Category: Science Fiction

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The Mighty Thor Omnibus volume 2


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, Bill Everett, Frank Giacoia,  & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-6813-3 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Epic Jewel of Historic Import… 10/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Even more than Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor was the arena in which Jack Kirby’s restless fascination with all things Cosmic was honed and refined through dazzling graphics and captivating concepts. The King’s string of power-packed signature pantheons began in a modest little fantasy/monster title called Journey into Mystery where – in the summer of 1962 – a tried-and-tested comic book concept (feeble mortal transformed into god-like hero) was revived by the fledgling Marvel Comics to add a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers.

This monumental tome re-presents pioneering Asgardian exploits from JiM #121-125 and The Mighty Thor #126- 152, plus The Mighty Thor Annual #2, and a clod-ly godly gift parcel from Not Brand Echh #3, altogether spanning cover-dates November 1965 to May 1968 in a blazing blur of innovation and seat-of-the-pants myth-revising and universe-building. It is lettered throughout by unsung superstars Art Simek and Sam Rosen, and an unjustly anonymous band of colourists. As well as a monolithic assortment of nostalgic treats at the back, this mammoth tome is dotted throughout with recycled Introductions – ‘So Utterly Godlike’ & ‘The Spectacle and Excitement’ by Stan Lee, and Mark Evanier’s ‘The Best at Their Best’ – taken from earlier Marvel Masterworks editions, and also includes editorial announcements and ‘The Hammer Strikes!’ newsletter pages for each original issue to enhance overall historical experience…

Once upon a time, lonely, lamed American doctor Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway and encountered the vanguard of an alien invasion. Trapped in a cave, Blake found a gnarled old walking stick, which when struck against the ground, turned him into the Norse God of Thunder! Within moments he was defending the weak and smiting the wicked. As months swiftly passed, rapacious extraterrestrials, Commie tyrants, costumed crazies and cheap thugs gradually gave way to a vast panoply of fantastic worlds and incredible, mythic menaces.

From JiM #110, the magnificent warrior’s ever-expanding world of Asgard was a regular feature and mesmerising milieu for the hero’s earlier adventures, heralding a fresh era of cosmic fantasy to run beside the company’s signature superhero sagas.

Every issue also carried a spectacular back-up series that grew to be a solid fan-favourite. Tales of Asgard – Home of the Mighty Norse Gods gave Kirby space to indulge his fascination with legends and allowed both complete vignettes and longer epics – in every sense of the word. Initially adapted myths, these little yarns grew into sagas unique to the Marvel universe where Kirby built his own cosmos and mythology, underpinning the company’s entire continuity.

Here we resume mid-melee as Thor, having defeated The Destroyer and Loki, returns to America only to clash once more with the awesome Absorbing Man. The Thunderer’s attack intensifies in ‘The Power! The Passion! The Pride!’ but soon seemingly sees the end of Thor: a cliffhanger somewhat assuaged by ‘Maelstrom!’ wherein Asgardian Argonauts epically encounter an uncanny storm. This Tales of Asgard serial formed part of “the Quest” which further unfolds as a band of hand-picked warriors on Thor’s flying longship endure further hardship in their bold bid to forestall Ragnarok…

In JiM #122’s ‘Where Mortals Fear to Tread!’ triumphant Crusher Creel is abducted by Loki to attack Asgard and Odin himself: an astounding clash capped by cataclysmic conclusion ‘While a Universe Trembles!’ Meanwhile, ‘The Grim Specter of Mutiny!’ invoked by seditious young Loki is quashed in time for valiant Balder to save the Argonauts from ‘The Jaws of the Dragon!’ in the ever-escalating Ragnarok Quest.

With the contemporary threat to Asgard ended and Creel banished, Thor returns to Earth to defeat the Demon, a “witchdoctor” empowered by a magical Norn Stone left behind after the Thunder God’s Vietnamese venture. Whilst the Storm Lord is away Hercules is dispatched to Earth on a reconnaissance mission for Zeus. ‘The Grandeur and the Glory!’ opens another extended story-arc and action extravaganza, bouncing the Thunderer from bruising battle to brutal defeat to ascendant triumph…

Previously, in Journey into Mystery Annual #1, in undisclosed ages past the God of Thunder fell into the realm of the Greek Gods for landmark heroic hullabaloo ‘When Titans Clash! Thor vs. Hercules!’ and now with the Greek godling clearly popular with readers, he properly enters the growing Mavel Universe.

Issue #125 – ‘When Meet the Immortals!’ – was the last Journey into Mystery: with next month’s ‘Whom the Gods Would Destroy!’ the comic was re-titled The Mighty Thor and the drama amped up, culminating with ‘The Hammer and the Holocaust!’ In short order Thor crushes the Demon, seemingly loses beloved Jane to Hercules, is deprived of his powers and is subsequently thrashed by the Prince of Power, yet still manages to save Asgard from unscrupulous traitor Seidring the Merciless who had usurped Odin’s mystic might…

Meanwhile Tales of Asgard instalments see the Questers home in on the cause of all their woes. ‘Closer Comes the Swarm’ pits them against the flying trolls of Thryheim, whilst ‘The Queen Commands’ sees Loki captured until Thor answers ‘The Summons!’, promptly returning the Argonauts to Asgard to be shown ‘The Meaning of Ragnarok!’ In truth, these mini-eddas were, although still magnificent in visual excitement, becoming rather rambling in plot, so the narrative reset was neither unexpected nor unwelcome…

Instead of ending, the grandiose saga grew in scope with Thor #128 as ‘The Power of Pluto!’ introduced another major foe. The Greek god of the Underworld tricks Hercules into replacing him as ruler of his dread, dead domain, just as the recuperated Thunder God is looking for a rematch, whilst in Tales of Asgard Kirby pulls out all the creative stops to depict the ‘Aftermath!’ of Ragnarok – for many fans the first indication of what was to come in the King’s landmark Fourth World tales half a decade later…

‘The Verdict of Zeus!’ condemns Hercules to the Underworld unless he can find a proxy to fight for him, even as at the back of the comic, assembled Asgardians face ‘The Hordes of Harokin’ as another multi-chapter classic begins. However, for once the cosmic scope of the lead feature eclipses the serialised odysseys.  ‘Thunder in the Netherworld!’ depicts Thor and Hercules carving a swathe of destruction through an unbelievably alien landscape; the beginning of a gradual sidelining of Earthly matters and mere crime-fighting in this series. Thor and Kirby were increasingly expending their efforts in greater realms than ours…

‘The Fateful Change!’ then reveals how a younger Thunder God trades places with Genghis Khan-like Harokin – leaving the drama on a tense cliff hanger mimicked in this epic omnibus by Lee’s recycled essay ‘The Spectacle and Excitement’.

Cosmic calamity recommences with the Thunderer and his Olympian rival returning triumphant from Hades. Thor even secures a pledge from his terrifyingly inconsistent father Odin that he may wed mortal love Jane Foster, but, hurtling back to Earth finds her long gone and erstwhile roommate Tana Nile exposed as a superpowered Rigellian Colonizer who has just taken possession of Earth. ‘They Strike from Space!’ was mere prologue for a fantastic voyage to the depths of space and a unique universal threat…

In Tales of Asgard the assembled Asgardians face different dramas as young Thor impersonates dynamic reiver Harokin until exposed, even as colossal companion Volstagg steals the enemy’s apocalyptic wizard-weapon ‘The Warlock’s Eye!’ before the next instalment sees ‘The Dark Horse of Death!’ arrive, looking for its next doomed rider…

Thor #132 also reveals the Thunderer explosively laying down the law on ‘Rigel: Where Gods May Fear to Tread!’ and single-handedly liberating Earth. The following issue is a certified Kirby Classic, as ‘Behold… the Living Planet!’ introduces malevolent Ego: a sentient world ruling a living Bio-verse and a stunning visual tour de force that piled one High Concept after another upon Thor, his new artificial ally The Recorder and the reeling readership, whilst Harokin’s tale terminated in one last ride to ‘Valhalla!’

The invasion threat ended, Thor returns to Earth in search of Jane, and after diligent efforts finds her with ‘The People Breeders!’ – a hidden Balkan enclave wherein pioneering geneticist The High Evolutionary is instantly evolving animals into men. His latest experiment creates a lupine future-nightmare – ‘The Maddening Menace of the Super-Beast!’ so it’s just as well the Thunder God was on hand.

Back in Asgard and an undefinable time agone, ‘When Speaks the Dragon!’ and ‘The Fiery Breath of Fafnir!’ pit Thor and his Warriors Three comrades Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg against a staggering reptilian monstrosity: a threat finally quashed in #136’s ‘There Shall Come a Miracle!’

The lead story in that issue is a turning point in the history of the Storm Lord. ‘To Become an Immortal!’ has Odin transform Jane into an Asgardian goddess and relocate her to Asgard, but her frail human mind cannot cope with the Realm Eternal’s wonders and perils and she is mindwiped(!), mercifully restored to mortality and all but written out of the series.

Luckily for the despondent Thunder God beauteous warrior-maiden Sif is on hand to lend an understanding ear and shoulder to cry on…

With this story, Thor’s closest link to Earth was neatly severed: from now on adventures on Midgard are as a tourist or beneficent guest, not a resident. Asgard and infinity were now his true home, a situation quickly proved by the bombastic clash ‘If Asgard Falls…’ Set in the Gleaming City during the annual Tourney of Heroes (and originally published in The Mighty Thor Annual #2, 1966) this a martial spectacular of outlandish armours and exotic weaponry that turns decidedly serious when the deadly Destroyer is unleashed amidst wildly warring warriors in full competition mode…

Although Thor had lost his human paramour, he rediscovered a childhood sweetheart, now all grown up and a fierce warrior maid to boot. A good thing too, as ‘The Thunder God and the Troll!’ (#137) debuts bestial menace super-troll Ulik and depicts open warfare between the Asgardians and their implacable, monstrous foes. During the spectacular carnage and combat Sif is captured and Thor rushes to Earth to rescue her, whilst legions of deadly subterranean troglodytes attack the very heart of the eternal kingdom…

Tales of Asgard feature was gradually wrapping up, but still offered Kirby somewhere to stretch his creative muscles. ‘The Tragedy of Hogun!’ shares gripping revelations of the dour warrior in an Arabian Nights pastiche also introducing sinister sorcerer Mogul of the Mystic Mountain. In ‘The Flames of Battle!’ Thor reunites with Sif but is deprived of magical mallet Mjolnir courtesy of exotic technology the trolls have mysteriously developed. Do the malign invaders have a potent new ally or a terrifyingly powerful slave? Trapped on Earth, the hammerless hero has no means of returning to the realm beyond the Rainbow Bridge whilst in Asgard, the war goes badly and the gods are close to final defeat…

In Tales of Asgard, ‘The Quest for the Mystic Mountain!’ finds Hogun and his comrades edging closer to victory and vengeance, culminating in a truly stunning Kirby spectacle in #139 as the wandering warriors discover ‘The Secret of the Mystic Mountain!’ In the lead story of that issue, ‘To Die Like a God!’ wraps up the Troll War in eye-popping style as Thor and Sif invade the bowels of the Earth to save humanity and Asgardians alike…

With Mighty Thor #140, extended epics give way to a short run of compete, single episode tales heavy on action, starting with ‘The Growing Man!’ as Thor heads to Earth and discovers New York under attack by a synthetic warrior who grows larger and stronger with every blow struck against him. Time-travelling tyrant Kang the Conqueror is behind the Brobdingnagian brute, whilst in back-up ‘The Battle Begins!’, Hogun & Co are menaced by a terrifying genie.

Mark Evanier’s ‘The Best at Their Best’ precedes Thor #141, where the Storm Lord faces ‘The Wrath of Replicus’ – a bombastic, bludgeoning epic involving gangsters, aliens and super-robots, counter-pointed by stunning fantasy as the wandering Asgardians meet ‘Alibar and the Forty Demons!’ ‘The Scourge of the Super Skrull!’ then pits Thunderer against an alien with all the powers of the Fantastic Four, even as, in Asgard, a new menace is investigated by Sif and indomitable Balder the Brave. The back-up tale sees Kirby’s seamless melange of myth and legend leap into overdrive as ‘We, Who are About to Die…!’ depicts young Thor and the Warriors Three confounding all the mystic menaces of Mogul. Thor #143 returns to extended epics with ‘…And, Soon Shall Come: the Enchanters!’ (inked by magnificent Bill Everett) as Sif and Balder encounter a trio of wizards plotting to overthrow All-Father Odin, only to fall prey to their power. Escaping to Earth they link up with Thor, but they have been followed…

Everett also inked Tales of Asgard instalment ‘To the Death!’ as comic relief colossus Volstagg takes centre-stage to seduce Mogul’s sinister sister…

Colletta returns for ‘This Battleground Earth!’, as two Enchanters attack the warriors on Midgard whilst the third duels directly with Odin in the home of the gods. At the back, Mogul declares ‘The Beginning of the End!’ At the height of the battle in the previous issue Odin had withdrawn all the powers of his Asgardian followers, leaving Sif, Balder and Thor ‘Abandoned on Earth!’ Now victorious, the All-Father wants his subjects home, but again his wayward son opts to stay with mortals, driving Odin into a fury. Stripped of magical abilities, alone, hungry and in need of a job, the former god becomes embroiled with the Circus of Crime and is hypnotised into committing an audacious theft…

Tales of Asgard wrapped up in spectacular fashion with ‘The End!’, to be replaced in the next issue with The Inhumans – but as that’s a subject of a separate volume, the remainder of this chronicle is all-Aesir action, beginning in #146’s ‘…If the Thunder Be Gone!’ Deprived of all power except his natural super-strength, Thor is helpless against the mesmerism of the nefarious Ringmaster, and steals a life-sized, solid gold bull at the villain’s command. When the police interrupt the raid, our hero awakens to find himself an outlaw and a moving target. Things get worse when he is arrested in ‘The Wrath of Odin!’: left a sitting duck for the vengeance of malign brother Loki. However, the god of Evil’s scheme is thwarted when Sif and Balder rush to Thor’s rescue, provoking Odin to de-power and banish them all in ‘Let There be… Chaos!’

As all this high-powered frenzy occurs, a brutal burglar is terrorising Manhattan. When Public Enemy #1 The Wrecker breaks into the house where Loki is hiding, the cheap thug achieves his greatest score – intercepting a magic spell from the formidable Norn Queen intended to restore the mischief maker’s evil energies. Now charged with Asgardian forces, the Wrecker goes on a rampage with only the weakened Thor to challenge him…

Thor #149 enters new territory ‘When Falls a Hero!’ as – after a catastrophic clash – the Wrecker kills the Thunderer. ‘Even in Death…’ has the departed deity facing Hela, Goddess of Death, as Balder and Sif hunt the Norn Queen and Loki. Hoping to save her beloved, Sif enters into a devil’s bargain, surrendering her soul to animate unstoppable war-machine the Destroyer, unaware her lover has already convinced Death to release him. In ‘…To Rise Again!’ the Destroyer, fresh from crushing the Wrecker, turns on a resurrected Thor as Sif is unable to communicate with or overrule the death-machine’s pre-programmed hunger to kill. The situation is further muddled when Odin arbitrarily restores Thor’s godly might, leading the Destroyer to go into lethal overdrive…

Meanwhile in the wilds of Asgard, Ulik the Troll attacks Karnilla, Queen of the Norns and Balder offers to be her champion if Sif is freed from the Destroyer. An astounding turning point comes in ‘The Dilemma of Dr. Blake!’ as Thor joins his lost companions against Ulik, only to lose his newly re-energised hammer to Loki, who flees to Earth with it…

To Be Continued…

However there’s one last reading treat in store as Marvel’s superhero spoof title Not Brand Echh #3 provides a barbed and pitiless pastiche of “Jazzgardian” life in ‘The Origin of Sore, Son of Shmodin!’ by Lee, Kirby & Giacoia. It’s followed by artistic and historical treasure including original and unused cover art and pencil pages, editorial Marvel Bullpen Bulletins and Thor Kirby covers from reprint titles Special Marvel Edition (#3 & 4) and Marvel Spectacular #1-19, plus Maximum Security: Thor vs Ego (2000).

These Thor tales show the development not only of one of Marvel’s fundamental continuity concepts but more importantly the creative evolution of the greatest imagination in comics. Set your common sense on pause and simply wallow in the glorious imagery and power of these classic adventures for the true secret of what makes graphic narrative a unique experience.
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Jesse Marsh Years Omnibus volume two


By Gaylord DuBois & Jesse Marsh (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59582-294-9 (HB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Dynamic Days-Gone-By Derring Do … 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

I don’t know an awful lot about Jesse Marsh, other than that he was born on 27th July 1907 and died far too young: on April 28th 1966 from diabetic complications at the height of a TV Tarzan revival he was in large part responsible for. What I do know, however, is that to my unformed, pre-fanboy, kid’s mentality, his drawings were somehow better than most of the other artists and that every other kid who read comics in my school disagreed with me.

There’s a phrase we used to use at 2000 AD that summed it up: “Artist’s artist”, which usually meant someone whose fan-mail divided equally into fanatical raves and bile-filled hate-mail. It seems there are some makers of comic strips that many readers simply don’t get.

It isn’t about the basic principles or artistic quality or even anything tangible – although you’ll hear some cracking justifications: “I don’t like his feet” (presumably the way he draws them) and “it just creeps me out” being my two favourites. Never forget in the 1980s DC were told by the Comics Code Authority that Kevin O’Neill’s entire style and manner of Drawing was unacceptable to American readers!

I got Jesse Marsh.

Like many Western Publishing stalwarts Jesse Mace Marsh originally worked for Disney Studios (1939-1948) as an animator on projects including Pinocchio and Fantasia. His first comics work appeared in 1945, and he continued as a staff artist until his death in 1966. In addition to his Tarzan contributions, he illustrated Gene Autry, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and more, as well as John Carter of Mars: three 4-Color series issues. In this second compilation, hyper-prolific Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (August 24th 1899 – October 20th 1993) is scripter as – nourished by a burgeoning movie franchise, radio, newspaper and new novels – the comic book Ape-Man phenomenon grew and steadied for the long haul. The editor/scripter (for ALL the Tarzan titles and spin-offs, Lone Ranger, Lost in Space, Turok, Son of Stone, Brothers of the Spear, Lassie, Andy Panda, Red Ryder, Tom and Jerry, Bonanza and so many more) would be Marsh’s creative collaborator for the next 19 years.

Situated on the West Coast, Western’s Dell/Gold Key imprints rivalled DC and Marvel at the height of their powers, and the licensee famously never capitulated to the wave of anti-comics hysteria that resulted in the crippling self-censorship of the 1950s. No Dell Comics ever displayed a Comics Code Authority symbol on the cover – they never needed to…

Marsh jobbed around adapted movie properties – mostly westerns – until 1948 when Dell introduced the first all-new Tarzan comic book. The newspaper strip had been running since January 1929 and all previous collections and funnybook releases had featured expurgated and modified reprints of those exploits. Everything changed with Dell Four Color Comic #134 (February 1947) which offered a lengthy, captivating tale of the Ape-Man, scripted by Robert P. Thompson. He had also written both the Tarzan radio show and the aforementioned syndicated strip. link to Tarzan and the Adventurers please.

‘Tarzan and the Devil Ogre’ was very much in the Burroughs tradition: John Clayton, Lord Greystoke and his friend Paul D’Arnot aid a young woman in rescuing her lost father from a hidden tribe ruled over by a monster. The engrossing yarn was made magical by the simple, underplayed magic of a heavy brush line and absolutely unmatched design sense. Marsh was unique in the way he positioned characters in space, employing primitivist forms and hidden shapes to augment his backgrounds. He was a fanatical researcher: his trees, rocks, and constructions were 100% accurate. His animals and natives, especially children and women, were all distinct and recognisable; not the badly-shaded stock figures in grass skirts that even the greatest artists so often resorted to.

Marsh also knew when to draw big and draw small: the internal dynamism of his work is spellbinding. His Africa became mine, and as the try-out comic book was an instant hit he stuck around for decades. Dell never messed with something that was already working. Marsh and Thompson’s Tarzan returned with two tales in Dell Four Color Comic #161, cover-dated August 1947. That was remarkable: Four Colour was a catch-all title showcasing literally hundreds of different licensed properties in rotation, often as many as ten separate and stunningly diverse issues per month. So rapid a return engagement meant pretty solid sales figures…

Following a gracious and wondering Foreword by Gilbert Hernandez discussing the sheer ubiquity of Tarzan comics in households – particularly Latino ones – we return to distant days of rampaging fantasy, garnished by yet another warning from me. In past reviews I’ve described how this character comes with lots of inbuilt colonial baggage and an unhealthy side-order of appalling white supremacy for those readers pre-sensitised pro or con. What I haven’t addressed is the sheerly shocking death toll of animals, killed for food, for sport or because someone needs an action scene proving how cruel villains are or how mighty the hero is. This is not a book for vegans or animal activists, okay?

Volume Two gathers the pertinent material from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan #5-10, spanning September/October 1948 through July/August 1949) and includes (line art) covers and back covers by eventual painter/illustrator Morris Gollub. Most issues also include two colour frontispieces and endpieces offering lessons in ‘Tarzan’s Ape-English Dictionary’, prompting millions of kids everywhere to shout “Kreegah! Bundolo!” and “Tantor, ho!” in the playground and look like complete loons trying to talk to baboons and monkeys every time we visited a zoo…

The dramas resume with Tarzan #5 (September/October 1948) with harsh morality play ‘Tarzan and the Men of Greed’. Here, wife Jane and son Boy (latterly “Korak”) are kidnapped by American gangsters and a bandit sheikh as a means of forcing Tarzan to bring them and their army of African bandits to the lost treasure vaults of Opar. After an arduous trek, and terrifying ascent of an ancient escarpment, the thieves learn to their eternal cost why it’s not healthy to antagonise the legendary Ape-Man…

As well as the epic 33 page saga and the opportunity to practise primate patois “Mangani to Paco” there’s a stunning back cover pinup of the forest family before – cover dated November/December 1948 – we dig deep into the novels’ mythology for #6 as ‘Tarzan and the Outlaws of Pal-ul-don’ sees Jane abducted (again!). This time it’s raiders from a primordial enclave first introduced in eighth novel Tarzan the Terrible (1921), necessitating man and boy chasing the perfidious primitives all the way back to their lost realm. This is a huge oasis of jungles, mountains, dinosaurs and evolutionary dead-ends at the centre of a vast desert and results in reunion with old Waz-don ally Om-At and war with bandit nation Ho-Don, using Triceratops as tanks…

Following another pin-up, Tarzan #7 (January/February 1949) finds the family back home, and bored Tarzan making a hot air balloon. His efforts lead to more trouble when Boy and his Waziri friend Dombie are accidentally caught when it breaks loose and transported to a land of terrors. ‘Tarzan and the Valley of the Monsters’ sees the Jungle Lord and his ally Muviro (Dombie’s dad) give chase in a plane until brought down by Pterodactyls. From there it’s all fight and flight from giant lizard and volcanoes until the humans are reunited and heading home again.

Morris Gollub takes over covers and pin-up duties with #8 (March/April 1949) as the lost quartet continue the trek home. Traversing mountains and deserts, they almost fail until meeting a strange albino tribe in ‘Tarzan and the White Pygmies’, and in return for aid when they need it most teach their benefactors modern warfare by introducing them to archery, and saving them from predation by legions of giant vultures…

Cover-dated May/June 1949, issue #9 returns to Pal-ul-don as ‘Tarzan and the Men of A-lur’ sees King Ja-Don usurped by surly vassal Dak-Lot, propelling Tarzan, Boy and even Jane into a full-scale civil war (with lots of comparatively shocking violence for a Golden Age comic book!) as humans, pre-men, cave bears, dinosaurs and modern elephants clash to decide the fate of the kingdom time forgot…

This second time-wracked voyage to the past pauses with Tarzan #10 (July/August 1949) as the epic page counts drop to allow side stories and a greater range of fun. Main event ‘Tarzan and the Treasure of the Bolgani’ is a pure sci fi romp as the Ape-man and his Waziri subjects are captured by intelligent gorillas who shrink them to half size so that they can mine gems for them. When the process goes awry, Tarzan becomes a hyper-dense (Must you? Really?) tiny titan who leads a revolt and ends a threat to all of Africa, after which DuBois and Marsh begin years of light-hearted backup tales as Boy tries to avoid his chores and learns to regret running off to become ‘The Baboons’ King’…

Although these are tales from a far-off, simpler time they have lost none of their passion, inclusivity and charm, whilst the artistic virtuosity of Marsh looks better than ever. Perhaps this time a few more people will “get” him, especially if the rest of this series finally makes the jump to digital editions as Volume One has…
Edgar Rice Burroughs® Tarzan®: The Jesse Marsh Years Omnibus Volume Two © 1948, 1949, 2009, Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. Tarzan ® Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Leopard From Lime Street Book Three: Rise of the Snow Beast!


By Tom Tully, Mike Western, Eric Bradbury & various (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78618-830-4 (TPB/Digital edition) 978-1-83786-036-4 (HB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Traditional True Brit Comic Treats …8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Other than lawyers, most people claim imitation as the sincerest form of flattery. You can make your own mind up on that score when seeking out these quirky and remarkable vintage treats offering a wonderfully downbeat, quintessentially British spin on a very familiar story. UK comics always enjoyed a strange, extended love affair with what can only be described as “unconventional” (for which feel free to substitute “weird” or “creepy”) heroes. So many stars and putative role models of our serials and strips have been outrageous or just plain “off”: self-righteous voyeurs-vigilantes like Jason Hyde, sinister masterminds in the manner of The Dwarf, self-absorbed outsiders like Robot Archie, arrogant former criminals like The Spider or outright racist supermen such as Captain Hurricane…

Joking aside, British comics were unlike any other kind: having to be seen to be believed and enjoyed – especially if “homaging” such uniquely American fare as costumed crimefighters…

Until the 1980s, UK periodicals employed an anthological model, offering variety of genre, theme and character on a weekly – sometimes fortnightly – basis. Humorous comics like The Beano were leavened by action-heroes like The Q-Bikes or General Jumbo whilst adventure papers like Smash, Lion or Valiant always carried palate-cleansing gagsters like The Cloak, Grimly Feendish, Mowser and other laugh treats. Buster offered the best of all worlds.

Running 1902 issues from May 28th 1960 to 4th January 2000, it juggled drama, mystery, action and comedy, with its earliest days – thanks to absorbing Radio Fun and Film Fun – heavily spiced with celebrity-licensed material starring media mavens like Charlie Drake, Bruce Forsyth and Benny Hill backing up the eponymous cover star who was billed as “the son of (newspaper strip star) Andy Capp”. The comic became the final resting place of many, many companion papers in its lifetime, including The Big One, Giggle, Jet, Cor!, Monster Fun, Jackpot, School Fun, Nipper, Oink! and Whizzer & Chips, so its cumulative strip content is wide, wild and usually pretty wacky…

At first glance, British comics prior to the advent of 2000AD -seem to fall into fairly ironclad categories. Back then, you had genial and/or fantastic preschool fantasy; a large selection of licensed entertainment properties; action; adventure; war; school dramas, sports and straight comedy strands. Closer looks would confirm that there was always a subversive merging, mixing undertone, especially in such antihero series as Dennis the Menace or our rather strained interpretation of superheroes. Just check out The Phantom Viking, Kelly’s Eye or early Steel Claw. We had dabbled with the classic form in the early Marvel and Batman-influenced 1960s (and slightly before and beyond), but Tri-Man, Black Sapper, Red Star Robinson, Gadgetman & Gimmick Kid, Thunderbolt Jaxon and Johnny Future remained off-kilter oddities. In the March 27th 1976 edition of Buster everything changed…

Part of Rebellion Publishing’s British Comics Classics line, The Leopard from Lime Street originally ran 470 episodes (50 adventures) until May 18th 1985 – and even later as colorized reprints and in a wealth of foreign-language and overseas editions. For most of that time it was a barely-legal knock-off of Marvel’s Spider-Man – with hints of DC Thomson’s Billy the Cat – as viewed through a superbly time-stamped English lens of life in a Northern Town. It was utterly unmissable reading…

This third compilation volume gathers Buster and Buster & Monster Fun strips spanning July 22nd 1978 through September 29th 1979: a period of intense political and social change, and one barely touching the residents of a typical British small city…

What you need to know: Somewhere in middle(ish) England lies Selbridge, where scrawny 13-year-old Billy Farmer was constantly bullied, by kids at school and especially his Uncle Charlie. Billy’s abiding interests were journalism and photography. He started a school newspaper (Farmer’s World) all by himself, probably to compensate for his home life. He lived with loving but frail Aunt Joan and her vicious, indolent, physically abusive partner Charlie Farmer who avoided honest work like the plague, but was always ready to deliver a memorable life-lesson with fist, boot or belt to those under his shoddy roof…

Billy’s life forever changed after visiting the Jarman Zoological Institute where he was accidentally scratched by Sheba, an escaped leopard being treated with radioactive chemicals for an unspecified disease. In the days before Health and Safety regulations or a culture of litigation, Billy was given a rapid once-over by the boffins in charge, declared fine and sent home. When Uncle Charlie tried to hit him. he was casually chucked into the dustbins and the lad realised he had developed the strength, speed, stamina and agility of a jungle cat, as well as enhanced senses, empathic feelings, a paralysing roar and a predator’s “danger-sense”…

Soon, clad in a modified pantomime costume, Billy prowled Selbridge’s dark streets and low rooftops, incurring the curiosity and animosity of Thaddeus Clegg: editor of local rag The Selbridge Sun. Soon the ever-more confidant Billy was selling exclusive photos of burglars, crooks and kidnappers preyed upon by the vigilante “leopardman”. Somehow, the raw kid could also get candid shots of secluded celebrities no adult journo could get near…

Moreover, the lad’s earnings – grudgingly paid by Clegg – started making life easier for Aunt Joan, whilst the Beast’s constant proximity to Lime Street ensured Charlie kept his outbursts verbal and his drunken fists unclenched. School remained a nightmare of bullies and almost-exposure of Billy’s secret, but home life improved further once police identified Billy as an official confidante of the vigilante. They even noted how Charlie was regularly brutalised by the feral fury in defence of his “friend”…

Over months the leopard man caught many criminals, was implicated – and cleared – of arson and theft, was abducted by a crooked circus owner, caught child abductors, battled a fame-obsessed masked wrestler and circus acrobat mimicking his abilities to frame the catman for crimes. On a school trip to a Safari Park, Billy was reunited with his accidental creator Sheba and his powers seemed to exponentially increase beyond his ability to control them…

The costumed melodramas resume now as author Tom Tully scripts for unknown (presumably Spanish or South American) fill-in artists as a mysterious new headmaster acts up at Billy’s school before being ultimately and spectacularly exposed as a crime boss with a need for a nice flat playing field. Artists extraordinaire Mike Western & Eric Bradbury pick up the pace for the next saga as a simple game of cricket exposes Billy’s secret to thuggish motorcycle bullies who try – and fail – to trap the leopardman and cash in, just as the local police adjust to a manic new boss with an animal hunting agenda and a gung-ho firearms unit. Eventually. even brutal Bulldog Brady will admit when he’s beaten, but that’s many episodes down the line…

Billy meanwhile, has dusted off an old makeup kit and cobbled together a cunning scheme to fool the bikers once and for all…

Billy’s occasional exhibitions of extreme sporting prowess get in him trouble with teachers who can’t understand why he can’t repeat his feats while in school teams (it’s unfair and cheating!), but he has no such compunctions in his clashes with a fame-seeking punk rock band. As impostor leopard men the brutes almost kill aunty Joan during one of their attention seeking stunts and, again needing money to support her, Billy pulls out all the stops and even start working with Clegg again. His good intentions only make his alter ego a bigger pariah, as shutting them down scuppers a forthcoming local musical festival. Vilified in public, guilty again and resolved to fix things, Billy explores how he can make the leopardman a paying proposition for bored music fans…

After a rare moment of popular triumph and well-deserved acclaim, it’s back to being wanted as a minor cold snap sees an icy, gem-swiping supervillain hit Selbridge, with the leopard blamed for the Snow Beast’s depredations… until Billy outsmarts the bad guy and cops too…

Another stint by fill-in artists sees Billy’s masked other save a classmate’s farm from crooked property speculators (is that a thing?) prior to Western & Bradbury detailing how the media arrives in force to solve the mystery of the Leopard From Lime Street, sparking greed, panic and mob madness in equal amounts. With a high profile reward on offer, madness grips Selbridge – especially uncle Charlie – and as a friend of the fugitive Billy is tortured by school bullies and stalked by opportunists looking for tips…

The situation spirals into pure insanity when another leopardman impostor shows up, hunting Billy and threatening his family. Facing someone who is his physical equal and totally ruthless, there’s is only one thing the real deal can do…

Beguilingly scripted by British comics superstar Tully (Roy of the Rovers; Heros the Spartan; Janus Stark; Mytek the Mighty; Adam Eterno; Johnny Red; Harlem Heroes and many of the strips cited above) these tales are magnificently illustrated. Working collaboratively British comics royalty Mike Western (Lucky Logan; No Hiding Place; The Avenger; Biggles; The Wild Wonders; Darkie’s Mob; The Sarge; HMS Nightshade; Jack O’Justice; Billy’s Boots; Roy of the Rovers) shared pencilling and inking with mood master Eric Bradbury (Mytek the Mighty; Maxwell Hawke; Cursitor Doom; Von Hoffman’s Invasion; House of Dolmann; Death Squad; Hook Jaw; Rogue Trooper; Doomlord; Invasion; Mean Arena; Tharg the Mighty and more) to craft a pre-modern masterwork affording a fascinating insight into the slant a different culture can bring to a genre.

The concept of a “real-life” superhero has never been more clearly and cleverly explored than in these low-key tales of the cat kid who survives not supervillains but a hard-knock life…
The Leopard from Lime Street and all related elements featured ™ & © 1978, 1979, 2023, Rebellion Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Yoko Tsuno volume 16: The Cannon of Kra


By Roger Leloup, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-019-7 (Album PB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Affirmative, Inclusive & Bursting with Blockbuster Thrills… 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

On 24th September 1970, indomitable intellectual adventurer and “electronics engineer” Yoko Tsuno began her career in Le Journal de Spirou via a cartoony “Marcinelle style” 8 page short entitled ‘Hold-up en hi-fi’. She is still delighting readers and making new fans to this day in astonishing, action-packed, astoundingly accessible adventures numbering amongst the most intoxicating, absorbing and broad-ranging comics thrillers ever created.

Her globe-girdling mysteries and space-&-time-spanning epics were devised by multitalented Belgian maestro Roger Leloup who – from 1953 – truly started his own solo career after working as a studio assistant and technical artist on Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin.

Compellingly told, superbly imaginative and – no matter how implausible the premise of any individual yarn may seem – always firmly grounded in hyper-realistic settings underpinned by authentic, unshakably believable technology and scientific principles, Leloup’s illustrated escapades were at the vanguard of a wave of strips revolutionising European comics. Very early in the process, he switched from loose illustration to the mesmerising nigh-photo realistic Ligne Claire style that is a series signature.

That long-overdue sea-change in gender roles and stereotyping heralded a wave of clever, competent, brave and formidably capable female protagonists taking their rightful places as heroic ideals and not romantic lures; elevating Continental comics in the process. Such endeavours are as engaging and empowering now as they ever were, none more so than the exploits of Miss Tsuno.

Her first outings (the aforementioned but STILL unavailable Hold-up en hi-fi, and sequels La belle et la bête and Cap 351) were mere introductory vignettes before epic authenticism took hold in 1971 when the unflappable troubleshooter met valiant but lesser (male) pals Pol Paris and Vic Van Steen, properly hitting her stride in premier full-length saga Le trio de l’étrange starting in LJdS’s May 13th edition. From that point, Yoko’s cases would include explosive exploits in exotic corners of our world, sinister deep-space sagas and even time-travelling jaunts. There are 31 European bande dessinée albums to date, with 19 translated into English thus far, albeit – and ironically – none of them available in digital formats…

First serialised in LJdS #2452-2455, Le canon de Kra was first released in 1985: a gripping war-tinged thriller and sublimely understated espionage epic. Laced with solid hard-science foundations and stark historical and geopolitical overtones, it was the 20th album, reaching us Brits as Cinebook’s 16th outing, exploring a heritage of hate and destruction and forcing the troubleshooter to ponder a recent time of madness in her country’s long and proud history…

It opens as Miss Tsuno – a supremely gifted aviation and glider pilot – finishes testing super-compact jet the Hummingbird for a mystery millionaire. After regretfully signing off on the nippy craft, she is reintroduced to old friends Colonel Tagashi (Daughter of the Wind) and benevolent billionaire/tech entrepreneur/German security agent Peter Hertzel (Wotan’s Fire)  who reveal they have been secretly prepping her for a critical and deadly mission.

The intelligence men have uncovered a diabolical plot to use a reconstructed rail-mounted super gun to fire 500mm shells into South Asia. In 1942, these mobile artillery pieces were abandoned on the Isthmus of Kra in the Malay Peninsula. Rebuilt, ready, and situated in oil-rich new nation Kampong, the bombardments could reach Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand and more.

Moreover, the former Japanese pilot masterminding the scheme has become the world’s most successful criminal arms dealer since WWII ended. Sakamoto plans to enact revenge for the shame of defeat by filling those shells with explosives and stolen radioactive waste in equal measure…

With a week until their counterattack can begin, Yoko goes undercover as a photojournalist in Kampong, infiltrating warlord Sakamoto’s palatial fortress but bringing devastating retaliation upon herself and Kampong’s vastly overmatched police force. Nevertheless, Tsuno divines the fine detail of Sakamoto’s scheme and, with police captain Onago, heads to where the super-gun and his appalling ammo await the madman’s orders to fire. Revenge is not the villain’s only goal. By backing anti-government rebels, the warlords intend to be Kampong’s king…

As Pol and Vic move in to assist at an pre-arranged rendezvous point, the grand plan is shot down – literally – and Yoko and Onago find themselves accidentally allied to the anti-government rebels Sakamoto had backed but now betrays. As the villain spirals into madness, the resistance target his rail installation, leading to an epic battle to sabotage the rail cannon and defeat the deranged warlord’s plans of atomic armageddon…

Drenched in intrigue and packed with breathtaking air-combat and jungle war set pieces, The Cannon of Kra thunders along, inexorably building to a shattering climax and blistering conclusion. This epic again confirms Yoko Tsuno as a multi-faceted adventurer, at home in every manner of scenario, holding her own against the likes of James Bond, Modesty Blaise, Tintin and other genre-busting super-stars, triumphantly facing spies and maniacs as well as aliens, weird science or unchecked forces of nature…

As always the most effective asset in these breathtaking tales is the astonishingly authentic and staggeringly detailed draughtsmanship and storytelling, which superbly benefits from Leloup’s diligent research and meticulous attention to detail, honed through years of working on Tintin. The Cannon of Kra is a magnificently wide-screen thriller, tense, complex and evocative, appealing to any fan of blockbuster action fantasy or devious derring-do.
Original edition © Dupuis, 1985 by Roger Leloup. All rights reserved. English translation 2021 © Cinebook Ltd.

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Teen Titans: Year One (New Edition)


By Amy Wolfram, Karl Kerschl & Serge Lapointe, coloured by Stéphane Péru & John Rausch, lettered by Nick J. Napolitano (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6724-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: How Growing-Up-Super Really Feels… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

The concept of kid hero teams was not a new one when DC finally entrusted their big heroes’ assorted sidekicks with their own regular comic:  resulting in a fab, hip and groovy ensemble as dedicated to helping kids as they were to stamping out insidious evil.

The biggest difference between juvenile wartime groups such as The Young Allies, Newsboy Legion and Boy Commandos or 1950s holdovers like The Little Wise Guys or Boy Explorers and the creation of the Teen Titans was quite simply the burgeoning phenomena of “the Teenager” as a discrete social and commercial force. These were kids who could – and should – be allowed to do things themselves without constant adult “help” or supervision. As early as The Brave and the Bold #54 (June/July 1964), DC’s Powers-That-Be tested the waters in a gripping tale by Bob Haney & Bruno Premiani teaming Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad.

The wild punt was a huge hit and the kids – supplemented by Wonder Girl and Speedy – got their own title, offering teen tinged tales crafted by old(ish) white guys. To be fair, the sagas were certainly unlike anything else DC was concurrently producing and have certainly withstood the test of time as a peek at Teen Titans The Silver Age volumes 1 & 2 will confirm.

However, ways in which society relates to kids – and vice versa – has changed radically since the hazy crazy, shimmery sixties, and this delicious dose of post-modern retro-revelation details how a new century and fresh thinking can reevaluate the trials and costs of growing up super. Originally released in 2008 as 6-part miniseries Teen Titans: Year One, this coming of ages yarn is packed with humour and pathos as well as action, making many memorable points whilst delivering a wonderful superhero romp. It was crafted by animation screen writer/comics writer Amy Wolfram (Sym-Bionic Titan, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, The Secret Saturdays, Supergirl, Legion of Super-Heroes) and Karl Kerschl (Adventures of Superman, Gotham Academy, All-Flash, Majestic) with the assistance of inker Serge Lapointe, colourists Stéphane Péru & John Rausch and letterer Nick J. Napolitano.

Offering a compelling reinterpretation of those classic quirkily eclectic Silver Age sagas, there’s a heavy emphasis on the kind of adults who would expose kids to violent thugs, murderers and psychopaths on a nightly basis… including the pressures involved all around and the coping mechanisms evolved to manage that kind of life…

It begins with the Boy Wonder distracted and painfully not meeting Batman’s expectations, wasting time with some costumed sidekicks he’s recently met. Soon the kids are trading stories and covertly working together against the likes of The Ant and Ding Dong Daddy, becoming overnight sensations as in the background, psionic monster the Antithesis is making its move.

It all gets crazy serious when the super-juniors realize their guardians and mentors are going off the rails and becoming increasingly dangerous to the world and themselves, and it’s now up to them to save the day and the world…

Despite how heavy that all sounds, the epic exploit – originally entitled “In the Beginning…’, ‘Flash in the Pan’, ‘Young Heroes in Love’ and ‘Awakening’ – is actually bright, breezy, inspiring and frequently hilarious, but it does pull no punches.

Fast paced, funny, compelling and captivating, this is absolute escapism and absolutely delightful and you absolutely should get this book, Absolutely.
© 2008, 2024 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Outer Space Spirit: 1952


By Will Eisner, Jules Feiffer & Wally Wood & various (Kitchen Sink Press)
ISBN: 978-0-87816-007-5 (HB) 978-0-87816-012-9 (TPB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Lost Classic …10/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

In keeping with the dolorous nature of this time of year I’m concentrating on a few missed opportunities so here’s a graphic novel that was let slip by and rests in some nebulous limbo waiting for someone like me to say: why don’t we reprint this?

It is pretty much accepted today that Will Eisner was one of those pivotal creators who shaped America’s comic book industry, with most of his graphic works more or less permanently in print – as they should be. However, although the story can be found as part of the also ultra-rare Spirit Archive volume 24, this classy monochrome volume from much-missed independent publisher Kitchen Sink in 1983, released in both hardback and softcover, is by far a better reading experience.

Sometimes the Medium is the Message, especially when the artefact is a substantially solid tome delivering magical artwork in crisp, breathtaking black & white which details – not only in the reprinted strips but also sketches, incidental artwork and author’s breakdown layouts – the last and most striking saga of one of the world’s greatest fantasy characters. From 1936 to 1938, Eisner worked as a jobbing cartoonist in the comics production firm known as the Eisner-Eiger Shop, creating strips for both domestic US and foreign markets. Under pen-name Willis B. Rensie, he created and drew opening instalments for a huge variety of characters ranging from funny animal to historical sagas, Westerns, Detectives, aviation action thrillers… and superheroes… lots of superheroes…

In 1940, Everett “Busy” Arnold, head honcho of the superbly impressive Quality Comics outfit, invited Eisner to take on a new challenge. The Register-Tribune newspaper syndicate wanted a 16-page weekly comic book insert to be given away with the Sunday editions. Eisner jumped at the opportunity, creating three strips which would initially be handled by him before two of them were handed off to his talented assistants. Bob Powell inherited Mr. Mystic and distaff detective Lady Luck fell into the capable hands of Nick Cardy (then still Nicholas Viscardi) and later, the inimitable Klaus Nordling.

Eisner kept the lead feature for his own playground and over the next 12 years The Spirit became the most impressive, innovative, imitated and talked-about strip in the business. However, by 1952 he had more or less abandoned it for more challenging and decidely more profitable commercial, instructional and educational strips, working extensively for the US military in manuals and magazines like P*S, The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, and generally leaving comics books behind. Gathered here are last newspaper sections (July 27th through October 5th 1952), plus scripts for what would have been the final three sections of The Outer Space Spirit.

For that final year or so, the bulk of Spirit tales were produced by other hands with assistant Jules Feiffer handling the majority of scripts and diverse artists producing the art. Feiffer preferred to map out his episodes in rough pencil with word balloons and captions fully scripted: once approved by Eisner, the roughs would then be interpreted by an assigned artist for the individual episodes. The long-term plan was not to cancel The Spirit but redefine it for a new decade and expand the Eisner studio/company beyond and around it – but that’s not quite how it played out.

As seen in the scholarly introduction by Cat Yronwoode and Eisner’s own director’s commentary ‘Reminiscence’, the plans to reposition The Spirit were not welcomed by the client papers buying the strip; the creators handling the feature had different creative goals and drives and Eisner himself couldn’t quite let go of his precious baby. Even though society and comic books were wildly in love with the bold new genre of space opera/science fiction and Eisner had previously dabbled with the form in a few previous tales, a large number of Spirit clients and readers did not want any “flying saucer spacey stuff” in their Sunday funnies. Moreover, the brilliantly sardonic, existentialist and sensitively satirical Feiffer was approaching the stories in a bleak, nigh-nihilistic manner, emphasising existentialist isolation, human frailty and the passing of an era, rather than rugged he-men with hot babes in bikinis and fishbowl helmets…

After a succession of fill-in draughtsmen, Wally Wood was selected as artist: a stunningly gifted imagineer reaching unparalleled heights with his work for EC and other comic book Sci Fi publishers. Wood actually began his professional career on The Spirit in the 1940s (as a letterer) and was fantastically keen on the new project, but merciless deadlines and his overwhelming desire to surmount his own high standards soon had the saga experiencing deadline problems on top of everything else.

After text features, the first episode ‘Outer Space’ begins, preceded – as are most of strips here – by Feiffer’s meticulous and detailed script layouts. First appearing on Sunday, July 27th 1952, we see Denny Colt, The Spirit, managing a crew of convict volunteers on an American rocketship to the moon, at the insistent request of eminent space scientist Professor Hartley Skol. However, this was a new hero for an uncertain age. The tough, fun-loving, crime-fighting daredevil had become a cautious, introspective leader, feeling fully the weight of his mission and the burden of unwelcome responsibilities.

‘Mission: the Moon’ (August 3rd 1952), follows Colt, Skol and the pardoned felons onto the satellite’s barren surface and recounts the Spirit’s first victory as he heads off potential mutiny with reason, not force, before ‘A DP on the Moon’ reveals how closely Eisner still monitored the series. DP’s were “Displaced Persons” a common term in the post-war world, and when the explorers find a diary in the lunar dust, it reveals how the world’s greatest dictator and his inner circle fled to the moon to escape Allied justice. Unfortunately, they could not outrun their own paranoia and madness…

In the original script and finished art the diarist is Adolf Hitler, but the grim fate that befell his fellow Nazis was altered at the very last moment by Eisner, who felt the plot was already old hat. Swift retouching transformed Der Fuehrer into fictitious Latin American dictator Francisco Rivera and the revised version ran on August 10th 1952. It still reads pretty well, but if you look carefully, those uniforms in the background flashbacks are hauntingly familiar.

With ‘Heat on the Moon’ the deadline crunch hit, and 1½ pages of spectacular Lunar exploration by Wood abruptly segues to a “meanwhile back on Earth” scene from Eisner, featuring Chief Dolan, daughter Ellen and a criminal with a vested interest in assuring that at least one of the moon volunteers isn’t pardoned. Following their first fatality, the mission goes swiftly awry and ‘Rescue’ (the instalments now cut to only 4 pages in an attempt to fight the deadline doom) sees another body-blow to the expedition. Defeated and demoralised, Spirit decided to return the survivors to Earth…

‘The Last Man on the Moon’ depicts the launch from the moon as, on Earth, another gangster attempts to scotch the return trip. Clearly cursed, the mission suffers one more disaster as a convict sneaks away before take-off, becoming, with the September 7th episode ‘The Man in the Moon’. On September 14th the inevitable occurred and the feature was forced to run a modified reprint (‘The Amulet of Osiris’ from the late 1940s) before Wood resurfaced to illustrate the philosophically barbed ‘Return from the Moon’ on September 21st. Here Denny Colt and the remaining lunar-nauts debate the nature of reality, as Eisner steps in with the help of Al Wenzel to produce ‘The Return’, a hasty wrap-up that still found room for a close encounter with a flying saucer.

A scheduling blip saw an alternate version of the return a week later (sadly not included here) and final episode ‘Denny Colt, UFO Investigator’ ran on October 5th 1952: an inconclusive new beginning illustrated by Klaus Nordling. The strip died with that episode as Eisner, increasingly occupied with military work, and bleeding client-papers, terminated the feature.

But that isn’t quite the end: this book also includes – in various forms – what would have been the next three chapters, discovered in Eisner’s extensive file vault in the early 1980s. First is a fully lettered Feiffer layout, followed by a sequence of lettered pages prior to the art being drawn and the first (and only) typed script from assigned new creator Nordling.

Tense, suspenseful, dark and fearsomely compelling, these are the stories that signified the Spirit demise for nearly two decades, but today they stand as a mini-masterpiece of comics storytelling that was, quite simply, too far advanced for its audience. For we survivors of Cold War, Space Race and Budget-cut scientific exploration, they are a chilling and intensely prophetic examination of human nature in a Brave New World rendered with all the skill and frantic passion of some of comics’ greatest talents.

What wonders could have followed if the readers had come along with them? I don’t know, but at least we still have these tales – as soon as someone reprints them again…
© 1983 Kitchen Sink Press. © Art and stories 1983 Will Eisner. All rights reserved.

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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 & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5864-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Marvel’s Most Magical… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

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 85th anniversary. So with the year rapidly closing it’s time to celebrate some big-ticket compilations.

This hefty tome from 2011 isn’t one of them, but is a superb compilation of the decade which made the House of Ideas a global force and household name. It gathers the first story of each character’s own series (not necessarily the same as a debut appearance) highlighting key moments via 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 and 20, Captain Savage #1 and Silver Surfer #1, collectively covering August 1960 to May 1969 and incorporating a vast gallery of covers from other titles that came and went with such breathtaking rapidity in those days.

As stated, the company-that-became-Marvel was still going – albeit in dire straits – when Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and a select few others started their comics revolution, and these tales offer unmatched insights into how that all happened by re-presenting official first appearances. Opening in January 1960 with a selection of 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 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 buckskin-clad sagebrush centurion, he was one of the first casualties when Atlas’ distribution crisis forced the company to cut back to 16 titles in the autumn of 1957. However, with westerns huge on TV and youthful rebellion a hot topic in 1960, Lee & Kirby conceived a brand-new six-gun stalwart – a teenager in fact – and launched him in the summer of the year, tidily retaining 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 a vast miasmic morass of wholesome, homogenised Hollywood mythmaking that generations of consumers 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 versus White Hats, with all the dynamic bombast and bravura Kirby & inker Dick 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 he can explain, 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 sleekly authentic western tales when a veteran gunslinger devises a way to end his own fearsome career ‘With Gun in Hand!’ The issue closes 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 and Life with Millie #8 – we turn to the company’s 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 – paranormal mystically empowered investigator for a short run of pre-superhero escapades. ‘I Am the Fantastic Dr. Droom!’ (Lee & Kirby with Ditko inking) finds a seemingly sedate American drawn to Tibet to learn ancient mysteries before returning home as an occult consultant after which, the cover for Linda Carter, Student Nurse #1 takes us to the big moment when everything changed…

Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961) introduces a brave new world in eponymous landmark ‘The Fantastic Four’ as maverick scientist Reed Richards summons fiancée Sue Storm, their pilot pal Ben Grimm and Sue’s kid brother Johnny before heading off on their first mission. In a flashback we discover that they are driven survivors of a private space-shot that went horribly wrong when 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 gained the power to turn invisible, Johnny Storm could turn into living flame and tragic Ben turned into a shambling, rocky freak. Shaken but unbowed they vow to dedicate their new abilities to benefiting mankind. Crafted by Lee & Kirby with inks by George Klein & Christopher Rule, the drama intensified with ‘The Fantastic Four meet the Mole Man’, foiling a plan by another outcast who 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, 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, a maverick scientist who discovers a shrinking potion and discovers 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 the 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 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 boffin Bruce Banner, sequestered on a secret military base in the American desert and perpetually bullied by bombastic commander General “Thunderbolt” Ross as the clock counts down to the world’s first Gamma Bomb test. Besotted by Ross’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 detonates…

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; his skin turns a 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 with inking by Paul Reinman, ‘The Coming of the Hulk’ barrels along as the man-monster and Jones are then kidnapped by Banner’s Soviet counterpart the Gargoyle for a rousing round of espionage and Commie-busting…

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 brand of yarn than Rampaging Aliens and Furry Underpants Monsters and their ilk 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 Incredible 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: ‘Spider-Man!’ telling the parable of Peter Parker, a smart but 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, he 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 one 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 reading public 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 Jack 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-and-true comicbook concept (feeble mortal transformed into god-like hero) was revived by fledgling Marvel to add a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers. JiM #83 (August 1962) saw a bold costumed warrior jostling aside the regular fare of monsters, robots and sinister scientists in a brash, vivid explosion of verve and vigour.

The initial exploit follows crippled American physician Donald Blake who takes a vacation in Norway only to encounter the vanguard of an alien invasion. Fleeing, he is trapped in a cave where he finds an old, gnarled walking stick. When in his frustration he smashes the stick into a huge boulder obstructing his escape, his puny frame is transformed into the 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 dawn 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 shows…

Amazing Fantasy #15 came out the same month as Journey into Mystery #83 and a month later Tales to Astonish #35 – first to feature Henry Pym’s Astonishing Ant-Man costumed capers – appeared. Here you’ll find the cover to TtA #35 to mark that occasion. Hot on the heels of the runaway success of Fantastic Four, Stan & Jack spun the most colourful and youngest member of the team into his own series, hoping to recapture the glory of the 1940s when the original Human Torch was one of the company’s “Big Three” superstars. Within a year, the magic-&-monsters anthology title Strange Tales became home to the hot-headed hero: in #101, Johnny Storm started his ancillary solo career in 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 new seaside amusement park and promptly discovers Commie-conniving thanks to Red spy the Destroyer. Kirby would pencil the first few yarns before moving on, after which Ayers assumed control for most of its run, although The King generated some of the best covers of his Marvel career throughout the Torch’s 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 live part-time in Long Island hamlet Glenville where, despite the townsfolk being fully aware of her as the glamorous and heroic Invisible Girl, they seem oblivious to the fact that her baby brother is the equally famous Torch. Many daft-but-ingenious pages of Johnny protecting his secret identity would ensue before the situation was brilliantly resolved…

Despite the runway success of its new superheroes, Marvel was still offering a range of genres such as westerns. August 1962 saw the retooling of another Atlas property as Two-Gun Kid #60 (cover-dated November) introduced Eastern lawyer Matt Hawk who moved to barbarous and 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 transforms into a powerful, ultrafast deadly accurate shootist. When Ben is driven out of town by a pack of thugs working for land baron Clem Carter, Hawk adopts a masked identity to see justice done. Don Heck limned stand-alone tale ‘The Outcast’, revealing 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 falls foul of a scheme by her stepbrother to defraud her and frame the new hero in town…

More striking covers – Modelling with Millie #21 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 – precede the debut of the next Marvel milestone in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963 and on the newsstands for Christmas 1962). Created in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis and at a time when “Red-baiting” and “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 and 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 criminally unappreciated Don Heck, ‘Iron Man is Born’ see electronics wizard Tony Stark field testing his latest invention in Viet Nam when he is wounded by a landmine. Captured by Viet Cong commander Wong-Chu, he 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 was years before heart transplants and pace-makers) 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, once 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 comic series similar in tone to later ensemble action movies such as The Magnificent Seven, The Wild Bunch and The Dirty Dozen. The surly squad of sorry reprobates were the first of three teams concocted by men-on-fire Kirby & Lee to secure fledgling Marvel’s growing position as the publisher to watch. Sgt. Fury started out as a pure Kirby creation. As with all 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.

The artist had served in some of the worst battles of the war and never forgot the horrific and heroic things he saw – and more graphically expressed in his efforts during the 1950s genre boom at a number of 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 spelled it in the storrie-title – altho knot ennyware else): a rip-snorting yarn bursting with full-page panels interrupted by ‘Meet the Howling Commandos’ – a double-page spread spotlighting the seven members of First Attack Squad; Able Company. This comprised Fury himself, former circus strongman/Corporal “Dum-Dum” Dugan and privates Robert “Rebel” Ralston (a Kentucky jockey), college student Jonathan “Junior” Juniper, jazz trumpeter Gabriel Jones, mechanic Izzy Cohen and movie heartthrob Dino Manelli.

Controversially – even in 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. The first mission was a non-stop riot pitting ‘Seven Against the Nazis!’ and putting the squad through their unique paces: a ragged band of indomitable warriors taking on hordes of square-necked Nazis to save D-Day and rescue a French resistance fighter carrying vital plans of the invasion…

A low-key introduction served for the next debut as something different debuted at the back of Strange Tales #110. When the budding House of Ideas introduced a warrior wizard to their burgeoning pantheon in the summer of 1963 it was a bold and curious move. Bizarre adventures and menacing monsters were still incredibly popular but mention of magic or the supernatural – especially vampires, werewolves and their eldritch ilk – were all severely proscribed by a censorship panel which dictated almost all aspects of story content.

At this time – almost a decade after an anti-comics public campaign led to Senate hearings – all comics were ferociously monitored and adjudicated by the draconian Comics Code Authority. Even though some of the small company’s strongest sellers were still mystery mags, their underlying themes and premises were almost universally mad science and alien wonders, not necromantic or thaumaturgic horrors. That might explain Lee’s unobtrusive introduction of Steve 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) had seen newcomer Iron Man battle deranged technological wizard Doctor Strange, and with the name legally in copyrightable print, preparations began for a truly different kind of ongoing hero. The company had recently published a quasi-mystic precursor in balding, trench-coated Doctor Droom (later renamed Dr. Druid) and when Stephen Strange scored big, the prototype would be subsequently 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!’ in Strange Tales #110 (July 1963) saw a terrified man troubled by his dreams approach an exceptional consultant in his search of a cure. That perfect 5-page fright-fest introduces whole new realms and features deceit, desperation, double-dealing and the introduction of both a mysterious and 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 American comics’ Silver Age – the concept of putting a bunch of all-star eggs in one basket which had made the Justice League of America such a winner and inspired the moribund Atlas outfit to try superheroes again. Nearly 18 months after Fantastic Four #1, the fledgling House of Ideas had a viable stable of leading men (if 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 cannier origin tales in comics. Instead of starting at a zero point and acting as if the reader knew nothing, Stan & Jack (plus inker Dick Ayers) assumed readers had at least passing familiarity with Marvel’s 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 Asgardian espies monstrous, misunderstood Hulk and mystically 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 and the Wasp also pick up the redirected SOS. As the heroes converge in the American Southwest to search for the Jade Giant, they soon 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 AKA Iceman, wealthy golden boy Warren Worthington III codenamed Angel, and erudite, brutish genius Henry McCoy as The Beast. These teens were very special students of Professor Charles Xavier, a wheelchair-bound telepath dedicated to brokering peace and achieving integration between the sprawling masses of humanity and Homo Superior: an emergent off-shoot race of mutants with incredible extra abilities.

Scripted by Lee, ‘X-Men’ opens with the boisterous students welcoming new 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 American 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 a 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 won a back-up series where she narrated horror stories like this one. Crafted by Lee, Lieber & 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. By the same team and in the same month, Tales of the Watcher launched in Tales of Suspense #49 as the omnipotent intergalactic voyeur relates ‘The Saga of the Sneepers!’ wherein predatory extraterrestrials observe Earth and make plans to conquer humanity…

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 breadth of the monster, western, war, humour or girls’ comics that had been the outfit’s recent bread and butter. It was putting a lot of 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 the audience. Crucially, he wasn’t Kirby or Ditko. ‘The Origin of Daredevil’ recounts how young Matthew Murdock grew up in the slums, raised by his father Battling Jack Murdock, a second-rate prize-fighter. Determined that the boy will be something, the father 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. The senior Murdock 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 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 graduated college with a law degree and set up in business with his room-mate Franklin “Foggy” Nelson. They hired a lovely young secretary named Karen Page and, with his life on track, young Matt now had time to solve his father’s murder…

His promise stopped him from fighting; but what if he became somebody else?

Scripted by Lee and moodily illustrated by the legendary 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 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 grew in popularity and was quickly awarded his own solo feature, sharing Tales of Suspense with Iron Man. Sparsely scripted by Lee with the ideal team of Kirby & Chic Stone illustrating, ‘Captain America’ is one phenomenal fight scene as an army of thugs invades 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 and cunning 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 beginning in Strange Tales #135 (August 1965). Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. 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 Stan Lee’s manic melodrama to create a tough and tense series which the writers and artists who followed turned into a non-stop riot of action and suspense. The main event starts with ST #135 as the Human Torch lead feature is summarily replaced by ‘Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ – which back then stood for Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division…

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 dedicated to stopping secretive subversive super-science organisation Hydra. With assassins dogging his every move, the Take-Charge Guy with the Can-Do Attitude quickly 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 an American 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 the public’s 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 black and white 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” (the Torch and Captain America being the other two) costumed 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 started reinventing comic books in 1961 they revived the all-but-forgotten awesome amphibian as a troubled, semi-amnesiac, and decidedly more regal, grandiose anti-hero in Fantastic Four #4. The returnee despised humanity; embittered at the loss of his sub-sea kingdom (seemingly destroyed by American atomic testing) whilst simultaneously besotted with Sue Storm. Namor knocked around the budding Marvel universe for a few years, squabbling with other assorted heroes such as the Hulk, Avengers and X-Men, before securing his own series as one half of Tales to Astonish. In 1968 the company ended its restrictive publishing commitments and expanded exponentially.

After spectacularly battling Daredevil in the Scarlet Swashbuckler’s 7th issue, Tales to Astonish #70 heralded ‘The Start of the Quest!’ as Lee, Gene Colan (in the pseudonymous guise of Adam Austin) & Vince Colletta set the Sub-Mariner to storming an Atlantis under martial law ordered by his usurping Warlord Krang. The effort is for naught and the returning hero is rejected by his own people. Callously imprisoned, the troubled Prince is freed by his oft-neglected and ignored paramour Lady Dorma, compelling him to begin 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 and Thor #126 (a first issue as Journey into Mystery was sensibly retitled) 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 him in combat and gives him gifts which enable him to perform tricks of stage magic (such as night-time invisibility, image projection and bodily discorporation). Creating a glowing costume, Slade goes after the plundering white men impersonating native tribes – and who killed Jamie’s parents – as a spectral avenging spirit: “He who rides the Night Wind”…

Older fans – or their parents – might possibly recognise this hero as the western legend created by Ray Krank & Dick Ayers for Tim Holt #11 (Magazine Enterprises, 1949), 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 finally secured a new distribution deal that would allow them to expand their list of titles exponentially. Once the stars of Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales all got their own titles, the House of Ideas just kept on going.

One dead-cert idea was a hero named after the company – and one with a huge amount of popular cachet and nostalgic pedigree as well. After the DC/Fawcett court case of the 1940s-1950s, the name Captain Marvel disappeared from the newsstands, but in In 1967 – during the superhero boom and camp craze generated by the Batman TV show, publisher MLF secured rights to the name and produced a number of 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 feature nevertheless could 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 comic book Fantasy Masterpieces, combining monster and mystery tales with Golden Age Timely classics. With #12, it added an all-new lead experimental section for characters without homes such as Medusa and Black Knight when not debuting new concepts like Guardians of the Galaxy, Phantom Eagle (for some reason not included here) – and, to start the ball rolling, a troubled alien spy sent to Earth from the Kree Galaxy. He held a Captain’s rank and his name was Mar-Vell.

Courtesy of Lee, Colan & Giacoia, the initial MS-H 15 page-instalment ‘The Coming of Captain Marvel!: Phase One!!’ devolved directly from Fantastic Four #64-65 wherein the quartet defeated a super-advanced robotic Sentry from a mythical alien race, 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 empire 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 man of conscience; whilst his 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 a tentative planet-fall and clashed with the US military from the local missile base than the first instalment ends…

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

The aforementioned expansion is celebrated in the 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 quickly became a watchword for depth and subtext in the Marvel Universe and one Stan 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 highlight from a period when the Lee/Kirby partnership was utterly 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 other Marvel collections…

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.

‘The Origin of the Silver Surfer!’ is illustrated by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott, with 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, detailing 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 culture in comfortable, sybaritic stagnation, but when Galactus shattered their vaunted million years of progress in a fleeting moment, the dissident without hesitation 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 really commercially successful – both for Buscema’s agonised, emphatic and lush artwork as well as Lee’s deeply spiritual and 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.

The company had early learned the value of reprinting their past glories; both to update new readers and to cheaply monopolise sales points and here a gallery blends ongoing titles such as newly retitled Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders #5 and adult-oriented Pussycat #1 with double-sized classics 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) saw 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. Prose pulp hero Kazar predates Martin Goodman’s first foray into comics and strip incarnation Kazar the Great was in Marvel Comics #1, right beside The 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 and Amazing Spider-Man.

As this enjoyable, under-appreciated tale unfolds, many of the hero’s inconsistencies and conflicts are squared as the aristocratic outsider leaves his British 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 ruthlessly determined to hide the truth for his own vile ends. A wild excursion to Antarctica follows, featuring the discovery of a lost land, dinosaurs, lost cities, spectacular locations, mystery and all-out action: it doesn’t get better than this…

Ending the astounding adventures is a tale taken from February 1969 as the industry began experiencing a downturn in superhero sales and the rise of other genres. Co-written and pencilled by Lieber with Thomas, Giacoia & Vince Colletta, ‘This Man… This Demon!’ was the last solo try-out from 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 a gypsy girl named 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, a revived Kid Colt Outlaw (#140), Ringo Kid #1 and Where Monsters Dwell #1 – comes full circle and highlights the publisher’s return to genre themes, after which a brief bonus section reveals Stan Lee’s original synopsis for Fantastic Four #1 and house ads from the early moments of the decade…

The 1960s was the turning point in the history of American comic books: the moment when a populist industry became a true art form. These are the tales that 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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Clifton volume 3: 7 Days to Die


By Turk & De Groot, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-08-3 (Album TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Seeing ourselves through other’s eyes is always a salutary experience and our Continental cousins in the comics biz are especially helpful in that respect as regards the core characteristics of being British.

For some inexplicable reason most of Europe’s comics cognoscenti – most especially the French and Belgians – seem fascinated with us. Maybe it’s a shared heritage of Empires in Decline and old cultures and traditions in transition? An earlier age might claim it’s simply a case of “Knowing your Enemy”. Whether looking at Anglo air ace Biggles, indomitable scientific adventurers Blake and Mortimer, the Machiavellian machinations of Green Manor or the further travails of Long John Silver, the serried stalwarts of our Scepter’d Isles apparently cut a dashing swathe through the pages of Europe’s assorted strip-magazines and albums.

Clifton was originally devised by child-friendly strip genius Raymond Macherot (Chaminou, Les croquillards, Chlorophylle, Sibylline) for iconic magazine Le Journal de Tintin; a doughty True Brit troubleshooter who debuted in December 1959, just as a filmic 007 was preparing to set the world ablaze…

After three albums worth of material – compiled and released between 1959 and 1960 – Macherot left Tintin for arch-rival Le Journal de Spirou and his eccentric comedy crime-fighter forlornly floundered until LJdT revived him at the height of the Swinging London scene and aforementioned spy-boom, courtesy of Jo-El Azaza & Greg (Michel Régnier). These strips were subsequently collected in 1969 as Les lutins diaboliques in French and De duivelse dwergen for Dutch-speakers.

Then it was back into retirement until 1971 when first Greg (with artist Joseph Loeckx) took his shot; working until 1973 when writer Bob De Groot and illustrator Philippe “Turk” Liegeois fully revived the be-whiskered Brit for the long haul. They produced ten tales of which this – 1979’s 7 jours pour mourir – was fourth. From 1984 on, artist Bernard Dumont (AKA Bédu) – limned De Groot’s scripts before eventually assuming the writing chores as well, until the series at last concluded in 1995 …but not for long…

In keeping with its rather haphazard Modus Operandi and indomitably undying nature, the Clifton experience resumed yet again in 2003, crafted by De Groot & Michel Rodrigue for four further adventures; a grand total of 25 to date. The setup is deliciously simple: pompous, irascible Colonel Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton, ex-RAF, former Metropolitan police Constabulary and recently retired from MI5, has a great deal of difficulty dealing with being put out to pasture in rural Puddington. He thus takes every opportunity to get back in the saddle, occasionally assisting the Government or needy individuals as an amateur sleuth. Sadly for Clifton – as with that other much-underappreciated national treasure Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army – he is too keenly aware that he is usually the only truly competent man in a world full of blithering idiots…

This particular tale strays somewhat from well-trodden humour paths, indulging in some frantic action and sinister suspense bombastic whilst still resolutely going for comedy gold. In his third Cinebook album – as first seen in 2005 – the Gentleman Sleuth is notably absent as the tale opens in London at the secret Headquarters of MI5. Veteran warhorse and ultra-capable spymaster Colonel Donald Spruce is having a little bit of a crisis…

A battled-scarred survivor of simpler times, Spruce longs for one last field mission, but is instead swamped with petty admin nonsense. That all changes in an instant as the computer boffins in charge of Betty – latest in the line of “Thinkover” super-calculators – discovers a little problem. In the age of automation, Betty controls every aspect of physical eliminations for the agency. “She” is an infallible electronic assassination expediter. Information on a target is fed in and Betty commences a contract, contacting outside agents to do the dirty work, providing all details they will need to complete the commission. No hostile has ever lasted more than a week when Betty is concerned: she provides efficiency, expediency, economy and utter deniability…

Except now the harassed technos are enduring a severe tongue-lashing from Spruce who has noticed that the latest print-out is retired agency star (and his old chum) Harold Wilberforce Clifton. As Spruce fumes and fulminates the abashed boffins try to explain that the process is irreversible. They can’t contact the contractors to cancel the hit. Clifton is as good as dead…

With no other choice, the Colonel frantically phones the retired agent and gives him the bad news. Our hero, unwilling to bow out gracefully, immediately goes on the run, using all his cunning and years of tradecraft to stay one step ahead of his faceless hunters. His stalkers however, are seasoned professionals too, and luck more than guile is the only thing saving him from an increasingly spectacular succession of devastating “accidents”…

Thematically far darker than previous tales, 7 Days to Die is nevertheless stuffed with hilarious moments of slapstick and satire to balance some pretty spectacular action set-pieces as frantic flight, devious disguise and even coldly calculated counterattack all fail to deter the implacable assassins. However as the climax approaches Clifton and Spruce individually come to the same stunning conclusion: this selection by Betty might not have been an accident after all…

Visually spoofing the 1970s’ original era of Cool Britannia and staidly stuffy English Mannerism with wicked effect, these gentle thrillers are big on laughs but also pack a lot of trauma-free violence into the eclectic mix. Delightfully surreal, instantly accessible and doused with serous slapstick À la Jacques Tati and deft, daft intrigue like Carry On Spying or Morecambe & Wise’s The Intelligence Men, this romp rattles right along offering readers a splendid treat.
Original edition © 1979 Le Lombard (Dargaud-Lombard S. A.) by De Groot & Turk. English translation © 2005 Cinebook Ltd.

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I Killed Adolf Hitler


By Jason, coloured by Hubert and translated by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-828-2 (HB/Digital edition

Jason is secretly John Arne Saeterrøy: born in Molde, Norway in 1965 and an overnight international cartoon superstar since 1995 once his first graphic novel Lomma full ay regn (Pocket Full of Rain) won that year’s Sproing Award (Norway’s biggest comics prize).

He won another Sproing in 2001 for the series Mjau Mjau and in 2002 turned almost exclusively to producing graphic novels. A global star among comics cognoscenti, he has many major awards from such disparate regions as France, Slovakia and the USA.

In this deliciously wry novella his signature surreality is marginally restrained in favour of a shaggy-dog-story plot, although the quirky tale is – as ever – populated with cinematic, darkly comic anthropomorphs and features more bewitching ruminations on his favourite themes of relationships and loneliness viewed, as ever, through a charmingly macabre cast of bestial archetypes and socially-lost modern chumps. Here he puts his sedately fevered mind to an issue that has perplexed the intellects and consciences of many modern generations and produced – as you would imagine – the very last thing anybody expected…

This post-modern short-and-speculative fable unfolds through the usual beguilingly sparse-dialogued, pantomimic progressions Jason favours, but also resonates with the best of B-Movie Sci Fi shtick. The solidly formal page layouts are rendered in Jason’s minimalist evolution of Hergé’s Claire Ligne style: solid blacks, thick lines and settings of seductive simplicity augmented here by Hubert’s enticing but reductive palette of stark pastels and muted hues.

In a world much like our own, but where petty annoyances can be readily eradicated by one of the many contract killers legally plying their trade in shops and cafes, a certain hard-working hitman toils his weary way through the unchanging days. The murder mechanic’s love life is troubled and the work-life balance tipped too far into the repetitive tedium of the next execution. He barely breaks a sweat as someone fails to erase him, and he’s pretty sure he knows who sent the gunman to kill him whilst he watched TV…

That missing spark rekindles the next day, however, when an old professor comes into the office. This decrepit duffer wants him to kill Hitler and has even built a time machine to accommodate accomplishing the assignment. Soon, our assassin is prowling the halls of the Berlin Chancellery, but hasn’t reckoned on the fanatical devotion of the Fuehrer’s minions. His crucial first attempt spoiled, the job becomes impossible after Adolf steals the time machine and escapes to the future, where he makes the best of his opportunity to start over…

Still, a job is a job and the hunter finds a way to persevere – and that’s when things get really complicated…

Jason’s work always jumps directly into the reader’s brain and heart, probing the nature of “human-ness” by using the beastly and bizarre to ask persistent and pertinent questions. Although the clever sight-gags are less prominent here, his repertory company of “funny-animal” characters still effectively depicts the subtlest emotions with devastating flair, proving again just how good a cartoonist he is.

This comic tale is best suited for adults, but makes us all look at the world through wide-open childish eyes. Jason is instantly addictive and a creator serious fans of the medium should move to the top of the “Must-Have” list.
All characters, stories and artwork © 2007 Editions de Tournon-Carabas/Jason. All rights reserved.

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Batman: The Golden Age volume 2


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, George Roussos & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6808-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Batman: The Golden Age volume 2 is another paperback-format feast (there’s also a weightier, pricier and more capacious hardback Omnibus available) re-presenting our anniversarial Dark Knight’s earliest exploits. Set out in original publishing release order, it forgoes glossy, high-definition paper and reproduction techniques in favour of a newsprint-adjacent feel and the same flat, bright-yet-muted colour palette which graced the originals. Those necessary details dealt with, what you really need to know is that this is a collection of Batman tales depicting how the character grew into the major player who would inspire so many: developing a resilience to survive the stifling cultural vicissitudes coming decades would inflict upon him and his partner, Robin.

With the majority of material crafted by Bill Finger and illustrated by Bob Kane, there’s no fuss, fiddle or Foreword, and the book steams straight into mesmerising mysterious action, re-presenting astounding cape-&-cowl classics and iconic covers from Detective Comics #46-56, Batman #4-7 and the Dynamic Duo’s stories from World’s Best Comics #1 and World’s Finest Comics #2-3: cumulatively covering all groundbreaking escapades from December 1940 to November 1941…

Plunging right into perilous procedures, Detective #46 (Kane with regular embellishers Jerry Robinson & George Roussos) features the return of Batman’s most formidable fringe scientific adversary as the heroes must counteract the awesome effects of ‘Professor Strange’s Fear Dust’, after which #47 delivers drama on a more human scale in ‘Money Can’t Buy Happiness’. This action-packed homily of parental expectation and the folly of greed leads into Batman #4 (Winter 1941) which opens with a spiffy catch-all visual resume prior to ‘The Joker’s Crime Circus’, plus the piratical plunderings of ‘Blackbeard’s Crew and the Yacht Society!’. ‘Public Enemy No.1’ tells a gangster fable in the manner of Jimmy Cagney’s movie Angels With Dirty Faces, and ‘Victory For the Dynamic Duo’ involves the pair in the treacherous world of sports gambling.

Detective Comics #48 finds the lads defending America’s bullion reserves in ‘The Secret Cavern’, and they face an old foe when ‘Clayface Walks Again’ (Detective Comics #49, March 1941), as the deranged horror actor resumes his passion for murder and re-attempts to kill Bruce Wayne’s old girlfriend Julie. DC #50 pits Batman & Robin against acrobatic burglars in ‘The Case of the Three Devils’, leading neatly into Batman #5 (Spring 1941). Once again, Joker plays lead villain in ‘The Riddle of the Missing Card’, before the heroes prove their versatility by solving a quixotic crime in Fairy Land via ‘The Book of Enchantment’.

‘The Case of the Honest Crook’ follows: one of the key stories of Batman’s early canon. When a mugger steals only $6 from a victim, leaving much more behind, his trail leads to a vicious gang who almost beat Robin to death. The vengeance-crazed Dark Knight goes on a rampage of terrible violence that still resonates in the character to this day. The last story from Batman #5 –‘Crime does Not Pay’ – once again deals with kids going bad and their potential for redemption, after which World’s Best Comics#1 (Spring 1941 – destined to become World’s Finest Comics with its second issue) offers an eerie murder mystery concerning ‘The Witch and the Manuscript of Doom’. With most stories still coming from unsung genius Finger and art chores shared out between Kane, Robinson & Roussos, the team got a new top contributor as Fred Ray signed on to produce fantastic World’s Finest covers that offered the only venue to see the Gotham Gangbusters operating beside the Metropolis Marvel.

Sordid human scaled wickedness informs ‘The Case of the Mystery Carnival’, ‘The Secret of the Jade Box’ and ‘Viola Vane’ (Detective #51, 52 and 53 respectively): all mood-soaked crimebusting set-pieces featuring fairly run-of-the mill thugs, serving as perfect palate-cleansers for ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Remember!’ from WF #2: a powerful character play and a chilling conundrum that still packs a punch today.

‘Hook Morgan and his Harbor Pirates’ finds the Dynamic Duo cleaning up the docks whilst the quartet from Batman #6 (‘Murder on Parole’, ‘The Clock Maker’, ‘The Secret of the Iron Jungle’ and ‘Suicide Beat’) offer a broad range of yarns encompassing a prison-set human interest fable to the hunt for a crazed maniac to racket busting and back to the human side of being a cop. Detective #54 heads back to basics with spectacular mad scientist thriller ‘The Brain Burglar’, after which a visit to a ghost town results in eerie romp ‘The Stone Idol’ (Detective #55) before World’s Finest #3 launches a classic villain with the first appearance of one of Batman’s greatest foes in ‘The Riddle of the Human Scarecrow’.

The volume ends with a grand quartet of tales from Batman #7. ‘Wanted: Practical Jokers’ again stars the psychotic Clown Prince of Crime, whilst ‘The Trouble Trap’ sees our heroes crushing a spiritualist racket before heading for Lumberjack country to clear up ‘The North Woods Mystery’.

The last story is something of a landmark case, as well as being a powerful and emotional melodrama. ‘The People Vs. The Batman’ finds Bruce Wayne framed for murder and the Dynamic Duo finally sworn in as official police operatives. They would not be vigilantes again until the grim ‘n’ gritty 1980s…

Kane, Robinson and their compatriots created an iconography which carried Batman well beyond his allotted life-span until later creators could re-invigorate it. They added a new dimension to children’s reading… and their work is still captivatingly accessible.

Moreover, these early stories set the standard for comic superheroes. Whatever you like now, you owe it to these stories. Superman gave us the idea, but inspired and inspirational writers like Bill Finger refined and defined the meta-structure of the costumed crime-fighter.

Where the Man of Steel was as much Social Force and juvenile wish-fulfilment as hero, Batman and Robin did what we ordinary mortals wanted to do most: teach bad people the lessons they richly deserved…

These are tales of elemental power and joyful exuberance, brimming with deep mood and addictive action. Comic book heroics simply don’t come any better.
© 1940, 1941, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.