Category: Westerns

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The Jack Kirby Omnibus Volume One: Green Arrow and others


By Jack Kirby with Joe Simon, France E. Herron, Dave Wood, Bill Finger, Robert Bernstein, Frank Giacoia, George Roussos, Roz Kirby & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3107-1 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Happy New Year! Let’s look at something old and valued!

Green Arrow is one of DC’s Golden All-Stars. He’s been a fixture of the company – in many instances for no discernible reason – more or less continually since his 1941 debut in More Fun Comics #73, cover dated November but on sale from September 19th 1941. Happy 85th and Many Happy Returns, Emerald Archer!

In those distant heady days, origins weren’t as important as image and storytelling, so creators Mort Weisinger & George Papp never bothered. The first inkling of formative motivations came in More Fun Comics # 89 (March 1943) wherein Joe Samachson & Cliff Young detailed ‘The Birth of the Battling Bowman!’ With the secret revealed, it was promptly ignored for years, leaving later workmen France Herron, Jack Kirby and his wife Roz to fill in the blanks again…

Jack Kirby was – and remains – the most important single influence in the history of US comics. There are millions of words written – such as those here by former Kirby assistant-made-good Mark Evanier in a revelatory. myth-busting Introduction to this gloriously enthralling hardback compilation – about what the King has done and meant, and you should read those too, if you are at all interested in our medium.

Tragically this particular tome is not available digitally, but that will just make it an even more impressive and rewarding once you get a copy. It might even prompt the publisher to reprint and repackage these mini masterpieces…

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

When comic books began, in a remarkably short time Kirby and creative partner Joe Simon became the wonder-kid dream-team of the nascent industry. After generating a year’s worth of the influential monthly Blue Bolt, and dashing off Captain Marvel Adventures (#1) for Fawcett, Martin Goodman nailed them down. He appointed Simon editor at Timely, where “S&K” created a host of iconic stars like Red Raven, the first Marvel Boy, Hurricane, The Vision, The Young Allies, immortal villain The Red Skull and of course million-selling mega-hit Captain America (and Bucky AKA Winter Soldier).

When Goodman failed to make good on his financial obligations, Simon & Kirby quit and were snapped up by National DC, who welcomed them with open arms and a fat chequebook. Bursting with ideas the staid company were never really comfortable with, the pair were initially an uneasy fit, and were given two moribund strips to play with until they found their creative feet: Sandman and Manhunter. They turned both around virtually overnight and, once established and left to their own devices, switched to the “Kid Gang” genre they pioneered at Timely. Joe & Jack created wartime sales sensation The Boy Commandos and Homefront iteration the Newsboy Legion before being called up to serve in the war they had been fighting on comic book pages since 1940. When they returned it was to a very different funnybook business, and soon they left National to create their own little empire.

Simon & Kirby heralded and ushered in the first American age of mature comics – not just by inventing the Romance genre, but with all manner of challenging modern material about real people in extraordinary situations. They saw it all disappear again in less than eight years. Their small stable of magazines – generated for an association of interlinked companies known as Prize/Crestwood/Pines/Essenkay/Mainline Comics – blossomed and as quickly wilted when the industry abruptly contracted throughout the 1950s. After years of working for others, Simon & Kirby had finally established their own publishing house, producing comics for a far more sophisticated audience, only to find themselves in a sales downturn and awash in public hysteria generated by an anti-comicbook pogrom.

Hysterical censorship-fever spearheaded by US Senator Estes Kefauver and opportunistic pop psychologist Dr. Frederic Wertham led to witch-hunting Senate hearings. Caving in, publishers adopted a castrating straitjacket of draconian self-regulation. Horror titles produced under the aegis and emblem of the Comics Code Authority were sanitised and anodyne affairs in terms of Shock & Gore, even though the market’s appetite for suspense and the uncanny was still extremely high. Non superhero Crime comics vanished and mature themes challenging society’s status quo were suppressed…

Simon quit the business for advertising, but Kirby soldiered on, taking his skills and ideas to a number of safer, if less daring, companies. As the panic subsided, Kirby returned briefly to DC where he worked on mystery tales and Green Arrow (a long-lived back-up in Adventure Comics & World’s Finest Comics) whilst concentrating on his long-dreamed-of newspaper strip feature Sky Masters of the Space Force. During that period, Kirby also re-packaged a superteam concept kicking around in his head since he and Joe had closed their innovative, ill-timed ventures. At the end of 1956, Showcase #6 (a try-out title that launched many DC mainstays) premiered Challengers of the Unknown. After 3 more test issues “the Challs” won their own title, with Kirby in command for the first 8. Then a legal dispute with Editor Jack Schiff kicked off and the King was gone…

During that brief 3-year period (cover-dates 1957-1959), Kirby also crafted a plethora of short comics yarns which this fabulous tome re-presents in originally-published order. The roster comprises superhero, mystery and science fiction shorts from Tales of the Unexpected #12, 13, 15-18, 21- 24; House of Mystery #61, 63, 65, 66, 70, 72, 76, 84, 85; House of Secrets #3, 4, 8, 12; My Greatest Adventure #15- 18, 20, 21, 28; Adventure Comics #250-256 and World’s Finest Comics # 96-99: a long-lost gem from All-Star Western #99 plus 3 quirky vignettes by Simon & Kirby from 1946-1947 for Real Fact Comics #1, 2 & 6.

Records from those days when no creator was allowed a by-line are sparse and scanty, so many of these carry no writer’s credit (and besides, Kirby was notorious for rewriting scripts he was unhappy drawing) but Group Editor Schiff’s regular stable of authors included Dave Wood, Bill Finger, Ed Herron, Joe Samachson, George Kashdan, Jack Miller & Otto Binder, so feel free to play the “whodunit” game…

National DC Comics was relatively slow in joining the post-war mystery comics boom, but as 1951 closed they at last launched a gore-free, comparatively straight-laced anthology which nevertheless became one of their longest-running and most influential titles: The House of Mystery (cover-dated December 1951/January 1952). Its success inevitably led to a raft of similar, creature-filled fantasy anthologies including Sensation Mystery, Tales of the Unexpected, My Greatest Adventure and House of Secrets. With the Comics Code in full effect, plot options for mystery and suspense stories were savagely curtailed: limited to ambiguous, anodyne magical artefacts, wholesomely educational mythological themes, science-based miracles and criminal chicanery.

Although marvellously illustrated, stories were rationalistic, fantasy-adventure vehicles and they dominated until the early 1960s when superheroes (reinvigorated after Julius Schwartz reintroduced The Flash in Showcase #4, October 1956) usurped them…

In this compilation, following that aforementioned Introduction – describing Kirby’s 3 tours of duty with DC in very different decades – the vintage wonderment commences with another example of the ingenious versatility of Jack & Joe.

Originating in the wholesome and self-explanatory Real Fact Comics, ‘The Rocket-Lanes of Tomorrow’ (#1, March/April 1946) and ‘A World of Thinking Robots’ from #2 (May/June 1946) are forward-looking, retro-fabulous graphic prognostications of the “World That’s Coming”. A longer piece in #6 (July/August 1947) then details the history and achievements of ‘Backseat Driver’ and road-safety campaigner Mildred McKay. These were amongst the very last strips the duo produced for National before moving to Crestwood/Pines, so we skip ahead a decade and more for Jack’s return in House of Secrets #3 (March/April 1957) where ‘The Three Prophecies’ eerily depicts a spiritualist conman being fleeced by an even more skilful grifter… until Fate takes a hand…

Mythological mysticism informs ‘The Thing in the Box’ (House of Mystery #61, April 1957) wherein a salvage diver is obsessed with a deadly casket his captain is all too eager to dump into the ocean. From the same month, Tales of the Unexpected #12 focuses on ‘The All-Seeing Eye’ as a journalist responsible for many impossible scoops realises the potential dangers of the ancient artefact he employs far outweigh its benefits…

In House of Secrets #4 (May/June 1957) the ‘Master of the Unknown’ seems destined to take the big cash prize on a TV quiz show until the producer deduces his uncanny secret, after which ‘I Found the City under the City’ (My Greatest Adventure #15, from the same month) details how fishermen recover the last testament of a lost oceanographer and read of how he intended to foil an impending invasion by aquatic aliens…

From May 1957, France E. Herron & Kirby investigated ‘The Face Behind the Mask’ (Tales of the Unexpected #13): a gripping crime-caper involving gullible men, a vibrant femme fatale and a quest for eternal youth. There was no fakery to ‘Riddle of the Red Roc’ (House of Mystery #63, June) as a venal explorer hatches and trains the invulnerable bird of legend, creating an unstoppable thief before succumbing to his own greed. My Greatest Adventure #16 (July/August) features a truly fearsome threat as an explorer is sucked into a deadly association, creating death and destruction to learn ‘I Died a Thousand Times’…

That month, Unexpected #15 offered ‘Three Wishes to Doom’: a crafty thriller proving that even with a genie’s lamp, crime does not pay, after which weird science transforms a rash scientist into ‘The Human Dragon’ (HoM #65 August, with George Roussos inking his old pal Jack), although his time to repent is brief as a criminal mastermind capitalises on his misfortune…

There’s an understandable frisson of foreshadowing to ‘The Magic Hammer’ (TotU #16 August) as it relates how a prospector finds a magical mallet capable of creating storms and goes into the rainmaking business… until the original owner turns up…

A smart gimmick underscores a tantalising tale of plagiarism and possible telepathy in ‘The Thief of Thoughts’ (HoM #66 September) whilst straight Sci Fi tropes inform the tale of a hotel detective and a most unusual guest in ‘Who is Mr. Ashtar?’ (TotU #17, September) before MGA #17 (September/October 1957) reveals how aliens intent on invasion brainwash a millionaire scientist to eradicate humanity in ‘I Doomed the World’. Happily one glaring error was made…

In Tales of the Unexpected #18 (October), Kirby shows how an astute astronomer saves us all by outwitting an energy being with big appetites in ‘The Man Who Collected Planets’, after which MGA #18 (November/December 1957) ushers in the comic book Atomic Age with ‘I Tracked the Nuclear Creature’, detailing how a hunter sets out to destroy a macabre mineral monster created by uncontrolled fission…

A new year dawned with Roussos inking ‘The Creatures from Nowhere!’ (HoM #70, January 1958) as escaped alien beasts rampage through a quiet town, and HoS #8 (January/February) finds greed, betrayal, murder and supernatural suspense are the watchwords when a killer tries to silence ‘The Cats Who Knew Too Much!’ Tales of the Unexpected #21 (also January) sees a smart investor proving too much for apparent extraterrestrial ‘The Mysterious Mr. Vince’, whilst a month later Unexpected #22 sees an ‘Invasion of the Volcano Men’ start in fiery fury and panicked confrontations before resolving into an alliance against uncontrolled forces of nature.

Kirby never officially worked for National’s prodigious Westerns division, but apparently his old friend and neighbour Frank Giacoia did, and occasionally needed Jack’s legendary pencilling speed to meet deadlines. ‘The Ambush at Smoke Canyon!’ features long-running cavalry hero Foley of the Fighting 5th single-handedly stalking Pawnee renegades in a somewhat standard sagebrush saga scripted by Herron and inked by Giacoia from All-Star Western #99 (February/March 1958).

Meanwhile in House of Mystery #72 (March) a shameless B-Movie Producer seemingly becomes ‘The Man Who Betrayed Earth’ whilst in MGA #20 (March/April), interplanetary bonds of friendship are forged when space pirates kidnap assorted sentients and a canny Earthling saves the day in ‘I Was Big-Game on Neptune’…

Inadvertent cosmic catastrophe is narrowly averted in TotU #23 (March) when one man realises how to make contact with ‘The Giants from Outer Space’, after which issue #24 (April) slips into wild whimsy as ‘The Two-Dimensional Man!’ strives desperately to correct his incredible condition before being literally blown away…

When an early space-shot brings back all-consuming horror in MGA #21 (May/June 1958), a brace of boffins realise ‘We Were Doomed by the Metal-Eating Monster’ before ‘The Artificial Twin’ (HoM #76, July) combines mad doctor super-science with deception and fraud, whilst House of Secrets #12 (September) reveals a frantic man struggling to close ‘The Hole in the Sky’ before invading aliens use it to conquer humanity…

Also scattered throughout this extraordinary compendium of the bizarre is a stunning and bombastic Baker’s Dozen of Kirby’s fantastic covers from the period, but for most modern fans the real meat is the short, sharp salvo of superhero shockers that follow…

On his debut, Green Arrow proved quite successful. With boy partner Speedy, he was one of precious few masked stalwarts to survive beyond the Golden Age. A blatant blend of Batman and Robin Hood seemed to have very little going for itself, but the Emerald Archer always managed to keep himself in vogue. He carried on adventuring in the back of other heroes’ comic books, joined the Justice League of America just as their star was rising and later became – courtesy of Denny O’Neil & Neal Adams – the spokes-hero of the anti-establishment generation, during the 1960-70’s “Relevancy Comics” trend.

Later, under Mike Grell’s stewardship and thanks to epic miniseries Green Arrow: the Longbow Hunters, he at last became a headliner: re-imagined as an urban predator dealing with corporate thugs and serial killers rather than costumed goof-balls. This version, more than any other, informs and underpins the TV incarnation seen in Arrow.

After his long career and numerous venue changes, by the time of Schwartz’s resurrection of the Superhero genre the Battling Bowman was a solid second feature in Adventure and World’s Finest Comics where, as part of a wave of retcons, reworkings and spruce-ups DC administered to their remaining costumed old soldiers, a fresh start began in the summer of 1958. Part of that revival happily coincided with Kirby’s return to National Comics.

As revealed in Evanier’s Introduction, after working on anthological stories for Schiff, the King was asked to revise the idling archer and responded by beefing up science fictional aspects. When supervising editor – and creator – Weisinger objected, changes were toned down and Kirby saw the writing on the wall. He lost interest and began quietly looking elsewhere for work…

What resulted was a tantalisingly short run of 11 astounding action-packed, fantasy-filled swashbucklers, the first of which was scripted by Bill Finger as ‘The Green Arrows of the World’ (Adventure Comics #251, July 1958) sees costumed archers from many nations attending a conference in Star City. They are blithely unaware a fugitive criminal with murder in his heart is hiding within their masked midst…

August’s #251 takes a welcome turn to astounding science fiction as Kirby scripted and resolved ‘The Case of the Super-Arrows’ wherein the Amazing Archers take possession of high-tech trick shafts sent from 3000 AD. World’s Finest Comics #96 (writer unknown) then reveals ‘Five Clues to Danger’ – a classic kidnap mystery made even more impressive by Kirby’s lean, raw illustration and wife Roz’s sharp inking. A practically unheard-of continued case spanned Adventure #252 & 253 as Dave Wood, Jack & Roz posed ‘The Mystery of the Giant Arrows’ before GA & Speedy briefly became ‘Prisoners of Dimension Zero’ – a spectacular riot of giant aliens and incredible exotic other worlds, followed in WFC #97 (October 1958) with a grand old-school crime-caper in Herron’s ‘The Mystery of the Mechanical Octopus’. Kirby was having fun and going from strength to strength. Adventure #254 featured ‘The Green Arrow’s Last Stand’ (by Wood): a particularly fine example with the Bold Bowmen crashing into a hidden valley where Sioux warriors thrive unchanged since the time of Custer. The next issue saw the heroes battling a battalion of Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender their island bunker in ‘The War That Never Ended!’ (also by Wood). December’s WFC #98 nearly ended the heroes’ careers in Herron’s ‘The Unmasked Archers’, when a private practical joke caused the pair to inadvertently expose themselves to public scrutiny and deadly danger…

As previous stated, in the heady early days origins weren’t as important as just plain getting on with it. The definitive version was left to later workmen Herron, Jack & Roz (in Kirby’s penultimate tale), filling in the blanks with ‘The Green Arrow’s First Case’ as the superhero revival hit its stride. It appeared in Adventure Comics #256 – cover-dated January 1959 – and this time the story stuck, becoming, with numerous tweaking over successive years, the basis of the modern Amazing Archer of page and screen. Here we learned how wealthy wastrel Oliver Queen was cast away on a deserted island and learned to use a handmade bow and survive. When scurvy mutineers fetched up on his desolate shores, Queen used his newfound skills to defeat them and returned to civilisation with a new career and purpose…

Kirby’s spectacular swansong came in WFC #99 (January 1959) in ‘Crimes under Glass’. Written by Robert Bernstein, it sees GA & Speedy confronting crafty criminals with a canny clutch of optical armaments, before the Archer steadfastly slid back into the sedate, gimmick-heavy rut of pre-Kirby times…

The King had moved on to other enterprises – Archie Comics with Joe Simon and a little outfit which would soon be calling itself Marvel Comics – but his rapid rate of creation had left completed tales in DC’s inventory pile which slowly emerged for months thereafter and neatly wrap up this comprehensive compendium of the uncanny. From My Greatest Adventure #28 (February 1959) ‘We Battled the Microscopic Menace!’ pits brave boffins against a ravening devourer their meddling with unknown forces had unleashed, whilst a month later HoM #84 depicted a terrifying struggle against ‘The Negative Man’ as an embattled researcher fought his own unleashed energy doppelganger.

It all ends in an unforgettable spectacular as House of Mystery #85 (April 1959) awakens ‘The Stone Sentinels of Giant Island’ to rampage across a lost Pacific island and threaten the brave crew of a scientific survey vessel… until one wise man deduces their incredible secret…

Jack was and is unique and uncompromising: his words and pictures are an unparalleled, hearts-and-minds grabbing delight no comics lover could resist. If you’re not a fan or simply not prepared to see for yourself what all the fuss has been about then no words of mine will change your mind.

That doesn’t alter the fact that Kirby’s work from 1937 to his death in 1994 shaped the American comics scene and the entire comics planet: affecting billions of readers and thousands of creators in every arena of artistic endeavour for generations. He still wins new fans and apostles every day, from the young and naive to the most cerebral of intellectuals. His work is instantly accessible, irresistibly visceral, deceptively deep and simultaneously mythic and human. This collection from his transformative middle period exults in sheer escapist wonderment, and no one should miss the graphic exploits of these perfect adventures in that ideal setting of not-so-long-ago in a simpler, better time and place than ours.
© 1946, 1947, 1957, 1958, 1959, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights

Today in 1912 British cartoonist and strip master Tony Weare was born. Where the tarnation is that Matt Marriot compilation? Ten years later in Trenton, New Jersey Sherrill David Robinson followed. You know Jerry for co creating the Joker and his Batman stuff, but try tracking down his Still Life panels…

In 1980, Gary Larson’s The Far Side debuted, only to stop original material on the same day 15 years later. How weird is that? Of course you could ascertain all that by seeing observing There’s a HAIR in My Dirt! – A Worm’s Story please link to November 2nd 2021.

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The Treasury of British Comics Annual 2026


By Stephen Brotherstone, Dave Lawrence, Scott Goodall, David Roach, Chris Lowder, Keith Richardson, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, James Tomlinson, Ned Hartley, Peter Milligan, Willie Paterson, Martin Baxendale, Edison Neo, Ken Reid, Horatio Altuna, Steve White, Jesús Redondo, Henrik Salhström, Solano Lopez, Eric Bradbury, Carlos Cruz, Francisco Fuentes Man, Juan Arancio, Mervyn Johnston, Frank Langford, Ian Kennedy, Vanyo, Bret Parson, Josep Gual, Staz Johnson, James Harren & various (Rebellion Studios)
Digital only eISBN: 978-1-83786-721-9; 978-1-83786-727-1 (Webshop Exclusive)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: True Brit Comics Class… 9/10

Ooh, look! One more!

Just like the bumper seasonal hardbacks they celebrate, Treasury of British Comics Annuals blend old classics with all-new material, and although this year’s selection probably won’t last you all through 2026, it is packed with wonderful yarns that you will certainly read over and again. Combining original modern material with strips from Jag Annual 1971; Smash! November 16th 1968; Monster Fun July 5th 1975; Boy’s World February 19th – October 3rd 1964; The Birthday Book For Boys 1972; Misty February 24th 1979; Whizzer & Chips December 20th 1980; Action May 1st 1976; Wildcat Holiday Special 1989; Battle Action Force November 1st 1986; Valiant Annual 1969; Action Annual 1977; Buster December 28th 1991; Wham! Annual 1972 and Monster Fun October 2024, and kicks off with a strange team up tale fresh off the drawing/key boards of Stephen Brotherstone, Dave Lawrence & Henrik Salhström. It was lettered – like all the new material here – by Jonathan Stevenson.

‘Helmet Head & El Mestizo: “On the First day of Christmas…” ’ pairs the aging mercenary with the robot sheriff to save a frontier town – and that aforementioned ROBOT SHERIFF! – from ruthless scavengers, after which a classic tale of murderous child soldiers sees the ‘Mouse Patrol’ (by an unidentified writer and the incredible Eric Bradbury from Jag Annual 1971) still looking for their POW dads on the battlefields of North Africa in 1942. This time the three lads (Blackie Knight, Ginger Nobb & Cyril North) and their chimp chum Cleo ride their stolen tank into a Nazi super weapon test and gleefully turn it on the astounded Afrika Corps!

Presented as Original Art Archive Scans published in Smash! November 16th 1968, ‘A Short Cut Home!’ is limned by Francisco Fuentes Man and details how a nasty Earthman outsmarts himself after blackmailing gentle – but clever – aliens, after which Monster Fun July 5th 1975 supplies a Ken Reid comedy classic scripted by a mystery gagster. ‘Martha’s Monster Make-Up’ allows her to mould faces like putty and, here, get rid of a really obnoxious family guest…

Very much a main attraction, full-colour painted serial ‘John Brody and the Green Men’ ran in Boy’s World from February 19th to October 3rd 1964. Crafted by Willie Paterson & Frank Langford this is an epic African adventure in the manner of She and other fantasy movies, following the eponymous troubleshooter into a fantastic submerged kingdom and civil war against devilish priests, bloodyhanded tyrants a and a lot of undersea beasties…

It’s followed by Ned Hartley, Steve White & Stevenson’s new parody yarn ‘Imagine if Gums Was Published in Action…’ which speaks for itself – albeit rather messily – prior to Tom Tully & Ian Kennedy revealing how colour-changing ‘Kid Chameleon’ (The Birthday Book For Boys 1972) continues searching for his parents’ assassin. If not for those reptiles who had raised him in the Kalahari desert, he would have no chance…

Author unknown & Josep Gual reveal the monster-hunting surprise two girls unleash on ‘The Island’ (from Misty February 24th 1979) after which school spoof ‘Strange Hill’ (by another unknown & Martin Baxendale from Whizzer & Chips December 20th 1980) neatly shuffles us into an all-new yarn from David & Emily Roach pitting stellar sorcery savants in ‘Vanessa From Venus vs. Spellbinder’.

Thanks to another Original Art Archive Scan we get to see superspy ‘Dredger’ (by Chris Lowder & Horatio Altuna from Action May 1st 1976) settle with a KGB hit squad in all his mean, messy glory prior to James Tomlinson & Jesús Redondo Román detail why the undead don’t like space travel. ‘The Wildcat Complete: Vampire!’ was originally seen in Wildcat Holiday Special 1989, and our seasonal session adopts a rather bleak note for ‘The Fighting MaGees’ (Peter Milligan & Solano Lopez from Battle Action Force November 1st 1986) as brothers Jack and Micky endure the hell of the Gallipoli landings and are forever changed…

From Valiant Annual 1969 Carlos Cruz González and that unknown writer provide a vivid adventure for a certain inventor and his robot assistants as ‘The House of Dolmann’ face plundering pop sensations The Spectrums whilst Juan Arancio’s Original Art Archive Scans for Action Annual 1977 pit white explorers against a jungle packed with ‘The Wild Ones’…

Mervyn Johnston’s ‘Captain Crucial’ clashes with a very busy Kris Kringle courtesy of Buster December 28th 1991, whilst anonymous & Vanyo detail how ordinary folk finished off ‘The Loch Tregar Terror’ (Wham! Annual 1972). One last new yarn by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Edison Neo & Barbara Nosenzo reintroduces hairy giant robot ‘Mytek the Mighty’ in a show of brute strength and authorial foreboding before we close the fun & games with a vegan bloodbath triggered by Keith Richardson & Brett Parson’s ‘Count Carrot’ – as previously predigested in Monster Fun October 2024…

That’s all you get here, but remember this is a book you still can buy and receive instantly. The internet probably has others. You should check that out in a bit…
© 1964, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1986, 1989, 1991, 2024, 2025 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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The Beano Book 1971


By David Sutherland, Malcolm Judge, Paddy Brennan, Ronald Spencer, Bob McGrath, Robert Nixon, Gordon Bell, Jim Petrie, many & various (DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.)
ISBN: 978-0-8511-6031-3 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

For many British fans Christmas means The Beano Book (although Scots worldwide have a pretty fair claim that the season belongs to them with collections of The Broons and Oor Wullie making every December 25th magical) and I’m highlighting this particular edition as another epitome of my personal holiday memories. As usual my knowledge of the creators involved is woefully inadequate but I’m going to hazard a few guesses in the hope that someone with better knowledge will correct me when I err.

In this little cracker are a number of David Sutherland’s Biffo the Bear strips as well as his Bash Street Kids and even a smashing action-adventure of boy super-hero Billy the Cat (I wonder if the editors distributed strips to artists in alphabetical order?). There are whirlwind tales of “fastest boy on Earth” Billy Whizz drawn by Malcolm Judge. Paddy Brennan worked as a dramatic artist for decades on General Jumbo (the heroic boy who radio-controlled an army of robot toys) and the Q-Bikes: a team of young adventurers with technologically advanced push-bikes. In this tome they trade in two wheels for four, to become the Q-Karts for an Australian adventure, whilst the aforementioned General captures a team of safecrackers in his home town.

These annuals were traditionally produced in the wonderful “half-colour” that many British publishers employed to keep costs down while adding a bit of pizazz. This was done by printing sections of the books with only two plates, such as blue/Cyan and red/Magenta. The versatility and palette range this provided was astounding. Even now this technique screams “Holidays” to me and my rapidly dwindling contemporaries.

Some Dennis the Menace strips are possibly drawn by original creator Davy Law, but are most likely the work of his style-chameleon replacement David Sutherland. They all feature his charismatic then-new co-star ‘Gnasher’ too. Woefully dated, culturally suspect but astoundingly funny, the Little Plum strips are by Ronald Spencer, I think, as are The Nibblers: an anarchic gang – and weren’t they all in The Beano? – of mice.

The 3 Bears segments are by Bob McGrath whilst Lord Snooty (one of the longest running strips in the comic’s history – a record only recently overtaken by Dennis) is the work of Robert Nixon, as is the Roger the Dodger Family Album section. There are short romps with Pups Parade (AKA the Bash Street Pups – the unlovely pets of those unlovely kids) by Gordon Bell, and exemplar of Girl Power Minnie the Minx gets her own 16-page mini-book in this annual – and who could stop her? – courtesy of the wonderful Jim Petrie, but I’ll admit to being totally stumped by Swinging Jungle Jim: a frantic boy-Tarzan strip that has sunk without trace since those faraway times.

Topped off with activity and gag-pages, this is a tremendously fun book, and even in the absence of legendary creators such as Dudley Watkins, Leo Baxendale or Ken Reid, and with a small but noticeable decline in the mayhem and anarchy quotas, there’s still so much merriment on offer I can’t believe this book is 55 years old. If ever anything needed to be issued as commemorative collections, it’s DC Thomson annuals. Perhaps as the company pursues digital reprints volumes we could anticipate entire Annual re-releases?…

Divorcing the sheer quality of this brilliant book from nostalgia is a healthy exercise, but I’m perfectly happy to simply wallow – even today – in the magical emotions this ‘almost-colourful’ annual still stirs. It’s a good solid laugh-&-thrill-packed read from a magical time (I was in my final year of primary school and a beloved, spoiled and precocious little snot with not a care in the world), and turning those stiffened two-colour pages remains an unmatchable Christmas experience.
© 1970 DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.

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The Treasury of British Comics Annual 2024


By Simon Furman, Tom Tully, Alec Worley, Alf Wallace, Leo Baxendale, Pat Mills, Mike Brown, Kek-W, Walter Thorburn, E. George Cowan, Derek Cribbling, Leo Baxendale, Ken Armstrong, Mike Collins, David Roach, Enric Badia Romero, Dave Gibbons, Garry Leach, Ken Reid, Brian Bolland, Joe Colquhoun, Steve Dillon, DaNi, Cam Kennedy, Brian Lewis, Mike Western, Staz Johnson, Tom Paterson, Carlos Guirado, Juan Arancio, Henry Flint & various (Rebellion Studios)
Digital only eISBN: 978-1-83786-025-8 (Kindle); 978-183786-133-0 (Webshop Exclusive)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: True Brit Comics Class… 8/10

As I’ve repeated ad infinitum, British comics always enjoyed an extended love affair with unconventional (for which feel free to substitute “weird” or “creepy”) heroes. Many stars and notional role models in our strips might have been outrageous or just plain “off”, but we also handled traditional stuff in a more appropriate manner… one less likely to have outraged parents and censorious moral stickybeaks gunning for editors and publishers

Until the 1980s, UK periodicals employed an anthological model, offering a large variety of genre, theme and characters. Humour comics like The Beano were leavened by action-adventures like The Q-Bikes or General Jumbo whilst dramatic fare papers like Lion, Eagle, Hotspur or Valiant always offered palate-cleansing gagsters… and there was no reason to rock that boat in end-of-year bumper annuals

Prior to game-changers Action, Misty and 2000AD, British comics fell into fairly ironclad categories. Back then, you had genial and/or fantastic preschool fantasy; a large selection of licensed entertainment properties; action; adventure; war; school dramas, sports and conventional comedy strands. Closer examination would confirm there was always a subversive merging, mixing undertone, especially in such antihero series as Dennis the Menace or our rather strained interpretation of superheroes. Just check out The Spider, Kelly’s Eye or early Steel Claw stories…

The glory days of Christmas Annuals have ended but thanks to Rebellion and their superb Treasury of British Comics project, a touch of that grand legacy has been delighting old and new readers with modern versions of the good old days for a few years now. A little slice of the future of nostalgia comes with a limited Hardback edition and general-release digital compilations of seasonal comics fun and thrills. Moreover – just like the bonanza hardbacks they celebrate – these Annuals are a blend of all-new material and old classics.

In this first release from November 2023 the recovered, remastered delights stem from Smash! April 2nd – May 14th 1966; Wham! Annual 1966: Wham! November 25th 1967 and January 15th 1968; Lion & Valiant Holiday Extra 1969; Pow! Annual 1971; Buster Book of Scary Stories 1975; Action Summer Special 1976; Valiant Book of Mystery & Magic 1976; Action Annual 1979; Battle Holiday Special 1979; Misty Annual 1980; Starlord Annual 1982; Scream! May 12th 1984 and Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular 2021 and opens with a modern-day team up clash by Simon Furman, Mike Collins & David Roach, coloured by Gary Caldwell and lettered by Annie Parkhouse.

‘The Spider Vs The Leopard from Lime Street’ pits the wild and wary misunderstood heroes against each other until time-bending true malign manipulators The Infernal Gadgeteer and Dr Mysterioso are exposed and expelled, after which true evil genius Leo Baxendale depicts in full colour how ‘Grimly Feendish’ staged his own Great Train Robbery in Wham! November 25th 1967.

Reproduced from actual artboards as “Original Art Archive Scans – with erasings, white out and all…” and as seen in weekly Smash! from April 2nd – May 14th 1966, ‘Moon Madness’ was written by Alf Wallace and illustrated by Brian Lewis, and revealed how a Russian lunar mission resulted in a bizarre jigsaw monster terrorising Britain…

Another multi-hued Baxendale ‘Grimly Feendish’ (from Wham! January 15th 1968) depicting another banditry bungle segues into a sci fi classic from an unknown author and Garry Leach as seen in Starlord Annual 1982 wherein an all-consuming bio-terror on a cargo freighter demands the expert attention of ‘The Exterminator’, after which an equally anonymous yarn from The Buster Book of Scary Stories 1975 limned by Dave Gibbons sees a keen trainee aviator used by ‘The Ghost Pilot’ to save a person on peril and pay off a debt…

Wham! Annual 1966 provided a wry extended ‘Frankie Stein’ tale by Walter Thorburn & Ken Reid regarding the excesses of the tabloid press before Tom Tully & Brian Bolland detail the terrors and rewards of modern sport sensation ‘Spinball’ as originally covered in Action Annual 1979, prior to another new tale as ‘Black Beth’ faces arcane peril from tarot terrors courtesy of Alec Worley, DaNi & Oz Osbourne. Pat Mills, Derek Cribbling & Joe Colquhoun keep up the mystic menace with a craven cartoonist’s cautionary tale and fate as ‘The Final Victim’ as seen in the Valiant Book of Mystery & Magic 1976 prior to Misty Annual 1980, an unknown author and Carlos Guirado exposing a young heiress to ancient heirloom ‘The Hand of Vengeance!’

Supernatural mystery continues with Furman, Steve Dillon & Jay Cobb’s ‘Beware the Werewolf!’ from Scream! May 12th 1984 before the scene shifts to true horror as Cam Kennedy and the Unknown Scripter deliver a lost episode of ‘Charleys’ War’ first found in Battle Holiday Special 1979, prior to time-travelling ‘Robot Archie’ and pals facing pirates in the Caribbean thanks to E. George Cowan & Mike Western and Lion & Valiant Holiday Extra 1969…

‘Esper Commandos’ was published in Pow! Annual 1971, limned by future Modesty Blaise and Axa illustrator Enric Badia Romero and reappears here as another smudges ‘n’ all “Original Art Archive Scan”. It features a future and fascinating psionic super-squad as they infiltrate and eliminate the Britain’s future enemies, and precedes a full colour origin for one of UK comics’ strangest stars. Thanks to Ken Armstrong & Juan Arancio in Action Summer Special 1976,‘Great White Death’ revealed how Shark superstar Hookjaw got his bloody start…

One last original yarn – by Kek-W, Staz Johnson, Barbara Nosnzo & Simon Bowland – maintains the tone but transfers time and place to Leningrad in 1944 for saucy savage combat fable ‘Gustav of the Bearmacht’ before Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular 2021 revives ‘Gah! The Gobblin’ Goblin’ and his astounding appetite thanks to Keith Richardson, Tom Paterson & Bowland.

Daft, thrilling, beautifully rendered, devastatingly nostalgic and truly fun, these are all you need to complete your Crimbo celebrations and since we’re all messing about with electrons and what-nots, if you want YOU CAN GET IT IMMEDIATELY THANKS TO DIGITAL RUDOLF THE RED BUTTON REINDEER AND THEM INTERWEB TUBES!!

The same applies to the follow up tome…
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 2021 & 2023 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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The Treasury of British Comics Annual 2025


By Paul Grist, Simon Furman, Leo Baxendale, Ian Rimmer, Donne Avenell, Tom Tully, Alec Worley, Steve Moore, John Smith, Simon Williams, John M. Burns, Mike Collins, Carlos Ezquerra, Mick McMahon, Mike Western, Frank Langford, Massimo Belardinelli, Anna Morozova, Ian Kennedy, Eric Bradbury, David Roach, Emily Roach, Andreas Butzbach & various (Rebellion Studios)
eISBN: 978-1-83786-498-0 (general edition); 978-183786-501-7 (Webshop Exclusive)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: More True Brit Comics Class… 8/10

What you read up above is just as true for this second Annual Endeavour which emerged at the end of 2024. This time around, the new contributions are augmented by material from Tiger February 13th – May 8th 1965; Wham! February 27th 1965; Lion Annual 1972; The Buster Book of Scary Stories 1975; Valiant 21st August -16th October 1976; Valiant Annual 1976; Battle Annual 1979; Dan Dare Annual 1980; Action Annual 1982; Scream! Holiday Special 1985 and 2000 AD Presents Action!

Kicking things off is a full-colour, all new rematch /grudge match as Paul Grist, Simon Willams, colourist Jason Cardy & letterer Leila Jess detail one more mighty mess up in ‘Robot Archie Vs The Sludge’ prior to that uncredited writer and Carlos Ezquerra revealing how battle-savvy rebel ‘Major Easy’ ferrets out traitors in Nazi-occupied Greec as seen in Battle Annual 1979.

Long ago Scream! Holiday Special 1985 pointed out the problems with ‘New Neighbours’ courtesy of Ian Rimmer & Mike Western whilst anonymous & Mick McMahon expose the domestic stresses of ‘3000 AD The Traveller’, as first debated in Dan Dare Annual 1980 (which is apparently still a 2000 AD Production)…

Leo Baxendale’s anarchic spoof ‘Eagle Eye, Junior Spy – Doomsday School’ (Wham! February 27th 1965) segues into dark and dangerous (no really) football strip ‘Stryker’ (by Tom Tully & Ian Kennedy and running in Valiant 21st August to 16th October 1976) as really good player joins a naff team to discover how his brother died following an ugly on-pitch incident…

John Smith & John M. Burns were on fine form in 2000 AD Presents Action! as ‘Doctor Sin: The Strange Case of the Wyndham Demon’ sees the mystic troubleshooter drawn to a dark and deadly case of diabolical incursions after which Simon Furman, Mike Collins & letterer SquakeZz deliver an all-original adventure as ‘Kelly’s Eye Vs The White Eyes’ sees mystic ghost-breaker Cursitor Doom call in the invulnerable hero to end a threat to the entire multiverse caused by environmental mucking about…

There’s more of the same, if a little earlier set, as anonymous & Frank Langford detail how animal experiments turn a lab chimp into a threat to all humanity after taking over ‘Gorilla Island’ as seen in Tiger from February 13th to May 8th 1965 – predating Planet of the Apes by three years! – after which possibly the same scripter (who can tell?) & Ian Kennedy cover how immortal time traveller ‘Adam Eterno’ exposes a slave-taker at Camelot’s Round Table, as seen in Valiant Annual 1976.

Donne Avenell & Massimo Belardinelli tell a tale of feudal Caped Crusader/Dark (green) Knight) ‘Flame O’ the Forest’ wherein the masked Saxon battles Norman injustice and oppression in a short romp from Lion Annual 1972 before final new addition ‘Black Beth: Vultures of Azotir’ sees Alec Worley, Anna Morozova, & Ozwald reaffirm the Warrior Sorceress’ undying battle against evil magic and wicked people, before Steve Moore & Eric Bradbury close the Christmas curtain with The Knight From Nowhere’: one last bout of sword-waving sagas and supernatural vengeance as originally seen The Buster Book of Scary Stories 1975…

And that’s another pretty package of festive future-of-nostalgia fun done. Crucially, all these digital delights could be all yours right now, if not sooner…

Admit it. You’re tempted, right? And don’t YOU deserve some seasonal fun and thrills too?
© 1965, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1992 & 2024 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1946 Vittorio Giardino was born. We just did his Max Fridman stuff so no help from here, just go scrolling. In 1947 Dutch wonder boy Joost Swarte was born and in 1959 Jean Roba’s Boule et Bill began in Le Journal de Spirou, and 10 years later Scottish writer Mark Millar was born.

On the downside, though, in 1986 today was Gardner F. Fox’s last day on Earth-1 and in 1992 Smurf-meister Peyo passed away leaving all far less blue…

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Zorro: Matanzas


By Don McGregor, Mike Mayhew, Sam Parsons & John Costanza (Dynamite Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-1-60690-147-2 (TPB/digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic and literary effect.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Hero Romp in the classic Tradition… 8/10

One the earliest masked heroes and still phenomenally popular all over the world, “El Zorro, The Fox” was originally devised by jobbing writer Johnston McCulley in 1919 for a 5-part prose serial entitled ‘The Curse of Capistrano’. The bold enigma debuted in All-Story Weekly for August 6th, running until 6th September. The part-work was subsequently published by Grossett & Dunlap in 1924 as novel The Mark of Zorro and further reissued in 1959 and 1998 by MacDonald & Co. and Tor respectively. Famously, Hollywood glitterati Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford read the serial in All-Story – while on honeymoon! – and immediately optioned the romp’s first film release from their new production company/studio United Artists.

In 1920 and for years after The Mark of Zorro was a global movie sensation, and New York-based McCulley subsequently re-tailored his creation to match the so-different filmic incarnation. This Caped Crusader aptly fitted a burgeoning genre that would soon be peopled by the likes of The Shadow, Doc Savage and The Spider. Rouben Mamoulian’s 1940 filmic remake of The Mark of Zorro (yes, the one with Tyrone Power & Basil Rathbone) further ingrained the Fox into the world’s psyche and, as prose exploits continued in a variety of publications, Dell began a comic book version in 1949.

When Walt Disney Studios began a hugely popular Zorro TV show in 1957 (78 half-hour episodes and four 60 minute specials before cancellation in 1961), the ongoing comic book series was swiftly redesigned to capitalise on it. The mega-media corporation thus began a decades-long strip incarnation of “their” version of the character in various quarters of the world. This series and later iterations also resulted in comics and strips all over Europe from Disney, and Marvel in the USA.

During the 1990s, Topps Comics spearheaded Zorro’s return courtesy of Don McGregor & Mike Mayhew. It led to a short-lived newspaper strip (illustrated by Thomas Yeates) and also incidentally and memorably introducing a salacious “bad-girl” sidekick in the unwisely inappropriate and inadequately clad form of Lady Rawhide.

… And there were more movies, this time with an actual Hispanic (albeit a Spaniard) playing the lead role: Antonio Banderas, in case you were wondering…

In 2008 Dynamite Entertainment reintroduced the Fox courtesy of new yarns by Matt Wagner (patience, por favor, they’re coming soon…) and as part of the package excavated this lost yarn from the Topps iteration: an unpublished adventure by McGregor & Mayhew with colours by Sam Parsons and letters by industry veteran John Costanza.

Zorro: Mantanzas has a chequered history. Part of a longer storyline begun during the Topps Comic era of the 1990s, it was only completed in 2010 for the Dynamite run and released as 4-issue miniseries before being collected as a trade paperback/eBook. For all that, however, the lost episode offers a passionate, sophisticated portrayal of the quintessential champion risking his own security and happiness to thwart a macabre and complex villain: a struggle rendered even more appealing by the magnificent illustration of Mayhew & Parsons.

However: this is also an uncompromising view of a far different time and ethos. Some scenes of “man vs beast” interaction are explicit and arguably little more than beautifully executed animal cruelty. If such uncompromising scenes are likely to upset, please leave his book alone.

For the uninitiated: Don Diego de la Vega is the foppish son of a grand house in old California back when it was a Spanish Possession. He used the masked persona of señor Zorro to right wrongs, defend the weak and liberate the oppressed – particularly the pitifully maltreated natives and Indians. He thwarted the get-rich-quick schemes of a succession of military leaders and a colonial Governor determined to milk the populace of growing township Los Angeles for all they had.

Whenever Zorro struck he left his mark – a character-defining letter “Z” carved into walls, doors, faces and/or other body parts…

Diego has an entire support structure in place. Although in this iteration his stiff-necked Hildalgo father is unaware of his double life, the secret saviour has numerous assistants who do. The most important is “deaf-mute manservant” Bernardo and Jose of the Cocopahs – a native Indio chieftain who often acts as stableman, decoy and body double for the Masked Avenger. Diego also occasionally employs retired, reformed one-eyed pirate Bardoso to act as his spy amongst townsfolk and outlaws…

The generally-beleaguered settlement is basking in unaccustomed liberty after recent Zorro’s overthrow of the military governor, unaware that their new Regency Administrator Lucien Machete is a sadistic fiend with a nasty line in prosthetic weapons nursing a rabid grudge against Zorro… the man who made his replacement limb necessary.

The villain has struck up a friendship with Diego’s father Don Alejandro: an increasingly frustrated grandee who finds his son’s unseemly, unmanly behaviour more and more inexplicable and intolerable. Infuriatingly, Machete is not taking advantage of the familial rift as a ploy; he just likes the old man and despises his foppish son, blithely oblivious that the soft poltroon is the black-clad avenger who thwarted his previous malevolent depredations.

Zorro knows – but cannot prove – Machete’s credentials are forged and his claims to act as the Spanish King’s official representative are false. The Fox urgently seeks to expose the impostor before whatever vile plot he fosters can be completed. Thus he cannot let anything distract him…

The drama unfolds after Don Alejandro and Lucien attend the Matanza: an annual festival where young men show off their strength and manhood by ceremonially butchering cattle and other livestock in a gory display of horsemanship and bloodletting. Diego has naturally declined to participate or even attend, preferring to surreptitiously watch Machete. He is wise to do so, for the maniac has malicious plans to sabotage the event with a new addition to his arm’s arsenal…

Taking up position above the killing grounds, Zorro & Bernardo are in perfect position to observe proceedings but their keen surveillance is disrupted by a huge bear attracted to the site by the smell of blood. Its attack is devastating and leaves the secret champions battling for their lives. By the time they can again turn their attention to the Matanza, Lucien has done his dirty work: good men are dead or maimed and an horrific stampede is underway… Moreover, in the chaos, personal tragedy has struck the De La Vega household and Machete seems to be getting away with murder again, whilst El Zorro is painted as the blackest of monsters…

A simple tell well-told and lavishly illustrated, Zorro: Matanzas is packed with spectacular action and diabolical intrigue in the grand manner and incidentally offers a potted origin and discreet peek at the fabulous subterranean citadel covertly crafted by Diego & Bernardo to facilitate the Fox’s war on injustice.

Although more incident than main feature, this is a blistering romp every lover of human-scaled adventure will adore.
Zorro®: Matanzas, Volume One © 2014 Zorro Productions, Inc. All rights Reserved.

Today in 1897 Rudolph Dirks’ strip the Katzenjammer Kids began. It is right now the oldest comic strip still in syndication. In 1919, cartoon comedy superstar Dan (Archie, Sabrina the Teenaged Witch) DeCarlo was born, and one year later Airboy, Heap & Captain Britain illuminator Fred Kida turned up. So did western strip wonder Warren Tufts in 1925. He’s someone you really should see. Perhaps checking out Casey Ruggles: The Marchioness of Grofnek might start something?

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Yakari and the Ghost Bear (volume 23)


By Derib & Job, coloured by Dominique and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-173-6 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: The World We All Want … 9/10

In 1964 children’s magazine Le Crapaud à lunettes was founded by Swiss journalist André Jobin (25/10/1927 – 08/10/2024), who then wrote for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later, he hired artist and fellow Swiss Francophone Claude de Ribaupierre, AKA “Derib”.

The illustrator had launched his own career as an assistant at Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs): working on Smurfs strips for venerable weekly Le Journal de Spirou. Thereafter, together they created the splendid Adventures of the Owl Pythagore prior to striking pure comics gold a few years later with their next collaboration.

Born in Delémont, Jobin split his time between bande dessinées – 39 Yakari albums and 3 for Pythagore – and his other writing, editing and publishing briefs: an admirably restrained and outstandingly effective legacy to be proud of.

Derib – equally au fait with enticing, comically dynamic “Marcinelle” cartoon style yarns and devastatingly compelling meta-realistic action illustrated action epics – became one of the Continent’s most prolific and revered creators with such groundbreaking strips as Buddy Longway, Celui-qui-est-nà-deux-fois; Jo (first comic to deal with AIDS): Pour toi, Sandra and La Grande Saga Indienne. They haven’t been translated into English yet, but still we patiently wait in hope and anticipation…

Yakari is considered by fans and critics to be the strip which led Derib to his deserved mega-stardom. Debuting in 1969, self-contained episodes trace the eventful, nomadic life of an Oglala Lakota boy on the Great Plains, with stories set sometime after the introduction of horses (by colonising Conquistadores) but before the coming of modern Europeans. The series – which also generated two separate animated TV series and a movie – has notched up 42 albums thus far: a testament to its evergreen vitality and brilliance of its creators, even though originator Job moved on in 2016, replaced by Frenchman Joris Chamblain.

Abundant with gentle whimsy and heady compassion, Yakari’s life is a largely bucolic and happy existence: at one with nature and generally free from privation or strife. For the sake of dramatic delectation, however, the ever-changing seasons are punctuated with the odd crisis, generally resolved without fuss, fame or fanfare by a little lad who is smart and brave, and who can – thanks to a boon of his totem guide the Great Eagle – converse with all the beasts of the field and birds of the air…

In 1998, Yakari et l‘Ours fantôme became the 24th European album, but as always, content and set-up are both stunningly simple and sublimely accessible, affording new readers total enjoyment with a minimum of familiarity or foreknowledge required…

It’s high summer and life is slow, easy and comfortable. Yakari’s chores are few and there’s time to canoe on the river and catch up with old pals like the beaver Linden. Suddenly, however, a sudden glimpse of something unusual in the overgrown riverbank undergrowth intrigues the little wise man and leads to a fresh adventure and more new friends…

Tracking the strange sight, Yakari is disturbed at its abrupt disappearance and fears he’s found a ghost. Sleep that night is hard to find and in the morning he’s up early to seek the mystery, much to the annoyance of young chums Rainbow and Buffalo Seed, who are quite content to stay home and snooze more. A little consideration has convinced the beast-speaker that what he encountered was a polar bear far, far from home. It wouldn’t be his first…

Resolved to meet and greet the visitor, Yakari sets off by canoe, as his valiant pony Little Thunder is still asleep too and does not like early calls…

Gifted and schooled in many vital skills, the wilderness lad soon tracks his quarry, but a tense first encounter accidently leaves the spectral bruin fully exposed but totally unconscious. Plagued with guilt, Yakari fetches honeycombs and waits to formally apologise. On the big beast’s awakening, the boy realises this is no lost far-north denizen, but something even stranger…

Gradually warming to each other, the “ghost” explains that he is actually a Black Bear who was born with white fur. His mother called him Snowball, and he was alternatively teased and picked on or chased by vacuous impressionable females dazzled by his glamourous differences. Thus, fed up and impatient, Snowball left home, crossing the Rocky Mountains and following the river ever southwards…

Soon the adventurous pair are best pals, loafing, fishing and having fun, and when Yakari returns to camp he’s anticipating much more to come. He even puts off Rainbow and Buffalo Seed when they enquire if he found his ghost bear, but sadly, they are all unaware that someone else has overheard the conversation.

Taut Bow is a professional hunter who services many local tribes, but he has a problem. As he later proudly shows Yakari, the inveterate, infallible stalker adores white fur. He has killed and preserved the hides of countless animals all the “colour of winter”. Moreover, with what he’s overheard, the travelling butcher can finally complete his collection by adding a white bear skin to it. Of course, he will need Yakari’s help…

Unable to dissuade, defect or deter the fervent tracker, Yakari devises a devious scheme that is not without risk and involves some nasty sticky business with caves and bats, before ultimately finding a way to deflect Taut Bow’s obsessive attentions and move him on to other hunting grounds.

… And in the peaceful aftermath of a riotous night, spirit raven Venerable Beak delivers a telling lecture pointing out the duty and purpose of those animals chosen to live in white livery: one that changes Snowball’s attitude, destiny and future destinations…

Yakari is one of the most unfailingly absorbing and entertaining all-ages comics strips ever conceived. It should be in every home, right next to Tintin, Uncle Scrooge, Asterix, Calvin and Hobbes and The Moomins. It’s never too late to start reading something wonderful, so why not get back to nature as soon as you can?
Original edition © Derib + Job – Editions du Lombard (Dargaud – Lombard s. a.) – 2002. All rights reserved. English translation © 2025.

In 1904 the magnificent “Marge” (Marjorie Lyman Henderson Buell) was born. Did her childhood in any way affect or drive her cartoon classic Little Lulu? Sixteen years later Steve Canyon inheritor Dick Rockwell arrived himself followed by Wee Pals creator Morrie Turner in 1923.

In comic books, John Buscema was born in 1927 and Mary Marvel debuted in Captain Marvel Adventures #18, cover-dated December 11th 1942. Hate-filler Peter Bagge was born in 1957 and in 2011 the astounding Jerry Robinson died.

If you don’t fear foreigners you might care to celebrate Argentinian Carlos (Cybersix) Meglia’s natal arrival in 1957 and 1964’s auspicious advent of Frenchman Laurent Chabosy who becomes Lewis Trondheim to build bande dessinée magic such as Little Nothings volumes 1-4: The Curse of the Umbrella, The Prisoner Syndrome, Uneasy Happiness, My Shadow in the Distance.

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Lobey’s The Wee Boy! – Five Lobey Dosser Adventures by Bud Neill


By Bud Neill, compiled by Ranald MacColl (Mainstream Publishing)
ISBN: 1-85158-405-6 (PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Get it! Get It! GET IT! …10/10

A wee while ago we covered Desperate Dan and I bravely questioned what is it with the Scots and Cowboys. Graciously ignoring any subsequent comments since, I’m just going to point to this out now…

Nobody’s ever accused me of being sensitive to the tone of the times, but with a cold snap on and all thoughts directed north of the border for now, I’m focussing on this superbly fitting dose of Celtic (more properly Glaswegian) cartoon magic today. It’s the work of a tragically near-forgotten genius of pen & brush who should rightly be a household name wherever people like to laugh and ponder the absurdity of existence, no matter what flag they fly.

William Neill – forever immortalised as “Bud” – was Partick-born in 1911, just before the family moved to Troon in Ayrshire. He was a typical kid and fell in love with the brash wonder of silent movies – most especially the rambunctious westerns of William S. Hart. His other great drive was a love of horses, and he could always be found hanging around stables, trading odd jobs for the chance of a few minutes’ riding…

After being done with school the young artistic star won a place at Glasgow School of Art and, in the late 1930s, briefly emigrated. Bud worked in Canada and deftly absorbed the still-developing tricks of America’s greatest newspaper cartoonists during their creative heyday. He then served as a gunner in WWII before being invalided out and ending up a bus driver. These varied experiences led to his creating a series of pocket cartoons starring the “Caurs & Clippies” of Glasgow’s tramcar system.

By 1944 Bud was drawing for the Glasgow Evening Times: sharp, wry observational pieces starring the city and its inhabitants, characterised by devastating, instantly enchanting use of the iconic rhythms, vernacular and argot everyone shared. In January 1949, The Evening News began running the uniquely surreal escapades of his greatest creation.

Sheriff Lobey Dosser of Calton Creek was a brilliant, magnificent inspiration: the ongoing adventures of a canny wee lawman in a hauntingly typical western town but populated exclusively by Scots (from Glasgow’s Calton district, presumably) all living an outrageously domestic, hilariously apt inner-city life and tricked out in cowboy hats and with six-guns.

Delving deep into the venerable, anarchic, often surreal material of pantomime and music hall, Bud crafted a supremely odd, anachronistically familiar, bizarrely inviting world of inviting solecism masquerading as local events and exotic adventure. The series transferred to The Sunday Mail in 1956, supported by previous, complete strip adventures collected as instant sell-out, one shilling landscape booklets (all incredibly sought after collectors’ items these days).

Neill died in 1970, but his work steadily continued to garner fans and acquire a mythical status, so by the middle of the decade Glasgow artist and sculptor Ranald MacColl began work on a biography. That in turn led to a series of graphic collections such as this one and eventually belated recognition for Neill and his most memorable creations. Bud was celebrated in exhibitions, galleries and – following Glasgow’s becoming European City of Culture in 1990 – two separate bronze statues (Lobey, Rank Bajin and noble steed Elfie in Woodlands Road and, in Homecoming Year 2009, The G.I. Bride and her “Wean” at Partick Station), funded by public donations, Strathclyde Passenger Transport and private sponsors.

Hard to find but so worth the effort, Lobey’s The Wee Boy! gathers five of those shilling collections in a sensibly narrative chronological – not publication or even creation – order, and is packed with informative extras. These include MacColl’s fascinating historical and atmospheric Introduction and a hilarious Prologue by Bud himself from 1958, before the astonishing origin of the champion of Calton Creek is revealed in ‘Lobey Dosser: His Life Story’. On a rare quiet day the grizzled sheriff recounts his early life to a jail full of impressionable young’uns…

Once upon a time in auld Glesca, a mother had one bairn too many. One day, to spare her further hardship, the precocious tyke put his possessions in a hanky on a stick and headed off to make his way in the world. Although but a few months old, he rejected being fostered out to his mean Auntie Mabel and joined a merchant ship under tyrannical Captain Blackswite, unaware that the big shouty blackguard was a pirate…

After many exciting years at sea Lobey jumped ship and was befriended by cannibals and their erudite chief Hannibal which led to more exploring, meeting monsters and other strange things before encountering a race of Oxbridge-educated white savages and happily acquiring a rare two-legged horse. El Fideldo would become his greatest friend and inseparable companion.

Together they made their way to Mexico where the wee wanderer discovered an unsuspected talent for upholding the law and keeping the peace. After cleaning out a nest of vicious banditos, the restless pair headed north and fetched up in Laredo, Texas where a disastrous love affair with Adoda, formidable daughter of wealthy Whisk E. Glorr led to a clash with rustlers led by scurrilous Watts Koakin…

His heart broken – even though he had cleaned up the range – Dosser & Elfie kept heading west until they reached Arizona and first met future archnemesis Rank Bajin selling out the wagon train he was guiding to the local Sioux. Rescuing the embattled settlers, Lobey opted to stay with the Scots expats as they built a town in the wilderness. They called it Calton Creek…

Wild, imaginative and with every daily episode fully loaded with sight gags, striking slapstick, punishing puns, cartoon in-jokes and intoxicating vernacular, each Lobey Dosser tale was a non-stop carnival of graphic mirth. This terrific tome continues in fine fettle with ‘The Mail Robbery’ wherein nefarious Bajin attempts to incite an Indian uprising amongst the Pawnee of Chief Toffy Teeth, and at one point leaves the little lawman to die of thirst in the searing deserts. Moreover, as the scorched sheriff struggles and strives to survive, the naive citizens are left to adapt to a protective occupation by flash Yankee G.I.s and airmen…

Sardonic and satirically cutting, the yarn also sports one of the best – and daftest – horseback chases in entertainment history…

Romance and mystery abound in ‘The Secret of Hickory Hollow’ as that Bajin scoundrel buys up the mortgage on Vinegar Hill’s farm and attempts to evict and kick out the old coot and his substantial niece Honey Perz. The villain has gotten wind of a mineral resource on the property that would make a man as wealthy as the Maharaja of Baroda, or perhaps even a regional Deputy Superintendent of the Coal Board…

When Lobey organises the cash needed to pay off the outstanding loan, Bajin reluctantly resorts to the last resort and begins romancing sweet, innocent, hulking Honey. It all looks bleak for justice until the sheriff befriends an astoundingly good-looking and wholesome uranium prospector named Hart O’Gold who quickly tickles Honey’s fickle fancy. However nobody – including ghostly guardian Rid Skwerr – is prepared for the Soviet spies behind the entire affair to jump in and take over…

Ultimately it needs the timely intervention of mystic imp Fairy Nuff to save everyone’s accumulated hash before the Dosser can finally expose the viper in the nest…

The local natives are always up to mischief and ‘The Indian War’ kicks off when the Railroad tries to lay track through Pawnee territory just as Chief Rubber Lugs of the Blackfeet Tribe revisits an old and outstanding grudge with counterpart commander Toffy Teeth. Ineffectual Captain Goodenough arrives with a division of cavalry to safeguard the white citizenry but matters soon worsen, painfully exacerbated when the folk of Calton Creek take advantage of Lobey’s absence (he’s trying to negotiate with both bunches of bellicose braves) to run Bajin out of town. Instead, the hooded hoodlum starts freely peddling weapons to all sides…

… And then Bajin kills Lobey and takes over the town.

… And then…

The final yarn in this masterful monochrome tome of tall tales is the most incredible of all as ‘The “Reform” of Rank Bajin’ sees the vile villain scooting around Calton Creek doing good deeds and selling off his astounding arsenal of wicked weapons and cunning contraband. Baffled, perplexed, confused and not sure what’s going on, Lobey asks Boot Hill-haunter Rid Skwerr to spy on the no-longer-reprehensible Rank. Even love-struck Fairy Nuff gets in on the act before the astounding truth finally emerges.

Bajin has a boy who is growing up honest, so is selling up and returning to the family he deserted in Borstal Bluffs, Iowa to sort the shameful lad out. Knowing the tremendous vacuum his absence will leave in Calton’s exciting landscape, he has, however, a recommendation for a locum archenemy for his archenemy…

Can this possibly all be true or is the beastly Bajin executing his most sinister scheme yet?

Cunningly absurdist, socially aware, humorously harnessed insanity in the manner of Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine and the immortal Goon Show, the adventures of Lobey Dosser are a brilliant example of comic strips perfectly tailored to a specific time, place and audience: targeted treats which can magically transcend their origins to become masterpieces of the art form.

It’s also side-splitting, laugh-out-loud, Irn Bru spit-take hilarious and really needs to be recollected for today’s audiences.

And of course that’s what I really want: a complete reprinting of these sublimely perfect spoofs.

Trust me Pal: once you read some so will you… even if you ain’t no Scottisher…
© Ranald MacColl 1992. All rights reserved.

Today in 1959 Argentine artist Eduardo Risso was born. Sure, you’ve seen 100 Bullets, Sgt. Rock and Batman, but have you checked out Red Moon?
In 1986 unsung legend Norman Maurer died. When someone published stuff by the co-originator of 3D comics, the Three Stooges comics and much more, we’ll cover it.
In 2003, Berke Breathed’s Bloom County & Outland star began his own eponymous Sunday strip. Naturally. Opus soon fluffed it all up…
If you’re American, you probably wouldn’t be reading this or any strip stuff if it wasn’t for “father of comics fandom” Dr. Jerry Bails, who died today in 2006 with his job so very well done.

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Lucky Luke: The Complete Collection volume 4


By Morris & René Goscinny, with Christelle & Bertram Pissavy-Yvernault: translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-169-9 (Album HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Family Thrills and Frolics No Movie Can Match… 8/10

On the Continent, the populace has a mature relationship with comics: according them academic and scholarly standing as well as meritorious nostalgic value and the validation of acceptance as an art form. Whilst tracing the lost origins of a true global phenomenon, this hardback and digital compilation celebrates the formulative early triumphs of a fictional hero who is certainly a national treasure for both Belgium and France, and it’s also timely in that this worldwide western wonder celebrates his 80th anniversary next year.

As we know him now, Lucky Luke is a rangy, good-natured, lightning-fast cowboy roaming the fabulously mythic Old West, having light-hearted adventures with his horse Jolly Jumper and interacting with archetypes, historical figures and mythic icons. His ongoing exploits have made him one of the best-selling comic characters in Europe (83 collected books plus around a dozen spin-offs and specials, totalling over 300 million albums in at least 33 languages thus far). That has generated all the usual spin-off toys, computer games, puzzles, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies that come with that kind of popularity. It has also spurred a bunch of academicians to steer studies his way and garnered a lot of learned words. Some of those you can read here, if you’re keen…

Lucky debuted in 1946, courtesy of Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de Bévère (“Morris”). For decades we all believed his first appearance was in autumn release Le Journal de Spirou Christmas Annual (L’Almanach Spirou 1947) prior to being catapulted into his first weekly adventure ‘Arizona 1880’ on December 7th 1946. However, the initial volume in this superb archival series proved the value of scholarship by revealing that the strip actually premiered earlier that year in the multinational weekly comic, albeit sans title banner and only in the edition released in France.

This fourth curated outing presents – in strict chronological order – strips published between February 2nd 1956 through September 1957 with all the art and pages fully restored, rejiggled and remastered to achieve maximum contemporary authenticity and synchronicity with the original weekly serialisation. Those stories were subsequently gathered as albums The Bluefeet are Coming!, Lucky Luke vs Joss Jamon and The Dalton Cousins and there’s even a few little extras scattered about for fascinated completists.

Before all that, though, there’s a wealth of background and unseen other works to enjoy, beginning with a lost cartoon gem as an old goldminer waggishly details ‘The Thousand Uses… of a Hat’…

A precocious, westerns-addicted, art-mad kid, well off and educated by Jesuits, Maurice de Bevere was born on December 1st 1923 in Kortrijk, Belgium. A far from illustrious or noteworthy scholar – except in all the ways teachers despise – Maurice sought artistic expression in his early working life via forays into film animation before settling into his true vocation. While working at the CBA (Compagnie Belge d’Actualitiés) animation studio, “Morris” met future comics superstars Franquin & Peyo, and worked as a caricaturist for weekly magazine Le Moustique. Morris quickly became one of la Bande des quatre (Gang of Four) comprising Jijé, Will and old comrade Franquin. Each was a leading proponent of a loose, free-wheeling artistic style known as the “Marcinelle School” which came to dominate Le journal de Spirou in aesthetic contention with the “Ligne Claire” style of Hergé, E.P. Jacobs and others in Le Journal de Tintin.

Previous volumes detailed Morris’s life, career, and achievements, and here Christelle & Bertram Pissavy-Yvernault augment past pictorial essays with ‘Wanted: Lucky Luke’ exploring life after returning to Belgium after his American holiday. It was May 1955 and the artist and his family had been gone for seven years…

Back home and back at work, Morris added to his output by illustrating novels, adding editorial content like quizzes to his Lucky workload and tasting new styles with a vast range of magazine covers, an inordinate number of which were ‘Sappy Moments’ for romance magazines and periodicals…

For Flemish readers he did cartoon sports columns and generally traded as a jobbing commercial artist, but all the while, he was still watching westerns and producing cowboy wonders and other comics stuff, such as the ‘Wild West Journalism’ article he wrote and included here in full. He was also constantly chatting with one of the Europeans he’d met in the US: cartoonist and scripter René Goscinny…

Accompanied by published cartoons, covers, script pages, contemporary ads, family photos and tons of original art, the in-depth treatise focuses on artistic development and the team building that resulted in one of comics’ most fruitful double acts Goscinny.

Morris had taken nearly a decade to craft nine albums of affectionate sagebrush parody and action. Now, with Goscinny as regular wordsmith, Luke would attain dizzying heights of super swift superstardom, commencing with Des rails sur la Prairie (Rails on the Prairie), in Le Journal de Spirou in August 1955. Before that though we enjoy a lost treat that first appeared in Risque Tout #11 (February 2nd 1956) prior to inclusion in Under A Western Sky. ‘Androcles’ details animal lover Luke’s interactions with a mistreated circus bear and proves that western justice applies equally to all…

Then the main event begins with all-Morris action as originally serialised in LJdS #938-957 (April 5th – August 16th and released in 1958 as Alerte aux Pied-Bleus/The Bluefeet are Coming!) It’s seen here with original French cover, editorial material and even ads.

A procession of linked gags sees Morris pile on and kick hard familiar themes and scenarios as the town of Rattlesnake Valley welcomes wanderer Lucky. The lone rider is just in time to save super-superstitious sheriff Jerry Grindstone from sneaky gambler/professional card cheat Pedro Cucaracha. His plans to fleece the old codger result in his painful and shameful eviction from civilisation; so naturally, the scoundrel tries to rob and blow up the bank on his way out. Chased into the surrounding desert, the scurvy Mexican then gulls the alcoholic Great Chief of the local Bluefeet Indians into laying siege to the town, tempting the old warrior with promises of unlimited booze…

Old Parched Bear is happy to oblige, and soon the town is forming a militia, telegraphing for the cavalry and erecting barricades. As food and water grow scarce profiteering proliferates, with Lucky and Jerry battening down the hatches and bolstering morale for a protracted and perilous defence of their lives and loved ones…

Against that framework of classic movie moments there are rich slapstick pickings as spies, crossdressers, raids & counter-raids and devious secret weapons all build to a bombastic finale, with Pedro and Parched Bear attempting all manner of nefarious invention to get respectively vengeance and more “firewater”…

… And then, when it’s almost too late, the Cavalry arrive… just after the deployment of late arriving support from Greenfeet and Yellowfeet branches of the family of First Nations. It can only end in catastrophe unless Lucky can contrive a solution…

Daft and Spectacular in equal amounts, this is perhaps a tale for older kids who have gained a bit of historical perspective and social understanding, although the action and slapstick situations are no more contentious than any old movie – as if that’s any help or comfort…

Rushing right on, Le Journal de Spirou #966-989 (October 18th 1956 – March 28th 1957) offered an uncredited Goscinny script as La bande de Joss Jamon and/or Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon pitted our laconically lanky hero against a very different kind of bad guy. Again on view with original cover and ads, what we know as Lucky Luke vs Joss Jamon finds our happy wanderer facing guns, lynching, slander, a diabolical frame-up and political office, after Confederate soldiers turn their wartime skills to garnering personal profit in the years of Reconstruction that followed the American Civil War.

However, as vile as sly conman Pete the Wishy-washy, brutish Jack the Muscle, murderous Indian Joe, ruthless trickster Sam the Farmer and cardsharp Bill the Cheater may be, their combined villainy cannot match that of their ambitious scheming leader Joss Jamon. He has a dream of running the state if not the country and enough drive to make it happen…

How that doesn’t happen sees Luke battle them singly and in a wild bunch as Jamon moves into Los Palitos and frames Luke for robbery. Barely escaping the neck-stretching, Luke swears to bring back the real culprits in six months or surrender himself for the waiting noose…

The trail finds Jamon in bustling metropolis Frontier City where, after taking over businesses by making offers nobody dares to refuse, Jamon is running for Mayor. Despite physically a match for his enemies, Luke now needs to change tactics to unseat the entrenched plutocrat. That means a menace-packed war of nerves and even running as a rival candidate…

Even though election day is the farce you’d expect, and Lucky is branded an outlaw, he has one last card to play… civil dissatisfaction and unrest…

Witty, wry and cynical, this yarn is actually more socially relevant mow than it ever was when politicians at least feared the repercussions of being caught doing wrong…

Still anonymous, Goscinny also wrote closing inclusion. The Dalton Cousins was first enjoyed in LJdS #992-1013 (April 18th to September 12th 1957) and reappears here with original cover and ads. For this manic mirth-fest Goscinny performed a much-demanded act of necromancy, resurrecting a quartet of killers Lucky had already dealt with, but whom readers want not dead but alive…

Published back in December 1954 Hors-la-loi was Morris’ 6th album and included a strip which saw our hero meet and beat Emmett Bill, Grat & Bob Dalton: real life badmen who had plagued the west during the 1890s. On those funny pages, Lucky was hired by railroad companies to end the depredations of the desperados who had been imported into the strip, but given a comedic, yet still vicious spin. A cat & mouse chase across the wildest of wests saw Luke constantly frustrated by close calls and narrow escapes in superbly gripping movie set-pieces until, inevitably, justice claimed the killers. At the close, Morris had Lucky end the gang forever, but they and the story itself were insanely popular with fans. These owlhoots were comedy gold and ideal foils, so eventually they returned in the form of their own cousins…

From the response to that tale eventually came this aforementioned revival, as Goscinny’s third collaboration. When this iteration of the appalling Dalton Brothers – now and forever after Averell, Jack, William & devious, slyly psychotic, tyrannical diminutive brother Joe – showed up, the course of the strip altered forever…

It opens on a remote farm in Arizona where four brothers mourn the loss of the murderous bandits they resemble and are related to. They know they aren’t nearly good enough to fill the dead men’s boots or kill their killer Lucky Luke… but they are willing to try their hardest to change all that…

The replacement Daltons’ first attempt to settle the score is frankly embarrassing, but fortune and persistence gradually harden and hone them. They even at one stage have the happy wanderer train them…

Ultimately, however, after they besiege a town and regularly succeed in theft and terrorism, Lucky is forced to take action before they become as great a menace as their dearly departed favourites ever were…

Sadly, he leaves it too late and is forced to resort to tricky tactics of dividing to conquer. It either that or be hunted down like a dog: a role he’s just not suited for…

As much thriller as comedy romp, this yarn proved how crucial great villains are to any hero and started a western showdown that fruitfully persists and thrives to this day…

Graced with biographies of Morris and Goscinny and peppered with contemporaneous extras this is perfect for kids with a smidgen of historical perspective and social understanding, although the action and slapstick situations are no more contentious than any Laurel and Hardy film – perfectly understandable as Morris was a huge fan of the duo. These formative forays are a grand old hoot in the tradition of Destry Rides Again or Support Your Local Sheriff, superbly executed by master storytellers, and a wonderful introduction to a unique genre for anyone who might well have missed the romantic allure of the Wild West that never was…
Original edition © Lucky Comics 2022. English translation © 2025 Cinebook Ltd.
All pages & illustrations relating to The Thousand Uses of a Hat, Androcles and The Bluefeet are Coming! © Morris/Goscinny/Dupuis 2022.
All pages & illustrations relating to Horse Thieves, Lucky Luke vs Joss Jamon and The Dalton Cousins © Morris/Goscinny/Dupuis 2022.
All documents relating to Morris are © Morris/Dupuis 2022.
All documents relating to René Goscinny are © Anne Goscinny 2022 barring cited exceptions.

Today in 1948 Underground Commix cartoonist and proud pornographer Larry Welz (Yellow Dog, Captain Guts, Cherry PopTart) was born, whilst in 1992 epically long-running UK adventure weekly The Victor published its last issue.

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The Legend of Desperate Dan – 60 Years of Classic Cartoon Art


By Dudley D. Watkins, with Charles Grigg, Ken Harrison & various (DC Thomson & Co)
ISBN: 978-0-85116-657-5 (tabloid HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

It needs to be said. Scotland is an ancient and proud nation steeped in unique history, character and culture, and one that has enriched the entire world. That having been said, they all seem to have a rather odd and frequently disturbing fascination with the notion of cowboys…

A timeless case in point is an icon of action and hilarity who began life as a mere half-page feature in the very first issue of The Dandy. The rowdy roughneck (and chin, and chest and…) was first seen fleeing town on December 4th 1937, but has since mellowed, found a family and settled down, He’s still the Strongest Man on Earth and always in trouble because he doesn’t know his own strength…

As seen in the eponymous opening historical section of this colossal tome, ‘The Legend of Desperate Dan’ predates Superman’s debut and owes more to Elzie Segar’s maritime masterpiece Popeye (as seen back then in Thimble Theatre) by way of a countless stampede of Saturday morning movie two-reelers. However Desperate Dan didn’t roam too long on the range and swiftly garnered a family including formidable Aunt Aggie, super-tough nephew Danny, niece Katey, the hard-pressed Mayor, Sheriff and so forth… and lots of put-upon, shell-shocked neighbours usually caught in the catastrophic aftermath of Dan’s latest efforts to help…

Like so many of DC Thompson’s most memorable stars, the Big Guy was the brainchild of Dudley D. Watkins (1907-1969) at his most imaginative and culturally adroit. A tireless and prolific illustrator equally adept at comedy, adventure, educational and drama storytelling, Watkins’ style more than any other shaped the pre and especially postwar look and form of the Scottish publishing giant’s comics output. Yes, the company AND the cowboy…

Watkins started life in Manchester and Nottingham as an artistic prodigy prior to entering Glasgow College of Art in 1924. Before long he was advised to get a job at expanding, Dundee-based Thomson’s, where a 6-month trial period illustrating prose “Boys’ Papers” stories led to comic strip specials and some original cartoon creations. Percy Vere and His Trying Tricks and Wandering Willie, The Wily Explorer made him the only contender for both lead strips in a bold new project conceived by Robert Duncan Low (1895-1980). Managing Editor of Children’s Publication. Between 1921 – 1933, Low launched the company’s “Big Five” story papers for boys: Adventure, The Rover, The Wizard, The Skipper and The Hotspur. In 1936, he created the “Fun Section”: a landmark 8-page comic strip supplement for national newspaper The Sunday Post. This illustrated accessory – prototype and blueprint for every comic the company subsequently released – was launched on 8th March. From the outset, The Broons and Oor Wullie were the uncontested headliners… and both illustrated by Watkins. The other features included Chic Gordon’s Auchentogle, Allan Morley’s Nero and Zero, Nosey Parker and others. These pioneering comics laid the groundwork for the company’s next great leap. In December 1937 Low launched DC Thomson’s first weekly all-picture strip comic, The Dandy. Amidst the serried rank of funsters was a half-page western gag strip. It related the riotous outrages of a mean desperado dubbed Dan…

Dan was extremely popular and in 1939 briefly enjoyed taking up 75% of a page before expanding onto the star status of a full one. Famously, Dandy editor Alber Barnes – who hired Watkins and was the comic’s boss until 1982 – was the model for that unmissable chin. Almost everything else was made up…

This collation offers a wealth of strips, beginning with those calamity-stuffed half-pagers, filled with mighty gaffes, massive consumption and appalling comedic animal cruelty, all preceding the inevitable war contributions as the officially neutral US citizen kept finding ways to bugger up Hitler and Goebbels’ plans for Britain. Another cautionary note: back then smoking tobacco was MANLY, so Dan did it in vast and generally competitive amounts. Be warned and wary…

Monochrome trips about eating, fighting, shaving, Dan’s Girlfriend Lizzie, eating, fighting some more and getting even pause for a colour featurette on ‘The Dandy Monster Comic’ as Dan hoved further westward into Books and Annuals before the strips concentrate on the ‘War years’ with Cactusville slowly morphing in all but name into a fair-sized Scottish town as Dan inflicted ever more outlandish punishments on the weary, wary Wehrmacht…

Feature on firsts follows with ‘Desperate Dan’ shouting out to his ever expanding cast, after which post-war tales encompass a momentous trip to the North Pole; jobs; cow pie; sweet rationing; clothing for the bigger man; bank robbers; cow pie; how feeble modern buildings are; toothache for tough guys and how meat rationing impacts on the mightiest appetite ever known. Once again it’s some pretty hard sledding for us wimpy modern animal-lovers…

Covers, strips and other treats from the Christmas tomes explore Dan’s unstoppable progress and includes a spread on ‘Back Covers on Annuals’ – the cowboy’s sole province from 1954 to 1965 – before segueing into a 1950s selection as Britain, Empire & Commonwealth and Dandy underwent dramatic revision and change…

The Watkins-limned prose yarn ‘Two Desperate Tiddley-Winkers’ leads to more fifties fun with Dan no longer in any way intentionally dangerous in strips covering the star’s invulnerable hair & bristles, coal mining in the High Street; cow pie; and Dan’s utterly unique pedal bike (take one steamroller and three parts tractor…) before closing on a momentous moment of history as Dan voyages to London to see the Queen’s coronation as originally published in Dandy dated June 6th 1953…

‘The Desperate Dan Song’ – sorry, just words & pictures so you’ll need to wrangle up your own tune – leads into more strips with enhanced roles for Danny & Katey, prior to the Sixties revivals opening with ‘Annual features’ including a glance at Dan’s primordial forebear Desprit Jake.

With contemporary strips coming thick & fast the fun is closely followed by two-colour Annual larks involving li’l Dan’s photo-day at ‘Cactusville School’ whilst – happily mining a fresh seam – ‘Desperate Dan’s Schooldays’ (as illustrated by Charles Grigg and first published in the Desperate Dan Annual 1979) gives readers another bucket of whimsical back-story from the big man boyhood as the end approaches.

In 1984, the Biggest Yin made it to the front – and back – of the weekly Dandy covers, displacing Grigg’s Korky the Cat after five straight decades. Here a full colour spread celebrates an anniversary year with a quartet (octet?) of images shouting out fifty years of Desperate astonishment wonder before we unsaddle for the moment with final modern colour feature ‘The Hobbies of Desperate Dan’ as seen in the 1994 Dandy Annual and showing what the term “extreme sports” really means…

Timeless, hilarious and not nearly as tame as you thought, Desperate Dan is a pure paradigm of our lengthy comics glory – and disregard for other people’s culture. Here is a book that – if you’re properly braced and forewarned – will delight and warm your secret, stifled cartoon coloniser’s heart.
© D.C. Thomson & Co Ltd 1997.

Today in 1913 Golden Age artist Charles (Spy Smasher, et al) Sultan was born. In 1943, Metabarons artist Juan Giménez was born. You might also want to peek at A Matter of Time, before celebrating that in 1962 Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier, Batman: Ego, Parker) joined us for far too short a time.