko or Steranko.

When Heavy Metal premiered in April 1977, looking very much like its French conceptual parent Métal Hurlant, there was precious little original American material to supplement the sumptuous continental treats therein. One of the first US creators to join the magazine was Paul Kirchner (The Bus, Realms, Dope Rider), who had worked as an assistant to Wood in the early 1970s and contributed to such indie projects as Big Apple Comics. Born in 1952, Kirchner was in his third year at Cooper Union School of Art in New York when Neal Adams & Larry Hama introduced him to the horror editors at DC, whose anthology titles always needed fresh blood. He thereafter assisted Tex Blaisdell on Little Orphan Annie and in 1973 joined Ralph Reese at Wood’s studio.

A young man in tune with many spiritual and conceptual tropes prevalent during those culturally cosmopolitan times, there was a thoughtful, underplayed intensity in his meticulously-crafted work, but Kirchner was hampered by slow working-speed, at a time when quick turnaround always trumped artistic merit or quality. He eventually drifted out of comics to find far better-paying work in the advertising, animation and design trades. In recent years he has drifted back into comics with additions to his Bus and Dope Rider sequences…

Part of the reason for the transition is explained in his Introduction, which describes his meeting with Dutch expatriate author Janwillem Lincoln van de Wetering (The Empty Mirror, Grijpstra and de Gier crime novels, Hugh Pine (the Porcupine) Judge Dee Plays His Lute) He is a global-traveller and Zen Buddhist scholar who eventually settled in Maine. Under circumstances best enjoyed first hand by reading the actual Intro, the exuberant writer and jaded cartoonist met in 1981 and decided to work together on a dream project: a crime mystery in comics form.

The project took Kirchner a few years to complete but when ready for publication the real hard work began. Most publishers prefer to work in 20-20 hindsight: happy to jump on a successfully blazing bandwagon but preferring to chew off their own arms rather than risk money on being first with something new that can’t be easily categorised. The completed work was schlepped around for two years until Ballantine bought it in 1986. This was when Maus, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchman simultaneously slapped the world in the face and the public went ga-ga for graphic narratives…

Ballantine – who had decades earlier introduced America to comic strip paperbacks with its digest-sized collections of Mad reprints – were willing to take a chance on a mass-market edition, albeit in a diminished size and format, even though as Moord Op Afstand the tale had been a success in Holland and elsewhere as a lavish, full-sized hardback album. Despite favourable coverage from Gahan Wilson in The New York Times Book Review, that bowdlerised Murder by Remote Control sank without trace and the creators reluctantly moved on to other things.

Back in 2016, after far too long, Dover added the sublime metaphorical masterpiece in monochrome to their crucial list of rescued comics treasures, restored to its intended page size (278 x 218 mm) and with the original cover replacing the sliced-&-sampled multiple-panel mock-up of the 1986 edition. The story itself would have been groundbreaking if it had been released in 1983 but happily remains decidedly off-key, devilishly off-beat and delightfully engaging with echoes of Agent Dale Cooper, Blue Velvet or other cult entertainment icons eerily abounding here…

After obnoxious property speculator Mr. Jones starts buying up sections of idyllic Maine coastline, he suddenly turns up dead in his little fishing dingy. The death occurs in full view of four residents who each might have a strong motive to remove the interloper, but the County Sheriff is extremely keen on ruling the case an accidental death. However, his report results in the unwelcome arrival of agonisingly restrained and refined – almost emotionless – Detective Jim Brady from the Augusta Office.

Cool and preternaturally calm, the self-effacing little man has a way of seeing deep into the hearts and minds of everybody, and he quickly rules it a homicide by most arcane means. Now he’s planning on hanging around, probing the characters and backgrounds of the uniquely baroque quartet of suspects and undoubtedly sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong…

Informed by Zen principles, the story unfolds as Brady flamboyantly deconstructs each potential suspect, consequently uncovering far more secrets than any little rural enclave could possibly contain before reaching his conclusions. However, even with the case closed, his actions remain at odds with your run-of-the-mill copper, and there’s one last twist still in store…

Cool, surreal and challengingly psychedelic, the plot is realised with sleek and understated panache; mixing the welcoming warmth and idiosyncratic style of Ditko’s figurework and facial expressions with the glossily sleek glamour and factual solidity of Wood. This book is a delicious treat for the eyes and a therapeutic exercise for the mind…

Supplemented by Stephen R. Bissette’s incisive and expansive Afterword ‘A Man, A Boat, A Bay, A Bite, A Beer Can…’ offering historical context and artistic commentary, this is a magnificent lost gem, rightly restored to its place in the history of our art form, but it’s also a beautifully-crafted, intellectually challenging Bloody Good Read.
Go get it.

© 1986, 2016 by The Wetering Family Trust and Paul Kirchner. Afterword © 2016 by Stephen R. Bissette. All rights reserved.

Today in 1936 British licensed strip superstar creator Angus Allan (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Logan’s Run, Six Million Dollar Man, DangerMouse) was born, and shares his natal day with iconic cartoonist Vaughn Bodé (Cheech Wizard, Cobalt-60, Deadbone) in 1941.

In 1939 this day DC Thomson’s landmark but luckless UK weekly The Magic Comic launched, as did Frédéric Othon Théodore “Fred” Aristidès’ strip Philémon in Pilote in 1965 and Go Nagai’s manga thriller Violence Jack in 1973.

We lost two giants of all ages cartooning on this date: Mickey Mouse pathfinder Floyd Gottfredson in 1986 and the wonderfully inventive, brilliant talented and kind John Ryan (Captain Pugwash, Harris Tweed, Mary, Mungo and Midge, Crockle, Sir Prancelot) in 2009.

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Pride & Joy


By Garth Ennis & John Higgins, lettered by Annie Halfacree (Vertigo/Image)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-803-7 ( 2004 Vertigo TPB), 978-1-4012-0190-6 (2016 Image TPB/ Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Garth Ennis has a well-deserved reputation for shocking, moving and wickedly funny storytelling, and is accomplished in blending genres for maximum effect, as his successes with The Boys, Battlefields, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, foundational runs on Preacher and Hellblazer, impious seminal shocker True Faith and a dozen other tales can attest.

One of his least regarded or remembered – in my opinion unjustly so – is this ferocious family saga of a painfully mundane domestic world turned upside down by an unredeemed past. It is a story of pedestrianly ordinary folk with none of the baroque or flamboyant characters that populate regular fiction…

There’s this guy called Jimmy Kavanagh. His wife is long-dead and son Patrick is at that revolting sulky teen age, but at least his little daughter Rachel is still the most beautiful girl in the whole world. Life is hard: his own dad, a war-hero, has just passed on, but the family are doing okay…
That all changes in a moment after Jimmy’s stupid past resurfaces. Back in 1972 he and a couple of his idiot pals reckoned they were going to be big-time hoods when they agreed to rip-off a gang boss. The gig had been planned by the boss’ own bodyguard, Stein, who promised them a million dollars…

Unfortunately for everybody but Jimmy, his pals were real shmucks, and ballsed up the caper. Cops came, busted Stein before he could kill them all and took him away for twenty-to-life. Scared straight by the experience, Jimmy got on with his life… until now. One night he gets a call and his world starts to implode. Coming home to finds the babysitter gutted like a fish. Stein is out and he wants revenge…

Gathering his kids and linking up with his old “colleagues” they go on the run together, but the hunter can’t be shaken and innocent people keep dying. Unable to bond with his son during their entire life together Jimmy finally, tragically connects with Patrick as the sorry saga comes to a small and dirty close…
With chilling echoes of Cape Fear (the 1962 Gregory Peck/Robert Mitchum release) this tale examines how ordinary people cope with ordinary evil: a cheap thug with a knife is just as deadly as a horde of vampires. You and yours can only die once – painfully, horribly; but just once. Pride & Joy is a tale about dreams and hopes and heritage, showing how mediocre people cope, illustrated with perfect subtle understatement by John Higgins. Nothing about this story is big or bold or bombastic: but it could really happen. It’s that scary…
© 1997, 2004 Garth Ennis and John Higgins. All Rights Reserved.

Born today in 1926 Mexican writer Yolanda Vargas Dulché de la Parra (Memín Pinguín), sharing the day with artist Phil Noto (Gen13, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Jonah Hex. Green Lantern, Indiana Jones, Captain America) in 1971 and writer/musician/attorney Charles Soule (Daredevil, Letter 44, Swamp Thing, Death of Wolverine) in 1974.

This day in 1975 we lost revolutionary cartoonist Vaughn Bodé (Cheech Wizard, Cobalt-60, Deadbone,) and in 1990 French auteur Yves Chaland (Adventures of Freddy Lombard, Bob Fish, Adolphus Claar, Retro-Spirou).

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Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter: Coming of the Dragon!


By Dennis J. O’Neil, David Anthony Kraft, Bob Haney, Mike W. Barr, Leopoldo Durañona, Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss, Jack Kirby, Ric Estrada, Jim Aparo, Alex Saviuk Wally Wood, Jack Abel, Al Milgrom, D. Bruce Berry, Vince Colletta & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0810-2 (HC) 978-1-7795-1240-6 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The mysterious martial arts of “The East” have always fascinated western readers and writers. Adventurers, detectives and mystery men like Sexton Blake, Batman, Doc Savage, The Spider and The Shadow drew much of their history and arsenal from the arcane Orient, and even intellectual acme Sherlock Holmes occasionally employed the scientific combat system of “Baritsu” – actually a mixed martial art called Bartitsu which developed between 1898-1902. Moreover, every secret agent worth their salt was au fait with assorted “chop sockey” techniques: generally disparaging them while delivering a visually enticing signature blow…

Putting aside references in assorted newspaper strips, the first specialist martial arts comic book star was Judo Joe: a young American raised in Japan who used his training for the benefit of all. Three issues were released between August and December 1953. The work of Dr Barney Cosneck and illustrator Paul W. Stoddard, it set the tone of the genre as well, devising an enduring feature of most early strips in illustrated lessons on specific moves and techniques to let them all break bones in the security of their own bedrooms. Kids! DO try this at home… but not on the cat. That what little brothers are for…

Comics in the 1960s were highly spiced with judo and karate users, with by far the most accurate forms employed by Charlton Comics champions Sarge Steel (#1 December 1964, by Pat Masulli & Dick Giordano) and WWII costumed combatant Judomaster (first seen in Special War Series #4, November 1965): both benefitting from the specialist Kung Fu knowledge and artistic skills of Frank McLaughlin – an actual judoka who had studied martial arts for years.

Gold Key simply exploited licensing power. Television’s The Green Hornet ran 26 episodes from September 1966 to March 1967 and their comics adaptation (3 issues from February to August 1967) played up the combat skills of the antihero/vigilante’s chauffeur and partner Kato. You’ll recall, I’m sure, that he was played by young Bruce Lee, who was in very large part responsible for the popularisation of martial arts in the west… especially after graduating to film roles.

When the big boom began in the early 1970s, Charlton were again quick off the mark: launching their own knock-off of hugely popular TV series Kung Fu. Running 18 issues, Joe Gill & Warren Sattler’s Yang debuted with a November 1973 cover-date, recounting the life of a Chinese wanderer in the 1870s wild west. It spawned sequel/spin-off House of #1-6, July 1975 – June 1976) by Korean comics creator Sanho Kim and remains a visual highpoint to this day… if you can find it. Marvel really reaped the benefits of the zeitgeist with Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu in Special Marvel Edition #15 (cover-dated December 1973) and a flood of follow-ups including Iron Fist, Sons of the Tiger, Daughters of the Dragon and White Tiger. As ever – and despite teenager Jim Shooter introducing Karate Kid to the Legion of Super-Heroes back in 1966 (Adventure Comics #346, July) – ever-cautious DC were late to the party, even though one of their key writers was also the co-author of a Kung Fu novel…

…And Karate Kid? As the martial arts boom was subsiding, DC awarded him his own solo series, set primarily in the 20th century: 15 bi-monthly issues running from March/April 1976 to July/August 1978. He travelled through time and across realities, but never met the stars of this particular title…

The Seventies had begun with a downturn in superhero sales and a resurgence of traditional genre comic tales. A few years in, a new genre emerged: one blending eastern philosophy and personal combat systems with a real-world growth in organised crime – especially drug (and human) trafficking. Popular fiction responded with a wave of lone wolf vigilantes like Mack (The Executioner) Bolan and martial arts icon Remo Williams: The Destroyer, as gritty hardboiled crime thrillers evolved and genres began to mash up…

Riding his own wave of comic success and celebrity from Batman, Justice League of America, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Superman, former Marvel trainee/intern turned journalist Dennis J. O’Neil teamed up with editorial cartoonist James R. Berry to write a prose thriller for this burgeoning market. Under the pen-name Jim Dennis, they detailed the life path of teen thug Richard Drakunovski after finding friends and life direction with a martial arts sensei. Kung Fu Master, Richard Dragon: Dragon’s Fists was released in 1974 and ultimately pitted the hero against evil industrialist Guano Cravat…

With a phenomenon unfolding around them, DC finally joined the parade of warriors by having O’Neil adapt the book, expanding the premise and adding significantly to their pantheon of stars in the process: not so much with the leading man but through his potential-packed supporting cast.

Spanning April/May 1975 to November 1981, this fast and furious compendium collects Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter #1-18; a team-up from The Brave and the Bold #132, plus a closing note from DC Comics Presents #39. In keeping with the tone of the genre and time, these stories are tersely underwritten and potently action driven, but racial and gender issues are ubiquitous and fully expressed in the terms of the times.

The first issue was cover-dated April/ May 1975 and on sale from January 30th, with opening episode ‘Coming of a Dragon!’ credited to “Jim Dennis” and illustrated by comics legend Leopoldo Durañona. Here it was revealed how a teenager’s attempt to burgle a dojo in Kyoto, Japan was foiled by its head teacher O-Sensei. The venerable ancient easily mastered the violent thief and then invited to him to change his life path. Richard Dragon spends the next seven years mastering countless forms of Kung Fu, higher education and his own raging nature, forming a lifelong bond with his fellow pupil – African American Ben Turner – and seeking to become a physically and ethically “Superior Man”…

The idyllic period ends the day unctuous freelance spymaster Barney Ling shows up. He runs acronymic organisation G.O.O.D. and begs the legendary O-Sensei to aid him in stopping a world-class human trafficker. Instead, the master sends his students against an army of brutes and monsters…

Artistic stability was not an option as O’Neil was partnered in swift succession with Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss & Al Milgrom for second exploit ‘A Dragon Fights Alone’. Wounded but triumphant, Dragon and Turner return to Japan only to be targeted by the hired thugs of a hidden enemy. The attack comes in the wake of a tearful graduation, as they seek to aid O-Sensei’s goddaughter Carolyn Woosan. This results in them all heading for San Francisco, where mercenary The Swiss had orchestrated her uncle’s death whilst searching for a deadly secret. When the freshly-debarked adventurers investigate, Ben is shot and Carolyn taken…

It clearly took some time to assign an art-team as Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry limned third instalment ‘Claws of the Dragon!’ as an enraged hero hunts The Swiss and trounces an army of assassins, thanks in no small part to his secret weapon – a jade claw allowing him to focus all his knowledge and fury and become a beast of battle…

Crushed by their continuing failure to rescue Carolyn, Dragon & Ben reluctantly accept help from Ling and G.O.O.D. Marshalling resources and infiltrating a suspect dojo, Dragon accepts that there is ‘A Time to be a Whirlwind!’, and again overcomes all physical opposition, but once more fails Carolyn, this time forever. This shattering clash signalled the start of artistic stability as Ric Estrada took over pencilling, augmented by master inker Wallace Wood.

Sandra Woosan debuted in #5, a woman who would become a major player in DC continuity. Cover-dated December 1975-January 1976, ‘The Arena of No Exit!’ introduced lethal Lady Shiva: a conflict-addicted swordswoman seeking bloody redress for her murdered sister. She was working for grotesque super arms-dealer Guano Cravat (the secret mastermind behind The Swiss), but rejected her current assignment to kill Dragon after fighting him and realising that staying in his orbit would generate all the murderous duels her killer’s heart hungered for without betraying her tarnished and diminished ethical code…

In later years she would evolve into the most dangerous assassin on Earth: a major opponent of Batman, Robin, assorted Batgirls, Black Canary, the Birds of Prey and many others.

After foiling Cravat’s scheme, Dragon and Shiva are rewarded by Ling with magnificent matched swords: katana crafted by an 18th century master smith. However, it’s just a ploy to sweeten them up. G.O.O.D. needs them to recover a “misplaced” nuke on a volcanic island: one ruled by a modern pirate with an obsessive fixation on fighting with swords. He calls himself Slash…

The spectacular conclusion of ‘Island of the Inferno’ leads to a confrontation with occasional Batman and Wonder Woman evil scientist Doctor Moon, who uses Cravat’s money to transform mere humans into surgically-augmented, programmable super-warriors in #7’s ‘Command: Slay the Dragon!’ All this time, Ben has been healing and teaching at the dojo he runs with Dragon, but his life is about to change after becoming romantically entangled with promising student Janey Lewis. When she and other students are attacked by Moon’s thugs, Dragon & Shiva retaliate but are almost killed by Moon’s colossal cyborg Topper. Almost…

Another old foe resurfaces in #8, striking at his despised enemies by murdering more dojo students and rendering our hero temporarily sightless, facilitating his scheme to ‘Slay the Blind Dragon’ after which Estrada inks his own pencils in #9 as Barney Ling returns to reveal that the recent dojo attacks are masking a hidden plot to assassinate Ben. The manipulative G.O.O.D. guy offers to reveal all, but only if all three kung fu fighters carry out a few errands for him…

Thus Turner, Shiva & Dragon depart for tropical San Lorenzo to stop a monster ravaging the tourist destination – a thieving mutated killer known as ‘The Preying Mantis’ – prior to Ben discovering he’s inherited millions in prime timberland! He heads north, with his allies in tow and finds that the lumberjacks are definitely killers… and are embezzling all the profits. They have already murdered Turner’s sister, leaving him as guardian of an unsuspected nephew (also called Ben) and their leader Hatchett tries everything possible to destroy the nosy snoopers in ‘The Human Inferno!’ (inked by Jack Abel). However, the assassination attempts only slow, but do not cease…

Cover-dated September 1976, #11 offers a change of pace and scripter, as David Anthony Kraft joins Estrada & Abel in a byzantine futuristic spy conspiracy that begins ‘When Strikes the Samurai!’ After being targeted by a disappearing Japanese warrior, the trio are despatched to Communist China to secure an object dubbed the Tiger Tally which in turn could unlock the secrets of bewildering Project Moon Age Daydream. The mission results in a trail of dropped bodies before ‘A Dragon Defiant’ is subjected to a duplication device resulting in him literally beating himself up before thwarting rival maniacs Telegram Sam and Madame Sun…

Back in the USA for #13, the drama intensifies with O’Neil & Estrada’s reunion, as Ben is poisoned and Dragon & Shiva carve their way through a murderous legion ‘To Catch an Assassin!’ and secure the antidote. When that proves fruitless, detective work leads them to The League of Assassins and a desperate quest for their chief deviser of toxins. Viper makes his potions in the wilds of Mongolia – perilously close to the Soviet Russian border – and the countdown quest allows no time for restraint, which only grants Shiva opportunity to do the work she loves without being held back…

With Turner’s death imminent, we pause for a diversionary team-up as The Brave and the Bold #132 (February 1977 by veteran writer Bob Haney & ultimate guest star artist Jim Aparo) enquires ‘Batman – Dragon Slayer??’ When Denny O’Neil succeeded Murray Boltinoff as B&B editor, it resulted in this rather forced tale of duelling fight stylists after a publicity-shy billionaire sought to repay an imagined debt to good Samaritan Dragon by leaving him a mysterious bequest…

Back in his own title, Dragon’s quest for a cure takes him back to China to find the O-Sensei. At that time, unknown to all, his former master was Dr. Moon’s prisoner, so Richard & Shiva’s mission generates massive mayhem and an inconclusive duel with ‘The Man Who Studied with Bruce Lee’: a gullible yet proficient martial arts purist who had learned all the celebrity’s “lost secrets”…

The clash might have been pointless, but the rescued O-Sensei cures Turner, who pursues his relationship with Janey to the point of asking her father for permission to wed. Tragically, at that moment in #15, ‘The Axeman’ attacks shipyard Security Chief Luke Lewis and his adored daughter is fatally caught in the crossfire. Crushed and broken inside, Ben hunts the killer with Dragon at his side, uncovering shocking betrayal that intensifies his fury into mania. Exploiting all their resources, they follow to the top of the world in #16, where ‘The Doom Seer’ – outrageous, tyrannical madman Professor Ojo (later to become a Green Lantern nemesis!) – pits them and Lady Shiva against outlandish martial arts skaters and an arsenal of scientific terrors before #17’s ‘The Final Victim’ provides a spectacular conclusion, but no resolution…

Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter finished with #18, but ‘The Secret of the Bronze Tiger’ set up decades’ more stories. Bereft, Turner had vanished and was presumed killed battling Ojo, whilst Dragon sank into despair and dissolution. Finally, Shiva dragged him out to investigate a mysterious masked martial artist and illegal fight club. Dragon was stunned to discover Ben was the Tiger – who retained all his skills but was apparently a ruthless criminal with no memory or scruples…

This storyline was later picked up and expanded upon in future Batman tales involving Ra’s Al Ghul’s League of Assassins and sinister splinter group Demonfang (whose leader was ancient killer The Sensei) and resulted in Bronze Tiger becoming an integral part of the Suicide Squad in post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe. In that rebuilt continuity, Shiva & Dragon were crucial to the development of The Question (Vic Sage) and other martial arts-based characters, emphasising the ripple-effect of “the Superior Man” on an entire heroic universe.

Here, however, there’s an epilogue of sorts as DC Comics Presents #39 (November 1981, by Mike W. Barr, Alex Saviuk & Vince Colletta) discloses ‘Whatever Happened to Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter?’ Having retreated to the peace of a Shaolin monastery, Dragon is called back to the outside world to save mind-controlled Bronze Tiger from the person who had truly been responsible for most of their perils and hardships all along…

With covers by Dick Giordano, Wiess, Milgrom, Estrada & Colletta, Jose Delbo, Ernie Chan, Aparo & Rich Buckler, and including Who’s Who character profiles of Dragon, Bronze Tiger & Lady Shiva, this compendium is very much of its time, but still offers universal thrills and spills whilst providing crucial context to all devotees of DC’s overarching multiversal continuity. Very much the Superior Read of the Superior Fan…
© 1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1910, cartoonist/animator and legend maker William Hanna was born, sharing the date with inking legend Mike Esposito in 1927; French mythmaker Marcel “Gotlib” Gotlieb (Gai-Luron, Superdupont, Les Dingodossiers, Rubrique-à-Brac, Hamster Jovial, co-founder of L’Écho des savanes & Fluide Glacial) in 1934; writer/artist John K. Snyder III (Fashion in Action, Grendel, Suicide Squad, Doctor Mid-Nite, Mr E, The Duckberg Times, 8 Million Ways to Die) in 1961, artist Richard Case (Doom Patrol, Sensational Spider-Man The Sandman) in 1964 and illustrator/storyteller Colleen Coover (Small Favors, Banana Sunday, Bandette, X-Men: First Class) in1969.

It’s a big day for colourists with Peter Steigerwald born in 1974, Brian Reber in 1975 and Matt Wilson in 1980; and also saw the deaths of arguably Chile’s greatest cartoon humourist Rene Rios Boettiger (Condorito) in 2000 and, in 2006, the utterly irreplaceable British man of letters (and thought balloons and caption boxes) Tom Frame.

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Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey Book 11: Intergalactic Monkey Business! TPB


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras, Paul Duffield & Armin Roshdi (The Phoenix Comic Books/ David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-362-t (TPB), 978-1-78845-416-2 (Tesco Exclusive Edition), 978-1-78845-417-9 (WHSmith Travel Exclusive Team Monkey Edition)

Bunny vs Monkey has been the inspirationally bonkers breakout star of The Phoenix since the first issue back in 2012: cataloguing a madcap vendetta gripping animal archenemies set amidst an idyllic arcadia, masquerading as more-or-less mundane but critically endangered English woodlands. Concocted with gleefully gusto – but increasingly with a cerebral cosmic crescendo in mind – by cartoonist/comics artist/novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Max and Chaffy, Flember, Find Chaffy; Megalomaniacs), these trendsetting, mindbending yarns have been wisely retooled as multi award-winning, bestselling graphic albums available in digest softcover such as this one hardback and sponsored special editions and even as an AUDIOBOOK. Just let that one last one sink in…

All the tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy began yonks ago after an obnoxious little beast plopped down in after a disastrous British space shot. OR DID IT?

Crashlanding in Crinkle Woods – scant miles from his launch site – lab animal Monkey believed himself the rightful owner of a strange new world, despite every effort of genteel, contemplative, reasonably sensible forest resident Bunny to dissuade him. For all his patience, propriety and good breeding, the laid-back lepine could not contain or control the incorrigible idiot ape, who to this moment remains a rude, troublemaking, chaos-causing, noise-loving lout intent on building his perfect “Monkeyopia” and/or being a robot, with or without the aid of evil supergenius Skunky or tagalong useless “henches” Metal Steve & Action Beaver…

Daily wonders and catastrophes were exacerbated by a broad band of unconventional Crinkle creatures, none more so than aforementioned monochrome mad scientist Skunky, whose intellect and cavalier attitude to life presents as a propensity for building dangerous robots, bio-beasts and sundry other super-weapons. He is, at his core, a dangerously inquisitive thinker and tinkerer…

Now the Graphic Novel of the Year of the British Book Awards 2026 is out in time for the summer hols in a nifty paperback edition and will keep everyone stuck in the car or waiting to pass customs suitably amused. Best get a couple though – kids, dads and grandmas do not like to share…

So, what’s going on?

Here, with artistic fiddling about from design deputy Sammy Borras, the unending war of nerves and mega-ordnances resumes as if nothing cosmic or multiverse-changing had ever happened, or any hint of a restart after a cosmic culmination. See, that’s what happens if you let books pile up and don’t read them immediately! Go check out Bunny vs Monkey: The Great Big Glitch! and then come back and we’ll chat some more…

Okay then, new day, new start, same old mega mecha meta nonsense as ‘Clouding Over’ sees a suspiciously low-lying cirrus formation start dumping rain and then increasingly more noisome and noxious substances on the woods-folk in what appear to be targeted strikes. Could there possibly be some kind of intelligence behind the atmospheric attacks?

With propriety and good taste under attack (and soon in full retreat), the sensorial assaults resume in ‘Guts n’ Butts!’ as Monkey & Skunky debate the appalling assets and proposed “improvements” to the weaponised flatulence engine they call Bungamungus with no consideration of those in its path prior to the simian unleashing his own worst nightmare…

The giant ‘MonkeyBot 5000’ is supposed to make life hell for his fluffy white foe, but it appears Bunny can find plenty of uses for a mechanised personal organiser that can bench press trucks, topple buildings, file and colour co-ordinate…

Reality is rocked all over again when Monkey’s ‘Mum and Dad’ pop by for a visit and nice bit of tea, but nature’s innocents Weenie and Pig Piggerton are too busy having adventures with ‘Frogs!’ and their mystical king to really notice, whereas ‘Lucky… The Unluckiest Red Panda in the World!!’ stumbles into unbridled chaos (she’s used to it by now) when Skunky & Monkey decide to go through the forgotten inventions bin. Worried about declining productivity, the sinister science sinner then uses his 3D printer to unleash a horde of ‘Fun-Size Skunkies’ who are anything but, before Bunny learns where all the wreckage, rubbish and remains go when the latest catastrophe has finished unfolding. Sadly, there are good reasons nobody wants to see ‘Binbag Sam’ carry out his nasty but necessary job…

Always seeking peace and serene contemplation, mysterious Le Fox has found a wilderness to dig in, but when Monkey comes by and discovers gold in ‘Them Thar Hills’ that’s another dream dead, but only prelude to planet-shaking events when Skunky’s new signal array test coincides with Monkey’s latest eating challenge. ‘Message in a Butthole’ reveals how – after, inevitably – a monumental foofie erupts across the universe, the consequences will be appalling… but not at all unexpected.

In a fabulous tribute to Chuck Jones cartoons, ‘Monkey vs Ai’ sees the annoying ape test a bunch of inventions that should work “in theory”, before going back to stinky basics with a cheese cannon. Sadly, the anticipated “Cheesepocalyse” is definitively derailed by ‘The Turning of the Pig’ as pacifistic Piggerton reaches a limit and shows the monkey miscreant just what it all feels like…

‘Buzzing Off’ sees Skunky testing ways to end the really annoying fly suit he built for his partner in chaos and then hiding along with everyone else in ‘Who’s Afraid of the Monkey’ when the simian simpleton gets really, really hungry. Eventually sated, the little sod resumes pranks & pestiferations with a giant robot in ‘Close Encounters of the Bird Kind’. Remember that olfactory beacon blasted across infinity? This is the moment something answers that unique clarion call…

Suddenly, in ‘You Looking at Me?’ Crinkle Woods are alive with alien weirdoes, but it’s just Skunky messing about with quantum physics and nothing to do with Monkey, because he’s currently hurtling to the other side of the Universe, testing to destruction the super-high-tech toilets of the extraterrestrials who abducted him…

He can’t be blamed for the astonishing void discovered by Pig and Weenie prompting the chilling question ‘What Lies Inside… the Hole?!’ or sensible but naïve robot Metal E.V.E.’s attempts to balance out Lucky’s cosmic misfortunes in ‘What Luck Befalls’, or even Metal Steve’s crisis of confidence and inexplicable desire to ‘Destroy’ because Monkey is currently spreading his brand of chaos while ‘Hitching a Ride’ on the ship of judgemental civilisation-eradicating superior being Grand Master Nexus…

Meanwhile on Earth, Skunky discovers the missing co-miscreant has left his life unfulfilled and dissatisfied and switches to a copy to serve his unsuspected emotional needs. ‘Little Monkey’ is feral, bitey, uncommunicative, un-potty-trainable and disgusting… such an improvement on the original! Enjoying his fresh start the evil inventor unleashes ‘A Clever Endeavour’ in the compulsive form of a malign puzzle box that baffles and bamboozles everyone – except the mini monkey who might just be the smartest thing in the woods now…

Pig’s penchant for peculiar pets sees the adoption of an odd avian Blue-bummed Bimblebug. Inappropriately dubbed ‘Parpy’, the critter’s 24-hour lifespan brings near-instant woe, and leads to the advent of colossal hermit savant Capybara 5000 whose answers to all the ‘Big Questions’ are unexpectedly violent. That search for truth culminates in sage advice ‘Run!’ before calm returns as Pig explores wild water rafting and Le Fox confronts increasingly sinister Little Monkey in ‘The Happiness of the Kitsune’.

Far away in another beleaguered solar system, Monkey is slowly wearing down Nexus and his minions, before accidentally warping them all back to Earth to enjoy a spontaneous battle of ‘Rather Big Lasers’ with Skunky. When that eradicates the fuzzy mastermind’s secret underground lair all Skunky can think of is ‘Revenge’. With Little Monkey in tow the genius goes ‘On the Hunt’ in a unique battleship, pursuing ‘Space Wars’ even as his hirsute former best baddie buddy seizes control of the Nexus craft and drives it into ‘A Hella Interstellar Yeller’…

Marooned on a muddy morass world, Monkey establishes his dream dictatorship. Sadly, ‘Chutneyopia’ is right next to the equally barren planet Skunky crashed on and war is declared as the newcomer demands an apology that will never be forthcoming. Moreover, when Skunky took off after Monkey, most of Crinkle Wood went with him and as Bunny ruminates on ‘The Intergalactic Adventures of Weenie and Cinnamon Bun Pig!’, plans are underway to terraform the barren planetoid into ‘A New Home’. Unfortunately that’s being undertaken by ‘Even More Skunkies’…

With the enemy busy converting Chutneyopia into his other, better dream of Monkeyopia, ‘A New Plan’ is needed, but the still-active Grand Master finally concedes that its superior mentality and firepower are no match for the annoying Earth ape. With its minions in revolt and resolved to blow up Earth, there nothing left for Monkey to worry about ‘Apart from the Bomb’ that’s going to end his grotty mucky dream world…

What better time for a reconciliation with Skunky?

Back on Earth, other Crinkle Wood critters have briefly but wholeheartedly enjoyed a time of growth and limelight in ‘Not Bunny vs Monkey’ but the likes of Stan Stoat and Randolph Raccoon are helpless when the minions start blasting. As Monkeyopia becomes a vast spaceship, Skunky begins his ‘Race to Save the World’ with his secret weapon Little Monkey, but the outcome is never certain and our heroes all decide they’re ‘Best Off Out of It’, leaving a monumental deus ex machina to sort everything out…

Wrapping up these sidereal shenanigans and cosmic bum gags are related activities offered under the aegis of the Phoenix Comics Club. Bring paper, pencils and yourself to a compact online course in all aspects of comic strip creation supervised by Jamie Smart & Armin Roshdi detailing ‘How to draw King Frog!’, ‘A Bungamungous!’, ‘Capybara 5000!’ and ‘An Alien!’ before closing with an extensive plug for the Phoenix Comics Club website, complete with instant access via a QR code, plus previews of other treats & wonders to be seen in The Phoenix to wind down from all that cosmic kerfuffle…

Another book for your kids to explain to you, Bunny vs Monkey: Intergalactic Monkey Business! is weird wit, wild invention, potent sentiment and superb cartooning all crammed into one eccentrically excellent package. These tails never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. Is that you?
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.

Today in 1923 comics artist and strip cartoonist Dan Barry (Airboy, Doc Savage, Tarzan, Flash Gordon) was born, with British whiz kid Phillip Bond (Wired World, Angel and the Ape, Kill Your Boyfriend, Vimanarama) turning up in 1966 and artist Eric Battle (Kobalt, Hardware, The Spectre) born in 1967.

Today in 1975 author and cartoonist Crockett Johnson (Barnaby, How to Make an Earthquake, Harold and the Purple Crayon) died.

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The Marquis of Anaon volume 5: The Chamber of Cheops


By Vehlmann & Bonhomme: coloured by Delf and translated by Mark Bence (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-295-9 (PB Album) 978-1-84918-725-1 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

In 1972 Fabien Vehlmann entered the world in Mont-de-Marsan. Raised in Savoie, he studied business management before taking a job with a theatre group. His prodigious canon of pro comics work began in 1998 and soon earned him the soubriquet of “Goscinny of the 21st Century”. In 1996, after entering a writing contest in Le Journal de Spirou, Fabien caught the comics bug and two years later – with illustrative collaborator Denis Bodart – produced mordantly quirky, sophisticated portmanteau period crime comedy Green Manor. From there his triumphs grew to include – amongst many others – Célestin Speculoos for Circus, Nicotine Goudron for L’Écho des Savanes and especially album series Jolies Ténèbres/Beautiful Darkness, Seuls/Alone and a superb stint on global property Spirou and Fantasio…

Scion of an artistic family, Matthieu Bonhomme received his degree in Applied Arts in 1992, before learning the comics trade working in the atelier of western & historical strip specialist Christian Rossi. Spanning 2002-2008, Le Marquis d’Anaon was Bonhomme’s first regular series, after which he began writing as well as illustrating a variety of tales, from L’Age de Raison, Le Voyage d’Esteban, The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke and so much more.

Now, where were we? Imagine The X-Files set in the Age of Enlightenment (circa 1720), played as a solo piece by a young French protagonist reluctantly growing into and accepting the role of crusading troubleshooter. With potent overtones of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Fall of the House of Usher and similar gothic romances, it all began in 2001’s L’Isle de Brac: first of 5 albums tracing the development of a true champion against darkness and human venality.

Under-employed, middle-class merchant’s son, scholar and pragmatic philosopher Jean-Baptiste Poulain is an ardent disciple of Cartesian logic and former medical student. Well educated but impoverished, he accepted a post to tutor the son of the mysterious Baron of Brac. It was a career decision that shaped the rest of his life…

On a windswept, storm-battered, extremely isolated island off the Brittany Coast, Poulain experienced fear and outrage, superstition and suspicion before ultimately exposing the appalling secret of the island overlord his serfs called “the Ogre”, bringing justice and finality to all concerned. In the aftermath, Poulain left, but could never outrun the obnoxious title the islanders bestowed upon him in their Bretagne argot: Le Marquis d’Anaon – “the Marquis of Lost Souls”…

Two years later Poulain caught a supposedly demonic but actually faith-based serial killer (The Black Virgin), and after that saved Europe from plague (La Providence) and France and the neighbouring Duchy of Savoy from a nigh-demonic cryptid (The Beast)… all without proper recompense or even some career-enhancing renown…

With this final tale (thus far) the much maligned misanthrope begins a passage of personal growth and fundamental change after he and four other complete strangers jointly inherit the vast fortune of fur trader and eccentric dilettante scholar Umberto Leone. He was – according to the protectorate’s French Consul De Trezancour – eaten by three crocodiles in Egypt…

In Paris, at the reading of the will, Poulain is gripped with doubts and suspicions over the ridiculous situation and overly specific cause of death. He compulsively ponders what really happened and why his apparently quick-tempered and obsessive benefactor was even in Cairo in the first place… especially after viewing radical renovations his departed patron had made to his lavish Parisian apartments immediately before his final visit to the Land of the Pharaohs…

Being rich now, finding out is simple and the Marquis of Anaon takes ship for Cairo, where he sees a thriving, energetic but completely alien culture and is met by unctuous, thoroughly unpleasant fixer/agent Charles Ruffin. In a sprawling city ancient beyond belief but plagued by external conquest and endemic factionalism, it soon becomes clear that his guide and escort is there to steer, manage and spy upon Umberto’s heir for exceedingly greedy and dangerous coffee trader and merchant prince Delambre… who also believes Poulain knows more than he’s letting on…

Stationed in Leone’s former dwelling, with Ruffin’s thugs ceaselessly watching, the inheritor soon learns from Leone’s “Negress” Diénéba, (a live-in “service” included as part of the welcome package, but one that the Marqius immediately places under his complete protection) that everyone knew Leone was searching the Great Pyramid of Cheops for something utterly extraordinary. They all – westerners and Egyptians alike – still believe it is physical treasure, but as Poulain proceeds in his investigations and ruminations he meets fringe scientist Richardson and realises that what Leone discovered was far more profound, spectacular and even perilously miraculous…

Further adding to the tensions is a febrile political situation, with the largely immune but always interfering French merchant class gleefully stirring unrest among the Egyptians and allowing roaming militias of Janissary “peacekeepers” to beat, plunder and bully at will, just as long as the pleasures and profits keep rolling in. When Poulain’s researches bring him close to Leone’s dream, he is confronted , challenged by and ultimately adopted by one faction – led by cleric Sheikh Luqman – and becomes an unwilling but grateful disciple of the sage. With his own people and the gold-crazed Janissaries seeking his blood, he finds love and solace with Diénéba, and they voyage to the pyramid. In the long hidden Chamber of Cheops Poulain barely survives the true secret of the edifice and uncovers a second astounding fact that could get him killed… but not like Leone was supposed to have been…

Then after dealing with Delambre it’s a frantic rush to get out of Egypt for the impassioned couple, with a promise of greater magic – and hardship – to come…

This deviously swingeing attack on colonialism and ignorantly fabled “mysteries of the Dark Continent” arrives as another tautly authentic, compellingly scripted saga from Vehlmann, vividly visualised via Bonhomme’s densely informative but never obtrusive illustrated realism. It adds a gripping, utterly enthralling tale of romance and discovery to the canon of a truly superior man’s war against the inherent iniquities of human behaviour. Once again the unsuspected miracles of the natural world and shocking potential of humanity’s creative spark are lensed through the drives and obsessions of an individual at the forefront of  religion’s retreat and birth of rationalism, and the result is pure entertainment gold.

This evolution of a self-doubting quester barely holding at bay the notion that all his schooling is pointless and without worth in a world too big for humanity and just one aspect of a universe beyond any one’s grasp is utterly compulsive entertainment, making The Marquis of Anaon’s mystery milestones a joy no thinking fear fan should miss.
Original edition © Dargaud Paris 2008 by Vehlmann & Bonhomme. All rights reserved. English translations © 2016 by Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1914, Canadian Joe Shuster was born. Three years later British cartoonist Reg Smythe (Andy Capp) followed, as did strip writer (Tank McNamara) turned film critic Jeff Millar in1942. That same year Argentinian art wizard José Antonio Muñoz AKA “Muñoz” (Alack Sinner, Joe’s Bar, Sophie, Billie Holiday) was born, with painter Bob Larkin (Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu, Marvel Preview, Planet of the Apes, Savage Sword of Conan, Doc Savage) arriving in 1949; artist Howard Porter (Justice League, Trials of Shazam!, The Flash) in 1969 and Simone Bianchi (Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight, Original Sin) in1972.

In 1951, creator Dudley Fisher (Myrtle) died as did the stounding Jean-Michel Charlier (Redbeard, Buck Danny, Blueberry, Valhardi, Tanguy et Laverdure) in1989; cartoonist Doug Marlette (Kudzu) in 2007 and Indian artist and humourist Mangesh Tendulkar (Sunday Mood) in 2017.

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Werewolf by Night Marvel Masterworks: volume 3


By Doug Moench, Don Perlin, Virgilio Redondo, Yong Montaño, Gil Kane, Vince Colletta, Sal Trapani, & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5550-2 (HB) 978-1-3025-2941-3 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As Marvel slowly grew to a position of market dominance in 1970, in the wake of losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators – Steve Ditko & Jack Kirby – they did so less by experimentation and more by expanding proven concepts and properties.

The only real exception to this was a mass release of horror titles rapidly devised in response to an industry-wide down-turn in superhero sales. The move was handily expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

Almost overnight nasty monsters (plus narcotics and bent coppers – but that’s another story) again became acceptable fare on four-colour pages. Whilst a parade of 1950s pre-code reprints made sound business sense (so they repackaged a bunch of those too) the creative aspect of the contemporary fascination in supernatural themes was catered to by adapting popular cultural icons before risking whole new concepts on an untested public.

As always, the watch-word was fashion: what was hitting big outside comics was to be incorporated into the mix as soon as possible…

When proto-monster Morbius, the Living Vampire debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (cover-dated October 1971) and the sky failed to fall in, Marvel moved ahead with a line of scary stars – beginning with a werewolf and traditional vampire – before chancing something new via a haunted biker who could tap into both Easy Rider’s freewheeling motorcycling chic and the supernatural zeitgeist. With its title cribbed from a classic short thriller from a pre-Code horror anthology (Marvel Tales #116, July 1953), Werewolf By Night debuted in Marvel Spotlight #2. It had been preceded by western-era masked avenger Red Wolf in #1, and followed by the afore-hinted Ghost Rider, but this hairy hero was destined to stick around for a while.

This third chillingly crackers compendium compiles more moody misadventures of a good-hearted young West Coast lycanthrope who briefly shone as an unlikely star for the entire length of a trading trend, as confirmed here by the reprinted full-colour contents of Werewolf By Night volume 1 #22-30 and Giant-Size Werewolf #2-5, collectively spanning October 1974 to July 1975.

Jack Russell is a teenager with a rare but very disturbing condition. On her deathbed, his mother revealed unsuspected Transylvanian origins to her beloved boy: relating a family curse which would turn him into a raging beast on every night with a full moon as soon as he reached his 18th birthday.

And so it began…

After many months of misunderstanding as Jack tried to cope alone with his periodic wild side, Jack’s stepfather Philip Russell reluctantly expanded the backstory, revealing how the Russoff line was cursed by the taint of Lycanthropy: every child doomed to become a wolf-thing under the full-moon from the moment they reached adulthood. Moreover, the feral blight would do the same to his little sister Lissa when she reached her own majority…

As Jack tried and repeatedly failed to balance a normal life with his monthly cycle of uncontrollable ferocity, he met eventual mentor and confidante Buck Cowan, an aging Hollywood writer who became Jack’s best friend and only confidante after the pair began to jointly investigate the wolfboy’s past. Their incessant search for a cure was made more urgent by little Lissa’s ever-encroaching birthday.

In the course of their researches they crossed swords with many monsters – human and otherwise – including off-the-rails cop Lou Hackett, who had been going increasingly crazy in his off-the-books investigation/hunt for a werewolf nobody believed in. A major if faceless foe was exposed in The Committee – a cabal of capitalists seeking to corner the monster market to boost sales who wanted to own the werewolf because he could scare the public, allowing them to create a panic-crazed sales boom – and even vampire lord Dracula.

However the biggest boost to Jack & Buck’s quest (other than Jack’s mutant girlfriend Topaz who could psionically calm the beast!) was learning from fellow lycanthrope Raymond Coker that there was a cure for their condition; sadly it was for a werewolf to kill another werewolf…

With the stage set for some truly outrageous yarn-spinning and Moench at the helm – and almost exclusively pencilled for rest of the run by the criminally underrated Don Perlin – the moonlight comics mysteries resume with the Vince Colletta inked Giant-Size Werewolf #2 as ‘The Frankenstein Monster Meets Werewolf By Night’. Roaming the streets of New York in ‘Prisoners of Flesh!’, the recently resurrected massive but mute monster hops a westbound freight train after overhearing a mystic named Danton Vayla can transplant souls into new bodies…

He arrives in Los Angeles just as Jack Russell discovers Lissa has been abducted by Vayla’s Satanist cult The Brotherhood of Baal who want ‘To Host the Beast’ before cataclysmically clashing with the monster who has only to let the diabolists sacrifice the werewolf and Lissa to gain his heart’s desire. Tragically the innately noble artificial man has far more empathy and compassion than the cultists and prefers his own sorry existence to benefiting from ‘The Flesh of Satan’s Hate!’

Werewolf By Night #22 (Moench, Perlin & Colletta) introduces crazed murder-maniac Atlas, who stalks and slays many of Buck’s movie friends. Moreover, when Russell’s periodically prowling Passenger encounters the ‘Face of the Fiend!’, Atlas beats the beast unconscious. In the morning light, bleary Jack is subsequently arrested for the latest murder…

LA detective Lieutenant Vic Northrup was a friend of deceased former foe Hackett and knows Russell is hiding something, but eventually releases the kid for lack of evidence. Picking Jack up from the station, Buck then reveals he has gleaned the inside story of Atlas and his own personal involvement in the story… just in time to become the next target…

Fortuitously, the werewolf is on hand when Atlas attacks again and the battle explodes into LA’s streets where disbelieving cops have to admit that ‘The Murderer is a Maniac!’

WBN #24 sees Buck introduces Jack to fringe scientist Winston Redditch who claims to have chemically isolated the constituents of the human psyche and thus might be able to suppress Jack’s regular bestial outbursts. Sadly, the benevolent boffin accidentally ingests the serum himself and unleashes ‘The Dark Side of Evil!’ The remorseless sadistic thug he becomes calls himself DePrayve and fights the werewolf to a standstill, giving Northrup opportunity to capture the hirsute “urban legend” which has stalked the city and drove Hackett crazy…

From #25 the art took a quantum leap in quality as Perlin – already co-plotting the stories – began inking his own pencils. When the beast busts out of custody ‘An Eclipse of Evil’ sees Redditch turning his warped attention to the lycanthrope as a potential guinea pig for further experimentation, only for both the feral fury and dastardly DePrayve to be targeted by a deranged vigilante and self-declared “protector of purity” (for which read woman abductor) calling himself The Hangman. The horrific three-way clash results in ‘A Crusade of Murder’, with Redditch hospitalised, the vicious vigilante in custody and battered, bloody-yet-unbowed Jack still free and still cursed…

Eschewing chronological order for the sake of unbroken continuity-clarity, January 1975’s Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #3 pops up here to reveal a ‘Castle Curse!’(Moench Perlin and inked by Sal Trapani) wherein Jack returns to Transylvania after receiving a monster-infested vision of former love interest Topaz in ‘Spawned in Dream… Slain in Nightmare!’ Jack drags Buck and Lissa ‘Home to Slay!’ in the Balkans, finding the old family estate under siege by pitchfork-wielding villagers who have all their worst fears confirmed when he goes hairy and gets hungry, before finally tracking down Topaz in the care – and custody – of a gypsy matriarch with an arcane agenda of her own.

The blood-crazed old witch has a tragic connection to the Russoff line and is exploiting Topaz’s recently-faded but now restored powers to enact a grisly ‘Vengeance in Death!’ upon the villagers by raising an army of zombies. The chain of events she set in motion can only end in slaughter…

Werewolf By Night #27 (March 1975) began a chilling and fantastic extended eldritch epic with the introduction of ‘The Amazing Doctor Glitternight’. Back in the USA, Jack’s feral alter ego runs loose on the isolated Californian coast and is drawn to a cave where a bizarre wizard makes monsters from what appears to be fragments of Topaz’s soul. The eerie mage is actually hunting for Topaz’s dead stepfather Taboo and will not be swayed or gainsaid, even after Jack’s uncontrollable were-beast eviscerates the weird stranger’s monstrous “masterpiece”…

The wizard intensifies his campaign in ‘The Darkness from Glitternight’, heaping horrors upon Jack and friends before capturing Lissa on her birthday and using dark magic to turn her from “simple, ordinary” werewolf into ‘A Sister of Hell’. The spectral re-emergence of Taboo proves a turning point as wolf battles demon-beast and everybody grapples with Glitternight before a ‘Red Slash Across Midnight’ seemingly results in a cure for one of the tortured Russell clan…

Slightly askance of publishing schedules but placed here for sensible reading continuity, April 1975’s Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #4 offers a long-delayed and much-anticipated clash with living vampire Morbius: beginning with ‘A Meeting of Blood’ (Moench & Virgil Redondo) with the former biologist and longsuffering haemovore tracking his old girlfriend Martine and discovering a possible cure for his own exsanguinary condition. Unfortunately, the chase also brings him into savage and inconclusive combat with a certain hairy hellion and the potential solution is forever lost…

Also included in that double-sized issue is Moench & Yong Montaño’s ‘When the Moon Dripped Blood!’, wherein Jack and Buck stumble across a group of rustic loons all-too-successfully summoning a ghastly elder god. Although great at consuming and converting human offerings and acolytes, the appalling atrocity is apparently no match for a ravening ball of furious fangs and claws…

This dose of shaggy suspense concludes with Giant-Size Werewolf #5 (cover-dated July) which shifted the cast into full-on dark fantasy mode. Scripted by Moench and illustrated by Montaño, ‘Prologue: I Werewolf’ recaps Jack’s peculiar problems before ‘The Plunder of Paingloss’ discloses how the leaders of dimensional realm Biphasia – permanently polarised between night and day – instigate a ‘Bad Deal with the Devil’s Disciple’ on Earth when demonist Joaquin Zairre kidnaps the werewolf…

With the beast dispatched though a ‘Doorway of the Dark Waters’, Jack is soon a pawn in a sorcerous war where ‘Fragile Magic’ on the world of light and darkness allows him and his allies to raid the ‘The Ark of Onom-Kra’ and expose a secret tyrant in ‘Silver Rain, Sardanus and Shadow’…

To Be Continued…

Kicking off the rather meagre bonus section and complementing the cover gallery by Gil Kane, Dan Adkins, John Romita Sr. is a selection of original art by Ron Wilson, Frank Giacoia, Perlin and Kane, topped off by an Introduction by Ralph Macchio first seen in 2018’s Werewolf By Night: The Complete Collection volume 2.

This moody masterpiece of macabre menace and aggressive animal action covers some of the most under-appreciated mindbendingly magical moments in Marvel history; tense, suspenseful and solidly compelling. If you feel the urge to indulge in a mixed bag of clawed killers, beastly bloodsuckers and moody young muses this is a far more entertaining mix than many modern movies, books or miscellaneous matter…
© 2024 MARVEL.

Today Marvel writer/editors Terry Kavanagh and Craig Anderson were born but we don’t when! Far more traditional and open, UK humourist/ cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather (Old Bill) arrived with all his papers sorted on this date in 1887, followed in 1909 by uniquely iconic creator Basil Wolverton (Spacehawk, Powerhouse Pepper, Mad Magazine, Plop!, The Bible). In 1916 comic book artist Mort Leav (The Heap) joined us, followed by Atlas artist/strip star Tony DiPreta (Joe Palooka, Rex Morgan M.D.) in 1921 and Silver Age artistic co-founder Murphy Anderson (Buck Rogers, Captain Comet, Atomic Knights, Hawkman, Flash, Adam Strange, The Spectre, Superman, Jonny Quest) in 1926.

Today in 1977 the 652nd and final issue of UK weekly Sparky was published.

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Harley Quinn’s Greatest Hits


By Scott Beatty, Kelly Puckett, Jeph Loeb, Paul Dini, Adam Glass, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Rob Williams, Bruce Timm, Mike Parobeck, Jim Lee, David Lopez, Federico Dallocchio, Jock, John Timms, Sean “Cheeks” Galloway, Scott Williams, Sandra Hope, Richard Friend & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7008-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Harley Quinn wasn’t supposed to be a star – or even an actual comic book character. As would soon become apparent however, the manic minx had her own off-kilter ideas on the matter. Created by Paul Dini & Bruce Timm, Batman: The Animated Series aired in the US from September 5th 1992 to September 15th 1995. Ostensibly for kids, the breakthrough TV cartoon revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and immediately began feeding back into the print iterations, leading to some of the absolute best comics tales in the hero’s many decades of existence.

Employing a timeless visual style dubbed “Dark Deco”, the show mixed elements from all eras and aspects of the character and, without diluting power, tone or mood of the premise, reshaped the grim avenger and his extended team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could eagerly enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance, sophistication and sheer panache that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to…

Harley was first seen as the Clown Prince of Crime’s slavishly adoring, abuse-enduring assistant in Joker’s Favor (airing on September 11th 1992) wherein she instantly captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers. From there on she began popping up in the licensed comic book and – always stealing the show – soon graduated to mainstream DC continuity.

After a period bopping around the DCU she was re-imagined as part of the company’s vast post-Flashpoint, major makeover and appeared as part of a new iteration of The Suicide Squad. Now, with numerous motion picture, TV animation and live action small screen presence in play, it’s absolutely time to take a look at her eccentric career path…

Collecting material from Countdown to Final Crisis #10; Batman Adventures #12; Batman #613; Gotham City Sirens #7; Suicide Squad #1; Batman vol 2#13, Harley Quinn vol. 2 #21, 2015 and Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fools Special #1, the madcap mayhem commences with a 2-page potted biography of the mad miss in comics form.

Crafted by Scott Beatty & Bruce Timm, ‘The Origin of Harley Quinn’ (Countdown #10, February 2008) economically reveals how troubled psychologist Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel arrived at Arkham Asylum to analyse The Joker only to lose all distance and perspective. Fully falling under his malign spell during interviews, she became his adoring, pliable and utterly despised slave…

A classic and classy semi-solo yarn comes from Batman Adventures #12, (September 1993) where Kelly Puckett, Mike Parobeck & Rick Burchett revealed how Barbara Gordon became a masked adventurer. Student Babs makes a superhero costume for a party in ‘Batgirl: Day One!’ before stumbling into a larcenous ‘Ladies Night’ when that High Society bash is crashed by rapacious gal pals Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy. With no professional help on hand, Miss Gordon must act as ‘If the Suit Fits!’ and tackle the bad girls herself , only to see Catwoman show up for the frantic finale ‘Out of the Frying Pan!’…

A far darker if less comprehensible interpretation graced Batman #613, (May 2003 by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee & Scott Williams) as an incessant parade of villains du jour in Bat mega-event Hush sees The Joker and Harley invade ‘The Opera’ attended by Bruce Wayne and hidden master villain Tommy Elliot. It’s visually resplendent and shockingly violent, but story content is virtually zero since the entire farrago is just an extracted episode from a far larger and more complex epic. Go read that instead or as well…

Far more satisfactory, ‘Holiday Story’ is by Dini, David Lopez & Alvaro Lopez (Gotham City Sirens #7, February 2010). Here, new housemates Harley, Ivy & Catwoman split up to celebrate Christmas in their own uniquely different ways. This tale is a candid peek into the home-life and history which turned dead-end kid Harleen into an overachieving doctor, athlete and, latterly, lunatic supervillain by introducing the inveterate slimeball who fathered her…

Hitting modern times hard, ‘Kicked in the Teeth’ comes from Suicide Squad #1 (vol. 4, November 2011), wherein Adam Glass, Federico Dallocchio, Ransom Getty & Scott Hanna put Harley, Deadshot, Black Spider, King Shark, El Diablo, Voltaic and Savant through hell and torture as mere preparation for their first mission for top spook Amanda Waller whilst ‘Tease’ (Batman vol. 2, #13, December 2012 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV & Jock) sees Harley reunited with her maniac main man, only to once again suffer from the pernicious, vindictive whimsy and twisted love of the Joker…

‘Tug A’ War’ (Harley Quinn vol. 2, #21, December 2015 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, John Timms) finds Harley Quinn a bounty hunter battling former squad-mate Deadshot and setting Hollywood ablaze as she seeks top cash-cow Sparrow Adaro. Things quickly go south when she discovers her target is no crook, simply the wayward spouse of a Showbiz bigwig who only wants his little lady back. Their twisted relationship touches Harley’s heart and she resolves to help, but the former psychologist never expected so many collateral corpses to accrue as she “fixed” the not-so-happy family…

This rough & ready compilation concludes with collaborative effort ‘Evil Anonymous’ from Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fools Special #1, 2016. Courtesy of Rob Williams, Jim Lee, Sean “Cheeks” Galloway, Scott Williams, Sandra Hope & Richard Friend this is a light-hearted, self-referential journey of discovery wherein Harley – prompted by another brush with The Joker – attempts to “cure” a number of her fellow criminal killer loons, beginning with bestial winged predator Man-Bat…

Soon, she’s reverted to a childlike state to tackle Killer Moth, Enchantress, Rat Catcher, Toyman and Poison Ivy, although things get a little out of hand when she gets Scarecrow on her couch and goes crazy serious when the Justice League step in. Nobody involved is aware of the insidious mastermind actually pulling the strings to get Harley Quinn back to where she really belongs… and is most needed…

Fast, furiously funny, often unnecessarily dark and making precious little narrative sense, Harley Quinn’s Greatest Hits is nonetheless a potent primer of Fights ‘n’ Tights furore that will give newcomers a taste of what the motley minx can do and should whet appetites for a deeper exploration of her anarchic exploits.
© 1993, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1920 Golden Age artist Al Avison (Captain America, The Whizzer, Joe Palooka, The Green Hornet, Little Dot) was born, followed by Al Wenzel (Adventure Comics, Superboy) in 1924, an Oh My Goddess creator Kosuke Fujishima in 1964. One year later the amazing Mike Parobeck (JSA, Batman Adventures) arrived, sharing the day with editor/cartoonist Jordan B. Gorfinkel (Batman: No Man’s Land, Everything’s Relative), with artists Juan Vlasco (Spider-Boy, Cable) coming in 1968 and Evan “Doc” Shaner (Strange Adventures, Flash, Aquaman) born in 1985.

In 1958 today Anthony Hern & John McLusky’s James Bond strip debuted in the UK’s Daily Express, whilst in 1978, The Walt Disney Company won its copyright infringement lawsuit against underground comix outfit the Air Pirates. In 1997 Jerry Scott & Jim Bergman’s strip Zits launched, and in 2002, the last episode of Modesty Blaise was published.

Today in 1977, legendary pioneering strip cartoonist Roy Crane (Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy, Buz Sawyer) died.

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Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice


By Len Strazewski, John Broome, Paul Levitz, Rick Burchett, Grant Miehm, Mike Parobeck, Tom Artis, Frank McLaughlin, Frank Giacoia, Arthur Peddy, Bernard Sachs, Joe Staton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0744-0 (HB) 978-1-77951-209-3 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

After the actual invention of comic book superheroes with the Action Comics debut of Superman in 1938, the most significant event in the industry’s history was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven: consumers couldn’t get enough of garishly-hued mystery men, and combining many characters inevitably increased readership. Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one – or one-and-a-half if there’s a sidekick involved…

The creation of the Justice Society of America utterly changed the shape of the budding business and – technically – All Star Comics #3 (cover-dated Winter 1940-1941, and on sale from November 22nd 1940) was the kick-off. However, in that landmark issue, the assembled heroes merely had dinner whilst recounting recent cases and didn’t actually go on a mission together until #4 (cover-dated April 1941). With the simple notion that mighty mystery men hung out together, history was made and it wasn’t long before they started working together…

When WWII ended, superheroes gradually declined, and most companies had shelved them by 1950. That plummet in popularity led to rekindled interest in traditional genre-themed titles and characters, and it was a stripped-down team (Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom, Black Canary, Dr. Mid-Nite &Wonder Woman) who battled on in trendily tailored crime or sci fi sagas before the title abruptly changed to All Star Western with #58.

It would take a second age of superheroes to revive them, this time as the champions of a parallel universe dubbed Earth Two…

Gathered here is a near-forgotten limited series focussed on the latter days of the team’s Golden Age which originally ran in Justice Society of America #1-8 (April – November 1991), augmented by the last case of the original era from All-Star Comics#57, (February/March 1951), plus a turning point tale from Adventures Comics #466 (December 1979). They are preceded a sparkling, informative and appreciative Foreword by Golden Age aficionado and super scripter Mark Waid.

The miniseries – subtitled Vengeance from the Stars! – comprising the majority of this tome was scripted by journalist/educator/author Len Strazewski (February 16th 1955 – April 27th 2026) whose comics included Speed Racer, The Flash, Phantom Lady, Starman, The Fly, The Web, Prime, Prototype, Elven and more. It was illustrated by a rotating tag team of artists, opening as Rick Burchett draws ‘Beware the Savage Skies’. Here recently-retired mystery man Ted Knight – AKA the original Starman – is attacked in his private New Mexico observatory by incredible astral energy beings. Broken and dispirited, he is then enslaved by an old enemy who purloins his wondrous Gravity Rod before luring Jay (Flash) Garrick into a deathtrap that results in power outages across America…

The plot thickens with ‘The Sack of Gotham’ (art by Grant Miehm) as radio/television executive Alan Scott seeks to keep the lights on in his city whilst Black Canary prowls the darkened streets deterring looters and career criminals. Distracted by a museum break-in, she finds herself punching way, way up as undead monster/functional moron Solomon Grundy and a gang of very determined bandits help themselves to ancient Egyptian artefacts at the behest of a hidden client.

By the time Scott arrives as Green Lantern, the Canary has been thrashed and captured, leaving him to battle an animated star constellation dubbed Sagittarius…

Burchett inks the astoundingly talented Mike Parobeck in #3’s ‘Dead Air’, as the star thing blacks out Gotham and Scott struggles to stop it. Complications occur when Grundy – afflicted with an obsessive hatred of Green Lantern – forgets the orders from the mystery Machiavelli to attack his emerald enemy. Far away, Ted Knight learns his gleeful foe intends to conquer Earth by eradicating modern technologies and attitudes and replace them with primordial magic and tyranny…

Tom Artis & Frank McLaughlin limn #4 as ‘Evil of the Ancients’ sees reincarnating Egyptian warrior Hawkman uncovering star-themed neolithic treasures in his day job as archaeologist Carter Hall. These findings expose the history and provenance of the constellation creatures, but also trigger the arrival of another. Despite aerial valour and the US Army’s best efforts, deadly colossus Andromeda storms off with a clutch of atom bombs and only the sudden arrival of Flash prevents utter disaster. The clash resumes in ‘Double Star Rising!’ by Parobeck & Burchett, as arcane knowledge and modern engineering savvy combine to trace the stellar plunderer and incredible pyramid of power it is constructing. When the heroes try to destroy it, they are confronted with a second energy horror but find a way to defeat both at once, compelling the man behind the plot to finally take a personal hand in the fight…

Far across the country the Lantern and the Canary escape captivity in ‘Danger Flies the Skies’ (Artis & McLaughlin), thanks to some timely aid from valiant sidekick Doiby Dickles, and track west after the museum artefacts in time to reinforce Flash and Hawkman in ‘The Return of the Justice Society’ (art by Miehm & Burchett). Redeemed and reinspired, Knight once more takes up his costumed identity to end the villain’s plot in ‘Battle of the Stars!’

In the heady aftermath, the JSA ponder what the next decade will bring, unaware that political conspiracies, public paranoia and a wave of intolerance masquerading as social conformity was waiting to change the world in ways no one could anticipate…

In continuity terms, this was technically the antepenultimate adventure of the JSA, with the rousing romp slyly heralding mood swings in the heartland of Democracy. It is thus smartly supplemented by the team’s final Golden Age appearance (All-Star Comics #57) and a chilling, thematically-aligned codicil from Adventures Comics #466.

Written by John Broome and illustrated by Frank Giacoia, Arthur Peddy & Bernard Sachs, it was the JSA’s last hurrah as ‘The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives!’ pitted them against criminal mastermind The Key. When he abducted Earth’s greatest criminologists in advance of a spectacular robbery spree, the superheroes were called in to solve the case and prevent an impending catastrophe. It took a lot of time and effort, but the JSA never fail…

The fallow period and return of the JSA was a major success of fan power in the 1960s, but that decade too ended with superheroes in decline. During the torrid, turbulent 1970s, many of the industry’s oldest publishing ideas were finally laid to rest. The belief that characters could be “over-exposed” was one of the most pernicious and long-lasting (although it never hurt Superman, Batman or the original Captain Marvel), garnered from years of experience in an industry which lived or died on that fractional portion of pennies derived each month from the pocket-money and allowances of children which wasn’t spent on candy, toys or movies.

By the end of the 1960s, comic book costs and retail prices were inexorably rising and a proportion of titles – especially newly revived horror stories – were consciously being produced for older readerships. Nearly a decade of organised fan publications and letter writing crusades had finally convinced publishing bean-counters what editors already knew: grown-ups avidly read comics too. Moreover, they happily spent more than kids and craved more, more, more of what they loved.

Explicitly: If one appearance per month was popular, extras, specials and second series would be more so. By the time Marvel Comics Wunderkind Gerry Conway left The House of Ideas, DC was willing and ready to expand its variegated line-up with some oft-requested fan-favourite characters. Paramount among these was the JSA, the first super-team and a perennial gem whose annual guest-appearances in Justice League of America and other superhero titles had become a beloved tradition and treat.

Thus in 1976 writer/editor Conway marked his second DC tenure (he had first broken into the game writing horror shorts for Joe Orlando) by reviving All Star Comics with #58. In 1951, the original title transformed overnight into All Star Western with the numbering running for a further decade for the home of cowboy crusaders like Strong Bow, The Trigger Twins, a different Johnny Thunder and Super-Chief. Now, set on Earth-Two, and in keeping with the editorial sense of ensuring a series be relevant to young readers too, Conway reintroduced the veteran team, leavened with a smattering of teen heroes forming a contentious, generation gap-fuelled “Super Squad”…

Augmented by Robin (a JSA-er since the mid-1960s and Justice League of America #55), Sylvester Pemberton/Star-Spangled Kid and a busty young thing who rapidly became the feisty favourite of a generation of growing boys: Kara Zor-L: Power Girl. Closing this collection is a short piece as she and fellow newcomer Huntress discuss how the Golden Age died. Taken from 68-page anthology title Adventure Comics 466 where Paul Levitz & Joe Staton delivered a pithy history lesson exposing the reason why the team vanished at the beginning of the 1950s, ‘The Defeat of the Justice Society!’ shows how the US Government cravenly betrayed their greatest champions. Set during early days of the McCarthy era anti-communist witch-hunts, a sham trial provoked the mystery men into voluntarily withdrawing from public, heroic life. There they stayed until the costumed stalwarts of Earth-One started the whole Fights ‘n’ Tights scene all over again…

These exuberant, rapid-paced and imaginative yarns perfectly blend the naive charm of Golden Age derring-do with cynically hopeful modern sensibilities. Here you will be reassured that no matter what, in the end our heroes will always find a way to save the day. These are classic tales from simpler times and a glorious example of traditional superhero storytelling at its finest: fun, furious and ferociously engaging, excitingly written and beguilingly illustrated. No Fights ‘n’ Tights fan should miss these marvellous sagas.
© 1951, 1979,1991, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1907, Dutch Indo painter and cartoonist Joseph Ferdinand Doeve was born, with Us comics writer Jerry Coleman (Superman, Batman) arriving in 1913; Dutch comics author Wim Booster in 1918.

This date saw the passing of artists Mike Parobeck (Batman Adventures, El Diablo, Elongated Man, Justice Society of America, The Fly) in 1996 and John Cullen Murphy (Prince Valiant) in 2004.