Science Fiction – Now Read This!

October 8, 2026October 7, 2026

Ghost Rider Marvel Masterworks volume 4

By Michael Fleischer, Don Perlin, Carmine Infantino, Ricardo Villamonte & Tom Sutton, with Bob Budiansky, Bob Wiacek, Al Gordon, Jack Abel, Al Milgrom, Bob McLeod, Joe Rubinstein, Gil Kane & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3322-7 (HB), 978-1-3029-4371-4 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

At the end of the 1960s the US comic book industry was in turmoil, much like the youth of the nation. Superheroes had dominated for much of the previous decade, peaking globally before explosively falling to ennui and overkill. Established genres including teen humour, war, science fiction and particularly westerns and horror came back in a big way, presumably stoked by contemporary events and radical trends in movie-making. On that Big Screen, another new(ish) wrinkle had emerged: a post-hippie, pre-Grunge motorcycle chic idolising disenchanted, rebellious, unchained Youth on Wheels singly and in packs seeking a different way forward…

Robin, the Teen Wonder, O’Neil & Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen, Captain America and so many others all followed the Easy Rider option to boost flagging sales (and if you’re interested, the very best of that gang was Mike Sekowsky’s tragically unfinished mini-masterpiece of cool Jason’s Quest in Showcase). Over at Marvel – a company still reeling from Kirby’s defection to DC/National in 1970 – canny Roy Thomas green-lit a new character who combined the freewheeling, adolescent-friendly biker-theme with the all-pervasive supernatural furore gripping the entertainment fields.

Back in 1967, Marvel had published a western-era masked hero dubbed Ghost Rider: a whole-hearted appropriation of the cowboy star creation of Vince Sullivan, Ray Krank & Dick Ayers (for Magazine Enterprises from 1949 to 1955), who utilised magician’s tricks to fight bandits by pretending to be an avenging phantom of justice. Scant years later, with the Comics Code prohibition against horror hastily recently revised – amazing how plunging sales can affect morality – scary comics came back in a big way. A new crop of supernatural superheroes and monsters began to appear on newsstands to supplement the revitalised anthology titles filled with ghosts, ghoulies and goblins (but NOT Zombies!) already slowly infiltrating the once science-only scenarios of the surviving superhero titles. In fact, softening the Code ban resulted in such an avalanche of horror titles (new material and especially reprints from the first fear boom in the 1950s), in response to the industry-wide down-turn in costumed crusaders, that it probably caused an even more venerable mystery man to – albeit temporarily – bite the dust.

Almost overnight, nasty monsters became acceptable fare for four-colour pages and whilst a parade of pre-Code reprints made sound business sense, the creative aspects of the fascination in supernatural themes was catered to by embracing trends as much as adapting popular cultural icons before risking whole new concepts on an untested public. As always in mass entertainment, the watchword was fashion: what was big outside comics was incorporated into the mix as soon as possible. When proto-monster Morbius, the Living Vampire debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (cover-dated October 1971) and no one too official spoke up, Marvel moved ahead with a line of shocking superstars beginning with classical tropes – a werewolf and a vampire – before broadening the scope with a haunted biker tapping into both Easy Rider’s freewheeling motorcycling chic and a prevailing supernatural zeitgeist.

Preceded by western hero Red Wolf in #1 and the aforementioned Werewolf by Night in #2-4, an all-new Ghost Rider debuted in Marvel Spotlight #5 (August 1972) and took off like a bat out of… well, you know. Soon he was a solidly steadfast part of an all-inclusive Marvel Universe – although admittedly a bit off to one side! This sturdy hardback (or equivalent digital) compendium collects a ferocious fourth helping of his flame-filled early exploits as our haunted outsider hero began his own search for somewhere safe and something special, as specifically seen in Ghost Rider volume 2, #36-50, spanning cover-dates June 1979 to November 1980. As ever the times, tone and context are pre-explained in a forthright essay conveyed here by Jim Salicrup in his Introduction ‘Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself…’

What Has Gone Before: Carnival stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze sold his soul to the devil in an attempt to save his foster-father Crash Simpson from cancer. As is the way of such things, Satan follows the letter but not spirit of the contract and Simpson dies anyway. When the Dark Lord later comes for his prize, Blaze’s beloved virginal girlfriend Roxanne Simpson intervenes. Her purity prevents the Devil from claiming his due and, temporarily thwarted, Satan spitefully afflicts Johnny with a skeletal form that burns with the fires of Hell every time the sun goes down…

After dancing with the Devil and assorted demons for months, Johnny headed to Hollywood and worked as a cinematic double and stuntman: a hazardous gig that brought him into a romantic dalliance with starlet Karen Page, and team-ups with many superheroes and even more clashes with supervillains. He even dabbled with team superheroics as one of The Champions, but the regular paying gig trapped Blaze in a slow but pitiless war with aspiring super-mobster The Enforcer. Moreover, the infernal taint of his curse increasingly brought the Rider (who increasingly presented as an entirely different personality to Blaze) into conflict with misguided heroes like Doctor Strange, Doctor Druid, Hawkeye & Two-Gun Kid… so Johnny ultimately dropped everything to hit the road again…

He consistently found trouble – mundane and supernal – everywhere. Battling human thugs, mutants, magical demons. monsters and aliens the ride almost ended after a deadly race against the personification of death, but Blaze rode ever on…

Now primarily crafted by Michael Fleischer (November 1^st 1942 – February 2^nd 2018) & Don Perlin (August 27^th 1929 – May 14^th 2024), Blaze’s trail resumes here as we roar at top speed down among the dead men for GR #36’s ‘A Demon in Denver!’ Fleischer (Jonah Hex, The Spectre, Conan, Junker) & Perlin (Werewolf By Night, The Defenders, Bloodshot, Solar Man of the Atom) were consolidating a new kind of storytelling style for their hellbound lone star: a nonstop trouble-finding ride across middle America that affected dissolute cycle-bum Blaze as much as his increasingly uncontrollable arcane alter ego…

It brings aimless, penniless Johnny into the mountain metropolis and to a bar where he catches the approving gaze of waitress/dancer Debbie. Tragically, her kindly attentions trigger the brutal, bullying xenophobic and manically possessive local patrons. When their intended beating/lynching of the stranger arouses a diabolical walking hell-storm, Blaze is hard-pressed to divert it and save his attackers from themselves and the city from the enraged, unleashed Ghost Rider…

With their personalities both at war and apparently merging, the flaming demon is then drawn to a circus where stunt cyclists attempting to smash Johnny Blaze’s world car-jumping record. However, his arrival on the ‘Night of the Flame Cycles!’ is also when mobster Dirk Varden sabotages the attempt to extort money out of show owner Farley. In the aftermath, with both his parents dead, the stunt-bikers’ son Davey is offered a way to resurrect them by a satanic cultist…

The cruel temptation is observed by Blaze, who reveals his spectral alter ego to stop the boy repeating his own mistake. As Ghost Rider races away to inflict vengeance on the guilty, the grief-wracked kid follows, witnessing what hell holds as the baleful biker invades Varden’s palatial estate and destroys dozens of mobsters and hangers-on in his drive to punish a killer, subsequently scaring Davey straight when he seeks to shoot Varden, before delivering his own infernal death sentence…

Ever moving on, Blaze faces motorcycle death worshippers ‘The Cult of Doom’ – a growing force in the region but ones who cannot stop him saving the kidnapped daughter of the state Senator Sterling from their acolytes. This noble act makes him a prime target as the disciples of Death and their secret leader turn their full attentions to the Flaming Menace. Blaze finds a job and new friend in mechanic “Harley” Baggs, even agreeing to participate in his dirt bike rally, but when suicidal cult bikers again try to seize Karen Sterling as she also races across the desert, everything turns sour. Johnny again comes to Karen’s rescue, an act that puts him, Baggs and the Brimstone Biker at the top of the Cult’s hit list…

Their next murderous assault unleashes Ghost Rider’s full fury, but only directs the demon into a lethal ambush as ‘Into the Abyss!’ (GR #39, December 1979) reveals his foes are programmed to die rather than fail, and live close to home.

Barely surviving the death riders’ ambush, Johnny joins Senator Sterling’s campaign to end the cult, only to discover vipers at the heart of that project and even more tragedy after briefly growing closer to Karen. In the end, after the demon on wheels confronts the true villains, all Blaze can do is move on and try to forget…

A swift change of pace comes after Johnny reaches the Wichita-Karcinoma Nuclear Plant only to be struck by a hit-&-run driver. Given shelter by disgraced atomic scientist Thurgood Vance and his daughter Angela, Blaze is on hand when gangsters seek to use the boffin’s comeback project – an atom-powered armoured supersuit – to get rich. When their abduction of Angela goes tragically wrong and Thurgood goes berserk, ‘The Menace of the Nuclear Man!’ ultimately pits magical hellfire against atomic fury after Thurgood seeks to assuage his grief by destroying the power plant and everyone in detonation range…

After the Revenant Rider spectacularly foils a truck robbery by notorious bandits The Jackal Gang, exhausted mortal Johnny Blaze hops ‘The Freight Train to Oblivion!’ where fellow freeloaders savagely assault him, thereby stealing not only his wallet and I.D. but also his memories. His befuddled wandering in the desert leads him to an isolated racetrack where race driver Gina Langtree is having car troubles. Whoever the amnesiac is he’s good with engines and soon after she names him Frank Ryder, the wounded wanderer is adopted into the pit crew, provoking an instant attack by pit boss Carl Travis. Thumped by Frank and bollocked by Gina, Travis is put in place and the new couple start some mild canoodling.

Frank ends his very busy day in the bunkhouse. Sadly that’s when the dormant Ghost Rider awakens seeking vengeance on the jackal Gang and roars off into the night of a bike formed from infernal fire…

The lost weekend stops in #42’s ‘The Lonesome Death of Johnny Blaze!’ as Frank awakens in the Langtree Motors bunkhouse, troubled by odd recollections but otherwise unaware of what the Brimstone Biker has done to the robbers he so easily found. Ryder’s second day is his last however as, after saving Gina from a crash, Frank is knocked unconscious by Travis and left to burn in the wreck. Sadly for Carl, Gina sees it all and mourns her new beau even as Travis is arrested. Sadly for what remains of the Jackals, the immolation has reactivated the Ghost Rider who roars off unseen by all to finish what was started the night before. When it is done and humanity returns, a baffled Johnny Blaze is miles from where he last was and taunted by flashes of memories that he can’t explain…

Guest artists Carmine Infantino & Ricardo Villamonte join Fleischer for ‘Night of the Crimson Mage!’ as the Brimstone Biker’s pursuit of robbers traps him into the clutches of scheming sorcerer Azaziah Hornsby. The mystic succeeds in separating the Rider from Blaze, leaving the human to slowly perish whilst the unfettered demon mercilessly rages against all humanity. The tirade one that only pauses after Johnny leaves his deathbed to fight him. In the Tom Sutton inked conclusion ‘Cloak of Crimson – Soul of Dust!’ the unequal contest continues until the unchecked demon notices he also is losing power. The Crimson Mage wants to absorb the hellish force to fuel another thousand years of life, but foiled by Blaze who (despite being hunted by cops) invades the magical citadel and steals paraphernalia to restore the demon to its imprisonment inside him…

Perlin returns for #45 with an overarching plot strand that begins in ‘To Banish a Ghost!’ Downing a beer in Big Herbie’s Tavern, Blaze is infuriated to see swaggering braggart Flagg Fargo on TV, boasting that he will soon take all fabled Johnny Blaze’s stunt records. The clientele soon recognise a star in their midst and drunkenly swear to sponsor him if he will ride against Fargo…

On a new bike with fresh leathers and kit, Johnny starts his comeback duel but his luck runs true and he is hit by a car as he practises. His decline accomplished, his fall comes in ‘The End of a Champion!’ as, despite all his efforts – and in front of the entire world – his boastful opponent proves too much for him. This time even the Ghost Rider cannot help him…

Branding himself a loser, Blaze starts drinking and is targeted by a biker gang, who merciless stalk him. Despite finding some solace with bar server Amy, the relentless bullying and beatings almost break his spirit. In one weak moment he allows ‘The Demon Within!’ to emerge and solve his problems Hell’s way, before finally getting a grip. Blaze recalls his flaming passenger and flees before Amy is harmed, heading into the wastes where more horror awaits. That ride ends as he is attacked by colossal vampire bats in ‘Wind of the Undead!’ before being accused by unfriendly townsfolk of causing trouble and targeted by terrorist Transylvanian émigrés Tabitha Arcanne and Dalton Cartwright. They not only control the winged beasts but also have a medallion that can command the Ghost Rider. It’s not quite enough to save them, though…

As much a lone rider as any cowboy hero, Blaze inevitably met his western cowboy-era prototype predecessor The Night Rider (renamed for convenience and a western reprint title running seven issues from October 1974 to August 1975) as part of his 50^th issue celebration. To facilitate that, the modern, devil-tainted Ghost Rider was subject to ‘The Wrath of the Manitou!’ in #49 after failing to stop dam-bombing saboteurs inundating the region and despoiling sacred Indian burial grounds…

The failure hurled the haunted hero back to the 1870s where Bison Bend school teacher Carter Slade battled injustice as Night Rider, blessed by the spirits and employing legerdemain to bamboozle the wicked. Blaze’s arrival converges with a full-scale attack by a masked supervillain/bandit but as ‘Manitou’s Anger… Tarantula’s Sting!’ shows, valour and hellfire are a formidable force that cannot be overcome. Having proved himself to the Spirits and saved history, Johnny is returned to the now just before that bomb detonates and enjoys a second chance to make things right…

To Be Continued…

Big bold bonanza #50 also included a pin-up selection of ‘Ghost Rider’s Gallery of Guest Stars!’ – namely The Son of Satan by Infantino & Wiacek, Incredible Hulk by Gil Kane & Klaus Janson and Phantom Eagle by Herb Trimpe – as well as a comprehensive Index of all his far-flung fearsome appearances. This titanic turbo-charged tome with covers throughout by Bob Budiansky and inkers Bob Wiacek, Al Gordon, Jack Abel, Al Milgrom, Bob McLeod, Joe Rubinstein, then concludes with the original cover art to #50 and a copious Creator Biographies section.

These tales return Ghost Rider to his roaming roots, and imminent threat of the real-deal Infernal Realm: showing a good man struggling to save his soul from the worst of all bargains – as much as the revised Comics Code would allow – so brace yourself, hold steady and accept no supernatural substitutes…
© 2022 MARVEL.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fast ‘n’ Loose Spooky Truths… 8/10

October 7, 2026

Another Realm

By Kristyna Baczynski (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-917355-35-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

The basis of all drama is an examination of the human condition – albeit sometimes in extraordinary forms, configurations or circumstances. Somehow, that’s even more true when your characters aren’t human at all – as seen throughout this compelling compendium of past works by author/illustrator Kristyna Baczynski. The author/artist hails from the Pennines of Yorkshire, by way of the Carpathians of the Ukraine. That’s not at all germane here, but does hint at many places visited to get here, with events already witnessed. It also sounds incredibly romantic, conjuring up all manner of deep-seated preconceptions about windy moors, bleak moody peaks, poignant meetings, sudden surprises and perpetually building new homes and friendships.

In a nutshell, preconceptions, aspirations, dreams, realisations and that old devil hope are what this book is about…

The appetising menu consists of Baczynski’s first longform comics work – released in 2018 – adroitly accompanied by a glorious smorgasbord of briefer comics works crafted since 2012. During that period they have built a body of work spanning independent zine culture to mainstream publishing, with major names including 2000 AD, Penguin Random House, Hachette, Carlton and Canongate paying bills whilst self-publishing and small press freedoms renourish their soul, and reinvigorate the speculative whimsy…

The review opens with the main course and a fresh look at Retrograde Orbit.

In a faraway star system, a little girl grows up as refugee and immigrant. Flint finds it hard to adapt to life on mining colony world Tisa. Even though she has no real memories of the place, she feels the call of her long-abandoned homeworld Doma. The exodus was due to a geological or maybe industrial toxic detonation, but no one at school cares or understands, and mother and grandmother never want to talk about it…

Years that are never easy go by anyway, and those feelings of something missing don’t go away. Days pass too and Flint grows up, acting out like any teen. She inevitably graduates into a mining job, but the something-missing still plagues her. Moments pass as she collects memoirs and mementos of her lost world, whilst growing increasingly colder and duller.

…And then a message is received from the supposedly dead, barren planet. Flint now has a purpose and a goal, and nothing will stand in the way of her return…

This lyrical, uplifting yarn offers a beautifully understated, moving glimpse at the power of Place in our lives, employing science fiction themes and trappings to dissect the most primitive and fundamental longings to which humans are subject. It also reminds us that there’s always hope. In a glorious celebration of humanity’s constant follies and greatest assets, this tale is certain to be a beloved touchstone for every lover of aspiration and resolve.

The remainder of this virtuoso graphic dishes consist of tasty and tempting small press tales, self-published unless otherwise noted. Leading off and addressing recurring themes of living alone (and the perniciousness of plants!) is ‘My New Hobby Craves Violence’ wherein lonely bookshop worker Pip, fresh out of a soured relationship, adopts a strange pot plant and – aided by online kibitzers and supporters – nurses it back to life with appalling, life-changing repercussions…

‘Vessel’ then audits the life of a youngster looking to fill herself with vivid experiences before ‘A Measure of Space’ shares the life of one of those who survived the meteor crash that shook the world and changed all life upon it…

First seen in 24×7 (published by Fanfare in 2016) ‘Hand Me Down’ traces the mighty passage of life from great saurids through us to what follows humanity, as recorded by an artefact that survives a cascade of eras and epochs by being precious to those at the top of each food chain, after which ‘Vantage’ similarly follows the progress of assorted life forms who think the world revolves for and around them…

Next comes a selection of pieces appropriately deemed Short and Sweet, beginning with a pictorial proposition (from OffLife #6, 2013) that the brain and mindscape are just a ‘Repository’ of experience, followed by scary yarn ‘Yaga’s Light’ (Bimba #2, 2013) wherein dying, desperate peasants follow a phantom into the woods and beg the evil capricious witch there to save them…

That’s augmented by surreal cautionary vignette ‘Scratcher’ (OffLife #10, 2014) and twinned tales from (The Hic & Hoc Illustrated Journal of Humour, 2013). A witty peek at a bunch of funny bones, ‘Fossil Waffle’ is supplemented by a bargain-boasting going-out-of- business sale after Earth calls in the Receivers and canny ET buyers enjoy ‘Galactic Savings’. Next, The Warriors of Junkfood (2026) unleashes kaiju fast food as rampaging ‘Greasy Bandits’, prior to one woman failing to control her appetite for ‘Dinner at Eight’ (from The Strumpet, 2013) before (from The Stool Pigeon, 2012) a beleaguered broken bunny battles on and broaches ‘Another Year, Another Easter’…

Closing our narrative window, ‘Compliments – A Study’ is a dose of self-analysis latterly confirmed by ‘Bleeding’ and a demonstration that ‘A Drawing is Like a Seed’ before a cruelly funny countdown to ultimate feline mortality is explored in ‘Nine Lives’ (originally self-published before picked up by Fantagraphics for The Treasury of Mini Comics volume 2 in 2015). We then close on an expansive ‘Gallery’ of 11 miasmic scenes all intended to further stretch the mind and heart.

The intoxicating joy of drawing and sheer buzz of creation bursts from every page of this cartoon cavalcade, as a rich cosmopolitan blend of inspirational formative events and an international/intergalactic taste for the unexplored and as yet unreachable stars above. From human depths to stellar heights, Another Realm is a gateway to adventure and home away from home for all dreamers to visit as often as possible.
© Kristyna Baczynski 2026. All rights reserved.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Star-Struck Wonderment… 8/10

Another Realm will be released on October 28^th 2026 in Britain and on December 2^nd in the USA. It is available for pre-order now.

October 5, 2026

Green Lantern Sector 2814 volume 2

By Len Wein, Paul Kupperberg, Steven Englehart, Dave Gibbons, Bill Willingham, Joe Staton, Bruce Patterson, Mark Farmer, Rich Rankin & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4078-3 (TPB), 978-1-4012-4812-3 Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

When mortally wounded alien cop Abin Sur crashed on Earth, he commanded his power ring – a device which could materialise thoughts – to seek out a replacement officer, honest and without fear. Scanning the planet, it selected brash young test pilot Hal Jordan in nearby Coast City, California and brought him to the crash-site. The dying alien then bequeathed his ring, the lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his professional vocation to the astonished Earthman.

Over many traumatic wonder-packed years, Jordan grew into one of the greatest members of a serried band of indomitable law-enforcers. The Green Lantern Corps protected the cosmos from evil and disaster for billions of years, policing vast numbers of sentient beings under the severe but benevolent auspices of immortal superbeings who appointed and considered themselves Guardians of the Universe. These undying patrons of Order were one of the first races to evolve and dwelt in sublime, emotionless security and tranquillity on the world of Oa at the very centre of creation.

Green Lanterns are chosen for their capacity to overcome fear and are equipped with a ring that creates solid constructs out of emerald light and offers other informational, procedural defensive, communicative and administrative facilities. The miracle weapon is fuelled by the strength of the user’s willpower, making it one of the mightiest tools imaginable.

For eons, a single individual from each of 3600 arbitrary sub-divisions – “sectors” – of known space was selected to patrol his, her or its own beat, but being cautious, methodical and meticulous masters, the Guardians laid contingency plans, such as appointing designated reserve officers.

Jordan’s substitute was a nice quiet (white) PE teacher named Guy Gardner, but when he was critically injured the Oans’ fallback option was a little worrying to staid, by-the-book Hal. In Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87 (December 1971/January 1972) ‘Beware My Power!’ a bold, new and painfully contemporaneous character was introduced to the DCU. Back then John Stewart was an unemployed architect and full-time radical activist: an angry black man always spoiling for a fight and prepared to take guff from no-one.

Jordan was convinced the Guardians had grievously erred when selecting rash, impetuous Stewart as Sector 2814’s official GL stand-in, but after seeing how his proposed pinch-hitter handled a white supremacist US presidential candidate trying to foment race war, the established and entrenched Emerald Gladiator was delighted to change his tune…

As time progressed Stewart popped up occasionally, even as the Guardians’ motives and ineffability increasingly came into question from many of their once-devoted operatives and peacekeepers. All too frequently, the grunts saw their formerly infallible little blue gods exposed as venal, ruthless, doctrinaire and even capricious…

As his repute grew, headstrong Hal enjoyed an extremely tempestuous relationship with his bosses which eventually resulted in them accusing him of neglecting his space sector – 2814 – to concentrate on Earth’s problems and criminals. When he couldn’t reconcile his love for Carol Ferris and duty to the Corps, Jordan quit…

This second stellar Fight’s ‘n’ Tights compilation gathers Green Lantern #182-183 and 185-193, comprising cover-dates November 1984 through October 1985: a period of radical change and increasing cosmic calamity as the DCU counted inexorably down to a reality-altering Crisis on Infinite Earths…

Without preamble, Len Wein, Dave Gibbons & Mark Farmer continue their groundbreaking reshaping of the legend in ‘It’s a Dirty Job, But…’ wherein the now merely mortal Jordan second-guesses his decision as he revisits Abin Sur’s remote resting place. Meanwhile, across the universe, the Guardians moved swiftly, promoting Stewart to the peacekeeping position in his sector. At this time, the architect is working on rebuilding the shattered Ferris Aircraft complex (a regular collateral casualty of Green Lantern’s complex lifestyle) and had no idea that Hal Jordan was the alter ego of his abruptly “retired” predecessor, nor that GL Jordan’s old enemy Major Disaster had returned and was looking for a fight…

Further complicating matters, Dr. Bruce Gordon – currently employed building a solar engine for Ferris – was being stalked and harassed by his own inner demon made manifest. Before Green Lantern Jordan had helped cure him, Gordon was the unwilling host to a demonic hate-filled energy spirit called Eclipso. Now, that monster was apparently back and seeking to steal the almost-completed solar engine for his own dark designs…

Calamitously, when Major Disaster furiously threatens to destroy a massive hydroelectric dam and flood the entire state, the Emerald Gladiator he stridently demands a rematch with is not the one who turns up…

Refusing to accept any substitute, the madman tectonically triggers a ‘Day of Disaster’… and learns to his sorrow that the masked black man is every inch as competent and formidable as his despised archfoe.

Green Lantern #184 reprinted the origin of Guy Gardner from #59 (1968) and was omitted from this collection but Wein & Gibbons (inking himself) return for #185 as ‘In Blackest Day…!’ sees the new ringbearer for Sector 2814 fully acclimate to his responsibilities. An overnight celebrity and media sensation, Stewart is courted by TV reporter Tawny Young but earns her enmity after refusing to divulge the circumstances of his origin and promotion.

On a more mundane level, Hal still frets over his decision and loss of power, even as his supposedly free-&-clear romance with Carol hits a new snag. Unknown to either of them, she has acquired a super-powered stalker determined to protect her from anything he perceives as a threat…

With Eclipso still secretly beleaguering Gordon, Hal prepares to test-fly the prototype Ferris solar jet, but is ambushed by his old pal and mentor Rich Davis. That medically-disqualified pilot wants one last flight of glory and takes Hal’s place, only to become a hostage when Eclipso snatches the jet out of the sky from his fantastic landscape-rending moon satellite…

‘In Brightest Night…!’ Wein & Gibbons (with plotting input from Paul Kupperberg) sees the new GL rush to the rescue as Hal can only look on helplessly. Then, Carol’s mystery suitor The Predator also boards the moon globe and the situation flares beyond control, resulting in victory at a terrible cost…

Kupperberg, Bill Willingham & Rich Rankin provide a rapid fill-in for #187 (April 1985) as ‘A Day in His Life…’ finds Carol confronted by the Predator who declares his amorous intentions by beating up her current boyfriend Hal, even as John Stewart tackles his first space catastrophe and narrowly escapes destroying the malfunctioning space shuttle he was trying to save. Thankfully, the all-wise Guardians have anticipated teething troubles and despatched veteran GL Katma Tui be his training officer…

The next issue heralded a changing of the guard as writer Steve Englehart and illustrators Joe Staton & Bruce Patterson signed on with ‘Decent Exposure’, wherein Tawny Young outs Stewart on national TV, and he – after some early frustration – decides “so what?”

With Predator proving to be far more than a mere abusive, controlling maniac, proud but pounded Hal swears revenge, even as European ultra-nationalist Sonar returns to destroy the new Green Lantern in his obsessive campaign to prove the superiority of his postage-stamp principality Modora…

After Stewart proves his worth with a uniquely elegant solution to the villain’s sound weapons, ‘Echoes!’ sees Sonar bounce back, escaping from custody with enhanced allies Blindside & Throttle, despite the assistance of Katma Tui. Hal and Carol’s search for Predator lead them to a much-delayed visit with practically-braindead shut-in Guy Gardner, which inadvertently starts those long-dormant cogs clicking again…

Even as Stewart at last apprehends his fugitive foes, a new crisis breaks. ‘Time Out of Mind!’ starts with Tawny Young re-entering the picture, touting years-old video-tape interviews she carried out with Green Arrow, Black Canary, the previous GL, Carol and Stewart himself. Disturbingly, nobody on Earth remembers these meetings and if the journalist hadn’t been raiding the archives, never would have…

As she shows the tapes to the astounded superheroes, Predator nonchalantly ambles in to steal the records and is stunned to realise that the gimmick he’s used to make everyone unable to see him doesn’t work on alien Katma…

A back-up tale – ‘Mind Out of Time!’ – focuses on Hal’s hunt for Predator and furious confrontation in a theatre in front of a bizarre alien musical organ. That preliminary bout becomes the main event in GL #191 as ‘Macho!’ sends John & Katma off-earth to work with Dalor of Timron – Green Lantern of neighbouring Sector 2813 – whilst Hal’s final confrontation with Predator reveals an uncanny, impossible connection to Carol which revives her own darkest and most suppressed secret…

Green Lantern #192 sees the separate storylines converge in ‘First Star I See Tonight!’ with the off-world Emerald officers tackling the immortal amazon warriors of Zamaron, whilst on Earth, Carol reverts to sometime-alter ego Star Sapphire, a murderous monster now finally purged of the annoying, pitiful humanity that held her back from operating as the dominating tyrant and chosen queen of those self-same Zamarons…

Utterly dominating powerless Hal, she reveals the decades-long machinations that have led to this moment of terrible triumph… before teleporting home where three furious Green Lanterns are waiting…

This volume concludes with the return of another Hal villain in ‘Dead Ringer’, but where Jordan defeated the tragic alien Replikon through brute force and guile, Stewart proves his worth through innovation and compassion: building a solution which makes friend out of foe and corrects a grave cosmic injustice…

Way back then, many fans and critics felt the substitution of Jordan with John Stewart was little more than a PC stunt, but time and the quality of the stories proved the decision to be a brilliant one. It certainly offered a cruelly under-served portion of the readership another solid role model, but as time progressed and the different personalities and approaches coalesced, the move led to a huge expansion and re-evaluation the nature of being a DC hero.

And the best was still to come…
© 1984, 1985, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

September 30, 2026

Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey Book 12: Day of the Heroes!

By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras, Paul Duffield & Armin Roshdi (DFB/Phoenix)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-391-2 (HB), 978-1-78845-434-6 (Waterstones Exclusive Edition)

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

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

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

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

With artistic fiddling about from design deputy Sammy Borras, the unending war of nerves and mega-ordnances assumes a posture of asymmetric – if not arrhythmic and asthmatic – warfare as a series of sequences starring assorted minor artisans sees much of the cast taking a bit of a breather… at least on paper. It all opens with a few fluffy tales of ‘Bunny in… “Home is Where the Heart is”.’ It all begins one not so very ‘Good Morning’ as Monkey’s thoughtlessness and Skunky’s careless use of volcanoes and microwave ovens finally provokes the wracked rabbit to pack up and leave. Still hungry for ‘The Good Life’ our gentle hero seeks an isolated wilderness to be ‘A New Home’ but discovers all the best spots of perfect peacefulness have been previously “bagsied” by enigmatic furry Thoreau Le Fox…

However things turn really odd when Bunny uncovers sacred standing stones and manifests a sentient palatial edifice that floats on air and offers to cater to every whim…

Meanwhile back wherever Crinkle Woods is, Monkey & Skunky are missing their old niceness nemesis and unleash colossal mutant hybrid shark ‘Hammer Honk’ to keep the ADHD-ape amused, even as, far away on “A Day in the Life of Bunny … and his enchanted House!” arachnophobe Bunny adopts an 8-legged housemate in ‘“Brenda”’. Thanks to her passion for digging, before long she has uncovered ‘A New Guest’ who turns out to be the miraculous Grand Spirit of the Woodland… and a bit of a nuisance…

Nothing lasts forever, and the peaceful days end in ‘Underpants!’ when Monkey & Action-Beaver invade the magical kingdom with newly-minted monster Terror-Dactyl in search of entertainment and encounter a very unwelcoming Woodland Spirit…

As if anticipating Bunny’s imminent return, sensible but naïve robot Metal E.V.E. is trying to build him a perfect new home, but the good deed is hijacked by time-warping Skunky who casually turns all involved into ‘Old Folks’ just as disorder is fully restored and the Grand Spirit evicts all the crazy critters and despatches them ‘Home’…

As they all resettle in, focus shifts to superfast sweetheart aye-aye Ai in “Ai’ll Be Back!” – a relay race of rapid-fire adventures that opens with ‘Thants!’ as a REALLY GIANT giant anteater is turned loose during National Ant Day and only Ai can stop the tongue-lashing it begins, after which chaos is unleashed when our misplaced Madagascan finds Skunky’s Graveyard of Failed Scientific Experiments and is bitten by a disembodied undead head, sustaining a nasty ‘Zombiebooboo’…

Whilst Monkey indulges in a spot of robotic ‘Dino-War!’ – and briefly acquires the stern maternal influence he always needed – Squirrel Weenie, Pig Piggerton and Metal E.V.E. become the first of many woodfolk turned ‘Tiny and Whiney’ and stuffed in Skunky’s Jar of Idiots. Sadly one of them is bitey, zombie-contagious Ai and before long the plague of the gambolling dead is everywhere, as seen in apocalyptic vision ‘Guhhhh!’, prompting the evil genius to sideline his attempts to build/grow a superbrain ‘From Scratch’ to sort things out. Of course, said brain ‘Smartypants’ has ideas of its own, and once Monkey meddles some more, the war of Zombies vs Supercomputer! rages out of control until the mighty mind in a jar devises a cure for undead bitey-ness which it then cruelly locks away in ‘The Box’…

However, despite being afflicted with zombie hunger, the aye-aye has enough grit and resolve to step up and sort it, to become ‘Ai, Saviour of the World’…

With what passes for normality restored to the Woods we next pay some attention to ‘Pig + Weenie in “Pig & Weenie Fun Police”’ as after five days of noxious obnoxiousness and Monkey playing with his ‘Fart Face’ chemical weapon, the sweet simpletons found an official vigilante team to stop the horror. However once the job is done it’s hard to stop and soon they are annoying/cheering up Underwater Adventurer Le Fox as he tries to be a ‘Water Grump!’ and unwelcomely refereeing the 563^rd Annual ‘Bonk Bonk’ Race, befriending and defending Skunky’s runaway terror ‘Robotron’ before confronting Pig’s potent desire to be a poodle in ‘Arf!’

‘A Day in the Life of “Pig & Weenie Fun Police!”’ sees the variety of purely existential perils involved in cheering folk up, after which a family visit to Jonty, Monty, Ponty and Big Bertha Piggerton broadens Weenie’s horizons and highlights who is ‘The Wrong Pig’ whilst preceding a genuine rescue mission as the Fun Police save beleaguered Bunny from a House of Nightmares in ‘The Winchester’ and overindulge in one final mission to stop Skunky’s recently-mined ‘Shiny Pebbles’ fuelling an arsenal to techno terrors…

Generally regarded as “The Unluckiest Red Panda in the World!!”, next to shine here is ‘Lucky in “Stay Lucky!”’ with a simple fun session with the gang going awry in ‘Card Luck’, and doubled down on in ‘Statuesque’ as Monkey’s latest Bunny-bothering collaterally lands Lucky in the muck, prior to everything changing after encountering mystic monument ‘The Tablet’ in the really deep, dark woods…

‘Brown Duck’ then details a noisome scatological sidestep, but if we all hold our noses it’s soon over and the fallout of a cosmic change sparked by latrine lunacy and toilet terrorism can be registered as a ‘Lucky Chance’ and heralding a flipping of fortune for the pitiable panda…

As she becomes “the Luckiest Red Panda in the World!”, her ‘Attitude Adjustment’ scuppers a potentially lethal attempt to blow Action Beaver into space. Karmically, her new status doesn’t extend to those around her, so when ‘The Decoy’ finds a duplicate of Monkey making mayhem for all and his acts as Cardboard Samurai Monkey creating a cascade of all-conquering ‘Cardboard Creations’ she steps in to shield them. However, confusion and carnage culminate in a cross-chronological panda pair-up as time-travel allows ‘The Next Lucky’ to come back from the future to warn that her fortunes are about to change again…

The animal assemblage concludes for now with a look at enigmatic sage ‘“Le Fox in “Big ol’ Grump!”’ It opens long ago as an impressionable fox cub meets a crusty hibernating bruin who shapes his mental and philosophical growth in ‘Bearing It’… but not as much as the pesky bees buzzing him…

In the present, perpetually irritable Le Fox is caught in Monkey’s latest attempts to annoy Bunny in ‘Natural Mystery’ and retaliates with devasting aplomb, before ‘Ah, Poop!’ sees Skunky unwisely boast to his partner in perfidy that his poo collection is now perfectly complete even as deep underground, Le Fox shares his views on despondency with sad Metal E.V.E. and demonstrates vengeance as a means of ‘Coping’ when Monkey interrupts their musings…

Eternally anarchic Monkey’s meddling with Skunky’s reality-warping Wishinator leads to Le Fox achieving Godzilla-like size and temperament in ‘Wish Big’ but all his rampaging and ‘Stomping About’ is rightly directed at one small hairy nutcase, before a calamitous event heralds big changes for everybody as eerie, appalling Signalmen invade the wood and all those left free must find ‘A Place to Hide’…

As those few survivors seek ways to make Le Fox ‘Smaller’ desperation forms an alliance of former foes, but no one made them joint pilot the ridiculous mega-mecha Bunny vs Monkey-a-tron in a last-ditch duel of colossi, even if it does somehow save the day and create ‘An Understanding’ and peaceful resolutions not even one last unleashed tentacle monster can disrupt…

Wrapping up these sidereal shenanigans, farty fooffawraws and monster bum gags are a few related activities offered under the aegis of the Phoenix Comics Club. Bring paper, pencils and yourself to a compact online course in all aspects of comic strip creation supervised by Jamie Smart and Armin Roshdi. This time the subjects are ‘How to draw the Floating Island’, including tips on The Cosy Cabin, Pond and Sewer Waterfalls before closing with an extensive plug for the Phoenix Comics Club website, complete with instant access via QR codes, plus previews of other treats & wonders to be seen in The Phoenix to wind down from all that philosophical fun and Kaiju kerfuffle…

Another book for your kids to explain to you, Bunny vs Monkey – Day of the Heroes! is weird wit, wild invention, potent sentiment and superb cartooning incautiously crammed into one eccentrically excellent package. These tails never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. Is that you?
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Just Trust Me… It’s Beyond Your Control But Worth It … 10/10

Bunny vs Monkey – Day of the Heroes! will be released on October 8^th 2026 and is favailable for pre-order now.

September 29, 2026September 28, 2026

Deadman: Book Three

By Cary Bates, Gerry Conway, Arnold Drake, Bob Haney, Paul Levitz, Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, Jim Aparo, Fred Carillo, Mike Grell, Kurt Scaffenberger, Romeo Tanghal, Tex Blaisdell, Vince Colletta, Dick Giordano, Bob Layton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3728-8 (TPB), 978-1-4012-4198-8 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Deadman debuted in Strange Adventures #205 cover-dated October 1967 and on sale from August 29^th. He heralded a new kind of superhero comic at a time when costumed crusaders were in their second decline in 20 years, and edgy if not actually scary supernatural stories were increasingly attracting the attention of the entire world.

In his wake TV introduced Dark Shadows, sci fi anthologies Outer Limits and Twilight Zone segued into Rod Serling’s Night Gallery whilst movies like Rosemary’s Baby revolutionised scary cinema. In literature, a revival of Gothic romance set pulses racing and hearts fluttering once more. However, in many ways it was business as usual as horror stories had been a top seller since books began and plays, comics, radio, and TV since its earliest incarnations had dwelt heavily upon tales of the unknown…

As the 1960s ended, its colossal superhero boom became a slow but certain bust, with formerly major successes no longer able to find enough readers to keep them alive. The appetite for costumed clowns was paling in favour of a resurgence of more traditional genres, and one rational editorial response was to reshape comic characters to fit evolving contemporary tastes.

Publishers swiftly changed gears and even staid, cautious DC reacted rapidly, making masked heroes fit the new landscape. Newly revised and revived costumed features included roving mystic troubleshooter The Phantom Stranger and golden age colossus The Spectre, whilst resurgent traditional genres spawned atrocity-faced WWII spy Unknown Soldier and cowboy bounty hunter Jonah Hex, spectral western avenger El Diablo and game-changing monster hero Swamp Thing, spearheading a wave of new formats, anthologies and concepts.

Moreover, supernatural themes and horror-tinged plots were shoehorned into those superhero titles that weathered the trend-storm. Arguably, the moment of surrender and change had already arrived with the creation of Boston Brand in the autumn of 1967, when venerable science fiction anthology Strange Adventures was abruptly retooled as the haunted home of an angry ghost…

This third Deadman collection (of five) again proves that changing times and tastes demand different heroes, with pertinent material from World’s Finest Comics #223 & 227: The Phantom Stranger #33, 39-41; Brave and the Bold #133, Superman Family #183 and DC Super-Stars #18, cumulatively spanning cover-dates May/June 1974 to Winter 1978, and confirming that as tastes vacillate, the valiant dead can keep on going simply by changing a bit of perspective…

High wire acrobat Boston Brand was a rough, tough, jaded performer who had seen everything and masked his decent human heart behind an obnoxious exterior and cynical demeanour. As “Deadman”, Brand had been the star attraction of Hills Circus and lover of its reluctant owner Lorna Carling. He also acted as a secret guardian for the misfits it employed and sheltered. One fateful night, Brand almost missed his cue because he had to stop a local cop harassing circus mystic Vashnu. It would have better if Brand had been late, because as soon as he started his act – 40 feet up and without a net – someone put a rifle slug into his heart. Despite being dead before he hit the ground, Brand was scared and furious. Nobody could see or hear him screaming, and Vashnu kept babbling on that he was the chosen of Rama Kushna – “the spirit of the universe”. The hokum all proved horribly true when that entity astonishingly made contact, telling Boston that he would walk among men until he found his killer.

The gig came with some advantages. He was invisible, untouchable, immune to physical laws and able to take possession of the living and drive them like meat cars. His only clue was witnesses in the audience who claimed that a man with a hook had shot him…

Brand’s hunt brought him into contact with killer mystic The Sensei – a master murderer who has dealt with ghosts before – and helplessly, frustratingly, experienced the end of the Hook. When the Sensei executed Boston’s quarry, Rama Kushna asked if a balance has been struck and capitalised on Brand’s furious negative response. Brand demanded true justice for everyone and inadvertently elected himself the agent of its enactment…

The search had brought him into contact with Batman (and other superheroes) and together they saved a Tibetan spiritual paradise on Earth. Sensei’s League of Assassins deemed benevolent Shangri La Nanda Parbat bad for the business of murder, and Deadman’s efforts to save the city from invasion were coloured by the fact that within its boundaries he becomes a living, breathing person again…

By the time of this outing, and thanks to a rapprochement with his aerialist twin brother Cleveland Brand, Deadman has found his killer, but only uncovered infinitely more injustice and innate rottenness at the heart of the world. Now he roams aimlessly, despondent and nearly mad…

Opening in World’s Finest Comics #223, Superman & Batman recruit Brand to help in their search for a serial killer. Shocks abound when all evidence points to the culprit being the brain-damaged, secretly institutionalised, unsuspected older brother of Bruce Wayne! When the whole truth emerges in ‘Wipe the Blood Off My Name’ (Bob Haney, Dick Dillin & Vince Colletta), the lonely, isolated ghost goes off the rails and decides to keep on possessing mentally vacant Thomas Wayne Jr.

Batman has other ideas though…

Apparently ignoring these events, Deadman then clashes with The Phantom Stranger (#33, November 1974 by Drake & Mike Grell) during the Man with No Name’s war against spiritual mad scientist Dr Zorn. In ‘Deadman’s Bluff!’, the ghost’s protracted, and apparently obsessively pointless hunt for his own murderer is exploited by the villain. As ever, the chase ends in frustration and fury for Boston, even though Zorn fails to spark war between the ethereal avengers, and instead causes an antagonistic partnership to be formed between them. After months of relentless manhunting, Batman’s search for Thomas Wayne culminates in ‘Death Flaunts its Golden Grin’ (WFC #227, February 1975 by Haney, Dillin & Tex Blaisdell), as the caped crusaders accidentally find the fugitives whilst tracking global smugglers. That moment of triumph is brief and ends in tragedy for all concerned, after which the guy in the hat gets reacquainted with the spectre in skin-tights for Phantom Stranger #39’s ‘Death Calls Twice for a Deadman’: a last-ditch effort to revive dwindling sales as horror stories faced their own decline.

Guest-starring The Sensei, it signalled a belated return to the company’s over-arching continuity, but was too little, too late. Deadman similarly co-starred in PS #40’s ‘In the Kingdom of the Blind’ and #41’s concluding chapter ‘A Time for Endings’(February-March 1976 and both by Paul Levitz & Fred Carillo). Now modern mage Dr Nathan Seine sought to bring Elder Gods to Earth using blind psychic Cassandra Craft as a medium…

With that tale’s finish, his series ended and the Phantom Stranger all-but-vanished until the winter of 1978 and a giant-sized Deadman team-up tale from DC Super-Stars #18 that is happily forthcoming.

First, though, Deadman – by Haney & Jim Aparo – remanifests in Brave and the Bold #133 to deliver ‘Another Kind of Justice!’ to aging rum-runner Turk Bannion when his heir and murderer turns to a more modern form of smuggling with Dark Knight & Wandering Wraith objecting. Uncanny events hit a lighter note next as Cary Bates, Kurt Schaffenberger & Colletta explore inexplicable somnolent excursions on ‘The Day Lois Lane Walked All Over Superman!’ (Superman Family #183, May June 1977). Here, though, Brand invisibly aids all concerned as a monomaniacal psychic messes with mind-control and body-borrowing…

Closing this grimoire of the dead-&-gone is that epic clash from DC Super-Stars #18. Concocted by Gerry Conway, Marty Pasko, Romeo Tanghal, Dick Giordano & Bob Layton, ‘Phantom Stranger and Deadman’ was an extended Halloween extravaganza seeing the moribund supernatural champions – with venerable vintage ghost-breaker Dr. Terrence Thirteen and necromantic nemesis Tala, Goddess of Evil in attendance – attempting to eradicate an infestation of demons lethally infiltrating the comic book Mecca of the season: Rutland, Vermont (long associated in both Marvel and DC titles as the only place to be on the Eve of All Hallows). The war was for humanity’s survival and no-one escaped unscathed…

With covers by Aparo & Neal Adams, this graphic grimoire perfectly captures the echoes of an era in transition through a delirious run of comics classics no ardent art lover or fanatical fear aficionado can do without.
© 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

September 26, 2026September 25, 2026

The Adventures of Blake and Mortimer: The Complete Collection volume 1

By Edgar P. Jacobs, coloured by Philippe Biermé & Luce Daniels, with material by Brieg F. Haslé & Nicolas Thibaudin, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-147-7 (Album HB), 978-1-80044-776-9 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Today in 1946, the European post war comics revolution began with the release of multi-national anthology periodical Le Journal de Tintin. This strip was the Other big draw of those early years and remains one of my all-time favourites…

Le Journal de Tintin launched on 26^th September 1946, and evolved through the post-war Years to become a benchmark of quality comics storytelling. Initially “the magazine for the Youth from 7 to 77” was intended to create longform stories for later book publication by serialising stories in increments – a method still used to this day. It sold in a number of countries and regions in their own languages, initially combining new material with recycled and modified episodes of previous Tintin tales, before moving to all new material. Publication ceased in 1993, with the 29^th June edition.

For the first three years LJdT was home to an astounding unfolding epic that enthralled the readership. The first of so many, The Adventures of Blake and Mortimer were converted into books which been tweaked over decades and are presented complete in this single volume, which gathers The Secret of the Swordfish part 1 The incredible Chase; Part 2 Mortimer’s Escape; and Part 3 SX1 Strikes Back, and includes fascinating background features by Brieg F Haslé and Nicholas Thibaudin…

Belgian Edgard Félix Pierre Jacobs (1904-1987) is rightly regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Continental comics industry. Although his output was relatively scant compared to some of his contemporaries, the iconic series he created formed the basis and foundation of the art form in Europe, and his splendidly adroit, roguish yet impeccably British adventurers Blake and Mortimer – from the premiere issue of Le Journal de Tintin onwards – became a staple of post-war European kids’ life, the way Dan Dare would in Britain across the 1950s.

E.P. Jacobs was born in Brussels, a precocious child who began feverishly drawing from an early age but was even more obsessed with music and the performing arts – especially opera. He attended a commercial school but, determined never to work in an office, pursued art and drama following his graduation in 1919. A succession of odd jobs at opera-houses; scene-painting, set decoration, acting and singing as an Extra supplemented his private performance studies, and in 1929 Jacobs won a Government award for classical singing. Sadly, his proposed career as an opera baritone was ended by the Great Depression, as the Arts sector took a nosedive following the stock market crash.

Picking up whatever stage work was going (including singing and performing) Jacobs segued into commercial illustration in 1940 and regular employment came from the magazine Bravo. While illustrating short stories and novels, Jacobs famously took over the syndicated Flash Gordon strip after occupying German authorities banned Alex Raymond’s quintessentially All-American Hero. This left the publishers desperately seeking someone to satisfactorily complete the saga., but Jacobs’ Stormer Gordon lasted less than a month before being similarly sanctioned by the Nazis. Thus Jacobs created his own epic science-fantasy feature in the legendary Le Rayon U: a milestone in both Belgian comics and science fiction adventure. The U Ray was a huge hit in 1943 and scored big all over again a generation later when Jacobs reformatted the original “text-block & picture” material to incorporate speech balloons before re-running the serial in Le Journal de Tintin, with subsequent releases forming a trio of graphic albums in 1974.

There are conflicting accounts of how Jacobs and Tintin creator Hergé got together and why they parted ways professionally, if not socially, but as to the whys and wherefores of the split, I frankly don’t care. What is known is this: whilst crafting the weekly U Ray, one of Jacob’s other jobs was scene-painting, and during the staging of a theatrical version of Tintin and the Cigars of the Pharaoh, Hergé and Jacobs met and became friends. If the comics maestro was unaware of Jacob’s comics output before then, he was certainly made aware of it soon after. Jacobs began working on Tintin, colouring the original monochrome strips of The Shooting Star from newspaper Le Soir for a forthcoming album collection. By 1944, Jacobs was performing similar service for Tintin in the Congo, Tintin in America, King Ottokar’s Sceptre and The Blue Lotus. By now, he was also contributing to the illustration as well, on extended epic The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun.

Jacob’s love of opera made it into the feature as Hergé (who loathed the stuff) teasingly created bombastic Bianca Castafiore as a comedy foil and based numerous bit players (like Jacobini in The Calculus Affair) on his long-suffering assistant. After the war and liberation, publisher Raymond Leblanc convinced Hergé, Jacobs and other creatives to work for his new venture. Launching publishing house Le Lombard, he also started Le Journal de Tintin, an anthology comic. Edited by Hergé, with various language editions in Belgium, France and Holland starring the intrepid boy reporter plus a host of newer heroes.

Beside Hergé, Jacobs and writer Jacques van Melkebeke, the comic also featured Paul Cuvelier’s Corentin and Jacques Laudy’s ‘The Legend of the Four Aymon Brothers’. Laudy had been a friend of Jacobs’ since they worked together on Bravo, and the first instalment of foreboding epic thriller serial Le secret de l’Espadon starred a bluff, gruff British scientist Professor Philip Mortimer as well as an English Military Intelligence officer who was closely modelled on Laudy: Captain Francis Blake.

The complete serialised saga ran from issue #1 (26^th September 1946 to September 8^th 1949): and confirmed Jacobs’ status as a star in his own right. In 1950, with the first 18 pages slightly redrawn, Le secret de l’espladon V1 (The Secret of the Swordfish – The Incredible Chase) became Le Lombard’s first album release; with the concluding part published 3 years later. Those volumes were reprinted nine more times between 1955 – 1982, with an additional single complete deluxe edition released in 1964. In 1984 the story was reformatted and repackaged in English translation as 3 volumes with additional material (mostly covers from the weekly Tintin added to the story as splash pages). It was part of a European push to win some of Britain’s lucrative love of Tintin & Asterix, but ended after seven volumes, having failed to find an audience. Happily, Cinebook successfully reintroduced us to the dashing duo – albeit after publishing later adventures first – and you can revel in their wonderment in either paperback album or eBook formats. Or in this Complete edition…

Hergé & Jacobs purportedly suffered a split in 1947 when the former refused to grant the latter a by-line on new Tintin material, but since they remained friends for life and Jacob’s continued to produce Blake and Mortimer for the Belgian weekly, I think it’s fair to say that if such was the case it was a pretty minor spat. I suspect The Secret of the Swordfish was simply taking up more and more of the brilliant, diligent artist’s time and attention…

The U Ray also provided early visual inspiration for Blake, Mortimer and implacable nemesis Colonel Olrik, who bear more than passing resemblances to heroic Lord Calder, Norlandian boffin Marduk and viperous villain Dagon.

One minor word of warning: by having the overarching enemies of mankind be a secret Asiatic “Yellow Peril” empire of evil, there’s potential for offence – unless one actually reads the text and finds that the presumed implicit racism is countered throughout by plenty of “good” ethnic characters and “evil” white folk. And remember the ultimate enemy Olrik could pass for a British stockbroker or political party candidate any day of the week…

This complete edition offers the entire epic in one almighty go and is sublimely supplemented by factual and contextual gold, mined by Brieg F. Haslé and Nicolas Thibaudin.

Delivered as The Secret Notebooks of Blake, Jacobs, and Mortimer, fun facts are broken down into engaging preparatory dossiers, divided by year and packed with candid preparatory material, designs and sketches. For 1946 we see a Synopsis of the first book; meet Jacobs ‘In his own words’; share ‘Mortimer’s Confidences’ and go ‘Behind the Scenes’ to examine extraordinary ‘Jacobsian Machines’ with ‘The Golden Rocket’. Then ‘Emblematic Characters’ reviews Olrik and we see ‘What Lies Behind a page’ with narrative techniques deconstructed in ‘The Third Word War Live… on Radio!’ before the initial episode begins…

The Secret of the Swordfish Part 1 – The Incredible Chase

Humanity’s next world war begins with ‘The Incredible Chase’ as a unknown army hidden in the Himalayas prepares to launch a global Blitzkrieg on a world slowly recovering from its second planetary conflagration. Wicked Basam Damdu, Emperor of Tibet, has assembled an arsenal of technological super-weapons and the world’s worst rogues such as insidious Colonel Olrik in a bid to seize control of Earth. However, a bold British-Asian spy has infiltrated the hidden fortress and surrenders his life to get off a warning message.

In England, physicist and engineer Philip Mortimer and MI5 Captain Francis Blake discuss the worsening situation at an industrial installation where the boffin’s radical new aircraft engine is being completed. When warning comes that the war begins that night, the old friends swing into immediate action. As super-bombers rain destruction down on all the world’s cities, Mortimer’s dedicated team prepares his own prototype, the Golden Rocket, for immediate launch, lifting off just as Olrik’s bombers appear over the desolate compound. Despite heavy fire, the Rocket easily outdistances rapacious Imperial forces, leaving ruined homes in its wake and the fleeing Britons flying into a hostile world now controlled by brutal maniac Basam…

Whilst attempting to join British Middle East resistance forces who possess another prototype super-plane, teething troubles and combat damage create tense moments in the fugitives’ flight. When the Rocket encounters a flight of jets, the test ship’s superior firepower enables it to fight free, but only at the cost of more structural deterioration. Fully failing now, the Rocket goes down in the rocky wilds between Iran and Afghanistan. Parachuting free of the doomed ship, Blake, Mortimer and the crew are machine-gunned by pursuing Empire jets…

Only three men make it to the ground safely and after days of struggle Blake, Mortimer and the indomitable Jim are cornered by Iranian troops who have joined Olrik’s forces. Sensing disaster, the Britons hide the plans to Mortimer’s super-plane, but one of the Iranians sees the furtive act. When no one is looking – especially his superiors – Lieutenant Ismail hurriedly scoops up the documents. Somehow, he misses one…

Under lock & key and awaiting Olrik’s arrival, the prisoners are accosted by Ismail, who sees opportunity for personal advancement which the Englishmen turn to their own advantage. Denouncing him, Blake instigates a savage fight between Ismail and his captain. During the brief struggle Jim sacrifices himself, allowing Blake & Mortimer’s escape with the recovered plans. Stealing a lorry, the desperate duo drive out into the dark desert night.

Followed by tanks into mountain passes, the wily pair trap their pursuers in a ravine just as hill partisans attack. The Imperial collaborators are wiped out and – upon trading information with the freedom fighters – the Englishmen take a captured vehicles to a distant rendezvous with the second Golden Rocket. Lack of fuel forces them to stop at a supply dump where they are quickly discovered, but by setting the dump ablaze, the heroes escape again. In the desert Olrik has arrived and found a sheet of notes left behind by Ismail. The cunning villain is instantly aware of what it means…

Fighting off aerial assaults from Empire jets and streaking for the mountains, Blake & Mortimer abandon their tank. Forced to travel on foot, they at last reach the meeting point where British-trained Sergeant Ahmed Nasir awaits them. The Indian served with Blake during the last war and is delighted to see him again, but as the trio make their way to the target site, they become aware that Olrik has already captured their last hope…

Only temporarily disheartened, the trio use commando tactics to infiltrate Olrik’s camp, stealing not the heavily-guarded prototype but the villainous Colonel’s own Red-Wing super-jet. Back on course to the British resistance forces, the seemingly-cursed fugitives are shot down by friendly fire: rebels perceiving the stolen plane as another enemy target.

Surviving this crash too, they are ferried in relative safety by apologetic tribesmen to enemy-occupied town Turbat. Whilst hiding, a spy of the Empire’s newly-appointed Wazir recognises the Englishmen. When Nasir realises they are in trouble, he dashes to the rescue but is too late to prevent Mortimer from being drugged. Sending the loyal Sergeant on ahead, Blake fights frantically to revive his comrade, even as Imperial troopers rapidly mount the stairs to their exposed upper room…

To Be Continued…

But only after Section 1947 offers more bonus material infilling the making of the tale. Here The Secret Notebooks… contribute another volume Synopsis while ‘In his own words’ concentrates on successor scripter Jean Van Hamme before Mortimer’s confidences reviews pertinent covers. ‘Behind the scenes’ focuses on the wide-ranging locations of the tale; Jacobsian Machines highlights ‘The Red Wing’ and Emblematic Characters explores the antecedents of arch villain Basam Damdu, whilst What Lies Behind a page and Setting The Mood delve into how Mortimer’s imprisonment is expressed, prior to the saga resuming…

The Secret of the Swordfish Part 2 – Mortimer’s Escape

This second instalment escalates the tale to another epic level, as the frantic action resumes with soldiers bursting into an empty chamber before being themselves attacked by the Khan. After a bloody firefight our heroes emerge from their cunning hiding place and flee Turbat, which has been seized by a furious spur-of-the-moment rebellion. Unknown to the fugitives, devious spy Bezendjas is hard on their heels and soon finds an opportunity to inform Olrik.

With the city in flames and fighting in every street, the callous colonel abandons his own troops to pursue Nasir, Blake & Mortimer into the wastes beyond the walls. On stolen horses the heroes endure all the ferocious hardships of the desert, but cannot outdistance Olrik’s staff-car. After days of relentless pursuit, they reach the rocky coastline and almost stumble into another Empire patrol. Whilst ducking them, Blake nearly falls to his doom…

Narrowly escaping death, the trio continue to climb steep escarpments and it is dusk before the Intelligence Officer realises that he has lost the precious plans and documents they have been carrying since fleeing England. Realising that someone must reach British resistance forces at their hidden Eastern base, the valiant comrades split up. Blake and Nasir continue onwards whilst Mortimer returns to the accident site. Finding the plans is a stroke of sheer good fortune, immediately countered by an ambush from Olrik’s troops. Despite a Herculean last stand, the scientist is taken prisoner, but only after successfully hiding the lost plans…

Three months later, Olrik is called to account in the exotic city-fortress of Lhasa. Basam-Damdu’s ruling council are unhappy with the Colonel’s lack of progress in breaking the captive British scientist, and even more infuriated by a tidal-wave of sabotage and armed rebellion throughout their newly-conquered territories. Even Olrik’s own spies are warning that his days as an agent of the Yellow Empire are numbered…

Given two days to make Mortimer talk, the Colonel returns to his base in Karachi just as another rebel raid allows Nasir to infiltrate the Empire’s HQ. Blake is also abroad in the city, having joined British forces in the area…

With less than a day to act, the MI5 officer rendezvous with a British submarine and travels to a vast atomic-powered secret installation under the Straits of Hormuz. Here, the Royal Navy are stoically preparing for a massive counter-attack on the Empire. With raids liberating interned soldiers all the time, ranks of scientists, technicians and soldiers are swelling daily.

Meanwhile, Nasir has his own desperate plan to free Mortimer, still adamantly refusing to talk of the mysterious “Swordfish” Olrik’s agents continually hear of…

Aware of his danger and the Sergeant’s efforts, Mortimer instead cunningly informs Nasir of the lost plans’ location, even as the impatient Emperor’s personal torturer arrives from Lhasa.

Always concerned with the greater good, Blake and a commando team secure the concealed plans and are met by Nasir who has been forced from Karachi after realising Bezendjas has recognised him. It appears that time has run out for their scholarly comrade…

Mortimer, however, has taken fate into his own hands. When the devious doctor Sun Fo begins his interrogation, the Professor breaks free and escapes into the fortress grounds during an earth-shattering storm. Trapped in a tower with only a handgun, he is determined to sell his life dearly, but is rescued by Blake and Nasir in a Navy Helicopter. Using the storm for cover, the heroes evade jet pursuit and an enemy naval sweep to link up with a British sub and escape into the night…

To Be Concluded…

Haslé & Thibaudin conclude The Secret Notebooks of Blake, Jacobs, and Mortimer with 1949 providing more bonus material reconstructing the embattled world. A Synopsis and overview includes In his own words spotlighting Philippe Biermé (President of the Edgar P. Jacobs Foundation) and successor artist Ted Benoit before Mortimer’s confidences considers more historical inspirations for story characters, Behind the scenes reviews more iconic covers and reformatting the serial for book publication; Jacobsian Machines shares design secrets of The Swordfish and Emblematic Characters denounces Razul the Bezendjas. What Lies Behind a page and Setting The Mood concludes the briefing with a closer look at key scene The Spider Crab Pit before the saga concludes with The Secret of the Swordfish Part 3 – SX1 Strikes Back!

After three years of stunning intrigue, mystery and action, E.P. Jacobs’ groundbreaking saga of a battle for global peace and universal liberty concluded in a spectacular duel beneath the Earth and all-out war in the skies of the embattled world. SX1 Strikes Back sees a tension-drenched race against time as Blake, Mortimer and the shattered dregs of Britain’s military forces prepare for a last-ditch strike using the Professor’s greatest inventions to win freedom for the oppressed peoples of Earth…

It opens with a stunning reprise of past events – cunningly compiled from six full-page illustrations (original covers from weekly Le Journal de Tintin), before a bold commando raid liberates a trainload of British prisoners. Brought to a fabulous subterranean fortress, the assorted scientists and engineers discover an underground railway, factory, armaments-facilities and even an atomic pile, all furiously toiling to complete the mysterious super-weapon dubbed “Swordfish”. The P.O.W.s readily join the volunteers, blithely unaware that supremely capable scoundrel Olrik is amongst them in devilish disguise…

Days pass and as preparations for the Big Push produce satisfactory results, a slew of disastrous accidents lead to one inescapable conclusion: there is a saboteur in the citadel…

Eventually Olrik grows overconfident and Mortimer exposes the infiltrator in a crafty trap. However, in a fraught confrontation the Colonel escapes after almost causing a nuclear catastrophe. Fleeing across the seabed, the harried spy narrowly avoids capture by diver teams and a hungry giant octopus! The flight takes its toll upon Olrik and he barely reaches land alive. Luckily for him, Bezendjas has been checking out that region of coastline and finds the exhausted scoundrel trapped in his stolen deep-sea suit. After a lengthy period, the dazed desperado recovers and delivers his hard-won information. All too soon, Imperial forces are converging on the British bastion.

As air and sea forces bombard the rocky island and sea-floor citadel, Olrik dispatches crack troops to break in via a concealed land entrance, resulting in a staggering clash in the depths of the Earth.

They were almost in time…

After months of desperate struggle, Mortimer and his colleagues have rushed to complete the incredible Swordfish: a hypersonic attack jet with uncanny manoeuvrability and appallingly destructive armament. Astoundingly launched from beneath the sea, a sleekly sinister plane single-handedly shoots the Empire jets out of the skies before sinking dozens of attacking ships. Ruthlessly piloting SX1 is Francis Blake; and even as he wreaks havoc upon the invading force, he is joined by SX2: a second, equally unstoppable super-jet…

Before long the Yellow Empire is in full retreat. A squadron of Swordfish is completed and with the once-occupied planet in full revolt, Lhasa soon tastes the flaming death it callously inflicted upon a peaceful, unsuspecting and now extremely vengeful world. They are only just in time: the insane and malignant Emperor is mere moments away from launching a doomsday flight of atomic missiles to every corner of the planet he so briefly owned…

This Cinebook Complete edition also includes fascinating illustrated essay ‘Jacobs: 1946, The Swordfish, starting point of a masterful work’, first seen in The World of Edgar P. Jacobs, plus a biographical feature and chronological publication chart of Jacobs’ and his successors’ efforts.

Gripping and fantastic in the truest tradition of pulp sci-fi and Boy’s Own Adventures, Blake and Mortimer are the very epitome of dogged determination; always delivering grand, old-fashioned heroic Blood-&-Thunder thrills & spills in timeless fashion and with astonishing visual punch. Despite an epic body count and dated milieu, any kid able to suspend modern mores and cultural disbelief (call it alternate Earth history or Bakelite-Punk if you want) will experience the adventure of their lives – and so will their children.

Original editions © Éditions BLAKE & MORTIMER/Studio Jacobs (Dargaud – Lombard S.A.) 1984, 1985, 1986 by E.P. Jacobs. Cahier Hachette© Éditions BLAKE & MORTIMER/Studio Jacobs (Dargaud – Lombard S.A.) 2012, Brieg F. Haslé et Nicolas Thibaudin. All rights reserved. English translation © 2024 Cinebook Ltd.
Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Spot On Epic Retro-Wonderment… 10/10

September 23, 2026

Neill Cameron’s How to Make Awesome Comics

By Neill Cameron (The Phoenix Comic Books/David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-147-5 (TPB)

A lifetime ago in January 2012, Oxford-based publisher David Fickling Books launched a traditional-seeming anthology comic weekly aimed at girls and boys between 6 – 12 which revelled in reviving the good old days of picture-story entertainment intent, whilst embracing the full force of modernity in style and content. Each issue offers humour & adventure strips (most subsequently gathered into a formidable library of stunning Graphic Novels); quizzes; puzzles; educational material and drawing/storytelling tips comprising a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy and, in the years since its premiere, The Phoenix has become a staple of kids’ fun, winning praise from the Great and the Good, child literacy experts and the only people who really count – the utterly engaged kids and parents who read it…

The magazine celebrated its first anniversary by launching a digital edition available globally as an app and continually expands its horizons. These days they offer internet added value via an ongoing tutorial fun-lab dubbed the Phoenix Comics Club…

It is, most importantly, big and bold and tremendous fun.

The publishers are also a fantastically inclusive bunch, ever-eager to get us involved. Conceived and delivered by best-selling Graphic Novelist Neill Cameron (Donut Squad, Mega Robo Bros, Freddy, Tamsin of the Deep, Pirates of Pangea), activity feature ‘How to Make Awesome Comics’ has featured intermittently since issue #0, offering enticing insights and practical tips through the auspices of cartoon know-it-all Professor Panels and his long-suffering collaborator Art Monkey. Its sage pages were first gathered and released in book form in 2014, and now there’s a fully updated and improved version to impart just how to be the best… and why you shouldn’t draw on walls…

As part of the company’s line of comic albums those invaluable observations and exercises were superbly repackaged into a lexicon of hands-on instruction: a not-so-serious foundation course in cartoon wonder-making no aspiring comic book genius can afford to be without.

Broken down into six chapters and (more or less) 21 easily assimilated lessons, the book also makes full use of modern technologies, with exercises, cartoon cheats and spare drawing pages all included as well as downloadable from the internet.

Leaping straight in following the standard equipment check, tuition begins in Chapter 1 with Getting Started, via Lessons 1 & 2: Anyone Can Make Awesome Comics and Awesome Comics can be about Anything. These offer tutorial insights from the Prof ranging from stick-figure first-concepts to fully inked and coloured final work, all augmented by opportunities to create your own strips through the first of many Art Monkey Challenges… plus a Level 1 Bonus Challenge…

Chapter 2 introduces Great Ideas! and in Lessons 3 through 6 covers How to Have Awesome Ideas, How to Have Awesomer Ideas, How to Have Awesomest Ideas before finishing with a treatise on Real Life Awesome (biographical comics) accompanied by an Art Monkey Challenge of dedicated daily fun and complexity…

With work-philosophy fully engaged and imaginations suitably fired up, Chapter 3 then determines What’s a Comic? as Lesson 7 (Warning! Clowns at work!) focuses on the basics with How Awesome Comics Work, whilst L8 details How to Make Funny Comics – with many strip examples!

Then L9 Awesome Words + Awesome Pictures offers some sound lettering tips before this heavy session closes with a welcome pause in which students can peruse a batch of Bonus Comic strips such as ‘Mecha Monkey Meltdown’; ‘Sir Meows-a-Lot and the Bandit Mouse’; ‘Triceracop’; ‘Kung Fu Banana Squad’; ‘BananaBarbarian’ and more…

Returning to learning, Chapter 4 deals with Awesome Drawing, with Lessons 10 to 15 revealing How to Draw Anything Awesomely (like characters & costumes) with L11 pinpointing How to Draw Cartoons Awesomely, before we learn in rapid succession How to Draw Awesome Faces, How to Draw Awesome Robots, How to Draw Awesome Pirates and, of course How to Draw Awesome Monsters. As always that monkey is there to lay down those pesky but so useful challenges…

The really important stuff is Telling Stories as covered in Chapter 5 with How to Tell Awesome Stories, How to Create Awesome Heroes, How to Create Awesome Villains, Creating Awesome Drama before culminating with the big secret in L20’s Awesome Endings…

Finally the practicalities of production and dissemination are revealed in Chapter 6 with How to Make Your Very Own Comics, covering such arcane but crucial topics as folding, pagination and layout; copying and reproduction and getting your work into the hands of your readers…

Packed with superb examples, handy breakdown & layout tips, lots of practical exercises and offering tons of cool ideas plus a library of inspirational examples, this perspicacious primer even includes a wealth of Awesome Appendix of More Awesome Stuff: comprising visual inventories of gallery of stock characters, Cool Robot Accessories and Pirate Moustachery. You will see How to Draw Dinosaurs Step-by-Step, as well as Creepy Creatures and Penguins – also all Step-by-Step – before ending with More Fun Comics challenges for the now-adept student to complete…

There are a host of books, both academic and/or instructional, designed to inculcate a love of comics whilst offering tips, hacks and a hands-on education in crafting your own sequential narratives. There are precious few that do it with as much style, enthusiasm and cunning craft as Neill Cameron’s beguiling release under the all-ages aegis of The Phoenix. This bright & breezy album hones in on and perfectly highlights all the core skills necessary to crafting picture-stories, cleverly drenching them in an aura of rambunctious, addictive fun. With such a boost how can any prospective or neophyte storyteller fail to be galvanised into making their own magic?
Text and illustrations © Neill Cameron, © 2014, 2016, 2026. All rights reserved.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Seasonal Secret Weapon to Ensure Silent Nights… 8/10

How to Make Awesome Comics! will be released on October 8^th 2026 and is available for pre-order now.

September 22, 2026

Brother Voodoo Marvel Masterworks volume 1

By Len Wein, Doug Moench, Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman, David Anthony Kraft, Roger Slifer, Roger Stern, Scott Lobdell, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Randy Lofficier, Gene Colan, Don Perlin, Jim Mooney, Tony DeZuñiga, Ron Wilson, Marshall Rogers, Vicente Alcazar, Fred Hembeck, Geoff Isherwood. Gil Kane, John Romita Sr., & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2923-7 (HB), 978-1-3029-3804-8 (Digital edition)

This book includes some Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

It’s Black History Month soon as well as US Midterm elections. Here’s some excellent reading matter to get you through it all…

In 1968 the consciousness-raising demonstration of Black Power at the Olympic Games politicised a generation of youngsters. By this time a few comics companies had already made tentative but concerted efforts to address what were national and socio-political iniquities. Nevertheless, issues of race and ethnicity took a bloody long time to filter through to still-impressionable young minds avidly absorbing knowledge and attitudes via four-colour pages that couldn’t even approximate the skin tones of African-Americans.

As with TV and films, breakthroughs were small, incremental and too often reduced to a cold war of daringly liberal “firsts.” Excluding characters in 1940s-1950s jungle themed comic books, Marvel clearly led the field with a recurring character: historically impossible Gabe Jones, a black soldier in Sgt. Fury’s Howling Commandos; debuting in #1 (May 1963).

Technically, he was beaten to that dubious honour by DC’s Jackie Johnson. Created by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert, the “negro prizefighter” joined Sgt Rock’s Easy Company in late 1961 (Our Army at War #113), but it was years before he became a regular character…

By the way, so unlikely a character was ol’ Gabe in 1963 that he was – without consulting editor Stan Lee – helpfully re-coloured as Caucasian at the printers, who didn’t realise his ethnicity but just knew that he just couldn’t be non-white.

Jones was eventually followed by actual black superheroes Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), and The Falcon in Captain America #117 (September 1969). America’s first hero of colour to helm his own title had come and gone largely unnoticed in a little remembered or regarded title from Dell Comics. Debuting December 1965 and created by artist Tony Tallarico & scripter D.J. Arneson, Lobo was a wild west gunslinger battling injustice just like any cowboy would.

Arguably the greater funnybook breakthrough was Joe Robertson, City Editor of the Daily Bugle: an erudite, brave, proudly ordinary mortal distinguished by his sterling character, not costume or skin tone. He debuted in Amazing Spider-Man # 51 (August 1967), proving in every panel thereafter that the world would not end if black folk and white folk shared the same spaces…

This big change slowly grew out of raised public awareness during a terrible time in US history: even worse than today’s festering social wounds and agonisingly commonplace occurrences of cops claiming to misjudge immediate life-or-death situations, perilous racial pressures and a seemingly constant, officially policy of Black Lives Not Mattering and Hispanic-looking ones not counting. These tragedies occur unpardonably often in the UK too, so we’ve nothing to be smug about, and should in fact be calling out and shaming more politicians and rabble-rousers on an hourly basis…

Britain has been afflicted with race riots since the Sixties, leaving simmering scars that only comedians and openly racist power-seekers dare talk about – and even then they aren’t seeking debate but just yanking chains and blowing dogwhistles. Things today don’t seem all that different, except the bile and growing taste for violence is turned towards European accents, or health workers as well as brown skins, and now includes non-white sectarian aggravation too…

As the 1960s gave way to a newer, darker decade, more positive and inclusive incidences of ethnic characters appeared in the US, with DC finally getting an African-America hero in John Stewart (Green Lantern #87 December 1971/January 1972) – although his designation as a replacement Green Lantern might be construed as more conciliatory and insulting than revolutionary.

The first DC hero with his own title was Black Lightning. He didn’t debut until April 1977, although Jack Kirby had introduced Vykin in Forever People #1, the Black Racer in New Gods #3 (March and July 1971) and Shilo Norman as Scott Free’s apprentice (and eventual successor) in Mister Miracle #15 (August 1973). One month later there was Dr. Jericho Drumm AKA Brother Voodoo…

It was a turbulent time culturally, but it was also a life-or-death moment for comics. The American industry was in turmoil if not meltdown, much like the youth of the nation they courted. With costs of production skyrocketing, every title had to be a success and no one seemed clear on what audiences wanted…

Superheroes had dominated the 1960s: peaking globally before explosively falling to ennui and overkill. Traditional genres like horror, westerns, romance and science fiction returned, fed by radical trends in movie-making where another wrinkle had emerged: films by and for African-American audiences. Most called them “Blacksploitation” films…

As previously stated, Marvel was already a pioneer in diversity. As well as a plethora of white Christian males there were pagan gods, female characters (a few but not for long), Atlanteans, extraterrestrials, native Americans and monsters spearheading their own features. Why not another black lead with roots addressing multiple genres at once? Contemporary cinema and prose novel Blaxsploitation had fired up commercial interests throughout America, and in that miasma of outlandish dialogue, daft outfits and barely concealed – and justified – outrage, an angry black man with a shady past and questionable morals must have felt like a surefire hit to Marvel’s bosses. Luke Cage, Hero for Hire launched in the summer of 1972. A year later, Black Panther finally got his own series in Jungle Action #5, with Blade: Vampire Hunter debuting in Tomb of Dracula #10 (July 19730. Surely there was room for more?

Astonishingly soon after, with the Comics Code prohibition against horror hastily rewritten (amazing how plunging sales affects morality), macabre scary comics returned in force and a fresh crop of supernatural superheroes and monsters began appearing on newsstands to supplement those ghosts, ghoulies and goblins already infiltrating the once science-only scenarios of embattled but surviving Fights ‘n’ Tights titles. In fact, tinkering with the Code ban resulted in such an avalanche of horror titles in response to the industry-wide downturn in superhero sales, that it probably caused a few more venerable costumed crusaders to – albeit temporarily – bite the dust.

Almost overnight nasty monsters – both new and reprinted from the1950s – (and narcotics; but that’s another story) became acceptable fare on four-colour pages. Whilst a parade of pre-code reprints made sound business sense, the creative aspect of the latest fascination with supernatural themes was catered to by adapting popular cultural icons, before risking whole new concepts on an untested public. Oddly the last Code-embargoed genre – Crime comics – never figured in this particular populist revival…

As always in entertainment, the watchword was fashion: what was hitting big outside comics was incorporated into the mix as soon as possible. When proto-horror Morbius debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (cover-dated October 1971) and the sky failed to fall in, Marvel moved ahead with a line of shocking superstars. They began with a traditional werewolf and a vampire before chancing something new: a haunted biker tapping into both Easy Rider’s freewheeling motorcycling chic and the prevailing supernatural zeitgeist. Recycling an old western title, the all-new Ghost Rider debuted in Marvel Spotlight #5, August 1972. He’d been preceded by Native American/western hero Red Wolf in #1 and the aforementioned Werewolf by Night in #2-4. From these cautious beginnings spooky floodgates opened to such an extent that there was even room for non-white stars like The Living Mummy and today’s star turn…

This quirky compendium collects Brother Voodoo’s earliest exploits from a time when he was equal parts tragic outsider/in-joke laughing stock and long before he was reclaimed as a major hero and rebooted as Doctor Voodoo. The adventures from Strange Tales #169-173, Tales of the Zombie #6 &10, Marvel Team-Up #24, Werewolf by Night #38-41, Marvel Two-in-One #41, Doctor Strange #48, Moon Knight #21, Marvel Super-Heroes #1 and Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #16, 17, & 20 are supplemented by extracts from Tomb of Dracula #34-37. They epically span cover-dates September 1973 to August 1990 and are preceded by an informative Introduction from illustrator Ron Wilson detailing how the series came to be.

Built from an idea by then Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas, with defining input from Stan Lee, John Romita and eventually assigned to creators Len Wein & Gene Colan, the end result was a complex, convoluted affair spread out over many issues. It’s also painfully fair to say that there’s a lot of dialogue and some notions that haven’t fared well as we’ve become a more inclusive society. If you can’t temper your modern sensibilities in the face of well-meaning but outdated attitudes, it might be best to look elsewhere for early evidence of role models for young black readers…

Brother Voodoo was a series that took its time to tell a tale, and we need to remember that the idea was to create a hero who could have lots of adventures for as long as possible: a new Doctor Strange, Spider-Man or Daredevil created at a moment when society and the comic industry were in total turmoil. Lots of good ideas debuted and died unfulfilled, only to blossom again in years to come. With their hero ready to launch, Marvel capitalised on the zeitgeist as much as possible. The company had launched a wave of titles (many of them cost-effective reprint anthologies) and restored defunct titles to crowd rival publishers off newsstands.

Cover dated May 1968, Strange Tales #168 was officially the final issue of a prestigious horror book that had run from 1951 before becoming a vehicle for The Human Torch, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Doctor Strange in the 1960s. When Marvel became a top-selling brand in 1968, its numbering had carried on for Doctor Strange’s first solo title. Then, cover dated September 1973, the book was revived after a 5-year hiatus as a try-out title, kicking off with Brother Voodoo. He occupied #169-174, after which The Golem, classic horror reprints and Jim Starlin’s landmark reinterpretation of Adam Warlock took the magazine to its ultimate oblivion in 1975.

Enough background now: let’s get down among the dead men…

The drama commences in the eponymous ‘Brother Voodoo!’ (Wein, Gene Colan & Dan Adkins), as a UN special investigator lands in Haiti and is suddenly saved from murderous ambush by an oddly-garbed man with incredible powers, emerging from clouds of smoke amidst thunderous frenetic drum beats. Accompanied by elderly aide Bambu, the stranger escorts Dr Maitland to safety even as his mind flashes back to how it all began…

Years ago, Jericho Drumm abandoned his brother Daniel and family heritage as voodoo priests for rationalism, wealth and acclaim of the USA. Almost 20 years later, celebrated psychologist Dr. Drumm returned to Haiti to witness his brother’s murder by magic. Daniel had taken his brother’s preordained place as houngan (voodoo priest) of his people but was dying from a curse laid by evil loa (spirit)/serpent god Damballah. Utterly disbelieving, Jericho was helpless to prevent his brother’s death and his own subsequent humiliation by Damballah, but after swallowing his civilised pride, sought out Daniel’s teacher Papa Jambo. Accepting his fate, Jericho learned the lore and accepted the onerous responsibilities of protecting the world from evil magic.

Now it’s the present and he divides his time between his Caribbean homeland and a medical practice in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Occasional physician Dr. Jericho Drumm ministers to the world’s unknown ailments and hidden horrors…

The origin flashback extended to a second issue ‘Baptism of Fire!’ tracing Jericho’s accelerated course of study and triumphant battle against the loa lord. Amongst his many new gifts, the power that tipped the balance of battle was his eerie ability to channel his dead brother’s power and soul – a chilling tactic only possible because Daniel now lived within him…

With ST #171 we finally learn why the UN is under attack in Haiti when ‘March of the Dead!’ (with Frank Giacoia inking Colan’s gloriously beautiful, increasingly eerie pencils) sees Drumm attacked by the walking dead.

Thanks to the Comics Code, at this time the literal word “zombie” was banned in newsstand publications, compelling writers and editors to take torturous steps to do their job. Marvel’s monochrome magazines used the term with impunity and without sanction, but for the mainstream colour titles, Wein had to coin a new appellation, which is why Brother Voodoo here clashes with “zuvembies” in a graveyard. You couldn’t make it up, could you?

These specific “soulless ones” prowl at the command of sinister Baron Samedi, sabotaging much-needed industry providing jobs for the impoverished nation. This tale catapults BV into the heart of Marvel continuity as the true perpetrators are exposed as far-from-supernatural assailants and one of the MU’s greatest threats to life and liberty – Advanced Idea Mechanics.

Dick Giordano inked #172 & 173 as our hero returns to Louisiana. Seeking to assist a woman targeted by mystic malevolence in ‘Fiend in the Fog!’ Police chief’s daughter Loralee Tate is singled out by voodoo villain and cult leader Black Talon with Drumm inexorably drawn into a massive conspiracy demanding a ‘Sacrifice Play!’ and the (initially) unwelcome aid of local legend Mama Limbo. The spooky thrills culminate in a do-or-die battle with Talon’s tribe, Drumm’s defeat and capture, all resulting in a painful cliffhanger as the series ceased here with the April 1974 episode.

Mere months later, the already drawn conclusion resurfaced in one of those aforementioned mature Marvel magazines. Black Talon’s tale concluded in July’s Tales of the Zombie #6, with Doug Moench scripting Wein’s plot and Frank Chiaramonte inking Colan – who always worked best in monochrome. ‘End of a Legend!’ exposed devious duplicity and reaped a rich harvest of destruction after Drumm broke loose and unleashed all the forces at his command…

Brother Voodoo next appeared in New York City, joining Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up #24 (August 1974) in a Wein yarn illustrated by Jim Mooney & Sal Trapani: a decidedly offbeat hero haunting the Big Apple to quash a Manhattan killer cult in ‘Moondog is Another Name for Murder!’ Almost one year later, BV returned as Tales of the Zombie #10 delivered ‘The Resurrection of Papa Jambo!’ (March 1975, by Moench & Tony DeZuñiga) wherein Drumm’s long-departed tutor is forcibly resurrected by malign Dramabu, the Death-Lord. As the revered savant stalks shanty towns in Haiti, claiming sacrificial fodder for his power-hungry new master, the houngan hero & Bambu return to their roots to make some hard decisions and save their people…

Following that, Voodoo joined Marvel’s own ranks of the living dead: reduced to occasional cameos and guests shots in other series. Represented here in excerpts from The Tomb of Dracula #34-37 (July to October 1975 as crafted by Marv Wolfman, Colan & Tom Palmer), he visits the Brazilian Amazon, rescuing vampire hunter Frank Drake from a “zuvembi” army unleashed by the Transylvanian terror. Increasingly though, times & tastes were changing, with superheroes again ascendent as the horror fad faded. Soon, only The Tomb of Dracula would remain…

Lovingly realised by Moench & Don Perlin, furry former phenomenon Werewolf by Night had ridden the storm longer than most: deftly adapting to new trends and ideas by allowing character and not plot to dictate the course. An earlier arc depicting Haiti holding a cure for lycanthrope Raymond Coker was revisited and the extract here from WBN #38 (May 1976) set up an epic intervention and unfolding wonder as Coker requests the aid of Brother Voodoo. Cover-dated July, Werewolf by Night #39 reveals how – after being visited by a trinity of infinite beings who threaten to alter his existence forever – wild werewolf Jack Russell is propelled into a lifechanging crisis. His celestial visitants are also in touch with Coker as he squats in a hut in far off Haiti, and they even appear to Russell’s sister Lissa and girlfriend Topaz.

The “Three Who Are All” are manoeuvring players into a game of cosmic consequences and when Jack gets home, he finds Coker and Drumm waiting. No sooner are introductions made than another army of zuvembies attack and Russell learns that ‘Some are Born to the Night!’ Portentous proclamations of unfulfilled destinies push the adventurers and Topaz back to Haiti where they are abducted and brought to an infernal pit nurturing a shocking travesty of life, with Jack’s old enemy Dr. Glitternight in charge of ‘Souls in Darkness’.

Revealed in WBN #41 as an ex-member of the gestalt once called “Five Who Are All”, the villain’s obsessive monster-making is explained before his attempts to dominate reality are spectacularly thwarted through the return of a missing fourth being and the indomitable resistance of Jack and Brother Voodoo in ‘…And Death Shall Be the Change’…

Key to their eventual triumph is the moment when Russell discovers how to transform into a werewolf fully in control of his mental faculties day or night. Returning to the US, the Werewolf-by-Choice naturally became a superhero and moved to New York, but for Jericho Drumm it was time to fade into the shadows once more. As such he was prime fodder for guest vehicle Marvel Two-in-One, and #41 (July 1978) sees David Anthony Kraft, Ron Wilson & Pablo Marcos close an open case where The Black Panther had vanished whilst fighting a “zombie-vampire” stalking New York’s streets and abducting prominent African Americans. Here, concluding chapter ‘Voodoo and Valor!’ sees Drumm volunteer his specialised services to The Thing to save T’Challa, and end the crisis. The trail takes them to Uganda for a confrontation with African supervillain Doctor Spectrum and a far deadlier crazed killer… Idi Amin.

For August 1981’s Doctor Strange #48, Roger Stern, Marshall Rogers & Terry Austin reveal how the voodoo vigilante and his passenger Daniel are possessed by minor god Damballah and require ‘The Power of Dr. Strange’ to restore them to sanity and safety, after which Moon Knight #21 (July 1982) is paid a visit by ‘The Master of Night Earth!’ Crafted by Moench, Vicente Alcazar, John Tartaglione & Bob Camp, this dark delight sees the Fist of Khonshu join Brother Voodoo in Haitian port city Mirebalais. Battling gunrunners before colliding with a thug possessed by Daniel Drumm, the lunar avenger is soon helping head off a revolution: one fought by zuvembies on zombie alligators fighting for a greedy politician with voodoo training…

May 1990 brought giant anthology Marvel Super-Heroes (Spring Special) #1where, buried deep inside, Scott Lobdell, Fred Hembeck & Dell Barras detailed short done-in-one saga ‘Don’t Do that Voodoo You Do So Well’ with Jericho saving hurricane victims, encountering again a lost love from his youth. Contemporaneously, he scored a short back-up series in Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme (April-August 1990) seen here as ‘The Book of the Vishanti: The Mark of the Vodû! Part I-III’ as featured in issues #16-17 & 20. A way to reinvent the hero whilst revisiting and revising his origins, the serial (by Roy Thomas, Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier and illustrators Geoff Isherwood & Mickey Ritter) reprised Voodoo’s career & legacy, whilst laying out how the origins, history and practise of voodoo slotted into Marvel’s cosmology and continuity.

With covers by Romita, Gil Kane, Giordano, Giacoia, Rich Buckler, Ernie Chan, Earl Norem, Palmer, Keith Pollard, Rogers & Austin, Bill Sienkiewicz & Jim Lee; pages of original art by Colan, Kane and a host of forementioned inkers, this tome also offers contemporary house ads; pertinent info pages (Brother Voodoo & Black Talon) from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and 2008’s cover of Essential Marvel Horror volume 2. These are augmented by creator biographies; ‘Introducing Brother Voodoo!’ – an illustrated feature by Tony Isabella from Tales of the Zombie #2 in anticipation of his imminent debut in Strange Tales #169. and ‘Brother Voodoo Lives Again’ from TotZ #5 – discussing his move out of colour comics.

Definitely not everybody’s role model or anyone’s “Great White Hope”, Brother Voodoo remains a noble experiment and intriguing concept that still offers great enjoyment and astounding art for those who like their fun challenging and off centre.

September 20, 2026September 18, 2026

Ugly Mug Issue Nine

By many and various anonymous aligned to The House of Harley, but particularly including Julian Geek, Denny Derbyshire, Ed Pinsent, Alberto Monteiro, John Bagnall, Dave Kilburn, Miranda Smart, Adam Falp & various (House of Harley)
ISBN: 978-1-0669144-1 (A4 Card cover TPB)

In these, my elderly end-times, a year goes by just like 365¼ days, which means that (notionally) I only have to blink or slip into a brief nap/coma for something fun or welcoming to pop up. Of course that can apply to nasty stuff too, but that is SO NOT the case here…

Comics can be a billion dollar business these days, but thankfully remains at its heart & soul a form of expression all about doing something creative for people to react to. Hopefully, they’ll be appreciative and give you lots of money and offer to have your babies… or at least try to swindle you out of your rights. That latter one’s not actually so bad, as it does mean you’re doing something others appreciate…

What I crave – and can now revel in again – is the latest extravaganza from unchecked artistic iconoclasterers The House of Harley; who have completed one more supercharged, in-your-facial-area assemblage of stories, cartoons, thoughts and even characters from people who don’t care if pastors complain, Mumsnet worries or The Telegraph pitches a disingenuous, profit-seeking hissy-fit. Self-chained to this fertile, dynamic pictorial coalface are folk who would draw strips and tell tales even if the act carried the threat of exile, death penalty or mandatory Ed Sheeran tickets. They go on concocting and unleashing the sort of word-wedded images the industry and art form continually refreshes, renews and reinvents itself with.

Every year since they started, shady, covert Art-Quango The House of Harley has unleashed an annual (well duh!) anthological aggregation of short stories, poster-works, diagrammatic diatribes and tableaux, augmented by further exploits of ongoing made-up individuals, new characters and pictorial serials. They also invite guests to aid & abet those efforts by getting what’s needful off their artistic chests, so it’s now well past time you indulged their splendid efforts.

This year’s model puts its foot down on the side of LAW & ORDER, proudly presenting old guard and new models (in Quarter, Half, Single and multi-page narrative outbreaks and graphic outbursts) all set between nostalgia-kicking covers by Julian Geek. Within, strangely fresh yet familiarly comforting fare nestles menacingly between full-colour poster-art homage frontispiece ‘Beware! The Claws of the Cat!’ and closing apocalyptic vision ‘Project Final X’ – both from Jason Atomic.

The interior trigger-edged, truncheon-terse treats unfold after the customary wild contents and introductory section, announcing the reserve forces of returning resident Ugly Mug contributors whilst welcoming new kids on the block Miranda Smart, Adam Falp & Dave Kilburn. The overall effect is shocking insights into “the causes of social collapse” and a potent invitation to the final showdown of our kind…

Stationed within and throughout are works by old lags of the House of Harley studio, seeking to keep things from spinning out of control with tales of enforced health like ‘The Cancer Detection Dogs’, revealing what is ‘Tender to the Touch’ and exactly when ‘Cometh the Hour’ or even a sharing a home visit from ‘Dr. Anadi (With Curses She is Handy)’…

‘Scatter’ is a suburban probe into abandoned rental bikes, ‘Seb, Superimposed’ follows one woman’s personal quest to be drunk and disorderly courtesy, as an extended cartoon chat exposes what happens ‘While the City Slumbers’, and there’s even a spot of recreational downtime in ‘Let’s Bake Up a Batch of Ugly Mugs’…

Shorter call-ups to duty include further forays for Mark E Smith Music Teacher (promoting plastic bags and work experience gigs whilst exposing The Truth about Taylor Swift), and more naked exposures via Life with Freda Nipple (nudist, career woman, penal reformer, rag ‘n’ bone man nostalgist) as well as a Q&A on 2-tier policing with PCSO Dan and Busy Lizzie revealing what is not right about Woody Allen…

Regular guest Ed Pinsent is much represented, pictorially prognosticating thanks to ‘Hex Patterns’, tuning in on R.S.D. Laing, Record Collector after ‘He Suffers a Chemical Reaction’, exposing ‘The Horrible Story of Monster Pig – and How He Became So Fat!’ before climaxing big with the ninth arcane instalment of Pinsent’s beguiling ‘Windy Wilberforce’ serial The Saga of the Scroll (fear not, back issues of Ugly Mug are available to all with the wherewithal) as Harry Excess finds fun and fish in the desert….

Other contributions from those bearing visitor passes include Social Historian Gareth Corduroy (AKA John Bagnall) unearthing the lost working class blessing of ‘The Pit Pool’; a dose of abstract impressionist portraiture in Denny Derbyshire’s ‘Twin Peeks’; Julian Geek’s controversial TV debate stance in ‘321 with Mean Bean and Da Bug’; Miranda Smart’s challenging tableau ‘The Art of Complaining’ and Adam Falp’s vision of ‘Seven Sisters Road’ all counterpointed by Brazilian creator Alberto Monteiro ‘Several Intense Scenes’…

… And about us leprechauns pop up as Dave Kilburn offers contemporary Celtic mythology via a succession of scandalous exploits starring Irish fae folk The Leps (Seamus & Eamonn, St Patrick, His Lordship, The Vulnerable Lord Cecil and others), beginning with ‘The Shillelagh of Temptation’ and supplemented by an untitled boozing binge, a ‘Mid-week drinking’ session and a spot of bonfire building…

Innocuously including and pointedly presenting “robot dogs, radioactive popcorn, broken glass, canoodling couples, different kinds of dealers, stale beer & chips, ADHD, a black-&-white rainbow, pavement potholes, symbolic sheep, naked giants, shopping receipts, miracle cures, crime scene cakes, savage cabbage and the proverbial two birds with one stone”, this doughty dossier delivers more racy, pacey fun fare than any British X-mas Annual of yore. These cunning creations teem with turbulent observation and force, and come armed to the nines with wryly witty visual oomph, making it the ideal example of where we will draw the line and leave our marks…

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Wild Fun and the Latest Last Word in Sheer Creativity Perfection… 8/10

For all this and so much more please check out houseofharley.net/shop or their Etsy shop.

If you’re still keen to embrace the dying embers of old world transactionalism, you can support enlightened capitalism and get a copy from a real world retailer like Gosh! Comics, London.

My spiffy review copy came with a bunch of extra goodies “From the Sketchbooks of The House of Harley” – Limited Edition minicomics Boat Race #1, Scratch An Itch #1 and Hands Up #1 – each offering even more contentious Comics & Improper art vouchsafing visual verve and vitality in strict monochrome and/or assorted multi-hued palettes. Maybe yours will too; or perhaps it’s simply that age and rank still hath their privileges…

September 13, 2026September 12, 2026

Marvel Firsts: The 1960s

By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Larry Lieber, Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, Arnold Drake, Steve Parkhouse, Don Heck, Bill Everett, Dick Ayers, Gene Colan, John Buscema, George Tuska, Christpher Rule, George Klein, Paul Reinman, Joe Sinnott, George Roussos, Sol Brodsky, Vince Colletta, Chic Stone, John Verpoorten, Syd Shores, Frank Giacoia, Sid Greene, Stan Goldberg, Sam Rosen, Art Simek, Terry Szanics, John Duffy & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5864-6 (TPB), 978-1-3025-0063-4 (Digital edition)

This book includes some Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless Fantasy Masterpiece for All Old Alike… 9/10

For most fans, the Marvel Age of Comics began with Fantastic Four #1 at the tail end of 1961, but the company itself cites Marvel Comics #1 from 1939, when the outfit was called Timely, as the big natal event. That means this year is their 87^th anniversary. The first modern (for which read Post-War) comic books badged with a Marvel Comics brand were mystery anthology Journey into Mystery #69 and teen-humour hit Patsy Walker #95 (both cover-dated June 1961), each displaying an “MC” box on the cover. These soon proliferated until iconic storyteller Steve Ditko redesigned the masthead corner box for Amazing Spider-Man #2 (cover dated May 1963 and on sale from February 12^th). By the July releases the name was on all issues and Marvel was forever linked to a comics revolution…

Whenever the event was, has been celebrated in a number of big-ticket compilations. This hefty carefully curated edition from 2011 wasn’t one of them, but is a superb overview of the decade of innovation that made the House of Ideas a global force and household name. It collects the first story of each character’s own series (not necessarily the same as a debut appearance), highlighting key moments through material taken from Rawhide Kid #17, Amazing Adventures #1, Fantastic Four #1, Tales to Astonish #27, 51 & 70, Incredible Hulk #1, Amazing Fantasy #15, Journey into Mystery #83, Strange Tales #101, 110 & 135, Two-Gun Kid #60, Tales of Suspense #39, 49 & 59, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes #1, The Avengers #1, X-Men #1, Daredevil #1, Ghost Rider #1, Marvel Super-Heroes #12, 19-20, Captain Savage #1 & Silver Surfer #1. These collectively cover August 1960 to May 1969 and also incorporate a vast gallery of covers from the other titles that came and went with such breathtaking rapidity in those days.

As stated, the company that would be Marvel was still going (albeit in dire straits) when Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Ditko and a select band of other multi-genre creators started that revolution, and these tales offer unmatched insights into how it all happened by re-presenting official first appearances…

Opening in January 1960 with 16 genre covers ranging from Battle #70 to Love Romances #87 to Patsy Walker #89, the first inklings of what’s to come are seen in narrative components taken from Rawhide Kid #17, by Lee, Kirby and inker Dick Ayers.

The Kid was one of Atlas’ older icons, having starred in his own title since 1955. A stock sagebrush centurion clad in buckskins, he was an early casualty when Atlas’ distribution crisis forced the company to cut back to 16 titles in the autumn of 1957. With westerns huge on TV and youthful rebellion a hot topic in 1960, Lee & Kirby conceived a brand-new sixgun stalwart – and a teenager to boot! – and launched him in the summer of the year, economically continuing the numbering of his cancelled predecessor.

It’s important to remember that these yarns aren’t trying to be gritty or authentic: they’re accessing the vast miasmic morass of wholesome, homogenised Hollywood mythmaking that generations of consumer preferred to learning the grim everyday toil, travail and terror of the real Old West, so sit back, reset your moral compass to “fair enough” and revel in simplistic Black Hats vs White Hats with all the dynamic bombast and bravura Kirby & Ayers could muster.

It all begins with adopted teen Johnny Bart teaching all and sundry in a cow-town named Rawhide to ‘Beware! The Rawhide Kid’ after his retired Texas Ranger Uncle Ben (!) is gunned down by fame-hungry cheat Hawk Brown. After very publicly exercising his right to vengeance, the naive kid flees Rawhide before offering justifications or explanation, resigned to living as an outlaw forevermore. His reputation is further enhanced when he routs a masked gang robbing the ‘Stagecoach to Shotgun Gap!’, after which Don Heck delivers one of his slickly authentic western yarns as a veteran gunslinger devises a way to end his own fearsome career ‘With Gun in Hand!’ The issue closed with by Lee, Kirby & Ayers revealing how another tragic misunderstanding confirms Johnny Bart’s destiny ‘When the Rawhide Kid Turned… Outlaw!’

Following a trio of romantic comedy covers (My Girl Pearl #7; Teen-Age Romance #77 & Life with Millie #8) we turn to the splendidly addictive men-vs-monsters anthology titles wherein Amazing Adventures #1 (cover-dated June 1961) begins a cautious experiment by launching a low-key – un-costumed even – paranormal mystically empowered investigator for a short run of pre-superhero escapades. ‘I Am the Fantastic Dr. Droom!’ (Lee & Kirby with Ditko inking) sees a seemingly sedate American drawn to Tibet to be trained in ancient mysteries before returning home as an occult consultant. The cover for Linda Carter, Student Nurse #1 then takes us to the big moment when everything changed…

Cover-dated November 1961 and on sale from August 8^th, Fantastic Four #1 introduced a brave new world in eponymous epic ‘The Fantastic Four’ as maverick genius Reed Richards summons his fiancée Sue Storm, their pilot pal Ben Grimm and Sue’s teenaged brother Johnny before heading off on their first mission. Via flashback we learn they are driven survivors of a private spaceshot that went horribly wrong after Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding. On crashing back to Earth, they found they’d all been hideously mutated into outlandish freaks.

Richards’ body became elastic, Sue could become invisible, Johnny Storm could turn into living flame and tragic Ben was reduced to a shambling, rocky living horror. Shaken but unbowed, they vowed to dedicate their new abilities to benefiting mankind. Crafted by Lee & Kirby. inked by George Klein & Christopher Rule, the drama intensified with ‘The Fantastic Four meet the Mole Man’ as they foil another outcast who tyrannically controls monsters and slave humanoids from far beneath the Earth. This summation of the admittedly mediocre plot cannot do justice to the engrossing wonder of that breakthrough issue… we really have no grasp today of just how different in tone, and how shocking it all was.

Next comes Ditko’s cover to Amazing Adult Fantasy #7, preceding a throwaway vignette from another of the company’s anthological monster mags. Taken from Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962) a 7-page short introduces Dr Henry Pym, the maverick scientist who discovered a shrinking potion and invoked peril, wonder and a kind of companionship amongst the lowliest creatures on Earth and under it. This engaging piece of fluff – which owed more than a little to movie The Incredible Shrinking Man – was plotted by Lee, scripted by his brother Larry Lieber and stunningly illustrated by Kirby & Ayers.

The Incredible Hulk smashed right into his own bi-monthly comic and, after some classic romps by Young Marvel’s finest creators, crashed right out again. After 6 issues the series was cancelled and Lee retrenched, making the Gruff Green Giant a perennial guest-star in other Marvel titles until such time as they could restart the drama in their new Split-Book format in Tales to Astonish where Ant/Giant-Man was rapidly proving to be a character who had outlived his time.

Cover-dated May 1962, that first issue observes puny atomic scientist Bruce Banner, sequestered on a secret military base in the Midwest desert, perpetually bullied by bombastic commander General “Thunderbolt” Ross as a clock counts down to the world’s first Gamma Bomb detonation. Besotted by the General’s daughter Betty, Banner endures the General’s constant jibes as the timer ticks on and tension increases. At the final moment Banner sees a teenager lollygagging at Ground Zero and frantically rushes to the site to drag the boy away. Unknown to everyone, the assistant he’s entrusted to delay the countdown has an agenda of his own…

Rick Jones is a wayward but good-hearted kid. After initial resistance he lets himself be pushed into a safety trench, but just as Banner prepares to join him The Bomb explodes…

Somehow surviving the blast, Banner and the boy are secured by soldiers, but that evening as the sun sets the scientist undergoes a monstrous transformation. He grows larger and his skin turns stony grey…

In 6 simple pages that’s how it all starts, and no matter what any number of TV or movie reworkings or comicbook retcons and psycho-babble re-evaluations would have you believe that’s still the best and most primal take on the origin. A good man, an unobtainable girl, a foolish kid, an unknown enemy and the horrible power of destructive science unchecked…

Written by Lee, drawn by Kirby & inked by Paul Reinman, ‘The Coming of the Hulk’ barrels along as the man-monster & Jones are kidnapped by Banner’s Soviet counterpart The Gargoyle for a rousing round of espionage and Commie-bashing…

Crafting extremely well-received monster and mystery tales for and with Stan Lee, Ditko had been rewarded with his own title. Amazing Adventures/Amazing Adult Fantasy featured a subtler alternative kind of yarns other than Rampaging Aliens or Furry Underpants Monsters, which – though individually entertaining – had been slowly losing traction in the world of comics ever since National/DC had successfully reintroduced costumed heroes.

Lee & Kirby had responded with Fantastic Four and the ahead-of-his-time Hulk, but there was no indication of the renaissance to come when the cover of officially just-cancelled Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) highlighted a brand new and rather eerie adventure character. The wonderment came and went in 11 captivating pages as ‘Spider-Man!’ told the parable of Peter Parker, a smart yet alienated kid bitten by a radioactive spider on a high school science trip. Discovering he has developed arachnid abilities (which he augments with his own natural engineering genius) Parker does what any lonely, geeky nerd would do when given such a gift… he tries to cash in for girls, fame and money.

Creating a costume to hide his identity in case he makes a fool of himself, Parker becomes a minor celebrity and a vain, self-important one. To his eternal regret, when a thief flees past, he doesn’t lift a finger to stop him, only to find when he returns home that his Uncle Ben has been murdered. Crazy for vengeance, Parker stalks the assailant who made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known, to find that it is the felon he couldn’t be bothered with. Since his irresponsibility led to the death of the man who raised him, the boy swears to always use his powers to help others…

It wasn’t a new story, but the setting was familiar to every kid reading it and the artwork was downright spooky. This wasn’t the gleaming high-tech world of moon-rockets, giant aliens and flying cars, this stuff could happen to anybody. The tragic last ditch tale struck a chord with the readers and by Christmas a new comic book superstar was ready to launch in his own title, with Ditko eager to show what he could do with his first returning character since the demise of Charlton action hero Captain Atom.

The Mighty Thor was the comic series in which Kirby’s restless fascination with all things Cosmic was honed and refined through his dazzling graphics and captivating concepts. The King’s examination of space-age mythology began in modest fantasy title Journey into Mystery where, in the summer of 1962, a tried-&-true comic book concept (feeble mortal transformed into god-like hero) was revived by the fledgling outfit to add a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers. Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962) saw a bold costumed warrior jostle aside the regular fare of monsters, robots and sinister scientists in a brash, vivid explosion of verve and vigour. The initial exploit follows crippled US doctor Donald Blake vacationing in Norway and encountering the vanguard of an alien invasion. Fleeing, he is trapped in a cave and finds an old, gnarled walking stick. In his frustration, he smashes the stick into a huge boulder obstructing his escape and his spindly frame transforms into Norse God of Thunder Mighty Thor!

Plotted by Lee, scripted by Lieber and illustrated by Kirby & inker Joe Sinnott (at this juncture a full illustrator, Sinnott would become Kirby’s primary inker for most of his Marvel career), ‘The Stone Men of Saturn’ is pure early Marvel: bombastic, fast-paced, gloriously illogical and captivatingly action-packed. The hugely under-appreciated Art Simek was the letterer and logo designer.

It was clear that they were making it up as they went along (not in itself a bad thing) and all that infectious enthusiasm showed. Amazing Fantasy #15 came out the same month as JiM #83 and a month later Tales to Astonish #35 – the first featuring Henry Pym as Astonishing Ant-Man in costumed capers appeared. In this volume you’ll find the cover to TtA #35 to mark that occasion…

Hot on the heels of the runaway success of the FF, Stan & Jack spun the most colourful – and youngest – member of the team into a solo series, seeking to recapture the glory of the 1940s when the original Human Torch was one of the company’s “Big Three” superstars. Within a year, magic-&-monsters anthology Strange Tales became home for the hot-headed hero. ST #101 saw Johnny Storm start his off-duty career with eponymous exploit ‘The Human Torch’. Scripted by Lieber (over a plot by brother Stan) and sublimely illustrated by Kirby & Ayers, the plucky lad investigates sabotage at a seaside amusement park and uncovers Commie-conniving by Red spy The Destroyer. Kirby pencilled the first few adventures before moving on, with Ayers assuming artistic control for most of its run, although The King generated some of the best covers of his Marvel career throughout the Torch’s Strange Tales tenure.

An odd inconsistency – or, more likely, tension- and drama-inducing gimmick – did crop up here. Although public figures in the FF, Johnny and sister Sue lived part-time in Long Island hamlet Glenville, where, despite the townsfolk being fully aware of her as the glamorous and heroic Invisible Girl, they seemed oblivious to the fact that her brother is the equally famous Torch. Many daft-but-ingenious pages of Johnny protecting his “secret identity” ensued before the situation was brilliantly resolved…

Despite the runway success of its new-fangled superheroes, Marvel still offered a range of genres like westerns. August 1962 saw the retooling of another retired Atlas property when Two-Gun Kid #60 (cover-dated November) introduced Eastern lawyer Matt Hawk. He moved to barbarous, unruly Tombstone, Texas in ‘The Beginning of the Two-Gun Kid’ (Lee, Kirby & Ayers). After merciless and relentless bullying, the tenderfoot is mentored by aged gunslinger Ben Dancer and becomes a powerful, ultrafast deadly accurate shootist.

When Ben is driven out of town by thugs working for land baron Clem Carter, Hawk adopts a masked identity to see that justice is done. Heck then limns stand-alone tale ‘The Outcast’, exposing the naked ambition of a Navajo warrior, before Hawk returns to complete his origin story in ‘I Hate the Two-Gun Kid!’ as romantic interest Nancy Carter succumbs to a scheme by her stepbrother to defraud her and frame the new hero in town…

More striking covers – Modelling with Millie #21 & Amazing Spider-Man #1 – precede the debut of Marvel’s next milestone in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963 and on sale for Christmas 1962). Created in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis at a time when “Red-baiting” & “Commie-bashing” were national obsessions in the U.S. the emergence of a brilliant new Thomas Edison employing Yankee ingenuity and invention to safeguard the World was an inevitable proposition.

Combining the cherished belief that (US) technology could solve every problem with universal imagery of noble knights battling evil, the proposition became certainty. Of course, kids thought it great fun and very, very cool. Scripted by Lieber (over Lee’s plot) and illustrated by the criminally unappreciated Don Heck, ‘Iron Man is Born’ saw electronics wizard turned arms maker Tony Stark field testing inventions in Vietnam when he is wounded by a landmine. Captured by Viet Cong leader Wong-Chu, Stark is given a grim ultimatum. Create weapons for the Reds and a doctor will remove from his chest the shrapnel that will kill him within seven days. If not…

Knowing Commies can’t be trusted, Stark and aged Professor Yinsen – another captive scientist – build a mobile iron lung (remember this is years before transplants or pacemakers) to keep his heart beating, equipping it with all the weapons their ingenuity and resources can secretly build. Naturally they succeed, defeating Wong-Chu, but not without tragic sacrifice.

Next was a new genre title, again given a fresh treatment by Lee, Kirby & Ayers. Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos (May 1963) was an improbable, over-the-top WWII combat comics series similar in tone to later ensemble action movies like The Magnificent Seven, The Wild Bunch or The Dirty Dozen. The surly squad of sorry reprobates were the first of three teams concocted by men-on-fire Kirby & Lee to secure Marvel’s growing position as the publisher to watch. Sgt. Fury started out as a pure Kirby creation. As with his various war comics, The King made everything look harsh and real and appalling: the people and places are all grimy and tired, battered yet indomitable. Jack had served in some of the worst battles of the war and never forgot horrific and heroic things he saw. These he more graphically expressed in his efforts during the 1950s genre boom at many different companies. However, even at kid-friendly, Comics Code-sanitised Marvel, those experiences perpetually leaked through onto his powerfully gripping pages.

The saga began with blistering premier ‘Sgt. Fury, and his Howling Commandoes’ (that’s how they spellleded it in the storrie-title – altho knot enneewaire else): a rip-snorting yarn bursting with full-page panels interspersed with ‘Meet the Howling Commandos’ – a double-page spread spotlighting the 7-member First Attack Squad; Able Company, comprising Fury himself; former circus strongman/Corporal “Dum-Dum” Dugan and privates Robert “Rebel” Ralston (a Kentucky jockey); college student Jonathan “Junior” Juniper; jazz trumpeter Gabe Jones; Brooklyn mechanic Izzy Cohen and glamorous movie heartthrob Dino Manelli.

Controversially even for the 1960s, this battle Rat Pack was an integrated unit with Jewish and black members as well as Catholics, Southern Baptists and New York white guys all merrily serving together. The Howling Commandos pushed envelopes and busted taboos from the very start and the first mission was a non-stop riot pitting ‘Seven Against the Nazis!’ whilst putting the squad through their unique paces. The ragged band of indomitable warriors took on hordes of square-necked Nazis to save D-Day and rescue a French resistance fighter carrying vital plans of the invasion and is counterpointed by a far more low-key introduction for the next debut.

Something definitely different debuted at the back of Strange Tales #110.

When the budding House of Ideas introduced a warrior wizard to their proliferating pantheon in the summer of 1963 it was a bold but curious move. Bizarre adventures with menacing monsters were still incredibly popular both in and outside comics but mention of magic or the supernatural – especially vampires, werewolves and their eldritch ilk – were savagely proscribed by the censorship panel which dictated almost all aspects of story content. At this time (nearly a decade after an anti-comics public campaign led to Senate hearings) all comics were ferociously monitored and adjudicated by a draconian Comics Code Authority. Even though some of smaller company’s strongest sellers were mystery mags, their underlying themes and premises were almost universally mad science & alien wonders, not necromantic or thaumaturgic horrors. That might explain Lee’s unobtrusive introduction of Ditko’s mystic defender: an exotic, twilit troubleshooter inhabiting the shadowy outer fringes of rational, civilised society in one of those aforementioned monster titles.

Tales of Suspense #41 (May 1963) saw neophyte Iron Man battle crazed tech-wizard Doctor Strange, and with the codename successfully and legally in copyrightable print, preparations began for a truly different kind of ongoing hero. Marvel had recently published a quasi-mystic champion in balding, trench-coated Doctor Droom (later rechristened – or is that re-paganed? – Dr. Druid) and when Stephen Strange scored big, the prototype was retro-written into Marvel continuity as an alternative candidate and precursor for the ultimate role of Sorcerer Supreme.

Thus, without any preamble, our first meeting with the man of mystery comes courtesy of a quiet little chiller which has never been surpassed for sheer mood and imagination. Lee & Ditko’s ‘Doctor Strange Master of Black Magic!’ (Strange Tales #110, July 1963) saw a terrified man troubled by dreams approach an exceptional consultant in his search of a cure. That perfect 5-page fright-fest introduced entire fresh realms and featured deceit, desperation, double-dealing and the introduction of both a mysterious, aged oriental mentor and devilish dream demon Nightmare in an unforgettable yarn that might well be Ditko’s finest moment.

After a period of meteoric expansion, by mid-1963 the ever-expanding Marvel Universe was finally ready to emulate the successful DC concept that cemented the legitimacy of the Silver Age of American comics. The notion of putting a bunch of all-star eggs in one basket had made Justice League of America such a winner it inspired fading Atlas to try superheroes again. Nearly 18 months after FF #1, Marvel had a viable stable of leading men (but only sidekick women) so Lee & Kirby assembled a handful of them and moulded them into a force for justice and soaring sales. Seldom has it ever been done with such style and sheer exuberance. Cover dated September 1963, The Avengers #1 kicks off with ‘The Coming of the Avengers’: one of the industry’s cannier origin tales. Instead of starting at a zero point and acting as if the reader knew nothing, Stan & Jack (plus inker Ayers) assumed consumers had at least a passing familiarity with their other titles and wasted very little time or energy on introductions.

In Asgard, God of Mischief Loki is imprisoned on a dank isle, hungry for vengeance on his half-brother Thor. Observing Earth, the wicked godling espies monstrous, misunderstood Hulk and engineers a situation wherein the man-brute seemingly goes on a rampage, simply to trick the Thunder God into battling the brute. When the Hulk’s sidekick Rick Jones radios the FF for assistance, devious Loki diverts the transmission and smugly awaits the outcome of his trickery Sadly, Iron Man, Ant-Man & The Wasp also pick up the redirected SOS and respond. As heroes converge in the US Southwest to search for the Jade Giant, they realize that something is oddly amiss…

This terse, epic, compelling and wide-ranging yarn (New York, New Mexico, Detroit and Asgard in 22 pages) is Lee & Kirby at their bombastic best, but that same month they also premiered another super squad that was the hero team’s polar opposite. X-Men #1 introduced gloomy, serious Scott Summers (Cyclops), ebullient Bobby Drake/Iceman, wealthy golden boy Warren Worthington III codenamed Angel, and erudite, brutish genius Henry McCoy as The Beast. The teens were students of wheelchair-bound telepath Professor Charles Xavier, dedicated to broker peace and achieve integration between sprawling masses of humanity and Homo Superior: an emergent off-shoot species of mutants with incredible extra abilities.

Scripted by Lee ‘X-Men’ opens with the boisterous boy students welcoming newest classmate Jean Grey (promptly dubbed Marvel Girl): a young woman possessing the ability to move objects with her mind. Whilst Xavier is explaining the team goals and mission in life, actual Evil Mutant Magneto is single-handedly taking over US missile-base Cape Citadel. A seemingly unbeatable threat, the master of magnetism is nonetheless valiantly driven off by the young heroes on their first outing in under 15 minutes. It doesn’t sound like much, but the gritty, dynamic power of Kirby’s art, solidly inked by veteran Paul Reinman, imparted raw aggressive energy to the tale which carried the bi-monthly book irresistibly forward.

As Henry Pym matured from Ant-Man to Giant-Man, he took on a crimefighting partner in Janet Van Dyne: The Wasp. Although she almost never got a chance to solo star, with Tales to Astonish #52 (January 1964) Jan was granted a back-up series where she narrated horror stories like the one included here. Crafted by Lee, Lieber & George Roussos, ‘Somewhere Waits a Wobbow!’is a standard cautionary tale of fate and justice catching up to a crooked ne’er-do-well, and is followed here by a similar new position for an alien first introduced in Fantastic Four #13. From the same team and the same month, Tales of the Watcher began in Tales of Suspense #49 with the omnipotent intergalactic voyeur sharing ‘The Saga of the Sneepers!’ with predatory extraterrestrials observing Earth and making plans of conquest…

As the evolved Atlas Comics grew in popularity, it gradually supplanted its broad variety of genre titles with more and more superheroes. The recovering powerhouse was still hampered by a crippling distribution deal that limited the company to 16 titles per month (which would restrict their output until 1968), so each new untried book would have to fill the revenue-generating slot (however small) of an existing title.

Moreover, as costumed characters were selling, each new similarly-themed title would limit the monster, western, war, humour or girls’ comics that had been the outfit’s recent bread and butter. It was putting a lot of those eggs in one basket, and superheroes had failed twice before for Marvel. So Daredevil, the Man Without Fear (April 1964) might have seemed a risky venture. Yes, the artist was one of the industry’s most talented veterans, but not to the young kids who were its audience. Most importantly, he wasn’t Kirby or Ditko…

‘The Origin of Daredevil’ sees how young Matthew Murdock grew up in the slums, raised by his dad Battling Jack Murdock, a second-rate prize-fighter. Determined that his boy will be someone, Jack extracts a solemn promise from his son that he will never fight. Mocked by other kids who sarcastically dub him “Daredevil”, Matt abides by his vow, but secretly trains his body to physical perfection. One day he saves a blind man from being hit by a speeding truck, only to be struck in the face by its radioactive cargo. His sight is burned away forever but his other senses are super-humanly enhanced and he gains a sixth: “radar-sense”. He tells no-one, not even his dad.

Jack is in dire straits. As his career declined, he signed with The Fixer, knowing full well what the corrupt promoter expected from his fighters. Yet Jack’s star started to shine again and his downward spiral reversed itself. Unaware that he was being set up, Murdock got a shot at the Big Time, but when ordered to take a dive, refused. Winning was the proudest moment of his life. When his bullet-riddled corpse was found, the cops had suspicions but no proof…

Heartbroken Matt graduates college with a law degree and sets up in business with old room-mate Franklin “Foggy” Nelson. They hire young secretary Karen Page and, with his life on track, Matt now has time to solve his father’s murder. His promise had stopped him from fighting but what if he became somebody else? Scripted by Lee and moodily illustrated by Bill Everett (with assistance from Ditko) this is a rather nonsensical yet visually compelling yarn that just goes through the motions, barely hinting at the magic yet to come.

A cover gallery highlighting Marvel Tales Annual #1, Tales to Astonish #60 and photo-satire mag Monsters to Laugh With #1 then leads to the return of Captain America in his own series. After his resurrection in Avengers #4, the golden Age Cap exponentially grew in popularity and was quickly awarded his own solo feature, sharing Tales of Suspense with Iron Man. Sparsely scripted by Lee with the staggeringly perfect team of Kirby & Chic Stone illustrating, ‘Captain America’ is one phenomenal extended fight as an army of thugs invade Avengers Mansion because “only the one without superpowers” is at home. They soon learn the folly of that misapprehension…

Veteran war-hero Nick Fury was reimagined in Fantastic Four #21 (December 1963) as a grizzled, world-weary CIA Colonel at the periphery of really big events in a fast-changing world. Fury’s latter-day self then emerged as a big-name star once espionage yarns went global in the wake of popular TV sensations like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The elder iteration was given a second series in Strange Tales #135 (August 1965). Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which back then stood for Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) combined Cold War tensions with sinister schemes of World Conquest by a subversive, all-encompassing, hidden enemy organisation. The unfolding saga came with captivating Kirby-designed super-science gadgetry…

Kirby’s genius for graphic wizardry and gift for dramatic staging mixed with Lee’s manic melodrama to create a tough, tense series which the writers & artists who followed turned into a non-stop riot of action and suspense. The main event opens in ST #135 as the Human Torch lead feature was summarily replaced. In the rocket-paced first episode, Fury is asked to volunteer for the most dangerous job in the world: leading a new counter-intelligence agency sworn to stop secret subversive super-science organisation Hydra. With assassins dogging his every move, the Take-Charge Guy with the Can-Do Attitude proves he is ‘The Man for the Job!’ in a potent 12-page thriller by Lee, Kirby & Ayers.

Originally devised by Bill Everett in 1939, Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the offspring of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and a US polar explorer: a hybrid being of immense strength, highly resistant to physical harm, able to fly and exist above and below the waves. Namor technically predates Marvel/Atlas/Timely Comics. He first caught public attention as part of the fire vs. water headlining team in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939 and Marvel Mystery Comics from the second issue onward), sharing honours and top billing with the original Human Torch, but he had originally been seen (albeit in a truncated monochrome version) in Motion Picture Funnies: a weekly promotional giveaway handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year.

Rapidly emerging as one of the company’s biggest draws, Namor gained his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated Spring 1941) and was one of the last super-characters to go at the end of the first heroic age. In 1954, when Atlas briefly revived its Big Three super characters, Everett returned for an extended run of superb fantasy tales, but even so the time wasn’t right and the title sunk again. When Lee & Kirby began reinventing comic books in 1961 they retooled the forgotten awesome amphibian as a troubled, semi-amnesiac, decidedly regal and grandiose antihero in FF #4. Namor despised humanity; embittered at the loss of his sub-sea kingdom (which was seemingly destroyed by atomic testing) whilst being simultaneously besotted with Sue Storm.

Namor knocked around the budding continuity, squabbling with assorted heroes like Hulk, Avengers & X-Men, before winning his own series as half of Tales to Astonish. Marvel’s split-books had been devised as a way to promote their growing stable of stars whilst toiling under a highly restrictive distribution deal limiting the number of titles they could release each month. In 1968 the company ended this commitment and expanded exponentially.

After spectacularly battling Daredevil in the Scarlet Swashbuckler’s 7^th issue, TtA #70 heralded ‘The Start of the Quest!’ as Lee, Gene Colan (in pseudonymous disguise as Adam Austin) & Vince Colletta set Sub-Mariner to storming an Atlantis under martial law ordered by his usurping Warlord Krang. The effort is for naught and our returning hero is rejected by his own people. Callously imprisoned, the troubled Prince is freed by his oft-neglected and ignored paramour Lady Dorma, charging him to undertake a mystical quest to find the lost Trident of King Neptune… which only the rightful ruler of Atlantis can hold.

More covers follow: Monsters Unlimited #1, Patsy Walker’s Fashion Parade #1, reprint anthologies Marvel Collectors’ Items Classics #1, Fantasy Masterpieces #1, Marvel Tales #3, King Size Special Marvel Super-Heroes #1 & Thor #126 (a first issue as Journey into Mystery was sensibly retitled here) before a new masked-&-costumed western hero debuted in Ghost Rider #1 (December 1966).

‘The Origin of the Ghost Rider’ by Gary Friedrich, Roy Thomas, Ayers & Colletta revealed how Eastern teacher Carter Slade is shot by fake Indians and brought back from the brink of death by real ones. Saved by recently-orphaned Jamie Jacobs, Slade is healed by shaman Flaming Star who trains Slade in combat and grants him gifts enabling him to perform tricks of stage magic (such as night time invisibility, image projection and bodily discorporation). Creating a glowing costume, Slade goes after plundering white men impersonating native tribes – and who killed Jamie’s parents – as a spectral avenging spirit “He who rides the Night Winds”…

Older fans – or their grandparents – might possibly recognise this hero as a western legend created by Ray Krank & Dick Ayers for Tim Holt #11 (Magazine Enterprises, 1949) and later immortalised by Frank Frazetta. They are stunningly, litigiously similar and Marvel made good use of the original’s reputation and recently voided copyright ownership. The same holds true for their next superhero addition, who crops up following another cover gallery featuring Not Brand Echh #1 and animated cartoon tie-in one-shot America’s Best (TV) Comics #1.

After years as an also-ran/up-and-comer, by 1968 Marvel Comics was in the ascendant. Their sales were catching up with industry leaders National/DC Comics and Gold Key, and they at last secured a new distribution deal that allowed them to expand their titles exponentially. Once the doubled-up stars of split-books Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish & Strange Tales all got their own titles, the House of Ideas just kept on going. One dead-cert idea was a star named after the company… one with a vast amount of name-recognition and nostalgic pedigree as well.

After the DC/Fawcett court case of the 1940s-1950s, the name Captain Marvel disappeared from newsstands, but in 1967, during the superhero boom and camp craze generated by the Batman TV show, publisher MLF secured rights to the name and produced giant-sized comics featuring an intelligent robot who could divide his body into segments and shoot lasers from his eyes. Quirky, charming and devised by the legendary Carl (Human Torch) Burgos who had recently worked for Marvel, the comic nevertheless did not attract a large following. Upon its demise, the name was quickly snapped up by the resurgent Marvel Comics Group. Marvel Super-Heroes was a brand-new title. It had been giant-sized reprint title Fantasy Masterpieces, combining monster & mystery tales with Golden Age Timely classics. With #12, it added an all-new experimental lead section for characters without homes. These would include Inhuman Queen Medusa and a new Black Knight when not debuting new concepts like Guardians of the Galaxy, Phantom Eagle (oddly omitted from this volume) and, to start the ball rolling, an troubled alien spy sent to Earth from the Kree Galaxy. He held a Captain’s rank and his name was Mar-Vell.

Crafted by Lee, Colan & Giacoia, initial 15-page MS-H instalment ‘The Coming of Captain Marvel!: Phase One!!’ devolved directly from FF #64-65 wherein the quartet defeated a super-advanced Sentry robot from a mythical space empire, only to be attacked by a high official of those long-lost extraterrestrials in their very next issue! After defeating Ronan the Accuser, the FF heard no more from the far-from-extinct Kree, but the millennia-old civilisation was once again interested in Earth. Dispatching a surveillance mission, the Kree wanted to know everything about us. Unfortunately, the agent they chose was a troubled man of conscience; whilst commanding officer Colonel Yon-Rogg was a ruthless rival for the love of the ship’s medical officer Una. No sooner has the good captain made tentative planetfall and clashed with the US military from the local missile base than this first instalment ends…

Although cover-dated January 1968, Capt. Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders #1 was released in November of the previous year, literally promoting a long-running supporting character from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos to lead status and the Pacific Theatre of War in WWII. Crafted by Friedrich, Ayers & Syd Shores ‘The Last Banzai!’ sees US submarine commander Simon Savage reluctantly appointed the head of a squad of elite (multicultural/multi-ethnic) marines to clear the way for imminent Allied landings on the fortified atoll of Tarawa. It’s a dirty job but…

The aforementioned expansion is celebrated by a gallery of debuting series covers for Groovy #1, Captain America #100, Incredible Hulk #102, Iron Man and The Sub-Mariner #1, Iron Man #1, Sub-Mariner #1, Captain Marvel #1, Doctor Strange #169, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 and Spectacular Spider-Man #1 and cemented by the first full solo tale of one the company’s breakthrough stars.

Although pretty much a last-minute addition to Fantastic Four #48-50’s ‘Galactus Trilogy’, Jack Kirby’s scintillating creation the Silver Surfer swiftly became a watchword for depth and subtext in the Marvel Universe and one Lee kept as his own personal toy for many years. Tasked with finding planets for space god Galactus to consume and, despite the best efforts of intergalactic voyeur Uatu the Watcher, one day the Surfer discovers Earth, where the latent nobility of humanity reawakens his own suppressed morality; causing the shining scout to rebel against his master and help the FF save the world. In retaliation, Galactus imprisons his one-time herald on Earth, making him the ultimate outsider on a planet remarkably ungrateful for his sacrifice. The Galactus Saga was a creative high from a period when the Lee/Kirby partnership was absolutely on fire. The tale has all the power and grandeur of a true epic and has never been surpassed for drama, thrills and sheer entertainment. It’s not included here: for that treat you’ll need to see a Fantastic Four Epic Collection or many another Marvel collection…

In May 1968, after frequent guest-shots and even a solo adventure in the back of Fantastic Four Annual #5, the Surfer finally got his own (initially double-length) title at long last. Illustrated by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott, ‘The Origin of the Silver Surfer!’ finds the drama opening on a prolonged flashback sequence of the outcast’s forays on Earth and repeated examples of crass humanity’s brutal callousness and unthinking hostility. Then we see how Norrin Radd, discontented soul from an alien paradise Zenn-La, became the gleaming herald of a planetary scourge. Radd had constantly chafed against a civilisation in comfortable, sybaritic stagnation, but when Galactus shattered their cosy million years of progress in a fleeting moment, without hesitation the discontented dissident offered himself as a sacrifice to save the world from the Devourer’s hunger. Converted into an indestructible, gleaming human meteor, Radd agreed to scour the galaxies looking for uninhabited worlds rich in the energies Galactus needs to survive, thus saving planets with life on them from destruction. He didn’t always find them in time…

The stories in this series were highly acclaimed – if not commercially successful – both for Buscema’s agonised, emphatic and lush artwork as well as Lee’s deeply spiritual and cod-philosophical scripts. The tone was accusatory; with the isolated alien’s travails and social observations creating a metaphoric status akin to a Christ-figure for an audience that was maturing and rebelling against America’s creaking and unsavoury status quo.

Marvel the business had early learned the value of reprinting past glories; both to update new readers and to cheaply monopolise sales points. Here a gallery blends ongoing titles like newly retitled Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders #5 and adult-oriented comics magazine Pussycat #1 with double-sized classics reprint compilations Tales of Asgard #1 and The Mighty Marvel Western #1 before Marvel Super-Heroes #19 (March 1969 and on the stands in December 1968) sees Tarzan analogue Ka-Zar in his first solo story ‘My Father, My Enemy!’ courtesy of Arnold Drake, Steve Parkhouse, George Tuska & Sid Greene. Beginning as a barbarian wild man in a lost sub-polar realm of swamp-men and dinosaurs, Ka-Zar eventually evolved into one of Marvel’s more complex – and exceedingly mutable – characters. Wealthy heir to one of Britain’s oldest noble families, his best friend is a sabre-tooth tiger, his wife is feisty jungle warrior/zoologist Shanna the She-Devil and his brother is a homicidal super-scientific bandit. He is one of Marvel/Timely’s oldest heroes; pulp hero predated Martin Goodman’s first foray into comics and strip incarnation Kazar the Great was in Marvel Comics #1, right beside Human Torch, Sub-Mariner and The Angel…

Lord Kevin Plunder was perpetually torn between the clean life-or-death simplicity of the jungle and the bewildering constant compromises of modern civilisation as he guest-starred in titles as varied as X-Men, Daredevil & Amazing Spider-Man. As this enjoyable, under-appreciated tale unfolds many of the modern hero’s inconsistencies and conflicts are squared as the aristocratic outsider quits his English castle for the Antediluvian Savage Land to investigate claims that his dead father was a scientific devil intent on using his discovery of anti-metal for evil. Tragically, his warped brother Parnival is ruthless and determined to hide the truth for his own vile ends. A consequent wild excursion to Antarctica sees the discovery and obfuscation of the truth, strange aliens, dinosaurs, lost cities, spectacular locations, pervasive mystery and all-out action. Comics don’t get better than this…

Ending these astounding formative adventures is a tale from February 1969, just as comics began experiencing another downturn in superhero sales and the resurrection of other, more traditional genres with fresh modern tones. Co-written and pencilled by Lieber with Thomas, Giacoia & Vince Colletta, ‘This Man… This Demon!’ was the final solo try-out in Marvel Super-Heroes (#20, cover-dated May) before it became an all-reprint vehicle. It restated Dr. Victor von Doom’s origins and revealed his tragic, doomed relationship with “insignificant” Roma girl Valeria. That relationship is then exploited by demon alchemist Diablo who claims to need an ally but actually wants a new slave. The terrifying monarch of Latveria deals with the charlatan in typically effective style…

Marvel continued expanding for the remainder of the decade, but not with superheroes, as a final clutch of covers – Mad About Millie #1, Chili #1, My Love #1, Tower of Shadows #1, Chamber of Darkness #1, Our Love Story #1, Marvel’s Greatest Comics #22, Homer, the Happy Ghost #1, Peter the Little Pest #1, the revived Kid Colt Outlaw(#140), Ringo Kid #1 and Where Monsters Dwell #1 – highlights the publisher’s return to broader choices and themes, following as always the trends of TV and movies. Also included is a brief bonus section sharing Stan Lee’s original synopsis for FF #1 and iconic contemporary house ads.

The 1960s was the turning point in the history of US comic books: the moment a populist industry became an art form. These tales helped sparked that renaissance and remain some of the best stories and art you will ever experience. Nuff Said?
© 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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