Category: War Stories

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Captain America Man Out of Time


By Mark Waid, Jorge Molina, Karl Kesel, Scott Hanna, Frank D’Armata, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, George Roussos & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5128-9 (Premiere HC), 978-1-84653-487-4 (TPB) 978-1-3023-7033-6 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

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

In 2010, after years of increasingly conflicting continuity (and with a movie in the offing) mature Marvel tasked fan-favourite writer Mark Waid with updating those pivotal events and early future-shocked days for their contemporary world. Of course that modern milieu was now the year 2000, not the lifetime ago of 1964…

This captivating re-interpretation and updating (collecting 5 issue miniseries Captain America: Man Out of Time as cover-dated November 2010 – April 2011) opens in the dying days of the war as Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes are sent from the European frontline to England and an appointment with doom-laden destiny, before seamlessly segueing into the Sentinel of Liberty’s stunned awakening in tomorrow’s world and a meeting with the initial incarnation of The World’s Mightiest Heroes.

Waid, perfectly complimented by artists Jorge Molina, Karl Kesel & Scott Hanna and colourist Frank D’Armata , wisely leaves the classic adventures largely unchanged, to concentrate on those unseen and missing contemplative moments and the unfolding personal crises confronting the uncomprehending Rogers, which means readers completely unaware of the character’s history and exploits might experience a little confusion in places. However, the narrative, although superficially disjointed, is clear-cut enough to counter this and interested newcomers and casual fans can easily fill in gaps by perusing one of the many available reprint collections, covering the entire period featured here which equates to Avengers #4-8.

In chapter 2 the reeling hero meets former Incredible Hulk sidekick Rick Jones (an absurdly identical double for the at this time Officially Departed Bucky), gets a rapid reality check on his new home – from his new allies and even the President of the United States – and finally accepts that there’s no way home for this Old Soldier.

…Although that’s not strictly true…

Among the many technological miracles his new allies introduce him to is the embryonic science of time-travel, and, even while battling such threats as the Lava Men and Masters of Evil, the unhappy warrior can only think of returning to his proper place and saving his best friend from death…

The old adage “be careful what you wish for” never proves more true than when time-ravaging Kang the Conqueror attacks. After utterly overwhelming the 21st century heroes he casually and disdainfully dispatches the Star Spangled Sentinel back to 1945 where he belongs but apparently no longer fits.

His sense of duty, threat to his new allies and all the unpalatable things he had comfortably forgotten blighting his “Good Old Days” prompt Cap into brilliantly escaping his honeyed time-trap with the aid of other friends made in the World of Tomorrow and the hero returns to the place where he is most needed to once more save the day…

Resolved and ready to tackle his Brave New World Captain America is now ready to carve out a whole new legend…

I’m generally less than sanguine about updates and reboots of classic comics material but I will admit that such things are a necessary evil as years go by, so when the deed is done with sensitivity, respect and imagination (not to mention dynamic, bravura flamboyance) I can only applaud and commend the effort.

Thrilling, superbly entertaining, compelling and genuinely moving, Captain America: Man Out of Time is a wonderful – dare I say “Timeless?” – comics confection that will delight old aficionados, impress new readers and should serve to make many fresh fans for the immortal Star-Spangled Avenger. Moreover, if you are one of those dyed-in-the-wool Old Guard curmudgeons who think there’s nothing better than the real thing, this compilation also offers a full reprint of The Avengers #4 (cover-dated March 1964 and on sale from January 3rd as crafted by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & George Roussos), re-presenting Cap’s original landmark wake-up call that so lastingly informed this modern look back…
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

This propitious day in 1916 Disney animator turned comics writer Don R. Christensen (Magnus, Robot Fighter, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge) was born, joined in 1924 by artist/inker Frank Giacoia (every Marvel or DC comic you’ve ever heard of and newspaper strips Flash Gordon, The Incredible Hulk, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank, Sherlock Holmes, Thorne McBride). In 1947 Neil the Horse creator Katherine Collins (formerly Arnold Alexander Saba, Jr.) arrived. In 1950, comics legend John Byrne (Doomsday + 1, Rog-2000, some other stuff) was born, followed by writer Christie Marx (Sisterhood of Steel, Red Sonja, Conan) in 1952 and multitasker Joe Zabel (American Splendor, The Trespassers, Real Stuff) in 1953.

The date signifies the deaths of strip giant Warren Tufts (Casey Ruggles, Lance) in 1982; scripter Nicholas P. Dallis (Apartment 3-G, Rex Morgan, M.D.) in 1991 and in 2017 both Turkish comics creator Galip Tekin (Tuhaf Öyküler, P?’ya Mektuplar) and Argentinean cartoonist, caricaturist and humourist Juan Carlos Colombres AKA Landrú.

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DC Finest: Wonder Woman – Introducing Wonder Woman


By William Moulton Marston, Harry G. Peter, Alice Marble, Sheldon Moldoff, Frank Godwin, Frank Harry & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7995-033-6-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Wonder Woman debuted as a special feature in All Star Comics #8, cover-dated December 1941, but actually on sale from October 21st of that year). The book was home to top-sellers the Justice Society of America and where she would immediately be invited to join the team, albeit only as “club secretary”…

Officially, she was conceived by psychologist/polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston and realised and unilaterally illustrated by Harry G. Peter, in a calculated attempt to offer girls a positive and forceful role model and, on forward-thinking Editor M.C. Gaines’ part, to sell more funnybooks to girls. Later research has since disclosed much of her genesis was due to Moulton’s wife – attorney turned psychologist Sarah Elizabeth Marston (née Holloway) who had worked with him to create the systolic lie detector process – with further input from their live-in partner Olive Byrne.

Despite all the complexities and confusion surrounding her genesis, Wonder Woman was an instant hit and catapulted from the try-out into her own series as the cover-featured character of new anthology Sensation Comics one month later. The unstoppable Amazon then won her own eponymous supplemental title some months after that, cover-dated summer 1942, as well as a lead position in bumper anthology book Comics Cavalcade (December 1943).

Using nom de plume Charles Moulton, Marston – and his domestic writing partners – scripted all her many and miraculous adventures until his death in 1947, whereupon Robert Kanigher officially took over the writer’s role. Venerable co-creator H.G. Peter illustrated almost every WW tale until his own death in 1958.

Spanning cover-dates December 1941 to June 1943, this compelling full-colour compilation collects her debut from All Star Comics #8, and every iconic adventure plus pertinent extras from Sensation Comics #1-18; Comics Cavalcade #1-2 and Wonder Woman #1-4. Of course, we begin with ASC #8 and ‘Introducing Wonder Woman’…

On a hidden island of immortal super-women, an aviator crashes to Earth. Near death, US Army Intelligence officer Captain Steve Trevor is nursed back to health by young Princess Diana. Fearing her daughter’s growing obsession with the man, fiercely maternal Queen Hippolyte reveals the hidden history of the Amazons to the child. Diana learns how her people – all women – were seduced and betrayed by men in ancient times but rescued by the goddess Aphrodite on condition that they thenceforward isolate themselves from the rest of the world and devoted their eternal lives to becoming ideal, perfect creatures.

Now however, after Trevor explains the perfidious spy plot which accidentally brought him to the Island enclave, divine Athena and Aphrodite appear, ordering Hippolyte to assign an Amazon warrior to return with the American and fight for global freedom and liberty. The Queen diplomatically and democratically declares an open contest to determine the best candidate and – despite being forbidden to participate – Diana enters and wins. Accepting the will of the gods, the worried mother outfits her in the guise of Wonder Woman and sends her out to Man’s World…

A month later the saga continued where the introduction left off. Sensation Comics #1 declared ‘Wonder Woman Comes to America’, seeing the eager immigrant repatriating the recuperating Trevor to the modern World. She also trounces a gang of bank robbers and falls in with a show business swindler. One major innovation here is the newcomer perpetrating identity theft by buying her secret identity. Lovelorn Army nurse Diana Prince elegantly allows the Amazon to be close to Steve by becoming her, enabling the heartsick medic to join her own fiancé in faraway South America. Even with all that going on, there’s still room for Wonder Woman & Trevor to stop a spy ring attempting to use poison gas in a Draft induction centre, before Steve breaks his leg and ends up in hospital again, where “Nurse Prince” is assigned to tend him…

Sensation #2 debuted a deadly enemy agent and recurring villain in ‘The Menace of Dr. Poison’ – a cannily crafted tale which also introduced the most radical comedy sidekicks of the era. The plucky “fun-loving gals” (sweets, dancing and spanking mostly) of the Holliday College for Women and their chocolate-gorging Beeta Lamda sorority-chief Etta Candy would find trouble and save the day in equal proportions for years to come: constantly demonstrating Diana’s – and Marston’s – philosophical contention that girls, with correct encouragement, could accomplish anything that men could…

With War raging and in a military setting, espionage and sabotage were inescapable plot devices. ‘A Spy in the Office’ sees Diana arranging a transfer to the office of General Darnel as his secretary so she can keep a closer eye on finally fit Steve. She isn’t there five minutes before uncovering a ring of undercover infiltrators amongst the typing pool and saving her man from assassination. Unlike most comic stars of the period, Wonder Woman tales sought tight continuity. ‘School for Spies’ in #4 shows some of those fallen girls murdered by way of introducing inventive genius/Nazi master manipulator Baroness Paula von Gunther. She employs psychological ploys to enslave impressionable women to her will and sets otherwise decent Americans against their homeland. Even Diana succumbs to her machinations – until Steve and the Holliday Girls crash in…

America’s newest submarine is saved from destruction and cunning terrorists brought to book in ‘Wonder Woman versus the Saboteurs’ before SC #6 has Diana accepting a ‘Summons to Paradise’ to battle her immortal sisters in Kanga-riding duels before receiving her greatest weapon: an unbreakable Lasso of Truth which compels and controls anyone who falls within its golden coils. It proves quite handy when Paula escapes prison and uses an invisibility formula to wreak havoc on US coastal defences…

‘The Milk Swindle’ is pure 1940s social advocacy drama, with homegrown racketeers and Nazi von Gunther joining forces to seize control of America’s milk supply with the incredibly long-sighted intention of weakening the bones of the country’s next generation of soldiers. Closely following in Sensation #8 is ‘Department Store Perfidy’ wherein the Perfect Princess goes undercover in the monolithic Bullfinch emporium to win better working conditions and fair pay for the girls employed there. There was a plethora of surprises in #9 too, with ‘The Return of Diana Prince’ from South America. Now Mrs Diana White, the young mother needs her job and identity back until her inventor husband can sell his latest invention to the US army. Luckily, Wonder Woman and an obliging gang of saboteurs can expedite matters…

The next major landmark was the launch of the Amazon’s solo title. The first quarterly Wonder Woman opens here with twinned text features ‘Introducing Miss Alice Marble as Associate Editor of Wonder Woman’ before wordy primer ‘Wonder Woman: Who is She?’ focuses on the Amazon’s pantheon of godly patrons after which comic action commences with a greatly expanded revision of her first appearance in ‘The Origin of Wonder Woman’. This precedes a beguiling mystery tale as in ‘Wonder Woman Goes to the Circus!’ Diana solves the bizarre serial murders of the show’s elephants before Paula von Gunther rears her shapely head again in ‘Wonder Woman versus the Spy Ring’ wherein the loss of the Golden Lasso almost causes Diana’s demise and ultimate defeat of the US Army…

In ‘The Greatest Feat of Daring in Human History!’ Diana and Etta head for Texas, only to become embroiled in a sinister scheme involving Latin Lotharios, lady bullfighters, lethal spies and a Nazi attempt to conquer Mexico, after which the inaugural issue ends with new feature Wonder Women of History wherein a biography of ‘Florence Nightingale, Angel of the Crimea’ is supplied by Miss Marble & Sheldon Moldoff.

Over in Sensation Comics #10 (October 1942) ‘The Railroad Plot’ celebrates Steve & Wonder Woman’s first anniversary by exposing a sinister plan devised by Japanese and German agents to blow up New York City using the labyrinth of subway tunnels under the metropolis, after which ‘Mission to Planet Eros’ launches the Princess’ long line of cosmic fantasy exploits. The Queen of Venus requests Diana’s aid in saving an entire planetary civilisation from gender inequality and total breakdown, before ‘America’s Guardian Angel’ (Sensation #12) sees the Warrior Princess accepting an offer to play herself in a patriotic Hollywood movie, only to find production infiltrated by insidious Paula and her latest gang of slave-girls…

Preceded by prose/photo introduction ‘Boys and Girls! Here are the Men Behind Wonder Woman!’ and an illustrated prose piece about ‘The Spirit of War’, Wonder Woman #2 comprises a 4-chapter epic introducing the Amazon’s greatest enemy in ‘Mars, the God of War’. He apparently instigated World War from his HQ on the distant red planet but chafes at the lack of progress since Wonder Woman entered the fray on the side of the peace-loving allies. He now opts for direct action, no longer trusting his earthly pawns Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito…

When Steve goes missing, Diana allows herself to be captured and ferried to Mars. Here she starts disrupting the efficient working of the war-god’s regime and fomenting unrest amongst the slave population, before rescuing Steve and heading home to Earth. ‘The Earl of Greed’, one of Mars’ trio of trusted subordinates, takes centre stage for the second chapter, with orders to recapture Steve and Diana at all costs. As the duo attempt to infiltrate Berlin, Greed uses his influence on Hitler to surreptitiously redirect the German war effort, using Gestapo forces to steal all the USA’s gold reserves. With Steve gravely injured, the Amazon returns to America and whilst her paramour heals, uncovers and foils the Ethereal Earl’s machinations to prevent much-needed operating funds from reaching Holliday College, where young girls learn to be independent free-thinkers. With Greed thwarted, Mars dispatches ‘The Duke of Deception’ to Earth, where the spindly phantom impersonates Wonder Woman and frames her for murder. Easily escaping from prison, the Princess of Power not only clears her name but also finds time to foil a Deception-inspired invasion of Hawaii, leaving only ‘The Count of Conquest’ free to carry out Mars’ orders.

His scheme is simple: through personal puppet Mussolini, the Count tries to brutalise and physically overpower the Amazing Amazon with a savagely bestial giant boxing champion, even as Italian Lothario Count Crafti attempts to woo, seduce and suborn her. The latter’s wiles actually work, too, but capturing and keeping her are two different things entirely, and after breaking free on the Red Planet, Diana delivers a devastating blow to Mars’ war effort…

This issue ends with a sparkling double page patriotic plea when ‘Wonder Woman Campaigns for War Bonds’ after which Marble & Moldoff detail another historical all-star in ‘Clara Barton, Angel of the Battlefield’.

Cover-dated January 1943, Sensation Comics #13 claims ‘Wonder Woman is Dead’ as a corpse wearing her uniform is discovered, and astounded Diana Prince discovers her alter ego’s clothes and the irreplaceable magic lasso are missing. The trail leads to a diabolical spy-ring working out of Darnell’s office and explosive confrontation in a bowling alley, before ‘The Story of Fir Balsam’ in #14 delivers a seasonal saga concerning lost children, an abused mother and escaped German aviators. All is happily resolved around a lonely pine tree, after which the Immortal Warrior celebrated her next publishing milestone…

The 1938 debut of Superman propelled National Comics to the forefront of their fledgling industry and a year later the company was licensed to produce a commemorative comicbook celebrating the opening of the New York World’s Fair. The Man of Tomorrow prominently featured on the appropriately titled New York World’s Fair Comics among such four-colour stars as Zatara, Butch the Pup, Gingersnap and The Sandman. In 1940, another abundant premium emerged with Batman and Robin augmenting the roster, and the publishers felt they had an item and format worth pursuing commercially.

The spectacular card-cover 96-page anthologies had been a huge hit and convinced editors that an over-sized anthology of their pantheon of characters, with Superman & Batman prominently featured, was a worthwhile proposition. Thus, format was retained for a wholly company-owned, quarterly high-end package, retailing for the then-hefty price of 15¢. Launched as World’s Best Comics #1 in Spring 1941, the book morphed into World’s Finest Comics from #2, beginning a stellar 45-year run which only ended as part of the massive decluttering exercise that was Crisis on Infinite Earths. During the Golden Age, however, it remained a big blockbuster bonanza of strips to entice and delight readers…

At this time National/DC was in an editorially-independent business relationship with Max Gaines that involved shared and cross promotion and distribution for the comicbooks released by his own outfit All-American Publications. Although technically competitors if not quite rivals, the deal included shared logos and advertising and even combining both companies’ top characters in the groundbreaking All Star Comics as the Justice Society of America.

However, by 1942 relations between the companies were increasingly strained – and would culminate in 1946 with DC buying out Gaines, who used the money to start EC Comics.

All-American thus decided to create its own analogue to World’s Finest, featuring only AA characters. The outsized result was Comics Cavalcade. Cover-dated December 1942-January 1943 – and following Frank Harry’s gloriously star-studded cover to Comic Cavalcade #1 – Wonder Woman’s fourth regular star slot began with the superstar solving the ‘Mystery of the House of the Seven Gables’ (as ever the fruits of “Marston” & Peter’s fevered imaginations) wherein Diana Prince stumbles upon a band of Nazi spies. All too soon, the Amazon needs the help of some plucky youngsters to quash the submarine-sabotaging brutes…

Wonder Woman #3 then dedicates its entirety to the return of an old foe; commencing with ‘A Spy on Paradise Island’ as undergrads of Holliday College for Women – including Etta Candy – are initiated into some pretty wild Amazon rites on Paradise Island. Sadly, the revels inadvertently allow an infiltrator to gain access and pave the way for an invasion by Japanese troops. Naturally Diana and the Amazons prevail on the day, but the exposed sinister mind behind it all strikes back in ‘The Devilish Devices of Baroness Paula von Gunther’.

Whilst alert Amazons build a women’s prison to known as “Reform Island”, Wonder Woman, acting upon information received by the new inmates, trails Paula and is in time to crush her latest scientific terror: an invisibility ray. Then ‘The Secret of Baroness von Gunther’ offers a rare peek at a villain’s motivation when the captured super-spy reveals how her little daughter Gerta has been a Nazi hostage for years and remains a goad to ensure the genius’ total dedication to the German cause. Naturally, the Amazing Amazon resolves to reunite mother and child at all costs, after which ‘Ordeal of Fire’ confirms the Baroness aiding Diana & Steve in dismantling her spy network and slave-ring the Nazis had spent so long building in America… albeit at great personal and physical cost to the repentant Paula…

Much has been posited about subtexts of bondage and subjugation in Marston’s tales – and, to be frank, there really are lots of scenes with girls tied up, chained or about to be whipped – but I just don’t care what his intentions (subconscious or otherwise) might have been: I’m more impressed with the skilful drama and incredible fantasy elements which are always wonderfully, intriguingly present. I mean, just where does the concept of giant war-kangaroos come from?

This issue closes with another Marble & Moldoff biography lesson this tome focussed on ‘Nurse Edith Cavell’, before Sensation #15’s ‘Victory at Sea’ pits Diana & Steve against lethal saboteurs set on halting military production and working with shady lawyers, whilst in #16 ‘The Masked Menace’ is one of very few stories not illustrated by H.G. Peter, but rather the work of illustrator and strip cartoonist Frank Godwin. He was called in as the crushing workload of an extra 64-page comic book every couple of months piled pressure on WW’s artistic director. The tale sees steadfast Texan Etta Candy ready to elope with slick, sleazy Eurotrash Prince Goulash, until Diana & Steve crash the wedding party to expose spies infiltrating across the Mexican border and a plot to blow up the invaluable Candy family oil-wells…

Inescapable war-fervour was tinged with incredible fantasy in Wonder Woman 4, which opened with ‘Man-Hating Madness!’ wherein a Chinese refugee from a Japanese torture camp reaches America and draws the Amazon into a terrifying scheme to use biological weapons on the American Home Front. Cruel, misogynistic ‘Mole Men of the Underworld’ then kidnap collegiate Holliday Girls sidekicks, before Diana and reformed, recuperated former-Nazi genius Baroness Paula rescue them, liberate a race of female slaves and secure America’s deepest border from further attack.

‘The Rubber Barons’ provide a rousing romp wherein greedy corporate profiteers attempt to hold the Government and war effort to ransom with a new manufacturing process in a high-tech tale involving mind-control, gender role-reversal and behaviour modification, as only a trained and passionate psychologist could promote them, before the drama concludes with ‘The Treachery of Mavis’ as Paula, now fully accepted into Amazon society, is attacked by one of her erstwhile spy-slaves. The traumatised victim then abducts her ex-mistress’ daughter Gerta and Wonder Woman, burdened with responsibility, is compelled to hunt her down. Again the issue closes with a Marble & Moldoff history moment sharing the triumphs of ‘Lillian D. Wald, “The Mother of the East Side”’…

A revered classic from Sensation #17 follows. ‘Riddle of the Talking Lion’ (limned by Godwin) finds Diana Prince visiting an ailing friend and discovering that Sally’s kids have overheard a zoo lion speaking… and revealing strange secrets. Although Steve & Diana dismiss the tall tale, events take a peculiar turn when the beast is subsequently stolen with the trail leading to Egypt and a plot by ambitious Nazi collaborator Princess Yasmini…

Next, following the Frank Harry cover of Comics Cavalcade #2, Wonder Woman’s Godwin illustrated offering ‘Wanted by Hitler, Dead or Alive’ pits her against devious Gestapo agent Fausta Grables before another from Sensation Comics #18 closes out this epic compilation: one last yarn illustrated by superbly gifted classical artist Godwin with Diana saving a lost Mesolithic tribe from despotic theocracy and ancient greed in ‘The Secret City of the Incas’.

Exotic, baroque, beguiling and uniquely exciting, these Golden Age adventures of the World’s Most Famous woman superhero are timeless and pivotal classics in the development of comics books and still provide lashings of fun and thrills for anyone looking for a great nostalgic read.
© 1941, 1942, 1943, 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1883, global cartooning force of nature Rube Goldberg as born, sharing the day with prolific British letterer Ellie DeVille in 1947; artist David Finch (CyberForce, Moon Knight, New Avengers) in 1971 and David Petersen (Mouse Guard) in 1977.

The date saw the deaths of career cartoonist Art Sansom (Chris Welkin-Planeteer, The Born Loser) in 1991 and in 2005 today premiered Tyler Martin’s long-running webcomic Wally and Osborne (formerly On the Rocks).

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The Black Panther Epic Collection volume 1 (1966-1976): Panther’s Rage


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Don McGregor, Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, Billy Graham, Keith Pollard, Klaus Janson, Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson, P. Craig Russell, Pablo Marcos, Dan Green, Bob McLeod,  Jim Mooney & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0190-5 (TPB) 978-1-3024-9321-9 (Digital edition)

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

With democracy under fire and American Civil Rights enduring active and constant attack in the Land of the Free, let’s look back on more progressive times and comics as we all stagger towards the 250th Fourth of July, shall we?

Acclaimed as the first black superhero in US comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first appeared in Fantastic Four. In fact, the cat king actually attacked Marvel’s First Family as part of an extended plan to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father.

T’Challa was also the first black superhero in US comics, debuting in summer 1966. As created by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee, T’Challa, son of T’Chaka, is an African monarch whose deliberately hidden kingdom is the only known source of vibration-absorbing wonder mineral Vibranium. The miraculous alien ore – supposedly derived from a fallen meteor which struck the continent in lost antiquity – is the basis of the country’s immense wealth, enabling it to become one of the wealthiest and most secretive nations on Earth. These riches also allow the young king to radically remake his country, creating a high tech paradise even after he left Africa to fight as one of America’s Avengers.

Since time immemorial Wakanda has been an isolated, utopian wonderland with tribal resources and people safeguarded and led by a human warrior-king deriving cat-like physical advantages from secret ceremonies and a mysterious heart-shaped herb. This has ensured the generational dominance of the nation’s Panther Cult and sacrosanct hereditary Royal Family…

The “Vibranium mound” had guaranteed the nation’s status as a clandestine superpower for centuries, but in modern times increasingly made Wakanda a target for subversion, incursion and even invasion as the world grew ever smaller. This colossal compendium gathers the dynamic debut from Fantastic Four #52-53 (cover-dated July and August 1966) in advance of groundbreaking solo stories from Jungle Action (vol. 2) #6-24, collectively covering September 1973 through November 1976.

Before all that though, the innovative and unforgettable character debuted in ‘The Black Panther!’: an enigmatic African monarch whose secretive kingdom was the only source of a vibration-absorbing alien metal. These mineral riches had enabled him to turn his country into a technological marvel before he lured the FF into his savage super-scientific kingdom as part of an extended plan to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father. After battling the team to a standstill, King T’Challa revealed his tragic origin in ‘The Way it Began..!’, detailing how his father was murdered by marauding sonic science researcher Ulysses Klaw. As the monarch details how he took vengeance and liberated his people, word comes of incredible solidified-sound monsters attacking the region. Klaw has returned at last…

The cataclysmic clash that follows set the scene for the Warrior-Chieftain to guest star with numerous Marvel superstars before breaking out into the wider world, but it would years before he finally won his own solo series…

After roaming around the Marvel Universe, enjoying team-ups and saving Earth on a semi-regular basis as one “Earth’s Mightiest Superheroes”, the summer of 1973 saw the Black Panther finally become a solo star in his own series. Scripter Don McGregor opted to return the King to his people for an ambitious epic of love, death, vengeance and civil war: inventing from whole cloth and Kirby’s throwaway notion of a futuristic jungle the most unique African nation ever seen in comics or anywhere else…

Jungle Action had launched with an October 1972 cover-date: a cheap reprint vehicle for old Atlas-era Tarzan and Sheena knock-offs like Tharn, Jann and Lorna (all equally “…of the Jungle”). The fifth issue (not included here) abruptly changed tack, reprinting a Black Panther-starring saga from Avengers #62 as prelude to the start of T’Challa’s own all new adventures. These open here with # 6 and the eponymous ‘Panther’s Rage’, illustrated by Rich Buckler & Klaus Janson. The story opens with the Panther back in his contradictory homeland, stumbling upon the torture of an elderly farmer. Despite T’Challa’s best efforts, the victim dies in his arms, swearing he never lost faith in king or country…

Learning the attack is the work of brutal rebel leader Erik Killmonger, T’Challa sets all the resources of his inner court circle to finding the monster. With reports of further atrocities mounting, he all but abandons his American lover Monica Lynne to hunt the perpetrators and soon confronts his potential usurper at the potently symbolic Warrior Falls roaring above the life-sustaining River of Grace and Wisdom. The barbarous-seeming giant is not cowed by the Panther’s power or prowess and easily wins the no-holds barred battle that follows…

The initial episode is supplemented by detailed maps of Wakanda (the first fans had ever seen) before JA #7 mobilises ‘Death Regiments Beneath Wakanda’. Barely surviving his clash with Killmonger, T’Challa is nursed back to health by Monica at the Palace, even as hideously disfigured American Horatio displays his skill with snakes and poisons to his friend N’Jadaka. Known to their recruits as Venomm and Erik Killmonger, these rebel leaders plot their next attack resulting in the reptilian insurgent ambushing T’Challa when the king investigates an unsanctioned, illegal mine. This shocking atrocity is being used to siphon off raw Vibranium to pay for Killmonger’s increasingly violent and widespread attacks on the outlying population centres…

Although triumphant this time, T’Challa realises this is a many-layered war: one he might not win…

Whilst the Panther renews his powers through ancient ritual, Jungle Action #8 introduces another super-powered rebel with ‘Malice by Crimson Moonlight’ revealing a spear-wielding wonder woman invading the Royal Palace. Advisor Taku is interrogating Venomm (and gradually making inroads into turning the bitter outcast) when she attacks. Only the power of the Panther saves the servitor and prevents the brutal jailbreak from succeeding…

After maps of the hidden country and detailed plans of ‘Central Wakanda’s Palace Royale’ the saga resumes in #9 with ‘But Now the Spears Are Broken’ (spectacularly illustrated by Gil Kane & Janson) as T’Challa goes in-country to learn the effects of the power struggle on ordinary Wakandans. After saving little boy Kantu from a rhino, the king is made painfully aware that the common people view his foreign woman Monica with as much suspicion as the constantly-raiding insurgents. That feeling even penetrates to the heart of the palace. When advisor Zatama is murdered, Monica is arrested for the crime…

T’Challa is not there to protest or defend her. He has returned to Kantu’s village to investigate strange disappearances, discovering a seeming mass-rising of zombies led by skeletal maniac Baron Macabre. Once more the Great Cat is forced to ignominiously retreat…

Supreme stylist Billy Graham takes over pencilling with #10 as the Black Panther returns to the zombie nest, exposing a cunning charade beneath the deserted village as well as a super-scientific base run by a malignant, mind-warping mutant in ‘King Cadaver is Dead and Living in Wakanda!’

Accompanying the dark drama here are examples of ‘Black Panther Artistry’ – specifically, Kirby’s first designs for the hero back when he was going by provisional title ‘The Coal Tiger’ and Buckler & Janson’s initial depiction of ‘Erik Killmonger’. Due to an extremely unfavourable publishing schedule, Panther’s Rage unfolded with agonising slowness, but the lengthy wait between episodes allowed McGregor the latitude to pick and choose key events, with readers accepting that some stuff was actually occurring between issues.

By JA #11 (September 1974), the civil war had proceeded unchecked and ‘Once You Slay the Dragon!’ sees the Panther and his forces launching the long-awaited counterattack on Killmonger’s base in N’Jadaka Village. The battle is vicious and brief, introducing yet another powered lieutenant in the shape of pitiless high-tech armourer Lord Karnaj. And on the home front, T’Challa finally clears Monica and captures actual Zatama’s killer…

With Killmonger temporarily in retreat, the Panther goes on the offensive, using the rebel’s most inconsequential converts – Tayete and Kazibe – as reluctant guides to follow his ultimate nemesis to his most secret strongholds. Heading into the mountains and fabled Land of Chilling Mists, the Panther discovers a mutagenic temple… the Resurrection Altar. Employed by Killmonger to create his grotesque super-warriors, it is presided over by scientifically-spawned vampire Sombre. When T’Challa confronts them both, he is again overpowered by Erik and left for wolves to devour in ‘Blood Stains on Virgin Snow!’

  1. Craig Russell inked the next chapter as, enduring incomprehensible hardships in sub-arctic conditions, T’Challa perseveres and survives to follow Killmonger into the temperate swamps of Serpent Valley in #13. However, this is only after facing a pack of Wakanda’s white apes. To survive, the Panther must blasphemously ignore the sacred (to many of his subjects) religious aspect of the mighty carnivores and become ‘The God Killer’…

Following a Venomm pin-up, #14 then reveals ‘There Are Serpents Lurking in Paradise’ (inked by Pablo Marcos) as T’Challa clashes once more with Sombre before encountering an affable forest sprite guarding Serpent Valley. Pixie-like Mokadi asks difficult moral questions as T’Challa rushes towards his next battle with Killmonger, making him too late to stop the rebel capturing a legion of the valley’s awesome dinosaurs. The usurper even has time to leave one behind as a lethal parting gift for the embattled, exhausted Wakandan chieftain…

The endgame rapidly approaches in #15 as ‘Thorns in the Flesh, Thorns in the Mind’ (Dan Green inks) finds T’Challa still tracking his foe only to be overcome by Killmonger’s archer assassin Salamander K’Ruel. Beaten and left to be dismembered by a ravenous Pterosaur, T’Challa incredibly overcomes every challenge before – against all odds – staggering back to Monica for another bout of recuperation…

Graham inked his own pencils for the beginning of the end in #16 as T’Challa & Monica’s time of idyllic passion culminates in catastrophe when ‘And All Our Past Decades Have Seen Revolutions!’ reveals Killmonger’s origins as the vast cast converges for one final battle. That comes in #17 as an army of war-trained dinosaurs invades Central Wakanda only to be finally crushed by the Panther’s forces and Wakandan technology. The affair concludes as it began at Warrior Falls, but ‘Of Shadows and Rages’ also holds a shocking twist as the great game of kings is ultimately decided by a player no one considered of any relevance…

With its nuanced emotional interplay, extended scope and fiercely independent supporting cast, Panther’s Rage was a milestone in dramatic comics storytelling but it harboured one last punch in a gripping ‘Epilogue!’(Jungle Action#18, November 1975). Bob McLeod inked McGregor & Graham’s forceful look at the repercussions of conflict, which finds T’Challa and maimed security chief Wakabi targeted by feral woman Madame Slay: Killmonger’s ardent and unsuspected lover who believes her loss can only be assuaged by having her pack of loyal leopards eviscerate the victorious Wakandans…

Cover-dated January 1976, Jungle Action #19 premiered McGregor’s most audacious and ultimately frustrating project, with T’Challa accompanying Monica back to America. The Panther versus the Klan shifted focus from war stories to crime fiction, substituting exotic Africa for America’s poverty-wracked, troubled, still segregated-in-all-but-name Deep South for a head-on collision with centuries of entrenched and endemic racism. Illustrated by Graham & McLeod, ‘Blood and Sacrifices!’ sees Monica back with her family after her sister is murdered. All too soon T’Challa is ferociously battling a gang of purple-hooded killers who appear to have set up in opposition to the ancient but apparently not supremacist enough white-hooded Ku Klux Klan.

Moreover, both sects are determined to conceal the truth of Angela Lynne’s death, but a break comes when bumbling, well-meaning reporter Kevin Trublood stumbles into an attack on the newcomers by the strangely multi-racial Klan sect calling itself The Dragon Circle…

With neither townsfolk nor lawmen offering any welcome, T’Challa faces unbridled hostility and suspicion at every turn. He is even attacked by cops and a mob of citizens when he thwarts a knife attack on Monica. Although Sheriff Roderick Tate makes all the right noises and seems helpful, in ‘They Told Me a Myth I Wanted to Believe’, the Panther opts to pursue his own investigation before being overwhelmed by an army of white-robed Klansmen who tie him to a burning cross and leave him to die…

As Monica and Kevin puzzle out the convoluted web of mysteries, the Panther exerts all his uncanny gifts to escape becoming ‘A Cross Burning Darkly Blackening the Night!’ Later, as he recovers in hospital, Monica’s family, Kevin and Tate review the few verifiable facts of Angela’s demise before patriarch Lloyd Lynne urges T’Challa to stop looking. He only has one daughter left after all…

Nevertheless, when the Panther and Trublood invade and disrupt a Klan rally, Lloyd is right there with them…

With Buckler joining Graham on pencils and Jim Mooney alternating with McCleod on inks, Jungle Action #22 takes a bizarre turn as ‘Death Riders on the Horizon’ explores a Lynne family legend dating back to the formative days of the Klan in 1867 when old Caleb was targeted by the vile “southern knights” and their seemingly supernatural sponsor the Soul Strangler. As Monica listens to the ghastly, appallingly unjust tale, her mind fills in how T’Challa would have acted in such a hopeless situation…

JA #23 (September 1976) was a deadline missed and rapidly-sourced reprint from Daredevil #69 – represented here only by its cover and a Buckler pin-up – before this tantalising tale is unhappily cut short in final published instalment ‘Wind Eagle in Flight’ (McGregor, Buckler & Keith Pollard).The multi-layered, many-stranded plot suddenly expands as the Panther is almost killed by a mysterious new player who flies into the ever more bewildering clash between cops, Klan, Dragon Circle and Lynne family but, before the mystery could move any further, Jungle Action was cancelled…

A wholly different kind of Black Panther and utterly unrelated adventures would reappear two months later, under the auspices of returning creative colossus Jack Kirby and it would be years before the enigma of Angela’s death and the hero’s war against the Klan was resolved…

Bonus extras here include Kirby & Sinnott’s unused original art cover for FF #52, John Romita’s cover for Jungle Action #5; McGregor’s correspondence with then-fan Ralph Macchio and the author’s original working notes, plot synopses and candid contemporary photos of the close-knit creative team. Also on show: original cover art, pages and sketches by Buckler & Janson & Kane; pencils & layouts by Graham & Buckler, plus Steve Gerber’s ‘Jungle Re-Actions’ editorial feature from Jungle Action #7. Capping off the freebie joys are un-inked Buckler story pages that would have been #25…

A truly groundbreaking classic of comics narrative, Don McGregor’s Black Panther is stark, vibrant proof that the superhero genre works best when ambitious and passionate creators are given their head and let loose to get on with it.
© 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2016 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1917 US artist/production wizard Jack Adler was born, followed in 1935 by pioneering African American artist Billy Graham (Luke Cage, Black Panther, Sabre) and writer Mike Baron (Nexus, Badger, Flash, The Punisher) in 1949.

In 1952 today, Australia’s beloved Ginger Meggs strip creator Jimmy Bancks died, and the date also saw the debut of Judd Winick’s Frumpy the Clown strip in 1996 and launch of manga collective CLAMP’s Angelic Layer series in 1999.

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The Phantom – The Complete Series: The Charlton Years Volume Three


By Pat Boyette with Joe Gill & various (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-61345-049-9 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the 17th century a British sailor survived an attack by pirates. Washed ashore on the African coast, he swore on the skull of his murdered father to dedicate his life and that of all his descendants to destroying all pirates and criminals. The Phantom still fights crime and injustice from a base deep in the jungles of Bengali, and throughout the continents is known as the “Ghost Who Walks”. His unchanging appearance and unswerving war against injustice led to his being considered an immortal avenger by the desperate, the credulous and especially the wicked. Down the decades one hero after another has fought and died in an unbroken family line, and the latest wearer of the mask, indistinguishable from the first, continues the never-ending battle.

Lee Falk created the Jungle Justice dealer at the request of his syndicate employers who were already making history, public headway and loads of money with his initial action strip sensation Mandrake the Magician, and although technically not the first ever costumed hero in comics, The Phantom’s astounding popularity wearing later demi-compulsory skintight bodystocking and mask with opaque eye-slits made him the prototype costumed comics paladin. He debuted on February 17th 1936 (Yep! Ninety nonstop years!!) in an extended sequence pitting him against global pirate confederation the Singh Brotherhood. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first two weeks before handing over illustration to artist Ray Moore. A hugely successful Sunday feature began in May 1939. However, for such a long-lived and influential series, in terms of compendia or graphic collections, The Phantom has been very poorly served by the English language market – except in Australia where he has always been accorded the status of a pop culture god.

Numerous companies had begun releasing books of the strips – one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history – but in no systematic or chronological order and never with any sustained success. However, even if only of historical value (or just printed for Australians), surely mysterious Mr. Kit Walker is worthy of a definitive chronological compendium series? Happily, and perhaps because of the tights and mask, his comic book adventures have fared slightly better – especially in recent times. From November 1962 through July 1966, all new adventures were published by West Coast giant Gold Key Comics after which King Features Syndicate dabbled with a comic book line of their biggest stars (including Popeye, Blondie, Flash Gordon, Mandrake and The Phantom) between 1966 and 1967. When they gave up the ghost (Tee. Hee.), plucky dependable, cheap ‘n’ cheerful Charlton Comics were there to pick up the slack…

The Phantom was no stranger to funnybooks, commanding his own title all over the world. Even in the US he had appeared since the Golden Age in titles like Feature Book and Harvey Hits, albeit only as reformatted newspaper strip reprints. Gold Key’s efforts were tailored to a big page and a young readership, a model King Features maintained for their own run, but which was tweaked when Charlton acquired the license. This third full-colour compilation gathers the contents of The Phantom #48-56 (originally released between February 1972 to June 1973) and opens with an historical interview conducted by Spike Barkins and modified here as Introduction ‘Lee Falk: Thoughts About the Ghost Who Walks’, offering insights and a wealth of original art pages by in situ comic book creator Pat Boyette.

San Antonio born on 27th July 1923, Aaron P. Boyette was pure mythical Texan: self-taught in everything that mattered and unstoppably confident. A truly tireless entrepreneur, he was a key component of the development of commercial radio in Texas and a journalist who researched, wrote, broadcast, managed, and presented shows. If you’ve read any Golden Age Green Lantern, it’s everyman hero Alan Scott (who did all the jobs) could have been patterned on Pat…

Boyette forsook burgeoning stardom to become a cryptographer during WWII. Coming out, he performed the same do-it-all trick with early television and later moved into making movies. After anchoring TV news, he abruptly moved sideways again, and took to comics: writing, editing, lettering, painting and illustrating as Pat Boyette, Sam Swell, Alexander Barnes & Bruce Lovelace. Working for Charlton, DC, Warren, Archie, Acclaim; a host of eighties indie outfits and as a self-publisher, Boyette produced newspaper strip Captain Flame; drew prestigious DC title Blackhawk; and found a lasting home at Charlton Comics. He co-created (with Joe Gill) The Peacemaker and assumed creative duties on Pete (“PAM”) Morisi’s Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. As the superhero boom faded, he increasingly contributed to their anthological lines, crafting hundreds of genre short stories for romance, war, western horror, science fiction, fantasy and others. Boyette also handled Charlton’s biggest and most high-profile licensed features including The Six Million Dollar Man; Space: 1999; Korg: 70,000 B.C; Flash Gordon; Jungle Jim and the company’s runaway top seller – The Phantom. Boyette’s work was continually published at Charlton until at least 1986 when the outfit was being wrapped up. He readily adapted to the indie market, with his last work appearing in DC/Paradox Press’s The Big Book of the Weird Wild West in 1998.

Pat Boyette died of oesophageal cancer on January 14th, 2000 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The majority of the bi-monthly yarns here are scripted by Boyette, backed up by Joe Gill in #49, 52 & 54: utterly workmanlike and hitting every expected base. Most issues still offered a pictorial Contents Page teaser, heralding terse, spartan, stripped-back action; mystery yarns with themes and plots readers of newspapers and dyed-in-the-wool superhero fans alike could appreciate equally. There are of mad scientists, aliens, monsters, war criminals, brutal beasts, sadistic potentates, thieves & pirates, misunderstood loners and fringe types aplenty… and so many admiring women… but no costumed villains.

Moreover, with Africa in the contemporary news and “emerging nations” grabbing headlines everywhere, politics was paramount and old standbys of rawhide and grass-kilted natives were vanishing on the pages of the world’s most popular strips jungle strips (Tarzan too!) and as we open with The Phantom #48 and a rare full-length saga, ‘The Man of Destiny!’ follows Bandari prodigy Hokana, sponsored by the Ghost Who Walks to study at western schools and universities. Of course, with learning and independence comes selfish personal desires, decadent ways and lurking Soviet enemies ready to disrupt the Phantom’s Peace but after many struggles, adult Hokana understands the true nature of his greedy fair-weather friends before redeeming himself through right choices and valiant actions…

The anthological format returns with #49 and Joe Gill scripting opening exploit ‘The Hostage!’ Here archaeologist Diana Palmer is kidnapped by vicious ideological guerillas before her masked true love expends herculean effort to rescue her, after which Bandari boy Jelrami is also sent for schooling abroad. His path is just as temptation-tainted, but this time not even the Phantom can save the corrupted child or find ‘A Better Way!’ to save the Bandar people from crime, death and western civilisation…

It’s back in time and into space next as ‘The Intruders!’ reveals how two centuries past an earlier Ghost Who Walked faced and fought off extraterrestrial incursion, whilst #50 opens with a contemporary twist as crash-landed human astronauts are mistaken by barbaric Ashnu tribesmen for ‘The Fire Gods’ of legend. Emboldened by profitable hostages whose safety is by no means assured, they are ready to resist even Phantom force and reputation…

More mundane but no less miraculous, ‘No Gratitude’ sees the masked hero ambushed for his horse and almost murdered by a fleeing felon, before performing a most remarkable act of forgiveness that provokes a life-changing change of heart in his enemy. The issue ends with The Phantom piercing uncharted mountain ranges to face a lost Roman outpost and lead ‘The Lost Legion’ against one last tyrannical Caesar…

With the intro pages sacrificed to increased costs and dwindling page counts, #51 leaps right into ‘A Broken Vow!’ wherein ward-&-heir Rex and his Bandar companion Tomm are targeted by vengeful witchdoctor Leklu. Naturally, his kidnap plot and trained crocodiles prove useless against The Phantom’s way, after which the boys take centre-stage to save an elephant trapped by savage hunters in ‘Captive King’ whilst Diana returns to explore the lost city of Lak and becomes hostage to greedy hunters raiding ‘The Treasure Room’. Of course, they have completely different ideas of what constitutes wealth, but can all agree that the Phantom’s justice is swift, fierce and indisputable…

For #52 Gill scripted opening shot ‘Lost in the Land of the Lost!’ as both Diana and Rex are (briefly) held hostage by fugitive murderer Victor Walsk in the lost temple they have just discovered, after which Boyette places her ‘A World Away!’. Her self-sacrificing gambit to save the Phantom and his Bandar from an insidious poison plot by avaricious billionaire collector finds her dragged all over the world, but not beyond the reach of the Ghost Who Walks. Closing the issue is another Gill-penned piece as new leader Captain Ahmed enacts his ‘Revenge of the Singh Pirates!’ to end four centuries of conflict with cunning plans and the most modern of weapons only to learn his efforts will never be enough…

The next issue starts with ‘The Looters!’ as super-thieves Marcel and Jeanne ambush The hero is his own skull cave and leaving him for dead ferry his greatest treasure back to Paris. They really should have checked his body…

Back in Africa ‘The Phantom meets the… Do Gooders!’ as smug government sociologist Dr. Harrison Pugh attempts to introduce morally-improving consumer capitalism to “poverty-ridden tribes” only to – eventually – learn a painful lesson in practical politicking, after which The Phantom confronts primal force when a rogue bull-elephant ravages the region in ‘The Outlaw’s Herd!’ and sees, as usual, that it’s not the beasts to blame for all the carnage…

In #54 the lead features another plundering of Phantom treasures, setting the Jungle Judge on the trail of British bandit Lord Percy and his lethal assistant Miss Chang. They think they have home advantage thanks to London fogs, but are not the only ‘Killers in the Mist’ (Gill script). With the loot returned Boyette alone handles a magic-tinged war against ‘The Angry Gods!’ after fanatical film director Chico Fitzroy and his apparently-possessed leading lady Regina Shaw despoil ancient temples to make their latest masterpiece, leaving the battered, beguiled Phantom just enough time to ponder the exploits of an ancestor who battled Wazuli an obsessed ‘Master of Evil’ in a war for control of Bandar two centuries past…

Contemporary issues inform the first yarn in The Phantom #55 as our hero discovers illegal oil drilling near Bengali and must take extreme action to prevent ‘The Black Blight!’ destroying every oasis and water source in the area, before notions of romantic mysticism are introduced in ‘A Far-Off Drum!’ Given a hand-drum by the hero that will eternally connect them, Diana soon sees its power when she is abducted in London and the Ghost Who Walks comes running to her side from ten thousand miles away as soon as she taps it…

Closing the penultimate inclusion here is a human interest fable as a trusted member of the Phantom’s inner circle is coerced into raiding Bandar possessions like ‘A Thief in the Night’. Thankfully, the wise hero looks beyond the apparent to track down the true villain behind the betrayals… Gill is back for a dose of ‘Jungle Madness’ in #56 as friendly docile creatures – including wonder horse Hero – become deranged berserkers, much like the Ghost himself once he tracks down the polluters who poisoned the water table for quick profit…

Boyette and his associates often sagely left their time period vague and unconfirmed, allowing creative anachronism to play out in tales that could often be starring earlier Phantoms of the undying dynasty. Here however, the timeframe is solidly identified as 1942 as the incumbent Enforcer of the Jungle Peace deceives a German U-Boat crew on a scouting mission that Hitler had already conquered the primitives through one example of perfect white superiority:‘The Nazi Phantom’. The deception did not last long, but it didn’t have to…

The comic and this classic safari of strip saga closes with another bang of the drum as ‘The Chief Who Went Astray!’ finds Diana and “Kit Walker” enjoying a brief respite in London when the Ghost who Relaxes hears a spectral tympani and dashes back to Bengali and the Bandar. The new impossible task is to shut down illegal mining operations plundering the tribes mineral resources… specifically uranium. It seems that vile Mr Grimek has the full consent of local bigwig Lolomu, but all is not as it seems until the Phantom takes a hand and raises his fists…

Packed throughout with pages of Boyette original art, this is another riotous rip-roaring, nostalgia-drenched delight: stripped down, nonstop rollicking action-adventure which has always been the staple of comics fiction and the Ghost Who Walks. If that sounds like a good time to you, this is a traditional action-fest you must not miss…
The Phantom® © 1972-1973 and 2014 King Features Syndicate, Inc. ® Hearst Holdings, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

In 1916, today saw the birth of Canadian veteran Jack Sparling (Claire Voyant, Six Million Dollar Man, Neutro, Turok, Son of Stone, The Outer Limits, Mission Impossible, Space Man, Challengers of the Unknown, countless genre tales for most US publishers), with New Zealand cartoonist John Kent (Varoomshka) sharing the cake and candles from 1937 onwards.

Cartoonist and author Berkely Breathed (Bloom County, Outland, A Wish For Wings That Work, Flawed Dogs, Mars Needs Moms!) was born today in 1957, as was editor/publisher Gary Carlson (Big Bang Comics, Megaton), with mangaka Gosho Aoyama (Case Closed) arriving in 1963. Horrorists Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Batman: Gotham County Line, Kick-Ass) and Mike Dringenberg (Kelvin Mace, Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters, The Sandman) were both born today in 1965, just like artist Wilfredo Torres (Superman ‘78, The Shadow: Year One Doc Savage: The Spider’s Web) in 1972 and Christopher Hastings (Dr McNinja, Gwenpool) in 1983.

On this date in 1985 Golden Age great Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (Blue Beetle, Sub-Mariner, Blonde Phantom, The Iron Corporal, All-Winners Squad, Nyoka the Jungle Girl, hundreds of genre shorts) died.

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Virginia Woolf’s Orlando – Adapted by Jules Scheele (Orlando: A Graphic Novel Biography)


By Virginia Woolf, adapted by Jules Scheele with Garry Mac (Avery Hill)
ISBN: 978-1-917355-24-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Some stories don’t translate well from prose to other narrative media, whilst others are simply made for it. In October 1928, author Virginia Woolf published a heavily-satirical appraisal of English literature down the ages. However, her fantasy epic was simultaneously a not-even-barely-veiled dramatised account of her ongoing, uproarious relationship with an equally notorious member of the British aristocracy…

Everyone in the know knew Orlando: A Biography detailed Woolf’s affair with British High Society’s supreme scandal-instigator… Vita Sackville-West. You can look all that history stuff up elsewhere or read the concise contextual precis that comes with this glorious, striking adaptation in the Foreword by Musician, Diarist and Modern Dandy Dickon Edwards…

The original novel is smart, wry and a fabulous historical whimsy that has become a rallying point and clarion call for all matters Queer, Trans, and Proud, and here is even further enhanced by the fitting tactic of adding seductive pictures to form a sequential narrative…

The tale is simple yet compelling: a beautiful, young and so-innocent poet who is a contemporary (and eventually favourite) of Queen Elizabeth I does not age or die.

Enduring and surviving perilous royal favour, great wealth and privilege, personal beauty and vast creative gifts, the poet has many adventures – most of them amorous, but also involving espionage intrigues, great disasters and shady services to The Crown undertaken abroad – before settling in the beloved old family seat to spend the majority of time and effort writing a magnificent novel: The Oak Tree.

Over decades and centuries Orlando adapts and is transformed by love affairs, courtly adventures, travel and writing. At one point, possibly thanks to the ministrations of a Romani witch (the lore and reputation of “Gypsies” fascinated Vita and Virginia cheekily indulged her in these pages) or simply through benevolent evolution, Orlando becomes an equally enchanting and beguiling woman. She too is left largely untouched by the world – except for its arts and fashions – and continues a life of creative and romantic abundance peppered with affairs and dalliances spiked with memorable personal encounters into an unguessable, primarily creative future…

Preceded by a Dedication culled from Derek Jarman, director of the 1992 film adaptation, Jules Scheele’s necessarily arcanely abbreviated Orlando sidelines the book’s formal presentation for a free-flowing cascade of multi-level images and key incidents broken down into ‘Chapter One: Part One: Orlando as a Boy’ & ‘Part Two: Two Years Later…’; ‘Chapter Two: Part Three: Afflicted with a love of literature’ & ‘Part Four: Vanity Rebuked’; ‘Chapter Three Part Five: Some Kind of Miracle’ & ‘Part Six: Orlando Remained Precisely As He Had Been’; ‘Chapter Four, Part Seven: Life, and a lover’ & ‘Part Eight: The clothes that wear us’ with scenes including days at Court and elsewhere subdivided into ‘Whitehall’, ‘The Court of King James at Greenwich’, ‘The Poet’, ‘The Great Frost’, and ‘Time Passed…’ before the settled days and nights of ‘Life, a lover’ presage a reduction in betrayals and forced exiles as constant war with conformity gives way to creative fruition, personal power and security and the ponderous march of time via ‘Chapter Five, Part Nine: Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Female’ and ‘Chapter Six Part Ten: What, Then, is Life?’ prior to the pausing of passing years in ‘Part Eleven: A Single Self, A Real Self’…

Glasgow-based illustrator Jules Scheele’s previous works have been for the educational and voluntary sectors, including the NHS, Scottish Government, UCL, University of Glasgow, LGBT Youth Scotland, Refugee Sanctuary Scotland, Edinburgh Arts Festival and others. His passion projects are fuelled by and stem from queer media, popular culture, and grass roots politics, and were previously seen via and expressed through DIY zine culture. With Dr. Meg-John Barker, Scheele has created numerous non-fiction graphic novels such as Queer: A Graphic History; Gender: A Graphic Guide and Sexuality: A Graphic Guide.
© Jules Scheele, 2026. All rights reserved.

Orlando – A Graphic Novel Biography will be published on June 18th 2026 and is available for pre-order now.

Today in 1934 Lee Falk’s magnificent epitome of wonder and superheroics Mandrake the Magician first appeared.

Today in 1949 British writer and oriental scholar Steve Moore (Rick Random, Laser Eraser & Pressbutton, Hulk, Doctor Who, Absalom Daak, Tales of Telguuth, Warrior, 2000 AD, Fortean Times) was born.

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The Shazam! Archives volume 1


By Bill Parker, C. C. Beck & Pete Costanza with various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-053-6 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

At their most impressive, superhero comics combine the gravitas of mythology with all the sheer fun and exuberance of a child’s first rollercoaster ride. The perfect example of this is the original happy-go-lucky hero we can’t call Captain Marvel anymore.

First seen in late December 1939, Whiz Comics (#2 – there was no #1) cashed in on the comic book sales phenomenon of Superman; the big red riot eventually won his name after narrowly missing being Captain Flash or Captain Thunder. He was the brainchild of Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck, initially dispensing the same kind of summary rough justice as his contemporaries. However, the character soon distanced himself from the pack – Man of Steel included – by employing and enjoying an increasingly light, surreal and comedic touch, which made him the bestselling comics character in America. Ultimately, he proved that he could beat everybody but copyright lawyers; during his years of enforced inactivity the trademarked name passed to a number of other publishers before settling at Marvel Comics and they are never, never, never letting go. You can check out and compare their cinematic blockbuster version with the DC Extended Universe’s Shazam! flick too…

Publishing house Fawcett had first gained prominence through an immensely well-received magazine for WWI veterans entitled Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang, before branching out into books and general interest magazines. Their most successful publication – at least until the Good Captain hit his stride – was the ubiquitous boy’s building bible Mechanix Illustrated and, as the comic book decade unfolded, the scientific and engineering discipline and “can-do” demeanour underpinning MI suffused and informed both art and plots of the Marvel Family titles.

As previously stated, the big guy was created by writer/editor Bill Parker and brilliant young artist Charles Clarence Beck who, with his assistant Pete Costanza, handled most of the art on the series throughout its stellar run. Other writers included William Woolfolk, Rod Reed, Ed “France” Herron, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Joe Millard, Manley Wade Wellman and fabulously prolific Otto Binder.

Before eventually evolving his own amiable personality, the Captain was a serious, bluff and rather characterless powerhouse, whilst his juvenile alter ego was the true star: a Horatio Alger archetype of impoverished, boldly self-reliant, resourceful youth overcoming impossible odds through gumption, grit and sheer determination…

Homeless orphan and good kid Billy Batson is selected by an ancient wizard to be given the powers of six gods and heroes to battle injustice. He transforms from scrawny precocious kid to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel by speaking aloud the wizard’s name – an acronym for six legendary divine patrons: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.

This magnificent full-colour, deluxe hardback compendium re-presents Captain Marvel’s first 15 exploits from Whiz Comics #2 to 15 (February 1940 to March 1941). There was no #1, two issue #5’s and two editions in March (but I’ll try to explain all that as we go along), with joy, verve and invention paramount in this particular knock-off crusader; one of a countless number imitators and descendants to cash in on the sales phenomenon of Superman…

Author, journalist and fan Richard A. Lupoff covers in great detail the torturous beginnings of the feature in his Foreword before the magic proper starts with a priceless glimpse at the hero’s seemingly-accursed design stage. To establish copyright, publishers used to legally register truncated black-&-white facsimile editions – dubbed “Ash-can Editions” – in advance of their launch issues. For magazine publisher Fawcett, production of their first comic book proved an aggravating process as this registration twice uncovered costly snags which forced the editors to redesign both character and publication.

Contained herein are cover reproductions of Flash Comics #1 starring Captain Thunder (obliviously scheduled for release mere days after DC’s own Flash Comics title hit the stands), and Thrill Comics #1 which repeated the accident just as Standard’s Thrilling Comics launched. Also on view is monochrome art for the first half of the story of “Captain Thunder” which would eventually be re-lettered and released as the lead in anthology title Whiz Comics #2, finally safely released cover-dated February 1940. Like many Golden Age series, the stories collected here never had individual titles, and DC’s compilers have cleverly elected to use the original comics’ strap-lines or cover blurbs to differentiate the tales…

‘Gangway for Captain Marvel!’ – drawn in a style reminiscent of early Hergé – finds homeless orphan newsboy Billy Batson lured into an abandoned subway tunnel to a meeting with infinitely ancient wizard Shazam. At the end of a long life confronting evil, the white-bearded figure grants the lad the powers and signature gifts of six gods and heroes; bidding him to continue the good fight.

In 13 delightfully clean and simple pages Billy gets his powers, has his secret origin revealed (he’s actually heir to a fortune embezzled by his crooked uncle Ebenezer Batson), wins a job as a roaming radio reporter for Amalgamated Broadcasting and defeats the demonic schemes of criminal science maniac Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, who is holding the airwaves of America hostage. The mighty, taciturn and not yet invulnerable Marvel is only sparingly used to do the heavy lifting. It is sheer comic book poetry…

The March issue had no cover number but was listed as #3 in the indicia and featured ‘The Return of Sivana’ as the insane inventor unleashes a mercenary army equipped with his super-weapons upon the nation, attempting to become Emperor of America. His plan is duly thwarted by Billy acting as a war correspondent, and the mighty muscles of Marvel…

The third (April-dated) Whiz Comics had “Number 3” on the cover but was designated #4 inside and proudly proclaimed ‘Make Way for Captain Marvel!’ before boldly leaping into full science fiction mode as Billy is shanghaied to Venus in Sivana’s mighty rocketship. The boy is forced to reveal his amazing secret to the demented inventor whilst battling incredible monsters and giant frog-men dubbed “Glompers”, with the magnificently guileless and gallant Marvel seemingly helpless against the savant’s seductive new ally – Queen Beautia – as that deadly duo prepare to invade Earth.

Only seemingly though…

‘Captain Marvel Crashes Through’ (#4 on the cover, but #5 inside) details how bewitching Beautia, aided by Sivana’s technology, runs for President. However, the sinister siren has a soft heart, and when Billy is captured (and encounters the first of a multitude of diabolically clever gadgets designed to stop him saying his magic word), she frees him, thus falling foul of the gangsters who were backing her. Happily, Captain Marvel is there to save the day…

An inexplicable crime-wave shakes the country in ‘Captain Marvel Scores Again!’ (the wild numbers game finally ends here as there’s a #5 on the cover and the same inside) as a different sinister scientist uses a ray to turn children into thieves. Even Billy is not immune…

‘Captain Marvel and the Circus of Death’ (July 1940) sees Sivana return with fantastic Venusian dino-monsters which our Good Captain is hard-pressed to handle. Incidentally, this was the first issue where the Big Red Cheese is seen definitely flying as opposed to leaping – something Superman is not acknowledged as doing until late 1941. It means nothing, I’m just saying emulation goes both ways…

For ‘Captain Marvel and the Squadron of Doom’, young Billy travels to the North Pole for a radio story and discovers a secret organisation thawing out frozen cavemen to act as their army of conquest, after which he and his mature magical avatar foil a murderous spiritualist causing mass-drownings to bolster his reputation and fortune in ‘Saved by Captain Marvel!’

Whiz #9’s ‘Captain Marvel on the Job!’ finds man & boy foiling a revolution, recovering foreign crown jewels and flummoxing a madman with a shrinking ray, after which Sivana and Beautia return in ‘Captain Marvel Battles the Winged Death’: a blistering yarn involving espionage and America’s latest secret weapon. In this tale, the Empress of Venus finally reforms, becoming a solid American citizen…

‘Hurrah for Captain Marvel!’ finds Batson investigating college hazing and corrupt sporting events whilst in #12 (January 1941), the World War looms large as “Gnatzi” maritime outrages bring Billy to London where he uncovers the spy responsible for sinking refugee ships in ‘Captain Marvel Rides the Engine of Doom!’

‘Captain Marvel – World’s Most Powerful Man!’ then features Sivana’s latest atrocity as the madman disrupts hockey matches, blitzes banks and incapacitates the US army with a formula that turns men into babies. Even Billy isn’t immune, but at least Beautia is there to help him…

War was looking increasingly unavoidable and many superheroes jumped the gun to start fighting before the US officially entered the fray. ‘Captain Marvel Boomerangs the Torpedo!’ is a superb patriotic cover for Whiz #14 (March 1941) even though the actual story involves Sivana’s capture and subsequent discovery of a thought process which allows him to walk through walls – and cell bars. Luckily, the World’s Mightiest Mortal also possesses the Wisdom of Solomon and deduces a solution to the unstoppable menace…

This superb collection concludes after another stirring cover ‘With the British Plane Streaking to a Fiery Doom, Captain Marvel Dives to the Rescue!’ (#15 and also cover-dated March), fronting an unrelated adventure which reveals the astounding and tragic origin of Dr. Sivana, his unbelievable connection to Beautia, and also introduces her brother Magnificus – almost as mighty a fighter as Marvel – after Billy is kidnapped and trapped once more on Venus…

DC/National Periodical Publications had filed suit against Fawcett for copyright infringement as soon as Whiz Comics #2 was released. The companies slugged it out in court until 1953, when, with the sales of superhero comics decimated by changing tastes, Captain Marvel’s publishers decided to capitulate. The name lay unclaimed until 1967 when M.F. Enterprises released six issues of an unrelated android hero before folding. Marvel Comics finally secured rights to the name in 1968.

DC eventually acquired Fawcett’s comic book properties and characters and in 1973 revived the Good Captain for a new generation, gambling that his unique charm would work another sales miracle during one of comics’ periodic downturns. Retitled Shazam! due to the incontestable power of lawyers and copyright legislation, the revived heroic ideal enjoyed mixed success before being subsumed into the company’s vast stable of characters…

Nevertheless, the first Captain Marvel is a true icon of American comic history and a brilliantly conceived superhero for all ages. This titanic tome only scratches the surface of the canon of delights produced over the near 90 years of his tumultuous existence, and is an ideal exemplar introduction to the world of adventure comics: one that will appeal to readers of any age and temperament.
© 1940, 1941, 1992 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1867, French artist, cartoonist, creator and designer of Bibendum (the Michelin man) O’Galop AKA Marius Rossillon was born. He shares birthday with Charles Clarence “C.C.” Beck (Captain Marvel/Billy Batson, Spy Smasher, Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer) in 1910; mega-letterer Ray Holloway in 1920; strip cartoonist/animator Paul Gringle (Rural Delivery, Out Our Way) in 1922, Charlton comics art mainstay Rocke Mastroserio in 1927 and Dutch creator Jan Kruis (Jan, Jans en de Kinderen) in 1933.

Events include Ken Reid’s final Jonah strip in The Beano this day in 1963 – although the strip was revived in The Dandy 30 years later – and last of Gus Edson & Irwin Hasen’s newspaper feature Dondi in 1986, with Tom Batiuk/Chuck Ayers’ strip Crankshaft debuting one year later.

Today in 1846 Swiss satirist and the world’s first true comics creator – Rodolphe Töpffer (Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois/The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck) – died, as did Shoe and Pluggers cartoonist Jeff MacNelly in 2000, and the mighty, massively influential cartoonist, historian and publisher Jack Edward Jackson AKA Jaxon (Rip Off Press co-founder; crafter of God Nose, Los Tejanos, Comanche Moon, The Secret of San Saba, The Alamo: An Epic Told from Both Sides and dozens more) in 2006.

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Golden Age Captain America Marvel Masterworks volume 2


By Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Charles Nicholas, Syd Shores, Al Avison, Al Gabriele, Harry Fisk, Ken Bald, Bill Ward and various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2228-9 (HB), 978-1-3025-0560-8 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Captain America was devised at the end of 1940 and boldly launched in his own monthly title from Timely – the company’s unofficial trading designation – with none of the customary cautious shilly-shallying. Owner Pulp publisher turned comic book empresario Martin Goodman always knew the value of striking while irons were hot…

The first issue was cover-dated March 1941 and became an instant monster, blockbuster smash-hit. Overnight Cap was the absolute and undisputed star of Timely’s “Big Three” – the other two being The Human Torch & Sub-Mariner. He was also one of the very first to plummet from popularity at the end of the Golden Age. These days – excluding, perhaps, some far-too-few Bill Everett-crafted Sub-Mariner yarns – the huge war-years popularity of the other two just doesn’t translate into a good read for modern consumers.

In comparison to their contemporary rivals and industry leaders at Quality, Fawcett, National/All American and Dell, or Will Eisner’s The Spirit newspaper insert, the standard of most Timely periodicals was woefully lacklustre in both story and, most tellingly, art. That they survived and prospered is a Marvel mystery, but a clue might lie in the sheer exuberant venom of their racial stereotypes and heady fervour of jingoism at a time when the USA was becoming involved in the greatest war in global history. Nevertheless, the first ten Captain America Comics are indisputably the most high-quality comics in the fledgling company’s history and I can’t help but wonder what might have been had National (neé DC) been wise enough to hire Simon & Kirby before they were famous, instead of after that pivotal first year?

Of course, we’ll never know and although the team supreme did jump to the majors after a year, their visual dynamic became the mandated aspirational style for super-hero comics at the company they left. Moreover, their patriotic creation became a flagship icon for them and the industry. Truth be told. however, the groundbreaking and exceptionally high-quality material from Joe Simon & Jack Kirby is not really the lure here – the real gold nuggets for us old sods and comics veterans are the rare back-up features overseen by the star duo and crafted by their small pool of talented up-&-comers.

Although unattributed assistants included at various times Reed Crandall, Syd Shores, Alex Schomburg, Mort Meskin, Chu Hing, Charles Nicholas, Gustav Schrotter, George Klein, C.A. Winter, Fred Bell and many more, working on main course and filler features such as Hurricane, the God of Speed and Tuk, Caveboy: strips barely remembered today yet still brimming with the first enthusiastic efforts of creative legends in waiting.

This lavish hardback volume (available in a digital edition) reprints original Star-Spangled blockbusters Captain America Comics #5-8 (spanning August to November 1941) and also provides a fascinating insight into the fly-by-night nature of publishing during those get-rich-quick days in an Introduction from Gerard Jones, after which the astounding action resumes…

After scrawny, enfeebled young patriot Steve Rogers is continually rejected by the US Army, he is recruited by the Secret Service. In an effort to counter a wave of Nazi-sympathizing espionage and sabotage, the passionate young man was tapped to join a clandestine experimental project to create physically perfect super-soldiers. However, when a Nazi agent infiltrated the labs and murdered its key scientist, Rogers became its only successful graduate and transitioned into America’s not-so-secret weapon and very public patriotic symbol.

Despatched undercover as a simple army private, he soon encountered headstrong, orphaned Army Brat James Buchanan Barnes who became his sidekick and costumed confidante “Bucky”. In the period when America was still officially non-combatant, Rogers and his sidekick were stationed at East Coast army base Camp Lehigh, but still manage to find plenty of crime to crush and evil to eradicate.

In Simon & Kirby’s ‘Captain America and the Ringmaster of Death’ the arrival of a circus leads to the deaths of General Blaine and Defense Commissioner Newsome in suspicious circumstances. Before long, both the masked heroes and government agent Betty Ross reach the same conclusion: all the acts and freaks are Nazi operatives sabotaging the nation’s security through murder… but not for much longer…

Japan was still neutral too, so although visually their forces – especially spies – were also unmistakeably ever-present, the eastern arm of the Axis alliance (the other two being Germany and Italy, history fans) were still being referred to as “sinister Orientals” and “Asiatic aggressor nations”. Even so, when Steve & Bucky accompany new commander General Haywood to the US Pacific base of Kunoa, readers knew who was really behind ‘The Gruesome Secret of the Dragon of Death!’ and revelled in seeing the heroes scupper the most spectacular secret weapon yet aimed at the forces of freedom…

Back in the USA, the hard-hitting Star-Spangled Stalwarts then rescue decent, law-abiding German-Americans terrorised by the ‘Killers of the Bund’ who were determined to create a deadly Fifth Column inside America’s heartland. Following a rousing ad for a newly minted Captain America’s Sentinels of Liberty society, a glorified infomercial for the club comes in the form of prose adventure ‘Captain America and the Ruby Robbers’ scripted by Stan Lee with spot art by S&K, after which our Patriotic Pair save a downed volunteer American flyer held prisoner on a former French Island now administered by the collaborating Vichy government.

‘Captain America and… The Terror That Was Devil’s Island’ offers action-drenched melodrama plucked from the contemporaneous Hollywood movie mill and referencing films like 1937’s The Life of Emile Zola, 1939’s Devil’s Island and perhaps even 1941’s I Was a Prisoner on Devil’s Island and served to show that infamy and cruelty could not long subdue any valiant American heart…

Joining the list of supporting features, the equally relevant if improbable adventures of ‘Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent’ began with this issue. Credited to Stan Lee (Goodman’s nephew and major domo Stanley Lieber) & Harry Fisk, these shorts find US journalist Jerry Hunter sent to Blitz-blighted London to report on the European war, only to become the story after uncovering a traitor in the corridors of power…

Sporting only a title page by Simon & Kirby, primeval wonder ‘Tuk, Cave Boy’ bows out in a final example of “Weird Stories from the Dark Ages” as he saves his mentor Tanir from marauding beast-men and ends forever the depredations of brutal tyrant Bongo, before seasoned pro Charles Nicholas (nee Wojtkowski) assumes art chores on ‘Hurricane, Master of Speed’. Hurricane was the earthbound son of thunder god Thor (no relation to the 1960s version): a brisk reworking and sequel to Kirby’s ‘Mercury in the 20th Century’ from Red Raven Comics #1 (cover-dated August 1940), and here intercedes in a diabolical plot to destabilise the economy by flooding US banks with counterfeit currency.

CAC #6 carried a September 1941 cover-date and opens with a classic murder spree thriller as ‘Captain America Battles the Camera Fiend and his Darts of Doom’ in a frantic bid to prevent the theft of Britain’s Crown Jewels. Timely were never subtle in terms of jingoistic (we’d say appallingly racist) depictions, and even the normally reserved Simon & Kirby let themselves go in ‘Meet the Fang, the Arch Fiend of the Orient’ as Cap & Bucky challenge the full insidious might of the Tongs of San Francisco’s China Town to save kidnapped Chinese dignitaries from a master torturer…

Another new feature followed: scripted by Lee and illustrated by Al Avison & Al Gabriele, ‘Father Time: The Grim Reaper Deals with Crime’ details how Larry Scott learned his father had been framed for murder and through heroic efforts exposed the true culprits… but was seconds too late to save his sire from the noose. Resolved that time should no longer be on the side of criminals and killers, Larry devised a ghastly outfit and – wielding a scythe – brought his dad’s persecutors to justice. They would be only the first in Father Time’s crusade…

Simon & Kirby’s art and stories were becoming increasingly bold and innovative. ‘The Strange Case of Captain America and the Hangman Who Killed Doctor Vardoff’ reveals a diabolical game of “Ten Little Indians” as suspects perish one by one whilst the superheroes attempt to catch a ruthless killer and retrieve a stolen experimental super-silk invention. Lee and an unknown artist then offer another thinly-veiled prose plug for the Sentinels of Liberty club as Cap and Bucky lay a ‘Trap for a Traitor’, after which Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent ‘Battles the Engine of Destruction’ (Lee & Fisk) and exposes an aristocratic English fascist building Nazi terror weapons in his British factories.

Following further Sentinels of Liberty club news and puzzle pages ‘Hurricane, Master of Speed’ closes the issue, crushing a murder plot in his own boarding house with art courtesy of Charles Nicholas.

CAC #7 is a stunning comic milestone that leads with iconic clash ‘Captain America in the Case of the Red Skull and the Whistling Death’. With Steve & Bucky ordered to participate in a Vaudeville-themed troop show at Camp Lehigh, the Nazi super-assassin stalks the city, slaughtering his old cronies and US military experts with a mysterious sound weapon. The fiend’s big mistake is leaving the shadows and arrogantly turning his attention to Cap…

‘The Case of the Baseball Murders: Death Loads the Bases’ seemingly offers a change of pace but Steve’s sporting relaxation turns into more work when a masked maniac starts knocking off his team’s star players before Lee’s prose novelette provides ‘A Message from Captain America’ which introduces his fellow heroes Jerry Hunter, Hurricane and Father Time before S&K strip feature ‘Horror Plays the Scales’ pits the Red, White & Blue Bravos against a murdering musician knocking off anti-Nazi politicians.

Ken Bald & Bill Ward introduce a comedy foil for Hurricane as ‘Justice Laughs Last’ sees the speedster adopt portly shopkeeper Speedy Scriggles after protection racketeers target the feisty fool. Headline Hunter (Lee & Fisk) then clears an Englishman accused of murdering an American film star and reveals a Nazi plot to disrupt Anglo-US relations, as Father Time’s ‘Race Against Doom’ (Lee, Al Avison & Al Gabriele) saves another innocent patsy from taking the fall for a crooked DA and his mob-boss paymaster. The issue closes with more puzzles and patriotic pronouncements from Cap & Bucky to all their fee-paying Sentinels…

Cover-dated November 1941, Captain America Comics #8 was released months before the Pearl Harbor atrocity catapulted the USA into official war so contents might have compiled as early as June or July. Thus it opens with another gripping crime conundrum – ‘The Strange Mystery of the Ruby of the Nile and Its Heritage of Horror’ – which sees the heroes assisting Betty Ross in safeguarding a fabulous antique jewel, but seemingly helpless to prevents its archaeologist excavators being butchered by a marauding phantasm.

The impending conflagration does inform ‘Murder Stalks the Maneuvers’ when a Nazi infiltrator attends war games and uses the opportunity to trick the soldiers into destroying each other with live ammo, whilst Headline Hunter, Foreign Correspondent remains in the thick of it facing ‘The Strange Riddle of the Plague of Death’ (Lee & Fisk). This time he saves London (and the Home Counties) from a strange sickness spread by bread…

After more Sentinel propaganda and absorbing puzzles, Simon & Kirby’s ‘Case of the Black Witch’ has Cap & Bucky shielding a young woman’s inheritance before clashing with a sinister sorceress and the worst horrors hell could conceive of.

Nicholas returns to Hurricane as the Master of Speed and his new pal shut down a crooked ‘Carnival of Crime’, after which Lee & an unsung illustrator promote in prose a new Timely title as ‘The Young Allies Strike a Blow for Justice’. Please be warned: the treatment here of “Negro” character Whitewash – a full partner in the heroic team – is every bit as dated, contentious and potentially offensive as that era’s representations of other races, so kudos to the editors for bravely leaving the story untouched and unedited. Closing on a bombastic high, Father Time then deals harshly with robbers who use bank strongrooms to asphyxiate witnesses in ‘Vault of Doom!’

An added and very welcome bonus for fans is the inclusion of some absolutely beguiling house-ads for other titles, contents pages, Sentinels of Liberty club bulletins and assorted ephemera…

Although lagging far behind DC and despite, in many ways having a much shallower Golden Age well to draw from, it’s commendable that Marvel has overcome understandable initial reluctance about its earliest output in these masterworks – even if they’re only potentially of interest to the likes of sad old folk like me. However, with this particular tome at least, the House of Ideas has a book that will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best that the Golden Age of Comics could offer.
© 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pioneering Italian comics creator Sandro Angiolini (Isabella) was born today in 1920, sharing the date with Belgian Maurice Maréchal (Prudence Petipas) in 1922 and American cartoonist Tom K. Ryan (Tumbleweeds) in 1926, and – one year later – Le Journal de Spirou stalwart creator Peter Spier (Sophie).

We lost Katzenjammer Kids artist Joe Musial in 1977; Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics founder Martin Goodman in 1992; Golden and Silver Age comic book everyman Manny Stallman (Young Robin Hood, Big Town, Raven) in 1997, with this century this day marking the passings of Kate Worley (Omaha the Cat Dancer) in 2004 and French creator and co-founder of Pilote Jean-René Le Moing – AKA “Bulbul” – (Le Chevalier Emerik, Peter Pat) in 2012.

In 1932 Clifford McBride’s Napoleon and Uncle Elby premiered; and in 1959 The Beano debuted Leo Baxendale’s The Three Bears, UK whilst weekly Cor!! launched today in 1970 and Steve Gerber & Gene Colan’s newspaper strip version of Howard the Duck took flight in 1977.

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Blackhawk Archives volume 1


By Will Eisner, Dick French, William Woolfolk, Bob Powell, Chuck Cuidera, Reed Crandall & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-700-9 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The early days of the US comic book industry were awash with both opportunity and talent, and these factors beneficially coincided with a vast population craving cheap entertainment. Comics had practically no fans or collectors; only a large marketplace open to all varied aspects of yarn-spinning and tale-telling. Thus, even though America loudly proclaimed its isolationism and remained more than six months away from active inclusion in World War II, creators like Will Eisner and publishers like Everett M. (known to all as “Busy”) Arnold felt Americans were ready for a themed anthology title such as Military Comics.

They were right; but Nobody was ready for Blackhawk.

Military Comics #1 launched on May 30th 1941 (with an August off-sale/ cover-date) and included in its gritty, two-fisted line-up Death Patrol by Jack Cole; Elmer Wexler’s Miss America; Fred Guardineer’s Blue Tracer; X of the Underground; John Stewart & Bill Smith’s Yankee Eagle; Q-Boat; Klaus Nordling’s Shot and Shell; Archie Atkins and Loops and Banks by “Bud Ernest” (in actuality, aviation-nut and unsung comics genius Bob Powell), but none of the strips, not even Cole’s surreal and suicidal team of hell-bent fliers, had the instant cachet and sheer appeal of Chuck Cuidera, Eisner & Powell’s “Foreign Legion of the Air” led by a charismatic Dark Knight known only as Blackhawk.

Cuidera – already famed for co-creating The Blue Beetle for Fox Publications – drew ‘The Origin of Blackhawk’ for the premiere issue, wherein a lone, magnificently skilled pilot fighting the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 is finally shot down by Nazi Ace Von Tepp. That sadistic killer then goes on to bomb a farmhouse sheltering the defeated pilot’s family. Rising from his plane’s wreckage, the distraught aviator vows vengeance…

Two years later, with the Nazis in control of most of Europe, Von Tepp’s unassailable position is threatened by a mysterious paramilitary squadron of unbeatable fliers, dedicated to crushing injustice and smashing the Axis war-machine…

Eisner wrote the first four Blackhawk episodes and Cuidera stayed aboard until issue #11 – although the artist would return in later years. Many of the stories were originally untitled but have been conveniently characterized with such stirring designations as issue #2’s ‘The Coward Dies Twice’, wherein the squadron – “the last free men of the conquered countries” – offer a deserter from a Spitfire Flight a chance to redeem himself. The easy mix of patriotism, adventure and slapstick was magnified by the inclusion of Chop-Chop in ‘The Doomed Squadron’: a comedy Chinaman extremely painful to see through modern eyes, but a stock type considered nearly as mandatory as a heroic leading man in those dark days… and sadly not just in comics, either…

Its scant comfort but at least this Asian man is a brave and formidable fighter both on the ground and in a plane… when not being used for cheap laughs…

‘Desert Death’ takes the team to Suez – for the first of many memorable Arabian adventures – as Nazi agitators attempt to foment revolution among the tribesmen in hopes that they will rise up and destroy the British. This tale is also notable for the introduction of a species of sexy siren beloved of Eisner and Quality Comics. She or similar seductresses of her ilk would populate the strip until DC bought the property in 1957. Also included here is also a secret map of Blackhawk Island, mysterious base of the ebon-clad freedom fighters.

With issue #5 Dick French assumed the writing role. ‘Scavengers of Doom’ is a biting tale of battlefield looters allied to a Nazi mastermind, united to set an inescapable trap for the heroic fliers. More importantly, French began providing distinct and discrete characters for the previously anonymous minor players. In MC #6 the rapidly gelling team joins a frantic hunt for a germ weapon the Gestapo are desperate to possess, resulting in spectacular alpine incident ‘The Vial of Death’, after which #7 (the first issue released after the US entered World War II although the stories had not yet caught up to reality) lands the lads on the Mongolian Steppe ranging on horseback to thwart ‘The Return of Genghis Khan’…

The saga in #8 was a striking maritime romp wherein the warring powers battle to occupy an island freshly risen from the Atlantic depths. The newborn landmass is strategically equidistant between the USA, Britain and Festung Europa (that’s what the Nazis called the enslaved stronghold they had made of mainland Europe), and no opponent or even ally can be trusted with control of ‘The Sunken Island of Death’.

Although complete in itself, the yarn is also the first of an experimental, thematic 3-part saga that stretched the way comics stories were told. Things changed rapidly back then, and many marvellously melodramatic touches to make the Blackhawks so memorable in the eyes of a wide-eyed populace of thrill-hungry kids were trialled. There was the cool, black leather uniforms and creepy peaked caps. The unique – yet real – Grumman F5F-1 Skyrocket planes they flew from their secret island base and their eerie battle-cry “Hawkaaaaa!” but perhaps the oddest idiosyncrasy to modern readers was that they had their own song which André, Stanislaus, Olaf, Chuck, Hendrickson & Chop-Chop would sing as they plunged into battle. … And just to be informative and inclusive, the sheet-music and lyrics were published in this issue and are re-presented here. Just remember this is written for seven really tough guys to sing while dodging bullets and weaving between bursts of flak…

Military #9 led with ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ as the unflappable team discover that a fallen comrade did not actually die in combat, but was hideously disfigured saving them, and is back and seeking redress, whilst the next issue’s tale – ‘Trapped in the Devil’s Oven’ – is another desert adventure focusing on the still primitive science of plastic surgery to restore said hero to full fighting trim.

MC #11 – Cuidera’s last on Blackhawk for some time – saw the squadron turn their attention to Japan, as reality at last caught up with publishing schedules. Intriguingly, ‘Fury in the Philippines’ starts quietly with the entire team calmly discussing carrying on against the Nazis or switching their attentions to the Pacific Theatre of Operations, until comedy relief Chop-Chop sways the debaters with an impassioned stand. Though inarguably an offensive stereotype visually, the Chinese warrior was often given the best lines and most memorable actions. A sneakily subversive attempt on the part of the creators (frequently from immigrant backgrounds and ethnic origins) to shake up those hide-bound societal prejudices, perhaps?

Notwithstanding, the resultant mission against the Japanese fleet is a cataclysmic Battle Royale, full of the kind of vicarious payback that demoralized Americans needed to see following Pearl Harbor…

‘The Curse of Xanukhara’ added fantasy elements to the gritty mix of blood & iron as the group’s hunt for a stolen codebook leads them to occupied Borneo and eventually the heart of Tokyo; a classy espionage thriller marking the start of a superlative run of thrillers illustrated by the incredible Reed Crandall. The artist’s realistic line and the graceful poise of his work, especially on exotic femmes fatale and trustworthy girls-next-door, made his pages absolute joys to behold. ‘Blackhawk vs. The Butcher’ (Military #13, November 1942) was written by new regular scripter Bill Woolfolk and returned the Blackhawks to Nazi territory as a fleeing Countess turns their attention to the most sadistic Gauleiter (Nazi regional leader in charge of a conquered territory) in the German Army.

What follows is a spectacular saga of justice and righteous vengeance, whilst ‘Tondeleyo’ reveals a different kind of thriller as an exotic siren uses her almost unholy allure to turn the entire team against each other. Such quasi-supernatural overtones held firm in the stirring ‘Men Who Never Came Back’ – when the team travel to India to foil a Japanese plot – in a portmanteau report narrated by three witches. Trouble, Terror and Mystery were eerily presaging the EC horror classics that would cement Crandall’s artistic reputation more than a decade later…

‘Blackhawk vs. the Fox’ pits the flight of heroes against a Nazi strategic wizard (a clear reference to the epic victories of Erwin Rommel) in the burning sands of Libya, and remains one of the most authentic battle yarns in the canon; and precedes this sublime hardback volume’s concluding sortie: a racy tale of vengeance and tragedy wherein Japanese traitor Yoshi uses her wiles to punish the military government of Nippon, with Blackhawk as her unwitting tool in ‘The Golden Bell of Soong-Toy!’

These stories were produced at a pivotal moment in both comics and world history, delivering the blend of weary sophistication and glorious, juvenile bravado that comprised the best movies of the time: Casablanca, Foreign Correspondent, Freedom Radio, Captain of the Clouds, The Day Will Dawn, The First of the Few, In Which We Serve and all the rest. That understated, overblown way of accepting duty and loss permeates these primal, rousing Blackhawks tales, confirming the miracles good men can do when needed; and are some of the Golden Age’s finest moments. In fact, these are some of the best comics stories of their time and I sincerely wish DC had proceeded with further collections, or will resume and complete their comics casebooks for the benefit of us all…

Hunt this down and so will you.
© 1941-1942, 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1916 unsung genius of line and mood Mort Meskin (Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Vigilante, Wildcat, Starman, Johnny Quick, Black Terror, Boy’s Ranch, Captain 3-D, Golden Lad, Mark Merlin) was born, as was Italian artist Roberto Raviola AKA Magnus (Kriminal, Alan Ford) in 1939, US writers Mike W. Barr (Maze Agency, Batman, Camelot 3000, Star Trek) in 1952, Alan Brennert (Batman, Brave and the Bold, Batman: Holy Terror) in 1954 and Kevin Eastman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) in 1962.

On this date in 1993 we lost Little Lulu cartoonist “Marge” (Marjorie Henderson Buell) and in 1999, prolific comics scripter Paul S. Newman (Turok, Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom, Lone Ranger).

Today in 1985 Osamu Tezuka completed his landmark award-winning manga Adorufu ni Tsugu (Message to Adolf).

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DC Finest: Superman – Time and Time Again


By Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, James D. Hudnall, Dave Hoover, Curt Swan, Bob McLeod, Kerry Gammill, Tom Grummett, Ed Hannigan, John Byrne, Brett Breeding, Dennis Janke, Art Thibert, Scott Hanna, José Marzan, Willie Blyberg & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-810-6 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In 1986, after almost 50 years, Superman was re-imagined after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Although controversial at the start, John Byrne’s reboot of the world’s first superhero was rapidly acknowledged as a solid hit and the collaborative teams who complemented and followed him maintained the high quality, ensuring continued success. Over following years a vast, interlocking saga unfolded across a spread of titles which has only sporadically – and far too infrequently – been collected into graphic compilations.

As part of the refit, many of his more miraculous abilities were discarded. Just like his earliest days, Superman was a far from omnipotent hero, more in touch with humanity because he wasn’t so very far above it. One thing that was abandoned was his casual ability to travel through time, and that was spectacularly addressed in a sequence of tales inside the greater unfolding story contained in this collection re-presenting the “Never-Ending Battle”. This time-twisting selection collectively transpires via cover-dates November 1990 through June 1991, gathering key intra-title storylines plus a couple of choice stand-alone solo stories from Action Comics #659-666, Adventures of Superman #472-479 and Superman #49-56, and a crossover component from Starman (volume 1 #28).

No sooner had the Byrne restart stripped away most of the accreted mythology and iconography that had grown around the Strange Visitor from Another World over five glorious decades, than successive teams employed a great deal of time and ingenuity putting much of it back, albeit in terms more accessible and agreeable to a cynical, well-informed audience far more sophisticated than their grandparents ever were.

One such was a notional tip of the hat to so many memorably madcap tales revolving around both an irritating 5th Dimensional Imp and the bizarrely mutagenic mineral from Krypton which peppered and perplexed the Silver Age Superman’s life. However, the story arc here also advanced two overarching plot threads that grew from the soap opera styled stories: the imminent demise of Lex Luthor due to self-inflicted Green K poisoning and a blossoming romance between Clark Kent and dynamic fellow journalist and friendly rival Lois Lane.

The compartmented saga opened in Superman volume 2, #49 with ‘Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite: Part One’ by Jerry Ordway & Dennis Janke, wherein Luthor, following the death of his only “ blood heir” (Perry White Jr.), ponders mortality in a cemetery until a talking red rock bops him on the back of his big, bald head. The incensed billionaire quickly stifles his outrage as the scarlet stone resolves into cruelly devious trickster-sprite Mr. Mxyzptlk. Despite being currently preoccupied with another realm, the malign mischief-maker sees a chance to manufacture more mayhem in Metropolis with the “Red Kryptonite” he has magicked up, and promises Lex it will make Man of Steel and mortal multi-billionaire “physical equals”…

Lex activates the rock expecting to gain the powers of a god – and just possibly a new lease on his rapidly expiring life – and is furious to realise he is still just human. However, across town Superman, having defeated bionic bandit Barrage, is transporting the supervillain to metahuman penitentiary Stryker’s Island when his powers vanish and he plunges into vilely polluted Hobs Bay.

Luthor cries foul and is again visited by Mxyzptlk who pettishly teleports the drowning Action Ace to Lex’s penthouse office where the evil industrialist can see what the spell has actually wrought. After a brutal and strictly human-scaled tussle, a badly beaten, powerless Superman is ejected from Luthor’s HQ and staggers back to Kent’s home where he finds Lois waiting. The normally resolute reporter is badly shaken: Lois’ mother is dying from an apparently fatal illness and Luthor is somehow responsible…

In Adventures of Superman #472, Dan Jurgens & Art Thibert’s ‘Clark Kent… Man of Steel!’ picks up the pace with our simply human hero about to be slaughtered by lethal lummox Mammoth. Kal-El is undergoing tests into the cause of his malady conducted by scientific advisor/confidante Emil Hamilton, but when news of the giant thief’s robbery spree reaches him Superman dashes off to assist, equipped only with a hastily configured force field belt. It’s not nearly enough. In the end wits, raw nerve and a simple bluff save the day, but with no solution in sight the Metropolis Marvel must admit he needs superhuman assistance if he is to survive, but at least on the domestic front his new fragility brings him closer to Lois…

With Roger Stern, Dave Hoover & Scott Hanna in creative mode, the scene switches to Arizona where a recent acquaintance gets a phone call before ‘Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite: Part Two/A: The End of a Legend?’ (Starman vol. 1 #28) sees Stellar Sentinel Will Payton flying to Metropolis for a top secret rendezvous. A sun in human form, Payton had re-energised the Kryptonian’s cells with solar power once before when Superman’s powers were drained, but this time the sun-bath has no effect and almost fries desperate Kal-El during the process. With crime spiking, Starman sticks around to keep the peace, using his shapeshifting powers to perfectly mimic the Man of Steel. He fools Luthor who, confronted by the somehow resurgent “Superman”, furiously throws the useless Red K at him…

With the mineral in Hamilton’s hands, stringent testing proves it is only red rock with no radioactive properties and Superman must think outside the box if he is to protect his city.

… And on Stryker’s Island, another old enemy is laying lethal plans to finally end the Man of Tomorrow…

Tension mounts in ‘Breakout!’ (Action Comics #659, Stern, Bob McLeod & Brett Breeding) as Superman resorts to high-tech battle armour when murderous science-maniac Thaddeus Killgrave frees the inmates and seizes control of Stryker’s, luring Starman-as-Superman into a deadly trap the neophyte hero cannot escape from. Meanwhile, in the highest corridors of financial power, Mxyzptlk personally briefs bewildered Luthor on what’s going on…

Brave but not stupid, Superman calls in back-up for his raid on the penitentiary. Whilst cloned champion Golden Guardian and street vigilante Crimebuster handle rank-&-file felons, the armoured Action Ace heads straight for Killgrave and a blistering confrontation which is only prelude to climactic concluding chapter ‘The Human Factor’.

Superman vol. 2, #50 was a giant special by Ordway & Janke with celebratory anniversary contributions from Byrne, Curt Swan, Kerry Gammill, Breeding & Jurgens, and opens with Clark unceremoniously ejected from Lexcorp Tower, only to stumble upon the billionaire’s personal physician Dr. Gretchen Kelly acting oddly…

Heading home, the powerless hero is saved from a mutant rat by Guardian and, after seeing Crimebuster thrashing street thugs, comes to a painful conclusion. Maybe Superman isn’t necessary any more. Maybe now he can have his own life and even ask Lois to marry him…

First though, there’s a unfinished business and a simple phone call to Luthor gets that ball rolling. Offering to trade the Red K for a story, Clark inadvertently causes Lex to break the terms of his pact with Mxyzptlk, thereby negating the whole power-sapping deal.

Ticked off, petulant and impatient to get back to mischief-making in another universe, the imp makes a personal appearance in monstrous form, but loads the battle in the fully restored Action Ace’s favour just to get out of his self-imposed arcane contract quickly… but not without an astounding amount of collateral damage to Metropolis…

With the crisis over, however, Superman has made a life changing decision. Following the red-tinged resumption of his super status, the Action Ace is joined by a brace of green guest stars in ‘Rings of Fire’ (Jurgens & Thibert in AoS #473). Even as Clark & Lois announce their engagement, Superman is fretting. Unable to tell his intended of his secret life, he is quickly distracted and drawn away when unconventional Green Lantern Guy Gardner hits town looking for missing mentor Hal Jordan. Earth’s “real GL” has been captured by a monolithic alien who has stolen his emerald energies to power a long-delayed return to the distant stars. Of course, implementing that departure will eradicate half of Wyoming…

Thwarting the scheme, freeing a mesmerised Army General and defeating the alien’s thralls Psi-phon & Dreadnaught, Superman and the GLs then craft a far less destructive solution for all parties involved…

In Action Comics #660, Stern, McLeod & Breeding detail the ‘Certain Death’ that ushers in the end of an era. For years Luthor has masqueraded as a billionaire philanthropist whilst dominating Metropolis, the world and the criminal Underworld. Few knew the unsavoury truth and the cunning villain kept Superman literally at arms-length by wearing a ring made from Green Kryptonite.

Previous and subsequent stories revealed Green K radiation had gradually poisoned Luthor, initially causing the loss of his hand and eventually fatally irradiating his entire body. Now as his power and vitality wane, Luthor – knowing that his pitiful condition must inevitably become public knowledge – puts a final desperate plan into operation. During a high profile publicity stunt attempting to set a new air-speed record, the manipulative mogul apparently commits suicide in a spectacular manner: an act of defiance which only marks the beginning of a stupendous 7-year long extended plotline to be seen and resolved elsewhere…

Here a measured preamble to the titular time-bending saga begins innocuously with Ordway & Dennis Janke’s introduction of ‘Mister Z!’ in Superman #51. When an apparent immortal arrives in town and dramatically adds the hero’s mind to his library of historical souls the magical marauder severely underestimates the champion’s strength of will. After dying in combat, he swears to return… Jurgens & Art Thibert then use Adventures of Superman #474 to reveal a life-changing moment in the life of highschooler Clark; an instant of irresponsibility once ended the life of a friend and saddled the hero-in-waiting with decades of crushing guilt. Now everything changes when he comes ‘Face to Face With Yesterday’…

Laughs and thrills in equal measure follow the arrival of Plastic Man & Woozy Winks in Action #661, as Stern, McLeod & Breeding reveal how those valiant but nauseating nitwits enlist Jimmy Olsen, punch-drunk recent lottery millionaire Bibbo Bibbowski and even Superman to save the city from techno mobsters Intergang by ‘Stretching a Point!’

In Superman #52, Ordway, Kerry Gammill & Janke address mounting environmental concerns by reintroducing violent eco-maverick Toby Manning who assures us ‘The Name, Pardners, is Terra-Man…’ before ruthlessly and murderously exposing the true cause of mass toxic contamination and targeting the businesses attempting to whitewash it all…

Courtesy of Jurgens & Thibert, a big guest star bust up fills AoS #475 with ‘Sleaze Factor’ after Intergang’s “Ugly” Bruno Mannheim hires Dr Killgrave and toymaker Winslow Schott to restore and improve debauched theme park Happyland. Only after Superman investigates the increasing number of disappearing visitors does the truth of Apokolyptian terror haunting the park emerge…

Over many years, Lois and Clark had grown beyond rivalry and distanced professionalism into true workplace romance, but always the hero kept his other identity from her. That all changed in Action Comics #662 (cover-dated February 1991 and by Stern & McLeod) as after the Man of Tomorrow narrowly defeated mystic predator Silver Banshee he decided that there would no more ‘Secrets in the Night’ ‘between him and his beloved…

With Lois still reeling from shock and sustained extended deception, Ordway & Janke used Superman #53 to question ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’ as the Caped Kryptonian agrees to escort war criminal General Marlo of Qurac to his judicial come-uppance and consequently ferret out the US military traitors who supported him but now need him silenced…

Finally after months of preparation the main event opened with the modern hero lost to Earth just as Lois needed him most. Formerly he had been able to navigate the chronal corridors with ease, but this new Man of Tomorrow was trapped in a cataclysmic and volatile temporal warp, bounced around from era to era with his abilities constantly diminishing and utterly unable to regain his home and loved ones. The eponymous, epoch-rending epic launched in Adventures of Superman #476 as Jurgens & Breeding’s ‘The Linear Man’ saw a rogue (self-appointed) protector of the Time Stream seek to forcibly return temporal refugee-turned superhero Booster Gold to the 25th century he originated from. When Superman intervenes, the battle sparks a tremendous explosion, causing Kal-El to careen through time whenever he’s caught in another explosion. Initially that’s forward into a disaster-triggered team-up with the teenaged Legion of Super-Heroes…

Each “landing” leaves him in a significant period of Earth’s history, and when a fuel storage centre detonates Superman is blasted backwards arriving in Stern & McLeod’s ‘Lost in the ‘40s Tonight’ (Action #663). Temporarily blinded but stuck in a past he read deeply about, Superman seeks out WWII icons the Justice Society of America, precipitating a meeting with that era’s first mystery men before almighty wraith The Spectre transports him not home but to ‘The Warsaw Ghetto!’ Here he becomes a temporary saviour in a soon to be mythic battle saga by Ordway & Janke in Superman #54. Perversely ending that issue is an unconnected Newsboy Legion short by Karl Kesel wherein the cloned kids, Guardian and Dubbilex seek to save top secret Project Cadmus from the ‘Attack of the D.N.Alien’ and imminent nuclear doom…

Elsewhere in time, only gigantic explosions can launch Superman back into the time stream, and one such occurs in ‘Death Rekindled’ (AoS #477, Jurgens & Breeding) when a trip to the future introduces him to another, later iteration of the Legion needing help to destroy a monstrous Sun Eater. The cataclysmic detonation of that deadly duel deposits him ‘Many Long Years Ago’ (Action #664, Stern & McLeod) to end up a Jurassic castaway until a clash with similarly-marooned time thief Chronos propels him via smallish jumps into the Pleistocene and a chronologically adrift encounter with primordial alien race the H’v’ler’ni (AKA the Host). That tussle tosses him forward to ‘Camelot’ as the Dark Ages begin, battling valiantly but in vain beside eventual All-Star Squadron paladin and Seventh Soldier of Victory Sir Justin The Shining Knight (all-Ordway in Superman #55). That issue contains more Newsboy Legion antics from Kesel as ‘Blaze of Glory!’ sees the lads and “Kirby Kritter” Angry Charlie frustrate the plans of rogue geneticist Dabney Donovan and defer atomic armageddon…

In AoS #478, Jurgens & Breeding deposit Superman with another, later Legion of Super-Heroes to confront deranged, savagely murderous Daxamite Dev-Em (another escapee from the 20th century) in brutal blockbusting finale ‘Moon Rocked’ which resets the time-shenanigans and leads to Clark’s ultimate resolution and reunion with Lois in Action #665’s ‘Wake the Dead!’ by Stern, Tom Grummett & José Marzan, wherein that crucial catching up and calming down is ruined by voodoo villain Baron Sunday unleashing dead felons on the city…

A third and final Kesel Newsboy short ends Superman #56 with a poignant peek at ‘Charlie & Company’ at home, before which James Hudnall, Ed Hannigan & Willie Blyberg had begun one last continued saga. In ‘Red Glass Part One: Breaking Up’ the Action Ace encountered an eerie crystal on the Moon before returning to an Earth endangered by his increasing berserker rages. The catalogue of atrocities mounted in Adventures of Superman #479’s ‘Red Glass Part Two: Falling Apart’ before answers and restoration of the status quo concluded the crises (for now) in Action #666’s visually stunning but conceptually weak wrap-up ‘Red Glass Part Three: Picking Up the Pieces’…

With covers by Ordway, Jurgens, Thibert, Hoover, Gammill, Breeding, Janke, Grummett, Andy Kubert & Glenn Whitmore, this strictly print-only package comprises a hugely enjoyable saga that is highly readable and cheerfully accessible for both returning and first time fans. Thrilling, funny, action-packed and exquisitely entertaining: what more could dedicated Fights ‘n’ Tights followers want?
© 1990, 1991, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Born today in 1911, Golden Age letterer and colourist Pat Gordon made her husband Dick look even better on the page as Lora Sprang. She shared her natal day with For Better of For Worse cartoonist Lynn Johnston who arrived in 1947.

UK mega weekly Buster began its 40-year run today in 1960, closing in 2000 at which moment today Bringing Up Father ended the run begun by George McManus in 1913.

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DC Finest: Sgt. Rock: The Rock of Easy Co.


By Robert Kanigher, Bob Haney, Joe Kubert, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, Russ Heath, Jerry Grandenetti, Irv Novick, Mort Drucker, Jack Abel & various
ISBN: 978-1-79950-809-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Sgt Rock and the “combat-happy Joes” of Easy Company are one of the great enduring creations of US comic books. The gritty metarealism of Robert Kanigher’s ordinary guys in life-&-death situations compellingly captured the imaginations of generations of readers, young and old, for decades. So pervasive is this icon of comics combat, that’s it’s hard to grasp that Rock is not an immortal industry prototype like Superman, Batman,Wonder Woman or the original Captain Marvel – with us since the earliest moments of the industry – but was, in fact, a rather late addition to and child of the Silver Age of Comics.

This trade paperback compendium collects the tentative first step and early days in the character’s evolution from G.I. Combat #68 and compiles his subsequent missions in Our Army At War #81-122, covering January 1959 through September 1962: a period wherein the American comic book market was undergoing a staggering revolution in style, theme and quality.

The majority of the stories come courtsey of Kanigher & Joe Kubert at their creative peak, occasionaly supplemented by some of the best artists in the business, and we open after a stunning Jerry Grandenetti cover (first of many) with G.I. Combat #68. There lurked a quiet, moodily unassuming fable of an anonymous boxer who wasn’t particularly skilled but simply refused to be beaten. When ‘The Rock!’ enlisted in the US Army, however, the same Horatian qualities attained mythic proportions as he held back an overwhelming Nazi attack by sheer grit and determination, remaining bloody but unbowed on a field littered with dead and broken men.

Dubbed “Rocky”, the character returned as a sergeant in the April Our Army at War (#81), again facing superior German forces as ‘The Rock of Easy Co.!’ in a brief but telling vignette from Bob Haney, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito before finally winning a personal and extremely individualistic identity as Sgt. Rock in the next issue. This was Haney’s Mort Drucker-illustrated ‘Hold Up Easy!’: another harsh and declarative mini-epic which saw hard-luck heroes Easy Company delayed and then saved by callow replacements who eventually came good…

Firmly entrenched now, Our Army at War #83 (June 1959) saw the true launch of the immortal everyman hero in Kanigher & Kubert’s ‘The Rock and the Wall!’, a tough-love, battlefield tutor shepherding his men to competence and survival amidst the constant perils of war. This time the grizzled nomcom meets a rival for his men’s admiration in the equally impressive Joe Wall…

Irv Novick illustrated ‘Laughter on Snakehead Hill!’ as the embattled dogfaces of Easy fight to take a heavily-fortified citadel before OAAW #85 introduces the first continuing cast member in Kubert-limned ‘Ice Cream Soldier!’ Here Rock assuages a fearful replacement’s jangled nerves with tales of another hopeless “green apple” who grew into his job. This ploy of incorporating brief past-action episodes into a baptism of fire scenario would play over and over again, and never got old…

Haney returned in #86 to script ‘Tank 711’ for Kubert as the terse topkick educated another newbie in combat etiquette. Kanigher then described the taking of “No-Return-Hill” and the initiation of four more raw recruits in ‘Calling Easy Co.!’ after which Grandenetti illustrated a brace of tales in #88 and 89: ‘The Hard Way’, in which Rock suffers a shocking crisis of confidence and ‘No Shot from Easy!’ wherein the indomitable sergeant is forced to give his toughest ever order…

OAAW #90 offered classic Kubert as ‘3 Stripes Hill!’ revealed how Rock won his stripes, after which the traditionally anthological Our Army at War offered three complete Sgt. Rock sagas in #91, beginning with ‘No Answer From Sarge!’ as the NCO risks everything to drag a recruit out of a crippling funk; ‘Old Soldiers Never Run!’ where he must weigh an old man’s pride against Easy’s continued existence, and the Haney-scripted tragic fable of a sole-surviving Scottish soldier in ‘The Silent Piper!’

OAAW #92 saw Kanigher & Kubert tackle battlefield superstitions in ‘Luck of Easy!’, before ‘Deliver One Airfield!’ introduces Zack Nolan, a son of privilege who must learn teamwork the hard way whilst #94’s ‘Target… Easy Company’ pits the unit against a German General determined to eradicate the increasingly high-profile heroes. Issue #95 debuted charismatic, ambitious Bulldozer Nichols who wants Rock’s rank and position in ‘Battle of the Stripes!’, after which ‘Last Stand for Easy!’ sees our still-in-charge topkick compelled to relinquish his lead-from-the-front position, after which ‘What Makes a Sergeant Run?’ finds him again sharing his hard-earned war wisdom with the young and the hapless.

Haney penned ‘Soldiers Never Die!’ in #98, with Rock forced to overcome his team’s trauma at losing a beloved comrade, whilst Kanigher described ‘Easy’s Hardest Battle!’ in #99, with the weary warrior recalling instances which all qualified, before once more triumphing over insurmountable odds and adding one more clash to the list. The Stalwart Sergeant risked everything to save a broken replacement in #100’s ‘No Exit for Easy!’ and repeated the task in ‘End of Easy!’ as a parachute drop goes tragically awry, before #102’s ‘The Big Star!’ concedes the consequences of depending on a young man utterly unsuited for combat…

‘Easy’s Had It!’ in #103 was another Haney contribution, exploring what happens when Rock is wounded and the company has to fight without their guiding light and lucky talisman, after which Kanigher assumed regular scripting duties beginning with #104 and ‘A New Kind of War!’ portraying the grizzled vet totally outgunned by a valiant nurse who refuses to retreat and never surrenders. In #105 a ‘TNT Birthday!’ has Rock worried about the underage kid who somehow got past all the instructors to join Easy under terrifying fire, whilst ‘Meet Lt. Rock!’(illustrated by Novick) sees the resolutely dedicated noncom forcibly promoted… until he manages to undo the horrifying prospect, after which #107’s ‘Doom Over Easy!’ again sees the savvy soldiers in his care afflicted by crippling superstition…

Having already contributed a few covers, the superb Russ Heath drew his first Rock strip in OAAW #108 as ‘The Unknown Sergeant!’ sees the squad pass through a French village with a statue of a WWI Yank “doughboy” bearing an uncanny resemblance to their own indomitable leader, and provoking some very uncomfortable historical hallucinations before Kubert’s return in #109’s ‘Roll Call of Heroes!’ This signals a dose of grim reality as Rock recalls his own deadly baptism of fire and lost comrades, after which a green Lieutenant almost provokes mutiny and murder until he learns the rules of Combat Arithmetic in ‘That’s An Order!’

‘What’s the Price of a Dogtag?’ is painfully answered in the occupied streets and on seemingly deserted beaches in #111, before ‘Battle Shadow!’ focuses on the burgeoning supporting cast in a blisteringly explosive extravaganza heralding a bold move. Now African American soldier Jackie Johnson takes centre stage (in a remarkable early example of comic book affirmative action) for a memorable last-stand moment in ‘Eyes of a Blind Gunner’ (#113, cover-dated December 1961).

The incessant toll of lost comrades hits hard in ‘Killer Sergeant!’, whilst civilian survivors and partisans who comprise ‘Rock’s Battle Family!’ help him survive the worst the war can throw at him. This tale features a cameo from French Resistance star Mademoiselle Marie (as usually seen in Star- Spangled War Stories ) – before the ragged warrior finds himself all alone when answering #116’s ‘S.O.S. Sgt. Rock!’ to save lost comrade Ice Cream Soldier…

Next comes a dramatic tale of three hopelessly square pegs who finally find their deep, round holes in #117’s traumatic saga of ‘The Snafu Squad!’ before we see ‘The Tank vs. the Tin Soldier!’ – magnificently illustrated by Heath – wherein movie idol Randy Booth is mustered into Easy Company but spends all his snobbish energies trying to get out again. By the time he learns how to be a real soldier, his moment in the limelight has turned from cinematic melodrama to Greek tragedy…

The artist most closely associated with Rock is Joe Kubert, who illustrated #119’s memorable fable ‘A Bazooka for Babyface!’ wherein another kid who lied about his age makes it to the Front, but doesn’t fool the indomitable noncom. Of course, by the time the fighting dies down enough to send him back, the Babyface is a seasoned combat veteran…

Kubert superbly limned the majority of stories in this volume, such as #120’s ‘Battle Tags for Easy Co.!’, which deployed brief vignettes to illustrate how squad stalwarts Ice Cream Soldier, Bulldozer and Wild Man earned their nicknames, before showing the latest raw recruit why the Sarge was called Rock, after which ‘New Boy in Easy!’ (#121) introduces a chess-obsessed replacement who takes a lot of convincing that war is no hobby and men aren’t mere pawns…

This narrative device of incorporating brief past-action episodes into a baptism of fire scenario played over and over again in Sgt. Rock and never got old. Here it brings us to a natural pause as OAAW #122 reveals the ‘Battle of the Pyjama Commandoes!’, comprising more portmanteau tales as assorted Easy Joes recuperate in a field hospital… until Germans break through and the weary wounded must pick up their weapons again…

Robert Kanigher at his worst was a declarative, heavy-handed and formulaic writer, but when writing his best stuff – as he does here – remains an imaginative, evocative, iconoclastic and heart-rending reporter and observer of the warrior’s way and the unchanging condition of the dedicated and so very human ordinary foot-slogging G.I.

With superb and iconic combat covers from Kubert, Grandenetti, and Heath fronting each episode, this battle-bible is a visually perfect compendium and a certain delight for any jaded comics fan looking for something more than flash and dazzle. A perfect example of true Shock and Awe from an era when US soldiers were welcome almost everywhere; these are stories all comics fan and combat collector must see.
© 1960, 1961, 1962, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1907 Belgian graphic god Georges Prosper Remi – “Hergé” was born. In 1915 George (Sad Sack) Baker arrived, as did comics scripter Maxine Fabe (DC genre anthologies, Lois Lane) in 1943, and Colombian inker Carlos Garzon (Star Wars) and Filipino illustrator Steve Gan (Star-Lord, Conan, Dracula, Skull the Slayer) in 1945, with Stephanie Williams popping by in 1988.

Today in 1949 Warren Tufts’ sublime western newspaper strip Casey Ruggles began, and in 1962 we lost Dixie Dugan co-creator John H. Striebel.