Category: War Stories

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The Sandman by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby


By Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, with Mike Royer & others (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2299-4 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the early days of US comic books the fledgling industry was awash with chancers, double-dealers, slick operators and outright crooks. Many creative types fell foul of this publishing free-for-all but a rare few took to the cut and thrust and managed not only to survive but to prosper.

Just as the Golden Age of comics was beginning, two young men with big hopes met up and began a decades-long association that was always intensely creative, immensely productive and spectacularly in tune with popular tastes. They were Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and gathered here are the joyous exploits of one of their greatest early comics collaborations…

Publisher Martin Goodman made Simon the editor of Timely comics S&K, created a host of iconic characters including Red Raven, Marvel Boy, The Vision, kid gang Young Allies and million-selling mega-hit Captain America. When Goodman failed to make good on his financial obligations, Simon & Kirby jumped ship to industry leader National/DC, who welcomed them with open arms and a big chequebook.

Initially an uncomfortable fit and bursting with ideas the cautious company were not comfortable with, they were handed two strips languishing in the doldrums to tide them over until they found their creative feet. Left to their own devices, they consolidated their Kid Gang genre innovation with The Newsboy Legion and their super-heroic mentor The Guardian, and a unique international army – The Boy Commandos – who shared a spotlight with Batman and Robin in Detective Comics (and whose own solo title became frequently the company’s third best seller during the war years).

Those moribund strips they were first unleashed upon featured big game hunter called Paul Kirk, Manhunter, who they overnight retooled as a darkly manic, vengeful superhero. The other was one of comic books’ first masked mystery-men: The Sandman.

This superb collection reprints all the S&K tales, including covers for issues they didn’t craft; lost art pages, original art reproductions as well as informative text articles from Kirby historian John Morrow and writer Mark Evanier. It even includes Simon & Kirby’s 1974 reunion reinvention of Sandman which in turn spawned one of Kirby’s last series for DC.

Created by Gardner Fox and first illustrated by Bert Christman, The Sandman premiered in either Adventure Comics #40 July 1939 (two months after Batman debuted in Detective Comics #27) or two weeks earlier in New York World’s Fair Comics 1939 – depending on whether some rather spotty distribution records can be believed.

Face utterly obscured by a gasmask, caped and business-suited millionaire adventurer Wesley Dodds wielded a sleeping-gas gun to battle a string of crooks and spies, accompanied by his paramour Dian Belmont, before gradually losing the readers’ interest and slipping from cover-spot to last feature in Adventure Comics, just as the cloaked pulp-hero avengers he emulated slipped from popularity in favour of more flamboyant fictional fare. Possessing a certain indefinable style, eerie charm but definitely no pizzazz, the feature was on the verge of being dropped when he abruptly switched to a skintight yellow and purple costume, complete with billowing cape. He also gained a teenaged sidekick in Sandy the Golden Boy (AC #69, December 1941, by Mort Weisinger & Paul Norris), presumably to move closer to the overwhelmingly successful Batman model.

It didn’t help much.

So, when Simon & Kirby came aboard with #72, the little banner above the logo on the Jack Burnley Starman cover gave no hint of the pulse-pounding change that had occurred. ‘Riddle of the Slave Market’ saw a sleek, dynamic pair of gleaming golden lions explode across 11 pages of graphic fury as the Sandman – sans daft cape – crushed a white collar criminal with a nasty line in illicit indentured servitude. Moreover, the hero had overnight acquired a unique gimmick: Sandman’s crusades against crime were presaged by the targeted perpetrator suffering nightmares of imminent retribution…

The semi-supernatural element and fascination with the world of dreams (revisited by S&K a decade later in their experimental suspense series The Strange World of Your Dreams) added conceptual punch to equal the kinetic fury of their art, and #73 (with S&K’s Manhunter now hogging the cover) Sandman strip ‘Bells of Madness!’ ramped up tension in another spectacular action epic wherein the Dream Warriors expose a cunning murder plot.

With AC #74 Sandman & Sandy took back the cover spot (only their third since #51), holding it until the feature ended. Only once did Sandman not appear on the cover – #99: another S&K Manhunter classic. From #103, the magazine underwent a complete overhaul with new feature Superboy headlining and with established regulars Green Arrow, Aquaman, Shining Knight and Johnny Quick parachuted in from other magazines.

The story for #74 was an eerie instant classic: ‘The Man Who Knew All the Answers’ was a smalltown professor who artificially increased his intellect – but not his ethics. When his perfectly planned crimes bring him into conflict with the heroes, it proves that his brain enhancer did nothing for common sense either. Then ‘The Villain From Valhalla!’ (AC #75 June 1942) pits the galvanic champions against a hammer-wielding Norse god and climaxing in a cataclysmic Battle Royale, followed by an equally astounding clash with sinister floral foe Nightshade. ‘The Adventure of the Magic Forest’ stemmed from World’s Finest Comics #6 (Summer 1942), one of two S&K exploits in that legendary anthology.

Sandman was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, appearing in many issues of All-Star Comics. A number of pertinent chapters therein were also generated by Joe & Jack, but are sadly not included in this otherwise comprehensive compendium: completists will need to track down the superb All-Star Archives volumes 4 & 5 or some of the new DC Finest Justice Society compilations for those dynamic classics.

Adventure #76 again heavily emphasised foreboding oneiric elements in ‘Mr. Noah Raids the Town!’ as a soothsaying mastermind unleashes preposterously intelligent animals to steal and kill, before #77’s ‘Dreams of Doom!’ finds an innocent man plagued by nightmares and compelled to solicit the aid of the Master of Dreams… and only just in time!

A sinister Swami is exposed in ‘The Miracle Maker!’ before their final World’s Finest guest-gig (#7, Fall 1942) dips heavily into exotic fantasy for ‘A Modern Arabian Nightmare!’ Adventure #79 then bangs the patriotic drum in eerie temporal-trap mystery ‘Footprints in the Sands of Time!’ It’s back to thrill-a-minute manic crime mayhem for #80’s ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Sleep!’ before ‘A Drama in Dreams’ presents a baffling conundrum for Sandy to solve alone, after which the creators indulge in some seasonal shocks in madcap Yule yarn ‘Santa Fronts for the Mob.’

AC #83 brought blockbusting boxing romance as the heroes aid ‘The Lady and the Champ!’ while including a gloriously over-the-top Boy Commandos ad featuring Hitler, Mussolini & Tojo as only Jack & Joe could defame them. Next comes gloriously Grand Guignol saga ‘Crime Carnival’ and delightfully wry romp ‘The Unholy Dreams of Gentleman Jack’, before S&K return to the favoured theme of childhood poverty in ‘The Boy Who Was Too Big for his Breeches.’

The war was progressing and soon both Joe & Jack would be full-time servicemen, so perhaps the increasingly humanistic tales of their latter run were only to be expected. The shift in emphasis certainly didn’t affect the quality of such gems as ‘I Hated the Sandman!’ in #87 wherein narcoleptic Silas Pettigrew learns a salutary lesson, or heartwarming, exuberant childhood fantasy ‘The Cruise of the Crescent’, whereas #89’s kidnap drama ‘Prisoner of his Dreams’ and the boisterous ‘Sleepy Time Crimes!’ proved that whatever else happened, action and excitement would always remain series watchwords.

In the months prior to their induction, Simon & Kirby went into overdrive, building a vast reserve of inventory stories for their strip commitments, but even so relentless publishing deadlines soon ate them up. Adventure Comics #91 featured the last S&K yarn for a year and a half, long after Kirby had shipped out to fight in Europe and Simon had begun his tour of duty with the US Coast Guard. ‘Courage a La Carte’ has precious little – if indeed any -Kirby art in it, but is nonetheless a sterling saga of malice unmasked and justice triumphant, after which only the covers of Adventure #92-97 kept the artist’s light burning in the heart of fans.

The star creators returned for issue #100 (October/November 1945) with tempestuous crime caper ‘Sweets for Swag!’, the cover of #101 and again inside #102 with swansong drama ‘The Dream of Peter Green!’, with Sandman & Sandy exposing shoddy dealings in the city contracting department before ensuring ghetto kids had decent playgrounds to grow fit and healthy in.

National Comics was no longer a welcoming place for the reunited duo. By 1947 S&K had formed their own studio, beginning a long, productive relationship with Harvey Comics (Stuntman, Boy’s Ranch, Captain 3-D, Lancelot Strong: The Shield, The Fly, The Three Rocketeers and others) whilst creating a stunning variety of genre features for Crestwood/ Pines (all supplied by their Essankay/Mainline studio shop). These included Justice Traps the Guilty, Black Magic, Fighting American, Bullseye, Foxhole and landmark innovation Young Romance amongst many more (see the superb Best of Simon and Kirby for a salient selection of these classic creations).

As comics went through bad times the pair eventually went their separate ways, but were reunited for one last hurrah in 1974 whilst both working once more for DC. The result was a re-imagined Sandman: this time a fully fantastic scientific master of the metaphysical, policing the nightmares of humanity from a citadel deep in “The Dream-Stream”.

‘The Sandman’ (scripted by Joe, drawn/edited by Jack & inked by Mike Royer) is pure escapist delight, describing how young Jed Paulsen taps into the oneiric horrors of villainous cybrid General Electric as he attempts to conquer “the World of Our Dreams”. When all hope is exhausted, Jed is rescued and befriended by the omniscient Lord of Sleep and his ghastly assistants Brute & Glob…

This rambunctious romp is a great place to end our volume but since six further adventures of this Weaver of Dreams were completed (albeit with no Simon and varying degrees of Kirby) perhaps one day they too will make the jump to graphic novel immortality…

After decades of neglect the glorious wealth of Kirby material available these days is a true testament to his influence and legacy, so this magnificent collection of his collaborations with fellow pioneer Joe Simon is a gigantic box of delights perfectly illustrating the depth, scope and sheer thundering joy of the early days of comics: something no amount of corporate shoddy behaviour can ever diminish. Maybe it’s time to systematically rerelease it and all the rest of these dream ticket items?
© 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1974, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1905 Nancy cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller was born, sharing natal honours with Alfredo Alcala (Voltar, Kong the Untamed, The Rampaging Hulk, Savage Sword of Conan, Swamp Thing) in 1925; Malaysian cartoonist Rejabhad (Periwira Mat Gila) in 1939; inker Terry Austin, (Detective Comics, X-Men, Superman Adventures, Popeye) in 1952 and Canadian illustrator Chris Bachalo (Uncanny X-Men, Generation X, Death, Shade the Changing Man, Doctor Strange) in 1965.

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Corto Maltese: Under the Sign of Capricorn (A Corto Maltese USA Graphic Novel)


By Hugo Pratt, translated by Dean Mullaney & Simone Castaldi (CONG SA)
ISBN: 978-2-940552-42-9 (Digital edition), ASIN: B0BZ4YY5BK

This book include Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Born in Rimini on June 15th 1927, Ugo Eugenio Prat, AKA Hugo Pratt, wandered the world in his early life, and became one of its paramount comics creators. His enthralling pictorial inventions since Ace of Spades (whilst still a student at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts in 1945) were many and varied. His signature character – based in large part on his own exotic formative years – is mercurial soldier (perhaps sailor is more accurate) of fortune Corto Maltese who will be celebrating 60 inglorious years of disservice in July 2027.

Pratt was a consummate storyteller with a unique voice and starkly refined graphic style that should not work, but so wonderfully does. Usually and preferably viewed in stark monochrome, his tales blended pared-down, relentlessly modernistic narrative stylism with complex and memorable characters, often bordering on pure archetypes.

By placing a modern, morally ambivalent antihero in an era where his actions and responses to old-world duties and attitudes should make him a scoundrel and villain, yet keeping him true to an utterly personal, ironclad yet chimerical ethical integrity that went beyond considerations of race, class or gender, Pratt created an adventurer yardstick against which we cannot help but measure all other heroes. There and then, as empires faded and colonies fell, itinerant Corto Maltese dealt with and was moved by people, not money, national concepts and institutions or traditions. He was ever a whimsical man of action and a faithful humanist with a gift for being in the wrong place at the right time. We’ll return to him momentarily…

After working in both Argentinean and, from 1959, on English comics and true blue characters like Battler Briton, Hugo Pratt made a name for himself. In the UK he produced weekly serial fare and especially complete stories for our (extremely popular) digest graphic novel lines including Super Picture Library, Air Ace Picture Library, Action Picture Library and Thriller Picture Library. These were half-sized, 64-page monochrome booklets with glossy soft-paper painted covers presenting complete stories in 1-4 panels per page. This was a luxury of layout and page design he would return to in his later years. Particularly suited to combat titles, Pratt worked on exotic jungle yarns for War Picture Library, Battle Picture Library, War at Sea Picture Library and more. In the mid-1960s Pratt resettled in Italy and (in 1967) produced with Florenzo Ivaldi a number of features for monthly comic anthology Sgt. Kirk. In addition to the titular Western star, Pratt created pirate strip Capitan Cormorand; detective Lucky Star O’Hara, and a moody South Seas saga called Una Ballata del Mare Salato (A Ballad of the Salty Sea) and now regarded as the first official adventure of the insalubrious mariner. When the anthology folded in 1970, Pratt moved to France and took Una Ballata’s breakout character to French weekly Pif Gadget before eventually settling in at legendary Belgian periodical Le Journal de Tintin. Corto Maltese proved as much a Wild Rover in reality as in his historic and eventful career…

The sailor was soon seen all over Europe, filling a dozen multi-translated albums. His peripatetic exploits (both short-form tales and extended sagas in black-&-white yarns) were shared in no particular order and spanned 1967 to 1989, covering the old rogue’s wanderings between the turn of the 20th century and the 1930s. Corto won international awards and his own eponymous title, running between October 1983 and July 1993. Hugo Pratt died on August 20th 1995.

In 2014, current rights owner CONG SA regenerated the dormant property with new Corto albums created by writer Juan Díaz Canales (Blacksad) & illustrator Rubén Pellejero (El silencio de Malka) generating 5 new albums thus far. A year later, US publisher IDW began releasing English language translations (repaginated & “colorized”) of prime Pratt to mixed reviews, and in 2022 Spanish parent company CONG: Hugo Pratt Art Properties started a line of curated collections as eBooks, of which Under the Sign of Capricorn is the first. It’s still in color – but sensitively done – so if you’re a graphic purist who can’t abide the hues, you might prefer to track down the mid-1980s Corto Maltese volumes from NBM that we covered way back in 2007…

Chronologically, Under the Sign of Capricorn was the third captain’s log of salty seadog sagas. It’s 1916 – one year after the events of Ballad of the Salty Sea – as we open with ‘The Secret of Tristram Bantam’ wherein Corto broods, smokes, drinks and ponders at the Java Inn, Paramaribo, in the debilitating heat of Dutch Guyana. A magnet for trouble and sucker for sob stories, despite his hostess’s warnings he adopts drunken wretch and target of bullies Professor Jeremiah Steiner and is simultaneously sought out by a runaway English schoolboy beset with dreams and premonitions…

Current possessor of certain valuable papers indicating the location of the fabled lost kingdom of Mû, young Tristram’s father was an “associate” of worldly knife-throwing Madame Java and has sought her out as a possible means of meeting his disreputable half-sister Miss Morganna Dias do Santos Bantam of San Salvador de Bahia. All this has made Tristan the unwitting subject of nefarious scrutiny from his own lawyer Milner in London, the firm’s Javanese representative Kerster, locals like voodoo queen Ogun Ferraille and assorted murderous thugs. This results in a succession of murder attempts and the sinking of Maltese’s beloved boat…

Captain Maltese has heard many ridiculous and unprofitable fables in his time but is compelled in this instance by just how many rogues and killers are trying to take the papers from his new pint-sized admirer, and with Steiner and the kid in tow sets off to solve the mystery and find Mu…

The mystery deepens in ‘Rendez-Vous in Bahia’ as Bantam’s yawl The Dreaming Boy sails for Bahia to find Morgana. She has their father’s notes about the lost continent, documents Tristan has only tantalisingly glimpsed in dreams, These are getting more compelling and engrossing as the voyagers arrive meet a native shaman and accidentally expose a convict trafficking scheme. Recently arrived big boss Milner tries to save himself by killing Tristan but instead loses his own life thanks to Corto’s skill with cards and weapons, leaving the trail apparently clear sailing from now on…

‘Chapter Three: Sureshot Samba’ sees the seekers reach Itapoa, where Corto, Tristan and Steiner meet Bocca Dorata AKA Gold Mouth: a great sorceress who raised Morgana and taught her black and white magic. The enigmatic sage somehow knows far too much about Corto’s past and origins for comfort, but nevertheless he accepts her proposal to ferry weapons and cash to Cangaceiros. There, rebel natives led by local legend Sureshot fight in the Brazilian Sertão against landholding European tycoons, murderous mercenaries, corrupted Federal Colonel Gonçalves and his requisitioned river gunboat. After all, £1000 is not to sneezed at…

Corto deals with his opponents and competes his mission with startling violences and efficiency and assures a swift brutal change in political fortunes…

Still houseguests of Gold Mouth, in ‘The Basilian Eagle’ reluctant slave liberators/freedom fighters Corto, Tristan & Steiner are caught in the backwash of the Great War. As they sail the coast seeking a wrecked Spanish galleon loaded with gold – it supposedly foundered near Marajò Island, at the mouth of the Amazon – they are trapped by global politics and international intrigue as colonial powers Great Britain and Germany square off in Brazil. Wallowing in innocent avarice, our derelict adventurers become unwitting competitors with a German Baron and apparent naval “deserters”. Enfolded in the byzantine scheme hatched by Bocca Dorata, Corto’s fate comes down to actions of rogue operatives, a double/triple agent dubbed “Jawbreaker”, overwhelming greed and gunboat diplomacy…

In earlier-set tales, Corto Maltese visited Russia and made an enemy for life of wild rogue/ spiritual anthesis Rasputin (no relation). Now that ferocious frenemy shows up in ‘So Much for Gentlemen of Fortune’ in an adventure centred on the search for fabulous pirate treasure, set in Saint Kitts in the Antilles. Still reading and rereading those papers brought by Tristam, Corto & Steiner happen upon a singular grave and a clue leading to confrontations and untenable alliances with contemporary freebooters Rasputin and Ambiguity di Poincy, all similarly in search of the amalgamated hoard of creole corsair Prying Barracuda, Calico Rackman, Agonia La Bella of Rochelle and Blackbeard Teach…

The game of double dealing leads to vast wealth and huge surprises, but in the end such friendships are doomed and savage bloodletting leaves everyone dead broke or both and Corto counting the cost of what and who he’s lost…

Concluding episode ‘The Seagull’s Fault’ lays the groundwork for more tales in a bizarre murder-mystery set on an island near British Honduras. Wounded and amnesiac, our Not-a-Hero reels on a bloody beach as his life ebbs away. As he blankly watches his totem animal fly, peck and probe, “John Smith’s” memories lie just beyond reach. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the stranger he can’t see would stop shooting at him…

It gets no clearer when lovely angel Soledad and her brutish Caribi minder arrive, as their tender ministrations in the gothic pile they call home soon prove to be barbed and double edged. If only he could remember what all this has to do with legendary pirate and merciless “Evangelist” Judas Lokäarth. Surely, though, that long-missing maniac is dead and gone?

Compelling, enticing and invitingly addictive, these bleak but witty, darkly romantic, captivatingly cosmopolitan stories will grip you and never let go. These are treasures you must unearth and cherish forever.
© 1971 Cong S.A., Switzerland. Corto Maltese® and Hugo Pratt™ © Cong S.A. Translation © 2019 Dean Mullaney and Simone Castaldi, All rights reserved.

Today in 1915 artist, inker, letterer & colourist George Roussos (Batman, Johnny Quick, Airwave, Vigilante, Superman, Starman, CrimeSuspensStories, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Sgt Fury, Fantastic Four, Avengers et al) was born, followed in 1930 by cartoonist Bill Rechin (Out of Bounds, Crock), and in 1968 artist Jeff Johnson (Wonder Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Way of the Rat, Weapon X, Greem Lantern) and writer/filmmaker Greg Pak (City Boy, John Wick, Eternal Warrior, World War Hulk, Incredible Hercules, Firefly, Agents of Atlas).

This day marks the passing of three giants: inventor of comic books Max Gaines in 1947; British legend Dudley. D. Watkins in 1969 and Hugo Pratt in 1995.

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Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Epic Collection: Volume 1 (1963-1965): The Howling Commandos


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers, with George Roussos, Steve Ditko, Frank Giacoia, Vince Colletta, Chic Stone & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1657-2 (TPB)  978-1-3025-1036-7 (Digital edition

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

On August 28th 1917 in New York’s Lower East Side, Jacob Kurtzberg was born to Jewish-Austrian parents. He grew up to be one of the most influential and recognisable artists in world history. We’ll be celebrating his legacy of 99 years and counting over the next few weeks and rest of the year, but let’s start with the title all budding Marvelites rated least when he and Stan Lee first began changing comics together…

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos began as an improbable, raucously over-the-top WWII combat comics series similar in tone to ensemble action movies like The Magnificent Seven, and such later offerings as The Wild Bunch and The Dirty Dozen. Our surly squad of sorry reprobates premiered in May 1963; one of three teams specifically concocted by men-on-fire Jack Kirby & Stan Lee to cover their genre bases whilst securing fledgling Marvel’s growing position as the publisher to watch.

Two years on, Fury’s post-war self was retooled as the big-name star of a second series (beginning with Strange Tales #135, August 1965) when espionage shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and 007 film franchise were becoming international sensations. Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. combined Cold War tensions with sinister schemes of global domination by subversive, all-encompassing hidden enemy organisations with captivating super-science gadgetry and iconic imagineering from Jack Kirby and latterly Jim Steranko.

For all that time however, the original wartime version soldiered on (puns are my cool gadget of choice), blending a uniquely flamboyant house-bravado style, often ludicrous, implausible, historically inaccurate, all-action bombast with moments of genuine heartbreak, unbridled passion and seething emotion. Sgt. Fury started out as a pure Kirby creation. As with all his various war comics, The King (a seasoned WWII veteran who had served under Patton) made everything look harsh and real and appalling: the people and places are all grimy and tired, battered yet indomitable. Jack had survived some of the worst battles of the conflict and never forgot the horrific and heroic things he saw – as more graphically expressed in his comics (such as Foxhole) at different companies during the 1950s genre boom. However, even at kid-friendly, Comics Code-sanitised Marvel, those experiences perpetually leaked through onto his powerfully gripping pages.

Kirby was, sadly, far too valuable a resource to squander on a simple war comic (or indeed the X-Men or Avengers, the other series launched in that tripartite blitz on kids’ spending money) and was quickly reassigned, leaving redoubtable fellow veteran Dick Ayers to illuminate later stories, which he did for almost its entire run (95 issues plus Annuals) until transition to a reprint title with #121 (July 1974). The title then carried on until its ultimate demise in December 1981 with #167.

This initial compendium collects the contents of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1-19 (spanning May 1963 – June 1965) and opens just as you’d expect with blistering premier ‘Sgt. Fury, and his Howling Commandoes’ (that’s how they spelleleled it in the storree-title – altho knot ennyware else).

Crafted by Lee, Kirby and inker Dick Ayers, the rip-snorting yarn is bursting with full page panels interrupted by ‘Meet the Howling Commandos’ – a double-page spread starring the seven members of First Attack Squad; Able Company. This comprised Fury himself, former circus strongman/Corporal “Dum-Dum” Dugan and Privates Robert “Rebel” Ralston (a Kentucky jockey), college student Jonathan “Junior” Juniper, jazz trumpeter Gabriel Jones, mechanic Izzy Cohen and glamorous movie heartthrob Dino Manelli. Controversially – even in the 1960s – this combat Rat Pack was an integrated unit with Jewish and black members as well as Catholics, Southern Baptists and New York Irish white guys all merrily serving together. The Howling Commandos pushed envelopes and busted taboos from the very start.

The first mission was a nonstop action romp pitting ‘Seven Against the Nazis!’ putting the squad through their unique paces as a ragged band of indomitable warriors took on hordes of square-necked Nazis to save D-Day and rescue a French resistance fighter with vital plans of the invasion. They even bring back a high-ranking “kraut” prisoner and leave room for a Kirby fact-page comparing and contrasting six different side-arms of the period in ancillary feature ‘Weapons of War’…

SF&HC #2 found ‘7 Doomed Men!’ up to their torn shirts in Germans as they first infiltrate a French coastal town to blow up a U-Boat base and get back to England just in time to be sent on another suicide mission. This time it’s to destroy a secret facility at Heinemund in the heart of the Fatherland, where Nazi scientists are doing something sinister and nefarious with “hard water”. These overblown fustian thrillers always played fast and loose with history and logic, so if you crave veracity above all, I’d steer clear, but if you can swallow a heaping helping of creative anachronism there’s always great fun to be had here – especially since nobody drew atomic explosions like Kirby. This drama is capped with fact pages as ‘The Enemy That Was!’ explores the capabilities of ‘The German Infantryman’ whilst ‘Weapons of War: “Chatter Guns” of World War II’ details all you need to know about submachine guns.

Rough-&-ready gallows humour and broad comedy became increasingly important to the series from SF&HC #3 onwards, with home base rivalries and comradely sparring leavening the outrageous nonstop carnage of the missions. ‘Midnight on Massacre Mountain!’ sees the septet explosively invading Italy to rescue a US army division caught in a Nazi trap. Along the way they meet a brilliant OSS officer training partisan troops, and Fury especially believes that young Reed Richards will go far…

Supplementing this exploit is a fascinating feature revealing what ordnance and hardware cost in ‘America’s World War II Shopping List!’ before, in #4, ‘Lord Ha-Ha’s Last Laugh!’ began an inking tour of duty for “George Bell” (Kirby’s 1950s studio-mate George “Inky” Roussos) and introduced a love interest for the Sarge, after he meets aristocratic Red Cross volunteer Lady Pamela Hawley during a London air raid. How cruel and tragic was fate then, that the Howlers’ very next mission takes them to Berlin to kidnap a young British nobleman with the same name, now acting as a crucial propaganda mouthpiece for the Wehrmacht…

The mission is a double disaster. Not only does Pamela’s ignoble brother perish, but the debacle also costs the life of a Howler. Bonus feature ‘Weapons of War: Combat Rifles of World War II’ follows this shocking, surprisingly grim and low-key melodrama…

Fury’s key appearance as a CIA agent in FF #21 (not included here) was released between that issue and #5, but no mention is made of it as the dark and cunning yarn introduces one of Marvel’s vilest, greatest villains. ‘At the Mercy of Baron Strucker’ sees Fury humiliated and defeated in personal combat against an Aryan nobleman who uses candid filmed footage as a propaganda tool of the Nazis. Only too late does dashing Dino point out how the nonplussed noncom has fallen for the oldest trick in Hollywood’s archvillain playbook…

A riotous rematch goes rather better after which ‘Weapons of War: Light Machine Guns of World War II’ ends matters in a graphically educational manner, before ‘The Fangs of the Desert Fox!’ in #6 dumps the Squad in the desert to confront the massed forces of General Erwin Rommel in a mission foredoomed to fail. ‘The Court-Martial of Sergeant Fury’ provides a glimpse into the hard-bitten hero’s past and offers insights into his tempestuous relationship with immediate superior Captain Samuel “Happy Sam” Sawyer. Of course, to get that information we must watch Fury endure a dramatic trial after seemingly sabotaging a mission and striking a commanding officer…

Although continuing to draw the magnificent, eye-catching covers, Kirby left the title with this issue. His astounding abilities were more profitably employed in superhero titles, even as Lee began consolidating the ever-expanding Marvel Universe by utilising more WWII iterations of contemporary characters. In #8 ‘The Death Ray of Baron Zemo!’ pits Howlers against a Captain America villain recently debuted in The Avengers. Ayers & Roussos capably depict the squad’s attempts to capture a Nazi super-scientist and a weapon which could shape the outcome of the entire war. The tale introduced Junior Juniper’s replacement: a rather fruity caricature of a British soldier named Percival Pinkerton, resplendent in horn-rimmed specs, pencil moustache, fuchsia beret and impossibly utilitarian umbrella…

In #9 implausibly audacious ‘Mission: Capture Adolf Hitler!’ goes awry after the Howlers’ latest incursion into Berlin brings Fury face-to-face with Wolfgang von Strucker; leading to his temporary capture and an astounding escape, after which ‘On to Okinawa!’ in #10 sees the squad achieve far greater success when despatched to the Pacific to rescue a captured US colonel from the Japanese. This exploit also saw the debut of a bearded bombastic submarine commander who would become a series regular before eventually winning his own title (Captain Savage and his Leatherneck Raiders) in 1967.

Post-Kirby, the pace visibly slowed and melodramatic subplots increased. In #11, ‘The Crackdown of Capt. Flint!’ depicted Happy Sam briefly replaced by a spit-&-polish officer who soon learns the limitations of his ways, after which in #12, a raid on a V1 factory in the heart of Europe seemingly prompts Dino to join the Nazis ‘When a Howler Turns Traitor!’ It was just a pre-arranged ploy of course, but sadly nobody told the US commander, who latterly stuck the star in front of a firing squad…

This issue also included a Marvel Masterwork Pin-up of Fury by Ayers, before Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #13 offered arguably the best issue of the entire 167 issue run. The title said it all: ‘Fighting Side-by-Side with… Captain America and Bucky!’ reunited Lee, Kirby & Ayers in a blistering battle yarn wherein the Howlers cross paths with the masked Sentinels of Liberty after both teams stumble across a top-secret Nazi operation to build an invasion tunnel under the channel to England. To resort to the vernaculars of those times: “Wah-Hoo!”…

Ayers was back pencilling in #14, with Lee scripting and Roussos inking a minor milestone as harassed Adolf Hitler decrees the creation of a Nazi answer to Fury’s elite attack force. All ‘The Blitzkrieg Squad of Baron Strucker!’ had to do was lure the Howlers to a V2 rocket base and spring their trap…Yeah, that’s all…

Irregular supplemental feature Weapons of War provides the gen on the ‘B-26 Martin Marauder’ to inform and entertain in equal amounts before Steve Ditko stepped in to ink Ayers in issue #15 as ‘Too Small to Fight, Too Young to Die’ relates an ill-fated mission in Holland to destroy the dykes and flood the occupation forces. It all goes drastically awry and the Howlers “flee” back to Blighty with nothing but broken-hearted boy Hans Rooten… who has no idea that his despised quisling father is in fact now the Allies’ top spy in the region…

Hans is adopted as the Howlers’ plucky mascot but can’t accompany them when the squad is despatched to Africa in #16 to eradicate yet more Nazi super-weapons in ‘A Fortress in the Desert Stands!’ (pseudonymously inked by Frank Giacoia as Frankie Ray). From there it’s only a short camel-ride south until the ragtag rovers encounter spear-wielding natives and nasty Nazis engaged in a battle of Hearts & Minds ‘While the Jungle Sleeps!’ with Lee & Ayers supported by inker Vince Colletta.

All this time the chalk-&-cheese romantic relationship between Nick and Lady Pamela Hawley had been slowly developing to the point where the Yankee lout was ready to propose. That all ended in Chic Stone inked #18 when, as the unit is busy sinking a German battleship in a Norwegian port, Hawley is ‘Killed in Action!’ Crushed and crazy, Fury goes AWOL in the final tale of this collection, remorselessly hunting down the leader of the bomber flight which had targeted the hospital where she worked and extracting ‘An Eye for an Eye!’ in a satisfyingly shocking Lee story sensitively rendered by Ayers & Giacoia. The Howlers go along for the ride, but whether to help their leader or hold him back is unclear…

Gilding this bellicose lily, the book signs off with a wealth of stunning original art pages from Kirby, Ayers, Ditko, Giacoia, Stone & Roussos; contemporary house ads, and previous collection covers. Whereas close rival DC increasingly abandoned the Death or Glory bombast at this time in favour of humanistic, anti-war explorations of war and soldiering, Marvel’s take always favoured action-entertainment and fantasy over soul-searching for ultimate truths. On that level at least, once Kirby had moved on, these early epics are stunningly effective and galvanically powerful exhibitions of the comics combat genre.

Just don’t use them for history homework.
© 1963, 1964, 1965, 2019 Marvel All rights reserved.

Born yesterday in 1908, Argentinian cartoonist turned Golden Age comics artist Louis Cazaneuve (Quique, el Niño Pirata , Blue Beetle, Red Raven, Captain Savage, Sea Rover, Aquaman) shares the day with Filipino cartoonist Lauro “Larry” Zarate Alcala (Siopawman, Slice of Life, Mang Ambo, Kalabog en Bosyo) in 1926; Italian shock artist Stefano Tamburini (RanXerox, Fuzzy Rat, Snake Agent) in 1955; US comic book star Ron Garney (Captain America, Hulk, JLA, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, BRZRKR) in 1962, and in 1967 writers Brian Michael Bendis (Jinx, Torso, Secret Invasion, Ultimate Spider-Man, Alias) & Pete Tomasi (Batman and Robin, Brightest Day, Green Lantern Corps) and artist Eddy Barrows (52, Birds of Prey, Teen Titans, Superman), with latecomer Nathan Fairbairn (Lake of Fire, Scott Pilgrim, Wonder Woman, Batman Incorporated) arriving in 1976.

Today also saw the passing of Portuguese satirist and political cartoonist Carlos Botelho in 1982; Underground cartoonist Rick Griffin (Zap Comix) in 1991 and Spanish legend Afonso Azpiri Mejía (Black Hawk, Reflections, Mot, Chang, Lorna, Bethlehem Steele) and Italian Diabolik and Tex Willer contributor Sergio Zaniboni in 2017.

Today in 1903, radio writer and comics strip scripter Fran Striker was born, creator of an undying dynasty of pulp heroes that included The Lone Ranger, Green Hornet & Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. In 1932 French auteur Jacques Lob (Superdupont, Ténébrax, Blanche Épiphanie) arrived, sharing the natal day with Underground Commix pioneer Skip Williamson (Snappy Sammy Smoot, Bijou Funnies, Steal This Book) in 1944; Herb and Jamaal creator Stephen R. Bentley a decade later and comics artist/animator Chuck Patton (Justice League of America, The Creeper, Green Lantern) in 1956. Later comics related natal events include Jim Calafiore (Exiles, Aquaman, Secret Six, Deadpool) and all-rounder Brian Haberlin (Witchblade, Spawn) in 1963; Italian artist Stefano Gaudiano (Kafka, Batman, Catwoman, Walking Dead) in 1966; Gene Ha (The Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix, Top Ten, Wonder Woman: Historia, Mae) in 1969 and Chynna Clugston (Blue Monday, Hopeless Savages, Queen Bee, Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century, Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy) in 1975.

This day in 1984 artist Don Newton (The Phantom, Aquaman, The Avengers, New Gods, Batman, Captain Marvel/Shazam!) died. On this date in 2006 The Beano began running Hunt Emerson’s anarchic strip Ratz.

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Namor, the Sub-Mariner Epic Collection volume 5: The Invasion of New York 1972-1974


By Bill Everett, Steve Gerber, Mike Friedrich, Marv Wolfman, Howard Chaykin, Steve Skeates, Bill Mantlo, Dan Adkins, Alan Weiss, Sam Kweskin, Don Heck, George Tuska, Win Mortimer, John Tartaglione, Jim Mooney, Frank Giacoia, John Sinnott, Syd Shores, Don Perlin, Frank Chiaramonte, Frank Bolle, Vince Colletta, John Romita Sr., Gil Kane, Marie Severin, Franc Reyes & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In his most primal incarnation (other origins are available but may differ due to timeslips, circumstance and screen dimensions) Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the proud, noble and usually upset offspring of the union of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer. That doomed romance resulted in a hybrid being of immense strength and extreme resistance to physical harm, able to fly and thrive above and below the waves. Over decades, a wealth of creators added to the fishy tale and today’s Namor is hailed as Marvel’s First Mutant as well as the original “bad boy Good Guy”. He was created by young, talented Bill Everett, for non-starter cinema premium Motion Picture Weekly Funnies: #1 (October 1939) so – technically – Namor predates Marvel, Atlas and Timely Comics.

The Marine Miracleman first caught the public’s avid attention as part of an elementally appealing fire vs. water headlining team-up in the October 1939 Marvel Comics #1 (which renamed itself Marvel Mystery Comics from #2 onwards). The amphibian antihero shared honours and top billing with The Human Torch, having debuted (albeit in a truncated, monochrome version) in the aforementioned promotional booklet designed to be handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year. Our late-starter antihero rapidly emerged as one of the industry’s biggest draws, winning his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated Spring 1941).

His appeal was baffling but solid and he was one of the last super-characters to vanish at the end of the first heroic age.

In 1954, when Atlas (as the company then was) briefly revived its “Big Three” line-up – the Torch and Captain America being the other two – Everett returned for an extended run of sublimely dark, mordantly moody, creepily contemporary fantasy fables. Even so, his input wasn’t sufficient to keep the title afloat and eventually Sub-Mariner sank again. In 1961, as Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were reinventing superheroes with their Fantastic Four, they revived and reimagined the awesome, all-but-forgotten aquanaut as a troubled, angry semi-amnesiac. Decidedly more bombastic, regal and grandiose, this returnee despised humanity: embittered and broken by the loss of his subsea kingdom, which had been (seemingly) destroyed by American atomic testing. His urge for rightful revenge was infinitely complicated after he became utterly besotted with the FF’s Susan Storm…

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

Cumulatively spanning cover-dates June 1972 to September 1974, this subsea selection trawls Sub-Mariner #50-72, signalling the end of another era and rising dominance of genre fare in the superhero-saturated market of that period. Also dredged up and tipped in is a tentative attempt to revive his solo star status as seen in Marvel Spotlight #27 (April 1976) just as horror-heroes began to wither away in the light of shiny space operas and resurgent superheroes as we all unwittingly bided our time until the advent of Star Wars unleashed a wave of Science Fiction sagas. Here, however, we see the triumphant glorious last hurrahs of originator Everett in salty sagas and dry land dramas…

Previously, Namor had endured months of escalating horror as old enemies including Prince Byrrah, Warlord Krang, Attuma, Dr. Dorcas and sinister shapeshifter Llyra perpetually assaulted his sunken kingdom. They were soundly defeated, but these constant clashes led to the murder of Namor’s bride-to-be Lady Dorma. He had been betrayed by his most trusted ally and, heartsick, angry and despondent, abdicated the throne, choosing to pursue the human half of his hybrid heritage as a surface dweller. The decision was fraught with more potential grief, leading to battles with surface world authorities; deranged psionic hermit Stephan Tuval and mind-tyrant Turalla; monster-maker Aunt Serr, M.O.D.O.K. and AIM. Namor seldom fought alone and initial clashes with old friends like Diane Arliss and Walt Newell (part-time undersea Avenger Stingray), Spider-Man, Daredevil and Human Torch Johnny Storm ultimately resulted in refreshed alliances, culminating in a poignant but brief reunion with his long-lost father Leonard McKenzie, a man Namor had for his entire life believed killed by Atlanteans in 1920.

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

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

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

Confronting sinister leader Salamar the Sustainer, Namor discover a bizarre scheme to exploit the vast oil reserves under the ocean floor, and learns old foes are shaping events: treacherous cousin Byrrah and seemingly unkillable Llyra. He also meets again that abrasive teenager and discovers she is Namora’s wayward daughter…

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

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

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

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

When Everett returned he opened the doors to Marvel’s Atlas era-past with a tempestuous yarn that would eventually affect the entire continuity. ‘…In the Lap of the Gods’ reintroduced 1950s sensation Venus, whose impact would ripple out across the MU and ultimately reveal her hidden history as part of the Agents of Atlas sub-franchise.

It begins in a shattering storm as Namor rescues a lovely mystery woman stranded on a rock and stumbles into a long-running grudge match between the Hellenic gods of Love and War. A contemporary tale of dissent and unrest, the story reunites him with Namorita, who, in his absence, has become a college student and activist. Moreover, her favourite lecturer – Humanities Professor Victoria N. Starr – also has a concealed alter ego and lethal stalker: malign divinity and former pantheon mate Ares…

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

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

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

It was an open secret that Everett was dying at this time, but his Marvel friends and employers allowed him to work on until he couldn’t. Thus Sub-Mariner #61’s The Prince and the Pirate!’ – credited to Gerber, Everett, Win Mortimer & Mooney – opens with the old master pictorially revealing revelry in the subsea kingdom as Namor’s coronation ends before a new storyline starts on page 4 as Namorita and human guardian Betty Prentiss are abducted along with an entire passenger plane. The voyagers are victims of deranged geneticist Dr. Hydro who mutates them all (bar already amphibian Nita) into human-merman hybrids to populate his army of environmental conquest. When Namor tracks the ongoing abductions and invades mobile island Hydrobase to save his cousin, he is soundly defeated by the maniac’s super science. Moreover, the failed assault inspires Hydro to invade Atlantis and make it his new stronghold from which to convert the rest of humanity…

The drama plays out in #62 as Gerber, Sam Kweskin & Frank Giacoia explore ‘A Realm Besieged!’ before Tamara in Atlantis and Nita on Hydrobase thwart Hydro’s schemes; leaving the Sub-Mariner to ponder what to do with the hundreds of innocent, unwilling scaly amphibian freaks that neither Atlanteans or surface-dwellers want anything to do with…

Steve Gerber was a uniquely gifted writer who combined a deep love of Marvel’s continuity minutiae with dark irrepressible wit, incisive introspection, barbed socio-cultural criticism, a barely reined-in imagination and boundless bizarrely wilful surrealism. His stories were always at the extreme edge of the company’s intellectual canon and never failed to deliver surprise and satisfaction, especially when he couched his sardonic sorties in thinly veiled attacks on burgeoning cultural homogenisation and commercial barbarity.

With critical success Man-Thing he was holding up a mirror to many cordoned-off and taboo subjects and weaving history from scattered snippets of Marvel’s continuity. With his final stint on Sub-Mariner, Gerber expanded that universe exponentially, building by exploring pre-cataclysm history, aided by Howard Chaykin in back-up series ‘Tales of Atlantis!’ Here the first chapter – inked by Joe Sinnott – sees antediluvian, human-built Atlantis losing its war with rival superpower Lemuria and Emperor Kamuu and his bride Zartra prepare for the bloody end…

Over Everett’s posthumous plot, Gerber, Kweskin & Syd Shores produce #63 as ‘…And the Seas Shall Explode!’ sees seemingly dead Dr Hydro return to destroy the Atlanteans by triggering a volcano under their city and compelling Namor to take no chances and offer no mercy to save his subjects once and for all, Tales of Atlantis resumes as Gerber, Chaykin & Sinnott reveal how the fate of the first Atlantis is sealed by ‘Cataclysm!’ As hand-to-hand combat peaks, the city sinks beneath the seas, but its heritage is saved, carried away by missionary sorceress Zered-Na and her devout disciples; for which you need to scope out Gerber’s other contemporaneous assignments: Son of Satan in Marvel Spotlight and Man-Thing in Adventures into Fear. We’ve covered them elsewhere so feel free to scroll away in the search engines…

Here, though, and wading off at a weird tangent, Gerber, Don Heck & Don Perlin play with satire and pop culture in #64’s ‘Voyage into Chaos!’ When intolerant Atlanteans intern the aimless, despondent amphibian victims of Dr. Hydro, furious, ashamed Namor responds with a fit of fury, just as cool heads are needed to assess another astounding incursion. Soon, a quartet of strange visitors from magical dimension Zephyrland – Ariel the Musician, Ibbar the Scolar, Kabal the Wizard & Zargus the Warrior – are petitioning the Sub-Mariner to hop in their Golden Submarine and help them liberate their enslaved homeland from bestial, tone-deaf horror Virago the She-Beast. Willing and even eager to go for many reasons Namor joins them but is ambushed and defeated as soon as arrives in the land of golden meanies…

Third Tales of Atlantis episode ‘In the Wake of the Warriors!’ reveals how, five millennia later, nomadic clans of water-breathing Homo Mermanus settle in the ruins of the sunken city-continent and clash constantly, thanks to the enmity of sworn enemies Widow-Queen Elanna and King Stegor. They cannot see waves of destiny pushing their battle-hardened children towards an incredible coalition. Successive instalments ‘The Lurker in the Ruins!’ (Gerber, Mooney & Frank Chiaramonte in #65 and concluding chapter ‘The Sword in the Throne!’ inked by Sinnott in #66) ended the series abruptly as those children – destiny- touched Kamuu and Elanna’s daughter Zartra – after meeting ghosts and battling demons, unite the tribes to create the dynasty of sunken Atlantis that will lead millennia later to the coming later of Namor…

Back in the now, the series was struggling, sparking a rapid radical rebrand as Prince Namor, the Savage Sub-Mariner and #65 offering ‘The Cry of the She-Beast!’ as Gerber, Heck & Perlin detail how Virago crushes resistance at home, physically humiliates Namor and launches an attack across dimensions upon Atlantis. Her departure sparks a successful but so-costly revolution in Zephyrland and (with valiant Namor clinging to her hurtling Golden Submarine) provokes a shocking resurrection after splashing down on Earth in #66. ‘Rise, Thou Killer Whale’ (Gerber, Heck & Perlin) sees Virago driven away from Atlantis at great cost, only to stumble upon the tomb of defeated – but apparently only dormant – Orka the (humanoid) Killer Whale – who unites with a clearly kindred spirit to devastate the sunken city with an armada of crazed cetaceans…

The catastrophic clash leads to the Sub-Mariner again falling, but this time amidst toxic nerve gas dumped by surface dwellers. The chemical poisons alter his body chemistry, making it impossible to breathe air or maintain body moisture. Moreover, as the cloud of death expands currents wash it over Atlantis, plunging all within the perimeter – Virago and Orka included – into comas in landmark tale ‘Seawinds of Change!’ (Gerber, Heck & Frank Bolle).

Thankfully, whilst dying Namor heads for the surface to be found by old ally Triton of The Inhumans, who brings Namor to former foes the Fantastic Four. Smartest Man Alive Reed Richards swiftly diagnoses and rapidly constructs a bodysuit to provide constant artificial respiration – over Namor’s churlish and violent protests – and he heads home to finish his fight. Sadly, what he finds in #68 (January 1974, Mooney inks) leaves him ‘On the Brink of Madness!’ Only Tamara, Nita and Hydro’s amphibians escaped the nerve agent’s effects and now must calm down the bereft monarch. To stabilise the crisis, they relocate to vacant Hydrobase and direct Namor to a human scientist whose forcefield researches might provide a means to protect dormant Atlanteans from predators and further harm.

After seeking spiritual guidance from patron god Father Neptune, Namor sets off, but when the king without a kingdom seeks out Dr Damon Walthers, he discovers the genius’ works stolen by his assistant. Shot from the sky by neophyte supervillain Force, their initial clash is inconclusive but does draw the attention of passing student Peter Parker…

Meanwhile in Zephyrland, the war goes badly and the survivors consider calling in Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange…

George Tuska & Vince Colletta illustrate Prince Namor, the Savage Sub-Mariner #69 as Gerber rapidly wraps up his hanging plot threads in anticipation of a sudden cancellation. ‘Two Worlds …and Dark Destiny!’ sees Dr Strange offer aid, a pointless battle between spider hero and fishman and a final encounter with Force that leaves Namor victorious, in control of Walthers’ forcefield tech and Atlantis safely stored “under glass” until a cure can be found – an inauspicious but satisfactory stopping point. Confoundingly the series still had three issues to run with Marv Wolfman, Tuska & Colletta depicting ‘Namor Unchained!’ in #70 whilst adding further safeguards to sleeping Atlantis, until targeted by now-independent mutated fishmen grown by Dr. Dorcas under the guidance of an ambitious aquatic atrocity. The brutal duel delivers more deaths and butchery as #71 clamours ‘Comes the Pirahna!’ and the series finally sank with #72 (dated September 1974 and on sale from 18th June) as Steve Skeates, Dan Adkins & Colletta catered an alien encounter as Namor faced obnoxious humans and a lost interstellar shapeshifter in ‘From the Void It Came…’

The antihero resurfaced in Giant-Sized Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (cover-dated March 1975), revived as one half of a tag-team with fellow misunderstood autocrat Doctor Doom whilst seeking a cure for his people and his own condition. That sustained momentum led to the last tale here, a solo exploit taken from Marvel Spotlight #27 (April 1976) as Bill Mantlo & Mooney revealed ‘Death is the Symbionic Man!’ Incorporating Prime Earth’s military industrial villain Captain Simon Stryker (of alternate Earth epic Deathlok the Demolisher) the pacy yarn saw Sub-Mariner hunted for potential spare parts and powers by the messianic maniac and battling Stryker’s most deadly killer-cyborg yet…

Bonus material includes covers by Everett, John Romita, Rich Buckler, Sal Buscema, Al Weiss, Jim Starlin, Larry Lieber, Joe Sinnott, Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito, Vince Colletta, & Al Milgrom, supplemented with original art pages and personal commissions by “Wild Bill”. Also on view are House ads; the editorial page from #67 wherein Gerber explained the costume change plus Romita’s original designs for the new outfit. Special treats comprise Everett’s unused cover watercolour rough for Marvel Comics (1939) #2; the Everett cover and Franc Reyes frontispiece of Marvel Index #7b (1978); a stellar Venus pinup from Marvel Spotlight #2 (1972) and – following the announcement of Everett’s death – a visual memorial from editor and friend Thomas, limned by Marie Severin & Giacoia as it appeared in Sub-Mariner #65 (September 1973).

In comics, the best thing about “the Mighty falling” is that so often another time throws up fresh ideas and creators who will regenerate faded concepts. It a cycle as timeless and relentlessly repeating as the tides. The venerable Sub-Mariner always comes back stronger and more appetising, and you owe it to yourself to be ready for the next wave by getting to know these classics. Many early Marvel Comics are more exuberant than qualitative, but this volume, especially from an story-lover’s point of view, is a wonderful exception: historical treasures with narrative bite and indescribable style and panache that fans will delight in forever.
© 2025 MARVEL.

Today in 1923 French creator Jean Graton (Michel Vaillant) was born, sharing natal celebrations with comics genius Eddie Campbell (Alec, Bacchus, From Hell) in 1955 and colourist Christie Scheele in 1957.

Losses include cartoonist Virgil Partch in 1984; Belgian writer Henri Gillain (Il y a un sorcier à Champignac, Le Trésor d’Alaric, Nègre Blanc) in 1999; Mad mainstay Jerry DeFucchio in 2001 and Filipino artist Mar Amongo (DC anthologies, Noli Me Tangere, The Tiger’s Fang, Talons of Time) in 2005.

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Came the Dawn and Other Stories illustrated by Wallace Wood (The Fantagraphics EC Comics artist Library volume 2)


By Wallace Wood, with Al Feldstein, Harry Harrison, Gardner F. Fox & various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-546-4 (HC/Digital edition

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content employed for dramatic effect.

EC began in 1944 when comic book pioneer Max Gaines sold the successful superhero properties of his All-American Comics company – including Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman – to half-sister National/DC. He retained only Picture Stories from the Bible, with a plan to produce a line of Educational Comics and with schools and church groups as the major target market. Max then augmented his core title with three more in similar vein: Picture Stories from American History, Science and World History. The worthy but unsustainable project was already struggling when he died in a boating accident in 1947. His son William was eventually convinced to assume control of the family business and, with much support and encouragement from unsung hero Sol Cohen and multi-talented associate Al Feldstein, transformed the ailing enterprise into Entertaining Comics, consequently triggering the greatest qualitative leap forward in comic book history…

After a few tentative false starts and abortive experiments, Gaines settled into a bold and impressive publishing strategy, utilising the most gifted illustrators in the field to tell a “New Trend” of stories aimed at an older, more discriminating audience.

From 1950 -1954 EC was the most innovative and influential publisher in the US, dominating the genre markets for science fiction, war, horror and crime comics. The company even added a new type of title and another genre with the creation of parody magazine Mad…

This second volume of the Fantagraphics EC Library is a magical and groundbreaking omnibus of horrific tales and human dramas displaying the astounding artistic expertise of Wallace Allan Wood: one of the greatest draughtsmen our art form has ever produced.

Woody was a master of every aspect of the business. He began his career lettering Will Eisner’s Spirit strip, moved into pencilling and inking and latterly, publishing. After years working all over the comics and syndicated strip industries, as well as in legitimate illustration, package-design and other areas of commercial art, he devised the legendary T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents franchise and even created one of the first adult independent comics with Witzend as the 1960s closed.

The troubled genius carried the seeds of his own destruction, however. Woody’s life was one of addiction (booze and cigarettes), traumatic relationships, tantalisingly close but always frustrated financial security, illness and eventually suicide. It was as if all the joy and beauty in his existence stayed on the pages and there was none left for real life.

Although during his time with EC Wood became the acknowledged and undisputed Master of Science Fiction art in America, he was equally adept, driven and accomplished in the production of all genres. This powerful collection concentrates on some of his best early crime, horror and suspense tales and includes all the evocative, emotionally-charged social dramas (lovingly dubbed “Preachies”) which Feldstein & Bill Gaines devised to address hot-button issues and challenge the smugly hierarchical status quo of post-war triumphalist America.

These strident, still truly shocking morality plays viciously jabbed at the nation’s dark underbelly, attacking prejudice, police corruption, drug abuse, sexual attitudes, racism, institutionalised intolerance and all manners of hypocrisy. It’s no stretch to consider that these tales, more than any other childhood influence, probably shaped the resurgent liberal attitudes which blossomed as the future “Flower Power” generation reached their majority a decade later. They certainly riled the powers that be who made sure that when the Comics Code Authority was established all such dangerously seditious fare was kept well away from the kiddies…

The stories are re-presented here in stark yet lavish monochrome, with supplementary interviews, features and dissertations, beginning with Bill Mason’s ‘Come the Stories’ weighing the yarns included here with forensic discipline. Then the pictorial parade picks up with rather pedestrian scam caper in ‘The Werewolf Legend’ (Vault of Horror #12 April/May 1950) as an innocent man is convinced he’s a ravening monster. It was scripted by prolific and ubiquitous Gardner Fox, one of Gaines senior’s greatest assets and discoveries. The pencils are by cartoonist Harry Harrison (Stainless Steel Rat, Make Room! Make Room!, The Technicolor Time Machine, Bill, the Galactic Hero) and inked by Wood. Although Harrison found his greatest fame as a prestigious prose author in later years, he was a major player in the comics biz during the 1950s and had worked with Wood as a jobbing production team since they’d met at the Cartoonists and Illustrators school in 1948.

For Haunt of Fear #15 the trio concocted legend of lethal legerdemain ‘The Mad Magician’, whilst an anonymously-authored enigma of ‘The Living Corpse’ (Crypt of Terror #18) edged closer to truly supernatural shenanigans as another illusionist took things too far in pursuit of his craft…

Fox scripted and Harrison pencilled ‘The Curse of Harkley Heath’ in VoH #13, wherein a gothic triangle of greedy heirs come to unpleasant, untimely ends after a will is read, after which Wood began handling all the art chores, starting with ‘Horror-Ahead!’ in HoF #16 (July/August 1950) when rival curio collectors endure a jungle jaunt in search of shrunken skulls and end up the only way they possibly could…

A Noir-tinged new era began when Al Feldstein began scripting for Woody. ‘Death’s Double-Cross’ – from the sublimely mature Crime SuspenStories #1 (October/November 1951) offers the twisted tale of a woman cheating on her husband with his twin brother in a moody masterpiece reminiscent of James M. Cain. Naturally it quickly turns into a nightmare that won’t end pretty…

Fox delivered a final shot in ‘The Man from the Grave’ from HoF #4, which saw a dissolute craftsman commit gruesome murder for his art… and live to regret it in desperate luxury and a relentless, compulsive paroxysm of over-work, before Feldstein’s ‘Terror Ride!’ (Tales From the Crypt #21) finds young lovers who soon regret being the last couple to ride a decrepit Amusement Park’s Old Mill boat attraction. Feldstein’s epic run of stories fill most of this tome and continue in a yarn from Haunt of Fear #5, where Wood’s dark imagination and gift for  rendering grotesques is expertly exploited in ‘Horror in the Freak Tent!’ Here a cruel carnival owner who mercilessly mistreats his exotic employees finally receives a macabre measure of justice…

Crime SuspenStories #3 then provides a fearsome farrago of betrayal and vengeance when two fugitive bandits are ‘Faced With Horror!’ after picking the wrong plastic surgeon to sort out their public notoriety problems, whilst ‘So They Finally Pinned You Down!’ (HoF #6) follows a troubled soul who can’t understand why he’s always stumbling over dead women…

The macabre mayhem concludes with two tasty titbits from Tales From the Crypt #24 & 25, beginning with a classic philandering-murderer-gets-his-come-uppance saga in ‘Scared to Death!’, after which a baroque body-switching melodrama concerning a cunning crone and a lovely young thing compels a bewildered husband to conclude ‘Judy, You’re Not Yourself Today!’…

The remainder of this potent volume is comprised of those controversial conscience-rending polemical passion-plays and human dilemmas Gaines called Preachies, opening with ‘The Guilty!’ as seen in Shock SuspenStories #3 (June/July 1952), which sees a typical small town enflamed by the murder of a young white girl. The Sheriff knows the black kid in his jail is guilty and is just as keen as the mob to spare the State the cost of a trial and takes steps to ensure it too.

… And that’s when the girl’s white boyfriend confesses…

Although stridently moralising and rather heavy handed by contemporary standards, these stories are the very bedrock of EC’s well-deserved reputation as the crusading creators of America’s very first adult comics for mature readers. Moreover, these ugly truths were gloriously draped in so very beautiful clothes, with Wood’s incredible illustrations inspired by the fiercely impassioned scripts, soaring to unparallelled heights of sensitivity with gut-wrenching impact.

Shock SuspenStories #4 took the cultural campaign further in a sordid tale of the innocent witness relentlessly beaten into a ‘Confession’ by cops determined to capture a hit-&-run driver who’d killed their Lieutenant’s wife. So why then, is the grieving officer’s car all banged up and covered in blood? Sheer, old-fashioned anti-Semitism fuels the ‘Hate!’ of a quiet little town and leads to the death of a family too stubborn to be warned. Imagine instigator John Smith’s surprise when his appalled mother tells the entire town that he was adopted and what his true origins are. Shock SuspenStories #6’s ‘Under Cover!’ combines the local Klan chapter’s campaign of punishment-floggings for miscegenation with the end of a crusading reporter who tries to expose the scandal. Tragically, he forgot that there might be almost anybody under those pointy hoods…

In #7 ‘The Bribe’ reveals how even the most honest and dedicated of civil servants can be pushed into abandoning his principles – especially with a loving daughter, her upcoming wedding and crushing society pressure hitting him so hard…

Even today ‘The Assault!’ is potentially the most contentious tale here, exposing how a small town girl with salacious appetites callously guards her precious but precarious reputation by framing an old man for her “rape”. In typical tone for those times, her lie ultimately and inevitably causes two deaths, after which eponymous ‘Came the Dawn!’ from Shock SuspenStories #9 offers a superb  example of Greek tragedy in modern dress. Here a lonely backwoods hermit finds a beautiful naked woman in his cabin and, after a night of mutual passion with the girl of his dreams, discovers that an inmate fitting her description has escaped from the nearby asylum. Only after he’s locked his dream girl outside out does he discover that she’s not the only mysterious blonde lost in the forest…

Far less emotionally loaded but equally devastating is the darkly introspective ‘…So Shall Ye Reap!’ (Shock SuspenStories #10) which sees a penitent, angry young man contemplating every hypocritical act of his pompously pious parents before reaching his own moment of judgement prior to ‘In Gratitude’ launching a simply breathtaking assault on the nation’s double standards after a wounded soldier comes home to a hero’s welcome. However, he savagely turns on his friends and family when he finds out what they’ve done to the “coloured man” who saved his life…

More quirky crime-caper than social commentary, ‘Fall Guy’ (Shock SuspenStories #12) follows the doomed decade that saw upstanding citizen Danny Jansen steal a fortune to please a greedy girl far out of his league only to spend ten years in jail paying for it. Surprisingly, she waited all that time for him, but wasn’t best pleased when he couldn’t remember how to retrieve “their” ill-gotten gains…

A campaign of hate to drive out a man who foolishly admitted to being part-Negro ends in suicide and a sense of smug satisfaction when the bigot-in-charge boasts of his success to the local doctor in ‘Blood-Brothers’ (Shock SuspenStories #13). Imagine the vile cross-burner’s surprise when the aged medic reveals the source of the transfusion which had long-ago saved the happy hate-monger’s life. Next, ‘The Whipping’ (scripted by Feldstein & Gaines for Shock SuspenStories #14) returns to scandalmongering territory, when a dutiful daughter defies her racist father and starts dating an Hispanic boy. Dad doesn’t call it that, and the outrageous steps he and his pure-white buddies take to end the affair horrifically backfire…

The last tale reprinted here is ‘The Confidant’ (Feldstein, Gaines and Wood from Shock SuspenStories #15, June/July 1954), created at a moment in time when public outcries against comics was reaching its fevered peak. It deals with mob-justice and sees an entire town baying for the blood of a newcomer who they “know” has murdered a young girl. Then, when a dark stranger arrives searching for one of his children, the unofficial posse jump to a wrong conclusion with tragic and irreparable consequences…

Please forgive any deliberate vagueness on my part here: the point is to make you want to read these poignant. shocking stories and I don’t want to devalue their impact or spoil your otherwise assured enjoyment…

A detailed history of Woody the flawed genius is provided by historian S.C. Ringgenberg in prose piece ‘Wallace Wood’ after which this truly beautiful book is closed by ‘Behind the Panels: Creator Biographies’ compiled by Arthur Lortie & and Bill Mason before Ted White’s ‘Crime, Horror, Terror, Gore, Depravity, Disrespect for Established Authority – and Science Fiction Too!: ‘The Ups and Downs of EC Comics: A Short History’ offers a comprehensive rundown of the entire EC phenomenon.

The short, sweet, cruelly limited EC back catalogue has been revisited ad infinitum in the decades since its demise. Those amazing yarns changed not just comics but also infected the larger world through film and television to convert millions into dedicated devotees still addicted to New Trend tales. Whether you are an aged EC Fan-Addict, a nervous newbie, or simply a mere fan of brilliant stories and sublime art, Came the Dawn is a book no sane and/or sensible reader can afford to be without.
This edition © 2012 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All comics stories © 2012 William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., reprinted with permission. All other material © 2012 the respective creators.

Today in 1904 British cartoon colossus Reg Parlett (Just Jake, Billy Bunter, Mowser, countless assorted strips for Merry and Bright, Funny Wonder, Radio Fun, Film Fun, Knockout, Buster, Valiant, Lion, Whizzer and Chips, Cor!!, Whoopee!, Jackpot, Wow!) was born, sharing the day with Golden age letterer Betty Bentley (Superman, Batman, Starman) in 1916; artist/illustrator/inker Dave Hunt (Transformers, Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Wonder Woman, DC Comics Presents) in 1942; Belgian creator Luc Cromheecke (Taco Zip, Tom Carbon & Roboboy) in 1961; writer/letterer John Layman (Chew, Thundercats, Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness) in 1969 and writer/moviemaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Daredevil: Guardian Devil, Green Arrow, Batman: The Widening Gyre, Batman: Cacophony, Jay and Silent Bob) in 1970.

Belgian master storyteller François Craenhals (Karan, Fantômette, Chevalier Ardent, Les 4 As, Pom et Teddy) died today in 2004.

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Roy Crane’s Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips volume 1


By Roy Crane, Les Turner & various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-161-9 (Album HC)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Amongst the many cartoon and comics anniversaries this year there are household names still with us (albeit in exceedingly altered forms) and tragically masterpieces of the form that have faded from popular memory, even though their influence remains in every panel we might peruse…

Modern comics evolved from newspaper gag and comic strips. These pictorial features were, until relatively recently, utterly ubiquitous and hugely popular with the public and highly prized by publishers who used them as an irresistible sales weapon to guarantee and increase circulation and profits. It’s virtually impossible for us today to understand the overwhelming power of the comic strip in America (and wider world) from the Great Depression to the end of World War II. With no television, broadcast radio far from universal, and movie shows at best a weekly treat for most folk, household entertainment was mostly derived from the strip sections of daily and especially Sunday Newspapers. “The Funnies” were the most common recreation for millions who were well served by a fantastic variety and incredible quality of adventures and exploits.

From the very start humour was paramount; hence the terms Funnies and “Comics”, and from these gag and stunt beginnings – a blend of silent movie slapstick, outrageous fantasy and the vaudeville shows – evolved a thoroughly entertaining mutant hybrid: Roy Crane’s Wash Tubbs. Debuting on April 14th 1924, Washington Tubbs II was a comedic gag-a-day vehicle not much different from family favourite Harold Teen (by Crane’s friend and contemporary Carl Ed). Depiction of pretty girls was a key component of the daily show, and when it launched, Tubbs was a diminutive yet ambitious young store-clerk. However, gradually the strip moved into mock-heroics, then through cosy, non-confrontational action, to become a full-blown, light-hearted, rip-roaring adventure series… after the introduction of ancestral he-man and prototype moody swashbuckler Captain Easy in the landmark episode for 6th May, 1929. Incidentally Wash Tubbs ran until 1949, at which time it merged into Crane’s spin-off feature: the previously Sunday-only Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune.

As the daily episodes had become ever-more exotic and thrill-packed, the globetrotting little dynamo had shown a clear need for a sidekick who could believably handle the strenuous combat side of things, and thus – in the middle of a Europe-set war yarn – Wash liberated a mysterious fellow American from a jail cell and history was made…

Before long the mismatched pair were travelling companions, hunting treasure, fighting thugs and rescuing a bevy of startlingly comely maidens in distress. The bluff, two-fisted, surly, comprehensively capable, utterly dependable, down-on-his-luck “Southern Gen’leman” was something not seen before in comics: a raw, square-jawed hunk played completely straight rather than as the buffoon or music hall foil of such classic serials as Hairsbreadth Harry or Desperate Desmond.

Moreover, Crane’s seductively simple blend of cartoon exuberance and stylish design was a far more accessible. exuberant and powerful medium for action storytelling than the rather static illustrative style favoured by artists like Hal Foster: just beginning to make waves on the groundbreaking new Tarzan Sunday page. Tubbs & Easy were as exotic and thrilling as the Ape-Man, but rattled along like the surreal and tempestuous Popeye, full of vim, vigour and vinegar, as attested to by a close look at the early work of the would-be cartoonists who followed the strip with avid intensity: Floyd Gottfredson, Milton Caniff, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner and especially young Joe Shuster…

After a couple of abortive attempts starring his little hero, Crane bowed to the inevitable and created instead a full-colour Sunday page dedicated to his increasingly popular hero-for-hire.

Captain Easy debuted on 30th July 1933 (Heppy Buthday, Suh!), in wild-&-woolly escapades set prior to his first fateful rendezvous with Tubbs.

This first sublime archival volume (long-overdue for rerelease and a digital edition) begins with the sullen mercenary undertaking a mission for the Chinese government… spying on the city of ‘Gungshi.’ In that heyday of popular exploration and dashing-aviator exploits, the bold solo flight over the Himalayas to Chinese Turkestan was stirring enough, but when Easy then infiltrates a hidden citadel, it heralds the beginning of a rollercoaster romp with sword-wielding Mongols, sultry houris, helpless dancing girls, fabulous beasts and wicked bandits. The heady, intoxicating dramatic brew captivated entire families across the planet, week after addictive week…

With an entire page and vibrant colours to play with, Crane’s imagination ran wild and his fabulous visual concoctions achieved a timeless immediacy that made each page a unified piece of sequential art.

The effect and influence of Crane’s pages can be seen in so many strips since; especially the works of close-contemporaries such as Hergé and giants-in-waiting like Charles Schulz.

These pages were a clearly as much of joy to create as to read. In fact, the cited reason for Crane surrendering the Sunday strip to his assistant Les Turner in 1937 was controlling NEA Syndicate’s abrupt and arbitrary demand that all its strips be henceforward produced in a rigid panel-structure to facilitate them being cut up and re-pasted as local editors dictated.

Crane simply walked away, concentrating on the daily feature. In 1943, he quit the Syndicate to create aviation adventure strip Buz Sawyer.

At the end of the initial blockbuster, cinematic epic Easy is a hero to the people of Gungshi, if not its aristocracy, who plot to oust him via the subtlest of means. The second adventure ‘The Slave Girl’ opened on 21st January 1934, depicting the occidental hero bankrupted in saving the beautiful Rose Petal from the auction block: a chivalrous gesture leading to war with the rival city of Kashno, and a brutally hilarious encounter with South Sea pirates…

In an era where ethnic stereotyping and casual racism were commonplace and acceptable – if not actually the mandatory shortcuts of social interaction – the introduction of a vile, unscrupulous Yank as the exploitative villain was – and remains – a surprising delight.

Rambling Jack is every inch the greedy “ugly American” of later, more informed decades, and by contrasting Easy’s wholesome quest to make his fortune with the venal explorer’s rapacious ruthlessness, Crane makes a telling point for the folks back home. It also makes for great reading, as Chinese bandits also enter the fray, determined to plunder both cities and everybody else in their path. Nevertheless, with the help of a lost British flyer Easy is finally victorious, but on returning to his Chinese employers he spots something whilst flying over the Himalayas that radically derails his plans…

‘The Sunken City’ is an early masterpiece of comics fiction, with Easy recruiting cockney comedy stooge ‘Arry Pippy, a demobbed British Army cook, to help reconnoitre a drowned metropolis submerged for centuries in a hidden inland sea, and one he had he had spotted from the air only through sheer chance. Of course, simply to get there the pair must trek through rampant jungles, survive blowpipe-wielding cannibals and avoid the greatest threat our valiant rogue has ever faced…

If I’ve given the impression that this has all been grim-‘n’-gritty turmoil & tension thus far, please forgive me: Roy Crane was an utterly irrepressible gag-man and his enchanting chapter-play serial abounds with breezy light-hearted banter, hilarious situations and outright farce… a sure-fire formula cinema directors still plunder to this day. Easy is the Indiana Jones, Flynn (The Librarian) Carsen and Jack (Romancing the Stone) Cotton of his day and inarguably blazed the trail for all of them and whoever I’ve left out… even Lara Croft…

In a deep-sea diver’s suit, Easy & ‘Arry examine piscine wonders and trace the submerged grandeur of the lost city, encountering some of the most magical and fanciful sea beasts ever recorded in comics, before literally striking gold. Typically, when more cannibals attack those dredged up treasures are lost and Easy finds himself captive and betrothed to the most hideous witch-hag imaginable…

Risking everything, the desperate treasure-seekers make a break for it only to re-encounter ‘The Pirates’ (April 14th – July 7th 1935), but before they get too far the husband-hungry sorceress and her faithful person-eaters come after Easy, leading to a brutal, murderous conclusion…

After years in the Orient, Easy & Pippy succumb to a hankering for less dangerous company and make their way to Constantinople and Europe. Sadly, trouble is never far from the moody mercenary and in ‘The Princess’ (14th July – December 1st 1935), his gentlemanly instincts compel him to rescue a beautiful woman from the unwelcome attentions of munitions magnate Count Heyloff, a gallant gesture that embroils our hero in a manufactured war between two minor nations. This tale addressed contemporary American sentiments that another world conflict was brewing, and it’s obvious that Crane’s opinion was the deeply held common conviction that the whole international unrest was the result of rich men’s greedy manipulations and machinations. Just like today…

Dark, bittersweet and painfully foreboding, this yarn sees Easy become the focus of Heyloff’s vengeance, and the sum total Airforce for tiny underdog nation Nikkateena in their bitter struggle for survival against the equally-duped and deceived country of Woopsydasia. Crane kept the combat chronicle light but on occasion his true feelings showed through in some of the most trenchant anti-war art ever seen.

This superb hardback and colossal initial collection is the perfect means of discovering or rediscovering Roy Crane’s rip-snorting, pulse-pounding, exotically racy adventure pioneer. The huge pages in this volume (almost 14½ inches by 10½ inches, or 210 x 140 mm for the metric crowd dominating global measuring these days) also offer a fascinating, informative introductory biography of Crane by historian Jeet Heer; a glowing testimonial from Charles Schulz; contemporary promotional material, extra drawings and sketches, plus a fascinating feature explaining how pages were coloured in those long-ago days before computers and other jumped-up adding machines…

This is primal comics storytelling of the very highest quality: unforgettable, spectacular and utterly irresistible. These tales rank alongside the best of Hergé, Tezuka, Eisner and Kirby, and led inexorably to the greatest creations of all of them. You have the chance to experience the strips that inspired the giants of our art form, and celebrate the achievements, so how can you possibly resist?
Captain Easy Strips © 2010 United Features Syndicate, Inc. This edition © 2010 Fantagraphics Books, all other material © the respective copyright holders. All rights reserved.

Today in 1892 Alfred Harmsworth launched landmark British comics storypaper The Wonder, sharing the date with DC Thomson’s The Beano, debuting in 1938. In 1955, Ken Reid’s hilarious timeless feature Grandpa began in The Beano. Of course you already know Captain Easy launched on July 30th 1933.

Births on this day include colourist Tom Ziuko in 1955; Turkish cartoonist Turhan Selçuk and French author/artist Hervé Darmenton AKA “Achde” (Fort Braillard, Woker, Les Damnés de la route, CRS=Détresse, Lucky Luke ) in 1961 and illustrator Chris Sprouse (Tom Strong, Supreme, Hammerlocke, The Rocketeer, Legion of Super-Heroes) in 1966.

Today in 1992 Joe Shuster died.

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Captain America by Ed Brubaker volume 1


By Ed Brubaker, Steve McNiven, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mark Morales, Jay Leisten, Matteo Buffagni, Justin Ponsor, Laura Martin & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5708-3 (HB) 978-0-7851-5709-0 (TPB) 978-0-7851-8271-9 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

One of the key moments in Marvel Comics history occurred when the Mighty Avengers recovered a tattered body floating in a block of ice (#4, March 1964) and resurrected the World War II hero Captain America. With this act bridging the years back to Timely & Atlas Comics – begun with the return of the Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four #4 – Marvel confirmed and consolidated a solid, concrete, potential-packed history and created an enticing sense of mythic continuance for the fledgling company that instantly gave it the same cachet and enduring grandeur of market leader National/DC.

It’s just that rich heritage and history which informs and embellishes this grand old fashioned Fights ‘n’ Tights romp by Ed Brubaker and artists Steve McNiven, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mark Morales, Jay Leisten & Matteo Buffagni which originally featured in the first five issues of volume 5 of the Captain America monthly comic book (cover-dated September 2011 to February 2012).

After too long on the sidelines and officially off-duty, Steve Rogers had again taken up the uniform and shield of the Star Spangled Avenger but was all too soon forced to confront his tragic past when his WWII ally and lover Peggy Carter passed away. Whilst attending her funeral with fellow veterans Nick Fury and “Dum Dum” Dugan the trio are targeted by a sniper and plunged back into long unfinished business…

Back in 1944, Peggy and the so-much-younger warriors were in Paris to destroy an advanced weapons facility operated by Nazi technocrat Baron Zemo and resurgent rapidly rebuilding conquest-cult Hydra. With the aid of costumed crusader Agent Bravo and Jimmy Jupiter (nee Jankovicz) – a boy with the ability to enter dreams and travel to a dimension where wishes became reality – the Allied operatives infiltrated the factory, but the mission went terribly wrong, leaving Jimmy a comatose vegetable and Bravo trapped within a timeless meta-realm with no hope of return.

Now, somehow Bravo is back on Earth and working with a new Hydra Queen. Equipped with incredible, nigh-impossible new armaments and teamed up with the heir of Zemo, the vengeful veteran wants to destroy Cap & Fury; romance/abduct Rogers’ current girlfriend Agent 13 and wreak vengeance on the world which had callously forgotten him…

As part of that ambition Bravo recruits long-forgotten Cap adversary Lyle Dekker: a Nazi scientist and certified lunatic who had long harboured a festering hatred for the Red, White & Blue champion. After Rogers had thawed out in modern times, Dekker tried to assassinate Captain America and take his place by having his own mind permanently transferred into an 18-foot tall Cap robot dubbed The Ameridroid.

When that manic automaton attacks now it is but the prelude to Bravo’s masterstroke: exiling Rogers to Jimmy Jupiter’s fantasy dimension and a darkly irresistible, seductive faux existence Rogers could never dream of escaping, all whilst merging the Dream Dimension with the plane of mundane reality to create a new kind of American nation Bravo alone would control…

Of course, the outcast maniac has no conception of what a true hero and living symbol will endure to make the world – any world – right and must soon face his personal nemesis in a duel for all reality. Victory comes as it always does to the just and righteous, but Rogers is belatedly faced with staggering consequences in the celebratory aftermath…

To Be Continued…

In 2012 a Panini/Marvel UK trade paperback edition was released as Captain America: American Dreamers (ISBN: 978-1-84653-505-5) which also included a gallery of alternative covers by Art Adams, Olivier Coipel, Neal Adams, Dale Eaglesham, John Romita Sr. and Salvador Larroca, as well as anniversary and Movie variant edition covers which are sadly omitted here. However whichever version you see this is a superbly fast-paced, action-packed romp: a thrilling and immensely entertaining confection to delight old aficionados, impress newcomers and make fresh fans for the immortal and original Sentinel of Liberty.
© 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1907 arch stylist Jesse Marsh (Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Brothers of the Spear) was born, as was fellow Tarzan illustrator Ruben Moreira (also Casey Ruggles, Rip Hunter -Time Master, Roy Raymond – TV Detective, Reef Ryan, Her Highness and Silk) in 1922. Five years later Italian master creator Guido Buzzelli (Angélique in the Daily Mirror, Zil Zelub, L’uomo del Bengala, Tex Willer) arrived, followed in 1938 by mega star writer Pierre Christin (Valerian and Laureline, The City That Didn’t Exist, The Black Order Brigade, La voyageuse de la petite ceinture, The Hunting Party). That same year welcomed Writer/Artist/Letterer/Editor/Publisher Bill Peason (Witzend, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) with artist Ernie Chan (everything from Batman to Conan to Secret Society of Super-Villains) born in 1940 and Singaporean illustrator Foo Swee Chin (A Lost Stock of Children, Mince, Chimney 25, Zeet, Nightmares & Fairy Tales, MuZz) arriving in 1977.

In 2005 we lost venerable Dutch veteran Marten Toonder (Tom Puss) with Portuguese illustrator Carlos Roque (Angélique, Wladimyr) dying a year later and Mad magazine mirth maven Stan Hart departing in 2017.

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Spacehawk


By Basil Wolverton with commentary by Monte Wolverton (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-550-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Basil Wolverton was one of a kind: an artist, humourist and wordsmith of unique skill and imagination and one whose controversial works inspired and delighted many whilst utterly revolting others. Born in Central Point, Oregon on July 9th 1909, Wolverton worked as a Vaudeville performer, reporter, illustrator and cartoonist. However, unlike most artistic tyros of his time, he preferred to stay far away from the big city. For most of his life, he mailed in his artistic offerings from the rural wilderness of Vancouver, Washington State.

He made his first national cartoon sale at age 16 and began pitching newspaper strips in the late 1920s. A great fan of fantastic tales and the swiftly-developing science fiction genre, Wolverton sold Marco of Mars to the Independent Syndicate of New York in 1929, but the company ultimately declined to publish it, citing its similarity to the popular Buck Rogers feature they sought to compete with!

Equally at home with comedy, horror and adventure/fantasy material, the young creative dynamo adapted easily to the notion of superheroes, and began working extensively in the new medium of comic books, generating such gems as Spacehawks and Disk-Eyes the Detective for Circus Comics, plus a brace of minor hits and unabashed classics. These included Rockman – Underground Secret Agent for Timely/Marvel’s USA Comics and today’s star: the grimly imaginative (but unrelated) cosmic avenger Spacehawk for Target Comics. Apparently tireless and blessed with unlimited imagination, Wolverton also produced a seemingly endless supply of comedic features, ranging from extended series (like Superman/sports parody Powerhouse Pepper) to double-, single- and half-page gag fillers such as Bedtime Bunk, Culture Quickie and Bedtime Banter.

In 1946, he notoriously won a national competition held by Al Capp – of Li’l Abner fame – to visualise Lena the Hyena, that strip’s “ugliest woman in the world”, and, during the space and horror boom the 1950s, crafted some of the most imaginative short stories comics have ever seen. He also worked for Mad Magazine with staggering effect…

Wolverton became a member of the Radio Church of God in 1941. The organisation was devised by Herbert W. Armstrong: a prototype televangelist of a then-burgeoning Christian fundamentalist movement. In 1956, Wolverton illustrated the founder’s pamphlet 1975 in Prophecy and two years later produced a stunning illustrative interpretation of The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last. Soon after, he began writing and drawing an illustrated 6-volume adaptation of the Old Testament. Entitled The Bible Story: The Story of Man, it was serialised in the sect’s journal The Plain Truth. His association with the Radio Church of God endured for the rest of his life. In 1973 the artist returned to comic books, illustrating more of his memorably comedic grotesques for DC’s Plop!, before suffering a stroke the next year. Basil Wolverton died on December 31st 1978.

His greatest triumph is undoubtedly the WWII-adjacent adventures of a mysterious, solitary steely-jawed he-man known only as Spacehawk. The strip debuted in the June 1940 issue of Target Comics (volume 1, #5) and ran for 30 issues until Wolverton left the company. With his origins only hinted at, Spacehawk initially prowled the star-lanes and outer reaches: a grim, relentless avenger of the persecuted innocent,. The stark, boldly exaggerated but meticulous art served only to highlight the singular appearance of the alien monstrosities and landscapes envisaged by Wolverton and defeated by “the Superhuman Enemy of Crime”. Some kids had nightmares after reading Spacehawk, and many parents wrote complaining letters because of it…

This epic assemblage gathers all those stunning stories in one breathtaking curated outburst, and begins by sharing pertinent background and context regarding the artist and his works in Monte (his son and also a cartoonist) Wolverton’s Introduction “The Lone Wolf of Void”. The heir also provided – from his father’s notes – individual episode names for those yarns that were originally untitled. Thereafter, the entire Spacehawk oeuvre unfolds in blistering force and all its delightfully overwhelming mechanistic totality.

Wolverton senior was clearly an avid follower of the nascent new genre of “scienti-fiction” in the grand Hugo Gernsback manner and his vivid, vibrant pages were bursting with highbrow concepts and images built from Functional Utilitarianism, with every panel crumbling under the weight of assorted tubes or tentacles, rockets, rays and bolts (both kinds) in service to the tale of a solitary, implacable dispenser of pitiless cosmic justice and retribution…

Just remember, this is not “retro”. This is what the term retro is referring to…

In the first episode (from Target Comics volume 1 #5 and cover-dated June 1940) the living enigma prowls the life-packed solar system in an era of constant interplanetary travel and commerce, albeit one plagued by petty regional tyrants and interworld piracy. With nothing but veiled hints of his coming from another system – if not galaxy – Spacehawk was simply a superior being resolved to do good and punish evil: a physical and mental marvel, brilliant beyond measure, and armed with psionic powers and an arsenal of astounding devices he set about righting wrongs wherever he found them. Yes: Doc Savage in space…

Delivered in an eye-popping and baroque style of fantastic imagination, introductory exploit ‘Spacehawk and the Creeping Death from Neptune’ sees the pitiless, mysteriously masked nemesis of evil drawn to the eighth planet to rescue kidnapped humans used as test subjects for sadistic Martian pirate Gorvak who is employing protoplasmic horrors to kill his victims.

With those monsters safely despatched, the still-faceless hero returned in vol. 1 #6 for ‘Spacehawk and the Lost Tribe of Mercury’ to save – through forced evolution – peaceful sea-dwellers on Venus as predatory Mercurians Rogg & Grebo ravage the water-world as they seek to locate, rob and kill refugees from their own fiery world, before #7 details how a beautiful Earth woman unmasks him. Whilst battling bizarre bandits Jark & Zork in ‘Spacehawk and the Perilous Planetoid Trap’ he strives to crush ruthless pirates using ballistic asteroids and gravity waves to plunder stellar shipping, but almost abandons his mission thanks to the charms of a newly-liberated slave girl…

Back to his stolid dedicated self, the Lone Wolf then battles cunning scavengers from his past and another star-system in ‘Spacehawk and the Vulture Men from the Void’ and displays his undercover credentials when he is dragged into the cesspit morass of politics in #9’s ‘Spacehawk and Mayhem at the Martian Election’. In Target Comics #10 ‘Spacehawk and the Pirate City on Venus’ – wherein the vigilante saves interplanetary police from a cosmic corsair citadel by extraordinary trans-species brain surgery – is supplemented by prose vignette ‘The Scratches of Doom – A Spacehawk Adventure’ as the astral avenger uses ancient detective methods to ferret out a cunning but short-sighted murderer. TC #11 finds him back in all his visual magnificence for ‘Spacehawk and the Pirates of Saturn’ as his relentless pursuit of evil briefly reunites him with Galar: another of his own race of supermen but one who has drifted from the path of virtue and valour…

Target #12 (January 1941) ended the first volume by introducing some recurring friends and foes as ‘Spacehawk and the Treachery of Smebar’ sees the hero save Neptune’s Noomite Queen Haba from her lustful, ambitious and usurping chief minister – who sees himself as a potential global overlord – whilst volume 2 #1 sees the Lone Wolf still in the vicinity and the focus of ‘Droon’s Plot Against Spacehawk’. However, the promise of Haba’s vile science advisor to make the enigmatic hero more tractable and amenable to her amorous overtures is foiled in vol. 2 #2’s ‘Spacehawk and the Master Plan of Droon’… just in time for a radical course correction…

Redefined by the designation Defender of America, the remaining Spacehawk tales are all Earth-based, with his mighty mentality and staggering superscience aimed at a contemporary, immediate and local threat. When the US entered the war on December 8th 1941, Wolverton’s editors compelled him to shift his story perspectives. Thus the space ranger took up a close orbit and faced Axis powers Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan (but not Italy) who gave the stellar Sentinel far more trouble than all the devils in the rest of the solar system, thereby further diluting the eerie power of the series but never the astounding illustration. By the end of 1942 (Target Comics volume 3, #10) Wolverton and his interplanetary masterpiece were gone, and headed for less hostile climes and more appreciative bosses.

In the first Terran trial he rapidly ends a Japanese scheme to bomb American cities from an artificial asteroid before vol. 2 #3’s ‘Spacehawk and the Undersea Tank’ sees Democracy’s newest champion spectacularly scuttling a city-sized subsea moving fortress constructed to sink US shipping and destroy the Panama Canal…

Wolverton’s wicked gift for caricature increasingly came into play from now on, and in Spacehawk and the Submarine Attack’ the alien Übermensch abducts grotesque and clownish German dictator “Moosler” and gives him a terrifying taste of battlefield conditions before deploying his mentally-controlled robotmen to wreck another marine masterplan in vol 2. #5’s ‘Spacehawk and the German Submarine Carrier’, after which ‘Spacehawk and the German Snow Airbase’ details how a hidden arctic airfield is destroyed and all its bombers shot down by the Stratospheric Sentinel…

An earthly archenemy manifests next as a sinister mercenary scientist steals many of the Lone Wolf’s secrets (including the ubiquitous and awesome antigravity principles) after our hero is ambushed and tortured in ‘Dr. Gore’s Hidden Lab’. Although his escape is prompt and vengeance terrible, the miscreant is as hard to kill as a cockroach and promptly retaliates in sequel saga ‘Dr. Gore’s Ant-Gravity Villainy’. Thankfully, the hero has enlisted a willing extraterrestrial sidekick in mighty minion Dork, a gleeful but so-homely comedic collaborator set on smashing bad guys and a being happy to maroon Gore on barren Mars once Spacehawk has done with him…

Target Comics vol, 2 #9 introduces another manic and hilariously libellous faux Fuhrer as ‘Nitwitler’s Secret Stratosphere Ships’ finds Spacehawk saving Canada from high-altitude bombardment before ‘Spacehawk and the Disks of Death’ sees him perform similar service, saving San Franciso from propaganda inundation and deadly skyscraper-scything missiles…

A change of pace in v2 #11 has the hero and Dork heading out west to stop subversive Bund leader Herman Vogel building a Fifth Column army in ‘Spacehawk and the Bullet Ship …That Brought Vengeance from the Void’ before the final issue of volume 2 (cover-dated February 1942) explores ‘Spacehawk and the Return of Dr. Gore’. Now, having escaped Mars, the tyrannical technologist wreaks vengeance on American infrastructure using stolen antigravity tricks… until Spacehawk intervenes…

Volume 3 #1 (March 1942) ramps up the patriotic fervour as ‘Spacehawk and the Battling Bullet Ships’ details the Deep Space Duo’s demolition of enemy planes bombing Iceland, before again going undercover to ferret out saboteurs wrecking dam construction in ‘Spacehawk and the Case of the Black Avenger’. Then, madder than ever, Dr. Gore resurfaces in ‘Spacehawk and the Blazing Death’ using an artificial storm cloud to blast US ships after which a turning point is reached…

Vowing to use his science directly for the war effort, the alien ace joins government think tanks in ‘Spacehawk and his Super Divebomber’ (Target vol. 3 #4) building revolutionary aircraft and crushing the wave of saboteurs resolved to destroy them. However, he is soon called away to wipe out a fiendish Japanese super-sub squadron in 5 ‘Spacehawk and the Devil Divers of the Deep’ before going on to Alaska in vol.3 #6 and destroying an invasion force in ‘Spacehawk and the Secret Japanese Base’…

‘Spacehawk and the Mystery of the Green Faces’ finds him recalled to Washington DC to cure a diabolical bio-weapon that turns sufferers into emerald-hued raving fascists. After defeating the archenemy behind the threat he then delves into creating his own weapon of mass destruction in ‘Spacehawk and the Supersonic Siren’…

The foe of fascism was happy to employ their own methodology against them with both bio-weapons and ultimate destruction devices leaping off his drawing board and into action, but he also fought an occasional small battle. In TC v3 #9, Spacehawk and the Case of The Missing Tires’ delivers a wry, light-hearted romp as the Lone Wolf grudgingly helps a feisty motorist made victim of tyre thieves (a grievous and growing felony in those times of war-effort rationing) and finds himself in over his head as left-leaning actress Diana Drean refuses to be patronised, assisted, sidelined or assassinated by the tyre-stealing gangsters…

Sadly that delightful switch in tone was never built upon as vol 3 #10 (December 1942) presented one final exploit in ‘Spacehawk and the Secret Submarine Fuel Depot’ with the space ace uncovering an enemy U-Boat installation in neutral Mexico and taking appropriate definitive action….

And that was that.

Changing times and tastes meant that Wolverton never returned to dramatic serial storytelling but instead went on to master anthological short graphic fiction – especially in the booming post-war fields of horror and science fiction (so stay tuned for those in days to come). This titanic tome also abruptly ends, delivering one last treat in a sublimely pencilled ‘Spacehawk cover sketch’ plus his only front of house appearance in the ‘Spacehawk cover’ on Traget Comic vol. 1 7…

Finally achieving the measure of popular recognition he always deserved, Basil Wolverton was a truly unique visionary and graphic pathfinder who inspired hundreds and entertained millions. This compendium from 2012 gathers all those so-Retro sidereal sagas and is an unmissable example of a creator given latitude and permission to be himself. If you love outré wonder and breathless, breakneck joy in motion, this is a treat you must not miss…
© 2012 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All contents © 2012 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. unless otherwise noted. “The Lone Wolf of the Void” © 2012 Monte Wolverton. All rights reserved.

Today in 1897 pioneering and groundbreaking Russo-Serbian cartoonist Ivan Sensin was born, with Barney Google creator Fred Lasswell arriving in 1916; Archie Comics head honcho Richard Goldwater, coming along in 1936 and Underground legend S. Clay Wilson (Zap Comix, The Checkered Demon) in1941. Italian comics creator Anna Brandoli (Cuba 42, La Strega) was born in 1945 and French artist/raconteur Thierry “Ted” Benoit (Bingo Bongo et son Combo Congolais, Ray Banana, Blake and Mortimer) followed in 1947: as did cartoonist Ray Billingsley (Lookin’ Fine, Curtis) in 1957 and artist/letterer Galen Showman in 1972.

Today in 1887 journalist, playwright, social reformer and Punch co-founder Henry Mayhew died. In 1982 Canadian adventure strip god Hal Foster (Tarzan, Prince Valiant) died too.

Today in 2007 The United States Postal Service introduced Marvel superhero postage stamps.

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Captain America: Hail Hydra!


By Jonathan Maberry, Sergio Cariello, Tom Scioli, Phil Winslade, Kyle Hotz & Graham Nolan, Chris Sotomayor, Bill Crabtree, Chris Chuckry, Dan Brown, Ian Hannin & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: ?978-0-7851-5127-2 (TPB) ?978-1-30236-799-2 (Digital Edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Everything changed for a little company called Marvel when, in issue #4 of The Avengers, the assembled heroes found the body of US Army Private Steve Rogers floating in a block of ice and consequently resurrected World War II hero Captain America. With this act bridging the years to Timely/Atlas Comics (which had in fact begun with the revival of Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four #4), Marvel instantly acquired a comforting longevity and potential-packed pre-history: lending an enticing sense of mythic continuance to the fledgling company that instantly gave it the same cachet and enduring grandeur of market leader National/DC.

In 2010, after years of conflicting continuity and with a movie in the offing, Marvel updated and sought to rationalise those pivotal events and early future-shocked days in our contemporary world with stunning re-interpretation Captain America: Man Out of Time before repeating the operation with another generational miniseries: this time scripted by Jonathan Maberry tracing the returned Sentinel of Liberty as he fought an extended campaign against a fearsome and undying foe that had begun even before he knew of his enemy’s existence.

Captain America: Hail Hydra! focuses on five crucial skirmishes fought over the Red, White and true Blue hero’s long years of valiant service, wherein he continually – albeit periodically – clashed with an organisation of insidious evil and astounding ambition. Each issue was dutifully depicted by a different artist in a knowing pastiche of the relevant era.

Illustrated by Sergio Cariello and colourist Chris Sotomayor, the action opens in 1944 as Captain America and youthful partner Bucky work behind enemy lines, helping German anti-Nazi freedom fighter Trude Lohn smash a plot by the baroquely bonkers, certifiably mad Doctor Geist, who has discovered how to reanimate the dead. During the apocalyptic struggle against the resurrected corpses of Das Aufertehungs Korps, Cap is injected with Geist’s unholy Lazarus serum and although the triumphant trio succeeded in depriving Hitler of an undead army, they have no idea of the sinister scientist’s greater scheme, the ancient society he actually toils for or what effect his devil drugs will have on America’s greatest warrior…

Tom Scioli pictured the second instalment in vivid tribute to Jack Kirby, wherein more historical flashback hints into the history of the cult that would become Hydra are interspersed with Cap’s first days as an Avenger following his half-century enforced hibernation. After surprisingly reuniting with now geriatric Trude, he and his new comrades clash with Nazi war criminal Baron Strucker and Geist’s unliving army, only to be thoroughly overmatched and outmanoeuvred. The deranged doctor seemed more interested in gathering blood samples from Cap and Thor than winning the battle he had instigated…

A few years later (just after modern day Captain America Sam Wilson got his first flying outfit and was learning to prowl the skies, if you’re counting) the plan becomes clearer when the Sentinel of Liberty, partner in crime-fighting The Falcon, and African Avenger Black Panther face an army of zombies seeking to steal the fabled Elixir of Life from hidden Wakandan repository of knowledge the Grotto of Solomon. Lavishly rendered by Phil Winslade, with colours from Chris Chuckry & Dan Brown, the spectacular clash is also lightly dusted with further glimpses of the order’s historic attempts to gather arcane knowledge and artefacts pertaining to their mysterious goal.

That is ultimately revealed to be the conquest of death and ascension to godhood via their Infinitas Agenda – and the history of Spanish alchemist Dr Garibaldi, who would shepherd the project over hundreds of years…

For a brief period the US government replaced the Star-Spangled Avenger with a less single-minded and independent agent compelling Steve Rogers to create the identity of “The Captain”. Here Kyle Hotz & Dan Brown delineate an adventure from those turbulent times as the unencumbered hero tackled Geist’s latest monstrosity beside Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. to get one step ahead of Hydra. However, after thwarting a terrifying attack on the heart and soul of America, Rogers is forced to consider not only what Geist is truly after but also what his devilish serum might have made of Captain America that fateful night back in 1944…

Graham Nolan and colourist Ian Hannin close the macabre saga in captivating style as Rogers, now Director of the Avengers, and original partner Bucky Barnes (formerly Soviet assassin Winter Soldier and the current Captain America) enlist a garrison of guest-stars as they home in on Strucker and Geist just as their incredible seven-thousand year scheme reaches its shocking culmination. Even the World’s Mightiest Heroes are hard-pressed to overcome the incredible beings Hydra has at long last birthed…

This extended yarn does have some niggling plot flaws but nothing so flagrant that it disrupts the overall flow of action and delicious flavour of nostalgia; so unless you’re a dedicated, nit-picking devotee the striking art and rollicking rollercoaster thrills and chills should carry the day nicely, providing a solid dose of immortal, enticing entertainment

Fast-paced, epic in scope and rocketing from one full-on spectacle to the next, via ingenious but faithful infilling of established canon, makes Captain America: Hail Hydra! a striking saga that will make many fresh fans for Marvel’s eternally evergreen old soldier.
© 2011 Marvel Entertainment LCC and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.

Today in 1890 pioneering strip cartoonist Carl Ed (Harold Teen) was born, sharing the day with Canadian author & illustrator Russ Jones (founding editor and creator of Creepy magazine) in 1942 and cartoonist, fandom founder Steve Stiles in 1943.

The day also saw the loss of two major talents – Lucky Luke creator Morris (Maurice de Bévère) in 2001 and UK adaptions all-star Angus Allan (Stingray, Thunderbirds, Garth, DangerMouse, The Six Million Dollar Man, Logan’s Run, Charlie’s Angels) in 2007.

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Showcase Presents the Unknown Soldier volume 2


By David Michelinie, Bob Haney, Robert Kanigher, Gerry Conway, Gerry Talaoc, Dick Ayers, Joe Kubert, Romeo Tanghal & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4081-3 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Whereas the Britain comics scene has never relinquished its fascination with war stories, in America after the demise of EC Comics in the mid-1950’s and prior to the game-changing Blazing Combat, the only certain place to find controversial, challenging and entertaining American combat comics was DC.

In fact, even whilst Archie Goodwin’s stunning but tragically mis-marketed quartet of classics were waking up a small section of the current generation, the home of Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman was a veritable cornucopia of gritty, intriguing and beautifully illustrated battle tales exploring combat on a variety of fronts and from many differing points of view. Whilst the Vietnam War escalated, 1960s America increasingly endured a Home Front death-struggle pitting deeply-ingrained Establishment societal attitudes against a youth-oriented generation with radical new sensibilities. In response, DC’s (or rather National Periodical Publishing, as it then was) military-themed comic books became even more bold and innovative.

That stellar and challenging creative period came to an end as all strip trends do, but a few of the more impressive and popular features (Sgt. Rock, Haunted Tank, The Losers) survived well into the second superhero revival. One of the most engaging wartime wonders was a compelling espionage thriller starring a faceless, nameless hero perpetually in the right place at the right time, ready, willing and so very able to turn the tide one battle at a time. He was also the one most fitted to survive into DC’s post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity and has returned countless times since…

This second moody monochrome paperback compendium (still criminally unavailable in digital formats, as are far too many non-superhero, horror or sci fi tales) collects the lead feature from issues #189-204 of the truly venerable Star-Spangled War Stories anthology title (cover-dated July 1975 to March 1977) and thereafter #205-226 (May 1977 – April 1979) of the abruptly re-titled Unknown Soldier from when the “Immortal G.I.” finally took over the book in name as well as fact.

One of the very best concepts ever devised for war stories, The Unknown Soldier was actually a spin-off, having debuted as a walk-on in a Sgt. Rock episode by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert in Our Army at War #168 (June 1966, by). By 1970, the top flight illustrator had become group editor of DC’s war titles and was looking for a new cover/lead character to follow the critically acclaimed Enemy Ace who had been summarily bounced to the back of the book after issue #150. This new series would feature a faceless superspy and master-of-disguise whose forebears had proudly fought and died in every American conflict since the birth of the nation…

As previously stated, the strip became one of DC’s most popular and long-lived. With #205 in 1977, Star-Spangled became Unknown Soldier and the comic only folded in 1982 (issue #268) when sales of traditional comic books were in harsh decline. Since then the character has resurfaced a number of times (12 issue miniseries in 1988-9, a 4-part Vertigo tale in 1997 followed by a rebooted ongoing series in 2008, and again in 2011 as part of the company’s “New 52” mega reboot): each iteration moving further and further way from the originating concept. There have been more since, and there will be further bulletins as events warrant…

One intriguing factor of the initial tales is that there was very little internal chronology: for most of the run individual adventures take place anytime and anywhere between the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the surrenders of Germany and Japan. This picaresque approach adds a powerful sense of both timelessness and infallible, unflinching continuity. The Unknown Soldier has always and will always be where he is needed most.

As seen in the previous Showcase volume, his full origin was revealed in Star-Spangled War Stories #154’s ‘I’ll Never Die!’: recounting how two inseparable brothers enlisted in the days before the US was attacked by Japan. They were posted together to the Philippines just as the Japanese began their seemingly unstoppable Pacific Campaign. Overwhelmed by a tidal wave of enemy soldiers one night, the brothers held their jungle posts to the last. When relief came, only one had survived, his face a tattered mess of raw flesh and bone…

As US forces retreated from the islands the shattered survivor was evacuated to a state-side hospital. Refusing medals, honours or retirement, the recuperating warrior dedicated his remaining years to his lost brother Harry and determinedly retrained as a one man-army intelligence unit. His unsalvageable face swathed in bandages, the nameless fighter learned the arts of makeup, disguise and mimicry and perfected a broad arsenal of fighting skills before offering himself to the State Department as an expendable resource who could go anywhere and would do anything…

After a long run of spectacular stories by numerous stellar creators, shifting fashions eventually provoked a shift in emphasis. Relative neophytes David Michelinie & Gerry Talaoc came aboard with Star-Spangled War Stories #183, resulting in an evocative change of direction. The horror boom in comics was at its peak in 1974 and incoming editor Joe Orlando capitalised on that fascination with a few startling modifications. The most controversial was to reveal the Soldier’s grotesque, scar-ravaged face – presumably to draw in monster-hungry fear fans.

In this volume that military macabre mood resumes with Michelinie & Talaoc on fine form and well dug-in as the Man Without a Face is despatched to discover the secrets of the ‘The Cadaver Gap Massacres’ (SSWS #189). What he finds as Nazi officer “Major Wollheim” is a deathcamp where prisoners are guinea pigs for making and testing experimental atrocity weapons… and monsters. Before long he falls foul of a repentant, guilt-riddled scientist whose loyalties ultimately are only to money. The ghastly discoveries of ‘Project: Omega’ lead to a cataclysmic clash with uncontrollable beast-men and the salvation of the only true innocent in the capacious modern hellscape…

Issue #191 delivered ‘Decision at Volstadt’ as the rapidly retreating superspy encounters rabid resistance fighters, merciless “Hitler Youth” zealots and fanatical Lt. Strada, who had already lost far too much to the Immortal G.I. Captured by his Italian nemesis, but unrepentant and resolute, The Soldier takes the ‘Vendetta’ to its inescapable conclusion and the private war ends the only way it could have in SSWS #192. Gerry Conway scripted ‘Save the Children!’ in #193, detailing how a mission to blow up a train carrying generals directing the war on the Eastern Front gets sidetracked and goes horribly wrong after the phantom fighter finds his targets’ families have come along for the ride, before Michelinie returns to investigate ‘The Survival Syndrome’. Here, penetration of a high-tech Nazi communications complex hidden in a French village shows the wary warrior the true cost of a having a quisling in the family…

Star-Spangled War Stories #195 debuted ‘The Deathmasters’ as the Unknown Soldier infiltrates a Nazi assassination school and find himself assigned to murder one of the Allies’ greatest assets in war-torn Odessa in #196’s ‘Target Red’. Conning everyone into believing he’s succeeded, the Soldier then returns to Germany to scotch a scheme to replace key Allied personnel with Nazi doppelgangers. All it costs to quash that project is the life of an innocent girl and a little bit more of his soul…

The war in North Africa is almost over in #197, but the master of disguise is nevertheless dispatched to destroy German anti-tank airplane prototypes in ‘The Henschel Gambit’. Typically though, he is intercepted by Arab raiders led by a US Senator’s maverick daughter and is again forced to choose between his mission and innocent lives. Thereafter, thanks to Nazi counterintelligence manoeuvrings, the Immortal G.I. is tricked into killing the Allies’ top strategist in ‘Traitor!’

Court martialled and sentenced to death, he escapes and retraces his steps, seeking a witness to his innocence in #199’s ‘The Crime of Sgt. Schepke’. En route, he encounters a Maquis (French & Belgian resistance fighters) legend – and one of DC’s earliest women to carry their own solo feature. Mlle Marie is less than welcoming and soon events spiral completely beyond his control. The Faceless Man has no choice but to sacrifice her entire resistance unit to destroy a new superweapon in the concluding chapter ‘Deathride’, and although Marie honours her promise and clears his name, she also swears to kill him for expending her comrades like pawns…

The scene switches to New York City for SSWS #201 as the Soldier engages in ‘The Back-Alley War’: infiltrating a gang of German-American anti-war isolationists in search of saboteurs and spies, and he’s in Italy for #202, where an outbreak of typhus is holding up the war. His task is to find a downed US plane carrying an experimental counter serum, but his infiltration of a Nazi hospital seems to indicate that neither side has found ‘The Cure’…

Issue #203 sees the master-spy reduced to teaching arrogant, unstable English aristocrat-with-royal-connections Richard Ebbington all the tricks of his deadly craft, only to be subsequently – and far too late – ordered by the top brass to stop his unstable pupil from fulfilling his first murder mission. Somebody up top forgot to tell somebody in the middle that Ebbington’s target is a German general planning to assassinate Hitler, so the Unknown Soldier is forced to stop his protégé’s ‘Curtain Call’…

After 36 years of gloriously variegated publication, Star-Spangled War Stories ended with #204 as prior scripter Bob Haney and veteran war artist Dick Ayers joined Talaoc for ‘The Unknown Soldier Must Die!’, wherein old ally Chat Noir (an African-American sergeant who rejected institutionalised racism and deserted the US Army to join the French Resistance) is captured by the Nazis and brainwashed into becoming their secret weapon against the Immortal G.I. Cover-dated May 1977 the first Unknown Soldier (#205) places history’s lynchpin at the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944. Whilst expanding on his origins ‘Legends Never Die!’ also proves once more that the right man in the right place at the right time can change the course of destiny. ‘Glory Gambit!’ then begins an extended campaign as Adolf Hitler himself unleashes the Wehrmacht’s answer to the Unknown Soldier. His Black Knight is Count Klaus von Stauffen: the chess-obsessed SS officer who captured and brainwashed Chat Noir. The fascist fanatic is now making his way into the heart of England with but one mission…

The hunt for the merciless master of disguise and doom continues throughout London in #207’s ‘Kill the King!’, before the scene again shifts, dumping the Soldier in North Africa in 1942 to rehabilitate a trio of deserters in ‘Coward, Take my Hand!’ US #209 takes us to the Pacific in 1945 and a personal duel with a Japanese prison camp torturer whose attempts to break the scarred superspy result in defeat, death and ‘Tattered Glory!’ on a blood-drenched rock called Iwo Jima…

In US #210 the Man of Many Faces invades a Nazi fortress by impersonating a specialist interrogator. He has been ordered to rescue or kill America’s most important agent in ‘Sparrows Can’t Sing!’, after which issue #211 reprints a classic Haney & Kubert tale from Star-Spangled War Stories #159 wherein George S. Patton became the thinly-veiled basis for ‘Man of War’, with the Combat Chameleon dispatched to investigate a charismatic general who had pushed his own troops to the brink of mutiny…

An experimental surgical operation traps the G.I. behind the wrong face on the wrong side of the German lines in #212, where he encounters Hitler’s fanatical schoolboy “Werewolf” killer-elite and becomes in turn ‘The Traitor in Wolf’s Clothing!’ The shocking theme was further explored in #213 as The Soldier must extract from the Fatherland the son of a scientist vital to the war effort. Sadly, ‘The Ten-Year-Old Secret Weapon!’ has fully embraced every facet of life in the Hitler Youth and fights his would-be rescuer every step of the way…

Kanigher wrote and Romeo Tanghal inked the Ayers illustrated ‘Deadly Reunion!’ of #214 as, in the guise of an elderly Jew, The Soldier allows himself to be taken to a deathcamp in order to liberate high profile captive Mlle. Marie. She isn’t at all grateful…

Haney, Ayers & Talaoc reunite in #215 as the faceless fury replaces a sailor in the merchant marine to expose a traitor selling out convoy freighters to U-boats haunting ‘The Savage Sea!’, after which ‘Taps at Arlington!’ (art by Ayers & Tanghal) sees Chat Noir confront American racism whilst the Soldier exposes a spy painting a bullseye on the backs of troops in Italy…

In #217 the Faceless Man becomes Hermann Goering’s chief supplier of stolen paintings in ‘Dictators Never Sleep!’ The plan was to give the infamous art lover a Rembrandt primed to explode when Hitler stood in front of it; and it would have worked if Klaus von Stauffen hadn’t been present. With Black Knight hot on his heels, the frustrated phantom warrior is harried across Europe in ‘The Unknown Soldier Must Die!’, only stopping briefly to destroy a V2 base and have another shot at Der Fuehrer before experiencing ‘Slaughter in Hell!’ (inked by Tanghal) as von Stauffen turns the tables by impersonating his archfoe in a bid to murder Winston Churchill and General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

He would have succeeded if not for the Immortal G.I.’s strategic cunning…

US #220 by Haney, Ayers &Talaoc sees the Soldier organise a band of renegades and maverick warriors from many Nazi-controlled countries into a daring-but-doomed foreign legion dubbed ‘The Rubber Band Heroes’, after which ‘Sunset for a Samurai!’ finds him on a suicide mission to the heart of Japan to save an undercover agent crucial to the American forces. Unknown Soldier #222 promised ‘No Exit from Stalag 19!’ when the unsung hero was ordered to extract a military boffin from the heart of Fortress Europa in a wryly trenchant riff on The Bridge on the River Kwai, whilst in #223, ‘Mission: Incredible!’ (Ayers & Tanghal) details the convoluted course of a plan to destroy a Heavy Water plant in the snow-capped mountains of Norway.

The Soldier and Chat Noir reunited in #224 to investigate a dead zone where Allied bombers vanish without trace, only to find barbaric military madness running wild in ‘Welcome to Valhalla!’, after which the Immortal G.I. must arrest a charismatic general for treason in ‘Four Stars to Armageddon!’ (Ayers & Talaoc) before uncovering the astounding truth behind his supposed betrayals. The military madness lurches to a bloody halt with #226 as Chat Noir and his faceless comrade do what entire flotillas of Navy vessels could not. Using guile and subterfuge they board the Nazi’s unbeatable dreadnaught and ‘Sink the Kronhorst!’…

Dark, powerful, moving and overwhelmingly ingenious, The Unknown Soldier is a magnificent addition to the ranks of extraordinary-but-mortal warriors in an industry far too heavy with implausibly incredible heroes. These tales will appeal to not just comics readers but all fans of adventure fiction.

Perfect for revival in the DC Finest format, I think…
© 1975-1979, 2014 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

Today in 1922, Golden Age artist Joey Cavallo (Crack Comics) was born, sharing the date with cartoonist Al Scaduto (They’ll Do It Every Time, Little Iodine) in 1928; editor K.C. Carlson in 1956, writer/artists Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, Astonishing X-Men, Infinite Crisis, The Invisibles) in 1971 and Brad Walker (Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Manhunter, Birds of Prey, Nightwing) in 1977.

Al Capp & Raeburn van Buren’s Abbie an’ Slats debuted today in 1937 as did Brooke McEldowney’s domestic epic 9 Chickweed Lane strip in 1993. The date also saw the loss of two staggering talents: Argentinian illustrator Jorge Zaffino (Nippur de Lagash, Winter World, Terror Inc., The Punisher, Shadowline saga) in 2002 and Sam Glanzman (Kona, The Haunted Tank, USS Stevens, Hercules, The Lonely War of Willy Schultz, A Sailor’s Story, Red Range) in 2017.