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Fantastic Four Epic Collection volume 12: The Possession of Franklin Richards


By Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, John Byrne, Ed Hannigan, George Pérez, Peter B. Gillis, Roger Stern, Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz, Steve Ditko, Tom Sutton, Keith Pollard, Al Milgrom, Joe Sinnott, Pablo Marcos, Bruce Patterson, Chic Stone, Jon D’Agostino, Mike Esposito, Jerome Moore, Frank Giacoia & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-6056-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fantastic Fun for Comics Addicts… 8/10

It’s a been a big year for the fabulous FF. Here’s another titanic tome to add to your seasonal swag list…

For Marvel everything started with The Fantastic Four.

Monolithic modern Marvel truly began with eccentric monster ‘n’ alien filled adventures of a compact superteam as much squabbling family as coolly capable costumed champions. All that Modern Marvel is, company and brand, stems from that quirky quartet and the inspired, inspirational, groundbreaking efforts of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby…

Cautiously bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961, Fantastic Four #1 – by Stan, Jack, George Klein and/or Christopher Rule – was raw and crude even by its ailing publisher’s steadily plunging standards. However, it seethed with rough, passionate, uncontrolled excitement and thrill-hungry kids pounced on its dynamic storytelling. The series caught a wave of change beginning to build in America, and every succeeding issue changed comics a little bit more… and forever. Revealed in that premier, maverick scientist Reed Richards, fiancée Sue Storm, close friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s bratty teenaged brother survived an ill-starred private spaceshot after cosmic rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding.

All permanently mutated: Richards’ body became elastic, diffident Sue became (even more) invisible, Johnny Storm burst into living flame and tragic Ben shockingly devolved into a shambling, rocky freak. After the initial revulsion and trauma passed, they solemnly agreed to use their abilities to benefit mankind. Thus was born The Fantastic Four – you can add your own fanfare and timpani here if you wish…

Throughout the 1960s it was the key title and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters. Jack Kirby was approaching his creative peak: unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot, and intense, incredible new characters whilst Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas ever seen. Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their powers and full of the confidence only success brings, with The King particularly eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed… which is rather ironic since it was the company’s reticence to give the artist more creative freedom that led to Kirby’s moving to National/DC in the 1970s.

Without Kirby’s soaring imagination the rollercoaster of mindbending High Concepts lost out to traditional tales of characters in conflict, with soap opera leanings and supervillain-heavy Fights ‘n’ Tights forays abounding. With Lee & Kirby long gone but their mark very much still stamped onto every page of the still-prestigious title, this full-colour compendium represents Fantastic Four #215-231 and Annuals #14-16, spanning Fall 1979 to June 1981.

What You Should Know: After being rejuvenated and repowered in an extended space-spanning saga, the Family FF are getting used to being back on Earth even with supervillains all over the place. Now Read On…

The revived, excessively rejuvenated team are in full fine fettle for Fantastic Four Annual #14 wherin Marv Wolfman, George Pérez & Pablo Marcos put firstborn Franklin Richards and his sorcerous nanny Agatha Harkness in the spotlight for ‘Cats-Paw!’ When magical cult Salem’s Seven abduct and brainwash the adult FF in hopes of resurrecting their macabre master Nicholas Scratch, even the Avengers are helpless to stop the carnage unleashed. Thankfully, the extra-dimensional voyage of the kid and the crone is enough to set everything right…

The arcane account is augmented by ‘A Gallery of the Fantastic Four’s Most Famous Foes!’ by Keith Pollard & Marcos, giving the lowdown on late-debuting villains and ne’er-do-wells including Invincible Man, Attuma, Gideon, Dragon Man, The Frightful Four and Quasimodo. Monthly FF #215 then finds Wolfman, John Byrne & Joe Sinnott reintroducing Negative Zone terror tyrant ‘Blastaar!’ who somehow escapes the antimatter universe to take over the Baxter Building just as a reinvigorated Reed Richards is distracted by former colleague Professor Randolph James who has hyper-evolved himself to offset an otherwise fatal beating by street thugs. Sadly, his accelerator device has not advanced James’ ethical outlook, and after taking vengeance on his attackers, the future man proves that ‘Where There Be Gods!’ there be trouble too, as the mental marvel aligns with Blastaar only to fall before a far greater power… angry cosmic child Franklin…

Bill Mantlo scripts #217 for Byrne & Sinnott, as ‘Masquerade!’ at last exposes the viper in the team’s midst: an inimical force responsible for most of the recent setbacks and accidents, and almost the deaths of the heroes and Johnny’s new intended girlfriend Dazzler…

No spoilers here this time, but back then we all just knew who the hidden villain actually was… that acursed robot!

Infernal gadget H.E.R.B.I.E. was imposed on the series due to concerns by producers of the current Fantasic Four cartoon show. Rejecting fire hazard Johnny for a cutely telegenic robot, Wolfman cheekily made that commercial compromise in-world canon, dividing fans forever after. The bleeping bot – a Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics (latterly, Highly Engineered Robot Built for Interdimensional Exploration; don’cha just love nominative deterministic acronymics?) – is pure Marmite in most readers eyes…

Next is the last half of an old-school saga that, for completeness, means you need to read Peter Parker, the Sensational Spider-Man #42 before enjoying the contents of FF #218. What’s not here is how ESU student Peter Parker goes on a class jaunt and is lured into a trap by the Frightful Four (in ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ by Mantlo, Mike Zeck & Jim Mooney if you were wondering). The villains broadsided the wallcrawler after new recruit Electro impersonated the Human Torch there…

Now for ‘When a Spider-Man Comes Calling!’ (cover-dated May 1980 by Mantlo, Byrne & Sinnott), Trapster repeats the tactic to ambush the comfortably at home quartet, allowing his comrades The Wizard and Sandman to take over the heroes’ Baxter Building citadel… at least until a fighting-mad webspinner breaks free for an unstoppable counterattack…

Penciller John Byrne, having served out his first term on the series he was to soon make his alone, was officially only temporarily replaced for FF #219. Ably augmented by Sinnott, stalwart “Guest-Team” Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz were parachuted in for monster mash-up ‘Leviathans’ due to the huge success and acclaim generated by their vigilante thriller Moon Knight. They brought with them a whole new look and sensibility, as well as far faster pace to the stories. Here, modern day pirate Cap’n Barracuda steals the fabled Horn of Proteus from Atlantis to unleash a wave of giant monsters on New York City. Thankfully, this is a subject the mighty Sub-Mariner and Mr. Fantastic can agree on, and their combined forces soon stomp the beasties to stop a piratical plunder ploy without peer…

Byrne bounced back writing & pencilling in #220 as ‘…And the Lights Went Out All Over the World!’ sees the Avengers call Reed and Co. when all Earth suffers a catastrophic power-outage. Science! sends the explorers to the arctic to encounter an astounding and unbelievable obelisk being constructed by beings of utterly alien appearance…

The story includes an updated origin for the quartet and guest shot for Canada’s finest (that’s Vindicator of Alpha Flight in case you were wondering) as the tale halts for a pinup by inker Sinnott (the Torch battling a flaming Skrull) prior to #221’s concluding chapter ‘Tower of Glass… Dreams of Glass!’ Following the usual misconceptions and rash clashes it is revealed that three aliens shipwrecked for half a million years just need their myriad mobile mechanisms to reverse the planet’s magnetic poles so they can return home at last. Happily, Reed has a less end-of-human-civilisation-y solution leaving everyone involved happy and safe; and back where they belong…

Now officially the regular creative team, Moench & Sienkiewicz prep for Halloween in FF #222’s ‘The Possession of Franklin Richards!’ as the cosmic ray kid is again targeted from beyond the unknown by exiled soul Nicholas Scratch. The son of Agatha Harkness is the kind of warlock who gives witchcraft a bad name. and, having made the boy his conduit back to reality, Scratch goes on to terrorise and torture his hated enemies. With Doctor Strange unavailable, they enlist the dubious gifts of self-doubting failed horror hero Gabriel the Devil Hunter and his morally ambiguous familiar Desadia (from Marvel’s monochrome magazine line titles Haunt of Horror and Monsters Unleashed)…

Apparently acquiescing, the team agree to liberate the dead diabolist’s minions of magical mayhem and Salem’s Seven toil ‘That a Child May Live…’ Of course, their instant assaults on humanity are an acceptable risk and consequence in Reed’s plan: setting the worlds to rights for all but the defeated devil…

Fantastic Four Annual #15 swiftly follows, wherein Moench & Pérez, abetted by Chic Stone, Jon D’Agostino & Mike Esposito, renew hostilities between the FF and Skrull empire as the shapeshifters target the supergenius’ latest energy-casting breakthrough in ‘Time for the Prime Ten!’ Infiltrating the Baxter Building, negating his valiant teammates and almost banishing Mr. Fantastic to the tender mercies of Annihilus in the Negative Zone, the sneaky killers are actually seeking to end their millennial war against stellar rivals The Kree, but have underestimated Reed’s brilliance, his family’s tenacity and the cosmic awareness of Earth-loving Kree Exile Captain Mar-Vell…

A back-up tale by Moench & Tom Sutton takes us to recently liberated Latveria for the opening of proposed series ‘The Return of Doctor Doom!’ Only episode ‘The Power of the People!’ shows how restored monarch King Zorba fails to live up to his democratic promises and discover how excessive taxation really upsets voters, at around the same moment crazed, catatonic Victor von Doom goes missing from the most secure dungeon in Doomstadt…

Sadly, the impending crisis never materialised and was only addressed by Byrne in Fantastic Four #247…

Over in FF #224 & 225, fresh calamity unfolds in ‘The Darkfield Illumination’ (Moench, Sienkiewicz & Pablo Marcos) as radioactive red mist blankets Manhattan and plays hob with the team’s powers. Tracing the cloud’s origin point to an icy dome in the Arctic, the FF find a lost colony of technologically advanced Vikings utterly dependent upon a mutated immortal giant. ‘The Blind God’s Tears’ supply heat, light, food materials from the outside world and immortality, but now Korgon is dying and demands the explorers save him and the people who worship him. Always eager to help, the FF strive and succeed in saving the God, only to see him betrayed by his most trusted ally. As Korgon rages madly in response, the crisis escalates as Mighty Thor arrives to investigate worshippers who have abandoned their true god for a false one…

Bruce Patterson joins Marcos inking Sienkiewicz when Moench next brings closure to fans of his Shogun Warriors series. In their own title the former pilots of monster-fighting mega-mecha Dangard Ace, Raydeen and Combatra had been recruited by an ancient order to defend humanity, but retired when their machines were destroyed. That epic sacrifice had come when evil enemy Maur-Kon targeted the Fantastic Four and attempted to kill Reed. Now a new giant mecha rampages and robs, so the teams reunite with Ilongo Savage, Richard Carson and Genji Odashu aiding the fight against ‘The Samurai Destroyer’ and the unworthy soul exploiting its power for profit….

Movie-toned terror in the heartland follows as a meteor crashes in rural Pennsylvania resort Lost Lake just as the FF head out to the Boonies for a break. Their encounter with ‘The Brain Parasites’ reverting hosts to earlier evolutionary forms is by-the-books horror fun from Moench, Sienkiewicz & Patterson, and readily fixed by little Franklin’s increasingly unreliable powers. This sets the scene for the next – Sinnott inked – issue where further tests by professional head shrinkers and brain benders unleash uncontrollable chaos, possessed bystanders and an adult super-powered version of the lad. Thankfully, loving parents and uncles allow Franklin to exorcise his deadly ‘Ego-Spawn’.

The experiment in alternative tale-telling ends with a 3-part saga opening on #229’s ‘The Thing From the Black Hole’. When it homes in on Reed’s latest invention, Earth totters on the edge of destruction as a sentient singularity made of antimatter disrupts physical laws. Desperate Richards makes contact with its cosmic equivalent and uncovers a tale of love lost in service to scientific exploration. The wandering extinction event was once a living being whose love for a fellow astronaut turned them both into creatures of uncanny forces. Thankfully, ‘Firefrost and the Ebon Seeker’ now reach an understanding that saves Earth, but as a consequence a section of Manhattan – including the Baxter Building – is left inside the Negative Zone.

With panic amongst the abducted New Yorkers barely suppressed, the FF seek a solution ‘In All the Gathered Gloom!’ (Moench & Roger Stern, Sienkienwisz, Jerome Moore, Sinnott, & Frank Giacoia) even as new antimatter menace Stygorr zeroes in on the intruding enclave. The last thing the FF need is bullying big business plutocrat Lew Shiner telling everyone his money puts him in charge. After his posturing triggers a riot, tragedy is guaranteed, and the heroes barely beat the alien invader in time to return everyone surviving back home…

This foray into the fantastic finishes on a “soft pilot episode” as Fantastic Four Annual #16 embraces the contemporary fantasy market with ‘The Coming of… Dragon Lord!’ by Ed Hannigan & Steve Ditko. When trainee Ral Dorn is framed for killing a sacred beast and hunted by former fellows in the puissant extradimensional Dragon Rider organisation, the chase ends up with him wounded. His flight, employing a multi-powered Dragon Staff, leads to a collision with an off-duty quirky quartet, celebrating a reunion on the college campus where they first encountered astouding android Dragon Man,. but the coincidence escapes everybody and the heroes leave the mystery man to the medics.

Days later the fugitive breaks into their skyscraper home and with the Staff holding the FF at bay explains his predicament. A novice lawkeeper, his dream of bonding with a dragon has been shattered by the death of his destined beast-partner, and accusations that he’s responsible. The wild story is inadvertantly backed up by a posse of Dragon Riders seeking to stop him and the intervention of Ral’s bizarre former ally Lalique. When they are driven away, it is clear to the human heroes that something is not kosher and they determine to help him. It’s obvious to Ral that his boss Dragon Lord Skagerackäkor is behind the plot but without a bonded beast what can he do? That’s why he was on campus. He had learned of former FF foe Dragon Man and decided that needs must when the devil drives…

The classic plot left all the goodies rewarded amd baddies punished and was claearly an attempt to launch a series, but…

With covers by Sinnott, Ron Wilson, Josef Rubinstein, Rich Buckler, Al Milgrom, Byrne, Pollard, Sienkienwicz, Bob McLeod & Ditko the extras here include Sinnott pinups of the whole team and Thing pinup from FF #218 & 219: Sienkievich’s rejected cover-turned-pinup as printed in #224; the entries for January in the Marvel Comics 20th Anniversary Calandar 1981 (Sienkienwicz & Sinnott) plus original art pages/covers from Byrne, Sinnott, Sienkienwicz, Marcos and Patterson, as well as original colour-guides painted by George Roussos.

Although never quite returning to the stratospheric heights of the Kirby era, this truly different collection represents a closing of the First Act for the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine”, and palate-cleansing preparation for the second groundbreaking run by John Byrne. These extremely capable efforts are probably most welcome to dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but will still thrill and delight casual browsers looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement.
© 2025 MARVEL.

Today in 1858, French cartoonist Emmanuel Poiré was born. He annoyed all the right people as Caran d’Ache… and plenty of the wrong ones too. Far less controversial were Fred Harmon and screenwriter/ scripter Stephen Slesinger who launched epic cowboy strip Red Ryder this day in 1938.

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Chandler


By Steranko (Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc/Pyramid Books)
ISBN: 978-0-515-04241-2 (Pyramid Books)

This book contains Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Jim Steranko was born today in 1938. Can you guess what time it is?

Steranko is an artist with many strings to his bow. Whether as publisher, typographer, graphic designer, artist, writer, storyteller, historian, or musical performer he has always excelled. As magician & escapologist he found celebrity, inspiring new friend Jack Kirby to create Super Escape Artist Mister Miracle, but it’s as a comics creator the man of many talents has most memorably succeeded.

At the peak of Marvel’s first creative flowering he revolutionised the telling of graphic stories with Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. His retro-revisionist take on Captain America is reverently remembered, as is his brief meddling with mutant outriders The X-Men.

Decades after his experimental forays in Marvel’s horror and romance titles, the results are remembered – and now finally in print – as high-points in style and cinematic design.

Steranko left Marvel to pursue other interests and began publication of pop culture mainstay Mediascene Prevue, only rarely returning to the comics medium. If you’ve never seen his strip work you’ll know him by his film production concept art for blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the mid-1970s he linked up with comics Svengali Byron Preiss to create this fabulous experimental precursor of the graphic novel: a dynamic and vivid tribute to the hard-boiled detective and film noir genres, and something which perhaps not altogether to the tastes of fans at the time is certainly now very much in the bailiwick of contemporary comics consumers.

Alternatively entitled FICTION ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 3 in its pocket digest sized paperback iteration (as well as proper full-sized graphic novel Chandler: Red Tide), it still packs a potent visual and narrative punch.

Chandler is a private eye, in the iconic myth-country of 1940’s New York City. One night a desperate man comes looking for someone to track down his inescapable killer. Bramson Todd witnessed a mob hit and has somehow been poisoned because of it. With 72 hours to live, the walking corpse wants proactive revenge, and as well as a vast amount of money, he offers Chandler the chance to save three other witnesses from the same fate or worse…

The familiar iconography of a seedy, noble gumshoe is augmented by two-fisted action, flying bullets, sundry thugs and scoundrels, memorable, glamorous women and a ticking clock, all working to make this loving and effective pastiche a minor masterpiece…

Back then, however, a major stumbling block for many readers was the unconventional format of the book. Each folio is divided into two columns – in the manner of classic pulp prose page layouts – with each column comprising an illustration above a block of accompanying text.

Despite Steranko’s superb draughtsmanship and design skill (some spreads form extended visual continuities with 4-single frames becoming one large illustration), there is an element of separation between prose & picture that can take a little adapting to. But you should try. It’s worth it.

This is still a powerful tale, well told and worth any extra effort necessary to enjoy it. Another contender for immediate reissue, I think…

© 1976 Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. The character Chandler © 1976 James Steranko.

Today in 1977 René Goscinny died. You must by now know where to look for him. Two years later Li’l Abner’s Al Capp passed on too, in 2007 unsung star Paul Norris died. He’s most renowned for co-creating DC’s Sea King as most recently seen in Aquaman: 80 Years of the King of the Seven Seas – the Deluxe Edition.

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Death in Trieste


By Jason (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 979-8-8750-0125-3 (HB/digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Absurdly Enchanting Comics Capers… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic, comedic and ironic effect.

Born in 1965 in Molde, Norway, John Arne Sæterøy is known by enigmatic, utilitarian nom de plume Jason. The shy & retiring auteur first took the path to cartoon superstardom in 1995, once debut graphic novel Lomma full ay regn (Pocket Full of Rain) won Norway’s biggest comics prize: the Sproing Award. From 1987 he had contributed to alternate/indie magazine KonK while studying graphic design and illustration at Oslo’s Art Academy.

From there he took on Norway’s National School of Arts and, on graduating in 1994, founded his own comic book Mjau Mjau. Constantly refining his style into a potent form of meaning-mined anthropomorphic minimalism, Jason cited Lewis Trondheim, Jim Woodring & Tex Avery as primary influences. He moved to Copenhagen, working at Studio Gimle alongside Ole Comoll Christensen (Excreta, Mar Mysteriet Surn/Mayday Mysteries, Den Anden Praesident, Det Tredje Ojet) & Peter Snejbjerg (Den skjulte protocol/The Hidden Protocol, World War X, Tarzan, Books of Magic, Batman: Detective 27). Jason’s efforts were internationally noticed, making waves in France, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Germany and other Scandinavian countries as well as the Americas. He won another Sproing in 2001 – for self-published series Mjau Mjau – and in 2002 turned nigh-exclusively to producing graphic novels. He won even more major awards.

His breadth of interest is wide & deep: comics, movies, animated cartoons, music, literature art history and pulp fiction all feature equally with no sense of rank or hierarchy. Jason’s puckish, egalitarian mixing & matching of inspirational sources always and inevitably produces picture-treatises well worth a reader’s time. Over a succession of tales he has built and re-employed a repertory company of stock characters to explore deceptively simplistic milieux based on classic archetypes distilled from movies, childhood yarns, historical and literary favourites. These all role-play in deliciously absurd and surreal sagas centred on his preferred themes of relationships and loneliness. Latterly, Jason returned to such “found” players as he built his own highly esoteric universe, and even has a whole bizarre bunch of them “team-up” or clash…

As always, visual/verbal bon mots unfold in beguiling, sparse-dialogued, or even as here silently pantomimic progressions, with compellingly formal page layouts rendered in a pared back stripped-down interpretation of Hergé’s Claire Ligne style: solid blacks, thick outlines dominating settings of seductive monochrome simplicity augmented by a beguiling palette of stark pastels and muted primary colours.

A master of short-form illustrated tales, many Jason yarns have been released as snappy little albums perfect for later inclusion in longer anthology collections like this one which gathers a trio of his very best. The majority of tales brim with bleak isolation, swamped by a signature surreality. They are largely populated with cinematically-inspired, darkly comic, charmingly macabre animal people ruminating on inescapable concerns whilst re-enacting bizarrely cast, bestial movie tributes. That’s a style that has never been more apropos than right here, as the more modern Art Forms bow before the onslaught and tirade of organised anti-art philosophers and socially intellectual terrorists…

Linked by theme and character, it begins with ‘The Magritte Affair’ as dapper masked men haunt Paris, surreptitiously substituting domestic pictures (like David Bowie as Aladdin Sane) for knock-off Surrealist masterpieces. When seen by affronted householders the images can have mesmeric effects and even spark nervous breakdowns…

Incidences increase and before long special operatives Miss Mira Bell & Mr Bob Delon are assigned the case, but a break only comes after aging painter Victor Dubois is abducted. He proves to be only the latest of many…

After a violent but inconclusive clash with the bowler hat brigade, solid research takes the daring duo to Brussels and the Magritte Museum just as the incidents hit fever pitch. With oddly dressed zombies quoting surrealist doggerel in the streets Bell & Delon uncover the mastermind and motive to close the case… but not for long…

The delicious spoof of Steed & Peel’s Avengers gives way to darker espionage larks as ‘Death in Trieste’ opens on the much-protracted murder of Grigori Rasputin before switching time and place to Berlin in 1925 where a Dadaist convention welcomes time-lost David Bowie. Sadly, he’s more interested in compelling performer Marlene Dietrich, and not paying enough attention to the Nosferatu stalking rooftops and bedrooms…

Nobody is paying attention to Rasputin’s skull and what it’s accurately predicting will befall Germany in the next twenty years…

As doomed lives converge and the Dadaists run riot, the chaos brings forth an immortal hero as undying musketeers Athos pops in for a quick look…

The warped wonderment sidles to a full stop with ‘Sweet Dreams’ as stone heads on Easter Island give musician Bono advance warning of doom. When an asteroid changes direction in the void and heads right for Earth, converging signs and portents trigger artists, musicians and madmen everywhere. As the dead rise in museums and elsewhere, only new romantic pop stars are ready and willing to unite and use their extraordinary abilities to combat an oncoming apocalypse. With Major Tom now in orbit for one final countdown, can hip sounds possibly succeed where science and magic have both failed?

A delightful tip of the hat to spy shows, pop rock and horror movies disguised as an adventure in art history, Death in Trieste confirms the cosmic truth that Jason remains a taste instantly acquired: a creator any fan of the medium should move to the top of their “Must-Have” list.
All characters, stories, and artwork © 2019 Jason. This edition © Fantagraphics Books, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today in 1916 Lo Hartog van Banda was born. You only need to scroll back a bit to see him at work, whilst in 1948 Carl Thomas Anderson died. We dealt with him as much as possible in Henry Speaks for Himself.

Today in 1830 gloriously anti-monarchist satirical French weekly La Caricature began, and ran until 1843. Can you remember when Private Eye wasn’t the only cartoon voice of dissent and outraged injustice?

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Osama Tezuka’s Astro Boy volume 10


By Osamu Tezuka, translated by Frederik L. Schodt (Dark Horse Manga)
ISBN: 978-1-56971-793-1 (tank?bon PB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

From beginning his professional career in the late 1940s until his death in 1989, Osamu Tezuka generated an incomprehensible volume of quality work which transformed the world of manga and how it was perceived in his own country and, ultimately, across the globe. Devoted to Walt Disney’s creations, he also performed similar sterling service with Japan’s fledgling animation industry. Look what that led to…

The earliest stories were intended for children but right from the start Tezuka’s expansive fairy tale stylisations harboured more mature themes, holding hidden pleasures for older readers and the legion of fans growing up with the Mankaga’s manga masterworks…

The “God of Comics” was born in Osaka Prefecture on November 3rd 1928, and as a child suffered from severe illness. The doctor who cured him inspired the lad to study medicine, and although Osamu began drawing professionally whilst at university in 1946, he persevered with college and qualified as a medical practitioner too. Then, as he faced a career crossroads, his mother advised him to do the thing which made him happiest.

He never practiced as a healer but the world was gifted such masterpieces as Kimba the White Lion, Buddha, Black Jack and so many other graphic narratives. Working ceaselessly over decades, Tezuka and his creations inevitably matured, but he was always able to speak to the hearts and minds of young and old equally. His creations ranged from the childishly charming to the distinctly disturbing such as The Book of Human Insects or Tomorrow the Birds.

Tezuka died on February 9th 1989, having produced more than 150,000 pages of timeless comics; reinvented the Japanese anime industry and popularised a uniquely Japanese graphic narrative style which has become a fixture of global culture.

These monochrome digest volumes (173 x 113 mm in the physical world and any size you like if you read them digitally) present – in non-linear order – early exploits of his signature character, with the emphasis firmly on fantastic fun and family entertainment…

Tetsuwan Atomu (literally “Mighty Atom” but known universally as Astro Boy due to its dissemination around the world as an animated TV cartoon and one of post-war Japan’s better exports) is a spectacular, riotous, rollicking sci fi action-adventure starring a young boy who also happens to be one of the mightiest robots on Earth.

The series began in 1952 in Sh?nen Kobunsha and ran until March 12th 1968 – although Tezuka often added to the canon in later years, both in comics but in also in other media such as newspaper strips and in magazines. Throughout that period, the plucky robot lad spawned the aforementioned global TV cartoon boom, starred in comic book specials and featured in games, toys, collectibles, movies and the undying devotion of generations of ardent fans.

Tezuka frequently drew himself into his tales as a commentator, and in his later revisions and introductions often mentioned how he found the restrictions of Sh?nen comics stifling; specifically, having to periodically pause a plot to placate the demands of his audience by providing a blockbusting fight every episode. That’s his prerogative: most of us avid aficionados have no complaints and one upheld in abundance in the early tales included here…

Tezuka and his production team were never as wedded to close continuity as fans are. They constantly revised stories and artwork for later collections, so if you’re a purist you are just plain out of luck. Such tweaking and modifying is the reason these editions seemingly skip up and down publishing chronology. The intent is to entertain at all times so stories aren’t treated as gospel and order is not immutable or inviolate. It’s just comics, guys, and in case you came in late, here’s a little background to set you up.

In a forthcoming world where robots are ubiquitous and have won (limited) human rights, brilliant Dr. Tenma lost his son Tobio in a traffic accident. Grief-stricken, the tormented genius used his position as head of Japan’s Ministry of Science to have his team build a replacement. The android created was one of the most groundbreaking constructs in history, and for a while Tenma was content. However, as his mind re-stabilised, Tenma realised this unchanging humanoid was not Tobio and, with cruel clarity, no longer accepted a substitute. Ultimately, the savant removed the insult to his real boy by selling the robot to a shady dealer…

One day, independent researcher Professor Ochanomizu was in the audience at a robot circus and realised diminutive performer Astro was unlike the other acts – or indeed, any artificial being he’d ever encountered. Convincing the circus owners to part with the little robot, the boffin closely studied the unique creation and realised just what a miracle had come into his hands…

Part of Ochanomizu’s socialization process for Astro included placing him in a family environment and having him attend school just like a real boy. As well as providing friends and admirers the familiar environment turned up other foils and occasional assistants such as the bellicose Elementary School teacher Higeoyaji (AKA Mr. Mustachio) and a robot little sister dubbed Uran…

The wiry, widgety wonder’s astonishing exploits resume here after the now traditional ‘A Note to Readers’ – explaining why one thing that hasn’t been altered is the depictions of various racial types in the stories. Since the author was keen to combine all aspects of his creation into one overarching continuity, this volume (at last) incorporates classic 1950s material as well as the masterful Sixties sagas and following an intimate chat with the cartoonist opens with masterful monster mash -up ‘Astro vs Garon’ which was originally serialised in Sh?nen Magazine from October 1962 to February 1963. Here a sequence of wild weather events precedes the arrival of a bizarre object from space. As scientists gather, prod and poke about, they determine the package is some sort of cosmic flat-pack parcel. Sadly, once they put all the pieces together, what they have is a planet-restructuring autonomous entity…

Thanks to Ochanomizu and his little robot companion, a packing note is translated, revealing the power and purpose of the construct, and – crucially – that it has arrived on the WRONG PLANET!

Sent to the Superintendent of Megalopa by the King of Planet Yura, the package has been despatched to “kill Plasta” and “modify” planets, so the sagacious observers are perfectly happy to leave it alone from now on if they can’t find a way to destroy it. Sadly, they aren’t quick enough and lightning awakens “the Garon”, which goes on a catastrophic rampage that all Earth’s military might and valiant Astro Boy can barely handle.

Thinking the crisis over, the handmade hero is called back into action when inert Garon is stolen by sleazy Professor Amagawa and a conglomerate of greedy capitalists and gangsters, Transported to the South Pacific the monster is then deliberately unleashed and all hell inevitably breaks loose. Able to convert the atmosphere and alter gravity, Garon goes wild and the astonishingly outpowered robot kid seems unable to pull off a second miracle.

Thankful for an old fable he once heard, Astro Boy devises a way to outsmart and banish the beast he cannot kill…

Japanese kids were editorially and parentally sheltered in different ways to us in the West, and second saga ‘Yellow Horse’ (Sh?nen, October 1955 – February 1956) might be a little shocking to some. It deals with diabolical drug dealers and sees Astro seconded by Police Inspector Nakamura to crack a ruthless smuggling gang with a hideout that is literally out of this world. To defeat them, the boy ‘bot goes undercover posing as a young user and eventually junkie/recruit, having to allow his hero Mr. Mustachio to be attacked and nearly killed and Professor Ochanomizu to be tortured and turned into an addict…

Eventually however, the plan gels and a calamitous battle reveals another shocking secret before the case can be closed…

Next, from Sh?nen magazine March to April 1967, ‘The 100 Million Year Old Crime’ sees a gang of French mutant juvenile delinquents run amok, endangering all of society with their unchecked mental powers. Called in to help, Professor O and Astro are crushed and defeated by the teens after they steal unstoppable robot superweapon Karabusu…

As the professor is cruelly enslaved by the mutant kids, the wrecked scraps of Astro are found by ancient aliens. These “water ghosts” have been on/in Earth for 100,000,000 years and the father one is mired in guilt for committing an utterly unpardonable act. His daughter Parma is, however, enchanted by the robot remains and rebuilds him, triggering a cycle of redemption. Repaired and curious, Astro learns that heinous antediluvian crime was meddling with earth creatures’ genetic and creating humanity. All their historical atrocities and planetary harms are the alien’s fault and now he will wipe out his mistake. Desperate, Astro debates with the despondent progenitor and a deadly deal is struck, one involving reforming those mutant kids who seem to be the very worst the species can offer…

Sadly, the morbid maker has no intention of honouring it and Astro has to resort to the kind of tactics he despises for the good of all…

This outing to the orient of cartoon yore ends with a cunning crime caper and contemporary spoof saga as ‘Astro’s Been Stolen!’ (June to September in Tetsuwan Atom Kurabu AKA Mighty Atom Club) sees the mecha mite and his loving (equally mechanical) family distraught following a message from Professor O. This explains that the boy, his sister and they all need to grow for their mental health. That means transferring their processors and personalities into new, appropriately aged bodies every ten years…

Tragically, Ochanomizu has been targeted by diabolical twinned Doctors Rukarike. He’s actually a singular supervillain called Gettrich who cons the well-meaning savant into switching Astro Boy’s electro-brain into an adult replacement frame just so he can steal the junior version and place a hench-minion’s mind in it. The purpose is to gain admittance to the top-secret base containing super artefact the Neo-pyramid, but the fiend has not reckoned with Astro’s resilience and determination, nor the timely interference of British agent James Itch Dnob…

Breathtaking pace, outrageous invention, slapstick comedy, heart-wrenching sentiment and frenetic action are hallmarks of these captivating comics constructions: all ideal examples of Tezuka’s uncanny storytelling gifts. These still deliver a potent punch and instil wide-eyed wonder on a variety of intellectual levels and our melange of mecha-marvels is further enhanced an older, more sophisticated tone via the material’s constant revision, confirming Astro Boy as a genuine delight for all ages.
Tetsuwan Atom by Osama Tezuka © 2002 by Tezuka Productions. All rights reserved. Astro Boy is a registered trademark of Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd., Tokyo Japan. Unedited translation © 2002 Frederik L. Schodt.

Today in 1998 Batman co-creator Bob Kane died. Coincidentally, way back in 1927 letterer Milt Snappin was born on this same date. Milt put the words in Batman & Robin’s bubbles – as well as Superman, Superboy and other DC World’s Finest stars throughout the post Golden and Silver Age period.

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Hungarian Rhapsody


By Vittorio Giardino (Catalan Communications)
ISBN: 978-0-87416-033-8 (TPB Album)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

It’s time again for me to whine about how and why some of humanity’s most impressive comics tales continually languish in English-language limbo as my loutish people seemingly refuse to open themselves to the wonders of the world. This time – AGAIN! – it’s a truly wonderful period spy drama you would think was the height of taste and fashion right now…

Born on Christmas Eve 1946, Vittorio Giardino was an electrician who switched careers at age 30. He initially worked for a number of comics magazines before his first collection – Pax Romana – was released in 1978. Giardino toiled, slowly but consistently, on both feature characters such as detective Sam Pezzo, saucy Winsor McKay homage Little Ego and cold-war drama Jonas Fink, as well as general fiction tales, producing 46 albums to date.

In 1982 he began relating the career of a quiet, bearded fellow recalled by the Deuxieme Bureau (the French Secret Service) to investigate the slaughter of almost every agent in the cosmopolitan paradise of Budapest. The series ran in four parts in the magazine Orient Express before being collected as Rhapsodie Hongroise – Giardino’s thirteenth book

… and one in no way unlucky for him. Reluctant spy Max Fridman (transliterated as Max Friedman for the English-speaking world) was dragged back into the “Great Game” in the years of uneasy peace just before the outbreak of World War II: a metaphor for the nations of Europe. That is now more relevant than ever…

Over the course of ten years, the masterful Italian graphic novelist crafted two more individual tales and in 1999 added a stunning triptych of albums. The three volumes of No Pasaràn! detailed a key moment during the on-going conflict in what became Republican Spain and the dying days of the Civil War which revealed many clues into the life of the diffident and unassuming hero. Three further volumes have been added to the canon (Max Fridman: Rio de Sangre in 2002, Max Fridman: Sin ilusión in 2008, and just this year Max Fridman: I cugini Meyer) so I’m declaring they are all now long past due to be revived and revisited, and revered…

In Hungarian Rhapsody, Friedman debuts as a troubled, cautious man with a daughter he adores and a nebulous past somehow stemming from undisclosed experiences in the Spanish Civil War where he fought as a Republican in the International Brigades against Franco’s Nationalists. He is no ideologue or man of action, but still, somehow, is convinced – call it blackmailed if you must – to leave his idyllic home in Switzerland to investigate a plague of assassinations for his devious French taskmasters…

Friedman is a hero in the mould of John le Carré’s George Smiley: a methodical thinker and the very antithesis of such combat supermen as James Bond, Jason Bourne, Ethan Hun or The King’s (latest) Man. Freshly arrived in Budapest, Friedman gently prods and pokes about, promptly becoming target of not just the mysterious killers, but seemingly every rabid faction in a city crammed full of spies of every type and description, from Soviet agitators to Nazi plotters, every kind of independent operator.

In a city of stunning, if decadent, beauty and cultural extremes, where East meets West, and many meet their fates, Friedman finds that – like the spy-game itself – nobody and nothing can be trusted. Somebody somewhere has a master-plan but who it is and what it is…?

That’s a mystery that could get even the most cautious agent killed…

Giardino is a powerfully subtle writer who lets tone and shaded nuance carry a tale, and his captivating art – a semi-representational derivation of the Franco-Belgian “Ligne Claire” style – makes the lovingly rendered locations as much a character in this smart, gripping drama as any of the stylishly familiar players of a dark, doomed world on the brink of holocaust.

Although largely an agent unknown in the English-speaking world, Max Friedman is one of espionage literature’s greatest characters. Giardino’s work is like honey for the eyes and mind. Hungarian Rhapsody is a graphic novel any fan of comics or the Intelligence Game should know. So for cripes sakes, All You Who Constantly Monitor Us, de-classify and re-release this book!
© 1986 Vittorio Giardino. All rights reserved.

Today is big in mangaka moments. As well as being Osamu Tezuka’s natal release in 1928, the same day/month/year saw the birth of Goseki Kojima. As co-creator of Lone Wolf and Cub volume 6: Lanterns for the Dead and so many other astounding sagas he should be your next port of call as soon as you’re done here. Less renowned but still so very watchable, Takao Saito was born today in 1936, someone we’ve rudely neglected since Golgo 13 volumes 1-4!

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The Creeper by Steve Ditko


By Ditko, Don Segall, Denny O’Neil, Michael Fleisher, Mike Peppe, Jack Sparling & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2592-6 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

It’s Steve Ditko’s 99th birthday today and I’m not letting the fact that he’s no longer with us stop us enjoying his wonders and celebrating his unique storytelling mastery…

Steve Ditko was one of our industry’s greatest and most influential talents and, during his lifetime, amongst America’s least lauded. Always reclusive and reticent by inclination, his fervent desire was always just to get on with his job, tell stories the best way he can and let his work speak for him.

Whilst the noblest of aspirations, that attitude was usually a minor consideration – and even an actual stumbling block – for the commercial interests which for so long controlled all comics production and still exert an overwhelming influence upon the mainstream bulk of the comic industry’s output. After Ditko’s legendary disagreements with Stan Lee led to his quitting Marvel – where his groundbreaking efforts made the reclusive genius (at least in comicbook terms) a household name – he found work at Warren Comics and resumed his long association with Charlton Comics.

That company’s laissez faire editorial attitudes had always offered him the most creative freedom, if not greatest financial reward, but in 1968 their wünderkind editor Dick Giordano was poached by the rapidly-slipping industry leader and he took some of his bullpen of key creators with him to DC Comics. Whilst Jim Aparo, Steve Skeates, Frank McLaughlin and Denny O’Neil found a new and regular home, Ditko began only a sporadic – if phenomenally productive – association with DC.

It was during this heady if unsettled period that the first strips derived from Ditko’s interpretation of the Objectivist philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand began appearing in fanzines and independent press publications like Witzend and The Collector, whilst for the “over-ground” publishing colossus he devised a brace of cult classics with The Hawk and the Dove and the superbly captivating concept re-presented here: Beware The Creeper. Later efforts would include Shade, the Changing Man, Stalker and The Odd Man, plus truly unique interpretations of Man-Bat, the Legion of Super-Heroes and many more… including a wealth of horror, mystery and sci fi shorts reminiscent of his Charlton glory days.

The auteur’s comings and goings also allowed him to revisit past triumphs and none more so than with The Creeper – who kept periodically popping up like a mad, bad penny. This superb hardcover compilation – still tragically and inexplicably languishing with other classics DC hasn’t got around to making available in digital formats – gathers every Ditko-drafted/delineated Creeper classic from a delirious decade for your delight, and the spooky superhero spectacle kicks off with an effusive Introduction from appreciative fan Steve (30 Days of Night) Niles.

This collation curates tales from Showcase #73; Beware the Creeper #1-6; 1st Issue Special #7; World’s Finest Comics #249-255 and Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2/Showcase #106 (collectively spanning March/April 1968 to February/March 1979), so settle in for a long ride…

Like so many brilliant ideas before it, Ditko’s bizarre DC visions first exploded off the newsstands in try-out title Showcase. Issue #73 heralded ‘The Coming of the Creeper!!’ with veteran comics & TV scripter Don Segall putting the words to Ditko’s plot and illustrations. The moodily macabre tale introduces suicidally-outspoken TV host Jack Ryder, whose attitude to his show’s sponsors and cronies loses him his cushy job. His brazen attitude does, however, impress network security chief Bill Brane and the gruff oldster offers him a job as an investigator and occasional bodyguard.

Jack’s first case involves tracking down recent Soviet defector Professor Yatz who has gone missing. The CIA suspect has been abducted by gangster Angel Devilin and sold to Red agent Major Smej. Displaying a natural affinity for detective work, Ryder tracks a lead to Devilin’s grand house and interrupts a costume party designed as a cover to make the trade. Promptly kicked out by thugs, Ryder heads for a costume shop but can only find a box of garish odds and ends… and lots of makeup.

Kitted out in a strange melange of psychedelic attire and accoutrements, he breaks back in but is caught and stabbed before being thrown into a cell with the missing Yatz. The scientist – also grievously wounded – is determined to keep his inventions out of the hands of evil men. These creations comprise an instant-healing serum and a Molecular Transmuter, able to shunt whatever a person is wearing or carrying into and out of our universe. A fully equipped army could enter a country as harmless tourists and materialise a complete armoury before launching sneak attacks…

To preserve them, Yatz lodges the Transmuter inside Ryder’s knife wound before injecting him with the untested serum. The effect is instantaneous and doesn’t even leave a scar. The investigator is also suddenly faster, stronger and more agile…

When Jack presses a handheld activator, he is instantly naked, and experimentation shows that he can make his motley costume appear and disappear just by touching a button. Of course, now, whenever it is activated, neither makeup nor wig, bodystocking, boots or gloves will come off. It’s like the crazy outfit has become his second skin…

When the gangsters come for their captives, Yatz is burning his notes. In the fracas that follows he catches a fatal bullet and, furious, guilt-ridden and strangely euphoric, Ryder goes after the thugs and spies. By the time the cops arrive he finds himself (or at least his canary yellow alter ego) blamed by Devilin for the chaos and even a burglary. The mobster has even given him a name – The Creeper…

As soon as the furore dies down vengeful Ryder returns to exact justice for the professor and discovers his uncanny physical prowess and macabre, incessant unnerving laughter give him an unbeatable edge whilst winning him a supernatural reputation…

After that single yarn the haunting hero hurtled straight into his own bimonthly series. Beware the Creeper #1 debuted with a May/June cover-date. Behind one of the most evocative covers of the decade – or indeed, ever – ‘Where Lurks the Menace?’ (scripted by Denny O’Neil under his occasional pen-name Sergius O’Shaughnessy) finds Ryder and the Creeper hunting an acrobatic killer beating to death numerous shady types in a savage effort to take over the city’s gangs. Sadly, Jack’s relentless pursuit of “the Terror” and careful piecing together of many disparate clues to his identity is hindered by the introduction of publicity-hungry, obnoxious glamour-puss ‘Vera Sweet’. The TV weathergirl thinks she has the right to monopolise Ryder’s time and attention, even when he’s ducking fists and bullets…

The remainder of the far-too-brief run featured a classic duel of opposites as a chameleonic criminal mastermind insinuated himself into the lives of Jack and the Brane bunch. It all began with ‘The Many Faces of Proteus!’ in BtC #2 (by Ditko & O’Shaughnessy) wherein a pompous do-gooder’s TV campaign against The Creeper is abruptly curtailed after the Golden Grotesque shows up at the studio and throws bombs.

Caught in the blast is baffled and battered Jack Ryder, and he’s even more bewildered when Brane informs him that a tip has come in confirming the Creeper is working for gambler gangboss Legs Larsen…

Dodging Vera, whose latest scheme involves a fake engagement, the real Creeper reaches Larsen’s gaming house in time to see a faceless man put a bullet into the prime suspect. In the ensuing panic the Laughing Terror transforms back into Ryder and strolls out with Larsen’s files, unaware that the faceless man is watching him leave and putting a few clues together himself…

The documents reveal a lone player slowly consolidating a grip on the city’s underworld but discloses no concrete information, so the Creeper goes on a very public rampage against all criminals in hopes of drawing Proteus out. The gambit works perfectly as a number of close friends try to kill Ryder, but only after frantically fending off flamethrower-wielding Vera in his own apartment does the Creeper realise that Proteus is far more than a madman with a makeup kit. A spectacular rooftop duel ends in a collapsed building and apparent end of the protean plunderer… but there’s no body to be found in the rubble…

Beware the Creeper #3 has our outré hero tearing the city’s thugs apart looking for Proteus, but his one-man spook-show is curtailed when Brane sends Ryder to find Vera. Little Miss Wonderful is determined to be the first to interview an island society cut off from the world for over a century, but all contact has been lost since she arrived. Tracking her to ‘The Isle of Fear’ Jack finds her in the hands of a death cult. More important to Ryder, however, is the fact that the Supreme One leading the maniacs is actually a top criminal offering sanctuary to Proteus flunkies he’s been scouring the city for…

Back in civilisation again, ‘Which Face Hides My Enemy?’ sees Ryder expose High Society guru and criminal mesmerist Yogi Birzerk’s unsuspected connection to Proteus. The cops drive The Creeper away before he can get anything from the charlatan, and when he dejectedly returns home Jack walks into an explosive booby trap in his new apartment. The “warning” from Proteus heralds the arrival of Asian troubleshooters Bulldog Bird and Sumo who claim to be also pursuing the faceless villain. They reveal he was a high-ranking member of the government of Offalia who stole a chemical which alters the molecular composition of flesh, before suggesting they all team up. Heading back to Bizerk’s place, it soon becomes clear that they are actually working for Proteus and that the faceless fiend knows Ryder’s other identity…

With #5, inker Mike Peppe joined Ditko & O’Neil as the epic swung into high gear with ‘The Color of Rain is Death!’ Proteus makes his closing moves, attacking Jack’s associates and framing him again whilst preparing for a criminal masterstroke which will win him much of the city’s wealth. Luring the Creeper into the sewers as a major storm threatens to deluge the city, the face-shifter reveals a scheme to blow up the drainage system and cause catastrophic flooding. After a brutal battle, he also leaves The Creeper tied to a grating to drown…

The stunning saga closed with final issue Beware the Creeper #6 (March/April 1969), by which time Ditko had all but abandoned his creation. ‘A Time to Die’ saw tireless, reliable everyman artist Jack Sparling pencil most of the story as the Howling Hero escapes his death-trap, deciphers the wily villain’s true gameplan and delivers a crushing final defeat. It was fun and thrilling and – unlike many series which folded at that troubled time – even provided an actual conclusion, but it somehow it wasn’t satisfactory and it wasn’t what we wanted.

This was a time when superheroes went into another steep decline with supernatural and genre material rapidly gaining prominence throughout the industry. With Fights ‘n’ Tights comics folding all over, Ditko concentrated again on Charlton’s mystery line, an occasional horror piece for Warren and his own projects…

In the years his own title was dormant, the Creeper enjoyed many guest shots in other comics and it was established that the city he prowled was in fact Gotham. When Ditko returned to DC in the mid-1970s, try-out series 1st Issue Special was alternating new concepts with revivals of old characters. Issue #7 (October 1975) gave the quirky crusader another shot at stardom in ‘Menace of the Human Firefly’ – written by Michael Fleisher & inked by Mike Royer. Here restored TV journalist Jack Ryder is inspecting the fantastic felons in Gotham Penitentiary just as manic lifer Garfield Lynns breaks jail to resume his interrupted costumed career as the master of lighting effects. By the time the rogue’s brief but brilliant rampage is over, the Creeper has discovered something extremely disturbing about his own ever-evolving abilities…

The story wasn’t enough to restart the rollercoaster, but some years later DC instituted a policy of giant-sized anthologies, and the extra page counts allowed a number of lesser lights to secure back-up slots and shine again. For World’s Finest Comics #249-255 (cover-dated February/March 1978 to February/March 1979) Ditko was invited to produce a series of 8-page vignettes starring his most iconic DC creation. This time he wrote as well as illustrated and the results are pure eccentric excellence. The sequence begins with ‘Moon Lady and the Monster’ as Ryder – once again a security operative for Cosmic Broadcasting Network – must ferret out a grotesque brute stalking a late-night horror-movie hostess, after which #250’s ‘Return of the Past’ reprises the origin as Angel Devilin gets out of jail and goes looking for revenge…

In WFC #251, ‘The Disruptor’ proves to be a blackmailer attempting to extort CBN by sabotaging programmes whilst ‘The Keeper of Secrets is Death!’ in #252 follows the tragic murder of Dr. Joanne Russell who was accused on a sensationalistic TV show of knowing the Creeper’s secret identity. Next issue ‘The Wrecker’ offers an actual grudge-bearing mad scientist who has built a most unconventional robot, whilst ‘Beware Mr. Wrinkles!’ in #254 debuts a villain with the power to age his victims. Neither, however, are a match for the tireless, spring-heeled Technicolor Tornado, whose too-short return culminates in a lethal duel with a knife-throwing jewel thief in #255’s ‘Furious Fran and the Dagger Lady’…

Until this volume, that was it for Ditko devotees and Creeper collectors, but as the final delight in this splendid compendium reveals, there was more. An ill-considered expansion was followed by 1978’s infamous “DC Implosion”, when a number of titles were shut down or cancelled before release. One of those was Showcase #106 which would have featured a new all-Ditko Creeper tale.

It was collected – with sundry other lost treasures – in a copyright-securing, monochrome, minimum print-run internal publication entitled Cancelled Comics Cavalcade. Here, from CCC #2 (1978) and presented in stark black & white, fans can see the Garish Gallant’s last Ditko-devised hurrah as ‘Enter Dr. Storme’ pits the Creeper (and cameo crimebuster The Odd Man) against a deranged weatherman turned climatic conqueror able to manipulate the elements.

Fast, fight-filled, furiously fun and devastatingly dynamic, Beware the Creeper was a high-point in skewed superhero sagas and this is a compendium no lovers of the genre can do without.
© 1968, 1969, 1975, 1978, 1979, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1926 Harvey Comics star and Anthro originator Howie Post was born, followed a year later by the mighty Steve Ditko. Just scroll back up or look anywhere on this blog, dude!

Sadly, it’s also the anniversary of Wally Wood’s death in 1981. We last looked closely at Ditko’s frequent collaborator in Cannon.

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Lola – a Ghost Story


By J. Torres & Elbert Or (Oni Press)
ISBN: 978-1-934964-33-0 (HB/Digital edition) 978-1-93266-424-9 (PB)

These days young kids are far more likely to find their formative strip narrative experiences online or between the card-covers of specially tailored graphic novels rather than the comics and periodicals of my long-dead youth.

In times past the commercial comics industry thrived by producing copious amounts of gaudy, flimsy pamphlets subdivided into a range of successfully, self-propagating, seamlessly self-perpetuating age-specific publications.

Such eye-catching items generated innumerable tales and delights intended to entertain, inform and educate such well-defined target demographics as Toddler/Kindergarten, Younger and Older Juvenile, General, Girls, Boys and even Young Teens, but today the English-speaking world can only afford to maintain a few paltry out-industry licensed tie-ins and spin-offs for a dwindling younger readership.

Where once cheap and prolific, comics periodicals in the 21st century are extremely cost-intensive and manufactured for a highly specific – and dwindling – niche market, whilst the beguiling and bombastic genres that originally fed and nurtured them are more immediately disseminated via TV, movies and assorted interactive games, media or streaming services.

Happily, old-school prose publishers and the graphic novel industry still have a different business model and more sustainable long-term goals, so magazine makers’ surrender became their window, as solid, reassuringly sturdy Comic Books bucked the pamphlet/papers trend.

Some of the old-fashioned publishers even evolved and joined the revolution…

Independent comics mainstay Oni made the switch to sturdy stand-alone one-offs at the end of the last century, publishing a succession of superbly illustrated tales splendidly pushing the creative envelope whilst providing memorable yarns irresistibly luring young potential fans of the form into our world.

That looks quite creepy in type-form but that’s okay – this is a beguilingly spooky story and you should be on your guard.

Aimed at readers of seven and above, Lola – a Ghost Story follows young Canadian Jesse as he returns to the rural Philippines farm where his parents grew up. It’s not his first visit, but it is the saddest. They’re going back for the funeral of his grandmother…

In the Tagalog language Lola means “grandmother” and Jesse’s was pretty scary. She was old and ugly, had a hump on her back and – he thinks – she tried to drown him when he was a baby. Grandma Lola also saw dead things and monsters and the future… just like Jesse does. Despite all this he loved her very much and really doesn’t want to accept that she’s gone forever.

After hours of exhausting travel into the forbidding wild regions, Jesse and his folks at last arrive at the old farmhouse which has witnessed so much tragedy. The little visitor fulsomely greets his uncle and cousin Maritess, but won’t acknowledge her brother JonJon. That kid’s acting like a jerk as usual, and besides he’s been dead for over a year and no-one else can see him…

Soon the family are gathered together: eating, memorialising the departed and telling stories of Lola – like the time she saw the giant devil-pig and saved the entire family from financial ruin. Despite a convivial atmosphere, Jesse is still ill at ease. Even though everyone here believes grandmother had second sight and blessed gifts, the sensibly modern boy can’t bring himself to believe the things he sees are real. Maritess believes though, and she suspects what Jesse won’t admit even to himself…

After JonJon teases him some more and taunts him with the giant bestial, cigar-smoking Kapre lurking at the window, Jesse finally drops into an exhausted, nervous slumber. The funeral next day is horrible. Everybody is sad, the church is filled with so many shockingly damaged spirits and Jesse is afflicted with a vision of being trapped and burning which makes him run screaming from the ceremony.

Still traumatised that evening, he finds JonJon’s old toybox on his bed and Maritess guesses what has happened. She tells her cousin the story of the bloodsucking Manananggal which attacked Lola’s mother, causing her unborn daughter’s hump back and magical sight. Such gifts and curses usually skip a generation and Maritess always assumed she’d be the one to get the sight, but now that it’s clear Jesse is the one to inherit the power, she’s determined to give him all the help he needs.

The recovered box is full of JonJon’s toy cars, and, after playing with them, Jesse and the dead boy romp over by the farm wall… the one where nobody is allowed to go anymore…

Jesse’s uncle isn’t doing very well: all the tragedies have made him very sad and he’s drinking an awful lot. There are other problems bothering Jesse too. The entire family have stories about grandmother and it’s clear she was brave and determined and fought monsters all her life: is that, then, why she tried to drown him when he was a baby?

Maritess tells her Canadian cousin about the time little Lola saved her school friends from a predatory Tiyanak – a baby-shaped carnivorous monster – and he readies himself to ask her if she thinks he might be evil. Just then her father comes in very drunk and shouts at him for leaving JonJon’s cars in the garden.

They are all he has left to remember his son and the boy’s favourite one is already missing. Jesse knows which one it is… the striped one JonJon calls “Zebra” which he wouldn’t share with him last night by the wall…

Uncle Tim hates the wall. It had something to do with his son’s death and Jesse knows he’ll get into trouble if he goes over it. But Uncle is so sad. He misses his boy and really wanted to bury Zebra with JonJon, but it’s gone and the man is so drunk and angry all the time now…

Jesse’s fear that Lola saw something evil in him is calmed by Maritess, who thinks he should use his gift to help people – just like just their grandmother used to. So, when JonJon appears again, Jesse climbs the despised wall and vanishes into the wild unknown beyond…

With Jesse’s first good deed successfully accomplished, JonJon can rest and Uncle Tim is at peace. The troubled psychic is even a little less disturbed by his power and apparent destiny. Sadly, that all changes on the trip back to the airport when Jesse sees something utterly horrifying…

Evocative, compelling, gently enthralling and with a genuinely scary shock ending, this superb child’s chiller is filled with a fascinating new bestiary of monsters and bogey-men to bedazzle Western eyes and imaginations, but mostly relies on captivating art and top-notch storytelling to draw readers in.

I loved it and so will you…
Lola is ™ & © 2009 J. Torres. All other material © 2009 Oni Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Golden Age Spectre Archives


By Jerry Siegel & Bernard Baily with Gardner F. Fox & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-5638-9955-3 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Masterpieces for all Comics Addicts… 9/10

Ola! Happy Día de (los) Muertos!

There were and still are a lot of comics anniversaries this year: many rightly celebrated, but a lot were unjustly ignored. As a feverish fanboy wedged firmly in the past, I’m abusing my privileges here to kvetch again about another brilliant vintage book, criminally out of print and not slated for revival either physically or in digital formats. That means occasionally recommending items that might be a bit hard to find. At least you might be buying from those poor beleaguered comics shops and specialists desperately in need of your support now, rather than some faceless corporate internet emporium..,

In fact, considering the state of the market, how come DC doesn’t just convert its entire old Archive line into eBooks and win back a few veteran fans? Don’t ask me, I only imitate working here…

Created by Jerry Siegel & Bernard Baily in 1939, The Spectre is one of the oldest characters in DC’s vast character stable. He debuted with a 2-part origin epic in More Fun Comics #52 and 53 (cover-dated February & March 1940 and on sale from December 28th 1939 and February 2nd 1940 respectively). He was the first superhero to star in that previously all-genres anthology, and reigned supreme in the title with flamboyant, eerily eccentric supernatural thrillers. He gradually slipped from popularity as firstly Dr. Fate and then Johnny Quick, Aquaman, Green Arrow and finally Superboy showed up to steal the limelight.

By the time of his last appearance in More Fun #101 February 1945, the Ghostly Guardian had been reduced to a foil for his own comedic sidekick Percival Popp, the Super-Cop…

Just like Siegel’s other iconic creation, the Dark Man suffered from a basic design flaw: he was just too darn powerful. Unlike that vigorously vital and earthy early Superman, however, the ethereal champion of justice was already dead, so he couldn’t be logically or dramatically imperilled. Of course, in those far-off early days that wasn’t nearly as important as sheer spectacle: grabbing the reader’s utter attention and keeping it stoked to a fantastic fever pitch. This the Grim Ghost could do with ease and ever-increasing intensity.

Re-presenting the first 19 eerie episodes and following a fulsome Foreword detailing the state of play within the budding marketplace during those last months of the 1930s – courtesy of preeminent Comics historian Dr. Jerry Bails – the arcane action in this astoundingly enticing collection commences with ‘The Spectre: Introduction’ as first espied in More Fun Comics #52. This wasn’t the actual title: like so many strips of those early days, most stories didn’t have individual descriptors and have been retroactively entitled for compilations such as this.

The Astral Avenger was only barely glimpsed in this initial instalment. Instead, focus rests on hard-bitten police detective Jim Corrigan, who is about to wed rich heiress Clarice Winston when they are abducted by mobster Gat Benson. Stuffed into a barrel of cement and pitched off a pier, Corrigan dies and goes to his eternal reward.

Almost…

Rather than finding Paradise and peace, Corrigan’s spirit is accosted by a glowing light and disembodied voice which, over his strident protests, orders him return to Earth to fight crime and evil until all vestiges of them are gone. Standing on the seabed and looking at his own corpse, Corrigan began his mission by going after his own killers…

MFC #53 details how ‘The Spectre Strikes’ as the outraged revenant swiftly, mercilessly and horrifically ends his murderers before saving Clarice. Naturally “Corrigan” calls off the engagement and moves out of the digs he shares with fellow cop and best friend Wayne Grant. A cold, dead man has no need for the living. The origin ends with Corrigan implausibly sewing himself a green & white costume and swearing to eradicate all crime…

Splendidly daft and intensely enthralling, this 2-part yarn comprises one of the darkest and most memorable origins in comic book annals and the feature only got better with each issue as the bitter, increasingly isolated lawman swiftly grows into the most overwhelmingly powerful hero of the Golden Age.

In MFC #54 the Supernatural Sentinel tackles ‘The Spiritualist’, a murderous medium and unscrupulous charlatan who almost kills Clarice and forever ends the Spectre’s hopes for eternal rest, after which #55 introduces worthy opposition in ‘Zor’: a ghost of far greater vintage and power, dedicated to promulgating evil on Earth. He too menaces Clarice and only the intervention of the Heavenly Voice and a quick upgrade in phantasmal power enables Spectre to overcome this malign menace.

More Fun Comics #56 was the first to feature Howard Sherman’s Dr. Fate on the cover, but the Spectre was still the big attraction, even if merely mundane bandits and blackmailers instigating ‘Terror at Lytell’s’ were no match for the ever-inventive wrathful wraith. Far more serious was ‘The Return of Zor’ in #57, as the horrific haunt escapes from beyond to frame Corrigan for murder and again endanger the girl Jim dare not love…

An embezzler turns to murder as ‘The Arsonist’ in #58, but is no match for the cop – let alone his eldritch alter ego – whilst ‘The Fur Hi-Jackers’ actually succeed in “killing” the cop, yet still suffer the Spectre’s unique brand of justice. In #60, ‘The Menace of Xnon’ sees a super-scientist utilising incredible inventions to frame the ghost and even menace his ethereal existence – prompting The Voice to again increase its servant’s power. This means giving The Spectre the all-powerful Ring of Life – but not before the Ghostly Guardian has been branded Public Enemy No. 1.

With Corrigan now ordered to arrest his spectral other self on sight, #61 (another Dr. Fate cover) features ‘The Golden Curse Deaths’ wherein prominent citizens perish from a tech terror with a deadly Midas Touch, prior to ‘The Mad Creation of Professor Fenton’ pitting the Phantom Protector against a roving, ravaging, disembodied mutant super-brain. In #63, a kill-crazy racketeer gets his just deserts in the electric chair only to return and personally inflict ‘Trigger Daniels’ Death Curse’ upon all who opposed him in life. Happily, The Spectre is more than his match whereas ‘The Ghost of Elmer Watson’ is a far harder foe to face. Murdered by mobsters who also nearly kill Wayne Grant, the remnant of the vengeful dead man refuses to listen to The Spectre’s brand of reason. Thus, its dreadful depredations must be dealt with in fearsome fashion…

‘Dr. Mephisto’ was a real-deal spiritualist who used an uncanny blue flame for crime in MFC #65, after which the Ghostly Guardian battles horrendous monsters called forth from ‘The World Within the Paintings’ (probably written by the series’ first guest writer Gardner Fox), whilst Siegel scribes ‘The Incredible Robberies’, putting the phantom policeman into fearful combat to the death and beyond with diabolical mystic Deeja Kathoon. From #68 on The Spectre finally acknowledged someone’s superiority after losing his protracted cover battle to Dr. Fate even though, inside, the ‘Menace of the Dark Planet’ features a fabulously telling tale of Earthbound Spirit against alien invasion by life-leeching Little Green Men. In his next exploit ‘The Strangler’ murders lead Corrigan into an improbable case with an impossible killer…

This terrifying titanic but far-too-short tome terminates on issue #70 and ‘The Crimson Circle Mystery Society’ in which a sinister cult employs merciless phantasmal psychic agent Bandar to carry out its deadly schemes and desires…

Although still a mighty force of fun and fearful entertainment, The Spectre’s Glory Days and Nights were waning, with more credible champions coming to the fore. He would be one of the first casualties of the post-War decline in mystery men and not be seen again until the Silver Age of 1960’s. His path to his own title was tough then too and also led to an early retirement…

Moreover, when he did finally return to comics full-time, the previously omnipotent phantasm was curtailed by strict limits and as he continued to evolve through various returns, refits and reboots The Spectre was finally transmogrified: being bound to a tormented mortal soul inescapably attached to the actual embodiment of the biblical Wrath of God. Revamped and revived in perpetuity, revealed as the Spirit of Vengeance wedded to a human conscience, Jim Corrigan was finally laid to rest in the 1990s and Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan replaced him. Returning to basics in more recent years, the next host was murdered Gotham City cop Crispus Allen.

They’re all worth tracking down and exhuming: spooky comic champions who have never failed to deliver an enthralling, haunted hero rollercoaster – or is that Ghost Train? – of thrills and chills.
© 1940, 1941, 2003 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1942 writer Michael Fleischer was born. We’ve covered far too many of his books like Jonah Hex and the Spectre to list here so just use the search box, OK? One year later Roy Cranes’ Buz Sawyer began. Do yourself a huge favour by diving into Buz Sawyer: The War in the Pacific.

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DC Finest Horror – The Devil’s Doorway


By Alex Toth, Gil Kane, Mike Friedrich, Gerry Conway, Sergio Aragonés, Dave Wood, Joe Orlando, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Steve Skeates, John Costanza, Otto Binder, D.J. Arneson, John Albano, Julius Schwartz, E. Nelson Bridwell, Joe Gill, Robert Kanigher, Jack Oleck, Cliff Rhodes, Bob Haney, George Kashdan, Jack Miller, Carl Wessler, Dennis O’Neil, Alan Riefe, Dave Kaler, Jack Phillips, Murray Boltinoff, Curt Swan, Jerry Grandenetti, Bill Draut, Werner Roth, Jack Sparling, Morris Waldinger, Tom Nicolosi, Bernard Baily, Jack Abel, George Roussos, Eddie Robbins, Wayne Howard, Stanley Pitt, Bruno Premiani, Dick Giordano, Dick Dillin, Murphy Anderson, Pat Boyette, Neal Adams, Nick Cardy, Mike Sekowsky, Sid Greene, Mike Roy, Mike Peppe, Don Heck, Wally Wood, Ralph Reese, George Tuska, Gray Morrow, John Celardo, Art Saaf, José Delbo, Vince Colletta, Frank Giacoia, Al Williamson & many & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-280-7 (TPB)

Sadly this masterful mystery megamix is not yet available digitally, but we live in hope…

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Splendid Slice of Spectral Shock & Awe… 9/10

It’s the time for sweet indulgence, shocking over-eating and spooky stories, so let’s pay a visit to a much-neglected old favourite in a fresh new costume…

US comic books started slowly until the coming of superheroes unleashed a torrent of creative imitation and sparked a new genre. Implacably vested in World War II, the Overman swept all before him (and very occasionally her or it) until the troops came home and the more traditional genres resurfaced and eventually supplanted the Fights ‘n’ Tights crowd. Although new kids kept on buying, much of the previous generation of consumers also retained their four-colour habit but increasingly sought older themes in the reading matter. The war years altered global psychological landscapes and as a more world-weary, cynical young public came to see that all the fighting and dying hadn’t really changed anything, their chosen forms of entertainment (film and prose as well as comics) reflected this.

As well as Westerns, War and Crime comics, celebrity tie-ins, madcap escapist comedy and anthropomorphic funny animal features were immediately resurgent, but gradually another of the cyclical revivals of spiritualism and public fascination with all things occult, eldritch and arcane led to them being outshone and outsold by a wave of increasingly impressive, evocative and shocking horror comics.

There had been grisly, gory and supernatural stars before, including a pantheon of ghosts, monsters and wizards draped in mystery-man garb and trappings (The Spectre, Mr. Justice, Sgt. Spook, Frankenstein, The Heap, Sargon the Sorcerer, Zatara, Monako, Zambini the Miracle Man, Kardak the Mystic, Dr. Fate and dozens more), but these had been victims of circumstance: The Unknown as a “narrativium” power source for super-heroics.

Now the focus shifted to ordinary mortals thrown into a world beyond their ken with the intention of unsettling, not vicariously empowering, the reader. Almost every publisher jumped on the increasingly popular bandwagon, with B & I (which became magical one-man-band Richard E. Hughes’ American Comics Group) launching the first regularly published horror comic in the Autumn of 1948. Technically, though, Adventures Into the Unknown was actually pipped by Avon who had released an impressive single issue entitled Eerie in January 1947 before finally committing to a regular series in 1951. By this time, and following the filmic horror heyday of Universal Pictures’ fright films franchises, worthy comic book monolith Classics Illustrated had already long milked the literary end of the medium with adaptations of The Headless Horseman, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (both 1943), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1944) and Frankenstein (1945) among others.

If we’re keeping score, this was also the period in which Joe Simon & Jack Kirby identified another “mature market” gap by inventing the Romance comic (Young Romance #1, cover-dated September 1947) but they too saw sales potential in macabre mood material, resulting in seminal anthologies Black Magic (launched in 1950) and boldly obscure psychological drama vehicle Strange World of Your Dreams (1952). Around that time the staid cautious company that would become DC Comics bowed to the commercial inevitable and launched a comparatively straightlaced anthology that became one of their longest-running and most influential titles with the December 1951/January 1952 opening of The House of Mystery.

When the hysterical censorship scandal which led to witch-hunting hearings was at its height, the mobs with pitchforks furore was adroitly curtailed by the industry adopting a castrating straitjacket of self-regulatory rules. Horror titles produced under the aegis of the Comics Code Authority were sanitised, anodyne affairs in terms of Shock ‘n’ Gore.

However, since appetite for suspenseful short stories remained high, in 1956 National DC introduced sister title House of Secrets (a November/December cover-date). Plots were dialled back into superbly illustrated, rationalistic, fantasy-adventure vehicles which would dominate the market until the 1960s when superheroes (which began sneaking back in 1956 after Julius Schwartz reintroduced The Flash in Showcase #4), finally overtook them.

Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom and a slew of other costumed cavorters generated a gaudy global bubble of masked mavens which even forced the dedicated anthology suspense titles to transform into super-character split-books, with Martian Manhunter and Dial H for Hero monopolising House of Mystery whilst Mark Merlin – later Prince Ra-Man – sharing space with Eclipso in House of Secrets. When caped crusader craziness peaked and popped, HoS was one of the first casualties, folding with #80, the September/October 1966 issue.

However, nothing combats censorship better than falling profits and by the end of the 1960s the Silver Age superhero boom was over, with many titles gone and some of the industry’s most prestigious series circling the drain. This real-world Crisis prompted surviving publishers to loosen self-imposed restraints against crime and horror comics. Nobody much cared about gangster titles at that juncture, but liberalisation coincided with another bump in public interest for all things Worlds Beyond-ey, so resurrection of scary stories was a foregone conclusion and obvious no-brainer…

Even ultra-wholesome Archie Comics re-entered the field with a rather tasty line of Red Circle Chillers: a minor substrate they regularly return to with style and potency to this day.

Thus, with absolutely no fanfare at all House of Mystery #174 (cover dated May/June 1968), confirmed the downturn in superhero stories eveywhere as it hit newstands everywhere presenting a bold banner asking Do You Dare Enter The House of Mystery? Inside it reprinted admittedly excellent short fantastic thrillers originally seen in House of Secrets from those heady days when it was okay to scare kids…

It was a slow but unstoppable hit which just kept spreading…

This DC Finest collection gathers a year’s worth of scary stuff snapshotted from House of Secrets #81-85; House of Mystery #180-185; The Witching Hour #3-7; The Unexpected #113-117 and includes a short back-up yarn from Phantom Stranger volume 2 #5, which cumulatively filled dank evenings from May 1969-April 1970. It all starts – with absolutely no fanfare at all – in HoM #180…

Going from strength to strength, the fear flagship was increasingly drawing on DC’s major artistic resources. Astounding opener ‘Comes a Warrior’ is a chilling faux Sword & Sorcery classic written and drawn by da Vinci of Dynamism Gil Kane, and inked by incomparable Wally Wood, before they illustrate Mike Friedrich’s fourth-wall-demolishing ‘His Name is Cain Kane!’

A Sergio Aragonés gag page in the long-running ‘Cain’s Game Room’ roaming sequence then cleanses palates for Cliff Rhodes & Joe Orlando’s text-terror ‘Oscar Horns In!’ before Marv Wolfman & Bernie Wrightson proffer prophetic vignette ‘Scared to Life’. A double-page ‘Cain’s Game Room’ precedes an uncredited forensic history lesson drawn by Morris Waldinger and recycled as‘Cain’s True Case Files’ to close proceedings for that title. Meanwhile over in long-running, recently remodelled fantasy anthology The Unexpected, the former sci fi vehicle was retooling as a gritty, weird thriller venue with George Kashdan, Jack Sparling & Vince Colletta detailing ‘The Shriek of Vengeance’. Here, Golden Age troubleshooter Johnny Peril is accused of heinous crimes and then abducted by maniac justice dispenser The Executioner. His gladiatorial tests are no problem for an ordinary guy who’d been facing the incomprehensible unknown since Comics Cavalcade #19 (February 1947) and soon the true motive is exposed and the scheme crushed…

Dave Wood & recent Charlton Comics émigré Pat Boyette then glare into ‘The Eyes of Death’, revealing the fate of an actual criminal who gains the power to see iminent fatalities before Wood, Curt Swan & Mike Esposito ride ‘The Tunnel of Love Fear!’ to introduce potential host narrator Judge Gallows, discussing one of his stranger cases…

With Tales of the Unexpected #105 and House of Mystery #174, National/DC had gambled heavily that anthology horror material was back and wouldn’t call the wrath of the gods – and parents – down upon them. Now that they had a boutique mystery stable, they put lots of thought and effort into creating an all-new title to further exploit our morbid fascination with all thingies fearsome and spooky. They would also resurrect House of Secrets (cancelled in late 1969. Apparently in those heady days it was okay – and profitable – to scare the heck out of little kids if you also made them laugh.

Edited until #14 by Dick Giordano, The Witching Hour first struck with a February/March 1969 cover-date (actually on-sale from December 19th 1968). From the outset it was an extremely experimental and intriguing beast. Here however we begin with #3 (cover-dated July 1969). In this graphic grimoire, cool & creepy horror-hosts traditionally introducing the entertainments are replaced by three witches. Based as much on a common American misapprehension of Macbeth as the ancient concept of Maiden, Mother & Crone, this torrid trio constantly strove to outdo (and outgross) each other in telling of terror tales.

Crucially, Cynthia, Mildred & Mordred – as well as shy monster man-servant minion Egor – were designed by and initially delineated by master illustrator Alex Toth, making framing sequences between yarns as good as and frequently more enthralling than the stories they brazenly bracketed. Following intro ‘You Be Our Judge’ from Toth & Giordano, the graphic genius & Colletta illustrate Don Arneson’s medieval mood masterpiece ‘The Turn of the Wheel!’ before Alan Riefe & Sparling tell a decidedly different ghost-story in ‘The Death Watch’. Steve Skeates & Bernie Wrightson then debut a decidedly alterative fantasy hero in ‘…And in a Far-Off Land!’, followed by the first in a series of short prose vignettes: anonymous fright-comedy ‘Potion of Love’ and Mike Sekowsky & Giordano deliver the sisters’ farewell epilogue…

Back at House of Mystery #181, scripted by Otto Binder and drawn by quirkily capable Sparling, ‘Sir Greeley’s Revenge!’ offers a heart-warmingly genteel spook story, albeit jump-cut interrupted by new comedy featire Page 13 (from Aragonés) after which Wrightson’s first long tale is fantastical reincarnation saga ‘The Siren of Satan’ (scripted by Bob Kanigher) before we get to the next big thing – and an actual resurrection…

House of Secrets returned with #81 (August/September 1969) just as big sister HoM had done a year previously. Under a bold banner declaiming “There’s No Escape From… The House of Secrets”, Mike Friedrich, Jerry Grandenetti & George Roussos introduced a ramshackle, sentient old pile in ‘Don’t Move It!’, after which Bill Draut limned the introduction of bumbling caretaker Abel (with a guest-shot by his murderous older brother Cain) in eponymous intro set-up fable ‘House of Secrets’. A prose yarn by Gerry Conway ‘Burn this House!’ gave the portly porter a pause before he kicked off his storytelling career with Conway & Sparling’s‘Aaron Philip’s Photo Finish!’ before the inaugural issue is put to bed with a Draut limned ‘Epilogue’…

The Unexpected #114 led with Kashdan, Ed Robbins & Colletta’s ‘Johnny Peril – My Self… My Enemy!’ as a modern day alchemist unleashes a lifeforce-stealing golem on the doughty P.I., after Dave Wood & Art Saaf premier a new host regaling readers with ‘Tales of the Mad, Mod Witch’ and opening with a warning about magic fountains and poorly aimed coins in ‘The Well of Second Chances’. Thematically on safe ground, we switch to Witching Hour #4 as Toth renders a ‘Witching Hour Welcome Wagon’ after which Conway scripts spectral saga ‘A Matter of Conscience’ for Sparling & George Roussos. Anonymous prose piece ‘If You Have Ghosts?’ then segues into smashing yarn ‘Disaster in a Jar’ (Riefe & Boyette) before Conway turns in period witchfinder thriller ‘A Fistful of Fire’ for José Delbo – a vastly underrated artist who was on the best form of his career at this time.

Toth’s Weird Sisters close out that issue as we move on to HoM #182 which opens with one of the most impressive tales of the entire decade. Jack Oleck’s take on the old cursed mirror plot is elevated to high art with his script for ‘The Devil’s Doorway’ illustrated by incredible Alex Toth. Marv Wolfman & Wayne Howard follow with ‘Cain’s True Case Files: Grave Results!’, and an expose of the Barbadian sugar trade, after which an Aragonés Game Room break leads to nightmarish Gothic revenge tale ‘The Hound of Night!’ from Kanigher & Grandenetti. HoS #82 was a largely Conway scripted affair with Draut drawing both ‘Welcome to the House of Secrets’ and ‘Epilogue’, whilst cinema shocker ‘Realer Than Real’ was illustrated by Werner Roth & Vince Colletta. Prose poser ‘His Last Resting Place!’ leads to Wolfman & Giordano’s short sci fi saga ‘Sudden Madness’ prior to Conway & Sparling regaling us with salutary tale of murder and revenge ‘The Little Old Winemaker’. Finally, as realised by Dick Dillin & Neal Adams ‘The One and Only, Fully-Guaranteed, Super-Permanent, 100%’ presents a darkly comedic eerily unsettling tale of domestic bliss and how to get it…

Carl Wessler & Ed Robbins open Unexpected #115 with Blitz- survivor Maude Waltham unwisely accessing the ‘Diary of a Madman’ and being drawn into a world she could not comprehend or cope with, after which Dave Wood, Swan & Jack Abel reveal how an opportunistic showman appropriates an old abndined house and discovers ‘Abrakadabra – You’re Dead!’ A classic plot gets a sixties makeover as ‘The Day Nobody Died!’ (by Wood as D.W. Holz, Werner Roth & Frank Giacoia) details the repercussions of a wise man unwisely caging the angel of death…

In Witching Hour #5 the sisters are at their most outrageously, eerily hilarious introducing an anonymous yarn lavishly embellished by Wrightson – a nifty nautical nightmare of loneliness and ‘The Sole Survivor!’, before text-teaser ‘The Non-Believer! and Boyette’s stunning, clownish creep-feature ‘A Guy Can Die Laughing!’ set the scene for Steve Skeates, Stanley Pitt & Giordano’s dating dilemma ‘The Computer Game’ I think this was one of the first to explore that now-hoary plot, and it neatly anticipates Toth’s sign off for the witches and added single-page black-comedy bonus ‘My! How You’ve Grown!’ from Sid Greene…

For #183, Joe Orlando offers Cain introductory chuckle ‘Welcome to the House of Mystery’ before, in collaboration with Oleck, Grandenetti reveals the misery of ‘The Haunting!’ Following more mirth in Cain’s Game Room (by John Albano) and vintage Bernard Baily ‘Odds and Ends from Cain’s Cellar’, ‘Curse of the Blankenship’s’ and ‘Superstitions About Spiders’, Wolfman & Wrightson contribute ‘Cain’s True Case Files: The Dead Can Kill!’ A bonanza of Aragonés comprising a comedic horroscope on Page 13 and two pages of Cain’s Game Room precedes a canny teaming of Kanigher with Grandenetti & Wally Wood that results in the truly bizarre ‘Secret of the Whale’s Vengeance’…

After Draut & Giordano’s ‘Welcome to the House of Secrets’ piece, superstar Toth made his modern HoS debut with Wolfman-written fantasy ‘The Stuff That Dreams are Made Of’, before Mikes Royer & Peppe visualise sinister love-story ‘Bigger Than a Breadbox’, bookended by anonymous text teaser ‘Once Upon a Time in Mystery Book…’ Wrapping up, Conway & Draut revive gothic menace for chilling fable ‘The House of Endless Years’.

Modernity is briefly embraced in Unexpected #116 as thanks to Dave Wood & Art Saaf, The Mad Mod Witch escorts a group of strangers on an ‘Express Train to Nowhere!’ after which author unknown & Boyette describe a doomed Dutch peddlar’s brush with legend and ‘Steps to Disaster’, before Murphy Anderson picks out apparel ‘Mad to Order’ as Wrightson details the problems wrapped up in a ‘Ball of String!’ ‘Ashes to Ashes, Dustin to Dust?’ then closes the issue with a spectral tale of love & death from Murray “Al Case” Boltinoff & Sid Greene…

Sekowsky & Giordano limn Dave Kaler’s take on the sinister sisters’ intro for Witching Hour #6, after which far darker horror debuts as ‘A Face in the Crowd!’ (Conway, Mike Roy & Mike Peppe), wherein a Nazi war-criminal and concentration camp survivor meet in an American street. Wolfman & Delbo depict a tale of neighbourly intolerance in ‘The Doll Man!’ and ‘Treasure Hunt’ (Skeates, John Celardo & Giordano) shows why greed isn’t always good. Also included were Conway’s prose tale ‘Train to Doom’, ‘Mad Menace’ – a ½-page gag strip by John Costanza – and ‘Distortion!’: another Greene-limned one-pager.

HoM #184 features the triumphant return of Oleck & Toth for captivating Egyptian tomb raider epic ‘Turner’s Treasure’ before cartoon pauses for Page 13 (a diploma fron Aragonés & Orlando) and Orlando gag ‘The Fly’ deftly segues into epic barbarian blockbuster ‘The Eyes of the Basilisk!’ by Bridwell, Gil Kane & Wally Wood…

Closing with more Albano Cain’s Game Room giggles, next comes info short ‘The Devil’s Footprints!’ by Kanigher, Swan & Nick Cardy from The Phantom Stranger #5 (cover-dated January/February 1970) before in House of Secrets #84, Conway & Draut maintain the light-hearted bracketing of stories prior to properly beginning with ‘If I Had but World Enough and Time’ (Wein, Dillin & Peppe): a cautionary tale about too much TV. Tensions grow with Wolfman & Greene’s warning against wagering in ‘Double or Nothing!’ and Skeates, Sparling & Abel’s utterly manic parable of greed ‘The Unbelievable! The Unexplained!’, before Wein & Sparling mess with our dreams in ‘If I Should Die before I Wake…’

Johnny Peril leads in Unexpected #117, as Kashdan & Greene reveal how he becomes the patsy for a clan seeking to avoid a hereditary curse in ‘Midnight Summons the Executioner!’, after which Case, Grandenetti & Draut see a woman trick fate by accepting ‘Hands of Death’ whilst Wessler & Tuska detail the downfall of a money-mad beast in ‘The House that Hate Built!’ Wessler & Bruno Premiani then detail the uncanny ‘Death of the Man Who Never Lived!’ in a spy yarn unlike any other…

In Witching Hour #7, Toth & Mike Friedrich show spectacular form for the intro and bridging sequences, whilst Draut is compulsively effective in prison manhunt saga ‘The Big Break!’, with scripter Skeates also writing modern-art murder-mystery ‘The Captive!’ for Roussos. Friedrich & Abel advise a most individual baby to ‘Look Homeward, Angelo!’, whilst text piece ‘Who Believes Ouija?’ and Jack Miller & Michael Wm. Kaluta’s Gothically delicious ‘Trick or Treat’ round out the sinister sights in this issue. Then, House of Mystery #185 sees Cain take a more active role in all-Grandenetti yarn ‘Boom!’, with Albano, Aragones & Orlando Page13 and Cain’s Game Room, prior to Wayne Howard illustrating the sinister ‘Voice from the Dead!’ Following more Orlando Game-iness prolific Charlton scribe Joe Gill debuts with ‘The Beautiful Beast’: a lost world romance perfectly pictured by EC alumnus Al Williamson.

This monolitic montage of macabre mirth and scary sagas ceases with House of Secrets #85. Here, Cain & Abel acrimoniously open, after which Wein & Don Heck disclose what can happen to ‘People Who Live in Glass Houses…’ whilst graphic legend Ralph Reese limns Wein’s daftly ironic ‘Reggie Rabbit, Heathcliffe Hog, Archibald Aardvark, J. Benson Baboon and Bertram the Dancing Frog’, ere John Costanza contributes comedy page ‘House of Wacks’ and Conway, Kane & Adams herald the upcoming age of slickly seductive barbarian fantasy with gloriously vivid and vital ‘Second Chance’.

With iconic covers from Neal Adams, Jack Adler, Toth, Sekowsky, Cardy and Gray Morrow this (hopefully first of many) moody mystery compilations is a perfect accompaniment to dark nights in, and one you can depend on to astound and amaze in equal amounts.
© 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today – or maybe even tonight – in 1939 underground cartoonist Frank Stack was born. His blasphemous antics have made us laugh for decades. Why not check out The New Adventures of Jesus: The Second Coming.

In 2011 today UK icon Mick Anglo died. He’s all over this blog if you want to see something very special but I’d advise scoping out one of his unique Annual creations, such as Batman Story Book Annual 1967 (with Robin the Boy Wonder).

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Death Be Damned


By Acker, Blacker & Miller, Hannah Christenson, Juan Useche & various (Boom! Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-68415-039-7 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-61398-716-2

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

First seen as a 4-issue miniseries in 2017 written by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker (The Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast, Deadpool, Thunderbolts. Supernatural) & Andrew Miller (Backstrom, League of Pan, The Secret Circle), spooky sagebrush saga Death Be Damned is a deft and compelling addition to the growing, cross-fertilising genre of supernatural westerns. The series was visualised by celebrated illustrator Hannah Christenson (Harrow County, Mouse Guard, Jim Henson’s Storyteller) with colours by Juan Useche and letters from Colin Bell.

In delivery the tale is stripped down, raw and utterly engaging, delivered in sweeping tributes to more than a century of high plains cinema, and begins in 1873 Wyoming after brutalised settler Miranda Coler awakes face down in the river to find her entire family have been butchered. A tough, determined survivor, she buries her husband and child and, picking up her man’s rifle, sets about tracking down the gang who killed them.

By the time she reaches South Pass City, she’s ready to accept any passing pain or humiliation if it leads to her justifiable vengeance, Sadly, righteous anger doesn’t make her good enough to kill one of the marauders in the town whorehouse and he casually puts a bullet in her brain…

Local undertaker Murray takes his job far too seriously. Since his wife passed, he’s become an expert on death rituals and is letting these studies affect his work. He keeps trying to raise the dead and now can’t believe he’s succeeded with the crazy woman just killed in the cathouse…

Events eventually prove he hasn’t, really, but perhaps his attempts to retrieve the dead have set something incredible in motion…

In Laramie City, mass killer Bickford hangs for his crimes. A little later he also gets up: drawn inexorably to South Pass where something unnatural needs to be quashed…

Miranda thinks Murray is crazy, but after he kills her and she comes back again, she finally hears him out. He wants the revenant to rescue his wife from Hell, but has no idea what the land of death is really like. Miranda still wants revenge though, and she’s quite happy to exploit the undertaker’s foolish whims if it gets her closer to her goal, no matter how many times she has to die in the doing of it…

A tale of dark obsessions played out through a nest of gradually-unfolding mysteries, this sinister saga employs all the iconography of “big sky” westerns to add mood to a blistering tale of debts incurred and accounts called due. Unstoppable Miranda even beats her devils to exact precious retribution and learns the painful truths of her life, her man and a hell of a lot of death…

Available in paperback and digital editions, Death Be Damned is graced with an expansive cover gallery by Christenson & Konstantin Tarasov, as well as character designs, and also reveals some secrets of the illustrator’s Cover Process.

A short sharp shocker, to ingest before heading out to roam your own streets in search of treats and judgement…
Death Be Damned is ™ & © 2017 Workjuice Corp. & Andrew Miller.

Today in 1976 appropriately saw the demise of UK gagfest Monster Fun after a mere year of yoks and giggles. Big bunch of birthdays though, with European giants Michel Charlier born in 1924 and Will in 1927, and US pioneer of comics fandom Don Thompson in 1935. In 1951 P. Craig Russell joined the party. Him you can adore in many books including Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung.