Category: Science Fiction

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Captain Marvel Mighty Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Arnold Drake, Gene Colan, Don Heck & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4889-4 (PB/Digital edition)

It’s a year of many anniversaries for Marvel, and 1968 marks a couple of truly significant ones. It was the year the company finally broke free of a restrictive distribution deal and began an explosive expansion that led to market dominance. The other was more symbolic and seminal: the company secured the rights to an evocative and legendary name which it has successfully exploited ever since. Moreover, that name led to the soft introduction of a character who has become one of the faces of the modern Marvel Age.

Happy birthday Mar-Vell and Carol…

The stories re-presented here are timeless and have been gathered many times before but today we’re enjoying another example of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

After years as an also-ran and up-&-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 had finally secured a distribution deal that would allow them to expand their list of titles exponentially. Once the stars of “split-books” Tales of Suspense (Iron Man & Captain America), Tales to Astonish (The Hulk & Sub-Mariner) and Strange Tales (Doctor Strange & Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.) all won their own titles, the House of Ideas just kept on creating. One dead-cert idea was a hero named after the company – and one bringing popular cachet and nostalgic pedigree as well.

After the notorious decade long DC/Fawcett court case that began in 1940, the title Captain Marvel disappeared from newsstands. In 1967, during the superhero boom and “camp” craze generated by the Batman TV show, publisher MLF seemingly secured rights to the name and produced a number of giant-sized comics. Their star was an intelligent alien robot who could fly, divide his body into segments and shoot lasers from his eyes.

Despite a certain quirky charm, and being devised by comics veteran Carl (Human Torch) Burgos, the feature failed to attract a large following. On its demise, the name was quickly snapped up by expansionist 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 Comics classics, but with the 12th issue it added an all-new experimental section for characters without homes. These included Inhuman Medusa, Ka-Zar, Black Knight and Doctor Doom, along with new concepts like Guardians of the Galaxy, Phantom Eagle 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.

This cosmically conceived, kid-friendly collection offers that origin adventure from Marvel Super-Heroes #12-13, the contents of Captain Marvel #1-7 plus a humorous take from Not Brand Echh #9: collectively spanning cover-dates December 1967 to August 1968.

Crafted by Stan Lee, Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia, the initial MS-H 15 page-instalment ‘The Coming of Captain Marvel!’ The tale derived directly from Fantastic Four #64-65, wherein the quartet defeated a super-advanced Sentry robot marooned on Earth by a mythical and primordial alien race, only to be attacked by a high official of those long-lost extraterrestrials in the very next issue!

After defeating Ronan the Accuser, the FF heard no more from the far from extinct Kree, but the millennia-old empire became 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 his ruthless rival for the love of the ship’s medical officer Una.

No sooner has the dutiful operative made a tentative planet-fall and clashed with the US Army from a local missile base (frequently hinted at as being Cape Kennedy) than the instalment ends. Stan & Gene had set the ball rolling leaving Roy Thomas to establish the basic ground-rules in the next episode.

Colan remained, this time with Paul Reinman inking. ‘Where Stalks the Sentry!’ sees the spy improving his fantastic weaponry before a blatant attempt by Yon-Rogg to kill him collaterally destroys a light aircraft carrying scientist Walter Lawson to that military base.

Assuming Lawson’s identity, Mar-Vell infiltrates “The Cape” but arouses the suspicions of security Chief Carol Danvers. He is horrified to discover the Earthlings are storing the Sentry (defeated by the FF) on site. Yon-Rogg, sensing an opportunity, reactivates the deadly mechanoid. As it goes on a rampage, only Mar-Vell stands in its path…

That’s a lot of material for 20 pages but Thomas & Colan were on a roll. With Vince Colletta inking, the third chapter was not in Marvel Super-Heroes but in the premiere issue of the Captain’s own title – released for May 1968. ‘Out of the Holocaust… A Hero!’ is an all-action thriller, detailing the Kree-man’s victorious clash with the superbot, but which still found space to establish twin sub-plots. Succeeding issues would focus on “Lawson’s” credibility and Mar-Vell’s inner doubts as the faithful Kree soldier rapidly loses faith in his own race and falls under the spell of the strangely beguiling humans…

The Captain’s first foray against a super-villain comes in the next two issues as we learn the Kree and Skrull Empire have been intergalactic rivals for eons, and the shapeshifters now need to know why there’s an enemy soldier stationed on neutral Earth.

Despatching their own top agent, ‘From the Void of Space Comes the Super Skrull!’ and the resultant battle almost levels the entire state before bombastically concluding with the Kree beaten, captured and interrogated. A month later he rallies ‘From the Ashes of Defeat!’ and spectacularly triumphs, whilst on the orbiting home front the romantic triangle sub-plot intensified as Yonn-Rogg looked for ways to send Mar-Vell to a justifiable death…

Issue #4 saw the secret invader clashing with fellow anti-hero Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner in ‘The Alien and the Amphibian!’ even as Mar-Vell’s superiors make increasingly ruthless demands of their reluctant agent.

Captain Marvel #5 saw Arnold Drake & Don Heck assume the creative chores (with John Tartaglione on inks) in cold-war monster-mash clash ‘The Mark of the Metazoid’, wherein a mutated Soviet dissident is forced by his militaristic masters to kidnap Walter Lawson (that’s narrative symmetry, that is).I ssue #6 then places the Captain ‘In the Path of Solam!’: battling a marauding sun-creature even as Carol Danvers gets ever-closer to proving that something’s not right with the enigmatic consultant Lawson. Meanwhile, the man impersonating him is forced to prove his loyalty to his species by unleashing a Kree bio-weapon on an Earth community in ‘Die, Town, Die!’ However, all is not as it seems because murderous animate Quasimodo, the Living Computer is also involved…

To Be Continued…

Wrapping up this first volume is a burst of light relief from Marvel’s sixties parody comic Not Brand Echh From # 9, ‘Captain Marvin: Where Stomps the Scent-ry! or Out of the Holocaust… Hoo-Boy!!’ finds Thomas, Colan & Frank Giacoia wickedly reimagining the origin. It’s either funny or painful depending on your attitude…

Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers have both been Captain Marvel and starred in some our art form’s most momentous and entertaining adventures. Today’s multimedia madness all started with these iconic and evergreen Marvel tales, and it’s never too late for you to join the ranks of the cosmic cognoscenti…
© 2023 MARVEL.

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X-Men – Battle of the Atom


By Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Wood, Jason Aaron, Stuart Immonen, Frank Cho, David López, Chris Bachalo, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Esad Ribic, & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-8906-0 (US HB/Digital edition) 978-1-84653-572-7 (Marvel/Panini UK TPB)

Sixty years ago, at the dawn of the Marvel Age, some very special kids were chosen by wheelchair-bound mutant telepath Charles Xavier. Uncanny teen outsiders Scott Summers, Bobby Drake, Warren Worthington III, Jean Grey and Henry McCoy were taken under the wing of the enigmatic Professor X as he enacted his dream of brokering peace and achieving integration between humanity and an emergent off-shoot race of mutants, no matter what the cost.

To achieve his dream he educated and trained the youngsters – codenamed Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Marvel Girl and The Beast – for unique roles as heroes, ambassadors and symbols in an effort to counter the growing tide of human prejudice and fear. The dream was noble, inspirational and worth dying for, and over the years many mutants battling under the X-banner did just that. The struggle to integrate mutants into society seemed to inevitably result in conflict, compromise and tragedy.

During the cataclysmic events of Avengers versus X-Men, the idealistic, steadfast and trustworthy team leader Cyclops killed Xavier before eventually joining with past comrade Magik and former foes Magneto and Emma Frost in a hard-line alliance devoted to preserving mutant lives at the cost, if necessary, of human ones. This new attitude appalled many of their formers associates.

Abandoning Scott, his surviving team-mates Beast and Iceman joined with second generation X-Men such as Wolverine, Psylocke and Storm and stayed true to Xavier’s dream. Opting to protect and train the coming X-generation of mutant kids whilst honouring Xavier’s Dream, they are continuing his methods at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning under the direction of new Head Professor Kitty Pryde…

Things got really complicated after Hank McCoy discovered he was dying. Obsessed with the idea that the naive First Class of X-Men might be able to sway Mutant Enemy terrorist No. 1 back from his current path of doctrinaire madness and ideological race war insanity, the Beast used time-travel tech in a last-ditch attempt to prevent a species war. By bringing the five youngsters back to the future he hoped to reason with the debased, potentially deranged Cyclops and fix everything before his impending death…

The gamble paid off in all the wrong ways. Rather than shocking Scott back to his senses, the confrontation simply hardened the renegade’s heart and strengthened his resolve. Moreover, even after the younger McCoy impossibly cured his older self, young Henry and the rest of the X-Kids refused to go home until “bad” Scott was stopped…

The elder Cyclops and his “Extinction Team” face many problems. Magneto is playing a double (or is it a treble?) game; betraying the terrorists to S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill, and her to Cyclops. Moreover as they travel the world gathering up freshly activated Homo Superior kids, the Extinction-ers have been repeatedly targeted by a new mysterious next generation of robotic hunter/killer Sentinels.

All these tales were detailed in X-titles which resulted from the MarvelNOW! publishing event: a jumping-on point which reshaped the whole company continuity, taking the various mutant bands in strange new directions.

Scripted primarily by Brian Michael Bendis, this chronal chronicle collects all the issues in a crossover affecting those niche X-titles through September and October 2013 – specifically All-New X-Men #16-17, X-Men #5-6, Uncanny X-Men #12-13, and Wolverine & the X-Men #36-37, all bracketed by bookend miniseries X-Men – Battle of the Atom #1-2. This plot-light but action-packed, tension-drenched time-travel drama served to set up the next year’s worth of mutant mayhem…

It all begins with X-Men – Battle of the Atom #1, illustrated by Frank Cho, Stuart Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger, wherein demon-tainted Magik engages her teleportational ability to traverse time and space. Voyaging into the future to see what tomorrow holds for her kind, her answer appears to be Sentinels, increased human hatred and never-ending conflict…

Back in the now, Professor Pryde is continuing the First Class kids’ on-the-job training against an emergent and very ticked off mutant when more mystery sentinels attack. Like evil cavalry, the Extermination team materialise and the ideological opponents pitch in together. In the melee, young Cyclops is killed by a stray blast and his older-self blinks out of existence. Thankfully even as the entire area begins to shake and fall apart, mutant healer Triage is able to resurrect the dying X-Man. The disruptions cease, but the near-disaster reopens the old argument: the Original Five X-Men are endangering all of existence by living in their own future…

Resolute Kitty overrules young Jean Grey and orders the present-day Beast to send them back. However, when the furry blue boffin activates the time-cube a strange yet familiar band of X-Men tumble out of it…

The tale resumes in All-New X-Men #16 (Immonen & Von Grawbadger) as the Extinction team (which now includes the time-displaced young Angel and Grey School defectors the Stepford Sisters Celeste, Mindee & Phoebe) review the attack and consider the notion that S.H.I.E.L.D. might be behind the new Sentinels. Meanwhile, at the aforementioned Grey School the intruders (an elderly Kitty Pride, the grandson of Charles Xavier, an Iceman-Hulk, Deadpool, a much more mutated Beast, adult Molly Hayes from The Runaways and mystery telepath Xorn) are demanding that the Original 5 be immediately sent back to their own time… or else…

A huge fight erupts and in the confusion, traumatised kids Scott and Jean steal a plane, running away to make sense of all the pressure and acrimony. Most importantly, although the future X-Men’s minds were psi-screened, young Marvel Girl – thanks to her new, barely controllable telepathic abilities – has picked up something indefinable and ominously threatening, …

As tempers cool in the aftermath, Xorn removes her mask, revealing herself as the fugitive girl’s bitter, wiser, fiercely determined older self. One of them, anyway…

Written by Brian Wood and illustrated by David López & Cam Smith, X-Men #5 picks up the pace as the now tenuously collaborating teams set off after the kids. Storm, however, gives her all-female squad different instructions: Rogue and Psylocke join the main party whilst Pryde, Rachel Grey (the confusingly alternate Earth daughter of a different Cyclops and Jean Grey) and vampiric-mutant Jubilee are tasked with guarding the remaining Originals, little Henry McCoy and Bobby Drake…

Never good at obeying orders, they instead follow Scott and Jean themselves, provoking another all-X confrontation allowing the runaways to bolt for ruined mutant sanctuary Utopia – where the Extinction team are already waiting…

Tensions escalate in Uncanny X-Men #12 (by Bendis, Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba & Al Vey) as the “mutant terrorists” learn of the future X-Men and their mission. It is only then that Magik shares her recent time-travel jaunt and (some of) what she’s been keeping to herself…

In the light of these events the Extinction-ers are split: Cyclops wanting to help the kids whilst Emma rebels and announces that she’ll be helping Xorn and her crew send all the early X-Men back where they belong…

That resolution only lasts as long as it takes to meet their descendants and legacies. Wolverine & the X-Men #36 (Jason Aaron, Giuseppe Camuncoli & Andrew Currie) soon sees all three generations of mutants in brutal internecine combat which only ends when young Jean at last acquiesces to the constant pressure and promises to take her team back where they came from…

Then all hell breaks loose as the real Future X-Men show up…

Thanks to Magik, the true defenders of Xavier’s dream have travelled back to Now, tracking perpetrators of an assassination atrocity committed at the crowning moment of mutant/human cooperation. Colossus, Wiccan, Ice Master, Wolverine (AKA Jubilee), Quentin “Phoenix” Quire, Kymera and Sentinel-X seek to ensure the madness will end before it begins…

No more spoilers from me then except to say that Cam Smith & Terry Pallot help with inks on X-Men #6 and the concluding X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2 is scripted by Aaron with portentous ‘Epilogues’ by Bendis & Brian Wood, illustrated by Esad Ribic, Camuncoli, Currie, Tom Palmer & Kristopher Anka.

In that stunning, ever-escalating blockbuster clash the various iterations of Once-&-Future mutant champions switch sides and back again; fight, quip, discover which presumed ally is behind the new Sentinels and in some cases give their lives to preserve everything good before it all turns out OK – at least for the moment…

When the smoke clears a new chapter will begin with the Original kids willing but now unable to return to their origin time; the Jean Grey School forever changed; friendships and alliances destroyed and Cyclops’ Extinction team immeasurably stronger…

Crucially, the most psychotic and potentially lethal monster from tomorrow never made it back to the future and might possibly be stalking today’s heroes, whilst time-disruption caused by the assorted chronally-misplaced persons bodes badly for the continuance of existence…

X-Men: Battle of the Atom is peppered with pinups and a huge cover-&-variants gallery by Art Adams, Simone Bianchi & Frank Martin, Frazer Irving, Ed McGuiness & Dexter Vines, Marte Gacia, Lopez, Phil Noto, Stefano Casselli & Andres Mossa, Frank Cho, Shane Davis, Nick Bradshaw, Stephanie Hans, Adi Granov, Immonen, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Leonel Castellani, Bachalo (Lego X-Men covers), Anka, Milo Manara and Esad Ribic: a perfect end to the timeless never-ending battle…
© 2019 MARVEL.

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The Jack Kirby Omnibus volume 2 – starring The Super Powers


By Jack Kirby, with Mike Royer, D. Bruce Berry, Wally Wood, Pablo Marcos, Adrian Gonzalez, Greg Theakston, Alex Toth, Vince Colletta, Joe Simon, Denny O’Neil, Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman, Michael Fleisher, Joey Cavalieri, Paul & Alan Kupperberg, Bob Rozakis & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3833-9 (HB)

Famed for larger-than-life characters and gigantic, cosmic imaginings, Jack Kirby was an astute, imaginative, spiritual man who lived through poverty, gangsterism, the Depression, Post-War optimism, Cold War paranoia, political cynicism and the birth and death of peace-seeking counter-cultures. He was open-minded and utterly wedded to the making of comics stories on every imaginable subject. He always believed that sequential narrative was worthy of being published as real books beside mankind’s other literary art forms.

History has proved him right, and showed us just how ahead of the times he always was.

There’s a magnificent abundance of Kirby commemorative collections around these days (though still not all of it, so I remain a partially disgruntled dedicated fan). This particular magnificent hardback compendium re-presents most of the miscellaneous oddments of the “King’s DC Canon”; or at least those the company still retains rights for. The licenses on stuff like his run on pulp adaptation Justice Inc. (and indeed Marvel’s 2001: A Space Odyssey comic) will not be forthcoming any time soon…

Some of the material here is also available in 2019’s absolutely monster DC Universe Bronze Age Omnibus by Jack Kirby, but since it isn’t available digitally either (yet), you’d best have strong wrists and a sturdy desk at hand for that one.

Happily, this less massive tome from 2013 is less of a strain physically or financially. It opens with pages of hyper-kinetic Kirby pencil pages and a moving ‘Introduction by John Morrow’ before hurtling straight into moody mystery with a range of twice told tales.

On returning from WWII, Kirby reconnected with long-term creative partner Joe Simon. National Comics/DC was no longer a welcoming place for the reunited dream team supreme and by 1947 they had formed their own studio. Subsequently enjoying a long and productive relationship with Harvey Comics (Stuntman, Boy’s Ranch, Captain 3-D, Lancelot Strong, The Shield, The Fly, Three Rocketeers and more) the duo generated a stunning variety of genre features for Crestwood/Pines supplied by their “Essankay”/ “Mainline” studio shop.

Triumphs included Justice Traps the Guilty, Fighting American, Bullseye, Police Trap, Foxhole, Headline Comics and especially Young Romance amongst many more: a veritable mountain of mature, challenging strip material in a variety of popular genres.

One was mystery and horror, and amongst the dynamic duo’s Prize Comics concoctions was noir-informed, psychologically-underpinned supernatural anthology Black Magic – and latterly, short-lived yet fascinating companion title Strange World of Your Dreams.

These comics anthologies eschewed traditional gory, heavy-handed morality plays and simplistic cautionary tales for deeper, stranger fare, and – until the EC comics line hit their peak – were far and away the best mystery titles on the market.

When the King quit Marvel for DC in 1970, his new bosses accepted suggestions for a supernatural-themed mature-reading magazine. Spirit World was a superb but poorly received and largely undistributed monochrome magazine. Issue #1 – and only – appeared in the summer of 1971, but editorial cowardice and backsliding scuppered the project before it could get going.

Material from a second, unpublished issue eventually appeared in colour comic books Weird Mystery Tales and Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, but with his ideas misunderstood, ignored or side-lined by the company, Kirby reverted to more traditional fare. Never truly defeated though, he cannily blended his belief in the marketability of the supernatural with flamboyant superheroics to create another unique and lasting mainstay for the DC universe. The Demon only ran a couple of years but was a concept later talents would make a pivotal figure of the company’s continuity.

Jack’s collaborations with fellow industry pioneer Joe Simon always produced dynamite concepts, unforgettable characters, astounding stories and huge sales, no matter what genre avenues they pursued, blazing trails for so many others to follow and always reshaping the very nature of American comics with their innovations and sheer quality.

As with all their endeavours, Simon & Kirby offered stories shaped by their own sensibilities. Identifying a “mature market” gap in the line of magazines they autonomously packaged for publishers Crestwood and Prize, they realised the sales potential of high-quality spooky material. Thus superb, eerily seminal Black Magic debuted with an October/November 1950 cover-date; supplemented in 1952 by boldly obscure psychological drama anthology The Strange World of Your Dreams. This title was inspired by studio-mate Mort Meskin’s vivid and punishing night terrors: dealing with fantastic situations and – too frequently for comfort – unable or unwilling to provide pat conclusions or happy endings. There was no cosmic justice or calming explanations available to avid readers. Sometimes The Unknown just blew up in your face and you survived – or didn’t. No one escaped whole or unchanged…

Thus, this colossal compendium of cult cartoon capers commences with DC’s revival of Black Magic as a cheap, modified and toned down reprint title.

The second #1 launched with an October/November 1973 cover-date, offering crudely re-mastered versions of some astounding classics. Benefitting from far better reproduction technology here is ‘Maniac!’ (originating in Black Magic #32 September/October 1973): an artistic tour de force and a tale much “homaged” by others in later years, detailing how and why a loving brother stops villagers taking his simple-minded sibling away. This is followed by ‘The Head of the Family!’ (BM #30 May/June 1954, by Kirby & Bruno Premiani) exposing the appalling secret shame of a most inbred clan…

DC’s premier outing ended with a disturbing tale first seen in Black Magic #29 (March-April 1954). Specifically cited in 1954’s anti-comic book Senate Hearings, ‘The Greatest Horror of them All!’ told a tragic tale of a freak hiding amongst lesser freaks…

Cover-dated December 1973/January 1974, DC’s second shot opened with ‘Fool’s Paradise!’ (BM #26, September/October 1953) as a petty thug stumbles into a Mephistophelean deal and reveals how ‘The Cat People’ (#27 November/December 1953) mesmerised and forever marked an unwary tourist in rural Spain before ‘Birth After Death’ (#20 January 1953) retold the true tale of how Sir Walter Scott’s mother survived premature burial, and ‘Those Who Are About to Die!’ (#23 April 1953) sketched out how a painter could predict imminent doom…

‘Nasty Little Man!’ (#18 November 1952) fronted DC’s third foray and gets my vote for creepiest horror art job of all time. Here three hobos discover to their everlasting regret why you shouldn’t pick on short old men with Irish accents. ‘The Angel of Death!’ (#15 August 1952) then details an horrific medical mystery far darker than mere mystic menace…

In the 1950s, as their efforts grew in popularity, S & K were stretched thin. Utilising a staff of assistants and crafting fewer stories themselves meant they could keep all their deadlines.

The ‘Cover art for Black Magic #4, June/July 1974’ swiftly segues into ‘Last Second of Life!’(Black Magic volume 1 #1, October-November 1950 and their only narrative contribution to that particular DC issue) wherein a rich man, obsessed over what the dying see at their final breath, soon regrets the unsavoury lengths he went to in finding out…

There were two in the next issue. ‘Strange Old Bird!’(courtesy of Black Magic #25 June/July 1953) is a gently eerie thriller of a little old lady who gets the gift of renewed life from her tatty and extremely flammable feathered old friend and ‘Up There!’ from the landmark 13th issue (June 1952) – the saga of a beguiling siren stalking the upper stratosphere and scaring the bejabbers out of a cool test pilot…

DC issue #6 reprises ‘The Girl Who Walked on Water!’ (BM #11 April 1952), exposing the immense but fragile power of self-belief whilst the ‘Cover art for Black Magic #7, December 1974/January 1975’ (originally #17 October 1952) provides a chilling report on satanic vestment ‘The Cloak!’ (BM #2 December 1950/January 1951) and ‘Freak!’ (also from #17) shares a country doctor’s deepest shame…

DC’s #8 revisited The Strange World of Your Dreams, beginning with “typical insecurity nightmare” ‘The Girl in the Grave!’ (#2, September/October 1952). The Meskin-inspired anthology of oneiric apparitions eschewed cheap shocks, mindless gore and goofy pun-inspired twist-ending yarns in favour of dark, oppressive suspense, soaked in psychological unease and tension over teasing…

Following up with ‘Send Us Your Dreams’ from the same source (requesting readers’ ideas for spokes-parapsychologist Richard Temple to analyse), DC’s vintage fear-fest concludes with # 9 (April/May 1975) and ‘The Woman in the Tower!’ as originally seen in SWoYD #3, (November/December 1952) detailing the symbolism of oppressive illness…

When his Fourth World Saga stalled, Kirby continued creating new material with Kamandi – his only long-running DC success – and explored WWII in The Losers whilst creating the radical, scarily prophetic, utterly magnificent Omac: One Man Army Corps, but still could not achieve the all-important sales the company demanded. Eventually he was lured back to Marvel and new challenges like Black Panther, Captain America, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man and especially The Eternals.

Before that though, he unleashed new concepts and even filled in on established titles. As previously moaned about, however, his 3-issue run on Justice Inc. – adapting 1930s’ licensed pulp star The Avenger – is not included here, but at least his frankly astounding all-action dalliance with martial arts heroics is…

Inked by D. Bruce Berry and debuting in all-new try-out title 1st Issue Special #1 (April 1975), ‘Atlas the Great!’ harked back to the dawn of human civilisation and followed the blockbusting trail of mankind’s first super-powered champion in a blazing Sword & Sorcery yarn.

1st Issue Special #5 (August 1975, Berry) highlighted the passing of a torch as a devout evil-crusher working for an ancient justice-cult retired and tipped his nephew – Public Defender Mark Shaw – to become the latest super-powered ‘Manhunter’, after which a rare but welcome digression into comedy manifested as ‘The Dingbats of Danger Street (1st Issue Special #6, September 1975). With Mike Royer inking, Kirby unleashed a bizarre and hilarious revival of his Kid Gang genre, starring four multi-racial street urchins united for survival and to battle surreal super threats…

Kirby – and Berry – limned the third issue of troubled martial arts series Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter (August/September 1975). Scripted by Denny O’Neil, the savage shocker pits the lone warrior against an army of assassins in ‘Claws of the Dragon!’…

‘Fangs of the Kobra!’ comes from Kobra #1, released with a February/March 1976 cover-date. The tale is strange in both execution and delivery, with Kirby’s original updating of Dumas’ tale The Corsican Brothers reworked by Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman and artists Pablo Marcos & Berry.

It introduces brothers separated at birth. Jason Burr grew up a normal American kid whilst his twin – stolen by an Indian death cult – was reared as Kobra, the most dangerous man alive. Sadly for the super-criminal, young adult Jason is recruited by the authorities because of a psychic connection to the snake lord: a link allowing them to track each other and also feel and experience any harm or hurt the other experiences…

When Simon & Kirby came to National/DC in 1942 one of their earliest projects was revitalising the moribund Sandman strip in Adventure Comics. Their unique blend of atmosphere and dynamism made it one of the most memorable, moody and action-packed series of the period (as you can see by reading their companion volume The Sandman by Simon & Kirby).

The band was brought back together for The Sandman #1 (cover-dated Winter 1974): a one-shot project which kept the name but created a whole new mythology. Scripted by Simon and inked by Royer, ‘General Electric’ revealed how the realm of dreams was policed by a scarlet-&-gold super-crusader dedicated to preventing nightmares escaping into the physical world. With unwilling assistants Glob and Brute, the Sandman also battled real world villains exploiting the unconscious Great Unknown. The heady mix was completed by frail orphan Jed, whose active sleeping imagination seemed to draw trouble to him.

The proposed one-off was a minor hit at a tenuous time in comics publishing, and DC kept it going, even though the originators were not interested. Kirby & Royer did produce the ‘Cover art Sandman #2, April/May 1975’ and ‘Cover art Sandman #3, June/July 1975’ before the King returned to the series with #4.

‘Panic in the Dream Stream’ – August/September 1975 – was scripted by Michael Fleisher, and revealed how a sleepless alien race attempted to conquer Earth through Jed’s fervent dreams: a traumatic channel that also allowed them to invade Sandman’s Dream Realm. The next issue (October/November 1975) heralded an ‘Invasion of the Frog Men!’ into an idyllic parallel dimension whilst the next reunited a classic art team. Wally Wood inked Jack for Fleisher’s ‘The Plot to Destroy Washington D.C.!’. Here mind-bending cyborg Doctor Spider subverted and enslaved Glob and Brute in his eccentric ambition to take over America…

Although Sandman #6 (December 1975/January 1976) was the last published issue, another tale was already completed. It finally appeared in reprint digest Best of DC #22 (March 1982). ‘The Seal Men’s War on Santa Claus’ with Fleisher scripting and Royer handling the brushwork was a sinister seasonal romp with Jed’s wicked foster-family abusing him in classic Scrooge style before the Weaver of Dreams summons him to help save Christmas from bellicose well-armed aquatic mammals…

During the 1980s costumed heroes stopped being an exclusively print cash cow. Many toy companies licensed Fights ‘n’ Tights titans and reaped the benefits of ready-made comic book spin-offs. DC’s most recognizable characters morphed into a top-selling action figure line and were inevitably hived off into a brisk and breezy, fight-frenzied miniseries.

Super Powers launched in July 1984 as a 5-issue miniseries with Kirby covers and his signature characters prominently represented. Jack also plotted the stellar saga with scripter Joey Cavalieri providing dialogue, and Adrian Gonzales & Pablo Marcos illustrating a heady cosmic quest comprising numerous inconclusive battles between agents of Good and Evil.

In ‘Power Beyond Price!’, ultimate nemesis Darkseid despatches four Emissaries of Doom to destroy Earth’s superheroes. Sponsoring Lex Luthor, The Penguin, Brainiac and The Joker the monsters jointly target Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Hawkman…

The combat escalates in #2’s ‘Clash Against Chaos’ with the Man of Steel and Scarlet Speedster tackling Luthor, whilst Aquaman and Green Lantern pummel the Penguin as Dark Knight and Winged Wonder confront a cosmically-enhanced Harlequin of Hate…

With Alan Kupperberg inking, an inconclusive outcome leads to a regrouping of evil and an attack by Brainiac on Paradise Island. With the ‘Amazons at War’ the Justice League rally until Superman is devolved into a brutal beast who attacks his former allies. All-out battle ensues in ‘Earth’s Last Stand’, before Kirby stepped up to write and illustrate the fateful finale: cosmos-shaking conclusion ‘Spaceship Earth – We’re All on It!’  (November 1984, with Greg Theakston suppling inks)…

A bombastic Super Powers Promotional Poster leads into a nostalgic reunion as DC Comics Presents #84 (August 1985) reunited Jack with his first “Fantastic Four”. ‘Give Me Power… Give Me Your World!’ – written by Bob Rozakis, Kirby & Theakston (with additional art by the legendary Alex Toth) – pits Superman and the Challengers of The Unknown against mind-bending Kryptonian villain Zo-Mar, after which the ‘Cover art for Super DC Giant S-25, July/ August 1971’ (inked by Vince Colletta) segues into the Super Powers miniseries, spanning September 1985 to February 1986.

Scripted by Paul Kupperberg the Kirby/Theakston saga ‘Seeds of Doom!’ recounts how deadly Darkseid despatches techno-organic bombs to destroy Earth, requiring practically every DC hero to unite to end the threat.

With squads of Super Powers travelling to England, Rome, New York, Easter Island and Arizona the danger is magnified ‘When Past and Present Meet!’ as the seeds warp time and send Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter back to days of King Arthur…

Issue #3 (November 1985) finds Red Tornado, Hawkman and Green Arrow plunged back 75 million years in ‘Time Upon Time Upon Time!’ even as Doctor Fate, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman are trapped in 1087 AD, battling stony-faced giant aliens on Easter Island.

Superman and Firestorm discover ‘There’s No Place Like Rome!’as they battle Darkseid’s agent Steppenwolf in the first century whilst Batman, Robin and Flash visit a future where Earth is the new Apokolips for #5’s ‘Once Upon Tomorrow’, before Earth’s scattered champions converge on Luna to spectacularly squash the schemes-within-schemes of ‘Darkseid of the Moon!’ …

Rounding out the astounding cavalcade of wonders is a selection of Kirby-crafted Profiles pages from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe 1985-1987: specifically, Ben Boxer, the Boy Commandos, Challengers of the Unknown, Crazy Quilt, Etrigan the Demon, Kamandi, The Newsboy Legion, Sandman (the Dream Stream version from 1974), Sandy, the Golden Boy and Witchboy Klarion.

Kirby was and remains unique and uncompromising. His words and pictures comprise an unparalleled, hearts-and-minds grabbing delight no comics lover can possibly resist. If you’re not a fan or simply not prepared to see for yourself what all the fuss has been about then no words of mine will change your mind.

That doesn’t alter the fact that his life’s work from 1937 to his death in 1994 shaped the entire American comics scene – and indeed the entire comics planet – affecting the lives of billions of readers and thousands of creators in all areas of artistic endeavour for generations and is still winning new fans and apostles every day, from the young and naive to the most cerebral of intellectuals. His work is instantly accessible, irresistibly visceral, deceptively deep and simultaneously mythic and human.

He is the King and will never be supplanted.
© 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Last Musketeer


By Jason, coloured by Hubert and translated by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-889-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Jason is secretly John Arne Saeterrøy: born in Molde, Norway in 1965 and an overnight international cartoon superstar since 1995 when 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 the cognoscenti, he has won many major awards.

Jason’s breadth of interest is wide and deep: comics, movies, music, high literature and pulp fiction all feature equally with no sense of hierarchy and his puckish mixing and matching of his inspirational sources always produces a picture-treatise well worth a reader’s time.

As always, this visual/verbal bon mot unfolds in his beguiling, sparse-dialogued, pantomimic progressions with enchantingly formal page layouts rendered in the familiar, minimalist evolution of Hergé’s Claire Ligne style: solid blacks, thick lines, settings of seductive simplicity augmented here by a beguiling palette of stark pastels and muted primary colours. This delicious caper is one of his best yarns ever and even spawned a prequel…

The Last Musketeer is an epic rife with his signature surrealism; populated with his quirkily quotidian cast of darkly comic anthropomorphic regulars, and downplaying his signature themes of relationships and loneliness to produce a wild action-adventure for a charmingly macabre cast of bestial movie archetypes and lost modern chumps to romp through.

With hues from much missed triple-threat Hubert, our brief full-colour thriller opens with a drunk in a Paris bar. He claims to be legendary musketeer Athos, still alive after four centuries. And he actually is.

The contemplative warrior dreams of past glories and inseparable old comrades but things aren’t the same anymore. However, as he muses on a bench, destructive balls of energy rain down on the city and Athos realises he is needed again and might just have one last adventure in him…

Despite failing to get the old gang back together, Athos persists in his quest and, after fighting a couple of green-skinned invaders, induces them to take him to their world. All too soon, he is making friends, battling the flamboyantly evil King of the Red Planet, helping a Princess of Mars foment an Earth-saving revolution and re-encountering an enemy from home he had long forgotten…

And we’re all still here so he must have triumphed in the end…

Outrageously merging the worlds of Alexander Dumas with Edgar Rice Burroughs, whilst gleefully borrowing Flash Gordon’s props and work ethic, The Last Musketeer is a superbly engaging pastiche that is pure nostalgia and pure Jason.

Jason is instantly addictive and a creator every serious fan of the art form should move to the top of the “Must-Have” list.
All characters, stories and artwork © 2007 Jason. All rights reserved.

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The Bozz Chronicles


By David Michelinie & Bret Blevins, with John Ridgway, Al Williamson & various (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels)
ISBN: 978-0-486-79851-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

During the 1980s the American comics scene experienced an astounding proliferation of new titles and companies in the wake of the creation of the Direct Sales Market. With publishers now able to firm-sale straight to specialised, dedicated-retail outlets rather than overprint and accept returned copies from general magazine vendors, the industry was able to risk and support less generic titles whilst authors, artists and publishers could experiment without losing their shirts.

At the height of the subsequent publishing explosion and in response to a wave of upstart innovators, Marvel developed its own line of creator-owned properties: launching a host of idiosyncratic, impressive series in a variety of formats under the watchful, benevolent and exceptionally canny eye of Editor Archie Goodwin. The delightfully disparate line was dubbed Epic Comics and reshaped the industry.

One of the most significant hits was a winsomely engaging blend of fantasy, criminology and urban myth with a beautifully simple core concept: “Sherlock Holmes from Outer Space”. Even that painfully broad pitch-line does the series it became an unforgivable disservice…

The Bozz Chronicles was – and is – so much more. It became one of Epic’s earliest hits and sensations, and the reasons it never continued beyond its initial 6-issue run (December 1985 to November 1986) had nothing to do with poor sales…

The mesmerising mix of Victoriana, super-science and sorcery might even be considered as an early precursor if not progenitor of the visual form of the literary genre K. W. Jeter dubbed “steampunk” in 1987…

Preceded with a Foreword from Brandon Graham, Dave Michelinie’s self-deprecating Introduction ‘Blame it on Spielberg’, and fond reminiscences from originating illustrator Bret Blevins, an amazing moment in comics history repeats itself as ‘The Bozz Chronicles’ opens on Mandy Flynn. She is a fiercely independent young woman plying her trade – described then and now as the World’s Oldest – in the sooty, sordid environs of London in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Saucy, sassy, sensitive and lovely, she is bringing her latest “brief acquaintance” up to her attic abode when the incipient physical transaction is suddenly curtailed by discovery of a strange-looking foreigner trying to commit suicide in her rooms…

As her toff flees in terror, Mandy tries to talk down the intruder and realises just how strange he truly is: eight feet tall, pale yellow in complexion, with a hairless, pointy head. He is also gentle, exceptionally well-spoken, has a long tail and can fly…

Six months pass. Mandy and the creature she calls Bozz are doing exceptionally well. He still claims to be from another world and certainly acts like no human she has ever met: he cannot tell lies, communicates with animals, constantly wanders around naked and absorbs like a sponge every scrap of knowledge she can provide for him through books and journal and newspapers.

Bozz misses his home: a far-distant world of benevolent intelligences he has no chance of ever returning to: so much so that he was trying to end himself as much through boredom as loneliness. Mandy’s brilliant idea to keep him alive was to engage his prodigious intellect in puzzles. She set them up as consulting detectives based in the less than fashionable Maracot Road, using the proceeds to better her own hand-to-mouth existence in the process. The only problem is that when no challenging cases manifest, Bozz’s thoughts instantly return to ending it all…

Thankfully, just as she is preparing to hide all the sharp objects again, a truly unique mystery knocks on the door and the secretary of Lord Giles Morgan requests their help. According to the Press, Pamela Grieves’ employer – and prospective Prime Minister – recently escaped an assassination attempt. However, the loyal amanuensis was with him when it happened and claims he did not survive. In fact, after having made further discreet inquiries, Miss Grieves found her master had in fact been dead for some three years prior to the attack…

As Bozz excitedly accepts the commission, Mandy is convinced they are dealing with a madwoman, but when their client is destroyed by a bolt of lightning as soon as she leaves their office the retired demimondaine is forced to think again…

Naturally the inquiry agents’ first step is to interview Lord Giles and although the shady politician proves no help at all, Bozz gleans much useful information from the caged bird in Morgan’s study. Soon they are on the trail of an aristocratic secret society utilising vast funds and weird science to resurrect the dead in pursuit of a deadly and regressive political and economic agenda (so hard not to comment satirically here!)…

Sadly, even the alien outcast’s uncanny powers prove insufficient to stop the schemers, but Mandy has gifts of her own and beguiles a rowdy American former prize-fighter she finds in a bar to assist in the climactic final confrontation.

Besotted, punch-drunk Salem Hawkshaw then joins the detectives to handle any future physical exigencies that might occur, but despite everything he sees is never convinced his big, bemused boss is anything other than a crazy circus freak…

The new colleagues are all painfully aware that their sudden success has brought them to the attention of Scotland Yard’s most privileged operative and the notorious trio have barely caught their breath before Inspector Colin Fitzroy comes calling, deviously offering them a case the police have no interest in.

Apparently a drunk has seen demons in Park Lane…

As the shamefully-employed scion of Britain’s richest family continues trying to impress the ravishing Miss Flynn, further arcane incidents occur, ‘Raising Hell’ in the capital’s swankiest district. Before long the consulting detectives find troubled Samantha Townes, whose husband has fallen foul of the vilest black magic and his own gullibility…

Wealthy Inspector Fitzroy has more pressing problems. A rash of exceedingly orderly murders has turned up odd artefacts defying explanation by any expert Scotland Yard can muster: things that cannot possibly have been built by any craftsman on Earth…

In ‘The Tomorrow Man’ (inked by Al Williamson) a trip to the funfair does little to alleviate Bozz’s boredom, but does lead to the genteel gullible giant being gulled: lured away by a wily pack of street children who use his powers and naivety to perpetrate a crime spree.

Later, when the shady show’s owner tries to kidnap Bozz for his freak attractions, the ultimately unsuccessful attack leaves the alien blind. The kids’ ringleader Oliver brings him to underworld surgeon Dr. Paine – who runs a subterranean clinic as a sideline to pay for his researches into time travel. He sees in the stranger a perfect opportunity to advance the causes of science…

Redeemed by Bozz’s unflagging trust, Oliver at last realises the enormity of his betrayal and fetches Mandy and Salem to effect a rescue, but by the time they arrive, chronal chaos is erupting everywhere…

As engaging and enthusiastic as the tales have been until this point, ‘Were-Town!’ is (at least for history-buffs and especially Londoners) a truly stand-out moment in the series, as the ineffably marvellous British veteran John Ridgway stepped in to illustrate a pithy, punchy deep midwinter tale disclosing a hint of Mandy’s past whilst introducing her reprehensible absentee father Egan Thorpe.

We’ve always whined in Britain about how Us and Ours are represented in American productions and, despite the obviously strenuous and diligent researches Michelinie & Blevins undertook, frequently the tone of their Bozz Chronicles often smacks more of Hollywood than Cricklewood. It’s not something non-Brits will even notice, but for us aging “Cockerney Sparrers” the differences are there to be seen… and felt.

Such is not the case (as gratefully acknowledged by the creators themselves in the respective, respectful Introductions) when Ridgway applied his meticulous line and copious pictorial acumen – gleaned from decades drawing a variety of British strips for everything from Commando Picture Library to Warrior to 2000AD or Doctor Who and The Famous Five – to a genuinely spooky, photographically authentic tale of deranged artists, dastardly squires and infernal paintings coming to unholy life in snow-capped rural wilds of Southeast England…

Michelinie & Blevins reunited for ‘The Cobblestone Jungle’ as Inspector Fitzroy again calls upon Bozz & Co: impelled as much by his lusty fascination with Amanda as the demands of an African king who needs the assistance of the British Empire if he is to guarantee a steady flow of diamonds from his equatorial satrapy…

Apparently, a white man had stolen the tribe’s sacred jewel and brought it to his hidden jungle playground in London. Thanks to some canny legwork from little Oliver, the detective trio track the bounder, but nobody anticipated the filched gewgaw emitting destructive death-rays…

After a spectacular battle high above the city, Bozz ends the threat, but his biggest surprise comes when the grateful king asks to thank him personally and reveals a millennia-old connection to Bozz’s extraterrestrial race…

For Mandy, Bozz, Salem and Fitzroy it all culminates in a desperate trek to the Dark Continent in search of ‘King Solomon’s Spaceship’ and the achievement of the marooned alien’s most fervent desires… until a gang of German raiders and Mandy’s own cynical self-interest ruins everything…

Rounded out by sketches and preliminary designs in a superb ‘Bonus Artwork and Cover Gallery’ from Blevins and closing with an effusive ‘Afterword by John Ridgway’, this is a magnificent moment in comics collaboration which will soon hopefully reclaim its place at the forefront of fantasy fables.
The Bozz Chronicles © 1985, 1986, 2015 David Michelinie. Introduction © 2015 David Michelinie. Foreword © 2015 Brandon Graham. Afterword © 2015 John Ridgway. All rights reserved.

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Captain Midnight Archive volume 1: Captain Midnight Battles the Nazis


By Dave Gormley, Leonard Frank, Carl Pfeufer, Dan Barry & anonymous & various (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 78-1-61655-242-8 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-62115-884-4

Captain Midnight began his bombastic life as a radio serial star in the days when two-fisted, troubleshooting aviators were the acme of adventure genre heroes. Created by broadcast writers Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M. Burtt, the show was conceived by Chicago ad-men to promote Skelly Oil in the American Midwest.

The Captain Midnight Program soldiered on from 1938 to 1940 until the Wander Company acquired the sponsorship rights to promote their top product: Ovaltine. From there on, not even the sky was the limit: national radio syndication led to a newspaper comic strip (by Erwin L. Hess, running from June 29th 1942 until the end of the decade); a movie serial (1942) and – later – two TV serials (1953 and 1954-1956 – but syndicated as “Jet Jackson, Flying Commando” well into the 1960s). There was also a mountain of merchandise such as the legendary Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring…

There was also a comic book franchise or more accurately two…

The core premise was that after World War One ended, pilot/aviation inventor Captain Jim Albright  returned home having earned the sobriquet “Captain Midnight” after a particularly harrowing mission that concluded successfully at the witching hour. Founding a paramilitary “Secret Squadron” of like-minded pilots, he did good deeds – often at the covert behest of the President – employing guts and gadgets to foil spies, catch crooks and defend the nation.

Captain Midnight really hit his stride after the attack at Pearl Harbor, becoming an early Home Front media sensation. However, his already fluid backstory and appearance underwent a radical makeover when he switched comic book horses in mid-stream.

This stunningly engaging full-colour collection gathers tantalising snippets from the vast comicbook canon of the “Sovereign of the Skies”, rather arbitrarily collected from Dell Comics anthologies The Funnies #59 (September 1941) and Popular Comics 76 & 78 (June and August 1942) as well as Fawcett Comics’ Captain Midnight #4-6, 9, 12, 31, 44, 47, 58 and 61, released between January 1943 and March 1948. The solo title was initially released fortnightly with #1 bearing a September 30th 1942 cover-date.

Much of this material is unattributed but amongst the regular writers were Joseph J. “Joe” Millard, Wilford Hamilton Fawcett, Bill Woolfolk and Otto Binder whilst artists included Jack Binder and his art stable, as well as the engagingly workmanlike Leonard Frank, Carl Pfeufer, Ken Bald, Jack Keller, Sheldon Moldoff and – latterly – young but constantly improving legends-to-be Leonard Starr and Dan Barry.

Following a fond appreciation and passionate reminiscences from David Scroggy in his effusive Introduction, the cartoon classics begin with an action-packed but confusing chapter from The Funnies #59. Here Dave Gormley depicts the Captain – still clad in regulation leather jacket, aviator flight cap and goggles – and his Secret Squadron in pursuit of nefarious archenemy Ivan Shark before Popular Comics #76 finds them battling to prevent the insidious Ivan’s airborne conquest of America.

Popular Comics #78 (with art by Bob Jenney) renews and continues that titanic struggle as Shark’s henchman Gardo rushes to his master with information that could destroy democracy forever…

When Fawcett took over the comic book license in 1942, they gave Albright a stripped-down operation, flashier gimmicks and a rather striking superhero costume. They also abandoned continued serials in favour of short complete adventures as the Sky Sovereign added Nazi and Japanese villains to his macabre rogue’s gallery.

The initial Fawcett offering comes from Captain Midnight #4 (January 8th 1943) as the sabotaging ‘Gremlins of Graham Field’– possibly illustrated by Frank? – are exposed as malevolent Nazi dwarves whilst #5 sees Albright and his ward Chuck Ramsay overseas in Alexandria proving that ‘The Beasts That Flew Like Birds’ (Pfeufer) were not ancient vampires but far more insidious and dangerous modern monsters…

Plucky mechanic and comedy stooge Icky was one of three regular holdovers from the radio roster of the Secret Squadron and eventually won his own back-up strip and codename: Sergeant Twilight.

A brace of tales from #6 begins with ‘Presenting Ichabod Mudd, Cowboy!’ wherein the homely oaf accidentally exposes Nazis masquerading as cattle rustlers in Nevada, and intent on preventing the government feeding its troops, after which ‘Broadcast of Death’ sees other Nazis jamming shortwave radio communications and morale-lifting programs… until the Captain and his crew step in.

Three tales from Captain Midnight #9 (June 1943) opens with ‘Silent Wings of Destruction’ as the Monarch of the Skies tracks down undetectable planes bombing US war production plants and discovers an astounding Nazi aviation advancement. In ‘Black Tornadoes’ a German inventor unleashes all the fury of nature against the Midwest until the Captain tracks him down, and Albright’s robotic ‘Samson the Mechanical Man’ proves a major asset after uncovering enemy agents in the lab…

Three more classics come from #12 (September 1943). ‘The Puzzle of the Flying Houses’ spots spies using cloud-cover and dwelling-shaped zeppelins to photograph military secrets whilst ‘Buy War Bonds!’ offers a breathtaking ad of the period before ‘The Sinister Angels’ suborning South American peasants and fomenting rebellion are ultimately exposed by our heroes as craftily disguised foreign agents.

A big jump to Captain Midnight #31 (April 1945) opens post-war proceedings with ‘Sgt. Twilight’s Flying School’ as lovably bumbling goof Icky is gulled into teaching a gang of wily thugs how to commit seemingly impossible crimes with aircraft… before finally wising up and lowering the boom…

Issue #44 (September 1946) heralds the resurrection of a deadly foe as ‘Return of the Shark’ sees the villain copying Albright’s latest invention to facilitate robbing planes in mid-air before a literally mad scientist forces Captain Midnight to participate in a deadly ‘Invention Duel to the Death’…

December 1946’s CM #47 tangentially addresses growing public interest in horror stories as ‘Fangs of the Werewolf’ (Frank art) sees Midnight hunt an amnesiac GI in the US Sector of newly-partitioned Germany. Here he meets maniacal Nazi holdout Storm von Cloud planning a wave of terror with his sinister Werewolf Corps commandos.

As the 1940s drew to a close technological advancement, science fiction and crime became the most popular topics for action tales, and from #58 (December 1947) ‘Test Tunnel’ uses all those elements to great effect as Shark discovers Midnight’s true identity and lays a lethal trap in Albright’s latest plane-proving system…

Wrapping up this glorious grab-bag of Golden Age goodies is a tale of dogged endurance as ‘Captain Midnight Masters Glacier Peak’ (#61, March 1948; credited to Leonard Starr, but it looks like Dan Barry to me) sees Albright embroiled in a brutal struggle between rival Arctic expeditions to claim acclaim and vast riches at the top of the world…

With an eye-popping gallery of covers by Gormley, Binder, Mac Raboy and Frank, plus mesmerising period ads and mini-features such as ‘Captain Marvel Secret Messages’, ‘Captain Midnight’s Air Quiz’, ‘Captain Midnight’s Air Insignia’ and ‘Fawcett Comix Cards’ this is a superbly engaging feast of comics history and timeless thrills.
Captain Midnight Archives volume 1: Captain Midnight Battles the Nazis ® and © Dark Horse Comics 2013. All rights reserved.

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Devil Dinosaur by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection


By Jack Kirby, Mike Royer & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9037-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

Jack Kirby remains the most important single influence in the history of American comics. There are millions of words about what the man has done and meant, and you should read those if you are at all interested in our medium.

I could point out what you probably already know: Kirby was a man of vast imagination who translated big concepts into astoundingly potent and accessible symbols for generations of fantasy fans. If you were exposed to Kirby as an impressionable kid you were his for life. To be honest, the same probably applies whatever age you jump aboard the “Kirby Express”…

For those of us who grew up with Jack, his are the images which furnish and clutter our interior mindsets. Close your eyes and think “robot” and the first thing that pops up is a Kirby creation. Every fantastic, futuristic city in our heads is crammed with his chunky, towering spires. Because of Jack we all know what the bodies beneath those stony-head statues on Easter Island look like, we are all viscerally aware that you can never trust great big aliens parading around in their underpants and, most importantly, we know how cavemen dressed and carnosaurs clashed…

In the late 1930s it took a remarkably short time for Kirby and his creative partner Joe Simon to become the wonder-kid dream-team of the new-born comic book industry. Together they produced a year’s worth of the influential monthly Blue Bolt, rushed out Captain Marvel Adventures (#1) for overstretched Fawcett and – when Martin Goodman appointed Simon editor at Timely Comics – co-created a host of iconic characters such as Red Raven, the original Marvel Boy, Mercury, Hurricane, The Vision, Young Allies and million-selling mega-hit Captain America.

When Goodman failed to make good on his financial obligations, Simon & Kirby were snapped up by National/DC, who welcomed them with open arms and a balanced chequebook. Bursting with ideas the staid company were never really comfortable with, the duo were initially an uneasy fit, and given two moribund strips to play with until they found their creative feet: Sandman and Manhunter.

They turned both around virtually overnight and, once established and left to their own devices, switched to the “Kid Gang” genre they had pioneered at Timely. Joe & Jack launched wartime sales sensation Boy Commandos and a Homefront iteration dubbed the Newsboy Legion before being called up to serve in the war they had been fighting on comic book pages since 1940.

Once safely demobbed, they returned to a very different funnybook business and soon left National to create their own little empire…

Simon & Kirby heralded and manufactured the first American age of mature comics – not just by inventing the Romance genre, but with all manner of challenging modern material about real people in extraordinary situations – before seeing it all disappear again in less than eight years.

Their small stable of magazines – generated for the association of companies known as Prize, Crestwood, Pines, Essenkay and/or Mainline Comics – blossomed and as quickly wilted when the industry abruptly contracted throughout the 1950s thanks to public scare-campaigns and the growth of television

After years of working for others, Simon & Kirby had finally established their own publishing house, producing comics for a far more sophisticated audience, only to find themselves in a sales downturn and awash in hysteria generated by an anti-comic book pogrom.

Hysterical censorship-fever spearheaded by US Senator Estes Kefauver and opportunistic pop psychologist Dr. Frederic Wertham led to witch-hunting Senate hearings. Caving in, publishers adopted a castrating straitjacket of draconian self-regulatory rules. Horror titles produced under the aegis and emblem of the Comics Code Authority were sanitised and anodyne affairs in terms of shock and gore, even though the market’s appetite for suspense and the uncanny was still high. Crime comics vanished and mature themes challenging an increasingly stratified and oppressive society were simply suppressed…

Simon quit the business for advertising, but Jack soldiered on, taking his skills and ideas to a number of safer, if less experimental, companies. As the panic abated, Kirby returned briefly to DC Comics where he worked on mystery tales and Green Arrow (at that time only a back-up page-filler in Adventure Comics and World’s Finest Comics) whilst concentrating on his long-dreamed-of newspaper strip Sky Masters of the Space Force.

During that period Kirby also re-packaged an original super-team concept that had been kicking around in his head since he and Joe Simon had closed their innovative, ill-timed ventures. At the end of 1956 Showcase #6 premiered the Challengers of the Unknown…

After three further test issues they won their own title with Kirby in command for the first eight. Then a legal dispute with Editor Jack Schiff exploded and the King was gone…

He found fresh fields and an equally hungry new partner in Stan Lee at ailing Atlas Comics (which had once been mighty Timely). There he created a revolution in superhero comics storytelling…

After a decade of never-ending innovation and crowd-pleasing wonderment, Kirby felt increasingly stifled. His efforts had transformed the little publisher into industry-pioneer Marvel but now felt trapped in a rut. Thus he moved back to DC for another burst of sheer imagination and pure invention.

Kirby instinctively understood the fundamentals of pleasing his audience and strived diligently to combat the appalling state of prejudice about the comics medium – especially from industry insiders and professionals who despised the “kiddies world” they felt trapped in. After his controversial, grandiose Fourth World titles were cancelled, Jack looked for other concepts which would stimulate his own vast creativity yet still appeal to a market growing ever more fickle. His follow-ups included dystopian science fiction themed heroes Kamandi and OMAC; supernatural stalwart The Demon; a run of war stories starring The Losers, and even a new Sandman -co-created with old Joe Simon – but although ideas kept coming (Atlas, Kobra, Dingbats of Danger Street), yet again editorial disputes ended up with him leaving for promises of more creative freedom elsewhere…

Kirby’s return to Marvel in 1976 was much hyped at the time but again turned out to be controversial. His new works and creations (2001: A Space Odyssey, The Eternals, Machine Man, Devil Dinosaur) found friends rapidly, but his return to earlier creations Captain America and Black Panther divided the fanbase.

Kirby was never slavishly wedded to tight continuity, and preferred, in many ways, to treat his stints on titles as another “Day One”: a policy increasing at odds with the close-continuity demanded by a strident faction of the readership and many younger editorial staff…

Until his?/her? recent rehabilitation, Devil Dinosaur was possibly his most divisive creation: sheer anathema to those fans who scrupulously policed the Marvel Universe, perpetually seeking out infractions to the holy writ and demanding “does this fit in?” They were apparently blind to the unfettered, joyous freedom of imagination run wild, the majesty of pulse-pounding thrills and electrifyingly galvanising BIG ART!

For 25 years I taught comics-creation skills and techniques to pre-schoolers through to college graduates and let me tell you, nothing caused more heated debate amongst the adults and generated greater sheer, open-eyed, awestruck glee from the kids.

It’s a monkey man, riding a big red dinosaur, fighting monsters and aliens, for Pete’s sake!

And that is the reason this collection is so enthralling. Jack’s commitment to wholesome adventure, breakneck action and breathless wonderment combined with his absolute mastery of the comic page and unceasing quest for the Next Big Thrill makes for a captivating read. His comics should be on every School Curriculum if we want youngsters to get into Graphic Narrative…

Collecting the entire 9-issue run cover-dated April-December 1978, this sleek chronicle opens with ‘Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy’ as we go back to an unspecified time in prehistory where various emergent species of hominids eke out a perilous existence beside the last of the great lizards and other primordial giants…

In that perilous world, a wide-eyed innocent of the timid but clever Small Folk rescues a baby tyrannosaur from humanoid hunters known as the Killer-Folk. These hairy thugs have already slaughtered its mother and siblings with cunning snares, and now torture the little lizard with blazing firebrands which turn its scorched hide a livid, blazing scarlet…

Under the roaring light of a blazing volcano, Moon Boy and Devil bond; becoming inseparable companions wandering the vast lush valley which is their home.

The scarlet saurian is no ordinary beast. Blessed with uncanny intelligence and unmatchable ferocity, it soon becomes an equal partner in a relationship never before seen in the world. That does not, however, prevent the duo being targets for the Killer-Folk’s ambitious new chief.

Arrogant Seven-Scars wants to be undisputed master of the valley and has devised a lethal scheme with deadly traps to destroy the red terror and its feeble pet…

Sadly, the Killer-Folks’ schemes ensnare trusting Moon Boy but his scaly brother is not fooled and ‘Devil’s War!’ soon proves who truly rules the dawn age…

DD #3 concentrates on the sheer variety of humanoid life as ‘Giant’ pits our heroes against a monumental man-thing frenziedly hunting for his missing offspring, after which terror descends upon all when bizarre, merciless strangers erupt out of an ‘Object from the Sky’

We’d call them robotic aliens but the only certainty the assorted Earth creatures know is that these monsters are coldly hostile butchers. When the newcomers snatch up Moon Boy amongst many specimens, the wily crimson colossus strikes up a tenuous alliance with Hill Folk survivors Stone-Hand and his aging mentor White Hairs before leading them in a terrifying ‘Journey to the Center of the Ants!’

Intent on using giant termites to invade the alien ship, our strange bedfellows encounter yet another frantic fugitive in the form of furious female ‘Eev!’; allowing Kirby to set up a telling biblical pastiche of the Garden of Eden…

After a termite-wave eradicates the invading ship, all that remains is a semi-autonomous computer system the natives deem a ‘Demon-Tree!’ The fancy-speaking thing seduces Stone-Hand, White Hairs and Eev into an idyllic preserve where it grants their every wish, but its increasingly harsh mandates soon make the hominids realise they are prisoners, not guests. Happily, Devil and freshly-liberated Moon Boy are on hand to offer some assertive assistance…

Having gone back to their inquisitive wanderings, mammal and reptile soon find more peril when Devil is targeted by anthropoid ‘Dino-Riders!’ who want the looming lizard for their greatest beast of burden. This time it’s Moon doing the saving, but only after convincing his meek Small Folk kin to unite against their mutual beast-piloting oppressors…

The last issue is certainly the most intriguing as ‘The Witch and the Warp’ sees Devil fall into a naturally-occurring space-time fault seemingly controlled by a peculiar hag and her quirky disciple.

It takes all Moon Boy’s persuasiveness to get her to bring Devil home again, and even after the friends are reunited the voyager has no means of relating the details of his shocking adventure in Nevada, circa 1978 AD…

With extras including a complete cover gallery by Kirby and inkers Royer, Frank Giacoia, Dan Green, Joe Sinnott, Steve Leialoha, Walter Simonson and John Byrne, plus house ads, editorials by Kirby and ‘Dinosaur Dispatches’ letters columns of the period (the late 1970s not the Jurassic), this compilation is a dose of bombastic, uncomplicated comics magic: bold, brash and utterly compelling. How can you possibly resist the clarion call of this astounding,  eccentric escapism?
© 1978, 2014 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Retrograde Orbit


By Kristyna Baczynski (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-42-4 (PB/Digital edition)

Great storytelling never goes out of style and the basis of all drama is examination of the human condition (albeit sometimes in extraordinary circumstances). Somehow, that’s even more true when your characters aren’t human at all.

Author and illustrator Kristyna Baczynski hails from the Pennines of Yorkshire, by way of the Carpathians of the Ukraine. That’s not at all germane here but it does sound incredibly romantic; conjuring up all manner of deep-seated preconceptions about windy moors and bleak moody peaks. Preconceptions, aspirations, dreams and that old devil hope are what this book is about…

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

Years pass but those feelings of something missing don’t. Days pass, Flint acts out like any teen and then inevitably graduates into a mining job, but the something-missing still plagues her. Moments pass as she collects memoirs and mementoes of her lost world and grows increasingly colder and duller.

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

This lyrical and uplifting yarn offers a beautifully understated and moving glimpse at the power of place in our lives, using science fiction themes and trappings to pick apart the most primitive and fundamental longings to which humans are subject. It also reminds us that there’s always hope…

A glorious celebration of humanity’s constant follies and greatest assets, this tale is certain to be a beloved touchstone for every lover of great stories.
© Kristyna Baczynski 2018. All rights reserved.

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Bunny vs Monkey: Machine Mayhem!


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-297-7 (TPB)

Bunny vs. Monkey has been a staple of The Phoenix since the very first issue in 2012: recounting a madcap vendetta gripping animal arch-enemies set amidst an idyllic arcadia masquerading as more-or-less mundane but critically endangered English woodlands.

Concocted with gleefully gentle mania by cartoonist, comics artist and novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Flember), these trendsetting, mind-bending yarns have been wisely retooled as graphic albums available in remastered, double-length digest editions such as this one. Now brilliantly beach-ready comes a handy pocket paperback edition to consult when the surf’s all unsanitary and there’s sand or sandwiches in the Gameboy…

The tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy began yonks ago after an obnoxious little anthropoid plopped down after a disastrous British space shot. Crashlanding in Crinkle Woods – scant miles from his launch site – lab specimen Monkey believed himself the rightful owner of his strange new world, despite all efforts from reasonable, sensible, contemplative resident Bunny to dissuade him. For all his patience, propriety and genteel good breeding, the laid-back lepine just could not contain the incorrigible idiot ape, who was – and still is – a rude, noise-loving, chaos-creating troublemaker…

Problems are exacerbated by other unconventional Crinkle creatures, particularly a skunk called Skunky who has a mad scientist’s attitude to life and a gift for building robots and super-weapons…

With artistic assistance from design deputy Sammy Borras, the saga resumes with the war of nerves and mega-ordnances apparently over. The unruly assortment of critters cluttering up the bucolic paradise had finally picked sides and the battles at last ended. They even seemingly forgot the ever-encroaching Hyoomanz…

Following a double-page pin-up of the ever-expanding cast, this archive of anarchic insanity opens in the traditional manner: divided into seasonal outbursts, and starting with a querulous teaser tale as Spring begins in ‘D.I.Whyyyy?’

As the animals gather to help Bunny repair his much-abused house, universal innocents Pig Piggerton and Weenie squirrel – more keen than skilled – realise that cheese is not a suitable substitute for wallpaper paste, plaster or cement…

Despite the subsequent collapse, times are good and very peaceful since the awful ape went away and Ai (an Aye-aye) acts quickly to keep it that way when Bunny feels nostalgic for the old days. Sadly, somebody’s listening and brings in a ‘Makeshift Monkey!’ – until the real deal returns in ‘The Little Monkey Who Cried…’

Before long Skunky is back too and everyone’s fleeing for their lives from deadly underground tentacles, but life quickly slips into its old pattern… until obsolescence rears its ugly head and cyborg gator Metal Steve is pronounced ‘Out of Warranty’: left to wither on Skunky’s scrapheap…

Back and still bad, Monkey briefly inflicts himself on Bunny and wrecks the joint again in ‘The Housemate’ after which our mercurial monochrome megamind constructs a replacement for the gone gator: triggering ‘Robot Rampage’ when infinitely superior mechanoid Metal E.V.E. lay down her own law…

Falling foul of another near-lethal prank the silly simian is scientifically resurrected and evolved in ‘Curse of the Monkey’ only to trip on his own incompetence and barely escape a fishy final fate in ‘Toilet Run!’

A close call with humans in ‘Bunny vs Monkey Jellybeans!’ precedes piratical pretenders Weenie and Pig’s ‘A Dangerous Voyage’, before Monkey endures his own Journey into the Unknown. As “The Most Brilliant Animal in the Woods” Skunky convinces his erstwhile ally to shrink down and explore the inner cerebellum of brain-battered, bewildered ex-stuntman Action Beaver for ‘The Lost Memory’ of a misplaced ultimate weapon, which is what probably inspires him to make his own, after entering a competition and prematurely unleashing his ‘Winning Entry’…

Metal E.V.E. is forming her own plans but they have to wait a bit as she’s ‘Keepin’ Busy’ with some domestic chores in Skunky’s lab, but it’s not long until Summer begins and the woods are imperilled by subterranean invasion from new menace ‘Roland T. Mole’…

Hijinks in parallel dimensions herald the arrival of doomsayer ‘Skunky?’ as the forgotten stuntman stumbles with catastrophic consequences into his ancestral homeland in ‘Beaverville’. Monkey meanwhile creates unexpected carnage but precious little terror with super-cute kaiju ‘Rofl Axolotl’ before being painfully reminded how dangerous the woods can be in ‘So Beautiful’…

After a brief and deceptive flirtation with ‘The Dark Arts’, the hairy halfwit returns to science by creating little golden minions, but his ‘Gloobs’ prove too smart for servitude, so instead embraces high fashion in ‘C’est Chic!’ Utterly uncaring, Weenie and Pig go about their business until a ‘A New Friend’ almost breaks up the partnership. The swiftly-developing relationship of ‘Weenie and Winnie’ seems set to end the good old days, but another robotic invasion sets the world to rights in ‘Just Checking’…

A reality-altering beast threatens in ‘Wishful Thinking’ and the entire woods go all French just as aliens invade in ‘L’Honk Honk’ before Monkey & Skunky explore artisanal dining in ‘Eat Up!’, with appalling consequences for their customers, after which Ai and Monkey discover uncanny ‘Night Lights’ in the deep dark woods…

The season concludes with Metal E.V.E. getting ahead by installing crucial ‘Upgrades’ and inadvertently making contact with an unsuspected predecessor just as Autumn opens with ‘Bumblesnatch’ and pig & squirrel enjoying super-powers-inducing chewing gum whilst Crinkle Woods is catapulted into a different kind of chaos when broached by pet pooch ‘Fluffy’…

When ‘The Summoning’ invokes some pretty indifferent forest gods, Skunky lodges with over-accommodating Bunny, who is soon sucked into unwanted adventure ‘Down Below’ and unearths E.V.E.’s brave new world. Hopeless old ally Metal Steve then runs amok with nano-bots and spawns unlikely armageddon beast ‘Pig-Kira!’

Once that menace vanishes into vapour, the mostly organic animals unite to formulate ‘Some Kind of Plan’ for fighting E.V.E. – all except ‘Nurse Monkey’ who’s keen to explore other lifestyles – before reenlisting in ‘Roll Up! Roll Up!’ with a barmy spinning machine. It has no chance of easing their plight but will probably end their lives before she does…

The crusade pauses for Weenie’s birthday and the hunt for ‘The Best Present in the World’, but restarts again when E.V.E. crashes the party with ‘Something to Say’ about the “rise of the machines” and end of all flesh…

Skunky’s response is yet another monster, but giant mecha-hedgehog ‘Thunderball!’ is easily overcome, and as so-distractable Monkey goes wild among the fallen leaves in ‘Leaf it Alone’, the machine rise begins in ‘Nahhhhh!’…

Sadly, Metal E.V.E. makes a big mistake then, spilling Monkey’s drink and kicking the conflict to an unprecedented new level…

Pausing for Weenie, Pig, Ai and Bunny to share some ‘Scary Stories’ around a nighttime campfire, the constant crisis enters a new phase when the ghost of local legend Fantastic Le Fox manifests, even as our ape oaf is transformed into E.V.E.’s ‘Metal Monkey’…

Le Fox is ‘An Old Friend’ resolved to help the animals survive and his strategic advice is welcome, but the turning point comes in ‘Clash of the Robots’ as Metal Monkey and Steve duel, even as their mecha-mistress takes full charge, unleashing DNA-altering microbots that put the fleshy freedom fighters to flight in ‘Uh-Oh-Nano!’

Winter sets in and hostilities suddenly cease as all concerned succumb to the temptation of chucking ‘Snowballs’ and the end gets nigher in a wave of robotic attacks triggered by ‘Metal Mania’. Yet again, everything pauses as Christmas provides a moment to unwrap ‘Presents’ but – drenched in seasonal spirit – ‘An Unlikely Hero’ dares to bring the message of the moment right to the robot queen. The act unwittingly changes the course of history in the woods, leaving only some ‘Tidying Up’ to restore everything to what passes for normal…

The animal anarchy might have ended for now, but there’s more secrets to share thanks to detailed instructions on ‘How to Draw Metal Steve’ and ‘How to Draw Metal E.V.E.’ to wind down from all that angsty furore…

The zany zenith of absurdist adventure, Bunny vs Monkey is weird wit, brilliant invention, potent sentiment and superb cartooning all crammed into one eccentrically excellent package. These tails never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. This is the kind of comic parents beg kids to read to them. Shouldn’t that be you?
Text and illustrations © Jamie Smart 2022. All rights reserved.

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Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 1


By Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Robert Bernstein, Edmond Hamilton, Al Plastino, Curt Swan, John Forte, Jim Mooney, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1- 4012-1382-4 (TPB)

Once upon a time in the far future, super-powered kids from many alien civilisations took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and banded together as a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited that legend to join them…

Thus, began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder & artist Al Plastino when the many-handed mob of juvenile universe-savers debuted in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), just as the revived superhero genre was gathering an inexorable head of steam in America. Happy 65th Anniversary, team!

Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten again and again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This glorious, far-and-wide ranging collection assembles the preliminary appearances of the valiant Tomorrow People, tracking their progress towards and attainment of their own feature. It re-presents in stunning monochrome all pertinent tales from Adventure Comics #247, 267, 282, 290, 293, 300-321, Action Comics #267, 276, 287, 289, Superboy #86, 89, 98, Superman #147, Superman Annual #4 and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #72 and 76.

As already stated, the many-handed mob of youthful worlds-savers debuted in Adventure #247, dreamed up for a Superboy tale wherein three mysterious kids invite the Boy of Steel to the 30th century. He is being vetted to join a team of metahuman champions unanimously inspired by his historic career. Binder & Plastino’s throwaway concept inflamed public imagination and after a slew of further appearances throughout Superman Family titles, the LSH eventually took over Superboy’s lead spot in Adventure: thereafter enjoying their own far-flung, quirky escapades, with the Kid Kryptonian reduced to “one of the in-crowd”…

However here the excitement was still gradually building as the kids returned for an encore 18 months later, Adventure #267 (December 1959) saw Jerry Siegel & George Papp make the Boy of Steel ‘Prisoner of the Super-Heroes!’ when the teen wonders attacked and incarcerated Superboy of Steel because of a misunderstood ancient historical record…

The following summer Supergirl met the Legion in Action Comics #267 (Siegel & Jim Mooney, August 1960) as Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy secretly travelled to “modern day” America to invite the Maid of Might onto the team, in a repetition of their offer to Superboy 15 years previously (in nit-picking fact they claimed to be the children of the original team – a fact glossed over and forgotten these days. Don’t time-travel stories make your head hurt?).

Due to a dubious technicality, young and eager Kara Zor-El failed her initiation at the hands of ‘The Three Super-Heroes’ and was asked to reapply later – but at least we got to meet a few more Legionnaires, including Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid and Colossal Boy.

With the editors still cautiously testing the waters, it was Superboy #86 (January 1961) before the ‘The Army of Living Kryptonite Men!’ by Siegel & Papp turned the LSH into a last-minute Deus ex Machina to save the Smallville Sentinel from juvenile delinquent Lex Luthor’s most insidious assault. Two months later, in Adventure #282, Binder & Papp introduced Star Boy as a romantic rival for the Krypton Kid in ‘Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes!’

Action Comics #276 (May 1961) debuted Supergirl’s Three Super Girl-Friends’ (Siegel & Mooney) which finally saw her crack the plasti-glass ceiling and join the team, sponsored by Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl and Triplicate Girl. We also met for the first time Bouncing Boy, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy and potential bad-boy love-interest Brainiac 5 (well at least his distant ancestor Brainiac was a very bad boy…)

Next comes pivotal 2-part tale ‘Superboy’s Big Brother’ (by Robert Bernstein & Papp from Superboy #89 and June 1961) in which an amnesiac, super-powered space traveller crashes in Smallville, speaking Kryptonese and carrying star-maps written by the Boy of Steel’s long-dead father…

Jubilant, baffled and suspicious in equal amounts, Superboy eventually, tragically discovers ‘The Secret of Mon-El’ by accidentally exposing the stranger to a lingering, inexorable death, before providing critical life-support by depositing the dying alien in the Phantom Zone until a cure can be found…

Sporting an August 1961 cover-date, Superman #147 unleashed ‘The Legion of Super-Villains’ (Siegel, Curt Swan & Sheldon Moldoff): a stand-out thriller featuring Luthor and an evil adult Legion coming far too close to destroying the Action Ace until the temporal cavalry arrives…

In Adventure #290 (November), Bernstein & Papp seemingly gave Sun Boy a starring role in ‘The Secret of the Seventh Super-Hero!’ – a clever tale of redemption and second chances, which is followed in #293 (February 1962) by a gripping thriller from Siegel, Swan & George Klein. ‘The Legion of Super-Traitors’ sees the future heroes turn evil, prompting Saturn Girl to recruit a Legion of Super-Pets – comprising Krypto, Streaky the Super Cat, Beppo, the monkey from Krypton and magical Super-horse Comet to save the world…

‘Supergirl’s Greatest Challenge!’ (Siegel & Mooney, Action #287 April) sees her visit the Legion (quibblers be warned: for some reason it was mis-determined as the 21st century in here) to save future Earth from invasion). She also meets a telepathic descendent of her cat Streaky. His name is Whizzy (I could have omitted that fact but chose not to – once more for smug, comedic effect and in sympathy with all humans-with-cats everywhere)…

Action #289 featured ‘Superman’s Super-Courtship!’ wherein the Girl of Steel scours the universe to locate an ideal mate for her cousin. One highly possible candidate is adult Saturn Woman, but her husband Lightning Man objects…

Perhaps charming at the time, although modern sensibilities might quail at the conclusion that his perfect match is a doppelganger of Kara herself… albeit – and thankfully – a bit older…

By the release of Superboy #98 (July 1962), the decision had been made. The buying public wanted more Legion stories and after ‘The Boy With Ultra-Powers’ by Siegel, Swan & Klein introduces an enigmatic lad with greater powers than the Boy of Steel, focus shifted to Adventure Comics #300 (cover dated September 1962) where the super-squad finally landed their own gig; even occasionally taking an alternating cover-spot from still top-featured Superboy.

Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes opened its stellar run with Siegel, John Forte & Plastino’s ‘The Face Behind the Lead Mask!’; a fast-paced premier pitting Superboy and the 30th century champions against an unbeatable foe until Mon-El, long-trapped in the Phantom Zone, temporarily escapes a millennium of confinement to save the day…

In those halcyon days humour was as important as action, imagination and drama, so many early exploits were light-hearted – if a little  moralistic. Issue #301 offered hope and role model to fat kids everywhere with ‘The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy!’ by regular creative team Siegel & Forte. This yarn formalised a process of open auditions – providing devoted fans with loads of truly bizarre and memorable applicants over the years – whilst allowing the rebounding human rotunda to give a salutary pep talk and inspirational recount of heroism persevering over adversity.

Adventure #302 featured ‘Sun Boy’s Lost Power!’, as the golden boy is forced to resign until fortune and boldness restore his abilities, whilst ‘The Fantastic Spy!’ in #303 provides a tense tale of espionage and possible betrayal by new member Matter-Eater Lad.

The readership was stunned by the events of #304 when Saturn Girl engineers ‘The Stolen Super-Powers!’ to make herself a one-woman Legion. Of course, it was for the best possible reasons, but still doesn’t prevent the shocking murder of Lightning Lad…

With cosy complacency utterly destroyed, #305 further shook everything up with ‘The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire!’ who turns out to be the long-suffering Mon-El finally cured and freed from his Phantom Zone prison.

Normally I’d try to be more obscure about story details – after all my intention is to get new people reading old comics, but these “spoiler” revelations are key to further understanding here and you all know these characters are still around, don’t you?

Pulp science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton took over the major scripting role with #306, and introducing ‘The Legion of Substitute Heroes!’ (quirkily, perfectly illustrated by John Forte). This is a group of rejected applicants who selflessly band together to clandestinely assist the champions who spurned them, after which transmuting orphan Element Lad joins the major team. He seeks vengeance on space pirates who had wiped out his entire species in ‘The Secret Power of the Mystery Super-Hero!’ before #308 seemingly sees ‘The Return of Lightning Lad!’

Actual Spoiler Warning: skip to the next paragraph NOW!!! if you don’t want to know it’s actually his similarly empowered sister who – once unmasked and unmanned – takes her brother’s place as Lightning Lass…

‘The Legion of Super-Monsters!’ is a straightforward clash with embittered applicant Jungle King who takes rejection far too personally and gathers a deadly clutch of space beasts to wreak havoc and vengeance, whilst #310’s ‘The Doom of the Super-Heroes!’: a frantic battle for survival against an impossible foe.

Adventure #311 opens ‘The War Between the Substitute Heroes and the Legionnaires!’ with a cease-and-desist order from the A-Team that turns into secret salvation as the plucky, stubborn outcasts carry on regardless under the very noses of the blithely oblivious LSH…

The next issue (September 1963) features the ‘The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires!’ and inevitable resurrection of Lightning Lad – but only after the harrowing sacrifice of one devoted team-member, after which Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #72 (October, by Siegel, Swan & Klein) visits ‘The World of Doomed Olsens!’ Depicting an intriguing enigma as the cub-reporter is confronted by materialisations of his most memorable metamorphoses, it’s all just a prank by those naughty Legion scamps – but one with a serious purpose behind the jolly japery…

Adventure #313’s ‘The Condemned Legionnaires!’ (Hamilton, Swan, Klein & Forte) affords Supergirl a starring role after the sinister Satan Girl infects the team with a deadly plague, forcing them all into perpetual quarantine, before ‘The Super-Villains of All Ages!’ (art by Forte) reveals how a manic mastermind steals a Legion Time-Bubble to recruit the greatest monsters and malcontents of history – Nero, Hitler and John Dillinger – as his irresistible army of crime.

Why he’s surprised when they double-cross him and possess Superboy, Mon-El and Ultra Boy is beyond me , but happily, the lesser legionnaires still prove more a match for the brain-switched rogues. Then ‘The Legionnaires Super-Contest!’ in #315 finally sees the Substitute Heroes go public, for which the primary team offer to allow one of them to join the big boys. Which one? That’s the contest part…

Issue #316’s ‘The Renegade Super-Hero!’ outs one trusted teammate as a career criminal who then goes on the run, but there’s more to the tale than at first appears, after which the heroes confront ‘The Menace of Dream Girl!’: a ravishing clairvoyant who beguiles her way into the Legion for her own obscure, arcane reasons. In her knowing way she presages the coming of deadly foe The Time Trapper and even finds time to convert electrically redundant sister of recently-resurrected Lightning Lad into gravity-warping Light Lass.

Adventure #318 sees ‘The Mutiny of the Legionnaires!’ as Sun Boy succumbs to battle fatigue and became a draconian Captain Bligh during an extended rescue mission, whilst in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #76 (April 1964) Siegel & Forte describe ‘Elastic Lad Jimmy and his Legion Romances!’ wherein the plucky journo is inveigled into the future and finds himself inexplicably irresistible to the costumed champions of Tomorrow. It isn’t his primitive charm, though…

Hamilton & Forte began a strong run of grittier tales from #319 on, beginning with ‘The Legion’s Suicide Squad!’ as the Science Police ask the team to destroy, at all costs, a monolithic space fortress, whilst #320 debuts daring new character in Dev-Em, a forgotten survivor of Superman’s dead homeworld who was little more than a petty thug when Superboy first defeated him. Now in ‘The Revenge of the Knave From Krypton!’ ( Siegel, Forte, Papp, Moldoff & Plastino), the rapscallion returns as either a reformed undercover cop or the greatest traitor in history…

The story portion of this titanic tome concludes with Adventure Comics #321 and Hamilton, Forte & Plastino’s ‘The Code of the Legion!’, revealing the team’s underlying Articles of Procedure during a dire espionage flap, simultaneously testing one Legionnaire to the limits of his honour and ingenuity and actually ending another’s service forever.

Perhaps. Sort of…

An appropriate extra from Superman Annual #4, follows: featuring a 2-page informational guide and pictorial check-list illustrated by Swan & Klein which was amended and supplemented in Adventure #316 with additional pages of stunning micro-pin-ups, all faithfully included here. This fabulously innocent and imaginative chronicle also includes every cover the team starred on: mostly the work of honorary Legionnaire Curt Swan and inkers George Klein, Stan Kaye & Sheldon Moldoff.

The Legion is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in American comic book history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became Comics Fandom. Moreover, these sparkling, simplistic and devastatingly addictive stories as much as the legendary Julie Schwartz Justice League fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and built the industry we all know today.

These naive, silly, joyous, stirring and utterly compelling yarns are precious and fun beyond any ability to explain – even if we old lags gently mock them to ourselves and one another. If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1958-1964, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.