Category: Young Adult

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Chas Addams Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of You


By Charles Addams (Simon & Schuster)
ISBN: 978-1-43910-356-2 (PB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. It also has Discriminatory Content included for comedic and satirical effect.

Cartoonist Charles Samuel Addams (1912-1988) was a distant descendant of two American Presidents (John Adams & John Quincy Adams). He compounded that hereditary infamy by perpetually making his real life as extraordinary as his dark, mordantly funny drawings.

Born into a successful family in Westfield, New Jersey, the precocious, prankish, constantly drawing child was educated at the town High School, Colgate University, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York City’s Grand Central School of Art, and apparently spent the entire time producing cartoons and illustrations for a raft of institutional publications.

In 1932 he became a designer for True Detective magazine – “retouching photos of corpses” – and soon after started selling drawings to The New Yorker. In 1937, at the peak of popular fascination in cinematic and literary horror stories, he began a ghoulish if not outright macabre sequence of family portraits that ultimately became his signature creation. However, during WWII, he toned down the terror and served with the US Signal Corps Photographic Center, devising animated training films for the military.

Whether Addams artfully manufactured his biography to enhance his value to feature writers or was genuinely a warped and wickedly wacky individual is irrelevant, although it makes for great reading – especially the stuff about his wives – and, as always, the internet is eager to be your informative friend…

What is important is that in all the years he drew and painted those creepily sardonic, gruesome gags and illustrations for The New Yorker, Colliers, TV Guide and so many others, he beguiled and enthralled his audience with a devilish mind and a soft, gentle approach that made him a household name long before television turned his characters into a hit. This was a substantial part of what generated the craze for monsters and grotesques that lasts to this day. That eminence was only magnified once the big screen iterations debuted. And now we have streaming fun too. He would have loved the sheer terrifying inescapability of it all…

As he worked on unto death, Addams got even wackier: marrying his third wife in a pet cemetery, spending an absolute fortune collecting weapons and torture devices – “for reference don’cha know” – and inventing… recipes…

There will be more on that last one another time but what really matters is that older collections of his oeuvre are finally being unearthed. This one – compiled from Addams’s personal archive, with many previously unpublished gems, explores the widest gamut of emotion, from ecstatic love to disappointed affection to murderous obsession. It’s a creepy corker demonstrating that love really does hurt…

Chas Addams Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of You opens in full scholar mode with ‘Chas Addams’ a photo-essay appreciation by H. Kevin Miserocchi, backed up by an explanation of the work of the ‘Tee and Charles Addams Foundation’ – remembering of course that the Tee here is his truly kindred spirit third wife Marilyn Matthews Miller-Addams (1926–2002).

Then the cartoon carnival commences with early works as ‘In the Beginning’ sets the cultural scene with crime, terror, murder and the ever-lurking supernatural before the remainder of the perilous pictorium offers insights into what used to be called “the war of the sexes”. This socially sensitive selection judiciously deals even handedly with ‘His Side’ and ‘Her Side’ before going on to test ‘His Resolve’ and ‘Her Resolve’…

The matter is naturally settled in revelatory style with ‘The Final Score’…

For clarity and pure knowledge this hilariously judgemental tome closes with a full list of ‘Dates of First Publication’ and the happy confirmation that a goodly proportion of the gags are new/unpublished until this time.

Should you not be as familiar with his actual cartoons as with the big and small screen legacy Addams unleashed, you really owe it to yourself to see the uncensored brilliance of one of America’s greatest humourists. It’s dead funny…
© 2006 by Tee and Charles Addams Foundation. All rights reserved.

Today in 1897 English writer & cartoonist Charles Henry Ross died. He’s one of the chaps accused of inventing comics with his disreputable rogue Ally Sloper. The closest we’ve got yet to exposing that rapscallion was in Great British Comics.

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Showcase Presents Dial H for Hero


By Dave Wood, Jim Mooney, George Roussos, Frank Springer, Sal Trapani, Jack Sparling & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2648-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the mid-Sixties the entire world went crazy for costumed crusaders and every comic book publisher (and some who weren’t) frantically sought new ways to repackage an extremely exciting yet intrinsically limited concept. Perhaps its ultimate expression – for Americans at least as UK comics were always skewing the curves – came with the creation of a teen-aged everyman champion who battled crime and disaster in his little town with the aid of a fantastic wonder-tool…

This slim monochrome paperback compendium collects the entire eclectic run from House of Mystery (#156, January 1966 to #173, March-April 1968), after which the title vanished for a few months, only to re-emerge as DC’s first new anthological supernatural mystery title and next big publishing sensation…

Created by Dave Wood & Jim Mooney, Dial H For Hero detailed the incredible adventures of lonely boy genius Robby Reed who lived with his grandfather in idyllic Littleville: a genial small town where nothing ever happened…

Born in Arlington, Massachusetts on September 5th 1926, Dave Silva worked prodigiously in comics as Dave Wood, as did his brothers Bob Wood and Dick Wood. Their father was a doctor who blotted his copybook so badly that the family had their surname legally changed sometime after 1932.

Dave’s brothers got into making comics early – founding a studio shop with Charles (Airboy, Crime Does Not Pay, The Little Wise Guys) Biro – and Dave joined them before his war service as an army reporter in 1944. He returned and blossomed into a go-to writer in many genres. His prolific output really began in the post-superhero days of AUS comic books and includes such seminal classics – often with artistic legends Jack Kirby and Wally (no-relation) Wood) – as Challengers of the Unknown and seminal Space Race newspaper strip Sky Masters. A skilled jobbing writer, Wood frequently and closely collaborated with brother Dick. They bounced around the industry, scripting mystery, war, science fiction and he-man adventure yarns. Amongst his/their vast credits are stints on Danger Trail, Our Army at War, most Superman family titles, Batman, Detective Comics, World’s Finest Comics, Green Arrow, Rex the Wonder Dog, Tomahawk, Blackhawk, Martian Manhunter and so many more. As well as Dial H For Hero Dave Wood created bizarre sleeper hit Animal Man and the esoteric but fondly regarded Ultra, the Multi-Alien. He was Bob Kane’s ghost writer and co-created eccentric villains Mister Zero/Mr Freeze, Doctor Double X and the Terrible Trio/The Fox, the Shark and the Vulture. He died far, far too young on July 7th 1974

The majority of the illustration was left to capable, unflappable, slick James Noel Mooney. He started his comics career in 1940, aged 21, working for the Eisner & Eiger production shop, and at Fiction House on The Moth, Camilla, Suicide Smith and other B-features. By the end of that year he was a mainstay of Timely Comic’s vast funny animal/animated cartoon tie-in department.

In 1946, he migrated to National/DC to ghost Batman for Bob Kane & Dick Sprang. He stayed until 1968, a regular on a host of key features including Superman, Superboy, Legion of Super-Heroes, World’s Finest Comics and Tommy Tomorrow, as well as many genre short stories for the company’s assorted anthology titles like Tales of the Unexpected and House of Mystery. He famously drew Supergirl from her series debut in Action Comics #253 to #373. He returned to Marvel in the late 1960s, delivering stellar runs on Spider-Man, Marvel Team-up, Omega the Unknown, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider and a host of other features including early adults-only feature Pussycat as both penciller and inker. Prior to that move he was illustrating Dial H For Hero; the only original DC feature he co-created.

Big things were clearly expected of the new feature, which was parachuted in as lead and cover feature, demoting the venerable Martian Manhunter J’onn J’onzz to a back-up role at the rear of each issue. Cover dated January 1966 (and on sale from November 18th 1965) House of Mystery #156 kicked off the strange adventures with an untitled tale that opens in an attack on the local chemical works by super-scientific criminal organisation Thunderbolt. This occurs just as young Robby and his pals are playing in the hills above the site. As they flee, the plucky kid is caught in a landslide and falls into an ancient cave where lies hidden an obviously alien artefact… that looks like an outlandish rotary telephone dial. If these words mean nothing to you, feel free to investigate on-line…

After finding his way out of the cavern Robby becomes obsessed with the device and spends all his time attempting to translate the arcane hieroglyphs on it. Eventually he determines that they are instructions to dial the dial symbols which roughly translate to “H”, “E”, “R” and “O”…

Ever curious, Robby complies and is suddenly transformed into a colossal super-powered Giantboy, just in time to save a crashing airliner and quash another Thunderbolt raid. On returning home, he simply reverses the dialling process and goes to bed…

These were and still are perfect wish-fulfilment stories: uncluttered, uncomplicated yarns concealing no grand messages or themes: just straight entertainment expertly undertaken by experienced and gifted craftsmen who knew how to reach their young-at-heart audiences. After all, what right minded child wouldn’t rush out and DO GOOD if they got superpowers?

Thus, no-one is surprised at the ease with which Robby adapts to his new situation. When Thunderbolt strikes again next morning Robby grabs his dial but is startled to become a different hero – high-energy being The Cometeer. Streaking to the rescue Robby is overcome by the raider’s super weapon and forced dial back into being a boy again. Undeterred, he later tries again and as The Mole finally tracks the villains to their base and crushes them. The leader escapes, however, to become the series’ only returning villain…

Mr. Thunder was back in the next issue as Robby became The Human, Bullet, bestial energy-being Super-Charge and eerie alien Radar-Sonar Man to combat ‘The Marauders from Thunderbolt Island’ after which criminal scientist Daffy Dagan steals the H-Dial after defeating the boy’s next temporary alter ego Quake-Master. Dagan becomes a horrifying multi-powered monster when he learns to ‘Dial… V… For Villain’ but after the defeated hero takes back the artefact, Robby redials into techno-warrior The Squid and belatedly saves the day. Clearly the Mystery in House of… was related to where the Dial came from, what its unknown parameters were and especially who or what Robby would transform into next…

HoM #159 pitted The Human Starfish, Hypno-Man and super-powered toddler Mighty Moppet (wielding weaponised baby bottles) in single combats with a shape-shifting bandit gang dubbed ‘The Clay-Creep Clan’ whilst ‘The Wizard of Light’ played with the format by introducing a potential love-interest for Robby in his best friend’s cousin Suzy. It also saw the return of Giant-Boy, introduction of sugar-based sentinel of justice King Candy and the lad’s only transformation into an already established hero – Golden Age legend Plastic Man.

Cynical me suspects the move was a tester to see if the Pliable Paladin – who had been an inert resource since the company had bought out original publisher Quality Comics in 1956 – was ripe for a relaunch in the new, superhero-hungry environment.

DC’s Plastic Man #1 was released five months later…

House of Mystery #161 featured awesome ancient Egyptian menace ‘The Mummy with Six Heads’ who proved too much for Robby as Magneto (same powers but so very not a certain Marvel villain) and Hornet-Man, but not intangible avenger Shadow-Man who eventually triumphed, whilst in the next issue ‘The Monster-Maker of Littleville’ is proved by Mr. Echo and Future-Man to be less mad scientist than greedy entrepreneur. Then, ‘Baron Bug and his Insect Army’ almost ends Robby’s clandestine career when the boy turns into two heroes at once. However, even though celestial twins Castor and Pollux are overmatched, animated slinky-toy King Coil proves sufficient to stamp out the Baron’s giant mini-beasts. Human wave Zip Tide, living star Super Nova and Robby the Super-Robot are then increasingly hard-pressed to stop the rampages of ‘Dr. Cyclops – the Villain with the Doomsday Stare’, but eventually overcome the outrageous odds – and oddness…

Things got decidedly peculiar in #165 when a clearly malfunctioning H-Dial called up ‘The Freak Super-Heroes’ – Whoozis, Whatsis and Howzis – to battle Dr. Rigoro Mortis and his artificial thug Super-Hood in a bizarrely captivating romp with what looks like some unacknowledged inking assistance from veteran brush-meister George Roussos (who popped in a couple more times until Mooney’s departure).

Suzy became a fixture and moved into the house next door with ‘The King of the Curses!’ He found his schemes to plunder the city thwarted by The Yankee-Doodle Kid and Chief Mighty Arrow, a war-bonneted “Indian brave” on a winged horse, before in HoM #167, ‘The Fantastic Rainbow Raider’ easily defeated Balloon Boy and Muscle Man but had no defence against returning Radar-Sonar Man. Next ‘The Marauding Moon Man’ easily overmatched Robby as The Hoopster, but had no defence when another glitch turned old incarnations The Mole and Cometeer into a single heroic composite imaginatively christened Mole-Cometeer. The biggest shock of all came when ‘The Terrible Toymaster’ defeats Robby – AKA Velocity Kid – and Suzy cajoles the fallen hero into dialling her into the scintillating Gem Girl to finish the mission.

Of course, as it was the 1960s, plucky Suzy didn’t quite manage on her own, but after Robby transforms into psionically potent Astro, Man of Space they soon closed the case – and toybox – for good. This one was all Mooney and so was the next, which turned out to be the artist’s last hurrah with the Kid of a Thousand Capes. ‘Thunderbolt’s Secret Weapon’ saw the crooks cartel seek to steal a supercomputer, only to be stopped dead by Baron Buzz-Saw, Don Juan (and his magic sword!) and the imposing Sphinx-Man. With House of Mystery #171 a radical new look emerged, as well as a darker tone. The writing was clearly on the wall for exuberant, angst-free adventurers…

‘The Micro-Monsters!’ was illustrated by Frank Springer and saw Robby dial up King Viking – Super Norseman, Go-Go (a fab hipster who utilised the incredible powers of popular disco dances… and how long have I waited to type that line?) and multi-powered Whirl-I-Gig to defeat bio-terrorist Doc Morhar and his belligerent invaders from a sub-atomic dimension. Springer also drew ‘The Monsters from the H-Dial’, wherein the again on-the-fritz gear simultaneously turns Reed’s friend Jim into assorted ravening horrors every time Robby dials up. Luckily the unnamed animated Pendulum, Chief Mighty Arrow and the Human Solar Mirror our hero successively turns into prove just enough to stop the beasts until the canny boy can apply his trusty screwdriver to the incredible artefact once again.

In those distant days series ended abruptly, without fanfare and often in the middle of something… and such was the fate of Robby Reed. HoM #173, by Wood & Sal Trapani, saw the lad solve a mystery in ‘The Revolt of the H-Dial’, wherein the process reshapes him into water-breathing Gill-Man and a literal Icicle Man: beings not only unsuitable for life on Earth but also compelled to commit crimes. Happily by the time Robby dials into Strata Man he’s deduced what outside force is affecting his dangerously double-edged device…

And that was that. The series was gone, the market was again abandoning Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy and on the immediate horizon lay a host of war, western, barbarian and horror comics…

Exciting, fun, inspirational, imaginatively engaging and silly in equal amounts (heck, even I couldn’t resist a jibe or too and I genuinely revere these daft, nostalgia-soaked gems), Dial H For Hero has been re-imagined many times since these innocent odysseys first ran, but never with the clear-cut, unsophisticated, welcoming charm displayed here.

This was Ben-10 (remember him?) for your granddad’s generation and perhaps your kid’s delectation: and only if they’re at just that certain age. Certainly you’re too grown up to enjoy these glorious classics. Surely you couldn’t be that lucky; could you?
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

Today in 1950 comics iconoclast and creative pioneer Howard Chaykin was born. You should track down American Flagg! and his interpretation of The Shadow but don’t miss Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution. One year later international comics legend Enki Bilal did likewise, before going on to create masterpieces such as Century’s End: The Black Order Brigade & The Hunting Party.

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The Complete Peanuts volume 1: 1950-1952


By Charles Schulz (Canongate Books/Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-589-2 (Fantagraphics HB) 978-1-60699-763-5 (Fantagraphics TPB) 978-1-84767-031-1 (Canongate)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: All that’s great about cartoon strips… 10/10

Peanuts is unequivocally the most important comics strip in the history of graphic narrative. It is also the most deeply personal. Today in 1950 it all began, and cartoonist Charles M Schulz went on crafting his moodily hilarious, hysterically introspective, shockingly surreal philosophical epic for half a century: 17,897 strips spanning October 2nd 1950 to February 13th 2000.

He died from complications of cancer the day before his last strip was printed.

At its height, Peanuts ran in 2,600 newspapers, in 21 languages and in 75 countries. Many of those venues still run it as perpetual reprints, and have ever since his death. During Schulz’s lifetime, book collections, a merchandising mountain and television spin-offs had made the publicity-shy doodler an actual billionaire at a time when that really meant something…

None of that matters. Peanuts – a title Schulz loathed, but one the syndicate forced upon him – changed the way comics strips were received and perceived: proving cartoon comedy could have edges and nuance and meaning as well as soon-forgotten pratfalls and punchlines.

Following a typically garrulous, charming and informative Introduction from fellow Minnesotan Garrison Keillor, this mammoth (218 x 33x 172 mm) landscape compendium offers the first two and a bit years. Here a prototypical, rather outgoing and jolly Charlie Brown and high-maintenance mutt Snoopy joined with bombastic Shermy and mercurial Patty in hanging out doing kid things.

These include playing, playing pranks, playing sports such as tennis, golf and baseball, playing musical instruments, teasing each other, making baffled observations and occasionally acting a bit too much like grown-ups. Fans of Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes will feel eerie familiarity with much of the hijinks and larks of these episodes.

As new characters Violet, infant prodigy Schroeder, and Lucy and her strange baby brother Linus were added to the mix, the boisterous rush of the series began to imperceptibly settle into a more contemplative pace. Charlie Brown began to adopt and embrace his eternal loser, singled-out-by-fate persona and the sheer diabolical wilfulness of Lucy began to sharpen itself on everyone around her…

The first Sunday page debuted on January 6th 1952; a standard half-page slot offering more measured fare than the daily. Both thwarted ambition and explosive frustration became part of the strip’s signature denouements…

By the end of 1952, all those the rapid-fire gags had evolved from raucous slapstick to surreal, edgy, psychologically barbed introspection, garnished by crushing judgements and deep rumination in a world where kids – and certain animals – were the only actors. The relationships, however, were increasingly deep, complex and absorbing even though “Sparky” Schulz never deviated from his core message: entertain…

David Michaelis then celebrates and deconstructs ‘The Life and Times of Charles M. Schulz’ after which Gary Groth & Rick Marschall conduct ‘An Interview with Charles M. Schulz’, rounding out our glimpse of the dolorous graphic genius with intimate revelations and reminiscences whilst a copious ‘Index’ offers instant access to favourite scenes you’d like to see again.

Readily available in hardcover, paperback and digital editions, this initial volume offers a rare example of a masterpiece in motion: comedy gold and social glue gradually metamorphosing in an epic of spellbinding graphic mastery which became part of the fabric of billions of lives, and which continues to do so long after its maker’s passing.

Happy ever afters, kids.
The Complete Peanuts: 1950-1952 (volume 1) © 2004 Peanuts Worldwide, LLC. Introduction © 2004 Garrison Keillor. “The Life and Times of Charles M. Schulz” © 2000 David Michaelis. “Interview with Charles M. Schulz” © 2004 Gary Groth and Richard Marschall. All other material copyright its respective owners. All rights reserved.

Today in 1909 Alex Raymond was born. You’ll know him best for stuff like Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo volume 1: Sundays 1934-1937 (The Complete Flash Gordon Library. In 1916 Bob Powell, was born. He went on to do things like Bob Powell’s Complete Jet Powers.

Ramona Fradon was born in 1926, and Spirou stalwart Janry arrived in Belgium in 1957, whilst Maltese docu-comics journalist Joe Sacco was born in 1960. You can find dozens of books by the first two just by using a search box here, and I’ve almost summoned enough nerve to review Sacco’s Palestine despite – or because of – these febrile times…

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Vixen: Return of the Lion


By G. Willow Wilson & CAFU, with Bit, Josh Middleton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2512-4 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Welcome to Black History Month UK 2025. The theme this year is “Standing Firm in Power and Pride” and nobody ever accused us of being subtle…

In 1978 fashion model Mari Jiwe McCabe nearly became the first black woman to star in her own American comic book. Sadly, the infamous “DC Implosion” of that year saw the Vixen series cancelled before release. She eventually premiered three years later in Action Comics #521’s ‘The Deadly Rampage of the Lady Fox’ (by creator Gerry Conway and Superman mainstays Curt Swan & Frank Chiaramonte) and thereafter remained, lurking around the DC Universe until she joined a re-booted JLA (latterly dubbed “JLA Detroit”) in Justice League of America Annual #2.

A classic team-player, over intervening decades working within assorted JLA rosters, Suicide Squad, Ultramarine Corps, Checkmate and the Birds of Prey, Vixen’s origin has changed a lot less than most. It even remained mostly un-meddled-with when she made the jump to TV as part of the DC Legends of Tomorrow show.

Mari Jiwe comes from a line of warriors blessed by animist Trickster god Kwaku Anansi. The mythical creator of all stories claims to have designed her abilities – and those of fellow bestial hero Animal Man – allowing Vixen, through use of an arcane artefact dubbed the Tantu Totem, to channel the attributes and signature abilities of every animal that has ever lived.

As a child in M’Changa Province, Zambesi, Mari’s mother was killed by poachers and her missionary father murdered by his own brother over possession of the Totem. To thwart her uncle, the orphan moved to America, eventually becoming a fashion model to provide funding and cover for her mission of revenge…

At first a reluctant superhero, Vixen became one of the most effective crusaders on the international scene and was a key member of the Justice League (the one just before the New 52 Reboot). Previously, when her powers began to malfunction she was forced to confront Anansi himself (for which tales see Justice League of America: Sanctuary and Justice League of America: Second Coming).

Scripted by author, essayist, journalist and comics scribe G. Willow Wilson (Cairo, Air, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman) and illustrated by Carlos Alberto Fernandez Urbano AKA CAFU (Action Comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Imperium, Unity), Vixen: Return of the Lion was originally seen as a 5-part miniseries in 2009. We open here with ‘Predators’ wherein a League operation uncovers a plot by techno-thugs Intergang to fund a revolution in troubled African nation Zambesi.

Amongst impounded files is a record “proving” that 15 years earlier, Vixen’s mother was actually killed by Aku Kwesi, a local warlord working with the American criminal organisation. When Mari learns this truth, not even Superman can stop her from heading straight to her old village to find the man responsible. Africa is not America, however, and the lawless settlement has no time for a woman who does not know her place – even if she does have superpowers. When Kwesi appears, Vixen’s abilities are useless against him and she escapes with her life only because the warlord’s lieutenant Sia intervenes…

In ‘Prey’, broken, gravely wounded Mari is dumped in the veldt by Sia and staggers her way across the war-ravaged plain, battling beasts and hallucinating – or maybe meeting real ghosts – until she is attacked by a young lion and rescued by a holy man.

Alarmed at Vixen’s disappearance and further discoveries connecting Kwesi to Intergang, the JLA mobilise in ‘Sanctuary’ as lost Vixen slowly recuperates in a place where the constant conflicts of fang & claw survival are suspended. Here, saintly Brother Tabo offers Mari new perspective and greater understanding of her abilities. Her JLA colleagues, meanwhile, have exposed Intergang’s infiltration but fallen to a power even Superman could not resist…

As the League struggles against overwhelming odds, ‘Risen’ sees a transcendent Vixen flying to the rescue, and picking up some unexpected allies before facing her greatest challenge in shocking conclusion ‘Idols’, wherein more hidden truths are revealed and a greater mystery begins to unfold…

Featuring a gallery of stunning covers by Josh Middleton, this is an exceptional and moodily exotic piece of Fights ‘n’ Tights fluff to delight devotees of the genre and casual readers alike, and one long overdue for re-release and inclusion in the growing library of environmentally-beneficial digital comics and books. This gem isn’t even available digitally and that’s just a crime against comics consuming nature…
© 2006, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1940 was the birthday of groundbreaking comics auteur Richard Corben, creator of Den, although we rather liked his Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft. It also marks the first appearance of Zack Mosely’s Smilin’ Jack newspaper strip, and the passing of Golden Age great Bob Powell, who we most recently lauded via Bob Powell’s Complete Cave Girl.

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Addams and Evil


By Charles Addams (Methuen/Mandarin)
ISBN: 978-0-413-55370-1 (Album PB) 978-0-413-57190-8 (Album HB) 978-0-413-55370-6 (Mandarin TPB)

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

Charles Samuel Addams (1912 – 1988) was a cartoonist and distant descendant of two American Presidents (John Adams & John Quincy Adams) who made his real life as extraordinary as his dark, mordantly funny drawings.

Born into a successful family in Westfield, New Jersey, the precocious, prankish, constantly drawing child was educated at the town High School, Colgate University, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York City’s Grand Central School of Art, and apparently spent the entire time producing cartoons and illustrations for a raft of institutional publications.

In 1932 he became a designer for True Detective magazine – “retouching photos of corpses” – and soon after began selling drawings to The New Yorker. In 1937 he began creating ghoulish if not outright macabre family portraits that become his signature creation. During WWII, he served with Signal Corps Photographic Center, devising animated training films for the military.

Whether he artfully manufactured his biography to enhance his value to feature writers or was genuinely a warped and wickedly wacky individual is irrelevant, although it makes for great reading – especially the stuff about his second wife – and, as always, the internet awaits the siren call of your search engine…

What is important is that in all the years he drew and painted those creepily sardonic, gruesome gags and illustrations for The New Yorker, Colliers, TV Guide and so many others, he managed to beguile and enthral his audience with a devilish mind and a soft, gentle approach that made him a household name long before television turned his characters into a hit and generated a juvenile craze for monsters and grotesques that lasts to this day. That eminence was only magnified once the big screen iterations debuted. And now we have streaming fun too. He would have loved the sheer terrifying inescapability of it all…

This stunningly enticing volume is a reissue of his second collection of cartoons, first published in 1947, and semi-occasionally since then. It’s still readily available if you’ve a big bank book, but the time is ripe for a definitive collected edition, or better yet a reissue of his entire canon (eleven volumes of drawings and a biography) either in print or digitally.

Should you not be as familiar with his actual cartoons as with their big and small screen descendants you really owe it to yourself to see the uncensored brilliance of one of America’s greatest humourists. It’s dead funny…

© 1940-1947 the New Yorker Magazine, Inc. In Canada © 1947 Charles Addams.

Today in 1909, fearless campaigner/cartoonist turned arch conservative Al Capp was born. Slightly less contentious than Li’l Abner, his Fearless Fosdick might be more to your taste.

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Vlad the Impaler: The Man Who Was Dracula


By Sid Jacobson & Ernie Colón (Plume/Penguin Group USA)
ISBN: 978-1-59463-058-3 (HB) 978-0-452-29675-2 (PB)

Here’s a handy Heads-Up and Horrible History hint if you’re looking for something to set the tone for the Halloween we’re probably ALL NOT GOING TO ENJOY THIS YEAR. It’s available in hardback, soft cover and digital editions and well worth staying in with.

As writer and editor, Sid Jacobson masterminded the Harvey Comics monopoly of strips for younger US readers in the 1960s and 1970s, co-creating Richie Rich and Wendy, the Good Little Witch among others. He worked the same magic for Marvel’s Star Comics imprint, overseeing a vast amount of family-friendly material, both self-created – such as Royal Roy or Planet Terry – and a huge basket of licensed properties.

In latter years, he worked closely with fellow Harvey alumnus Ernesto Colón Sierra, aka Ernie Colón, on such thought-provoking graphic enterprises as The 9/11 Report: a Graphic Adaptation and its sequel, After 9/11: America’s War on Terror. In 2009 their epic Che: a Graphic Biography was released: separating the man from the myth of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, universal icon of cool rebellion.

Colón was born in Puerto Rico in 1931: a creator whose work has been loved by generations of readers. Whether as artist, writer, colourist or editor his contributions have benefited the entire industry from the youngest (Monster in My Pocket, Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost for Harvey, and a ton of similar projects for Star Comics), to the traditional comic book fans with Battlestar Galactica, Damage Control and Doom 2099 for Marvel, Arak, Son of Thunder and Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld, the Airboy revival at Eclipse, Magnus: Robot Fighter for Valiant and so very many others.

There are also his sophisticated experimental works such as underground/indie thriller Manimal and his seminal genre graphic novels Ax and the Medusa Chain. From 2005 until his death in 2019 he created the strip SpyCat for Weekly World News. Working together Jacobson & Colón are a comics fan’s dream come true and their bold choice of biography and reportage as well as their unique take on characters and events always pays great dividends.

Vlad the Impaler is by far their most captivating project: a fictionalised account of the notorious Wallachian prince raised by his mortal enemies as a literal hostage to fortune, only to reconquer and lose his country not once, but many times.

The roistering, bloody, brutal life of this Romanian national hero and basis of Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula is a fascinating, baroque, darkly funny yarn, capturing a troubled soul’s battle with himself as much as the Muslim and Christian superpowers that treated his tiny principality as their plaything.

With startling amounts of sex and violence this book makes no excuses for a patriot and freedom fighter driven by his horrific bloodlust and (justifiable?) paranoia to become a complete beast: clearly the very worst of all possible monsters: a human one.

Sharp, witty, robust and engaging, with a quirky twist in the tale, this is a good old-fashioned shocker that any history-loving gore-fiend will adore.
Text © 2009 Sid Jacobson. Art © 2009 Ernie Colón. All rights reserved.

Today in 1927 graphic novel trailblazer Jack Katz was born. If any of us live, expect us to finally cover his epic First Kingdom sometime soon. Also making their first appearances in 1927 and 1955 respectively were Italian Disney cartoonist Romano Scarpa – as seen in Walt Disney’s Donald Duck Volume 2: The Diabolical Duck Avenger – and the inestimable Charles Burns whose Black Hole is only one of many Must-Read-Before-You-Die classics.

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Toby and the Pixies: volume 3: Pixie Pandemonium!


By James Turner & Andreas Schuster (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-355-4 (TPB)

Way back in January 2012, Oxford-based David Fickling Books made a rather radical move by launching a traditional anthology comics weekly aimed at under-12s. It revelled in reviving the good old days of picture-story entertainment intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in style and content.

To this day each issue features humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a joyous parade of cartoon fun and fantasy. The Phoenix has successfully established itself as a potent source of children’s entertainment because, like Beano and Dandy, it is equally at home to boys and girls, and HAS mastered the magical trick of mixing amazingly action-packed adventure series with hilarious humour strip serials such as this one. Most of the strips have also become graphic collections; just like this one…

Crafted by the exceedingly clever James Turner (Star Cat, Super Animal Adventure Squad, Mameshiba, The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve) and Canadian cartoonist/designer/animator Andreas Schuster (KLARA AND ANTON in PRIMAX Magazine), Toby and the Pixies began in January 2020 as I Hate Pixies and, once out of the compost bag of creative wonders, just wouldn’t stop. Those first forays were remastered and released as Toby and the Pixies: Worst King Ever! and follow-up fun folio Best Frenemies charting the course of a nerdy boy at a nice school – until it all goes wrong…

Unappreciated, anxious 12-year-old Toby Cauldwell was resigned to and content with his meagre, second-rate friends, dedicated personal bullies, negative charisma levels and functional classroom invisibility at Suburbiton High School, but began rapidly shedding his appallingly uncool reputation the day after his electric-toaster-obsessed Dad ordered him to sort out their unruly, out-of-control back garden…

That’s when Toby discovered that wild, jungle-like urban wilderness was – unbeknownst to any mortal – the camouflaging screen for a fabulous fey realm. The ethereal, moist and rather mucky enclave had endured unseen in the green shambles of the Cauldwell backyard for countless ages. Now – thanks to an inept and inadvertent act of emancipation triggered by Toby kicking an unfortunately placed plaster garden gnome – the status quo forever altered. A tool of fate, the reluctant lad was instantly elevated to the position of supreme overlord, by dint of accidently yet totally obliterating the sitting tyrant. It was only for a hidden kingdom of magical morons, but they were really happy to be shot of their previous mad, mean, magical master….

As interpreted by the former King’s advisors – Royal Druid Mouldwarp, wise(ish) Lore Keeper/Potion Master Gatherwool and Toadflax (she eats stuff) – deliberate or otherwise, despatching King Thornpickle made Toby new absolute monarch. Pixie law also stated said ruler could do anything they wanted… a prospect so laden with responsibility that it made Toby weep with terror…

Just coming to terms with MAGIC actually existing, and that the ever-present freaky, anarchic imps can do it whilst still being absolute idiots and morons was awful enough, without also still having to survive school’s normal horrors. Thankfully, as the little odds and sods increasingly impinged and impacted on Toby’s life, education and prospects, they also turned school upside on a daily basis, and Toby’s fellow outcast Mo soon discovered the shocking secret of their existence. And he thought it was BRILLIANT!

In the short term, it actually made things worse but now, apart from constant teasing and perpetual whining pleas to visit the magic kingdom, there is a fellow human King Toby can moan at. Two actually, as snarky bully Steph also soon discovered the secret and has since proved to not be quite as awful as she might be…

That’s good because knowledge is a dangerous, trouble-causing thing, particularly as the Pixies are now everywhere and Toby’s succession triggered many problems: especially when magic-slime wielding Princess Sugarsnap – daughter of Thornpickle and rightful heir to a job Toby really, really doesn’t want – started a war to take back the throne Toby absolutely doesn’t want…

This third fondly foetid foofaraw opens with a chance to get reacquainted with key regulars Toby, Mo, Steph, Toadflax, Gatherwool & Mouldwarp in a comprehensive double page intro. Then it’s back to school and off the deep end (or is it?) in ‘Chapter 1: Off Sick’ as Toby is confined to bed with a cold. Typically, his loyal subjects think magic is the answer, but they couldn’t be more wrong… or destructive…

‘Chapter 2: On Holiday’ finds Mr. Cauldwell attending a seaside toaster convention and “thoughtfully” leaving his son and Mo on the beach all day. The King thought he was going to have a pixie-free rest but his Royal Champion (that’s Mo. Keep up!) has kindly brought the Advisors along. They’ve never seen the sea before but think there must be sea pixies they can declare war on if they find them. That ends in frustration but they do discover the narcotic rush power of limitless sugar as delivered by candyfloss…

A systemic examination of each Advisor begins with ‘Chapter 3: Toadflax Day’ as the luckless little omnivore tries to celebrate her birthday in peace and with a minimum of injury, but still falls victim to cruel prankish fate, after which ‘Chapter 4: The Dentist’ finds Toby trapped in the dreaded gob-surgery with his extremely curious courtiers aware of his anxiety but not sure how magic can help. It doesn’t stop them trying though, with terrifying results…

‘Chapter 5: Mouldwarp’s Day’ unearths the pocket Druid’s secret desire to be a mighty – and adored – hero of the Realm, but his dreams are crushed in Gatherwool’s agenda to celebrate King Toby’s 100th visit to the Kingdom and gift the human with the nation’s most dangerous and deadly arcane artefacts. What could possibly go wrong?

Of course, it’s not just royal duties that stress Toby out. Ordinary school interactions are also a nightmare, which is why, after saying something really stupid he truly wished he hadn’t, the junior Cauldwell accepts the use of a pixie enchantment to erase that embarrassing moment. ‘Chapter 6: Time Cape’ only serves to remind him that no matter how bad a situation seems, it can always be amplified to near-cosmic armageddon by a little mucky mud magic…

In ‘Chapter 7: Bixenjammer’ Toby, despite all his past experiences, allows the Advisors to distract him from his homework with tales of the pixies’ ultimate nemesis. Happily his subsequent search for it turns up nothing, after which ‘Chapter 8: Talking to Vegetables’ sees the King foolishly accept the power to communicate with beasts only to find Gatherwool has confused the Fruit of Animal Communication with the equivalent Vegetable version. Barracked and besieged by the contents of fridge and fruit bowl, it takes mere moments to spark a retaliatory war with outraged groceries and only sheer luck saves Toby and the rest of meat world…

‘Chapter 9: Gatherwool’s Day’ reveals the depths of the Lore Keeping Potion Master’s devotion as he undertakes enlarging his beloved monarch to colossal proportions, despite every effort of everyone else to convince him he should check or at least ask first, before Romance fills the air in ‘Chapter 10: Crushed’ after Toby becomes besotted by French foreign exchange student Josephine. The milestone occurs just as the pixies are undertaking similar outreach by inviting demonic Boggart exchange student Grax’norx’ng’kk to observe their way of life. Everyone loves Love and is eager to help, but Toby – and Toadflax – really should have refused all offers to help…

‘Chapter 11: Logically Speaking’ finds Mo and his liege lord asked to advise on a trade logistics problem involving transport of grain, chickens and foxes – with predictably disastrous results – and then joining the school newspaper staff. When the pixies are introduced to the concept of journalism, ‘Chapter 12: No News’ proves their version, utilising a Magic Parchment of Truth to alter reality to match what’s been written, is far more tempting and satisfactory. Thankfully, Steph keeps her wits as Toby succumbs to his unleashed dark side and the status quo is restored before the universe ends…

Somehow, unconfident Toby lands a major part in a school theatrical production, and foolishly accepts aid from Gatherwool to calm his stage fright in ‘Chapter 13: Play Time’. Of course the resultant chaos only adds to the performance but ‘Chapter 14: It’s Snow Joke’ has far more serious repercussions after the Advisors animate the snowmen built by gleeful innocent kids – and Toby & Mo. Apparently, even happy chilly manmade ice folk can dream of world conquest…

The story portion pauses on an early seasonal saga as the pixies share their own Christmas traditions in ‘Chapter 15: A Blimpmas Carol’ whilst test-traumatised Toby humbugs all and sundry in his nervous flurry of revision. When Mo introduces the Advisors to a certain classic book, the stage is set for some life- and attitude-changing ghost action and time travel, but these are the pixies in the pilot seat and you know it won’t go as planned…

Wrapping up the fungal fun and mucky madness is a bunch of pages of related activities: a swathe of features offered under the aegis of the Phoenix Comics Club. Bring paper, pencils and you to a compact online course in all aspects of comic strip creation supervised by Andreas Schuster who helms an activity section that includes ‘Let’s Draw a Pixie!’, ‘A Square Pixie!’ ‘A Circle Pixie!’ ‘An Oval Pixie!’ ‘Expressions!’ ‘Noses!’ ‘Glasses!’ ‘Hair!’ Ideas for Hats!’ ‘Yoghurt Pots!’ ‘A Broken Cup!’ ‘Foam Darts!’ ‘Leaves!’ ‘Pinecones!’ ‘Raccoons!’ ‘Snow Pixies!’ ‘Desert Pixies!’ and ‘Jungle Pixies!’ which ends on an extensive plug for the Phoenix Comics Club website complete with instant access via a QR code.

Toby and the Pixies is a joyous concatenation of nonsense no lover of laughs and lunacy should deprive themselves of and a feast of yuckky yoks all kids will gleefully consume. What are we all waiting for?
Text and illustrations © The Phoenix Comic 2025. All rights reserved.

Toby and the Pixies: volume 3: Pixie Pandemonium! is published on 11th September 2025 and available for preorder now.

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No Refuge


By Patrice Aggs & Joe Brady (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-119-2 (PB)

I normally aim to review unpublished and new books relatively close to their release date because people have minds like sieves and seldom sustain interest for unavailable items, but this is a long and eagerly anticipated treat and one everyone needs to be aware of as soon as possible. I might even remind you all closer to the release date… just see if I don’t…

Just imagine a Britain where the leaders ignore laws, suspend Parliament and rule by fiat. Consider curfews and lockdowns, citizens attacking each other over differing views, shortages in shops and direct monitoring and control of what the press and even teachers can say and do. Further ponder on what happens when impassioned protestors organise into militant groups, systematically and violently resisting armed interventions and oppressions doled out by an ever more heavy-handed police force and too-readily deployed army.

That’s what Patrice Aggs & Joe Brady did for their award-winning all-ages thriller No Country. The resulting comic saga was set in contemporary England; following comic-loving middle schooler Bea, her little brother Dom and far-too-bossy older sister Hannah as they were forced to adapt to a rapidly-changing reality. Their dad used to work as a local councillor, but was sidelined on office and relegated to looking after the kids – although he spent his off-hours in quiet, secret meetings with other adults who all had worried faces…

Mum had been gone for a while, but still connected to them via the internet… whenever there was enough electricity. She was safely living in another country, trying to get exit visas and paperwork so the family could be reunited… somewhere safe.

Tensions ratcheted up when a long-declared Martial Law edict was shockingly enforced by New Army divisions who occupied the town and “requisitioned” everything not nailed down. Hannah was just getting to know her first proper boyfriend. He was part of patriotic rebel front Free Kingdom – the other side of a rapidly escalating, ideologically fanatical civil war, ripping sedate stuffy Britain to pieces.

Argumentative but always bonded by their “Sister Code” Bea and Hannah already knew bad days were coming. They didn’t care about stupid politics but as shortages mounted and hunger grew, with home raids and “searches” intensifying daily, friends and teachers started disappearing. When Mum finally contacted them, saying that their documents were ready the girls knew they must act immediately. Tragically, not everyone was there to get the message. Dad was missing…

However, he had wisely drummed a contingency plan into them. With no time to wait, the moment to run had come…

Picking up immediately after the close of No Country, the family history turns even more chilling here as the kids hunker down in a flimsy powered dingy, trusting everything to shady rogues in illegal boats… and the kindness of strangers they haven’t met yet.

How they got to this parlous state unfolds in a grimly harrowing, emotionally challenging flashback of tribulation that begins with Hannah taking charge and dragging Bea and toddler Dom across open country for days. Thankfully unaware of what both New Army and Free Kingdom forces are doing in equally determined searches for them, Bea argues constantly and leaves dangerously revealing picture messages for Dad, who she knows must be following them. She also forces fiercely pragmatic Hannah to let a huge dog join the group. That proves to both wise and ultimately heartbreaking…

Cold, starving, harried and hunted, the family experience hardship and the worst of civilisation in crisis, but are inevitably forced to give themselves up to get medical assistance when Dom succumbs to exhaustion and fever. Initial relief and gratitude turn to panic and fury as their baby brother is “disappeared” and they must escape their draconian girls’ boarding establishment to retrieve him. The frantic attempt takes them to the capital – a high-security oasis of calm and serenity where the rich and privileged have isolated themselves from the country’s troubles and its lesser inhabitants.

Utterly unstoppable, undaunted by continuing disappointment and prepared to face any risk, the girls make unlikely friends – such as a benevolent people trafficker – and persevere until a seeming miracle occurs…

Every bit as compelling and rewarding as its predecessor, this is another superb exploration of the world’s ongoing refugee crisis with the comfy, cosy UK all-too-convincingly substituting for Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine and now also the USA (and please feel free to look up why I chose those countries). This is a brilliant treatment of real-world problems any kid can grasp and be moved by, in exactly the same way books like The Diary of a Young Girl AKA The Diary of Anne Frank, Animal Farm, A Kestrel for a Knave or Lord of the Flies ushered in new, transformational understanding for generations of youngsters.

Read carefully, read open-mindedly, but please do read.

This volume includes a Phoenix Comic Club feature steered by Aggs & Brady, providing discussion questions readers might want to think about after finishing the story…
Text & Illustrations © The Phoenix Comic 2025.

No Refuge is published on 11th September 2025 and available for preorder now.

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Tim Drake: Robin volume 1 – Mystery at the Marina


By Meghan FitzMartin & Riley Rossmo, with Ricardo López Ortiz, Lee Loughridge, Belén Ortega, Luis Guerrero & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77952-057-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

Created by Marv Wolfman & Pat Broderick for Batman: Year Three, Tim Drake debuted in Batman #436 (August 1989): a child prodigy who had deduced Batman’s secret identity and – from a distance – diagnosed the Dark Knight’s impending guilt-fuelled nervous breakdown following the murder of Jason Todd – AKA Robin #2 and latterly The Red Hood. Tim would become – via a torturous series of circumstances – the third Robin.

Still a child himself, Drake attempted to manipulate Dick Grayson – the first hero dubbed “Boy Wonder” – into returning as the Dark Knight’s partner before grudgingly accepting the position himself (see Batman: A Death in the Family and Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying). After a long period of training and acclimation and many dangerous adventures, a deeply impressed if not quite recovered Batman instead offered Tim the job.

This new kid took fans by storm, and Drake secured a series of increasingly impressive solo mini-series (see Robin volume 1: Reborn) and eventually his own long-running comic book. Being trained by Batman is an arduous and agonising undertaking. During the terrifying Batman: Wargames saga Drake in his turn became estranged from his moody mentor and forcibly retired from the fights ‘n’ tights game. Batman replaced Tim with Stephanie Brown, daughter of the criminal Cluemaster, who became the vigilante Spoiler to compensate for her father’s depredations. Eventually the role of Robin settled upon the tense and hostilely hunched shoulders of Bruce Wayne’s assassin-trained son Damian…

In between a massively complex solo career work with the Batman family and leading the Teen Titans and Young Justice, restless Tim dated teammates Cassie Wonder Girl Sandsmark and Stephanie – who had now evolved into one of Gotham City’s many Batgirls. Peripatetic and aloof he vanished and frequently returned, briefly employing the codenames Red Robin and “Drake” but never seemed to find a comfort zone or niche all is own. However, in the wake of continuity resetting event Infinite Frontier, Tim’s already incredible life was shaken again by a stunning realisation when Batman’s only competition for the title “World’s Greatest Detective” finally realised he was bi-sexual after rescuing old high school friend Bernard Dowd from kidnappers…

Re-presenting a tale from DC Pride: Tim Drake Special #1 (August 2022) and Tim Drake: Robin #1-6 (November 2022-April 2023) this breezy crime conundrum opens with ‘Elephant in the Room’ by Meghan FitzMartin, Belén Ortega & Luis Guerrero, previously seen in the aforementioned Pride special wherein Young Justice seek to stop a phantom pachyderm tearing up Gotham. They have no idea a mystery mastermind has targeted Tim, wrapped up as they all are in sorting out his so-fascinating love-life…

The new nemesis – arrogantly deeming himself private detective Tim Drake’s “Moriarty” – opens his campaign of terror after the other, other, other Robin moves onto a houseboat at Gotham City Marina, and spends weeks just settling into the area’s utterly unique community and ambiance. Thoroughly grounded Bernard is a big help here, but being a grown up is tough, especially after City Hall starts working to close down the artistic outsider enclave. Former costumed comrade Darcy Thomas – now calling herself Sparrow – further complicates events, turning up just as leading anti-eviction activists Mère & Cam are attacked. Mother and daughter are found butchered and dumped in a trash can…

As Mystery of the Marina begins, Tim and Bernard are still in the shaky early days of a first serious relationship… six months and counting… with our hero anxiously locked in the closet about sharing his super-sideline with his new love. Perhaps that’s why he’s happy to cede the lead investigator role to old contact Police Detective Williams – a like-minded investigator who won’t shirk, stint, jump to conclusions… or let the authorities declare this a “boating accident”. This leaves Robin to do what needs to be done in the shadows…

Secret searches and a little deduction in the wake of further outrages lead to an inescapable conclusion: Tim Drake is the true target of an obsessive hidden enemy repeatedly testing him by restaging classic literary crimes, using spectral/holographic/robot beasts like the ghost elephant and a monster orangutan (have you read The Murders in the Rue Morgue? Goldfish? The Moonstone?) to disrupt his life…

Stakes are raised when Robin is framed for a gem robbery and Williams finds himself clashing with his own colleagues, who are happy to call it another inexplicable “masks” crime in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence, and things get out of control when the challenges cost librarian Mrs Jen her life just for assisting Robin & Sparrow.

Pressure mounts on all sides as reclusive city councilman Rathbone seeks to evict all those degenerate marina dwellers, and Bernard silently accepts that Tim has a secret he can’t share yet. It’s all so fast and too confusing and Robin can’t even work out which classic tale he’s being forced to live out… until impatient, arrogant “Moriarty” overplays his hand…

Or does he?

As the clock counts down and atrocities escalate, the villain’s plans and motivations are revealed as the opponents finally face off, but as the literary war becomes too much like real life and our hero forgets a major maxim of plotting… it’s always the one you’ve let get too close…

Blending devious detective tropes with spectacular superhero schtick sweetened by a heaping of healthy romance, multimedia maven Meghan FitzMartin (Batman: Urban Legends Batman: Urban Legends, podcast Red Rhino, TV’s DC Super Hero Girls animated and Supernatural) is an award-winning writer who crafts tales of genre stereotypes and archetypes via emotion-driven tales in fantastic worlds. Here they’re realised by Riley Rossmo (Harley Quinn), Ricardo López Ortiz & Lee Loughridge with gripping suspense and blistering pace as this Robin finds his feet and his place in Gotham…

Also offering a variant cover gallery by Travis Moore & Tamara Bonvillain, Jorge Jiménez, Sweeney Boo, Dan Mora, Jamal Campbell, David Baldeón &Arif Prianto, Rossmo & Loughridge, Jorge Corona, David Talaski, Rian Gonzales, Todd Nauck, Simone Di Meo, Edwin Galmon, Nick Robles, Juni Ba, Karl Mostert & David Baron, this is a thoroughly modern totally traditional superhero whodunnit you must not miss.
© 2022, 2023, 2024 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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You Brought Me the Ocean


By Alex Sanchez, Julie Maroh & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-9081-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

In recent years DC opened up its shared superhero universe to include Original Graphic Novels featuring many of its stars in stand-alone(ish) adventures for the demographic clumsily dubbed Young Adult. To date, results have been rather hit or miss, but when they’re good they are very good indeed.

You Brought Me the Ocean reinterprets the origin of a modern day Aqualad, concentrating on the comic book character’s Gay credentials rather than his costumed career. Crafted by Alex Sanchez (Rainbow Boys; So Hard to Say; The God Box; The Greatest Superpower) and Julie Maroh (Blue is the Warmest Color; Body Music), this dreamily-rendered, salty sea tale details the graduation year of High School student Jake Hyde. He lives in the driest part of New Mexico but constantly dreams of deep-sea kingdoms and fantastic marine adventure…

His mother is a perpetual worrier: an uber/tiger mom always telling him to eat properly, dress appropriately and stay hydrated. Ironically though, ever since his all-but-forgotten dad drowned years ago, she has never let him near large bodies of water or even allowed him to swim…

Always a loner by instinct, Jake’s absolute best friend in the one-horse town of Truth or Consequences (formerly Hot Springs, NM) is Maria Mendez. She has already mapped out their future together and has no idea he yearns for the nautical life or that he has already applied to University of Miami to study Oceanography…

The Mendez’s are neighbours and a second family; far more amenable to Jake’s aspirations of leaving New Mexico, even as his own mother shuts down every attempt to discuss the issue. She’s more concerned with why Jake and Maria haven’t started dating yet. Sadly, Jake has never – ever – thought of her that way, and has resigned himself to going it alone if he wants to realise his ambitions.

One day, things change dramatically as Jake suddenly notices class rebel Kenny Liu. He’s known the strange, outspoken outsider since Middle School, but always stayed well away, painfully aware of the target the outsider’s actions made him. Now though, the bully-defying, openly-Gay swim team star athlete seems irresistibly fascinating…

And apparently, the interest is mutual…

Life changes forever when Jake agrees to accompany Kenny on a hike into the desert. The far more mature misfit has plenty of solid advice – on Maria, leaving town and life choices – but all that is forgotten when a sudden flash-flood interrupts their first kiss and activates tattoo-like birthmarks all over Jake’s body. Suddenly, he starts to glow and project water-warping energies…

With Jake’s world suddenly shaken to flotsam and jetsam, shock follows shock and calamity arrives in its wake. Jake’s attempts to explore his sexuality bring crushing heartbreak and chaos, but even that agony is dwarfed when he comes out to his mom and learns the truth about his father, how he’s connected to superhero Aquaman and one of the most dangerous supervillains on Earth…

Moreover, in the throes of such astounding revelations and an irresistible attraction, it’s too easy to forget that not only metahuman maniacs respond with bigotry and mindless violence to what they deem “unnatural”…

A truly magical treatment exploring the processes of coming out and finding yourself, deftly cloaked in the shiny trappings of costumed heroics, the search for belonging and teen feelings of alienation, You Brought Me the Ocean is an intriguing tale to warm the heart and comes with a contact page detailing Resources available to those affected by the issues explored herein; personal messages from Sanchez & Maroh and an extensive section of designs and drawings from the illustrator’s Sketchbook.

A true triumph of inclusive entertainment that has stood the test of time, You Brought Me the Ocean is a modern classic you must read and should share.
© 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.