Category: Mystery

Posted on

Spirou and Fantasio volume 7: The Rhinoceros’ Horn


By André Franquin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-224-9 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content included for comedic effect.

André Franquin was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on January 3rd 1924 and died on January 5th 1997. In between there were good times and bad, which he offset by creating the most incredible characters and stories, and by making people laugh and think – but mostly laugh. This is one of the very best you can find translated into English.

Adventure-seeking brave lad Spirou headlined the magazine he was named for from the first issue (dated April 21st 1938). He was created by French cartoonist Françoise Robert Velter using his pen-name Rob-Vel for Belgian publisher Éditions Dupuis in direct response to the success of Hergé’s Tintin for rival outfit Casterman. Originally a plucky bellboy/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel (a puckish reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique), his improbable exploits with pet squirrel Spip gradually but steadily grew into high-flying, far-reaching, surreal comedy dramas. That evolution was mainly thanks to Velter’s wife Blanche “Davine” Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939 and Belgian artist/assistant Luc Lafnet… at least until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the property, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (Jijé) took the helm.

When Jijé handed his own trainee/assistant total responsibility for the flagship feature part-way through serial Spirou et la maison préfabriqué (Le Journal de Spirou #427, June 20th 1946), André Franquin ran with it for the next 20 years, enlarging the scope and horizons until it was purely his own. Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters such as comrade/rival Fantasio or crackpot inventor and Merlin of mushroom mechanics the Count of Champignac. Spirou and Fantasio became globe-trotting journalists, travelling to exotic places, uncovering crimes, exploring the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub and Fantasio’s unsavoury cousin Zantafio.

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, passed away in 1997 but his legacy remains; a vast body of work which reshaped the landscape of European comics.

With that brave experiment clearly having paid dividends over decades it’s perhaps timely to remind readers that times and taste having changed radically since then, and as such current UK publisher Cinebook felt the need to issue a heartfelt warning and carefully considered apologia regarding some content of The Rhinoceros’ Horn…

I’ll précis it here: it was seventy years ago and our attitudes to hunting, other ethnicities and especially the modern obscenity of killing for ivory and horn have thankfully changed. Please read this book with that in mind. The publishers, of course, phrased it much better…

The Rhinoceros’ Horn was originally serialised in two sequences in Le Journal de Spirou: #764-787 (Spirou et la Turbotraction) and #788-797(La corne de rhinocéros), and spanned 1952 and early 1953 before being united in 1955 hardback album La corne de rhinocéros. The story begins with Spirou exulting over the success of Fantasio’s latest enterprise – personal helicopters worn as backpacks – but discovers his pal is rather down in the dumps. The ingenious journo’s just been dressed down by his editor on The Mosquito and warned that the paper has hired a new reporter: a real go-getting hotshot. Dejected and desperate, Fantasio resolves to revive his flagging career by staging a publicity stunt: robbing the Good Bazaar Department Store…

As the rattled reporter draws up his plans and sends a warning to the store of his intentions, a colossal explosion shakes the town. Persons unknown have blown up the nearby Turbot car plant. With even more to prove now, Fantasio proceeds…

Dragged along for the ride and to photograph the stunt, Spirou and snarky squirrel Spip reluctantly join their pal in the harebrained venture. Alighting on the roof of the emporium courtesy of those petrol-powered “Fantacopters”, they deftly break in through the fire-door, Spirou recording everything with his gigantic flash camera. Of course, our lead-footed burglars make an appalling clatter and tremendous mess, but no night-watchmen confront them. They’ve all been incapacitated and tied up by real robbers…

Hearing villains approaching, the lads take refuge in a wardrobe in the bedrooms department and discover an old acquaintance already there. Behring works for Turbot and was wounded in the explosion earlier. Moreover, he’s carrying the company’s blueprints for their latest advancement. The burglars in the darkened store are actually trying to finish him off to get them. Handing the boys an envelope and begging them to get it to his employer Mr. Martin, the troubleshooter loses consciousness just as the involuntary heroes are challenged by a shadowy figure demanding the precious prize. It’s not the bad guys, however, but Fantasio’s journalistic nemesis…

Cellophine is already streets ahead of them: she knows of the plot to steal Turbot’s revolutionary supercar. All she needs is the address Behring muttered to secure an interview with the in-hiding Martin and her next terrific scoop.

…And that’s when the gun-toting goons make their move, demanding blueprints and the rendezvous address. Thankfully, Spirou is still holding the camera and super-bright flashgun…

Calamitously – and hilariously – fleeing for their lives through the darkened store, the guys eventually escape via fantacopters from the top storey, allowing Cellophine to lock the bandits up on the roof before dragging Behring to safety. Next morning the boys are in Whistleton but Martin has already fled. His note reveals nothing, but later a sinister stranger in a café advises them to surrender the blueprints and warns them not to join Mr. Martin at Bab-el-bled in North Africa.

Ignoring him and returning home, they encounter distressingly persistent Cellophine and Spirou clues her in. Sadly, the thugs have also tracked them down and overhear the plans, so when the boys catch a jet liner to Africa, heavily disguised heavies are in the seats behind them…

These villains are on the lads’ tails all though the avenues and alleyways of Bab-el-bled, before a wig malfunction in the Souk warns Spirou that they’re being shadowed and another hectic chase ensues. Thinking they’ve at last shaken their pursuers our heroes go to Martin’s house only to learn he was ambushed by the bandits…

Happily the troubled Turbot exec had escaped and fled further into North Africa. He’s apparently rushing off to the M’saragba Animal Reservation but as the boys try to follow Cellophine appears and pips them to the last spot on the plane – stowed away in the baggage hold.

Forced to follow by train, it is eight days later when Fantasio & Spirou finally reach the Reserve and yet again – as infinitely aggravating Cellophine explains – they’ve just missed Martin. He was chased into the bush by the implacable bandits…

Going after him they find him just after the thugs do. Having shot Martin, the villains are smugly gloating when the sinister stranger from Whistleton café appears. He’s a cop and finally has enough evidence to arrest them for blowing up the factory, but they are all too late. The harassed entrepreneur has already got rid of his portion of the plans, giving them to a local friend to hide.

As Martin is carried to hospital, Spirou & Fantasio volunteer to retrieve those accursed documents but have not reckoned on the quirky ingenuity of the chief of the Wakukus, the vastness of the reserve and the sheer bloody-mindedness of local flora and fauna. After days of unpleasant and painful adventures, they finally locate the safeguarding tribe and, following even more nerve-wracking moments convince the chief that they too are friends of Martin. That’s when the king delivers his bombshell…

Tasked with keeping safe the plans – now contained on a spool of microfilm – the wily Wakuku had his subjects capture a rhino before drilling a hole in its horn and sealing the container within. They then released it back into the wild. He has no idea where it is now or even which of the 200 in the park it might be…

Determined to complete their mission, the lads spend months tracking and capturing assorted beasts. The task becomes only slightly easier after they find a dipsomaniac white trader who sells them hunting gear and latterly, yellow paint so that they can tell the rhinos they’ve already checked from the ones so cunningly evading them…

It’s a backbreaking, heartbreaking and increasingly pointless task but only when their resolve crumbles and they brokenly give up and head for home do they find the prize in the very last place they looked…

Even the trip back is a tribulation, and eventually they collapse only to awake in a nice clean hospital with Martin and Cellophine offering to fill in the blanks on this baffling case. Six weeks later the lads are recuperating at home when Behring shows up. He’s got a little reward for them from the grateful Turbot Company but, as usual, Cellophine is on hand to spoil it for Fantasio…

Stuffed with superb slapstick situations, riotous Keystone Cops chases and gallons of gags, this exuberant, high-spirited yarn is a true celebration of angst-free action, thrills and spills. accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with all the beguiling style and seductively wholesome élan which makes Asterix, and Lucky Luke so compelling, this is an enduring comics treat from a long line of superb exploits, certain to be as much a household name as those series – and even that other kid with the white dog…
Original edition © Dupuis, 1955 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2014 © Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1942 Underground Commix pioneer Dan O’Neill (Air Pirates Funnies, Odd Bodkins) was born, preceding both Teris Sue Wood (Wandering Star) in1965 and super-glamour artist Michael Turner (Witchblade, Fathom, Superman/Batman) in 1971.

Deaths on this date include British satirist & caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson in 1827. In 1962 Golden Age cartoonist/animator Robert Winsor McCay (Nemo in Adventureland, Impie, Bulletman, Ajax the Sun Man, Blackstone the Magician) and animator turned cartoonist Bob Wickersham (Spencer Spook, Funny Films, Ha Ha Comics, The Kilroys, The Kellys, Flippity and Flop, Colonel Punchy Penguin) both passed on as did veteran comics book illustrator Art Saaf (Sheena, Jumbo Comics, Princess Pantha, Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, The Twilight Zone, Supergirl) in 2007.

In 1938 on this date, Tif et Tondu and Spirou premiered in the debut issue of Le Journal de Spirou.

Posted on

The Steel Claw: Invisible Man


By Ken Bulmer & Jesús Blasco & various (Rebellion)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-906-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

One of the most fondly-remembered British strips of all time is the startlingly beautiful Steel Claw. From 1962 to 1973 the stunningly gifted Jesús Blasco and his small studio of family members thrilled the nation’s children, illustrating the angst-filled adventures of scientist, adventurer, secret agent and even – occasionally – costumed superhero Louis Crandell.

The majority of the character’s career was scripted by comic veteran Tom Tully, but initially follows the premise of HG Wells’ original unseen adversary with prolific science fiction novelist Ken Bulmer devising a modern spin and contemporary twist on The Invisible Man.

Another superb salvo of baby boomer nostalgia from Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics strand, initial collection The Steel Claw: Invisible Man gathers material from beloved and enduring weekly anthology Valiant, spanning 6th October 1962 to 21st September 1963 and also includes stories from the Valiant Annuals for 1965 and 1966.

Following an Introduction from Paul Grist, the tense drama begins with our (eventual) hero debuting as a rather surly assistant to the venerable Professor Barringer, working to create a germ-destroying ray. Crandell is an embittered man, possibly due to having lost his right hand in a lab accident. After its replacement with a steel prosthetic and his notional recovery, he is back at work when the prof’s new device explodes. Crandell receives a monumental electric shock and is bathed in radiation from the ray-device which, rather than killing him, renders him totally transparent. Although he doesn’t stay unseen forever, this bodily mutation is permanent. Electric shocks cause all but his metal hand to disappear.

Kids of all ages, do not try this at home!

Whether venal at heart or temporarily deranged, Crandell goes on a rampage of terror against society and destruction of property culminating in an attempt to blow up New York City before finally coming to his senses. Throughout Crandell’s outrages, Barringer is in guilt-fuelled pursuit, determined to save or stop his former friend…

The second adventure channels another classic (The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), intriguingly pitting the Claw against his therapist, who – in an attempt to treat him – is also traumatically and life-changingly exposed to Barringer’s ray. Instead of permanent invisibility, Dr. Deutz develops the ability to transform himself into a bestial ape-man who malevolently turns to crime and frames Crandell for a series of spectacular robberies and outrages.

On the run and innocent for once, Crandell is saved by the intervention of Barringer’s niece Terry Gray. After weeks of beast-triggered catastrophe and panic in the streets, the Steel Claw is vindicated and proved a hero …of sorts…

Bulmer’s next tale changes location to the Bahamas as our star shifts from outlaw to hero. While recuperating on an inventor-friend’s yacht, Crandell is accidentally embroiled in a modern-day pirate’s attempt to hijack an undersea super-weapon system. After would-be bullion bandit Sharkey and his nefarious gang steal the device and use it to capture a submarine, their convoluted scheme to rob an ocean liner finally falters when a steel-fisted ghost starts picking them off one by one…

More than any other comics character, the Steel Claw was a barometer for reading fashions. Starting out as a Quatermass-style cautionary sci fi tale, the strip mimicked fresh trends of the greater world, becoming a James Bond-style superspy strip with Crandall eventually tricked out with outrageous gadgets, and latterly, a masked-&-costumed super-doer when TV-show-sparked “Batmania” gripped the nation and the world.

When that bubble burst, he resorted to becoming a freelance adventurer, combating eerie menaces and vicious criminals. However, before we head too far down that path, his potent contributions to Valiant Annuals 1965 and 1966 – respectively released in Autumn 1964 and 1965 – afford rather more constrained thrills and chills as Crandell defeats a gang using an electricity-supressing gadget to rob a blacked-out London and (one year later) assists the Metropolitan Police force in corralling a bunch of apparently invisible bandits dubbed the Phantom Raiders…

The thrills of the writing are engrossing enough, but the real star of this feature is the artwork. Blasco’s captivating classicist drawing, his moody staging and the sheer beauty of his subjects make this an absolute pleasure to look at. Buy it for the kids and read it too; this is a glorious book, and brace yourself for even better yet to come…
© 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966 & 2021 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1949 actor turned comics writer John Ostrander (Oracle, The Spectre, Grimjack, Firestorm, Suicide Squad, Star Wars, Magnus Robot Fighter) was born, as was Norwegian creator Christopher Nielson (To Trøtte Typer) in 1963 and funny, funny guy Evan Dorkin (Milk and Cheese, Welcome to Eltingville, Dork, Beasts of Burden) in 1965.

In 1968 comedy master and Katzenjammer Kids creator Rudolph Dirks died. And while we remember laughing, let’s celebrate that Crockett Johnson’s astounding 10-year wonder Barnaby debuted on this date in 1942.

Posted on

SAM volume 1: After Man


By Richard Marazano & Shang Xiao, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-218-8 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Robots are a beloved theme of fiction, and many stories seem to work on the dichotomy of their innately innocent yet potentially deadly double nature. Channelling elements of A Boy and His Dog via Terminator, here’s one that’s a cut above from French polymath (artist, critic, historian, astrophysicist, politician, comics author) Richard Marazano (The Chimpanzee Complex; Cuervos; Zarathustra and more) with Chinese artist/illustrator/animator Shang Xiao (Midsummer Park).

Told over four volumes, Après l’Homme details a heady tale of trust and survival between apparent natural enemies…

It’s just been the End of the World as We Know It, and in the scattered, shattered rubble of our technological triumphs, gangs of desperate kids forage for food, vitamins and ordnance to help them fend off the autonomous robots that have all but eradicated biological life.

Terse flashbacks disclose the armed rebellion of the mechanised realm and how the mostly subterranean youngsters still alive scavenge and scrounge with roaming mechs hunting them day and night. Tensions are high and emotions fraught, so if someone is a little bit different, negligent or disobedient – like incurable dreamer Ian – it’s a problem for everybody…

Ella looks out for him as much as possible but Ian is destined for doom unless he shapes up. Sadly, he instead takes a step in the other direction after one particular dusk raid to the surface sees Ian instants from annihilation when cornered by a towering killer robot.

Thankfully Russ disables it with his bazooka, but just for a moment there, Ian was sure he had experienced an emotional connection with the droid. It was like it chose not to kill him…

Increasingly obsessed, Ian cannot let the notion go and eventually breaks security to sneak out and examine the remains. They will be easy to find, with the letters SAM boldly painted on the bodywork…

When he comes back, it’s all Ella can do to stop the others killing him. Ultimately, though, tempers subside, but Ian has not learned his lesson. After sharing his earliest memories of his father, fleeing and the lucky escape that saved him, the troubled boy seems to buckle down to the basics of survival, but he’s still gripped by crazy notions, such as abandoning their tunnels and heading out to the fabled suburbs…

With defiance growing and rebellion brewing, the kids head out on another daylight hunt, but again Ian goes looking for “his” robot. Ella catches him and starts yelling, but they are both targeted by a roving mech… and inexplicably saved by another killer machine: SAM!

The victorious horror is badly damaged and as Ella watches in horror, Ian starts to fix it…

When the others find them, more arguing results in Ian getting a deadline: if he can’t make SAM fully operable in two days, he must let them destroy it. The frantic boy strives for the entire time – and succeeds – only to pass out at the end. When he wakes and races to the site, the robot is gone. Bereft and furious, Ian allows Ella to drag him away, but both are unaware that coldly-calculating optic systems are watching them from hiding…

Beguiling and powerfully engaging, this vivid take on an much-explored plot is surprisingly compelling and promises a big payoff in volumes to come.
© Dargaud Paris 2011 by Marazano & Shang. All rights reserved. English translation © 2014 Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1923, illustrator and cover painter Earl Norem (Savage Sword of Conan, Silver Surfer, Six Million Dollar Man, Planet of the Apes) was born, with French pioneer Claire Bretécher (Agrippine, Cellulite, Les Frustrés) arriving in 1940, American mangaka Ben Dunn (Ninja High School, Warrior Nun Areala) in 1964 and Shawn Martinborough (AngelTown, Thief of Thieves, Luke Cage Noir) in 1972.

Posted on

Romo the WolfBoy by ILYA


By ILYA (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-914224-44-7 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for comedic and dramatic effect.

ILYA is a multi-award winning comic book writer and artist whose work has been published by Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Kodansha and independent companies all over the world. Previous prose and/or pictorial accomplishments include the Manga Drawing Kit; Time Warp: The Future’s Now …and it’s a Riot; BIC; The End of the Century Club sequence; Room for Love; The Clay Dreaming and modern drama Skidmarks. Commercial clients comprise the BBC, Royal Academy of Arts, newspapers The Times, Guardian, East End Life and legendary stripzine Deadline. ILYA has worked with Eddie Campbell on Deadface and Bacchus, edits the Mammoth Book of Best New Manga series, and like all comics creators has a secret identity, sometimes answering to the soubriquet Ed Hillyer…

This latest venture combines his obvious love of British mythologies, whimsies and historical micro-cultures, all cunningly interwoven with cheeky comics lore from across the world. A genre-mixing mystery saga of the strange and (potentially) paranormal, the potent pastiche debut yarn introduces a brace of old-fashioned odd fellows evolving into emergent crime-solving associates…

The unfolding imbroglio is delivered primarily in welcoming pencil hues and traditional block-text & image format with the occasional modern graphic narrative tweak, all premiering a fresh pantheon of eclectic wonders, as we peep into the closeted lives of a troupe of travelling entertainers in Victorian England. Revelations are seen through the learning experiences and rapid advancement of a secretive neophyte recently enrolled as a stage hand, and the bizarrely enigmatic living attraction who befriends and adopts the secretive newcomer…

Romo the Wolfboy (…in Strange Case of Cackle and Hide) heaps tragedy upon mystery as tight-lipped “Francis X” – who ran away to the circus for reasons of their own – develops transformative friendships (and some foe-making) after being accepted into the closed family circuit of Blimey O’Riley’s Travelling Circus. The serried hierarchical ranks of outsiders have their own ways, cherished observances and even unique language – and also hard-held misconceptions and prejudices – but Francis is smiled upon by Ringmaster O’Riley himself. It’s an attraction and fascination shared by the weird, non-verbal freak attraction who is said to have been raised by wild animals…

As Francis and Romo spar and bond, they come to grips with this odd enclosed world in miniature that encompasses love and hate, fear and acceptance and all the broad panoply of human life in between. However, everything takes an unpleasant and even uncanny turn after the big top is set up in the next village. Here, despite the gob-smacked anticipation of the locals, sabotage, unwarranted assaults and ultimately murder-attempts start chipping away at the wandering clan’s solidarity, Soon a monstrous uncannily giggling villain is recognised if not actually identified, and Romo and Francis X are catapulted into the role of guardians and problem-solvers. The hunt for the obsessed village elite determined to destroy them all… or at least banish the players from the region… is hard, baffling work, and most disturbingly, many incidents defy logic or reason while somehow connecting past sins to future threats. …And what role do the chickens play in all this?

Bracketed by context-creating preludes ‘The Carny Code’ and ‘Introducing…’ the hilarious, uproarious and outrageous events are balanced by further extras at the end. Enhancing enjoyment with education and elucidation we ‘Roll up Roll up’ to explain historical carny argot “Ciazarn” – readily deployed through the tale to enhance the experience – in a fascinating briefing that seamlessly segues into teasing tweaks of meta-reality moments as the author offers a list of devious ‘Easter Eggs’ buried within the sawdust saga before ending the entertainment with extracts from his ‘Romo the WolfBoy Production Blog’ …

Wry, anachronistically bold, and breezily beguiling, Romo the WolfBoy began as online episodes on ILYA’s Substack, playing out over a year, Thus this unmissable day out delight and jolly jaunt concludes with an acknowledgement of the Kickstarter contributors who helped its transition to the thick comforting pages here with big thank you ‘Made Possible by Public Funds’…

All the fun of the fair plus every additional chill and thrill you could possibly stand besides, the wonderment here is but a teaser of more and greater marvels to come, so read this now and writhe in anticipation for forthcoming encore Romo the WolfBoy and Francis X (Investigators of the Paranormal) in The Fall and Rise of Springheeled Tom…
© & ™ Ed Hillyer / ILYA. All rights reserved.

Today in 1924, Roy Crane’s epic, trailblazing strip Wash Tubbs began a run that would carry the little wonder all the way to 1988 and spawn tough guy prototype Captain Easy. In 1950 Eagle launched, bringing thrills glamour and Dan Dare to the benighted comics-deprived children of Britain.

Prior to all that, in 1920 Golden Age Great Sheldon Moldoff (Hawkman, Black Pirate, Kid Eternity, Batman, Gangbusters) was born, followed in 1949 by Dave Gibbons (Dan Dare, Rogue Trooper, Watchmen, Give Me Liberty, The Originals); Chuck Dixon (Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Punisher) and Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) in 1954; Daniel Clowes (Eightball, Ghost World, Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron) in 1961 and Korean manhwa star Hyung Min-woo (Priest) in 1974.

On this date in 1957 we lost British veteran cartoonist and poster-maker Will Owen (Lux, Bovril, The Bisto Kids) and New Zealand satirist John (Varoomshka) Kent in 2003.

Posted on

The Avengers in the Veracity Trap


By Chip Kidd & Michae Cho & various (Abrams Comic Arts/MARVEL Arts)
ISBN: 978-1-4197-7067-8 (HB) eISBN: 979-8-88707-137-4

Jacob Kurtzberg (AKA Jack Curtiss, Curt Davis, Lance Kirby, Ted Grey, Charles Nicholas, Fred Sande, Teddy, “The King” and others) did lots of stuff but most significantly inspired millions if not billions of people by drawing his ideas. This book is one of the most engaging examples of how that process has become self-sustaining…

After a period of meteoric expansion, in 1963 the blossoming Marvel Universe was finally ready to emulate the key DC concept that had cemented the legitimacy of the Silver Age of American comics. The notion of putting a bunch of all-star eggs in one basket had made the Justice League of America an instant winner and subsequently inspired the moribund Atlas outfit – primarily Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko – to conceive “super-characters” of their own. The initial result, in 1961, was The Fantastic Four…

After 18 rollercoaster months, the fledgling House of Ideas had generated a small but popular stable of costumed leading men (but still only 2 sidekick women!), allowing Lee & Kirby to at last assemble a select handful of them into an cross-branding squad, moulded into a force for justice and soaring sales.

Seldom has it ever been done with such style and sheer exuberance. Cover dated September 1963, The Avengers #1 launched as part of an expansion package which also included Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos and The X-Men: all glorying in the full, unfettered  force of imagination unleashed. Each change-packed revolutionary issue by Kirby, Lee and their confederates stirred a pot filled with hyperdynamic characters and layers of compelling world-building.

For the Avengers it had all started in Asgard, where immortal trickster Loki was imprisoned, hungry for vengeance on his noble half-brother Thor. Malevolently observing Earth, the vile divinity had espied the monstrous, misunderstood Hulk and mystically engineered a situation whereby the man-brute seemingly went wild, all with the intention of having the Thunder God fight the monster. When Hulk’s teen sidekick Rick Jones called the FF for help, devious Loki had scrambled and diverted the transmission and awaited the carnage that must follow.

Sadly for the schemer, Iron Man, Ant-Man and The Wasp also caught the redirected SOS. As heroes converged to search for the Jade Giant, they realised something was amiss, leading led their first assembled assault on Loki. It was the beginning of a legend and over the next seven issues (plus guest shots in other titles!) it sparked heroes coming and going, and villains without peer setting new standards for wickedness…

That primordial period of Kirby-limned luminal ideas and escalating inspirational influences is a mini halcyon era: one potently, evocatively addressed and revered in this very special project from two iconic modern award-winners and devout comics lovers. With their “Veracity Trap” designer/author/historian Chip Kidd (Batman: Death by Design, Jack Cole and Plastic Man, The Cheese Monkeys) and designer/author/illustrator Michael Cho (Papercut, Shoplifter, hundreds of DC and Marvel covers) cheerfully knock down all the fourth walls and puckishly inject themselves into the medium and their message to deliver a compelling pastiche of all that too-brief Kirby-spawned early Avengers wonderment.

Suitably packed with stirring tribute moments from eye-bending wonder-machines to stellar landscapes, and packed to the scaly oversized gills with charmingly monstrous “Kirby-Kritters” aiding and abetting the heroes and villains, this rocket-paced epic sees a team that never quite was – Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, The Wasp, Captain America and The Hulk – unite to battle Loki once more, only to be booby-trapped and portentously propelled beyond their home universe into a Greater (albeit still Four-Colour) Reality where godlike cartoonists and pen-pushers casually dictate their fates… until the malevolently malign God of Mischief usurps their elevated position and endangers all layers of existence!

Co-produced by Marvel and Abrams ComicArts, The Avengers in the Veracity Trap is a gleefully witty homage sampling and extrapolating upon all those beloved graphic and narrative landmarks and milestones of early Marvel – even incorporating pages of ‘Mighty Mavel Pin-ups!’ – and sending waves of crushing nostalgia through those of us who were there and curious neophytes alike…

Although this hark-back to halcyon days is literally all about the visual verve, fanboys like me can also be assured that continuity and characterisation are also faithful extrapolations – albeit with the painful Sixties gender stereotyping given a thorough going over – of what has gone before, augmenting a spectacular paean of praise and wishful thinking to those gone but never forgotten glory days…
© 2025 MARVEL.

A date for firebrands and iconoclasts, today in 1925 conspiracy-theorist/ judgemental Christian fundamentalist comics creator Jack Chick was born, as was award-winning French satirist and bane of conservatism Jean-Marc Reiser (Hara-Kiri, Charlie Hebdo) in 1941. Less controversially we also welcomed Argentine comics artist Ricardo Villagran (Tarzan, Evangeline) in 1938, and in 1987 said farewell to mighty Joe Colquhoun (Paddy Payne; Roy of the Rovers; Saber, King of the Jungle; Football Family Robinson; Soldier Sharp, the Rat of the Rifles; Kid Chameleon, Adam Eterno; Charley’s War et al). In 2005 Italo-Argentine art ace Juan Zanotto (War Man, Henga, Bárbara, Falka) died too.

Posted on

DC Finest: The Flash – The Fastest Man Dead


By Robert Kanigher, Mike Friedrich, Steve Skeates, Dennis O’Neill, Bob Haney, Len Wein, Cary Bates, Gil Kane, Irv Novick, Don Heck, Dick Dillin, Bob Brown, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano, Joe Giella, Nick Cardy, Frank McLaughlin, Tex Blaisdell, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, Jack Adler, Tatjana Wood, John Costanza & various (DC Comics)

ISBN: 978-1-77952-836-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Here’s another compelling DC Finest edition: chronologically curated paperback archives (generally around 600 pages) highlighting past glories. Whilst primarily concentrating on the superhero pantheon, there are genre selections including horror, sci fi, western and war books, but sadly none yet available digitally. However, we live in hope…

The Silver Age of US comics is formally and forever tied to Showcase #4 and the rebirth of The Flash. That epochal issue was released in the late summer of 1956 and from it stems all today’s print, animation, games, collector cards, cosplay and TV/movie wonderment. No matter which way you look at it, the renaissance began with The Flash, but it’s an unjust yet true fact that being first is not enough: it also helps to be best and people have to notice. MLJ’s The Shield beat Captain America to the news-stands by over a year yet the former is all but forgotten today. I mention that here as it pertains to this collection, which sees the advent of original Shield co-creator Irv Novick (Bob Phantom; Hangman; Steel Sterling; Silent Knight; Robin Hood, all DC war books, Captain Storm; Sea Devils; Batman, The Joker; Lois Lane; Tomahawk and more) as the Scarlet Speedster’s regular illustrator; a run (oh. Ha-Ha.) spanning Flash #200-270 and close to a full 10-year stretch with him only absent for #205, 213-214 & 264…

For the early trendsetting sagas and situations you should catch DC Finest: The Flash – The Human Thunderbolt and take as read that here the (second) Flash is Barry Allen, a police forensic scientist simultaneously struck by lightning and bathed in exploding chemicals from his lab. Supercharged by the accident, Barry (a lifelong fan of comic books) took his superhero identity from his favourite childhood reading – and eventually his acknowledged alternately Earth predecessor. Once upon a time there was a “fictional” scientist named Jay Garrick who was exposed to the mutagenic fumes of Hard Water and promptly became the “fastest man alive”…

Wearing a sleek, streamlined, tricked-out bodysuit (courtesy of  Carmine Infantino – a major talent approaching his artistic and creative peak), Barry was point man for the spectacular revival of a genre and an entire industry. He also became a renowned intergalactic champion, wholesome family man and paternalistic elder statesman of the superhero set after marrying his longtime fiancée Iris West…

With Infantino safely elevated to DC’s current publisher, this splendidly tempting full colour paperback of Seventies hits displays the glorious work of the last replacement illustrators before the Flash landed in Novick’s hands, just as changing tastes rejected the previously paramount, rationalistic science fiction worlds touched by the Vizier of Velocity. Now high speed action involved issues of social relevance and themes of supernatural horror and makes for some weird moments as this copious compendium covers The Flash #197-229 (May 1970 – October 1974) plus guest shots in World’s Finest Comics #198-199 (November & December 1970) and The Brave and the Bold #99 (December 1971/January 1972).

Gil Kane & Vince Colletta capture all the fun and thrills of Mike Friedrich’s ‘Four-Star Super-Hero’ in the opening yarn of Flash #197 as a sharp cop spots a private communication tic only shared with his lab partner Barry Allen. Attempts to save a secret identity and convince Charlie Conwell otherwise are further hampered by blizzard conditions in Central City, canny crooks with jetpacks and skis, a flu epidemic and Barry’s dedication to Amateur Dramatics, which see him take time out to play every part in the local presentation of Hamlet. All’s well that ends well and after that show goes on, it’s back to cosmic basics with Robert Kanigher’s ‘To the Nth Degree’ showing the Crimson Comet catapulted across the universe to save fire-beings on an exploding planet, courtesy of another wild invention of his father-in-law Professor Ira West…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta open #198 where ‘No Sad Songs for a Scarlet Speedster!’ has three orphan kids aid a gun-shot and temporarily brain-damaged Flash regain his lost mojo before neophyte superhero Zatanna guests in ‘Call it …Magic’ (by Friedrich, Don Heck & Colletta) and requires swift rescue after being abducted across arcane dimensions by macabre body-snatcher Xarkon…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta’s ‘Flash? Death Calling!’ in #199 focuses on the ordeals of scientist Dr Hollister who dons the scarlet skin-tights to punish himself after apparently accidentally killing the hero. However that guilt also saves the day and resurrect the speedster – just in time for Flash to meet superspy Colonel K (of US-IN-T Agency) and stop a Chinese energy missile smashing into ‘The Explosive Heart of America!’ (Kanigher, Kane & Colletta)

Novick and inker Murphy Anderson join Kanigher for anniversary celebration ‘Count 200 – and Die!’ as the Monarch of Motion succumbs to mind manipulation and is manoeuvred by sinister siren Dr. Lu into  assassinating the US President. Thankfully our hero (Flash of course, not PotUS!) is faster than his own fired gunshot and is back in all-American action for #201, enduring Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘Million-Dollar Dream!’ and applying tough love to wheelchair bound sports star Pablo Hernandez. The treatment restores the player but that’s only fair as the hero was responsible for initially crippling the kid…

Many issues offered second stories at this time, and the policy of guest shots for other Flash-family favourites was solidly in place. Here Kanigher, Novick & Anderson take us to Earth Two and swift encore for an old villain as Jay Garrick produces – eventually – the ‘Finale for a Fiddler!’

Although costumed hero capers were waning in general appeal, Flash was still hugely popular. Thus when World’s Finest Comics began a run of Superman team-ups with #198, the Red Runner was the clear first choice and allowed editors to return to a thorny topic which had bedevilled fans for years.

The comic book experience is littered with eternal, unanswerable questions. The most common and most passionately asked always begin “who would win if” or “who’s strongest/smartest/fastest…” Here, crafted by Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella, ‘Race to Save the Universe!’ and concluding instalment ‘Race to Save Time’ (WFC #198-199) upped the stakes on two previous competitions as our high-speed heroes are conscripted by the Guardians of the Universe to circumnavigate the entire cosmos at their greatest velocities to reverse the rampage of the mysterious Anachronids: faster-than-light creatures whose pell-mell course throughout galaxies is actually unwinding time itself and unravelling the fabric of creation. Little does anybody suspect that Superman’s oldest enemies were behind the entire appalling scheme, but the battle was swiftly won and reality saved in the end…

It was a far more grounded but no less chilling situation in Flash #202 where Kanigher, Novick & Anderson despatch reporter Iris Allen to Hollywood where she is kidnapped by murderous cultist creeps ‘The Satan Circle’ and her frantic husband confronts the unknown and the worst aspects of human nature to save her. Kid Flash then endures his own eldritch overload as ‘The Accusation!’ (by Steve Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) finds college-age comet Wally West tormented by visons of impending death that come appallingly true…

With Kanigher, Novick & Anderson at the helm #203 augured a huge change in the cosy domestic set-up as ‘The Flash’s Wife is a Two-Timer!’ reveals that Iris is actually a foundling sent through time to escape atomic armageddon and only the adopted child of scatterbrained super-genius Ira West. When the process reverses itself and she is dragged back to the future – Central City 2970 AD – The Flash follows and is caught up in a war that has been all but won by oppressive East-bloc tyrant Sirik the Supreme. Of course his intervention is enough to reset the scales before he returns baffled bride Iris Russell (née West)-Allen to her immigrant time period.

Once there though, repercussions of the revelation continue as a recovered 30th century keepsake turns her into an uncontrollable, secret-exposing blabbermouth in #204’s ‘The Great Secret Identity Exposé!’ with the Justice League understandably irate that Flash talks in his sleep and his wife knows all their civilian identities…

Back up tale ‘The Mind-Trap’ (Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) then sees Kid Flash chasing a body-stealing Egyptian pharaoh’s ghost to end the issue on a lighter note…

The Flash #205 was another hugely popular reprint collection of the era, sporting a cover by Dick Giordano (and included here) before it was back to spooky business in #206 for Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘24 Hours of Immortality!’ as haughty alien superbeings resurrect a recently killed surgeon and young mother to attend to unfinished business, but for the most mean-spirited motives – until Flash intervenes with a lesson all could benefit from.

With the supernatural now fully unleashed at DC, Flash #207 led with Friedrich, Novick & Anderson’s ‘The Evil Sound of Music!’, as former mystic hero Sargon the Sorcerer exploits his own family and rock ‘n’ roll-loving kids to restore his lost powers, before confronting the Scarlet Speedster, his own inner demons and rapacious external devils on the path back to the light. Grounding that journey to hell, Kid Flash then faces ‘The Phantom of the Cafeteria!’ ending the depredations of a superfast, hyper-hungry alien in a quick but satisfying yarn from Skeates, Dillin & Giordano.

In #208, Kanigher, Novick & Anderson exposed ‘A Kind of Miracle in Central City’ as wayward kids exploited by drug pushers are saved by prayer, the timely intervention of nuns and invisible superspeed before Flash #209 debuted new regular writer Cary Bates. He would run with the Vizier of Velocity for the rest of the series, only missing #213-214, 217, 293, 306 and 313 between 1970 through 1985.

Fresh from the starting blocks, Bates, Novick & Giordano took the speedster into higher, weirder realms ‘Beyond the Speed of Life!’ where Flash and reality shielding Sentinel stopped existence from being devoured. Meanwhile, on mundane Earth old Rogues Trickster, Captain Boomerang and Gorilla Grodd squabbled over bragging rights for who had finally killed the hero. At the back, Kid Flash saved a student troubled by gangsters in ‘Coincidence Can Kill!’ courtesy of Skeates, Dillin, Giordano.

A visit to 2971 came with #210 as Bates, Novick & Giordano expanded the Earth East-Earth West “warm” war in ‘An Earth Divided!’ with Flash seeking to save man-made President Abraham Lincoln (II) from belligerent occidental tyrant Bekor. Science fiction surrendered to spooky tales next as Flash teamed up with Batman in Brave and the Bold #99. Here Bob Haney, Bob Brown, & Nick Cardy revealed how an attempt to resurrect Bruce Wayne’s parents opened the door to the Dark Knight’s possession by an unquiet spirit. ‘The Man Who Murdered the Past!’ almost ensured an invasion of angry ghosts until superspeed and smart thinking saved the day…

Comics were always about popular trends, and in Flash #211 Bates, Novick & Giordano contrived alien invaders who used the fad of rolling derby to fuel the destruction of Earth via constantly ‘Flashing Wheels!’ However, Kid Flash was on far more stable ground as he exposed corrupt officials covering up toxic dumping in ‘Is This Poison Legal?’ by Skeates, Dillin & Giordano. Equally bold and topical the next issue saw ‘The Flash in Cartoon Land!’ with Novick & Giordano depicting how manic 64th century magician Abra Kadabra trapped the hero and a little lad Barry Allen was babysitting in a graphic madhouse where scientific rules did not apply.

The next two issues – #213 & 214 – were reprint specials represented here with the original covers by Neal Adams & Cardy before #215 saw Bates, Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano detail the ‘Death of an Immortal!’ The eons are catching up with undying villain Vandal Savage who attempts to trick Barry Allen and Jay Garrick into remedying the crisis for him. However their mission is intercepted by chronal cop Tempus and the end is not what Savage anticipated…

For Bates at least, Flash was all about his signature Rogues Gallery and in #216 the writer revealed the shocking truth about multiple personality villain Al Desmond/Dr. Alchemy/Mr. Element. Seemingly cured and reformed, Desmond was afflicted by ‘The Curse of the Dragon’s Eye!’ (Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano), astrally connected to an unstable star in the constellation Draco and vacillating between manic and passive, and Good and Evil as it built to cataclysmic detonation. Now that time had come and Flash had to save his friend and hopefully prevent him destroying Earth when his patron star died. Its counterbalanced by Skeates & Dillin’s Kid Flash fable ‘2D?’ as Kid Flash goes after extradimensional slavers abducting workers who stare at certain paintings for too long…

Hard times for superheroes saw Green Lantern take up residence in the anterior pages of The Flash from #217 and shorter tales began with a fill-in from Len Wein for Novick & McLoughlin. ‘The Flash Times Five is Fatal!’ saw the hero attacked by a rogue AI built by Ira West. It preferred sabotage, reality warping and murder to rescinding its categoric statement that no one as fast as the Scarlet Speedster could possibly exist…

Bates and the Pied Piper returned in #218 as a cunning sonic ambush was foiled by speed vibrations generating ‘The Flash of 1,000 Faces!’ whilst in #219 (with Joe Giella inking) ‘The Million Dollar Deathtrap’ saw the hero targeted by wagering rivals Mirror Master and The Top and only triumphing after applying the proven principle of “divide and conquer”…

Flash literally and grotesquely joined protégé Kid Flash in #220 as The Turtle (Barry’s very first super-foe) returned to alter Earth’s internal vibrations and cure ‘The Slowest Man on Earth’ of his unique condition no matter the cost to everyone else. Thankfully two heads proved better than one in this instance and the shaking shakedown was averted.

Co-scripter John Warner joined Bates, Novick & McLoughlin for #221’s ‘Time-Schedule For Disaster!’ as techno-bandit Cipher attempts – and ultimately fails – to harvest Flash’s speed vibrations to power his weapons before #222’s ‘The Heart That Attacked the World!’ (Novick, McLoughlin & Giordano) offers a full-length team up with Green Lantern as Weather Wizard and Sinestro join forces to end their enemies. Sadly, born betrayer Sinestro secretly linked the Speedster’s racing heartbeat to the continued existence of Earth…

In #223, Bates, Novick & Giordano ‘Make Way for the Speed-Demons!’ as another old enemy rigs races between Flash and three mechanical racers of land sea and air, with the expressed intention of humiliating the speedster whilst hiding his true intentions, before #224 introduces ‘The Fastest Man Dead!’ after Barry’s friend and mentor Charlie Conwell is murdered. That doesn’t stop the veteran helping Flash close the last case on his docket and save his pal Barry one last time…

Another Scarlet-Emerald team-up sees Flash again battle Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash before discovering  ‘Green Lantern, Master Criminal of the 25th Century!’ (#225, Bates, Novick & Giordano) is the villain’s unwilling slave. Of course, it all plays out successfully in time, after which Captain Cold and Heatwave embroil Barry Allen in their psycho-drama rivalry, thereby inadvertently subjecting Flash to ‘The Hot-Cold War in Central City!’ (inked by Giordano & McLoughlin). Immediately afterwards (with McLoughlin inking) #227 reveals ‘Flash – This is Your Death!’ as Captain Boomerang ( and his dad!) rerun past fast & furious clashes whilst seeking to end the hero’s career and existence forever, before Tex Blaisdell inks #228’s ‘The Day I saved the Life of the Flash!’ Here Bates injects himself into the story as a comic book writer from Earth-Prime accidentally slips across dimensional divides; arriving on Earth-One in time to aid the “fictional” speedster he scripts in a deadly duel with the Trickster…

This compendium closes with the pertinent original material from 100-Page Spectacular Flash #229 which led with a Golden Age Flash team up as ‘The Rag Doll Runs Wild!’ Here Bates, Novick, Giordano & McLoughlin detail how a seeming resurgent rampage by a 1940s thieving contortionist is merely a mask for a far more sinister scheme perpetrated by a hidden vengeful mastermind. Closing proceedings are two teaser treats from that giant compendium: specifically a ‘Flash Puzzle’ by Bob Rozakis, Infantino & Anderson and an unattributed ‘Flash Trivia Quiz and Answers’…

With covers by Kane, Infantino, Anderson, Neal Adams, Colletta Giordano, Jack Adler, Cardy and Tatjana Wood, this splendid selection is a must-read item for anybody in love with the world of words-in-pictures and fast-paced fantasy fables. Ready. Steady, Go get it!
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1906 was the birth date of cartoonist Dale Messick (Brenda Starr, Reporter) followed ten years later by comic book/ad exec Irv Novick, and author Peter O’Donnell (Modesty Blaise, James Bond, Romeo Jones) in 1920. In 1954 Jamie Delano (Captain Britain, Doctor Who, Hellblazer, Animal Man) joined the party as did Matt Kindt (Poppy and the Lost Lagoon, Dept. H, MIND MGMT, BRZRKR) in 1973.

Posted on

DC Finest: Justice League of America – Starro the Conqueror


By Gardner F. Fox, Mike Sekowsy, Carmine Infantino, Bernard Sachs, Murphy Anderson, Joe Giella & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-773-4 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – by which we mean the launch of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s progress was to combine individual sales-points into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was irrefutably proven: a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces. Plus, of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is far cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick…

Thus the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comic books and – when Julius Schwartz began reviving and revitalising the nigh-defunct superhero genre in 1956 – the next key moment would come a few years with the inevitable teaming of reconfigured mystery men. The League launched in The Brave and the Bold #28 (cover-dated March 1960 but actually on sale from December 29th 1959) and cemented the growth and validity of the revived subgenre, triggering an explosion of new characters at every company producing comic books; even spreading to the rest of the world as the 1960s progressed.

Spanning March 1960 to May 1963, this full-colour paperback collection of timeless classics re-presents The Brave and the Bold #28-30, issues #1-19 of the epochal first series of Justice League of America and a crucial early cross-branding event from Mystery in Space #75, with scripter Gardner Fox and illustrators Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs – with the support of Joe Giella, Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson – seemingly able to do no wrong. That moment that changed everything for us baby-boomers came in The Brave and the Bold #28, a classical adventure title that had recently become a try-out magazine like Showcase. Just in time for Christmas 1959 ads began running…

“Just Imagine! The mightiest heroes of our time… have banded together as the Justice League of America to stamp out the forces of evil wherever and whenever they appear!…”

When it came that first tale was written by the indefatigable Gardner Fox and illustrated by quirky, understated virtuoso Mike Sekowsky, and inked by Bernard Sachs, Joe Giella & Murphy Anderson. ‘Starro the Conqueror!’ saw Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, J’onn J’onzz – Manhunter from Mars and recent debutante Green Lantern defeat a marauding alien starfish whilst Superman and Batman stood by as a reserve. In those naive days, editors feared their top characters could be “over-exposed” and consequently lose popularity. The team also picked up an average American kid as a mascot. “Typical teenager” Snapper Carr would prove a focus of fan controversy for decades to come, and the yarn was/is supplanted by fact page ‘The “Starfish” Family!’ crafted by clever persons currently unknown…

Confident of his material and the superhero genre’s fresh appeal, Schwartz had two more thrillers ready for the following issues. B&B #29 saw the team defeat a marauder from the future who apparently had history on his side in ‘The Challenge of the Weapons Master!’ (inks by Sachs and Giella) whilst #30 saw the debut of the team’s first mad-scientist archvillain in the form of Professor Ivo who employed and his super android Amazo in ‘The Case of the Stolen Super Powers’ (Fox, Sekowsky & Sachs) to  end the try-out run. Three months later a new bi-monthly title debuted…

Perhaps somewhat sedate by histrionic modern standards, the JLA was revolutionary in a comics marketplace where less than 10% of all sales featured costumed adventurers. Not only consumer imagination was struck by hero teams either. Stan Lee was apparently given a copy of Justice League by his boss Martin Goodman and told to do something similar for the tottering comics company he ran… and look what came of that…

Justice League of America #1 offered a voyage to ‘The World of No Return’, in the insalubrious company of trans-dimensional tour-guide and tawdry tyrant Despero who bedevilled the World’s Greatest Heroes until, once again, plucky Snapper Carr became the key to defeating the villain and saving the day. As previously mentioned, although Superman and Batman were included in the membership their participation was strictly limited as editorial diktat at the start to avoid possible reader ennui and saturation from over-exposure. That ended from this point forward as they joined the regulars in all their games.

The second issue’s ‘Secret of the Sinister Sorcerers!’ presented an astounding conundrum as the villains of Magic-Land sneakily transposed the location of their dimension with Earth’s, causing the Laws of Science to be replaced with the Lore of Mysticism. The true mettle of the costumed heroes (with Superman & Batman fully participating in the proceedings) was shown when they had to use ingenuity rather than their powers to defeat fearsome foes and set two worlds to rights.

JLA #3 introduced despicable despot and slimy sentient trafficker Kanjar Ro who attempted to turn the team into his personal army in ‘The Slave Ship of Space!’, before the next episode was the first of many to feature a new member joining the team. Green Arrow saved the day in science-fiction thriller ‘Doom of the Star Diamond’, but was almost kicked out in #5 as the insidious evil genius Doctor Destiny inadvertently framed him ‘When Gravity Went Wild!’

The glory days of full-on “costumed crazies” was still in the future and most tales of this period involved extraterrestrial or fringe technology-triggered emergencies such as the mad scientist who encountered them next. ‘The Wheel of Misfortune!’ saw the debut of pernicious and persistent master of wild science Professor Amos Fortune, who weaponised luck to challenge the masked marvels, whilst #7 was another alien invasion plot (Agellaxians this time) who used an amusement park as a live-weapons lab, using humans to beta test their tech and eerily transform the swiftly-investigating heroes infiltrating ‘The Cosmic Fun-House!’

Organised crime then collided with cruel happenstance in January 1962’s JLA #8. ‘For Sale… the Justice League!’ offered a smart gangster caper wherein cheap hood Pete Rickets finds a prototype teaching tool and misuses it as mind-control weapon to enslave the superhero team before simple Snapper once again saves the day.

As often remarked, back then origins and character background were not as important as delivering solid entertaining stories and it was not until Justice League of America #9 (cover-dated February 1962 and on sale from December 21st 1961) that the group shared its motivating first case with enthralled readers via the narrative engine of curious Snapper Carr. Nigh-mythic now and oft-recounted. ‘The Origin of the Justice League’ recounts the circumstances of the team’s birth in an alien invasion saga as mighty space warriors seeking to use Earth as a gladiatorial arena in which to decide the future ruler of their distant world Appellax…

It’s followed by the series’ first continued story. ‘The Fantastic Fingers of Felix Faust!’ finds the World’s Greatest Superheroes already battling a marauder from the future – the Lord of Time – when they’re spellbound by a vile sorcerer. Faust has awoken three antediluvian demons (Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast) and sold them the world in exchange for 100 years of unlimited power. Although the heroes eventually outwit and defeat Faust they have no idea that the demons are loose…

Although chronologically and sequentially adrift, next up is  Mystery in Space #75 (May 1962), wherein the worlds-beating team guest-star in a full-length thriller in Adam Strange’s ongoing, off-world epic adventures. Strange is an Earth archaeologist who regularly teleports to a planet circling Alpha Centauri where his wits and ingenuity saved the citizens of Rann from all manner of interplanetary threats and menaces. In ‘The Planet that came to a Standstill!’, Kanjar Ro attempts to conquer Strange’s adopted home, and our gallant hero must enlist the aid of the JLA before once again saving the day himself. This classic team-up was written by Fox, and illustrated by Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson.

Then, back in JLA #11 (also cover-dated May 1962) concluding chronological conundrum ‘One Hour to Doomsday!’ sees the JLA pursue and capture initial target The Lord of Time, before becoming trapped a century from their home-era by the awakened, re-empowered demons. This level of plot complexity hadn’t been seen in comics since the closure of EC Comics, and never before in a superhero tale. It was a profound acknowledgement by the creators that the readership was no longer simply little kids – if indeed it ever had been…

Perennial archvillain Doctor Light debuted in #12, attempting a pre-emptive strike on the team by transporting them to carefully selected sidereal worlds where their abilities would be useless, but ‘The Last Case of the Justice League’ proved to be anything but, and in the next issue the heroes saved our entire reality by solving ‘The Riddle of the Robot Justice League’: sinister simulacra created to stop the champions from halting the theft of our life-energy by agents of another cosmic realm. Then ‘The Menace of the “Atom” Bomb!’ in #14 proved to be  a neat way of introducing latest inductee The Atom whilst showing a fresh side to an old villain masquerading as new nemesis Mister Memory…

‘Challenge of the Untouchable Aliens’ in JLA #15 added some fresh texture to the formulaic plot of extra-dimensional invaders out for our destruction before ‘The Cavern of Deadly Spheres’ delivered a deceptive change-of-pace tale with a narrative technique that just couldn’t be used on today’s oh-so-sophisticated audience, but still has the power to grip a reader. Ever challenging and always universal continuity building, more links between heroes were formed in #17’s ‘Triumph of the Tornado Tyrant!’ Here a sentient cyclone that had once battled indomitable Adam Strange (in Mystery in Space #61) set up housekeeping on an desolate world and ponder the very nature of Good and Evil and even roleplay out its deliberations. It soon realised that it needed the help of the Justice League to reach a survivable conclusion…

Teaser Alert: As well being a cracking yarn, this story is pivotal in the development of the android hero Red Tornado…

JLA #18 found the heroes forcibly summoned to a subatomic universe by three planetary champions whose continued existence now threatened to destroy the very world they were designed to protect. ‘Journey to the Micro-World’ found the JLA compelled to defeat opponents who were literally unbeatable and discovering yet again that Batman’s brains were a super power no force could thwart…

One final perplexing puzzle was posed in ‘The Super-Exiles of Earth’ after unstoppable duplicates of the heroes go on a crime-spree, forcing global governments to banish the League into space. Breaking rules and laws whilst battling undercover in their civilian identities, the team prove too much for the mystery mastermind behind the plot and return to public acclaim in a stellar wrap-up to another fabulous feast of four-colour fun.

With iconic covers by Sekowsky, Infantino and Anderson, these tales are a perfect example of all that was best and purest about US comics’ Silver Age: combining optimism and ingenuity with bonhomie and adventure. This slice of better times also has the benefit of cherishing wonderment whilst actually being historically valid for any fan of our medium. Best of all the stories here are still captivating and enthralling transports of delight.

These classical compendia are a dedicated fan’s delight: an absolute gift for modern fans who desperately need to catch up without going bankrupt. They are also perfect to give to youngsters as an introduction into a fabulous world of adventure and magic…
© 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1883 trailblazing strip creator Frank King (Gasoline Alley) was born, as was trendsetting illustrator Mac Raboy (Captain Marvel Junior, Green Lama, Flash Gordon) in 1914; German comics legend Rolf Kauka (Dagobert, Fix und Foxi) in 1917 and Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy, Doom Patrol, some music and TV and movies ‘n’ stuff) in 1977.

In 1978, DC’s The World’s Greatest Superheroes newspaper strip premiered.

Posted on

Green Lantern: The Silver Age volume 1


By John Broome, Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky, Carmine Infantino, Ross Andru, Joe Giella, Murphy Anderson & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6348-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Today marks the centenary of Eli Katz, who, as Gil Kane, worked from the Golden Age until his death (on January 31st 2000) to make comics the art form it is today. Diligent, resolute and always challenging himself, Kane was a trendsetting pioneer in style, in form and in comics philosophy. He was also a visual architect of the superhero revival in the Silver Age and a key component in the evolution of the Graphic Novel.

Gil Kane worked as an artist, and an ever-more effective and influential one, drawing – and writing – for many companies since his 1940s debut: on superheroes, action, war, mystery, romance, movie adaptations and, perhaps most importantly, Westerns and Science Fiction tales. In the late 1950s Kane was one of editor Julius Schwartz’s go-to artists for regenerating the superhero. Yet by 1968, at the top of his (admittedly much denigrated) profession, this relentlessly revolutionary and creative man felt so confined by juvenile strictures of the industry that he struck out on new ventures, jettisoning editorial and format bounds of comic books for new visions and media.

His Name Is Savage was an adult-oriented monochrome magazine about a cold and ruthless super-spy in the James Bond/Man Called Flint mould, co-written by friend & collaborator Archie Goodwin. It was very much a precursor in tone, treatment and subject matter to many of today’s adventure titles. The other venture, Blackmark (also with Goodwin), not only ushered in an era of comic book Sword & Sorcery, but became one of the first Graphic Novels. Technically, as the series was commissioned by publisher Ballantine as eight volumes, it was also America’s first comic Limited Series. Volume 1 launched in January 1971, with volume 2 just completed when the publisher killed the project. Albeit a generation Kane’s junior, long term seasoned collaborator Roy Thomas reprinted those tales in Marvel’s Savage Sword of Conan and Marvel Preview, with artwork rejigged to accommodate a different page format.

In comic books Kane’s milieux included Boy Commandos, Young Allies & Newsboy Legion, Johnny Thunder, Jimmy Wakely, Hopalong Cassidy, Rex the Wonder Dog, The Atom, Plastic Man, Robin, Batgirl, Batman, Superman, Flash, Hawk and Dove, Captain Action, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent, plus hundreds of genre yarns – romance, war, sci fi, western and horror – before landing at Marvel Comics to reinvent Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Ka-Zar and Captain Marvel, co-creating Adam Warlock, Morbius, Iron Fist. He adapted John Carter, Warlord of Mars and other adventure fantasy properties and reinvigorated dozens of horror-hero and superhero stalwarts, all while filling in on seemingly every character and cover going…

Restless and craving what the medium could still achieve, he created newspaper strip Star Hawks (in 1977 with Ron Goulart) and numerous special projects like Jason Drum for Le Journal de Tintin and The Ring of the Nibelung. Also working as Gil Stack, Scott Edward, Stack Til, Stacktil, Pen Star and Phil Martell, Kane was a foundation stone of comics and remains a vivid, vital inspiration to future generations of creators and readers.

With all that in mind let’s revisit a character he co-created and who will be forever associated with Kane: the Silver Age Emerald Gladiator…

After their hugely successful revival and reworking of The Flash, DC (or National Comics as they were) were keen to build on the resurgent superhero trend. Showcase #22 hit the stands at the same time as the fourth issue of the new Flash comic book – #108 – and once again the guiding lights were Editor Julie Schwartz & writer John Broome. Assigned as illustrator was action ace Gil Kane, generally inked by Joe Giella.

This fabulous paperback compilation gathers Showcase #22-24 (September/October 1959 to January/February 1960) and Green Lantern #1-9 (July/August 1960-November 1961) and reveals how a Space Age reconfiguration of the Golden-Age superhero with a magic ring replaced mysticism with super-science.

Hal Jordan was a young test pilot in California when an alien policeman crashed his spaceship on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his ring – a device which could materialise thoughts – to seek out a replacement officer, honest and without fear. Scanning the planet it selected Jordan and brought him to the crash-site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, the lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his profession to the astonished Earthman.

In six pages ‘S.O.S Green Lantern’ established characters, scenario and narrative thrust of a series that would increasingly become the spine of DC continuity, leaving room for another two adventures in that premiere issue. ‘Secret of the Flaming Spear!’ and ‘Menace of the Runaway Missile!’ were both contemporary thrillers set against the backdrop of the aviation industry at a time when the Cold War was at its height. Unlike Flash’s debut, the publishers were now confident of their ground. The next two issues of Showcase carried the new hero into even greater and more fantastic exploits. ‘Summons from Space’ sent Green Lantern to another world: saving an emerging race from a deadly threat at the behest of the as-yet-unnamed leaders of the Green Lantern Corps, whilst ‘The Invisible Destroyer’ pitted the neophyte Emerald Gladiator against earthbound eerie menace – a psychic marauder that lived on atomic radiation.

Showcase #24 (January/February 1960) featured another spy-ring in ‘The Secret of the Black Museum!’ but Jordan’s complex social life took centre-stage in ‘The Creature That Couldn’t Die!’ when the threat of an unstoppable monster paled before the insufferable stress of being his own rival. Hal’s boss Carol Ferris, controversially left in charge of her father’s aviation company (an utterly radical concept in 1960 when most women were still considered fainting-fodder fluff), won’t date an employee, but is deliriously happy for him to set her up with glamorous, mysterious GL…

Six months later Green Lantern #1 was released. All previous tales had been dynamically drawn by Kane & Giella, in a visually arresting and exciting manner, but the lead tale here, ‘Planet of Doomed Men’ was inked by the astoundingly multi-talented Murphy Anderson, and his fine line-work elevated the tale (more emergent humans in need of rescue from another monster) to the status of a minor classic. Giella returned for the second tale, ‘Menace of the Giant Puppet!’, in which GL fought his first – albeit rather lame – supervillain, the Puppet Master.

The next issue originated a concept that would be pivotal to the future of DC continuity. ‘The Secret of the Golden Thunderbolts!’ featured an Antimatter Universe and the diabolical Weaponers of Qward: a twisted race who worshipped Evil, and whose criminals (i.e. people who wouldn’t lie, cheat, steal or kill) wanted asylum on Earth. Also inked by Anderson, this is an early highpoint of tragic melodrama from an era where emotionalism was actively downplayed in comics. The second story ‘Riddle of the Frozen Ghost Town! is a crime thriller highlighting the developing relationship between the hero and his Inuit (then “Eskimo”) mechanic Tom “Pieface”Kalmaku.

The Qwardians returned in the all-Giella-inked #3, leading with ‘The Amazing Theft of the Power Lamp!’ before Jordan’s love life again spun out of control in ‘The Leap Year Menace!’, whilst GL #4 saw the hero trapped in the antimatter universe in ‘The Diabolical Missile from Qward!’ (Anderson inks) nicely balanced by light-&-frothy mistaken-identity caper ‘Secret of Green Lantern’s Mask!’ This last was apparently crafted by a veritable round-robin raft of pencillers including Kane, Giella, Carmine Infantino, Mike Sekowsky and Ross Andru…

Issue #5 was a full-length thriller introducing Hector Hammond, GL’s second official recurring super-foe in ‘The Power Ring that Vanished!’: a saga of romantic intrigue, mistaken identity and evolution gone wild. This was followed by another pure science fiction puzzler ‘The World of Living Phantoms!’ (Kane & Giella), debuting avian Green Lantern Tomar Re and opening up the entire universe to avid readers.

Having shown us other GLs, Broome immediately excelled himself in the next episode. ‘The Day 100,000 People Vanished!’ brought the Guardians of the Universe into the open to warn of their greatest error: renegade Green Lantern Sinestro who, in league with Qwardians, had become a threat to the entire universe. This taut, tense shocker introduced one of the most charismatic and intriguing villains in the DCU, and the issue still had room for a dryly amusing, whimsical drama introducing Tom Kalmaku’s fiancée Terga in ‘Wings of Destiny’.

In the early 1960s DC production wizard Jack Adler devised a process to add enhancing tone to cover illustrations. The finished result was eye-catching and mind-blowing, but sadly, examples such as the cover of #8 here really don’t work with the glossy pages and digitised colour-tints of modern reproduction. Never mind, though, since contents ‘The Challenge from 5700 AD!’ comprise a fantasy tour de force as the Emerald Gladiator is shanghaied through time to save the future from an invasion of mutant lizards…

Sinestro returned in the next issue – the last in this astounding cosmic collection – with his own super-weapon in ‘The Battle of the Power Rings!’ (with Anderson again substituting for Giella) but the real gold is ‘Green Lantern’s Brother Act’, with the revelation of Hal’s two brothers and a snoopy girl reporter convinced young Jim Jordan is secretly the ring-slinging superhero. This wry poke at DC’s house plot-device shows just how sophisticated Schwartz & Broome believed their audiences to be.

In those long ago days costumed villains were always third choice in a writer’s armoury: clever bad-guys and aliens always seemed more believable to creators back then. If you were doing something naughty would you want to call attention to yourself? Nowadays the visual impact of buff men in tights dictates the type of foe more than the crimes committed, which is why these glorious adventures of simpler yet somehow better days are such an unalloyed delight. These Fights ‘n’ Tights romps are in themselves a great read for most ages, but when also considered as the building blocks of all DC continuity they become vital fare for any fan keen to make sense of the modern superhero experience.

Judged solely on their own merit, these are snappy and awe-inspiring; beautifully illustrated by a rapidly evolving graphic narrative superstar in ascendance: captivatingly clever thrillers that amuse, amaze and enthral both new readers and old devotees. This collection is a must-read item for anybody in love with our art-form and especially for anyone just now encountering the hero for the first time through his TV incarnation.
© 1959, 1960, 1961, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1882 Spanish creator Salvador Bartolozzi (weekly Pinocchio) was born, with The New Yorker cartoonist Chon Day arriving in 1907, Levi Katz in 1926 and crusading Filipino cartoonist Pol Medina Jr. (Pugad Baboy) in 1960. In 1980 Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button, New School, The Unclothed Man In the 35th Century A.D., Courier) joined that august grouping.

In 1936 Frank Leonard’s Mickey Finn strip debuted, and ran until 10th September 1977.

Posted on

Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles volume 1


By Max Allan Collins & Rick Fletcher (Checker Books)
ISBN: 978-0-97416-642-1 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Almost, sort of, Time for another anniversary celebration. Here’s a superb collection crying out for revival in either physical or digital forms. Time to agitate again against the publishing powers-that-be, I think…

Comics have a pretty good track record for creating household names. We could play the game of picking the most well-known fictional characters on Earth – usually topped by Sherlock Holmes, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Batman and Tarzan – and supplement the list with Popeye, Charlie Brown, Tintin, Spider-Man and – not so much now, but once definitely – Dick Tracy…

At the height of the Great Depression cartoonist Chester Gould sought fresh strip ideas. The story goes that as a decent guy incensed by the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone – who monopolised the front pages of contemporary newspapers – the callow scribbler settled upon the only way a normal man could fight thugs: Passion and Public Opinion…

Raised in Oklahoma, Gould was a Chicago resident and hated seeing his town in the grip of such wicked men, with far too many honest citizens beguiled by the gangsters’ charisma. He decided to pictorially get it off his chest with a procedural crime thriller that championed the ordinary cops who protected civilisation. He took his proposal – Plainclothes Tracy – to legendary newspaperman and Strips Svengali Captain Joseph Patterson, whose golden touch had already blessed The Gumps, Gasoline Alley, Little Orphan Annie, Winnie Winkle, Smilin’ Jack, Moon Mullins and Terry and the Pirates among others. Casting his gifted eye on the work, Patterson renamed the hero Dick Tracy, also revising his love interest into steady, steadfast girlfriend Tess Truehart.

The series launched on October 4th 1931 (so 95 and counting in mere months as the strip is still running today) as a Sunday addition to the Detroit Mirror, before spreading via Patterson’s Chicago Tribune Syndicate across the USA. It quickly grew into a monumental hit, with all the attendant media and merchandising hoopla that follows. Amidst toys, games, movies, serials, animated features, TV shows et al, the strip soldiered on, influencing generations of creators (like Bill Finger & Bob Kane) and entertaining millions of fans. Gould unfailingly wrote and drew the strip for decades until retirement in 1977.

The legendary lawman was a landmark creation who influenced not simply comics but the entirety of American popular fiction. Its signature use of baroque villains, outrageous crimes and fiendish death-traps pollinated the work of numerous strips (most notably Batman), shows and movies since then, whilst the indomitable Tracy’s studied, measured use – and startlingly accurate predictions – of crimefighting technology and techniques gave the world a taste of cop thrillers, police procedurals and forensic mysteries such as CSI decades before the modern true crime fascination took hold.

As with many creators in it for the long haul, the revolutionary 1960s were a harsh time for established cartoonists. Along with Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon, Gould’s grizzled gang buster especially foundered in a social climate of radical change where popular slogans included “Never trust anybody over 21” and “Smash the Establishment”.

The strip’s momentum faltered, perhaps as much from the move towards science fiction (Tracy shifted jurisdiction into space and the character Moon Maid was introduced) and even more improbable, Bond-movie style villains as any perceived “old-fashioned” attitudes. Even the introduction of more minority and women characters and hippie cop Groovy Groove couldn’t stop the rot. However, the feature soldiered on regardless…

Max Allen Collins is a hugely prolific and best-selling author of both graphic novels (Road to Perdition, CSI, Batman, Mike Mist, Ms. Tree) and prose thriller series featuring crime-creations Nathan Heller, Quarry, Nolan, Mallory, Krista Larson, Mike Hammer and a veritable pantheon of others. When Gould retired from the Tracy strip, the young author (nearly 30!) won the prestigious role as scripter, and promptly took the series back to its roots for a breathtaking 11-year run, ably assisted by Gould as consultant even as his chief artistic assistant Rick Fletcher was promoted to full illustrator.

This criminally scarce but splendidly enthralling monochrome paperback compilation opens with publisher Mark Thompson’s informative Introduction ‘Flatfoot’, and offers a frankly startling ‘Dick Tracy Timeline’ listing series achievements and innovations from 1931 to 1988 even before the captivating Cops-&-Robbers clashes recommence with Collin’s inaugural adventure.

‘Angeltop’s Last Stand’ (3rd January – March 12th 1978) rapidly sidelined fantastical science fiction trappings (Tracy’s adopted son Junior had previously married aforementioned astral princess Moon Maid) whilst reviving grittily ultra-violent suspense as old friend Vitamin Flintheart is targeted for assassination. With the senior detective’s assistants Sam Catchem and Lizz Worthington on the case, it’s soon clear the assault is part of a scheme to make Tracy suffer. Solid investigation turns up two suspects, relatives of old – and expired – enemies Flattop Jones and The Brow confirming familial revenge is the motive…

Sadly, the Police Department’s resources are inadequate to prevent aggrieved daughter Angeltop Jones and the new Brow from abducting Tracy. Tragically for the vengeful felons, the grizzled crimebuster might be old but is still inventive and indomitable, and a cataclysmic confrontation leads to a fatal conflagration at the place of Flattop’s demise…

The next tale features an original Gould villain making a surprise comeback in the ‘Return of Haf-and-Haf’ (March 13th – June 11th) wherein manic murder-fiend Tulza Tuzon – whose left profile had been hideously scarred with acid – is released from the asylum, seemingly rehabilitated by modern psychology and groundbreaking plastic surgery…

Of course, only his face was fixed and the fiend quickly tries to murder ex-fiancée Zelda – who had betrayed him to the cops a decade previously. Tracy is on hand to save her, but unable to prevent Zelda from enacting grisly retribution on her attacker, leaving Tuzon woefully in need of fresh cosmetic repair. Naturally, the unscrupulous surgeon who fixed him on the State’s dime wants a huge amount of clandestine cash to repeat the procedure and the stage is soon set for doom and tragedy on a Shakespearean scale…

This first Collins collection concludes with an epic minor classic harking back to Tracy’s first published case. ‘Big Boy’s Revenge’ – AKA ‘Big Boy’s Open Contract’ – ran from 12th June 1978 to January 2nd 1979, detailing the unexpected return of the thinly-disguised Al Capone analogue Tracy had sent to prison at the very start of his career.

Decades later Big Boy, still a member of the crime syndicate known as The Apparatus, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wants to take with him the copper who first brought him down. Ignoring and indeed eventually warring with other Apparatus chiefs, the dying Don puts a $1,000,000 contract on Tracy’s head and lies back to watch the fireworks as a horde of hitmen and women zero in on the blithely unaware Senior Detective…

The resulting collateral damage costs the hero one of his nearest and dearest, removes most of the strip’s accumulated sci fi trappings and firmly reset the scenario in the grim and gritty world of contemporary crime. The Good Guys triumph in the end, but the cost is shockingly high for a family strip…

Dick Tracy has always been a fantastically readable feature and this potent return to first principles is a terrific way to ease yourself into his stark, no-nonsense, Tough-Love, Hard Justice world. Comics just don’t get better than this…
© Checker Book Publishing Group 2003, an authorized collection of works © Tribune Media Services, 1978, 1979. All characters and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

Born today in 1888, Canadian cartoonist J.R. Williams (Out Our Way sharing the natal event with iconic European grand master Edgar P. Jacobs (The U Ray, Blake and Mortimer) in 1904, Tex Blaisdell (Superman, Batman, Little Orphan Annie) in 1920 and Raymond Macherot (Clifton, Chlorophylle, Sibylline) in 1924.

In 2008 we lost the ubiquitous and splendid Jim Mooney (Spider-Man, Tommy Tomorrow, Supergirl, Legion of Super-Heroes) whilst in reading matters, today in 1985 saw the 1555th and final issue of UK weekly Tiger come and forever go, as did comedy comic Whoopee! – a prized UK chuckle choice since 1974.

Posted on

Pandora in Puzzlevale: (volume 2) Call of the Crow


By Paul Duffield, Poqu, Siobhan McKenna & various (DFB/Phoenix)

ISBN: 978-1-78845-3769 (TPB)

These days, kids are more likely to find their formative strip narrative experiences online or in specially tailored graphic novels than the anthological, pick ‘n’ mix of pictorial periodicals that defined my long-dead youth. Such was not always the case, but at least comics like The Phoenix are still plugging away, blending the best of the old days with modern appurtenances of all types, just like this splendid sequel saga, culled from the sagacious periodical’s pages.

Pandora in Puzzlevale: The Secret Town debuted a comic strip mystery that progressed as our plucky protagonist solved assorted tests and conundra to recover the parents who had vanished from her side as they all enjoyed a little road trip.

It began as the aspiring crimebuster and Detective Crow C fan was dragged from her comic long enough to realise the tedious drive to their holiday home had been paused. Although the route to the much-anticipated “secrets-themed” village seemed straightforward, the road was long, winding and confusing. When heavy mists descended and the satnav packed in, Mum & Dad pulled up at a petrol station for directions. Engrossed in reading, Pandora eventually looked up to discover she was all alone. Her parents were gone…

Her catalogue of confusion and casebook of ratiocinative deduction filled up quickly as she was drawn into a schema apparently designed to test her physical and mental abilities. That meant taking up precarious residence in a strange hamlet with all odd cons: somewhere everyone had a secret that they wouldn’t share unless Pandora played their games…

In case you’re still wondering, this book – like its predecessor – is all about active participation. By accessing these pages and selecting an action at a critical moment in each episode, you/Pandora are directed to another page to experience the ramifications of that choice. The final objective is still to find the folks uncover the nested truths of the village… and escape Puzzlevale… but it’s you who will be doing the work.

In-world, seemingly helpful people are plentiful in the mist-shrouded village – like fortune tellers, tea shop staff, rambling bystanders and potential witness/gossip Granny Garnett and enigmatic rhymer Rita Idyll, but most welcoming and useful is a were-wolfly hotel clerk. Max/Monster Max is positively friendly but in truth everyone’s motives and accounts are unverifiable and not to be trusted, so Pandora is ultimately left to fend for herself.

At least in this very strange and mutable place, she increasingly has Magically Real Detective Crow by her side and steering her path, and relative stability in a room at local hotel The Veil. Pandora’s methodology includes clue finding, location identification, map-making, maze-defeating, symbol deciphering, wordsearch weaving, witness statement verifying, code-breaking, rune reading, message translating, riddle-solving, character assessing, crossword completing, key & lock retrieving, object unearthing, back-story compiling and comparison testing as well as frequent odd behaviour explanation, with facts meticulously forming a working hypothesis and dictating her plan of action: all jotted down in her trusty, ever-present notebook. She needs all that and more, this time…

After a moody recap, the next morning sees Pandora and her crow companion reviewing the case and wishing the ever-encroaching mists would let up, before a querulous, decision-loaded morning learning the hotelier’s secrets from Max’s sister ensues. This belatedly occurs in The Grand Gardens of Blatherwick Manor. However, getting to the silent sibling means foiling snooty question master/butler Reeves, and steadfast truth obstacle/fount of knowledge Lord Blatherwick…

As unceasing enigmas unfold. Pandora and former fictional detective Crow Boy join new ally (or is she?) Aunty Amethyst in overcoming intellectual and physical challenges, but there are so many! She still hasn’t solved the old ones, like why do the buildings shift, and why do so many wear masks and all-concealing costumes? It isn’t long before she decides “when in Rome…”

Pandora’s quest is divided into 25 sequential ‘Mysteries’ undertaken across four chapters – ‘Trapped in Puzzlevale’, ‘A Family Secret’, ‘Bridging the Divide, and ‘To Raven City’ – each with its own set of tests and challenges contributing to a Big Picture solution, but even after Pandora completes them, she’s left with more to solve and another weird path to follow…

Now with an abrupt hard-earned elevation to official status, magical transformation and the end in clear sight, how can this be anything but To Be Continued…

Pandora in Puzzlevale: Call of the Crow is the second in a serialised sleuth-fest offering a dazzling display of cartoon virtuosity and brain-busting challenges co-composed by writer/art director Paul Duffield, graphic staging scenarist Poqu & illustrator Siobhan McKenna. Their compelling blend of Story! Games! & Action! offers beguiling mystery to be unravelled in the manner of multiple-choice decisions and all there in the irresistible shape of entertaining pictures. How much cooler can a book get?

Well, quite a lot actually, since this tome devotes posterior pages to related activities and features offered under the aegis of the Phoenix Comics Club. Here are tips by Duffield & McKenna on ‘Drawing Crow Boy’, ‘Building blocks’ to ‘Final details’ as well as how to craft puzzles, whilst Poqu shares constructing ‘Secret woodland’, before we conclude with a full list of solutions, clues and hints in closing glimpses at ‘The Final Mystery’ and ‘Pandora’s Notes’…

Bring paper, pencils and your intellectual A-game, and have the time of your life…
Text and illustrations © The Phoenix Comic, 2026. All rights reserved.

Today in 1893 Josette Frank was born. Go look her up now. She earned it. In 1901 Carl Barks was born. Absolutely him too.

If you’re not all worthied out, Hy Eisman (who walked in giants’ footsteps on Popeye and Katzenjammer Kids) arrived in 1927 as did writer/entrepreneur/ publisher/agent Mike Friedrich in 1947.

We lost attorney, psychologist and Wonder Woman co-creator Elizabeth Holloway Marston today in 1993 – so look her up too – as well as Dick Giordano who died in 2010. Italian spaghetti westerner Leone Cimpellin AKA “Ghilbert” (Red Carson, Casey Ruggles, Jonny Logan) bit his last bullet in 2017.

In 1982 Eagle relaunched in Britain. It was pretty good, had lots of cool contributors, but just wasn’t the same…