Category: Mystery

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Star Trek Classics volume 5: Who Killed Captain Kirk?


By Peter David, Tom Sutton, Gordon Purcell, Ricardo Villagran & various (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-61377-831-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

Word came today that we’ve lost another comics giant. Peter Allen David (23rd September 1956 – 24th May 2025) wrote thousands of comics stories, including continuity-changing runs on Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk (which he wrote for 12 years), Aquaman, Supergirl, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Scarlet Spider, The Phantom, Young Justice, Dreadstar, X-Factor and Wolverine, as well as notable runs on countless more.

In an industry heavily reliant on adapting media properties, Peter David was the go-to guy for dozens of tie-in titles including all Star Trek books at various companies, Babylon 5, manga import Negima, Halo: Helljumper, Tron and younger reader titles like Powerpuff Girls and Little Mermaid. His television credits include Babylon 5, and animated series like Ben 10 and Young Justice, and Space Cases which he co-created with Bill Mumy.

In comics he created or co-created Spiderman 2099, Fallen Angel, Sachs and Violens, Soulsearchers and Co., SpyBoy, The Atlantis Chronicles and more.

A tireless scribe and popular culture maven, his nigh 100 books include original creations, genre and franchise spin-off  novels for all Star Trek franchises, Babylon 5, Alien Nation, Battlestar Galactica, Swamp Thing, Transformers, novelisations and adaptations, movie, biographies commentary and nonfiction.

Outspoken, ferociously liberal, minority-advocating and never, never boring, he was a master of spit-take comedy moments and crushing emotional body blows in his work, and we are all poorer for his going.

A fuller appreciation and a bunch of stuff I should have got around to reviewing long ago will follows in the weeks to come. Here, however, is a re-review of one of his very best. Go buy this, or indeed anything with his name on it. You won’t be disappointed.

The stellar Star Trek brand and franchise probably hasn’t reached any new worlds yet, but it certainly has permeated every aspect of civilisation here on Earth. You can find daily live-action or animated TV appearances constantly screening somewhere on the planet as well as toys, games, conventions, merchandise, various comics iterations generated in a host of nations and languages and a reboot of the movie division proceeding even as I type this.

Many comics companies have published sequential narrative adventures based on the exploits of Gene Roddenberry’s legendary brainchild, and the splendid 1980s run produced under the DC banner were undoubtedly some of the very finest, especially when scripted by novelist, journalist, screenwriter and all-around comics genius Peter David.

Never flashy or sensational, the series embraced the same storytelling values as the shows, movies and original prose adventures; being simultaneously strongly character- & plot-driven – and starring some of the most well-known (and well-quoted) characters in the world.

An especially fine example is this superior epic, blending spectacular drama, subtle but rational dramatic interplay and good old fashioned thrills, with the added bonus of much madcap whimsy thanks to David’s impassioned fan-pandering efforts…

The swashbuckling space-opera (originally printed in DC’s Star Trek #49-55 and boldly spanning April to October 1988) remains a devotee’s dream, pulling together many prior and ongoing plotlines – albeit in a manner easily accessible to newcomers – to present a fantastic whodunit liberally sprinkled with in-jokes and TV references for über-fans to wallow in.

Illustrated by Tom Sutton & Ricardo Villagran, it began in ‘Aspiring to be Angels’ as, following the aftermath of a drunken shipboard stag night riot (caused by three very senior officers separately spiking the punch), the Enterprise crew discover a rogue Federation ship with impenetrable new cloaking technology is destroying remote colonies in a blatant attempt to provoke all-out war with the Klingons.

At one decimated site they discover a stunted, albino Klingon child who holds the secrets of the marauders, but his traumatised mind will need patience and very special care to coax them out…

Naturally the suspicious, bellicose Klingons also investigating the atrocity want first dibs on the supposed Federation “rebels”, and political tensions mount as Kirk and his embattled opposite number Kron not-so-diplomatically spar over procedure in a ‘Marriage of Inconvenience’. Emotions are already fraught aboard Enterprise. Preparations for a big wedding are suffering last-minute problems and a promising ensign is currently being cashiered for the High Crime of Species Bigotry…

Moreover, unknown to all, a telepathic crew-member has contracted Le Guin’s Disease (that’s one of those in-jokes I mentioned earlier), endangering the entire ship. The crisis point comes with the Federation and Klingon Empire on the verge of open hostilities. Thankfully the renegade ship moves too precipitately and is defeated in pitched battle. However, when Security teams board the maverick ship what they recover only increases the mystery of its true motives and origins…

Taking advantage of a rare peaceful moment, ensigns Kono and Nancy Bryce finally wed, only to be drawn into a ‘Haunted Honeymoon’ as the Enterprise is suddenly beset by uncanny supernatural events, culminating in the crew being despatched to a biblical torture-realm resembling ‘Hell in a Handbasket’. When the effects of the telepathic plague are finally spent, normality returns for the crew, just in time for them to discover Kirk has been stabbed…

Gordon Purcell illustrates ‘You’re Dead, Jim’, with Dr. McCoy swinging into action to preserve the fast-fading life of his friend. Lost in delirium, Kirk is reliving his eventful life and is ready to just let go when Spock intervenes. With the Captain slowly recovering and categorically identifying his attacker, justice moves swiftly. The assailant is arrested and the affair seems open and shut, but ‘Old Loyalties’ deliver a shocking twist to set up a fractious reunion as Kirk’s Starfleet Academy bullying nemesis Sean Finnegan (who first appeared in beloved classic TV episode Shore Leave – as written by the legendary Theodore Sturgeon) arrives to sort everything out…

The senior officer has been sent by the Federation Security Legion to investigate the case, and what he finds in ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ (with Sutton & Villagran reuniting for the epic conclusion) is an astounding revelation upsetting everyone’s firmly held convictions, before unearthing a sinister vengeance scheme decades in the making…

Masterfully weaving a wide web of elements into a fabulous yarn of great and small moments, Peter David crafted one of his best and most compelling yarns in these pages: a tale to rank amongst the greatest Star Trek stories in any medium and one which will please fans of the franchise and any readers who just love quality comics as well as underscoring just how much poorer we are all today.
® and © 2013 CBS Studios, Inc. © 2013 Paramount Pictures Corp. Star Trek and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Finest: Aquaman – The King of Atlantis


By Robert Bernstein & Ramona Fradon, with Jack Miller, Joe Millard, Otto Binder, George Kashdan, Bob Haney, Nick Cardy, Kurt Schaffenberger, Curt Swan, Jim Mooney, Sheldon Moldoff, Stan Kaye, Charles Paris & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77952-989-3 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

It’s a big year for comics anniversaries, and we can’t let this guy go unmentioned. This epic compilation is one of the long-awaited DC Finest editions: full colour continuations of their chronolgically curated monochrome Showcase Presents line, delivering “affordably priced, large-size (comic book dimensions and generally around 600 pages) paperback collections”. Whilst primarily and understandably concentrating on superheroes, later releases will also cover genre selections like horror and war books, and themed compendia. Sadly, they’re not yet available digitally, as were the last decade’s Bronze, Silver & Golden Age collections, but we live in hope…

Aquaman is that oddest of comic book phenomena: a survivor. One of the few superheroes to carry on in unbroken exploits since the Golden Age, the Sea King has endured endless cancellations, reboots and makeovers in the name of trendy relevance and fickle fashion but has somehow always recovered: coming back fresher, stronger and more intriguing. He’s also one of the earliest comic champions to make the jump to cartoon TV stardom…

Created by Mort Weisinger & Paul Norris, Aquaman began his reign in in the wake of and in response to Timely Comics’ barnstorming antihero Namor the Sub-Mariner. The watery latecomer debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941) beside fellow born survivor Green Arrow. Strictly second-string for most of his career, the Marine marvel nevertheless swam on far beyond many stronger features, rendered with style by Norris, Louis Cazeneuve, John Daly, Charles Paris, and ultimately young Ramona Fradon, who took over drawing in 1954.

The Fifties Superhero Interregnum saw Fradon (countless genre anthology tales, The Brave & The Bold, Metamorpho, Fantastic Four, Super Friends, Plastic Man, Freedom Fighters, Brenda Starr, SpongeBob Comics) assume full art chores, by which time Aquaman was settled like a barnacle in a regular Adventure Comics back-up slot, offering slick, smart and extremely genteel aquatic action. She was to draw every single adventure until 1960, making the feature one of the best looking if only mildly thrilling hero strips of the era.

By then, Aquaman had settled into a nice regular back-up slot in Adventure Comics that Fradon drew without missing a beat until 1961: indelibly stamping the submersible stalwart with her unique blend of charm and sleek competence. Month after month, page by page the hero inexhaustibly solved maritime mysteries, crushed nautical naughtiness, wandered and time-travelled, rescuing fish and people from subsea disaster, solving whatever crimes he came across and generally promoting American paternal niceness.

In 1956, Showcase #4 rekindled the reading public’s imagination and slowly but surely spawned a fresh zest for costumed crimebusters. As well as re-imagining its lost Golden Age stalwarts, National/DC undertook to update and remake its hoary survivors. Records are incomplete, sadly, so we don’t always know who wrote what, but this compilation definitely gathers a wealth of Aquaman strips from Adventure Comics #229-284 (October 1956-May 1961), plus short yarns from Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #12 (October 1959), Action Comics #272 (January 1961), Detective Comics #293-300 (July 1961- February 1962) and World’s Finest Comics #125 (May 1962), plus the longer stories from Showcase #30-33 (January/February to July/August 1961), and at long last those from Aquaman #1-3 (cover-dated January/February -May/June 1962)…

Without preamble we dive right into a quartet of sagas by an author unknown, with Adventure Comics #229 revealing how the Sea King spends time in crime-infested Canadian waters and auditions a number of sea creatures to seeking to be ‘Aquaman’s Undersea Partner’, after which smugglers use a stolen shrinking ray to briefly turn the hero into ‘The Tom Thumb Aquaman’ prior to being his being perplexed and endangered by a computor’s prediction of ‘Three Fates for Aquaman’.

Although a citizen of the world, the Marine Marvel was American by default, decent by choice and patriotic by inclination, always helping law men and peacekeepers. Thus AC #232 (January 1957) wryly describes how the Sea King is asked to boost recruitment by joining a US ship’s crew incognito in ‘Aquaman Joins the Navy!’
Aquaman endured public scorn and mockery after comedy impersonator Wackyman used high tech mecahnical sea creatures to lampoon the hero. However, the reasons for the skits of ‘The Sea Clown’ were far from innocent, after which Jack Miller tapped into UFO fever, revealing how aliens from Pluto demand the Sea King fill ‘The Super-Aquarium’ with his “finny friends” before an unknown writer made him ‘The Show-off of the Sea’, ruining an actor’s TV big break… but for the very best of reasons.

In Adventure #236 Otto Binder detailed a battle against a crooked shipping magnate who unleashed ‘The Iceberg of Doom’ before four more uncredited tales swiftly ensued. Chemical pollution was the reason behind Aquaman’s brutal cruelty in ‘The Secret of the Sea King’, a plot to mine shipping lanes was crushed in ‘The Floating Doom’, and ‘The Voyage of the Good Ship Aquaman’ finds the big hearted hero helping an elderly rescue ship skipper before #240 reveals how he helps a children’s author complete ‘The Alphabet Book of the Sea!’ whilst Miller wrote ‘The Mutiny Against Aquaman’ wherein a crooked lawyer poisons his sea pals to facilitate cheating a young man out of an inheritance…

Editorial wisdom at the time decreed comics were ephemeral throway fodder that not even the readership cared about, so many themes and plots resurfaced over the course of months. In ‘The Amazing Feats of Aqua-Melvin’ another, different clown is tranfused with the hero’s blood and develops similar powers, but not the acumen to realise he’s being conned by crooks, whilst in 243 ‘Aquaman’s Amazing Bets!’ the Sea King teaches a gambler/conman a lesson before Robert Bernstein breaks hearts by unleashing ‘The Copy Cat Creature!’ – a fabulous loving beastie from primeval times that adores Aquaman but is simply too big and boisterous to allowed to live in the modern world

In #245, George Kashdan introduces ‘The Sorceror of the Sea’ who outpowers the watery wonder, just as he’s trying to put modern pirates out of business, before we visit ‘The Town That Went Underwater’ where an apparently obsessed Aquaman is determined to make every inhaitant visit his new underwater theme park. Of course, there is deadly reason behind his antics…

Miller detailed ‘Aquaman’s Super Sea-Squad!’ next as his top-trained fish pals help stave off nuclear disaster and a month later wrote how he became ‘The Traitor of the Seven Seas!’: allowing aliens to abduct his beloved sea creatures, after which Bernstein described how aseries of head blows turn the hero evil and greedy. Luckily, faithful octopus Topo is amatch for the piratical Barnacle Gang exploiting the sea change in ‘Wanted: Aqua-Crook!’

For Adventure Comics #250, Joe Millard & Fradon delivered ‘The Guinea Pig of the Sea’ as the Sea King is abducted by a well-intentioned but obsessive researcher fed up with waiting for a moment in the hero’s hectic schedule to open up, prior to being catapulted into the future to find Earth ‘A World Without Water!’ – and remember at this juncture Aquaman needed water every 60 munutes or he would die…

Millard gave way to Miller for a salty tale of Aquaman’s plight as ‘The Robinson Crusoe of the Sea’ (Adventure Comics #252, September 1958), when a chemical spill renders the Sea King allergic to seawater, offering a charming sequence of crisis management stunts by Topo…

Now an affable, dedicated seagoing nomad with a tendency to find trouble, Aquaman braves ‘The Ocean of 1,000,000 B.C.’ (by Bernstein in AC #253, October 1958) after swimming through a time warp, helping a seashore-dwelling caveman against a marauding dragon before finding his way back to the future, in time to end ‘The Menace of the Electric Man’ – a rare dark drama by Miller involving an escaped convict who gains deadly voltaic powers…

Three from Berstein begin with whimsical fantasy ‘Aquaman’s Double Trouble!’ as too many crises at once lead to sea God Neptune stepping in for the hero whilst in ‘The Ordeal of Aquaman!’ crooks maroon the hero in an “arid desert” only to discover how water aware the hero is, prior to battling a crook surgically altered and modified to become ‘The Imitation Aquaman!’

Miller wrote a brace of action tales beginning with #258’s ‘The Incredible Fish of Doctor Danton!’ as Aquaman and a young scientist battle sea beasts mutated by atomic radiation, before the hero is cast out of his body by a crook and must take psychic residence in a fish before ending up ‘The Octopus Man!’ and regaining his own form…

As the Silver Age took true hold, the Sea King’s initial revamp began in Adventure Comics #260 (May 1959) with Bernstein & Fradon’s ‘How Aquaman Got His Powers!’ with the Sea King interfering in US naval manoeuvres to keep Atlantis safe from discovery and harm. From here on, the hero’s nebulous origin – offspring of a union between a human (American) lighthouse keeper and refugee from the embargoed undersea city – was expanded upon and filled out. Eventually, all the trappings of the modern superhero manifested: themed hideout, steadfast sidekick and even supervillains! Moreover, greater attention was paid to continuity and the concept of one shared universe…

In #261, Bernstein pits the hero against a deranged lion tamer in ‘Aquaman Duels the Animal Master!’, and has him launch ‘The Undersea Hospital!’ for ailing sea creatures a month later, before Miller has the hero bring democracy and fair elections to an island nation in AC #263’s ‘The Great Ocean Election!’ prior to Bernstein taking us to New Venice (a US city with canals not roads) where ‘Aquaman and His Sea-Police!’ teach rude and uncaring malefactors how to use boats properly and not litter their submerged marine metropolis…

For Adventure #265 (October 1959) he & Fradon exposed ‘The Secret of the Super Safe!’ detailing a plan to keep the subsea stalwart in soggy isolation whilst dealing with a counterfeiter and blackmailers, before an early crossover heralded Aquaman’s entrance into the wider DC universe.

DC supported the popular 1950s Adventures of Superman TV show with a number of successful spin-off titles. Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #12 (October 1959) featured ‘The Mermaid of Metropolis’ wherein the plucky “news hen” suffers crippling injuries in a scuba-diving accident. On hand to save her is Aquaman and a surgeon who turns her (without her permission or even knowledge!) into a mermaid so she can live a worthwhile life without legs beneath the waves…

I know, I know: but just accepting the adage “Simpler Times” often helps me at times like this. In all seriousness, this silly story by Bernstein is a key moment in the development of DC’s shared universe continuity. The fact that it’s drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger – one of the most accomplished artists ever to work in American comics – makes it even more adorable, for all its silliness; and you can’t make me change my mind…
As National/DC began cautiously remodelling its superhero survivors, amongst the first to feel the benefits were Green Arrow and the Subsea Sentinel. The program included a new origin and expanded cast for each and here (AC #266, November 1959) Bernstein & Fradon tested the waters as ‘Aquaman Meets Aquagirl!’ This offered more information on fabled modern Atlantis whilst testing the waters (Sorry! Not sorry) for a possible sidekick. Remember, in those days the Sea King spent most of his time explaining things to an octopus…

In Adventure Comics #267 the editors tried a novel experiment. At this time the title starred Superboy plus two back-up features – generally Aquaman and Green Arrow. That issue’s seagoing saga ‘The Manhunt on Land!’ saw villain Shark Norton trade territories with GA’s foe The Wizard. A rare crossover with both parts written by Bernstein; the heroes worked the same case with the Sea King facing Norton under open skies whilst the Emerald Archer pursued his foe beneath the waves in his own exploit. Illustrated by the great Lee Elias, ‘The Underwater Archers!’ was a fitting climax to the test, but sadly the arrow portion of the show didn’t make it into this tome, being apparently six pages too many…

In the next issue’s ‘The Adventures of Aquaboy!’ we saw the early years of the Sea King, and following that, permanent sidekick Aqualad was introduced in #269 (February 1960) as Bernstein & Fradon completed the refit by introducing permanent junior partner ‘The Kid from Atlantis!’: a young, purple-eyed outcast from the forbidden city possessing the same powers as Aquaman but terrified of fish… at least until the Sea King applies a little firm but kindly psychology. By the end of the tale the little guy has happily adapted and would help patrol the endless oceans – and add a child’s awestruck perspective to the mix – for nearly a decade thereafter.

With Bernstein & Fradon firmly in control, in quick succession came birthday surprise ‘The Menace of Aqualad!’ (which premiered the Aqua-Cave), battle against mad scientist Captain Noah who was happy to trigger ‘The Second Deluge!’ in his quest for riches, and first proper supervillain ‘The Human Flying Fish!’: a convict rebuilt by a different mad scientist to be Aquaman’s evil counterpart and superior. After all that the heroes took a breather from evil to swim ‘Around the World in 80 Hours!’ only to face constant peril as all Earth’s seagoing crooks used their planned course as a killing ground…

Miller introduced spoiled rich brat Dale Conroy who spends millions to become the hero’s ‘Aqua-Queen!’ in #274, prior to intriguing mystery ‘The Interplanetary Mission!’ in Adventure Comics #275. This was published mere months after the Justice League of America debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28, wherein aliens ask for Aquaman’s help on a rescue mission in space. They are, in fact, human crooks seeking an irresistible weapon and hoping to dupe the bush league hero: securing Kryptonite by to use against Superman. The Man of Steel did not appear, but nets of shared continuity were being gradually interwoven. Heroes would no longer work in assured solitude…

It was back to business as usual for ‘The Aqua-thief of the Seven Seas!’ as Aquaman must clear his name after being framed for stealing a chest full of diamonds, whilst a topical global sporting event prompts the Sea King to organise ‘The Underwater Olympics’ – even though he has ulterior motives that involve more Kryptonite and secret plans. In #278, poor ‘Aqualad Goes to School!’, before proving he has no real need of education, after which cautionary tale ‘Silly Sailors of the Sea!’ see the seagoing heroes give wayward boat joyriders a lesson in responsibility. All of these light pieces were setting the scene for a really Big Event…

Cover-dated January/February 1961, Showcase #30 saw Jack Miller & Fradon vastly expand upon the origin of Aquaman in full-length epic ‘The Creatures from Atlantis!’ Here extra-dimensional creatures conquer the sunken civilisation and Aquaman and Aqualad infiltrate the forbidden city to save the so-superior beings who had always shunned them. From this point on, fanciful whimsy would be downplayed in favour of character-driven drama.

The epic reimagination is followed by another prototype team-up as seen in Action Comics #272 (January 1961) ‘Superman’s Rival Mental Man!’: a clever criminal-sting yarn by Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan & Stan Kaye, centring around Lois’ unsuspected talents as a comic strip artist and career sidestep. Typically, her success as a cartoon creator somehow causes her invention “Mental Man” to come to life and woo her… or does he?

Back in Adventure Comics #280 ‘The Lost Ocean!’ finds the sea sentinels fighting a giant Jurassic centipede to save their favourite TV show before offering more of the same in Showcase #31 (March/April 1961). Second full-length try-out ‘The Sea Beasts from One Million B.C.’ is a wild romp of fabulous creatures, dotty scientists and evolution rays presaging a new path for the Sea King, as Miller scripted the debut Aquaman yarn for comics veteran Nick Cardy. He would visually make Aquaman his own for the next half-decade.

Adventure Comics #282 then delivered tense thriller ‘One Hour to Doom!’ Inked by Charles Paris, this was Fradon’s last Aqua art job for nearly a year and a half, revealing how the heroes survive being trapped on land and away from life-sustaining water, before Showcase #32 (May/June 1961) offered another spectacular epic as Miller & Cardy pull out all the stops for ‘The Creature King of the Sea!’: an action-packed deadly duel against a monstrous villain with murder in mind.

It segued into ‘The Charge of Aquaman’s Sea Soldiers!’, drawn by Jim Mooney in Adventure #284, with the salty stars and their finny legions battling Professor Snark’s scheme to convert Earth’s ocean to fresh water. With this tale the series upped sticks for a new home, replaced by Tales of the Bizarro World. Aquaman and Aqualad were headed to the hind end of Detective Comics, beginning with #293 (July 1961) where they needed only six pages to solve Miller & Cardy’s mystery of ‘The Sensational Sea Scoops’ uncovered by a reporter tracking a submarine pirates. All this time the artist – who had initially altered his drawing style to mirror Fradon – had been gradually reverting to his natural humanistic mode. By the time of fourth Showcase outing ‘Prisoners of the Aqua-Planet’ (#33), the Sea King was a rugged, burly He-Man, and his world – no matter how fantastic – now had an added edge of realism to it, even in this wild romp as the heroes are pressganged into an interplanetary war and shanghaied to a distant water-world…

Detective #294’s deceptively displayed ‘The Fantastic Fish that Defeated Aquaman’ whilst DC #295 saw our heroes defy ‘The Curse of the Sea Hermit’ (Kashdan script), before a new month exposed ‘The Mystery of Demon Island!’ by Miller and the unflagging Cardy. To accompany his more realistic art, and perhaps in honour of their new home, stories became – briefly – less fantasy oriented. ‘Aqualad, Stand-In for a Star’ – (#297 by Miller & Batman regular Sheldon Moldoff) was a standard hero-in-Hollywood crime caper, before Cardy returned to draw #298’s‘The Secret Sentry of the Sea’ – encompassing security duty at a secret international treaty signing…

The next month saw another milestone. After two decades of continuous adventuring the Sea King finally got a comic book of his own. Aquaman #1 (January/February 1962) was a 25-page fantasy thriller introducing one of the most controversial supporting characters in comics lore. Pixie-like Water-Sprite Quisp was part of a strange trend for cute imps and elves who attached themselves to far too many heroes of the time, but his contributions in ‘The Invasion of the Fire-Trolls’ and succeeding issues were numerous and obviously carefully calculated and considered…

The wanderer’s residency in Detective Comics was coming to an end. In #299 the sea scions taught an old blowhard a lesson in tall-tale telling whilst #300’s relic theft-&-recovery case ‘The Mystery of the Undersea Safari!’ was the last Aqua-caper before he moved again, this time to World’s Finest Comics. However, prior to that, his own second issue appeared. ‘Captain Sykes’ Deadly Missions’ is a lovely-looking thriller with fabulous monsters and a flamboyant pirate blackmailing the Sea King into retrieving deadly mystical artefacts.

The World’s Finest run started with #125’s ‘Aquaman’s Super-Sidekick’ by Miller & Cardy as the junior partner briefly becomes an unstoppable uncontrollable pintsized powerhouse before Aquaman #3 closes this compilation in grand style and full-length thrills as ‘The Aquaman from Atlantis’ offers more exposure for the lost city in a tale of traitors, treasures and time-travelling bandit who accidentally takes Aquaman back to the era of swords, sandals and strange creatures…

The 72 adventures gathered here encompass and embrace a period of renewal, taking Aquaman from peripatetic back-up bit-player to his own comic book and the brink of TV stardom. The stories were intentionally undemanding fare, ranging from simply charming to simply bewildering examples of all-ages action to rank alongside the best the company offered at that time. That’s what made them ideal templates for tales of later TV-spawned iterations like Super Friends, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and especially landmark sixties icon The Superman/Aquaman Hour. Comics writers from those years include the abovementioned Bernstein, Binder, Miller, Millard, Kashdan, as well (possibly) as Bob Haney, Edmund Hamiliton, Jerry Coleman and other DC regulars. However at the start the art was always by Fradon, whose captivatingly clean economical line always made the pictures something special…

DC has a long history of gentle, innocuous yarn-spinning with quality artwork. Fradon’s Aquaman is one of the most neglected runs of such universally-accessible material, and it’s a sheer pleasure to discover just how readable they still are. When the opportunity arises to compare her astounding work to the best of a stellar talent like as Nick Cardy, this book becomes a true fan’s must-have item and even more so when the stories are still suitable for kids of all ages. Even though it’s not complete and not available digitally yet, this is a landmark moment for all lovers of pure cartooning brilliance and all-ages adventure storytelling. Why not treat the entire family to a seaside spectacle of timelessly inviting adventure?
© 1956-1962, 2024 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Sub-Mariner Marvel Masterworks volume 7


By Bill Everett, Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, Dan Adkins, Alan Weiss, Sam Kweskin, John Tartaglione, Jim Mooney & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9915-1 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In his most primal incarnation (other origins are available but may differ due to timeslips, circumstance and screen dimensions) Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the proud, noble and generally upset offspring of the union of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer. That doomed romance resulted in a hybrid being of immense strength and extreme resistance to physical harm, able to fly and thrive above and below the waves.

Over the years, a wealth of creators have played with the fishy tale and today’s Namor is frequently hailed as Marvel’s First Mutant as well as the original “bad boy Good Guy”. What remains unchallenged is that he was created by young, talented Bill Everett, for non-starter cinema premium Motion Picture Weekly Funnies: #1 (October 1939) so – technically – Namor predates Marvel, Atlas and Timely Comics. The Marine Miracleman first caught the public’s avid attention as part of an elementally appealing fire vs. water headlining team-up in the October 1939 Marvel Comics #1 (which renamed itself Marvel Mystery Comics from #2 onwards). The amphibian antihero shared honours and top billing with The Human Torch, having debuted (albeit in a truncated, monochrome version) in the aforementioned promotional booklet designed to be handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year.

Our late-starter antihero rapidly emerged as one of the industry’s biggest draws, winning his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated Spring 1941). His appeal was baffling but solid and he was one of the last super-characters to vanish at the end of the first heroic age. In 1954, when Atlas (as the company then was) briefly revived its “Big Three” line-up – the Torch and Captain America being the other two – Everett returned for an extended run of superbly dark, mordantly moody, creepily contemporary fantasy fables. Even so, his input wasn’t sufficient to keep the title afloat and eventually Sub-Mariner sank again.

In 1961, as Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were reinventing superheroes with their Fantastic Four, they revived and reimagined the awesome, all-but-forgotten aquanaut as a troubled, angry semi-amnesiac. Decidedly more bombastic, regal and grandiose, this returnee despised humanity: embittered and broken by the loss of his subsea kingdom… which had been (seemingly) destroyed by American atomic testing. His urge for rightful revenge was infinitely complicated after he became utterly besotted with the FF’s Susan Storm…

Namor knocked around the budding Marvel universe for years, squabbling with star turns such as The Hulk, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil before securing his own series as one half of Tales to Astonish. From there he graduated in 1968 to his own solo title again.

Cumulatively spanning cover-dates June 1972 – April 1973, this seventh subsea selection trawls Sub-Mariner #50-60, and sees the triumphant return of originator Everett in salty sagas preceded by a heartfelt appreciation and more creative secret-sharing from Roy Thomas in his Introduction before the dry land dramas and thrill-soaked yarns recommence…

Previously, Namor had endured months of escalating horror as old enemies such as Prince Byrrah, Warlord Krang, Attuma, Dr. Dorcas and sinister shapeshifter Llyra constantly assaulted his sunken kingdom. They were soundly defeated, but the constant battles led to the murder of Namor’s lifelong companion and bride-to-be Lady Dorma. The prince had been betrayed by his most trusted ally and, heartsick, angry and despondent, he abdicated the throne, choosing to pursue the human half of his hybrid heritage as a surface dweller…

The decision was fraught with more potential grief, leading to perpetual battles with surface world authorities, deranged psionic hermit Stephan Tuval, mind-tyrant Turalla, monster-maker Aunt Serr, M.O.D.O.K. and AIM. Namor seldom fought alone and initial clashes with old friends such as Diane Arliss and Walt Newell (part-time undersea Avenger Stingray), Spider-Man, Daredevil and Human Torch Johnny Storm, led to refreshed alliances, before culminating in a poignant but so-brief reunion with his long-lost father Leonard McKenzie, a man Namor had for his entire life believed killed by Atlanteans in 1920.

When that tragic hostage to fortune was murdered by post-human horror Tiger Shark and Llyra, doubly orphaned, traumatised Namor lost his memory again, and was used as cannon fodder by Doctor Doom before eventually breaking free and retrenching in confusion to ponder his obscured future…

A fresh start begins in #50 as Bill Everett resurfaces to ask ‘Who Am I?’, with the bewildered amphibian reeling in confusion at the beach until his heroic instincts kick in and he saves a drowning teenager from seaweed and pollution. His actions are completely misunderstood and she savagely attacks him, before swimming off… right out to sea…

Lesson learned, Namor concentrates on his own woes and sets off for Antarctica, eventually fetching up in the Ross Sea to explore the crumbling remains of Atlantis. His reveries are shattered when he is attacked by mutant crab creatures guarding the tomb of his beloved long-lost cousin and WWII partner in crimefighting Namora…

Confronting sinister leader Salamar the Sustainer, Namor is apprised of a bizarre plot to exploit the vast oil reserves under the ocean floor, but soon uncovers old foes shaping events: treacherous cousin Byrrah and Llyra. He also meets again that abrasive teenager and discovers she is Namora’s wayward daughter…

As all hell breaks loose, former prince and newfound cousin Namorita make a break for it in a hail of weapons fire as ‘Armageddon… at Fifty Fathoms Full!’ (scripted by Mike Friedrich) exposes a scaly hidden hand behind the carnage. Byrrah is in league with the alien Brotherhood of Baddoon, who want the – radioactive – oil reserves, albeit not for the reasons they share with the usurper. Ultimately, the aliens, Byrrah, and Salamar’s savage crab people can’t agree and the seagoing cousins are participants in a Battle Royale that ends in environmental catastrophe…

Seeking to confirm Namorita’s account of how Namora died and fob her off on his old girlfriend Betty Dean Prentiss, Sub-Mariner cruises into a clash with ultra-nationalist Japanese mutant and future X-Man Sunfire as ‘The Atomic Samurai!’ – ever receptive to deranged patriotic ranting – falls under the sway of war criminal Dragon-Lord, last of the samurai who plans to unleash his new Nipponese army and deadly defoliants upon America; a tactic that could destroy the oceans…

After a spectacular new incidence of the classic Golden Age fire vs water duel, Everett takes full creative command for the follow-up ‘…And the Rising Sun Shall Fall!’ as Sunfire sees sense and switches sides to save the seas, resulting in all-out war in concluding half-chapter ‘Now Comes… the Decision!’, a brief battle that leaves room in #54 for a “Mighty Marvel Mini Classic!” as Friedrich & Alan Weiss detail how ‘Namor the First, Prince of Atlantis battles The Mer-Mutants’: a light but lovely puff piece involving a mermaid acting as a subsea honey trap for her hungry kin…

Issue #55 sees Namor at last wave goodbye to “Nita” and Betty, before heading back to Antarctica and an unexpected and brutal encounter with a scavenging wrecker dubbed ‘The Abominable Snow-King!’ The literally monstrous Torg’s ambition is to hurl enslaved sea life against humanity but soon sinks once the Sub-Mariner gets involved, after which Friedrich & veteran illustrator Dan Adkins steer the abdicated Prince back to his forsaken kingdom in ‘Atlantis, Mon Amour!’ Sadly, he’s too late to stop his former subjects making a fear fuelled mistake that results in atrocity and genocide when refugee aliens come begging for aid…

When Everett returned he deftly opened the doors to Marvel’s Atlas era-past with a tempestuous yarn that would eventually affect the entire continuity. ‘…In the Lap of the Gods’ reintroduces pliable 1950s sensation Venus whose impact would ripple out across the MU and ultimately reveal a hidden history as part of the Agents of Atlas sub-franchise. It begins in a shattering storm as Namor rescues a lovely mystery woman stranded on a rock and stumbles into a long-running grudge match between the Hellenic gods of Love and War. A contemporary tale of dissent and unrest, the story reunites him with Namorita, who, in his absence, has become a college student and activist. Moreover, her favourite lecturer – Humanities Professor Victoria N. Starr – also has a concealed alter ego and lethal stalker: malign divinity and former pantheon mate Ares…

Having held at bay one angry god, Namor returns to Atlantis, resolved to restore the undersea nation to forefront of civilisation but his program of changes is stalled when ‘Hands Across the Waters, Hands Across the Skies…’ (Everett supervising, steering – and inking – dialoguer Steve Gerber & layout artist Sam Kweskin) uncover a survivor and witness to the recent massacre of alien ambassadors by Atlanteans. Tamara of the Sisterhood claims to offer forgiveness and seek understanding, but many of the original perpetrators would rather there were no witnesses or recriminations to deal with. Most tellingly, the superstrong survivor and her pet monster have their own plans and soon the prince is sucked into more pointless battle…

With John Tartaglione now inking Everett’s plot, Gerber & Kweskin forecast ‘Thunder Over the Seas!’: a tale of tragic miscomprehension as Namor again clashes with the surface world. Now the Sub-Mariner’s new advisor, Tamara is targeted by Atlantean scout Lorvex who is driven wild by her exotic beauty and rarity. Obsessively stalking and assaulting her, Lorvex drives her into Russian trawler nets and the refugee soon becomes a prized possession after the vessel and its contents are impounded by the US Coast Guard. Soon she is a cause célèbre and topic of heated debate at the United Nations…

Having dealt with Lorvex, Namor goes looking for his new friend, crashing into chaos as the war of words over the alien mermaid triggers the usual bellicose response amongst humans. By the time surface-dwelling Namorita summons her cousin to rescue Tamara, Avenger Thor has stepped in to keep the peace. Sadly it’s far too late to prevent ‘The Invasion of New York!’ (Everett, Gerber, Kweskin & Jim Mooney), with Lorvex exploiting the campaign to regain position and secretly abduct Tamara from UN custody. Enraged and resigned, Sub-Mariner acts decisively and violently to end the crisis, and accepts at last the fate he has been really fighting, finally accepting again the throne and responsibilities of ruling Atlantis.

To Be Continued and Concluded…

During these later issue Everett’s steadily declining health increasingly limited his output. As part of the Bonus features the cover and first 4 pages of Sub-Mariner #61 are included here, as drawn by the old master with Win Mortimer & Mooney. He plotted two further issues and died on February 27th 1973. Those will be seen in the final collection of this sequence. Here, however, follows a visual memorial from editor and friend Thomas, limned by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia that appeared in Sub-Mariner #65 (cover-dated September 1973).

With covers throughout by Gil Kane, Everett, Vince Colletta, Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, Sal Buscema, Weiss, John Romita, Jim Starlin & Rich Buckler, other sunken treasures salvaged here include a watercolour and pen & ink pinup by Bill, a Venus pinup from Marvel Spotlight #2 (February 1972) and 7 original art pages and covers by Everett and assorted collaborators.

Many Marvel Comics are more exuberant than qualitative, but this volume, especially from an art-lover’s point of view, is a wonderful exception: historical treasures with narrative bite and indescribable style and panache that fans will delight in forever.
© 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Spirou in Berlin


By Flix, coloured by Marvin Clifford with Ralf Marczinczik, & translated by Michael Waaler (Europe Comics)
No ISBN: digital only

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced for dramatic and humorous effect.

Although I’ve never for a moment considered history dry or dull, I can readily appreciate the constant urge to personalise characters or humanise events and movements, especially when that job is undertaken with care, respect, diligence and a healthy amount of bravado. An excellent case in point is this superb, digital-only (still!) romp from 2018, compellingly riffing on major geopolitical events that still feel relevant right now, through the somewhat suborned antics of two of Europe’s – if not the world’s – biggest comics stars.

In case you were one of those who were asleep, surreptitiously ogling a classmate who wouldn’t even acknowledge your existence, or just carving your name into a desk or body part: on November 9th 1989, a very physical symbol of ideological separation and political gamesmanship was torn down by the “inconsequential” prisoners stuck on either side of it. Now you can be told just how that might have happened, all comfortingly translated into a compelling, lively and lovely digital edition thanks to the benevolence of collective imprint Europe Comics…

For most English-speaking comic fans and collectors, Spirou is probably Europe’s biggest secret. The character is a rough contemporary of – and crassly calculated commercial response to – Hergé’s iconic Tintin, whilst the comic he has headlined for decades is only beaten in sheer longevity and manic creativity by our own Beano and the USA’s Detective Comics.

Conceived at Belgian Printing House by Jean Dupuis in 1936, an anthological magazine targeting a juvenile audience debuted on April 21st 1938; neatly bracketed by DC Thomson’s The Dandy which launched on 4th December 1937 and The Beano on July 30th 1938. Edited by Charles Dupuis (a mere tadpole, only 19 years old, himself) it took its name from the lead feature, recounting improbable adventures of the plucky Bellboy/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel – a sly reference to the publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique.

Joined from June 8th 1939 by pet squirrel, Spip (the longest running character in the strip after Spirou himself), the series was realised by French artist Robert Velter (who signed himself Rob-Vel). Dutch language edition Robbedoes debuted some weeks later, running more-or-less in tandem with the French parent comic until its cancellation in 2005.

The bulk of the periodical was taken up with cheap US imports (but no tariffs!) like Fred Harman’s Red Ryder, William Ritt & Clarence Gray’s Brick Bradford and Siegel & Shuster’s landmark Superman – although home-grown product crept in too. Most prominent were Tif et Tondu by Fernand Dineur (which ran under assorted creators until the1990s) and L’Epervier Blue by Sirius (Max Mayeu), latterly accompanied by work from comic strip wunderkind Joseph Gillain – AKA Jijé. Legendarily, during World War II Jijé singlehandedly drew the entire comic, including home grown versions of banned US imports, simultaneously assuming production of the Spirou strip and creating current co-star and partner Fantasio.

Except for a brief period when the Nazis closed the comic down (September 1943 – October 1944) Le Journal de Spirou and its boyish star – now a globe-trotting journalist – have continued their exploits in unbroken four-colour glory. Among other major features that began within those hallowed pages are Jean Valhardi (by Jean Doisy & Jije), Blondin et Cirage (Victor Hubinon), Buck Danny, Jerry Spring, Les Schtroumpfs (The Smurfs to you and me), Gaston Lagaffe/Gomer Goof and Lucky Luke.

Spirou the character (whose name translates as both “squirrel” and “mischievous”) has helmed the magazine in perpetuity, evolving under numerous creators into an urbane yet raucous fantasy/adventure hero heavily wedded to light humour. With comrade/rival Fantasio and crackpot inventor the Count of Champignac (created by Andre Franquin) Spirou voyages to exotic locales, foiling crimes, revealing the fantastic and garnering a coterie of exotic arch-enemies.

When Velter went off to fight in WWII, his wife Blanche Dumoulin took over the strip. As “Davine” and assisted by Luc Lafnet she handled everything until publisher Dupuis assumed control of and all rights to the strip in 1943, assigning it to Jijé who handed it to his assistant Franquin in 1946. It was the start of a golden age. Among Franquin’s innovations were archvillains Zorglub and Zantafio, the aforementioned Champignac and one of the first strong female characters in European comics, rival journalist Seccotine (renamed Cellophine for Cinebook’s English translations. However, his greatest creation – and one he retained on his final departure in 1969 – was incredible magic animal Marsupilami. The miracle beast had debuted in Spirou et les héritiers (1952), and is now a star of screen, plush toy store, console and albums.

From 1959, writer Greg and background artist Jidéhem assisted Franquin, but by 1969 the artist had reached his Spirou limit and resigned, taking his mystic yellow monkey with him. He was succeeded by Jean-Claude Fournier, who updated the feature over the course of 9 rousing yarns tapping into the rebellious, relevant zeitgeist of the times, telling tales of environmental concern, nuclear energy, drug cartels and repressive regimes. By the 1980s, the series seemed stalled: three different creative teams alternated on the serial: Raoul Cauvin & Nic Broca, Yves Chaland and Philippe Vandevelde (writing as Tome) and illustrator Jean-Richard Geurts AKA Janry. These last adapted and referenced the still-beloved Franquin era and revived the feature’s fortunes, producing 14 wonderful albums between 1984-1998. Since their departure, Lewis Trondheim and the teams of Jean-Davide Morvan & Jose-Luis Munuera and Fabien Vehlmann & Yoann brought the official album count to 55. In 2022, scripters Sophie Guerrive & Benjamin Abitan united with artist and Olivier Schwartz on La Mort de Spirou). There have also been dozens of specials, spin-offs series and one-shots, official and otherwise. This review concerns one of those…

As heroic Everymen, Spirou & Fantasio inhabit a broad swathe of recent history in tales ranging from wild comedic fantasy to edgy, trenchant satires. In 2018, German publisher Carlsen Verlag sought to celebrate 80 years of Spirou in a new tale by a German creator: one that would be inaugurally released in German before Dupuis published French and Dutch editions. Their choice was beloved and much-admired comics creator/children’s book author Flix (Faust, Don Quijote, Münchhausen – Die Wahrheit übers Lügen, held, Schöne Töchter, Glückskind, Der Swimmingpool des kleinen Mannes, Verflixt!).

As Felix Görmann, he was born in Münster – about 45 miles from the German-Dutch border – on 16th October 1976. He grew up with the Berlin Wall very much a part of life and reading loads of comics, particularly Franquin, Peyo, Morris and the best of Le Journal de Spirou. Drawn to humour by inclination, he experienced a major system reset at age 16 after seeing Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.

Görmann resolved to be a comics creator and to that end studied Communication Design at Saarbrücken’s Saar College of Fine Arts before attending the Escola Massana in Barcelona. His rise was meteoric and his output prolific. Citing influences as diverse as Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes), Will Eisner (The Spirit, A Contract With God) and Craig Thompson (Blankets, Ginseng Roots) as well as Euro-stars from Christophe Blain (Socrate le Demi-Chien, Isaac Le Pirate) and Guy Delisle (Inspecteur Moroni, Shenzen, Pyongyang – A journey in North Korea) to countrymen Ralf König (Bullenklöten, The Killer Condom, Down to the Bone) and “Mawil”/Markus Witzel (Teufel & Pistolen, Hitman, Supa-Hasi, Lucky Luke), Flix was ultimately the first German to create new adventures for Spirou & Fantasio. It was such a well-received affair that in 2019 Spirou in Berlin won the Peng! Münchner Comicpreis. In 2022, Flix created a similarly Spirou-inspired notional follow-up. Set in 1930s Berlin, the Das Humboldt-tier sees a little girl befriend a Marsupilami kept at the Museum of Natural History. Hopefully we’ll see that someday soon…

Here however, is a glorious edgy, gleefully barbed take on past events as, at the most precarious and tumultuous moment of the 44-years-long Cold War, East German apparatchiks and master manipulators starved of all resources but putting on a deceptive public show of affluence, activate a desperate last-ditch plan. They have a bizarre scheme to shatter the global economy and gain economic dominance, and one of the West’s craziest villains to build the kit necessary to expedite it, but still need the unique expertise of the Count de Champignac to make it work.

Sadly, their supposedly seamless abduction of the mushroom mage is rumbled by regular house guests Spirou, Fantasio and Spip, who go after their friend and break/sneak/are allowed to enter into the German Democratic Republic (GDR), utterly unaware that their interference is not only anticipated but actively required…

Of course, the machinations of the Stasi – officially the Ministry for State Security (MfS) – are constantly but quietly scotched by decent East Germans like Paul & Paula, Rainier and Momo (and her army of liberated zoo animals), all working to be free from fear, liberated from lies and out from beneath crushingly brutal oppression. The ordinary East Berliners have a crucial need for their truth to be published on the other side of the Wall, but Spirou refuses to go anywhere until Fantasio and the Count are safe (PDQ)…

Wry, thrilling and sublimely whacky, this cartoon romp is a perfect, canny codicil to the comic canon, embracing the best of all Spirou sagas by wrapping the timeless tale up in a fast-paced, rollercoaster ride of subversive messaging. Total fun with verities that have never been more worth reviewing, Spirou in Berlin is a book all grown up kids need to see.
© 2018, 2019 – CARLSSEN/DUPUIS – Flix. All rights reserved.

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The Golden Age Green Lantern Archives volumes 1 & 2


By Bill Finger, Martin Nodell, E.E. Hibbard, Irwin Hasen & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-507-4 (HB vol 1), 978-1-56389-794-8 (HB vol 2)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Time for another Birthday briefing as we exploit the month of renewal and fresh starts by celebrating 85 glorious years for another Golden Age stalwart: someone who has gained a modern cachet as probably DC’s most venerably proud gay icon…

The ever-expanding array of companies that became DC published many iconic “Firsts” in the early years of the industry. Associated outfit All-American Publications (co-publishers until bought out by National/DC in 1946) originated the first comic book super-speedster as well as the monumentally groundbreaking Wonder Woman, The Atom, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder and so many others who became mainstays of DC’s pantheon of stars.

Thanks to comics genius and editorial wunderkind Sheldon Mayer, All-American Comics  published the first comic book super-speedster in Flash Comics. They followed up a few months later with another evergreen and immortal all-star.

Lighting up newsstands from May 17th 1940, The Green Lantern debuted in anthological All-American Comics #16 (cover-dated July of that auspicious year). It was the company’s flagship title just as superheroes began to truly dominate the market, supplanting newspaper strip reprints and stock genre characters in the still primarily anthology-based industry.

The Emerald Gladiator would be swiftly joined in A-AC by The Atom, Red Tornado, Sargon the Sorcerer and Doctor Mid-Nite, until eventually only gag strips such Mutt and Jeff and exceptional topical tough-guy military strips Hop Harrigan (Ace of the Airwaves) and Red, White and Blue remained to represent mere mortal heroes. And then, tastes shifted after the war and costumed crusaders faded away, to be replaced by cowboys, cops, clowns and private eyes…

Devised by up-and-coming cartoonist Martin Nodell (and fleshed out by Bill Finger in the same generally unsung way he had contributed to the success of Batman), GL soon became AA’s second smash sensation.

The arcane avenger gained his own solo-starring title little more than a year after his premiere and also appeared in other anthologies including Comics Cavalcade and All Star Comics for just over a decade before, like most first-generation superheroes, he faded away in the early1950s. However, GL first suffered the uniquely humiliating fate of being edged out of his own strip and comic book by his pet, Streak the Wonder Dog…

However, that’s the stuff of other reviews. This spectacular, quirkily beguiling deluxe Archive edition (collecting the Sentinel of Justice’s appearances from All-American Comics #16-30 – covering July 1940 to September 1941 as well as the Fall 1941cover-dated Green Lantern#1) opens with a rousing reminiscence from Nodell in a Foreword discussing the origins of the character before the parade of raw enchantment starts with the incredible history of The Green Flame of Life…

Ambitious young engineer Alan Scott only survives the sabotage and destruction of a passenger-packed train due to the occult intervention of a battered old railway lantern. Bathed in its eerie emerald light, he is regaled by a mysterious green voice with the legend of how a meteor once fell in ancient China. It spoke to the people, predicting Death, Life and Power.

The star-stone’s viridian glow brought doom to the savant who reshaped it into a lamp, sanity to a madman centuries later and now promised incredible power to bring justice to wronged innocents.

Instructing Scott to fashion a ring from its metal and draw a charge of power from the lantern every 24 hours, the ancient artefact urges the engineer to use his formidable willpower to end all evil: a mission Scott eagerly takes up by promptly crushing corrupt industrialist Dekker – who had callously caused wholesale death just to secure a lucrative rail contract…

The ring makes Scott immune to all minerals and metals, enables him to fly and pass through walls, but as he battles Dekker’s thugs the grim avenger painfully discovers that living – arguably “organic” – materials such as wood or rubber can penetrate his jade defences and cause him mortal harm. The saboteurs duly punished, Scott resolves to carry on the fight and devises a “bizarre costume” to conceal his identity and strike fear and awe into wrongdoers.

Most of the stories at this time were untitled, and A-AC #17 (August 1940) finds Scott in Metropolis (long before it became the fictional home of Superman) where his new employer is squeezed out of a building contract by a crooked City Commissioner in bed with racketeers. With lives at risk from shoddy construction, the Green Lantern moves to stop the gangsters but nearly loses his life to overconfidence before finally triumphing, after which #18 finds Scott visiting the 1940 New York World’s Fair. This yarn (which I suspect was devised for DC’s legendary comic book premium New York World’s Fair Comics #2 but shelved at the last moment) introduces feisty romantic interest Irene Miller as she attempts to shoot the gangster who framed her brother.

Naturally, gallant he-man Scott had to get involved, promptly discovering untouchable gang-boss Murdock owns his own Judge, by the simple expedient of holding the lawman’s daughter captive…

However, once Alan applies keen wits and ruthless mystic might to the problem, Murdock’s power – and life – are forfeit, after which, in #19, Scott saves a man from an attempted hit-&-run and finds himself ferreting out a deadly ring of insurance scammers collecting big pay-outs through inflicting “accidents” upon unsuspecting citizens.

All-American Comics #20 opened with a quick recap of GL’s origin before instituting a major change in the young engineer’s life. Following the gunning down of a roving radio announcer and assassination of that reporter’s wife, our hero investigates APEX Broadcasting System in Capitol City and again meets Irene Miller. She works at APEX and, with Alan’s help, uncovers a scheme whereby broadcasts are used to transmit coded instructions to smugglers. Once the Ring-wielder mops up the gang and their inside man, engineer Scott takes a job at the company and begins a hapless romantic pursuit of capable, valiant Irene.

Thanks to scripter Bill Finger, Green Lantern was initially a grim, mysterious and spookily implacable figure of vengeance, weeding out criminals and gangsterism but, just as with early Batman sagas, there was always a strong undercurrent of social issues, ballsy sentimentality and human drama. All-American #21 sees the hero expose a cruel con wherein a crooked lawyer presses young criminal Cub Brenner into posing as the long-lost son of a wealthy couple to steal their fortune. Of course, the kid has a change of heart and everything ends happily, but not before stupendous skulduggery and atrocious violence ensue…

In #22, when prize-fighter Kid McKay refuses to throw a bout, mobsters abduct his wife and even temporarily overcome the fighting-mad Emerald Guardian. Moreover, when one brutal thug puts on the magic ring, he swiftly suffers a ghastly punishment allowing GL to emerge victorious. Slick veteran Everett E. Hibbard provided the art for A-AC #23, and his famed light touch frames GL’s development into a less fearsome and more public spirited and approachable champion. As Irene continues to rebuff Alan’s advances – in vain hopes of landing his magnificent mystery man alter ego – the engineer accompanies her to interview movie star Delia Day and stumbles into a cruel blackmail racket. Despite their best efforts the net result is heartbreak, tragedy and many deaths.

Issue #24 then sees the Man of Light going undercover to expose philanthropist tycoon R.J. Karns, who maintains his vast fortune by trafficking unemployed Americans into slavery on a tropical Devil’s Island, and #25 finds Irene uncovering sabotage at a steel mill. With GL’s unsuspected help she then exposes purported enemy mastermind The Leader as no more than an unscrupulous American insider trader trying to force prices down for a simple Capitalist coup…

Celebrated strip cartoonist Irwin Hasen began his long association with Green Lantern in #26 when the hero aids swindled citizens whose lending agreements with a loan shark are being imperceptibly altered by a forger to keep them paying in perpetuity, after which the artist illustrated the debut appearance of overnight sensation Doiby Dickles in All-American #27 (June 1941). The rotund, middle-aged Brooklyn-born cab driver was simply intended as light foil and occasional sidekick for the poker-faced Emerald Avenger, but rapidly grew to be one of the most popular and beloved comedy stooges of the era; soon sharing covers and even by-lines with the star.

In this initial dramatic outing, he bravely defends fare Irene (sorry: irresistible – awful, but irresistible) from assailants as she carries plans for a new radio receiver device. For his noble efforts, Doiby is sought out and thanked by Green Lantern. After the verdant vigilante investigates further, he discovers enemy agents at the root of the problem, but when Irene is again targeted, the Emerald Avenger is apparently killed. This time, to save Miss Miller, Doiby disguises himself as “de Lantrin” and confronts the killers alone before the real deal turns up to end things. As a reward, the Brooklyn bravo is offered an unofficial partnership…

In #28 the convenient death of millionaire Cyrus Brand and a suspicious bequest to a wastrel nephew lead Irene, Doiby & Alan to sinister gangster The Spider, who manufactures deaths by natural causes, after which #29 finds GL and the corpulent cabbie hunting mobster Mitch Hogan, who forces pharmacies to buy his counterfeit drugs and products. The brute utilises strongarm tactics to ensure even the courts carry out his wishes – at least until the Lantern and his wrench-wielding buddy give him a dose of his own medicine…

The last All-American yarn here is from issue #30 (cover-dated September 1941) and again sees Irene sticking her nose into other peoples’ business. This time she exposes a brace of crooked bail bondsmen exploiting former criminals trying to go straight, before being again kidnapped. This high-energy compilation concludes with the rousing contents of Green Lantern #1 from Fall 1941, scripted by Finger and exclusively illustrated by Nodell, who had by this time dropped his potentially face-saving pseudonym Mart “Dellon”. The magic begins with a 2-page origin recap in ‘Green Lantern – His Personal History’, before ‘The Masquerading Mare!’ sees GL & Doiby smash the schemes of racketeer Scar Jorgis… who goes to quite extraordinary lengths to obtain a racehorse inherited by Irene.

Following an article by Dr. William Moulton Marston (an eminent psychologist familiar to us as the creator of Wonder Woman) discussing the topic of ‘Will Power’, comic thrills resume when a city official is accused of mishandling funds allocated to buy pneumonia serum in ‘Disease!!’ Although GL & Doiby spearhead a campaign raising money to prevent an epidemic, events take a dark turn when untouchable, unimpeachable Boss Filch experiences personal tragedy and exposes his grafting silent partners high in the city’s government hierarchy…

Blistering spectacle is the focus of ‘Arson in the Slums’, as Alan and Irene are entangled in a crusading publisher’s strident campaign to renovate a ghetto. Of course, philanthropic Barton and his real estate pal Murker have only altruistic reasons for their drive to re-house the city’s poorest citizens. Sure, they do…

Doiby is absent from that high octane thriller but guest-stars with the Emerald Ace in prose tale ‘Hop Harrigan in “Trailers of Treachery” – by an unknown scripter and probably illustrated by Sheldon Mayer: a ripping yarn starring AA’s aviation ace (and radio star) after which ‘Green Lantern’ & Doiby travel South of the Border to scenic Landavo to investigate tampering with APEX’s short-wave station and end up in a civil war. They soon discover the entire affair has been fomented by foreign agents intent on destroying democracy on the continent…

With the threat of involvement in the “European War” a constant subject of US headlines, this type of spy story was gradually superseding general gangster yarns, and as Green Lantern displayed his full bombastic might against tanks, fighter planes and invading armies, nobody realised that within mere months America and the entire comic book industry were to be refitted and reconfigured beyond all recognition. Soon mystery men would be patriotic morale boosters parading and sermonising ad infinitum in every corner of the industry’s output as the real world brutally intruded on the hearts and minds of the nation…

Including a breathtaking selection of stunning and powerfully evocative covers by Sheldon Moldoff, Hasen & Howard Purcell, this magnificent book is a sheer delight for lovers of the early Fights ‘n’ Tights genre: gripping, imaginative and exuberantly exciting – but yet again remains out of print and unavailable in digital formats. One day, though…


Golden Age Green Lantern Archives volume 2

This second engagingly impressive hardcover Archive edition spans October 1941 to May 1942, collecting the Viridian Vigilante’s appearances from Green Lantern Quarterly #2-3 (Winter & Spring 1942) and the leads tales from All-American Comics #31-38. It opens with rousing reminiscences, intriguing comparisons and tantalising trivia titbits, in a Foreword by godfather of American fandom Dr. Jerry Bails, prior to the procession of pictorial peril begins…

Ambitious young engineer Alan Scott survived the sabotage and destruction of a passenger-packed train due only to the intervention of a battered old railway lantern. Bathed in its eerie verdant glow, he was regaled by a mysterious “green voice” with the legend of how a meteor fell in ancient China and spoke to the people: predicting Death, Life and Power.

After bringing doom to the mystic who reshaped it into a lamp and, centuries later, sanity to a madman, it now promised incredible might to bestow justice to the innocent. Instructing the engineer to fashion a ring from its metal and draw a charge of power from the lantern every 24 hours, the ancient artefact urged the engineer to use his formidable willpower to end all evil – a mission Scott eagerly embraced. The ring made him immune to all minerals and metals, and enabled him to fly and pass through solid matter amongst many other miracles, but was powerless against certain organic materials such as wood or rubber which could penetrate his jade defences and cause him mortal harm…

After wandering the country for months, Scott eventually settled in Capitol City, taking a job as first engineer and eventually radio announcer at APEX Broadcasting System. He also fruitlessly pursued feisty reporter Irene Miller. Before long he had a trusted sidekick in the flabby form of Doiby Dickles, a rotund, middle-aged Brooklyn-born cab driver. Originally intended as a light foil for the grim, poker-faced Emerald Avenger, the bumbling buddy grew to be one of the most popular and beloved sidekicks of the era. Thanks to scripter Bill Finger – who wrote all the stories in this volume – GL was a grim, brooding, spookily mysterious figure of vengeance weeding out evil in tales strongly highlighting social realism, ballsy sentimentality and human drama.

Illustrated by Nodell, the comics action starts in All-American Comics #31’s ‘The Adventure of the Underfed Orphans!’ as Alan & Irene probe food poisoning at a municipal children’s home, and uncover a shocking web of abuse and graft leading to the upper echelons of City Hall and the grimiest gutters of the underworld…

Most of the All-American GL tales were untitled, such as Hasen’s effort in #32, revealing how a veteran beat cop’s son falls in with the wrong crowd. Framed by his boss and arrested by his own dad, vengeful Danny is only saved from ruining his life forever by the Emerald Avenger & Doiby who help him get the goods on Gardenia and reconcile with his grateful dad. The next story (limned by Nodell) strikes close to home as gangster Pug Deagan tries to take over the Taxicab Drivers’ union and Doiby calls on his Grim Green pal to clean up the racket and expose the real brain behind the operation, whilst in A-AC #34, the Dynamic Trio of Alan, Irene & Mr. Dickles investigate a collapsing building and are drawn into a colossal construction scandal involving the Mayor, and culminating in the horrific failure of Capitol City’s biggest and busiest bridge. Always one of the most powerful characters in comics, this tale especially demonstrates the sheer scope and scale of Green Lantern’s might.

All-American Comics #35 sees Doiby wracked by toothache and haplessly stumbling into a grisly murder at the dentist’s office. Once again racketeers are trying to take over a union and only GL & Dickles can stop them. The tale concludes with the cabbie having that tooth punched out and learning the secret of Alan Scott – an even bigger shock!

A huge hit from the off, the Emerald Crusader was fast-tracked into his own solo title, where creators were encouraged to experiment with format. Green Lantern Quarterly #2 (cover-dated Winter 1942) offered ‘The Tycoon’s Legacy’ by Finger & Nodell: a 4-chapter “novel-length story” seeing radio engineer Scott promoted to roving man-with-a-microphone, and promptly rushing to the assistance of a poor but honest lawyer and a porter swindled out of a $5,000,000 bequest. Both cases deliciously intertwine like a movie melodrama, and also see a framed man freed from the asylum to challenge the swindling estate executors who had trapped him there…

Events take a murderous turn just as Alan’s emerald alter ego gets involved, and before long Green Lantern is cracking heads and taking names in the hunt for the mastermind behind it all – a man known only as ‘Baldy’…

Finger was a master of such socially redeeming mystery thrillers, and the unrepentant fan in me can’t help but wonder what he could have accomplished with such a prodigious page count on his other “Dark Avenger” assignment Batman and Robin…

Hasen illustrated the remaining All-American yarns in this collection, beginning with #36 (March 1942), taking GL & Doiby to the motor racing circuit to foil the machinations of mobsters murdering drivers of a new kind of car. With no clue as to how the killings are accomplished, Doiby volunteers to drive the ill-fated Benson Comet, trusting in his pal “Da Lantrin” to save the day as usual…

A-AC #37 has the heroes helping a disgraced pilot whose crashed plane cost America its greatest scientific minds. Closer investigation reveals not only Fog Blake’s innocence but that the Brain Trust had actually been cunningly abducted by Nazi agents – but not for long, after which #38 pits the Emerald Avenger against a diminutive criminal strategist organising American gangs like ‘Another Napoleon’ before facing his own Waterloo in a blaze of verdant light…

With America freshly put on an all-encompassing war-footing, superheroes at last tackled the world’s latest monsters full-on, and with great verve and enthusiasm this stunning selection concludes with another novel-length epic from the third Green Lantern Quarterly and deliciously crafted by Finger & Nodell.

It begins with ‘The Living Graveyard of the Sea’ as Alan & Irene (plus stowaway Doiby) take ship for Australia, only to be torpedoed by a gigantic German super U-Boat. Although Green Lantern fights off the air and sea assault, the liner is lost. Survivors take to lifeboats and the one with Doiby, Irene & Alan is drawn into a vast impenetrable fog-bank. The vapours conceal an ancient wonder: a Sargasso Sea enclave of mariners from many eras who have, over centuries, evolved into a truly egalitarian, pacifist society. Sadly, the lifeboat contains a cross section of modern America, all horribly infected with greed, arrogance, prejudice and pride, so – although welcomed – the newcomers soon disrupt the idyllic microcosm.

Things take an even worse turn as another U-Boat surfaces within the sea city and fanatical Kapitan Schmidt attempts to annexe the realm and convert the ancients to ‘The Nazi Dream’. Stakes are raised even further when he finally gets a message through to Berlin and Hitler himself demands that the strategically crucial secret island be taken at all costs…

The fantastic finale comes as Irene & Doiby redeem their selfish fellow Americans and even convince the calmly neutral Sargasso citizens to fight for freedom and liberty in ‘Utopia vs. Totalitarianism’ whilst all Green Lantern has to do is sink an entire Nazi naval and aerial armada tasked with taking the hidden sea world…

I believe – like so many others – that superhero comics are never more apt or effective than when they wholeheartedly combat fascism with explosive, improbable excitement and mysterious masked marvel men. The most satisfyingly evocative and visceral moments of the genre all seem to come when gaudy gladiators soundly thrash bigots, supremacists and agents of organised intolerance, and the staggering denouement depicted here is one of the most expansive and breathtaking ever seen…

Complete with stellar covers by Nodell & Hasen, this riotous vintage assembly of classic Fights ‘n’ Tights fare is enthralling, engrossing and overwhelmingly addictive – even if not to every modern fan’s taste – and no lover of Costumed Dramas can afford to miss out on the fun…
© 1940, 1941, 1942, 1999, 2002 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Good Night, Hem


By Jason (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-68396-461-2 (HB/Digital edition)

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

Happy Birthday Jason!

Born this day in 1965 in Molde, Norway, John Arne Sæterøy is known globally by his enigmatic, utilitarian nom de plume. The shy & retiring draughts-scribe started on the path to overnight international cartoon superstardom in 1995, once first graphic novel Lomma full ay regn (Pocket Full of Rain) won Norway’s biggest comics prize: the Sproing Award. Prior to that, he had contributed to alternate/indie magazine KonK whilst, from 1987, studying graphic design and illustration at Oslo’s Art Academy, before going on to Norway’s National School of Arts. After graduating in 1994, three years later he founded his own comic book Mjau Mjau, citing Lewis Trondheim, Jim Woodring and Tex Avery as his primary influences and constantly refining his style into a potent form of meaning-laden anthropomorphic minimalism.

Moving to Copenhagen Jason worked at Studio Gimle alongside Ole Comoll Christensen (Excreta, Mar Mysteriet Surn/Mayday Mysteries, Den Anden Praesident, Det Tredje Ojet) and Peter Snejbjerg (Den skjulte protocol/The Hidden Protocol, World War X, Tarzan, Books of Magic, Starman, Batman: Detective 27). His efforts were internationally noticed, making waves in France, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Germany and other Scandinavian countries as well as the Americas, and he won another Sproing in 2001 for self-published series Mjau Mjau. From 2002 he turned nigh-exclusively to producing graphic novels… and won a succession of major awards.

Jason’s breadth of interest is wide and deep: comics, movies, animated cartoons, music, high literature and pulp fiction all feature equally with no sense of rank or hierarchy. This puckish and egalitarian mixing and matching of inspirational sources always and inevitably produces picture-treatises well worth a reader’s time. Over successive tales Jason employed a repertory company of stock characters to explore deceptively simplistic milieux based on classic archetypes of movies, childhood entertainments and historical and literary favourites. These all role play in deliciously absurd and increasingly surreal sagas centred on his preferred themes of relationships and loneliness. In latter years, Jason returned to these “found” players as he built his own highly esoteric universe, and in Good Night, Hem, even has a whole bizarre bunch of them “team-up”…

As always, visual/verbal bon mots unfold in beguiling, sparse-dialogued, or even pantomimic progressions, with compellingly formal page layouts rendered in a stripped-down adaptation of Hergé’s Claire Ligne style: solid blacks, and thick outlines dominating settings of seductive monochrome simplicity.

Good Night, Hem is a deliciously wry triptych of novellas again harnessing and displaying all that signature arbitrary surreality, only marginally restrained by the overarching conceit that it is three snapshots of real life he-man author Ernest Hemingway. That gritty scribe was previously utilised in 2006’s The Left Bank Gang wherein he and fellow glitterati-in-waiting including Ezra Pound, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others struggle with a lack of success and decide to rob a bank.

Here, that situation is sidelined, as in 1925 the wastrel émigrés – now also including the likes of future screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart and artist Max Ernst – meet Hem’s exact double in the form of a man dressed as a musketeer. They have no conception that the newcomer is the actual Athos of fiction: a tragic, love benighted-immortal who has outlived his time and has never found peace or love…

The time & space conquering hero was previously seen in 2008’s The Last Musketeer (please link to 14th July 2023) and 2011’s Athos in America and soon makes his indelible mark on the Americans. He is even dragged along as Hemingway cajoles/bullies them all into joining him at the bullfighting festival in Pamplona…

In the midst of all that blood, sand, jealousy and constant sexual tension, Hem – keen to exploit Athos’ innocence and their uncanny resemblance – then asks a monumentally stupid favour…

Abandoning literary speculation for baroque adventure, the second tale marches right into brutal he-man action territory as hero-in-waiting (and his own mind) Hem hatches a plan to end World War II at a stroke. It’s August 1944 in Paris, and war correspondent Ernest Hemingway uses his contacts to assemble a do-or-die squad to accompany him on a mission into embattled Berlin to punch out Adolf Hitler. First though, comes a period of intense secret training and more opportunities for bitter romance, betrayal and lethally unruly machismo before the mission – and all its appalling consequences – are realised…

The final chapter opens in 1959 and delves deep into contemplation as Hem seeks to write his memoirs. Trapped into reminiscing about his life and those he met, whilst resident in pre-revolutionary, Mafia-run Cuba, he recalls how Athos recently reappeared. He was utterly untouched by the weight of 30 more years and asked the author to pen an introduction for his own proposed autobiography: an encounter that set the writer on a spiral of painful self-examination…

These quirky episodes are populated with cinematic, darkly comic anthropomorphs and festooned with bewitching ruminations on love, loneliness, friendship, renown, expectation and life goals viewed – as ever – through a charmingly macabre cast of bestial archetypes and socially-lost modern chumps and people you think you know.

Blending literary pretention and modern fictive mythology with the iconography and ironic bombast of Reservoir Dogs and Inglourious Basterds is a stroke of genius no one else could pull off. Jason’s work always jumps directly into the reader’s brain and heart, incisively probing the nature of “human-ness” via the beastly and unnatural asking persistent and pertinent hard questions. Although smart sight-gags are less prominent here, his staff of “funny-animal” players still uncannily depict the subtlest emotions with devastating effect, proving again just how good a cartoonist he is. Effortlessly switching back and forth between genre, milieu and narrative pigeonholes, this grab-bag of graphic goodies again proves that Jason is a creative force in comics like no other: one totally deserving as much of your time, attention and disposable income as possible.
All characters, stories and artwork © 2021 Jason. All rights reserved. This edition © 2021 Fantagraphics books. All rights reserved.

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The Dick Tracy Casebook – Favourite Adventures 1931-1990


By Chester Gould, selected by Max Allan Collins & Dick Locher (St. Martins/Penguin)
ISBN: 978-0-31204-461-9 (HB) 978-0-14014-568-7 (PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Lost in all the landmarks and events of the moment, I’d intended to commemorate and memorialise the anniversary of a true comics giant yesterday, but missed my shot. On May 11th 1985, Chester Gould passed away. On that same day in 1953, latterday Dick Tracy scribe Mike Curtis was born. He wrote the latest exploits of the unflinching super-cop, as collected in Calling Dick Tracy!. Justice may be slow sometimes, but if the comics are anything to go by, cannot be deferred forever…

All things considered, comics have a pretty good track record on creating household names. We could play the game of picking the most well-known fictional characters on Earth (with Sherlock Holmes, Mickey Mouse, Superman, James Bond and Tarzan usually topping most lists) but you’ll also see Batman, Popeye, Blondie, Charlie Brown, Tintin, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and not so much now – but once upon a time – Dick Tracy there as well.

At the height of the Great Depression cartoonist Chester Gould was looking for strip ideas. The story goes that as a decent guy incensed by the exploits of gangsters (like Al Capone who monopolised front pages of contemporary newspapers) he settled upon the only way a normal man could fight thugs: Passion and Public Opinion.

Raised in Oklahoma, Gould was a Chicago resident who hated seeing his home town in the grip of such wicked men, with far too many honest citizens beguiled and seduced by the gangsters’ power and charisma. Boy, if they could see how politics today exploits that self-destructive tendency…

Gould decided to pictorially get it off his chest with a procedural crime thriller championing the ordinary cops who protected civilisation. He took “Plainclothes Tracy” to legendary newspaperman/comic strip Svengali Captain Joseph Patterson, whose golden touch had blessed such strips as Gasoline Alley, The Gumps, Little Orphan Annie, Winnie Winkle, Smilin’ Jack, Moon Mullins and Terry and the Pirates among others. Casting his seasoned eye on the samples, Patterson renamed its stark, stern protagonist Dick Tracy and revised his love interest into steady girlfriend Tess Truehart. The series launched on October 4th 1931 through Patterson’s Chicago Tribune Syndicate and rapidly became a huge hit, with all the attendant media and merchandising hoopla that follows.

Amidst the toys, games, movies, serials, animated features, TV shows et al, the strip soldiered on, influencing generations of creators and entertaining millions of fans. If you’ve never seen the original legend in action this collection – still readily available and originally released to accompany a movie adaptation in 1990 – is a great introduction.

Selected by successor scripter Max Allen Collins & Dick Locher, who worked on the strip after Gould retired in 1977, it re-presents complete adventures from each decade of the strip’s existence to date, offering a grand overview of the development from radical, ultra-violent adventure to forensic Police Procedural, through increasingly fantastical science fiction and finally back-to-basics cop thriller under Collins’ own script tenure.

From the 1930s comes the memorable and uncharacteristic ‘The Hotel Murders’ (9th March – 27th April, 1936) wherein the terrifyingly determined – some might say obsessed – cop solves a genuine mystery with a sympathetic antagonist instead of the usual unmitigated, unsavoury, unrepentant outlaw.

Whodunits with clues, false trails and tests of wits were counterproductive in a slam-bang, daily strip with a large cast and soap-opera construction, but this necessarily short tale follows all the ground rules as Tracy, adopted boy side-kick Junior, special agent Jim Trailer and the boys on the beat track down the killer of a notorious gambler.

The best case of the 1940s – and for many the best ever – was ‘The Brow’ (22nd May – 26th September 1944) in which the team hunt down a brilliant but ruthless Nazi spy. As my own personal favourite, I’m doing you all the favour of saying no more about this compelling, breathtaking yarn, and you’ll thank me for it, but I will say that this is a complete reprinting, as others have been edited for violence and one edition simply left out every Sunday instalment – which is my own definition of police brutality.

By the 1950s Gould was at his creative peak. ‘Crewy Lou’ (22nd April – 4th November, 1951) and ‘Model’ (23rd January – 27th March, 1952) are perfect examples of the range of his abilities. The first is an epic of minor crimes and perpetrators escalating into major menaces whilst the latter is another short shocker with the conservative Gould showing social ills could still move him to action in a tale of juvenile delinquency as Junior grows into a teenager and experiences his first love affair…

As with many established cartoonists in it for the long haul, the revolutionary 1960s were a harsh time. Along with Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon, Dick Tracy especially foundered in a cultural 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 shift towards science fiction themes (Tracy moved into space and an alien character – Moon Maid – was introduced) as any old-fashioned attitudes.

In the era when strip proportions had begun to diminish as papers put advertising space above feature clarity, his artwork had attained dizzying levels of creativity: mesmerising, nigh-abstract monochrome concoctions that grabbed the eye no matter what size editors printed it. ‘Spots’ (3rd August – 30th November) 1960 comes from just before the worst excesses, but still displays the artist’s stark, chiaroscurist mastery in a terse thriller demonstrating the fundamental secret of Tracy’s success and longevity… Hot Pursuit wedded to Grim Irony…

The 1970s are represented by ‘Big Boy’s Open Contract’ (12th June – 30th December 1978) by Collins & Rick Fletcher. Although officially retired since 1977, Gould still consulted with the new creative team, and the third outing for the new guys saw the long-awaited return of Big Boy, the thinly disguised Capone analogue Tracy had sent to prison at the very start of his career, and whose last attempt at revenge tragically cost the dutiful hero a loved one whilst forever changing the strip. Despite a strong core readership the series had stalled, especially as improbable, Bond-style villains were utilised to beef up its 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…

When Gould retired, 29-year-old author Max Allen Collins (Road to Perdition Nathan Heller, Mike Mist, Ms. Tree) won the prestigious writer’s role, promptly taking the series back to its crimebusting roots for a breathtaking run, assisted by Gould’s insights as his chief artistic assistant Rick Fletcher was promoted to full illustrator. After 11 years, in 1992 Collins was removed and replaced by Mike Kilian – who apparently worked for half the author’s price – until his death in October 2005, whereafter Dick Locher took over story and art, with assistant Jim Brozman assuming drawing duties from March 2009.

On January 19th 2011, Tribune Media Services announced Locher’s retirement and replacement by a new team – Mike Curtis and Joe Staton. You already know where to find them…

Representing the 1980s, the final tale here is ‘The Man of a Million Faces’ (October 5th 1987 – April 10th 1988) by Collins & Locher. Like Fletcher, this illustrator was an art assistant to Gould who took up the master’s mantle. Despite the simply unimaginable variety of crimes and criminals Tracy has brought to book, this sneaky story of a bank robber and his perfect gimmick proves that sometimes a back to basics approach produces the best results.

Dick Tracy is a milestone strip that has influenced all popular fiction, not simply comics. Baroque villains, outrageous crimes and fiendish death-traps pollinated the work of numerous strips and comics such as Batman, but his studied use – and startlingly accurate predictions – of crimefighting technology and techniques gave the world a taste of cop thrillers, police procedurals and forensic mysteries decades before TV made those disciplines everyday coinage.

This is fantastically readable, and this chronological primer is a wonderful way to sneak into his stark, no-nonsense, Tough-love, Hard Justice world.
© 1990 Tribune Media Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Best of Eagle


By many & various including Frank Hampson, Alan Stranks & John Worsley, Harry Lindfield, John Ryan, Charles Chilton & Frank Humphris, Norman Thelwell, Edward Trice & E. Jennings, George Beardmore & Robert Ayton, Alan Jason & Norman Williams, Chad Varah, Frank Bellamy, Clifford Makin, Christopher Keyes, Peter Jackson, Peter Simpson & Pat Williams, George Cansdale, David Langdon, Ionicus/ Joshua Charles Armitage: edited by Marcus Morris (Michael Joseph Ltd./Mermaid Books)
ISBN: 978-0-71811-566-1 (tabloid HB) 978-0718122119 (tabloid TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Currently quite easily to find and well worth the effort is this upbeat pictorial memoir from the conceptual creator of arguably Britain’s greatest comic. Eagle was the most influential comic of post-war Britain, and launched on April 14th 1950, running until 26th April 1969. It was the brainchild of a Southport vicar, The Reverend Marcus Morris, who was worried about the detrimental effects of American comic-books on British children, and wanted a good, solid, Christian antidote. Seeking out like-minded creators he jobbed around a dummy to many British publishers for over a year with little success until he found an unlikely home at Hulton Press, a company that produced general interest magazines such as Lilliput and Picture Post.

The result was a huge hit that also spawned clones Swift, Robin and Girl – targeting other sectors of the children’s market – and generated radio series, books, toys and all other sorts of merchandising. The title and phenomenon also reshaped the industry, compelling UK comics colossus Alfred Harmsworth to release cheaper versions through his Amalgamated Press/ Odhams Fleetway/IPC in the far longer lived Lion (running from 23rd February 1952 to 18th May 1974) and its many companion titles such as Tiger and Valiant.

A huge number of soon-to-be prominent creative figures worked on Eagle, and although Dan Dare is deservedly revered as the star, many other strips were as popular at the time, and many even rivalled the lead in quality and entertainment value. At its peak the periodical sold close to a million copies a week, but eventually changing tastes and a game of “musical owners” killed Eagle. In 1960 Hulton sold out to Odhams, who became Longacre Press. A year later they were bought by The Daily Mirror Group who evolved into IPC. Due to multiple episodes of cost-cutting exercises, many later issues carried cheap Marvel Comics reprints rather than British originated material. It took time, but the Yankee cultural Invaders won out in the end.

In 1969 with the April 26th issue Eagle was merged into Lion, before eventually disappearing altogether. Successive generations have revived the title, but never the initial blockbuster success.

For this carefully crafted compilation Morris selected a wonderfully representative sampling of the comic strips that graced those pages of a Golden Age to accompany his recollection of events. Being a much cleverer time, with smarter kids than ours, the Eagle had a large proportion of scientific, historical and sporting articles as well as prose fiction.

Included here are 30+ pages reprinting short text stories, cut-away paintings (including the Eagle spaceship), hobby and event pages, sporting, science and general interest features – and it should be remembered that the company also produced six Eagle Novels and many and various sporting, science and history books as spin-offs between 1956 and 1960. Also on show here are many candid photographs of the times and the creators behind the pages.

Of course, the comic strips are the real gold here. Morris included 130 pages from his tenure on Eagle typifying the sheer quality of the enterprise. Alongside the inevitable but always welcome Hampson Dan Dare are selections from his The Great Adventurer and pioneering adfomercial Tommy Walls strips.

Other gems include The Adventures of P.C. 49 by Alan Stranks & John Worsley, Jeff Arnold in Riders of the Range by Charles Chilton & Frank Humphris, Chicko by Norman Thelwell, Professor Brittain Explains…’ Harris Tweed and Captain Pugwash by John Ryan, Cortez, Conqueror of Mexico by William Stobbs, Luck of the Legion by Geoffrey Bond & Martin Aitchison, Storm Nelson by Edward Trice & E. Jennings and Mark Question (The Boy with a Future – But No Past!) by Stranks & Harry Lindfield.

There are selections from some of the other glorious gravure strips that graced the title: Jack o’Lantern by George Beardmore & Robert Ayton, Lincoln of America by Alan Jason & Norman Williams, The Travels of Marco Polo by Chad Varah & Frank Bellamy, The Great Charlemagne and Alfred the Great (both by Varah & Williams).

Extracts from Bellamy & Clifford Makin’s legendary Happy Warrior and less well known The Shepherd King (King David), run beside The Great Sailor (Nelson) by Christopher Keyes, as well as The Baden Powell story (Jason & Williams) and even David Livingstone, the Great Explorer (Varah & Peter Jackson), and the monochrome They Showed the Way: The Conquest of Everest by Peter Simpson & Pat Williams makes an appearance.

The book is fabulously peppered with nostalgic memorabilia and such joys as George Cansdale’s beautiful nature pages and a host of cartoon shorts including the wonderful Professor Puff and his Dog Wuff by prolific Punch cartoonist David Langdon and Professor Meek and Professor Mild by Ionicus (illustrator Joshua Charles Armitage).

Also included is The Editor’s Christmas Nightmare by Hampson, a full colour strip featuring every Eagle character in a seasonal adventure that is still fondly remembered by all who ever saw (it and are still kicking)…

These may not all resonate with modern audiences but the sheer variety of this material should sound a warning note to contemporary publishers about the fearfully limited range of comics output they’re responsible for. But for most of us, it’s enough to see and wish that this book, like so many others, was back in print again.
Text © 1977 Marcus Morris. Illustrations © 1977 International Publishing Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Finest: Superman Family – The Giant Turtle Man


By Jerry Siegel, Otto Binder, Robert Bernstein, Jerry Coleman, Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan, Jim Mooney, Kurt Schaffenberger, George Papp, Al Plastino, John Forte, Sheldon Moldoff, Stan Kaye & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-110-7 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

On April 18th 1938 when the Man of Tomorrow debuted in Action Comics #1, he was instantly the centre of attention. However, even then the need for a solid supporting cast was apparent and cleverly catered for. Glamorous daredevil reporter Lois Lane premiered right beside Clark Kent and was his constant companion and foil from the outset. Although unnamed, a plucky red-headed, freckled kid started working alongside Lois & Clark from issue #6 (November 1938) onwards.

His first name was disclosed in Superman #13 (November-December 1941), having already been revealed as Jimmy Olsen to radio fans as he was a major player in The Adventures of Superman show from its debut on April 15th 1940. As someone the same age as the target audience: on hand for the hero to explain stuff to (all for the listener’s benefit), Jimmy was the closest thing to a sidekick the Action Ace ever needed. He’s remained a sporadic yet amazingly popular one ever since.

When the similarly titled TV show launched in the autumn of 1952, it was again an overnight sensation and National Periodical Publications began cautiously expanding their revitalised franchise with new characters and titles. First to get a promotion to solo-star status was the Daily Planet’s impetuously capable if occasionally conveniently naive “cub reporter”. His addictively charming, light-hearted escapades began in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #1 (September/October 1954): only one of many spin-off stars in the Caped Kryptonian’s ever-expanding entourage.

Nevertheless, despite characters burgeoning on the pages of Superman’s titles it took three years for cautious Editors to tentatively extend the franchise again. In 1957, just as the Silver Age of Comics was getting underway, try-out title Showcase – which had already launched The Flash in #4 and Challengers of the Unknown in #6 – followed up with two issues entitled Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (#9 & 10). Also conveniently naïve when a story demanded it, the “plucky News-hen” was awarded a series of her own. Technically it was her second, since in the 1940s she had commanded a regular solo-spot in Superman.

In previous reviews I’ve banged on about the patronising, parochial – and to at least some of us – potentially offensive portrayals of kids and most especially women during this period, and although some fairer, more affirmative instances were starting to appear, those warnings still bear repeating. Read with eyes open and social conscience primed please…

At that time, hers was one of precious few titles with a female lead, and, in the context of today, one that causes many 21st century fans understandable qualms of conscience. Within the confines of her series the valiant, capable and determined working woman careered crazily from man-hungry, unscrupulous paranoid bitch through ditzy simpleton to indomitable and brilliant troubleshooter – often all in the same issue. The comic book was clearly intended to appeal to the family demographic that made I Love Lucy a national phenomenon, and many stories were played for laughs in the same patriarchal, parochial manner: a “gosh, aren’t ladies funny?” tone that appals me today – but not as much as the fact that I still love them to bits.

That they’re mostly sublimely illustrated by the wonderfully whimsical Kurt Schaffenberger softens the repeated blows, but really, at my age I should know better…

For the close Superman Family and extended cast the tone of the times dictated a highly strictured code of conduct and parameters: Daily Planet Editor Perry White was a stern, shouty, elder statesman with a heart of gold, Cub Reporter Jimmy was a brave, impulsive, unseasoned fool – with a heart of gold – and Lois was brash, impetuous, unscrupulous and nosy, obsessed with marrying Superman, despite being – deep down – another possessor of an auric aorta. There were also more people with blue or green skin than brown or other human shades, but as I’m trying to plug this book’s virtues I’m just shutting up now.

While I’m at it though, this stunning compilation is another DC Finest editions: full colour extensions of their monochrome Showcase Presents line, delivering “affordably priced, large-size (comic book dimensions generally around 600 pages) paperback collections” highlighting past glories. Sadly, as yet they’re unavailable digitally but we live in hope…

Somehow, even with such byzantine editorial mandates in place the talented writers and artists assigned to detail these wholesomely uncanny exploits crafted tales both beguiling and breathtakingly memorable… and usually as funny as they were thrilling.

By today’s standards, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen wasn’t quite as contentious, but still far too often stories meant to amuse portrayed the bright, bold boy in demeaning if not downright cruel situations and experiencing humiliating physical transformations. Even so, a winning blend of slapstick adventure, action, fantasy and science fiction (in the gentle, insidiously charming manner scripter Otto Binder had perfected 15 years previously at Fawcett Comics on Captain Marvel) made the series one of the most popular of the era. Again, originally most yarns were played for laughs in a father-knows-best manner and tone which can again appal me today, even though I still count them amongst some of my very favourite comics. Confusing, ain’t it?

This cinematically timely, intriguingly chronologically comprehensive compendium collects exploits starring the Man of Steel’s mates and kin (and pets) as first seen in Action Comics #266, 277 & 278, Adventure Comics #287, Superman #142,143 & 147, Superboy #87, 90 & 92, Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #19-28, and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #47-56, cumulatively spanning July 1960 to October 1961: a period of infinite wackiness and outrageous absurdity, but heralding the inevitable dawning of a more serious milieu for the Action Ace and those close to him.

This particular series of ethical conundrums commence with ‘The World’s Mightiest Cat!’ by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney, as the Supergirl story in back of Action Comics #266 finds her secret identity of foundling Linda Lee endangered by a fellow orphan at Midvale Orphanage who thinks her ginger cat Streaky has super powers…

Our perpetual lady-in-waiting follows in 3 yarns limned by Schaffenberger as Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #19 (August 1960) opens with Robert Bernstein’s ‘The Day Lois Lane Forgot Superman!’ Here, devoted sister Lucy convinces her perennially heartbroken elder sibling to try hypnosis and get past her destructive obsession. Sadly, when it works, Lois finds time to pester Clark so much he has no time to save the world…

When an accident seemingly catapults Lois into history she becomes enamoured of Samson, a hero with a secret identity and ‘The Superman of the Past!’ This quirky yarn by Binder segues into a new occasional series from Siegel & Schaffenberger. ‘Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Superman) Kent!’ was the first of a poignant tragi-comedy feature depicting the laughter and tears that might result if Lois secretly married the Man of Steel. Although seemingly having achieved her heart’s desire, she is officially only married to dull, safe Clark, and must keep her relationship with Superman secret: unable to brag or show pride and forced to swallow the rage she feels whenever another woman throws herself at the still eligible bachelor hero…

For an artefact of an era uncomfortably dismissive of women, there’s actually genuine heart and understanding in this tale, and a minimum of snide sniping about “silly, empty-headed girls”. Perhaps it was the influence of the tailored-for-adults Superman newspaper strip Siegel was simultaneously scripting leaking into the funnybook line….

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #47 sees Jimmy in over his head, impersonating escaped convict Winky McCoy and trapped as ‘The King of Crime!’ in a cracking thriller by Bernstein, Curt Swan & John Forte, before the impatiently underage lad transforms into a husky 30-something thanks to another Professor Phineas Potter potion in ‘Jimmy Grows Up!’  Here Binder sagely proves maturity isn’t everything, before Siegel wraps up the issue with a rousing romp as alien producers who previously made horror movies starring Superman & Jimmy return to Earth seeking sequels. It soon transpires that the robot reporter they use to replace Jimmy doesn’t like the prospect of being junked at shooting’s end, and tries to do away with the original in ‘The Monsters from Earth!’…

SGLL #20 (October 1960) opens whimsically with ‘Superman’s Flight from Lois Lane’ (Siegel & Schaffenberger), as the Man of Steel escapes into his own past to see if a different life-path might result in a civilian existence unencumbered by “nosy snooping females”. Disc jockey Clark soon learns his inquisitive assistant Liza Landis makes Lois look positively disinterested and gladly ends the experiment, after which ‘The Luckiest Girl in Metropolis!’ (Bernstein & Al Plastino) finds Lois targeted by a Machiavellian mobster seeking to destroy her credibility as a witness, prior to Siegel & Schaffenberger revisiting the Imaginary Mr. & Mrs. scenario with ‘Lois Lane’s Super-Daughter!’ wherein attempts to adopt Linda Lee lead to heartbreak and disaster…

That same month in all-Swan & Forte Jimmy Olsen #48, anonymously scripted ‘The Story of Camp Superman!’ presents heartwarming mystery as the cub works as counsellor to troubled kids – one of whom knows entirely too much about Superman – whilst ‘The Disguises of Danger!’ revisits undercover Jimmy’s acting gifts to get close to a cunning crook. Binder’s ‘The Mystery of the Tiny Supermen!’ sees the Kryptonian Bottled City Kandor’s miniscule Superman Emergency Squad harass Olsen in a devious ploy to prevent his accidentally exposing the Man of Steel’s civilian identity…

All-Schaffenberger Lois Lane #21 delivers a double length epic by author unknown wherein the Anti-Superman Gang utilise explosive toys to endanger the pesky reporter in ‘The Lois Lane Doll!’ It compels the Action Ace to hide her in his Fortress of Solitude, but even that proves insufficient and she finds refuge – and unlikely romance – ‘Trapped in Kandor!’ Siegel then pens a classic yarn of bitter rivalry as the two women most dear to Superman gain incredible abilities and duke it out like men in ‘The Battle Between Super-Lois and Super-Lana!’

SPJO #49 leads with ‘Jimmy’s Gorilla Identity!’ as the luckless lad meets DC stalwart Congo Bill and gets his personality trapped in the hunter’s occasional alter ego – giant golden ape Congorilla. Next, Prof. Potter is blamed for – but entirely innocent of – turning the kid into ‘The Fat Boy of Metropolis!’ in a daft but clever crime caper, prior to Siegel playing with contemporary trends as Jimmy impersonates a rock ‘n’ roll star to impress Lucy Lane in ‘Alias, Chip O’Doole!’…

In Superman #142 (January 1961), Schaffenberger limns Binder’s ‘Lois Lane’s Secret Helper!’ wherein faithful super dog Krypto cunningly plays matchmaker to secure a comfy future for himself, before SGLL #22 – another all Schaffenberger affair – starts with a Red Kryptonite experiment afflicting the Metropolis Marvel with a compulsion to repeatedly pop the question to dubious and suspicious Lois in Siegel’s ‘The Day When Superman Proposed!’

Bernstein’s ‘Lois Lane’s X-Ray Vision!’ sees irradiated sunglasses create a tidal wave of problems for Superman, before making her the ‘Sweetheart of Robin Hood!’ in another time-shift dream seeing the reporter courted by a very familiar-seeming Defender of Truth, Justice and the Nottinghamshire Way…

In SPJO #50, Siegel, Swan & Sheldon Moldoff’s ‘The Lord of Olsen Castle!’ sees Jimmy as potential heir to a Swedish castle and title. All he must do is accomplish a slew of fantastic feats and defeat an ogre, utterly unaware Superman and a host of Kryptonians are secretly pitching in. ‘The Weirdest Asteroid in Space’ (Binder, Swan & Moldoff) then offers a bold monster mystery before another Potter experiment shifts all Superman’s might into his teen pal in ‘The Super-Life of Jimmy Olsen!’ (by an unknown author and illustrated by Plastino).

Superman #143 (February 1961 by Siegel & Forte) celebrates ‘Lois Lane’s Lucky Day!’ as the courageous reporter busts up a crooked carnival with some unsuspected Kryptonian help, before Lois Lane #23 opens with Binder & Schaffenberger’s riotous romp ‘The 10 Feats of Elastic Lass!’  Here our impetuous journalist borrows Jimmy’s stretching serum to track down mad bomber The Wrecker, before debunking ‘The Curse of Lena Thorul!’ (Siegel): exposing a bewitching beauty’s incredible connection to Lex Luthor and leading into another Seigel Imaginary visit to a possible future wherein ‘The Wife of Superman!’ is worn to a frazzle by twin super-toddlers and yearns for her old job at the Daily Planet…

Jimmy Olsen #51 discloses ‘Jimmy Olsen’s 1000th Scoop!’ (Bernstein, Swan & Forte), with the prospective milestone repeatedly delayed by Superman for the best possible reasons, after which a sultry alien takes an unlikely shine to the lad. Unfortunately, ‘The Girl with Green Hair’ (Binder, Swan & Forte) is the result of a scheme by a well-meaning third party to get Lucy to be nicer to Jimmy and it all goes painfully, horribly wrong before ‘The Dream Detective!’ (Swan & Kaye) finds the callow cub inexplicably develop psychometric abilities and unravel mysteries in his sleep…

In Superboy #87, Bernstein & George Papp reveal ‘When Lana Lang First Suspected Clark Kent!’ proving that even when he was a kid, pesky smart girls kept trying to expose his secret identity even as ‘Krypto’s First Romance!’ (Siegel & Papp) finds the star -spanning superdog falling for Kolli – a comely canine shot into space by nasty humanoids on planet Mogar as part of their war preparations. Tragically, Krypto’s brief fling is doomed from the start and he has to make an appalling decision and sacrifice…

‘The Super-Surprise!’ opens Lois Lane #24: an anonymously scripted thriller sending Lois undercover as a platinum blonde, to scupper a plot against Superman, and superbly rendered by Schaffenberger, as is Bernstein’s ‘The Perfect Husband!’, wherein a TV dating show leads Lois into a doomed affair with a he-man hunk almost the spitting image of Clark. Almost…

The issue closes on Bernstein & Forte’s ‘Lois Lane… Traitor!’ with her in the frame for murdering the King of Pahla… until the incredible, unbelievable true culprit comes forward. Also available that month, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #52 featured Leo Dorfman, Swan & Kaye’s ‘The Specter of the Haunted House!’ as a gang of cunning thieves use supernatural sceptic Olsen as a patsy for a robbery scheme, before ‘The Perils of Jimmy Olsen!’ (Swan & Forte art) sees the laid-up apprentice scribe use a robot double to perform feats of escalating daring… and stupidity. ‘Jimmy Olsen, Wolfman!’ (Siegel, Swan & Kaye) then delivers a welcome sequel to an earlier tale wherein Superman’s Pal is again afflicted by lycanthropy thanks to the pranks of 5th dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk…

In Lois Lane #25 Siegel & Schaffenberger’s Imaginary series reaches a bittersweet high point in ‘Lois Lane and Superman, Newlyweds!’ as the severely sidelined spouse convinces hubby to announce their relationship to the world… and faces shocking consequences. The brilliant reporter side is highlighted in Bernstein’s diabolical thriller ‘Lois Lane’s Darkest Secret!’ with the daring investigator risking her life to draw out a mesmeric master criminal before ‘The Three Lives of Lois Lane!’ (uncredited, with Forte illustrating) sees her surviving a car crash, only to be subsumed into the personalities of dead historical figures Florence Nightingale, Betsy Ross and Queen Isabella of Spain. Here, Superman can only stay near and try to limit the damage her episodes create…

SPJO #53 opens with Siegel, Swan & Kaye’s ‘The Boy in the Bottle!’ as Jimmy suffers future shock whilst trapped in Kandor, after which sheer medical mischance results in Siegel, Swan & Forte’s now-legendary saga of ‘The Giant Turtle Man!’ and an oddly casualty-free monster rampage before ‘The Black Magician!’ (unknown writer, Swan & Forte) finds Olsen banished to King Arthur’s court by spiteful Mr. Mxyzptlk. Action Comics #277 then offers a truly delightful Supergirl yarn crafted by Siegel & Mooney. ‘The Battle of the Super-Pets!’ finds Streaky typically envious after she pays attention to shameless ingratiating mutt Krypto. When Superman suggests they compete for her attentions to prove who’s best (no, really!), they select the most unlucky locale of all for their arena…

Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #26 delivers three more Schaffenberger classics, starting with Siegel’s ‘The Day Superman Married Lana Lang!’  In this imaginary tragedy, the Action Ace finally settles down with his childhood sweetheart, but lives to regret it, whilst ‘Lois Lane’s Childhood!’ (Siegel) reveals how the lives of Kal-El on doomed Krypton and baby Lois on Earth were intertwined by fate and providence, before Bernstein’s ‘The Mad Woman of Metropolis’ closes the comics cavalcade on a stunning high. Here, Lois foils a diabolical plot by criminals to murder Clark and drive her insane, whilst for SPJO #54, Bernstein, Swan & Kaye’s ‘Elastic Lad’s Wrestling Match!’ finds Jimmy incensed after deducing that the grappling game is fixed and fake (shocking, no?).  The outraged fan uses his occasionally empowered alter ego to expose the institutionalised shenanigans, after which he comes into possession of Mr. Mxyzptlk’s magic wishing hat and – through a succession of whacky happenstances – saves Superman as ‘King of the Giant Ants!’ An unrecorded writer then employs Swan & Kaye’s gift for comedy to catalogue the horrors of literal infantilisation after the impetuous boy reporter accidentally transforms himself into ‘Baby Jimmy Olsen!’

Action Comics #278 exposed ‘The Super Powers of Perry White!’ (Jerry Coleman, Swan & Kaye) with the senescent editor suddenly gaining incredible abilities and an inexplicable urge to conquer the world, whilst in Superboy #90 another uncredited script – this time delineated by Papp – shares ‘Pete Ross’ Super-Secret!’ as Clark’s best friend discovers his alien alter ego. SGLL #27 follows, opening with Bernstein & Schaffenberger’s ‘Lois Lane’s Super-Brain!’ When Lois accidentally mutates herself into a creature with a colossal cranium she spends all her time and boosted intellect trying to hide it from Superman, before baffling mystery ‘The Battle of the Sisters!’ (Siegel Swan & Kaye) seemingly sees the Man of Steel ditch Lois for hot, blonde, younger sibling Lucy, prior to Bernstein & Schaffenberger relating ‘The Last Days of Lois Lane!’ as – believing herself fatally irradiated – the dedicated journalist resolves to risk what time she has left scoring the most dangerous scoops ever…

One of the most consistent motifs in fiction is the “Dark Opposite” or “player on the other side”: a complete antithesis of the protagonist often bearing many apparent similarities. Rock yourself to sleep at night if you wish, listing such deadly doppelgangers from Professor Moriarty to Gladstone Gander…

“Imperfect” Superman duplicate Bizarro either debuted as a misunderstood freak/unwilling monster in Binder & Papp’s captivatingly tragic ‘The Battle with Bizarro’ (Superboy #68, October 1958 and not included here) or in the similarly titled Superman newspaper strip sequence written by Alvin Schwartz (episode 105, pages #6147-6242, spanning August 25th -December 13th 1958), with the latter scribe claiming he’d thought up the idea months earlier. The newsprint version was certainly first to employ those eccentric reversed-logic thought-patterns and idiomatic speech impediment…

Although later played primarily for laughs, such as in his tenure in Tales of The Bizarro World (Adventure Comics #285-299 June 1961 – August 1962), most early comic book appearances of the dippy double were generally moving, child-appropriate tragedies, unlike here – Adventure Comics #287 – as ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Kookie Scoops!’ reveal the backwards-living artificial beings kidnapping him to run their newspaper on their square planet Htrae…

Next ‘Krypto Battles Titano’ (Superman #147, by Siegel & Plastino) after the Dog of Steel voyages back to the Age of Dinosaurs to romp, inadvertently saving humanity from alien invasion beside the Kryptonite-mutated giant ape. Then, SPJO #55 and Plastino plus unknown author introduce ‘The Monster That Loved Aqua-Jimmy!’ The odd coupling occurs after Olsen gains the powers of Aquaman and stands (swims?) in for him in the world’s oceans. The rest of the issue offers tales from Bernstein, Swan & Kaye, beginning with ‘Jimmy the Red, Thor’s Best Pal!’ wherein a magic tablet hurls the lucky lad back to ancient Scandinavia to befriend the god of thunder and help defeat Loki, after which ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Secret Power!’ exposes seeming betrayal as a strange new talent literally repels his best pal…

Pausing women’s business for now, Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #28 begins with ‘The Lois Lane of the Future!’ as Siegel & Forte supervise the Man of Tomorrow being banished to the far future by Lex Luthor. There he meets – and is incredibly annoyed by – super-powered possible descendent Lois 4XR until he finds his way home, prior to Schaffenberger & Siegel’s ‘Lois Lane’s Super-Lesson!’ with Superman secretly aiding billionaire Rajah Bandhi win her hand in marriage after she cruelly scorns and spurns him (!!) and concluding with Bill Finger & Schaffenberger’s ‘Lois Lane, Gun Moll!’ as another Luthor scheme apparently turns her into the most vicious criminal in Metropolis…

Cover-dated October 1961, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #56 leads with Imaginary Story ‘The Son of Jimmy Olsen!’ by Siegel & Schaffenberger, as Superman & Lois’ daughter elopes with the rash child of Jimmy & Lucy, culminating in catastrophic consequences. It’s followed by a return to consensual Continuity and Siegel & Forte’s mystery tale ‘The Jinx of Metropolis!’ as Jimmy suddenly becomes sudden death to anything metallic. This ushers us into Bernstein & Plastino’s Hollywood glamour-soaked yarn ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Sweethearts’, wherein Lucy is outraged – and utterly baffled – to find Jimmy apparently two-timing her with every starlet in Tinseltown. Of course, all is not what it seems…

This monumental memento to simpler, weirder times concludes with a shaggy dog tale from Superboy #92, where Coleman & Papp debuted ‘Krypto’s Arch-Enemy!’ after teenaged Lex Luthor’s canine companion Destructo stumbles into a lab experiment and gains superpowers. Obviously, the Bad Boy (and his mighty dog) seek to settle old scores, but happily Krypto is too smart for them…

As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the pre-angst, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling, deeply peculiar and, yes, occasionally offensive tales perfectly capture the changing tone and tastes reshaping comics moving from the smug, safe 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1960s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry: “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more.”

Despite all the well-intentioned quibbles from my high horse here in the 21st century, I think these stories still have a huge amount to offer funnybook fun-seekers and strongly urge you to check them out for yourselves. You won’t be sorry…
© 1960, 1961, 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Gorilla-Man


By Jeff Parker, Jason Aaron, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Giancarlo Caracuzzo, Jack Kirby, Bob Powell, Bob Q. Sale, Dick Ayers & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4911-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Apes have long fascinated comics audiences, and although Marvel never reached the giddy heights of DC’s slavish and nigh ubiquitous exploitation of the Anthropoid X-factor, the House of Ideas also dabbled in monkey business over its many years of existence.

This slim mixed-bag of a tome gathers newer adventures of happily hirsute occasional hero Ken Hale – gregarious Gorilla-Man of resurrected 1950s super-group pioneers Agents of Atlas – culled from an eponymous 2010 3-issue miniseries and supplemented with pertinent material from Avengers vs. Atlas #4, X-Men First Class #8, plus a splendid grab bag of assorted earlier interpretations culled from the company’s back catalogue of anthology horror and mystery titles: specifically Men’s Adventures #26, Tales to Astonish #28 & 30 and Weird Wonder Tales #7.

What you need to know: the Agents of Atlas comprise rejuvenated 1950s super-spy Jimmy Woo and similarly vintaged superhuman crusaders Namora (Sub-Mariner’s cousin), spurious love-goddess Venus, a deeply disturbing, extremely unhuman Marvel Boy from Uranus, primitive wonder-robot M11 and the aforementioned anthropoid avenger. As the Atlas Foundation, these veterans surreptitiously fight for justice and a free world as the nominal leaders of a clandestine crime-cult which still thinks it’s being patiently guided towards the overthrow of all governments. The real power behind the organisation however is a terrible mystical dragon named Lao…

The modern mainstream saga concentrates on ‘Ken Hale, the Gorilla-Man: The Serpent and the Hawk’ by Jeff Parker & Giancarlo Caracuzzo: exploring the anthropoid adventurer’s origins following a particularly bizarre battle against spidery cyborg Borgia Omega. In search of another action-packed mission, Hale spots a familiar face on an Atlas “wanted poster” and heads for Africa, flashbacking his past for us along the way.

It all began in Missouri in 1930 as a visiting big-shot spots something in a poor orphan kid holding his own against seven bigger boys who picked the wrong dirt-grubber to bully…

  1. Avery Wolward was a millionaire man-of-intrigue with interests all over the globe and for the next decade little Kenny became his companion and partner in a series of non-stop escapades that would make Indiana Jones green with envy. Ken learned a lot about life and loyalty, eventually discovering that Wolward owed much of his success to a mystical snake walking stick. Now that cane is in the hands of an African crime-lord calling himself Mustafa Kazun who’s well on the way to stealing an entire country and building an empire of blood…

Each miniseries issue was augmented by comedic faux email conversations between Hale and his social networking fans, and here delightfully act to buffer transitions between modern menace and reprinted monkey mystery vignettes. The first of these is ‘It Walks Erect!’, taken from 1974’s Weird Wonder Tales #7 which itself rescued the yarn from pre-Comics Code Mystery Tales #21 (cover-dated September 1954).

The story – by an unknown author but illustrated by the magnificent Bob Powell – concerns compulsive rogue surgeon Arthur Nagan whose obsession with brain transplants took a decidedly outré turn when his gorilla test subjects rebelled and wreaked a darkly ironic revenge upon him…

Slavish fanboys like me might remember Nagan as the eventual leader of arcane villain alliance The Headmen… but probably not…

Hale’s origin resumes as he and local agent Ji Banda are attacked by Kazun’s enslaved army, but that doesn’t stop the suave simian superman describing how a clash with Wolward’s arch rival Bastoc to recover an ancient bird talisman in Polynesia led the then-full-grown soldier-of-fortune to split with his mentor and enlist in the US military just before Pearl Harbor…

By the time the war ended Wolward was gone and the magnate’s daughter Lily had inherited both the family business and the walking stick…

After another message-board break, the classic ‘I Am the Gorilla Man’ (Tales to Astonish #28, February 1962, by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers) reveals how criminal genius Franz Radzik developed a mind-swapping process so that he could use a mighty ape body to commit robberies. Sadly the big brain forgot that, with its personality in a human body, the anthropoid might have its own agenda and unbridled opportunity…

The conclusion of ‘The Serpent and the Hawk’ sees Hale unite with a gorilla clan to overturn Kazun’s schemes and unlock the secret of the stick, even as his mind is firmly replaying his bad marriage to Lily, subsequent decline into drunken dissolution, recruitment by the arcane Mr. Lao, and eventual confrontation with a previous Immortal Gorilla-Man.

The role is an inherited one and a curse. To kill the undying Gorilla is to become him, and the previous victim had by this time had more than enough. Even after Hale refused to end the creature’s torment, it relentlessly followed him until it could trick the drunken mercenary into taking on the curse. However, after linking up with 1950s heroes such as Jimmy Woo and Venus, Hale found it truly liberating and grew to accept his new status…

Thus when Kazun’s true identity is revealed and the weary adventurer is offered a permanent if Faustian cure, Gorilla-Man makes the only choice a true champion can…

A final text presentation precedes Lee, Lieber, Kirby & Ayers’ ‘The Return of the Gorilla Man’ (Tales to Astonish #30, April 1962) wherein Radzik – still locked in a gorilla’s body – escapes captivity and frantically attempts to prove to scientists how smart he is.

Big mistake…

Fresh insight into Hale is provided by Jason Aaron & Caracuzzo’s ‘My Dinner with Gorilla-Man’ from Avengers vs. Atlas #4, wherein a desperate man with nothing to lose hunts down the ageless anthropoid, intent on fulfilling the ageless equation: “Kill the Gorilla and live forever”…

This is followed by a gleefully glorious romp from X-Men: First Class #8. ‘Treasure Hunters’ by Jeff Parker & Roger Cruz, finds the debut generation of Xavier’s mutants – Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman & Marvel Girl – in the Congo and hunting for their missing teacher. Along the way they encounter a talking gorilla who becomes their guide, which inadvertently pulls reclusive hermit Hale out of a decades-long funk…

The collection concludes with the seminal supernatural suspense thriller that first introduced ‘Gorilla Man’ to the world. Again by an anonymous writer (possibly Hank Chapman) and limned by unique stylist Robert “Bob Q.” Sale, this evocative chiller from Men’s Adventures #26 (March 1954) offers a much grittier take on the origin, as a man terrified of dying and plagued by nightmares of fighting apes hears a crazy legend and heads for Kenya and an inescapable, horrific destiny…

Also included is a selection of 21st century covers by Dave Johnson, Leonard Kirk, Dave McCaig, Gabrielle Dell’Otto, Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado & Marko Djurdjevic, with the vintage frontages represented by Kirby, Lieber & Ayers.

Outrageous, over the top and never taking itself seriously, this is a riot of hairy scary fun-filled frolics and a perfect antidote to all those po-faced Costumed Dramas. I wonder if there’s a movie in this stuff?
© 1954, 2007, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.