Category: Mystery

Posted on

Golden Age Marvel Comics Masterworks volume 1



By Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Paul Gustavson, Ben Thompson, Ed Wood/Fred Schwab, Al Anders, Tomm Dixon/Art Panajian, Steve Dahlman, Stockbridge Winslow/Bob Davis, Irwin Hasen, Ray Gill, David C. Cooke, Charles J. Mazoujian, Paul Lauretta, Harry Ramsey, Alex Schomburg & others (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1609-7 (HB/Digital edition) 978-0-7851-5052-7 (TPB)

There are many comics and strip anniversaries this year and this title ranks among the most significant, containing not one but two superstar launches and a few minor milestones too…

After a rather shaky start and inauspicious in 1936, the fledgling comic book industry was saved by the invention of Superman two years later. His iconic innovations launched a new popular genre and paved the way for explosive expansion. By 1939 the new kids on the block were in a frantic flurry of creative frenzy with every publisher trying to make and own the Next Big Thing.

Martin Goodman’s pulp fiction outfit leapt into the turbulent marketplace and scored big with initial offering Marvel Comics, released late in the year before inexplicably switching to the marginally less euphonious Marvel Mystery Comics with the second issue. During those early days, novel ideas, raw ambition and sheer exuberance could take you far and, as most alternative means of entertainment escapism for kids were severely limited, it just wasn’t that hard to make a go of it as a comic book publisher. Combine that with a creative work-force which kept being drafted, and it’s clear to see why low and declining standards of story and art didn’t greatly affect month-to-month sales during the years of World War II.

However, once hostilities ceased a cascade-decline in superhero strips began even before GI boots hit US soil again. Those innocent kids had seen a lot and wanted something more than brashness, naivety and breakneck pace from their funnybooks now…

Both The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner quickly won favour with the burgeoning if fickle readership, but the remaining characters were soon acknowledged to be B-listers and subject to immediate replacement if a better idea presented itself. Still, 2 out of 7 was pretty good: Action and Detective Comics only had one super-star apiece at the outset. Another holdover from the pre-comics, pulp fiction era of the company was its tendency to treat instalments as serial chapters; always promising more & better if you’d just come back next month…

Before the year was out Timely’s “Big Two” would clash – frequently and repeatedly battling like elemental gods in the skies above Manhattan. Goodman apparently favoured Ka-Zar and The Angel: both characters devolving from his own stable of pulp genre stars. Sadly, neither generic jungle adventures of the company’s premiere Tarzan knockoff nor the thud-&-blunder crimebusting rogue’s potboilers – which owed so much to Leslie Charteris’ iconic dark knight The Saint – appeal to kids like the spectacular graphic histrionics of anarchic Fire and Water anti-heroes did…

An editorial policy of rapid expansion was quickly adopted: release a new book filled with whatever was dreamed up by the art-&-script monkeys of the comics “shop” (freelancers who packaged material on spec for publishing houses: Martin Goodman bought all his product from Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies Inc.), keep the popular hits and ditch everything else. Timely Comics, or Red Circle as the company occasionally called itself, enjoyed a huge turnover of characters who only minimal appearances before vanishing, thereafter un-seen again until modern revivals or recreations produced fresh versions of characters like Angel, Ka-Zar or Electro.

This volume – available in hardback, softcover and eBook editions – kicks into high gear following a knowledgeable and informative scene-setting introduction by Golden Age Guru Roy Thomas. The landmark Marvel Comics #1 sported a cover by pulp illustrator Frank R. Paul, and after spot gag page ‘Now I’ll Tell One’ (by “Ed Wood” – AKA Fred Schwab) introduces to the gasping populace Carl Burgos’ landmark conception ‘The Human Torch’…

The Flaming Fury led off a parade of wonderment, bursting into life as a malfunctioning humanoid devised by Professor Phineas Horton. Igniting into an uncontrollable blazing fireball whenever exposed to air, the artificial innocent was condemned to entombment in concrete but escaped to accidentally imperil the city until falling into the hands of a gangster named Sardo. When his attempts to use the gullible android as a terror weapon backfire, the hapless newborn is left a misunderstood fugitive, like a modern-day Frankenstein’s monster. Even his creator only sees the flaming waif as a means of making money…

Crafted by Paul Gustavson (Human Bomb, Fantom of the Fair, Man O’ War), the opening episode of ‘The Angel’ owed a litigiously large debt to 1938 Louis Hayward film The Saint in New York. Although dressed like a superhero, the globetrotting do-gooder offered a blend of Charteris’s iconic valiant scoundrel and The Lone Wolf (Louis Vance’s urbane 2-fisted hero who was subject of 8 books and 24 B-movies between 1917 and 1949). However, the four-colour paladin’s foes soon tended towards only the spooky, the ghoulish and the just plain demented. He also seemed able to cast giant shadows in the shape of an angel. Not the greatest aid to cleaning up the scum of the Earth, but he coped in his initial enterprise when tasked with cleaning up New York’s gang problems and dealing with the deadly depredations of a crime syndicate dubbed ‘The Six Big Men’…

Bill Everett’s contribution ‘The Sub-Mariner’ was actually an expanded reprint of a beautiful black-&-white strip from Motion Picture Funnies. Prince Namor was scion of an aquatic civilisation living under the South Pole. These technologically advanced merfolk had been decimated by American mineral exploration a generation previously, and Namor’s future mother Fen had been dispatched to spy upon them. She had gotten too close, fallen pregnant by one of the interlopers. Twenty years later her amphibious mutant-hybrid son was bent onto exacting revenge on the air-breathers – which he began by attacking New York City…

Cowboy Jim Gardley was framed by ruthless cattle-baron Cal Brunder and found the only way to secure a measure of justice was to become ‘The Masked Raider’: dispensing six-gun law. Al Anders’ Lone Ranger riff was competent but uninspired, lasting until Marvel Mystery #12. Offering a complete adventure, ‘Jungle Terror’ by Tomm Dixon (aka Art Panajian) follows gentlemen explorers Ken Masters and Tim Roberts (pictorially patterned on Caniff’s Pat Ryan and Terry Lee) battling savages in the Amazon to find cursed diamonds. After a brief prose vignette – a staple of early comics – detailing Ray Gill’s racing car drama ‘Burning Rubber’ the aforementioned ‘Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great’ begins with Ben Thompson (The Masked Marvel, Hydro-Man) adroitly adapting Bob Byrd’s pulp novel King of Fang and Claw to strip serial form. In the first chapter, South African diamond miner John Rand and his wife crash their plane into the Belgian Congo where their son David grows up amidst jungle splendour to become brother to King of Lions Zar. An idyllic life is only marred years later when murderous explorer Paul De Kraft kills old John, leaving young David to seek vengeance…

Behind a Charles J. Mazoujian Angel cover, the abruptly re-titled Marvel Mystery Comics #2 (December 1939) again offered ‘The Human Torch’ by Burgos, wherein the fiery fugitive attains a degree of sophistication and control before stumbling onto a murderous racing car racket. Here gangster Blackie Ross ensures his drivers always win by strafing other contestants from an airplane, until the big-hearted, outraged Torch steps in…

Gustavson despatched ‘The Angel’ to Hong Kong to stop museum researcher Jane Framan falling victim to a curse when the perils of The Lost Temple of Alano prove to be caused by greedy men, not magical spirits, but ‘The Sub-Mariner’ himself is the threat in Everett’s second chapter, as the Marine Marvel goes berserk in a NYC powerhouse before showing his true colours by chivalrously saving a pretty girl caught in the ensuing conflagration. Anti-heroism gives way to traditional nobility as Anders’ ‘Masked Raider’ then breaks up an entire lost town of outlaws, after which the debuting ‘American Ace’ (by Paul Lauretta and clearly based on Roy Crane’s soldier of fortune Wash Tubbs) finds Yankee aviator Perry Wade flying straight into danger when the woman who caused the Great War returns to start WWII by attacking innocent European nations with her hidden armies…

‘The Angel’ stars in an implausible, jingoistic prose yarn (by David C. Cooke illustrated by Mazoujian), single-handedly downing a strafing ‘Death-Bird Squadron’ whilst Thompson introduced fresh horrors – including a marauding, malicious ape named Chaka – to plague young David in more ‘Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great’ before the issue ends with gag pages ‘All in Fun’ by Ed Wood and ‘Looney Laffs’ from Thompson.

Cover-dated January 1940 and sporting an Alex Schomburg Angel cover, Marvel Mystery Comics #3 saw ‘The Human Torch’ evolving into a recognisable superhero series as he battles a ruthless entrepreneur trying to secure the formula for a super-explosive he can sell to Martian invaders, whilst ‘The Angel’ confronts a bloodthirsty death-cult sacrificing young women. Next ‘The Sub-Mariner’ takes a huge leap in dramatic quality after policewoman Betty Dean entices, entraps and successfully reasons with the intractably belligerent subsea invader. With global war looming ever closer, opinions and themes constantly shifted and Everett reacted brilliantly by turning Namor into a protector of all civilians at sea: preying on any warlike nation sinking innocent shipping. Naturally, even before America officially joined the fray, that meant primarily Nazis got their subs and destroyers demolished at the antihero’s sinewy hands…

When gold and oil are discovered under ranch land, ‘The Masked Raider’ steps in to stop greedy killers driving off settlers in a timeless tale of western justice, whereas current events overtook the ‘American Ace’, who faded out after his tale of blitzkrieg bombings in a picturesque Ruritanian nation. Even Cooke & Everett’s text thriller ‘Siegfried Suicide’ was naming and shaming the Axis directly in a yarn of a lone Yank saving French soldiers from German atrocity, before neutrality resumes as, under African skies, the ‘Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great’ sees the boy hero rescue his animal friends from a well-meaning zoo hunter in a tale revealing hints of a Jungle Book style congress of animals…

The final inclusion – Marvel Mystery Comics #4, February 1940 – opens with a Schomburg cover depicting Sub-Mariner smashing a Nazi U-Boat before another inflammatory Burgos ‘Human Torch’ epic sees the android create secret identity Jim Hammond and return to New York to crush a criminal genius terrorising the city with warriors cloaked in lethal, sub-zero ‘Green Flame’…

‘The Angel’ too is in the Big Apple, hunting a small time hood manipulating a monstrous hyper-thyroid case named ‘Butch the Giant’. Impervious to pain and able to punch through brick walls, this slavish meal ticket is eventually overcome, after which ‘The Sub-Mariner Goes to War’ as the passionate Prince rallies his Polar people, employing their advanced technology in a taskforce enforcing his Pax Namor upon the surface world’s war mongers…

Even by its own low standards ‘The Masked Raider’ tale of claim-jumping is far from exemplary, but prose crime puzzler ‘Warning Enough’ (Cooke & Harry Ramsey) is a genuinely enthralling change of pace tale.

Rendered by Steve Dahlman, ‘Electro, the Marvel of the Age’ introduces brilliant Professor Philo Zog who constructs an all-purpose wonder robot and forms an international secret society of undercover operatives who seek out uncanny crimes and great injustices for the automaton to fix. The first case involves retrieving a kidnapped child actress…

Another debut is ‘Ferret, Mystery Detective’ by Stockbridge Winslow (Bob Davis) & Irwin Hasen, following the eponymous crime-writer and his faithful assistants as they solve the case of a corpse dropped on the authors doorstep. Proceedings culminate with another winner in the ‘Adventures of Ka-Zar the Great’ as despised villain De Kraft returns to face the beginning (but not the end: that’s frustratingly left to the next issue …and volume) of the jungle lord’s just vengeance…

Despite many problems – especially its regrettable populist tendencies and desperately dated depictions of race, class, ethnicity and gender – I’m constantly delighted with this substantial chronicle, warts and all, but I can fully understand why anyone other than a life-long comics or Marvel fan might baulk at the steep price-tag in these days of grim austerity, with a wealth of better quality and more highly regarded comics collections available. Nevertheless, value is one thing and worth another, and the sheer vibrantly ingenious rollercoaster rush and vitality of these tales, even more than historical merit or cultural obsolescence, is just so intoxicating that if you like this sort of thing you’ll love this sort of thing.

If anything could convince the undecided to take a look, later editions also include numerous tantalising house ads of the period and a full colour cover gallery of Marvel Mystery Comics’ pulp predecessors: Marvel Science Stories, Marvel Tales, Marvel Stories, Ka-Zar, The Angel Detective, Uncanny Tales, Mystery Tales, Dynamic Science Stories and Star Detective Magazine by illustrators Norman Saunders, Frank R. Paul, H. W. Wesso and John W. Scott. Upping the ante, further bonuses comprise the second print cover of Marvel Comics #1, a sample of Norman Saunders’ original painted art, Everett Sub-Mariner pages and unused cover roughs, a Mazoujian-pencilled Angel cover reworked into the never-printed Zephyr Comics ashcan cover and a Burgos watercolour sketch offering a partial redesign of The Human Torch.

Although probably not to the tastes of most modern fans, for devotees of superheroes, aficionados of historical works and true Marvel Zombies there’s still plenty to enjoy here, and as always, in the end, it’s up to you…
© 1939, 1940, 2004, 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Sandman Mystery Theatre Book One


By Matt Wagner, Guy Davis, John Watkiss, R.G. Taylor, David Hornung & John Costanza & various (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6327-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

Created by Bert Christman & Gardner F. Fox, The Sandman premiered in either Adventure Comics #40 July 1939 (two months after Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27) or two weeks earlier in New York World’s Fair Comics 1939, depending on which rather spotty distribution records can be believed.

Head and face utterly obscured by a gasmask and slouch hat; caped, business-suited millionaire adventurer Wesley Dodds was cut from the iconic masked mystery-man mould that had made pulp fictioneers The Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider and many more household names. Those dark red-handed heroes were also astonishing commercial successes in the early days of mass periodical publication…

Wielding a sleep-gas gun and haunting the night to battle a string of killers, crooks and spies, he was accompanied in the earliest comicbooks by his plucky paramour Dian Belmont, before gradually losing the readers’ interest and slipping from cover-spot to last feature in Adventure Comics, just as the cloaked pulp-hero avengers he emulated slipped from popularity in favour of more flamboyant fictional fare.

Possessing a certain indefinable style and charm but definitely no especial pizzazz, the feature was on the verge of being dropped when the Sandman abruptly switched to skin-tight yellow-&-purple and gained boy-sidekick Sandy the Golden Boy (Adventure Comics #69, December 1941, courtesy of Mort Weisinger & Paul Norris). All this, presumably to emulate the overwhelmingly successful Batman and Captain America models then reaping big dividends on newsstands.

It didn’t help much, but when Joe Simon & Jack Kirby came aboard with #72 it all changed. A semi-supernatural element and fascination with the world of dreams (revisited by S&K a decade later in their short-lived experimental suspense series The Strange World of Your Dreams) added moody conceptual punch to balance the kinetic fury of their art, as Sandman and Sandy became literally the stuff of nightmares to bizarre bandits and murderous mugs…

For what happened next you can check out the superb Simon & Kirby Sandman collection.

Time passed and in the late 1980s Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith & Mike Dringenberg took the property in a revolutionary new direction, eventually linking all the previous reboot elements into an overarching connective continuity under DC’s new “sophisticated suspense” imprint Vertigo. Within a few years the astounding success of the new Sandman prompted editorial powers-that-be to revisit the stylishly retro original character and look at him through more mature eyes. Iconoclastic creator Matt Wagner (Mage, Grendel, The Demon, Batman) teamed with artistic adept Guy Davis (Baker Street, B.P.R.D.) and colourist David Hornung to channel a grittier, grimier, far more viscerally authentic 1930s, where the haunted mystery man could pursue his lonely crusade with chilling verisimilitude.

The tone was darkly modernistic, with crime-busting played out in the dissolute dog-days of the Jazz Age and addressing controversial themes such as abuse, sexual depravity, corruption and racism; all presented against the rising tide of fascism sweeping the world then.

Consider this a warning: Sandman Mystery Theatre is not for kids.

This compendium collects the first three redefining story-arcs from issues #1-12 (April 1993 to March 1994) and commences after an absorbing introduction from veteran journalist, critic and pop culture historian Dave Marsh.

Each chapter preceded by its original evocative faux pulp photo cover created by Gavin Wilson and Hornung, the dark drama opens with The Tarantula, taking us to New York in 1938 where District Attorney Larry Belmont is having the Devil’s own time keeping his wild-child daughter out of trouble and out of the newspapers. Dian is gallivanting all over town every night with her spoiled rich friends: drinking, partying and associating with all the wrong people, but the prominent public servant has far larger problems too. One is a mysterious gas-masked figure he finds rifling his safe soon after Dian departs…

The intruder easily overpowers the DA with some kind of sleeping gas – which also makes you want to blurt every inconvenient truth – before disappearing, leaving Belmont to awaken with a headache and wondering if it was all a dream…

After a rowdy night carousing with scandalous BFF Catherine Van Der Meer and her latest (gangster) lover, Dian gets up with a similar hangover, but still agrees to attend one of father’s dreary public functions that evening. The elder Belmont is particularly keen that she meet a studious young man named Wesley Dodds, recently returned from years in the Orient to take over his deceased dad’s many business interests. Dodds seems genteel and effete, yet Dian finds there’s something oddly compelling about him. Moreover, he too seems to feel a connection…

The Gala breaks up early when the DA is informed of a sensational crime. Catherine Van Der Meer has been kidnapped by someone calling himself as The Tarantula…

Across town, mob boss Albert Goldman meets with fellow gangsters from the West Coast and, as usual, his useless son Roger and drunken wife Miriam embarrass him. Daughter Celia is the only one he can depend on these days, but even her unwavering devotion seems increasingly divided. After another stormy scene, the conference ends early, and the visiting crimelords are appalled to find their usually diligent bodyguards soundly asleep in their limousines…

Even with Catherine kidnapped, Dian is determined to go out that night, but when Wesley arrives unexpectedly changes her mind, much to her father’s relief. The feeling doesn’t last long, however, after the police inform him the Tarantula has taken another woman…

When a hideously mutilated body is found, Dian inveigles herself into accompanying dear old Dad to Headquarters but is promptly excluded from the grisly “Man’s Business”. Left alone, she starts snooping in the offices and encounters a bizarre gas-masked figure poring through files. Before she can react, he dashes past her and escapes, leaving her to explain to the assorted useless lawmen cluttering up the place.

Furious and humiliated, Dian then insists that she officially identify Catherine and nobody can dissuade her. Shockingly, the savagely ruined body is not her best friend but yet another victim. Somewhere dark and hidden, Van Der Meer is being tortured, but the perpetrator has far more than macabre gratification in mind…

In the Goldman house, Celia is daily extending her control over darling devoted Daddy. They still share a very special secret, but these days she’s the one dictating where and when they indulge themselves…

With all the trauma in her life, Dian increasingly finds Wesley a comforting rock, but perhaps that view would change if she knew how he spends his nights. Dodds is tormented, plagued by bad dreams. Not his own nightmares, but rather somnolent screams of nameless victims and their cruel oppressors haunt his troubled slumbers. Worst of all, these dreams are unrelenting and somehow prophetic. What else can a decent man do then, but act to end such suffering?

In a seedy dive, uncompromising Police Lieutenant Burke comes off worst when he discovers the gas-mask lunatic grilling a suspect in “his” kidnapping case and again later when this “Sandman” is found at a factory where the vehicle used to transport victims is hidden.

Even so, the net is inexorably tightening on both Tarantula and the vigilante interfering in the investigation, but Burke doesn’t know who he most wants in his nice, dark interrogation room…

As the labyrinthine web of mystery and monstrosity unravels, tension mounts and the death toll climbs, but can The Sandman stop the torrent of depraved terror before the determined Dian finds herself swept up in all the blood and death?

Of course, he does but not without appalling consequences…

Scene and scenario suitably set, John Watkiss steps in to illuminate second saga The Face (issues #5-8). Attention switches to Chinatown in February of 1938, where Dian and her gal-pals scandalously dine and dish dirt… until Miss Belmont meets again an old lover.

Jimmy Shan once worked in her father’s office but now serves as lawyer and fixer for his own people amongst the teeming restaurants, gambling dens and bordellos of the oriental district. Dian would be horrified to see Jimmy – or Zhang Chai Lao as his Tong masters know him – consorting with unsavoury criminals, and would certainly not be considering reviving her scandalous out-of-hours relationship with him. All such frivolous thoughts vanish, however, when the diners vacate the restaurant and stumble upon a severed head: a warning that the ruling factions are about to go to war again in Chinatown. As usual, white police are utterly ineffectual against the closed ranks of the enclave…

Later at a swanky charity soiree to raise money for a school, Dian meets Jimmy again and agrees to a meeting. At the same shindig she later sees Wesley, and in the course of their small talk, Dodds reveals that he recognises Shan from somewhere.

…And in Chinatown, another beheading leads to greater tension between the Lee Feng and Hou Yibai Societies. When an enigmatic gas-masked stranger starts asking unavoidable questions, he finds both Tongs denying all knowledge of the killings…

As the grisly murder-toll mounts, The Sandman’s investigations lead to one inescapable conclusion: a third party is responsible. But who, and why? Before this drama closes, Dian will learn more hard truths about the world and the money-men who secretly run it…

Issues #9-12 (December 1993-March 1994) are illustrated by R.G. Taylor, plumbing the darkest depths of human depravity in the tale of ‘The Brute’. The friendship of Dian and Wesley slowly deepens and life seems less fraught in the city, but that ends as a hulking degenerate stalks the back-alleys, killing and brutalising prostitutes and their clients…

Dodds is also on the mind of boxing promoter and businessman Arthur Reisling who’s looking for a fresh financial partner in his global exploitations. The effete-seeming scholar is hard to convince, though, unlike Eddie Ramsey. He’s a poverty-stricken pugilist and single parent desperate to make enough money to pay for his daughter Emily’s TB medicine. Riesling’s offer to him is just as scurrilous but the broken-down pug doesn’t have the luxury of saying “no”…

Eventually, with Dian in tow, Wesley accepts a party invitation from the speculator and meets his dynasty of worthless, over-privileged children. None of them seem right or well-adjusted. Later, when Eddie tries to come clean by informing the authorities of Riesling’s illegal fight events, he’s attacked by the promoter’s thugs and saved by The Sandman – at least until the colossal mystery killer attacks them both and they’re forced to flee for their lives…

As Dodds returns home to recuperate, the punishing dreams escalate to mind-rending intensity. Eddie, meanwhile, is left with no safe option and takes to the streets with Emily. His decision will lead to revolting horror, total tragedy and utter heartbreak.

The Sandman returns to his covert surveillance, silently unearthing the depths of Reisling’s underworld activities and coincidentally exposing a turbulent, dysfunctional atmosphere in the magnate’s home life to match his criminal activities. In this house, corruption of every kind runs deep and wide, and the masked avenger decides it’s time to bring his findings to Dian’s father. This time, District Attorney Belmont is prepared to listen and to act…

As murders mount and Dodds’ dreams escalate in intensity, the strands of a bloody tapestry knot together and the appalling secret of the bestial killer’s connection to Reisling is exposed; only a detonation of expiating violence can restore order…

Stark, compelling and ferociously absorbing, these bleak thrillers depict a cruel but incisive assessment of good and evil no devotee of dark drama should miss, with the period perils accompanied by a gallery of the series’ original, groundbreaking comic book photo-covers and posters by Gavin Wilson, plus later collection covers and related art from Matt Wagner, Alex Toth and Kent Wilson.
© 1993, 1994, 1995, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Justice League of America: Zatanna’s Search


By Gardner F. Fox, Murphy Anderson, Bob Kane, Joe Giella, Gil Kane, Sid Greene, Carmine Infantino, Mike Sekowsky & various, with Gerry Conway, Romeo Tanghal & Vince Colletta (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0188-3 (TPB)

The Silver Age of Comic Books changed many things, but its longest lasting revolution was in how it introduced more women and to the pantheon of costumed characters. Here in one long-neglected package is the story of a character who has never looked back, and this year celebrates sixty years of magic…

With Julius Schwartz and John Broome, writer extraordinaire Gardner F. Fox laid the foundations of all comic book continuities. He was a lifelong creator and champion of strong female characters (like Dian Belmont, Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman, Inza Nelson, Barbara –Batgirl/Oracle – Gordon and Sue Dibny), a canny innovator and one of the earliest proponents of extended storylines which have since become so familiar to us as “braided crossovers”.

A lawyer by trade, Fox began his comics career in the Golden Age toiling on major and minor features, working in every genre and for most companies. One of the second-string strips he scripted was Zatara; a magician-hero in the Mandrake mould who fought evil and astounded audiences in the pages of Action and World’s Finest Comics for over a decade, beginning with the very first issue. To be completely accurate, the latter’s premiere performance was in the one-shot World’s Best Comics #1, but whatever the book’s name, the top-hatted, suavely tailed and tailored trickster was there. Zatara fell from favour as the decade closed, fading from memory like so many other outlandish crime-crushers…

In 1956 Editor Schwartz reinvented the superhero genre, reintroducing costumed characters based on the company’s defunct costumed cohort. Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and The Atom were refitted for a sleek, scientific atomic age, with their legendary predecessors latterly reincarnated and returned as denizens of an alternate Earth. As experiments became a trend and then inexorable publishing policy, surviving heroes like Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Aquaman and Wonder Woman were retrofitted to match the new world order.

The Superhero was resurgent and public appetite seemed inexhaustible. For their next trick Fox & Schwartz turned to the magician of yore and presumably found him wanting. Rather than condemn the mage to Earth-Two, they instead created the first “legacy hero” by having Zatara vanish from sight as precursor to debuting an unsuspected daughter, before setting her on a far-reaching quest to find him.

Zatanna premiered in 1964 in Hawkman #4 (cover-dated October/November), illustrated by the magnificent Murphy Anderson in a beguiling thriller entitled ‘The Girl who Split in Two’. Following a mystical trail and wearing a variation of Zatara’s stage garb, the plucky, impatient lass had mystically divided her body in two and travelled simultaneously to Ireland and China, but lapsed into paralysis until Hawkman and Hawkgirl answered her ethereal distress call.

Although nobody knew it at the time, the “winsome witch” appeared next as the villain in Detective Comics #336 (February 1965). ‘Batman’s Bewitched Nightmare’ saw a broom-riding old crone attacking the Dynamic Duo at the command of mutant super-threat The Outsider in a stirring yarn limned by Bob Kane & Joe Giella. Current opinion posits this wasn’t originally intended as part of the quest epic, but when the search storyline was resolved at the height of TV-inspired “Batmania” in Justice League of America #51, some slick back-writing was necessary to bring the high-profile Caped Crusader into the resolution.

Gil Kane & Sid Greene illustrated the next two chapters of the saga: firstly in ‘World of the Magic Atom’ (Atom #19, June/July 1965), wherein Mystic Maid and Tiny Titan battled Zatara’s old nemesis The Druid on microcosmic world Catamoore, and then with the Emerald Gladiator in an extra-dimensional realm on ‘The Other Side of the World!’ (Green Lantern #42, January 1966). Here the malevolently marauding, potentially Earth-dominating Warlock of Ys is overcome after a mighty struggle and compelled to reveal further clues in the trail.

The Elongated Man starred in a long-running back-up feature in Detective Comics, and in #355 (September 1966, pencilled & inked by Carmine Infantino) ‘The Tantalizing Trouble of the Tripod Thieves!’ revealed how the search for a pilfered eldritch artefact brought the sorceress closer to her goal, before the search concluded in spectacular and fabulously satisfying fashion with aforementioned JLA tale ‘Z – As in Zatanna – and Zero Hour!’ (#51, February 1967).

With art by incomparable team Mike Sekowsky & Sid Greene, all heroes who previously aided her were transported to another mystical plane to conduct a classic battle of good against evil, with plenty of cunning surprises and a happy ending for all concerned.

Here is a triumphant early experiment in continuity that remains one of the best adventures of the Silver Age, featuring some of the era’s greatest creators at the peak of their powers. This slim volume also carries an enticing encore: following the mandatory cover gallery is a rare 10-page tale. ‘The Secret Spell!’ – by Gerry Conway, Romeo Tanghal & Vince Colletta – was only originally seen in DC Blue Ribbon Digest #5 (November-December 1980): revealing ‘Secret Origins of Super-Heroes’ and exploring the hidden history of both father and daughter in a snappily informative manner. Although a little hard to find now – and a still a prime candidate for arcane transmogrification into digital formats – this is a superlative volume for fans of costumed heroes and would make a wonderful tome to bring newcomers to the genre.
© 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1980, 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Showcase Presents Superman volume 4


By Edmond Hamilton, Robert Bernstein, Jerry Siegel, Leo Dorfman, Al Plastino, Curt Swan, George Klein & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1847-8 (TPB)

By the time of the stories in this fabulous fourth monochrome compendium Superman was a truly global household name, with the burgeoning mythology of lost Krypton, modern Metropolis and the core cast familiar to most children and many adults.

The Man of Tomorrow was just beginning a media-led burst of revived interest. In the immediate future, television exposure, a rampant merchandising wave thanks to the Batman-led boom in superheroes generally, highly efficient world-wide comics, cartoon, bubble gum cards and especially toy licensing deals would all feed a growing mythology. Everything was in place to keep the Last Son of Krypton a vibrant yet comfortably familiar icon of modern, Space-Age America: particularly constantly evolving, ever-more dramatic and imaginative comicbook stories.

Spanning October 1962 to February 1964 and taken from Action Comics #293-309 and Superman #157-166, here the Man of Tomorrow faces evermore fantastic physical threats and critical personal and social challenges.

AC #293 gets things off to a fine start with Edmond Hamilton & Al Plastino’s ‘The Feud Between Superman and Clark Kent!’ as another exposure to randomly metamorphic Red Kryptonite divides the Metropolis Marvel into a rational but powerless mortal and an aggressive, out of control superhero, determined to continue his existence at all costs…

Superman #157 (November 1962) opens with fresh additions to mythology as ‘The Super-Revenge of the Phantom Zone Prisoner!’ – Hamilton, Curt Swan & George Klein – introduces permanently power-neutralising Gold Kryptonite and Superman’s Zone-o-phone – allowing him to monitor and communicate with the incarcerated inhabitants in a stirring tale of injustice and redemption. Convicted felon Quex-Ul uses it to petition Superman for release since his sentence has been served, and despite reservations our fair-minded hero agrees. However, further investigation reveals Quex-Ul was framed and innocent of any crime, but before Superman can make amends, he must survive a deadly trap the embittered (and partially mind-controlled) parolee had laid for the son of the Zone’s discoverer…

The issue also carried a light-hearted espionage yarn as the Action Ace becomes ‘The Super-Genie of Metropolis!’ (Robert Bernstein & Plastino) as well as ‘Superman’s Day of Doom!’ from Jerry Siegel, Swan & Klein, wherein a little kid saves the hero from a deadly ambush set during a parade in his honour.

Action #294 contains a classic duel between Superman and Lex Luthor in Hamilton & Plastino’s ‘The Kryptonite Killer!’ wherein the sinister scientist makes elemental humanoids to destroy his hated foe, whilst #295’s ‘Superman Goes Wild!’ (Bernstein, Swan & Klein) features an insidious plot by the Superman Revenge Squad to drive him murderously insane.

Issue #158 of his solo title hosted full-length epic ‘Superman in Kandor!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) as raiders from the preserved Kryptonian enclave attack the Man of Steel in ‘Invasion of the Mystery Supermen’, describing him as a traitor to his people. Baffled, Action Ace and Jimmy Olsen infiltrate the Bottle City: creating costumed alter egos Nightwing and Flamebird to become ‘The Dynamic Duo of Kandor!’ By solving the enigma, they save the colony from utter destruction in ‘The City of Super-People!’

Action #296 seemingly offers a man vs. monster saga in ‘The Invasion of the Super-Ants!’ (Hamilton & Plastino) but the gripping yarn has a sharp plot twist and timely warning about nuclear proliferation, before in #297’s ‘The Man Who Betrayed Superman’s Identity!’ (Leo Dorfman, Swan & Klein), veteran newsman Perry White is gulled into solving the world’s greatest mystery after a head injury induces amnesia.

Editor Mort Weisinger was expanding the series’ continuity and building the legend, and realised each new tale was an event adding to a nigh-sacred canon: what he printed was deeply important to the readers. However, as an ideas man he wasn’t going to let that aggregated “history” stifle a good plot, nor would he allow his eager yet sophisticated audience to endure clichéd Deus ex Machina cop-outs which might mar the sheer enjoyment of a captivating concept. Thus “Imaginary Stories” were conceived as a way of exploring non-continuity plots and scenarios, devised at a time when editors felt that entertainment trumped consistency and fervently believed that every comic read was somebody’s first and – unless they were very careful – their last…

Taken from Superman #159, this book’s first Imaginary Novel follows, as ‘Lois Lane, the Super-Maid of Krypton!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) sees a baby girl escape Earth’s destruction by rocketing to another world in ‘Lois Lane’s Flight from Earth!’ Befriending young Kal-El, she grows to become a mighty champion of justice. Clashing with ‘The Female Luthor of Krypton!’ and repeatedly saving the world, Lois tragically endures ‘The Doom of Super-Maid!’ at a time when attitudes apparently couldn’t allow a woman to be stronger than Superman – even in an alternate fictionality…

Dorfman, Swan & Klein’s ‘Clark Kent, Coward!’ leads Action #298 wherein a balloon excursion dumps Jimmy, Lois and the clandestine crusader in a lost kingdom whose queen finds the timid buffoon irresistible. Unfortunately the husky hunks of the hidden land take extreme umbrage at her latest dalliance…

In #160 of his eponymous publication, our hero temporarily loses his powers in ‘The Mortal Superman!’ (Dorfman & Plastino), almost dying in ‘The Cage of Doom!’ before his merely human wits prove sufficient to outsmart a merciless crime syndicate, after which the mood lightens as – fully restored – he becomes ‘The Super-Cop of Metropolis!’ to outwit spies in a classy “why-dunnit” from Siegel, Swan & Klein.

Action #299 reveals the outlandish motives behind ‘The Story of Superman’s Experimental Robots!’ in a truly bizarre tale by Siegel & Plastino, whilst Superman #161 offers an untold tale revealing how he tragically learned the limitations of his powers. In ‘The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent!’ (Dorfman & Plastino) a vacation time-travel trip led to his foster parents’ demise and only too late did the heartbroken hero learn his actions were not the cause of their deaths. It’s supplemented by ‘Superman Goes to War’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) lightening the mood as a war game covered by Daily Planet staff devolves into the real thing after Clark discovers some participants are actually aliens.

Action Comics reached #300 with the May1963 issue ,and to celebrate Hamilton & Plastino crafted brilliantly ingenious ‘Superman Under the Red Sun!’ wherein the Man of Tomorrow is trapped in the far, far future where Earth’s sun has cooled to crimson and his powers fade. The valiant chronal castaway suffers incredible hardship and danger before devising a way home, just in time for #301 and ‘The Trial of Superman!’ – by the same creative team – as the Man of Steel allows himself to be prosecuted for Clark Kent’s murder to save America from a terrible threat.

Dorfman, Swan & Klein’s ‘The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!’ (Superman #162) is possibly the most ambitious and influential tale of the entire “Imaginary Tale” sub-genre: a startling utopian classic so well-received that decades later it influenced and flavoured the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman continuity for months. It still does today. The Metropolis Marvel permanently divides into two equal beings in ‘The Titanic Twins!’, who promptly solve all Earth’s problems with ‘The Anti-Evil Ray!’ and similar scientific breakthroughs before both retiring with pride and the girls of their dreams, Lois Lane and Lana Lang (one each, of course) in ‘The End of Superman’s Career!’…

There’s no record of who scripted Action #302’s ‘The Amazing Confession of Super-Perry White!’ but Plastino’s slick, beefy art lends great animation to a convoluted tale with the Man of Steel replacing the aging editor to thwart an assassination plot, accidentally giving the impression that podgy Perry is his actual alter ego…

Superman #163 offered crafty mystery in ‘Wonder-Man, the New Hero of Metropolis!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) who almost replaces the Man of Steel, were it not for his tragic foredoomed secret, before ‘The Goofy Superman!’ (Bernstein & Plastino) sees Red K deprive the hero of powers and sanity, resulting in a fortuitous stay in the local Home for the Perpetually Bewildered – since that’s where a cunning mad bomber is secretly hiding out…

In Action #303 Hamilton, Swan & Klein have the infernal mineral transform Superman into ‘The Monster from Krypton!’, almost dying at the hands of the army and a vengeful Supergirl who believes her cousin has been eaten by the dragon he’s become, and #304 hosted ‘The Interplanetary Olympics!’ (Dorfman, Swan & Klein), as Superman deliberately throws the contest and shames Earth…  but only for the best possible reasons!

Courtesy of Hamilton, Swan & Klein in Superman #164 (October 1963) comes classic clash ‘The Showdown Between Luthor and Superman’, pitting the lifelong foes in an unforgettable confrontation on post-apocalyptic planet Lexor – a dead world of lost science and fantastic beasts. ‘The Super-Duel!’ offers a new side to Superman’s previously 2-dimensional arch-enemy and the issue also includes ‘The Fugitive from the Phantom Zone!’ (Siegel & Plastino): a smart vignette with Superman outwitting a foe he can’t beat by playing on his psychological foibles…

Action #305 featured Imaginary Story ‘Why Superman Needs a Secret Identity!’ (Dorfman, Swan & Klein) detailing personal tragedies and disasters following Ma & Pa Kent’s proud and foolish public announcement that their son is an alien Superboy, whilst Superman #165’s ‘Beauty and the Super-Beast!’ and conclusion ‘Circe’s Super-Slave’ (Bernstein, Swan & Klein), see the Man of Steel seemingly helpless against the ancient sorceress. In fact, the whole thing is an elaborate hoax to foil alien invaders of the Superman Revenge Squad. The issue’s third tale, ‘The Sweetheart Superman Forgot!’ (Siegel & Plastino) offers heartbreaking forbidden romance wherein powerless, amnesiac and disabled Superman meets, loves and loses a good woman who wants him purely for himself. When memory and powers return, Clark has no recollection of Sally Selwyn, who’s probably still pining faithfully for him…

Action #306 sees Bernstein & Plastino tweak the Prince and the Pauper in ‘The Great Superman Impersonation!’ as Kent is hired to protect a South American President because he looks enough like Superman to fool potential assassins. Of course it’s all a byzantine con, but by the end who’s conning who?

The reporter’s crime exposés make ‘Clark Kent – Target for Murder!’ in Action #307 (by an unattributed scripter with Swan & Klein) but villainous King Kobra makes the mistake of his life when the hitman he hires turns out to be the intended victim in disguise, after which #308 concentrates on all-out fantasy as ‘Superman Meets the Goliath-Hercules!’ (anonymous & Plastino) after crossing into a parallel universe. Before returning, the Action Ace helps a colossal demigod perform “the Six Labours of King Thebes” in a yarn clearly cobbled together in far too much haste.

Superman #166 (January 1964) features ‘The Fantastic Story of Superman’s Sons’ by Hamilton, Swan & Klein: an Imaginary Tale/solid thriller built on a painful premise – what if only one of Superman’s children inherits his powers? (Sounds a bit familiar now, no?) The saga starts with ‘Jor-El II and Kal-El II’ and the discovery that Kal junior takes after his Earth-born mother. He subsequently grows into a teenager with real emotional problems and, hoping to boost his confidence, dad packs both boys off to Kandor so they’ll be physically equal. Soon the twins find adventure as ‘The new Nightwing and Flamebird!’

However, when a Kandorian menace escapes to the outer world, it’s up to the human son to save Earth following ‘Kal-El II’s Mission to Krypton!’ which wraps everything up in a neat and tidy bundle of escapist fun.

This volume closes with a strange TV tie-in tale from Action Comics #309 as an analogue of This Is Your Life honours Superman by inviting all his friends – even the Legion of Super-Heroes and especially Clark Kent – to ‘The Superman Super-Spectacular!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein). With no other option, the hero must share his secret identity with someone new so that they can impersonate him. Although there must be less convoluted ways to allay Lois’ suspicions, this yarn includes perhaps the oddest guest star appearance in comics’ history…

These tales are the comic book equivalent of bubble gum pop music: perfectly constructed, always entertaining, occasionally challenging and never unwelcome. As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of a pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling, mind-boggling and yes, frequently moving all-ages stories also perfectly depict changing mores and tastes that reshaped comics between the safely anodyne 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more”.

I know I certainly do…
© 1962-1964, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

El Diablo


By Brian Azzarello, Danijel Zezelj & various (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1625-2 (TPB) 978-1-84576-777-8 (TPB Titan Books edition)

This extra-adult all-Vertigo interpretation of the classic DC Western avenger dates from a 2001 4-issue miniseries, and is an early precursor to the superb Loveless. None of these – as far as I’m aware – are available digitally yet, but they bloody well should be.

Moses Stone is a gunman turned sheriff in frontier town Bollas Raton. His fearsome reputation, as much as his actions, serves to keep the town peaceful, and he’s perfectly content not shooting anybody.

One night, the awesome and terrifying El Diablo comes to town: exacting his signature brand of gruesome vengeance on a band of outlaws, he inexplicably refuses to kill Stone when the lawman tries to halt the carnage.

Unable to understand or let it lie, sheriff and posse trail the vigilante to Halo, New Mexico where the bloodshed continues and a ghastly secret is revealed.

Although he is still a deep, brooding mystery tainted by supernatural overtones, fans of the original western avenger created by Robert Kanigher & Gray Morrow (who debuted in All-Star Western #2, October1970) will be disappointed to find that tragic Lazarus Lane – brutalised by thieves, struck by lightning and only able to wake from his permanent coma at the behest of Indian shaman White Owl – is all but absent from this darkly philosophical drama.

DC’s demonically-infested agent of vengeance is long, long overdue for a comprehensive reappraisal and definitive curated collection. The original occasional series of short tales from All-Star and Weird Western was illustrated by Morrow, Joe Kubert, Alan Weiss, Dick Giordano, Neal Adams, Alfredo Alcala and Bernie Wrightson, and the scripters included Sergio Aragonés, Cary Bates & Len Wein… And that’s not even counting the Sagebrush Satan’s many team-ups with the likes of Jonah Hex in various iterations of the bounty killer’s own titles.

In this moody epic, however, the phantom of the plains is more presence than personality.

There’s an awful lot of talking and suspense-building, but thanks to the moody graphics of Danijel Zezelj tension and horror remain intensely paramount and when the action comes it is powerful and unforgettable.

The dark star is a force but not a presence in El Diablo, but the tale of Moses Stone is nonetheless a gripping thriller to chill and intrigue all but the most devoutly traditional cowboy fans.

So can we PLEASE be having a proper compilation soon, yes?
© 2001, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved

Posted on

Hellboy in Mexico


By Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, Mick McMahon, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Dave Stewart & Clem Robins (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-897-0 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-63008-217-8

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

Let’s wind down our own Halloween celebrations and enjoy the more life-affirming Day of the Dead with a fabulously appropriate tome, formatted for your edification in both trade paperback and digital editions…

Towards the end of World War II an uncanny otherworldly baby was confiscated from Nazi cultists by American superhero The Torch of Liberty and a squad of US Rangers moments after his eldritch nativity on Earth. The good guys had interrupted a satanic ritual predicted by British parapsychologist Professor Trevor Bruttenholm and his associates who were waiting for Hell to literally come to Earth.

The heroic assemblage was stationed at a ruined church in East Bromwich, England when the abominable infant with a huge stone right hand materialised in an infernal fireball. “Hellboy” was subsequently raised by Bruttenholm, and grew into a mighty warrior fighting a never-ending secret war against the uncanny and supernaturally hostile. The Prof assiduously schooled and trained his happy-go-lucky foundling whilst forming and consolidating an organisation to destroy arcane and occult threats: the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

After years of such devoted intervention, education and warm human interactions, in 1952 the neophyte hero began hunting down agents of the malign unknown, from phantoms to monsters as lead field operative for the BPRD. Hellboy rapidly became its top operative; the world’s most successful paranormal investigator.

As decades passed, Hellboy uncovered snatches of his origins and antecedents, learning he was a supposedly corrupted beast of dark portent: a demonic messiah destined to destroy the world and bring back ancient powers of evil.

It is a fate he despised and utterly rejected…

This eerily esoteric collection of tales concocted by Mike Mignola and friends re-presents a selection of short stories as originally published Hellboy In Mexico, Dark Horse Presents volume 2 #7, 31-32, Hellboy 20th Anniversary Sampler, Dark Horse Presents volume 3 #7, and Hellboy: House of the Living Dead, which collectively span 2010 to 2015. The premise is that in 1956 Hellboy was working south of the border and, thanks to booze and an unspecified crisis, went way, way, wa-aay off the reservation…

With each piece preceded by informative commentary from Mignola, the arcane action opens with ‘Hellboy in Mexico or, A Drunken Blur’ (May 2010). illustrated by Richard Corben with colourist Dave Stewart & letterer Clem Robins adding their own seamlessly fitting talents.

In 1982 Hellboy and amphibious ally Abe Sapien are winding down after a strenuous mission in Mexico. Looking for a quiet drink they amble into a ramshackle cantina and discover a sort of shrine comprising a Holy Virgin statue and hundreds of faded photos, posters and tickets for luchadors (masked wrestlers). One of them features Hellboy and three grinning, hooded grapplers…

Shocked and stunned, Hellboy’s mind drifts back to a barely-recalled drunken binge three decades ago…

Thus is revealed an untold tale of sterling comradeship and collaborative chaos-crushing, as the Demon Detective joins a trio of fun-loving masked brothers who combine their travels on the wrestling circuit with a spot of monster-hunting and devil-destroying. Sadly, Hellboy also remembers how it all fell apart after young Esteban succumbed to the deadly embrace of vampiric bat-god Camazotz…

When the golden times ended, Hellboy indulged in an epic, memory-eradicating booze-bender until – months later – BPRD agents found, dried out and brought home their errant top gun. Of course, since he was missing for months, there might be other exploits still unrecalled…

Fully crafted by Mignola, in Dark Horse Presents volume 2 #7 (December 2011) ‘Hellboy versus the Aztec Mummy’ returns to that lost time and place as the powerfully pixilated paranormal paragon hunts down a devil-bat, only to find himself overmatched in a clash with godly Quetzalcoatl, after which marvellous Mick McMahon picks up the illustrator’s brushes to render Mignola’s outrageous drunken tall tale ‘Hellboy Gets Married’ (DHP #31-32, December 2013 to January 2014).

This time, demon drink led to the infernal gladiator falling into an unlikely matrimonial match with a ghostly shapeshifter. Their wedding night was the stuff of nightmares…

Relentlessly following, ‘The Coffin Man’ (by Mignola and Fábio Moon from March 2014’s Hellboy 20th Anniversary Sampler) revisits another cantina night which was interrupted by a little girl whose recently interred uncle was being pilfered by a sinister Brujo (witchman). Hellboy’s best attempts to take back the beloved cadaver were insultingly inadequate…

The sequel ‘The Coffin Man 2: The Rematch’ was illustrated by Moon’s twin brother Gabriel Bá, having first appeared in Dark Horse Presents volume 3 #7 (February 2015). It happened a fortnight after that initial encounter, when the still smarting AWOL B.P.R.D. agent went looking for the corpse-stealer and yet again came off embarrassingly second-best.

‘House of the Living Dead’ originally emerged as an eponymous original graphic novel crafted by Mignola, Corben, Stewart & Robins. It was devised as loving tribute to the golden age of Universal monster movies, their Hammer Films descendants and legendary actors Boris Karloff, Glenn Strange, John Carradine & Lon Chaney Jr.

The saga starts during that hazy sun-drenched fugue season as Hellboy still revels in the heady thrills of the travelling wrestling ring. That only makes him a target for a cunning plan that starts with the offer of a lucrative private bout. Despite refusing, our soused champion is convinced to comply when the stranger shows him a photo of the girl who will be killed if he doesn’t fight…

Soon he’s reluctantly entering a dilapidated hacienda and climbing into a ring to clash with a mad doctor’s recently animated corpse-monster. And then vampires show up and the rising full moon bathes the deranged genius’ manservant…

A light-hearted romp with a potent twist and dark underpinnings, it’s no wonder Hellboy carried on drinking after all the grave dust settled…

Moderated and annotated by editor Scott Allie, a ‘Hellboy Sketchbook’ closes this festive fear fiesta, sharing story-layouts, doodles, roughs, character designs and pencilled pages, all accompanied by creator comments and garnished with a full cover gallery.

Delivered as short, sharp shockers of beguiling wit and intensity, this potent piñata of horror history is a perfect example of comics storytelling at its very best: offering astounding supernatural spectacle, amazing arcane action and momentous mystical suspense and horror-hued hilarity – something every fear fan and adventure aficionado can enjoy.
™ & © 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Mike Mignola. Hellboy is ™ Mike Mignola. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Francis & the Vegas Tramps


By Brian Kelly (Brian Kelly Army Press)
ISBN: 978-8-359819-21-3 (TPB)

Like so many others I started out in the business making minicomics, collaborating on fanzines or concocting stripzines with fellow weirdoes, outcasts and addicts. To this day, seeing the raw stuff of creativity in hand-crafted paper pamphlets or professionally printed packages which put dreamers’ money where their mouths are still gets me going in ways which endanger my tired old heart…

With that in mind here’s a superb offering from overseas and the depths of time…

It’s been a while since I’ve able to indulge my love of “small press” and self-produced comics, so here’s a look at one that pushes all the right buttons: a wry, witty, passionate yarn perfectly executed and incorporating a truckload of nostalgic credentials.

Twenty years ago tattoo artist and author (The Cut-Ups: Tattoo Flash from the Third Mind) Brian Kelly produced a comic book about a rock band. Recently, while incapacitated with Covid and binge-watching Josie and The Pussycats in Outer Space cartoons, he used mandatory isolation and enforced downtime to revisit the project. Setting a return two decades later, his Kickstarter-funded result sees long-defunct and always dysfunctional young Turk mega-band Francis & the Vegas Tramps reunite after their loathed frontman is murdered.

In a furiously dystopian future of rocketships, robots, clones and sex-droids, Elvis-worship, debauchery and disinformation, interstellar superstar and former bassist Molly Meteor, drummer Ray, and sideman Blue meet for the first time in a lifetime on planet Mempherica.

It was the place where they were Francis & the Vegas Tramps and became adored sensations, and it the world where it all ended. When they explosively split up, attention-grabbing frontman Francis Smith went solo and gradually faded into mediocrity. Offworld, Molly’s talent took her to the top but she has always been haunted by the appalling event that triggered the split and took her away from the men trusted most in her life.

Within moments of debarking and meeting an older even-sweeter Ray, she’s being questioned by cops about Francis’ extremely unpleasant life and habits and his shocking, scandalous demise…

The Space Detectives clearly have no clue but plenty of suspicions, and soon Molly is doing her own investigating, peeling back the years to uncover plenty of sordid suspects, previously-unsuspected motives and even two clearly-lying addicts claiming to be the culprits.

As Molly and Ray dig deeper, they quickly uncover a viper’s nest of crime, rogue religions, designer drugs and an enigmatic backer for Francis’ toxic mother. Things turn deadly serious when the cops abruptly find Molly’s prints at the crime scene. She’s arrested even though she was on stage on another planet at the time of the killing…

It’s clear that the time has come to kick out the jams and solve this sucker herself… if she can avoid becoming the next good-looking corpse…

A traditional sci-fi cosy murder-mystery with Rock-& Roll underpinnings that never takes itself too seriously, Francis & the Vegas Tramps is a riotous romp with echoes of early 2000AD, channelling snippets of Sin City and pastiches of musical screen gems from Rock Follies to The Rocky Horror Show and American Idiot to The Phantom of the Paradise.

If you have a suspicious mind and want a straightforward pictorial quandary to solve – one offering the promise of more to follow – crack open your search engine of choice and head for a twisty-turny tomorrow that will leave you all shook up. go on. It’s now or never…
© 2023, Brian Kelly. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Sabrina the Teenage Witch The Complete Collection volume 1: 1962-1972 (Sabrina’s Spellbook Book 1)


By George Gladir, Frank Doyle, Dick Malmgren, Al Hartley, Dan DeCarlo, Joe Edwards, Rudy Lapick, Vince DeCarlo, Bob White, Bill Kresse, Bill Vigoda, Mario Acquaviva, Jimmy DeCarlo, Chic Stone, Bill Yoshida, Stan Goldberg, Jon D’Agostino, Gus LeMoine, Harry Lucey, Marty Epp, Bob Bolling, Joe Sinnott & various (Archie Comic Publications)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-94-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

Created by George Gladir & Dan DeCarlo, Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch premiered in Archie’s Mad House #22 (cover-dated October 1962): a throwaway character in a gag anthology which was simply one more venue for comics’ undisputed kings of kids comedy. She proved popular enough to become a regular in the burgeoning cast surrounding the core stars Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge and Jughead Jones.

By 1969, the high school enchantress had grown popular enough to win her own animated Filmation TV series (just like Archie and Josie and the Pussycats) and graduated to a lead position in Archie’s TV Laugh Out before finally winning her own title in 1971.

That first volume ran 77 issues (from 1971-1983) and, when a hugely successful live action TV series launched in 1996, ed comic book adaptation followed in 1997. That version folded in 1999 after a further 32 issues.

Volume 3 – simply entitled Sabrina – was based on new TV show Sabrina the Animated Series ran for 37 issues (2000- 2002) before a back-to-basics reboot saw the comic revert to Sabrina the Teenage Witch with #38, carefully blending elements of all previous print and TV versions.

A creature of seemingly infinite variation and variety, the mystic maid continued in this vein until 2004 and issue #57 wherein – acting on the global popularity of Japanese comics – the company switched format: transforming series into a manga-style high school comedy-romance in the classic Shoujo manner.

Another recent version abandoned whimsy altogether, depicted Sabrina as a vile and seductive force of evil in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. This no-frills. massively monochrome compilation re-presents all her appearances – even cameos on covers of other Archie titles – from that first decade, starting with an informative and educational Introduction courtesy of Editor-in-Chief Victor Gorelick before unleashing the wonderment in a year-by-year cavalcade of magic, mystery and mirth.

Clearly referencing Kim Novak as seen in Bell, Book and Candle, ‘Presenting Sabrina the Teenage Witch’ (George Gladir, Dan DeCarlo, Rudy Lapick & Vince DeCarlo from Archie’s Mad House #22) showcased a sultry seductress with a wicked edge preying on mortals at the behest of Head Witch Della, all whilst secretly hankering for the plebeian joys of dating…

Leading off the next year’s chapter, the creatives reunited in Archie’s Mad House #24 (February 1963), with ‘Monster Section’ depicting Sabrina bewitching boys the way mortal girls always have, whilst ‘Witch Pitch’ sees the young beguiler ordered to ensorcel the High School hockey team – with mixed results…

AMH #25 (April) focuses on the supernatural clan’s mission to destroy human romance. In ‘Sister Sorceress’ Della orders Sabrina to split up dating couple Hal and Wanda – with catastrophic results – before ‘Jinx Minx’ (#26, June) sees Sabrina go too far with a love potion at a school dance…

Bob White’s Archie’s Mad House #27 cover (August 1963) leads into #28’s ‘Tennis Menace’ (inked by Marty Epp) as Sabrina’s attempts to enrapture a rich lad go infuriatingly awry. AMH #30 (December) offers pin-up ‘Teen-Age Section’ drawn by Joe Edwards, with Sabrina comparing historical ways of charming boys with modern mortal methods…

The 1964 material opens with a love potion pin-up ‘Teen Section’ by Edwards (AMH #31, February) before Gladir & Edwards’ ‘Ronald the Rubber Boy Meets Sabrina the Witch Queen’ finds the magic miss disastrously swapping abilities with an elastic-boned pal.

Issue #36 (October, by Edwards) sees her failing to jinx her friends’ recreational evening in ‘Bowled Over’, after which (AMH #37, December) finds Gladir reunited with Dan & Vince DeCarlo for a spot of ‘Double Trouble’ when gruesome Aunt Hilda tries to fix Sabrina’s appalling human countenance, only to become her unwilling twin…

In 1965 Sabrina’s only appearance was a Harry Lucey-limned ad for Archie’s Mad House Annual, whereas a year later she triumphantly returned with illustrator Bill Kresse handling Gladir’s script for ‘Lulu of a Boo-Boo’ (AMH #45, February 1966). Here the witch-girl’s attempts to join the In-Crowd constantly misfire whilst ‘Beach Party Smarty’ (#48, August) confirms this new trend, as her spells to capture a hunky beau go badly wrong…

For ‘Go-Go Gaga’ (AMH #49, September) Gladir & Kresse pit the bonny bewitcher against a greedy entrepreneur planning to fleece school kids in his over-priced dance hall, whilst #50’s ‘Rival Reversal’ finds her failing to conjure a date before ‘Tragic Magic’ proves even sorcery can’t keep a teen’s room clean…

Art team Bill Vigoda & Mario Acquaviva join Gladir for 1967’s first tale. ‘London Lore’ (AMH #52, February) with Sabrina transporting new boyfriend Donald to the heart of the Swinging Scene (it meant something else back then) but ill-equipping him for debilitating culture-shock, after which ‘School Scamp’ (Gladir + Dan, Jimmy & Vince DeCarlo, from AMH #53, April) again proves magic has no place in human education…

In #55 Gladir, Dan DeCarlo & Lapick prove Sabrina’s wishing to help a doubly dangerous proposition in ‘Speed Deed’, whilst in #58 (December, Chic Stone & Bill Yoshida) the trend for ultra-skinny fashion models leads to a little shapeshifting in ‘Wile Style’…

1968 opens with Gladir, Stone & Yoshida exploring the downside of slot-car racing in ‘Teeny-Weeny Boppers’ (AMH #59, February) after which ‘Past Blast’ (#63, September by Gladir, Stan Goldberg, Jon D’Agostino & Yoshida) sees our mystic maid time-travel in search of Marie Antoinette, Pocahontas and Salem sorceress Hester. The year wraps up with ‘Light Delight’ (Gladir, White, Acquaviva & Yoshida: AMH #65, December) as Sabrina’s aunts Hilda and Zelda try more modern modes of witchy transport…

With Sabrina’s television debut, the end of 1969 saw a sudden leap in her comics appearances to capitalise on the exposure and resulted in a retitling of her home funnybook. Again crafted by Gladir, White, Acquaviva & Yoshida, ‘Glower Power’ comes from Mad House Ma-Ad Jokes #70 (September) with her duelling another teen mage before the cover of Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #1 (December: by Dick Malmgren & D’Agostino) leads into ‘Super Duper Party Pooper’ and the instant materialisation of a new sitcom lifestyle for the jinxing juvenile.

Sabrina yearns to be a typical High School girl. She lives in suburban seclusion with Hilda & Zelda and Uncle Ambrose. She has a pet cat – Salem – and is tentatively “seeing” childhood pal Harvey Kinkle. The cute but clueless boy reciprocates the affection, but is far too scared to rock the boat by acting on his own desires.

He has no idea that his old chum is actually a supernatural being…

This opening sally depicts what happens when surly Hilda takes umbrage at the antics of Archie and his pals after they come over for a visit, whilst ‘Great Celestial Sparks’ (pencilled by Gus LeMoine) reveals what lengths witches go to when afflicted with hiccups…

A full-on goggle-box star, Sabrina blossomed in 1970, starting with a little flying practice in ‘Broom Zoom’; boyfriend trouble in ‘Hex Vex’; fortune-telling foolishness in ‘Hard Card’; amulet antics in ‘Witch Pitch’ and kitchen conjurings in ‘Generation Gap’: all by Gladir, LeMoine, D’Agostino & Yoshida from Mad House Ma-Ad Jokes #72 (January). The issue also offered sporting spoofs in ‘Bowl Roll’ (Dan DeCarlo).

The so-busy cover of Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #2 (March 1970) segues into Gladir, Dan D, Lapick & Yoshida’s ‘A Plug for The Band’ with Sabrina briefly joining The Archies’ pop group, whilst LeMoine contributes a brace of half-page gags – ‘Sassy Lassy’ and ‘Food Mood’ – and limns ‘That Ol’ Black Magic’, wherein the winsome witch’s gifts cause misery to all her new friends in Riverdale…

Dan D’s & Lapick’s June cover for Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #3 leads into Malmgren-scripted ‘Double Date’, with hapless Harvey causing chaos at home until Ambrose finds a potential putrid paramour for Aunt Hilda. The creatives then launch an occasional series on stage magic with ‘Sabrina Tricks’ pages, before single-pagers ‘Goodbye Mr. Chips’, ‘The Hand Sandwich’, ‘The Sampler’, ‘Never on Sundae’ and ‘Finger Licken Good’ reveal a growing divide between house-proud Hilda and accident-prone, ever-ravenous Harvey.

Interspersed by three more ‘Sabrina Tricks’ pages, mystic mayhem continues with mini-epic ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ (Malmgren, LeMoine, D’Agostino & Yoshida) as our witch girl disastrously attempts to make Jughead Jones more amenable to Big Ethel’s amorous overtures. The food fiascos resume with LeMoine-limned ‘Good and Bad’, as Sabrina’s every good intention is accidentally twisted to bedevil her human pals.

Taken from Mad House Glads #74 (August 1970), Gladir & LeMoine’s half-page chemistry gag ‘Strange Session’ is oddly balanced by the painterly ‘Blight Sight’ of long-forgotten never-was Bippy the Hippy, before we’re back on track and at the beach for Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #4 (September, by Gladir, Vigoda, Lapick & Yoshida). In ‘To Catch a Thief’ Sabrina again assists Ethel in pinning down elusive, love-shy Jughead, and rounding out the issue are single page pranks ‘Beddy Bye Time’ (DeCarlo & Lapick), another ‘Sabrina Tricks’ lesson and seaside folly ‘In the Bag’ from LeMoine & D’Agostino.

ATVL-O #5 (November) offers up Gladir, Vigoda & Stone’s ‘I’ll Bite’ as Sabrina’s hungry schoolfriends learn the perils of raiding Hilda’s fridge and Gladir, DeCarlo & Lapick’s ‘Hex Vex’ as Della storms in, demanding tardy Sabrina fulfil her monthly quota of bad deeds…

Sabrina is an atypical witch: living in the mundane world and assiduously passing herself off as normal, and 1971 opens with DeCarlo & Lapick’s cover for Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #6 (February) and ‘Match Maker’ by Frank Doyle, Harry Lucey & Epp as Hilda tries getting rid of Harvey by making him irresistible to Betty & Veronica. No way that can go wrong…

‘Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch’ (Gladir, LeMoine, D’Agostino & Yoshida) then uses her powers openly with some kids and learns a trick even ancient crone Hilda cannot fathom. Bolstered by a ‘Sabrina Tricks’, ‘Carry On, Aunt Hilda’ (Malmgren, LeMoine & Lapick) hilariously depicts lucky stars shielding Harvey from the wrath of irascible Aunt Hilda…

Bowing to popular demand, the eldritch ingenue finally starred in her own title from April 1971. Dan D & Lapick’s cover for Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch #1 hinted at much mystic mirth and mayhem which began with ‘Strange Love’ (Doyle, Dan D & Lapick). This revealed a jealous response to seeing Harvey with another girl, supplemented by ‘Sabrina and Salem’s Catty Quiz’ before hippy warlock Sylvester comes out of the woodwork to upset Hilda’s sedate life in ‘Mission Impossible’ (Malmgren, LeMoine & D’Agostino).

Another ‘Sabrina Puzzle’ neatly moves us to Doyle, Dan D & Lapick’s ‘An Uncle’s Monkey’ with Harvey and a pet chimpanzee pushing Hilda to the limits of patience and sanity…

The cover of Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #7 (May) precedes a long yarn by Doyle, Bob Bolling & D’Agostino as ‘Archie’s TV Celebrities’ (the animated Archies, Sabrina and Josie and the Pussycats) star in ‘For the Birds’ with a proposed open-air concert threatened by the protests of a bunch of old ornithology buffs.

Thanks to Malmgren, LeMoine & D’Agostino, our celebrity pals tackle an instrument-stealing saboteur in ‘Sounds Crazy to Me’, before Sabrina cameos on the cover of Jughead #192 (May, by Dan DeCarlo & Lapick) before heading for the cover of her second issue (DeCarlo & Lapick, July). Within those pages Malmgren scripts ‘No Strings Attached’ as The Archies visit their bewitching buddy just as Hilda turns Harvey into an axe-strumming rock god…

‘Witch Way is That’ sees Hilda quickly regret opening her house to Tuned In, Turned On, Dropped Out Cousin Bert, prior to Malmgren, Lucey & Epp showing Archie suffering the jibes and jokes of ‘The Court Jester’ Reggie – until Sabrina adds a little something extra to the Andrews boys’ basketball repertoire..

At this time the world underwent a revival of supernatural interest and Gothic Romance was The Coming Thing. In a bold experiment, Sabrina had a shot at a dramatic turn as Doyle, Bolling, Joe Sinnott & Yoshida crafted ‘Death Waits at Dumesburry’: a relatively straight horror/mystery with Sabrina facing a sinister maniac in a haunted castle she inherits…

Rendered by LeMoine & D’Agostino, the cover of Jughead’s Jokes #24 (July 1971) brings us back to comedy central, as does their cover for Archie’s TV Laugh-Out #8 (August) and Malmgren’s charity bazaar-set tale ‘A Sweet Tooth’, with the winsome witch discovering even her magic cannot make Veronica’s baked goods edible…

Dan DeCarlo’s cover for Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch #3 (September) foreshadows a return to drama but in modern milieu as ‘House Breakers’ (Malmgren, DeCarlo & Lapick) finds Harvey and Sabrina stranded in an old dark mansion with spooks in situ, after which ‘Spellbinder’ (Doyle, Al Hartley) sees Hilda cringe and curse when human catastrophe Big Moose pays Sabrina a visit.

Hartley & D’Agostino fly solo on ‘Auntie Climax’ as irresistibility spells fly and both Archie and Hilda are caught in an amorous crossfire before Malmgren, Bolling & Lapick show our cast’s human side in ‘The Tooth Fairy’ as Archie, Jughead and Sabrina intervene to help a juvenile thief caught in a poverty trap …

A trio of DeCarlo & Lapick covers – Archie’s TV Laugh Out #9 (September), Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals #66 (October) and Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch #4 (October) segue into the teen thaumaturge’s fourth solo issue, where Doyle, Goldberg & D’Agostino set the cauldron bubbling with ‘Hex Marks the Spot’ as Aunts Hilda and Zelda nostalgically opine for their adventurous bad old days but something seems set on thwarting every spell they cast, after which ‘Which Witch is Right?’ (LeMoine pencils) finds obnoxious Reggie Mantle uncovering Sabrina’s sorcerous secrets.

Goldberg & Sinnott illustrate ‘Switch Witch’ as officious Della suspends Sabrina’s powers as a punishment and can’t understand why the girl is delirious instead of heartbroken, whilst Hartley & Sinnott contribute a run of madcap one-pagers from Gladir, Malmgren and Doyle with clue-packed titles such as ‘Out of Sight’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘The Teen Scene‘, ‘So That’s Why’ and ‘Time to Retire’.

Wrapping up the issue is ‘The Storming of Casket Island’ by Doyle, LeMoine & D’Agostino, blending stormy sailing, sinister swindling skulduggery and menacing mystic retribution…

More covers follow: Archie #213 and Archie’s TV Laugh Out #10 (both November by Dan D & Lapick) and Archie’s Christmas Stocking #190 (December, Hartley & D’Agostino), which latter also contributes Hartley & Sinnott’s ‘Card Shark’, with Sabrina joining Archie and the gang to explore the point and purpose of seasonal greetings postings. DeCarlo & Lapick’s cover of Betty and Me #39 brings the momentous year to a close…

The last year covered in this titanic tome is 1972, kicking off with DeCarlo & Lapick’s cover for Archie Annual #23, before their Sabrina’s Christmas Magic #196 cover (January) opens on a winter wonderland of seasonal sentiment. It all starts with ‘Hidden Claus’ (by featured team Hartley & Sinnott) as Sabrina ignores her aunt’s mockery and seeks out the real Father Christmas – just in time to help him with an existential and labour crisis…

‘Sabrina’s Wrap Session’ offers tips on gifting and packaging whilst ‘Hot Dog with Relish’ sees the witch woman zap Jughead’s mooching canine companion and make him a guy any girl could fall for. Doyle, Goldberg & Sinnott concocted ‘The Spell of the Season’, depicting our troubled teen torn between embracing Christmas and wrecking it as any true witch would. Guess which side wins the emotional tug-of-war?

More handicraft secrets are shared in ‘Sabrina’s Instant Christmas Decorations’ before Hartley & Sinnott’s ‘Sabrina Asks… What Does Christmas Mean to You?’ and ‘Sabrina Answers Questions About Christmas’, after which cartoon storytelling resumes with ‘Mission Possible’ as Hilda & Zelda find their own inner Samaritan.

Despite a rather distressing (and misleading) title ‘Popcorn Poopsie’ reveals a way of making tasty decorative snacks whilst ‘Sabrina’s Animal Crackers’ tells a tale of men turned to beasts before a yuletide ‘Sabrina Pin-Up’ and exercise feature ‘Sabrina Keeps in Christmas Trim’ return us to the entertainment section.

An all-Hartley affair, ‘Sabrina’s Witch Wisher’ examines what the vast cast would say if given a single wish, after which Doyle, Goldberg & Sinnott conclude this mammoth meander down memory lane by revealing how an evil warlock was punished by becoming ‘A Tree Named Obadiah’. Now – decked out in lights and tinsel – he’s back and making mischief in Veronica’s house…

An epic, enticing and always enchanting experience, the classic adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch are sheer timeless comics delight that no true fan will ever grow out of – and who says you have to?

© 1962-1972, 2017 Archie Comic Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Mr. Monster Presents… The Secret Files of Dr. Drew


By Jerry Grandenetti, Marilyn Mercer, Abe Kanegson with Will Eisner, compiled and edited by Michael T. Gilbert (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-532-0 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-62115-999-5

Superheroes pretty much carried American comic books in the early years, but after WWII the Fights ‘n’ Tights boom started fading and new kinds of champions from more traditional forms rose to the fore. Simultaneously – as had happened following the end of the Great War – the public’s entertainment appetites turned from patriotic adventure to pedestrian crime and supernatural themes, and funnybooks quickly cashed in on the trend.

In conjunction with dedicated horror anthology titles, regular comics publications also dabbled in monsters (such as The Heap in aviation adventure title Airboy for example – although he had been sloshing around since the early 1940s) and a new kind of two-fisted ghostbuster began manifesting in lots of different publications.

One of the very best was sagacious supernatural sleuth Dr. Desmond Drew, who appeared bimonthly in Ranger Comics from June 1947 to August 1951: helming 14 captivating cases crafted by Will Eisner’s top creative crew: writer Marilyn Mercer, artistic wunderkind Jerry Grandenetti and master calligrapher Abe Kanegson.

Although never a breakout hit or cover feature, the startlingly effective tales – spanning Ranger Comics #47 to 60 – were oft-reprinted before publisher Fiction House finally closed its doors. The yarns had a life-altering effect on modern comics auteur Michael T. Gilbert, who claims these eerie escapades as a major influence on his own Mr. Monster character.

The hows, whens and whys of the Ghostbreaking Guardian – as well as his eventual fate – are investigated in fascinating, abundantly illustrated ‘Introduction: The Secret Files of Dr. Drew!’, scrupulously compiled by Gilbert for this superb archival and that history lesson is the perfect aperitif before the fabulously chilling and enthralling tales are disclosed…

Once you’ve absorbed all there is to know from a fan devoted to sharing his great knowledge, the curious Case Files commence with an arcane parable of greed and vengeance as – preceded by a 2-page cartoon intro from Mr. Monster himself – ‘The Strange Case of the Absent Floor!’ (Ranger #47, June 1949) opens wide…

The “Stalker of the Unknown” was visually based on actor Basil Rathbone in his role of Sherlock Holmes, and debuted sans origin tale: fully-formed with plenty of idiosyncratic baggage to flesh him out. From his foreboding mansion atop brooding Bone Hill, the consulting detective of all things unnatural would sally out in an old-fashioned horse-drawn buggy to tackle ancient horrors in the new Atomic Age: especially in the twisted streets of the city stretched out below his daunting abode…

The initiating escapade sees him rectify a long-standing miscarriage of justice after an elevator operator begs him to investigate an unsuspected floor in the old Wainwright Building: an edifice which never boasted a thirteenth storey until the night an oddly dressed couple boarded his lift…

Incredible peril lurked far closer to home in ‘The Philosopher’s Stone!’ (RC #48, August) since Drew actually owned that potent talisman. However, as he could never get it to work, the doctor had no qualms in lending it to his old friend Gordon Kyle. When Kyle was found instantly aged into decrepitude, a frantic hunt for a remorseless ancient predator begins…

For #49 (October), a young woman paralysed and in utter agony draws the ghostbreaker into battle against a vicious spurned lover employing ‘The Witch’s Doll!’ to gain vengeance, after which ‘The Devil’s Watch!’ (December) pits Drew against his greatest adversary when attempting to deny the Devil a legally-purchased old soul… which just happens to now reside in an innocent young musician…

When ethereal fog heralds a spate of debilitating sickness, victims – all male – are heard to utter ‘The Gypsy Girl!’ (#51, February 1950) before sinking into death. It takes all Drew’s resources to connect the outbreak to a witch-burning three centuries previously, and achieves critical personal importance after he learns his own ancestor was one of the witnesses at Gypsy Anna’s trial. Thankfully, fate and wisdom provide the key to banishing the vengeful spirit in the nick of time…

The hardest part of his struggle against a Balkan bloodsucker haunting a movie set is being dragged out of Bone Hill and flown to Hollywood in ‘The Mark of the Vampire!’ (#52, April) but his clash with bizarre cult ‘The Order of Elusa!’ (Ranger #53, June) proves far more arduous as the primordial murderous sect is located at the bottom of the sea and its immortal wizards almost seduce and corrupt the paranormal paragon with his greatest weakness: ancient, undiscovered, secret knowledge…

When an aqueduct project falters, construction bosses call in the dark detective to dispel a ship full of land-locked phantom buccaneers in ‘The Pirates of Skull Valley!’ (#54, August) before ‘The Curse of the Mandibles!’ (#55, October) finds a desperate client trying to prevent his imminent murder by a spirit which has – over centuries – decimated his entire family. The true culprit behind the string of deaths is even stranger and more incomprehensible than can be imagined…

‘Sabrina the Sorceress!’ (#56, December) is a common criminal charlatan, but when the fake medium is accused of murdering her client she suddenly faces true supernatural terror beside – and despite – Drew, after which the man of mysteries saves an anxious bridegroom from dying at the hands of his spectral bride in ‘Druid Castle!’ (#57, February 1951).

Summoned to the local penitentiary, the thaumic troubleshooter faces body-snatching refugees from the 4th dimension in ‘The Dartbane Horrors!’ (April), before voyaging to Paris to clash with despised rival psychic Salazar whilst solving a string of murders perpetrated by an unworldly fiend who favours ‘The Ancient Reek of Brimstone!’ (June).

The Keeper of Knowledge pauses his comic book crusade in London, bringing a theatrical monster to justice with the assistance of a ghostly actress holding the crucial secret of ‘Sandini’s Trunk!’ (Ranger Comics #60, August 1951).

This fabulous grimoire harbours further delights such as reminiscence-packed reverie ‘The Jerry Grandenetti Interview!’ (conducted by Gilbert before the master draughtsman died in 2010) as well as ‘The Secret Files of The Spirit’s Ghosts!’: a section copiously investigating ‘The Creators!’ and even laying to rest a true enigma of comics history by explaining the abrupt disappearance of Abe Kanegson (who completely dropped off the map in 1950 and was never seen again by his comics colleagues)!

Rendered in the unmistakeable style of classic Eisner’s Spirit episodes, with mature scripting from Marilyn Mercer (who left comics to become a writer, journalist and fashion editor) and Kanegson’s flamboyantly expressive lettering graphics, these are astonishingly compelling comic treasures no fan of the medium or lover of sinister suspense should dismiss. There’s even a selection of Ranger Comics covers and original inked art.

Eerie, gripping and timelessly enthralling, this is a minor masterpiece of monster-mashing comics fiction: one you’d be thrice-damned and really quite accursed to miss.
Mr. Monster Presents… The Secret Files of Dr. Drew™ & © 2014 Michael T. Gilbert. Introduction, Jerry Grandenetti interview and creator biographies © 2014 Michael T. Gilbert. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Captain Midnight Archives volume 2: Captain Midnight Saves the World


By William Woolfolk, Leonard Frank, Leonard Starr, Dan Barry & various (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-243-5 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-62115-921-6

Created by broadcast scripters Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M. Burtt, Captain Midnight began as a star of radio serials in the days when troubleshooting All-American aviators were the acme of adventure genre heroes. The Captain Midnight Program soldiered on from 1938 to 1940 until the Wander Company acquired sponsorship rights to promote their top product: Ovaltine.

From there on, national radio syndication led to a newspaper comic strip (by Erwin L. Hess, running June 29th 1942 until the end of the decade); a movie serial (1942) and – later – two TV serials (1953 and 1954-1956) before being overdubbed, retitled and syndicated as “Jet Jackson, Flying Commando” well into the 1960s. There was a mountain of now-legendary merchandise such as the infamous Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring…

And there was a comic book franchise – one recently reinvigorated for 21st century audiences.

The hero’s basic origin related how after the Great War ended, pilot and inventor Captain Jim Albright returned home having earned the sobriquet “Captain Midnight” after a particularly harrowing mission that concluded successfully at the witching hour. He then formed a paramilitary “Secret Squadron” of like-minded pilots to continue making the world a better place – often at the covert behest of the President – using guts and gadgets to foil spies, catch crooks and defend the helpless.

Captain Midnight truly hit his stride after Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, becoming an early Home Front media sensation throughout the war years. However, his already fluid backstory and appearance underwent a radical makeover when he switched comic book horses in midstream.

This stunningly engaging collection gathers a slew of often gruesome science fiction-themed tales taken from the latter end of the Fawcett Comics run. Captain Midnight #48, 50, 52-56, 58, 60, 62, 64 and 66 collectively spanned February 1947- August 1948. As times and tastes changed, the venerable title folded with the next issue.

Following a fervent Introduction from Batton Lash discussing the career of the much-travelled, constantly evolving “Monarch of the Airways” and the telling differences between radio, screen and comic book iterations, the contents explosively unfold with a tragic dearth of credit and attributions. Much comic material from this era is criminally unattributed, but writers known to be active on Midnight at this juncture include Bill Woolfolk and Otto Binder, whilst artists look like the unflagging Leonard Frank and young legends-to-be Leonard Starr and Dan Barry.

From issue #48 ‘Captain Midnight Visits the Golden Asteroid’ sees Albright and his mechanic Ichabod Mudd piloting their newly invented rocket-ship to investigate a new stellar body only to find that the astronomer who discovered it has an ulterior and nefarious motive for getting to the stellar wanderer.

Illustrated by Frank from #50, ‘Captain Midnight Spikes the Sun Gun’ pits the modern Edison against devilish Dr. Pyrrho who has found a way to inflict destructive heat on the already sweltering citizens of the American Southwest, after which a return prospecting trip to our nearest neighbour uncovers ‘The Moon Creatures’ (Woolfolk) who aggressively resisted all attempts to human colonise Luna…

With the solar system now a regular destination for exploration, Albright began occasional sorties to the planets and picked up some new recurring foes. The first was a plundering barbarian from Pluto who raids Earth for its Uranium reserves in #52’s ‘Captain Midnight versus the Space Raider!’ (Binder & Frank). The resultant chase and recovery takes our hero to Mars and first contact with an unsuspected race also under threat of merciless assault by the murderous Jagga…

After driving the fiend off and recovering his ill-gotten gains, Midnight next encounters the ruthless Plutonian inflicting ‘Peril on Venus’ in #53. By sending him packing once again, the inventor consequently aids the long-lost last survivors of Atlantis in getting their failing colony onto an even keel in a world overrun by dinosaurs…

In #54, Midnight and Icky find yet another embattled civilisation – on Ceres. A literally golden kingdom is fending off Jagga’s bacterial onslaught and meteor bombardments. With the Air Aces’ assistance, the monster is finally driven off in ‘The Asteroid Battle’.

There’s a double dose of super-scientific spectacle in #55, beginning with Albright’s perhaps unwise invention of a monumental dirigible intended as ‘The Sky Airport’. When common thugs steal the mobile monolith and use it as a base for air raids on banks, the heartbroken genius is forced into desperate action to clear his conscience…

This is followed by another interplanetary incident as ‘Captain Midnight Finds the Lunar Lair’ and finally brings Jagga to justice in the form of a trial in Earth’s courts. Unequivocally guilty, the beast is sentenced to death by electrocution in #56’s ‘The Last Rites of Jagga’ (Frank art) but said execution proves to be a major mistake and Midnight is called upon to deliver the sentence in his own infallible scientific manner…

A new threat emerges in #58 ‘On the Planet of Peril’ when an unknown race reanimates Earth’s greatest villains and monsters. A month later ‘Captain Midnight Battles the Ice Age’ finds our interplanetary explorers on Neptune: changing that world’s climate to give its humanoid inhabitants a big step up the ladder to civilisation, whilst issue #60 sees the return of earthly arch-enemy Dr. Osmosis who terrifies and torments humanity with his explosive ‘Flying Saucers of Death’…

Captain Midnight #62 detailed the inventor’s efforts to save America’s ‘Farmers on the Moon’ from sabotage as Earth agricultural entrepreneur Jim Klaw sought to maintain his produce monopoly at all costs…

A new extraterrestrial enemy debuted in #64 as ‘Beyond the Sun’ (Frank) introduced shapeshifting tyrant Xog: a gaseous monster from Saturn who boarded America’s newest spaceships as step one in his plans for interplanetary domination. When Midnight thwarted the scheme and rescued hostage Terrans, the vile king swore vengeance…

It came in the final tale in this superbly retro rollercoaster of rocket-powered fun – from #66 with art by Frank – as Xog transforms the good Captain into sentient gas before invading Earth. Happily, even ‘Without a Body’, Albright is too much for the malign marauder and once more saves the day and the world…

With a stunning gallery of covers by Frank, Charles Tomsey, Dan Barry and Mac Raboy, plus cool mini-features such as ‘Captain Midnight’s Air Lingo’, ‘US Army Aviation Badge Insignia’ and ‘Famous Planes’, this fabulous feast of fearsome fantasy is guaranteed to satisfy the yearnings of every starry-eyed space cadet, whatever their age.
Captain Midnight Archives volume 2: Captain Midnight Saves the World! ® and © Dark Horse Comics 2014. All rights reserved.