Category: Westerns

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Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant volume 15: 1965-1966


By Hal Foster (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-68396-025-6 (HB)

These books include Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect

Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur premiered on Sunday February 13th 1937: a fabulous rainbow-hued weekly peek into a world where history met myth to produce something greater than both. Canadian illustrator-turned pioneering comics creator Harold “Hal” Foster developed the feature after a groundbreaking and astoundingly popular run on the Tarzan of the Apes comic strip, seeking something that could be his personal domain.

Prince Valiant offered action, adventure, exoticism, romance and a surprisingly high quota of laughs in its engrossing depiction of noble knights, scheming kings and wicked barbarians played out against a glamorised, dramatized Dark Ages backdrop. The never-ending story traces the eventful life a refugee lad of royal blood, driven from an ancestral Scandinavian homeland – Thule – and who grows up to roam the world, attaining a paramount position amongst the fabled heroes of Camelot.

Foster wove his generational epic romance over decades, tracing the progress of a feral wild boy who became a paragon of chivalric virtue: knight, warrior, saviour, secret agent, avenger and ultimately family patriarch through a constant storm of wild, robust and joyously witty wonderment. The restless champion visited many far-flung lands, siring a dynasty of equally puissant heroes whilst enchanting generations of readers and thousands of creative types in all the arts.

The glorious strip saga spawned films, animated series, comic books and all manner of toys, games, books and collections. Prince Valiant was – and remains – one of the few adventure strips to have run continuously from the thunderous 1930s to the present day (well north of 4000 episodes and still going strong) – and, even here at the end-times of newspaper strips as an art form, it continues in hundreds of papers and via the internet.

Foster soloed on the feature until 1971 when John Cullen Murphy (Big Ben Bolt) succeeded him as illustrator and the originator continued as writer and designer. That ended in 1980, when Foster fully and finally retired. Cullen Murphy’s daughter Mairead took over colouring and lettering whilst her brother John assumed the writer’s role, and in 2004 the senior Cullen Murphy also retired, since when the strip has soldiered on under the aegis of other extremely talented artists such as Gary Gianni, Scott Roberts and latterly Thomas Yeates & Mark Schultz.

This luxuriously oversized (362 x 264 mm) full-colour hardback (tragically, the series is still unavailable digitally) re-presents pages spanning January 3rd 1965 to December 25th 1966, (individual Strips #1456 to 1559) and comes with all the regular bonus trimmings. Preceding two years’ worth of graphic narrative wonderment, historian/editor Brian M. Kane conducts an interview with a veteran comic book artist/comics strips illustrator. Heavily illustrated, the Foreword ‘Sir Robert of Dell: the Prince Valiant Art of Bob (Rip Kirby; Flash Gordon; Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom; Turok, Son of Stone; Lassie) Fujitani’ shares many secrets at the front, and the titanic tome ends with a flurry of illustrated essays and the rear.

These include fabulous King Features promotional material and inducements to newspapers plus Kane’s critical appraisal and discussion of the strip in other media. ‘Not Just For Sundays: Prince Valiant’s Adventures Beyond the Fourth Estate’ details collected editions from around the world; spin-offs and edited collections for the children’s book trade; novelisations (mainly by Max Trell); Hal Foster’s other books and curated compendia that fuelled the global demand for the apparently inexorable knight extant. Heavily illustrated with a wealth of book and comics covers (by Foster, John Cullen Murphy or Mike Grell) and candid photos, the reprint round-up also includes a gallery of covers by Michael Wm. Kaluta that graced the all-new sagas published by Marvel in 1994 (as written by Charles Vess & Elaine Lee and illustrated by the deeply underrated John Ridgway).

What Has Gone Before: valued vassal and infallible secret asset of King Arthur of Britain, Prince Valiant has travelled the world carrying out missions for his liege lord, embattled Christendom, honour and decency. His greatest comrades are stalwart Knights like Sir Gawain, Sir Kay and Sir Launcelot and barbarous Viking pirate Baltar. Val’s life of duty and action won him a glorious, implacable and equally incomparable wife in Mediterranean monarch Queen Aleta of the Misty Isles. Their first son Arn was born on an unknown continent and since has thrived on a life of constant peril. He stands on the brink of manhood and his own path of Royal service.

Val’s offspring currently number four: Arn, precocious twin girls Karen & Valeta and recent addition Galan, arriving during Aleta’s last peril-packed stay in her Misty Isles homeland. Arn rapidly advanced from Court Page to Novice and began official combat training. He swiftly became a Batchelor-at-Arms and constantly excels. Some battles are purely personal as when vindictive Mordred attempted to traduce Aleta’s honour by orchestrating a vicious scandal involving her and Lancelot, but the plot was foiled by clear thinking and valiant action…

In combination with his father, Arn’s gifts proved invaluable in repelling invasion by Saxon hordes and foiling rebellions in Scotland, Cornwall and Wales, as well as an international insurrection when savage Skogul Oderson united disparate Nordic tribes into a united force to ravage his grandfather’s kingdom of Thule. In the aftermath of that triumph, Valiant’s large family wintered in those chilly climes. While taking their ease, Arn and Boltar’s son Hatha talked much of the lost lands of Arn’s birth, recalling the prophecy that Valiant’s heir (deemed “son of the Sun Woman and the Bringer of Harvests”) would one day return to Vinland (the Americas) and his Niagara birthplace to do great deeds…

It should be noted that Hatha’s mother Tillicum is a princess of the Algonquin folk the Vikings befriended 15 years previously. She accompanied the Sun Woman on her return north and east, becoming Aleta’s bondswoman, royal nursemaid and confidante…

Now, as the year reaches mid-point Arn yearns to fulfil his mother’s promise of his return, not only to prove his manhood, but also to make good his family honour, forge trade alliances, and do mighty deeds. The most import of these goals is the first… receiving his father’s approval and mother’s grudging acquiescence. As winter approaches, Arn and Hatha must ready a ship – the province of Valiant’s old friend and ingenious shipwright Gundar Harl – and recruit a competent crew who can survive the perilous voyage and handle anything they might meet on the other side…

Arn further prepares by learning the Algonquin language from Tillicum and discovers her gift for strategic planning. He is delighted when she invites herself along for the trip – a gesture that convinces many holdouts that mayhap the callow youth might make them all rich after all…

Preparations are geared to a spring embarkation and Arn spends every moment seeking to anticipate problems and solve them. Disbelief and dwindling confidence in his proposed crew is offset by Arn undertaking a perilous midwinter sortie to the chilly home of his grandfather Aguar and convincing the hard-headed businessman to back the venture. That gained, Arn almost dies on the return trip, but survives to recruit even more men from local lads who would rather fight than farm…

Arn’s relentless proselytising (he even recruits a skald to visit outlying homesteads singing of the glorious exploit to come in hopes of boosting support and manpower) pays dividends and the voyage begins with the Prince, Hatha, Tillicum and Gundar leading an untried crew across largely unknown waters. Early upsets are all deftly dealt with by Arn and his nursemaid: pirates, rebellious crewmen, deadly winds, dire doldrums, pack ice and resource shortages, before they make landfall in the chilly climes of Vinland…

Here the real adventure begins as the explorers make their way down from the far north to the more hospitable shores of what will be New England a thousand years hence. Arn manipulates the understandably anxious tribes and stage-manages a charm offensive that sees him accepted as the supernatural “Bringer of Harvests” promised by the Sun Woman, as he introduces new weapons and tactics, farming implements, fresh food production methods, new ways to fight and fish, permanent sustainable dwellings and a staggering haul of trade goods. In the course of an epic exploration of the region via the St Lawrence river and overland, Arn learns the art of ruling and that physical wealth means nothing. Hatha narrowly escapes marriage, Tillicum reunites with her long-abandoned father and Viking knowhow saves the Algonquin from eradication by tribal nemeses the Iroquois, and apparently unkillable (chainmail-clad) Arn raises their status with the so-far neutral Ottowa and Huron. In the aftermath of a colossal tribal war, preparations begin for the return to Thule with their trade items (amber, seeds, furs, pemmican and precious minerals) being constantly computed and weighed against sufficient provisions to sustain them for the entire trip home. However, even readying themselves to leave generates tension and clashes with Mohawk and Mohegan enclaves before Gundar declares his modified dragonship refitted and ready to go…

During this rite of passage and voyage of bloody discovery life continued to present challenges in civilised Thule. As their children endured the return trip, both Valiant and Boltar were at the end of their patience and the Prince unwisely organised a tournament to amuse the warriors and himself. Sadly, unlike Arthur’s knights rowdy reivers have no understanding of ritual combat and the event was called off; barely before the competitors killed each other…

Soon after the debacle their boys triumphantly return, but their exploits and triumphs are not celebrated for long, as a ship from Camelot follows, bidding Valiant back into service. Beyond Hadrian’s Wall, life-long foes the Picts and Caledonians have somehow buried past grievances and are massing to attack England together. Arthur needs his greatest operative to find out how the miracle occurred and how best to counter it. Disguised as a vagabond sell-sword Val infiltrates the alliance and discovers Mordred is the unifying force, and embarks on a rapid but brutal solution. There is no love lost between the factions and less trust even now, so it only takes a few covert – and rather macabre – dirty tricks to set clan against clan. Sadly, Mordred sees his old enemy’s hand in the affair and determines to be revenged…

Arn would have joined the undercover mission, but as the latest Man of the House his job was to escort Aleta and the family back to Arthur’s court. By the time they arrive, Mordred and his half-brothers Agravaine and Gaheris have enacted a scheme to targeting Valiant’s loved one, but which is humiliating foiled by playful romance-obsessed Karen & Valeta and their burly handmaiden Katwin. Upon his return to Court, Valiant seeks out Mordred and lays down the law…

The year and the book close on lighter notes as skinny-dipping Aleta accidentally starts a mermaid panic after taking up bathing in Britain’s chilly seas, before her husband is called upon to apply his diplomatic skills to end a succession crisis. A staunch supporter of Arthur, King Bedwin of Dimore had trained his son Prince Harwick to carry on his wise reign and peaceful policies. Now though, as death approaches the aged monarch, Harwick has vanished and Bedwin’s brothers make ready for civil war should the son not be available to take over. When Val traces the absent heir apparent, he finds an obnoxious layabout dedicated only to fishing and carousing, but still smart enough to trick an oath of non-interference out of Arthur’s agent…

As war clouds gather, Valiant seems utterly stifled by his own honour and beliefs..

To Be Continued…

A mesmerising non-stop panorama of visual passion and precision, Prince Valiant is a tremendous procession of boisterous action, exotic adventure and grand romance; blending epic fantasy with dry wit and broad humour, and soap opera melodrama with dark vividly authentic violence. Lush, lavish and captivatingly lovely, it is an indisputable landmark of comics fiction and something no true fan should miss.
All comics © 2017 King Features Syndicate. All other content and properties © 2016 their respective creators or holders. This edition © 2015 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved.

Today in 1892 cartoonist and animator Otto Messmer (Fun, Feline Follies, Felix the Cat) was born, sharing the natal celebrations with fellow cartoon gamechanger Hal Foster (Tarzan, Prince Valiant). In 1916 Golden Age art star Paul Gustavson (The Angel, The Human Bomb, A-Man, Alias the Spider, Quicksilver) was born; as was British writer Dick Foreman (Black Orchid, Hellblazer) in 1952; illustrator Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther, CyCops, Shadow of the Bat, Gun Candy) in 1962 and Italian artist Enrico Marini (Batman: Dark Prince Charming, Gipsy, The Scorpion) in 1969.

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Lucky Luke volume 29: The Bounty Hunter


By Morris & Goscinny, translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-083-2 (Album PB) 978-1-84918-819-7 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also includes Discriminatory Content added for comedic effect.

Time for another Anniversary announcement, non?

Created by Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist “Morris” (AKA Maurice de Bévère), Lucky Luke debuted in the summer of 1946, initially riding out in Le Journal de Spirou in mid-summer sans title or banner, and only in the French-language edition of the multinational comic. The Lone Rider’s official launch came in (Christmas Annual) L’Almanach Spirou 1947, before beginning his first official serial – ‘Arizona 1880’ – in 1946’s all-regional, multilingual weekly edition for December 7th.

Doughty, dashing, dependable cowboy “good guy” Lucky is a rangy, implacably placid do-gooder able to “draw faster than his own shadow”. He amiably ambles around the mythic Old West, having light-hearted adventures on his petulant and rather sarcastic wonder-horse Jolly Jumper. For 80 years his exploits have made Lucky a top-ranking global comic icon, packing more than 90 individual albums and spin-off series like Kid Lucky & Ran-Tan-Plan, with sales well north of 300 million copies in 30 languages. That renown translates into a merch mountain of toys, games, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies and even commemorative exhibitions. No theme park yet, but you never know…

After a relatively slow start for such a fast gun, Lucky’s global dominance came via a decades-long collaboration with superstar scripter René Goscinny. The official partnership spanned Des rails sur la Prairie/Rails on the Prairie (starting August 25th 1955) to La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires/The Ballad Of The Daltons And Other Stories in 1986, during which time the sixgun straight-shooter switched teams, transferring to Goscinny’s own magazine Pilote with La Diligenc/The Stagecoach in 1967. Goscinny crafed 45 albums with Morris before his death, after which the artist continued both singly and with other literary pardners, before recruiting a posse of legacy creators including Lo Hartog van Banda, Achdé & Laurent Gerra, Xavier Fauche, Benacquista & Pennac, Jean Léturgie, Jacques Pessis and more, all taking their own shots at the venerable vigilante. Morris continued until his own death in 2001, having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus numerous sidebar and spin-off sagebrush sagas.

His grande idée draws on western history less than movie mythology, but – as here(ish) – our hero regularly met historical figures as well as fictional folk in tales drawn from key themes of classic cowboy lore, lensed through uniquely European notions and interpretations – as also seen here. Our sixgun star is not averse to being a figure of political change and Weapon of Mass Satire, as well as spoofing his own antecedents whilst wallowing in movie schtick to trigger delicious drives down memory lane in the eternal game of cowboys and imbeciles…

In the ‘50’s Goscinny began scripting Lucky uncredited. Morris had spent almost a decade filling nine albums with affectionate sagebrush parody, action and Lucky Laughs, but when Goscinny was fully deputised as lead wordsmith, Luke popped up more often and rapidly attained dizzying heights of super swift superstardom. Moreover, the hits just kept coming. The 40th European album Le Grand Duc was first seen serially in weekly Pilote from January 25th to May 24th 1973 (issues #690 to 707). In 2011, as The Grand Duke, it became Cinebook’s 29th English-language tome of scathing sagebrush satire and horsefeather hijinks.

Morris drew from a deep shared well of visual and cinematic motifs, gilded with historical veracity as Goscinny’s rip-roaring yarn borrowed heavily from an actual Diplomatic “Jolly” enjoyed between 1871 – 1872 by Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, the son of Russian Emperor Alexander II. As the new ambassador to the United States, and alongside living legend Buffalo Bill Cody, Alexei felt it vital that he visit the fabled plains and unfolding frontier, sneering at natives and peasants whilst slaughtering any beast crossing his gunsights…

Here, however, it begins with Lucky once more summoned to Washington DC – this time by the Secretary of State, a big man in need of a little favour. Visiting Russian dignitary Grand Duke Leonid is an enthusiastic fan of James Fenimore Cooper and other modern American authors, and wishes to experience all the grandeur and wildness (such as bandits, cattle-towns, owlhoots, prairies, stage robbers, gold rushes, gunslingers, bar room brawls, ghost towns, varmints, prospectors, Indian attacks and all the rest) of the west, as described in his hobby reads. Despite his often fanciful studies he is not particularly eloquent and most of his communication comes via interpreter/attaché/aide-de-camp His Excellency Colonel Fedor Mikhailovich Boulenkov of His Majety the Czar’s Guard. What they really need is an experienced guide who can inconspicuously double as bodyguard and babysitter. A vital trade treaty depends on our hero keeping the visiting VIP safe and sweet, and of course they will all be utterly incognito…

Impatient Leonid demands an immediate start, so they are all aboard a train heading to desperado-plagued cow-town Abilene within the hour, which is bad news for the Russian anarchist/bomber dogging their heels and blowing up all the wrong coaches and vehicles they should have been in…

The tourists have a rather uneventful journey west, but only because they don’t notice Lucky quietly dealing with train robbers, the bomber and even cardsharps set to fleece the coffers of a foreign government. Instead, the Duke in mufti teaches them a game of chance from his homeland… Russian Roulette…

By the time they get to Kansas – on horseback! Not comfortable rail carriage – the voyagers are ready to sample all the hedonistic delights of the bustling flesh exchange (animal and otherwise). Having Americanised his name to “Bob” and still guided by his reading, Grand Duke Leonid is open to all the town offers and heads for the saloon where lovely – albeit rather hardboiled – chanteuse Laura Legs beguiles and breaks hearts. The aristocrat is unaware that Lucky has already vigorously discouraged all the cowboy patrons from taking advantage or making fun of the foreign tenderfoot about to arrive through those swing doors…

Sadly, Laura’s boss, saloon owner Jackson, reads Eastern newspapers and recognises The Duke. He thinks he’s going to be very rich very soon but hasn’t accounted for his target’s low boredom threshold. Finding this Abilene too sedate, Bob insists on a stagecoach ride further into the west, hoping that it might be held up by desperate gunmen. The ever-close anarchist also lays plans and more bombs, but again Luke is anticipating problems and finding solutions. Before anything can happen, the travellers ditch the coach and alter destination, heading off again on horseback and missing anything even remotely resembling action, adventure or attempted assassination…

Cunningly steering his charges to sedate enclave Bellow Springs, Lucky hopes for peace, quiet and a nice bath but is frustrated when Bob finds a newspaper trumpeting a manhunt for deadly desperado Texas Ripper and wants to join the posse combing nearby Sioux Hills. With no way out, Luke leads the trio into the brush where they soon meet the monster… with astonishing results….

Then, after subverting the press in Grassy Junction, Luke believes a faux newspaper will lead Bob to a dull, dead ghost town. Ironically, even fake news spreads fast and soon Nugget Town is born again in the heat of another rumour-fuelled gold rush. Sadly the bored Duke has already moved on. Bob is ready to call it a day and heads back to dreary Bellow Springs… where the anarchist is waiting. It’s again in vain as the Duke changes his mind and demands to experience an Indian war before finally retreating east. Sadly, with no natives – outraged or otherwise – to hand, Lucky must requisition the local US cavalry contingent to play the furious feathered aggressors… and as usual nothing goes as it should…

It would have been so much easier if someone had ridden to the next fort and spread the word of the imaginary “uprising” but as always, when the unnecessary reinforcements arrive Lucky thinks as fast as he draws and saves the day, the jaunt and that treaty…

A cunning conception and sly amalgam of deception and surreal slapstick, The Grand Duke is a rowdy romp and raucous antidote to dark realpolitik dramas and mirthless mood-driven melodramas of the mesas. This engaging comedy thriller is ideal for kids tall-to-small with a smidgen of historical perspective and social understanding The action and set pieces – even the Russian Roulette running gag – are no more contentious than any Laurel and Hardy film (understandable as Morris was a huge fan of the duo) and genuinely hilarious. Such foolish forays are a grand old hoot in the tradition of Destry Rides Again or Cat Ballou, superbly executed by master storytellers and a perfect introduction to a unique genre for anyone who might well have missed the romantic allure of the Wild West that never was.
© Dargaud Editeur Paris 1973 by Goscinny and Morris. © Lucky Comics. English translation © 2011 Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1911 writer/artist Kin Platt (Doc Strange, Happy, The Mask, Captain Future, Mr. & Mrs.) was born, sharing birthdays with British artist Staz Johnson (Catwoman, Rogue Trooper, Robin, Action Force) in 1965; writer Gregg Hurwitz (Foolkiller) in 1973; writer Al Ewing (Judge Dredd, Loki: Agent of Asgard, Ultimates, The Immortal Hulk) in 1977 and editor Alanna Smith in 1990.

Today in 1996 we lost writer/editor Mark Gruenwald (the Omniverse, Captain America, Hawkeye, Squadron Supreme) with Mike Wieringo (Amazing Spider-Man, Impulse, Flash, Tellos, Fantastic Four) passing in 2007 and the irreplaceable Joe Kubert (Sgt Rock, Enemy Ace, Hawkman, Flash, Tarzan, Fax from Sarajevo) in 2012.

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Spacehawk


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

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that was that.

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

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

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

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

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

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Comanche volumes 1 to 3: Red Dust, Warriors of Despair, Wolves of Wyoming


By Hermann & Greg, translated by Montana Kane (Europe Comics)
No ISBNs Digital-Only editions

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Welcome to another Wild West Wednesday with an self-indulgent peek at a favourite series I first saw way back in the 1980s, crafted by two Belgian masters of graphic narrative…

Best known as Greg, Michel Régnier was born in 1931 in Ixelles. The cartoonist, writer editor and publisher, sold his first series – Les Aventures de Nestor et Boniface – at age 16 to Belgian magazine Vers l’Avenir and followed up over many decades with legendary strips like Luc Orient, Bruno Brazil, Bernard Prince and Achille Talon in Héroïc- Albums, Le Journal de Spirou (where he scripted the title feature amongst many others), Paddy and Le Journal de Tintin (which he eventually edited from 1966-1974). One of his new finds on LJdS during this period was an artist named Hermann Huppen. Greg is estimated to have worked as writer or artist on more than 250 strip albums during his career. He died in 1999, leaving behind an astounding and beautiful legacy of drama and adventure crying out for revisiting in English…

Hermann Huppen entered the world on July 17th 1938 in what’s now the Malmedy region of Liège Province. He studied to become an interior architect and furniture maker but was thankfully swayed and diverted by comics. His narrative career began in 1963 but really took off three years later when he joined with writer Greg to create cop series Bernard Prince for Le Journal de Tintin. The artist soon added to his weekly chores with Roman adventure serial Jugurtha (scripted by Jean-Luc Vernal). In 1969 Hermann expanded his portfolio further, adding the Greg-penned western Comanche to his seamlessly stunning output. At his time Charlier & Jean Giraud’s epic Blueberry was reaching its peak of excellence…

Bernard Prince and Comanche made Hermann a superstar of the industry, a status built upon with further classics such as The Towers of Bois-Maury, Sarajevo-Tango, Station 16, Afrika, Lune de Guerre, Duke and many more (I estimate 30 separate series and a total well north of 115 albums up until his death on March 22nd 2026).

In 1978 Hermann bravely dropped guaranteed money-spinner Bernard Prince to create as (writer & illustrator) Jeremiah but he stayed with Comanche until 1982 (10 albums in total) because of his abiding love for western-themed yarns. Thanks to digital-only publishing commune Europe Comics, it’s easy to see why in these three (thus far) translated volumes of the sprawling epic which introduces a wandering gunslinger who finds a home – if not peace & quiet – after joining a most unlikely band of comrades on a cattle-spread in Wyoming…

 

Comanche volume 1: Red Dust

Comprised of linked weekly episodes and beginning in 1978, ‘Red Dust’ introduces an eponymous, lethally capable shootist wandering into a desolate cow-town just as trouble seems to be brewing. In fact, even before he gets into Greenstone Falls, the enigmatic Mr Dust has to kill manic mercenary Wally Hondo who refuses to share “his” stagecoach with a shabby drifter…

Moreover, when the stage finally pulls into what passes for civilisation, Red is approached by unctuous fixer Mr Cathrell who erroneously assumes him to be the latest addition to his growing army of pitiless hired guns. The mistake is soon cleared up after the newcomer unexpectedly reacquaints himself with Cathrell’s top stooge.

Red Dust and The Kentucky Kid have unsettled scores and old grievances in common…

Before long Red learns that the newly-arrived killer elite have all been commissioned to deal with a stubborn rancher refusing to sell out to their mysterious and always unseen boss. Mind made up, the taciturn nomad heads for the 666 Ranch and inveigles a job with aged, crotchety pioneer Ten Gallons and the new ranch-owner he apparently dotes upon: a young, lovely and immensely stubborn woman called Comanche…

She is determined to make her inheritance a successful going concern, but has been having lots of bad luck. Red soon determines it’s not her luck that’s at issue after a new herd of cattle she has bought apparently come down with a mystery sickness. As well as exposing a cruel trick, Red also recruits new hands Toby and Tenderfoot following the exposure of a nefarious scam.

That, in addition to decimating Cathrell’s gunslingers when they ambush the ranchers on a shopping trip to town, swiftly forces the mystery mastermind into the open and reveals just why the 666 is such a valuable property… but only after a few of those old scores are finally settled…

A gripping introduction to the ongoing saga this is a splendid confection of traditional western themes combined with sleek yet gritty European style. Red Dust is the kind of timeless treat comics fans and movie lovers will adore.

 

Comanche volume 2: Warriors of Despair

In the second translated volume of the sprawling cowboy epic which here resumes with no-longer-wandering gunslinger Red Dust and his new pals at the Triple 6 ranch. The taciturn hombre has found a home – if not peace and quiet – after joining a most unlikely band of comrades at the on-its-uppers cattle spread in Wyoming. The heart of the crew are still crotchety ancient Ten Gallons and young, lovely and stubborn neophyte owner Comanche.

Second serial ‘Warrior of Despair’ sees our quotidian, ever-expanding cast prepare steers for hungry railway workers rapidly building their way across the plains. That backbreaking toil is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of a party of Cheyenne who want the beef the cowboys are guarding…

A fractious but peaceful conference reveals the tribes are starving: supplies they’ve been promised by treaty haven’t arrived and no one can locate the Government’s Indian Agent to sort out the problem…

After the warriors rush off with the cattle, Comanche and Red join them at their camp in a last attempt to prevent a mess becoming a crisis. The upshot is that Dust has three days to find the Agent and restore the missing provisions. For that time Comanche will remain a “guest” of the Cheyenne…

…And so begins a desperate chase with double-dealing, ingrained mistrust and sheer bad luck on every side hindering the retired gunslinger’s quest and leading to the inescapable conclusion that the plains will soon be awash in flame and blood…

An epic tale in the classical manner, this yarn also has plenty of European verve, panache and ingenuity to recue it from the unreconstructed reputation and unsavoury old tropes that make even venerated old movie an uncomfortable experience in these enlightened days.

It’s also a tale that gets more visually compelling with every page…

A stunning appreciation of mythical Cowboys and Indians combined with a sleekly authentic sheen of grime and gutsy European style, Warriors of Despair is another classic collation comics fans and entertainment-starved readers will be unable to put down. Don’t miss out on a chance to enjoy one of the most celebrated comics classics of all time…

 

Comanche volume 3: The Wolves of Wyoming

The third translated volume of the unfolding epic starring no-longer-wandering shootist Red Dust and his expanding circle of friends sees the taciturn hombre accepting that he has finally found a home – if not peace and contentment – after joining the Triple 6 ranch and its unlikely cast of comradely outcasts on a struggling cattle-spread in Wyoming. The weekly episodes of The Wolves of Wyoming were originally published in 1974, seeing our roster embroiled in a classic cinematic scenario which begins with a stagecoach hurtling over dusty plains. Of course, it also has ruthless bandits slinging lead in hot pursuit…

Doughty driver Sid Bullock is hit, but the lone passenger is more than holding his own with a sixgun, and when Triple 6 ranch-hands Toby and Clem intercept the frantic chase, the vilely predatory Dobbs Brothers peel off and flee…

Diverting to the homestead, the hands formally meet self-confessed lay preacher Brian Braggshaw, a notorious former gunslinger with an extremely unforgiving attitude to sin (and sinners) and who takes an instant dislike… mutual and fully reciprocated… to Red.

As Ten Gallons doctors Bullock, Comanche learns the Dobbs’ were after a cash shipment to the Ranchers Union – money nearby Greenstone Falls depends on. The gang have bled the town dry with their recent raids. It’s almost as if they have an inside man informing them of key shipments and times…

Compounding the problem is that fact that wily Sid actually diverted the latest tranche of money: carrying an empty, decoy strongbox while local legendary old drunk Pharoah Colorado transported the actual cash by a circuitous route. It’s a cunning, brilliant plan that only falls short on one point. Finishing his booze early, Colorado has been forced to make a detour, visiting local moonshine-maker Trapper Hans even as the Triple 6 hands split up into search parties to find the leathery soak and precious funds…

Covering many potential routes, they are being secretly observed. The Dobbs’ are mostly cruel brutes, but oldest brother Russ is as smart as he is sadistic and quickly deduces what the ranchers are hunting for: money he feels is his by right. Moreover, Red has been paired with the vengeance-happy Braggshaw, and their heated debates over morality bring them close to blows. It’s not enough to stop the preacher killing Melvin Dobbs when he tries bushwhacking them, and as they backtrack to the gang’s cabin, they observe the entire clan riding off…

Investigating the cabin, Red finds missing Indian Affairs Commissioner Howard Calhoun, who embezzled funds and almost sparked an new Indian war. His cunning hideaway amongst the Dobbs Boys has clearly proved there’s no honour among thieves, and their treatment of their criminal comrade has resulted in what can only be regarded as divine justice…

Russ has gathered the clan to scour the region, whilst Red has made some deductions of his own. Trapper Hans’ sturdy shack is the only place to find booze in the Wyoming wilds so he and Braggshaw head there. As night falls, Comanche &Toby are already there, preparing to fight for their lives against the besieging Dobbs mob.

As the bloodshed begins, the rest of the Triple 6 men converge on the scene. With battle joined it’s not long before a hero dies and the gang turn tail. In the aftermath, Red rides off, having embraced the Preacher’s unforgiving doctrine and now determined to destroy all the “wolves of Wyoming”…

To Be Continued? Apparently not here, but we live in hope…

A classic of the western genre, these European yarns grew in style, passion and sublime, compulsive expression, methodically lifting them far above the now-unacceptable majority of cowboy stories that make even beloved older tales an uncomfortable experience in contemporary times. They are also so hauntingly lovely to look upon. Don’t miss out on one of the most celebrated comics cowboys ever devised…
Vols 1-3 © 2017 – LE LOMBARD – HERMANN & GREG. All rights reserved.

Today in 1925, cartoonist Henry Martin (Good News/Bad News) was born, with inker illustrator Jack Abel (Tales of the Green Berets, Legion of Super-Heroes, Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter & probably every Marvel and DC title you can think of) coming along in 1927 and Italian Master Guido Crepax (Valentina, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Man from Harlem, Il processo di Franz Kafka) arriving in 1933. A later generation includes author and comics scripter Christopher Golden (Baltimore, Beach High, Hellboy, The Punisher) in 1967; writer/editor/adapter Kelly Sue DeConnick (Castle, Ghost, Bitch Planet, Wonder Woman) in 1970; Norwegian creator/autobiographer Mads Eriksen (M, Gnom) in 1977, and writer Tom King (The Sheriff of Babylon, The Vision, Strange Adventures, Mister Miracle, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow) in 1978.

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Lucky Luke volume 26: The Bounty Hunter


By Morris & Goscinny (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-059-7 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also includes Discriminatory Content added for comedic effect.

Time for a big Birthday bash…

Created by Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist “Morris” (AKA Maurice de Bévère), Lucky Luke debuted in the summer of 1946, initially riding out in Le Journal de Spirou in mid-summer sans title or banner, and only in the French-language edition. The Lone Rider’s official launch came in Christmas Annual L’Almanach Spirou 1947, before beginning his first official serial – ‘Arizona 1880’ – in 1946’s multinational weekly issue for December 7th. Doughty, dashing, dependable cowboy “good guy” Lucky is a rangy, implacably placid do-gooder able to “draw faster than his own shadow”. He amiably ambles around the mythic Old West, having light-hearted adventures on his petulant and rather sarcastic wonder-horse Jolly Jumper.

For 80 years (Joyeux anniversaire, Mon Brave!), his exploits have made Lucky a top-ranking global comic icon, filling more than 90 individual albums and spin-off series like Kid Lucky and Ran-Tan-Plan, with sales well north of 300 million copies in 30 languages. That renown translated into a mountain of merchandise, toys, games, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies and even commemorative exhibitions. No theme park yet, but you never know…

After a relatively slow start for such a fast gun, Lucky’s global dominance came via a decades-long collaboration with superstar scripter René Goscinny. The official partnership spanned Des rails sur la Prairie/Rails on the Prairie (beginning August 25th 1955) to La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires/The Ballad Of The Daltons And Other Stories in 1986, during which time (in 1967) the sixgun straight-shooter switched teams, transferring to Goscinny’s own magazine Pilote with La Diligenc/The Stagecoach.

Goscinny produced 45 albums with Morris before his death, after which Morris continued both singly and with other literary pardners, before recruiting a posse of legacy creators including Lo Hartog van Banda, Achdé & Laurent Gerra, Xavier Fauche, Benacquista & Pennac, Jean Léturgie, Jacques Pessis and more, who all took their own shots at the venerable vigilante. Morris soldiered on until his own death in 2001, having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus numerous sidebar and spin-off sagebrush sagas.

His grande idée draws on western history less than movie mythology, but our heroes still regularly meet historical figures as well as even odder fictional folk in tales drawn from key themes of classic cowboy lore – as well as some uniquely European notions or interpretations such as seen here. As previously hinted, our sixgun star is not averse to being a figure of political change and Weapon of Mass Satire, but here spoofs his own antecedents and wallows in venerated movie schtick for a delicious drive down memory lane and game of cowboys and imbeciles…

In the ‘50’s Goscinny had started scripting Lucky uncredited. Morris had taken almost a decade to fill nine albums with affectionate sagebrush parody, action and Lucky Laughs, but when Goscinny was deputised as wordsmith, Luke was seen more often and rapidly attained dizzying heights of super swift superstardom. Moreover, his hits just kept coming. Chasseur de primes was the 39th European album, having been seen serially in weekly Pilote from #658 to 679, spanning June 15th to November 8th 1972. In 2010 as The Bounty Hunter, it became Cinebook’s 26th English-language volume of hilarious horsefeather history. As always, Morris drew from a deep shared well of visual and cinematic motifs and here tips his hat to the then-new phenomenon of “spaghetti westerns” as the unmistakable image of Lee Van Cleef makes it onto Lucky’s graphic gallery and most Unwanted list…

More an assemblage of themed and interlinked skits than a full feature, The Bounty Hunter is unsavoury stalker/reward-obsessed killer-without-a-badge Elliot Belt who derives far too much joy from collecting fees and even bigger thrills and obscene jollies from hunting down legalised  prey… like anyone he sees on a wanted poster.

Despised by all and not caring one whit, his life and dark joys are forever spoiled when he arrives in Cheyenne Pass and sees Lucky Luke capturing felons. When the stalwart refuses the reward and gives it to charity, Belt slips into murderous madness after realising his cheery, unsuspecting rival is a better gunslinger than him but refuses to kill anyone…

The intolerable situation worsens when super-rich, horse-mad rancher Bronco Fortworth puts a private $100,000 bounty on the head of his Cheyenne farmhand Wet Blanket, who has gone missing at the same time as the plutocrat’s immensely valuable new stud steed His Highness. Without any evidence or recourse to real lawmen, Fortworth will pay anyone who uses ANY means to bring the missing Cheyenne back to him to personally hang…

After failing to join forces or partner up with Lucky – who is convinced Wet Blanket is innocent and wants to avoid another Indian war – Belt infiltrates the local Reservation to ply the residents with booze and worse in hopes of finding the missing stable hand. They don’t care about any of the white man’s nonsense but can’t get past their highly developed commercial instincts, weird rituals and trashy tourist traps…

Belt does, however, convince entrepreneurial wizard Chief Little Fish Knife to hold Lucky hostage (twice!) and terrorise the town (mostly just the saloon, actually) but Luke is hard to hold and ultimately, when all else fails, Belt grudgingly recruits a small army of other (lesser) bounty hunters, all the while plotting to cheat them out of their fair shares…

Events are completely out of control when Wet Blanket obliviously returns from his vacation and immediately joins Luke in stopping the bounty hunters-inspired “Indian uprising” just as the never-vigilant US cavalry turn up where they’re not wanted to heap coals on a growing wildfire sparked by Belt and Bronco Fortworth…

Through deft manipulation Lucky de-escalates the situation and even finagles a proper day in a real court for all concerned. As His Highness is discovered romping with a herd of wild mustangs, what really happened to the so-valuable steed is shockingly revealed by the one person nobody expected to be involved…

Pursued by his betrayed hirelings and “cheated of his rightful reward”, Elliot Belt finally goes too far even for western justice and at last learns what it means to be the face and name on a wanted poster…

As much barbed morality play as rowdy light thriller, this yarn again proves how crucial great villains are to any hero. These tall-to-small tales are perfect for kids with a smidgen of historical perspective and social understanding, although the action and surreal slapstick situations are no more contentious than any Laurel and Hardy film; perfectly understandable as Morris was a huge fan of the duo. These forcefully foolish forays are a grand old hoot in the tradition of Destry Rides Again or Blazing Saddles, superbly executed by master storytellers and a perfect introduction to a unique genre for anyone who might well have missed the romantic allure of the Wild West that never was.
© Dargaud Editeur Paris 1972 by Goscinny and Morris. © Lucky Comics. Published in 2010 by Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1887, Flemish comics writer Raymundus Joannes de Kremer AKA Jean Ray AKA John Flanders (Malpertuis, Whisky Tales, Ghouls in My Grave) was born, sharing the day with artist Irwin Hasen (Wildcat, Green Lantern, Dondi) in 1918; “father of seinen manga” Shinji Nagashima in 1937; horrorist, author and educator Mort Castle in 1946; Belgian creator Philippe Liégeois AKA Turk (Clifton, Léonard, Robin Dubois) in 1947; illustrator Stan Woch (Airboy, The Sandman, Swamp Thing) in 1959 and Whilce Portacio (X-Factor, Iron Man, Wetworks) in 1963.

The date saw the launch of Alex Graham’s Fred Bassett strip in the UK’s Daily Mail in 1963; the final appearance of the original Buck Rogers strip in 1967 and the deaths of The Katzenjammer Kids creator Harold Knerr in 1949; King Features Editor Sylvan Byck in 1982; Underground Commix pioneer Clay Geerdes (Comix World) in 1997 and Firehair, Captain Wings, Tarzan, Li’l Abner and Long Sam illustrator Bob Lubbers in 2017.

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T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Classics volume 6


By Wallace Wood, Steve Ditko, Steve Skeates, Gil Kane, Ralph Reese, Dan Adkins, George Tuska, Reed Crandall, John Giunta, Ogden Whitney, Chic Stone, Paul Reinman, Jack Abel & various (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-182-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-62302-879-4

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The meteoric lifespan and output of Tower Comics is one of the key creative moments in US comic book history. Bombastic, brilliant but brief, the era of The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves was a benchmark of quality and sheer unadulterated fun for fans of both the then-still-reawakening superhero genre and the global spy-chic obsession of those distant times. Throughout the early 1960s, the Bond movie franchise was going from strength to strength, with blazing action and heady glamour totally transforming the formerly low-key, seedy and darkly patriotic espionage genre. The buzz was infectious: soon a Man Like Flint and Matt Helm were carving out their own piece of the action as TV shanghaied the entire bandwagon with the irresistible Man from U.N.C.L.E. (premiering September 1964), bringing the whole shtick into living rooms around the world.

Thus veteran Archie Comics editor Harry Shorten was commissioned to create a line of characters for a new distribution-chain funded publishing outfit: Tower Comics. He brought in creative maverick Wallace (he hated the contraction “Wally”) Wood, who called on many of the biggest names in the industry to craft material for the broad cross-section of genres the new company demanded; as well as T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and spin-offs Undersea Agent, Dynamo and NoMan, there was a magnificent anthology war-comic Fight the Enemy and wholesome youth-comedy Tippy Teen.

Samm Schwartz & Dan DeCarlo handled the funny stuff – which outlasted everything else – whilst Wood, Larry Ivie, Len Brown, Bill Pearson, Steve Skeates, Dan Adkins, Russ Jones, Gil Kane, Ditko & Ralph Reese contributed scripts for themselves and the industry’s other top talents to illustrate on the adventure line. With a ravenous appetite for superspies and costumed heroes growing in comic book popularity and amongst the general public, the idea of blending the two concepts seemed inescapable…

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 appeared with no fanfare or pre-publicity on newsstands in August 1965. Beguilingly, all Tower titles were in the beloved-but-rarely-seen 80-Page Giant format, offering a huge amount of material in every issue. All that being said, these tales would not be so revered if they hadn’t also been so superbly crafted. As well as Wood, the art accompanying compelling, subtly more mature stories was by some of the greatest talents in comics: Reed Crandall, Gil Kane, George Tuska, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Ayers, Joe Orlando, Frank Giacoia, John Giunta, Ogden Whitney, Steve Ditko and more, as well as budding stars including Ralph Reese, Steve Skeates and Dan Adkins…

For those who came in late: When philanthropic benevolent super-genius Professor Emil Jennings perished in an assault by forces of the mysterious Warlord, late-arriving UN troops salvaged some of his greatest inventions. These included a belt that increased the density of the wearer’s body until it became as hard as steel; a cloak of invisibility and a brain-amplifier helmet. These uncopiable prototypes were divided between several agents: the basis of a unit of super-operatives to counter the increasingly bold attacks of multiple global terror threats such as the aforementioned Warlord. First chosen was affable, honest, but far from brilliant file clerk Len Brown. To the astonishment of everyone who knew him, he was assigned the belt and codename Dynamo.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent NoMan was previously decrepit Dr. Anthony Dunn who chose to have his mind transferred into an unaging android body and then gifted with the invisibility cape. If his artificial body was destroyed, Dunn’s consciousness could transfer to another android body. As long as he had a spare ready, he could never die. The helmet went to John Janus: a seemingly perfect UN employee and mental and physical marvel. He easily passed all tests necessary to wear the Jennings helmet. Sadly, he was also a double agent, the Warlord’s mole poised to betray T.H.U.N.D.E.R. at the earliest opportunity. All diabolical plans went awry once he donned the helmet and became Menthor since the device awakened his brain’s full potential, granting him telepathy, telekinesis and mindreading powers, but it also drove all evil from his mind. Such was the redemptive effect that Janus actually gave his life to save his comrades: an event which astounded readers at the time. In the wake of that tragedy, the Helmet vanished, passing through many hands but always escaping T.H.U.N.D.E.R.’s attempts to retrieve it.

Guy Gilbert was leader of crack Mission: Impossible-styled special forces commando unit T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad until asked to beta-test an experimental super-speed suit. As gung-ho, duty-obsessed Lightning, he proudly did so, even if every use of the hyper-acceleration gimmick shortened his life-span. As the concept and the niche universe expanded, other augmented agents appeared – like human jet Raven or subsea spin-off U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent (AKA Davy Jones of the United Nations Department of Experiment and Research Systems Established at Atlantis…

This concluding compilation of classic costumed-spycraft re-presents the compelling contents of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents#15-20 (cover-dates July 1967 to November 1969) – with the incomparably cool concept and characters going from strength to strength as a spirit of eccentric experimentation and raucous low comedy increasingly manifested in the wake of the defeat of the Warlord (actually exposed as only one of a subterranean race intent on world conquest) and rise of independent, lone wolf supervillains, sinister crime cabals such as SPIDER or international/political foes like China’s Red Star…

As always the action opens with a Dynamo solo tale. ‘Collision Course!’ – by an unknown author and depicted by Wood – sees superhuman Andor resurface. A misunderstood modern Prometheus, he was abducted by the Warlords as a baby and spent decades being turned into a biological superman devoid of sentiment or compassion. However, they lost control of their living weapon once he met fellow mortals. Since their shattering defeat, the pitiful outsider’s attempts to rejoin mankind had been constantly thwarted and derailed. Here, following a clash with Dynamo and SPIDER, Andor is a blind (but still immensely powerful) Samson living as a hobo with a cunning grifter. Sadly. he’s again exploited by the underworld – in the form of ruthless criminal freelancer Iron Maiden – and precipitates another shattering duel with the super strong G-man as well as SPIDER’s own hyper-strong, enhanced operative Brutus Kanassus.

When the dust and rubble settles, Andor is gone again, but is now again a slave of Uru, the last surviving subterranean warlord…

Steve Skeates & Chic Stone then detail the next step in Lightning’s life. Dying because of the speed suit he volunteered to wear, Agent Gilbert is placed into cryostasis, but ‘While Our Hero Sleeps…!’ archfoe Warp Wizard wickedly swipes the body. He, however, utterly underestimates the skills and determination of Guy’s former T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad colleagues Dynamite AKA Daniel John Adkins, Katheryn “Kitten” Kane & William “Weed” Wylie to save him, before Bill Pearson & Ogden Whitney despatch NoMan’s scattershot free-floating consciousness on a ‘Starflight to the Assassin Planet!’ Here the invisible agent faces uncanny extraterrestrial terrors and saves earth from impending invasion…

Dynamo’s best efforts are not enough in ‘Hail to the Chief!’ (by an unknown author, Giunta, Wood & Adkins) wherein his commanding officer Sam Short mistakenly believes he’s being pensioned off. Obsessed with proving himself, “the Old Man” is captured by SPIDER and almost kills both of them before this day is saved. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent Weed (a character Wood regarded as his “spirit animal”) closes the show with a delicious comedy thriller by author unknown and George Tuska.

When a big dumb thug is bitten by a radioactive mole and gains regulation theme-based excavation powers, his small, cunning pal decides ‘Dig We Must’ and has them become costumed crooks robbing from below ground. Their exploits utterly outfox the super-augmented T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents but wily Weed has the perfect plan to trap The Mole and Dapper Dan…

Cover-dated October 1967, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #16 opens with a Dynamo mini-epic illustrated and possibly written by Steve Ditko at the peak of his creative powers and political paranoia. Here the mighty hero and missing frenemy Andor are both beset with a ‘Dream of Doom!’ sent by the last subterranean.

Emboldened by recapturing the Warlord’s living weapon, Uru modifies and heals Andor before unleashing him against humanity, but has again underestimated his tool’s strength of will, affinity for his own kind and all too human feeling for Agent Kitten…

Fast paced and furiously violent, this is a classic example of astounding Ditko’s gift for combat staging as well as his signature graphic psychedelia in action. The era was intensely fruitful for artists as seen in a follow-up by Gil Kane & Jack Abel who limn another uncredited yarn as NoMan learns ‘One of Our Androids is Missing!’ Plunged into a frantic and convoluted global chase whilst again succumbing to psychological traumas triggered by being an undying ancient in a mobile plastic coffin, he soon recovers his emotionless equilibrium after fellow agent Linda Rogers uncovers a plot by the Red Chinese to steal one of his artificial carcases. They intend on turning it into a bomb with the sole purpose of tricking the Soviet Union into leaving the United Nations and blaming T.H.U.N.D.E.R. for the crime. It doesn’t work…

With Lightning notionally cured and declared fit for duty, Skeates & Stone amp up the superpower arms race as old enemy Professor Forkliff uses SPIDER resources to dope the speedster with super hallucinogens before unleashing his own enhanced speed freak – ‘The Whirligig!’ – to crush T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Sadly for them, Gilbert does everything – even recover from a bad trip – at top speed…

The entire Agents roster assembles for anonymously scripted Tuska tale ‘The End of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents?’ after SPIDER finds a way to negate all their advanced technology and entombs them all… until Weed, Kitten & Dynamite prove that a great plan and deathwish determination is all that’s really needed to send evil packing…

Dynamo closes the issue with a psychologically harrowing tale revealing how constant missions have burned him out. Enduring random descents into mindless fugue states, he is a hero lost to reality. Mature, disturbing, chilling and decades ahead of its time, ‘A Slight Case of Combat Fatigue’ comes courtesy of old soldier Wood and reset the tone as superheroes and spies began to pall in the public’s attention…

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #17 (December 1967) began with Dynamo in lighter mode as ‘Return of the Hyena!’ (by that mystery scribe, Wood & Reese) saw the husky but not highbrow hero repeatedly made a jackass by a cunning costumed criminal who indulged himself in a battle of wits with an enemy he deemed completely unarmed. Happily. Brawn and determination… and sneaky rogue Agent Weed… balanced the scales of justice enough to cage the beastly bandit, after which Whitney renders an uncredited modern monster mash wherein NoMan learns ‘The Locusts are Coming!!’ before saving embattled missile bases from marauding robotic raiders led by ambitious but unruly King Locust.

With readers tastes changing, Tuska took the weakest but wily-est Agent deep into genre territory for ‘Weed Out West!’ Scouting out SPIDER sightings in Antelope Haunch, Oklahoma, he finds shady doings at the local cowboy film shoot and soon embroils butch back-up Dynamo in uranium smuggling rings, murder plots and wedding plans before the entire T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents cadre unites the arch enemy foe in show-stopping closer ‘Put Them All Together, They Spell S.P.I.D.E.R.!’ (by anonymous & Stone). Here Dynamo leads the charge after an ordinary undercover mission exposes the cabal’s secret leaders (“The Council”) as a coalition comprising old enemies Demo, Dr. Sparta, Mastermind, Mayven and The Tarantula, led by the utterly unknown Spider Secretary General, just as the group turn on each other.

That debacle began when SPIDER recovered the all-powerful Menthor Helmet but could not peacefully decide on who should wear it and ended when the good guys explosively arrived to mop up the remains of the heated debate…

Nearly a year passed before #18 was published (cover-dated September 1968), but the contents were worth the wait. It began with another Ditko classic as ‘Dynamo and the Amazing Mr. Mek!’ saw the super-agent clash with a little nebbish suddenly granted uncanny power over machines and mechanisms. Sadly, he had no problem robbing banks but baulked when SPIDER abducted him to inflict massive global terror and death. Those unshakeable, ironclad scruples cost Mek his life and baffled his foes, but not as much as ‘The Sinister Schemes of Professor Reverse!’ (illustrated by Whitney) baffled and bamboozled NoMan when the bonkers boffin began regressing animals, humans and top military personnel into ancient ancestor iterations such as cavemen and tyrannosaurs…

Next, thanks to an unknown writer and the astounding Reed Crandall, classical fantasy rendered in the classical manner finds Dynamo trapped in an Italian volcanic eruption to somehow awaken in ancient Rome. Experiencing firsthand the grandeur, glory and petty injustices, only a miracle saves him from ‘The Arena!’ and sees him returned to his proper place and station in time to solve ‘The Secret of the Abominable Snowman!’ Crafted by unknown & Stone, here hapless Len Bown must uncover how satellite and space-race launches are being sabotaged from Tibet. Close investigation beside saucy British spy Carnaby Mod soon uncovers a plot by “commie” robotics genius The Red Lama, but there are still mysteries of the upper slopes to unravel even when all the shooting and thumping stops…

The big spy bubble had burst by this point and the spin-off titles had all folded by the time T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #19 (November 1968) was released. All art with no ads, it felt like a rapid using up and closing down exercise which began with the Wood pencilled, Ralph Reese written & inked ‘Half an Hour of Power!’ as SPIDER scientist Dr. Orgo unleashes an army of super androids – including perfect duplicates of all T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and personnel – and poor Len goes on a rampage uncertain who to hit and who to save…

Feeling suspiciously like Dynamo inventory material, it’s followed by another rowdy riot as ‘Dynamo vs. The Ghost!’ (art by Paul Reinman) sees a traitor abscond with T.H.U.N.D.E.R.’s latest breakthrough: a belt enabling the wearer to phase molecules and pass through walls. So can Dynamo – in his own way – but it’s equipment misuse that ends the blockbusting chase that follows in horrific tragedy…

Reese scripts Dynamo’s clash with the ‘All-Girl Gang!’ for Tuska to illustrate, as sinister spymaster Satana operates a squad of female agents no ordinary man can handle. Of course, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent Kitten Kane is an expert in disguise, infiltration and close combat too…

NoMan then confronts ‘A Matter of Transmitters’ (anonymous & Reinman) as SPIDER’s captive scientist Dr. Einzwei subverts T.H.U.N.D.E.R.’s teleport systems and captures all the super-agents as they innocently travel to work. Of course, NoMan has more than one body to report in with and the web soon untangles…

One year later, a final issue appeared. Cover-dated November 1969, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #20 pretty much signalled the end of spy fever and a dialling back of superheroic shenanigans. The issue was filled with reprint masterpieces but did offer an editorial in ‘Dear T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Fan’ by Wood & Adkins and new 4-page recap of the way it all began in ‘The Origin of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent Dynamo’, drawn by Chic Stone, both of which are included here to sign off the first era of spies in spandex.

With covers by Wood, Kane, Ditko, Reese, Crandall & Stone, these stories all favour fast pace, wry wit, sparse dialogue, explosive action and breathtaking visuals. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was decades ahead of its time and informed everything in Fights ‘n’ Tights comics that came after it. These are truly timeless superhero comic classics which improve with every reading, so do yourself a favour and add these landmark super-sagas to your collection.
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Classics volume 6 © 2015 Radiant Assets, LLC. All rights reserved.

Today in 1927 master craftsman and inveterate storyteller Wallace Wood (EC Comics, Mad Magazine, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Daredevil, Power Girl, Cannon, Sally Forth, The Wizard King, Witzend, Mars Attacks) was born, sharing the natal anniversary with Hi and Lois artist Chance Browne in 1948, scripter/artist Hilary Barta (Starslayer, Plastic Man) in 1957, artist Pat Olliffe (Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, Captain Britain and MI:13) in 1965 and Italian illustrator Mirka Andolfo (Hex Wives, Wonder Woman, The Amazing World of Gumball, Ms. Marvel) in 1989.

This date in 1919 Billy DeBeck’s Barney Google and Snuffy Smith strip premiered, as did Sgt. George Baker’s Sad Sack in 1942 in the first issue of service magazine Yank – the Army Weekly.

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Jonah Hex volume 7: Lead Poisoning


By Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, Jordi Bernet, Rafa Garres, David Michael Beck, Rob Schwager, Rob Leigh & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2485-1(TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also contains Discriminatory Content produced with dramatic intent.

When Justin Grey & Jimmy Palmiotti reinvigorated comic book Western legend Jonah Hex they deftly blended a blackly ironic streak of wit with a sanguine view of morality and justice to produce some of the most accessible and enjoyable comics fiction of the period. They also had the services of extremely talented people such as colourist Rob Schwager and letterer Rob Leigh, and the pick of top artists like European maestro Jordi Bernet who illustrates fully half the gritty tales in this compilation from 2009. The contents comprise issues #37-42 of the superb and much-missed iteration.

I first recognised Jordi Bernet’s work on UK weekly strip The Legend Testers. By “recognised” I mean that very moment when I actually understood that somebody somewhere drew the stuff I was adoring, and that it was better than the stuff either side of it. This was 1966, when British comics were mostly black & white and never had signatures or credits, so it was years before I knew who had sparked my interest.

Jordi Bernet Cussó was born in Barcelona on June 14th 1944, son of a prominent and successful humour cartoonist. When his father died suddenly Jordi, aged 15, took over his father’s strip es Doña Urraca (Mrs. Magpie). A huge fan of Alex Raymond, Hal Foster and particularly expressionist genius Milton Caniff, Bernet yearned for less restrictive horizons and left Spain in the early 1960s to chance his hand at dramatic storytelling.

He worked for Belgium’s Le Journal de Spirou, and Germany’s Pip and Primo, before finding work on English weeklies. Bernet toiled for British publishers between 1964 and 1967, and as well as the Odhams/Fleetway/IPC anthologies Smash!, Tiger and War Picture Library, also produced superlative material for DC Thomson’s Victor and Hornet. He even illustrated a Gardner Fox short for Marvel’s Vampire Tales #1 in 1973, but mainstream America was generally denied his mastery (other than some translated Torpedo tomes and a Batman short story) until Jonah Hex’s 21st century reincarnation.

Bernet’s most famous strips include thrillers Dan Lacombe (written by his uncle Miguel Cussó), Paul Foran (scripted by José Larraz) the saucy Wat 69 and spectacular post-apocalyptic barbarian epic Andrax (both with Cussó again). When General Franco died Bernet returned to Spain and began working for Cimoc, Creepy and Metropol, collaborating with Antonio Segura on the sexy fantasy Sarvan and dystopian SF black comedy Kraken. His other job was collaborating with Enrique Sánchez Abulí on gangster and adult themed tales that made him one of the world’s most honoured artists, and which culminated in the incredibly successful crime saga Torpedo 1936…

Here, however, the rawhide dramas commence with Bernet in top form as Hex tangles and torridly tussles with a trio of female former circus performers who take up bounty hunting and prove that ‘Trouble Comes in Threes’, after which ‘Hell or High Water’ finds the gritty gunslinger enduring horrific tortures at the hands of a sheriff he once shamed. The brutal psychopath has no idea what real vengeance feels like until Jonah gives him a fast and final lesson…

Baroque stylist Rafa Garres supplies art and colours for a grim parable examining ‘Cowardice’ wherein a rookie sheriff gets life lessons in doing his job after Hex tracks murderous escaped convicts to a quiet country backwater. Then David Michael Beck depicts a gruesome two-part tale of savage madness.

When Hex and sometime ally/constant foil Tallulah Black track a serial-killing civil war surgeon teaching other perverts and deviants his bloody discoveries, the red-handed butcher displays enough body-shredding acumen to almost end them both. However, even his gory assaults and inclinations to devil-worship of the ‘Sawbones’ are no match for Jonah Hex in a mood to display his all-consuming displeasure and irritation…

Bernet wraps things up in inimitable blackly comedic style as ‘Shooting the Sun’ offers a shocking glimpse at the bounty hunter’s formative years with parental sadist Woodson Hex. Apparently, the abusive behaviour made Jonah the man he is: someone able to turn an inescapable death-trap into a private shooting gallery offering the added attraction of long-deferred vengeance on the bullies who garnished little Jonah’s hellish childhood with extra misery…

With captivating covers from Bernet, Garres and Beck, Lead Poisoning is an explosively grim, darkly hilarious outing for the very best Western antihero ever created: an intoxicating blend of action and social commentary no fan of the genre or cream-of-the-crop comics magic can afford to miss.
© 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

This day in 1917 was when Canadian editorial cartoonist Sid Barron joined the world, followed in 1929 by Archie artist Jon D’Agostino; premier Welsh cartoonist Grenfell “Gren” Jones, MBE in 1934 and Spanish story wizard Antonio Segura (Hombre, Bogey, Sarvan, Kraken, Jack el Destripador, Eva Medusa) in 1947. In 1956 multi-talented Frank Cirocco (Alien Legion) arrived, with inker Brett Breeding born in 1961 and Brazilian artist Marcelo “Marc” Campos (Green Lantern, Iron Man) stopping by in 1965.

The day also saw the departures of UK cartoonist Reg Smythe (Andy Capp) in 1998 and animator, cartoonist (Peter Rabbit, Krazy Krow, Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal) & Marvel/ Timely Comics editor in chief Vince Fago in 2002.

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Lucky Luke Vol 28 The Dalton Cousins


By Morris & Goscinny, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-076-4 (Album PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also includes Discriminatory Content added for comedic effect.

Created by Belgian animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de Bévère (AKA “Morris”), Lucky Luke debuted in the summer of 1946, initially riding out in Le Journal de Spirou summer sans title or banner, and only in the French-language edition. The Lone Rider’s official launch came in Christmas Annual L’Almanach Spirou 1947, before beginning his first official serial – ‘Arizona 1880’ – in December 7th 1946’s multinational weekly issue.

Doughty, dashing, dependable cowboy “good guy” Lucky is a rangy, implacably even-tempered do-gooder able to “draw faster than his own shadow”. He amiably ambles around the mythic Old West, having light-hearted adventures on his petulant and rather sarcastic wonder-horse Jolly Jumper. For 80 years (Joyeux anniversaire, Mon Brave!), his exploits have made him a top-ranking global comic character, filling more than 90 individual albums and spin-off series like Kid Lucky and Ran-Tan-Plan, with sales upwards of 300 million copies in 30 languages. That renown translated into a mountain of merchandise, toys, games, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies and even commemorative exhibitions. No theme park yet, but you never know…

Lucky’s global dominance resulted from a decades-long, 45 volume collaboration with superstar scripter René Goscinny, spanning Des rails sur la Prairie/Rails on the Prairie beginning August 25th 1955 to La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires/The Ballad Of The Daltons And Other Stories in 1986. On Goscinny’s death, Morris worked on alone again before recruiting others, to form a posse of legacy creators including Lo Hartog van Banda, Achdé & Laurent Gerra, Xavier Fauche, Benacquista & Pennac, Jean Léturgie, Jacques Pessis and more, all taking their own shots at the venerable vigilante. Morris soldiered on singly and with these successors before his own passing in 2001, having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus numerous sidebar and spin-off sagebrush sagas.

His grande idée draws on western history as much as movie mythology, regularly meeting historical figures as well as even odder fictional folk in tales drawn from key themes of classic cowboy mythology – as well as some uniquely European notions or interpretations such as seen here. As previously hinted, our six-gun star is not averse to being a figure of political change and Weapon of Mass Satire, but here spoofs his own antecedents and venerated movie schtick for a delicious drive down memory lane…

Goscinny had started scripting Lucky uncredited in 1955. Morris had taken nearly a decade to fill nine albums with affectionate sagebrush parody, action and Lucky Laughs, but 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), and following up with Lucky Luke contre Joss Jamon, (Vs. Joss Jamon) before – still anonymously – delivering a true landmark with the next storyline.

The Dalton Cousins was first enjoyed in LJdS #992 – 1013 (April 18th to September 12th 1957): a manic mirth-fest for which Goscinny performed a much-demanded act of necromancy by resurrecting a quartet of killers Lucky had already permanently dealt with, but whom readers want not dead but alive…

Serially published back in December 1954 Hors-la-loi became Morris’ 6th full album and included a strip which saw our hero meet and beat Emmett, Bill, Grat & Bob Dalton: real life badmen who had plagued the actual west during the 1890s. On those funny pages from simpler times, 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 reader 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 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… 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 heroic happy wanderer train them up to “match fitness”…

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, but sadly, leaves it too late and is forced to resort to tricky tactics and even dividing to conquer. It’s 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. These tall-to-small tales are 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…
© Dargaud Editeur Paris 1971 by Goscinny and Morris. © Lucky Comics. English translation © 2010 Cinebook Ltd.

Today in 1913, artist Tom Gill (The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, Red Warrior) was born, sharing his birthday with DC’s hyper-prolific colourists Jerry Serpe (1919) and Bob LeRose (1921). The date also saw the debut of Russell Stamm’s strip Invisible Scarlett O’Neil in 1940 and the deaths of the great Syd Shores (Captain America, Black Rider, Blonde Phantom, The Westerner) in 1973; Ozzie cartoonist Syd (Fatty Finn) Nicholls in 1977 and Industry-shaking innovator Bill Gaines (EC Comics, Mad Magazine) in 1992.

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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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Casey Ruggles – A Saga of the West: King of the Horsemen/the Prophet Julius/Juan Soto (Daily Strips 1951)


By Warren Tufts & various (Western Winds Productions)
No ISBN

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The newspaper strip Casey Ruggles – A Saga of the West used that genre’s motifs and scenarios to tell a broad range of stories stretching from shoot-’em-up dramas to comedy yarns and even the occasional horror story. The titular hero was a dynamic ex-cavalry sergeant and sometime US Marshal as he made his way to California. He’d been doing that since 1849, hoping to find his fortune, but was frequently distracted and diverted by meeting historical personages like Millard Fillmore, William Fargo, Jean Lafitte and Kit Carson in gripping two-fisted action-adventures. This was the narrative engine of both features until 1950 whereupon daily and Sunday strips divided into separate tales.

Warren Tufts was a phenomenally talented illustrator and storyteller born too late. He is best remembered now – if at all and probably not in English-speaking countries – for creating two of the most beautiful western comics strips of all time: Ruggles and elegiac, iconic Lance.

Sadly, Tufts began his career at a time when the glory days of syndicated newspaper strips were gradually giving way to the television age of ostensibly free family home entertainment. Had he been working scant years earlier in adventure’s Golden Age he would undoubtedly be a household name – at least in comics fans’ homes.

Born on Christmas Day, 1925. Tufts was a superbly meticulous draughtsman with an uncanny grasp of character and a great ear for dialogue. His art was effective and grandiose in the representational manner, favourably compared to both Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant and Alex Raymond. On May 22nd 1949 he began Ruggles as a full-colour Sunday page, and added to it with a black and white daily strip which began on September 19th of that year.

Tufts worked for United Features Syndicate, owners of such popular strips as Fritzi Ritz and L’il Abner, and his lavish, expansive tales were crisply told and highly engaging, but he was a compulsive perfectionist and regularly worked 80-hour weeks at the drawing board… and consequently often missed deadlines. This led him to use many assistants like Al Plastino, Rueben Moreira and Edmund Good. Established veterans Nick Cardy and Alex Toth also spent time working as “ghosts” on the series, with Cardy’s stint reproduced in this volume.

Due to a falling-out with his syndicate, Tufts left this wonderful western creation in 1954 and Al Carreño continued Ruggles until its demise in October 1955. The departure came when TV producers wanted to turn the strip into a weekly television show. Apparently UF baulked, suggesting the show would harm the popularity of the strip!?

Tufts formed his own syndicate for his next and greatest project, Lance (probably the last great full page Sunday strip and another series crying out for a high-quality collection) before moving peripherally into comic-books, working extensively for West Coast outfit Dell/Gold Key, drawing various westerns and TV show tie-ins like Wagon Train, Korak son of Tarzan, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan and a long run on the Pink Panther comic book. Eventually, he quit drawing completely, working as an actor, voice-actor and eventually in animation on such shows as Challenge of the Super Friends.

Tufts had a lifelong passion for flying, even building his own planes. In 1982 whilst piloting one he crashed and was killed.

Pacific Comics Club collected many “lost strip classics” at the start of the 1980s, including six volumes (to my knowledge) of Casey Ruggles adventures. This was the fourth stupendous monochrome volume (approximately 15 inches x 10 inches) and contains stories that highlight Tufts’ love of Western history, facility for comedy and innovative willingness to take chances in three tales from the strip’s third year.

The first is a traditional cowboy story featuring the clandestine return of an old foe. ‘King of the Horsemen’ originally ran 14th May to 23rd June 1951, and saw a mysterious “Sonoran” (in actuality Mexican bandit Joaquin Murietta) challenge all the miners in a gold town to test their riding skills against his own.

Bored and cash rich but not stupid, the gambling fools call in Marshal Ruggles to do the rough riding…

This is an engrossing, informative little gem, softly sardonic and luxuriating in the minutiae of the historical west and cowboy mythology. Art lovers will also have the joy of comparing two master realists as Tufts, ever-strapped to meet his punishing deadlines, surrendered the greater part of the tale (all the racing, chasing and action-stunting) to Cardy, keeping only the first and last weeks’ episodes for himself. This was probably to give himself a little leeway on the next adventure ‘The Prophet Julius’; a dark, clever yarn about a greedy flim-flam man and the eerie power he exerted on an isolated outpost.

Running from June 25th to August 11th 1951, the action begins with a shooting star crashing to earth, closely followed by a mesmerising soothsayer terrifying, coercing and ultimately hypnotising miners into handing over their wealth. With even Ruggles helpless, the township pull together to craft a solution no Hollywood hack has ever considered…

The six-gun thrills conclude here with another unsung innovation wherein Tufts adapted the documentary/Film Noir style prevalent in the B-Movie gangster films of the time to create a prototype graphic-novel police procedural that would do Rick Geary proud.

The predominantly Mexican Vasquez Gang terrorized the simple folk of rural California for nearly 15 years, with outlaws captured or killed only to be replaced by ever more bloodthirsty villains. ‘Juan Soto’ was one such and the pursuit of him was perfectly incorporated into a clever tale of organised man-hunting by Tufts. Soto was actually killed in a gunfight with Alameda County Sheriff Harry Morse. Here though the bandit’s increasingly obnoxious depredations draw Ruggles into a posse with five other lawmen who undertake a legendary trek through rugged country, ending in a fearsomely authentic, grimly chilling siege and showdown.

Human intrigue and fallibility, bombastic action and a taste for the bizarre reminiscent of the best John Ford or Raoul Walsh movies make Casey Ruggles the ideal western strip for the discerning modern audience. Westerns are a uniquely perfect vehicle for drama and comedy, and Casey Ruggles is one of the very best produced in America: easily a match for the usually superior European material like Tex Willer or Lieutenant Blueberry.

Surely the beautiful clean-cut lines, chiaroscuric flourishes and sheer artistic imagination and veracity of Warren Tufts can never be truly out of vogue? These great tales are desperately deserving of a wider following, and I’m still praying some canny publisher knows a good thing when he sees it…
© 1950, 1951 United Features Syndicate, Inc. Collection © Western Winds Productions. All Rights Reserved.

Yesterday in 1919 comic book scribe Robert Bernstein (Crime Does Not Pay, Superman, Superboy, Aquaman, Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Psychoanalysis, Thor, Iron Man) was born, as was British illustrator and horrorist John Bolton (Marada, X-Men, Shame) in 1951; Brazilian Mike Deodato Jr. (Spider-Man, Dark Avengers, Wonder Woman) in 1963 and Great Briton Mark Buckingham (Fables, Spider-Man, Marvelman) in 1966.

On that date in 1994 we lost pioneering fan/journalist/historian and publisher Don Thompson, and master illustrator John Prentice (Young Romance, Fireman Farrell, Rip Kirby) in 1999.

Today in 1912, strip cartoonist Alfred Andriola (Kerry Drake) was born, followed in 1919 by both Harvey Comics artist Sid Couchey (Ritchie Rich, Little Lotta, Little Dot) and Saturday Evening Post cartoonist Irwin Caplan (Famous Last Words). In 1925 Carmine Infantino was born. Latterly, in 1957 a different world greeted German creator Walter Moers (Das kleine Arschloch) and in 1963 Michael Chabon (Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay)

In 1959 on this date Frank Giacoia’s Johnny Reb and Billy Yank strip ended, whilst in 1992 Japanese collective CLAMP launched groundbreaking manga X. In 1962 US comics illustrator Victor Forsythe (Joe Jinx) died as did Spirou’s veteran art mainstay Pierre Seron (Les Petits hommes, Les Centaures, Les Petites Femmes) in 2017.