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Gillbert volume 1: The Little Merman


By Art Balthazar (Papercutz)
ISBN: 978-1-5458-0144-4 (HB/Digital edition), 978-1-5458-0145-1 (PB)

Art Baltazar has come long way since he self-published The Cray-Baby Adventures. In the interim he has crafted – singly or in conjunction with similarly fun-loving artisans – a veritable maelstrom of books and comics for kids: magical and award-winning, sublimely strange, instantly engaging tomes and series such as Tiny Titans, Itty Bitty Hellboy, The DC Super Pets, Action Cat, Adventure Bug, Encounter and so many more. Throughout all the multicoloured madcappery, he remained a dedicated and passionate advocate of children’s literacy and adhered to a set of unswerving principles: keep it fun, keep it funny and keep it accessible.

That’s certainly the case in this sadly stranded venture with family publisher Papercutz. Gillbert, The Little Merman introduced a charming wide-eyed little prince about to embark on his initial learning experience…

After opening a bottle floating in the ocean, Gill finds a message from the surface world and wants to read it. None of his finny, scaly, gelid, crusty or amphibian friends can help him, so he returns home to Atlanticus to consult his ma and pa, Queen Niadora and King Nauticus. They, however, expect him to wait until later…

Impatient and overexcited, Gill is soon lured away by a mysterious mermaid who says she can help. Before long Anne Phibian is escorting him to so many new and thrilling places such as submerged party house Wewillrocktopolis and the Sub-Atomic Awesomator, but all the while Gill is blithely unaware that his world is increasingly imperilled by a swarm of Fiery Pyrockians: blazing meteor creatures with a grudge against his dad…

Anne and her allies are on the ball though, with unsuspected connections to the Royal Family, and are taking steps to ensure everything will be okay, especially with Gill’s help…

Available in hardback, soft cover and digital formats, Gillbert offers a rapturous escapade of thrills and frolics to delight any imaginative reader of any vintage. My long-cherished review copy even included a tantalising free glimpse at another all-ages star with captivating cartoon pages from the upcoming Gumby: 50 Shades of Clay release. So I’ll bet yours will, too…

As it’s seemingly fallen off the radar (Sonar? Asdic?) since its release, we’re all keenly awaiting another voyage with Gill, and if we all wish hard enough, maybe that will happen soon…
© 2018 Art Baltazar. All Rights Reserved. All other material © 2018 Papercutz.

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Archie Horror Presents Chilling Adventures in Sorcery


By Harry Doyle, Gray Morrow, Marvin Channing, Don Glut, Steve Skeates, Mary Skrenes, Carol Seuling, Phil Seuling, Larry Hama, Bob Holland, Stan Goldberg, Vicente Alcazar, Dick Giordano, Carlos Pino, Dan DeCarlo, Howard Chaykin, Alex Toth, Bruce Jones, Ed Davis, Frank Thorne & various (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-62738-990-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Shockingly Wicked Chronicle of Chills… 9/10

For 85 years Archie Comics have been synonymous with safe, wholesome good fun, but the company has always been a surprisingly subversive one. Family friendly – and not – iterations of superheroes, spooky chills, sci fi thrills and genre yarns have always been as much a part of the publisher’s portfolio as the romantic comedy capers of America’s cleanest-cut teens.

As you probably know, eponymous Archie Andrews has been around since 1941, but the publisher has other family-friendly feature players – like Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Josie and the Pussycats – in their stable, almost as well known – and just as prone to radical reinterpretation. To keep all that accumulated attention riveted, the company always looked to modern trends with which to expand upon their archetypal storytelling brief. A recent revival in horror across all media thus resulted in a few supernatural sidebar titles such as Afterlife with Archie and Jughead: The Hunger…

Moreover, in times past the publisher cross-fertilised their pantheon through unlikely team-ups such as Archie Meets the Punisher, Archie Vs Sharknado and Archie Vs Predator, whilst every type of fashion fad and youth culture sensation was invariably accommodated into and explored within the pages of regular titles. Thus, following-up the stunning success of aforementioned zombie apocalypse Afterlife with Archie, they took another brazenly controversial step, and radically reinvented their saccharine-sweet TV teen witch in an astoundingly sophisticated way with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. That was done by playwright, screenwriter and comics scribe Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (The Mystery Plays, 4: Marvel Knights Fantastic Four, Stephen King’s The Stand and Afterlife with Archie) who pitched the idea to re-imagine the saucy sorceress in terms of Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.

Archie Comics was no stranger to such material. In the 1970s the company had formed sub-imprint Red Circle for anthology terror tales during a previous supernatural boom time, before gradually converting the line to superhero features as the decade progressed and a fad faded. They even had resident witch-girl Sabrina narrating Chilling Tales of Sorcery for the first two issues. The title dropped subhead …As Told by Sabrina… for #3, and with #6 (cover-dated April 1974) became Red Circle Sorcery until folding with February 1975’s #11.

In a great example of circularity, a newly-wicked 21st century Sabrina featured snippets from the ’70’s anthology, sparking this edgy compilation of lost classics in a spiffy monochrome collection. Following a fervent Introduction by letterer and fright-fan Jack Morelli, a volley of vintage terrors open with Chilling Tales of Sorcery… as Told by Sabrina #1 (September 1972): a rather standard anthology of short thrillers with twist-endings, little different from those manufactured by DC, Marvel, Gold Key or Charlton at the time, as crafted by Archie’s on-staff comedy creators.

Frank Doyle & Stan Goldberg’s ‘Behold the Beast’ revealed the fate of a misunderstood and malformed lad, before ‘The Boy Who Cried Vampire’ (Doyle & Dan DeCarlo) dealt out ironic justice to a pesky kid and ‘Assignment in Fear’ (Doyle & DeCarlo) saw a teacher with a secret sort out a class bully in horrific style…

Anonymous prose yarn ‘A Real Hot Talent’ got under the skin of a juvenile fire-starter after which Doyle & DeCarlo returned to exhibit ‘Quick Justice’ in an art gallery before Doyle & Goldberg reveal how ‘Curiosity Kills’ in a story of an accursed inheritance.

Issue #2 opened with Doyle & Goldberg’s ‘The Ultimate Cure’ wherein a waiting bride’s tragic misapprehension destroyed her man and her sanity, whilst text tale ‘Look Upon Your Legacy’ recapitulated the dangers of an over-active imagination. Pictorial perils resumed with ‘Sonny’s World’ (Doyle & Dan DeCarlo) as a little brat learns how to make reality his plaything, and ‘The Measure of a Monster’ Doyle & Goldberg) sees mad science unleash a colossal creature and (almost) find a safe conclusion. The same creators thereafter outline the fate of a jewel-obsessed lass succumbing to ‘The Cameo’s Curse’…

A total shift in style and tone (like from Goosebumps to Carrie) began with #3 (October 1973) as writer/artist Gray Morrow came aboard, personally crafting or supervising far more mature fare closer to Warren’s adult horror magazines than contemporary newsstand standards such as House of Mystery, Ghostly Haunts or Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery.

Dwight Graydon “Gray” Morrow was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1934 and studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. After army service he moved to New York City in 1955 and began a steady career contributing strips, covers and illustrations to Atlas Comics (pre-Marvel), Cracked, Classics Illustrated, numerous children’s books and pulps like Galaxy.

A master of graphic realism, his art and stories graced countless comics books, magazines like Space: 1999 and alternative vehicles such as Wally Wood’s Witzend. Morrow freelanced for dozens of companies; he co-created DC’s El Diablo & Marvel’s Man-Thing, revamped Archie’s Black Hood into a gritty urban avenger (during his tenure at Red Circle), as well as drawing newspaper iterations of Tarzan & Buck Rogers. Morrow won numerous awards – including 3 Hugos – over a long and extremely far-reaching artistic life. He died in 2001.

His influence on Chilling Adventures in Sorcery was instantaneous. With the imprint retitled Red Circle Comics for the third (almost all-Morrow) issue, the new boss introduced a growing band of fresh writers and master artists, as the title unleashed a wave of terror tales that owed much to movies and TV of the period.

It began with ‘…Cat’ (written, drawn & lettered by Morrow) wherein a ruthless, misogynistic society burglar targets the wrong gem-bedecked senorita and lives to regret it forever. After text thriller ‘A Stab in the Dark’ – exposing a plot to murder by witchcraft – a diversion into EC-tinged science fiction finds a time traveller accidentally become an evolutionary ‘Missing Link!’, whilst a bereaved man investigates the death of a sister and discovers a new ‘Immortality Factor’ is anything but.

An embezzler pays the price for betrayal in ‘Haunted Gallery’ before the issue closes with fact-page ‘Essays into the Supernatural’ – a featurette by Phil Seuling & Morrow exploring timeless rituals of magic and the use of ‘Familiars’…

Due to his prestige and sheer artistic quality, Morrow could call upon a lot of high-end associates to fill pages, as #4 (December 1973) introduced internationally famous Spanish master of mood Vicente Alcazar (Jonah Hex, Commando Picture Library, Star Trek, Space: 1999) who began his association by writing & illustrating ‘Suicide… Maybe’, a saga of Faustian tragedy wherein a lifelong failure makes a fool’s bargain and discovers politics is the Devil’s playground…

Text vignette ‘Loophole’ also explores such contracts before Don Glut & Dick Giordano highlight the ‘Horripilate Host’ whose TV show excesses lead to infernal doom, after which Morrow adds a sinister tweak to the legend of Midas when a greedy creep gains the legendary ‘Golden Touch!’ The power of a Hebrew Golem deals poetic justice to a modern oppressor in ‘A Thousand Pounds of Clay’ (Glut & Alcazar) before the issue ends on another fictive factoid as ‘Essays into the Supernatural’ finds Morrow exploring truths and fictions of ‘The Witch’…

Cover-dated February 1974, #5 opens with a vivid pastiche of Arabian adventure courtesy of writers Morrow & Larry Hama. Limned by Alcazar ‘The Two Thieves of Baghdad’ exposes the fatal flaw of overconfidence before the all-Alcazar ‘Esme’ details the fate of a hit-&-run victim whose vision is horrifically enhanced by her accident. Morrow brings his lifelong affinity for baroque, barbaric science fantasy to the creepy epic ‘Barometer Falling…’ after which Alcazar’s ‘The Choker is Wild’ reveals the shocking history of blood-drinking sovereign Queen Maleena and ‘Essays into the Supernatural’ featurette (by Seuling & Morrow) catalogues the totemic value of ‘Dragons’.

In Red Circle Sorcery #6 (April) Steve Skeates, Mary Skrenes & Morrow open with ‘Warrior’s Dream’ as a lusty barbarian finally pays the price for all that wenching and, following Marvin Channing & Morrow’s ‘Essays into the Supernatural’ page detailing legends of ‘The Werewolf’, a conjuring upstart is destroyed by a sagacious warlock in ‘Out of Practice’ by Seuling & Ed Davis.

British comics stalwart Carlos Pino was Alcazar’s studio partner for years (they often collaborated as “CarVic”) but here solos in Channing’s tale of vengeance-by-witchcraft ‘Death Goes to a Sales Convention!’, before Carol Seuling & Howard Chaykin go full medieval in ‘The Patience of a Cat’ – an epic saga of demonic manipulation and feline retribution…

Illustrated by Morrow, futuristic sensory-inundation tech is the driving force in T. Casey Brennan’s extended prose mystery ‘Black Fog’ – after which Channing & Alcazar dole out just deserts to a serial womaniser in ‘Face of Love – Face of Death’ to close the issue.

RCS #7 commences with Skeates & Pino’s ‘A Twist in Time’ as an ancient wizard is drawn into Fate’s plan to punish a modern-day murderer before Channing & Morrow explore legends of ‘The Dibbuk’ in another gripping ‘Essays into the Supernatural’ featurette. Then Channing & Alcazar memorably reveal the dangers of owning ‘The Knife of Jack the Ripper’…

Channing scripts a rare but welcome artistic exploit by Bruce Jones when ‘The Rivals’ follows two kids from mid-western poverty to dizzying heights prior to their grim, witchcraft-assisted ends, after which Brennan & Alcazar detail the frustrating fate of ‘The Benefactor’ nobody will listen to…

Closing the chronological portion, ‘Essays into the Supernatural’ offers Morrow’s lowdown on ‘Possession and Exorcism’ which happily leads not to the end, but instead to a selection of Bonus Stories from later issues.

From #9 (October 1974) comes ‘…If I Were King’ by Channing & magnificent Alex Toth, as a meek nobody gets his greatest wish fulfilled – with the usual regrets – before #8 (August 1974) offers a compelling ‘Essays into the Supernatural’ featurette by Channing & Frank Thorne, exposing the tricks of pesky ‘Poltergeists’ and contains closure via illustrated calligraphic ode ‘The Spectre’ by Bob Holland & Morrow.

The company’s 21st century resurgence on TV and in comics generated a variety of alternate iterations of the timeless pantheons and this no-frills terror tome is the perfect complement to those aforementioned horror-haunted titles.

Please don’t be put off by the black-&-white reproduction: these tales are crafted by masters of line art and tonal values whose efforts actually benefit from the subtraction of the cheap colour used in the original releases. These are superb voyages into the bizarre unknown that no lover of dark fiction should miss.
© 2017 Archie Comic Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Morbius Epic Collection volume 1 (1971-1975): The Living Vampire!


By Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Don McGregor, Gerry Conway, Mike Friedrich, Doug Moench, Gil Kane, Pablo Marcos, Ross Andru, Paul Gulacy, P. Craig Russell, Tom Sutton, Rich Buckler, Luiz Dominguez, Virgil Redondo, Mike Vosburg, Frank Robbins , Frank Giacoia, Steve Mitchell, Mike Esposito, Jack Abel, George Roussos, Vince Colletta, Klaus Janson, Ernie Chan, Frank Chiaremonte, Esteban Maroto & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2835-3 (TPB), 978-1-3029-3616-7 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Bloody Marvellous Spooky Treats… 9/10

One of the most crucial aspects defining classical horror archetypes and characters is inherent tragedy in equal amount to fear and violence. Frankenstein’s monster and werewolves are more victims than villains and even true predators like Dracula wed desire to necessity to underpin their dark depredations. This factor was the prime driver of many of Marvel’s misunderstood monster stars in the early 1970s, and none more so than doomed researcher Michael Morbius who surrendered his humanity in service of physical survival and paid the price in shame, regret and guilt every time his thirst resurged….

This century’s transition of Marvel’s print canon to every size of screen seems unstoppable and with their pioneering horror hero/villain admitted to the ranks of a film presence, the company released a wave of collections to support the release. The most comprehensive and contextually crucial are two Epic Collections revisiting his life in more or less chronological order. This initial tome re-presents Amazing Spider-Man #101-102; Marvel Team-Up #3-4; Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1; (Adventure into) Fear #20-26; Giant-Size Werewolf by Night #4 and pertinent cuts from Vampire Tales #1-8, cumulatively comprising cover-dates October 1971 to April 1975. These trace a science-spawned nosferatu through debut, guest villain shots and ultimately to his time in the spotlight as a confirmed but conflicted horror hero…

It all began with The Amazing Spider-Man #101: the second chapter of an anniversary trilogy tale begun by Stan Lee, Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia which saw the wallcrawler accidentally mutate himself and gain four extra arms…

Our voyeuristic participation starts as Roy Thomas takes over with ‘A Monster Called… Morbius!’ as our 8-limbed arachnid oddity desperately seeks a way to reverse his condition. Whilst hiding out in Dr. Curt Connors’ Long Island home/lab, Peter Parker stumbles across a costumed horror who drinks human blood. The newcomer has just reached shore, fleeing a ship that he left a charnel house. Making matters even worse is Connors’ sudden arrival in his scaly savage form of The Lizard. Suddenly surprised and always enraged, the saurian attacks, set on killing all intruders…

Amongst the many things banned by the Comics Code Authority in 1954 were horror staples zombies, werewolves & vampires, but changing tastes and spiralling costs of the era were seeing superhero titles dropping like flies in a blizzard. With interest in suspense and the supernatural growing globally, every publisher pushed for a return to scary comics, and the covert introduction of a “Living Vampire” in superhero staple Spider-Man led to another challenge to the CCA, the eventually revision of the Code’s horror section and a resurgent rise of supernatural heroes and titles.

For one month Marvel also experimented with double-sized comic books (DC’s switch to 52-page issues lasted almost a year: August 1971 to June 1972 cover-dates). Thus, Amazing Spider-Man #102 featured a bombastic 3-chapter blockbuster brawl beginning with ‘Vampire at Large!’ wherein octo-webspinner and anthropoid reptile joined forces to hunt a science-spawned bloodsucker after discovering a factor in the bitey brute’s saliva could cure both part-time monsters’ respective conditions.

‘The Way it Began’ abruptly diverges from the main narrative to present the tragic tale of Nobel Prize winning biologist Michael Morbius and how be turned himself into a haunted night-horror in hopes of curing his fatal blood disease, before ‘The Curse and the Cure!’ brought a blistering conclusion: restoring the status quo and requisite appendage-count!

Gerry Conway assumed the writer’s role for the third appearance of the living (not dead; never ever undead but “Living”, okay?), breathing humanoid predator who drank blood to live. Illustrated by Ross Andru & Giacoia, Marvel Team-Up #3 (July 1972) saw Spidey and Human Torch Johnny Storm hunting a resurgent Morbius after he attacks student Jefferson Bolt… and somehow passes on his plague of thirst. The conflicted scientist still seeks a cure and tracks old colleague Hans Jorgenson to Parker’s college, but his now-vampiric servant Bolt wants just what all true bloodsuckers want in ‘The Power to Purge!’

The horror was still acting the villain in ‘And Then… the X-Men!’ (MTU #4, August) as the Torch was replaced by most of Marvel’s sole mutant team as The Beast – having gone all hairy and solo – helmed another science-based workaround to publish comic book monsters who were anything but supernatural. This enthralling thriller was magnificently illustrated by Kane at the top of his game and inked by Steve Mitchell, with the webslinger and X-Men at odds while both hunting the missing Jorgenson. After the unavoidable butting of heads, the heroes united to overcome Morbius and left him for Professor Charles Xavier to contain or cure…

Sadly, as we already know, his Nobel Prize-winning research only led to the death of his greatest friend and colleague, the abandonment of his true love and an unlife sentence as a rampaging killer…

Like Hawkeye, The Punisher, Wolverine and many others, Morbius followed the classic Marvel character arc and tradition of villain-turned-hero, but he fits far more in the mould of Doctor Doom, Magneto, The Hulk and Namor the Sub-Mariner: a driven protagonist whose needs and agendas generally set him apart from and in conflict with society and civilisation. Despite his every wish and effort, Morbius is repeatedly forced to feed on humanity: a victim of his own mutated body.

As the ‘70s superhero decline continued and horror bloomed, Morbius found refuge in Marvel’s black-&-white magazines. Designated mature material, these titles skated around Comics Code rules, offering adult scenes and themes and an early home for numerous horror stars, barbarians like Conan and Kull, as well as more sophisticated superhero fare for The Punisher, Mockingbird, Moon Knight and others. Vampire Tales #1 launched in August 1973 with ‘Morbius’ as lead feature. Following the painted cover by Esteban Maroto, contents page and vintage vamp movie still, a moody monochrome shocker from Steve Gerber & Pablo Marcos details the bloodsucker’s relocation to Los Angeles and immersion in its wild night life scene as he searches for former lover Martine. Instead he became entangled with sinister swinger Carolyn: a satanic cultist looking for recruits… and victims.

Lured to a séance with spiritualist Madame Laera, Morbius is intended to feed a demon but instead turns the tables on his attackers…

The bloody predator was a constant presence there, but in this instance story-sense overrules chronology and that first outing is followed by a return to four-colour publishing with a classic monster team-up from Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 (June 1974).

With the monster boom in full swing, Marvel during this period flooded newsstands with horror antiheroes. Morbius had already launched in his own newsstand, code-sanctioned series but is here cannily paired with another of  the Amazing Spider-Mans’s eeriest enemies in a double-length epic as ‘Man-Wolf at Midnight!’ (Conway, Kane & Mike Esposito) finds John Jameson again gripped by murderous moon-madness. Now, however, the tormented former astronaut was controlled by the Living Vampire and used to help the bloodsucker secure a possible cure for his appalling condition ‘When Strikes the Vampire!’

The saga then shifts to (Adventure into) Fear #20 (cover-dated February 1973). The title had previously hosted the macabre Man-Thing, and his/its promotion to a solo title gave Morbius opportunity to spread his own (glider) wings. Spawned by scripter Mike Friedrich and artists Paul Gulacy, Jack Abel & George Roussos ‘Morbius the Living Vampire!’ revealed how the bloodsucker escaped X-Men captivity before moving to Los Angeles to live (whenever possible) off victims who deserved his voracious bite. The first tale also set up a bizarre relationship with Rabbi Krause and Reverend Daemond who sought to cure him, before one was exposed as a human devil, catapulting Morbius into an intergalactic conflict that had shaped humanity over millennia.

That began in Fear #21 as ‘Project: Second Genesis!’ – by Gerber, Kane & Vince Colletta – sees Morbius ordered to consume a most remarkable little girl by Daemond. Despite his best intentions and all his moral compunctions, the vampire succumbs to temptation and attacks the child Tara …only to unexpectedly face her super-powered future-self. He is then reluctantly recruited by a cult of alien technologists who claim to have shepherded homo sapiens from barbarism to civilisation. These “Caretakers” are trying to create a race of supermen but are losing a secret war with Daemon.

By the time Morbius returns to the reverend’s fold however, the mage and his acolyte – Martine – have summoned cat demon Balkatar to destroy the Living Vampire…

Illustrated by Rich Buckler & Luis Dominguez ‘…This Vampire Must Die!’ finds Morbius easily overwhelmed before the victorious demon abruptly defies Daemond, bringing his foe to another realm – The Land Within – to become a very grim saviour. His kind breed but do not die and their king wants Morbius to cull the overcrowded herd by acting as an invited apex predator…

A little fan side note: this storyline fed into Gerber’s later arcs in The Defenders and Guardians of the Galaxy so continuity completists should pay close attention…

Instead the appalled vampire escapes and discovers he is on another planet, standing ‘Alone Against Arcturus!’ (Fear #23, by Gerber, P. Craig Russell & Colletta). That world has been devastated by genetic conflagration and is now populated by automatons, cyborgs or mutants who were once the same race as the Caretakers. They long only for death…

Realising the same unresolved conflict is currently unfolding on Earth, Morbius employs alien technology and volunteer “meals” to ‘Return to Terror!’ and his birthworld in #24 (October 1974, and inked by Jack Abel). Tragically the ship crash lands in front of Blade the Vampire Slayer…

Morbius has still not met an actual vampire and thinks he’s fighting a crazy man whilst Blade believes he’s facing a bloodsucker from space but the brutal clash ends inconclusively. In the aftermath Morbius treks back to LA to find the war between Daemond and the Caretakers has intensified…

We now travel back to October 1973 for a run of Vampire Tales appearances starting with #2 and ‘The Blood Sacrifice of Amanda Saint!’ as Don McGregor, Buckler & Marcos reveal how a potential snack becomes an unlikely and enduring ally after devil cult Demon-Fire targets her. Forced into the role of rescuer and defender, Morbius endures mystery, monsters, the torture of a toxic family and his own taste of American Gothic as he unceasingly defends Amanda whilst tearing apart a mystic secret society entwined around a culture in decline and modern American mythology.

The fightback begins with ‘Demon Fire!’ (#3 February 1974 and inked by Klaus Janson), moves mercilessly on to Malevolence, Maine and the ‘Lighthouse of the Possessed’ (April 1974, illustrated by Tom Sutton) to repel more monstrosities and turn back a ‘Blood Tide!’ (#5 June, Buckler & Ernie Chua/Chan)…

Morbius took a break in #6 – represented here by the cover and ‘Frontispiece’ – before we resume in Malevolence, Maine with #7 asking ‘Where is Gallows Bend and What the Hell Am I Doing There?’ before events shamble to a chilling conclusion in #8 (December 1974, limned by Mike Vosburg & Frank Chiaramonte) at ‘High Midnight’ presenting a final clash with hidden manipulators Apocalypse and Death-Flame and a return to less complex exploits in the colour comics…

The monochrome madness was supported throughout by painted covers from JAD, Boris, & Maroto and was all augmented by essays, photo-features and material from the magazines.

Also cover-dated December 1974, Fear #25 sported a Gerber plot & Doug Moench script for Frank Robbins & Frank Giacoia to illustrate. After briskly recapitulating the Caretakers of Arcturus storyline ‘And What of a Vampire’s Blood?’ rapidly brings events to a conclusion as Morbius’ presence triggers a premature final battle between the ancient schemers, Daemond, Martine, Tara, and freshly-hatched Children of the Comet, resulting in ‘A Stillborn Genesis!’ (Moench, Robbins & Giacoia in #26, February 1975) and an abrupt change of direction…

That’s for the next volume however, whilst here we enjoy a crossover clash from April 1975’s Giant-Size Werewolf by Night #4 which brings the story portion of this pulse-pounding package to a close with a long-delayed and anticipated clash with fellow hostage to macabre fortune Jack Russell. Cursed with uncontrolled lycanthropy under a full moon, and also a California kid, he endured ‘A Meeting of Blood’ (by Moench & Virgil Redondo) after the mutated biologist tracks Martine following Daemond’s destruction and discovers a possible cure for his own exsanguinary condition.

Unfortunately, the chase brings him into savage and inconclusive combat with a certain hairy hellion and the solution is forever lost…

This initial outing comes with a wealth of extras beginning with 9 house ads from 1973-1974; editorial page ‘Mail it to Morbius’ from Fear #21; un-inked original art pages by Kane; full art originals by Gulacy & Abel, Russell, Colletta & Abel; cover art by Kane, Giacoia, John Romita Sr., and Ron Wilson.

The compendium concludes with cover reproductions of Marvel Treasury Edition #14 (1977: front by Kane & Giacoia, back by Romita Sr., plus contents page by Dave Cockrum); #18 (1978: front & back by Bob Budiansky & Chan); cover galleries of Marvel Tales – #234 (Todd McFarlane), #252 (Marshal Rogers) and 253 (Moebius & Sylvain) – Spider-Man Megazine #3-4 (Ron Frenz/Stuart Immonen), Spider-Man Strange Adventures (Steve Lightle) and Marvel Selects: Spider-Man #2-3 4 (Mike Wieringo).

Compelling, complex, dark, often daft and always fretfully poised on the tightrope between superhero shenanigans and antihero angst, Morbius is one of Marvel’s most fluid and versatile characters, and can honestly promise something to please every type of fan or casual reader. Moreover, there’s even better to come that won’t work unless you take a big bite out of this tempting tome.
© 2021 MARVEL.

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Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel


By Kevin Grevioux, Mat Broome, Roberto Castro, Sean Parsons, Álvaro López, Lorenzo Ruggiero, John Rauch, David Lanphear, Blambot’s Nate Piekos, Kaare Andrews, Juan Doe & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2409-2 (TPB), 978-1-3024-0664-6 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Marvel Comics was an early champion of civil rights in the Sixties, adding characters of colour to every aspect of their expanding universe despite potential fallout and lost sales from states and regions upholding segregation and supporting Jim Crow laws. As racists retreated and retrenched on all fronts, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Gene Colan and the liberal rest grew bolder. Actual black heroes were created: role models to confront Nazis like the Hatemonger (Fantastic Four #21, December 1963), homegrown supremacists like The Sons of the Serpent (beginning in The Avengers #32, September 1966) and other bigots.

A entire sub-strand evolved in-world, depicting mutants as allegories and analogues for all manner of intolerance, exclusion, and prejudice – albeit with the safety net of distance coming from the fact that they weren’t “really real”. Ultimately, however, issues of race (and gender, and eventually even sexuality) were confronted head on in groundbreaking and controversial series like The Truth – Red, White and Black or Panther’s Quest and The Panther vs The Klan. These explored actual societal problems in comic book contexts but by employing the readers’ shared experience (Stan Lee often called the MU “the world outside your window”), stories of merit and meaning addressed worthy topics through a shielding lens of fantasy.

Such was definitely the case with Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel, a 5-issue miniseries from 2009 written by actor/screenwriter/director Kevin Grevioux (Batman, Blade, Iron Man, ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction) and brought to life by pencillers Mat Broome & Roberto Castro, inkers Sean Parsons, Álvaro López & Lorenzo Ruggiero, with colourists John Rauch & Ruggiero, letterers David Lanphear & Blambot’s Nate Piekos, and additional input from Kaare Andrews, Juan Doe and others.

Although mostly-overlooked at time of publication, its protagonist – one of the most powerful and smartest heroes in the Marvel Universe – has since become a stalwart elder statesman of the continuity who largely deals with cosmos-level threats as an occasional Avenger and founding member of multiversal saviours The Ultimates.

The tale itself is simply told and begins as a formidable Avengers squad including Iron Man, The Wasp, Yellowjacket, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Ms Marvel (Carol Danvers), Ares, She-Hulk and Sentry is utterly overwhelmed by a mystery villain who thrashes them all before vanishing. The scene shifts then to 4th June 1962, where the self-same villain – Anti-Man – cataclysmically battles cloaked-&-helmeted hero The Blue Marvel. As a city crumbles around them, the hero – beloved by citizens after only mere months as a crusading superhero – exerts his greatest efforts to defeat his foe. However, when the hero emerges bruised and battered from the rubble, the world changes in an instant as news cameras capture his shredded costume and the negro skin exposed beneath it…

By August 1st, the Pentagon and President Kennedy’s administration have formed a response. With a febrile atmosphere caused by the growing civil rights movement, and fearing the secession of already truculent southern states, the President caves in to his advisors (who include savants and specialists who will be instrumental in forming future US policy on superhumans and especially the growing mutant population) on the mystery man so many Americans no longer respect or trust…

Security services have identified Blue Marvel as a leading American of colour: segregated college sporting star and Korean war hero Dr Adam Brashear, who has worked quietly but brilliantly as physicist in Washington DC since coming home. The fact that the mightiest person on Earth has been exposed as NOT WHITE presents terrifying possible outcomes in a bitterly divided and inherently racist nation. With his advisors all predicting civil war and worse, Jack Kennedy makes his most pragmatic, shameful decision and secretly asks the patriot to quit and disappear…

Decades later as Avengers and Fantastic Four scour Earth’s records for clues to Anti-Man, occasional references are found to a short-lived but long-forgotten hero named Blue Marvel. Now a desperate search begins to find out what happened to him before the ferocious antimatter menace returns to fulfil his promise to end the world…

By use of cunning backwriting and inspired “historical” in-filling, the tragedy, betrayal and ultimate triumphant return of Adam Brashear seeks to set right wrongs done to him in the name of national security. It begins as S.H.I.E.L.D. director Tony Stark unearths and unlocks the “Blue Marvel Protocols”, before interviewing aging agent Dum-Dum Dugan over an issue he was sworn to hush up decades earlier. The result is a trail of unsavoury breadcrumbs and layers of lies including a supposition that Blue Marvel left Earth for a more forgiving cosmos. Instead it all leads to Maryland where the hero and his federally-mandated wife Candace Brashear (AKA Marlene Frazier – Agent 314) have obliviously lived in total secrecy and seclusion since the crisis fizzled out in 1962…

Thus begins a race to restore a broken man’s spirit against a backdrop of impending annihilation as Brashear shares his cancelled hidden past and debt the whole world owes Blue Marvel, as well as the shared origin of his and Anti-Man’s awesome power prior to a decades-delayed final confrontation that demand even greater sacrifices, a degree of redemption and the spectacular return of a forgotten champion…

With covers by Broom, Parsons, Rausch & Juan Doe, the bonus section offers unused covers; Broome’s art process; sketches by Roberto Castro & Broome and Kaare Andrews’ costume designs.

It’s always rewarding when comics’ established continuity can be successfully expanded and much more so when as here, the effort can also make points of social issues. Best of all, this yarn is a ripping Fights ‘n’ Tights spectacle that screams to be read and revered. Go do that, please…
© 2022 MARVEL

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Yakari: The Wolverine’s Revenge (volume 24)


By Derib & Job, coloured by Dominique and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-198-9 (Album PB), 978-1-80044-737-0 (Digital edition)

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

In 1964 children’s magazine Le Crapaud à lunettes was founded by Swiss journalist André Jobin (October 25th 1927 – October 8th 2024), who then wrote for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later, he hired artist and fellow Swiss Francophone Claude de Ribaupierre, AKA “Derib”. The illustrator had launched his own career as an assistant at Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs): working on Smurfs strips for venerable weekly Le Journal de Spirou. Thereafter, together they created the splendid Adventures of the Owl Pythagore prior to striking pure comics gold a few years later with their next collaboration.

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

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

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

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

For the majority of its existence the series generally produced one album per year, which UK publisher Cinebook has mostly released in original order, but this year we skip what was Le Lombard’s 25th edition (Le mystère de la Falaise from 1999) and instead revel in the riotous acts of 2000’s La vengeance du carcajou which, for our intents and purposes is translated into The Wolverine’s Revenge…

As ever, content and set-up are both stunningly simple and sublimely accessible, affording new readers total enjoyment with a minimum of familiarity or foreknowledge required…

It’s high summer and life is slow, easy and comfortable. Yakari’s chores are few and there’s time for the boy and his opinionated pony Little Thunder to catch up will all their beastie best buddies. Meanwhile up-river  a somewhat surly and cantankerous wolverine called Smooch climbs a tree for a nap. He needs to sleep off the monumental amount of food – fresh caught and happily-recovered carrion – that he’s just scoffed, but is distracted by a trio of young flying squirrels whizzing through the branches. Fascinated – and far too stuffed for sensible thoughts – he needs very little encouragement before attempting to spread his own “side-flaps” and glide through the air…

Hitting the forest sward with a mighty thump the determined scavenger (possibly concussed now) wants to fly more than ever, and with the kits “helping” goes on a days-long starvation diet to achieve a flight-worthy weight. Despite leader Swift Spark carefully monitoring the diet, at the end the result is just as painful, with the added problem of the humiliated wolverine being furious and extremely hangry too. He swears dire retribution on the squirrels who wisely flee for their lives…

Meanwhile downriver, Yakari is inspecting a new dam built by his beaver chums. Gregarious Linden is suddenly distracted when the squirrels land as Swift Spark is his cousin. Yakari advises caution as he’s dealt with a wolverine before but the flighty squirrels don’t really grasp the potential treat.

That all changes when the aggrieved stalker kidnaps Swift Spark and holds him captive in a submerged den. Flying squirrels don’t swim but wolverines do, and instead of eating the annoying aviator-y squirt, the captor plans on watching his former tormentor starve to death, before devouring the paltry remains!

Alerted by his animal friends, Yakari takes action immediately, and is soon scouring the countryside for the missing squirrel. Happily Swift Spark has found a way to fool Smooch and covertly consume calories until a tip-off by two raccoons sends the searcher towards a desperate confrontation. Once they rescue the prisoner, they all decide to teach the bad-tempered Smooch a life changing lesson and join together in a most unique engineering enterprise…

Illo Yakari is one of the most unfailingly absorbing and entertaining all-ages comics strips ever conceived. It should be in every home, right next to Tintin, Uncle Scrooge, Asterix, Calvin and Hobbes and The Moomins. It’s never too late to start reading something wonderful, so why not get back to nature as soon as you can?
Original edition © Derib + Job – Editions du Lombard (Dargaud-Lombard s. a.) – 2000. All rights reserved. English translation © 2026.

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The Cursed Ranch – A Lucky Luke Adventure (volume 62)


By Morris with M. Janvier, scripted by Xavier Fauche & Jean Léturgie & C. Guylouis; coloured by Studio Leonardo and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-320-8 (Album PB), 978-1-84918-693-3 (Digital edition)

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

Time for another Anniversary shindig, non?

Lucky Luke is a rangy, good-natured, “lonesome cowboy” able to “draw faster than his own shadow”. Doughty, dashing, dependable Lucky is an implacably placid do-gooder roaming the mythical Old West, having light-hearted adventures with his wonder horse Jolly Jumper whilst interacting with a host of historical and/or fictionally famous figures of the genre.

It’s Jolly & Lucky’s 80th birthday this year and their continued exploits have made the gentle gunslinger one of the bestselling comic characters in Europe, encompassing 84 albums, with numerous spin-off books and series comprising more than 300 million albums in at least 31 languages thus far. That has all generated a mega-mesa of merchandise: posters, toys, games, apparel, animated cartoons, TV shows and live-action movies.

Lucky was dreamed up by western-loving Belgian-born animator, illustrator and cartoonist Maurice de Bévère AKA “Morris”. His sagebrush star debuted in the summer of 1946, initially in mid-summer issues of Le Journal de Spirou sans title or banner logo, and only in French-language editions of the multinational kids comic. The Lone Rider’s official launch was the autumn of that year in Christmas Annual L’Almanach Spirou 1947, before opening his first official serial in the pan-regional, multilingual weekly edition cover-dated December 7th 1946.

After a relatively slow start for such a fast gun, Lucky’s global dominance came via Morris’ decades-long collaboration with superstar scripter René Goscinny. The official partnership spanned Rails on the Prairie (August 25th 1955) to 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 The Stagecoach in 1967, augmented by many guest appearances all over the European publishing scene after that.

Goscinny co-crafted 45 albums before his death in 1977, after which Morris continued singly and with new literary pardners, ultimately founding a posse of legacy creators including Lo Hartog van Banda, Achdé & Laurent Gerra, Xavier Fauche, Jean Léturgie, Benacquista & Pennac, Jacques Pessis and more, all taking their own shots at the venerable vigilante. Morris continued in declining degrees until his own death in 2001, having drawn fully 70 adventures, plus numerous sidebar and spin-off whimsical western tales.

His grande idée draws less on western history than movie mythology, but our hero regularly met actual historical figures as well as famous fictional folk in tales culled from classic cowboy lore and lensed through uniquely European notions and interpretations. Our star is never 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 cowberks and imbeciles…

In 1986 Le Ranch Maudit was the 56h European Lucky album: a pleasant assemblage of short sharp silly yarns, that collectively – as The Cursed Ranch – became Cinebook’s 62nd English-language outing of hijacked history, scattershot satire and horselaugh hijinks. Morris always drew from a deep, shared well of cinematic motifs, gilded with authenticity and tempered with veracity as required. Here, with assistant Michel Janvier (Rantanplan, Lucky Luke, François Cevert, Michel Vaillant) lightening his artistic load, gags and scenarios are supplied by prolific scripters Xavier Fauche & Jean Léturgie as well as occasional contributor C. Guylouis, but the wide-eyed wry western wonderment is in no way diminished…

It opens with a fond film tribute to genres other than “shoot-‘em-ups” as eponymous lead ‘The Cursed Ranch’ blends horror tropes with sagebrush standards and slapstick silliness. Scripted by Claude Guylouis – a writing team pseudonymously composed of Claude Klotz (AKA Patrick Cauvin), Guy Vidal & Jean-Louis Robert – it details how, in January 1861, the horrific stench of unwanted oil deposits (!) drive folks from their homes in Whitney before permeating the entire region. One of the many to flee the toxic stink is elderly spinster Miss Pasiphaë Bluemarket who swiftly departs for fresher climes for the sake of her “boys”. The town matriarch is quite a character, and easily circumvents all obstacles to take with her three exceedingly well-mannered and well-bred full grown plains buffalo she has adopted…

The rail journey is largely without incident and when they all alight at Smithville, local land agent Chris Lee has just the property she needs. Oddly though, whenever she introduces herself as the new resident of The Bates Ranch townsfolk scream and faint. Miss Bluemarket is not worried. She’s far more concerned about the way local hunting addict Mad Bison Bob is eying her precious boys…

On meeting exceedingly polite fellow newcomer Lucky Luke, Miss Bluemarket accepts his offer to investigate her new home and soon both experience a sustained assault on her refined senses, with uncanny phenomena and walking spectres stalking the corridors. Thankfully, Lucky is no stranger to bizarre happenings or crooked set-ups and swiftly solves the spooky enigma…

Stuffed with cinema cameos (Hitchcock, Christopher Lee, John Alexander and more) and sly references to film classics from Psycho to Arsenic and Old Lace, this rollicking romp is offset by a more traditional tale of crime & punishment. Written by Xavier Fauche (Lucky Luke, Rantanplan, Marsupilami, Percevan) & Jean Léturgie (Lucky Luke, Rantanplan, Kid Lucky, Percevan, Gastoon, Space Cake) ‘The Fortune-Teller’ observes our hero amazed at how “wandering gypsy” Madame Irma has beguiled and bamboozled a town apparently filled with fools and idiots, before setting out to free them from cunning conmen fleecing everyone from the banker to the sheriff…

Claude Guylouis pens savage satire next as ‘The Statue’ finds Lucky & Jolly in the Dakota badlands where bland, blank Mount Rushmore is simply crying out for some sort of statue to be carved into it. After Lucky cleans up nearby Hitch City, grateful locals want avaricious travelling sculptor Michaelangelo Jr. to immortalise their new hero in stone, but arrogant overbearing landowner MCallister thinks it should be him on the side of a mountain…

Via his vile servant Sadiquito he hires the infamous Daltons to stop the process and takes many more malign steps to subvert and suborn the artist. Lucky doesn’t want a statue at all, and isn’t disappointed when fate takes a hand and makes fools of everybody…

The frantic fun closes with a wild ride as Léturgie scripts ‘The Log Flume’ wherein Luke & Jolly meet forward-thinking lumberjack Clement Ellsworth. He has devised a way to speed up the laborious, costly process of transporting felled trees to carpenters and manufacturers… Typically, his efforts are being sabotaged by greedy land baron and monopoly capitalist Mr. Butterfield who wants to shut the experiment down and seize Ellsworth’s patent. However, all his acts of sabotage are no match for Lucky’s wits and Jolly Jumper’s agility…

Topped off with an anonymous contemporary print of the era depicting “Unusual use of a log flume near Carson City Nevada” these done-in-one exploits of an indomitable hero offer grand joys in the traditional western way, superbly executed by master storytellers, and form a brilliant introduction to a unique genre for moderns and kids who might have missed out on the romantic allure of the Wild West that never was…
© Dargaud Editeur Paris 1986 by Morris, Guylouis, Fauche & Léturgie. © Lucky Comics. English translation © 2016 Cinebook Ltd.

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Batman: Arkham – Clayface


By Bill Finger, Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson, Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris, Len Wein, Marshall Rogers & Dick Giordano, Mike W Barr & Jim Aparo, Dan Raspler, Keith Giffen, Bernie Mireault, Tom Grummett, Al Gordon, Denis Rodier & Gary Martin, Doug Moench, J.H. Williams III, John Beatty & Mick Gray, Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke & Mike Allred, Steve Purcell, Mike Mignola, Kevin Nowlan, A.J. Lieberman, Al Barrionuevo & Bit, John Layman & Cliff Richards and various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7144-2 (TPB), 978-1-4012-7975-2 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As is only sensible, when filmmakers unleash their take on a comic book character of any vintage, savvy publishers collate, curate and commercialise. In lieu of that today, here’s a bunch of formative tales focusing on the many versions of a perennial Bat-villain who is the epitome of a malign make-over to compliment the current screen transition for ever-eager new fans…

Once more practically proving that the Dark Knight’s foes are more interesting – or at least more scary – than any of his heroic clan, the movie Clayface had its premiere on October 13th 2026 at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Legion Theater and will go on general release everywhere else between 21st and 23rd October as another tile in the DCU’s cinematic mosaic masterplan as designated Chapter One: Gods and Monsters…

Gathered here are works from Detective Comics, #40, 298 & 478-479; Batman #550; Outsiders #21; Secret Origins (vol. 2) #44; Catwoman #4; Batman: Gotham Knights #68-71 and Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins #1 & Batman: The Dark Knight #23.3 spreading between cover dates June 1940 to November 2013. Mixed together they comprise a sparse scattering of exploits from an extremely versatile and frequently far-flung villain/victim/vigilante legion whose past appearances demand far greater support from the print crowd.

Mabe if the film is any good – or at least makes some money – we’ll see a bigger 85+ Years Celebration edition.

Clayface is at least nine separate iterations of a single character (not even counting copycat versions including obsessed actor/stalker John Carlinger, numerous assorted clones, The Clayface of Japan & Clownface) as well as twinned comic book concepts. Even this does not count the superb version seen in Batman: The Animated Adventures universe on both TV and comic books. All have in some manner oozed through greater DC Continuity, battling not just various Bat-clan heroes but also Superman, Wonder Woman and other champions.

A primal force affecting many people, assorted Clayfaces have even worked as heroes beside Batman and others.

Here and now though, let’s enjoy a basic introduction to a mess of history The obvious kick-off is that first appearance as concocted by Bill Finger, Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson in Detective Comics #40. A movie influenced (1925’s The Phantom of the Opera) mystery whodunnit, ‘The Murders of Clayface’ saw the Dynamic Duo ranging across baroque film sets to stop a string of murders which almost ended the life of Bruce Wayne’s movie starlet girlfriend Julie Madison. She was simply the latest target of a monstrous actor-turned-maniac who recreated a past screen triumph to slaughter. That culprit was aging star Basil Karlo, equally motivated by jealousy, madness and a thirst for death…

The murdering but mortal maniac returned in ‘Clayface Walks Again’ (Detective #49 March 1941) and not included here, as we jump to 26th October 1961 for a wild tale from Batman’s sci fi boy scout era. Revamped by Finger, Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris for Detective #298 (as cover dated December 1961) ‘The Challenge of Clayface’ introduced art thief Matt Hagen who discovered a pool of protoplasm that granted him the ability to change his shape. Despite being regularly outwitted by Batman and Robin, Hagen kept on stealing for decades, and despite being superseded by another iteration was active until his death during the Crisis on Infinite Earths in the mid-1980s.

Before then Len Wein, Marshall Rogers & Dick Giordano appropriated the name for anew tragic terror who debuted in DC #478 in ‘The Coming of… Clayface III!’ as deranged scientist Preson Payne seeks to cure his deformed body and instead becomes a walking, predatory disease. An Acromegalic afflicted with chronic hyperpituitarism, he used Hagen’ s blood to create a cure, but initial success turned to appalling horror as the process resulted in his periodically needing to purge and reset himself by reducing those in range to blobs of melted protoplasmic slime. Driven by crushing isolation, Payne also began a delusional romance with a store mannequin until Batman was forced to end his depredations in #479’s ‘If a Man Be Made of Clay…!’

With the potential of Hagen’s discovery loose in the world for all to exploit, we jump next to Outsiders #21 (July 1987, by Mike W. Barr & Jim Aparo) and the beginning of an extended epic only relevant to us as it premieres ‘Strike Force Kobra’. Leading the terrorist villains’ infiltration of Batman’s latest prodigy squad is deeply disturbed Lady Clay who, as Sondra Fuller, begged Kobra to grant her the ability to escape the face and form nature had given her…

In September 1989’s Secret Origins (vol. 2) #44, the clay creations now dubbed The Mudpack were put under a microscope courtesy of overall scripter Dan Raspler. Illustrators Keith Giffen & Al Gordon detailed ‘The Coming of Clayface!’, revealing the secrets of Basil Karlo whilst Bernie Mireault & Denis Rodier depicted ‘The Tragic and Amusing History of Clayface II’ before Tom Grummett & Gary Martin examined Payne in ‘His Name is Clayface III!’

In the interim Karlo had returned and harvested Fuller and Payne’s body fluids (semi-solids?), thereby gaining protoplasmic shapeshifting powers and melting touch to become the Ultimate Clayface. Fuller and Payne paired up and had a metahuman son. Fifth Clayface Cassius Clay Payne was a shapeshifter who also possessed the universal solvent/melting touch of his dad but was eventually apprehended by semi-federal authorities the Department of Extranormal Operations…

In Batman #550 (January 1998, by Doug Moench, J.H. Williams III, John Beatty & Mick Gray) the Dark Night and D.E.O. agent Cameron Chase are ‘Chasing Clay’ after callous top boffin Dr Peter Malley “examines” Cassius and accidentally becomes a tragic but lethally rampaging Clay-Thing…

In Catwoman #4 (April 2002) another Clayface offshoot congeals in ‘Anodyne-Conclusion’. This story sees Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke & Mike Allred end a 4-part tale rebooting the feline fury as vigilante protector of rough district the East End of Old Gotham. Reunited with former street pal Holly Robinson, Selina Kyle moves in to find renewed meaning and decides to solve a case Gotham’s corrupt authorities won’t touch.

That comes when she determines to stop a serial killer preying on street girls and other human flotsam and discovers psychotic charmer Todd Russell is only another victim of mad science and the Clayface legacy. This is a peripheral addition at best but understandable as it ticks boxes and displays the astounding work of much missed maestro Cooke, and is followed by a piece from 2005’s Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins #1 (2005). Crafted by Steve Purcell, Mike Mignola & Kevin Nowlan, ‘If A Man be Clay!’ re-examines the clownish antics of Matt Hagen prior to a view of the Eighth Clayface…

In an extended saga by A.J. Lieberman, Al Barrionuevo & Bit that ran in Batman: Gotham Knights #68-71 (October 2005-January 2006) ‘The Shape of Things to Come Parts One -Four’ reintroduces Johnny Williams as first seen – but not here – in Batman: Gotham Knights #60.

Williams is a firefighter accidentally infected by stray Clayface protoplasm, whose life now goes to hell when Batman nemesis Tommy Elliot AKA Hush divines his secret and coerces him into turning Bruce Wayne’s life upside down. The masterplan is for Hush to take those abilities for himself before destroying all Batman cherishes, but of course with the sheer chaos of unleashed Clayfaces in the mix, no plan can stand for long…

This pliable primer presses pause on a full reimagining sparked by the 2011 “New 52” DC reboot. Batman: The Dark Knight #23.3 (2013) by John Layman & Cliff Richards sees frustrated failing actor Basil Karlo accept an untested chemical from crime boss The Penguin in a bid to break his “bad luck” streak. However, although the DNA-altering solution gives him powers, it comes at a shocking cost, Now as supervillains run the world Karlo revels in his epic descent and ponders what he’s become in ‘Not Just Another Pretty Face’…

With covers by Kane & Robinson, Moldoff, Rogers, Terry Austin, Aparo, Nowlan, Kelly Jones, Beatty, Williams III, Gray, Cooke, Jason Fabok, Claudio Castellini and Guillem March

& Tomeu Morey, this roster of roles won’t show you the filmic Clayface, but it will certainly inform and entertain as it channels many of those assorted incarnations, reincarnations and re-castings of the miasmically malleable malefactor and their many aspects.
© 1940, 1961, 1978, 1987, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2013, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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STAR TREK: Lower Decks


By Ryan North, Chris Fenoglio, Johanna Nattalie, Jake Wood & various (Idea & Design Works)
ISBN: 978-1-684059-62-1 (TPB), 978-1-649361-14-1 (Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: And Lo! A Silly New star Appeared in an Already Pretty Crowded firmament …8/10

You can generally tell how much you love something by how able you are to laugh at and with it/they/them. Don’t take my word for it, you can just ask your life partner/cat/pub quiz teammates/fellow trolls before rocking and reeling in their revelations…

Star Trek debuted on US televisions on September 8th 1966, running until June 3rd 1969: three seasons comprising 79 episodes. Many of them were quite funny.

A moderate success, the series only really became popular after going into syndication, where it ran constantly in local TV regions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was also sold all over the world, popping up seemingly everywhere and developing quite a devoted fanbase. Being a third world country, Britain didn’t see the show until July 12th 1969, during the rocket fever surrounding the Apollo moon landings. BBC One screened “Where No Man Has Gone Before” in black-&-white before proceeding to broadcast the rest of the series in the wrong order. “Arena” was the first episode screened in colour (November 15th 1969), but viewers didn’t care. We were all hooked anyway and many of the show’s catchphrases – quite a few erroneous and some entirely fictitious – swiftly and indelibly entered the popular lexicon of the nation.

As well as a wealth of US comic books and Japanese manga from various licensees, The Original Series spawned a British-originated comic strip which ran (from the end of the 1960s well into the 1970s) in Joe 90, TV21 and TV21 and Valiant. These have also been collected and I’ll get to them in the fullness of time and space.

Back in the USA, after that slow start the show became an overwhelming and influential fan-driven phenomenon. The original cast returned in a film franchise and the core concept was repeatedly expanded upon with a wealth of spin-off franchises and formats such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and many others. Books, comics, games and more movies expanded the mythology, as did a steady stream of small screen series and shows… and now it’s been sixty years!

Irreverent, inventive and utterly mired in all the established continuity ever, a fully animated series aimed at what we will kindly call adults was created by writer/producer/showrunner Mike McMahan (Golden Axe, Solar Opposites, Rick and Morty, Drawn Together, South Park) and aired between August 6th 2020 and December 2024 – 50 episodes across five seasons.

Star Trek: Lower Decks was the ninth conceptual iteration of the all-encompassing brand and is the funniest of all of them. It was also popular enough to generate a crossover with current flagship series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I’m not going to be the guy who proselytises and bleats on, pointedly explaining why it’s the best. If you’ve seen it, you know I’m right and if you haven’t yet I’m still right and you need to buck your ideas up…

Today we’re taking a timely look at the first graphic novel compilation gathering the material from #1-3 of IDW’s 2023 comic book spin-off.

What you might as well know as you’re all here anyway: Star Trek: Lower Decks details the fraught, frantic and often self-inflicted lives of some of the support crew and junior ranks of Federation starship Cerritos in the late 24th century, specifically following a motley crew of friends as they pursue career advancement. Captained by competent yet deeply unfulfilled Captain Carol Freeman, Cerritos is a second-contact vessel, a fleet workhorse following up and doing all the admin, actual deliveries and promise-keeping after glamour boys like Kirk, Picard or Will Riker have done all the gladhanding, scoffed all the banquets, thrashed the covert baddies and scandalised all the conservative element by canoodling with any available space hotties…

The ship’s senior officers include testosterone-addicted, iron-pumping himbo First Officer Jack Ransom; excitable Bajoran-born security chief Shaxs and aging foul-mouthed feline (Caitian) chief medical officer T’Ana, but our main focus is the daily lives of those they are training for succession and even eventual command.

Most prominent – or at least loudest and most disruptive – is resolutely rebel rule-breaker Beckett Mariner (and Captain Freeman’s intransigent daughter); ambitious, anxious career-obsessed super-suck-up Brad Boimler; sweetly inoffensive Orion pirate-princess-turned-science-geek D’Vana Tendi and cyborg engineering nerd Sam Rutherford, who all bunk together in the bowels of the ship while seeking promotion, recognition, extra sleep, fun and no more scutwork…

They are all convinced that they have seen everything there is to see but despite that – and the repetitive menial tasks – are all honestly devout and sworn to uphold the tenets of the multi-species United Federation of Planets… even if they’re stuck on (one of) Starfleet’s least important ships…

Written by Ryan North (How To Take Over The World, How To Invent Everything, Slaughterhouse-Five, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Dinosaur Comics) and illustrated by Chris Fenoglio (Star Wars, Batman: The Animated Series, Goosebumps, X-Files), this star-date’s tale starts ‘All in a Sea of Wonders’ as just another case of the awe-inspiring bridge crew mediating a ceasefire between two species who hate each other leads to Cerritos being despatched to the Qvanti system; an odd civilisation that developed starflight rather late in their development and therefore are simultaneous classified as highly-advanced and primitive at the same time…

Meanwhile on a holodeck and enjoying their well-earned down-time, Mariner, Tendi and Rutherford are trying to enjoy Boimler’s latest fully-immersive fantasy show-plays. Typically, as they roam solid-light smog-filled streets in “19th century London”, they review the so-very-large record of holodeck disasters, AI escapes and universal menaces accidently brought to life and unleashed by meddling with sensibly in place programs.

Naturally, gleefully disruptive Mariner just can’t help herself and as Cerritos hits an undefinable energy field generated by the enigmatic Qvanti, she resets holodeck safety protocols and character parameters. Soon a shockingly smart sentient is aware, seductively refined, coolly likeable, incredibly impatient to see the worlds beyond his eyes. Calculatedly cunning Count Dracula is loose amongst them, with all his powers of shapeshifting, elemental manipulation, cloak-waving, heavy-metal rock guitar solos, mind control, counting scarily and laughing sinisterly…

At least the light-impaler can’t drink actual blood or turn his victims into undead thralls… oh wait, once he upgrades himself, Vlad can do that too…

When Dracula emerges amongst the rest of the crew and then down to the Qvanti homeworld – where the veteran Bridge crew are enduring major problems resulting from bad briefing notes, poor communication and smug overconfident assumptions – it’s the end of at least one world as we know it. With Dracula loose in two different Qvanti populations both spending all their time trying to eradicate the interfering Starfleet busybodies, it all gets quite complicated very soon, and it’s time for Beckett to get creative and break something again…

As is the nature of these things, each individual episode was accompanied by themed extras and that augmented at the end by a gallery of covers and variants by Fenoglio, Troy Little, Derek Charm, Philip Murphy and Robby Cook, plus some smart use of TV show standbys.

‘Badgey Explains it All…’ reveals sly “callbacks” scattered throughout the tale which invoke and reference assorted Trek lore onscreen appearances from the other eight incarnations, whilst ‘Rutherford’s Holodeck Hangout!’ details other Holodeck alumni. The way Fenoglio brought North’s script to life (non-holodeck-ily) is deconstructed in an Art Process feature which is supported by a beseeching and beguiling ‘Travel to Qvanti’ brochure and chance to ‘Experience Dracula’s Castle’.

These are supported in our Post-Scarcity Federation by ads helpful reminders of what can be materialised with the right commands to the ‘Cerritos Food Replicators’ – specialities like Warp 5 Nachos, Elote and Vegan, cruelty-free Strawberry Dracquiris! We offer a peek at ‘Dracula’s Art Gallery’, his personal reflections on Anna Karenina, other ways to enjoy Qvanti tourism plus an outworld late look at The New York Comic Con Lower Decks mural and even more outrageous in-universe silliness & shenanigans…

Dedicated to taking itself not at all seriously, Star Trek Lower Decks is an utter delight in comics as much as on screen. Boldly go there now if you badly need a vicarious voyage of discovery and to giggle where no being has giggled before…
STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS May 2023 ™ & © CBS Studios Inc. Star Trek and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – the graphic novel


Adapted by Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy (Waverley Books)
ISBN: 978-1-902407-44-9 (TPB)

Way back in 2004 as part of the celebrations for Edinburgh’s selection as the first UNESCO City of Literature, Scots comics veterans Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy were invited to convert a brace of classic tales by Robert Louis Stevenson to publishing’s hottest medium…

The second appeared in 2008 with a bare minimum of abridgement or adulteration by Grant and galvanically brought to life through the stunning art of the inimitable Kennedy with colours and letters provided by Jamie Grant: all seamlessly collaborating to perfectly picture one of the most infamous and groundbreaking tales of terror in the annals of storytelling.

The timeless tale opens as lawyer Mr. Utterson becomes intrigued by the ‘Story of the Door’ as related by walking companion Richard Enfield. That worthy describes how, after remonstrating with a bestial, shrivelled homunculus of a man who was thrashing a street child, he discovered a possible – although unlikely and unwelcome – connection to a mutual friend of superlative honour and worthiness. However, what connection a depraved creature such as Edward Hyde might have with benevolent and brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll was beyond either man’s conception. Blackmail, perhaps…

A multi-layered and convoluted chain of events unfolds at a beguiling pace as the pair undertake a systematic ‘Search for Mr. Hyde’, even consulting the scientist’s great mentor Dr. Lanyon before unexpectedly encountering the despicable decadent himself, sneaking into Jekyll’s home through the means of his own key. Eventually, Utterson is compelled to ask the suspected extortion victim himself but ‘Dr. Jekyll was Quite at Ease’ and even extracted a promise that the concerned lawyer would ensure that Hyde got his legal due should untoward circumstances warrant…

Events overtake everyone involved once details of ‘The Carew Murder Case’ become a public sensation and Hyde is actively pursued for killing a prominent politician in fit of unprovoked fury. Long-shrouded secrets begin to emerge after the ‘Incident of the Letter’ as Jekyll assures his distraught. apprehensive friends that Hyde will be seen no more, but this forces Utterson to conclude that Henry is completely under the thumb of the desperate fugitive…

‘The Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon’ precipitates further speculation as the failing sage gives the inquisitors a letter to be opened upon his (apparently imminent) demise, prompting Enfield and Utterson to immediate action and reluctant intervention on ‘The Last Night’ an incident which reveals the shocking truth of the entire affair. With the tragedy complete, all that remains is to discover the reasons and causes which are provided by the aforementioned letter containing ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case’…

Chances are high that nobody reading this is unaware of the general events of this much retold tale but the moody, evocative, dynamic and suspenseful reiteration here is a sheer pictorial triumph, adding freshness to familiarity, and emerging as not simply a distillation, adjunct or accommodation but actually a classic of the form that works as well in comics terms as the original literary ones.

Still readily available so don’t miss the chance to revel in the power of transformation…
Adapted text © 2008 Alan Grant. Illustrations © 2008 Cam Kennedy. All rights reserved.

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Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow


By James Sturm & Rich Tommaso (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children/House of Anansi/Little Brown Young Readers US)

ISBN: 978-0-88899-753-1 (TPB), 978-0-78683-901-8 (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children TPB), 978-1-36802-232-3 (Little Brown, HB), 978-1-36804-289-5 (Little Brown, TPB, 2019)

This book includes Discriminatory Content employed for dramatic effect.

I’m on record as not being a big fan of American Sports, favouring the ease and simple complexity of our own gentle pastimes like rugby and cricket. I am however a complete sucker for history and graphic biographies – especially when they are as innovative and imaginative as this sublimely low key, passionate, evocative and imaginative synthesis of cruel fact and uplifting fiction.

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow masterfully samples the life and achievements of a groundbreaking, pioneering and historically significant sportsman and role-model whose efforts greatly advanced the lives of all Americans of colour. His gifts and long, long career eventually helped change the way a divided nation thought and worked, and here that triumph is compellingly balanced by a tantalising supposition that should have happened; even if it never did…

This tale comes courtesy of writer James Sturm (The Golem’s Mighty Swing, Adventures in Cartooning, Off Season, Unstable Molecules, James Sturm’s America) and illustrator Rich Tommaso (Clover Honey, Black Phoenix, In the Garden of Earthly Delights, She-Wolf, The Corten Steel Phoenix) under the auspices of Sturm’s Center for Cartoon Studies, and happily supplies context for the uninitiated via a biographical appreciation/introduction from essayist, author, educator and cultural commentator Gerald Early at the start, and a fulsome and informative appendix ‘Striking Out Jim Crow Panel Discussions’ at the close.

All you need do is to read this stunningly engaging historical drama, but – just for the sake of clarity – Leroy “Satchel” Paige (1906 – 1982) was a American whose skin colour and ethnicity prevented him from playing “whites-only” professional baseball in the Major Leagues. He thus spent most of his 50-year career performing sporting miracles playing in “the Negro Leagues”v(usually for as many as three teams at a time!) and making more money than any other player of any hue in exhibition matches where all colours played – and even spectated – without incident.

Like later legend Mohamad Ali, Paige was a brilliant self-promoter fully in charge of his own career and press, and was probably the most famous black man in America for half a century. Eventually, long after his prime days were done, he (and other excluded sportsmen like Jackie Robinson) smashed the “colour-line” and were invited to play on white teams… and pulled in crowds of all races.

Here, however, the focus is on a narrator cruelly denied the same experiences. Starting in 1929, we follow an 18-year old, already married sharecropper who has the potential to be far better-off… maybe even another Satchel Paige. The dream ends early when Emmet sustains a career-ending injury playing in the Negro Leagues. The fact that he had just scored a run off Paige himself is no consolation…

Crippled and returned to the cotton fields of Tuckwilla, Alabama, embittered Emmet endures a far more traditional life, abused, terrorised and exploited by the wealthy, baseball-loving Jennings brothers. They own all the fields in the county and believe that includes the croppers living and toiling on them…

Emmett keeps his head down, his mouth shut and no one talks baseball around him – especially wife Frances and their son Emmet, Jr. It’s hard enough just keeping the boy in school especially since the overbearing, brutal Jennings boys think the kid is long past the age when he should be picking their cotton by now…

And then in 1944, Paige’s barnstorming war-bond-raising, morale-boosting tour across the USA brings him and his negro All-Star to Tuckwilla to play against the Jenning’s private (all-white) team. At an eventful match Emmet meets his idol/nemesis once again and nothing is ever the same for these Alabama “coloreds” ever again…

Contrasting the extraordinary triumphs of the frankly unique Paige with actual experience of most persons of colour in that severe and segregated South – and to be honest most of the rest of America at that juncture – is a potent device for showing how far we have come. Sadly it’s also a reminder of what we now risk losing again, not only there but all over the world. Let this no-so-simple sports story be your ticket to a greater awareness and better days.

No rainchecks here. Read This Now!
© 2007, 2019 The Center for Cartoon Studies. All rights reserved.